Archive for the ‘* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving’ Category
Chicken Patties
January 7, 2016 Lee
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Chicken Patties

These sound excellent and I will be making these soon! I love a good chicken patty burger.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 500 grams ground chicken
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup breadcrumbs
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, OR to taste
  • 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. If you do not have an oven, this is not a show stopper! Just keep reading.
  • Place the flour, whisked eggs, and breadcrumbs into three separate bowls.
  • In a large bowl, mix together the ground chicken, salt, and Parmesan cheese.
  • Roll chicken mixture into 4 or 5 equally sized balls and then flatten with your hands.
  • Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium to medium-low heat.
  • Dip each patty into the flour, then eggs, then breadcrumbs. Repeat until all five are coated evenly. Add all patties to the pan and cook for about 2 minutes on each side.
  • When each side is golden brown, place them onto a baking sheet and bake for approximately 8 minutes (or until fully cooked through the middle). OR, just continue to pan fry at a lower temp, an additional 3-4 minutes each side.
  • Remove from oven and place onto paper towels to help soak up the excess oil.
  • Serve on a bun, top with Cheddar cheese and a thick slice of tomato, use mayo as the dressing.

Notes

500 grams of ground chicken, since I do not have that available here, is a guess, depending on if it is white meat or dark meat or a combination of both, 500 grams would be 45 Baht, for 4-5 servings this is easily under $1 per meal per person, even if served with a green vegetable or corn on the cob.
Recipe adapted from Real Fit Real Food Mom. Author, LeAnn.
United States
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,CHICKEN & TURKEY
Sesame Mint Spread
January 7, 2016 Lee
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Sesame Mint Spread

An inexpensive appetizer with loads of possibilities! This makes just under 1 cup but goes a long ways.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Vegetarian
Servings 1 cup, just less than

Ingredients
  

  • 100 grams white sesame seeds
  • 1 bag fresh mint, about 2 palms worth of leaves
  • olive oil
  • pinch sea salt

Instructions
 

  • Dry blend the sesame seeds in the small jar attachment that comes with most blenders. You'll likely have to tap it a few times during the process. The blending time is a judgement call.
  • Tear up a bunch of mint leaves and include a few stems and add some olive oil to the blender jar. Blend again. Keep adding olive oil until you get the consistency that you desire.
  • Add a bit of sea salt and stir. Done.
  • Spread some of this on a thick slice of tomato and garnish with a cube or sliver of bell pepper. Yellow Bell peppers work nicely with this. Green olives on the side.

Notes

17 Baht for 100 grams of white sesame seeds, 10 Baht for a respectable size bag of mint, this is more than reasonable.

This would go nicely on a cracker with a slice of tomato and a slice of cheese. This would also go nicely on pasta too... especially cold pasta.

Provided courtesy of good friend, Dave Williams.
Thailand.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,APPETIZERS / SNACKS
Chicken Wings & Basil
January 7, 2016 Lee
2 Comments

Chicken Wings & Basil

This is a quick and easy meal and you can make it as spicy as you wish. This is written exactly how I just seen my seen my wife make this. Most Thais do not use a recipe and even more rare is measuring anything. Serve over rice and you have a easy lunch or dinner.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine Thai
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 250 grams chicken wing drumets
  • 4-5 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
  • 20-30 Bird's Eye Chilis
  • pinch salt, to taste
  • pinch powdered chicken stock
  • handful Thai Basil, also know as hot basil, stems removed

Instructions
 

  • Take the chicken wing drumets and cut each in half with a cleaver.
  • Pinch off the stem end if you wish and place chilis in a mortar, light smash the chilis just a few times, you are NOT making chili paste, just light smashed chilis.
  • Heat a non-stick pan to medium heat and add the chicken pieces, chilis, garlic, pinch of salt to taste, pinch of chicken stock powder. Add a bit of water, maybe 2 tablespoons, and stir everything together and let it simmer until chicken is cooked through, maybe 10 minutes, most of the water should be cook off at this point.
  • Add the basil and stir together, cook for about 2-3 minutes until the basil is good and wilted. Serve over rice.

