A cross-post from my other blog. If you don't get one as a holiday gift, you can certainly afford to buy one yourself. Or buy both. Or give one to a bewildered friend (who will be grateful later). While you're at it, check out the e-cookbook my son and I produced for Miss Em. You can get it on Amazon too!
Far be it from me to promote shopping for something you don't need. I don't need a slow cooker or rice cooker. But many need one or the other or both. In fact, a colleague recently asked me to pick her up one at the thrift store. I told her that thrift stores sell those appliances for basically the same price they cost new.
So, no, I am not going to link to the famous on-line retailer. Instead, you will have to go to Target. There they have a 3 quart slow cooker for $10 and a 6 cup rice cooker for the same. Note that the slow cooker is smallish (mine is 4 or 5 quarts) and the rice cooker is a medium size. Still, you can cook at least half a pound of dried beans in that slow cooker. And make enough rice for a few meals.
For $20, you can get both! That leaves enough money to buy some provisions, for which your recipient--starving student or regular person--would, no doubt, be grateful.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
What the Dinner Cost: Thai Feast
The lesson here is that home cooking is inexpensive! We bought most of the items at sale prices, but even at regular prices--double or triple for some things--this would still be a reasonably priced meal.
We were told to expect between 7 and 20 and the actual number was about at the half-way point. We ended up using less food than we brought, because the kitchen we used was not well-equipped. We only had two medium skillets and one medium saucepan. Everyone had at least one large helping, but some of the hungry people ended up being sated by the brownies and ice cream we had for dessert.
Rice with Thai broth (Big Lots!): $1.50
Shrimp ($2.50/lb), coconut milk ($1.00), curry paste ($1.50): $5.00
Veggies roasted at home, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, onion,reduced for quick sale:$2.00
Braised greens (garden) topped with tofu: $2.50
Peanut sauce: maybe $2.00??
Salad blend bought at Sam's Club: $3.00
Ice Cream: $4.00
Brownies baked at home: $2.00
WHAT? Under $25.00????
Add a few cheap bottles of wine . . .
We were told to expect between 7 and 20 and the actual number was about at the half-way point. We ended up using less food than we brought, because the kitchen we used was not well-equipped. We only had two medium skillets and one medium saucepan. Everyone had at least one large helping, but some of the hungry people ended up being sated by the brownies and ice cream we had for dessert.
Rice with Thai broth (Big Lots!): $1.50
Shrimp ($2.50/lb), coconut milk ($1.00), curry paste ($1.50): $5.00
Veggies roasted at home, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, onion,reduced for quick sale:$2.00
Braised greens (garden) topped with tofu: $2.50
Peanut sauce: maybe $2.00??
Salad blend bought at Sam's Club: $3.00
Ice Cream: $4.00
Brownies baked at home: $2.00
WHAT? Under $25.00????
Add a few cheap bottles of wine . . .
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Dinner Party for the College Cook, with Thai Peanut Sauce
We are going to visit Miss Em soon and she requested that we make dinner for a bunch of her friends. In case you don't know, parents are supposed to provide food for students, either by taking the group out to a restaurant or making dinner. Miss Em has gone to some very nice meals, both in restaurants and in apartments. One set of parents made a multi-course Indian dinner, including samosas, a time-consuming labor of love, I am sure.
We were going to bring a vat of Miss Em's fave shrimp and corn soup, but then Miss Em suggested Thai shrimp curry. OK! That's even easier than the soup. What about the rest of the menu? It has to be expandable in case more people come than anticipated. So far, there have been 8 rsvps, but Miss Em said the number may go up to 15 or even 20.
We are going to bring as much pre-cooked as possible, since we will be spending the day doing other things. Plus, there's little more anxiety-provoking than cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen.
Thai shrimp curry
Rice
Tofu and veggies with peanut sauce
Brownies and ice cream
Because I have a lot of ingredients stockpiled--and Louisiana shrimp is on sale for under $3.00 a lb this week!--we can do the food portion for under $35.00. I'll do a breakdown in another post.
For the nonce, here is the recipe for peanut sauce. For a cup. It keeps a long time.
4 TBS peanut butter
4 TBS vegetable oil (NOT olive)
4 TBS soy sauce
4 TBS sugar
4 TBS vinegar
1 tsp Asian sesame oil (if you don't have this, leave it out. That's what a Thai grandma would do)
a little hot pepper, if you so desire
Mix together.
Yes, this is what they put on chicken in Thai restaurants. Now you can do it at home.
