The Brown Rice Chronicles

I made brown rice yesterday:
1/2 c long grain brown rice
1c + 1/4 c water

boiled covered until the water was gone

RESULT: crunchy rice NO GOOD


I made brown rice today:
1/2 c long grain brown rice
2 cups water

boiled uncovered until the water was mostly gone

RESULT: It's goo. I have successfully made goo (KE must be so proud)

Tomorrow I will try again. Hopefully I'll get the hang of this brown rice thing, I still have a large bag of it!

I made this rice to go with curry, my new favorite cheap meal! So good and it tastes just like it does from the Thai places in Brooklyn!


Pineapple & Broccoli Red Coconut Curry
1 brick of tofu- pressed 1 hour and then fry (use a nonstick... I learned the hard way that stainless steel just doesn't work)
approx 1 Tbsp oil
1/2 onion chopped small,
3 spoonfuls Thai Red Curry Paste
1 cap coconut milk
3/4 c broccoli (if it's frozen, heat it up in water for a bit and drain before adding to curry)
1/2 c pineapple tidbits
Splash of fish sauce
Prepared Brown Rice

1. Prep Tofu and set aside.
2. Cook onion and olive oil covered to soften a bit (learned form watching Julia Child made French Onion Soup- on my list to attempt this winter!)
3. Add curry paste, stir around, add broccoli, stir some more. Add coconut milk and pineapple bits and sprinkle of fish sauce and simmer.
4. Add tofu and simmer a bit more til reheated.
5. Serve over brown rice (hopefully you know how to make it... or you buy the instant stuff... which has a better success rate!)

Latkes to warm my cool fall apartment

The air is cooling off and it's been a bit windy today, time to close the windows! I am debating weather to bake or fry my latkes, olive oil is good for you so if I don't use too much it's probably ok. Having the oven on would heat up the house a bit though... hmmm... I'm going to make the mixture first and the decide how best to cook them.

Latkes (how I make them!):
3-4 russet potatoes
1 onion
2 egg
1 clove of garlic, pressed (or diced as finely as you can get it!)
4ish Tbsp white whole wheat flour
salt to taste
olive oil for frying

1. Clean potatoes and grate with a coarse grater into a big bowl. Sprinkle with salt, let sit while you do the dishes. Come back and squeeze out excess water from grated potatoes.
2. cut onion into small pieces (I like smaller pieces, some people probably like bigger slices of onion. Just don't make them too big or it will be hard for the latke to stay together during cooking.)
3. Stir together egg, garlic and onion in potatoes, add a little salt. Slowly add flour, but don't let it get too dry!
4. Using two spoons or your hands, form little pancakes, don't make them too thick or the centers will be undercooked. If you are frying and the latkes are a little too thick, you can put a lid on the pan and sort of bake them while they fry. Or if you want to bake them make them pretty thin and then flip them over part way through cooking (as suggested by this google search result for baked latkes).

Serve warm, with apple sauce, or sauerkraut, or slices of fresh apple, or sour cream, or salt!

Fall dessert, finally, baked apples again!!!

Baked apples are probably one of my favorite desserts. Especially with vanilla Ciao Bella gelato, however I don't have that. I do have some whipping cream so I'll probably whip some up (assuming it's still good, the sell by date has passed, and I don't know how long it stays good after that).

I'm not sure what kind of apple I got but it's flesh is pure white and it tastes like real apple. It is the best apple I've had in a while. I love apple season!!!!

Baked apple for me (for one :) )
1 apple (in a tall ramekin) cored (I left the skin on, but I wish I hadn't)
some butter
some oats
some raisins
some cinnamon
some sliced almonds

set oven to 350 degrees
bake for 30 minutes

mix up all the stuff except the apple, keeping the butter in little cold chunks, and pour into cored cavity of apple in ramekin

top with ice cream or whipped cream or yogurt or sour cream

dinner: other half acorn squash and mustard lover's deviled eggs

My dinner was the other half of acorn squashed, baked with maple syrup and butter. Then when I was still hungry an hour later... I hard boiled some eggs (thank you Joy of Cooking, they came out to perfection!!!) and made my mustard lover (mayo hater) deviled eggs. Very very, incredibly simple.

