EPTAs this is TeamLiquid, a community I'm invested in at a small level, I don't really feel that I need to be formal in explaining a little bit of my cooking background. As it is, you guys just want to see something that looks and sounds delectable and recreate it. At least that's what I assume, having seen other food blogs with picture spams and going "Oh muh God I am so making that."
Essentially, I have 3 great cooks that I watched my entire life, that being my father, oldest sister, and older brother. They all cook way, way differently regarding style and food output. So I kind of just sat back my entire life and nitpicked through their techniques, recipes, and ingredient choices until I came up with my own style of cooking based off of theirs. However, whenever I would make something, I'd make far too much of it and have to use it as leftovers for days to come. That all changes when after a job CatZ hooked me up with I was hired in another restaurant as a kitchen manager for 6 months (until I moved into the security business). In that position and the one CatZ hooked me up with, I learned to cook far more efficiently as well as multitask better than a single mother. The most important part is that I learned to effectively run cost:output prices through my head. Post those jobs I started college and living on my own, so I could not only not afford to eat out all the time, but didn't want to.
In my junior year now I've made friends with enough people who are willing to put in the work to make a delicious meal that hovers around $1 per portion. I happen to share that desire and know how to achieve is easily. As that's the case, the blog is titled "Intelligently Priced Cooking; Recipes and Preparation". Below you'll find no pictures, but a list of materials, ingredients, preparation time, and money necessary to achieve a couple of recipes I just blogged tonight. I figured TL could use a few more food blogs, and I'm happy to simply copy and paste over some for a community that is primarily in the same stage of their life as I am.
Eggy Mustard Stirfry (I know the name is ugly: it's worth the read):
Materials necessary:
1 LARGE frying or sauteing pan (the largest you have)
1 small pot
1 spatula (pan)
1 spoon (pot)
1 strainer
1 large plate
Ingredients necessary:
1 pound ground chuck (or whatever ground beef cut is on sale)
1 bag of No Yolks extra broad egg noodles
1 head of broccoli
1 Spanish onion
2oz All Natural Southwest Spicy Mustard (I use Wal-Mart brand); the added ingredients to make this beyond regular spicy mustard are sugar, dehydrated red and green bell peppers, paprika, and turmeric. If the mustard can't be found, add small amounts of these ingredients on your own.
1/2 head cilantro
3 slices provolone cheese
3 ounces olive oil
1 small can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes, lime juice and cilantro
1 pack McCormick mild taco seasoning
8 parts Salt
4 parts Pepper
2 parts Garlic Powder
1 part Ground Cumin
1 part Ground Basil
1/2 part Cayenne Pepper (to not be overwhelming)
Preparation (20-25 minutes):
The first step, as for every recipe, is to prepare the ingredients. Set all of your spices aside and have them ready to use. After that, begin to boil the water necessary for the egg noodles. Then proceed to wash your broccoli, finely chop it while ridding each piece of most of its stem. Cut the top and bottom of the onion off, then peel the skin and outer layer off. Finely chop the onion. Wash your half head of cilantro, cut off the stems or pluck each leaf individually (I recommend the first alternative). Dice the living hell out of the cilantro and set it aside for later.
In your large frying pan preheat a little under 3 ounces of olive oil for 2 minutes on medium heat. Toss in the broccoli. Stir this every 60 seconds after you've coated all of the broccoli in oil for around 5 minutes, then add the onions and what should be defrosted beef at the same time. Proceed to add a little over half of the salt and pepper to the current mix that is being sauteed. Break the meat up and stir all of the ingredients together. Maintain the medium heat.
At this point your water should be infuriated, throwing boiling water at you as you erratically work your way around the ingredients that are cooking in the pan. Add the egg noodles and stir them immediately to keep any from sticking to the bottom.
After around 8 minutes the beef should be browned and the onions should be relatively soft, as well as the broccoli. At this point there should be an excess of 4-5 ounces of oil, fat, and water. With your large plate, use it to block all of the ingredients from falling out of your frying pan. Lift the frying pan and drain as much of the fat and grease as you can while preventing any of the ingredients from sliding out. If this is not successful for you, you can always use a spoon, tilt the pan and ladle the liquid out little by little. As soon as you're done with this, add the can of Ro-Tel, provolone cheese, and mustard to the mixture. Let the cheese melt then stir it all together to prevent sticking to the pan for the next step.
