Archive for the ‘* Best Value $1 or Less per Serving’ Category
Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Cocktail Sausages
I prepared this on 26 Nov 2022 exactly as written, and wow is this good! Excellent flavor, great combination of ingredients. This is now my go to cocktail sausage recipe to use.
Equipment
- Slow Cooker (3½+ quart)
Ingredients
- ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
- ⅓ cup honey
- ½ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 kilo cocktail sausages, (2 lb)
Instructions
- To your slow cooker, add the first 5 ingredients, stir to mix together.
- Add the cocktail sausages and stir to coat.
- Set your slow cooker to Low setting for 3 hours, quickly stirring once an hour.
- Serve with sides of your choice, enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Variant: 1. Use chili sauce in place of ketchup.
Broccoli, Chicken & Rice Casserole
I love a good casserole and this one not only sounds really good, it is delicious! I made this on 11 Jul 2022 and it was well liked by the family. I used my pressure cooker to cook the chicken, and that also provided me with 2 quarts of broth for other recipes. I also made the homemade Stove Stop stuffing using my shortcut. Links to the Shortcuts are listed in the Notes section.
Equipment
- Baking Pan (9x13 inch)
- Oven
Ingredients
- 1 head broccoli, cut into bite size pieces, steam or boil until tender, drain well
- 4 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, cooked and cubed, Shortcut
- 2 cups cooked rice
- 2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup, (10½ oz / 298 g each), Shortcut
- ½ cup mayo
- ⅓ cup milk
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 1 box stuffing mix, just the contents of the box, not the additional ingredients it calls for, (6 oz / 170 g), Shortcut
Instructions
- In a saucepan, add the soup, mayo, milk, and lemon juice.
- Whisk together and place on low heat and heat until warmed through, set aside.
- Preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F). Get out a 9x13 inch baking dish and lightly grease with butter or non stick spray.
- In the baking dish, add the cooked and drained broccoli and spread out in an even layer. Then add the rice over the broccoli in an even layer.
- Then add the cooked cubed chicken over the rice.
- Add the soup mixture over the chicken, spreading it evenly over the top.
- In a mixing bowl, add the contents of the stuffing mix and the melted butter and mix together. Spread the buttered stuffing over the top of the casserole.
- Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Shortcuts: Quick Chicken Broth (Pressure Cooker), Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup, Homemade Stove Top Stuffing.
Ham & Cheese Macaroni Salad
A basic macaroni salad that can be a light lunch or dinner, or a nice side dish. On my to make and taste list. This is a versatile macaroni salad that can be tailored to your taste or made a different way each time it is prepared.
Ingredients
- 340 grams dry macaroni, (12 oz)
- ½ cup creamy Caesar salad dressing, and as needed
- 750 grams cooked ham, cubed, (1-1½ lb)
- 250 grams Cheddar cheese, cubed, (8 oz)
- 1 onion, diced, red or yellow
- ½ cup gherkins, chopped
- salt and pepper, as desired
Instructions
- Heat a pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta. Cook, stirring occasionally until tender.
- Drain well and place in a mixing bowl to cool.
- Cube the ham and cheese, dice the onion, chop the gherkins, and prep any additional items you want to add. (I added some chopped spring onion.)
- When the macaroni has cooled, add that to a larger mixing bowl or large pot, then add the dressing and mix together.
- Now add cubed and the diced/chopped items, fold into the pasta to coat everything with dressing, adding more dressing as needed for your desired consistency.
- Transfer to a more manageable container, cover and place in the fridge to chill and blend the flavors for 2-3 hours.
- Serve as a lunch, light dinner, or a nice side dish with any main dish. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Variants: 1. Use Ranch or Bleu Cheese dressings. 2. Add veggies you like, such as sliced spring onion, green olives, or diced bell pepper. 3. Add some chopped hard boiled eggs or whole hard boiled quail eggs.
Super Easy Orange Chicken
This recipe comes from a good friend on the Just a Pinch Recipe Club website. I made this on 23 June 20222, and it is excellent chicken, great flavor. My family really enjoyed this dish.
Equipment
- 1 Gallon Zip Lock Bag
Ingredients
For the Orange Sauce
- ¾ cup orange marmalade
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
For the Chicken
- 750-1000 grams chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, (1½-2 lb), I used 4 breasts
- ¼ cup corn starch
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- cooking oil, for frying
Instructions
- Add all the Orange Sauce ingredients to medium bowl and mix together. You can prepare this two different ways. Prepare the sauce right before cooking the chicken, or make the sauce a few hours before, or even in the morning before cooking the chicken, to let the flavors blend together.
- Prep the chicken by cutting into large bite size pieces.
- When ready to cook the chicken, add the corn starch, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to the gallon size zip lock bag. Seal the bag and shake to mix together. Add the chicken to the bag.
- Seal, and shake and mix the the chicken with the corn starch mixture to coat the chicken.
- To a large skillet, heat 3-4 tablespoons of cooking, when hot, remove chicken from the zip lock bag and add to the pan. (I use a wok pan which is a flat bottomed wok - works perfect for this.)
