#12: Quick & Easy Sauteed Shrimp

Dear Tiff,
You won't find me writing about seafood that often, because as much as I love it, my paycheck tends to go away too fast when I buy seafood.  But last week, I was blessed with shrimp by the amazing, wonderful, sometimes outrageous Joey Le, and he bought too much for his shrimp cocktail, so he gave me the rest.  (I think he just didn't want to peel any more).  Well I had taken them out to thaw yesterday before my dinner plans changed, and I realized today I needed to eat them quick!  Not in the mood for anything too laborious, so here's what I did.


1.  Peel your shrimp, devein them if you want to (I'm usually too lazy too since its just an aesthetic thing, you don't have to).
2. Heat some olive oil in a skillet.  throw in some garlic (mine was minced but if yours is whole that's fine), shake in some salt, and stir in your shrimp.
3. cook until the shrimp are pink, turning them over once.  This should only take about 3 minutes.

I made the mistake of adding the garlic at the beginning and then taking too long to peel my shrimp, and as a result, I burned some of the garlic.  You, however, will wait to add the garlic until you're adding your shrimp, and then you won't have burnt-garlic-scented-kitchen.  The shrimp and the pasta I served it over came out great...minus the burned garlic, of course.  Yum. It feels like fancy food.  So if you ever get blessed with shrimp, you'll know what to do with it! :)


Love,
Joy


PS we need to hang out after the holidays.  Its been too long!

201!

Woohoo!  Today, I crossed three milestones with this blog, so I'll be celebrating with some more Martinelli's!  (It will go nicely with some of yesterday's Banana Oat Bread.)


1) I broke 200 pageviews! (Its 201 as I'm writing this)
2) Someone that I've never met left a comment for me today.  That's a first. Its really exciting to see this is reaching more than just my family and my church.
3) that someone I mentioned above?  It was the Crockpot Lady (Stephanie O'Dea) that I love and talk about nearly every time I do a slow cooker recipe.  It was kind of like getting an email from your hero.  Or a celebrity. And knowing that it wasn't spam.  Thank you, Steph!  I know I told you this already, but you totally made my day!


500, here we come!
Now, to figure out what to do for lunch since Plan A turned into today's kitchen fail.

Kitchen Failblog 12/21/2010

Dear Tiffany,
Here's my fail/lesson learned for the day.
I wanted to try out this recipe for Cuban Black Beans and Rice, since I had most of the ingredients on hand and it looks pretty healthy and yummy.  I followed all the directions, except I saved the salt for the end because I know that keeps the beans from softening.  I soaked my beans all day yesterday, and put this in the crockpot last night right before I went to bed.  It should've been cooked in plenty of time for lunch today.  I even remembered to turn the crock pot on, and I woke up to a house smelling of yummy peppers and black beans.  But when I went to eat them....tough and crunchy, not done.  Ick.
     I decided to ask Google a few questions to find the cause of my undercooked beans, and I discovered the answer in several comments on several other recipes and blogs about beans...
     Apparently acidic foods such as the tomatoes I put in my crock pot last night have the same effect as salt.  The beans don't soften :(.  Lesson learned: crock pot beans are very easy, I've done them plenty of times before.  But don't add salt or tomatoes/anything acidic until after the beans have already cooked and softened!
Looks like leftover meatballs for dinner tonight.
-Joy

#11: Banana Oat Bread (oven or slow-cooker)

Banana-Oat Bread

Hi Tiffany,
I had a few bananas left that were getting mushy, and I needed to use them soon, so I made Banana Bread today.  Apparently you can bake in a crock pot!  Who would've known?  I got the idea from the crock pot lady.


Now, why would someone want to bake in a slow cooker, you might ask?  You might want to bake in your slow cooker if:
1) you don't have an oven
2) your oven is broken
3) your oven is already full of other goodies for holiday dinners
4) you don't want to stay near your kitchen while your appliances are at work
5) its too hot to run your oven.
6) you think slow cookers are the bomb.


#1 applies to me.  and #6.
Anyways...I adapted a recipe from cooks.com.  I wanted to try some with orange marmalade, but didn't have orange juice as most of those recipes call for, so I just added a little orange marmalade to this one, along with some chopped walnuts.  