Your egg noodles should be done after around 10 minutes in the water, which is now. Use the strainer, drain the noodles from the water, and put the pot of noodles on a cool burner to hang out while you finish your stirfry.
Add all of the spices, the taco seasoning mix, and the cilantro to your stirfry. Mix it all together very well. Add the noodles, mix everything together very well, and for good measure just add another little bit of the mustard just because it makes it so delicious. Make sure every noodle is coated in what looks like something that could be described as nothing else other than deliciousness.
Price breakdown:
1 pound ground chuck: $4
1 bag of No Yolks extra broad egg noodles: $1.20
1 head of broccoli: $2
1 Spanish onion: .30c
Mustard: .16c
1/2 head of cilantro: $1
1 can Ro-Tel: $1.15
Taco seasoning: .50c
1 LARGE frying or sauteing pan (the largest you have)
1 small pot
1 spatula (pan)
1 spoon (pot)
1 strainer
1 large plate
Ingredients necessary:
1 pound ground chuck (or whatever ground beef cut is on sale)
1 bag of No Yolks extra broad egg noodles
1 head of broccoli
1 Spanish onion
2oz All Natural Southwest Spicy Mustard (I use Wal-Mart brand); the added ingredients to make this beyond regular spicy mustard are sugar, dehydrated red and green bell peppers, paprika, and turmeric. If the mustard can't be found, add small amounts of these ingredients on your own.
1/2 head cilantro
3 slices provolone cheese
3 ounces olive oil
1 small can Ro-Tel diced tomatoes, lime juice and cilantro
1 pack McCormick mild taco seasoning
8 parts Salt
4 parts Pepper
2 parts Garlic Powder
1 part Ground Cumin
1 part Ground Basil
1/2 part Cayenne Pepper (to not be overwhelming)
Preparation (20-25 minutes):
The first step, as for every recipe, is to prepare the ingredients. Set all of your spices aside and have them ready to use. After that, begin to boil the water necessary for the egg noodles. Then proceed to wash your broccoli, finely chop it while ridding each piece of most of its stem. Cut the top and bottom of the onion off, then peel the skin and outer layer off. Finely chop the onion. Wash your half head of cilantro, cut off the stems or pluck each leaf individually (I recommend the first alternative). Dice the living hell out of the cilantro and set it aside for later.
In your large frying pan preheat a little under 3 ounces of olive oil for 2 minutes on medium heat. Toss in the broccoli. Stir this every 60 seconds after you've coated all of the broccoli in oil for around 5 minutes, then add the onions and what should be defrosted beef at the same time. Proceed to add a little over half of the salt and pepper to the current mix that is being sauteed. Break the meat up and stir all of the ingredients together. Maintain the medium heat.
At this point your water should be infuriated, throwing boiling water at you as you erratically work your way around the ingredients that are cooking in the pan. Add the egg noodles and stir them immediately to keep any from sticking to the bottom.
After around 8 minutes the beef should be browned and the onions should be relatively soft, as well as the broccoli. At this point there should be an excess of 4-5 ounces of oil, fat, and water. With your large plate, use it to block all of the ingredients from falling out of your frying pan. Lift the frying pan and drain as much of the fat and grease as you can while preventing any of the ingredients from sliding out. If this is not successful for you, you can always use a spoon, tilt the pan and ladle the liquid out little by little. As soon as you're done with this, add the can of Ro-Tel, provolone cheese, and mustard to the mixture. Let the cheese melt then stir it all together to prevent sticking to the pan for the next step.
Your egg noodles should be done after around 10 minutes in the water, which is now. Use the strainer, drain the noodles from the water, and put the pot of noodles on a cool burner to hang out while you finish your stirfry.
Add all of the spices, the taco seasoning mix, and the cilantro to your stirfry. Mix it all together very well. Add the noodles, mix everything together very well, and for good measure just add another little bit of the mustard just because it makes it so delicious. Make sure every noodle is coated in what looks like something that could be described as nothing else other than deliciousness.
