The 20 Something Guide To Cooking For Two

2008-05-15T09:27:00.004-05:00

Again it has been a while since I last posted - if anyone has been following me I am sorry! I actually ended up losing my last job - finance is not the field to be in right now. Luckily I received a severance package and picked up some free lance work for the last few months before landing a new position (I am now officially out of finance- which I feel is a good thing) in a small firm in NYC.

Anyway, I will post a couple of recipes here that are very easy to make and are pretty good (I think that is the theme here right? It has been a while...)

Oh - I also found in my local store a pretty great thing. I usually head to Costco when I can and buy the bags of individually wrapped chicken breasts- but I do not get to Costco too often and when I run out (I freeze them) I just head to the store across the street to buy two at a time for my wife and myself. This can get expensive, and usually the breasts are so huge half of my wife's meal goes uneaten.

I found a new thing by Perdue that my store started stocking - bags of ten individually packaged chicken breasts! Now you can't use these for everything - they are thinly pounded and really are small portion sizes - but they keep you from eating too much (a good thing?), thaw quickly, and are easy to use.

Simple Chicken and Potatoes

Ingredients:
Two boneless, skinless breasts of chicken - pounded to an even thickness.
Three or Four (or more depending on size) red potatoes
Two Slices American Cheese
Chicken Seasoning (any store bought kind is fine)
Salt and Pepper

Steps:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Thinly slice potatoes (or use a Mandolin) and season with salt and pepper
Season Chicken with Rub

Preheat an oven safe skillet on burner (cast iron pans are great for this sort of thing, I like a 12" round one for nearly everything, you just have to read how to care for them...) with some oil (olive or vegetable, it doesn't really matter).

Place potato slices evenly around the pan - cook for a couple of mins

Once slices start to brown, flip them over and them place chicken on top.

Insert pan into oven and cook for 15-20 mins or until breasts are done

A few mins before done, add a slice of cheese on the top of each breast - return pan to oven.

Thats it!

Easy to cook, you only have one pan to clean, cheap, and good for you - add some steamed broccoli on the side and you have a great meal for two!

Veggie Soup

Here's the next one for now - an easy veggie soup that is extremely healthy, filling, and tastes great. It also freezes well, which is good because this recipe makes a lot!

I use a slow cooker for this (I love the one I got at Williams Sonoma that uses a oven-safe aluminum insert you can place on the stove top as well...great for one pan cooking), but you can just use a covered stock pot as well.

What you will need:
a large 6 qt+ stock pot (or slow cooker)

one head of cabbage (red or green, its your preference) - roughly chopped
Two bunches of carrots, peeled and sliced
a few stalks of celery, sliced
one medium sized onion, chopped
six pieces of garlic - chopped
four cups of green beans, cut into bite sized pieces
any other veggies you have lying around (I used a handful of grape tomatoes as well)

One can tomato paste
Three 32 oz boxes of chicken broth
Two teaspoons or so of dried basil
Two teaspoons or so of dried oregano.
Salt and pepper to taste (remember that chicken broth can be salty)

Steps:

Sweat onions, carrots, celery and garlic in pot over medium heat (until onions start to turn translucent) for ten mins or so. you can use some olive oil here if you want as well.

Pour in the rest of the ingredients - bring to a boil, and then simmer for 3 hours or until all veggies are soft.

You can use a slow cooker too and not have to worry about watching the pot - one of the benefits!

Thats it! Easy to make, feeds and army (and if not freezes well, which is good because you can get sick of veggie soup after a couple of days), and great for you! If you do eat a lot of this, make sure you have a bathroom handy however, cabbage is great for cleaning out the system!

OK -- thats all for today, hopefully I will have more more for you soon. Now I am off to the dentist (again, it seems I never leave) - fun!

2008-04-03T08:54:00.002-05:00

Easy Pork Chops and Lima Beans (not gross!) and
Fast Way to Upgrade Canned Stew

Well is has been a while now since I thought about this blog - I really doubt I have any readers, but it lets me put some of my ideas out there at least! I was recently fired (or 'let go') from a job I started at in August - at least they gave me a severance - and I now do some independent consulting work from home while looking for a new full time gig. I don't mind working from home really, I certainly don't miss being around people all day or trying to keep up with office politics - but sitting in a chair for 12 hours a day is wearing my back down!

I should also stick with a better gym schedule - I stopped because I was commuting about 2.5 hours a day each way and my day started at 5am - I didn't get home until 10pm (not fun)- hence I got out of any sort of gym schedule. It is really hard to get back into the swing of things, but after seeing some beach photos of my self from my honey moon I now know I have to!

I am also starting a five day juice fast next week- strange I know, but I've heard some good things about detoxing your body that way, and it might save on my food bills. It will also be gross I feel, cleaning out your colon is as good of a reason as any to not be around people - and I can see why so few people except rich and retired people take the time to do such a thing - you certainly can't go to work!

Anyway, I will write a little about that after I attempt it!

So here is my first recipe in months:

Pork Chops and Lima Beans

Ingredients
Package of 4 bone-in pork chops (you can go boneless, but they will cook faster and dry out, so you will need to remove them prior to the beans being done)

2 packages of frozen lima beans

1 14 oz bottle of ketchup

salt, pepper to taste

Steps

1) Preheat oven to 350
2) Place lima beans in pan, squirt on all ketchup
3) Mix
4) Add pork chops to pan - cover with beans and ketchup, add salt and pepper to taste
5) Cook for an hour

I would leave a temperature probe in the chops until they read about 150 or so - then remove them and cover them with foil. I like the ketchup to caramelize around the beans, so I would leave them in until they start to blacken and become crunchy- but it is all up to your personal taste since the beans are done as soon as the chops are done.

Enjoy! This is ridiculously easy and fast - and pretty darn good (though I hated it when I was a kid..)

Easy way to Perk up canned stew or thick beef soup:

Sprinkle on some Worcestershire sauce to the pot as it cooks - that's it. It really adds something to the flavor and makes it taste more like homemade!

Well that 's all for today - hopefully I will remember to update this weekly or so from now on, even if I have no readers at least I enjoy it!

2007-06-06T11:41:00.000-05:00

Really Easy Beef Sandwich

Went to Costco a few weeks back - and found something there I was made fun of for buying, but ended up being a money purchase.... canned beef in beef broth.

Similar to the large cans of chicken they have there- that I love to put on sandwiches or make a salad out of, these are just that - large cans of cooked beef.

Sounds gross- and opening the can is even worse... it looks and smells a little like dog food at first!

Putting that aside- it is easily one of the cheapest and easiest ways I have found to create some really good meals. I made a beef sandwich (similar to french dip) and a beef and noodle dish, both the receipes are on the card that come with the beef cans.

I will give an easier receipe/idea for a great sandwich (I am eating one now...)

Ingredients:

1 can costco beef

2 Rolls

2 slice american cheese

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp ground pepper

Steps:

Open can, drain most of the broth - not all

Mix in onion powder and pepper

Place half of the beef & one slice of cheese on each roll.

Microwave for 1 min, 30 seconds or until warmed through.

Thats it! Easy, cheap, and tastes really good!

2007-04-13T11:11:00.000-05:00

Its been a while since I last posted - I know, I'm awful. Well I don't think I have too many people logging in here, so at least I haven't been a big disapointment for too many!

I do have one new revelation - I just started to like bean sprouts! Yup, those weird grass like things that I never used to like before I now find I love! Well at least on sandwiches and salads.

I saw a magazine the other day that had a gourmet looking sandwich - but basically the only thing on it that made it look special was bean sprouts (that and they cut the crust off the bread?). It looked good, and I have been making sandwiches this week with the sprouts (you kind of have to use them up once you buy them - they dont really sit long and I hate wasting food...).

Here's what I have made this week, simple to make, cheap as usual- and good!

Egg Salad Sandwich:

Ingredients:

3 hard boiled eggs

Couple of tablespoons of low fat or fat free mayo

1 tsp paprika

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/4 - 1/2 stalk celery (optional)

Dijon Mustard

(I like Rye bread for this - marbled if you want)

Bean Sprouts

To make;

Take a fork and mush up the eggs with the above ingredients. Thats all for the egg salad! Then just spread on bread, add as many bean sprouts as you like, and add the mustard... simple and good!

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Deviled Ham Sandwich:

Ingredients:

1/4 - 1/2 can of deviled ham (you can make your own too, but this is easier)

Dijon Mustard

Bean Sprouts

Rye Bread

Just spread on sandwich bread, add sprouts, and you have a simple and elegent deviled ham sandwich - cut off bread crusts to form bread into rectangles or squares and you have something that looks 'fancy'.

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I also am eating a Roastbeef sandwich right now- made with the same steps as above (I added some American cheese too).