Notes

Chicken wing drumets (also called chicken wing sticks) runs about 80 Baht/kilo, this dish would cost about 40 Baht, well under $1 per person per meal, easily 4 meals.
The basil and chilis come fresh from our yard.
Provided courtesy of my wife, Rrayada Thayer.
Thailand.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,: THAI,CHICKEN & TURKEY
Stuffed Jalapeno Peppers
January 3, 2016 Lee
5 Comments

Stuffed Jalapeno Peppers

I could not get my jalapeno plants going in Thailand so I made this in the US on 31 May 2020, and used Cheddar with the cream cheese. I only used 5 peppers as a trial run and I will say these are excellent peppers! I will certainly try to grow these peppers again.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Appetizer, Side
Cuisine Tex-Mex
Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 can whole pickled jalapeno peppers, about 12 peppers
  • 250 grams Cream cheese, softened, (8 oz)
  • 1 cup Jarlsburg cheese, shredded, OR Swiss or Cheddar cheese
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 cup spring onion, thinly sliced

Instructions
 

  • Using a small sharp knife, cut a slit down one side of each pepper. Leaving the stem intact, remove the seeds and veins. I used a teaspoon to remove the seeds. For my trial run, I used 5 peppers from the can.
  • In a bowl, mix together everything except the peppers to make the cheese filling.
  • Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F) and line a baking sheet with foil.
  • Stuff each pepper with the cheese filling. I used two teaspoons and found this rather easy, scoop a little filling with one spoon, and push it off a little at a time to fill each pepper. Place peppers on the prepared baking sheet.
  • Bake for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted. Serve and enjoy.

Notes

Well under $1 per serving in the US. In Thailand, I still have not found jalapeno peppers in a store, and I have been unsuccessful trying to grow them but I will be trying again real soon.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Craig Hohnstein.
United States.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,APPETIZERS / SNACKS,SIDES
Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole I
January 2, 2016 Lee
5 Comments

Slow Cooker Breakfast Casserole I

Adapted from an internet recipe.
This is another recipe where everything was processed, I changed it up here to reflect fresh ingredients. I made this on 29 Sep 2016 using diced ham in place of the bacon, and this is very good and highly recommended! Now since all slow cookers are different, this one you need to keep an eye on regarding the time then you can make adjustments based on your particular slow cooker. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 7 hours
Total Time 7 hours 10 minutes
Course Breakfast, Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings

Equipment

  • Slow Cooker

Ingredients
  

  • 4-6 potatoes, washed, skin on
  • 250 grams Cheddar cheese, shredded, (8 oz)
  • 500 grams cooked bacon, see Step 1, (1 lb)
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1 green bell pepper, diced
  • 12 eggs
  • 1 cup, milk

Instructions
 

  • For any meat used, it needs to be cooked first. Good choices would be cubed chicken, minced Italian sausage, minced or sliced breakfast sausage, or diced ham, or any combination.
  • For your hash browns, wash, peel if you desire, then grate. Take the shredded potatoes and rinse them in cold water, and really squeeze them to get the water out, do this 3-4 times until the water is clear, this removes the starch, then your potatoes are ready. This photo shows the potatoes, bell peppers, onion, and ham ready. Only about ¾ of the potatoes were used.
  • Now with your slow cooker, add this in layers, in this order: half the hash browns, half the bacon or meat of your choice or omit, half the onions, half the bell pepper, and half the cheese.
  • Now add the remaining hash browns, remaining bacon or meat of choice, remaining onion, remaining bell pepper, and the cheese. If you like cheese, you know what to do. When you get done adding everything, it will look like this.
  • In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk, pour this over the contents of the slow cooker, add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Cook on low for 8 hours. IF YOU HAVE NOT MADE THIS BEFORE IN YOUR SLOW COOKER, THIS IS WHERE YOU NEED TO WATCH THE TIME NEEDED. SO PLAN ON THIS FOR A DINNER FIRST BEFORE YOU COOK OVER NIGHT FOR A BREAKFAST. AT THE 4 HOUR MARK, INSERT A BUTTER KNIFE IN THE MIDDLE AND PULL OUT, IF CLEAN, THE EGGS ARE SET AND IT IS DONE, IF RUNNY EGGS, YOU NEED TO COOK MORE, ADJUST YOUR TIME AS NEEDED. I was hungry so I took two scoops out of the pot before I thought of taking the photo when the dish is done.
  • Variations, you can figure this out as well, whatever you like in an omelet can go in here, think mushrooms, tomatoes, Swiss cheese, chilis, asparagus, etc. Serve with some toast and you have a meal.
  • Two scoops in my bowl, ready for dinner. The peppers and onion are crunchy, excellent flavor overall.

