A repeat that I just learned a few weeks ago.

1T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1t ground cumin
pinch cayenne pepper
3 1/2c chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
3/4lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
3T lime juice
salt and pepper
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic, cumin, and cayenne. Cook, stirring often, until onion is softened, about 4 minutes.
Add the broth and the tomatoes and their juice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.
Add the chicken and return to a simmer. Cook until the chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle each bowl with cilantro.

I put celery and carrots in the saute with the onions and garlic in mine and quite a bit more cayenne, cumin, and lime juice.

1/3/2011 7:09:09 PM

^ Yum!

For the people who said this is way expensive: I made 3 new recipes tonight.

Chicken: $4 plus a minimal amount of spices. Enough for a two dinners, two lunches (will make chicken salad, so throw in $1 or so for some celery and mayo and whatnot) and probably one more meal, plus enough chicken broth to use in several things.
Collards: $2.50 for enough for 4 side servings plus a few cups of raw ones left to use in something else. I did spend $3 or something on a bottle of chili vinegar to go with it, but that will last a long time.
Beans: $1 for beans, about $1 for the sun-dried tomatoes and probably 50 cents worth of olives, plus a few pennies in spices. That's probably six ample side servings.

I did use cayenne, chili powder, garlic, basil, salt, pepper, chili flakes, olive oil, paprika, onion powder and a bouillon cube that were in my pantry. If I had to go buy all those things, yes, this would have been more expensive. But as is, I made enough for 5ish meals for around $10.

They were all really good btw. I am not sure if I would have tried a whole chicken in the crockpot if I hadn't wanted to make the whole dinner in the triple crock I have. But it was fall-apart tender, really flavorful and ridiculously easy. The beans got a little too soft for my liking but I think that was because they ended up cooking longer than I meant for them to.

I am thinking now I might try to do a three-part crock pot meal every Monday. Just for shits and giggles.

1/3/2011 10:27:14 PM

I don't think it is more expensive either especially if you consider leftovers. Ken and I spend way more on food when we eat out that eventually leads to weight gain for us. Making meals at home, figuring out where to shop and portion control are key. I am still not the guru at figuring out where to shop but our budget is always a work in progress.

I am grateful you created this thread because I know from experience that you can only get better if you practice cooking more often. I am learning so much and I def have bookmarked this thread so I can gank the recipes people put in it. For me this thread might be equivalent to the beach body challenge thread in the lounge.

1/3/2011 10:33:09 PM

I think that if anything doing this challenge will help even more with keeping my grocery bill down because I am planning things ahead of time and can overlap what's on sale or in season with what I make, or buy something and use it in a few recipes in a week. Before I would sometimes be pretty bad about going to the store while hungry thinking "I just need to pick up a few things for (whatever I wanted for dinner)" and wind up spending like $50. I am bad about impulse buys.

I was looking today at recipes that use marsala wine (I have some left from the tofu marsala I made just before the new year) and I think I am going to try some marsala-braised carrots soon. Or I am open to other ideas if anyone has them.

1/3/2011 10:43:51 PM

I def make my meal list for the week because I love food and I will buy some impulse items. Something that my friend does to take it a step further (she is the best at cooking amazing meals way cheap) is she looks at the ads/coupons before she goes to stores and makes her meals around that. Her example spurs me on to be more proactive and not lazy about our budget.

1/3/2011 10:50:51 PM

that's not a bad idea at all, and I need to do that more.

I do make a meal plan every sunday, which generates a list that I take to the grocery store. But I think I'm going to get better about looking at the weekly store ad, and planning my meals around that.

1/3/2011 10:53:28 PM

Tonight's dinner

Prep Time:
5 Min
Cook Time:
15 Min
Ready In:
20 Min
2 servings

Ingredients

* 1 celery rib, chopped
* 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 1 teaspoon olive or canola oil
* 2 plum tomatoes, chopped
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* Dash pepper
* 1/2 pound cod, haddock or orange roughy fillets
* 1/4 teaspoon seafood seasoning (I am going to try Old Bay)
* Hot cooked rice (I am cooking jasmine)
* Hot pepper sauce

Directions
1. In a skillet, saute the celery, green pepper and onion in oil until almost tender. Add tomatoes; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with fish fillets and sprinkle with seafood seasoning. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 6 minutes. Break fish into chunks. Cook about 3 minutes longer or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve over rice. Serve with hot pepper sauce if desired.

