Looking for quick, cheap dinner ideas/recipes...

[WorldWatcher]

I love Indian stuff...

Then you might like this. Easy to make. Comes out like a stew. Heat ranges from mild to medium to medium hot to hot and it's really easy.

I make a double patch (cooking for 4 and want left overs) and use one mild and one medium hot.


Two Boxes
2 lb Chicken
Carrots
Onion
Garlic
Rice



Take the Curry brick from the package, using a cutting board and knife cut the brick into small pieces (the smaller the better). Add to about two cups hot water in a pan. Stir constantly until fully integrated. Add water to desired consistency and continue on low simmer.

Cut the carrots, onion, and chicken into chunks. Saute carrots for a few minues in butter (or small amount of olive oil), then add the onions. When tender add to the curry (vegatables only, if you have extra oil leave it in the frying pan). Repeat with chicken chunks.

Once everything is in the pot, low simmer for about 30 minutes and cook the rice. (We have a Tiger Rice Cooker so making rice is a piece of cake.) You can cook the rice in at the same time if you prefer.


Serve curry over the rice. Refrigerates well so by having extra you can freeze or refrigerate for a Monday through Friday meal if needed.



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[dnsmith35]

I love Indian stuff...

I have used that. It is good. Different from the stuff cooked from scratch. Lot's quicker. If you use that, buy Pictsweet Seasoning blend (in the freezer section) which includes the most common veges in Curry and saves lots of time. I do brown my chicken in butter before adding it to the gravy and I use the hot or add crushed red pepper.

This is a Japanese style curry and is good on its own merits

 

[WorldWatcher]

I love Indian stuff...

I have used that. It is good. Different from the stuff cooked from scratch. Lot's quicker. If you use that, buy Pictsweet Seasoning blend (in the freezer section) which includes the most common veges in Curry and saves lots of time. I do brown my chicken in butter before adding it to the gravy and I use the hot or add crushed red pepper.

The different "Heat" ratings are nice. My son and I like a little more heat, my wife and daughter love the curry but are wimps for the heat.

In my mind if curry doesn't bring sweat to your brown its weak. But what can ya say...



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[WorldWatcher]

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Another easy 30-minute dinner is making stir fry Chicken and Broccoli (or Beef) at home.


Blanch the broccoli for a couple of minutes. I've found this is the best way to cook the broccoli. I never could get it right by steaming or sauteing directly.

Cut the chicken or beef into thin strips.

Stir fry chicken in just a touch of oil (I add garlic also).

Add broccoli and stir fry sauce, mix and heat.



Serve over rice or lo mein noodles (I've even been known to use Angle Hair Pasta as a base).


House Of Tsang has a regular stir fry sauce, use the Szechuan type for a little more heat.



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[WorldWatcher]

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OK, one more and then my lunch break is over.

Pot-stickers are normally considered and appetizer, but my family loves them as a meal.

Boil the dumplings for 10-minutes. Remove from the water and place on a plate. In a large frying pan get a small mount of oil hot. Add dumplings in a single layer, flat side down. The intent is to fry the bottom until golden brown and crispy. [Safety: Watch for splatter when adding the dumplins, use tongs. Also its nice if you have a spatter screen to go over the frying pan.)



The package comes with a dipping sauce - IMHO - throw that away. Take a dipping bowl and add a 50/50 mix soy sauce and rice wine vineger. For those that like a little heat add crushed red pepper (I make my individual dipping sauce when I start the water so the pepper flakes have time to be infused with the soy/vinegar mix.)



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[Uncensored2008]

This sounds wonderful.

Just a time saver: cook a bunch of pasta over the weekend, then you can simply mic during the week.

Yep.

My wife and I both work. We had four children, now all grown, so we know how to cook large quantities. On weekends, I cook big meals and we freeze the rest in small containers. During the week, nuke it and we have dinner.

Last weekend, I hand roasted pablano and red jalapeno peppers, then reduced them to a sauce. Remember that the seeds determine how hot it is. I sauteed fresh garlic, onion, sage and cilantro in grape seed oil. Folded this into the chili sauce and this was the fresh enchilada sauce. Froze a half-dozen quart containers of it. During the week, pull one out and zap it. Put the sauce in a bowl, heat it very hot. Dip a warm corn tortilla in the sauce, fill it with Asedero or cheddar cheese (for those who don't like soft, Mexican cheese) and black olives, more sauce on top and you're ready to eat, the heated sauce melts the cheese.

It's a 10 minute dinner.

 

[dnsmith35]

>

OK, one more and then my lunch break is over.