Price breakdown:
1 pound ground chuck: $4
1 bag of No Yolks extra broad egg noodles: $1.20
1 head of broccoli: $2
1 Spanish onion: .30c
Mustard: .16c
1/2 head of cilantro: $1
1 can Ro-Tel: $1.15
Taco seasoning: .50c
Total: $10.31
Servings: (a little over 4 lbs of food) 8-10 for dinner
$1 - $1.29 a serving
Sausage Penne Alla Vodka (this one is a little more labor intensive than most of my recipes):
Materials necessary:
1 large pot
1 medium pot
1 large frying pan
1 baking sheet
1 large spoon
1 spatula
1 strainer
1 sheet tin foil (for the baking sheet)
Ingredients necessary:
1-16oz box penne pasta (your favorite brand is your best bet)
1 lb hot (or spicy) sausage
1 Classico vodka sauce
1/2 head broccoli
1 green pepper
1 medium beefsteak tomato
1 Spanish onion
4 ounces of baby carrots
1 bulb of garlic
1/4 head of cilantro
3 ounces olive oil
5 parts salt
4 parts pepper
2 parts dried Mexican oregano
No vodka, this is the PG version.
Preparation (35-40 minutes):
The pre-preparation for this one is actually 30-40% of the time spent for the dish.
Fill the medium pot around 3/4 the way full with water. Turn that on high heat so that it's boiling by the time you need it.
After all of the following steps, set each ingredient aside in the cooking order you'll be using them, which I happen to list off in that order for you. Peel all of the garlic (don't worry, I hate it too). Wash and rough chop the broccoli after you've cut off the large stem pieces. Cut the baby carrots in half. Dice the green peppers around the same size as your onions, which are coming next. Cut the head and ass off of your onion, remove the skin, and rough chop that too.
Finely chop the cilantro, and dice the tomato up into rather small pieces. Keep these ingredients set aside for the last part of the cooking process.
Heat 90% of your olive oil in the large frying pan at medium-low heat. While this starts to heat up, drop your 4 or 5 sausages into the now boiling water in the medium sized pot.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wrap the top of your baking sheet with tin foil and add the rest of the olive oil over the center of the sheet. Spread the olive oil in a circumference around the center where it's just enough for your number of sausages to fit.
Add enough water to the large pot to cook one box of penne pasta. Salt the water with half of the salt. Turn the heat to high.
Add the garlic to the oil. Let this saute individually for around 5 minutes. Then, in order, with a delay of 2 minutes per vegetable, add the broccoli, carrots, green pepper pieces, and onions pieces. Add one half of the salt and pepper for the dish. As always, salt and pepper is to an individual's taste. However, it's very important to have well salt and peppered vegetables. Once all are added (+8 minutes), cook them together for an additional 4 minutes or until sauteed.
I add this step after all of the produce despite it being in the middle of the addition of saute ingredients just to emphasize the timing for the vegetables. After adding the green pepper slices, pull the sausages from the water and turn that burner off. Immediately put the sausages on the baking sheet and into the oven. Then, add the pasta to the large pot of boiling water. I keep the large pot and frying pan on the front of the stove, as the medium pot isn't actively used and can cook just fine on the back burner. Then, and only then, add the onions to the frying pan.
Stir the vegetables around until tender as mentioned prior. You will need to smash the garlic either in the pan or pick each piece out individually to do so, no one wants to eat an entire piece of garlic in a bite. Once this is done, add the cilantro and tomatoes to the frying pan to cook for a couple of minutes.
Stir the pasta every couple of minutes, and after 12 minutes, pull it off of the heat and strain it (assuming you pulled a noodle out to test that it's al dente).
Wait another 3 minutes (for 15 total) and pull the sausage out of the oven. Turn the oven off and set the sausages out to rest on your cutting board for 5 minutes.
The instance you've removed the sausages from the oven, add the pasta back to the large pot accompanied by the vodka sauce, remaining pepper and oregano, and all of the vegetables from the frying pan. Stir this around as the flavors merry together on medium heat.
After 5 minutes thinly slice each sausage into 10 pieces. Add the 40 pieces of sausage to your pasta mixture. Stir all of the now fully cooked ingredients around for 2 minutes on medium heat so that sauce and the little bit of oil via a minority oil:sauce ratio stick to every noodle and piece of sausage.
Wallah, you've got some insanely delicious, unique pasta.
Price breakdown:
Box of penne pasta: $1.40
Pound of sausage: $3
Classico vodka sauce: $3
1/2 head broccoli: $1
1 green pepper: .50c
1 medium beefsteak tomato: depends on season (lets say .60c)
1 onion: .30c
4 ounces baby carrots: .25c
1 bulb of garlic: .20c
1/4 head of cilantro: .50c
1 large pot
1 medium pot
1 large frying pan
1 baking sheet
1 large spoon
1 spatula
1 strainer
1 sheet tin foil (for the baking sheet)
Ingredients necessary:
1-16oz box penne pasta (your favorite brand is your best bet)
1 lb hot (or spicy) sausage
1 Classico vodka sauce
1/2 head broccoli
1 green pepper
1 medium beefsteak tomato
1 Spanish onion
4 ounces of baby carrots
1 bulb of garlic
1/4 head of cilantro
3 ounces olive oil
5 parts salt
4 parts pepper
2 parts dried Mexican oregano
No vodka, this is the PG version.
