Archive for the ‘#1 Go-To Recipes’ Category
Fresh Long Beans (Pressure Cooker)
When I say long beans, I mean green beans, taste the same, can be a bit tough depending how old/long they are, and can be 1 to 3 feet long. Highly recommended by a good friend to cook these in a pressure cooker for some amazing beans, and they are! I made these on 7 Feb 2018, and this will be the only way I prepare them from now on. Follow all safety requirements for your pressure cooker.
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh long beans, cut into 1 inch pieces (about 12 beans)
- 3-5 slices smoked bacon, cut into ½ inch slices
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2½ cups water
Instructions
- For viewers in Asia, these are common in stores and markets, for viewers in the US and Canada, you may be able to find these at Asian markets. The longest beans in these two bundles is 21 inches. I only used 12 beans in this recipe, so 12 is a good number for 4 to 6 servings as a side dish.
- Place everything into your slow cooker and give it a stir to mix everything up.
- Place on and lock the lid, heat over high heat to bring cooker up to pressure, then reduce heat to maintain full pressure. Once at full pressure and the jiggler is making noise and moving, start timing for 3 to 4 minutes (even 5 minutes if you like really soft green beans).
- When the time is up, turn off and move the cooker to an unused burner to cool for a natural release of pressure, about 10-15 minutes.
- When it is safe with your pressure indicating zero pressure, remove the lid, drain the beans, put beans in a serving bowl, serve as a side dish.
- Served as a side dish with fish.
Notes
Variant: 1. Add some pork, beef, or chicken broth powder to the beans, about ½ tablespoon, excellent flavor.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
Cinnamon Roll Bread
Excellent flavor! And is a no yeast recipe. I made this on 31 Jan 2018, perfect.
Ingredients
For the Bread
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg, room temp, chicken or duck
- 1 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons plain Greek yogurt, or sour cream
For the Topping
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons water
For the Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F) and lightly butter a bread pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the Bread dry ingredients. In a small bowl, mix together the Bread wet ingredients.
- Pour the wet into the dry and mix with a heavy spoon, no need for an electric mixer, easily done with a spoon.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bread pan.
- In a small bowl, mix together the Topping ingredients. Use a spoon to sprinkle the mixture over the bread batter.
- Use a knife to make swirls through the batter to mix it in, about 1/3 deep into the batter.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, use the toothpick method to check for done. Insert a toothpick in the center and when it comes out clean, the bread is done.
- When the bread is done, remove from the oven, let cool for 15 minutes, then roll out of the pan to a rack to cool completely.
- While the bread is cooling, make the glaze using the powdered sugar and adding just a teaspoon of milk at a time to obtain the consistency you prefer.
- When the bread is completely cooled, pour the glaze over the top.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Variant: 1. Add chopped walnuts and or raisins to taste to the batter before pouring into the bread pan, maybe some chopped walnuts on the top after you swirl in the topping.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Variant provided by Sheila Olson.
United States.
United States.
Peanut Butter Cookies II
This is a no flour and a 3 or 4 ingredient recipe. I did use the brown sugar in addition to the white sugar, so 4 ingredients used, and I made Peanut Butter Blossoms with these, tasty.
Ingredients
For Classic Peanut Butter Cookies
- 1 cup peanut butter, honey roasted if you have that
- 1 cup sugar, or 1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 egg, chicken or duck
Needed for Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Hershey's Kisses, as needed, one per cookie
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.
- In a mixing bowl, mix together everything until well combined. Place a few tablespoons of additional sugar in a separate small bowl.
- Scoop out by teaspoons and roll into balls, roll balls in sugar and place on the parchment or foil.
For Classic Peanut Butter Cookies
- Dip a fork into the bowl with the sugar and press each cookie down to make the classic crosswise fork pattern, dipping the fork in the sugar for each cookie.
For Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Remove the foil from Hershey Kisses as needed. Just bake the ball shapes, do not flatten. After removing from the oven, place a Hershey's Kiss on each cookie pressing it in slightly.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, aim is just until golden brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and let the sheet cool for 5 minutes, then remove the cookies to a rack to cool.
- Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost.
Variants: 1. Mix in chocolate chips. 2. To make peanut butter blossoms, place a Hershey's kiss on top of each cookie right when they come out of the oven.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Pinto Bean & Ground Beef Stew (Pressure Cooker)
I found this recipe yesterday, had everything on hand, tested out by the family, this is overwhelmingly tasty!!! This is for a stove top pressure cooker. Counting on the natural pressure release, you can have this on the table is under an hour. You can cook the beef and other prep while the pressure cooker is doing its thing. Follow all safety precautions for your model of pressure. This can also be prepared on the stove top using canned ingredients.
