Food bytes

[Former Member]

We discussed healthy food lately in a blog entry by Mikiesboy (Food bytes). Suddenly the idea sprung up, to open a thread for recipes which are healthy, with fresh ingredients, not expensive and during as stressful workday just easy and fast or with more sensual with more time . So here tim and I start. Feel free to join us.

 

That is what I cook, if I don`t have time to cook at all.

A fast Pesto:

While cooking pasta a very easy and fast pesto to make:

 

A bunch of Basil leafs. The more the better.

A coffee spoon of pin nuts

1 clove of garlic

and 50 g Parmesan cheese.

Some olive oil

 

 

First rose the pin nuts a little in a pan.

If they become golden brown stop and take them out immediately.

Ground the Parmesan and put everything together into a mixer or a bowl with a food processor.

The original way would be to pestle it by hand, but for me a mixer is fine.

The pesto is ready, after one minute, you can adjust the thickness with olive oil or cooking water (very little) from the pasta.

Just test, if any salt or pepper is needed.

The pesto can be covered with olive oil for later use, if some is left over.

Buon appetito!

[Mikiesboy]

Lyssa ... that looks great!!  

 

Eating well on a budget is hard. So, as Lyssa says, we'd like to start a forum so share ideas, recipes and what's worked for people.

 

Fresh herbs can be intimidating but they don't need to be. 

 

So, where can you get fresh basil? Yes, many stores sell fresh herbs. But they are often expensive. If you do buy them, you have a few options if you don't use them all. The first would be to use them all and follow Lyssa's pesto recipe above.  

 

Another option if you buy herbs like Basil, Oregano, Parsley or Sage is to freeze them. You can pull the leaves off and put them on a dry cookie sheet and freeze them. Once frozen, bag in freezer bags. Label the bag!! Trust me here!  These will only be good in recipes. You cannot use as a garnish.

 

You can pack chopped herbs in ice cube trays, then add water and freeze. When frozen pop the cubes into a freezer bag. Again label the bag. 

 

For under $2.00 you can buy a package of seeds. You'd need a pot and some soil. Most herbs grow well indoors and out. Picking and using your own herbs is terrific if you can. 

[Former Member]

7 hours ago, Mikiesboy said:

Lyssa ... that looks great!!  

 

Eating well on a budget is hard. So, as Lyssa says, we'd like to start a forum so share ideas, recipes and what's worked for people.

 

Fresh herbs can be intimidating but they don't need to be. 

 

So, where can you get fresh basil? Yes, many stores sell fresh herbs. But they are often expensive. If you do buy them, you have a few options if you don't use them all. The first would be to use them all and follow Lyssa's pesto recipe above.  

 

Another option if you buy herbs like Basil, Oregano, Parsley or Sage is to freeze them. You can pull the leaves off and put them on a dry cookie sheet and freeze them. Once frozen, bag in freezer bags. Label the bag!! Trust me here!  These will only be good in recipes. You cannot use as a garnish.

 

You can pack chopped herbs in ice cube trays, then add water and freeze. When frozen pop the cubes into a freezer bag. Again label the bag. 

 

For under $2.00 you can buy a package of seeds. You'd need a pot and some soil. Most herbs grow well indoors and out. Picking and using your own herbs is terrific if you can. 

I have a Basil plant on my kitchen window. I use to buy a plant and keep it and harvest only so much, that it grows back.

(Tip, Basil doesn`t like wind, if the window is open, I put it aside.)

A pot with a little Basil plant is around 1€ in my groceries store and it provides more than one meal, because of growing back. But I do only know the prices where I live.

I just calculated the price of the meal above in the groceries store, to check and came on total of 2,80€ for the meal for two persons. As said local prices here in Berlin.

 

The  advices about what to do with the herbs are great! Thanks for sharing this.

I mostly have pots with plants and dry some.

Have a nice day. Lyssa

[DynoReads]

Long ago, the family cook used left overs. That didn't mean that you ate roast chicken two days in a row. It meant that the left over chicken from Sunday's dinner, became the meat in chicken and dumplings, chicken pot pie, chicken ala king or tetrazzini. The modern take on this is an energy/time saver: cook all your mat for the week on the weekend, and freeze.