The Basics:
Prep time: About 20 minutes, then 45-50 min. in the oven or about 4 hours in the slow cooker.
Good for leftovers: of course!
servings: about 10 slices
cost: less than $5. I didn't have to go to the store for this recipe.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup softened butter/margarine OR 1/2 cup shortening OR about 6 tablespoons of vegetable oil.  But Butter will taste Better.
3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed, plus extra for sprinkling on top
2 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 to 3 medium very ripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/3 cup old-fashioned oatmeal, uncooked, plus extra for sprinkling
2 tablespoons orange marmalade
1/3 cup chopped (but still chunky) walnuts, almonds, or pecans (optional)


The Process:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees OR get out your slow cooker.  Grease a bread pan.  If you are using the slow cooker method and don't have a bread pan that will fit inside your slow cooker, you can either use a different pan or just grease your slow-cooker and cook directly inside it, but the cook time will be less (about 2 hours)
Mash your bananas- I sliced mine in a bowl before mashing them with a fork until they were super mushy.  Mix all wet ingredients (eggs, bananas, orange marmalade, milk, and butter/shortening/oil.  Gradually stir in the dry ingredients a little bit at a time.  If you have a mixer, use it and it will be better stirred and won't take so long.  I don't have a mixer so I had to use my strong-woman-muscles to mix mine.
Spoon it all into your pan or crock pot.  Sprinkle a little oatmeal and brown sugar on top.  Cook in the oven for 45-50 minutes, or in the crockpot (pan method) for 4 hours on high, or 2 hours if you're cooking directly in the crock (don't open and check until its been at least 2 hours in the crockpot!).  It's done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Carefully remove the pan and let it cool 10-20 minutes before taking the bread out of the pan.


Its not super sweet, but pretty yummy.  It would have tasted better with real butter, but I didn't have any so I used margarine and vegetable oil instead.  I think I like my mom's banana bread even more, so I will try to find out what recipe she's using and hopefully get that up here as well.  


Notes:

With your Crock Pot: According to Stephanie the Crock pot lady, you're supposed to use something to prop the lid up a little to let the steam out when using a pan inside the crock.  She (and I) used a chopstick.  Others have suggested placing a stack of paper towels over the pan before putting the lid on, but I used the chopstick method and mine turned out fine. 

Slow-cooker Apple Cider!

Hi Tiff,
At tonight's dinner, you missed out on homemade hot apple cider!  Wish you could have made it- we had fun making meatballs and shrimp cocktail, and laughed a lot.  My house smells yummy.  
This was really super simple, but Stephanie asked me to post it because after a few sips she decided she wanted to make it herself.  I just filled the slow cooker (my small one is 3.5 quarts, but you could also just use your larger one and only fill with as much as you want to make) with apple juice, and dropped in about a teaspoon of whole cloves and two cinnamon sticks, and let it cook on high for 4 or 5 hours.  You could do it on low all day; I just did it on high because at first I forgot to plug the slow cooker in (uh, oops?), and just keep cooking it until the spices have absorbed to your liking.  If you don't want as much spice flavor, take them out after a couple of hours- I left mine in the whole time and it turned out great.  Too bad the picture didn't turn out as good...

This is a great party drink!  It feels kind of fancy to ladle your cider into a cup like you'd do with punch at a wedding.  Plus you can set your crockpot on its "keep warm" setting and your cider will stay hot as long as you need it to.  When mine finishes cooling, I'm going to pour what's left over back into the bottle and refrigerate it so I can have cider the rest of this week.


Enjoy!  (we must work out a cooking date soon since you missed this one!)
-joy

Edible Christmas Critters

Dear Tiffany,
Does this count as cooking?  I didn't have to heat anything up, but I wanted to share with you the Christmas critters you would've gotten to make/eat if you'd been able to make it tonight.  Although...we ended up too full from dinner to eat them, thanks to Joey's amazing Coctel de Camaron (Mexican Shrimp Cocktail) which I will have to make sometime.  It was soooo good.  


The reindeer (left) is made with a Nutter-Butter cookie, 2 stick pretzels, and mini m &m's, with peanut butter to glue it all together.  You'll have to separate the cookies just a bit (without breaking them as I did!) to put the "antlers" in place, and then fill around with peanut butter to hold them in place.  A small dot of peanut butter will hold the eyes and nose.  I can't take credit for this one; I found it here.

Christmas Critters!