Pot-stickers are normally considered and appetizer, but my family loves them as a meal.

Boil the dumplings for 10-minutes. Remove from the water and place on a plate. In a large frying pan get a small mount of oil hot. Add dumplings in a single layer, flat side down. The intent is to fry the bottom until golden brown and crispy. [Safety: Watch for splatter when adding the dumplins, use tongs. Also its nice if you have a spatter screen to go over the frying pan.)



The package comes with a dipping sauce - IMHO - throw that away. Take a dipping bowl and add a 50/50 mix soy sauce and rice wine vineger. For those that like a little heat add crushed red pepper (I make my individual dipping sauce when I start the water so the pepper flakes have time to be infused with the soy/vinegar mix.)
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We don't have a Costco in our rural area. I do make my own sauces. One is a combination 2/3 soy sauce and 1/3 un thickened sweet and sour sauce with either ground or crushed cayenne pepper. I use this as a steak sauce or a sauce for white rice in a Chinese meal.

I also make my own salsa with diced tomatoes, garlic, chopped jalapeno peppers and finely choped onion, seasoned with salt and cylantro then simmered long enough to put it up in jars. The onions can be ripe or green depending on the flavor I want.

 

[Big Black Dog]

For cheap and quick you can't knock mac and cheese and hot dogs. It's quick. Very inexpensive and it will make a turd.

 

[WorldWatcher]

For cheap and quick you can't knock mac and cheese and hot dogs. It's quick. Very inexpensive and it will make a turd.

Get the kids involved, make pigs in a blanket.



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[Uncensored2008]

For cheap and quick you can't knock mac and cheese and hot dogs. It's quick. Very inexpensive and it will make a turd.

The triple bypass will cost a fortune, though....

 

[dnsmith35]

For cheap and quick you can't knock mac and cheese and hot dogs. It's quick. Very inexpensive and it will make a turd.

Get the kids involved, make pigs in a blanket.
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When I was a kid growing up during WWII, we did that on a regular basis. We made our own sausage by raising a pig to about 100lbs, slaughtering it ourselves (Mama and my brother as my father was in Burma), cutting it up into about 18 major pieces from which we made roasts, cut chops, rendered fat, used the collected blood to make boudain (a Cajun style blood sausage), boiled the neck to shred the pork for tamales, made "head cheese" from the brain and parts of the lower leg, pickeled the feet, and threw away the tail (the only thing we didn't use) The junk meat (as we called it) was gathered from the trimmings and we made pork links which were similar to the multi-meat we could buy if we had enough ration stamps, packed them into the cleaned small intestine, and made hotdogs. Mama would make biscuit dough and roll it thin, in which we would roll the sausage, then we would bake them. Sometimes she put half and half corn flour into the biscuit dough and we would fry "pronto pups".

Memories, I am glad I came here as I rarely thought about those times.

 

[dnsmith35]

For cheap and quick you can't knock mac and cheese and hot dogs. It's quick. Very inexpensive and it will make a turd.

The triple bypass will cost a fortune, though....

What that dietary cholesterol will do to you is not as bad as the foods which cause your body to produce too much cholesterol. Like anything cooked in palm oil, or hardened margerine.

 

[dnsmith35]

Dinner today, an old fashioned "breakfast for dinner" Cajun style. Eggs to taste, Boudain (modern version which does not include the blood drained from the pig), grits and toasted French bread and whole homemade fig preserves for the toast. When I posted about the Boudain earlier it made me hungry for some.

 

[Uncensored2008]

What that dietary cholesterol will do to you is not as bad as the foods which cause your body to produce too much cholesterol. Like anything cooked in palm oil, or hardened margerine.

I use either olive or grape seed oil. I use butter rather than margarine. I'm not actually worried about cholesterol, it was mostly a joke. I cook with a lot of butter and cream in reality. A good day is when I can fold a full half pound of butter into 3 egg yolks for hollandaise - fresh sage and lemon juice, good stuff.

 

[Wicked Jester]

What that dietary cholesterol will do to you is not as bad as the foods which cause your body to produce too much cholesterol. Like anything cooked in palm oil, or hardened margerine.

I use either olive or grape seed oil. I use butter rather than margarine. I'm not actually worried about cholesterol, it was mostly a joke. I cook with a lot of butter and cream in reality. A good day is when I can fold a full half pound of butter into 3 egg yolks for hollandaise - fresh sage and lemon juice, good stuff.

Actually, once the Sage is added, it then becomes a Bernaise sauce.

Sorry, it's just the Pro Chef coming out in me.