 

This saves energy because the oven, grill, or whatever is already preheated. Cook enough chicken, beef or whatever for several meals. Then heat in the microwave or in a pan. My favorite was fajitas, tacos, or similiar with left overs.

 

Not sure how this could b done for meatless meals.

Edited April 24, 2017 by DynoReads

[mollyhousemouse]

17 hours ago, Mikiesboy said:

Lyssa ... that looks great!!  

 

Eating well on a budget is hard. So, as Lyssa says, we'd like to start a forum so share ideas, recipes and what's worked for people.

 

Fresh herbs can be intimidating but they don't need to be. 

 

So, where can you get fresh basil? Yes, many stores sell fresh herbs. But they are often expensive. If you do buy them, you have a few options if you don't use them all. The first would be to use them all and follow Lyssa's pesto recipe above.  

 

Another option if you buy herbs like Basil, Oregano, Parsley or Sage is to freeze them. You can pull the leaves off and put them on a dry cookie sheet and freeze them. Once frozen, bag in freezer bags. Label the bag!! Trust me here!  These will only be good in recipes. You cannot use as a garnish.

 

You can pack chopped herbs in ice cube trays, then add water and freeze. When frozen pop the cubes into a freezer bag. Again label the bag. 

 

For under $2.00 you can buy a package of seeds. You'd need a pot and some soil. Most herbs grow well indoors and out. Picking and using your own herbs is terrific if you can. 

These are wonderful ideas for herbs.

Thank you!

[Mikiesboy]

13 minutes ago, DynoReads said:

Long ago, the family cook used left overs. That didn't mean that you ate roast chicken two days in a row. It meant that the left over chicken from Sunday's dinner, became the meat in chicken and dumplings, chicken pot pie, chicken ala king or tetrazzini. The modern take on this is an energy/time saver: cook all your mat for the week on the weekend, and freeze.

 

This saves energy because the oven, grill, or whatever is already preheated. Cook enough chicken, beef or whatever for several meals. Then heat in the microwave or in a pan. My favorite was fajitas, tacos, or similiar with left overs.

 

Not sure how this could b done for meatless meals.

This is exactly right. You can do the same with rice.. make enough for a couple of meals. Today I made 24 muffin.. i'll freeze most of them. The oven was on so i also roasted garlic and shallots to make a batch of curry paste, which i also freeze. 

 

You need to plan ahead a bit. But it isn't that hard to do. 

 

Love this Dyno.. thank you!!

[mollyhousemouse]

10 minutes ago, DynoReads said:

Long ago, the family cook used left overs. That didn't mean that you ate roast chicken two days in a row. It meant that the left over chicken from Sunday's dinner, became the meat in chicken and dumplings, chicken pot pie, chicken ala king or tetrazzini. The modern take on this is an energy/time saver: cook all your mat for the week on the weekend, and freeze.

 

This saves energy because the oven, grill, or whatever is already preheated. Cook enough chicken, beef or whatever for several meals. Then heat in the microwave or in a pan. My favorite was fajitas, tacos, or similiar with left overs.

 

Not sure how this could b done for meatless meals.

 

I follow this philosophy.  Cook once, eat twice (or more).

I'll cook a family size package of boneless skinless chicken breasts, simply baked in the oven with salt and pepper, or boiled gently on the stove top with salt, pepper, maybe a bay leaf.

Then we'll have chicken that can be sliced in a chicken taco, added to some ramen noodles with some frozen vegetables for a stir fry.

For meatless meals, try 2 pounds of pinto beans, in a large crockpot.  Season well with just salt and pepper.  Cook low and slow, portion into zip top freezer bags.  Now you have beans for a bean and cheese burrito, beans and rice, add some diced tomatoes and southwestern seasoning, for a meatless chili.

 

One good tip to make this work, is to have a "menu."  Not that you HAVE to eat what you put on each day, but this will ensure that you have shopped for all the items that are needed.  You'll be less inclined to grab one of those microwave meals if you know you have precooked chicken or precooked beans ready to go.

 

[Mikiesboy]

@mollyhousemouse Great suggestions!

