Archive for the ‘#1 Go-To Recipes’ Category
Condensed Tomato Soup
This is used is some recipes here on this site, this is the condensed version, and you can make this from paste to make tomato sauce. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Notes section.
Ingredients
- 1 cup tomato sauce, Shortcut
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Whisk everything together in a mixing bowl. Done, now wasn't that easy?
- If needed to use as an ingredient that states condensed tomato soup, you can use it as needed in the recipe.
- If you want to make soup from this, heat this in a sauce pan with 1 cup of milk and add seasonings of your choice.
Notes
Shortcut: Tomato Sauce.
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
Balsamic Rosemary Chicken Breasts
This is very good! Excellent flavor, juicy, can cut with a fork. Highly recommended and on my Go-To list.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
- 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Make the marinade by whisking together garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, soy sauce, brown sugar, thyme, rosemary, and black pepper in a medium bowl. Pour into a large ziplock bag.
- Rinse the chicken breast and pat dry, add to the ziplock bag, squish the bag around to coat all the chicken, squeeze out the air, seal, and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F). Line a baking sheet with foil and place a rack on the sheet. OR, and highly recommended, fire up your grill.
- Remove the chicken from the marinade and shake off excess, discard marinade. Place chicken on the rack and bake for 10 minutes then turn over and bake for another 10 or until juices run clear. OR grill on the BBQ.
- Let chicken rest for 5 minutes, serve with a side of your choice.
Notes
The chicken might cost 100 Baht, I just bought today, 3 large chicken breasts for 61 Baht. The vinegar will cost about 60 Baht (about half a bottle). For 4 servings, this is about $1.18 per serving.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Stephen Connell.
United States.
United States.
Loco Moco
This is standard in Hawaiian fast food places, this is a simple recipe and it is good. (I thought this would have had SPAM in it being Hawaiian 😉
Ingredients
For the Gravy (or use a gravy packet)
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Worcherstershire sauce
- 2 cups beef stock, fresh or from powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the Patties
- 500 grams ground beef, (1 lb)
- ½ cup onion, finely diced
- salt and pepper, to taste
Other Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 4 cups cooked rice
Instructions
- Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add flour; whisk until mixture becomes a dark brown color, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the Worcestershire sauce and whisk for about 1 minute. Add beef stock and salt, and pepper to taste and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook until sauce is thickened, about 20 minutes.
- While the gravy is thickening, mix the ground beef, onion, salt, and pepper together. Divide the mixture into 4 balls; flatten them into patties. Fry the patties to the desired doneness.
- Fry the eggs sunny side up.
- To plate this, divide the rice between 4 plates, place a burger patty on top of the rice, pour on some gravy, place an egg on top of the burger patty, drizzle a bit of gravy over the egg, serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving, figure about 100 Baht/500 grams of beef. For 4 servings, this is about 74 cents per serving.
Soft Bread (Bread Machine)
This is the name of the bread in my bread machine recipe book, and it is good and spot on! This is my Go-To recipe now for soft white bread. I make this in 1 pound (500 gram loaves) as it is only my wife and me here at the house that eat bread. For this recipe, only in ml measuring cup and a digital scale for weights, very important.
Equipment
- Bread Machine
Ingredients
- 160 ml water
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk powder
- 300 grams all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
Instructions
- Add the ingredients to your bread machine in the order listed or by the manufacturer.
- On the controls, select Soft Bread, White Bread, or Plain Bread or what ever your model states for basic bread, weight 500 g (1 lb), and crust as desired. Press start.
- At the end of the cycle, using kitchen mitts, remove the loaf pan and turn out the loaf to a wire rack to cool. (I took this photo right after making my first loaf of bread in a bread machine, the house smelled wonderful while it was baking. Once I took it out of the pan, cut a few slices, slathered with butter, and my wife and I each devoured a slice!)
Hamburger Buns (Bread Machine)
Let your bread machine do the heavy work, but you will cook these in your oven. I have made these and the taste is perfect, and they are durable, meaning they are not going to fall apart if lots of sauce is used.
Equipment
- Bread Machine
- Oven
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- water, see Step 1
- 1 egg, see Step 1
- 2 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 384 grams all purpose flour, 3 cups if no scale
- 1½ teaspoons instant dry yeast
Instructions
- Crack an egg into a measuring cup and lightly scramble with a fork, then add water to make 1 cup of liquid.
