I've been hankering for it and well, I sort of hate canned mushroom soup. I'll make the Campbell's Soup and French's Onions green bean casserole for the roomie, but it was this recipe that made me realize how much better it is from scratch. Except that Accidental Hedonist purged their archives and I had to dig like a mole to find this recipe via The Way Back Machine. Now, I know that scratch foods aren't always cheap and this calls for portabellas, but you can use regular old white button or cremini mushrooms. They cost the same at Safeway. It also requires cream. But everything else, you probably have on hand or it's generally inexpensive. If you like this dish and you want to make it healthier, this is how I recommend doing it. He even supplies a recipe for the french fried onions.
Green Bean Casserole - From Scratch
Traditionally, dating back at least to the invention of Durkee French Fried Onions and Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup, there has been the Green Bean Casserole. It's a staple at holiday dinners here in the South, and you either love it or you hate it.
No matter if you're a lover or a hater, this recipe is for you. It's from scratch -- and it is delicious! Or as my girlfriend said: "Oh hell yeah. This shit is GOOD!"
Ingredients
1 lb fresh green beans, snapped into 2-3 inch pieces
1 tsp salt
2 quarts boiling water
1/2 lb fresh button or baby portabella mushrooms, chunked
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 medium yellow onion
1 cup milk
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups vegetable oil (for frying)
2 slices whole wheat bread, torn into several pieces
1 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
Salt
Pepper
Cayenne pepper
[* If you want it dairy-free (vegan), substitute Silk brand soy creamer for the heavy cream and Earth Balance brand buttery spread for the butter. This is what I did, and it came out great.]
Directions
1) Preheat oven to 400 F.
2) Boil green beans in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain and place into cold water (preferably iced) to cool and prevent further cooking. Save the saucepan you used for boiling the beans for step #4.
3) Slice the onion into thin (1/8") slices and soak in milk for 5 minutes. Drain, coat with flour, and deep fry at 375 F until golden brown. Transfer to paper towel or newspaper.
4) Tear apart mushrooms into 1/2" chunks (tearing is important since it gives the mushrooms texture -- cutting them is not recommended). Melt the butter in the saucepan, then add the mushrooms, garlic, and salt & pepper to taste. Stir, cooking on medium-low until the mushrooms begin to give off their liquid, at least 5 minutes.
Now stir in the flour and optional nutritional yeast and cook for 1 more minute. Finally, add the vegetable stock, stir for 20 seconds, then add the heavy cream. Simmer for 10 more minutes until the sauce begins to thicken. Adjust flavor with salt and pepper as needed. Add the beans back to the pot, mix well, and let sit to absorb flavors while you prepare step #5.
5) Combine whole wheat bread and melted butter in a food processor and pulse 5-10 times until crumbly.
6) Transfer bean/mushroom mixture to a buttered 2 qt casserole dish (I prefer the large oval shape to maximize surface area). Sprinkle bread crumb mix and fried onions evenly over the top. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 F.
You'll need 2lbs of chopped white potatoes (peeled or unpeeled, your choice), a 1 or 2lbs of chopped green beans. These can be canned, fresh (snapped and stringed) or frozen. Chop 2 cups of ham. Or some sort of ham/pork chunk. This would be good with a couple big smoked pork neck bones. Tonight I added the meaty bone from my Christmas ham. Add a big chopped up onion. Or don't. That's your call. Add some garlic if you want. I love garlic in dishes like this, but I know Nana didn't use it. Dump all your stuff in a big dutch oven or a large stew pot, sprinkle it with a bunch of black pepper (to taste) and cover with water with about an inch or two more of water on top. Bring to a boil and then bring it down to a simmer for 15 or so minutes or until the taters are tender. I personally like the potatoes really sloppy. Serve in bowls. This is really drippy, but very filling and cheap. Serve with bread. Cornbread is popular, but biscuits are my favorites.
Adapted from a recipe on Food.com and from my childhood memories
This is a cross between two well loved meals, Ratatouille and Tex-Mex Chili. It sounds fancy, and it kind of is, but it's easy to make. I don't know how cheap it is, because eggplants aren't usually at the low end price range. It does depend on if they grow where you live. But they are filling and tasty and a great meat replacer. The beauty of this recipe is most everything is canned. It's a very Sandra Lee recipe without being Sandra Lee. Feel free to make substitutions. Today I used a red onion and a big can of petite crushed tomatoes. I also added a chopped and gutted jalapeno pepper. Chili is easy to tweak.
1 Tbsp Oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 medium green pepper, seeded and diced
2 cups of unpeeled diced eggplant
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 15 oz cans of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz can of stewed tomatoes
15 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp of dried parsley
2 tsp of chili powder
1 tbsp of dried oregano
1 tsp of dried thyme
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
3 or 4 large fresh chopped green onions (scallions)
In a large pot heat oil and add onion, green pepper and garlic. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until tender.