The snowman (right) is made of banana, carrot, pretzel sticks, and mini chocolate chips.  You'll want to slice your banana kind of thick so that it doesn't break when you skewer it.  A little sliver of carrot makes the nose, and chocolate chips stand in as eyes and buttons (the chocolate goes really well with the banana!).  You can also put a triangle slice of apple on top as a hat if you so desire.  I suggest you eat it sooner rather than later, because eventually the banana will start to turn brown (After several hours) and the pretzels will absorb moisture from the banana so they won't be as crunchy.  I found this idea here.


The "Mr Grinch" in the center is a mean one!  The face is a jalapeno pepper (though another green pepper would work also, this was what had enough space to make a face), and the hat is a sweet mini red pepper.  I used Ricotta cheese for the eyes, frown, and the fluff for the santa hat, but any kind of cream cheese (or maybe even ranch dressing?) would work just as well.   I can proudly say that I thought this one up all by myself!  I haven't gotten brave enough to eat him yet though- I like jalapenos but usually in stuff, I've never eaten one straight up before haha.  If you could find baby cucumbers, they would create a not-so-mean version of the Grinch that would be more palatable to those who aren't really into straight-up spicy.  


I wouldn't recommend Mr Grinch for your first graders (though you can show them one!) as the jalapeno would be a bit much (just a bit?  Its probably a bit much for you but its cute and Sam might try one...), but it might be fun to try one of the others in your class sometime.  Beware, the skewers will become lightsabers and blasters and assorted other weapons with the boys!  But otherwise, the snowmen especially are a relatively healthy option for a fun, edible activity.


-Joy

Aunt D'lorah's Tips for Confident Cooks: Part 1

Dear Tiffany,
A few weeks ago I shared this blog with my Aunt D'lorah, who shares my love of cooking on a budget.  I asked for any suggestions or tips she could give you as a new cook, and it resulted in a great procession of emails back and forth, with lots of recipes and suggestions for your kitchen.  You'll like Aunt DD: she's good friends with her freezer and her microwave.  I'll be posting the great material she's sending me as I am able to get through it (I have issues with posting recipes I haven't yet tried, so some of it may take me some time :) ), but I wanted to share with you an email I received from her tonight.  (Thanks, Aunt DD!)


In this email, she talks about 3 tips for a new cook to become a confident cook:
1) One trait that makes you a comfortable, confident cook is seeing an ingredient and knowing the kinds of things it is used in.
2) Knowing the kinds of herbs and spices used in different categories of foods can be very liberating for a new cook.
3) The very best way to purchase herbs & spices is to find a co-op in your area that sells them in bulk; the second best way is in the ethnic grocery stores.


These will help you to gradually let go of your tight grip on the recipe book, because you will know things that you can substitute, what flavors go together, etc.  You can see a recipe for which you don't have all the right ingredients, and you can find something that works from the contents of your kitchen cabinet.  Better yet, you'll eventually feel confident looking through your fridge and figuring out dinner without any recipe at all!  See her email below for the details:

Hi Joy,

As I was in the kitchen making brown sugar I figured I should share it with you and Tiffany....that is, brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses added....then I realized that a person who doesn't feel comfortable with their cooking skills probably doesn't have a jar of molasses in the back of their cupboard....then I realized a whole bunch of other things that add up to being a cook, comfortable with one's skills, able to improvise on a daily basis.

Let's start with the molasses.  Like honey, it doesn't go bad.  The jar I used was one I brought with me to California from Detroit...purchased somewhere around '93-'94.  I keep mine in the fridge, other great cooks just keep it in the back of the cupboard.  Admittedly, after almost 20 years there were some crystals in the jar....easy enough to deal with, with a minute in the microwave.  (If you haven't noticed, the microwave is a recurring theme with me....I love the convenience...they were invented when I was in junior high and I got my first one when I was over 30 and I've never looked back.  Well, before now that is.)

Looking at the molasses I realized that one trait that makes you a comfortable, confident cook is seeing an ingredient and knowing the kinds of things it is used in.  Or at least a few of the standard usages....

Molasses:  Barbecue Sauce, Boston Baked Beans, Gingerbread Cookies, Breads (sweet ones) and of course it's also good on top of oatmeal....

 or,

Dry Mustard: Potato Salad, Deviled Eggs, some salad dressings

Then I started thinking about herbs and spices and how knowing the kinds of herbs and spices used in different categories of foods can be very liberating for a new cook.

