We get to go grocery shopping tomorrow (yay!). I’m coming up with a meal plan and I thought now might be a good time to start a recipe thread. We’re looking for tasty recipes here that don’t take long to prepare, are nutritous, and can be cooked in either a skillet or a crock pot. Long crock pot cooking time doesn’t really count as prep time, since you can merrily do other stuff while it, uh, crocks.
Here are two of mine:
Veggie Pad Thai in Peanut Sauce
1 package of Trader Joe’s vegetable pad thai (not the individual bowl ones, but the frozen package one that servers 4)
1/4 c. Peanut butter
1/2 pkg. of frozen broccoli, carrot, and water chestnut mix
Start water boiling, and open the frozen veggies in TJ’s package. Pick out all the damn peppers, as peppers are the devil. Once those are gone, mix in the other frozen veggies. Prepare as the package states, but once everything is mixed and cooked, turn off heat, but leave pan on the stove. Mix in the peanut butter well. Consume. Mmmmm. You can also add cooked diced chicken to this too. Extra lazy points for buying the precooked prediced chicken.
Creamy Blueberry French Toast
* 8 slices white bread, stale or dried out in the oven for 10 min
* 4 oz. cream cheese
* 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed
* 8 eggs
* 2 cups light cream
* 1/2 c. flaked coconut (optional, but mighty tasty)
1 tablespoon butter
* 2 tsp. vanillia
* 1 c. sugar/splenda
Grease cock pot with butter and leave any excess in there. Spread cream cheese over bread, and place bread cheese side down in crock pot. Pour blueberries on top. Mix everything else well in a mixing bowl, and pour on top of the bread in the crock pot. Push bread down with hands. Wait 10 minutes, push down again. Cook on LOW in crock pot for three hours. Devour. Wish for more.
yoink and there goes that french toast recipe into a very long .doc of Things That Will Be Prepared and Consumed by Myself on a Regular Basis. Hmm now trying to think of a recipe. I make a lot of soups off the top of my head. Oh one of my easy favorites: rotini (the multicolored kind if you like it) with a sauce of cream of broccoli soup, more broccoli and cheddar. It’s good hot or cold; I often also add diced up leftover chicken. Sorry, no exact measurements; I eyeball everything unless I am baking.
I’ll trade you some blueberry toast for this recipe (which must have had a name once, but I just call beans and rice).
Make some rice. While it’s cooking, saute some onion and garlic in a skillet for a while; then add a can of Mexican stewed tomatoes and a can of black beans (you can use other kinds of beans but I like the color contrast of the black beans, plus they absorb spices better for second-day eating). Simmer for about as much time as it takes the rice to finish. Voila!
Or try this:
Lemon Honey Tofu (or Salmon, but I like tofu).
Mix up one and a half tablespoons olive oil, 2 teaspoons dijon mustard, a tablespoon white wine, a tablespoon honey, juice from a lemon, two tablespoons chopped fresh basil. Put half the mixture in the skillet with a lid and let it warm up. Then put in four slices of tofu (or salmon) and pour the rest of the sauce on it. Cover and cook (flip the tofu once) until done-ish, about 8 to 10 minutes.
About 2 cans of whole green chiles
A good-size chunk of your favorite cheddar or jack
5 or 6 eggs
1/2 C of milk
2 or 3 T of flour
1/4 C of creamed corn, if you like your chile rellenos kinda sweet. Omit otherwise.
Salt and/or chili powder or paprika to taste
Cut the cheese into strips and insert them into the whole green chiles. Place them into a casserole dish. In separate bowl, mix all the other ingredients and pour the mixture over the chiles. Make sure they’re covered by the egg mixture, or at least pretty darn close to covered. Sprinkle with cheese, if you like, and bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes until it’s set/lightly brown and a bit puffy.
ALL my cooking involves one saucepan or frying pan for the dish and 1 for the potatoes/pasta/rice. I also measure liquids and spices very roughly, so these are only rough guesstimates of quantities.
Pork and Peaches- this is best made in a deep saucepan and allowed to stew for an hour or so.