Stir in kidney beans, tomatoes and all the spices. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to stand for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve with chopped green onions if desired.
I had toyed posting holiday themed recipes, but the thing is, I don't want to think about the holidays. What I want to think about is banana whip. It's the cheapest and easiest dessert-y thing you can make, ever.
Chop up bananas. Use fresh or not quite mushy older bananas. It doesn't matter. Freeze them overnight. Throw the entire batch in a food processor or a blender for about a minute or until it stops chopping.
A Voila! You have a nice soft serve ice cream like dessert. It's healthy, it's raw, it's paleo. You can top it with whatever you want or throw some chocolate syrup or some peanut butter in it while you are whipping it. I also add a couple drops of yellow food coloring for that lovely banana ice cream experience. Throw it in a covered container and scoop it out for hard ice cream if you don't like soft.
It's simply one of the most versatile desserts you will ever make. They get a lot of older bananas at the food bank and most of the workers suggest banana bread, but this is even better, especially if you have kids. If your bananas are mushy, definitely use those for banana bread.
I love Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday. I think it should be an international holiday. How can you fault a holiday that tells you should be thankful for everything? Of course, it was started under some shady pretenses, and they shouldn't be overlooked.
My Thanksgiving dinner is usually preset. This year I'm not doing much different. This year though, in addition to the Turkey, cranberries, praline yams, mashed potatoes, gravy and the ubiquitous green bean casserole I am making a jello salad and maybe pistachio delight. I'm not sure about the last because funds are tight and I'm not sure I can afford the pudding mix and the pineapple. I will also make a couple pies. Pumpkin and blueberry. Life will go on if I don't have everything. We have everything we need.
Primavera is not an authentic Italian dish. It's Italian-American as it was, according to wikipedia put together in NYC at La Cirque. Regardless of it's origin, it's a good dish. This is my low cost version. It serves 2.
While you cook 8oz of fettuccini (or whatever pasta, but fettuccini is traditional) al dente, rinse half of a 16oz bag of Italian or Asian style frozen vegetables (there are many kinds, go wild). Throw the veg into a large skillet of melted butter and olive oil blend (4 tbsp) until the veg is warmed through. If you use fresh vegetables, make sure they are just cooked which depending on what you use should take from 10 to 15 minutes. Either way, you want the veg tender but not mushy.
Stir in a tsp of dried basil. Turn to low.
Drain your noodles, rinse them and throw them back into an empty pot and toss them with 2 tbsp of butter until it's melted.
Here's where it gets a little crazy. Toss in 1 cup of creamy cottage cheese and 1/4 cup of grated parmesan (the dry kind in the jar is fine).
Put some fettucini mixture on a plate and top with some veg mix.
There's probably some pretty name for this in Italian, but I don't know what it is. I once again, went to the food bank, because times are lean and I knew we were getting our EBT cut this month. I always ask for the weird stuff because I'm adventurous. And last month they had Beef and Pork neck bones in the weird stuff in the back room. Usually it's nasty like chicken and pigs feet. Gah. No thanks. But I will take livers and oxtail and usually whatever else they have available. They'll give it to me on top of the other meat allotment. Score!
I was looking for recipes and of course every thing I find as suggestions for beef neck bones is make stock. Well, I like stock, but I want a full belly. And stock isn't going to keep it full for long.
I was rummaging around and found a suggestion in a comments section to dredge the bones in seasoned flour and brown them in couple tbsp oil or butter or a combination and then when they are browned throw them in some Prego. Except I'm using Hunts Spicy and Zesty and adding some garlic. Because seriously? Hunts isn't that bad and it's a dollar at most stores.
Although I certainly am no fan of HFSC. But since I eat spaghetti so infrequently with a can of sauce, I deal. You can use a healthier brand of sauce or make your own. Just make sure its enough to cover your bones. Now, you can choose to braise these in the oven in the sauce or you can use the slow cooker, which is what I used.
You can serve this over pasta or rice. Your choice.
Tip: if they aren't meaty bones, you might as well just make stock with them. These were very meaty. And they are fairly cheap to buy them family size.
Next time I will let you know what I did with the pork bones.
The lovely thing about our local food banks is that we get all sorts of expensive-ish vegetables, bread and condiments I normally wouldn't think to buy and experiment with. On my last visit I came into a nice bunch of Swiss chard and curly kale. And of course there was bread and mushrooms and onion. And since my former beloved gave me the bulk of his booze shelf when he went to Japan, I have a giant bottle of brandy. I didn't have wine, so I replaced it with brandy. All I want to say is make this Panade Recipe if you have all this stuff. It's filling and inexpensive and worth buying the kale or chard for. I used the kale and froze the chard. I also used canned mushrooms. It is more like a stew than a soup because you bake it.
