May 2, 2010
What happened? I dreamed that my staff were plotting an insurrection because apparently my boss was an alky, and they were in trouble for bringing dozens of differently sized exercise balls into the office. ???
It’s been hours since I finally succumbed to the dim sum shrimp punching me in the face and knocking my brain fuzzy. You’ve really gotta watch it with that dim sum – half a chance and the carbs and the fats work their diversionary magic and POW! The shrimp get ya.
In lieu of caffeine, this Hand Ninja helped wake me up with her calisthenics (no idea what the last bit is all about).
Though dim sum is really fun, the only dish that really gets me there are the steamed and baked BBQ pork buns because I love love love BBQ pork and can’t make the buns at home. I might be able to figure it out one day but for now, I’m happy with bringing home the occasional delicious bun treat.
Speaking of treats, our meal was a treat as well. The bill for 4 people after tip was $55 which wasn’t bad considering we had SIXTEEN dishes (mostly small and medium) and works out to less than $14 per person. While I try to spend less than that on food for an entire day, it’s doped me up enough that I probably won’t eat again until late tonight. 🙂
May 1, 2010
I can’t find the picture of my dazzling BBQ pork success so will share a wonderful pork tenderloin made soe time ago. I can also recommend a nice bottle of wine only $5 at Trader Joe’s: Epicuro’s Lazio white wine.
I am up and at ’em! (Always have wondered who ’em was, though.) It’s 8:30 and the chicken stock is bubbling merrily on the stove next to the pot of eggs for the week’s snacks. I’ve just to fetch my mending basket and settle into the perfect curve of my sofa-pillow Fortress of Solitude whilst the breakfast hash browns are baking in the toaster oven.
It’s not a half bad beginning to the day.
I’ve queued up an amazing lot of workly things to do, though. The cookery was the easy part. I have loads of prep work for next week, a good chunk of freelancing to tackle, blogging to catch up on, and perhaps a meal or two to eat. Friends are in town, too, though they’re really just here to see each other and I happen to be the middle at which they meet.
P.S. Last week’s chicken soup picture? Will be duplicated today! I’m so excited. I’m making the stock first, then a super sized batch will follow using both weeks’ stock.
Also, I will be making Frugal Scholar’s Broccoli Soup this week with the head of broc bought expressly for that purpose. It will be gorgeous!
April 8, 2010
I’ve started meal planning for lunches and dinners through the week with the goal of not eating out more than twice a week (if that). Expensed and catered meals don’t count, but I don’t plan on having too many of those.
So far, I’m scheduled to cook every other day and plan to make enough to package up lunch servings for either the next day or day after. That way I cut cook times in half, and don’t have to scramble for the next round of meals. As long as I don’t miss a cook day, the rolling menu should work pretty well.
Crockpot meals should be good for freezing ahead, too.
Breakfasts are simple. A couple eggs with green onions or a bit of oatmeal with a handful of walnuts is the most I can handle that early in the morning. Fruit is packed for a mid-morning snack, and so does a bar of some sort. (I LOVE Lemon Zest LunaBars.)
Some of my favorite dinner recipes
Roasted chicken (yields 2-4 meals depending on the size of the chicken).
Balsamic chicken (yields 2-3 servings) — Modified this recipe by using much less balsamic vinegar.
And lemon garlic chicken — this recipe with maybe a few less lemons.
By cooking at home, I should be bringing meal costs down to around $5 or less, including a veggie and carb side. I like brown rice best, but breads, pastas and quinoa are welcome additions to my plate.
April 4, 2010
I was having a distinctly teenager moment on the way home from a fantastically fun screening of The Last Unicorn with Peter S. Beagle in attendance. Not just the goofy giddiness that comes of seeing an iconic figure, hearing him speak (he’s funny), sitting two rows behind him. Cravings are what I’m after — cravings for donuts.
A’course, in my advanced years, I only wanted one donut, not the dozen and odd that would have been inhaled ten years ago.
My companion remembered a donut chain that was open until midnight, we had plenty of time. Pulling up in front of the darkened shop, I started to resign myself to going without. My companion popped out of the car to check anyway, “what’s the worst that can happen? They can just say no.”
Well, no, the worst that can happen is the guy can respond to your “can I get two glazed donuts, please?” with a stuffed box (that won’t close) of a full dozen glazed and sugary heart attacks and a sack of mini glazed doughy chunks. All for free.
Why is that bad, you ask? How can you say no? But then, what are we going to do with all of these donuts??
If they don’t go stale by then, I’ll gladly take them in to work on Monday, but glazed donuts don’t store well when crowded so now we’ve got to separate them. Like an army of pastries.
January 28, 2010
It’s official: I’ve been sick for over a week. Dear friends, I’m a terrible invalid. I whine. A lot. Between racking coughs, I whine and mentally grumble about how much money’s been wasted on those elephant pills that haven’t done a lick of good. The really gross, wild-cherry flavored Robitussin has finally alleviated the cough enough for me to cook again.