Serves 2-6
1 clove garlic
1 onion
1tbsp oil
1 pork chop per person
1 can peach slices in syrup
1 can tomatoes
1 small tin tomato puree
1 (or 2 if cooking for more than 4, or none for Inkleberry) red pepper
Chop onion and garlic and fry in oil until coloured, chop pork chops into rough cubes (leave fat on for flavour) and brown with the onions and garlic. Chop pepper and add, add tin of tomatoes and puree, stir well. Drain peaches and reserve half of the syrup. Add peaches to pot. As the tomatoes and puree make this quite sour, add enough syrup to sweeten to your taste. Simmer on a low heat until sauce is consistency you prefer (stir occasionally to make sure nothing catches on the bottom of the pan). Add water or stock if simmering for a long time or if you like a thinner sauce. Season to taste. Serve with rice or potatoes.
Chicken stirfry
serves 2-4
1 chicken fillet per person (or half a chicken breast)
garlic
scallions
1" cube of fresh ginger
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 small tsp cornflour
1 tbsp sake/sherry/white wine vinegar
Veggies of your choice: sugarsnap peas, baby corn, pepper, pak choi, broccoli, zucchini etc
Chop garlic, scallions and ginger finely. Mix soy sauces, sake and cornflour together (should be consistency of milk, not a paste). Chop chicken into strips, marinade in this mixture for at least 30mins. heat 1 tbsp of sesame oil in a wok or fying pan. Cook chicken (and marinade) until brownish. Add veggies of your choice and stirfry until ready.
Serve with noodles or rice.
Here is the unit recipe for my family’s tomato sauce:
Major Hardware:
Blender
Large Stock Pot
Software:
1 Large (100-ish oz) can Whole Peeled Tomatoes
1 Small (4 oz) can Tomato Paste
1 Large White Onion
1 Clove (cluster) Garlic
Black Pepper
Oregano
Basil
Water
Crushed Red Pepper (optional)
Prep:
Peel and quarter Onion
Seperate and peel garlic
Heat stove burner to medium high
Execute:
Blend:
Ladle Whole Peeled Tomatoes into blender carafe until 3/4 full, add 1 onion quarter, some garlic, ~ 1 Tbs (or to taste) each Oregano and Basil, plus 2 tsp (or to taste) Black Pepper. Blend thouroughly, and add to pot. Repeat until all WPTomatoes, Onion and Garlic are used.
Cook:
Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium. Allow to simmer for at least 8 hours, stirring every hour. Add 2 cups water whenever volume halves from its original level.
Complete:
1 hour before finish, stir in tomato paste to thicken*. Add Red Pepper to taste.
Store:
Freezes well in small tupperware containers. Be sure to allow headroom.
This recipe scales well; it takes just as long to prepare 1 unit as it does 4, so we always do it in bulk.
*Traditionally, meatballs are made concurrently with the sauce, and the the tomato paste is allowed to bake in the pan used to cook the meatballs, thereby absorbing tasty meatball goodness while dinner (the meatballs) is served with somewhat thin sauce. Afterward, the meaty paste is added to the sauce as described.
Yesterday, I put a four-pound blade pot roast in my crock-pot, with a can of beef broth and a quarter bottle of red wine. Sprinkled on some thyme, salt, and pepper. Cooked it on low for four hours. Just before I left for work I dumped in half a package of baby carrots, and maybe two cups new potatoes, and four cloves garlic. When I got home, the beef had been cooking very very gently for ten hours.
I’m socked, SHOCKED, that you would even suggest such a dirty thing! I, sir, am a delicate flower of womanhood, anf my thoughts are only of purity, sweetness, and light.
OK, after some searching I’ve come up with a couple of recipes for which I actually know the English names of ingredients - and they can be found pretty much anywhere.
Pollo con arroz - Rice chicken. Navamom’s version is longer, but I like mine.
1 chicken leg per person, chopped at the knee so the thigh and foreleg are separated.