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry Pinto beans, sorted and rinsed
- cooking oil, as stated in instructions
- 4 cups water
- 500 grams lean ground beef, (1 lb)
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano, Mexican oregano if you have that
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon dried cilantro
- 2 cups chicken stock, fresh or from powder
- 1 cup liquid, from cooked beans
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
- ½ cup spring onions, sliced, white and green
- ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
For Stove Top using Canned Items, change only:
- 1-2 cans ground pork, (1½ lb can)
- 3 cans Pinto beans, (15 oz cans)
Instructions
- Add the rinsed and sorted beans to your pressure cooker, add the 4 cups of water, and 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, the oil is to prevent the beans from foaming. Depending on your size of pressure cooker, do not fill more than halfway.
- Place the lid on the cooker and lock closed. Place on high heat until the pressure cooker comes to full pressure, meaning the jiggler is moving and making some noise, this is when you start timing. Turn the heat to low but maintain full pressure. Time the beans for 22 to 27 minutes depending on if like them firm or softer. (I time for 25 minutes.)
- While the beans are cooking, heat a non stick skillet and cook the ground beef until cooked through, drain the beef well and set aside. Photo shows the beef cooking while the pressure cooker is working on the beans.
- Same pan, heat a splash of oil and cook the onion until starting to turn brown, then add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes,
- Then add the oregano, cumin, and dried cilantro and cook for about 2 minutes more. Set aside.
- I added a variant, I used a handful of Shiitake mushrooms, photo shows before I removed the stems and chopped them.
- Saute the chopped mushrooms until starting to brown up. Set aside.
- After the time is up on the pressure cooker, turn off the heat and move to another unused burned. Allow the cooker to release pressure normally, about 10-15 minutes.
- When the pressure is fully released, open and ladle out 1 cup of liquid, set that liquid aside, drain the beans in a colander and rinse well and return the beans and the 1 cup of liquid from the beans, tomato paste, and diced tomatoes with liquid, the cooked beef, onion mixture, and mushrooms if using, to the cooker.
- Close and lock the pressure cooker lid and bring to high pressure and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let pressure release naturally, about 10-15 minutes.
- When it is safe to open, remove the lid and stir in the spring onion and most, not all, of the fresh cilantro, and lime juice. Return to heat without the cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.
- Serve and sprinkle the remaining cilantro on each bowl for garnish.
For Stove Top using Canned Items
- Drain the canned ground pork. Open the beans, retain 1 cup of juice from the beans then drain and discard the rest of the juice.
- In a pot, heat a tablespoon of olive oil, when hot, add the onion, saute until just starting to brown, then add the garlic, saute for another minute.
- Add the pork and break up and heat through. Add the cumin, dried cilantro, and dried oregano. Mix with the pork and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Add the beans, the reserved 1 cup of bean juice, chicken stock, tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes. Heat and simmer for 1 hour or so until the liquid level is to your liking. About 10 minutes before serving, stir in the chopped cilantro, lime juice, and spring onion.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
The beef will cost about 120 Baht for 500 grams. For 6 servings, this is about 88 cents per serving.
Variants: 1. Sauté a handful of chopped mushrooms and add to the cooker after adding the beef and onion. 2. Use mushroom stock instead of chicken stock. 3. Replace the cilantro with chopped celery tops or parsley. 4. Serve with saltines or oyster crackers. 5. Use ground pork, fresh or canned, in place of ground beef. 6. Add ½ can of tomato sauce in place of the tomato paste. 7. Top a serving with shredded Cheddar cheese (highly recommended).
Bleu Cheese Salad Dressing II
This is from a good American friend, Brian, who lives in northeastern Thailand, and he makes this often. Brian's words "In keeping with the spirit of simple and inexpensive recipes, here's my version of Bleu Cheese dressing." I know Brian well, if he provides a recipe or shortcut to my site, he makes it often, and it will be good. I made this on 7 Dec 2018, and it is nothing short of perfect!
Ingredients
- 100 grams Bleu cheese, (4 oz)
- 1 cup mayo
- 1 cup whipping cream, or sour cream, buttermilk, or plain milk
- 1 teaspoon Worcherstershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar, or white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, or white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives, finely chopped, or spring onion greens
- salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- First thing with the cheese, place that in the freezer for 1-2 hours. Feel free to add a bit more if you like.