Bean sprouts add a nice crunch to the sandwich, and a different taste that I like. I wouldn't eat them with tomatos and other toppings, but I'm sure they would taste fine. They are also very healthy, and don't make a mush of the bread like tomatos will if you are bringing your sandwich to work and need to let it sit for hours.

Simple, tasty, cheap, good - what else is there?

2007-02-28T12:42:00.000-05:00

Haven't posted in a while - mostly because I haven't made anything new! Its easy just to do the same thing again and again since its easy to make and cheap... for example I just made the baked ziti again that I have posted about before.

I am posting today mostly about something I just realized - low fat Cottage cheese is a great, healthy addition to a ton of meals! I have always loved cottage cheese - my Mom always would serve it as a side with dinner (the 4% kind - not as good for you, but tastes amazing..), and so I kind of grew up with it.

I usually eat fat-free or, more recently 1% (which tastes so much better and has less sodium than fat free), as a side to my lunches. Since there is a lot of protein there it helps fill you up, and goes well with most foods. Plus the low fat kind is extreamly good for you. I never really mixed it with my food until the other day...

I had a bowl of my homemade chili (posted about before) and my usual side of cottage cheese. I took a experimental bit of the chili with the cottage cheese - and it was amazing!!! It was so good i then took my entire cup of cottage cheese and dumped it into my chili. It was almost like adding the usual addition of Sour cream, but better in a way. Plus it is much much better for you than sour cream!

Today I had my baked ziti and a side of cottage cheese. I thought the chili was good the other day, why not do the same thing? So I dumped the entire cup of cold cottage cheese onto my reheated baked ziti. Wow. It was almost like adding extra ricotta cheese! It tasted so much like the Ricotta that it really just blended in, and instead of dry, reheated baked ziti I had a creamy baked ziti that did not taste like leftovers!

I don't know off the top of my head what else I would try this with - but things like above are worth trying out. I'm not going to think of cottage cheese as just a side dish again!

2007-02-01T15:18:00.000-05:00

This is pretty good - not as fast as the real, traditional receipe - but a fast and cheap version you can make in about 30 mins or so. It will cost you about $10 and will feed you for at least 8 meals. I got this off of the foodnetwork site - from the southern lady that cooks with all the butter. This receipe probably isn't all that bad for you since it is mostly cabbage - and it makes so many servings!

Easy Corn Beef and Cabbage:

Ingredients:

1 head white cabbage - chopped
4 slices of bacon
4 table spoons unsalted butter
1 can of Corn Beef
1/4 cup of water

Optional (but I like these and it makes the dish taste better IMO):
about 12 baby potatoes - cut in half (you can usually find a small bag of these at the store)
1 bag of baby carrots
1 onion - chopped

Steps:

1) Boil a pot of salted water, add carrots and potatoes - cook for about 15 mins or until they are done (when it is easy to slide your fork into potatoes). Drain and set aside until the end.
2)Cook bacon in the bottom of a large cooking pot (the deeper the better - until the cabbage cooks down it will take up a lot of space).
3) Remove bacon, set aside for later
4) Add butter to bacon drippings
5) Add chopped onion - cook for about 10 mins on med-low heat
6) Add cabbage and water, cover pot with lid - cook the cabbage until limp (its better if slightly crisp), about 20 mins on med heat.
7) Add in corn beef, crushed bacon, and the cooked potatoes and carrots. add salt and pepper to taste.
8) Heat for an additional 5-10 mins.

That's it! Pretty easy to make, makes a ton - and tastes pretty good. What else could you want???

2007-02-01T15:06:00.000-05:00

I'm back - moving this weekend so I have been pretty busy...

I made this the other night - really simple, tastes great, and is cheap to make- what could be better?

Hamburger Pie

Ingredients:

1 lb or so of either hamburger or ground turkey meat

1 onion (optional)

1 package of cresent roll dough

American Cheese

1 jar of your favorite pasta salt

Salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 350

2) Cook ground meat, drain

3) Saute onions

3) Roll out dough to make a flat sheet - add to the bottom of a pie tin or other baking dish. Spead evenly, making the dough come up the sides (like any pie crust)

4) Mix ground meat, onions, and sauce in a large bowl

5) Pour mixture into dish with on the dough - spead evenly

6) Top with enough American cheese to evenly cover the mixture

7) Cook for around 15 mins - until the dough rises and starts to brown, and the cheese starts to brown.

Thats it!!! Nothing else to this and it tastes great right out of the oven or even cold.

2007-01-25T10:31:00.000-05:00

I'm back! I've been pretty busy lately - trying to get a few websites built (I will work for myself someday!!!! well, I hope so... I wish I were a coder, this would all be so much easier) and moving next week, not to mention looking for a new job - is taking its toll.

But I've still been cooking! I haven't made much new - but I thought I would write a little about what I've done recently...

Easy Baked Chicken Parm

This is pretty easy - you can do it two ways, fry the chicken in canola or peanut oil first- making sure that you have flattened the chicken out a little first to make it cook quicker - or just cook in the oven.

To fry:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Flatten out chicken to around .5" thick

Coat with flour

Coat with egg

Coat with breadcrumbs (italian seasoned)

Heat Canola or peanut oil

Fry chicken until almost done and the breading is browned.

For oven:

Preheat oven to 400

Coat chicken with bread crumbs

Cook chicken until almost done (about 20-25 mins), coating will probably not become as brown as the frying method.

Add some tomato sauce - any kind will do, use your favorite

Add some fresh basil (optional)

Add some Fresh Mozzarella cheese to top of chicken

Add some salt and pepper

Cook until cheese is fully melted and starting to brown.

Thats it!!! Not much to it. The 2nd method is a little healthier, but both are easy to make and taste great!

Easy Thai Peanut Chicken

This is really easy to make if you buy Thai Peanut Sauce at your local store.

Noodles:

1) Get some asian rice noodles - or use angel hair pasta

2) Cook noodles until done

-You could use rice too if you want

While noodles are cooking, do the chicken:

1) Cut up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts into bite sized pieces

2) Heat peanut oil in pan until hot

3) Fry chicken in hot oil until done

In the meantime, toast some sesame seeds for a few mins in a pan over med-low heat - until brown.

Mix Chicken Pieces with Peanut Sauce - put over noodles - and sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on top!

Easy to make, tastes great - and something different! After cooking the chicken, you could also drain out most of the oil and stir fry some veggies like sliced carrots, snow peas, broccoli, etc.!

Should make a good amount of food - and this is something that you can easily make for just one person.

2007-01-11T13:18:00.000-05:00

Wow - beena while since I posted something here. I've been out looking for new apartments around the NYC area - something I would not want to go through again... want to try to find a place without a broker? Good luck - I had no luck with Craigslist or any other non-broker service! We actually went to see a 'one bedroom with private garden' place that was $1495/month - great deal we thought . So did about 20 other people. When we walked into the place, if it was more than 100 sq feet I would be surprised! It was so small the room would have enough for a twin bed, if that! I don't even think that would fit in the 'living room'. It was hilarious! Oh well - we ended up spending more than we wanted to each month, but at least we have a great place... price you pay for living in the city I guess.

I haven't really made much that was new for a while - between New Years and things going on I've just been making basic things like chicken sausage and rice, or other meals that aren't really 'receipes'.

I did make Chicken Paprikash the other night, and it turned out pretty well despite my ghetto version of this receipe - my Mom used to make this when I was a kid (I'm hugarian and this is a Hungarian dish). I'm sure there are more 'official' receipes for this out there, but I thought that this was quick and easy and fit the bill close enough - plus it was cheap and pretty tasty... and cost maybe $10 to make at least 8 meals+!

Chicken Paprikash:

What you need:

1 Large Pot to put everything in
1 pot for cooking pasta

48 oz chicken broth
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
16 oz of sour cream (I used reduced fat)
2 jars of sliced mushrooms (optional)
4 Tbl Paprika
2 tsp cumin and 2 tsp curry powder (this is optional, i just threw it in because I like those two spices with paprika)
Salt and pepper to taste.
1 pkg egg noodles (I tend to buy the 'No Yolk' brand - less fat and cholesterol)
4 bay leaves
1/4 cup+ of flour to thicken mixture, mixed in a seperate small bowl with some water until all lumps are gone.

What you do:

1) Bring to a boil chicken broth, adding bayleaves
2) Bring to boil pasta water - cook pasta until al dente, 6 mins or so
3) Cut up chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces
4) Once broth is boiling, add chicken and spices, turn down heat to simmer
5) Cook until chicken is fully done - about 8-10 mins, remove bay leaves
6) Add sour cream, and flour mixture - stir in
7) Add mushrooms, cooked noodles - let simmer for a few more mins until heated through

Thats it! Easy, pretty tasty, cheap, and it makes at least 8 servings - not bad!

