Cook on a Shoestring

Sinful Potatoes

David & Martha Cox — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:00:01 +0000

This recipe isn’t entirely cheap or healthy, but it is a nice treat, and it’s still a better deal than dropping money on a meal at a restaurant. Oh, and it’s really, really, really good.

We’re basically going to make a casserole with frozen hash browns. Here goes!

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Margarine, melted
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 Cup chopped onion
1 can cream of chicken OR cream of celery soup
1 pint sour cream (2 Cups, or about 16 ounces)
2 Cups cheddar cheese, grated
2 lb. frozen hash browns, thawed.

The Process

If you haven’t already, defrost the hash browns. They need to be completely thawed.
Chop the onion.
Combine all ingredients except the hash browns in a large mixing bowl (cheese, soup, sour cream, salt, pepper, margarine, etc.)
Once everything is thoroughly mixed, add the hash browns, and mix them as well.
Spread the mixture in a 9″x13″ casserole dish.
Cook at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.
Remove from oven, and serve!

This recipe yields about 8-12 delicious servings. Like we said it isn’t incredibly healthy, what with all the oils and fats in it, but it is absolutely awesome (like, make you want to slap your grandma kind of awesome), and it’s still cheaper than taking the family out for dinner at a restaurant. Go easy on seconds, and you should have leftovers for another meal or two.

Easy Chicken Hash

David & Martha Cox — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:00:14 +0000

The other day we wrote about the different ways you can prepare potatoes. Here’s another easy one you can throw together in about an hour: Chicken hash.

Ingredients

4-6 potatoes, washed and chopped (realistically, use as many as you want/have)
1-2 Cups chopped onion (as much or as little as you like)
1 Cup chopped green bell pepper
One chicken breast, chopped OR One package of tofu, cubed (for vegetarian hash)
Olive oil
Garlic, Salt, Pepper, and any other desired seasonings to taste.

The Process

Wash and chop all ingredients.
Heat olive oil over medium high on stove top.
Saute ingredients in hot oil. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic. Optionally, you can add some lemon juice and any other desired seasonings (e.g. cumin, red pepper flakes, turmeric, basil, oregano, etc.)
Continue to cook, stirring regularly, until chicken is thoroughly cooked and potatoes are soft when stabbed with a fork.
Serve!

Bonus Tofu Hash Recipe: If you want a good, healthy vegetarian hash (pictured above), just substitute cubed tofu for chicken. The tofu will provide good texture without taking away from the taste.

Altogether, it takes about an hour from the time you put the first potato under running water to the time you sit down to eat, but most of that time is spent waiting for the potatoes to cook. It’s very similar to the stir fry recipe we feature on the site. When you get down to it, the hardest part of this recipe is fighting the temptation to go back for seconds.

The Incredible, Edible Potato

David & Martha Cox — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 11:00:03 +0000

Potatoes are one of the most versatile things you can keep in your pantry. There are plenty of ways to prepare them and even more ways to season and flavor them. Plus they’re usually pretty cheap, and extremely filling! Here are a few of our favorite ways to prepare them:

Baked

It doesn’t get much simpler than baked potatoes. You can bake them in the microwave or the oven. It’s up to you.

For instructions on baking potatoes, click here.

Mashed

Mashed potatoes are a childhood favorite. Hot mashed potatoes drizzled with melted butter and a sprinkling of salt and pepper are absolutely awesome! They’re also not hard to make, and taste a lot better than the instant-potato mix they sell in boxes at the grocery store.

For instructions on mashing potatoes, click here.

Fried

Fried potatoes are where it’s at, if you ask me. Personally, I like to deep fry potato spears in a pan of 375 degree oil on the stove top (be careful, if you go this route; oil is HOT), but oven-fried are much better for you, as a rule.

To see how to oven-fry potatoes, just click here.

Bonus

Ever tried baking a potato, mashing it, stuffing that mashed potato into a bell pepper, and then throwing it down on the grill? No? Well, we have, and it’s awesome.

Check out our potato-stuffed bell pepper recipe right here.

While you’re at it, check out a few of our sweet potato recipes here.

How NOT to Carve a Pumpkin

David & Martha Cox — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 21:08:09 +0000

A fun video to kick off the pumpkin season.

How to Dress a Salad (the Right Way)

David & Martha Cox — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:00:58 +0000

Have you ever had trouble with salad dressing? You pour the dressing on the salad; some leaves are completely coated with dressing, but others have almost none. It can actually ruin the taste, because some bites of salad will have an overpowering dressing flavor, while others have almost no flavor at all. There is a simple, two-step trick to remedying this problem, though.