[mollyhousemouse]

Just now, Mikiesboy said:

@mollyhousemouse Great suggestions!

 

Thanks, tim!

 

After so many years of being "food insecure"* it's a topic that is near and dear to my heart!  I'm so glad we've started this discussion!

 

 

*"food insecure" is what they call being so poor you aren't always sure there will be a meal here in the US

[Mikiesboy]

1 hour ago, mollyhousemouse said:

 

Thanks, tim!

 

After so many years of being "food insecure"* it's a topic that is near and dear to my heart!  I'm so glad we've started this discussion!

 

 

*"food insecure" is what they call being so poor you aren't always sure there will be a meal here in the US

I saw an article in National Geographic about food insecurity. It is beyond sad. There is enough food in this world .. if we stop wasting, if we use all the food we grow. I know it's complicated, but we can do ourselves a favour by making our own food from raw ingredients, rely less on processed food.  

[Bucket1]

What a great start to this discussion! 

[mollyhousemouse]

Just now, Bucket1 said:

What a great start to this discussion! 

It really has been a good start!

 

37 minutes ago, Mikiesboy said:

I saw an article in National Geographic about food insecurity. It is beyond sad. There is enough food in this world .. if we stop wasting, if we use all the food we grow. I know it's complicated, but we can do ourselves a favour by making our own food from raw ingredients, rely less on processed food.  

When I was going to the local food pantry, I noticed a lot of "convenience foods"  I started using my choices to make meals.  And how I could use what I was allowed to take from there to stretch what limited food budget we had.  

It's why I'm so passionate about this now. It's one of my triggers, not having a stocked pantry.

If we can help/advise/guide someone else through it, that's a win.  Because then that person can help someone else, and the world becomes just a little better. 

If we can talk about food insecurity, and it makes just one person remember the conversation when there's a food drive, or other volunteer opportunity for ending hunger.....whew.  Sorry about that, I'll put the soap box away.

 

 

[Mikiesboy]

4 minutes ago, mollyhousemouse said:

It really has been a good start!

 

When I was going to the local food pantry, I noticed a lot of "convenience foods"  I started using my choices to make meals.  And how I could use what I was allowed to take from there to stretch what limited food budget we had.  

It's why I'm so passionate about this now. It's one of my triggers, not having a stocked pantry.

If we can help/advise/guide someone else through it, that's a win.  Because then that person can help someone else, and the world becomes just a little better. 

If we can talk about food insecurity, and it makes just one person remember the conversation when there's a food drive, or other volunteer opportunity for ending hunger.....whew.  Sorry about that, I'll put the soap box away.

 

 

You can say what you feel Molly .. I'm the same once I get going. 

 

To clarify, when i say processed I mean 'food' like Mike's Pie.. how many ingredients in a real pumpkin pie, flour, lard, salt for the crust, and pumpkin, egg, milk, sugar and spices for the filling?  Why does a pie need 20 ingredients?  Why do i want to eat something that may outlive me? I don't. 

 

But there are foods that make life easier. Canned tomatoes ...some of the best chefs use them and why not?  Things like that, frozen veg, that's great, so lightly processed things are fine. Canned tomatoes dont have 20 ingredients. And they make life easier.  I use them to make a quick fresh tomato sauce for pasta. Serve with a piece of chicken and a salad. Takes little time. 

 

And yes, i can afford what i want now, but it wasn't always like that.  

 

So tell your stories here! Share what you've learned .. who knows which of us need or want help. Or what we can learn or do for others!

[mollyhousemouse]

22 hours ago, mollyhousemouse said:

It really has been a good start!

 

When I was going to the local food pantry, I noticed a lot of "convenience foods"  I started using my choices to make meals.  And how I could use what I was allowed to take from there to stretch what limited food budget we had.

 

22 hours ago, Mikiesboy said:

You can say what you feel Molly .. I'm the same once I get going. 

 

To clarify, when i say processed I mean 'food' like Mike's Pie.. how many ingredients in a real pumpkin pie, flour, lard, salt for the crust, and pumpkin, egg, milk, sugar and spices for the filling?  Why does a pie need 20 ingredients?  Why do i want to eat something that may outlive me? I don't. 

