Archive for the ‘#1 Go-To Recipes’ Category
Slow Cooker Whole Cauliflower
This recipe is from a social media friend who specializes in slow cooker dishes. I made this on 12 Apr 2023, excellent flavor, and very well liked by the family.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker (4+ quart)
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup Dijon mustard
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
- Trim the stem of the cauliflower so the head will sit flat, remove any leaves, and give it a quick rinse and shake off the excess water. Place in the slow cooker. No need to remove the stem, it is just as good as the rest of the cauliflower.
- In a small bowl, mix together the oil, mustard, cheese, and garlic to make the sauce.
- Spoon the sauce on top of the cauliflower, right in the center. Let gravity pull the sauce down on the sides, and just even it out with the back of the spoon, until the head is covered evenly with the sauce.
- Cover and set to Low, let cook for 6 to 8 hours, checking for doneness at 6 hours. If a fork can be easily inserted from the top to the bottom of the stem, it is done. I took the photo after I had cut the cauliflower into 6 wedges and started to serve.
- Serve as a side dish, and enjoy.
Slow Cooker Honey Mustard Chicken
This recipe is from a social media friend who specializes in slow cooker dishes. I made this on 19 Mar 2023, cooked 4 hours, internal temp was perfect, the meat was near fall off the bones and juicy. Excellent flavorful chicken, my wife took one bite and gave me two thumbs up.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker (6+ quart)
Ingredients
- 4-5 chicken breasts, or 4-5 quarters, separated
- ½ cup Dijon mustard
- ½ cup honey
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
Instructions
- To the slow cooker, add the mustard, honey, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Stir together just enough to combine.
- Add the chicken pieces and mix them around to coat them with sauce.
- Cover and set to Low and cook for 4-6 hours. If using a meat thermometer to check internal temp, target temp is 79°C (165°F).
- Serve with your choice of sides. The sauce would be excellent over pasta or mashed potatoes.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Peg's Biscuits
This recipe was recommended by a friend, Peg, on the Just a Pinch Recipe Club site and she has this recipe perfected as to how to make biscuits! Very easy, and excellent biscuits! Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Notes section.
Equipment
- Pastry Cutter
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Oven
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
- ¾ cup cold buttermilk, plus a little extra for proper consistency
- 1 pinch baking soda
Instructions
- First thing, make sure you have room in your freezer for whatever mixing bowl you are going to use.
- To the mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, sugar, and baking powder. Whisk together.
- Add the butter to the flour mixture and cut in with a pastry cutter to blend, leaving pieces of the butter about the size of peas. Now place the mixing bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- While the flour butter mixture is in the freezer, measure out your buttermilk and add a large pinch of baking soda and stir that in.Now get the baking sheet ready by adding a sheet of parchment.
- When 15 minutes have passed, remove the mixing bowl from the freezer, add the buttermilk, stir until just mixed, add additional buttermilk 1 tablespoon at a time until a sticky ball forms, do not over mix.
- Flour your hands and counter, place dough on counter, gently push dough down to sort of flatten, then fold dough in half, do this 6 to 8 times at most, while being very gentle with the dough. The dough will be rough looking, perfect for biscuits.
- Still using your hands, gently flatten dough between 1 and 1½ inches thick. Use a biscuit cutter or a drinking glass, about 2½ inches in diameter, and push straight down to cut biscuits. Do not twist or turn the cutter or you will seal the edge and they will not rise. Shape scrap dough into a ball, flatten, and cut more biscuits, goal is 9 biscuits.
- Place biscuits on the prepared baking sheet starting in the center. You want 3 rows with 3 biscuits in each row, sides gently touching. Brush tops with milk and place on top of the stove while heating the oven. Preheat your oven to 220°C (425° F).
- When heated, bake for 11 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter.
- I enjoyed these biscuits with sausage gravy on them.
Notes
Shortcut: Buttermilk.
Chicken Nugget Bake
An easy casserole with simple ingredients, this is the slimmed down version of Chicken Nugget Casserole II. And it is delicious!
Equipment
- Baking Pan (9x13 inch)
- Oven
Ingredients
- 1 kilo frozen chicken nuggets, you will not use them all, (2 lb)
- 2 cups pasta sauce, Shortcut
- 2 cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
- hot cooked spaghetti, as desired, for serving
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F), grease a 9x13 baking dish with butter.
- Place frozen chicken nuggets in the prepared dish in a single layer.
- Pour the pasta sauce over the nuggets and spread out evenly.
- Sprinkle the cheese over the sauce.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the cheese is starting to brown on top.
