The Easy, Simple Recipe Thread

Cafe Society
1

This thread is for recipes that are simple and easy to make. No fancy ingredients, not 15 step process. Just good, simple and hopefully cheap recipes.
I will start it off with

Taco Soup

1 lb hamburger (browned and drained)
2 cans pinto beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can whole kernal corn
1 can diced tomatos ( I replace this with a cup of mild salsa)
1 11 & 1/2 oz can tomato juice
1 small package Hidden Valley Ranch Original dressing mix

Combine all ingrediants, don’t drain anything execpt the hamburger, bring to a boil, turn down heat and simmer slowly for about 45 minutes stirring often

Garnish with tortilla chips and shredded cheese (sour cream too if you want)

2

Nachos:

Ingredients:
Nacho Chips or Tortilla Chips
Grated Cheese

Place chips on a plate.
Sprinkle cheese on top.
Microwave for 60-92 seconds.
Eat.

3

Another Nacho recipe (since I don’t own a microwave oven at this time)
Killer Nachos

1 lb hamburger Browned and drained (you can use any meat as long as it is cooked, drained and cut into bite sized pieces)
1 jar picante sauce
1 cup Shredded Cheese (or american cheese cubed or cubed velveeta, the cheese that melts well and never dies)
chips

cook meat and drain well
put sauce in pot on med-low heat
add meat
add cheese and stir often

You can heat the chips in the oven if you want

put chips on plate, ladle meat, cheese and salsa mixture over the top.

this is also a good dip.

Now surely the rest of you have easy cheap recipes. Come on and share.

4

600 gallons tomato pulp
300 pounds sugar
50 pounds salt
8 pounds paprik
2 pounds garlic
12 ounces mace
10 ounces cinnamon
12 ounces cloveswithout heads
13 ounces cayenne pepper
16 gallons 100-grain vinegar

Place the whole spices in spice bag.Cook,dissolving the sugar in tomato a little at a time.Add the salt at the end.Cook down to 200 gallons.
makes 1828 14 ounce bottles.

Well it looks easy;)

5

Ahmmm

I’d better give credit to Leonard louis Levinson for that recipe.
From his book The complete Book of Pickles & Relishes


OK now a couple I don't have to give credit for

Apple dip---My daughters fav
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Soften cheese and add sugars and vanilla. blend til smooth.

Orange Julias

1- 6 oz frozen concentrate orange juice
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
12 ice cubes
blend and serve


to oven dry tomatos 

190 degrees/8 hours
6

Chicken-Artichoke casserole:

1 cup rice (NOT INSTANT/MINUTE RICE!!!) Basmati is good and easy to find at supermarkets.
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
1 onion, diced (about 1 cup)
2 cups LOW SODIUM (very important) chicken broth
1 can of artichoke hearts, drained and the hearts cut up
6 chicken thighs (or 4 chicken breasts: thighs are better)
Butter
Salt
Pepper
Sage
Thyme

In a frying pan, melt the butter and saute the carrots and celery until they start to cook (the carrot will turn a darker orange, and the celery will become translucent). Toss in the onion. When the onion becomes translucent as well, dump the veggies into a bowl. Add more butter to the pan and, once it melts, saute the uncooked rice until the grains turn yellow. Add the veggies back in. Dump the water and the broth in. You’ll hear a lot of sizzling and popping. While this is going on, scrape the bottom of the pan with your spatula. Dump the whole thing into a baking dish (it’ll be very, VERY soupy: this is fine. Stir in the artichoke hearts so they’re evenly distributed

Put salt, pepper, sage and thyme on the chicken and lay the chicken on top of the rice. Cover the thing with foil and bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for about 15 minutes more (the rice should be firm and the chicken browned when you’re done.

Fenris

7

The Martini

  1. Put the following ingredients in a cocktail shaker:

3 oz Gin
Ice
One very small dash of dry vermouth

2 Shake

  1. Strain into a martini glass

  2. Add a twist of lemon peel (just the oil, not the peel itself)

  3. Consume

Repeat Steps 1-5 until vision blurs.

You can also garnish with an olive, but that step is completely optional. I leave it out because I don’t want fruit in my drink.

