Author Archive
Crockpot Slop
Me, I like this name, it is what you do with a slow cooker, load it up and let it cook, slow cooker meals are normally not the most attractive dishes. Not a attractive name but this sounds really good! This is a load the slow cooker and forget meal, for about 4 to 6 hours anyways. Think Kielbasa (that would be Spicy Smoked Pork Sausage in Makro), regular pork sausage (Bangers), Italian sausage, and chicken sausage. If you are making the sausage, think meatballs! This is a rewrite from what I seen to make it less processed.
Ingredients
- 2 cups yard beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 6-8 potatoes, washed and cut into large pieces
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 Kielbasa sausage, cut into bite size pieces, see Step 2 for these notes
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons powdered chicken stock
Instructions
- Add to the slow cooker pot in this order, yard beans, potatoes, sausage, onion. Add water to just cover over the potatoes. add chicken stock powder and salt and pepper to taste.
- Note for the sausage, Thai Kielbasa is a spicy (mild) smoked pork sausage, I have had this a number of times and it is excellent. I think pork sausage (Bangers) would also work well but leave a links until cooked. Italian, pork, or chicken sausage, homemade and in bulk, rolled into meatballs would be ideal as well.
- Cover, and no peeking, for 4-6 hours on High setting. At the 4 hour mark, quickly check the potatoes for being tender and done and sausage (regardless of type used) for the liquid to run clear. Stir and serve with a green salad.
Notes
Sausages are not a show stopper, if you buy sausage from Makro, perfectly acceptable, a 8 pack of bangers is about 250 Baht, this recipe calls for 2, if you buy the Spicy Smoked Pork
Sausage (very muck like Kielbasa) that is about 200 Baht for 8 sausages. If you get the Sausage Scraps pack (still Spicy Smoked) these can be chili sausages, garlic sausages, etc, and would be a great option, this is only about 180 Baht for a pack about 1 kilo. Now, if you make the sausage yourself in bulk, either pork, Italian, or chicken, roll into meatballs (use an egg or two for a binder) and add to the pot, these would be excellent. Regardless of what you use, this is easily under $1 per serving. Adapted from an internet recipe.
Sausage (very muck like Kielbasa) that is about 200 Baht for 8 sausages. If you get the Sausage Scraps pack (still Spicy Smoked) these can be chili sausages, garlic sausages, etc, and would be a great option, this is only about 180 Baht for a pack about 1 kilo. Now, if you make the sausage yourself in bulk, either pork, Italian, or chicken, roll into meatballs (use an egg or two for a binder) and add to the pot, these would be excellent. Regardless of what you use, this is easily under $1 per serving. Adapted from an internet recipe.
3-Ingredient Chicken Cacciatore
Simple and tasty sounding recipe. I made this yesterday and it is very good and simple, read my comment below. Photos are mine from preparation to plating. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 6-8 chicken thighs
- 1 large jar spaghetti/tomato sauce, OR make yourself from tomato paste and herbs, OR 2 cans of sauce
- 500 grams spiral pasta, OR any pasta of your choosing
Instructions
- Add chicken to the slow cooker pot, pour sauce over chicken, stir to coat all the chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook on Low for 4-5 hours until chicken is cooked through. Do not open the lid until 4 hours have passed, then check chicken. I added a diced green bell pepper as well.
- About 30 minutes before the chicken is done, cook your pasta, drain, place back in the pot you cooked them in and drizzle with some olive oil to prevent sticking. Photo shows cooked after 4 1/2 hours.
- To serve, plate up pasta, add a chicken thigh, and spoon some sauce over the chicken and pasta, feel free to sprinkle grated Parmesan on the top, I know I will. Serve with a vegetable for a complete meal.
Notes
For chicken, use thighs bone in and with skin (this adds flavor) or you can use boneless and skinless, totally up to you. You can also use a combination of legs and thighs cut from quarters (most cost effective way, do yourself a favor, buy quarters, use the thighs, save the legs for another recipe like a BBQ or for other family members). For 8 quarters, you may spend about 150 Baht, sauce in a can is about 40 Baht, but if you use paste and make yourself, considerably lower cost. About 230 Baht or about $1.30 per person if serving 6, or 90 cents per serving is serving 8. Make the sauce yourself and you can reduce the cost of the sauce by well over half.
