Archive for the ‘#1 Go-To Recipes’ Category
Tortilla Pizzas
This is a cheater recipe when you want a fast and simple pizza. This is a base recipe for 1 tortilla pizza, no quantities are listed, this is a make as much as you want guide. The use of a microwave makes this quickly with no heating up of your kitchen.
Equipment
- Microwave
Ingredients
- 1 flour tortilla, 8-10 inch size or so
- marinara sauce
- Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
- toppings, of your choice
- Italian seasoning, as desired
Instructions
- Place a tortilla on a microwave safe plate.
- Spread some sauce evenly on the tortilla, keeping about ½ inch from the edge. I also added some smoked, chopped, ham. Amount of sauce (or other topping) is up to you.
- Sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese. Amount of cheese is up to you.
- I added some thick cut pepperoni. Sprinkled the pizza with Italian seasoning (after I took the photo), and cook in the microwave for 1½ minutes. Microwaves can vary, so start with 1 minute first and check to make sure the cheese is melted and gooey.
- Remove from the oven, slice, and serve. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per pizza.
Crab Rangoon Grilled Sandwich
No, this is not a sandwich with the crab and cream cheese wontons grilled between bread, think of the filling grilled between bread 😉 These are delicious! Inspired by a conversation with the recipe author at Spend With Pennies.
Ingredients
- 125 grams Cream cheese, (4 oz)
- 140 grams crab meat, see Step 1, (5 oz)
- 1-2 spring onions, thinly sliced, white and green
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- sliced bread, as needed
- mayo, or butter, as needed
Instructions
- For the crab, you can use canned (drained), fresh picked, or even imitation. If using imitation, just cut each crab stick into 1/4 inch pieces and use your hands to break them apart, very easy.
- Mix up the filling in a bowl, room temp, you want the filling to be good and soft as you are going to spread this on bread. Heat a non stick pan on medium low or low heat.
- Spread some mayo or butter on two slices of bread, place one slice, mayo side down on parchment paper, spread some filling on that slice, be generous, then top with the second slice of bread, mayo side up. Place in the hot pan.
- When the bottom is golden brown, flip and cook the other side until golden brown.
- Remove from pan, cut in half from corner to corner, or best you can with homemade bread, serve.
- Repeat for additional sandwiches.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
The Cream cheese will cost about 60 Baht/125 grams. The imitation crab will cost about 50 Baht/140 grams. (When I buy fresh crab, I will price this once I pick 140 grams.) Figure 3 servings, this is about $1.08 per serving.
Cornmeal Whitefish I
The only time I have eaten fish coated in cornmeal was catfish in Tennessee, and that was years ago. Time to change this I will use shark catfish but it has a whitefish flavor, not at all like catfish. This is make as much as you want recipe, no servings, times, or quantities are listed for this (read that as simple).
Ingredients
- whitefish fillets, figure 1-2 fillets per peron
- all purpose flour
- eggs
- cornmeal
- cayenne pepper
- salt and pepper
- cooking oil
Instructions
- Cut your whitefish fillets in half if you like, easier to manage that way.
- Place 3 shallow bowls on the counter, place some flour in the first bowl, 2-3 eggs in the next bowl and beat them with a fork, then some cornmeal in the last bowl. Add a pinch of cayenne pepper to the flour and the cornmeal.
- Heat a large non stick pan with a good splash of cooking oil. When the oil is hot, dredge each fillet in flour and shake off excess, then in egg and shake off excess, then in cornmeal, the into the hot oil. cook until golden brown on the bottom then turn fillets over and cook until golden brown, remove to paper towels. I am cooking the fish fillets on the right, my wife is cooking wontons on the left.
- When all the fillets are cooked, serve with a vegetable and a salad for a nice meal.
Notes
For the fish, go with about 130 Baht/1 kilo of Pangasius fillets. For 4 servings, this is about 96 cents per serving.
Inspired by seeing cornmeal coated fish photos from a number of good friends.
Chicken Stock (Pressure Cooker)
Instead of taking 3-4 hours to make a chicken stock simmering on the stove top, I am going to use my stove top pressure cooker, only about an hour and makes a more flavorful stock due to the high pressure and temp. If you can get some chicken feet, add those as they are collagen rich. Follow all safety precautions for your pressure cooker.
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 kilos chicken carcasses, see Step 1, (4-4½ lb)
- 2 large onions, diced
- 2 large carrots, diced
- 4-6 stalks import celery, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 4 sprigs flat leaf parsley, optional
- 3 sprigs thyme, optional
- 1 bay leaf, optional
Instructions
- For the carcasses, feel free to chop them down in size a bit to layer them into the pressure cooker. You can use wings, backs, breasts, raw bones, cooked bones, really up to you. Rinsed.