Notes

Nothing expensive here, this is easily under $1.00 per person.
Shortcuts: Sausage, Breakfast Sausage.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,BREAKFAST (for dinner!),Eggs - Slow Cooker
Creamy Italian Chicken
January 2, 2016 Lee
4 Comments

Creamy Italian Chicken

This is an excellent recipe, the sauce is very nice and creamy, the chicken is tender and juicy. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 5 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 4-6 chicken breasts, skinless, boneless, cut in half
  • 1 packet dry Italian salad dressing mix, OR make from a shortcut
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 250 grams Cream cheese, softened
  • 1-2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup, OR make from a shortcut
  • handful fresh mushrooms, think Tesco variety pack, chopped
  • cooked rice or pasta, to serve

Instructions
 

  • Place the chicken breast halves in the slow cooker. Combine the Italian dressing mix and water until smooth, pour over top of chicken. Cover and cook on Low setting for 3 hours. NOTE: since there is very little liquid during this step, it is important to not remove the lid for the 3 hours of cooking, the lid holds in the steam and heat.
  • Remove chicken to a plate, mix soup and cream cheese in the slow cooker along with liquid in the pot, then mix in mushrooms, add chicken back to the pot and spoon mixture over chicken pieces to make sure they are covered. Cover and cook 2-3 more hours on Low setting or until chicken is cooked through. NOTE about the soup: If using only 4 chicken breast OR 4 thighs, use only 1 can of soup. If using 5-6 breasts or 5-6 thighs, use 2 cans of soup, all other ingredients remain the same.
  • Serve over rice or pasta.

Notes

Chicken breasts run about 88 Baht/kilo, and if you make the Italian seasoning mix and soup from shortcuts listed on this site, this is easily under $1.00 per person. If you use thighs, which would be ideal, the cost is even lower with thighs at about 65 Baht/kilo.
Shortcuts: Italian Dressing, Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,Chicken - Slow Cooker
Grilled Chicken Thighs Tandoori
December 31, 2015 Lee
5 Comments

Grilled Chicken Thighs Tandoori

Takes time to marinate the chicken but well worth it. This recipe is written as it was posted, so unless feeding a large group of folks, I think cutting back on the chicken thighs but keeping all the rest as written, would work fine. Inexpensive meal! I made this on 12 Nov 2016, well worth the time to marinate! I took some step by step photos and my report is in the comments section.
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Prep Time 1 day
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 day 45 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Indian
Servings 8 people

Ingredients
  

  • 16 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in
  • 2 containers plain yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
  • 6 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
  • 4 teaspoons paprika
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin, see note on this
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, see note on this
  • 2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • olive oil

Instructions
 

  • In a medium bowl, stir together yogurt, and all spices listed. Set aside. All the spices added on top of the yogurt.
  • Everything mixed.
  • Rinse chicken under cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Place chicken in a large resealable plastic bag. Pour yogurt mixture over chicken, press air out of bag, and seal. Turn the bag over several times to distribute marinade. Place bag in a bowl, and refrigerate 8 hours, or overnight, turning bag occasionally.
  • Get your outdoor grill fired up for direct medium heat.
  • Remove chicken from bag, and discard marinade. Scrape off excess marinade with a spoon, using a brush, lightly coat each side of the chicken with olive oil.
  • Place chicken on the grill over direct heat, and cook about 2 minutes. Turn, and cook 2 minutes more. Then arrange the chicken to receive indirect heat, and cook approximately 35 to 40 minutes, turning occasionally, to an internal temperature of 82 C. Serve with grilled corn on the cob and grilled potatoes for a meal.
  • Removed from the grill.
  • Dinner!