Variants: Add any or all of chopped mushrooms, chopped onions, chopped bell peppers, herbs when you add the sauce to the slow cooker.
Shortcut: Tomato Sauce.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Creamy Swiss Chicken Casserole
This sounds good. This is slightly modified from what I read. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, OR make from a shortcut
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 cup Swiss cheese, shredded, if you like cheese, you know what to do
- 1 cup fresh mushrooms, slightly chopped, lightly fried in olive oil
- 1 package egg noodles
- salt and pepper, to taste
- onion powder, to taste
- garlic powder, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 190 degrees C. Lightly grease an 8 x 8 inch casserole dish. Add chicken pieces to the casserole dish. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder, to taste.
- In a bowl, mix the soup and milk. Sprinkle cheese over the chicken. Pour soup and milk over the chicken. Sprinkle with mushrooms.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until juices from chicken run clear and sauce is bubbly. Cook your noodles while baking. Serve over noodles with a green vegetable for a complete meal.
Notes
The chicken and cheese is the most expensive part of this meal. 4 chicken breasts will be about 100 Baht, cheese will run about 100 Baht for the 1 cup (buy a 250 gram block and shred yourself, that will be about 1/2 block for 1 cup of shredded). Make the soup yourself, dead easy and is half the cost of a canned soup and you know what is in it. Basically 200 Baht or about $1.50 per serving for 4 people.
Alternative would be to use chicken thighs (think skin on and bone in, as thighs are a bit more flavorful), or just quarters that are cut apart.
Shortcut: Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Cheesy Sloppy Joe Burgers I
I am not a fan of "sliders", you know the tiny hamburgers on the tiny buns. I like normal size burgers. The original recipe I seen was for slider sized buns. This is like a cross between a cheese burger and a Sloppy Joe sandwich, which are equally good. The original recipe I seen called for onion powder (I will use real onion in the recipe), and Velveeta cheese, which is one of the most horrendous things you can actually put into your body, I will use real cheese and regular size buns. This is a must try for me! This is not a $1 meal mainly because of the real cheese you use.
Ingredients
- 500 grams ground beef, OR minced pork, OR ground chicken
- 500 grams bulk sausage, OR you can make from a shortcut listed on this site
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 500 grams Cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
- salt, to taste
- buns, split and toasted, for serving
Instructions
- Add onion, ground beef, and bulk sausage to a a large, heavy, non-stick pan and season with black pepper and salt to taste and cook until cooked through, drain all fat completely.
- In a large sauce pan or preferred is a slow cooker (Low setting), combine the cooked meat with the shredded cheese and allow the cheese to melt into the meat and heated through.
- Serve on toasted buns.
Notes
This is not a inexpensive meal! The cheese alone is pricey at about 130 Baht/250 grams, ground beef will run about 75 Baht/500 grams, and sausage at least that much. You can make the sausage from a shortcut on this site for about 60 Baht/500 grams. This is about $3.30 per person for 4 meals and about $1.70 for 8 meals, this can be reduced by using minced pork instead of beef, and using chicken instead of pork or chicken.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Mike Early.
United States.
United States.
Slow Cooker Orange Chicken I
This has potential and is on my list of must tries. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 8 chicken thighs, boneless and skinless, cut into bite size pieces
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1/3 cup orange marmalade
- 1/3 cup barbecue sauce, OR make from a shortcut listed on this site
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
Instructions
- Add chicken to the slow cooker pot and sprikle with the flour, mix to coat the chicken.
- Add all other ingredients and light stir to combine. Cover.
- Cook on Low setting for 6-8 hours or High for 3-4 hours. Serve over rice with some green beans on the side for a complete meal.
Notes
You can get chicken thighs or quarters at almost every market, about 60-65 Baht/Kilo, the thighs on quarters are larger, so get those and cut your self and debone and remove skin, takes a mater of seconds. Chicken cost would be about 120-150 Baht (with quarters, you have legs left over to put on a grill and BBQ for another meal). Make the BBQ sauce your self for greater savings. At 150 Baht, this is about $1.10 per serving for 4 people, and for 6 people it is about 75 cents per serving. All other ingredients are minimal.