Lemon curd is fancy in the US. It's delicious on toast and yogurt or mixed in with ice cream. You likely won't find a small jar of it for less than 4 dollars! This price is outrageous when you learn how easy it is to make. This recipe shows that you can have fancy and tasty foods on a budget. And it's definitely better tasting than the premade stuff.
You could also put this in cute jars and give it away for holiday gifts.
*Or limes. Lime curd is very nice.
**An electric blender or immersion blender will work if you have those. But you just need to whip the crap out of it. This is an OLD recipe. Nobody had blenders when it first came out.
Nothing makes me happier than a well made Shepherd's pie. This mainstay of British cooking is basic and filling and gives me a sense of having done something difficult without it having been difficult at all. The only thing is, every single recipe is going to be different depending on what you have on hand. And that's how it should be. You can't really screw this recipe up unless you whip your potatoes too much. I am a person who wants a slightly lumpy mashed potato for this because of mouth feel.
For six servings you need 2 pounds of ground. . . something. You can use conventional ground beef, but you can't go wrong with chicken or turkey. If you wanted to be extra fancy you could mix your meats. Beef and Pork is always tasty. If you decide to use lamb that's fine too, but if you add two small, seeded, peeled, and chopped tomatoes at the tomato paste and broth stage, you'll have Cottage Pie. Bit pedantic. Oh, well.
You don't have to use much fresh in this recipe. Frozen veg will be fine. I would recommend cooking a couple fresh chopped cloves of garlic and a couple carrots and small onions in with the drained cooked meat, but you can use frozen. Saute these for 5 minutes and add a tablespoon of tomato paste*, flour and a cup of beef broth. Mix all this up. Add a cup of cooked frozen mixed veg**. You could use canned veg for this, but I wouldn't recommend it. Canned veg will make this mushy.
This is also where I add whatever seasonings I like. I usually add Italian seasoning mix and some pepper and salt, but you might like something else.
Dump all this into a casserole. You want this to pack in tightly but have room on top for your mashed or whipped potatoes. You need about 5 medium to large russet potatoes worth of mash. If you use instant potatoes add sugar and a bit of garlic salt to your potatoes. Or you can throw cut in half tater tots or hash browns on it. No matter what, it should be a nice thick layer.
Dot the top with butter and bake it uncovered for 30 minutes at 350. Let it rest for a bit coming out of the oven and then serve.
*Freeze the rest of the tomato paste for another day.
** Alton Brown, whom I worship, would tell you to roast these loose frozen vegetables on a cookie sheet in the oven first, which you should, but you don't have to.
Aspics are a Gelatin Salad that are generally popular with old Southern ladies. But you might have some tomato juice or V-8 and you are stuck with what to do with it. Make Aspic! Because you can't afford vodka or tequila.
Now there's a fancy involved way to make Aspic and the cheap and easy way. Mine is the cheap and easy way because we don't have the money or energy for the fancy involved way.
You've dumped it in the mold, now you want to chill it and if you like, just before it's set, add a cup of something solid. Grated carrot or chopped yellow pepper is nice. Stick it back into the fridge and let it firm up. You can serve this with mayo or Miracle Whip if you like. Or some other mayo based dressing.
If you don't want to put anything in it, and you made a fancy ring that didn't break all over the place, you can put it on a plate and serve it. If you have cottage cheese throw it in the center.
I know this seems fancy, but I've gotten plain gelatin and cans of store brand tomato juice for fairly cheap. And maybe you need to bring something to a potluck, brunch, or luncheon? Poor people still go places and still have holiday meals.
This is a wicked sounding name for a delicious and quick supper.
Grab your medium skillet and dump in a 10 1/2 oz can of condensed tomato soup and a 1/2 cup of water. Add 1/2 tsp dried basil and 1/4 tsp of sugar. Just boil this mixture and reduce your heat to just under boiling.
Carefully slide in 4 eggs into the soup from a saucer one at a time.
Simmer this for 4-5 minutes until the eggs firm up. Serve in bowls on toast rounds and then sprinkle the entire mess with a bit of parsley and basil.
I've been known to add powdered garlic, crushed red peppers, and Italian seasoning to this for added flavor. Don't be shy. Do things you like with what you have.
