RE: What can you knock up cheap?

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LadyConstanze -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:21:29 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: ChatteParfaitt Easy Peasy: 16 oz pineapple juice (I use the liquid from canned pineapple, which I freeze til I have enough, I really am that cheap) 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup soy sauce 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup sherry (sweet or dry) if you don't have sherry, whiskey, rum, or brandy will do 2 tabs minced fresh ginger 2 tabs fresh garlic (pressed) Combine all in a large sauce pot. Bring to a boil (hard) and thicken with cornstarch (up to 1/2 cup). You could try using lentils (yellow or orange split lentils) healthier than cornstarch and adds an interesting, slightly nutty flavour and thickens up things without clotting, just put them in first as they will dissolve when cooked for longer. I use them a lot for sauces, soups, etc.

needlesandpins -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:24:54 AM)
you're free to use my stuff i've posted. as for people not knowing how to cook and blaming the times we live in and ping/fast foods. sorry but that is a cop out. i'm lucky in that my dad was a sous chef and tought me basics so that when i wasn't in to eat with everyone else i could fend for myself. but really the vast majority of my learning came from living on my own on a tight budget. i'd buy a ready meal....something quite expencive but that i hadn't had before. if i liked it i'd read the ingredients on the packaging or try and guess what was in it. then i'd have a go at making it myself using trial and error. the ethos has to be use less rather than more and add in til it tastes as you want it. sauces are a doddle. buy cornflour and thicken while stiring all the time until it's the consistancey you want. so you don't even have to mess about making a roux (fat and plain flour mix) and cocking it up with lumps. buy a cook book and follow what it says. i don't know how anyone can get it wrong when following what a book says. even if it doesn't look exactly the same as the picture, it should still taste good. here's my chicken and sweetcorn soup that i make from a whole chicken that has been roasted and had the breast removed the day before for another meal. take the carcas and legs and cover with water in a large pan/stock pot with an onion (in large chunks so it can be taken out and saved with the stock), ground pepper and a couple of slices of chilli (add chilli to taste and also garlic is you wish...1-2colves) simmer for about 1h on a really low heat. once done sieve stock into a bowl and strip the chicken of all meat. take 500g/1lb of sweetcorn (much cheaper to buy frozen and just as good) put in the original pan and add some stock and heat. remove from heat and blend until as smooth as you want. i like mine quite chunky. to that add the rest of the stock and meat and bring to the boil. turn down to a low heat and add soy sauce to taste. you should not need any salt with adding the soy, so it really is a case of add some and taste, add a little at a time. you can always put some in, you can't take it out. at this point you need to see if it's the thickness you like. if too thick add some water and adjust the pepper and soy to taste. too thin...mix cornflour and water and add a bit at a time always stiring until it's the thickness you want. i sometimes use minced turkey or pork instead of chicken. add some bread and it easily serves 4. needles

LaTigresse -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:25:04 AM)
And that being said I just pulled some leftovers from two weeks ago out of the freezer. I had put a beef roast in the crock pot with some potatoes and carrots, seasoned of course. Over the course of a few days we ate about half. Then I decided to freeze it. Today I am going to sautee some onions and celery. Chop up the leftover roast, potatoes and carrots. Thicken the leftover broth, put it all in a baking pan. Make some home made biscuit dough and roll it out for the top. Bake and yayyyyyyy, home made beef pot pie!

LadyConstanze -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:29:06 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: MadAxeman I'm diabetic. Fashions change slightly every few years about what ingredients and foodstuffs are good or popular. Pasta is not necessarily a no no, though not recommended to be eaten daily. The diabetic diet is bland, that is it's main failing. Go to any site for dibo recipes and you see the same things. Turkey, butternut squash, rices and pulses. The rest of it is about creating sauces that enliven the dullness of the food. Sauces that use artificial sweeteners which can be expensive. Healthy, sensory satisfying eating on a budget is not straight forward, or we would all be doing it. Baked potato topped with cheese or beans soon gets old. My local shop does 400gm ping (microwave) meals for £1. Iceland does 500gm meals for the same. I recently spent a week with a friend who was diagnosed as diabetic just a few months ago. She's at the food nazi stage where everything is measured, all labels read. Her cooking was fat trimmed, sugar replaced and lots of vegetables. It still tasted better than the ping stuff I've been eating. Am not a total incompetent in the kitchen and can bash up a fierce curry from scratch or Chinese with a bit of help via canned sauces. Anyone have a simple (sugar free) sweet and sour sauce recipe that isn't bloody awful? Anywho, I would agree that much is down to attitude and the way one learns to cook. When I'm on my own, it's natural to eat something simple to prepare. Have a personal complication in that am recovering from a busted leg etc and it's not easy to stand for very long. So I buy cheap convenience meals that I can hobble away from until they ping. I haven't found much that's healthy and easy to prepare that isn't as a result quite pricey. Are these 'crock pots' what we call 'slow cookers?' I quite fancy the idea of lobbing stuff into a pot and I've got a decent meal hours later. One can always eat junk until it's ready. Ninebelowzero that's a Dagwood isn't it? A sinful pleasure. Now I want one. Actually I tend to use apples for a sweet and sour sauce, simple cooking apples will do, no sugar added but I don't know how well that works for diabetics due to the fructose. Bin the canned sauces, sugar laden crap, you can bang up a good sauce yourself (oops, that reads obscene), just go to the local market late and buy a bunch of the bruised tomatoes or go to Tesco shortly before they close and raid the reduced section. With a bunch of spices and herbs you can make your own sauces and they taste so much better. Just put them in a big pot with water, reduce, add spices and herbs, throw in pulses to thicken, stir on occasion. I usually freeze a lot of the stuff that I don't use immediately, so I just make the sauce every couple of weeks and then use the jars from the freezer.