Shortcut: BBQ Sauce.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Basic BBQ Sauce
Easy to make sauce great for BBQs or using in other recipes that call for BBQ sauce. The yield from this recipe is about 2 cups. I made this on 14 Dec 2016, recipe modified slightly, my report below.
Ingredients
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- 1½ cups ketchup
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon Worcherstershire sauce
- 2½ tablespoons dry mustard
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1½ teaspoons black pepper
- 2-4 dashes hot pepper sauce
- ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Whisk together all ingredients in a large bowl until completely mixed and smooth. This is the ingredients before I added the water.
- I was making BBQ Beans & Weenies, this photo just shows the sauce after it was cooked and refrigerated when I added it to the beans recipes.
- Pour into a pot and bring to a boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly, then remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Pour into a sealable container and refrigerate overnight before use.
Notes
If using as a sauce say in a bean recipe, the sugar amount is spot on, if using for grilled anything, feel free to increase the sugar a bit. Keep in mind the sugar is what caramelizes and makes that gooey goodness on say BBQ Chicken. This is my Go-to Recipe now.
Used in Recipe Listed on this Site:
- BBQ Chicken Pizza.
- BBQ Beans & Weenies, made it.
- Bock BBQ Bean Salad.
- Slow Cooker Pork Tenderloin.
- Easy BBQ Beans.
- Cowboy Stew, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Pork Ribs (Pressure Cooker), made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Slow Cooker Little Smokies, made it, GO-TO recipe.
Indonesian Fried Rice
This is a classic Indonesian version of fried rice, simple but hearty, serve as a side dish or as a main dish. The purpose of fried rice is to use leftovers, not only does it reuse food, it prevents wasted food.
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked white rice, add another cup to stretch this if you like
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 leek, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
- 2 fresh green chili peppers, chopped
- 200 grams chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces, (7 oz)
- 200 grams prawn/shrimp, head and tail removed, peeled, (7 oz)
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 3 tablespoons sweet soy sauce
- olive oil
- cucumber, sliced, for garnish
- tomato, cut into wedges, for garnish
Instructions
- Heat a large nonstick skillet with a splash of olive oil. Pour eggs into hot skillet. Cook until the eggs begin to set. Flip omelet in one piece and cook until fully set, about 30 seconds. Slice omelet into 1/2 inch strips. Set aside.
- Heat a tablespoon or so olive oil in a wok (preferred) or large frying pan. Stir in the onion, leek, garlic, & chile peppers. Cook, stirring until onion is soft. Stir in the chicken, prawns, coriander, and cumin, mixing well. Cook and stir for approximately 5 minutes.
- Mix in the rice, sweet soy sauce, and omelet strips; cook until shrimp are bright pink and chicken is no longer pink in the center, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve on a platter, garnish with cucumber slices and tomato wedges.
Notes
The ingredients are minimal cost at best, and if you have leftover roast chicken or leftover prawns, even better and nearly zero cost for this dish.
Variants: 1. Omit the omelet slices and cook as listed, then top each plate with a fried egg. 2. Add chopped leftover vegetables. 3. No prawn or chicken on hand? Use any meat you have, keep in mind leftovers, perfect use and less waste.
Slow Cooker Pinto Bean, Jasmine Rice, Chicken Soup
This recipe comes from a good friend, he just threw this together and enjoyed it. This is a must try for me.
Ingredients
- 250 grams dry Pinto beans, soaked overnight, rinsed, drained, (1/2 lb)
- 1 cup brown Jasmine rice, soaked overnight, rinsed, drained
- 500 grams chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, cut into large cubes, (1 lb)
- 2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoon ground white pepper
- 1/2 cup dry Mung beans
- sea salt, to taste
- handful fresh peppercorns
- fresh chilis, to taste
Instructions
- Add beans and rice to the slow cooker, add water until it is about 1/2 inch above the beans and rice. Cover and set the slow cooker to High.