- Pour the egg and water mixture into your bread machine, the add the remaining ingredients in the order listed or as specified by the manufacturer. Set to Dough (or Leavened Dough) and press start. The run time should be around 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes depending on your machine.
- When the bread machine says it is done, using floured hands, turn the dough out onto a floured surface.
- Using a pastry cutter or large knife, cut the dough in half, and cut each half into 3 or 4 pieces, like cutting a pie. 3 for big buns, 4 for smaller buns (which are probably average size buns).
- Take a baking sheet or two and just spread some flour on them, nothing heavy, just rub it around a bit. Now with the dough pieces, use floured hands each in a karate chop position, roll each piece of dough between your hands to make a round ball, no need to pick the ball up to do this, as they are very soft, and are also rising while you do this. Quickly roll each into a round ball and place these on the baking sheet.
- Cover the sheets with a towel and let rise for about 30-40 minutes, or until doubled in size or nearly doubled.
- Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F).
- Mix up 1 egg and a tablespoon of water, just before putting into the oven, lightly brush (do not deflate the dough) with the egg wash, and lightly sprinkle with white sesame seeds if desired.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until rolls turn a golden brown indicating they are done, remove from the oven, cool for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- And another batch with sesame seeds added.
Notes
Additional flour guidance and information provided by good friend, Garland Davis, US Navy Cook (Ret), United States.
Crescent Rolls (Bread Machine)
This makes 16-24 rolls depending on the size you want. Basically this makes two 8 oz containers which are 8 rolls each, however, these are much tastier! Light, fluffy, and buttery, excellent rolls. Highly recommended if you really like crescent rolls, you will not be disappointed. If using this recipe in place of the store bought containers, cut the recipe in half by changing the servings to 8 rolls if your recipe calls for just one 8 oz container. If your recipe calls for two containers, use the recipe as stated.
Equipment
- Bread Machine
- Oven
- Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 1 cup milk, warmed
- ½ cup butter, melted
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 4 cups all purpose flour, (512 grams if using a scale)
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2½ teaspoons instant dry yeast
Instructions
- Place the Ingredients listed in your bread machine in the order listed and choose the dough/raw dough cycle. While the bread machine is doing its thing, about 20 minutes, take out an additional 4-6 tablespoons of butter from the fridge and let soften on the counter in a small bowl, you will use this butter as directed after the dough comes out of the machine.
- After the cycle, remove dough to a floured surface using floured hands. Divide dough in half. Roll out each half into circle. Spread some softened butter onto each circle with a pastry brush and cut each circle into 8 or 12 pie-shaped wedges, depending on the size of roll you want.
- Starting with the wide end, roll up each wedge. Place on baking sheet with the point end down, cover with a cloth and let stand for about 1-2 hours until rolls have doubled in size. About 30 minutes before the end of the rise time, preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F). At this point, take out an additional ¼-½ cup butter and melt that, this will be used when the rolls come out of the oven.
- One batch ready.
- Second batch ready.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown, remove from oven and brush with melted butter. First batch done.
- Second batch done.
- A few got pretty big.
- If using these for another recipe other than rolls, use the dough prior to cutting into wedges and use as the other recipe directs.
Notes
Used in Recipes Listed on this Site:
- Pigs in Blankets, made it, GO-TO recipe.
- Sausage, Egg & Cheese Crescent Rolls, made it.
Sausage Mushroom Pasta
I came up with this after defrosting the freezer in my fridge and sort through what I had frozen and fresh. The King Oyster mushrooms are perfect for this dish as when they cook they maintain their size.
Ingredients
- 190 grams sausage, see Step 1, sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 200 grams King Oyster mushrooms, about 4, sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices
- 3/4 cup dry pasta, macaroni, maccheroni, etc
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- olive oil, as needed
Instructions
- You can use any sausage you have on hand, I used 8 small links, 95 grams each pack, of smoked pepper sausage that turned out very nice. But large smoked sausage or sausage scraps from Makro would work well, as would bratwurst or beerwurst.
- Heat a large non stick skillet with a splash of olive oil, then add the sausage and cook to get some browning going, then add the peppers and mushrooms and reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the peppers are tender yet still crunchy and a bit of browning on the mushrooms.