LaTigresse -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:30:26 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Duskypearls quote: ORIGINAL: Toppingfrmbottom I am also sure that the alcohol cooks off in cooking with alcohol and just the flavor is left, but I am not supposed to drink on the meds I am on, And Daddy does not drink either, and when he can afford a dr and get his depression medication, he will not be supposed to drink on those meds either. so we do not have a lot these things around the house , the stuff that is there, is my parents, and my dad probably would not look kindly on me wating to take his best whiskey to cook with lol. and I will not go out and buy a bottle of port, or whiskey or rum, just to cook with, because it's a waste of money. TfB, liquor stores have those teeny, tiny bottles of liquors up at their front counters you can buy, so you needen't invest in a big bottle. Another thing to consider......I buy inexpensive bottles of wine just for cooking. A white can last in the fridge for quite awhile and red doesn't even need the fridge. One bottle will only get you through a few meals anyway.

ChatteParfaitt -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:36:11 AM)
Do you mean cooked lentils? I'd like to try that.

LadyConstanze -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:40:11 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: ChatteParfaitt Do you mean cooked lentils? I'd like to try that. I use dried ones, they're very small and I usually get them from Asian shops, each different type has a slightly different flavour and I keep them in big glass jars. Just wash them before you use them, if you want you can also soak them before, makes them dissolve quicker. Basically if you cook them for longer than 20 minutes they're just completely dissolved and thicken the sauces or soups a lot.

needlesandpins -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:43:24 AM)
i use small red lentils and pearl barley in stews for thickening. neither need soaking and can be added direct to what is being cooked. i also add the lentils to curries. another thing i do is make my own jams. i forrage for fruits such as blackberries that cost a small fortune in the shops. sloes and such are often used for hedges so keep a look out. i use a plum jam that i make for sweetening curries and tamatoe sauces. it makes them richer and i don't use as much sugar as shop bought jams. needles

ChatteParfaitt -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:51:51 AM)
Speaking of which, I make a roux, since a roux to me is the foundation of many sauces. It does not have to be empty calories. Whole wheat flour works as well as white, and you can substitute 1/2 or even all of the butter with olive oil. A good quality olive oil is good cholestral. Yes, it's fat, but you can't really cook w/o some fat. Here's a recipe for a half butter (unsalted) half olive oil roux: Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 4 tablespoons flour Method: Put oil and butter in a small sturdy pan and place it over medium-low heat. When the oil is warm but not too hot, start stirring in flour with a wooden spoon until the mixture is thick - about the texture of wet concrete or plaster of Paris. Add more oil or flour until it's right. Stir continually with the wooden spoon over the heat so the roux cooks. The flour will gradually begin to brown. The roux can be used when the flour is light golden in color. The darker you cook the roux, the more flavor it will add to the sauce. Don't cook it past a mahogany color, though. Transfer the roux to another container to cool. Store roux in the refrigerator for a week, or freeze it in tablespoon-size wafers. To thicken a sauce with roux, let it cool so it won't splatter and whisk it in to your boiling sauce base, like broth or pan drippings. (Or milk if you are going for a cream or cheese sauce) Lower the heat to a simmer and continue to whisk until all the roux has been absorbed. Simmer for at least 20 minutes to allow it the sauce to thicken and become smooth. TIPS: A dark roux will thicken less than light roux. If black specks appear in the roux, it has burned and you'll have to start over. If roux is made ahead and refrigerated, pour excess oil from the surface before reheating, or let it return to room temperature.