- After 2 to 3 hours, boil the chicken on the stove. Use just enough water to cover the chicken by 1/2 inch or so. Cook just long enough to cook the chicken through and get a bit of broth going. Pour broth and chicken into the slow cooker.
- Add the rest of the ingredients. This way you don't need to take the top off of the cooker again unless the water seems to get low. The goal is to keep the water in slow cooker just covering the beans and rice. Continue to cook on High setting for a total of 9 hours.
- This seams odd, but adding the rice early is crucial in making the soup a bit more gravy-like. The rice doesn't need that long to cook, but by cooking it for a long time, it sort of dissolves and makes the soup into a nice gravy.
Notes
1 kilo of chicken breasts will run about 80 Baht, easily making this a meal for under $1 per serving.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Dave Williams.
Thailand.
Thailand.
Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls
It has been probably 5 years since I had cabbage rolls, and they were delicious! Here is a cheater recipe, no need to boil the cabbage leaves or roll anything, just make on the stove top in a large pot. I have not tried this yet but it sounds really good and I will give my remarks after I make this. The recipe is normally made with beef but feel free to use pork or chicken. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 1 kilo ground beef, OR minced pork, OR ground chicken
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and chopped
- 1 head cabbage, small, chopped
- 1 cup rice, uncooked
- 1 can diced tomatoes, 425 gram can, OR fresh chopped tomatoes
- 1 can tomato sauce, 225 gram can, OR make from a shortcut on this site (1 1/4 cups)
- 1/2 cup water, OR beef stock
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet pot, brown the ground beef, onions, and garlic. Drain off the fat.
- Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce temp to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 25-30 minutes or until cabbage is tender.
Notes
Ground beef can run as high as 200 Baht/kilo. For this dish, that is your most expensive item, if using minced pork, you can almost cut the cost in half. For 200 Baht, 6 servings would be less than $1 per serving, less for 8 servings, and a lot less if using minced pork or ground chicken.
Shortcut: Tomato Sauce.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Big Mac Burgers
This is the home made version of the famous burger served all over the world. With this, you know what is in it, not the assembly line product that has an ingredient list longer than your arm. This a a double decker burger with a Big Mac sauce. I made these on 16 Feb 2017, very very good! I made the classic double decker for myself and just a jr Big Mac for my wife with just one burger. Highly recommended to make these with just one burger, much easier to handle. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 2/3 cup mayo
- 1/3 cup sweet pickle relish
- 2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard
- 3/4 teaspoon white vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Burgers
- 500 grams ground beef, OR make from a shortcut
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 sesame seed buns, sliced into 3 pieces
Toppings
- 4 teaspoons onion, finely chopped
- 2 cups lettuce, shredded
- Cheddar cheese, use real cheese, not processed
- 8 slices dill pickles, OR make from a shortcut on this site
Instructions
- Mix together the sauce ingredients and set aside. Refrigerate for a while is even better.
- Mix the salt and pepper into the beef, split the mixture into 4 parts and roll into balls. Flatten each ball and shape into a patty.
- Place patties into a non stick pan with 1 teaspoon of olive oil and cook the patties for 3 minutes each side. Meanwhile, slice the burger buns into 3 parts and slightly toast them. (I do not mess around with burgers, I make thick large burgers.)
- To assemble, spread the sauce over the base and middle bun. Add onion and lettuce on both buns. On the bottom bun add cheese and one of the burger patties, on the middle bun add 4 pickle slices and burger patty. Lift the middle bun onto the top of the base and finally add the top of bun.
- To make a Jr. Big Mac, use only 1 burger and no middle bun. On the bottom bun add sauce, lettuce, onion, and cheese, and one of the burger patties, top that with 4-5 pickle slices, add sauce to the top bun and cover the top with that.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
- And the Jr. Big Mac.
Notes
Ground beef runs about 100 Baht/500 grams. For 2 servings, this is about $1.47 per serving. If you went the route with just 1 burger patty and made 4 Jr. Big Macs, you could stretch this to 4 servings at a cost of 74 cents per serving.
Shortcut: Dill Pickles, Best Hamburger Meat.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