Let's start with Italian: Oregano, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Basil, Parsley, always onion and garlic of course, but I use them fresh, Marjoram, Black Pepper

hmmm, did I forget anything?  In any case, you could even take an off-the-shelf, canned marinara sauce, add handfuls of the above herbs and have something truly special.

How about Chinese?  Can you fill in the blanks?  One way to gain confidence is to plug in the name of a Chinese dish into a search engine and read through all of the recipes to find the common herb/spice ingredients...and then take a look at the "unusual" ingredients as well.

You could use the same exercise with Mexican, Middle Eastern, Indian, or any other cuisine you might want to try your hand at....become familiar with the herbs and spices used by that culture and you will have an invaluable insight that will help you to experiment with the ingredients you have on hand.

It's nice to know that Salmon goes with Dill.  When you decide to make a Salmon Pasta Salad, remembering the dill takes a so-so dish to extraordinary.  It's nice to know the herb that gives Italian Sweet Sausage its name is Anise Seed.  It's nice to know what herbs & spices go into a meatloaf, a tabbouleh salad, or pumpkin bread for that matter.

Since it's Christmas time, let's talk about Christmas baking spices: Cinnamon, Allspice, Nutmeg, Cloves, Mace, Ginger (also used in oriental cooking)

Hope this helps,

Your Aunt DD.

p.s. The very best way to purchase herbs & spices is to find a co-op in your area that sells them in bulk....That should be easy in the Bay Area, impossible in Long Beach....so the second best way I've found is in the ethnic grocery stores.  The Mexican groceries sell herbs and spices in cellophane bags versus paying 10x more to get them in little glass jars at the grocery store.

#10: Fall-on-a-Spoon Sweet Potato Soup (slow-cooker)

Dear Tiff,
I haven't posted for awhile, because I was eating through my leftovers to make more fridge space before I cooked anything that would create more leftovers. This is what happens when you live alone (less people to eat the food) and have a tiny fridge.

Anyways. I love sweet potatoes. Growing up, we pretty much only had them in the candied style, during the holidays. But I just adore them, and I've been trying them out in different less-desserty ways because I think they're just amazing, and pretty good for you too, and thus should not be relegated to the holidays. At some point I'll have to put up my sweet potato chili recipe that you've been asking for for awhile now, but today I made a delicious sweet potato soup.

Fall-on-a-Spoon Sweet Potato Soup

This was inspired by/adapted from a great post by Kristen Swensson Sturt (and she, of course, adapted it from another blogger). I like adaptable food. I like Kristen too, and I recommend you read her post because it was a very entertaining and informative read, and I'm likely to follow her for further inspiration. She made me smile :). It was actually Kristen who gave me the phrase "Fall on a Spoon" with which I decided to name this recipe. Credit where credit is due; that phrase perfectly describes this soup. Ahhh. Yum.

The Basics:
Prep time: About 10 minutes, then in the slow cooker all day
Good for leftovers: yes! You can even freeze some for a rainy day when you don't feel like cooking.
servings: At least 8 meal-sized servings. If you are using it as a side-dish, serve smaller portions to stretch it further
cost: less than $5

Ingredients:
2 medium or large sweet potatoes (yams will work fine as well), peeled and cut into small chunks
1 smallish onion or 1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 cup baby carrots or 2-3 small-medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1-2 tablespoons curry powder
a shake of red pepper flakes (optional for some extra zip)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
4 cups (1 quart) chicken broth
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon maple syrup
brown sugar to taste

The Process:
Peel/chop your carrots, sweet potatoes, and onions. (Celery would be good too but I didn't have any). Add all ingredients except for milk, brown sugar, and maple syrup to the slow cooker. If you made your own chicken broth and its still frozen, that's fine! Just thaw it in the microwave a couple minutes while you're chopping so that you can cut the bag off, and dump the whole frozen chunk in your slow cooker. I store my chicken broth in quart size bags so I didn't even have to measure.

Cook on low all day. If you're around, you can stir it every once in awhile, but it won't be the end of the world. I put mine in around 9am this morning, came back after work around 6:30pm and it was great! What have I said before about soups? They are usually safe to just keep on cooking; in fact, they will often taste better the longer they cook!