1/4/2011 3:04:28 PM

We're trying another crock pot recipe tonight. Pork chops in a cream sauce basically. Figure I'll serve it with potatoes and cook the rest of the collards from Sunday.

1/4/2011 3:06:24 PM

Tonight I am doing Citrus-Glazed Chicken Thighs (recipe from Cooking Light) and Warm Shitake Slaw http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=3379, probably with some quinoa or grain blend or something.

That's recipes 4 and 5, so that will put me ahead of pace

1/4/2011 3:08:07 PM

this is relevant to my interests

1/4/2011 3:13:54 PM

I was hoping you'd hop in here. If not for the full 365 then at least for something.

1/4/2011 3:14:49 PM

1/4/2011 3:17:46 PM

hell yeah, that's exactly what I was talking about. I had kind of forgotten about it until we went to TJ's last week. So good.

1/4/2011 3:21:05 PM

i cooked for a group of 10 for most of the meals for in aruba last week

the mix of cultures evident in the markets was just fascinating to walk around and look at the products and try and make some neat things happen

side note: cooking for 10 people with quite minimal equipment is interesting. so is portion planning in metric

[Edited on January 4, 2011 at 3:25 PM. Reason : dutch, latin, other things]

1/4/2011 3:24:35 PM

^ Man you should have seen my epic portion planning/price planning worksheet when I had to make a Thanksgiving dinner for 35 people in Japan. That thing was ridonkulous lol.

1/4/2011 3:43:19 PM

2. New Year's Day Punch

Quote :

" Directions: Equal parts Pineapple-Orange Juice, Cranberry Juice, and Malibu Coconut Rum. My sister makes it 1/2 juice and 1/2 rum for a stronger drink"

I know this is not a "new" recipe for most people out there, but it was a new drink to me!

1/4/2011 8:33:07 PM

I'm going to just do a sub-challenge... One new recipe a week! It's hard with school to make dinner every night :\

Oh and have you ever used Southern Savers? That would help keep things lower too

1/4/2011 9:00:12 PM

not really a recipe but last night i was trying to figure out what to do with some baby bok choy... simmered some chicken broth and butter in a sautee pan, arranged the leaves(not cut, just sepearated and washed) in the liquid (like, 1/4" deep), covered and steam/braised... then when tender, removed, and reduced the broth with rice wine vinegar and black pepper, to thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.. spread over the bok choy when serving.

kinda tasty.

other than that last night was kinda a clusterfuck. overseasoned the mahi filets... got them to a great crispy skin, then realized they weren't done entirely for the gf's preference, and it got uncrispy . then blew out the sauce i made for the fish (had cooked the filets in butter and ginger, added a mixture of soy, sriracha, and a little sugar), the soy sauce + salting the fish got a bit overpowering. not inedibly too much, just a little too much. also, knocked the pan off the flame while reducing the sauce and sprayed my shirt/pants and ended up getting touched up by the base of the handle where it joins the pan.

then, plated poorly and the sauces bled together on the plate. the sauce for the fish blew out the subtle rice wine vinegaryness of the bok choy sauce.

and the rice wasn't cooked perfectly.

failure in execution. but it tasted pretty good and was completed top to bottom in 25 minutes so w/e.

for christmas i got about 4,000 pages in cook books and reference manuals. so that should be fun. didnt have much time last night.

[Edited on January 5, 2011 at 10:05 AM. Reason : asian food is funny. it's my fav to eat, but the thing i know the least about cooking]

1/5/2011 10:03:58 AM

^ My favorite way to do baby bok choy is to saute them in sesame oil, ginger, garlic, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle a little cayenne on top as garnish.