Try adding a lil' Tabasco to that Sauce....Gives it a nice lil' extra bite beyond the lemon juice.

 

[Foxfyre]

What that dietary cholesterol will do to you is not as bad as the foods which cause your body to produce too much cholesterol. Like anything cooked in palm oil, or hardened margerine.

I use either olive or grape seed oil. I use butter rather than margarine. I'm not actually worried about cholesterol, it was mostly a joke. I cook with a lot of butter and cream in reality. A good day is when I can fold a full half pound of butter into 3 egg yolks for hollandaise - fresh sage and lemon juice, good stuff.

Actually, once the Sage is added, it then becomes a Bernaise sauce.

Sorry, it's just the Pro Chef coming out in me.

Try adding a lil' Tabasco to that Sauce....Gives it a nice lil' extra bite beyond the lemon juice.

I was thinking the same thing. Adding Sage would make it into something other than Hollandaise sauce though I didn't have a name for it.

You add Tobasco to your Hollandaise? I generally add a dash of cayenne, but haven't used Tobasco.

 

[Uncensored2008]

Actually, once the Sage is added, it then becomes a Bernaise sauce.

Half way, no shallots.

Sorry, it's just the Pro Chef coming out in me.

The beauty of Hollandaise is that you can do so much with it - just don't tell people that it's a mayonnaise and you can mold it to dozens of dishes.

Try adding a lil' Tabasco to that Sauce....Gives it a nice lil' extra bite beyond the lemon juice.

Absolutely. Finely chopped scotch bonnet will give it lots of kick!

 

[dnsmith35]

I use either olive or grape seed oil. I use butter rather than margarine. I'm not actually worried about cholesterol, it was mostly a joke. I cook with a lot of butter and cream in reality. A good day is when I can fold a full half pound of butter into 3 egg yolks for hollandaise - fresh sage and lemon juice, good stuff.

Actually, once the Sage is added, it then becomes a Bernaise sauce.

Sorry, it's just the Pro Chef coming out in me.

Try adding a lil' Tabasco to that Sauce....Gives it a nice lil' extra bite beyond the lemon juice.

I was thinking the same thing. Adding Sage would make it into something other than Hollandaise sauce though I didn't have a name for it.

You add Tobasco to your Hollandaise? I generally add a dash of cayenne, but haven't used Tobasco.

Tobasco is made about 60 miles from my home town. I like the pepper, but not the salt and vinegar. I make my own hot sauce by pulverizing fresh hot peppers, adding a little garlic a touch of salt and I cook it until it is a creamy mixture. If I am going to eat it immediately I add a little cream which I blend before I cook it. I also like pepper oil, fresh cayennes blended to a paste and added to a good oil (corn or canola) then cooked at a simmer for a while. I keep adding oil as I use it until it is no longer hot enough.

Mama used to make a Hollandaise sauce for hot asparagus on toast. I prefer a cheese sauce, shredded into the Hollandaise and melted. I squeeze a little lemon juice directly on the asparagus. I like the shallot or green onion though. I am not sure about the sage.

On meatless Fridays we sometimes had toasted soda crackers (or toast) with melted cheddar cheese for supper. Fish or other seafood for dinner. And depending on her mood Mama would add various things blended into the cheese, cumin being just one.

 

[dnsmith35]

Shrimp, Lobster, or Crawfish Bisque

Three lbs of one above. Grind 2 lbs. Take 1 lb of ground meat, mix it with 1/2 cup of chopped green onion, 1/3 cup of fresh parsley, 1 tbs chopped garlic, 1 cup of the white of French bread, salt and red pepper to taste. regrind that mixture again and mix well. Form 1 inch tight meat balls. If they don't hold together mix in 1 egg thoroughly then make tight meat balls, fry for about 3 minutes in med hot oil and set aside.

Make a dark roux with 1 cup hard Crisco and 1 cup flour stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Add to roux 1 cup chopped onions, 1 cup chopped green pepper, salt and pepper to taste, then add 2 quarts water or fish stock (more or less if you like thick or thin gumbo), mixing in well and bring to simmer. Do not boil hard. When roux is totally dissolved in the water, about 30 minutes before serving put the 1 lb whole seafood, the 1 lb ground seafood, bring to simmer and cook for 20. Add meat balls about 10 minutes before serving. Serve with a little rice in soup bowl, hot sliced French bread, and butter.

Crawfish is best, but shrimp and lobster is good too.

 

[pgm]

Question for the hollandaise-sauce-making people: how long does it take you to make and how long does it keep? I love the sauce, but it takes so much time and effort.