- When you are ready to start, and the cheese is good and firm, in a mixing bowl, combine the mayo and whipping cream.
- Finely grate the cheese, the finer the cheese, the flavor develops more. If desired, reserve some of the cheese to crumble in to make a chunky dressing. I used the fine holes on my box shredder, this gives perfect fine and crumbled at the same time. The cheese is Emborg Danablu from Denmark (I don't skimp on good quality cheese).
- Add the cheese to the milk and cream mixture, then mix in the remaining ingredients. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
- Cover and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours before use. The longer it chills, the better the flavors blend together. Use on your favorite green salad. Enjoy.
Basic Streusel Coffee Cake
I used to make this type of coffee cake when I was little and learning to cook. This sounds pretty close to what I made, and I tested this out on 2 Jan 2018 and yep, this is really close to what I made, it is excellent. Now there is a story to the photos, the photo of the batter in the pan with the topping before the oven, picture perfect, after I put it in the oven, about 10 minutes later, I realized I had not opened my new bottle of baking powder! Since this cake was for my mother in law's birthday, removed the pan from the oven, scraped out the contents for the compost pile and let the pan cool while I prepared a new batter and topping mix. As I was making the batter, my wife walks through the kitchen and says, mother in law likes very little sugar, so go easy on the topping. The second cake is the cooked photo, with little topping. Mother in law took one bite, instant thumbs up from her!
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 egg, beaten, chicken or duck
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup milk
For the Topping
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon all purpose flour
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 190 C (375 F), grease a 9x9 baking dish with butter.
- Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mix together the egg, oil, and milk. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix well to combine. (I just used two separate bowls, one for batter, one for topping.)
- Pour batter into the prepared baking dish and spread out evenly.
- Now using the bowl the flour mixture was in, add the Topping ingredients and mix together. Sprinkle the topping over the batter.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. (I used the toothpick method, when it came out clean, done.)
Notes
Low cost.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Pinto Beans (Pressure Cooker)
This recipe is for soaked as well as unsoaked beans. I used a stove top pressure cooker to make these on 28 Dec 2017, and I must say, the most flavorful pinto beans, I have ever eaten! No seasonings added, just beans, cooking oil, and water. I cooked the soaked beans on 20 Mar 2022, time is verified and delicious beans! Plus I took some photos. Follow all safety precautions for your pressure cooker.
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry Pinto beans
- 4 cups water
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
Instructions
- Rinse and drain the beans, remove any bad beans or debris.
For UNSOAKED Beans
- Add beans, water, and oil to your pressure cooker. Depending on the size of your pressure cooker, do not fill more than the halfway mark. Cover and lock the lid and turn on heat to high.
- When the jiggler starts making noise, indicating full pressure, reduce heat to maintain full pressure, start timing. 25 minutes if you like firm beans, and as long as 27 minutes for softer beans.
- Turn off the heat and move the cooker to an unused burner and do a natural release of pressure, just let the cooker sit until the lid lock drops indication no pressure. Carefully remove the jiggler keeping the top of the lid pointed away from you. When satisfied there is no pressure inside the cooker, unlock and remove the lid.
- Drain the beans and serve as a side dish or as an ingredient in another recipe.
For SOAKED Beans
- Add rinsed beans to a bowl and cover with 2 inches or so of water, let sit for at least 6 hours or overnight. For those readers in the tropics (myself included), place the beans in the fridge if soaking overnight or they may ferment on the counter top. I normally soak beans 6 hours then carry on with the recipe.
- Drain and rinse the beans. Add the beans, water, and oil to your pressure cooker. Depending on the size of your pressure cooker, do not fill more than the halfway mark. Cover and lock the lid and turn on heat to high.
- When the jiggler starts making noise, indicating full pressure, reduce heat to maintain full pressure, start timing. 25 minutes if you like firm beans, and as long as 27 minutes for softer beans.
- Turn off the heat and move the cooker to an unused burner and do a natural release of pressure, just let the cooker sit until the lid lock drops indication no pressure. Carefully remove the jiggler keeping the top of the lid pointed away from you. When satisfied there is no pressure inside the cooker, unlock and remove the lid.
- Drain the beans and serve as a side dish or as an ingredient in another recipe.