8

Chicken-broccoli casserole:

Three boneless skinless chicken breasteses
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup grated cheese (cheddar’s good)
1 1/2 cups rice (I agree that basmati is excellent)
Couple’a cups of broccoli (or beans, or peas, or whatever), chopped
Mrs. Dash seasoning (or something much like it)

Cook rice.

Put chicken and some Mrs. Dash in a microwaveable bowl with a good bit of water. Nuke for 5 minutes. Flip chicken pieces. Nuke for five more minutes. Cut into little pieces.

Nuke broccoli long enough to thaw.

Mix everything together in a big bowl. Add a little bit of the water you nuked the chicken in to goop it up a bit. Put in casserole dish, bake around 350 for 30-45 minutes.

This dish is what my sister calls “season to taste; cook until done.” It’s pretty hard to screw up, it’s cheap, it’s tasty, and it’ll feed three adults and three children pretty easily.

9

1 filleted rainbow trout (or sea bass)
Salt & Pepper
Fresh leafy herb (coriander or mint or basil)
Olive oil
Peeled garlic clove
Lemon

Rub the fish inside and out with the olive oil, season with the salt and pepper, stuff with herbs, garlic and slices of lemon, close it, put in an oven on the hottest temperature possible until the skin goes crispy and smokes (about 10-15 mins).

This is sooooo tasty and takes about 2 minutes to prepare.

10

Cook box of pasta salad mix. Drain. DO NOT RINSE. Add lots of butter, spice packet, and Parmesan cheese. Eat hot.

Also good with leftover meat or tuna tossed in, so I’ve heard.

11

I’m not sure what you call this, but it tastes good.
1 package of soft/hard tortillas.

1 box of Old El Paso Spanish Rice.

Half can of black beans.
MIx rice and beans together, roll in tortilla.

Takes about 20 min to make.

12

This is my favorite, and it couldn’t be easier.

You start with pita breads (y’know the pocket kind), cut them into pie shape pieces of any size you fancy. Separate the havles so each pie shaped piece is only one layer of pita.

Pre heat your oven to 350-375 degrees.

Now, get/make some garlic butter (I use ‘garlic spead’ from the refridgerator section of the grocery mixed with soya margarine to taste, but you can make/get any garlic butter you wish).

Spread the butter lightly onto the pie shaped single layer pieces of pita bread and them spread them on a cookie sheet and bake until golden brown.

Once cooled they can be kept in any airtight container quite successfully for upwards of a couple of weeks if need be.

I know it sounds really simple, and it is. But do not be deceived. This is one very tasty snack, can be eaten just as snack crackers or served with any kind of dip.

I promise, if you serve this at any event, people will be flocking to you to find out where you bought them, where can they get them.

You can just say you made them yourself, no need to tell them exactly how easy it is!

Try it, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

13

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a weekly feature called the 5:30 Challenge, where readers send in recipes that use 5 or less ingredients and take less than 30 minutes to prepare. I have found a few goodied there. Think you can only go back 4 weeks for free.

http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/living/food/530/index.html

14

Puffed Pancakes

2T butter
1 egg
1/4c flour
1/4c milk
1/2t flavoring (vanilla, almond extract, rum, etc)
You can also add citrus zest if you like

Set oven to 450. Put butter in a 4 inch pot or pan and place in oven to melt. Beat egg until fluffy, but not thick. Stir in flour, milk, flavoring, and zest if your using any. Pour batter into pan and bake for 10-12 minutes. I like to top these with berries and powdered sugar, but your imagination is the limit.

15

I think you’ve just made a popover! I’ll have to try it and see. (Popovers rock)

A classic:
pork chops
Campbells mushroom soup
garlic
extra mushrooms.

It is STRONGLY PREFERRED that you use a cast iron skillet, because it can go from stove to oven, and that really adds flavor.

Fry the porkchops fast until brown. Use a little oil if you need to (modern pork is actually quite low fat). They do not need to be cooked through, just nicely brown on the outside. Remove from pan. Add a little more butter or oil if needed, throw in some mushrooms, fresh or canned, whatever suits you, however many you want. Brown nicely. Just before you remove them, add some fresh garlic, chopped. Just swiurl it all through. remove mushies from pan.

Add soup to pan. (1 small can per 2 chops, roughly) Add 2 cans of water to soup. Stir, loosening the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

Put chops & mushrooms back in pan, cover with soup.