1 lemon
a bit of oil (if you use lard, the demons of cooking will come, bring you to Hell with them, and feed you rotten sausages throughtout Eternity; do not use used oil either)
two cloves garlic (optional)
the same amount of rice you’d use for these people normally (at home we measure it in espresso cups, one per person)
salt the chicken legs
place them in a low pot or large pan with the garlic (it must have a lid)
pour the oil on it
cook until the garlic is done
take the garlic out
add water and rice. The water must cover the rice and about 1 fingerwidth over it.
cook for 10 minutes at a slow boil
check for water - shuffle around the rice so the grains that were on top go to the bottom, add any water that’s needed - and taste for salt. Add less salt than you usually would (you’ll put lemon on it later as a condiment, so there’s less need for salt than in other recipes).
let cook for 10 more minutes, taste to make sure it’s done. Bring to table. You can serve the chicken and rice together or serve the rice first and the chicken as seconds. Bring the lemon cut in two halves, for people to condiment to taste.
Times vary with the kind of rice and all that. It’s a good dish for when people have the runs too - whomever is sick gets extra lemon and no chicken, but the rice will be tastier than if you’d just boiled it by itself. And the rest of the family gets chicken and doesn’t get constipated.
Salmon con gambas - shrimp salmon.
for 4 people,
1 salmon
200gr (1/2lb) shelled shrimp
salt
oil (same as above re lard; you can use oil that’s been used to fry fish)
The salmon should be opened in half, with the spine completely removed but the two halves still attached to each other. We call that “book style”.
While the oven pre-heats, make sure the salmon has been cleaned properly (no scales), place it in an oven tray (it can be the kind that has a lid or just a regular tray, the ones with lids are nice because of course there’s less cleaning), open “the book”, salt the inside of the salmon, place the shrimps there more or less artistically, close the book.
When the oven is hot, put it in, wait until it smells like food (about 25 minutes).
olive oil
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic (at least)
1 lb italian sausage (whatever spice level you like)
1 lg can tomatos
1 pepper (this can be 1/2 green 1/2 red, 1/3 green red and yellow, whatever)
oregeno and basil (fresh if possible, but dried if that’s all you got)
black pepper
paprika
elbow macaroni
Heat oil, dice onion and saute, when it starts getting soft, add the garlic, stir for a few minutes then add the sausage. When the sausage is brown add the tomatoes. Add oregeno, basil, pepper and paprika to taste. Bring to simmer.
While it is simmering, cook the macaroni, as soon as it’s done, mix it into the tomato mixture and serve.
pork and green bean stir fry (I never measure the pork or green beans)
olive or peanut oil
garlic (usually 3 or 4 cloves)
1 large onion
slices of pork
fresh green beens
1/4 cup soy
1 tsp sugar
1tsp vinegar
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
rice
best cooked in wok
Saute onion in the oil, when soft add garlic. Add pork and stir fry a few minutes until pink is gone. Add the beans with a little water and cover. While cooking, mix up the rest of the ingrediants. After about 3 or 4 minutes (when the beans start to soften) add the sauce and stir fry.
serve over rice. You might need to add some extra soy.
1 box TJ’s frozen fried eggplant slices (actually cheaper than whole eggplants most of the time, IME)
1 jar TJ’s marinara sauce
Parmesan cheese to taste (you really should use grated Parmesan, either grated at home or bought pre-grated, but NOT the stuff from a can)
Shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)
Cover one or two cookie sheets (however many you need to fit all the eggplant without overlapping) with foil. Cook the eggplant for half of the time given on the box.
Spray olive oil on an 8x8 baking dish. Put a little marinara sauce in the bottom. Put down a layer of eggplant, then put marinara sauce and Parmesan on top. Repeat until all the eggplant is in the pan. Put mozzarella cheese on top, if you like.
Cook the eggplant for the rest of the time given on the box.
This is good because it doesn’t require any perishable ingredients, doesn’t require measurement, uses only one pot, isn’t hard to make, and is easy to vary to your own taste.