Hard boil eggs (take eggs out of fridge, put in pan, cover with 1 inch of water, bring to big bubbled boil, turn off heat, cover and let sit for 17 minutes (covered!) Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and run under cold water, or set in bowl with cold water. Tap egg on a plate to loosten shell alll over. Breaking it up into little pieces (while still attached to membrane below). Then peel off off the shell and membrane. Hopefully it comes off smoothly, it did for me today!! I always love when that happens. Then! Cut the peeled egg in half the long way, dump egg yolks into small bowl, mix in a couple heaping teaspoons of dijon mustard, mix together, put back into eggs sprinkle with paprika and eat! (There's no serving here when it's just you!)


Wash down with a beer :)


My dessert is a little bowl of frozen blueberries, I love the texture of frozen blueberries!

TO prep for tomorrow and the rest of the week I put some frozen berries in a bowl in the fridge to hopefully thaw a bit for tomorrow yogurt. Yogurt with only frozen berries (as opposed to just fresh or fresh and frozen) was too hard and thick to make in the blender, hopefully this will help. I'll find out in the morning!

I also made some blackbean salsa chili, a recipe given to me by my friend Erin who made it up. It is fantastic! satuee 1 onion + 1 cove garlic, pour in 1 jar salsa, 2 cans beans, sprinkle with some frozen corn. Proportions are up to you. Serve with cheddar cheese and blue corn tortilla chips. I like to sprinkle the cheese on top and then dip my chips, Erin likes to put cheese on the bottom of the bowl and then put chips in and crunch them up. So for meals the rest of the week I have leftover spaghetti sauce (to be eaten tomorrow before it goes bad!), black bean chili, yogurt, a cucumber, possibly spinach (it was starting to smell a little funny), too many lemons and 2 granny smith apples. My goal is to not need to go to the grocery store (or go out to eat) before I head back to Brooklyn again on Thursday evening. I think I can do it!

Cheers to frozen blueberries and beer!
Time to do some homework, good night!

How to use the last 2 zucchini and 3/4 of an onion?

Spaghetti sauce! A quick dinner and the long simmer time gave me plenty of time to do my reading homework!

3/4 onion
2 small zucchini
1 clove garlic
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 oz. spagetti noodles

1. Chop the onion into tiny pieces (or whatever size you like really- I like my onion small, I really don't like big chunks of onion, layers still nestled together, in my spaghetti sauce)
2. Saute the chopped onion and garlic until the onions are light brown and translucent, toss in the zucchini and saute for a bit until they start getting light brown spots and pour in the can of chopped tomatoes.
3. Keep at a simmer for 45 minutes, stir occasionally- don't worry, all that liquid will cook off- you'll see!
4. Prepare pasta according to the directions serve on a small plate with warm sauce and some grated Parmesan on top!
5. So tasty :) enjoy!

Tips:

• measure your pasta on a digital scale. It keeps portion sizes under control, which saves money because you are getting all the servings out of a box of pasta rather than half the servings :P
• You could probably put pretty much any vegetable in this sauce. I've used carrots in the past, celery would probably be good. Chunks of squash perhaps? Anything that sounds good sauteed with tomato!
  

Side notes!

I realized today that it's been 2 weeks since I went out to eat/ got take out. I think I'm going to try the whole month- with the exception of when I go visit Brooklyn these next two weekends. If I can just eat at home I will save a lot of money. Especially if I don't over purchase and make sure I use everything I have! The list of the contents of my fridge is slowly shrinking but I really need to be more careful next time I go grocery shopping. I need to start meal planning!

Also, I planted some dill and leafy greens and one of them sprouted today! My basil is slowly coming back to life, I think I will bring it inside so I remember to water it more often. My mint is growing again! Also need to bring that one inside.

And I love my new cast iron pan. I also bought a cast iron dutch oven!! Very excited to use it to make stew when it starts getting colder!

Happy cooking!

Getting settled in my new place

The move is complete, I've met several of my neighbors, been to the farmer's market, Wegman's grocery store (24hrs! yay!) and wal-mart and now it's time to get back to blogging about learning to be cheap.

Some thoughts on setting up your apartment and how to do it cheaply.

• Share- ask your neighbors if they are interested in sharing wireless internet- if they already have it even better- you can check the strength of the signal.