- Add the rinsed carcasses to your pressure cooker. Carcasses at Tesco are legs and wings removed, neck attached, plenty of fat attached, perfect.
- Add all other ingredients and pour in 2 quarts (8 cups) of water to the cooker BUT make sure you do not go above the max fill for your size of cooker, it is ok if a few chicken parts poke above the water.
- Place cooker on high heat until the jiggler is making noise and spinning then reduce the heat to maintain the jiggler moving and making noise. Start your timer now and cook for 30 minutes.
- At the 30 minute mark, turn off the heat and move to an unused burner and let the pressure release naturally, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Once the pressure has released, open the lid, skim off any fat, strain the stock. Use in a recipe after or you can refrigerate the stock for several days.
- This was after a few days in the fridge, the fat solidifies on top, and was skimmed off, ready for use.
Notes
Note about the bones: If using cooked bones, (save cooked bones in a bag in the freezer) give the bones a good hit with a large cleaver to break the bones. If using fresh chicken carcasses from Tesco or a local butcher, simply chop them with a large cleaver into 2-3 pieces.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Lemon Rice (Rice Cooker), made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Rice with Herbes de Provence (Rice Cooker).
- One Pot Chickpeas & Pasta (Pasta e Ceci).
Crab Rangoon
To clear things up, this is not Chinese in origin, this is American, but does sound really good, as I love Cream cheese and crab, but I will use imitation crab for starters, easier to get and lower cost.
Ingredients
- 140 grams canned crab, drained (5 oz), see Step 1
- 125 grams Cream cheese, (4 oz)
- 1 spring onion, thinly sliced, white and green
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 18-20 wonton wrappers
- cooking oil, for frying
Instructions
- For the crab, you can use canned (drained), fresh picked, or even imitation. If using imitation, just cut each crab stick into ¼ inch pieces and use your hands to break them apart, very easy.
- In a small bowl, add the Cream cheese, crab, spring onion, garlic powder, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix until combined.
- Lay out a wonton wrapper, place about 1 teaspoon of filling in the center. Base this on the size of your wontons. The wrappers I use are about 3 inches on each side.
- Wet your finger in a small bowl of water and run it across the 4 edges, need to dip your finger in water a few times doing this.
- Now, pull up two opposite corners and press them together to seal the top,
- Now bring up the other two corners and seal them at the top and press together the 4 seams to seal them as well. Place the wonton on a sheet of parchment.
- Repeat for the remaining wontons.
To Deep Fry
- Heat about 1 to 1½ inches of cooking oil in a large deep pan or a heavy pot. You want the oil hot but not smoking.
- Carefully place the wontons in the hot oil and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, do not overload the pan, until nice and golden brown. Remove wontons to paper towels to drain. Repeat with remaining wontons. My wife is cooking the wontons on the left, I am cooking some fish on the right.
To Bake
- Preheat your oven to 220° C (425° F)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. and arrange wontons in an orderly fashion. Spray with cooking oil, a oil mister would be perfect for this, for folks in the US, feel free to use a cooking spray of your choice.
- Another option is to lightly, and I mean lightly, brush each wonton with oil. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. Keep in mind baked will not be as crispy as the deep fried, but just as good in flavor.
- Serve with dipping sauces of your choice.
- I served these as a side with some fish and long beans I cooked.
Notes
The Cream cheese will cost about 60 Baht/125 grams. The imitation crab will cost about 50 Baht/140 grams. (When I buy fresh crab, I will price this once I pick 140 grams.) Figure 6 servings (3 each 6 people for appetizers), this is about 54 cents per serving.
Basic Chili II
This is a revision to my basic, yet delicious chili, that I have been making for 40+ years. I received a chili mix packet from a good friend in Texas, and I used that spice mix to make a pot of chili yesterday, 2 Feb 2018. The taste is nearly spot on with my basic chili but some of the steps are a bit different so I decided to post a second Basic Chili. I also used red kidney beans I cooked in a pressure cooker to reduce the time. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 1 kilo minced pork, OR ground beef (2 lbs)
- 500 grams red Kidney beans, canned, OR make from a shortcut (1 lb)
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped plus juice
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon chili powder, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, or more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, optional and to taste
- 1/2 small can tomato paste, 220 gram can (8 oz)
- 2 small cans water, plus 1 cup of water
Instructions
- For the beans, you can use canned (drained), make from dry by soaking and simmering, or by soaking and using a pressure cooker. If using dry, use 500 grams dry.
- In a large pot, add the minced pork or ground beef and chop up with a spatula and brown. Drain off most, not all of the fat, the fat adds flavoring. Pork is just starting to cook at this point.