1/5/2011 10:09:46 AM

that sucks

Quote :

"asian food is funny. it's my fav to eat, but the thing i know the least about cooking"

I am this way too kind of. It isn't my absolute favorite, but I do like it a lot. I have been trying to teach myself how to do things right rather than just winging it. So looking up recipes for actual stir-fry sauces rather than just throwing shit together (because when I do that I always end up with just a spicy/soy flavor, which is good but I'd prefer to have variety).

Earlier this week I added pho (either a vegetarian or chicken version) to my list of things I want to try soon. That was inspired by the pic of it in the sriracha thread. Pho always looks so good when my friends eat it but I have no desire to eat beef.

I ended up not doing the mushroom slaw last night because I forgot I'd already planned/bought broccoli slaw. So I'm still at 4 recipes. The chicken thighs were good but I bought skin-on ones (that was all the store had) and am not too much a fan of skin-on chicken. I didn't eat the skin but still prefer it cooked without skin on (which I could have done myself, but figured I'd try it with the skin to see). The orange juice flavor did seem really strong in the sauce though for my taste.

I don't feel like typing the recipe but the sauce was mostly OJ with soy sauce, honey, ginger, garlic, chili paste and lime juice in it, marinated in it then made into a sauce to top.

[Edited on January 5, 2011 at 10:14 AM. Reason : .]

1/5/2011 10:13:20 AM

^ You know pho is just one of those things that never seems to be as good when I make it at home as it is at restaurants. I guess I don't have the patience to spend hours making the stock from scratch

That said, I make a mean pho-esque hot pot on days I'm feeling lazy and don't want to cook. I love that stuff in winter.

[Edited on January 5, 2011 at 10:22 AM. Reason : s]

1/5/2011 10:19:08 AM

Quote :

"The chicken thighs were good but I bought skin-on ones (that was all the store had) and am not too much a fan of skin-on chicken. I didn't eat the skin but still prefer it cooked without skin on (which I could have done myself, but figured I'd try it with the skin to see)."

blasphemy

1/5/2011 10:21:48 AM

^ Yeah for real. I'm not a big fan of skin either but if you get it golden crispy, it's pretty damn tasty. Helps keep the rest of the chicken moist while cooking too.

1/5/2011 10:23:13 AM

OK then, give me pointers. The whole chicken I roasted with skin on Monday was good. The thighs were greasy

1/5/2011 10:23:52 AM

This month's issue of Martha Stewart Living has a whole section on cooking chicken to keep it moist and delicious. It has a lot of great pointers in there.

1/5/2011 10:34:23 AM

I will check it out. Do you guys not have an issue with greasiness with skin-on chicken at all? Maybe I am just overly sensitive toward animal fat.

1/5/2011 10:55:07 AM

Very simple recipe I made up a while back.

1 can black beans, drained
1 can tomatoes and green chilis, drained
1/2 pound of ground beef.
1/2 onion, chopped
Rice (however much rice you want really)
beef or chicken bullion cubes
garlic, cumin, whatever other spices you want to put in it.

Put some bullion cubes in the boiling water you're making the rice in.

Brown the beef in a skillet and drain, then take out the beef and sautee the chopped onions. then add the beans for a couple minutes, then the tomatoes and beef. I use a large cast iron skillet for all of this. Season it with whatever, I just use salt, pepper, garlic, and a bit of cuban.

Just serve the beans over the rice, freaking delicious.

[Edited on January 5, 2011 at 11:20 AM. Reason : ]

1/5/2011 11:19:48 AM

my cake is baking in the crockpot currently....let's see how this turns out

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001842447

Rocky Road Chocolate Cake

1/5/2011 4:19:42 PM

^^ Be careful with bullion though. They are a sodium nightmare! I tend to just sub water for low-sodium broth when I want to cook grains in it.

1/5/2011 4:32:43 PM

but low-sodium broth tastes bad

1/5/2011 4:36:44 PM

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. Some of them do, but the Trader Joe's low sodium broth is fantastic.