• check craigslist for furniture or look up cheap ways to make your own. I went with the classic 70s style shelves because it's just me living here and I could carry each of the components individually.The black felt is to protect the recently refinished floors (and to prevent a heart attack in my landlord should he see concrete blocks on his floors!).
  

• Unpack your kitchen and bathroom first- make a list before you go shopping for things you absolutely need. If there is a category of things you would like but could live without for a while save them for the next month. I didn't do this and spent way too much in my first month here. In the end I decided not to go back and get the paper towel holder, just one more expense that could be done without.
  

• Take notes when you grocery shop. In Ithaca there are farmer's markets, a co-op, and a grocery store (that offers organic stuff, not so much fair trade, and is open 24 hours!). I have saved all my receipts so I can compare the costs. Tomatoes are cheaper at the farmer's market (for now) than at the big grocery store, same with potatoes (I got potato seconds for $1.50 a pound!). I am also comparing the costs of bulk pastas and grains. I'm not just comparing costs but also eco-footprints. I prefer to buy local because local food supports local farmers and I <3>

• If your apartment doesn't come with things you are used to, like a microwave, toaster or toaster oven- try going without for a while and see if you really really need one. I don't have a microwave but reheating food in a skillet tastes far superior and I'm learning to use my broiler to quickly toast/melt things (nachos!)

• Get an EZpass! Now that I have an actual address, I'm ordering mine I already have two trips to NYC planned and the ezpass will make the drive quicker, probably save gas from not slowing down and then accelerating and I will get discount rates on my tolls. How could I not get one!?
  

A couple foodie-on-a-budget tips:

• Make your own salad dressing. It's super tasty and you can experiment with mixtures. My recipe is as follows (quantities vary): dijon mustard, pressed garlic (or finely diced), lemon juice from half a lemon, fresh ground pepper, olive oil. Mix together and keep in a container with a lid. It will get a little solid in the fridge but when it gets to room temp it will be runny again. You can make it as thick or thin as you like depending on how much olive oil you add.
• If you have some ingredients and want to make something specific browse the web for recipes that use only things you have in stock, that way you don't have to make a special trip to the grocery store (so long as you keep your staples stocks) and you get what you wanted. I believe the phrase is "have your cake and eat it too"!
• leftover roasted potatoes could be remade into mashed potatoes (really easily), add some roasted garlic to give your potatoes new flavor!
  

This was my dinner, reheated roasted potatoes (with way too much oregano, gotta watch that pour spout!) and romaine lettuce with my homemade dressing. I also had some guac-salad with nachos earlier today. I love having my own kitchen!


Tonight I am making an apple bread using this recipe. I changed it to make one loaf, it's just me and I don't want too much bread! I think it could potential make a phenomenal grilled cheese sandwich- granny smith and cheddar are a great combo! I will have to taste the bread before I get to excited. It had all good reviews which is a good sign, I did make some changes though. No sugar was added, I used white whole wheat flour, instead of oil I added a 1/2 cup of no sugar added applesauce. I poured a little olive oil and agave nectar in when it needed more moisture. I If this bread doesn't spread too much it could probably be made as a free-form loaf.

This could totally be made into whatever shape you wanted. The dough was super thick, it didn't rise/spread much at all. It's really tasty and hearty. I think it would be great with some whipped cream, a glass of milk or some vanilla gelato! Warm it's pretty good because of the soft apple chunks (I put in like 2x the amount of apple it called for). It's not overly sweet, would be a good hearty breakfast bread, possibly with some yogurt.. ooo or peanutbutter!

Go forth and create!

What to do with dried out garlic bread? Savory French Toast!

I picked up a loaf of roasted garlic bread the other day but failed to store it in a ziploc bag or the fridge so it got too stale to snack on. There are two things i know stale bread is good for: croutons and french bread. I also have a bunch of dried rosemary from my mom's garden so I decided to make a savory french toast with the leftovers for KE and my dinner.

1. Slice remaining bread in 1" thick slices
2. break 3 eggs into a bowl that is big enough to accomadate one slice of bread, whisk in ground pepper and about 1 Tbsp dried rosemary
3. Heat a skillet with olive oil, soak bread in egg mixture, flip to get both sides, and cook so both sides are light brown
4. Top with a veggie or sauce. We used some left over grape tomatoes, sauteed in some olive oil to soften and put ontop of hot french toast.