Preparation (35-40 minutes):
The pre-preparation for this one is actually 30-40% of the time spent for the dish.
Fill the medium pot around 3/4 the way full with water. Turn that on high heat so that it's boiling by the time you need it.
After all of the following steps, set each ingredient aside in the cooking order you'll be using them, which I happen to list off in that order for you. Peel all of the garlic (don't worry, I hate it too). Wash and rough chop the broccoli after you've cut off the large stem pieces. Cut the baby carrots in half. Dice the green peppers around the same size as your onions, which are coming next. Cut the head and ass off of your onion, remove the skin, and rough chop that too.
Finely chop the cilantro, and dice the tomato up into rather small pieces. Keep these ingredients set aside for the last part of the cooking process.
Heat 90% of your olive oil in the large frying pan at medium-low heat. While this starts to heat up, drop your 4 or 5 sausages into the now boiling water in the medium sized pot.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Wrap the top of your baking sheet with tin foil and add the rest of the olive oil over the center of the sheet. Spread the olive oil in a circumference around the center where it's just enough for your number of sausages to fit.
Add enough water to the large pot to cook one box of penne pasta. Salt the water with half of the salt. Turn the heat to high.
Add the garlic to the oil. Let this saute individually for around 5 minutes. Then, in order, with a delay of 2 minutes per vegetable, add the broccoli, carrots, green pepper pieces, and onions pieces. Add one half of the salt and pepper for the dish. As always, salt and pepper is to an individual's taste. However, it's very important to have well salt and peppered vegetables. Once all are added (+8 minutes), cook them together for an additional 4 minutes or until sauteed.
I add this step after all of the produce despite it being in the middle of the addition of saute ingredients just to emphasize the timing for the vegetables. After adding the green pepper slices, pull the sausages from the water and turn that burner off. Immediately put the sausages on the baking sheet and into the oven. Then, add the pasta to the large pot of boiling water. I keep the large pot and frying pan on the front of the stove, as the medium pot isn't actively used and can cook just fine on the back burner. Then, and only then, add the onions to the frying pan.
Stir the vegetables around until tender as mentioned prior. You will need to smash the garlic either in the pan or pick each piece out individually to do so, no one wants to eat an entire piece of garlic in a bite. Once this is done, add the cilantro and tomatoes to the frying pan to cook for a couple of minutes.
Stir the pasta every couple of minutes, and after 12 minutes, pull it off of the heat and strain it (assuming you pulled a noodle out to test that it's al dente).
Wait another 3 minutes (for 15 total) and pull the sausage out of the oven. Turn the oven off and set the sausages out to rest on your cutting board for 5 minutes.
The instance you've removed the sausages from the oven, add the pasta back to the large pot accompanied by the vodka sauce, remaining pepper and oregano, and all of the vegetables from the frying pan. Stir this around as the flavors merry together on medium heat.
After 5 minutes thinly slice each sausage into 10 pieces. Add the 40 pieces of sausage to your pasta mixture. Stir all of the now fully cooked ingredients around for 2 minutes on medium heat so that sauce and the little bit of oil via a minority oil:sauce ratio stick to every noodle and piece of sausage.
Wallah, you've got some insanely delicious, unique pasta.
Price breakdown:
Box of penne pasta: $1.40
Pound of sausage: $3
Classico vodka sauce: $3
1/2 head broccoli: $1
1 green pepper: .50c
1 medium beefsteak tomato: depends on season (lets say .60c)
1 onion: .30c
4 ounces baby carrots: .25c
1 bulb of garlic: .20c
1/4 head of cilantro: .50c
Total: $10.75
Servings: Roughly 9
Approximately $1.20 per dinner sized serving
I highly encourage feedback, shared recipes, similar stories or situations, and any improvements you think the dishes could have. If you'd like to read up on other recipes I've previously posted and will continue to post, check out http://vegason123.blogspot.com/
I will continue to add more blogs like this, possibly with pictures if you guys want them, as the blog progresses. However, I probably will not copy and paste over every single recipe as they're inserted.