- Cook until golden brown, turning the chicken often, about 10-15 minutes. Do not overcook or you will have tough chicken.
- While the chicken is cooking, if you made the sauce earlier and let the flavors blend in the fridge, take that out and microwave to just warm it up.
- With the chicken still in the pan, pour in the sauce, stir with the chicken pieces and cook until hot and slightly thickened, it thickens more as it cools, about 3-5 minutes.
- When the sauce is hot and thickened, remove from heat, sprinkle with white poppy seeds if desired.
- Serve with rice of your choice and a vegetable for a delicious meal. Enjoy.
Creamy Ham & Potato Soup
This recipe was inspired from a recipe on the Just a Pinch Recipe Club that was a ham and bean soup. My wife suggested potatoes instead of the beans, and it worked perfectly! I made this on 27 Jun 2022 and it was devoured by the 5 of us.
Ingredients
- 800 grams potatoes, peeled and cubed, (1¾ lb)
- water, as needed
- 1 onion, diced
- 500 grams sliced sandwich ham, cubed, (1 lb)
- 2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup, (10½ oz / 298 g each)
- 500 grams Cheddar cheese, shredded, (1 lb)
- salt and pepper, as desired
Instructions
- Add the potatoes and onion to a large pot.
- Add water to cover the potatoes by 1 inch. Set on medium high heat. Cook until the potatoes are fork tender, stirring occasionally.
- While the potatoes are cooking, take the sliced ham and set the entire stack on a cutting board, then cut into ½ strips. Once you have the stack cut into strips, just turn the cutting board 90 degrees then then cut the strips crosswise into ½ inch cubes, there, the stack of ham is now diced. Using sliced ham allows more ham to be distributed throughout the soup.
- When the potatoes are tender, reduce heat to low. Scoop out some of the water so the water is just at the top of the potatoes, reserve the water to add if needed if you want a thinner consistency. Now add the soup, ham, and cheese, stir together.
- Simmer until the cheese is melted and the soup and cheese is mixed in well. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Stir in some of the reserved potato water if you want thinner soup.
- Ladle into bowls, serve, and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Creamy Ham & Beans
This recipe comes from the Just a Pinch Recipe Club and sounds delicious! Original recipe was for stove top cooked beans, and I will also include instructions to make using stove top pressure cooker.
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker , if preparing the beans with that.
- Stock Pot , if preparing the beans with that.
Ingredients
- 2 quarts water
- 500 grams dry Great Northern beans, (1 lb)
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil, required only if using a pressure cooker
- 1 onion, diced
- 500 grams ham, cubed, (1 lb)
- 2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup, (10½ oz / 298 g each)
- 500 grams Cheddar cheese, shredded, (1 lb)
Instructions
- Rinse the dry beans, removing any bad beans or debris, place in a large bowl and cover with water and set aside to soak for at least 6 hours or even overnight. This step applies to Stock Pot or Pressure Cooker methods.
To use a Stock Pot
- Add the 2 quarts of water to a large stock pot and place on high heat. Drain and rinse the soaked beans and add to the water. Stir occasionally. Cook the beans until softened to where you can mash with a fork. Adding additional water as needed.
- Add the ham and onion, reduce heat to a low boil, and continue cooking, stirring occasionally until the ham and onion are cooked.
- Reduce the heat to medium or medium low, add the soup and cheese, and stir together. Stir often until the cheese is melted and mixed into the beans.
- Ladle into bowls, serve and enjoy.
To use a Pressure Cooker
- I use my 9 liter (9½ quart) stove top pressure cooker with a pressure of 80 kPa (12 psi), so this will work equally well with electric pressure cookers. Follow all safety precautions for your model of pressure cooker.
- Drain and rinse the beans, add to you pressure cooker. Add the 2 quarts of water AND the 2 tablespoons cooking oil. The oil prevents the beans from foaming, DO NOT skip the oil.
- Place the lid on the cooker and lock in place, add the weight, place on high heat. When the weight (jiggler) starts to move and vent pressure, reduce heat to low to just keep the jiggler moving. Start your timer for 8 minutes.
- When 8 minutes have passed, turn off the heat and carefully move the pressure cooker to an unused burner. Allow the cooker to do a natural pressure release, meaning just let it set there until you have indications of zero pressure inside, normally a lid lock will drop to indicate this, can take 15-20 minutes.
- When you have indications of zero pressure, remove the weight from the lid and carefully open the cooker. Now you have cooked beans and bean broth.
- Drain the beans, and keep the broth. Return just the beans back to the pressure cooker pot (now we are going to use the cooker as just a pot, no lid needed now). Add the bean broth to just cover the beans by ½ to 1 inch. Place on medium heat.
- Add the ham and onion, simmer until the onion is good and tender, stirring occasionally. Add more broth as needed for the consistency you desire.
- Add the soup and cheese and stir together. Stir often until the cheese and soup are fully mixed into the beans.
- Ladle into bowls, serve and enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Char Siu Noodles
This recipe is for the noodles, not the Char Siu (Roast Red Pork), feel free to use your preferred recipe to prepare the Char Siu, or you can use mine that is listed in the Notes section. This recipe assumes you already have Char Siu prepared.
