Apparently one of the great benefits of cooking everything from scratch is you discover things like this. This morning when i woke up I had a craving for pancakes. So I consulted the prestigious Internets once again. Here I found a great and easy recipe for pancakes:
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2-3 tbs sugar
2 tbs baking powder
1/4 cup melted butter
1 3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
Mix together and add additional milk until you reach the desired constancy, cook on teflon pan at medium heat and Wham, delicious pancakes that taste exactly like...pancakes.
Roommate-Ben was somewhat surprised that i had actually made the pancakes from scratch. It was at this point that i realized how pointless it is to buy pancake mix as this was probably the easiest thing I've made all week. After I pointed this out, Ben pulled out some pancake mix to compare ingredients. The only difference was the proportions were slightly different and the mix didn't call for butter like the scratch recipe (also the pancake mix comes with a laundry list of preservatives and chemicals.)
In sum, don't ever buy pancake mix EVER! Flour is cheaper and healthier; and lets face it, cooking things from scratch is much more fun. And although i cannot base this claim on empirical or even anecdotal evidence, I'm pretty sure the knowledge of how to make delicious pancakes from scratch will impress girls.
January 13, 2008
Lazy Leftover Saturday
This weekend is dedicated to the art of leftovers. Remember earlier this week we prepared both a cheesy potato soup as well as chili? Well even with our appetites raging out of control we couldn't finish everything, so we ended up with leftovers sitting in the fridge. Fortunately for us, leftovers can taste great, in some cases even better than before.
Exhibit A: Pork Roast Chili...
Here we had a delicious chili that tasted great. As Skyler said, the best we've made so far. Well it tasted as good if not better the second time around. You have probably thought to yourself, or have heard someone claim that pizza pulled from the fridge and eaten the next day tastes better. Well this is especially true for soups, stews, etc. When foods cool overnight in the fridge the fats they contain solidify and the flavors meld together. In fact, many stew recipes call for days of preparation: an hour or so of cook time, and a couple days for it to sit in the fridge before it is to be reheated, thus enhancing the flavor. We however are not that patient with our food, and seek a more immediate payoff. Therefore we get to enjoy the traditional home cooked meal, and the tasty leftovers.
Thus bringing me back to my summary of "Lazy Leftover Saturday." No cooking today, just delicious leftovers. "Lazy Leftover Saturday" was a great success and we're currently looking forward to its sequel, "3-day Fridge Enhanced Curry Cheese and Potato Soup Served With Homework/Reading from Grad Seminar Monday."
Exhibit A: Pork Roast Chili...
Here we had a delicious chili that tasted great. As Skyler said, the best we've made so far. Well it tasted as good if not better the second time around. You have probably thought to yourself, or have heard someone claim that pizza pulled from the fridge and eaten the next day tastes better. Well this is especially true for soups, stews, etc. When foods cool overnight in the fridge the fats they contain solidify and the flavors meld together. In fact, many stew recipes call for days of preparation: an hour or so of cook time, and a couple days for it to sit in the fridge before it is to be reheated, thus enhancing the flavor. We however are not that patient with our food, and seek a more immediate payoff. Therefore we get to enjoy the traditional home cooked meal, and the tasty leftovers.
Thus bringing me back to my summary of "Lazy Leftover Saturday." No cooking today, just delicious leftovers. "Lazy Leftover Saturday" was a great success and we're currently looking forward to its sequel, "3-day Fridge Enhanced Curry Cheese and Potato Soup Served With Homework/Reading from Grad Seminar Monday."
January 11, 2008
Pork Roast Chilli
Yeah. Pork Roast + Chili = Pork Roast Chili.
This is by far the best (and easiest) chili we have made yet. And we make chili every week.
Ingredients:
1 Pork Roast
1 can Chili beans
1 can black beans
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 package of Chili seasoning
2 jalepenos
1 onion
Take the pork roast and toss it in the pot. When we did this it was frozen as a brick. Thats OK. It will cook. Besides, defrosting it will take time.
The rest is simple: dump everything in. Chop up the peppers and the onion, but thats it.
Set the crockpot on high and leave it for about, meh, 8 hours will do.
Before serving you may want to pull the pork roast out with two forks and pull it apart into chunks. We actually kept half of it in tact so that we could just eat it because it was so delicious, but this is up to you. Toss the meat back in and wait a bit, or not.
Serve it up piping hot.
This is by far the best (and easiest) chili we have made yet. And we make chili every week.
Ingredients:
1 Pork Roast
1 can Chili beans
1 can black beans
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1 package of Chili seasoning
2 jalepenos
1 onion
Take the pork roast and toss it in the pot. When we did this it was frozen as a brick. Thats OK. It will cook. Besides, defrosting it will take time.
The rest is simple: dump everything in. Chop up the peppers and the onion, but thats it.
Set the crockpot on high and leave it for about, meh, 8 hours will do.
Before serving you may want to pull the pork roast out with two forks and pull it apart into chunks. We actually kept half of it in tact so that we could just eat it because it was so delicious, but this is up to you. Toss the meat back in and wait a bit, or not.