Puree your mixture in the blender - usually doing 1-2 cups at a time works best. You could also use an immersion blender if you have one (I don't. But I did finally rectify my blender situation so I do have a blender now). Pour it back into the slow cooker; stir in the milk and syrup and let it cook on high for a few more minutes. (This last step isn't necessary, but your milk was likely cold, and you want your soup to be hot, so if you taste it and its lukewarm you should probably let it heat up for a few more minutes.) Test taste and add brown sugar to get it to your preferred level of sweetness. Serve hot with maple syrup drizzled over bowl. (I didn't do this to mine so you won't see it in the picture).

This was delicious, and filling enough to stand alone as a meal, but you could also serve it as a side dish. It has a very nice fall-winter-holiday feel that goes great with all this rain we've been getting.

Notes/Variations:
Not enough sweet potatoes? Today I used one smallish regular potato as well, and it worked out ok but I had to add more brown sugar to get the flavor balance right since regular potatoes...well they aren't sweet. Shocking, huh?
No blender? (Or don't feel like getting it out?) No problem. You can also serve it as a chunky type soup, and it will still taste great. On the chunky version I would nix the milk. Kristen's version had no milk, but did include brown rice. I didn't have brown rice on hand but this sounds really yummy too, I'll have to try it out next time.
Vegetarian version: just substitute veggie broth for the chicken broth.
Don't have all day? You can also do this on the stove; it should take about 40-60 minutes with only light babysitting (I've hopped in the shower while cooking my sweet potatoes and they were fine, but don't leave the house lest you burn it down!).  But you know me: why would I want to babysit my food when I have a crock-pot to do that for me?

-Joy

#9: Stretch your Dollar Chicken Broth (slow cooker, or not)

Dear Tiff,
Chicken broth at Safeway usually costs about $2-$3 for a 1 quart container.  You can use it in all sorts of things: soups, curries, casseroles, roasts, etc.  And I'm all for buying the shortcut (the store version) if you need it and its a good price.  But making your own is incredibly easy, and costs basically nothing: you're using something you would otherwise throw away.  With the bones from last night's roast chicken, I made about 5 quarts of chicken stock- which cost me nothing beyond what I had already paid for the chicken!  That would have cost me between $10 and $15 at the store, depending on the current sale price!  I actually could've made more if I'd used my giant slow cooker- or split this between the two smaller ones- but I didn't feel like getting any more dishes dirty.


Thanks to Trent from The Simple Dollar for reminding me about this great way to stretch your dollar!


Ingredients:
the chicken bones/skin/giblets from your latest chicken adventure OR you can also use the carcass from when you cheated and bought a precooked Safeway chicken :P
some veggies: an onion and a handful of baby carrots, maybe some celery or green onion if you have them on hand
Italian seasoning
salt (optional)
water


I did mine in the crockpot because I had no desire to babysit it on the stove all day...
In fact, if you cooked your chicken in the crock pot, don't even worry about pouring out the juices and stuff.  Be sure to pick all the usable meat off first, and then dump your bones, giblets, and skin, add the veggies, and fill your pot with water.  For a lower-fat version, leave out the skin.  Let it cook on low all day, or overnight.  OR you can do it on the stove for at least 4 hours.  But honestly, who wants to be chained to their kitchen for that long if it can be avoided?


Next, remove the pot from the heating element to let it cool, scoop out the bones, strain the liquid, and store in tupperware or freezer bags.  The crockpot lady suggests running it through the blender rather than straining it- then you don't waste any meat or veggie pieces in there.  But its not essential- I don't have a blender so I just strained it and it turned out fine.


Try to stack your bags flat in the freezer (or lay them on a baking sheet in the freezer) until they are frozen; this will keep them in a more manageable shape for storage.


You can look forward to a bunch of recipes that use chicken broth as I put all this good stuff to use!

#8: One-Dish Wonder Roast Chicken and Baked Potatoes

Dear Tiffany,


Today you have a long day at work, and so does Sam.  How would it feel to come home to a feast?  Now, how would it feel to come home to a feast...without either a) slaving in the kitchen for hours, b)paying for takeout, or c) blowing your budget on an in-home chef?


This one-dish meal is inspired by a few different recipes that Stephanie O'Dhea shares on her blog, and there are variations galore to keep it from ever getting old.  Chicken is pretty cheap, and even though you're paying for the weight of the bones and such, its still a really good deal to buy a whole chicken verses the boneless skinless breasts.  Check out this great post on The Simple Dollar to see what you're really paying for.