Brown 1 pound of ground something or crumbled extra firm tofu (drain only if it's beef or pork)
Add a small can of sliced mushrooms
and a small chopped onion
and some garlic powder - use a couple tablespoons
then some paprika - couple shakes
a pinch of dried parsley or Italian seasoning
Let it cook a little bit and then add a couple small beef or vegetable bouillon cube to the liquid. If you are using ground beef or pork then make the bouillon into a cup of broth. Throw it in there and mix it up. Let it cook down
Then add a couple small containers of Greek yogurt or a small container of sour cream. Stir it up. Cook it down some more but watch that it doesn't curdle. If it does and you have more, add a little more yogurt.
You can use fresh herbs and spices if you have them. If you use fresh mushrooms, I'd suggest cooking them with the onion and spices separately and then adding them to the meat. If you have some tomato sauce or well drained tomato puree, you can add a smidgeon of it for color. But I wouldn't worry about it.
Dump this on noodles or rice. I'm using ramen tonight because I don't have egg noodles. Don't use the season packet if you use ramen. Save those packets though, because you can use them if you need broth in a pinch. Which gives me the realization that if you have beef or pork ramen you could use those packets in place of bouillon cubes.
You want this to taste like beef Stroganoff. So whatever you can do to make it taste like that, then go for it.
Heat the oven to 500°F and preheat an ovenproof serving dish for five minutes. Place a can of sardines, a small sliced shallot, a few sprigs of chopped parsley, and two cloves of finely chopped garlic in the warm dish. Add some black pepper and put the dish back in the oven for six minutes. Remove the dish from the oven, break four eggs into a bowl, and pour them gently on top of the sardine mixture. Season with salt and pepper and put the dish back in the oven for seven minutes, until the egg whites are cooked but still jiggly. Remove the dish and let it sit for five minutes (the eggs keep on cooking even out of the oven). Serve with toast and hot sauce.
I have done a little experimenting and devised something even more yummy. If you use a big can of Ecuadorian sardines with spicy tomato sauce, you will have a beefed up version of Eggs in Hell. Don't use all the tomato sauce, just enough to cover the sardines. Be certain to clean out the bones on these sardines. They are huge and their bones are not easy to eat like the smaller sardines. Then follow the directions the same way. It's so tasty. Fills the stomach. Serve it with the toast and maybe a green salad and you have a very healthy dinner for one or two.
I don't usually pay much attention to the recipes that come across my feed on facebook*, but when One Pot Spaghetti scrolled past, I said, wait a second hold the phone and back the truck up. This recipe was healthy and filling and cheap! And last night I made it and it was really quite good. The way the liquid mixed with the pasta was truly food science in action.
I wanted to credit the person was who wrote this, but there was a lot of copypasta on the googles. It could be that it's an ancient recipe that just came back into vogue. Who knows. But it's good and here's my take on it and how you could cut corners if you aren't able to go fresh like I did.
Ingredients:
12 ounces pasta (whatever you like)
1 can (15 ounces) diced tomatoes with liquid
1 large sweet onion, cut in julienne strips
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
2 large sprigs basil, chopped
4 1/2 cups vegetable broth (regular broth and NOT low sodium)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan cheese for garnish
Directions:
Place pasta, tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, in a large stock pot. Pour in vegetable broth. Sprinkle on top the pepper flakes and oregano. Drizzle top with oil. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer and keep covered and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so. Season to taste with salt and pepper, stirring pasta several times to distribute the liquid in the bottom of the pot. Cook until almost all liquid has evaporated. Serve garnished with Parmesan cheese.
My version was to use all fresh herbs (from my little herb garden). Next time I'm going to saute some mushrooms with onions and garlic and add those because it tastes better to saute up vegetables before. I may also add some cooked sausage toward the end of the cook time.
But what if you don't have all of ingredients and can't afford or grow fresh herbs? Don't use fresh. Use powdered garlic and dried basil and oregano. Or use some Italian seasoning in place of the basil and oregano. And you could add a packet of spaghetti sauce mix if you have that on hand. If you use the sauce mix you probably won't need as much broth as water, so watch out for that. I happened to have a box of vegetable broth on hand, but I'm sure you could make 4 1/2 cups of vegetable, chicken or beef broth from bouillon and it would be totally acceptable.
*This is because they are full of icky ingredients fit for no one sane.
Is that I like to eat. I like to eat healthy. I like to eat well. I enjoy cooking. I enjoy using unusual ingredients.
My first biggest problem is that I'm one of the working impoverished. I am receiving SNAP benefits and Unemployment. I need to find work soon. Not just because I need the money, but the inactivity is making me more depressed.
But I do keep cooking and looking for innovative recipes while being on a budget. Not everyone has time for that. Since I currently have loads of time, I do cook and research recipes. It keeps me from getting too depressed.
I'm going to keep this blog to remind myself it'll get better. Maybe I'll show pictures or share recipes. I just need to keep myself busy. Keep writing and feeling useful.
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