We were going to bring a vat of Miss Em's fave shrimp and corn soup, but then Miss Em suggested Thai shrimp curry. OK! That's even easier than the soup. What about the rest of the menu? It has to be expandable in case more people come than anticipated. So far, there have been 8 rsvps, but Miss Em said the number may go up to 15 or even 20.
We are going to bring as much pre-cooked as possible, since we will be spending the day doing other things. Plus, there's little more anxiety-provoking than cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen.
Thai shrimp curry
Rice
Tofu and veggies with peanut sauce
Brownies and ice cream
Because I have a lot of ingredients stockpiled--and Louisiana shrimp is on sale for under $3.00 a lb this week!--we can do the food portion for under $35.00. I'll do a breakdown in another post.
For the nonce, here is the recipe for peanut sauce. For a cup. It keeps a long time.
4 TBS peanut butter
4 TBS vegetable oil (NOT olive)
4 TBS soy sauce
4 TBS sugar
4 TBS vinegar
1 tsp Asian sesame oil (if you don't have this, leave it out. That's what a Thai grandma would do)
a little hot pepper, if you so desire
Mix together.
Yes, this is what they put on chicken in Thai restaurants. Now you can do it at home.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Condiments for the College Cook: Thai
If you want the easy 20 ingredient/14 meals no-stove system put together by Frugal Son and me, get a hold of our ebook--upper left for the pdf. or on Amazon for your Kindle: College Cooking Crash Course.
Now I want to go beyond the restrictions. First, I want to show the value in amassing a pantry of condiments. Second, I want to use up a bunch of stuff in my fridge.
For Thai food: good to have curry paste (comes in a small jar in green, red, yellow), fish sauce (can sub soy sauce), coconut milk.
With two of the above, you can jazz up your plain-Jane rice and whatever that you make in your beloved rice cooker. I say two because I ran out of curry paste.
In cooking, I follow the mantra of Roger Ebert, whose blog on his rice cooker was and is an inspiration: the pot knows. So proportions are of littler consequence than one would think.
Into the pot I put 1 large coffee mug of rice.
Then I added some stock (you could use water): 1 1/2 coffee mugs. I did need to add more.
Then I added some chopped eggplant that was moldering in the fridge.
Then I added some chopped scallions (you could use onion, or even garlic).
Then I added a few sliced carrots also moldering in the fridge.
Then I added some hot pepper growing in the garden.
Then I turned it on.
When the rice seemed almost done, I added more water and half a can of coconut milk I had left from something else.
Then I added a few handfuls of spinach.
When it seemed almost done, I stirred in some shrimp I wanted to use up
Then I put some in a bowl and added some fish sauce. Then I squirted some rooster sauce on. Then I made Mr FS take a picture.
And it was good.
Now I want to go beyond the restrictions. First, I want to show the value in amassing a pantry of condiments. Second, I want to use up a bunch of stuff in my fridge.
For Thai food: good to have curry paste (comes in a small jar in green, red, yellow), fish sauce (can sub soy sauce), coconut milk.
With two of the above, you can jazz up your plain-Jane rice and whatever that you make in your beloved rice cooker. I say two because I ran out of curry paste.
In cooking, I follow the mantra of Roger Ebert, whose blog on his rice cooker was and is an inspiration: the pot knows. So proportions are of littler consequence than one would think.
Into the pot I put 1 large coffee mug of rice.
Then I added some stock (you could use water): 1 1/2 coffee mugs. I did need to add more.
Then I added some chopped eggplant that was moldering in the fridge.
Then I added some chopped scallions (you could use onion, or even garlic).
Then I added a few sliced carrots also moldering in the fridge.
Then I added some hot pepper growing in the garden.
Then I turned it on.
When the rice seemed almost done, I added more water and half a can of coconut milk I had left from something else.
Then I added a few handfuls of spinach.
When it seemed almost done, I stirred in some shrimp I wanted to use up
Then I put some in a bowl and added some fish sauce. Then I squirted some rooster sauce on. Then I made Mr FS take a picture.
And it was good.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Asian Sesame Noodles: Pot Luck Offering for the College Cook
Miss Em has made (i.e. opened three cans) black bean salad/dip for two pot lucks. The dish has been well-received, but she is feeling a bit guilty because it's so easy. Recently, I received an SOS asking for another idea.
Asian sesame noodles: this is one of those dishes that people can't believe you can make yourself. There are zillions of recipes for this dish on the internet and in cookbooks. They are all good. They call for a little of this and a little of that, as each recipe writer tries to come up with the BEST version of the dish.