The basics:

Prep time: About 10 minutes, then in the slow cooker all day

Good for leftovers: yes!  See below for how to use them.

servings: about 8 depending on the size of your chicken

cost: about $8 total.

Ingredients:

whole chicken (about 4-5lb), thawed

Italian seasoning

1 onion, quartered

4 cloves garlic or about 2-3 tablespoons minced garlic

several medium potatoes

The Process:

there's no wrong way to
eat a baked potato

Wash and dry your potatoes, and wrap them in aluminum foil.  Place them along the bottom of your slow cooker (I used a 6 quart; if you are using one smaller than 5 quarts you may have trouble fitting your potatoes in).

This bird is ready to cook!

Remove the giblets from the cavity of your chicken.  I saved mine in a ziplock in the fridge so I can stretch your dollar a little more and make an easy chicken stock later to use in other recipes.  If you're not fond of eating chicken skin, you can remove it at this point too and save it for your stock.  Shake Italian seasoning all over your chicken and rub it in.  Place your garlic and quartered onion in the cavity, and place in the crock on top of your potatoes, breast-side down.  Propping it up on the potatoes keeps the chicken from stewing in its own juices- that method tastes good too, but won't have as much of a "roast" effect.  It will also be lower in fat because the fats have a place to drip down to.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 5.

To serve, remove the chicken to a platter and cut off the meat you want.  The chicken was literally falling apart, so if you care if it looks pretty (have company coming over?) you might want to place a cheesecloth underneath the chicken before cooking so you can just lift the cheesecloth out rather than taking it out in pieces as I did.  Just leave the drippings in the pot, so you can use them to make your stock later.  Remove your potatoes (I suggest using tongs or a big fork so you don't burn yourself! Cut open your potatoes and top them with whatever suits your fancy: today I have butter, grated cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, green onions, etc.

The upside to doing the potatoes this way is that they don't get cooked with the chicken, so my vegetarian friend won't have a problem eating the potatoes at small group tonight.  For other ways to do potatoes, check out my potato post.

Variations:  This is the basic-basic of seasonings, but there are a lot of ways you can do a roast chicken! Barbecue sauce and lemon pepper are just two that I can think of off the top of my head; as I come up with more I'll be sure to post them here.

This chicken was literally falling off the bone- Joey tried to eat a drumstick in drumstick form and it fell to pieces.  I cooked 8 potatoes; we only had 5 people show up but they managed to make all the leftover potatoes (and most of the chicken!) disappear.  I do have a picture, but its on Amy's camera so it may be awhile before I can post it.


I used the chicken bones, skin, and giblets to make chicken broth, which I'll freeze so I can use it in recipes to come.  See how here.

#7: There's no wrong way to eat a Baked Potato

Dear Tiff,
For tonight's small group I did the One-Dish Wonder Chicken with Baked Potatoes which will be posted separately, but I wanted to share with you some more about baked potatoes.  There are so many variations on these cheap, easy classics.  The great thing about potatoes is that, like other root veggies, they don't go bad for a long time, so its ok to buy in bulk even with just two people in the house.  They're also super cheap.


Baked Potatoes can be done in the oven, the campfire, the barbecue, the slow-cooker, even under the hood of your car (great way to nix the drive-thru on your next longer drive!)  I usually do mine in the slow cooker or the oven- more "conventional" methods!


I learned basic baked potatoes in the crock-pot from Stephanie O'Dhea's amazing crockpot blog.  They are SO EASY.  Just wash (and dry) your potatoes, prick a few times with a fork if you remember, wrap them in foil, and cook them in the crock, on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5-6.


Just a few Variations on a Theme: for the crock-pot or the oven
As I try out more ideas I'll add them to this list :)
1) Slice your potatoes in half before wrapping them, and place an onion slice in between the 2 halves.  Then put it back together, wrap in foil, and cook as usual.  You could also do this with garlic, cheese, butter, etc
2) Instead of wrapping in foil, rub your potatoes over with olive oil and salt (especially kosher salt or sea salt)
3)soak them overnight in saltwater and then place directly in the crockpot (or a pan if you're using your oven) without foil or drying
4) If you're doing chicken or meat in the crockpot, you can either cut your potatoes in chunks or just drop them straight in with the meat.