Notes

Note about the cinnamon and cloves, you can replace these two items with 1 tablespoon of Garam Masala and add 2 tablespoons of lime juice, if you choose.
Feel free to use just thighs, or legs and thighs, or quarters. Chicken thighs will run about 65 Baht/kilo, 16 thighs could cost, I am guessing about 200 Baht. This comes out to about 75 cents per person.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
#1 Go-To Recipes,* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,GRILLED / BBQ / SMOKER
Sausage, Bean, and Pasta Stew
December 30, 2015 Lee
3 Comments

Sausage, Bean, and Pasta Stew

I was looking through recipes yesterday and this dish caught my eye, as it sounds really good. But what through me off was that nearly every ingredient was canned, even the beans! No need to slow cook canned beans, which are already cooked! So this is my version. I made this on 9 July 2016, report in the comments section, and recipe modified just slightly.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 10 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Mixed
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

  • 250 grams Pinto beans, dry, sorted, and rinsed, (1/2 lb)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
  • 3 cups chicken stock, fresh or from a powder
  • 1 carrot, diced, OR a diced green bell pepper would work well here
  • 500 grams sausage links, spicy or Italian, see note about this
  • 1 can tomatoes, with tomatoe juice, diced
  • 1 cup ditalini pasta, dry, OR use macaroni, OR spiral pasta
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1-2 cups tomato juice, as needed near the end.

Instructions
 

  • Spread the onions over the bottom of your slow cooker and top the garlic.
  • Then with the carrots.
  • Then with the beans and sausage. I used Spicy Smoked Pork Sausages from Makro, yes, those 4 sausages are 500 grams.
  • Mix the diced tomatoes and juice with the stock and pour over the sausages. (I use a can of Brooks brand whole peeled tomatoes in tomato juice, pour the juice into the stock, roughly chop the tomatoes and add them as well. This is the 565 gram can.)
  • Cover and cook on High for 4 to 5 hours or on Low for 7 to 8 hours; the beans will be tender and begin to fall apart.
  • Uncover the slow cooker, remove and transfer the sausage links to a cutting board. Stir the pasta into the stew and continue to cook, covered, until the pasta is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Add tomato juice as needed to keep a good stew like consistency.
  • Cut the sausage into bite size pieces and return the stew along with the parsley.
  • Serve with grated Parmesan cheese on the side to sprinkle on the top if desired.

Notes

Note about the sausage, this can be done several ways. Makro has thick pork sausages (bangers) as well as beef sausages. There is also a thick sausage variety that is very similar to Kielbasa, called Spicy Smoked Sausage and they also have what is called sausage scraps, these are thick sausage pieces that are left over from from cutting up and packaging the long sausages, these are also a variety pack, some is like Kielbasa, some is garlic sausage, some is chili sausage. The sausage scraps would be ideal for this stew.
An alternative to the sausage would be dark chicken meat, cubed, think thighs. Not only would chicken make this a healthier meal, you can make your stock when you boil the chicken. Substitute 500 grams of chicken thighs, skin on and bone in, boil them until done, there is your stock to use, while the stew is cooking, simply remove the skin and bone (save for the pet dog) and roughly cube the meat and refrigerate until the step to cut up the sausage and add back to the slow cooker.
Most expensive ingredient is the sausage, at the most it would cost 250 Baht, for 6 servings this is about $1.25 per meal, for 8 servings this is about 95 cents per meal.
If using chicken, thighs are about 65 Baht/kilo, no need to do the math here, well under $1.00 per serving!
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,Soups, Stews, Chili - Slow Cooker
Slow Cooked Tex Mex Chicken and Beans
December 29, 2015 Lee
1 Comment