Serve it up piping hot.
January 10, 2008
Curry Cheese and Potato Soup
Eating for pennies sometimes requires a little creative planning. Remember that roast we made yesterday? Well we used the stock from said roast as the base for our potato soup. Now making potato soup is fine if you have limited ingredients or if that's what your craving. It's also easy, it just takes some sort of base, in this case beef stock, chopped potatoes and a little onion. Add those ingredients to a crock pot and fill to the top with water (slow cook for 6-8 hours) and you have achieved soup.
We went a step further. We added some spices we had laying around which included: garlic powder, dried parsley, cinnamon, and curry powder. we stirred that up and let it all cook for about 6 hours. Then we added milk, and about a half pound of graded pepper jack cheese, and cooked it all in for another hour, at which point we had successfully created Cheesy Curry Potato Soup!
And since you already have the cheese out, cut a couple long slices and add to the top of your bread before it goes in the oven for some very tasty cheesy Italian bread.
We priced this meal out to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4 dollars. Roughly $2.50 of that is attributed to the cost of the cheese. So remember, cheese is not to be wasted, nor is it to be used in frivolous cooking adventures. It's a luxury, and an expensive one at that. But oh man does it taste good!
We went a step further. We added some spices we had laying around which included: garlic powder, dried parsley, cinnamon, and curry powder. we stirred that up and let it all cook for about 6 hours. Then we added milk, and about a half pound of graded pepper jack cheese, and cooked it all in for another hour, at which point we had successfully created Cheesy Curry Potato Soup!
And since you already have the cheese out, cut a couple long slices and add to the top of your bread before it goes in the oven for some very tasty cheesy Italian bread.
We priced this meal out to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-4 dollars. Roughly $2.50 of that is attributed to the cost of the cheese. So remember, cheese is not to be wasted, nor is it to be used in frivolous cooking adventures. It's a luxury, and an expensive one at that. But oh man does it taste good!
Pot Roast
So lets makes ourselves a POT ROAST!
You are going to need:
4-5 Potatoes
1 Onion
1 Beef Roast
You can get yourself a beef roast for cheap. This one cost us about $2.40
You will need a crockpot slow cooker. If you don't have one, GET ONE. Seriously, go to any garage sale and they will have crockpots for sale, but get one.
Call the electric wife.
You throw all the ingredients into it in the morning, go to work for 8 hours, and when you get home, TADA, dinner is ready.
You do, however, have to clean it. Heh.
Put the roast into the bottom of the pot.
Simply chop up the potatoes and onion.
Throw em in the pot and fill it up with water until it covers everything.
Throw in some spices if you want. I think we threw in oregano and parsley.
Turn it on high and wait. We put it in at about 12pm and then ate it at 8pm, but it was done before that.
Once done, serve it in a bowl.
Bon appetit.
IMPORTANT NOTE: do NOT throw out the watery broth that is left behind! You just made some awesome homemade beef broth! You keep that, son! Use it for soup or something the next day.
You are going to need:
4-5 Potatoes
1 Onion
1 Beef Roast
You can get yourself a beef roast for cheap. This one cost us about $2.40You will need a crockpot slow cooker. If you don't have one, GET ONE. Seriously, go to any garage sale and they will have crockpots for sale, but get one.
Call the electric wife.
You throw all the ingredients into it in the morning, go to work for 8 hours, and when you get home, TADA, dinner is ready.
You do, however, have to clean it. Heh.
Put the roast into the bottom of the pot.
Simply chop up the potatoes and onion.Throw em in the pot and fill it up with water until it covers everything.
Throw in some spices if you want. I think we threw in oregano and parsley.
Turn it on high and wait. We put it in at about 12pm and then ate it at 8pm, but it was done before that.
Once done, serve it in a bowl.
Bon appetit.IMPORTANT NOTE: do NOT throw out the watery broth that is left behind! You just made some awesome homemade beef broth! You keep that, son! Use it for soup or something the next day.
January 09, 2008
Italian-ish bread
Mix in medium bowl:
1½- cups warm water
2- tbs yeast
¼- cup honey
1- tbs salt
1- tbs dried oregano
2-3- tbs dried parsley
Add 3 cups flour, mix, knead, let rise 1-2 hours, shape, slice diagonally or lengthwise, bake...
For added fun, in a small bowl mix butter, olive oil, garlic clove, oregano, parsley and parmesean cheese. Apply the mixture to hot bread and eat.
1½- cups warm water
2- tbs yeast
¼- cup honey
1- tbs salt
1- tbs dried oregano
2-3- tbs dried parsley
Add 3 cups flour, mix, knead, let rise 1-2 hours, shape, slice diagonally or lengthwise, bake...
For added fun, in a small bowl mix butter, olive oil, garlic clove, oregano, parsley and parmesean cheese. Apply the mixture to hot bread and eat.