1/5/2011 4:38:09 PM

I will have to try that. I think I just like sodium. I don't worry too much about eating high-sodium stuff though.

1/5/2011 4:39:05 PM

i haven't tried anything new this year, except changing flavors in stuff i've made before, switching the wine and meat in peposo notturno and an orange-chocolate version of lemon pudding cake. does that count as a new recipe?

I have about 100 recipes I liked and kept last year. probably 100 more at least that didn't make the cut.

1/5/2011 4:40:16 PM

My new favorite recipe right now is something I call "Mexican Rainbow Salad."

1/2 can sweet corn drained
1/2 can black beans drained
Half a container grape tomatoes, sliced in half or quarters
1/4-1/2 chopped red onion
2 avocados, chopped into cubes
Cilantro, chopped, about 1/4 cup

Mix all items together. Squeeze juice 1/4 lime over mixture. Add salt to taste.

It's delicious as a snack or side item or even over a salad or in tacos.

[Edited on January 5, 2011 at 4:42 PM. Reason : Edit]

1/5/2011 4:41:51 PM

^ Throw some jalapeno in there to kick it up a notch. Bam!

1/5/2011 4:44:08 PM

I'm making the bindi masala tonight, dammit. with dal, basmati and a roti.

1/5/2011 4:45:33 PM

OMG!!! CassTheSass....DO WANT!! I will add that and make that.

[Edited on January 5, 2011 at 4:47 PM. Reason : with the jalapenos...of course.]

1/5/2011 4:46:56 PM

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mexican-Bean-Salad/Detail.aspx is similar to that and I love it. I make it a little spicier and tone down the amount of dressing a bit though.

1/5/2011 4:49:34 PM

punchmonk you'll love it. I just eat it as a snack or a side with a meal. It's a great way to get in some veggies with minimal calories.

1/5/2011 5:00:01 PM

a riff off of this.. changed a few things.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Mahi-Mahi-with-Fresh-Cilantro-Chutney-240136

the shitty cut is because the filet was 14oz and i halved it after cooking

then made granny smith latkes...

was originally going to use parsnip, but the parsnips at the market sucked ass

so...

1 white tater (peeled)
1 bigass granny smith apple (peeled cored)
both ran through a coarse cheese grater, then dried and pressed in paper towels...
added a beat egg, some freshly grated horseradish root, salt, pepper, and right before frying mixed in panko bread crumbs.

fried in veggie oil.

nommy.

btw, the fish/"chutney" could be done in 15 min top to bottom. latkes take a little more time, but even with a "nicer" fish (~$10/lb), the entire meal for two people clocked in about $12.

will make again.



[Edited on January 5, 2011 at 9:49 PM. Reason : e]

1/5/2011 9:42:23 PM

I'm also trying out one recipe a week.

Tonight, I made Chicken Picatta. Mmmm!

1/5/2011 10:15:53 PM

Chicken Gumbo - the real deal, not that shit they try to foist off in the soup aisle.

Spices you'll need -

Garlic
Tony Chachere's Seasoning
Filé Powder
Black Pepper, Red Pepper
Bay leaves
Tobasco (optional, if you're a pussy)
2 quarts chicken stock or Knorr Chicken Bouillon (don't use the cheap shit)

2 pounds chicken breast
1 yellow onion
1 package celery
1 cup all-purpose flower
1 cup vegetable oil
1 pound Polish kielbasa
1 can cut okra
1 package rice
Cheap-ass white wine
Olive oil

First...you make a roux. Roux is the end-all, be-all of cajun cooking. If you don't know how to make a roux, it's quite simple, albeit time-consuming.

Mix 1 cup flour, 1 coup vegetable oil in a wide, shallow pan. Turn stove on to low heat. Turn mixture constantly, for a very long time. I mean, a long time. Use a flat untensil, like a wooden spatula, so you can scrape the flour from the pan as you stir. It will start to brown eventually. You can stop once it reaches a solid tan color, but you should go until it turns a deep mahogany / chocolate color, because it will give you the most flavor. Keep in mind that as it browns, it will become easier to burn, which is why its important to keep stirring constantly. Low heat means you don't have to stir as much in the beginning, which lets you do prep work, but it will be forever before it's ready. High heat goes quicker, but you gotta watch it like a hawk. Did I mention that you have to stir? Stir. Once you've achieved that color, you must pour it into another container - one that won't melt when you pour hot oil into it - don't laugh, people do it. Keep stirring until it cools down - keep in mind that it will continue to cook once you remove it from heat, so be careful near the end.