- Add the beans, these were right out of the pressure cooker and drained.
- Add the tomatoes and juice, tomato paste, water, spices and mix. Let chili simmer for about 30 minutes.
- Serve.
Notes
Pork mince is about 85 Baht/kilo. For 6 servings, this is about 42 cents per serving.
Shortcut: Kidney Beans (Pressure Cooker).
Inspired by a packaged chili mix.
Red Kidney Beans (Pressure Cooker)
I use a lot of dry beans as canned is just expensive compared to what you get. 500 grams of dry beans cooked, makes a lot of canned beans for sure. And dry beans are so cheap. And since I recently bought a stove top pressure cooker, I decided to cook my kidney beans in that and this is a guide for me regarding the time needed. Follow your pressure cooker safety instructions at all times. I use a 9 liter (9½ quart) 80 kPa (12 psi) stovetop pressure cooker. I have edited the recipe for cooking with soaked beans and dry beans .
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 500 grams dry kidney beans, (1 lb)
- salt, as needed
- water, as needed
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil, very important
Instructions
For Soaked Beans
- Rinse the kidney beans and remove any bad ones and debris, place in a large bowl and cover with 2 inches of water. Add 2 tablespoons of salt and stir that in. Cover the bowl and let that sit for 6 hours. (These look a bit wrinkly, as I took the photo about an hour after I put them in the water.)
- After 6 hours, drain and rinse the beans and place in your pressure cooker. Add 9 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of salt, and the 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, this keeps the beans from foaming so do not skip the oil.
- Place the lid on the pot, add the weight (jiggler), and bring the heat up to high. When the jiggler starts moving and releasing pressure, start timing this for 8 minutes, and turn the heat down to just maintain the jiggler moving and releasing pressure.
- At 8 minutes, turn off the heat and move the pressure cooker to an unused burner and allow a natural release of pressure. When the pressure is released, open the lid, use beans as needed in other recipes.
- Drained and ready for use in a recipe. (I will be making a pot of chili with these.)
For Dry Beans
- Rinse the dry beans and remove any bad ones and debris, and place in your pressure cooker. Add 12 cups of water, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, this keeps the beans from foaming so do not skip the oil.
- Place the lid on the pot, add the weight, and bring the heat up to high. When the jiggler starts moving and releasing pressure, start timing this for 27 minutes, and turn the heat down to just maintain the jiggler moving and releasing pressure.
- At 27 minutes, turn off the heat and move the pressure cooker to an unused burner and allow a natural release of pressure. When the pressure is released, open the lid, taste, drain, and use beans as needed in other recipes.
Notes
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Deluxe Kidney Bean Salad.
- Marinated Bean Relish.
- Calico Bean Bake.
- Lentil Chili.
- Best-Ever Beans & Sausage, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Easy Taco Soup (Slow Cooker).
- Slow Simmered Kidney Beans (Slow Cooker).
- Three Bean Salad.
- Pasta Fagioli Kidney Bean.
- Taco Soup.
- Kidney Bean Salad, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Slow Cooker Cowboy Casserole.
Hachée with Chicken Hearts
This is a Dutch-Indonesian fusion recipe with chicken hearts and or chicken liver in a broth served over egg noodles. I made this on 25 Jan 2018, absolutely wonderful dish!
Ingredients
- 500 grams chicken hearts, (1 lb)
- 500 grams chicken livers, (1 lb)
- 100 grams dry egg noodles, (3½ oz)
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 5-10 candle nuts, or kemiri paste, optional
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- salt, to taste
- spring onion, chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- If using fresh egg noodles, soak them in hot water. If using dry egg noodles, cook those in a pot of boiling water until tender. Set aside. I used dry Japanese noodles and boiled them.
- Rinse the hearts and livers, trim the top of the hearts as desired. Place only the hearts in a pot and cover with about 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a gentle boil for 10 minutes, skim any foam off that forms on the top of the water. Here the hearts are in first, untrimmed as that is flavor in the fat, I trimmed them after they were removed from the broth.
- Three minutes after the hearts are simmering, add the liver, they take less time to cook. Here the hearts and livers are removed to drain, perfect broth on the right.
- At the 10 minute mark, remove the hearts and livers and drain, set the pot of broth to the side. Cut each heart and liver in half.
- While the hearts and livers are cooking, add the onion, garlic, and candle nuts (if using) to a mortar and pound with a pestle to form a paste.
- In another pot, add the onion mixture from the mortar, saute until a light yellow color, then add the hearts and livers, broth you made, and the coconut milk. Season with a teaspoon of pepper and salt to taste. Simmer until meat is heated through and is piping hot, about 5-7 minutes. I added some chopped spring onion and cilantro as well.