Bread
This past week I decided that I would try my hand at bread making. Although I do consider myself somewhat of a cook, I have never delved into the world of baked goods. So what better time than the present to learn? The timing of my sudden interest was impeccable, as baking bread at home seemed to be in keeping with our new goal of eating on the cheap. As luck would have it, one of the cheapest items in the grocery store is flour. This along with some yeast, sugar, and various other (cheap) ingredients can, depending on your competency, potentially produce bread. This post marks my first attempt to create cheap and tasty breads, which you can do at home.
My knowledge of bread baking previous to this experience was similar to my knowledge of cars.
Cars: Gasoline ignites in cylinder---pushes piston---turns a crank thingy---something about a transmission and gears---car moves forward.
Bread: mix flour, yeast and unknown elements X, Y, Z, etc. together in a bowl----knead dough---place into some sort of baking implement and bake in oven at ??? degrees---produces bread.
As you can see, I had the gist of it in both cases, although my knowledge would not allow me go as far as to either work on cars, or bake bread. So I decided to do a little research on the prestigious Internets. Here I found multiple tutorials that explained the properties and behaviors of flour and yeast, recipes, and how-to guides to mixing, kneading, and baking. Armed with my new knowledge in bread making, I set out for the kitchen.
In a medium sized bowl mix:
1-cup warm water (about 105 degrees in order to provide a suitable living environment for yeast)
2-tbs yeast
¼-cup honey
3-eggs
Once all these ingredients are mixed, add a 1-tbs of salt. Be sure to do this at the end as mixing salt and yeast too early can (according to some guy on the internet) kill the yeast.
After all the wet ingredients are mixed together, add 4-5 cups of flour. Flour's ability to absorb water varies so be sure to start slow and add more as the dough requires. Mix until the dough starts to pull away from the side of the bowl. Once the dough becomes a sticky, and stringy blob, remove it and place it onto a solid floured surface. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes and then place into a bowl lined with a drizzle of olive oil. Here the dough will sit for about 1-2 hours until it has doubled in size.
*This dough has doubled in size*
Remove it from the bowl and give it a brief light kneading a second time. Cut the dough in half and roll both halves into an elongated shape. Place both halves into a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Dab the tops with water and slice the tops with a sharp knife being careful not to use too much pressure or cut too deep. Bake for 20 minutes at about 400 degrees (cook time and temperature will vary depending on the oven, bread shape, ingredients, etc.)
Here you can see my first attempt at baking bread turned successfully.
My second loaf was placed in a deeper bread pan in the hope that I might create a loaf resembling that which you find at the store. Although the shape turned out ok, it was not cooked sufficiently in the middle. Although we did sample this loaf, my other roommate Ben claims that uncooked breads may contain live yeast that can cause extreme flatulence. This has yet to be confirmed.
My knowledge of bread baking previous to this experience was similar to my knowledge of cars.
Cars: Gasoline ignites in cylinder---pushes piston---turns a crank thingy---something about a transmission and gears---car moves forward.
Bread: mix flour, yeast and unknown elements X, Y, Z, etc. together in a bowl----knead dough---place into some sort of baking implement and bake in oven at ??? degrees---produces bread.
As you can see, I had the gist of it in both cases, although my knowledge would not allow me go as far as to either work on cars, or bake bread. So I decided to do a little research on the prestigious Internets. Here I found multiple tutorials that explained the properties and behaviors of flour and yeast, recipes, and how-to guides to mixing, kneading, and baking. Armed with my new knowledge in bread making, I set out for the kitchen.
In a medium sized bowl mix:
1-cup warm water (about 105 degrees in order to provide a suitable living environment for yeast)
2-tbs yeast
¼-cup honey
3-eggs
Once all these ingredients are mixed, add a 1-tbs of salt. Be sure to do this at the end as mixing salt and yeast too early can (according to some guy on the internet) kill the yeast.
After all the wet ingredients are mixed together, add 4-5 cups of flour. Flour's ability to absorb water varies so be sure to start slow and add more as the dough requires. Mix until the dough starts to pull away from the side of the bowl. Once the dough becomes a sticky, and stringy blob, remove it and place it onto a solid floured surface. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes and then place into a bowl lined with a drizzle of olive oil. Here the dough will sit for about 1-2 hours until it has doubled in size.
*This dough has doubled in size*
Remove it from the bowl and give it a brief light kneading a second time. Cut the dough in half and roll both halves into an elongated shape. Place both halves into a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Dab the tops with water and slice the tops with a sharp knife being careful not to use too much pressure or cut too deep. Bake for 20 minutes at about 400 degrees (cook time and temperature will vary depending on the oven, bread shape, ingredients, etc.)
Here you can see my first attempt at baking bread turned successfully.
My second loaf was placed in a deeper bread pan in the hope that I might create a loaf resembling that which you find at the store. Although the shape turned out ok, it was not cooked sufficiently in the middle. Although we did sample this loaf, my other roommate Ben claims that uncooked breads may contain live yeast that can cause extreme flatulence. This has yet to be confirmed.
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