Cheap, cheerful (& healthy!) recipes - eating well despite the recession!

Stilly, you are a very very bad man.

msolga wrote :



so how about potato-pancakes ?

grate plenty of potatoes
squeeze out excess water
add a little pepper and salt , perhaps just a touch of flour
fry in a very hot pan - prefer corn oil - it'll have to sizzle when you drop the scoop of grated pot in
eat as is or add sourcream , apple-sauce ... whatever
best eaten standing right next to the cook in the kitchen
use a plate if absolutely necessary - no knife or fork needed
leftovers can be heated up in toaster-oven - but fresh from the pan is best !
hbg

ps keep a few papertowels handy - to wipe your mouth and hands - no handwashing required - cornoil is better than the finest facecream(it's usually vaseline)

eggplant pizza


one egg plant cut in thin slices length wise. ( about a half to one inch thick)

use a little olive oil and rub the top of the slice with it... just enough to help cook the spices. I use about 2 tablespoons per eggplant..

Diced fresh - cilantro, oregano, basil and garlic powder.
Sprinkle liberaly on top of eggplant.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Pull out and place sliced cheese ( which ever is your favorite) and diced sweet tomatoes on top... bake again for 5 more minutes.

Add crimini mushrooms for a different flavor
or pepperoni for a real heavy pizza flavor.

Free range vegetarian allowed no additives...

hippy with no job?

but also allowed no drugs..

talk about desolation row..

I guess I think of that as strip city, and not necessarily good.

I do soups as well. i feel like I have put the recipes up elsewhere. These are vegetarian (or mostly vegetarian as you'll see)

In a deep soup pot:

1. Slowly sautee one medium onion in a lot of olive oil until they're almost melted
2. Pop a clove or two of minced garlic into the microwave in some olive oil for about 45 seconds
3. When onions are soft, add a small handful of flour to the pot to soak up extra olive oil, let the flour get a little gummy and tan
4. Add a half can of rinsed navy beans and smash them up a little bit with the onions
5. Add a small amount of broth (vegetarian or chicken) and stir the onion/bean/flour mixture to blend in the lumps
6. Add a can of corn with liquid
7. Add a pinch (1/4 tsp) of chipotle powder (or NM chile mix)
8. Simmer for maybe 10 minutes

That's the basic recips. I play with it by:
- Adding reconstituted dried mushrooms, chopped fine, at step 2
- Adding a can of stewed, chopped tomatoes at step 5, 6, or 7
- Adding parsley, fresh or dried
- Adding chopped chard or spinach at step 7

Nah. Just bored on Sunday night.

Great to see the range of recipes posted so far. Hopefully we'll end up with enough inspiring budget recipes to keep the average student living well on a tight budget for ages! (God, I was such a disaster as a student cook! )

I was going to post a few more tonight, but am a wee bit pooped after a demanding day at work. So tomorrow, perhaps. I was thinking of recipes along the lines of Thai fish cakes, or light soup with pork-stuffed wanton "dumplings". Any interest along these lines?

Hey, that sounds pretty good.

I assume you cook it however long it takes couscous to cook? Or do you put the egg and brocolli in during the last few minutes?



Ok, here's one from me.

I'd bought a frozen entree the other day, curried lentils and rice. I liked it but thought it was way too expensive, so made up my own.

Chop up a couple of onions and sauteed in olive or whatever oil you have. Set aside.

Bring 4 cups of water or any kind of broth to a boil, add a cup of lentils, 1/2 cup of brown rice, 2 or 3 tsp of curry power. Simmer for 35-40 minutes.

Done.

If you prefer white rice, just start boiling lentils for 20 minutes, then add white rice for last 15 or 20.

Add whatever other stuff you want, salt, pepper, herbs.

It made a big pot, so I put in little lunch size containers and froze.

Made a week or more worth of lunches for the cost of one of the frozen entrees. Also, it tasted, IMO better.

wow, that sounds good too.

Gonna have to try that one.

I like making Butternut Squash soup with cumin or coriander and coconut milk. I make a big pot, freeze in small containers and I'm good for a couple of weeks. I don't have a big appetite so soup and a salad is usually sufficient. Tasty, too.

Yes... I've looked up thai fish cake recipes m'self. And am nuts about dumplings/pot stickers/egg rolls. So carry on!

That sounds good, Chai. I'm sustaining an infatuation with hot tamarind madras curry (that comes in cute little containers from World Market/Cost Plus.)

Which reminds me, that's really good in scrambled eggs, so..

for one:
heat one eight inch flour tortilla (I like the sonora kind, not the texas kind, but ne'er mind) on low heat in fry pan on stove top

mix two eggs in bowl with fork, add a little water if you like, a smidge of salt, some ground pepper, perhaps a tsp of olive oil, and something less than an eighth tsp of curry - add to already heating teflon coated pan and scramble until eggs are how you like them.

Put tortilla on a plate, put eggs on tortilla in a kind of line across the middle, roll tortilla up.

Serve with side of sour cream (or not). Eat fast while it's nice and hot.

Hmm, there's that caramelized onion recipe.. have to find that. It's time consuming in that you have to be home to check and stir the onions about every fifteen minutes for a few hours - but onions are relatively inexpensive and caramelized onions are delicious.. on pizza, for example, or with baked fish, or, or, or..

link -- http://able2know.org/topic/123197-8#post-3549929

Spam.

Reported.

don't you just hate spam?

corned beef as well

I do, I do!

Spam may be cheap, but truly crap as "food"!