Not so for the College Cook. For the College Cook, we seek to discover just how minimal you can make the dish and still have it be good for a pot luck. After all, the College Cook may have no stove, no car, no time. Plus, the College Cook does not want to amass all sorts of ingredients that will languish unused in limited storage space.
So, here is the minimal version. I wanted Miss Em to use her sesame paste (tahini) that she acquired to make hummus a while ago.
NOODLES: I used half of a 12 oz bag of angel hair. I cooked the pasta in the rice cooker, in minimal water. Then I forgot about it. OOPS! All the water was sucked up, so no draining, which is good, but a lot stuck to the bottom. It is now soaking. So, if you can do this on the stove, it is a lot easier. Use between 6 oz and a pound of pasta. Any shape is ok.
PASTE: I used about 6 TBS of tahini. This turns to glue in the jar, so I dug some out and heated with Asian flavorings in the microwave. Just a little! You want it to blend with the noodles.
ASIAN FLAVORINGS: Miss Em doesn't have soy sauce. She does have some hoisin sauce I packed in her back-to-school box. I used about 2 TBS and mixed with tahini.
VINEGAR: I used about 1 TBS.
Mix the Asian sauce with the noodles and you have a decent basic pasta salad--good warm, room temperature, or cold.
SUBSTITUTIONS: If you don't have TAHINI, you can use PEANUT BUTTER (or both). If you don't have HOISIN, use SOY SAUCE (or both).
How to jazz it up: add chopped scallion. Add frozen peas. Add shredded cooked chicken. Scallions alone make it pot luck worthy; the other two additions are purely optional.
I like to sprinkle with hot pepper flakes.
Asian sesame noodles: this is one of those dishes that people can't believe you can make yourself. There are zillions of recipes for this dish on the internet and in cookbooks. They are all good. They call for a little of this and a little of that, as each recipe writer tries to come up with the BEST version of the dish.
Not so for the College Cook. For the College Cook, we seek to discover just how minimal you can make the dish and still have it be good for a pot luck. After all, the College Cook may have no stove, no car, no time. Plus, the College Cook does not want to amass all sorts of ingredients that will languish unused in limited storage space.
So, here is the minimal version. I wanted Miss Em to use her sesame paste (tahini) that she acquired to make hummus a while ago.
NOODLES: I used half of a 12 oz bag of angel hair. I cooked the pasta in the rice cooker, in minimal water. Then I forgot about it. OOPS! All the water was sucked up, so no draining, which is good, but a lot stuck to the bottom. It is now soaking. So, if you can do this on the stove, it is a lot easier. Use between 6 oz and a pound of pasta. Any shape is ok.
PASTE: I used about 6 TBS of tahini. This turns to glue in the jar, so I dug some out and heated with Asian flavorings in the microwave. Just a little! You want it to blend with the noodles.
ASIAN FLAVORINGS: Miss Em doesn't have soy sauce. She does have some hoisin sauce I packed in her back-to-school box. I used about 2 TBS and mixed with tahini.
VINEGAR: I used about 1 TBS.
Mix the Asian sauce with the noodles and you have a decent basic pasta salad--good warm, room temperature, or cold.
SUBSTITUTIONS: If you don't have TAHINI, you can use PEANUT BUTTER (or both). If you don't have HOISIN, use SOY SAUCE (or both).
How to jazz it up: add chopped scallion. Add frozen peas. Add shredded cooked chicken. Scallions alone make it pot luck worthy; the other two additions are purely optional.
I like to sprinkle with hot pepper flakes.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Vegetables for the College Cook: Cabbage
Here is the email I sent my College Cook earlier today. I wanted to let her know what was on special this week at Publix.
grapes 1.69
pears .99
cucumbers .50 (good for gazpacho!)
bag coleslaw 1.29
bag baby carrots 1.29
Starches are easy for the College Cook: you can make your rice and pasta in the rice cooker; you can bake potatoes, white or sweet, in the microwave.
Vegetables are a pain, however. They require messy chopping, for one thing. That is why Frugal Son and I recommended frozen in our little ebook: onions, bell peppers, spinach can all be found for about a dollar a bag. All you have to do is throw them into whatever you are making.
Still, one craves variety. In the Publix list is a hidden gem: cole slaw mix. You get a pound of shredded cabbage, with a few carrots, for little more than a dollar. NO CHOPPING!
