Archive for the ‘5 Ingredients or Less’ Category
Pizza Crackers
December 14, 2018 Lee
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Pizza Crackers

How cool do these sound? To me they sound fantastic. No measurements are given for this, this is a make what you want for a quick snack or for appetizers if hosting a party. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
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Course Appetizer
Cuisine American
Servings 0

Ingredients
  

  • butter crackers, Ritz, Magic, Rosi, etc, original or wheat
  • pizza sauce, (Shortcut)
  • pepperoni slices, thin sliced
  • Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your broiler, and for those with counter top ovens, preheat the oven with the top coil at the highest setting. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly spray with olive oil. Do NOT use parchment paper.
  • Place desired number of crackers on the foil.
  • Top crackers with a slice of pepperoni.
  • Top the pepperoni with about 1 teaspoon of pizza sauce.
  • Sprinkle the sauce with a little bit of cheese.
  • Broil for 1-2 minutes, just until the cheese is melted.
  • Serve hot.

Notes

Low cost.
Shortcut: Pizza Sauce.
Variants: 1. These are endless, but here is a few. 2. Use salami instead of pepperoni. 3. Add a thin slice of sauteed mushroom to the pepperoni then top with cheese. 3. Add a thin slice of black olive to the pepperoni then top with cheese. 4. Add a small strip of bell pepper to the pepperoni then top with cheese.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,APPETIZERS / SNACKS
Easy BBQ Beans
December 13, 2018 Lee
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Easy BBQ Beans

This sounds like a great side dish. On my to make list. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Course Side
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 can pork and beans, 15 oz / 425 grams
  • 1/2 cup BBQ sauce, (Shortcut)
  • 1/2 cup onion, diced
  • 1/4 cup green bell pepper, diced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions
 

  • Heat the olive oil in a non stick pan, when hot add the onion and bell pepper, saute until the onion is tender and the bell pepper crunchy.
  • Add the pork and beans and BBQ sauce, stir to combine with the onion and bell pepper.
  • Simmer and stir often until the beans are heated through.
  • Serve as a side dish with any meal.

Notes

Low cost per serving.
Shortcut: Basic BBQ Sauce.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,SIDES
Sauteed King Oyster Mushrooms
December 9, 2018 Lee
2 Comments

Sauteed King Oyster Mushrooms

This is a simple and easy recipe, 4 ingredients, and this is for smaller King Oyster mushrooms, as they are more tender than the larger ones. King Oyster mushrooms have more of a texture than other mushrooms. No servings or quantities or times are given as this is a make with what you have or want to serve as a side dish. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
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Course Side
Cuisine Asian
Servings 0

Ingredients
  

  • King Oyster mushrooms, smaller would be better for this
  • cooking oil, your choice, I use Ghee, (Shortcut)
  • salt and pepper, as desired

Instructions
 

  • Cut of the root end of the mushrooms if not done when purchased and give them a quick rinse. This amount here makes 2 servings. These are the prefect size for this dish.
  • Slice each mushroom lengthwise, about 1/4 inch thick.
  • The smaller ones on the left simple cut in half lengthwise, the ones on the right were cut into 3 slices.
  • Heat about 2 tablespoons of oil of your choice, ghee is highly recommended, in a non stick pan on medium heat. When hot add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
  • Turn the mushrooms after allowing them to cook for a few minutes. The mushrooms will release a little water as well, and the key to nice and tender and juicy mushrooms is to keep oil in the pan, don't let the mushrooms dry out.
  • Turn often, and add a bit of oil as they cook down, edges are starting to brown. Season with additional black pepper if desired.
  • Perfect mushrooms.
  • Serve as a side dish with any meal.