- While the casserole is baking, cook spaghetti or pasta of your choice, until tender, drain.
- Serve casserole spooned over hot pasta, and a vegetable for a great meal. Enjoy.
Notes
Fair cost per serving.
Variant: 1. Feel free to use more sauce and or cheese as desired.
Shortcut: Pasta Sauce.
Egg Salad III
This is an excellent egg salad, this is a no mustard egg salad and also includes cream cheese. A delicious change to the typical egg salad. This is great on sandwiches or crackers. This recipe assumes you have hard boiled eggs already - feel free to prepare those your preferred way. Link to the Shortcut is in the Notes section.
Ingredients
- 6 hard boiled eggs, peeled, Shortcut
- 85 grams cream cheese, softened, (3 oz)
- 1 tablespoon celery, heaping, diced fine
- 1 teaspoon onion, heaping, diced fine
- ¼ cup mayo
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
- paprika, to taste
Instructions
- Hard boil the eggs your preferred way then peel them.
- To a medium size mixing bowl, add the remaining ingredients except the salt, pepper, and paprika.
- Mix together until fairly smooth. Taste and season with salt, pepper, and paprika, as desired, to taste.
- Chop the eggs and add to the mixing bowl.
- Gently mix the eggs into the cream cheese mixture. Cover and place in the fridge to chill for 1-2 hour before serving.
- Spread salad generously on sliced bread or buns for delicious sandwiches, I like to spread may on the bread first as well. This is also an excellent salad on crackers of your choice. Enjoy.
Notes
Shortcut: Perfect Hard Boiled Chicken Eggs.
Variant: 1. You can use celery seed and onion powder to replace the fresh items, use ¼ teaspoon each.
Homemade Brownie Mix
This recipe comes from a social media friend and comes highly recommended. This is the mix and the instructions to make the brownies, so sort of a 2 for 1 recipe. This mix as stated makes the equivalent of 1 store bought boxed mix. Easy to assemble mix, and wonderful brownies, highly recommended!
Equipment
- Baking Pan (8x8 inch) , for making the brownies
- Oven , for making the brownies
Ingredients
For the Mix
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon instant espresso powder, optional
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips, optional
To make the Brownies
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Mix
- Add the Mix ingredients, except the chocolate chips, to a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- At this point, the Mix is ready, store in an airtight container or even a ziplock bag until use. Fell free to make several batches, then you have several "boxes" available to use anytime.
To make the Brownies
- Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F), get out an 8x8 inch baking pan, line with parchment paper, overhanging two sides, and lightly grease the exposed sides with butter.
- In a mixing bowl, add the oil, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk together.
- Add 1 recipe of Brownie Mix and mix together until just combined.
- Pour mixture into the prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 20-25 or until desired doneness, less for gooier type brownies, a bit more for cakier type brownies. Remove from oven and and cool pan on a rack for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, use a butter knife and cut along the two sides of the pan with no parchment. Use the parchment overhangs and carefully lift out of the pan and place on the wire rack and allow to cool another 10 minutes.
- Cut into 9 squares, serve and enjoy.
Notes
Recipe easily doubles, just use two batches of Mix and bake in a 9x13 baking pan.
Variants: 1. Regular size or mini chocolate chips can be semisweet, dark, milk, or even white. 2. Replace the chocolate chips with 1 cup M&M candies or 1 cup chopped Oreo cookies. 3. In addition to the chocolate chips, add ½ cup nuts, such as chopped walnuts, pecans, cashews, almonds, or mixed nuts.
Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Kielbasa
Excellent tasting sauce with the sausage. Be careful not to overcook or you have have some sausage that is a little tough. This can be served as an appetizer or over rice, egg noodles, or potatoes for a main dish.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker (3½+ quart)
Ingredients
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- ⅓ cup honey
- ½ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 kilo Kielbasa sausage, sliced ½ to ¾ inch slices, (or Polish sausage, or any precooked smoked sausage)
Instructions
- To the slow cooker, add all the ingredients except the Kielbasa. Stir to mix together.
- Add the sliced Kielbasa or smoked sausage of your choice. Stir into the sauce to coat the sausage slices.
- Cover and set to Low setting, cooking 4 hours, stirring about every 30-40 minutes.
- Serve with your choice of sides, and enjoy. We served this with rice and sautéed mushrooms on the side, but so good, no photo.
Notes
Fair cost per serving.
Variant: 1. Use chili sauce in place of ketchup.