Notes
For a recipes that call can(s) (15 oz size) of beans, use a heaping half cup of dry beans for each can.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Durango Chili.
- Beer-braised Chili.
- Bock BBQ Bean Salad.
- Pinto Bean Salsa Salad.
- Pinto Bean Salad.
- Best-Ever Beans & Sausage, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Salmon & Three Bean Salad.
- Dorito Taco Salad, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Cowboy Soup.
- Cajun Pinto Beans, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Taco Soup.
- Beef & Bean Casserole.
Dill Pickle Dip
This recipe is from a friend, and it is excellent! On my Go-To list now!
Ingredients
- 500 grams Cream cheese, softened, two standard blocks, (16 oz)
- 500 grams dill pickles, chopped, OR make from a shortcut, (16 oz)
- splash pickle juice, to taste
- 250 grams thin sliced beef, chopped, (9 oz)
Instructions
- Mix together the cream cheese and beef.
- Mix in the pickles and juice, cover and place in the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours.
- Serve with crackers.
Notes
I will price this when I make it to determine how many servings. I will say fair cost right now.
Shortcut: Quick Fridge Dill Pickles.
Variants: 1. Substitute thin sliced ham, smoked ham, or turkey for the beef. 2. Serve on toast. 3. Use as a filling in a sandwich (I can see myself doing that).
Recipe and photo provided by good friend, Amy Weckerly Shanks, and the original recipe is here.
Make Ahead Greek Pasta Salad
This is a make the day before you serve salad, or at a minimum, prepare in the morning for serving with the evening meal, the flavors need time to blend. I made this on 26 Dec 2017, tasted 6 hours later for dinner, outstanding, very well liked by my Thai wife as well.
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 1-1 1/4 cups dry maccheroni pasta, macaroni, or spiral pasta
- 3 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced, button, white Shimeji, Shiitake is ok
- 15 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup red bell pepper, sliced
- 1/2 cup spring onions, sliced thick
- 1/2 can pitted black olives, halved
- 3/4 cup Pepperoni, cut into strips
- 3/4 cup Feta cheese, crumbled
For the Dressing
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- Heat a pot of salted water to boiling, add the pasta and cook until tender, drain well.
- While the pasta is cooking, mix together the Dressing ingredients in a good sized mixing bowl.
- After the pasta is well drained and cooled a bit, add it to the dressing along with the rest of the Salad ingredients except the cheese. Toss well to coat everything.
- Now add the cheese and fold that, then cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
- Serve as a side, or in my opinion, as a main dish as that is what I will probably do.
Notes
I cannot price pepperoni at this time, I used a 150 gram pack of smoked ham for 90 Baht. For the Feta, that is 150 Baht for 275 grams, use half the package (75 Baht), cut the block in half and crumble that for right about a cup. Based on the Feta and smoked ham, for 4 servings, this is about $1.22 per serving.
Variants: 1. In place of pepperoni, use thin sliced smoked ham. 2. Use what you have, like a whole bell pepper instead of cup, or a package of pepperoni or smoked ham, like a cup or so, etc.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Crock Pot Chicken Adobo
Now I am not a fan of adobo, in the Navy, on the 4 ships I served on, adobo was on the menu every week, sometimes twice a week, and sometimes twice a day. This is the first adobo recipe on my site, and I will try this as well, as it has been many years since I have eaten adobo. Edited on 9 May 2018 to include peppercorns and bay leaves. I made this on 9 May 2018, and I was pleasantly surprised, very delicious.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker (3½+ quart)
Ingredients
- 750 grams chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, (1½ lb)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 8 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup vhite vinegar
- ¾ cup soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
Instructions
- Add the soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, onion, peppercorns, and bay leaves to your slow cooker.
- Slice the chicken into 1 to 1½ inch pieces, add to the slow cooker and mix to coat all the chicken. (This photo shows I used the Variant and went with skinless, bone in, fat trimmed, whole thighs.)
- Cover and turn on your slow cooker to the Low setting for 5 to 6 hours. Check for tenderness and doneness at the 5 hour mark.
- To thicken the sauce slightly, 30 minutes before serving, set the slow cooker to the High setting, stir, and leave the cover tilted to allow some of the liquid to evaporate.
- Remove the bay leaves, serve with rice.
Notes
Figure about 60 Baht for the chicken. For 6 servings, this is about 30 cents per serving.
Variant: 1. Use whole bone in, skinless, fat trimmed, thighs in place of boneless thighs.