Notes

Low cost per serving.
Shortcut: Homemade Ghee (Slow Cooker).
Variant: 1. Add a few sliced red Bird's Eye chilies with the mushrooms.
Common way to prepare King Oyster mushrooms. No secrets to this.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,: THAI,MUSHROOMS,SIDES
Soup Fixings in a Bag
December 9, 2018 Lee
3 Comments

Soup Fixings in a Bag

This is a Thai thing and throughout Asia, and I am assuming a product like this is available in the US. Many village markets will have the 'fixings' in a bag, you add meat to make broth, add the contents of the bag, and you have a nice soup. Instead of buying the fixings separately, some vendors buy all the various ingredients, assemble the bags, and everything is used. They make stir fry bags the same way. And the beauty of these bags is the price, just 15 Baht (46 cents) or 25 Baht (78 cents) with the egg tofu tube.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Asian, Thai
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 bag soup fixings
  • meat, of choice, pork, chicken, and fish is commonly used
  • broth
  • 1 tube egg tofu, optional (it may or may not be in the bag)
  • salt, as desired, to taste

Instructions
 

The Soup Fixings

  • This is a typical bag of soup fixings. This contains bok choi, carrot, pumpkin, mushrooms (Enoki, Oyster, or Ear Wood), bottle gourd, and winter melon. The ingredients vary by who is putting this together, many folks have their own types of flavors they add which makes soup bags different from village to village, or stall to stall in a market. Many of the bags will also contain a tube of egg tofu, which will increase the price of the bag by 10 Baht.
  • Remove the tube of egg tofu from the soup fixings bag, and add the soup fixings to a colander and give that a quick rinse. To use the egg tofu, slice off one end of the tube and pinch the other end and the tofu will slide right out. Slice the tofu into about 1/2 inch slices, set that aside.

Using Chicken, Pork, or even Sausage

  • For chicken, cut several breasts into cubes or even boneless thighs. For pork ribs, cut the ribs between each bone, for pork shoulder, just cut into cubes. Pork loin may be a bit to lean for a soup. For sausage, just slice into 1/2 - 3/4 inch pieces. Amount is up to you, 250-500 grams (1/2 - 1 lb) is a good choice.
  • Add the meat to a pot and add 1 quart of water and more if needed to cover the meat by an inch or so. Bring the pot to a boil and hold that for about 2-3 minutes.
  • When the water is boiling in the pot, there, you are making the soup broth, see, very easy, then add the rinsed soup fixings but not the tofu. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the carrot is tender and meat of your choice is cooked through.

Using Fish, Shrimp, and or Imitation Crab

  • You can use any boneless skinless whitefish of your choice, cut into bite size pieces. For shrimp, peel, devein, and remove the tails. For imitation crab, just remove the packaging wrappers and cut into 1 inch pieces.
  • Heat about a quart of water to a boil with two broth cubes, either vegetable or mushroom cubes work well.
  • Once the water is at a boil, add the rinsed soup fixings, reduce to a simmer until the carrot is just tender, then add the fish, shrimp, and or imitation crab. Simmer until the fish flakes easily, just a few minutes. This can be served as a main dish as is, with rice on the side, or as a side dish.

Broth or Stock without Meat

  • Simply add about a quart of broth or stock, chicken, pork, vegetable, mushroom, or even bean broth to a pot and bring to a boil.
  • Once the water is at a boil, add the rinsed soup fixings, reduce to a simmer until the carrot is just tender. This can be served as a main dish as is, with rice on the side, or as a side dish.

Notes

Low cost per serving.
Commonly used throughout Thailand and Asia.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,: THAI,SOUPS, STEWS, CHILI
Simple Fried Mackerel
December 8, 2018 Lee
1 Comment

Simple Fried Mackerel

Adapted from an internet recipe.
Mackerel is an oily fish and is delicious without any sauces or special ingredients. This is the classic English way to prepare mackerel fillets with skin on. Three ingredients and about 2-3 minutes of cooking time is all that is needed. Overcooking mackerel will result in dry fish, so we do not want to do that.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 2 minutes
Total Time 7 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine English
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 mackerel fillets, skin on, pin bones removed
  • salt, as desired
  • olive oil, as needed