Macaroni Ham Casserole
I made this on 12 Dec 2022 to test out the recipe, and wow, is this good! The Thai family really enjoyed this. Easy to prepare and common ingredients. Tailored to my findings.
Equipment
- Casserole (3 quart)
- Oven
Ingredients
- 250 grams dry macaroni, (8 oz)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ½ cup onion, diced
- ¼ cup red bell pepper, diced
- 2 cups ham, diced
- 1 can condensed creamy chicken mushroom soup
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried
- 2 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Heat a pot of salted water to a boil, then added the macaroni and cook until just tender.
- Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F), grease a 3 quart casserole with butter.
- Melt the butter in a non stick pan, when hot, add the onion and bell pepper. Sauté until just softened. Add the diced ham and cook until ham is warmed through. I did not have a bell pepper so I just omitted that.
- When the macaroni is just tender, drain and return to the pot, add the ham mixture, soup, milk, and parsley.
- Mix together. Pour mixture into the prepared casserole.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Sprinkle with the Cheddar cheese.
- Continue to bake until cheese is melted and just starting to brown, about 15 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Updated on 12 December 2022.
Salmon Scalloped Potatoes
I like potatoes, cheese, and salmon, so I came up with this from a mix of recipes. I made this on 8 Nov 2022, and it is delicious! The family enjoyed this as a side dish with ham steaks, I enjoyed this as a main dish with a side of mixed veggies - excellent comfort meal.
Equipment
- Mandoline
- Baking Pan (9x13 inch)
- Oven
Ingredients
- 5-6 cups sliced potatoes, thinly sliced, mandoline is perfect for this
- 4-5 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded
- ½ cup onion, diced
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 can salmon, drained, flaked, (15 oz / 425 g)
- 1 can condensed creamy chicken mushroom soup, (10½ oz / 298 g)
- ½ cup milk
- salt and pepper, as desired
Instructions
- Use a mandoline to get perfectly thin and even slices. This was from 4 potatoes.
- Prep the onion and shred the cheese. Set aside ½ to 1 cup of cheese for the final step in baking. It was a big onion so I diced the whole thing and will store in the fridge for use in another recipe in a few days.
- Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F), grease a 9x13 baking dish with butter or cooking spray.
- Whisk together the soup and milk in mixing bowl and set aside.
- Layer the bottom of the baking dish with half of the potatoes.
- Sprinkle with 1½ tablespoons flour and add salt and black pepper as desired.
- Sprinkle on half the onion, half the salmon, and half the cheese.
- Add the remaining potatoes in a layer. Then the remaining flour, salt and pepper, then the remaining onion, salmon, and ending with cheese.
- Pour the soup mixture over the top
- Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender, this may take longer than 45 minutes depending on the thickness of the potato slices. Remove foil.
- Sprinkle with the reserved cheese.
- Bake uncovered now for another 10 to 15 minutes until cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.
- Serve as a side or a main dish, and enjoy .
Notes
Fair cost per serving as a main dish.
Variants: 1. This would be equally as delicious using ham in place of the salmon.
Kielbasa & Potato Casserole (Slow Cooker)
This recipe is from a social media friend who specializes in slow cooker dishes. I made this on 24 Nov 2022 and I will say, this is an easy, and exceptionally good casserole! Highly recommended.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker (3½+ quart)
Ingredients
- 1 kilo potatoes, diced into about ½ inch cubes, (2 lb)
- 500 grams kielbasa, or any smoked sausage, sliced ½ - ¾ inch rounds, (1 lb)
- 3 cups Cheddar cheese, shredded, divided
- 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ cup sour cream
Instructions
- For the potatoes, if using frozen, thaw first. If using fresh, peel, then dice to about ½ inch cubes. Add potatoes to the slow cooker. In Thailand, Makro has frozen cubed potatoes 15x15mm. I dice fresh by cutting first with a French fry cutter then use a knife to cut the cubes.
- Add sausage, onion, garlic powder, and 2 cups of the cheese to your slow cooker. In Thailand I use what is called Sausage Scraps from Makro, excellent sausage, 4 types in one package, one type is very much like kielbasa.
- Mix together.
- Add the soup to the slow cooker and mix into the potato mixture.
- Cover and set to Low and cook for 3 to 4 hours. Check at 3 hours for fork tender potatoes. If not tender, check again at 3½ hours to 4 hours.
- When potatoes are tender, add the sour cream and stir in.
- Top with the remaining 1 cup of cheese, cover and continue cooking. If you like cheese, feel free to add more on the top.
- When the cheese is melted, the casserole is ready.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