Put in 350 oven.

Cook for a long time. Check every 20 minutes to see if the soup is cooking down too fast. If it is, add more water. Stir it and periodically turn the chops over.

The goal is fall-apart tender chops in a nicely reduced mushroom sauce. When you are done, the sauce should be a deep brown and thick.

Sorry I can’t be more specific about cooking time, it depends on the pan, the thickness of the chops, etc. I’m a by-feel cook, so I kinda suck at recipes.

stoid

16

Taco Dip

8oz Cream Cheese
8oz Sour Cream
1pkt Taco Seasonings
Shredded Cheese
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Jalepenos (optional)

Blend cream cheese, sour cream and taco sesonings until smooth. Spread evenly onto platter. Top with desired amount of cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and jalepenos.
Cucumber Salad

Mix equal parts soy sauce and rice vinegar (amounts depend on quantity of cucumbers) and add ground black pepper to taste. Add sliced cucumbers and let sit for at least 1/2 hour before eating.

17

Here goes with some of my faves–I had to teach two kids how to survive on their own so I have some of these by heart…

Mustard Chicken

Chicken thighs (boneless preferably)
1/2 cup or so of mustard (spicy is best, anything but French’s gross yellow baby poo mustard)
1/4 cup margarine or olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped small
Licoricey herbs, tarragon, basil, whatever…

Flour
Chicken broth, white wine, or water

Place thighs one layer deep in pan, melt margarine and whisk with mustard. Scatter onions, garlic and herbs over chicken, then spread the mustard mixture evenly over the chicken. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, until chicken is done (poke it with a fork, if the juice is clear, it’s done.)

Remove chicken from pan, scraping all the gooey bits off the top. Heat drippings over stove, then sprinkle in flour to make a paste, stirring constantly. Slowly, in batches, add the broth or wine or water (your choice.) Keep stirring to make a nice thick gravy. Then cut up the chicken meat into small chunks, return to the gravy, heat through, serve over rice.

This is totally cheap, and makes an awesome potluck dish.

Another fave:

Lentil Soup with Lamb

2 cans Progreso lentil soup
1 lb ground lamb
1 small onion, chopped
3-6 cloves garlic, chopped
Monterey jack cheese, cubed

Heat soup in saucepan, brown lamb in skillet with onion and garlic. Strain fat from lamb, add to soup. Heat until just boiling, then turn down heat to low and simmer for fifteen minutes or so. Then add the cheese, stirring until it’s all melted. Serve with fresh sourdough bread and butter, yummmm…

18

Ingredients
4 eggs
1/8 cup chopped onions
1/8 cup chopped green peppers
1/8 cup chopped tomatoes
1/8 cup cashew halves & pieces
1/8 cup diced ham
some grated cheese
5-10 cheddar cheese mini-chunks
some butter
1/2 shot of milk

Directions
Chop the onions, peppers, etc. Cut the cheddar chunks.
Beat the eggs and milk together in a bowl. Set aside everything.

Melt the butter on a skillet, and sautee the onions and peppers. Then mix the eggs/milk and tomatoes and ham together.
Pour this over the onions & peppers, mixing with a fork/spatula.
Add the cashews, place the cheese chunks.
Cook until ready to eat.

Yummy yummy!

19

Cream of {whatever} rice.

I am not sure why I like this so much but I do.

1 Can of Cream of Chicken (or Mushroom, or what ever) soup.
Minute Rice.

Bring the soup up to a simmer. If you are using condensed soup double the amount of rice.

Once the soup is hot put 1 soup can of instant rice in the pan with the soup. Remove from heat and cover. Wait 5 minutes. Uncover and eat, preferably with a nice sandwich and a beer.

Slee

20

My gramma’s Broccoli-Cauliflower Casserole:

A half-head each of broccoli and cauliflower
1 onion (optional)
sliced American cheese
About 2 slices worth breadcrumbs

Chop the broc and cauli into bite-sized pieces, and dice the onion. Steam all the veggies together until soft. Then, in the casserole pan, alternate layers of veggies and cheese (sort of like lasagna). Top with last layer of cheese and a layer of breadcrumbs, and bake at 350[sup]o[/sup] for about five minutes, just long enough to melt the cheese. Tres yummy.