ChatteParfaitt -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:52:52 AM)
Okay I have to try that, thank you. I love learning new cooking tips !!

barelynangel -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:54:22 AM)
We really should have an ongoing Cooking discussion/questions here thread lol for us pathetic people who need the advise of those who know. I have a JennieO lemon garlic turkey breast tenderloin 1.5 lbs, frozen solid use by 10.07.11 a Smithfield Garlic & Herb Pork Loin filet 1.7 lbs also frozen solid use by is 02.06.10 I froze both of these before the dates on the package. This actually goes with the thread lol as i got these on sale really inexpensive. So the question is because i am trying not to eat out for the next month --- 1) is the almost 2 year old Pork loin okay to use as it's been frozen? Also do they need to thaw before cooking in a slow cooker? 2. i have 1 giant crockpot, can i cook both of these at the same time? If so, can someone help me and tell me how? If i should cook them separately, can you tell me how to do each? I just want to cook up the meat so i can use the meat for different meals. Thanks! angel

ChatteParfaitt -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:56:54 AM)
I buy cheap wine or sherry to use just for cooking, since I don't drink wine except as a special thing (although I love good wine). Over the holidays I do buy brandy for brandy balls, since it's one of my xmas cookie staples. They need to made 2 weeks ahead. So I use the rest of the brandy for my ham glaze and for my corn pudding (yum), so it's all good.

punisher440 -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 8:57:34 AM)
I haven't seen a cabbage dish thrown out and cabbage is fairly cheap.So here is my favorite one. Take a 1 1/2 to 2pounds of ground beef,brown it in a skillet.Then in a large crock pot,chop up 1 head of cabbage,add the cooked ground beef,2 cans of cheddar cheese soup and 1 can of Rotel or other type of diced spicy tomatoes.I usually start this on low when I leave for work in the morning and have it for supper.Now it is a little spicy and I guess those with blander tastes could use diced plain tomatoes.

ShaharThorne -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 9:01:04 AM)
Bo likes to drink wine and when I am down there, I usually make the slow cooker beef stroganoff. I "borrow" some of the red wine and put in the recipe. It gives it a richer taste IMO.

needlesandpins -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 9:07:24 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: barelynangel We really should have an ongoing Cooking discussion/questions here thread lol for us pathetic people who need the advise of those who know. I have a JennieO lemon garlic turkey breast tenderloin 1.5 lbs, frozen solid use by 10.07.11 a Smithfield Garlic & Herb Pork Loin filet 1.7 lbs also frozen solid use by is 02.06.10 I froze both of these before the dates on the package. This actually goes with the thread lol as i got these on sale really inexpensive. So the question is because i am trying not to eat out for the next month --- 1) is the almost 2 year old Pork loin okay to use as it's been frozen? Also do they need to thaw before cooking in a slow cooker? 2. i have 1 giant crockpot, can i cook both of these at the same time? If so, can someone help me and tell me how? If i should cook them separately, can you tell me how to do each? I just want to cook up the meat so i can use the meat for different meals. Thanks! angel i would defrost before cooking. i have used meat that has been frozen for years. but as with fresh meat, use your nose, if it smells bad don't use it. sometimes you will notice that parts of the meat look like they have been scorched/cooked already. that is frost bite and probably ok but i always cut it off. if you plan and long cooking your meat then both can be done together. both are good cuts of meat and neither will take huge amounts of cooking anyway. cooking both at the same time is cool, but it's alot of meat. however, once cooked there is no reason to not refreeze it in portions. i save takeout plastic tubs for just such a thing as portion freezing. place either, or both sets of meat in the crockpot, cover with water, add a little seasoning (salt and pepper) although as you plan to use it for other things there is no need to bother really. the water will make stock though and can be frozen to use with a soup/stew. you could start it in the morning (the water should already be boiling when added to cut down cooking time) and leave on low until you get home from work. you don't want to over cook the meat as it may dry out being low fat tender cuts. both can then just be added to whatever you want. needles

needlesandpins -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 9:12:16 AM)
for wanting to enrichen a beef dish without using wine, try red currents or raspberries. they can both be bought cheaply frozen. needles

LillyBoPeep -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 9:13:07 AM)
Cabbage is a great cheap food. :) I like to make cabbage soup (I am in soup mode now that it's getting cold haha)

mnottertail -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 9:13:59 AM)
or grape juice, obviously.....concentrated if you really want to go after it. Red or White, depending............. Cuz...........what is wine?

barelynangel -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 9:15:38 AM)
Thanks needlesandpins -- My crock pot has a timer. So i start it on low in the morning before leaving for work and then it should be done by the time i get home? Can you explain why it is better to dethaw so i know in the future the whys? Also, how do i dethaw two frozen solid loins quickly without cooking them in the microwave dethaw lol.

ChatteParfaitt -> RE: What can you knock up cheap? (12/3/2011 9:27:28 AM)
The turkey breast: 1 3-4 lb turkey breast 2 cans chicken broth (or homemade stock) Rinse THAWED turkey breast and pat dry with paper towels. Place in crock pot breast side down. Pour chicken broth over turkey. Cook 8-10 hours in crock pot on low.

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