Instructions
 

  • Here is my mackerel, these come frozen, two fillets to a pack, no bones are removed. First thing I did after this photo was remove the rib bones.
  • Check the fillets and see if the pin bones have been removed, run a finger down the center line of each fillet, you will feel pin bones sticking up. Remove with needle nose pliers or just make an angled cut the length of the fillet, without going through the skin, on each side of the row of bones, then simply remove the strip of bones. Pat the fillets dry with paper towels. To make it easier to handle the fillets, cut each fillet in half crosswise, giving you 4 pieces, if desired.
  • Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, I used ghee, in a non stick pan. When the oil is hot, season the flesh side of the fillets with salt as desired. Place the fillets in the pan skin side down, if the fillets are curling upwards, just use your fingers and hold them down flat for a few seconds to make sure the skin maintains contact with the pan (this ensures nice and tasty skin). Cook for 1-2 minutes depending on the thickness.
  • Once the skin is crispy and golden brown, turn the fillets over and remove the pan from heat, let cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
  • Serve skin side up immediately. Enjoy with sides of your choice.

Notes

I have frozen mackerel fillets in the freezer, don't know what I paid for them, not too much, but I will verify this when I go to Tesco in town again. For now I will say Low cost per serving.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,: ENGLISH,FISH - ALL,Fish - Mackerel
Buckeyes
December 7, 2018 Lee
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Buckeyes

This is a no bake candy similar to a peanut butter cup, and is tasty, very rich but oh so good!
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 40 candies

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 cups peanut butter, creamy or crunch, your choice
  • 1 cup butter, room temp
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • almond bark, or chocolate chips, for dipping

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl, add the peanut butter, butter, and vanilla extract. Use an electric mixer on medium speed and mix until the mixture is fluffy.
  • Mix in the powdered sugar a little at a time, until all the sugar is added and completely mixed in. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for 30-40 minutes to chill. This shows the perfect consistency, when you can form the mixture into a ball. If the mixture will not form into a ball add a little bit more peanut butter, and if the mixture is too wet, add some more powdered sugar.
  • Lightly dust your hands with powdered sugar, prevents the peanut butter mixture from sticking to your hands, then roll the peanut butter mixture into balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil. Place in the fridge for 30-40 minutes to chill.
  • Prepare the chocolate for dipping using your preferred method, microwave or double boiler, you will need enough chocolate, about 10-12 oz so you have enough to coat all the candies.
  • When the chocolate is melted and the peanut butter balls chilled, place a toothpick in each ball and dip in chocolate making sure not to coat the very top where the toothpick is, so it looks like a buckeye. Remove the toothpicks and return the candies to the fridge to chill before serving.
  • Or just coat the whole ball in chocolate.

Notes

Low cost per serving.
Variant: 1. Dip the entire peanut butter ball in chocolate, remove the toothpick, and decorate with candy sprinkles if desired - but then you can't call them Buckeye Candies, so just go with Peanut Butter Candies.
Inspired by Spend With Pennies and the link to this recipe is here.
United States.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,DESSERTS
White Bean Hash
December 3, 2018 Lee
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White Bean Hash

I love white beans, known as Great Northern beans, or you can use Cannelloni or White Kidney beans. This sounds like an excellent dish. You can use canned beans, drained and rinsed, or fresh cooked dry beans (my preference). I look forward to making and tasting this. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Course Breakfast, Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 can Great Northern Beans, drained, rinses, or 1 1/2 cups cooked, (Shortcut)
  • 4 slices bacon
  • 2 leeks, trimmed, sliced, cleaned well, dry on paper towels
  • 4-6 eggs, or as desired
  • butter or bacon fat, if needed

Instructions
 

  • Heat a non stick pan on medium heat, a cast iron pan would be ideal for this but is not required. When the pan is hot, add the bacon and cook until crispy, turning as needed. When cooked, remove to paper towels, leaving the bacon fat in the pan.
  • To the pan, add the leeks, saute for 6-8 minutes or until starting to brown. If you need more fat in the pan, add butter or bacon fat as needed. While the leeks are cooking, chop the bacon.
  • Add the bacon back to the pan along with the beans. Stir and cook for several minutes to heat the beans through until nice and hot.
  • For the eggs, you have several options, you can cook the eggs in a separate pan, or to reduce clean up, just push the beans to the side and cook the eggs in the same pan, or just make some depressions in the beans and crack eggs into those. With the last method, after cracking in the eggs, cover with a lid to cook the eggs, set whites and runny yolk is the goal.
  • Serve and enjoy.