Well I hope once we move I don't have to just eat Rama noodles for every meal (only 25 cents though!!!) - on a positive note this blog will list even cheaper meals, hopefully giving some inspiration to other poor want-to be chefs out there!

2006-12-18T11:52:00.000-05:00

Made that BBQ pork last night that I've posted about before - should be good for more than a few lunches, and at $10 for the pork, rolls, and BBQ sauce you can't go wrong! I also made some baked ziti last night, which is really easy and cheap to make - so I'll write about that today!

Easy Baked Ziti:

What you need to buy if you don't have on hand:

1 Box of Ziti

1 small container of Ricotta cheese (lowfat if you want to save calories, do not get fat free- it tastes pretty bad!)

1 Jar of Pasta Sauce (get the most natural you can find - without added oil, etc. Not only will this save on calories and fat, but I think they taste better since they aren't as processed).

1 Fist sized chunch of fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into thin slices (yes you can use processed and it will be fine as well)

1 small block fresh parmesean cheese, grated (you can use the dry parmesean as well - it will be fine)

Couple of teaspoons of dried Oregano, Basil, and Parsley

Couple of teasons of Kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper

Few teaspoons of Olive Oil

Optional - 2 Medium Tomatoes, chopped

A few sprigs of fresh basil, chopped

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 450 degrees

2) Cook Ziti in boiling salted water for 8-10 mins

3) Combine Ricotta, parmesean, pasta sauce, dried herbs & salt and pepper in large bowl - mix well (you can add 2/3 of the fresh basil here as well)

4) Drain Pasta, trasnfer to bowl - mix well.

5) Pour mix into a good sized baking pan, spead out evenly

6) Layer fresh tomatoes and the rest of the fresh basil on top (if you are using these)

7) Layer Mozzarella cheese on top, if using fresh mozzarella sprinkle some Olive Oil over top. Crack some pepper over top as well.

8) Cook for 15-20 mins, or until cheese starts to brown and bubble.

That's it!

Pretty easy, fast, and cheap - plus it will last two people at least 3-4 meals, or one person most of the week! You will probably be sick of ziti by the end, but you can't complain when you're on a budget, and it's not like you are eating Rama noodles!

2006-12-15T16:44:00.000-05:00

Have a holiday party tonight at my apartment- doing a grab bag and the whole bit. Can't wait to start drinking and hanging out - this week has been slow and painful, I had more tooth work done and some minor surgery... ugh.

Don't have time right now to post the receipes I made, but I will be doing so soon!

Oh - My younger brother just called (20 years old) - he just got engaged! I am shocked...

2006-12-12T13:04:00.000-05:00

Well the holidays are coming up, and I've found that I've been too busy to cook anything really interesting, but even so I don't order out if I can help it (one exception is when I am in the mood for chinese food- I never seem to have the proper ingredients, and buying all the exotic sauces, etc for your meal can get expensive unless you eat it often).

Lets see if I can remember what was pretty good that I made...

One thing was really simple, and tasted pretty good too!

Feta and Tomato on Flatbread:

This is pretty much just what it says up there - You buy some Feta cheese, cut some tomatoes up, and buy some flat breat from the store.

Fire up your broiler (I used my toaster ovens broiler), put the tomatoes on the bread, add the feta, sprinkle some olive oil on top - and add some salt and fresh pepper. Cook until cheese is melted, and things look done. That's it!

You can also just leave out the bread and just do this with tomatoes - still tastes great and makes a great side dish.

Beef Braccioli:

This is something I am making myself tonight - so if it doesn't turn out well I will post about it. Beef Braccioli is pretty much just really thin steak (flank steak I think). It was pretty cheap- at about $4.20 for two nice sized steaks. It's the first time I ever have seen it in my store, but you can make it on your own by buying flank steak and pounding it thin (see notes on pounding steak below).

I got this idea from Alton Brown's show Good Eats. You basically just take your flattened steak, sprinkle some canola oil on, add some salt and pepper.

Take a very very hot frying pan (cast iron skillets work great as they hold their heat better) and add the steak, one min per side. Alton likes to flip over the hot skillet (so you cook on the bottom flat side) so it is easier to flip the meat.

Thats pretty much it! You can add some parmesian cheese, or some butter (or herbed butter) on top- serve with a side salad. Keep it simple- it's an easy meal that tastes great!

Steak pounding notes - again I learned this from Alton Brown...

Take your steak, put it between two sheets of plastic wrap that have been sprayed with a little water (keep the meat sliding instead of tearing). Spray meat with a little water as well, and once you fold over the top plastic sheet, spreay top with some water. Take a meat pounder (the OXO meat pounder was recommended), and using moderate force pound out meat while pressing out ward once the mallet hits the steak. This distributes the force of the hits, and causes the meat to spread out more evenly and not tear!

2006-12-08T11:58:00.001-05:00

The Leeks went really well with the potatoes and chicken- basically all you have to do is cook the leeks over med heat until nice and soft. I use about 2 Tbl Olive oil and 2 Tbl spoons butter per 2-3 leeks. Make sure you clean the leeks well! Lots of dirt can get trapped down the leaves - so really rinse well and try to get down into the leaves!

2006-12-08T11:58:00.000-05:00

Well its been a while since I posted- basically because I didn't really make anything new recently. The other night I made my baked chicken dish (which I have posted about) with Mashed Sweet potatoes (also posted about), and Leeks (which I have not).

The Leeks went really well with the potatoes and chicken- basically all you have to do is cook the leeks over med heat until nice and soft. I use about 2 Tbl Olive oil and 2 Tbl spoons butter per 2-3 leeks. Make sure you clean the leeks well! Lots of dirt can get trapped down the leaves - so really rinse well and try to get down into the leaves!

2006-11-30T11:48:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted anything in a while- I've been pretty busy and haven't really been cooking much lately.

One thing I did cook up was a pre-made soup mix- and let me say it was really good and so easy to make it wasn't funny.

Basically it was chicken noodle soup - all noodles and some vegtables were in the bag with the spices. All you add is water and chuncks of raw chicken to a crock pot and cook for 3-4 hours! Thats it!

Easy to make, and it really tasted better than most canned soups out there- Plus it made at least 4-5 servings and cost $5 (soup mix + Chicken)!

This week is pretty hectic- but next week I should get back to cooking again!

2006-11-24T11:51:00.000-05:00

Ahhh- Stuffed again. I ate so much last night I did not feel well, even though I only ate one giant serving I was so stuffed I felt I was going to explode, and needed to nap on the couch for a while. It was well worth it though- the Turkey (organic, free range, and brined) was amazing- it could not have turned out better. I usually follow Alton Brown's instructions and blast it at 500 degrees for 30 mins, then cover breast meat w/ aluminum foil and reduce heat down to 350 degrees until done.

Won't get into too many details though- and since I've already talked about turkey, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, etc. here I thought I would go into what we made the other night at my apartment - Pizza!

It was so easy it is silly- and anyone can do it! Of course it is best to have a pizza stone on hand for this (as it evenly cooks the pizza and makes for a crispier crust) but it is not neccassary.

What you do is go to the local pizza shop and ask for fresh dough - just the dough, nothing else. It will come in a round ball. If you haven't done this before get a few for practice, as you will have to stretch the dough out the size. I would look online for detailed pizza flipping plans- it really is easy, but it is tough to explain quickly.

If you are at the shop you can also see if they will give you a tub of their pizza sauce - if not go to a local supermarket - a gourmet shop should have fresh pizza sauce around, but supermarkets might not. You can either use normal marinara sauce (just get as fresh as possible, if they have 'garden fresh' or reduced oil or anything like that, buy that over Ragu or something - we are going for a fresh tasting pizza here, not spaghetti!).

You can make your own pizza sauce simply by buying pureed tomoatoes (with no oil or seasonings), and adding some sugar, a few tablespoons of olive oil, oregano, salt, and fresh pepper to it. Do this to taste- I can't give you exact amounts as I do not use any - but remember that it is alwasy easy to add more of something than take it out!

Also buy some fresh mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees- let it sit like that for a while to get it really really hot.

Meanwhile stretch your dough out to pizza size - but on a cookie tray (or pizza stone if you have one) then spread on your sauce, add slices of fresh mozzarella.

After oven is ready- put in your pizza and cook until crust is brown and cheese is starting to get bubbly (maybe 10-15 mins).

Evenly add as much of the fresh basil as you want when you think there is only a few mins left. Let cook until done.

That's it!

Easy to make, pretty cheap, and impressive - add a nice cheap bottle of wine to the mix and you have a great italian meal that will taste just as good as going to that brick oven pizza place down the street!

2006-11-21T15:19:00.000-05:00

Didn't make anything again last night- I will be eating chili for a while it seems. I am thinking of freezing the rest tonight so it doesn't go bad while I am away back at my parents for Thanksgiving. I just use those cheap tupperware containers you see in the supermarkets near the ziplock bags.