In addition to cole slaw (make the dressing with a little mayo, oil, vinegar, and a bit of sugar), you can throw the cabbage in your rice cooker with some soy sauce, making an Asian dish. If you put it in a flour tortilla, perhaps mashing some tofu in, you can eat a reasonable facsimile of mooshu take-out.
You can cook the cabbage in your rice cooker and top with some kielbasa (which will flavor it). Serve on a starch with mustard.
You can throw it into soup, making your dish healthier.
If you have a stove, you can saute the shredded cabbage, with or without onion, and mix into cooked egg noodles. This is a famous Eastern European dish, Jewish comfort food, which I first had at the home of my high school friend Gloria. Her mother, Eva, was an eccentric of the first degree, who, after her divorce, had fallen right out of the middle-class, at least economically. Eva and Gloria lived in a large falling-down house, where you could write phone messages on the kitchen wall and find unwashed dishes piling up over the weeks. The cabbage and noodle dish was, perhaps, my introduction to the food of the poor, which exists wherever there are poor people.
The thing about the food of the poor is that it is cheap and good. Perfect for the College Cook or anyone, really.
grapes 1.69
pears .99
cucumbers .50 (good for gazpacho!)
bag coleslaw 1.29
bag baby carrots 1.29
Starches are easy for the College Cook: you can make your rice and pasta in the rice cooker; you can bake potatoes, white or sweet, in the microwave.
Vegetables are a pain, however. They require messy chopping, for one thing. That is why Frugal Son and I recommended frozen in our little ebook: onions, bell peppers, spinach can all be found for about a dollar a bag. All you have to do is throw them into whatever you are making.
Still, one craves variety. In the Publix list is a hidden gem: cole slaw mix. You get a pound of shredded cabbage, with a few carrots, for little more than a dollar. NO CHOPPING!
In addition to cole slaw (make the dressing with a little mayo, oil, vinegar, and a bit of sugar), you can throw the cabbage in your rice cooker with some soy sauce, making an Asian dish. If you put it in a flour tortilla, perhaps mashing some tofu in, you can eat a reasonable facsimile of mooshu take-out.
You can cook the cabbage in your rice cooker and top with some kielbasa (which will flavor it). Serve on a starch with mustard.
You can throw it into soup, making your dish healthier.
If you have a stove, you can saute the shredded cabbage, with or without onion, and mix into cooked egg noodles. This is a famous Eastern European dish, Jewish comfort food, which I first had at the home of my high school friend Gloria. Her mother, Eva, was an eccentric of the first degree, who, after her divorce, had fallen right out of the middle-class, at least economically. Eva and Gloria lived in a large falling-down house, where you could write phone messages on the kitchen wall and find unwashed dishes piling up over the weeks. The cabbage and noodle dish was, perhaps, my introduction to the food of the poor, which exists wherever there are poor people.
The thing about the food of the poor is that it is cheap and good. Perfect for the College Cook or anyone, really.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
What to Bring to a Potluck: Beans, Of Course
We just got off the phone with Miss Em. She is going to a potluck dinner. Since she lacks a kitchen, she thought she'd go buy some cookies at Publix. YUK!
I pointed out that she could mix a can of the black beans (drain and rinse them!) I just sent her via Amazon with a can of Rotel tomatoes (don't drain), which I sent with her to school. All she'd need to get would be some chips.And--if that proved too difficult--she could count on their being an overabundance of chips, as there generally are at potlucks.
She was very happy with this idea and pointed out that she could add a can of corn (drain that too). Yes indeed.
Now, what if there are leftovers? You could scramble beans and salsa with eggs and chips making the famous dish migas.
Or egg-free, you could mix chips with the leftover beans and salsa, top with cheese, and heat in the microwave. This is a dorm version of chilaquiles.
Can you think of other easy potluck dishes for the college cook?
I pointed out that she could mix a can of the black beans (drain and rinse them!) I just sent her via Amazon with a can of Rotel tomatoes (don't drain), which I sent with her to school. All she'd need to get would be some chips.And--if that proved too difficult--she could count on their being an overabundance of chips, as there generally are at potlucks.
She was very happy with this idea and pointed out that she could add a can of corn (drain that too). Yes indeed.
Now, what if there are leftovers? You could scramble beans and salsa with eggs and chips making the famous dish migas.
Or egg-free, you could mix chips with the leftover beans and salsa, top with cheese, and heat in the microwave. This is a dorm version of chilaquiles.
Can you think of other easy potluck dishes for the college cook?
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