Great potato toppings: butter, sour cream, cheese (cheddar, Parmesan, swiss and ricotta are all great, and others I'm sure); bacon or ham, green onions, salt, pepper...the sky is the limit!  Please comment below this post if you have any favorites!


Here are 5 ways to use leftover baked potatoes; I haven't tried these but as I do I'll let you know how they go!

New TidBit Added!

Hey Tiff,
To give you an idea of what you could be saving, on some of these recipes I'm adding a "$$ Saved" section under The Basics.  For this section, obviously prices vary, but I'm using premade items from the freezer section at Safeway as my basis.  For some items such as soups I'll list the price for precooked items from the Signature cafe at Safeway, since the idea is to show you what you can save by cooking things yourself.  Obviously there will not always be comparable items, and these amounts are just estimates, but hopefully they can give you a little perspective!

-Joy

#6: Spinach Egg Salad

Dear Tiffany,


About 2 years ago I went through a spinach phase.  I lived right across the street from a great local grocery store, and in my attempts to have some variety in my trying-to-be-healthy-on-a-budget, I experimented with spinach a lot.  Some of these experiments were just plain "ok," edible but nothing to brag about.  But one that I loved was a spinachy-twist on egg salad.  This egg salad is going to give you more vitamins and antioxidants than your basic egg salad, and its got a little zip to it as well.


The Basics:

Once boiling, cook for about 15 minutes.

prep time: about 10-15 minutes not counting waiting for your eggs to boil.  I let mine boil while doing the dishes.
servings: 4
good for leftovers? yes!
cost:less than $5


Ingredients:
6 extra large eggs or 8 large eggs, hard-boiled
2 big handfuls of spinach
about 1/2-1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon mustard
black pepper, cayenne pepper, and salt to taste


The Process:
Hard boil your eggs.  (Once the water comes to a boil, about 15 minutes should do it)  I've heard its good to boil with salt added to the water, which will make the eggs easier to peel later.  When you remove the eggs from the hot water, place them in a bowl of cold water so they will cool to a manageable temperature.


Remove the boiled eggs from the hot water and place them in a bowl of cool water.  While they are cooling, cook your spinach.  You can either bowl it for about 4 minutes in the same water you used for the eggs, or steam it over that water for about 4 minutes.  I boiled mine.  You want it to be pretty wilted and mushy to make it easier to mash into your egg salad.  I was going to take a picture of the consistency it should be, but my camera batteries were dead.  FAIL.  The camera is now charging so I can take a picture of the final product.


When the spinach is done, remove it from the water; you may want to use a strainer.  Dump it into a bowl or tupperware (I used the tupperware since I made mine for tomorrow, yay for less dishes to wash) and let it cool.


Peel your eggs and slice them with an egg slicer in both directions, dumping the eggs into your bowl as they are sliced.  If you don't have an egg slicer, dump them into a separate bowl or onto a plate instead, and use a knife to chop them before adding them to the spinach.

Serve in a sandwich on toasted bread.  Yum!

Use a sharp knife to make several cuts through your spinach and eggs to make sure there are no big chunks.  Then add your mustard and 1/2 cup of mayo, and mix and mash with a fork.  Check the consistency: if its still dry, mix in more mayo until your salad is the consistency you want.  Add several shakes of cayenne pepper, and salt and black pepper to taste.  Mix well, and serve in a sandwich, best on toasted bread.


Notes:
Cayenne Pepper!  I love this stuff!  You will need a LOT of it to give your salad that "zip."  For a Sam-worthy spicy level your salad will be almost orange, but for your less ambitious taste buds, 6 or 7 shakes should be good.


To-Go: If you're packing an egg salad sandwich for lunch, I suggest packing the egg salad in a small container separate from your bread, and putting together your sandwich just before eating, so your sandwich doesn't get soggy.


Cheesy Twist: Substitute low-fat Ricotta cheese for some or all of the mayo if you a) don't like mayo, b) have ricotta in the fridge that you are trying to use, or c) want to try something a little different.  Today I did about half cheese, half mayo and one thing I noticed is that without the mayo flavor you may need to add a little more of the spices, maybe even some chopped dill pickles, to give it the same sharp flavor.  If you like the sweeter cheese flavor, just leave it with the cheese and maybe a little salt and pepper.