1. Use a serving bowl.
The first step is to use a giant serving bowl for dishing your salads out of. The bowl makes it easier to toss and dress the salad than waiting until after you’ve plated the salad.

2. Pour the dressing on the bowl first.
That’s right. Coat the inside of the bowl with dressing first. Then add your salad ingredients, and toss the salad. As you toss the salad, each leaf will get an even, natural coating of dressing from rubbing against the sides of the bowl. If, after you’re done, you feel it needs more dressing, you can apply some directly to the salad and toss a little more.

Best trick I’ve found for ensuring my salads have an even coating of dressing, and it works every time!

Photo by iRuben.

David’s Yeast Rolls

David & Martha Cox — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:00:05 +0000

These yeast rolls are based on a recipe I found that was promoted as an imitation of Texas Roadhouse’s yeast rolls. I don’t believe that this recipe and theirs are really the same, but these yeast rolls are definitely delicious and only take about an hour to make.

Ingredients

1 – 1 1/3 Cups Water
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1 Large Egg
3 1/2 Cups Flour
1/4 Cups of Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
3 teaspoons Yeast

The Process

Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add water and butter, and knead with a spoon.
Divide the dough into balls, and place on a well greased 9″x13″ pan.
Allow to rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
After the rolls have risen, brush with honey butter (recipe below).
Bake in oven for 20 – 30 minutes, until the tops of the rolls are brown.
Immediately upon removing the rolls from the oven, spread more honey butter on them.
After the rolls have cooled for a few minutes, serve rolls with additional honey butter on the side!

An hour may seem like a lot of time to spend on bread, but trust me: These rolls are amazing!

Honey Butter Recipe

Mix equal parts honey and softened butter or margarine. For example, 1/2 Cup softened butter and 1/2 honey.

Grilled Cheese Sanwiches

David & Martha Cox — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:00:08 +0000

Think you know everything there is to grilled cheese? Yeah, you probably do.

If you know everything I’m about to tell you, that is.

Grilled cheese is a great sandwich. However, I think it gets mistreated most of the time. At best, it seems grilled cheese is just a pre-packaged, single slice of American cheese sandwiched between two slices of bread and fried on a skillet. It never realizes its full potential. But that’s okay, because I’m going to show you how to make a decent grilled cheese sandwich that your whole family will enjoy.

Use Good Cheese
Ditch the American cheese. It tastes like paste. Instead, get a block of cheddar cheese and a knife. Peel off slices of cheese about 1/16″ – 1/8″ of an inch thick. You can layer as many slices of cheese on each sandwich as you want, but this is the most crucial part of making a good grilled cheese sandwich.

Consider Condiments
A lot of grilled cheese recipes call for three ingredients: Cheese, bread, and butter. Why not add some spicy mustard (my favorite)? Or some mayonnaise? You can even throw some sliced onion or pickle relish on that sandwich. There’s no rule that says grilled cheese can’t have anything else on it, so don’t feel like you don’t have any other options.

Make it in the Microwave
Think I’m crazy? They call it grilled cheese for a reason, don’t they? Well, you can make it in the microwave.

The first step is to toast the slices of bread. Grilling the sandwich toasts the bread, but since we’re using the microwave, we need to toast the bread first. Next, layer your toasted sandwich bread with condiments and cheese. Finally, put it in the microwave on High for about 15-25 seconds. Around the 25 second mark, my cheese usually turns completely molten, and runs out of my sandwich, so be careful.

All in all, microwave grilled cheese sandwiches take only a fraction of the time that traditional grilled cheese sandwiches do, and they taste every bit as good.

Or Go the Traditional Route
If you don’t feel like making grilled cheese in the microwave, then do this: Spread butter on the sandwich bread you’re going to use. Then layer your cheese and condiments on the sandwich bread, with the buttered sides of the bread facing out.

Finally, throw the sandwich down on a hot griddle that has been previously greased with butter, and let it grill for a few minutes. After a while, flip the sandwich over with a spatula, and let the other side grill for a few minutes.

When you’re done, the bread should be toasty and the cheese should be melted.

A lot of people don’t like grilled cheese sandwiches because the sandwiches are often dry or boring (or grilling them takes too long). Following these few little pointers will let you put together a very cheap, simple sandwich that tastes great. Enjoy!