Slow Cooked Tex Mex Chicken and Beans

A fix and forget chicken stew, I am going to try this one for sure. Link to the shortcut is listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 8 hours
Total Time 8 hours 15 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine Tex-Mex
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup dried Pinto beans, rinsed
  • 1 1/2 cups salsa, OR make from a shortcut on this site
  • 2 tablespoons canned chipolte chiles, OR what ever chilis you have on hand, seeds removed
  • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 8 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on, it's flavor
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions
 

  • In a slow cooker, add beans, salsa, chiles, flour, and 1 cup water, and stir to mix. Season chicken with salt and pepper; arrange on top of bean mixture. Scatter onion and bell pepper on top of chicken.
  • Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours. Do NOT open lid or stir.
  • Remove chicken from stew; remove skin and bones (save for your dog), shred meat into large pieces and return to stew. Serve topped with sour cream and cilantro if you desire.

Notes

Chicken thighs will run about 65 Baht/kilo, 8 thighs is probably about a kilo. Beans will run about 55 Baht/500 grams. 120 Baht, the rest is minimal, comes to about 89 cents per person per meal if serving 4 people.
Shortcut: Salsa.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,Chicken - Slow Cooker
Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup
December 29, 2015 Lee
1 Comment

Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup

This is a classic and basic split pea soup. Excellent and very easy to prepare in a sow cooker. Lots of instruction photos that I took while making this.
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 6 hours
Total Time 6 hours 5 minutes
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

  • 500 grams split peas, dry, no need to soak, just rinsed is fine
  • 6 cups chicken stock, homemade OR make from powder
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1/2 stalk celery, diced, if using Thai celery, several stalks diced
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, diced, optional
  • 4 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 small ham hock, OR one ham bone, OR 2 cups of chopped ham, OR omit
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions
 

  • I bought a large ham hock in Tesco, called a pork side leg. Looks like a hock, and it is pre-cut through the bone in 4 places. The tape measure is in inches, this thing is huge, and only 120 Baht, weight is about 1 1/2 kilos. I only used about half, the right 3 sections for the soup, so the cost was only 60 Baht, my wife used the left 2 sections for a Thai soup.
  • Add the hock to the slow cooker pot first.
  • Then add the rinsed split peas around the hock.
  • Add your diced carrot on top.
  • On top of the carrot, add the onion, bell pepper if using that, garlic, celery, spices and bay leaves.
  • Pour in your chicken stock, place the lid on and cook on High setting until split peas are creamy and pureed. Check the peas at 4 hours, when the peas are cooked, they will be soft and will puree on their own by simply stirring them, if not soft, check again at 5 hours, etc.
  • At the 4 hour mark, use a meat thermometer to check the temp in the hock, if it is cooked through, remove the hock to a plate, remove the skin and fat then roughly chop the meat and return the meat to the pot and stir that in. This cut of meat has a lot of fat, so you will need to skim that off the surface of the soup from about the 4 hour mark onwards.
  • When the peas have pureed for the most part and the pork is cook, chopped and added back, turn the slow cooker down to Warm setting, discard bay leaves and you are ready to serve.

Notes

Note about the meat added, I used 1/2 of a large ham hock but this is also very fatty (make sure you skim the fat at times during cooking). Another option is to use a meaty ham bone, or add 2 cups of cubed cooked ham. I also think a pork knuckle would be ideal for this but is also pricey.
Going with 1/2 of a large hock, cost was 60 Baht, the split peas were 56 Baht/500 grams, all the rest is minimal. The cost is about $0.60 cents per person for 6 meals.
An alternative would be to use chicken, I know, the Split Pea Soup haters are going to hate me for saying this, but 2-3 meaty chicken thighs, in place of the pork, I think would work wonderful.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving,Soups, Stews, Chili - Slow Cooker