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.

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!

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?