I did start a new blog as well- we'll see if I can keep up with it like i do this one though. http://crappycommercials.blogspot.com/ You will see how much I enjoy TV commercials here.

I am getting excited about Thursday - I am going to eat my face off (it is hard to do). I love going back for my third helping of stuffing and gravy- not to mention leftovers around 10pm!

The thing that is the worst though is that I have to be at work on Friday- I hate it here enough as it is- and I have to come in on Friday. I can't leave this place fast enough!

Oh well- on a brighter note I saw Rachel Ray in an FHM picture! Even though she annoys me somewhat on her show- she is cute as hell when she is in shape and dressed up in skimpy outfits!

That's about all for today- hopefully I will have something more interesting to talk about later!

2006-11-20T12:45:00.000-05:00

Well I didn't make much this weekend- it was our annual college footbal rivalry, so there wasn't much I did other than drink beer...

I did make a huge pot of chili though- something that is really easy to make and will keep you fed for a long time (if you don't mind eating chili lunch and dinner for a week..though you can freeze it if you want).

Its pretty easy to make too- so I will list out a basic chili receipe that I use. I also add some other ingredients like using steak I chop up instead of hamburger meat, chipotle chili w/ adobo sauce and other dried chilis, but I will stick to the basic receipe, which is easy and tastes just as good!

By the way- this tastes best when cooked in your crock pot! You can make this in a large pot on the stove, and just let it heat up, but it tastes better when cooked slowly for hours and hours!

Easy Homemade Chili:

Ingredients:

3 lbs ground beef (browned and drained)

4 tsp cumin

12 tsp chili powder

2 Tbl Sugar

2 tsp salt

2 tsp cracked pepper

4 tsp Oregano

4 tsp Parsley flakes

2 cans red kidney beans (rinsed)

2 cans tomato paste (those small cans - 6 oz?)

1 medium onion- cut up

2 tsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic

2 cans low sodium beef broth (it is easier to add salt later than to have it too salty at first)

1 chipotle chili (optional) in adobo sauce

Some corn or tortilla chips (in case the chili is too watery, crush some up and add them- they will thicken the sauce and add some salt to the mix)

Steps:

1) Brown beef, drain

2) "sweat" onions and galic w/ olive oil for 10 mins or until onions become translucent (clear)- this just means cookin in a pan over low heat.

3) (Optional step) blend the onions, garlic, and chipolte chili until mixture is smooth. If you do not have a blender make sure you chop these up fine.

2) Rinse Kidney beans

3) add all ingredients into a large pot, or preferably a crock pot. Stir to mix.

4) Cook over medium low heat until hot.

5) If chili is too watery add crushed up corn chips as needed. They will dissolve and thicken the mix.

Thats it!

Personally I think it does taste better slow cooked for hours and hours in the crock pot. But technically the chili is done as soon as it is warm as the meat was already browned!

Optional: Use chuck steak instead of hamburger meat and cut into small cubes about 1 cm.

Enjoy!

2006-11-17T13:15:00.000-05:00

Nothing much to post today- which is why I didn't post yesterday! Haven't really made anything new- made the london broil twice in a row because I wanted to clear out the freezer a little- and had some frozen tillapia fillets that I had from a box package from Omaha Steak. I also realized that I really really hate frozen chopped spinach!

I tried to spice up the spinach with garlic- it was still bad. The only thing I like is the creamed spinach- which really isn't all that great for you...

It would be pretty cool if eating spinach really made you have huge guns like Popeye- I would eat that awful stuff all the time if it made it so I didn't have to go to the gym!

Don't get me wrong- I do enjoy spinach dip, fresh spinach, even spinach pie! But man is that frozen chopped spinach gross by itself...

On a happier note I went to Trader Joes yesterday!!! For those of you who don't know Trader joes is a pretty cool supermarket chain that has a lot of unique items- and usually have really good prices. I've actually never shopped for food at one- I go for the wine!

I love wine- but I am also poor - so I tend to buy cheap wine. I find that while I do appreciate a $60+ bottle of Bordeaux, I really don't mind a cheap $10 bottle of Yellow Tail or Red Truck table wine. In fact I actually really like those wines and, unless I am not paying for the expensive bottle, find that knowing I spent so much on a bottle of wine really makes me sad.

Maybe when I am not counting pennies - but until then...

Back to Trader Joes. I have never seen so many smiling and happy people crammed into one place as when I was at Trader Joes liquor store. Why were they smiling? One reason- really, really, really, really, really, really, really cheap wine!!! And it's actually good! How cheap? Well a bottle of Charles Swabb (aka - "Two Buck Chuck") costs about $2.95 in NYC - and is probably about $2 everywhere else!

Think because it is so cheap it must be bad? Nope- its actually one of my favorite table wines - and I actually like it better than (albeit still cheap) more expensive bottles I get. Why is it so cheap? Lots of reasons - but one of them is that they buy up excess inventory of grapes for really cheap from many vineyards and use them in their wine.

I am not lying- try it and see for yourself! Trader Joes also has many other varieties- mostly from chille and South africa. Two regions that produce good wine, but is still really cheap. I don't think I spent more than $5 on a bottle- and that was for a nice aged Tawny Port (my favorite night cap...) . All in all I spend like $50 for 13 bottles!

Now you know why everyone was so happy in the store...

Check out some more information on Trader Joes and 'Two Buck Chuck':

http://www.traderjoes.com/product_categories.html#Booze

2006-11-15T12:39:00.000-05:00

Well no fiancee around last night, so I made a steak (she doesn't eat red meat, and it's usually annoying cooking one thing for me, another for her...).

I am poor- so unless I get to costco and buy steak in bulk (like I posted about previously), I tend to buy it cheap. One cut of meat which really isn't so bad is London Broil - a tougher cut which can be really really cheap in your local store- but isn't so bad to eat!

I think I bought my last one for $2/lb - but it was a manager 'special' and wasn't the best London Broil cut you could get, too much tendon (making for tough to eat pieces). I don't know if I would recommend getting the special on an already budget cut...but if you're not too picky and really want red meat, why not?

The best way I've found to cook this cut is to look for a good piece- one that looks like a solid slab of steak, and doesnt' have too much fat in it. While marbling in better cuts of steak is desired, in Londen Broil it more likely means that the meat will have lots of tough gristle! Get the steak home, salt with kosher salt and crack some fresh pepper on it.

Cook the meat as you usually would your steak- and when you go to serve it instead of serving in large pieces, as you would a fillet or ribeye- cut the steak across the grain into thin strips. This will make the meat more tender and taste better!

Marinades are also great to use on Londen Broil, as the meat isn't the most flavorful cut.

By the way, slicing steak like this can really make your money go further! People tend to eat what they are given- and 5 slices of steak are actually a nice size portion- but much less than if you were given an entire steak to eat! You will find you will eat less, and will have leftovers that you can make a nice steak sandwich the next day with... get a nice roll, add some A-1 steaksauce, a slice of american cheese, and you're done!

Thats' it!

2006-11-14T10:53:00.000-05:00

I was too full from eating all day on Sunday to do much last night- so I only made a can of SpaghettiOs and had a grilled cheese sandwich.

Despite what you might think- SpaghettiOs are one of the healthiest canned meals you can eat! Tons of Lycopene from the tomoatoe puree that they use, low fat, and just a good healthy meal overall. I like to add some tabassco sauce to help spice things up a bit.

Pretty disapointing post I know- but maybe this will get someone thinking of Spaghettios in a new light (they are also a healthier late night drunk snack than pizza...)!

http://www.campbellsoup.com/spaghettios.asp?cpovisq=

2006-11-13T13:20:00.000-05:00

Monday yet again :( Made some good stuff over the weekend though- we had a 'roommate thanksgiving dinner' (I live with my financee and 3 other friends) and it is now 1pm the next day and I am still not hungry! We ate and drank a ridiculous amount of food and wine- but it was worth it!

Lets see now...

Friday I made Tequilla Lime Chicken with Avocado & Salsa:

This is really easy- and you can make it with or without the marinade, or try adding anykind of Lemon, Lime, or citrus marinade or sauce to the chicken. Serves two.

Ingredients:

Tequilla

Fresh Lime juice

Red Pepper flakes

Fresh Salsa (the 'home made' style- the kind that needs to be refrigerated. NOT the red salsa made for chips).

One Haas Avocado

2 Chicken Breasts

Steps:

Make the marinade:

Pour enough tequilla to cover the chicken in a ziplock bag

Add plenty of lime juice (I do not measure either of these)

Add some red pepper flakes

Let sit for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350.

Take chicken out of marinade, put in a oven safe dish- and cook until chicken is done (165 degrees), about 25-30 mins.