- While the peppers are cooking, heat a small pot of water to boiling then add the pasta and cook until tender, drain, then add to the skillet and mix together. Then stir in the heavy cream, season with salt and pepper to your liking. Remove from heat, cover for 5 minutes to let everything warm through.
- Serve with a vegetable of your choice for a nice meal.
Notes
I used 2 packages of sausage, 4 links each pack, each pack was 59 Baht. For 4 servings, this is about 87 cents per serving.
My own recipe.
Easy Apple Cobbler
Not only does this sound easy, it is delicious!
Ingredients
For the Apples
- 4 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into pieces
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the Batter
- 1/2 cup butter, melted, this is 1/2 of a standard block
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 cups milk
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 160 C (320 F).
- Peel, core, and chop the apples. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon and mix to coat the apples, set aside.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Pour the melted butter into a 9x13 Pyrex baking dish. If using a 7x11 Pyrex baking dish, pour in about 3/4 of the butter. Move the dish around to coat the bottom, it will look like a lot, no worries.
- Mix the flour and sugar in a large bowl, then whisk in the milk, then whisk in the vanilla and baking powder. Pour the batter into the baking pan and try to cover the butter, there will be a lot of butter around the sides, this is ok. DO NOT STIR.
- Cover this with the prepared apples. DO NOT STIR.
- Bake for 40 minutes, continue for 10 minutes at a time until the edges are browned. Remove from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes before cutting.
- Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping.
Notes
This is low cost and serves a lot of people.
Variant: Use any fresh fruit or berries and just use 1/4 cup white sugar to coat.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Frances Collins.
United States.
United States.
Slow Cooker Cuban Pork
This sounds really good and is a must try for me.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup lime juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 7 cloves garlic, smashed and minced
- 1 onion, sliced thin
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 1/2 kilo pork shoulder, (3 lbs)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, juices, salt, cumin, oregano, red pepper flakes, pepper, and garlic.
- Make slits in the pork with a knife and place the pork in the juice mixture and rub liberally all over with the oil mixture.
- Place pork in the slow cooker, along with the onion and bay leaf. Poor the remaining juices from the bowl over the pork.
- Cover and cook on low for 7 hours, if the meat shreds easily, it is down, if not done, cook another hour and test again. Using two forks, shred into thick chunks in the pot then use a large slotted spoon to serve it with.
- Serve with mashed potatoes with some of the juice spooned over the top.
- Serve in a tortilla with Cheddar cheese.
- Serve with cilantro lime rice and black beans.
Notes
Pork shoulder runs about 100 Baht/kilo, for this recipe this would be 150 Baht for 1 1/2 kilo. For 6 servings, this is about 75 cents per serving, great value.
Variants: 1. Use pork loin in place of the pork shoulder. 2. Use a pork roast in place of the pork shoulder.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Stephen Connell.
United States. Variant 1 tested by Tina Nolan, with excellent results.
United States.
United States. Variant 1 tested by Tina Nolan, with excellent results.
United States.
Green Olive Coleslaw
This is a basic slaw recipe that has green olives and spring onions added. I do not buy anything precut like salad in a bag, so this is made with 3 fresh vegetables, jarred olives, and a homemade sauce, and it is delicious! Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 1 head cabbage, see Step 1
- 1/2 carrot, shredded
- 4 spring onions, sliced, white and green parts
- handful green olives with pimento, sliced
- 1 bowl coleslaw dressing, shortcut is listed below
Instructions
- Cabbage in Thailand is much smaller than what I remember in the US, I bought two, weighed them each was about 450 grams, about a pound, where as cabbage in the states is about 2 pounds per head. I only used one head as this is only for my wife and I.
- To prepare the cabbage, peel off the outer leaves and cut the bottom of the core off, this gives you a clean cabbage before you chop it. Leaves and bottom of the core on the left, nice clean head of cabbage on the right.
- Cut the cabbage in half from top to bottom, then cut each piece in half again so you have four pieces. Take each piece and cut the core out at an angle, then lay a piece down and cut in 1/4 inch slices, then cut the pile cross ways 2 or 3 times, do this for all four pieces and you have shredded cabbage. Place in a large bowl.
- Shred 1/2 the carrot with a box shredder and place that in the large bowl. Slice the spring onion and the olives and place those in the large bowl.
- Prepare the dressing from the shortcut for the coleslaw, shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
- Pour the dressing into the large bowl and mix to coat everything. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to blend the flavors.
- Serve as a side with any main dish.