Now, for the recipe proper:

Grease the pan with olive oil, dice your onions, and cook until caramelized. Add to large stock pot with a cup or so of chicken stock, and place on low heat. Repeat with the celery.

Grease the pan with olive oil, cut the chicken into manageable chunks, and cook. Place chicken in stock pot. Now's the time to start adding spice. For gumbo it's really kind of an eyeball thing, but I would start small, just a shake or two of Chachere's - a little goes a long way, and you'll be boiling down later. Go ahead and add 1.5-2 bay leaves to the pot. take the white wine and deglaze the pan, adding it to the stockpot.

Now for the sausage - slice up the sausage, and cook until the edges are blackened - gives it that nice crunch. Add sausage and grease to stockpot, and deglaze again with the white wine.

If you're making the roux concurrently, guess what you should be doing while all this is happening?

Ok, so you've got most of the stuff you need. Add the rest of the stock, add another shake or two of Chachere's, black pepper, and Tobasco (because you're not a pussy, right?), and let simmer for about 20-30 minutes. At this point, your roux should be nearing completion. Once the Roux is finished and cooled, you can add it to the stockpot. It is really important you let it cool first, otherwise you risk fucking it up when the hot oil comes in contact with the water. Let simmer for about 15 minutes, then add the okra. At this point the mixture should still be rather thin, but the okra and roux will act as a thickening agent. Depending on how thick you want your final product, you can add water/stock as you see fit. I prefer mine on the thick side, but there's nothing wrong with having it thinner. It should not be like watery like soup, though.

Let simmer for 2-3 hours. Add spices to taste.

Cook the rice. You figure this one out.

Serve in a bowl, with a heap of rice on top. Sprinkle with Filé - do NOT add the Filé while cooking - it interacts with the okra and makes the gumbo stringy.

Bam. Real chicken gumbo. You're welcome.


P.S. Some people add shrimp or crawfish, or bell peppers to complete the Holy Trinity (celery, onion, bell pepper) If you wanna do that, knock yourself out.

1/5/2011 10:31:02 PM

I may try some gumbo with shrimp and/or chicken. I have only ever made vegetarian, though last time I did eat it with some shrimp mixed in once and that was really good.

Also, see message_topic.aspx?topic=604372 for my gumbo discussion.

1/5/2011 11:21:04 PM

I made chili tonight. I have made it before but my goal in this challenge is cook more dinners and cut eating out to like once a week or every other week.

1/5/2011 11:24:55 PM

So I'm finally going to try making the tebichi tonight. Looking at the recipe it looks like a bitch to prep

1/6/2011 9:11:15 AM

http://www.ciaprochef.com/fbi/books/professionalchef.html

i got this book for christmas and started flipping through it last night

it's fucking rad

in about 10 minutes i learned about 15 things i have been doing all oh so wrong

1/6/2011 9:22:39 AM

I want to make something for dinner but won't get home till about 6:30 and we eat early. So I'm going to try to figure out something I can throw in the crock pot at lunch.

1/6/2011 9:22:40 AM

^ Minestrone?

1/6/2011 9:39:18 AM

I do really like minestrone, but not in the mood for that today. I was going to poke around the crock pot thread and/or some recipe sites and just see what catches my eye.

1/6/2011 9:44:14 AM

For anyone who enjoys soup, I highly recommend this book:



http://www.amazon.com/Bakery-Lane-Soup-Marge-Mitchell/dp/0394733754

It's the go to book in my family for soups. My copy is so often used the binding fell apart There's also an excellent dill bread recipe in there.

1/6/2011 9:45:57 AM