Afterthoughts:

• KE wanted some balsamic vinegar on the tomatoes, to make them a little more tart and savory
• I had considered a broccoli puree on top of the french toast - or perhaps some sauteed greens? the tomatoes were good but there could have been more veggies on top!
• I would totally make this again with fresh bread, not just dried out bread! There are probably other spice and herb combinations that are fantastic as well.
  
• With a few more veggies on top this is a pretty healthy meal: grain (bread), protein (egg), veggies (whatever you put on top).

This has been one of our more successful experiments, yay!

A healthy and quick lunch

My dad worked at home when I was in middle and high school and on occasion if I was home, I'd make some lunch for us. I went to make tuna salad one day and we were out of mayo so I substituted Dijon Mustard. It was... AMAZING and I haven't gone back since! No mayo for me, just mustard :)

Pita tuna melt
(makes one serving)

1. Rip 1 whole wheat pita in half and place on plate with ripped sides out (somehow ripping the pita tastes better to me than cutting it. That one I cannot explain!)
2. Empty tuna can 5oz/packet 3oz (dump out any water) into a bowl
3. Add about 3 Tbsp mustard of choice (deli mustard has 0 calories!) and stir. Put into pitas, keeping open sides out.
4. Slice cheddar cheese (1 oz = 1 serving) and place in each sandwich half.
5. Microwave on high for 1 minute, remove and flip sandwiches over (bottom side will be a little bit soggy, but nothing too bad)
6. Stick sliced cucumber and grape tomatoes into one sandwich half right before eating (it will keep your veggies cool and crisp if they aren't sitting in the freshly nuked sandwich.)
7. Enjoy!

This is my go to lunch at home generally. It's quick and tasty and I love open face tuna melts! Oh yeah, yay mustard! My condiment of choice :) I would have put up a picture but I ate it before I realized I should be blogging it!

Busy busy busy andquick and tasty shrimp fettunici alfredo

Buzz buzz buzz.

I'm moving out earlier than I thought originally, last day of work Friday May 1st, party May 2nd, Pack truck May 3rd, drive it to my mom's May 4th.

One good thing is that my mom is moving at the same time, so we are splitting the truck cost which is good. If you know someone else who is moving at the same time as you sharing the truck is a great way to save money, and have help moving your stuff!

I'm still working on a sewing project which is keeping me form really packing. This weekend will be project finishing time and next weekend I'm off to visit Ithaca, the following weekend is packing weekend and the weekend after that I'm moving! I'd better start putting my weeknight to good use.


KE and I made shrimp and fettuccine Alfredo on Seafood Wednesday - it was tasty and quick and easy.

Sautee shrimp in butter til pink, add garlic, saute for a bit.
Pour 1c half and half in and about 6 heaping Tbsp grated Parmesan. Stir cooking until it thickens. Do not boil! While that is thickening, heat water and cook pasta. Drain and put back in pot. Stir chopped fresh parsley into sauce and over noodles and serve!

We had this with asparagus. It was a tasty meal. Quick, easy and filling. Just don't forget the vegetable, or else it's not very well balanced!

Mexican Dinner for 6 Part Two (prep!)

Guacamole
Day before prep:
Chop finely 1/4 of a white onion, 2 medium tomatoes (seeded), approximately 1/4 c. cilantro and 2 (smallish) cloves of garlic. Add juice of 2 limes. Hopefully your limes have more juice than the ones I had. I scraped out the little football shaped lime bits that stick out like fringe after reaming and added them to the mix. I only just bought the avocados today so they are in a brown paper bag ripening as much as they can before tomorrow.



Day of finishing:
Remove flesh of 3 avocados in bowl, stir it all together add salt and a splash lime juice to taste.

Pause for banana bread:









Chocolate Souffles
I've read that souffles can be stored in the fridge for up to 24 hours- so I decided to make these ahead as well (after cleaning up the banana bread I made earlier this evening - a great way to use over ripe bananas! You can even get them for free :-) sometimes from your local health food store if they have brown banana on the shelf .)