Ingredients
For the Noodles
- 1 tablespoon Char Siu sauce , take this from the marinade sauce you made for your Char Siu
- ½ tablespoon light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons water
- ¼ teaspoon Chinese 5 Spice powder
- 2 servings dry Chinese egg noodles, or dry ramen
- 2 servings green vegetable of choice, such as baby bok choi, choi sum, broccoli, etc.
Additional Item
- 2 servings Char Siu, your preferred recipe or use mine in the Notes section
Instructions
- To a small saucepan, add the Char Siu sauce, soy sauce, water, and 5 spice powder, mix together, place medium heat and bring to a boil, then remove from heat and set aside.
- Cook the noodles per package instruction, and undercook by about 1 minute.
- Add the green vegetable and cook until tender, about 1-2 minutes to wilt.
- Drain the noodles then mix in the sauce you set aside.
- Portion into serving bowls and top with your sliced Char Siu. Enjoy.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Additional Recipe: Roast Red Pork (Char Siu).
24 Hour Chicken
This sounds really good, and the sour cream I am going to prepare from a powder, and it is sour cream and onion powder.
Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Foil
- Oven
Ingredients
- 1½ kilo chicken pieces, legs, thighs, (2-3 lb)
For the Marinade
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon celery salt
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
For the Coating
- ¾ cup corn flake crumbs
Instructions
- I am using chicken quarters that I separated into legs and thighs.
- Add all the Marinade ingredients to a mixing bowl and stir together.
- Add the chicken pieces and toss to coat. Cover and place in the fridge overnight.
- When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 180° C (350° F). Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Add the crumbs to a plate or tray, and roll chicken pieces to coat and place on the pieces on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 45 minutes, turning the pieces over halfway through cooking.
Notes
Low cost.
My Spaghetti Sauce
I make this often and finally decided to write a recipe for it. This is a basic sauce but is well liked by myself and my Thai family. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams ground pork, or beef, (1 lb), I typically use pork
- 1 onion, diced
- ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning, Shortcut
- 2 cans tomato paste, (170 g / 6 oz cans)
- 4 cans water
- 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning, Shortcut
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- salt, as desired
- hot cooked spaghetti , for serving
Instructions
- In a non stick pan, add the onion and ground pork, breaking up the meat with your spatula, and sprinkle with the ½ tablespoon of Italian seasoning. Cook, turning often until no pink remains and the meat is cooked through.
- While the pork is cooking, in a large saucepan, add the tomato paste, water, sugar, and 2 tablespoons of Italian seasoning, place on low heat and whisk together. Simmer until hot, stirring often. When hot, add the butter and stir in. Taste and adjust as needed for salt or sugar.
- When the pork is done, if any excess fat in the pan, drain that off, then add the cooked pork to the sauce and mix together. Taste, and adjust as needed with salt and or sugar. Continue to simmer on low heat for another 15 minutes.
- Cook spaghetti in a pot of salted boiling water until tender, drain.
- Serve sauce over spaghetti, enjoy.
Notes
Shortcut: Italian Seasoning, Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs.
Variants: 1. Add some hard boiled eggs to the sauce while it does the final simmer so the eggs can heat through. 2. Add sautéed mushrooms.
Thai Chicken & Potato Soup
My wife and niece make this soup often, and it is delicious! I was intrigued when I first saw this made as I have rarely seen Thais use potatoes. This is a basic non spicy soup made with fresh and common ingredients. This is normally served with rice on the side but can certainly be enjoyed as is.
Ingredients
- 2 quarts water
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 kilo chicken wing sticks, (drumettes), (2 lb)
- 1 cube chicken stock
- 4 potatoes, peeled, cut into chunks
- 3 onions, peeled, cut into wedges
- 4-5 plum tomatoes, cut into wedges
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon MSG, optional
- 2 tablespoons thin soy sauce, (light soy sauce)
- 2-3 bunches Chinese celery
- 2-3 spring onions
- hot cooked rice, for serving, optional
Instructions
- Prep the wings. These were cut from full wings.
- Prep the potatoes and onion.
- Prep the tomatoes, and more onions were prepped as well.
- Chinese celery is quite thin, the stalks and leaves are used. The celery has the roots in this photo on right, two bunches were used. The coriander underneath was used in another recipe.
- Cut the celery and spring onion (white and green parts) into 2 inch pieces.
- Add the water and garlic to a large pot, bring to a boil.
- After a few minutes, add the stock cube and the wing sticks. Let the pot come to boil, and occasionally skim any foam off the top. Cook until the wings are just cooked through.
- Now add the potatoes and let the pot come to a boil again, cook until the potatoes are just fork tender.
- Then add the onions and tomatoes, reduce heat to medium low and cook until the onion is tender.
- Once the onion is tender, add the salt, MSG (if using), and soy sauce, stir and taste, adding salt as desired. Then turn off the heat, leaving pot on the same burner, and add the celery and spring onion.
- Once the celery and spring onion is wilted, give the soup a stir.
- Ladle into serving bowls, enjoy. Serve as is or with rice on the side.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
