#five spoons

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Five Spoons

[lowspoonsgourmet]

Meal Idea:  Sausages and Pierogies. For the low spoons version of this meal you want pre-cooked sausages and frozen pierogis.  What is a pierogi? A pierogi is a semi-circle shaped piece of pasta - about as large as the palm of a hand (a bit smaller). It’s stuffed - usually with potatoes and sometimes other ingredients are included with the potato filling. Cheese is common. Pre-made ones are available in the freezer section of most grocery stores. They’re quite cheap for the amount of food.  Frozen pierogies can be heated by boiling them (not my favorite), stir-frying them, or baking them in the oven. There’s probably a way to successfully microwave them but I am not familiar with it. If you cook pierogies in the oven you will need to spray them with some sort of oil-spray (e.g. PAM, or I just use spray-on olive oil) A common accompaniment to pierogies is sour cream - though I personally rarely eat them with it and find them fine that way.  I think most folks will know what sausages there are - but varieties of sausage are really diverse! I want to talk about some that you might encounter at the store. The sort of sausage you want to use for this meal is the ‘link’ type. Breakfast sausages can be OK with this, but, a more substantial variety is usually better.  A few common types of sausages are: Kielbasa - not a spicy sausage. Nice and meaty. Kind of a smoky flavor. Smooth texture. Chorizo - mildly spicy sausage. Very flavorful. Made from pork. Andouille - quite spicy sausage. Made from pork. Thicker texture. In addition to these types there are a variety of what I’ll call “artisan sausages” that describe themselves by their filling: e.g. chicken-and-apple-sausages. These varieties can get a little pricey if you’re looking to stay super-cheap. If you’re conscious of the price though you can even use hot-dogs for this. Just fry them in the pan, grill them, or boil them like you would the above kinds of sausages. Preparation of this meal consists of heating the sausages and the pierogies. You can heat the sausages by boiling, pan frying, or grilling. I prefer pan frying. You simply place the sausages in a frying pan with a small amount of oil and heat until you have the desired level of skin crisping. As mentioned above you can heat the pierogies in a variety of ways that the package will detail. When making pierogies and sausages you can A) cook the pierogies and sausages in different heat sources or B) cook them together in the same pan. Cooking in the same pan creates less clean-up. I prefer to bake my pierogies in the oven while frying the sausages - if the pierogies are cooked on top of aluminium foil on the cookie sheet there is minimal extra cleanup, and when I try to fry the pierogies and sausages together I inevitably end up burning the pierogies. YMMV.  If you want to add vegetables to the meal - sliced peppers, onions, and mushrooms all make good accompaniments. Just fry them with the sausage* (or grill them, if you’re grilling. kebobs can be good for grilling vegetables, or simply wrap them in aluminium foil). With onions you might want to put them in before the sausage so they can caramelize. Mushrooms however should probably be added near the end of the cooking to avoid burning them. *If you are boiling your sausage I’d recommend pan-frying the vegetables. I personally would rate this meal 3-5 spoons depending on the heating methods used and how many items are being cooked together (to minimize clean-up).

[lowspoonsgourmet]

Trail Mix - 5-6 spoons

Good to make in big batches and then store for lower spoon days. You can substitute different ingredients and quantities to suit your taste

Ingredients

1 cup small shaped cereal e.g. cheerios, puffed rice

¾ cup mini pretzels or pretzel sticks

1 ½ Tbsp pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

1 ½ Tbsp slivered almonds

1 Tbsp peanut butter

2 Tbsp honey or mapel syrup

1 tsp butter or margarine

dash chilli pepper

¼ cup dried pineapple chunks 

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C / 375°F

line a large baking tray with baking paper

In a bowl, combine cereal, pretzels, pepitas and almonds

In a small saucepan, combine peanut butter, honey, butter and chilli powder on medium heat

Cook and stir until mixture in warmed through and butter is melted

Pour over cereal mixture and stir gently to coat

Spread mixture onto lined baking tray and put in the oven

Bake for 5-7 minutes until lightly toasted

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with pineapple, stir to combine

When cool, store in an airtight container or transfer to small resealable plastic bags

[lowspoonsgourmet]

Cheese Twists - 5 spoons

Ingredients

2 sheets ready rolled puff pastry, thawed

1 Tbsp tomato sauce

1 cup grated cheese

1 Tbsp milk

Method

Preheat oven to 430°F / 220°C

Line one or two oven trays with baking paper

Spread one sheet of pastry with sauce, then sprinkle evenly with cheese

Place other pastry sheet on top and press down firmly

Cut pastry into 20 strips (it’s ok if you cut them wider, whatever works for you)

Twist strips and place 2m apart on trays

Brush strips with milk

Bake for 10 minutes, until browned lightly

Can be eaten warm or at room temperature

you can also use nutella or peanut butter or basically any spread you like instead of tomato sauce and cheese

[lowspoonsgourmet]