- To serve, place some drained egg noodles in bowl, ladle on the meat and broth, garnish with chopped spring onion and or cilantro. Steamed bok choy would also be a good addition to add as well when serving. Enjoy.
Notes
Chicken liver will cost about 55 Baht/500 grams and hearts will cost about 35 Baht/500 grams. For 4 servings, this is about 66 cents per serving.
Variants: 1. This can be prepared with just hearts, just livers, or a mix of both. 2. A blender can be used in place of a mortar and pestle. 3. Add some chopped spring onion, and or cilantro to the pot after adding the coconut milk. 4. Just saute the onion and garlic, that worked well for me.
Kow Piek Sen (ເຂົ້າ ປຽກ)
This is probably the most popular homemade soup in Laos, and this is a westernized version of. This is from my friend who is Lao, the only part to make it westernized is the use of macaroni instead of the rice noodles. This recipe to make it more available to those in the US, use macaroni unless you are familiar with making rice noodles, this recipe does not cover that. Servings, prep, cook times, and some quantities are approximate until I make this. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, see Step 1
- 10 cups water, more if needed
- 1-2 onions, quartered
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 stalk fresh lemongrass, beaten and tied in a knot
- 300 grams pork balls, (10 oz)
- 1 can quail eggs, drained, or 25 fresh hard boiled, Shortcut
- 1½ cups dry macaroni
For Seasonings
- 1-2 teaspoons chili oil
- 1-2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 1-2 teaspoons soy sauce
- pinch cane sugar
- 3-4 spring onions, sliced
- fresh cilantro, stems and leaves, chopped
For Garnish
- fried garlic
- fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
- spring onion, sliced
Instructions
- You can go with a whole chicken (in Asia, remove the head and feet first if desired), in the US, remove the giblet pack, save those for a snack later. Now you can boil the chicken whole, or you can cut it into the standard pieces or I will just go with two breasts and two quarters (separated), no need for the wings or back.
- In a large pot, add the water, onion, lemongrass, and salt and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, carefully lower in the chicken, using pieces would be much easier than a whole chicken. Return to a gentle boil and cook the chicken through (you are making the broth). Chicken cooking on the left, quail eggs cooking on the right.
- While the chicken is cooking, open and drain the drain the eggs if using canned, or hard boil them if using fresh, shortcut for hard boiled is Recipe Notes. Prep the pork balls by simply slicing each in half. And then measure out the dry macaroni.
- When the chicken is fully cooked, carefully remove the chicken and the lemongrass bundle from the pot. Then add the dry macaroni and let that cook.
- While the macaroni is cooking, use two forks and shred the chicken, removing skin, bones, and any gristle, good snack for your dog.
- When the macaroni is tender, add the chicken, eggs, pork balls, spring onion, and cilantro to the pot, reduce heat to a simmer and use the Seasonings as listed to taste. Let this simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Ladle soup into bowls and use the Garnishes listed as you desire to taste. Serve.
Notes
I will price this when I gather up all the ingredients. I will say Low cost for now.
Shortcut: Perfect Hard Boiled Quail Eggs.
Variants: 1. Use 1-2 Cornish game hens in place of chicken. 2. Omit the eggs or the pork balls, or both.
Easy Taco Pie
This comes from a friend and sounds very good, certainly on my to cook list! Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams ground beef, (1 lb)
- 1 packet taco seasoning mix, OR make from a shortcut
- 3/4 cup water
- 6 eggs, chicken or duck
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
Optional Toppings
- sour cream, OR make from a shortcut
- fresh tomatoes, chopped
- fresh avocado, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F) and grease glass pie dish with butter and set aside.
- Heat a large non stick pan and brown the beef until no pink is visible. Break up the beef as it cooks with the spatula. Just starting with the beef here.
- Add the taco seasoning and water and reduce heat, cook for a few minutes to reduce the liquid and makes a thick sauce.
- Add the beef to the prepared pie dish and spread to make an even layer.
- In a mixing bowl, add the eggs, cream, garlic, salt, and pepper, mix together then pour over the beef. (Yes, I was making two pies.)
- Top with the cheese.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the egg is set and the cheese starting to brown. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
- Serve with toppings of sour cream, chopped tomatoes, chopped avocado, or toppings of your choice. Enjoy.
Notes
Figure about 125 Baht for the beef and about 90 Baht for the cheese. For 6 servings, this is about $1.05 per serving.
Shortcuts: Taco Seasoning Mix, Sour Cream.
Variant: 1. Use ground pork in place of beef.
Recipe provided by good friend, Patty J. Fike, and the original recipe is here.
United States.
United States.