 

When I used the phrase convenience foods, I meant things like "Hamburger Helper" and the like.

I'm all for using canned and frozen vegetables. In fact, one of my favorite "tight budget" meals uses canned vegetables and V-8 or tomato juice to make a hearty vegetable soup.

 

[Mikiesboy]

1 hour ago, mollyhousemouse said:

 

When I used the phrase convenience foods, I meant things like "Hamburger Helper" and the like.

I'm all for using canned and frozen vegetables. In fact, one of my favorite "tight budget" meals uses canned vegetables and V-8 or tomato juice to make a hearty vegetable soup.

 

Here is a place where you can get home made hamburger helper recipes without all the crap. Things you can 'box' yourself:

 

http://www.farmgirlgourmet.com/2012/12/homemade-hamburger-helper.html

 

To Mike his homecooking was a box of Hamburger Helper.. we used the recipes above and he was happy and healthier... 

 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Mikiesboy

[Former Member]

I just learned that there are a few terms, that seem to mean slightly different things, even we use to use all the same term in our different countries. Very interesting.

Around here convenient food is food, that is industrial cooked but frozen. Like frozen Pizza or Pasta. That isn`t far away from what you said, but perhaps a little different.

[DynoReads]

For a while we were food insecure too. There was a program called Angel Food (closed due to mismanagement/greed/fraud). I could buy a box of food for $25 that was supposed to feed a family of 4 for a week. With some creativity, like using half a pound of ground beef in the hamburger helper, And supplementing cheap breakfast and lunch, I fed three of us for 2 weeks. Without that we would not have made it.

 

A popular recipe then was 1/2 pound cooked meat, shredded or crumbled, 2 cups cooked rice, diced onion, and diced pepper, small amount of Cajun seasoning. Heat the meat, onion, pepper in a sauce pan until onion is cooked. Heat rice in the microwave, mix it all together with the spice, pseudo dirty  rice. Cost then was about $1.50, made enough for dinner for 3, and lunch for the boy and I the next day.

Edited April 26, 2017 by DynoReads

[Bucket1]

I never knew what hamburger helper was until now

[Former Member]

7 hours ago, Bucket1 said:

I never knew what hamburger helper was until now

Me too, LOL. When I heard the word, I saw before my inner eye a beautiful man from Hamburg, supposed to fulfill me every wish. 

 

[Mikiesboy]

7 hours ago, Bucket1 said:

I never knew what hamburger helper was until now

Frankly, it's not fast or convenient and the list of ingredients is endless. The homemade option is better. But now I'd cook it in the instant pot so it's done in minutes. 

[Mikiesboy]

49 minutes ago, Lyssa said:

Me too, LOL. When I heard the word, I saw before my inner eye a beautiful man from Hamburg, supposed to fulfill me every wish. 

 

THAT is a much better option than the reality.  I'd like one of those too.. hehe. Don't tell Michael.. 

[Former Member]

Just now, Mikiesboy said:

THAT is a much better option than the reality.  I'd like one of those too.. hehe. Don't tell Michael.. 

Am keep it confidential and send you one, next time I am in Hamburg. Just have to look which stamp I need and how to get him in the mailbox.

[Bucket1]

10 hours ago, Lyssa said:

Am keep it confidential and send you one, next time I am in Hamburg. Just have to look which stamp I need and how to get him in the mailbox.

Get me one too

[Mikiesboy]

Cabbage

 

Cabbage is a tasty and versatile food.  It is great on its own but it pairs with other meats and vegetables very well.

 

There are hundreds of varieties, but typically in North America we see, white, red, savoy, napa and bok choy.  Each are delicious.  In our house white cabbage is the most often used, and it gets boiled, roasted and stir fried, it also gets frozen when I’m making cabbage rolls.

 

Since Michael and I both work, a bag of pre-sliced coleslaw is often in our crisper.  It may end up as coleslaw, but often it is stir fried and served with pork or chicken over noodles.

 

This week I’m giving you a recipe for a simple coleslaw. While I love the creamy version, for which I make my own dressing, I’m giving you a lighter option.  I hope you’ll make it. You can use a small cabbage and slice it or buy a bag of the ready-to-go coleslaw.