Slice Chicken into thin strips

Cut up avocado - easy way to do this is to slide a paring knife through the middle, splitting the avocado in half. Hit the pit w/ your knife, making the pit stick in the knife- and slide out pit. Then take the knife and slide behind the avocado meat- each half should fall out of the skin easily. Slice into thin slices.

Put chicken on plate, arrange avocado slices around the chicken, and then take a few spoonfuls of fresh salsa and place on top.

That's it! Easy, fast, and cheap to make!

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For the Thanksgiving dinner we made mashed sweet potatoes (see previous receipe), broccoli casserole, pumpkin pie, and a Turkey breast (look up on FoodNetwork.com for Rachel Ray's herbed turkey breast- that is the one we used).

The Broccoli Casserole is one of my favorites from my family Thanksgiving dinners- it is really easy to make, and tastes really good! Will serve about 8 people.

Ingredients:

2 boxes frozen chopped broccoli (cooked, or defrosted)

2 cans cambells condensed cream of mushroom soup (or golden mushroom) - do NOT get the reduced fat kind- it will make the dish bland

1 can Kraft Old english cheese spread, or 5-6 oz of Velveta Cheese

1 tsp of Garlic Powder

1 cup chopped celery

3/4 cup chopped onion.

2 Tablespoons butter

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350

Sweat Onions and Celery w/ butter over med-low heat for around 10 mins, or until onions start to get translucent.

Add Soup and Cheese spread

Stir in Garlic Powder

Wait for cheese to melt completely- and everything to mix well.

Add in cooked chopped broccoli, mix well.

Pour mix into a casserole dish, place in oven for about 1 hour.

That's it! Another easy meal to make that really tastes great!

2006-11-10T11:32:00.000-05:00

Made Eggplant Parm last night.

Pretty easy, really good, and since I usually bake it really healthy for you.

This will serve at least 4 people.

Easy Baked Eggplant Parm:

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant (if you just want to make one service get one of the smaller italian eggplants instead)

2 eggs, beaten - put in a bowl

some flour - put in a second bowl

italian seasoned breadcrumbs - put in a third bowl. If you just have plain breadcrumbs, no problem, just add oregano and basil flakes.

add about 1tsp of salt and 1 tsp ground pepper to bread crumbs.

Some fresh basil

Fresh Mozzarella cheese

Tomato Sauce (get something without a ton of oil- the more natural the better)

Some Olive oil

Steps:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Skin Eggplant using vegtable peeler.

Cut Eggplant into round slices - about a half inch -> 3/4" thick

Dip coat each piece in flour (you need to do this so the egg has something to stick to), shake off excess.

Dip each coated piece in egg wash, let excess drip off

Dip each piece in bread crumbs - coat well, shake off excess.

Let sit for 5 mins or so on a baking sheet or wire rack, then stick to oven for about 30-35 mins or until nice and brown.

Once brown, add a spoonful of tomato sauce to each piece, a piece of fresh basil, and top with a slice of the fresh mozzarella. Drizzle a few drops of Olive Oil on each piece.

Let bake until cheese is melted and starts to brown (about 5-10mins)

Thats it!

Really easy to make, healthy, and cheap! What can be better?

2006-11-09T15:04:00.000-05:00

Made Mashed Sweet Potatoes for the first time yesterday- they were surprisingly easy to make and tasted better than I would have thought.

I also bought this package of marinated turkey cutlets - which were about $4 for on package that had two cutlets. Enough for 4 good sized servings. You just take them out of the package, put them in the oven as per instructions, and wait an hour- thats it and they are really good!

I served them w/ some white rice on the side (I personally like to put soy sauce on rice). Minute Rice has this awesome 'Rice in Bag' thing now- all you do it boil the water, put the bag of rice in (which has 2 servings in it) and wait 5 mins... that's it! I love it.

Anyway- here's the receipe...

Mashed Sweet Potatoes (anyone else have trouble spelling potato?):

2-3 sweet potatoes or 2 yams (they are the same thing for the most part, just different names) yams tend to be larger.

2 Tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground pepper

You will also need a steamer for this- sweet potatoes aren't like white potatoes and can't stand up to boiling well - plus you loose a lot of nutrients to the water when you boil them!

Steps:

Peel potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes.

Steam cubes for 20mins or until fork tender.

Dump in bowl, add butter, salt and pepper.

Mix with potato masher or fork until smooth.

That's it! Makes about 4 servings.

Nothing else to do- unless you want to add some gravy for the turkey (and since you won't have turkey drippings to make fresh gravy I would just buy canned...).

Alton Brown had a variation of this receipe on Good Eats the other day- he added one minced chipotle pepper and a tablespoon of the adobe sauce it comes in to the mix.

2006-11-08T11:34:00.000-05:00

Made a pretty easy pesto and chicken pasta dish last night using some leftovers I had.

I had some chicken I made the other night (nothing fancy, just baked chicken breasts w/ some chicken seasoning on them...) so I chopped it up into bite sized pieces. I then just boiled some pasta I had, drained it, added some extra Olive Oil, a few spoonfuls of pesto, threw in the chicken, and added some parmesean cheese. I just let it heat for min or two on the burner over low heat- at thats it!

Nothing fancy, nothing expensive- just used leftovers!

I wish I had more money- I was just looking at that heritage foods site I listed yesterday and man would I love to order some pork or beef right now...

On an aside- when I'm bored I try as hard as possible to keep myself busy. I do research online, I blog, I write to friends, I study, I read the news, I do anything I can to keep my mind off of the fact that my job sucks and there is nothing to do. My coworker, on the other hand, will literally just sit and stare....for hours!!! How in the world can you do that? He stares at his blank computer screen and hardly moves. What is wrong with him? I guess it would be nice not to feel any desire to do anything productive- my life would be much less stressful if that were the case. But still- he's been doing this for over an hour now! I just want to head over there and shake him...

2006-11-07T15:50:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving is coming up! Even though I have a huge exam (the CFA- ugh) December 2nd, I am still planning on eating my face off and drinking a ton of wine- then falling asleep!

Anyone who thinks 'dieting' during Thanksgiving is a smart idea really should reconsider- I have found that if you crave something (like extra stuffing) and you don't eat it, you will regret it as you will binge on it heavily when you cave in eventually. Plus, why put yourself through all of that? Just eat healthy the rest of the week and you will even yourself out- it's really not hard people!!!

I highly recommend getting a heritage turkey this year- I know they are expensive (which is why I still go to my parents house) but man are they worth every penny! The meat is jucier, and it has much more of a 'turkey' flavor than any Butterball or other mass produced turkey you can buy! And if you care about that sort of thing, a free range, organic, heritage turkey is kept and killed in a much more humane way than the 'assembly line' turkey is!

If you can't find, or don't want to pay for a true heritage turkey at least opt for a free-range organic turkey. Trust me, you won't regret spending the extra money this one time a year!

If you are going to go all out and splurge on a turkey- you might as well BRINE IT!!!! I don't care if you get a cheap butterball turkey, but no matter what you get you really really really need to brine your turkey! This is no joke- it will make such an impact on your bird that you will be so amazed you will never think of not brining one again!

Try to remember to brine overnight (I suggest looking up online for brining receipes, as I cannot remember the correct proportions) - get a large cooler and fill it with ice or ice packs. Then get a large garbage bag or two (to stop leaking). Stick the turkey in the brine, cover with ice, and then RINSE before cooking! Most brines are just lots of kosher salt, brown sugar, bay leaves, pepper corns, and some other optional ingredients like oranges, etc.

Some hints of cooking your turkey to perfection:

Brine it!
Remove and let sit for at least a half hour to an hour- to let the meat come to room temp (less cooking time...) BUT:
Turn breast side down in a large bowl filled with ice, or find a way to ice just the breast. Keep this way for an hour before cooking. This will keep the breast meat cooler than the dark meat. The reason for this is because white meat has less fat in it, it tends to dry out much faster than dark meat. It also reaches 165 degrees much quicker than the dark meat- so by the time your dark meat is done the white meat is all dried out! Brining and cooling just the white meat will help solve this problem.
Find a receipe that starts the turkey at a very high temp (like 450 degrees) to start- then reduces the temp after a half hour or so. This will help 'crisp' the skin,which everyone loves.
Coat turkey with canola oil before putting in oven, and sprinkle with kosher salt and ground pepper. Helps crisp skin.
If skin looks like it is getting TOO crisp (burning) make sure to place aluminum foil loosely over the area. This will stop the burning and keep the bird cooking!
Some people like to flip their turkey halfway through- but find a receipe that explains when to do this.
Try not to stuff the Turkey! The reason for this is that the stuffing must come to an internal temp. of 165 in order to kill of germs, just like the meat needs to. Well, since the stuffing is packed in the middle of the turkey it not only takes longer than the meat to cook fully, it also keeps the turkey in the oven longer - meaning the meat will start to dry out! Try it and you will see that your breast meat will probably reach something around 185-190 by the time your stuffing is all done. Some people (my mom much to my dismay) feel the need to stuff the bird anyway- well if you are going to do this make sure to brine it, and possibly chill the breast as described above. This will help compensate somewhat.
And use an electric knife! You might not think so now- but as with brining you will wonder how in the world you possibly went without one!