To make these spicy I'm using some Dagoba Xocolatl mix in the souffle prep. The hot chocolate was too intense for me but if I use 1 oz of this mix as one of the 6 oz of chocolate the recipe calls for I think it will be a nice hint of spice instead of overwhelming burning spice. We'll see!

In a heat proof bowl set over top of a saucepan filled with water (double boiler)- don't let the water touch the bottom of your bowl!:
5 oz chopped 72% dark chocolate 1 oz Dagoba Xocolatl mix a dash of cinnamon 6 Tbps butter 2 Tbsp water ( or rum or coffee- neither of which I have on hand)

Turn on heat until the chocolate starts melting and the butter is completely melted. Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes.

While that is cooling separate
4 eggs tossing (or saving for later) 1 yolk. Whip the egg whites in a clean and dry bowl until foamy. Add
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
and mix more. When you have soft peaks that aren't dry (this is something I think you learn from trial and error and carefully watching the sheen of your whites as you mix them) slowly whip in
1/4 cup of sugar.
(I used a little less sugar because the hot chocolate mix already had sugar in it.)

Smear butter on the bottom and up the sides (and inch from the top) of your 1-1/2 quart souffle dish. Sprinkle sugar in and swish around to cover all the buttered surfaces. (The sugar grains on the side of the pan help the souffle climb up the sides of the dish.)

Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. You don't want to stir is because then you will pop all the little bubbles that give your souffle volume! (Or else you pretty much have a flourless chocolate cake and why would you go through the trouble of whipping the eggs whites if you wanted that!?) Be aure there aren't any (or very minimal) streaks of white and pour the souffle mix into your prepared dish. Cover in plastic wrap immediatly and put in fridge. We'll see tomorrow if the air bubbles actually stay! I've made souffles a handful of times before but never tried making it the day before.













It's been a busy evening, but it will make tomorrow less hectic while I'm trying to make mole!

**EXTRA UPDATE**
KE is running a bit late so I did a little more prep!
For the mole you get dried chilies which you remove the stem and seeds from and soak for 30 minutes, so I'm doing that now. I will pop them in the fridge after I drain them so they will be ready to go tomorrow. If I have more time I might chop some veggies but I want to be ready to go when KE gets here.



Also, something I rarely do but am learning I ought to do more often for dinner parties and gatherings. I made a schedule for meal prep! (This is a little post-it- yes I write small!) Based on the time it will take to cook things and including some prep time- I didn't account for the guacamole but that should only take 10 minutes or so which I can do while the mole bakes for 90 minutes!)

A Tuesday night dinner

This was the most awesome meal I've had in a while. The best part is how simple it was!

Seared bay and sea scallops (picked up at the farmer's market on Saturday)
Sauteed snow peas with one clove of chopped garlic in olive oil
Steamed acorn squash with salt, pepper and butter.

Overall prep time was less than 30 minutes. Cooking instructions for the squash were located on a sicker on it. Cut the squash in half, seed it, and make cuts on the back with a knife (4 or 5). Pour 1/4cup water onto a (deep) plate and set the acorn halves face down. Cook in microwave for 8-10 minutes (we did 8, then checked).

For dessert we had sme ice cream. It was a fresh, quick and fantastic meal!

Dijon Potato Recipe and Lunch!

I've been bringing salad this week, take a peek!


ingredients: mixed greens, cucumber, snow peas, grape tomatoes and avocado
(I'm sure my salads seem boring to those of you who like dressing... I'll have dressing one of these days and also give you the recipe for the dressing I make!)


Dijon Roasted Potatoes

4 red potatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 c Dijon Mustard
1 tsp dried rosemary (or fresh if you have it!)
salt

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees
2. Chop up washed red potatoes into about 1 inch chunks and put in large bowl
3. Dollop mustard on top of potatoes, pour olive oil over and crush dried rosemary between your hands and sprinkle in (or pick off fresh rosemary leaves and sprinkle in.
4. Stir til all the potatoes are nicely coated) and pour into 8x8 baking pan. (I line with foil for easier clean up. Parchment paper might work, or just clean it off with a sponge and elbow grease.)
5. Bake in oven for about 45 minutes, more if they aren't soft. They should be super soft with only the skin for resistance. If some are hard and some are soft, bake it longer, the little burned bits of mustard are sweet and delicious.