Notes

Low cost per serving.
Shortcut: Great Northern Beans (Pressure Cooker).
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,BREAKFAST (for dinner!),EGGS - ALL,Eggs - Chicken
Fried Golden Pomfret Steaks
December 1, 2018 Lee
1 Comment

Fried Golden Pomfret Steaks

Adapted from an internet recipe.
I have seen these fish, Golden Pomfret, at Tesco in town a few times, did some recipe research and bought two of them yesterday and prepared them for dinner. This was a new type of fish I and my wife have not had before. The recipes I read were everything from simple to more seasonings than you could shake a stick at. I kept it simple. You will learn some fish anatomy with this guide as well. This is an excellent tasting fish but on the costlier side per serving. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Asian
Servings 3 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 whole Golden Pomfret
  • lemon pepper, as desired
  • tempura flour, as needed
  • lard, or cooking oil, for frying, Shortcut

Instructions
 

  • From the store, these were frozen and on display. Two Golden Pomfret, these are ocean fish. First thing we need to do is clean them, and this is easy as they have tiny scales. You can do this in the kitchen sink under running water without making a mess. Rinse the fish off, then take a spoon and scrape from the tail to the head, the skin will be smooth where there is no scales, this takes just a minute or two per fish. After they are scaled, rinse them off one more time.
  • Now we are going to cut each fish into steaks, fishmongers worth their weight in salt will know this as a troncon cut. A troncon cut is a fancy way of saying steak cut or steak fillet cut. First thing, cut off the dorsal fin, the long part of the fin on the back, then cut off the pointy fin on the bottom, the anal fin. Now cut just behind the pectoral fin, the fin on the side, right behind the head, cut straight through at a bit of angle, as shown. Continue to make cuts, about 3/4 inch wide and you should have 5 pieces of 'steaks'. Discard the head and tail. Now remove the innards from the first 2 or pieces, then cut the belly flap straight through. For the 2-3 pieces with the innards, remove the liver from the backbone, for this fish, this is actually easy and it comes out cleanly, discard that. I thought this photo was humorous.
  • Here is what I have from 2 pomfret. This is destined more as a sampler to see what these fish taste like.
  • To cook, all I did was sprinkle lemon pepper on all sides and rub that it.
  • Next was to roll in tempura flour until fully coated.
  • Heat lard or cooking oil, about ¼ to ½ inch in a large pan. When it is hot but not smoking, add some flour coated fish, work in batches. For the last 'steak', lay that on its side and cook that way. When the bottom is nicely browned, use tongs and turn each piece over.
  • When the other sided is browned remove to paper towels to drain.
  • Serve with sides of your choice. Three pieces with sides makes a nice meal for one person, if making these like for a fish fry, think about 1-2 fish per person.

Notes

Fair value per serving. Each fish is 65 Baht, $1.96, each fish weighs 300 to 400 grams (11 to 14 oz). For 3 servings, this is about $1.32 per serving, which is excellent for visiting family that may not be familiar with this type of fish. This will be a once in a while fish for us now.
Shortcut: Lard.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Fair Value $1.01 to $1.50 per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,FISH - ALL,Fish - Pomfret
Lime & Lemongrass Fried Chicken
November 28, 2018 Lee
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Lime & Lemongrass Fried Chicken

This recipe uses a marinade and seasoned flour packet available in Thailand, Lobo brand. This may be available in the US/Canada in Asian markets or through Amazon. This seasoning pack has no added MSG or preservatives, and is very reasonable priced, just under $1 per packet (30 Baht). This has a little heat to it as this does contain Thai chili powder, in the marinade and seasoned flour, but excellent flavor!
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 35 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 packet Lime & Lemongrass Seasoning, Lobo brand
  • 1 kilo chicken pieces, wings, legs, thighs, breasts
  • cooking oil, as needed