Well thats all I can think of for now- though I am sure you will find lots of other tips online. These are what I try to do every year (and I've been put on turkey duty now, though I let my Dad carve it). Getting a heritage bird, and brining it, have made such a huge difference I am very disapointed when I have turkey made any other way. Try it an see!

Here's a great site to look for your heritage turkey... http://www.heritagefoodsusa.com/

2006-11-06T14:19:00.000-05:00

Not much to write about today- but man am I bored at work and I need something to do...

Had the pork I made the other day for lunch- still great, and I am not sick of it yet even though this was my 6th or so pork sandwich...

Having some green tea now- I think tea is something that maybe a good number of us don't appreciate fully. Maybe it's because all we think of when we talk about Starbucks is coffee (though i just had a great apple cider and caramel drink there yesterday...). I also think that because many of us just buy the generic tea bags (Lipton comes to mind), we are generally turned off by tea as something a little bland (this green tea I am drinking is pretty god awful in fact- picture chewing on a stick, thats what it tastes like..).

I really started getting into tea (though I am by no means an expert, just someone who appreciates it) when I took a kung fu class back in college. The instructor had us have a tea break after stretching and before we started training. I had never been much into tea before, but after a while (of trying not to grimace while sipping) I started to really get it! The smell, the various flavors of tea (I love the strange roots and herbs you can drink), and the relaxing feeling you get while sipping- allowing the steam to waft into your nostrils, and clearing your head..

I started drinking tea while studying, and found that it really helps you to concentrate- giving you a nice caffiene boost without making you jittery like coffee does, and calming and relaxing you instead of giving you tons of restless energy. Maybe it's more of a mental thing, but it works for me!

Find a local tea shop if you can- one near me has hundreds of various blends, from classics like green tea, oolong tea, etc. to more exotic flavors like blueberry, rose petal, mango, and hundreds of great tasting great smelling teas I have never heard of before.

You'll need a tea ball to hold the loose tea in while steeping it - I try and find one that is large enough for a large cup of tea, but isn't too hard to open/close. Also you don't want to have large holes where tea might escape!

My favorite now is a really dark black tea, with pieces of red fruit mixed in. The tea is a deep red color and has a nice flavor that isn't too sweet and fruity- but has a nice sweet flavor and a great aroma!

By the way I never add sugar or milk to my teas- I feel it takes away from the natural flavor, rather than complementing it like in coffee. Honey would be OK though if you feel the need to have something.

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By the way, I found this great site about honey: http://www.beeraw.com/

I never really realized how much variation there is between different varieties of honey! This site reminds me more of a site that sells fine wines- from the way they describe the honey to they way they package and ship it. I have really wanted to sample some of their stuff for a while now- I just haven't gotten around to actually ordering any (and they are on the pricey side- not great when I can't afford rent...)

2006-11-05T23:43:00.000-05:00

Aromatics & Easy Potatos

Just cooked some chicken, the asparagus I wrote about before, and some potatoes tonight. The chicken I just cooked in the oven w/ some chicken seasoning I bought.

Here is what I did for the potatoes:

Ingredients:

1 bag of baby red potatoes (for two people maybe 8 of them)

- You can use any kind of potato though, I personally like the mixed bags of baby potatoes that have the blue kind, red, and white..

Some Olive Oil - a couple of tablespoons.

Kosher salt (1tsp or so...)

Dried Rosemary (about 1 tsp)

Ground Pepper (half tsp)

Steps:

Preheat oven to 375

Cut up potatoes into bite sized pieces

Add olive oil

Add kosher salt, ground pepper, and rosemary

Mix to coat

Put in oven for around 45 mins - 1 hour or until they get nice and brown and crispy looking.

Thats it! Easy and really really good. You can try adding some parmesean cheese to the mix near the end, or pretty much anything you want. I will add that anything that you think will burn (like pesto, the cheese, etc) should be added in the last ten mins or so that you will be cooking.

Easy Aromatics

I don't usually get too much into the decoration and other things like that around the holidays, but with Thanksgiving and the holidays coming up I thought I'd mention something that will make your home really smell great. Its really easy and really makes your place smell like the holiday season, if there is such a smell...

All you have to do is get an orange, some dried cloves, a little ground nutmeg, and some cinnamon sticks. Dump them in a pot, add water, bring to a boil - reduce heat and let simmer all day (add more water as needed). That's it, and it really will make a huge impact - much better than any of those smelly candles people put out...

Well that's it for today, can't think of anything else and I'm getting a little tired!

2006-11-04T13:11:00.000-05:00

Got to catch up on some sleep- just woke up...ahhhh.

Started making some Pulled Pork BBQ yesterday- really really easy here but it's looking and smelling great so far...

Pulled BBQ Pork

OK- You NEED a Crock Pot for this - like I've written before, get one. They are so easy to use that you really can't go wrong with using one for an easy meal like stew, chili, soups, etc.

Ingredients:

Brine:
1 Cup Kosher Sale
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Table spoon whole pepper corns
1 Gallon Zip lock bag

Pork:
1 Pork shoulder, pork butt, or pork something - it doesn't really matter though Pork Butt is traditional (I used Pork shoulder this time just because it was on sale for like $1.99 at the store).

1 bottle BBQ sauce - I used Stubbs Origninal for it this time, I haven't had it before so I'm hoping its good. I would avoid thick BBQ sauces if you can, and stick w/ a 'real' bbq sauce that is a little thinner in texture.

Some Ground Pepper

Thanks it!

What to Do:

1) Make brine as shown above- just pour ingredients into bag, add pork, and cold water- mix. Put in fridge for at least 3 hours, overnight is better.

2) Take out, rinse well.

3) Put pork in crock pot- add bottle of BBQ sauce.

4) Cook on 'High' for at least 8 hours, 12 is better. I did this one on 'Low' overnight so far (12 hours) and just turned it up to 'High' for another 5 hours. The longer and lower heat the better, as it breaks down the muscle fibers more and makes the meat more tender.

5) Take out meat when done. Move to a cutting board and shred by pulling at the meat with a fork. The meat should come off in little shreds, like pulled pork is normally. If this does not happen easily, put back into crock pot until done. The meat literally should fall apart.

That's it! Simple, Easy and really really cheap. It will also make a lot so you will be eating for a while.

I like mine on a nice crusty roll, but you can use hamburger rolls- or even put over egg noodles (the wide, flat, short noodles).

You can change this receipe up by using a teriaki marinade instead of a brine, pouring some of the marinade in with the Pork when in the crock pot - maybe adding some scallions near the end. I would probably put that over white rice or something, though egg noodles would do great as well.

By the way- is it just me or is the spell check on this blog site suck?

Also, let me tell you about the pork shoulder I bought. It was pretty funny, what I thought was a layer of fat on it was actually a thick layer of actual pig skin! I've never seen that before- maybe that's why it was so cheap! Anyway, I made sure to cut off the skin (it came off in one big strip) leaving some of the fat layer below. You need fat when BBQ'ing, as it helps with the flavor, and also helps keep the meat tender.

One of the things about pork (which I just heard on Good Eats last night) is that it is really lean and doesn't have much sodium in it (contrary to popular belief) and needs some help to not dry out. Hence the need for brining pork before cooking it. If you don't feel like brining the meat though, don't worry about it- because you are cooking it for so long I think the pork will still become very tendar and flavorful regardless!

2006-11-03T14:31:00.000-05:00

Just scored a free pack of Ocean Spray Craisins outside in a promotion. They were pretty good - though a little sweet for my tastes... I don't know if I would get them on a regular basis or anything, but they are better for you than the package of peanut butter M&M's I was going to eat. Can you eat fresh cranberries? I bet you can't, but I'm going to find out because they look really good...

2006-11-03T10:01:00.000-05:00

I really want to try a Bread Fruit - someone at my office had one the other day and it looked really interesting...I can't find them anywhere though.

I would love to try more exotic fruits- there are a ton of them out there which I think most of us don't even know about..custard apples, starfruits, rollinia, pomello, mangosteens, etc. I can't find anywhere that has more than a few of these- so if anyone knows of someplace to try let me know!

I had hotdogs last night. Yup. Two huge hotdogs- and you know what? Hotdogs really don't taste as good when they aren't grilled...boiling them just doesn't cut it and grilling them on a pan doesn't seem to do them justice. I also felt a little sick afterwards...

So I didn't make anything...well I can't be expected to every night, right??

Might make a steak tonight...hmmmm. I need to stop at costco again- the last time we were there I swear I spent like $400, but our freezer was so full it was a little ridiculous - and we ate like kings for a few months!