1 onion, sliced (I use the food processor for this)
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 can white beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can corn
Beef stock, chicken stock, or water, enough to bring the chili to your desired level of soupiness
Chili powder (to taste)
Cumin (to taste)
A splash of tequila (optional)
A little olive oil
Saute the onion in a little olive oil in the pot. Add the canned ingredients, then add enough liquid to get the chili to the consistency that you want. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat until it’s just simmering. Add the tequila. Add chili powder & cumin until it tastes right to you. You can eat it now, but it will be better if it cooks for a while.
I made this the other day and everyone seems to like it. YMMV.
1 can Rotell, or just cut some tomatoes, onions, and peppers up
1 can salsa verde (optional)
1 can black beans
Some ground beef, however much
Some fajita seasoning or whatever you have lying around
A prepackaged mix of Mexican rice or do it yourself if you have the stuff
Flour tortillias
Basically, brown the beef with fajita seasoning in a giant sauce pan and then put everything else into it, including Mexican rice. Heat until the water content is mostly boiled off. Put a lot in between two torillias like quesadillas and sprinkle cheese on top. Broil until crispy.
I also made a quite lovely pineapple, orange, and kiwi based sauce for use with spicy chicken over a bed of wild rice, but I don’t exactly have a recipe for it. You can kind of do whatever and it will probably taste good.
One of my favourite recipes (and I’m making it for supper, as a matter of fact) is jarred East Indian sauce of some kind (korma, tikka masala, rogan josh, etc.) with meat and vegetables.
Brown cubed chicken or pork
Add diced onions and garlic
Add chopped up vegetables (whatever you have in the fridge - these sauces support just about any veggies) - I like peppers, mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, sometimes some pineapple, whatever.
Add jar of sauce - stir it up and let it simmer on low for as long as you like.
Meanwhile, I’ve got the brown rice cooking in my rice cooker. The only problem with this meal is remembering to get the rice on in time, since it takes almost an hour.
I made a goulash the other day that was really good, too. The problem with goulashes is that they are made up of fridge leftovers, mostly, and hard to reproduce. This one was leftover potatoes, garlic, onion, can of salmon, sour cream, some milk, a can of mushroom soup, salt and pepper, and some cheddar cheese.
I have to bookmark this thread - so many tasty recipes.
Marinade:
1-1/2 cups of plain yogurt.
2 scallions, sliced.
2 cloves of garlic, minced.
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro.
2 tsp chile powder.
1 1/2 tsp cumin.
1 tsp celery seeds.
Generous amount of ground black pepper.
Combine all marinade ingredients in a large ziplock bag and squoosh to combine. (Yes, “squoosh” is a technical cooking term, and there will be a lot of squooshing in this recipe.)
Add 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts. (I used tenderloins. Perfect!) Seal the bag. Squoosh to coat the chicken, then open the corner of the seal and push all the air out of the bag and reseal. Refridgerate for as long as is practical. Overnight is probably best. I marinated for an hour, 'cause I was just throwing things together at the last minute. Squoosh the bag every once in a while to mix things up.
Heat a frying pan over high heat. Remove the chicken from the marinade and toss it in the pan. Discard the marinade. A lot of moisture will come out of the chicken. Cook on high heat, turning the pieces of chicken occassionally, until the pan dries out and/or the chicken is done. (15 minutes, maybe?)
The acid in the yogurt makes the chicken very tender. We had it on a green salad, with some shredded Monterey Jack cheese and ranch dressing.
This stuff is incredibly delicious as a condiment, or you can just eat it with a spoon:
Oklahoma Cranberry Ketchup
4 cups cranberries
2 large yellow onions, chopped
1/2 cup cheap white wine
1 cup V-8 Juice
3 cups sugar (half white sugar & half brown sugar is good)
1 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon powdered celery seed
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
Boil cranberries and minced onions together with wine and V-8 Juice until the berries pop. Allow mixture to cool slightly, then transfer to blender or food processor and puree. Return the puree to saucepan and stir in remaining ingredients. Simmer over low heat for about an hour until thickened, stirring occasionally. Store in glass jars or bottles. Keeps for a long time in the fridge, or practically forever in the freezer.