Chicken Quesedilla - 5 spoons

Ingredients

2 large tortillas

cream cheese

½ cup storebought shredded chicken

¼ cup coarsely chopped, drained semi dried tomatoes or fresh cherry tomatoes

½ medium avocado

Method

Cut the avacado in half

Use a spoon to scoop out the flesh into a small bowl

Use a fork to mash the avocado

Spread one tortilla with cream cheese, then top with chicken and tomato

Spread mashed avocado over the second tortilla

Place 2nd tortilla, avacado side down, on top of first tortilla

Toast in a sandwhich press until golden brown

Serve cut into quarters

[lowspoonsgourmet]

Fruity CousCous - 4 or 5 spoons

Ingredients

1/3 cup couscous

1/3 cup clear apple juice

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 Tbsp honey or maple syrup

mixed fruit cup, like you’d put in a kid’s lunchbox, drained of any juice

handful sultanas

handful flaked almonds or similar

yoghurt, to serve

Method

Measure couscous into a heatproof bowl

On the stove or in the microwave, mix together apple juice, cinnamon and honey and heat until boiling

Stir juice mixture into couscous in bowl

Cover for 5 (five) minutes (gladwrap, tea towel, whatever), then use a fork to mix it and separate the grains

Stir in the fruit and nuts into the couscous

Serve topped with a dollop of yoghurt

[lowspoonsgourmet]

Pasta with Parmesan Shortcut Sauce

Ingredients:

Pasta (I usually use rotini/spirals, but other short cuts of pasta will work well too. Spaghetti is probably not the best choice.)

pinch of salt (for pasta water)

Parmesan cheese

Milk/cream/half and half

Butter

Optional: frozen broccoli, chicken, pepper, Italian seasoning, other shredded cheese

can be made: gluten-free, vegetarian, nut-free?

probably should not be made: vegan, dairy-free

This recipe doesn’t have measurements because I learned it as a sort of eyeball recipe. There are very few mistakes you can make that will make the final product horrible, though.

Boil water in a medium saucepan and cook pasta according to package directions. Take out all ingredients while pasta is cooking to have them ready for the next step. Drain, then return to pot.

Put a small amount of butter into the pan and let it melt onto the pasta, stirring it well. When pasta is coated, add cheese according to how much you want in your sauce. Then, add just enough of your dairy (milk, etc.) to help the cheese mixture cover the pasta. The sauce won’t be as smooth as a regular alfredo that you might have had at restaurants, but it takes much less time and finesse.

If desired, you can add a small pinch of something like a four-cheese Italian shredded cheese mix to get the sauce to be meltier. When I make this, I usually add a small amount of black pepper and Italian seasoning to add extra flavor, though these are optional. To make a more filling dish, I’d suggest defrosting some frozen chopped broccoli and mixing that into the sauce at the very end, or using leftover grilled/roasted/sauteed chicken, chopped up, to add more protein. Or both!

I make this dish exclusively gluten-free nowadays, substituting gluten-free pasta for regular wheat pasta. I have never tried making this dish with nondairy ingredients, and I’m not sure of how it would come out and probably wouldn’t suggest it for people with dairy issues unless you’re super intrepid, in which case please tell me how this comes out with substitute ingredients.

The base version of this recipe requires very little standing or prep time. You need to stand at the stove for a few minutes in order to make the sauce for the pasta, but after this it is finished and you can sit down to eat. Adding other ingredients adds extra prep time in the form of defrosting and/or chopping. The base meal is made in one pot. To make the pot easier to wash after you’re done, I suggest running some water into it while it’s still warm after putting your pasta on a plate/in a bowl/whatever, so the cheese doesn’t stick.The ingredients are all available at a standard grocery store, and many of them are things you probably have around the house already (pasta, grated parmesan, milk, butter, frozen veggies, etc.). Overall, I find this dish to be a really simple go-to dinner, especially good for when I don’t feel great and/or can’t or don’t want to go to the store.

[lowspoonsgourmet]

Smokey Pot Noodle - 5 spoons

Requires chopping, measuring, stove usage and stirring Total prep and cook time ~10 minutes  Can be made to fit any dietary requirements

Ingredients

2 tsp (10ml) corn or potato starch

200ml stock (if you only have cup measures, use ¾ and then half of a ¼ measure)

sliced meat or substitute e.g. bacon, sandwich meats, sizzle steak, frankfurts, facon, vegetarian sausage

2 spring onions, sliced (clean scissors are good for this!)

½ cup (125ml) small frozen vegetables

¼ tsp (1.25ml) paprika

150g straight-to-wok noodles, or equivalent of dried, cooked

splash worcestershire, soy, bbq or tomato sauce

seeds and/or chopped nuts (optional)

Method

chop meat into roughly 1cm (½ inch) squares

place cornflour in a mug and mix in a little stock, a dribble at a time, until you have a paste, then set aside

in a small pan, fry the meat for a few minutes until it browns (if using precooked meat, it just needs to be warmed through)

add the spring onions, frozen vegetables and paprika (make sure paprika falls onto the food, not the hot pan)

cook, stirring for further 1 minute (if it goes for a bit longer that’s ok)

add the cornflour paste, remaining stock, noodles, and sauce and stir well

simmer for another few minutes, stirring occasionally, until thick and saucy, then garnish with seeds and/or nuts if wanted