One great tip- buy one of those huge, uncut,whole fillets or large stip steak packages. You'll know them when you see them- they will look like giant slabs of meat. They will most likely be over $100 as well! Don't let the price scare you though- since these are uncut and costco has good deals, you really end up paying less than half per pound than what you would be paying at the supermarket. One strip steak slab I bought I cut up into 18 steaks - it lasted me a couple of months and ended up being much cheaper than if I had bought the steaks at the store (which i probably wouldn't have done since a good steak is ridicoulous - like $20/lb!). I could have made it last longer if I weren't such a pig and didn't eat such huge portions ;)

Anyway- once you get your fillet, strip, or whatever, get it home and put it in the freezer for 30 mins or so- just to get it firmed up. Don't freeze it! You can't freeze things after defrosting them (the cellular walls of meats, etc get broken down and they turn into gross mushy things).

Once the meat is firm, bring it to the sink and unwrap it- then rinse the meat off. Take a sharp carving knife and slice the slab into steaks anywhere from 1.5" to 3" (for fillet), depending on your preference. I would get a ruler and use it to guide your cutting, it really makes a huge difference.

Make sure you remove as much fat as you can. Also, there will be membranes of tendon, or whatever on the steaks- you will be able to tell by the fact that they are thin, translucent, and tough- and run the length of the steaks. Remove these! Unlike fat, which cooks off - these will stay tough and chewy. Take a sharp paring or fillet knife and run it underneath the membrane- all down the length of it- they should remove in large pieces and without much effort. Try not to take meat with them!

If you get to an end piece that you don't think its worth cutting further, you can do a number of things. You can 'butterfly' the piece, slightly cutting almost entirely through the center of the piece, and folding it over so you have two halves of steak the thickness you want (sounds confusing, but just look up 'butterflying' online- its really easy). Or you can just cook the end piece like on long, thinner steak!

If you have a lot of scraps, even fatty scraps - save them! I love cut them up into 1-2" cubes and then marinate them in a ziplock bag w/ good balsamic vinagear, some kosher salt, and ground pepper. Cook these like shish kabob, over an extreamly flaming hot grill - charcoal preferred, but gas OK too. Cook only for a couple of mins - depending on if they just came out of thr fridge or not. You should get nice, rare, slightly charred pieces of amazing steak!

You can also save these, then make cheesesteaks w/ them! Just roll flat with a rolling pin, chop up into small pieces, and then sear over high heat in a frying pan! Get some crusty french bread, and whatever cheese you like - cheese wiz or american is my choice. I also like mine 'wit' - with onions, and to do this just 'sweat' your chopped onion over med-low heat for around 10 mins, or until they start to get translucent, but are not getting browned.

Thats it! You will be eating like a king for months without breaking the bank! A little more work than buying from the buther, but worth it, in my opinion.

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I get many of my ideas from the cooking magazine Cooks Illustrated (which I make reference to below) and from Alton Brown on the Food Network. Alton's show, Good Eats, is really something to watch - especially if you enjoy knowing why things turn out they way they do, not just how. Knowing the science behind the cooking will really help you to create your own meals- and make things much more fun for you (it's also cool impressing your friends with your vast knowledge of foodie chemistry...or not). I live by Alton's book, 'I'm just here for the food', and have his first season on DVD as well. I also plan on getting his guide to kitchen gear, since I am always impressed by how efficient he is and I want my kitchen to be like his. His show is a little cheesey, but I like it like that- and you will learn more about cooking from him than anywhere else. He actually teaches you how to cook, not just what to cook!

2006-11-02T10:55:00.000-05:00

Went out last night for dinner (no I cannot afford dinner- my parents were in the city...)

So I didn't make anything, but I will tell you a little about what I do for breakfast each day.

I might not be a health nut, but since I sit at my desk all day doing nothing I figure I might as well eat healthy - otherwise I will be able to add 'fat' to young and broke in NYC...

I figure I eat for less than $1 a day for breakfast - though on fridays I do get an egg and cheese on a roll from the deli..

I buy 'egg beaters' at the store - they are basically egg whites in a box. Sounds gross but they really aren't too bad - I add some 2& reduced fat shredded cheddar to it when I cook it, some pepper and hot sauce, and it's pretty good! A box is like $2.95 and will give me at least 4 normal sized servings.

I also buy turkey bacon - again, its not so bad, much healthier than regular bacon, and gives you something to eat other than the 'eggs'.

Since I hate mornings and try to sleep as late as possible, I usually cook these at night and put them in a tupperware container- try NOT to overcook things since you will be microwaving them when you get to work!

If I'm not in the mood to make that at night, I usually eat a bowl of oatmeal. I used to buy the 'kids' kind of oatmeal (you know, strawberries n' cream, etc) but realized that they had a disgusting amount of sugar in them! Now I buy McCann's Instant Irish Oatmeal - it has some brown sugar in it, but not too much - and has pretty good flavors like Apple Cinnamon, etc.

By the way, when I do splurge (my god do I need to make money...) on a $2.74 egg and cheese on a roll, I usually get two eggs, and ask for ONE slice of american cheese. You won't miss the extra 2 or 3 slices of cheese that they will slap on there, but you will save like 30% of your daily fat intake!

I figure that the healthier I eat during the week, the less I have to worry about it on the weekends- and I do NOT worry about what I eat then... I find that I am never 'craving' anything and I have stayed in relatively the same shape since college just by cutting calories during the week when I can, and eating well balanced meals - and then not caring at all on the weekends (or god forbid thanksgiving or christmas dinner). I get sick when I see magazines showing ways to 'cut down on calories during your thanksgiving meal!' - my god you shouldn't have to do that people! Just have some common sense when you eat 90% of the time and you will NEVER have any problems (well medical issues aside of course...)!

2006-11-01T11:10:00.000-05:00

Last night made a pretty cool chicken pot pie. I make this once in a while and I got the idea from the Man a Can and a Plan book I listed in the previous posts.

This time I tried this w/ Cream of Corn soup instead of the Cream of Mushroom I usually use - it was still really good! You can substitute any number of creamy soups for this receipe - I recommend the cambells concentrated soups like Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Chicken, etc. - though the Cream of Corn I used last night was not concentrated (but I did use less so it didn't turn my pie into soup!).

To save on fat and calories use the reduced fat healthy choice brand - you really won't notice the difference in taste, and you will get less sodium and fat in your meal! I also use reduced fat Pillsbury biscuits for the crust - same deal here as with the soups...

OK, here it goes:

Easy Chicken Pot Pie:
2 large cans of chicken (you can get these cans from Costco- they are big cans of chicken breast - looks like canned Tuna).

1 Can Cream Of Mushroom condensed soup (or substitute)

1 small can of sliced mushrooms (optional - I only use if I use cream of mushroom soup)

1 Package Pilsbury biscuit dough (use any kind, it doesn't matter)

Few oz of Shredded Cheddar cheese (I use Kraft 2% Reduced Fat - optional again)

1 package frozen mixed vegtables

Salt, pepper, Paprika and cumin to taste

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 375.
2) Put chicken in a medium size baking dish.
3) add vegtables
4) add soup
5) I add a sprinkle of salt, pepper, paprika, and cumin now.
6) mix together
7) Press down into pan evenly
8) Add Cheese evenly to top
7) Add crust - I like to take half of the dough and roll it out a little to make a nice flat square, then lay it over the top of the chicken mix. You can also lay full bicuits on top evenly without rolling them out. The bottom of these will not be fully cooked, so if you don't like yours a little doughy I would bake them separately on the side, then place them on top near the end.
8) Place in oven for 20 mins or until crust is golden and done.

For a tastier meal use two chicken breasts in lieu of the canned chicken. I like to pan boil my chicken in an inch or two of either water or chicken broth (better), with some dry white wine (optional), and some pepper and a bayleaf - for about 10 mins, flipping once. Shred chicken before using.

To make a nice golden crust, take one egg and mix it up, then use a brush and brush it over the crust!

If you use full biscuits as the crust you can also stuff them with the cheese instead- making them nice to bite into!

Thats it! Cheap, easy, and will feed two people for at least 2 dinners if not 3!

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Low fat Tuna Sandwiches:

I also love Tuna sandwiches, but using real mayo in them can really turn them into a heart clogging meal - not bad once in a while, but if you eat them too often you will start to show it!

Instead I just use a fat free mayo substitute (which don't tast that bad, trust me)!

I then add relish, some pepper, and sometimes some lemon juice and hot cayanne pepper.

Add a slice of American Cheese, put on some toast- and you have a very healthy and very good Tunafish Sandwich!

2006-10-31T10:21:00.000-05:00

Second Post!

Well I didn't get home until late last night, so I just had leftover chicken from the other night...

But I did make asparagus, so let me write about that..