 

Coleslaw

½ a small head of white cabbage, thinly sliced
1 stalk of celery, thinly sliced (optional)
1 carrot, grated
½ cup thinly sliced red onion (optional)

 

Dressing

½ cup apple cider vinegar (you can use white if that’s what you have)
¼ cup canola, sunflower, peanut (or your preferred oil)
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp sea or kosher salt
1 tsp mustard seed (If you don’t have this, put in a tsp of whatever wet mustard you have)
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper

 

Directions

Put the slaw, put ingredients into a large tub with an airtight lid. You can use a LARGE bowl and mix, but a tub is easier.

For the dressing, stir all ingredients in a small pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Immediately pour dressing over cabbage (do not cool it first).  Put the lid on and shake gently. Put in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

 

Hints

Small cabbages make better slaw because their interiors have less thick folds so it is easier to slice.

Before you slice, cut the cabbage into quarters, from top to bottom.  Slice out the cores. Then shave the cabbage thinly.

If you’re going to add celery, use the strong flavoured outer stalks, not the sweeter inside ones.

If you have a mandolin, you can use that to make thin slices… but BE CAREFUL.  I don’t have one because they scare me!

 

About Cabbage Rolls:  If you want to make them. Find a nice biggish cabbage, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the freezer for a few days. Once it defrosts you will have soft, limp leaves in which to wrap your fav filling.

 

When you’re ready to make your Cabbage Rolls, defrost the cabbage, then remove the core, DO NOT CUT THE CABBAGE UP other than to remove the core.  If you have any trouble removing leaves just run under warm water to loosen them.

Happy Cooking!

 

 

And now we have a terrific recipe from Lyssa!  I am going to make these soon. They look great!

 

Wirsingküchle, or Savoy Cabbage Potato Cakes


300 g potatoes or 2 medium size
500 g savoy cabbage or 1/2 a small head
125 g ham or bacon or a generous 1/2 cup of chopped bacon
1 onion
1 egg
7 spoons of oil
some salt, pepper and nutmeg

Wash the potatoes and cook them for approx. 25 minutes. I prefer to cook them
with the skin and peel them afterwards, because it prevents, that they soak too
much water in and they don`t get squishy. But it is no problem to peel them
first.

Remove the savoy from the stalk and the ribs. Cut the leaves into strips
and blanch this in salt water for 2 minutes and drain it afterwards.

Peel the onions. Then dice the bacon and onion and fry them in 1 tbsp. Oil
for 4 minutes. Add the savoy cabbage and simmer all over medium heat for 5
minutes. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Press the potatos through a potato press, or mash them. Now you can mix the
potatoes with egg and savoy.

Heat some oil in a non stick or cast iron pan. Make small 2inch balls (it
does not stick with wet hands) flatten slightly and fry each side for 3
minutes in hot oil.

 

Edited April 28, 2017 by Mikiesboy

[Former Member]

I came across a recipe for a cheap and easy Macaroni and Cheese substitute for Kraft’s horrid travesty-in-a-box*. It was interesting, but used non-standard quantity ingredients. The author mentioned finding a similar recipe on the Pillsbury site. It uses only three very common ingredients: macaroni, evaporated milk, and shredded cheese.

 

An alternative to canned evaporated milk is to use powdered milk. You use less water when you reconstitute it. The recipes I’ve seen generally call for 1¼ cups of water and 1 - 1½ cups of powdered milk. Some recipes add 2 Tablespoons of oil or butter. One uses 1½ cups of water and 2 Tablespoons of butter, but heats the mixture. The others just call for mixing the ingredients well – whisking, using a blender, immersion blender, or even shaking it in a sealed container.

 

 

Warning. I haven’t tried any of these recipes yet. I trust Pillsbury to test thoroughly and the multitude of very similar evaporated milk recipes suggests it works too. I bought the ingredients and plan to make it soon.

 

*The box contains elbow macaroni and a foil packet of powdered ‘cheese.’ I haven’t made it in decades, but you boil the macaroni and add milk or butter (I can’t remember which) along with the orange ‘cheese’ and stir to coat the macaroni. It’s cheap, but doesn’t even come close to the real thing.