Instructions
 

  • Here is what the packet looks like, there is two sections.
  • And separated, there is a serrated line to pull these apart, one for the marinade and one for the flour mixture.
  • Mix the Marinade labeled pouch with 1/4 cup of water in large mixing bowl.
  • Add the chicken and mix them with the marinade, place in the fridge for st least 2 hours, and overnight is preferred. I used 4 thighs that was 1 kilo (2.2 lbs.)
  • When you are ready to cook, open the Flour packet and place in a shallow bowl. Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and coat the chicken pieces well with the flour mixture.
  • Heat cooking oil in a pan or pot, you can deep fry or shallow fry, when the oil is hot but not smoking, add the chicken pieces.
  • Allow to fry until golden brown, about 12 minutes for large pieces, 7 minutes for small pieces. If shallow frying, when golden brown on the brown on the bottom, turn and cook the other side. I shallow fried the thighs, and they were large so I cut the largest one open and had to continue cooking for a few more minutes on each side.
  • Drain on paper towels.
  • Serve with sides of your choice.

Notes

Low cost per serving.
From a seasoning pack in Thailand.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,: THAI,CHICKEN & TURKEY
Dumpling Wrappers
November 15, 2018 Lee
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Dumpling Wrappers

This recipe for Dumpling Wrappers is from China Sichuan Food.
This from a friend in Sichuan, China, and she makes this look easy. This is the traditional way to make these, resulting in each wrapper having a thicker center and a thinner edge. I have a link to her video making the wrappers as well as a filling recipe and the wrapping process, needless to say, she is a pro at this. So here is her recipe, and feel free to watch the video for further guidance. The use of a digital scale is very helpful and highly recommended when making this.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours
Cuisine Chinese
Servings 60 wrappers

Ingredients
  

  • 420 grams all purpose flour, plus more for dusting, (3 cups)
  • 210-220 ml water, see Step 1, (pinch under 3/4 cup, to a pinch over 3/4 cup)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions
 

  • For the water, if you are going to make water boiled dumplings, use cold water. If you are going to make steamed dumplings (pot stickers), use boiling water.
  • In a large mixing bowl, add the flour and salt and mix together, make a well in the center and stir the water in using a heavy spoon or a pair of mixing chop sticks. Use the minimum amount of water at first, mix until the dough forms into a ball.
  • Lightly flour your work surface and turn the ball of dough out onto that. Knead for 8-10 minutes until the dough is almost smooth.
  • Oil a mixing bowl, place the ball in the bowl and move and turn the ball to coat the ball with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 15 minutes. Turn the dough out onto your lightly floured work surface, knead the dough for 2-3 minutes to get a smooth dough. Place the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover and let rest for 1 hour.
  • Take the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface, flatten ball and using your thumbs poke a hole through the center, and shape the 'doughnut' into a large circle.
  • Cut the circle in half, so you have two equal length 'logs'.
  • Roll each log to make a uniform size log, 3 cm in diameter (about 1 1/8 inch diameter). Now this is where a digital scale would come in real handy, cut a piece of the log off, say 1/2 inch, weigh it, you are looking for about 10 grams (0.35 oz), adjust the size of the cut you made and go with that. Cut the log into the sizes you determined (no need to weigh each piece, just weigh the first and 'guestimate' the remaining pieces. Lightly dust the pieces to keep them from sticking together.
  • Lightly dust the work surface again. Now, take one piece of dough and press it into a round disc, (now this is where some skill comes into play), using a rolling pin in one hand (just the solid wood one) and the dough in the other hand, rotate the wrapper after a roll, the wrapper should now be round, about 3 1/4 to just under 4 inches in diameter. If you are new to this, make 3-4 to gen the hang of it. Cover the wrappers with towel as you continue.
  • Ideally, two people would be perfect for this, one to roll and on to fill the dumplings.
  • After making your dumplings of choice, if you have left over wrappers, lightly dust each side with flour, stack, and place in an airtight bag and place in the freezer. To use again, just thaw at room temp for about 30 minutes until they are soft and use again.

Notes

Low cost.
And highly recommended to see this in a video, and skill, here is her video for Dumpling Wrappers (this skill is most impressive!)
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,5 Ingredients or Less,: CHINESE