I got this receipe from cooksillustrated magazine: www.cooksillustrated.com

I highly recommend that magazine, it is the only one I buy and the reason is because it really goes into why a receipe works - what they did in their tests to come up with the final results. Very scientific, and you will be making receipes actually knowing why you are doing something instead of just what to do!

So here's a Basic Pan-Fried Asparagus receipe:

What you need:
Get some nice thin asparagus (thicker works fine too, just won't turn out as crisp)
1 Tablespoon butter (unsalted is better)
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Kosher Salt and ground pepper to taste
Fresh Parmesean cheese (but you can use the processed stuff too)

What to do:
1) Cut ends off and wash asparagus (or just snap ends off where they break near the bottom)
2) Heat skillet over med-high heat, melt butter and mix in oil

The reason of having both olive oil and butter in there is that you want butter as it will help to brown the asparagus, but butter has a low smoke point (where it starts to burn). Olive oil has a higher smoke point, and mixing it in allows the butter to get hotter than usual without it burning.

3) After pan is hot, place half of asparagus with head towards you, half of the asparagus with heads away from you in the pan. Sprinkle Kosher salt on top, pepper. Reduce heat to medium.
4) After 2-3 mins (depending on thickness of asparagus), place cover on pan and cook additional 2-3 mins.
5) Take off heat, sprinkle on parmesean cheese, serve!

Do not flip the asparagus, this will cause the one side to be a nice brown color, and the top side to be a nice bright green.

Thats it! Tates better than just steamed or boiled asparagus and looks great too!

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2006-10-30T09:59:00.000-05:00

This is my blog on cooking for two- hopefully I will inspire some people out there to stop going out every night and save some cash by staying in and cooking something simple, easy, and affordable!

A little about me... I used to be a cook at an italian restauraunt about 10 years ago when in highschool. I hated it. We did have some good times there, but in general it was hot, smelly, and really hard work. Some nights I had over 100 orders to make- these weren't gourmet meals, but more like you general pizza/italian place you find on most corners - but still thats a hell of a lot of mozzarella sticks, chicken parms, meatball subs, etc. to make in one night!

But as annoying as it was, I have to say it really set me straight when it came to cooking for myself.

Knowing how to time 10 plates of food so they come out in order took quite a bit of practice, and something you can't really get the hang of unless you actually work at it! I would also get bored eating the same thing night after night, so I used to make my own receipes up and make them for myself.

When I went to college, I used to make pretty elaborate meals for myself in our kitchen- and started to realize that I actually enjoyed cooking, and that other people were pretty impressed by it!

I also started to realize another reason I enjoyed cooking - it lets me relax and sort of zone out while still doing something productive. I am also not the worlds most outgoing person- not that I am a wallflower, but I don't usually like being the center of attention- so cooking not only give you something to do other than socialize, it is something that needs to be done that most people hate to do - so you end up looking like a hero, don't have to make small talk all night, and have fun knowing that what you are doing will be something that everyone will appreciate (Plus you usually get a pass from much of the cleanup aftewards- which I hate to do)!

Basically I am a pretty good cook now because I had so much practice. I think a lot of people never become 'good' at cooking because they don't feel like it, or are too worried about messing up, to actually get the practice you need to know what works and why!

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As my fiancee and I are basically poor New Yorkers, most of the receipes here will be done on a tight budget. I might sometimes splurge on something like Lobster once in a while, but in general we try to save money as much as possible. By the way, cooking for yourself is a great way to save your cash - I often can feed us for at least two meals in a row for under $20 if not less when I have most of the ingredients...try eating out in the city 4 meals for less than that! This is also going by the NYC prices, so if you don't live here you will be able to stretch your $$$ further.

My fiancee is also a 'semi-vegetarian', which means she won't eat cute things. This includes cows, pigs, lamb, etc. So not only do I have to try and cook for only two, but have to to pretty much stick to chicken or fish when I cook for both of us. A lot of time I will cook myself a steak or something and make her a baked potato, etc. It is annoying, but it is what it is... I sometimes will make myself a huge pot of beef stew and just eat that for lunch and dinner a couple of days myself and make her something that goes w/ my side dish each night.

We really enjoy throwing parties, so there will be some things written here on what we did as a group, what we cooked, etc.

All amounts of ingrediants are approximate, as I rarely measure when not following a receipe. When you cook like I do, simple quick receipes with ingredients that taste good together, you do not have to be precise!

When I get a receipe from online, or some other source - I will provide the link if I can, or at least quote the source.

Anyway, enjoy my blog- feel free to use any of the receipes printed within, though I would appreciate some credit if you post them anywhere!

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Easy Baked Whole Chicken:

This was for two people, makes about 4 servings. All ingredients are approximate!

So last night I wanted to cook a chicken and went out and bought:

1 Boiler Chicken. Don't get a chicken that is too large, as it will be hard to cook evenly without drying out the white meat.

1 Head of Fennel

1 Bunch of Carrots

1 Onion

(optional) Terriaki marinade, inserted with 'flavor injector' (basically a needle that allows you to stick the food and plunge the marinade deep into the flesh - makes the flavor get deep into the food quickly.

I also used: about 1/3 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup Kosher salt, an orange, some freshly ground pepper. A 1 gallon ziplock bag.

Steps:

1) Brine Chicken in ziplock bag w/ brown sugar, salt, half the orange, and pepper. Fill water to top, close up, and stick in fridge. Anywhere from 3 hours - overnight. Then remove chicken, rinse well and pat dry.

I like to brine a lot of my food before cooking it. Brining is basically putting the food in very salty water and letting it sit. Preferably overnight, but this time I only had about 2-3 hours and it worked fine as well. Brining allows the food to stay moist (I forget the scientific reason for it - you can look it up online). It also allows the other flavors that were in the brine (the pepper, sugar, and orange) to infuse the chicken. The chicken does NOT come out extra salty or anything! Make sure to rinse afterwards however.

2) Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

3) Cut up and peel carrots, cut off top of fennal head and cut base into wedges. Coat with some olive oil and Kosher salt on a tray.

Always use Kosher salt for things like this, the texture makes it coat nicely without oversalting.

4) Stuff Chicken with 2nd half of orange, and onion cut into wedges. Coat chicken in canola or vegtable oil, and salt with Kosher salt and ground black pepper. If you have the teriaki and the injector, inject into breast areas, and leg and thigh areas now.

5) Stick chicken and vegtables in 450 degree oven for 15 mins. This is to get a good crisp to the skin. Then reduce heat to 350 degrees and cook chicken until meat reads 160 degrees or juices run clear, about 30-45 mins(?) I don't usually time, I use a temperature probe to make sure things are done perfectly. Remove vegtables whenever they look nicely brown and crisp- the goal is to have nicely caramalized carrots and nicely browned fennel. They can take lot of cooking and still taste good, so don't worry too much about them.

Let sit for 5-10 mins, loosely covered with aluminum foil, then cut up and serve.

Tips: If the chicken skin looks like it is starting to get too brown (check every 15 mins or so) simply take some aluminum foil and place it over the top of the chicken. This will prevent it from burning, but still allow the chicken to cook.

Thats it! Looks like a lot when I read it over, but its actually a very simple receipe. Once you get the brining down, start thinking of other things that like to dry out when you cook them- pork and turkey lend themselves particularly well to brining, and an overnight brine will really make a huge difference to you Thanksgiving day turkey!

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Easy Beef Stew:

For this one you NEED a crockpot- if you dont have one, get one- simple meals are easily done in crockpost because you just dump everything in and leave it!

Ingredients:

1) Beef - you can either buy cubed beef, or get a eye round or something. About a pound.

2) Vegtables - I like carrots, potatoes, onions, celery. You can even buy one or two bags of 'frozen stew vegtables' in the frozen aisle. Works just as well.

3) Tomato juice - 24oz or so bottle.

4) Crushed Tomatoes - 32 oz can or thereabouts.

5) Salt, pepper.

Just cube the beef into 1" cubes, season w/ kosher salt. Chop up vegtables into bite size cubes (peel potatoes and carrots 1st...)

Then dump vegtables into crock pot, dump beef on top (so juices from meat soak into vegtables), pour in tomato juice and crushed tomatos, add freshly ground black pepper.

Optional- add some oregano and parsley flakes.

Turn crock pot up to high- leave for at least 8 hours, but try for 12 - turn down to low after to simmer until you eat.

Thats it!

If you like easy to prepare receipes I highly recommend these books- I thought it was stupid at first, but I actually make about half of these receipes on a regular basis now! They actually taste really good, are cheap to make, and don't cost much...

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My favorite sandwich growing up --> Peanut butter and cream cheese on white toast!

Still great, use light cream cheese though...

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I have no idea what I'm making tonight, have to work late and my fiancee has a grad school class. Oh well, I'll think of something...