But this morning? The sun literally and figuratively came out: it’s gorgeous outside, and half my coughs don’t sound like a dying warthog. Glory be!
I’m getting back on the exercise horse ASAP. Every time I moved faster than a slow shuffle these past several days, I’ve keeled over with the cough so I’ve neglected the Daily Exercise Regimen sadly.
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Dogfood Provider linked to this beyond-awesome pasta sauce recipe posted at Smitten Kitchen.
I modified the recipe like so:
28 ounces canned diced tomatoes with peppers and onions
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste
Combine the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 50 minutes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste.
I actually didn’t add any salt as both the sauce and the butter contained salt. The rich, melty melding of flavors was absolutely perfect with the modified Garlic Lemon Chicken recipe. (Besswess, I used the juice of ONE lemon, ditched the herbs and rind, and baked with plenty of garlic. It turned out sans bitterness. Might be worth another go if that was your only objection.)
Sauce: $4, 6 generous servings
Chicken: $4, 6 servings
Asparagus: $2, 2 servings
Surprisingly my love affair with asparagus is suspended – I’ve got to find another veggie to round out the meals for a while.
January 20, 2010
Shrimp Scampi
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 pound shrimp (shelled and deveined)
1/4 cup white wine
1 lemon (juice)
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 pound regular penne to avoid leftovers, I would probably use a whole pound next time for a better pasta/shrimp ratio.
Parmigiano reggiano (garnish)
Chopped tomatos, basil (garnish)
Directions
1. Heat the oil and melt the butter in a pan.
2. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.
3. Add the shrimp and saute until cooked, about 1-3 minutes per side.
4. Remove the shrimp from the pan.
5. Add the wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil.
6. Simmer the liquid until reduced by about half, about 3-5 minutes.
7. Add butter, wait for it to melt and turn off the heat.
8. Add shrimp, pasta and toss to coat.
9. Serve with a garnish of parmigiano reggiano, tomatos and basil.
Notes: On a shampoo and loaf of bread trip to Costco we were surprised by a showcase of gorgeous White or Black Tiger Prawns for $8.99/lb. [Nothing like Frugal Scholar’s $2.98/lb shrimp!]
We bought a pound (17 shrimps) to make tiny appetizers to accompany the chicken bites I’d planned to serve at a housewarming, but we ran out of time. Which was all to the good for me and my pasta ambitions the following day.
I would recommend serving with fresh tomatoes and basil.
VERSUS
Lemon Garlic Chicken
Ingredients
8 drumsticks
3 lemons
15 cloves of garlic, peeled
Salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons fresh thyme Italian parsley leaves (it turns out Trader Joe’s does NOT have thyme)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, add the chicken pieces. Slice the lemons in half and juice them. Add the juice and the lemon rinds to the bowl, along with the garlic, salt, pepper, and thyme.
3. Mix well with your hands, then dump this all in a large baking dish.
4. Put the dish in the oven and bake the chicken for 30 to 40 minutes, basting every 10 minutes.
5. When the skin gets crispy and the meat is cooked through, it is done.
Notes: For my fat-fearing companion, I skinned the drumsticks ahead of cooking, and used a foil shield over the pan to protect the chicken from drying out.
Verdict: Both are absolutely delicious, but the shrimp scampi ringing up at more than $3/lb and using white wine is too decadent for a frugal budget. We’ll use 2-buck chuck, of course, but a bottle has to be drunk within a few days of opening.
The chicken, however, at $1.29/lb isn’t terribly cheap but is quite a bit more affordable for an everyday dish.
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Daily Exercise Update: Nuttin. I was paying the price for procrastinating on homework and other needful things. As penance, tomorrow, ANKLE WEIGHTS.
January 4, 2010
A belated recap
‘Twere the hours before dinner,
and strewn along the cushions,
all the people were lounging,
including this lout:
These gorgeous cuts of pork and fish were our main entrees in what I thought was a slightly ambitious menu.
It turns out that I completely underestimated the other cooks in the family because their post-Christmas dinner was worlds away better than mine.
Had I known they were going to serve tri-tip, baked green bean casserole, jalapeno cornbread, red mashed potatoes with a shrimp sauced noodle starter and two kinds of soup, no matter how much of it was pre-made or from the box, I might have insisted on something more elaborate than my all-from-scratch meal followed by my first homemade pie ever.
Actually, my peeve was that despite my careful coordination of the cooking and plating, the dinner guests milled about so long that the food all got cold. And I hate cold food.
The pork needs a little more work the next time we make it; lower heat and longer cook time should do the trick, but the apple with pancetta topping was an absolute hit. At least two people went back for seconds and thirds of the topping to go with the quinoa or the Crescent rolls we served.
I hope everyone had at least one good holiday meal. We might not be big on traditional Christmas around here, but we do believe in good company, good food, and sometimes good wine.