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This picture is Martinelli's, not mine!

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#5: Classic Caesar Salad

Dear Tiff,
Caesar salad is one of my favorites.  I often order it when I go out, and I make it every time someone asks me to make a salad.  You can add your meat to it: chicken, turkey, shrimp, even fish, and make it a complete meal, or you can serve it on the side of any meal. It can be an everyday favorite or you can serve in a pretty bowl for a fancier, classier meal.  Here's the way my mom taught me to make it.

The basics:

Prep time: 10 minutes

Good for leftovers: yes

servings: 4 huge, 6-8 medium

cost: $5-$10 depending on which dressing you choose and the cost of produce.

Ingredients:

2 heads of romaine lettuce

2-3 whole carrots, peeled and chopped

cucumber, peeled and sliced

fresh Parmesan

whole pitted olives (about 1/2 can drained)

Caesar dressing (about 2 tbs)

Caesar croutons (about 1 and 1/2 cups)

3-4 tomatoes cut in quarters, or a handful of cherry tomatoes

The Process:
Wash your lettuce and tear into bite sized pieces, throwing out any that are icky.  If you tear instead of using a knife, the lettuce breaks along its own veins and will stay fresh longer.  Add the rest of the veggies, the olives, croutons, Parmesan, and dressing, and toss with clean hands until its thoroughly mixed.  Note: if you don't have a large bowl, tossing your salad can be tricky and messy.  some options: mix in a large Tupperware first, or mix half the ingredients before adding and mixing the rest.  Serve and top with more fresh Parmesan on each serving.


For the Parmesan, I recommend buying the brick of fresh Parmesan from the store and grating it yourself (my parents even got one of those neat little cheese graters like they use at restaurants), or buying a container of FRESH shredded Parmesan, not the dried kind.  The dried stuff is good and will work if that's all you have, but the fresh kind has a much richer flavor.

Someday I hope to make my own Caesar dressing from scratch, but for now, my favorite is Brianna's Homestyle Caesar Dressing which can be found at most grocery stores.

Note for Leftovers:  If you're preparing ahead, or planning to have leftovers, don't add the dressing and croutons until just before serving so that your salad doesn't get soggy.  So if you're planning to save the leftovers, set that portion aside before adding croutons and dressing.

#3: SSS! (Slow-cooker Spaghetti Sauce)

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

Dear Tiffany,

The only rule about spaghetti sauce, according to my favorite crockpot blogger Stephanie O'Dhea (check her out at crockpot365.blogspot.com), is that there are no rules.  What does that mean?  That means that you can pretty much go with whatever canned tomato products you have in your kitchen, or what's on sale.  You can use most kinds of meat, and the veggies are flexible too.  This version is vegetarian, because I had an herbivore at the dinner table that night, but I served it with man-food meatballs for the rest of us.  I made this last week but didn't get around to finishing this post until now :/.

I feel so loved every time I get to use my new toy.  Did I tell you about the new slow cooker Joey, Esther and Jessica gave me?  The lid clips on and seals, so I can get to small group without spilling in the car.  You know me and my slow cookers, I love them, and since I don't have an oven I do everything crockpot style.  I love the feeling of not having to babysit my food all afternoon, and of coming home or getting out of a meeting to find dinner already done and ready to go.

Don't get intimidated by the ingredients list, most of them are canned, and you're just going to dump them in.  Easy-peasy.

The basics:

Prep time: about 10 minutes, then in the slow cooker all day

Good for leftovers: yes!  If you have too much, freeze some.

servings: ...a lot. 20 easily

cost: about $10-$15, depending on the cost of veggies and which are in season.  Hint: check online ahead of time to find out the sales, and find out what is in season.  Produce that is in season is going to be cheaper and taste better, and you don't have to choose the same veggies I did to have a great sauce.

Ingredients:

1 tbs olive oil or olive oil blend

3 tbs minced garlic

1 medium onion, chopped

asparagus, 7-9 spears, cut in 2-3 inch long sections

1 yellow squash, ends cut off, in 1/2 inch thick slices

1 zucchini, ends cut off, in 1/2 inch thick slices

1/4-1/2 cup sliced or chopped mushrooms

14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (Italian style)

14.5 oz can peeled whole tomatoes

29 oz can tomato sauce

29 oz can tomato purree

italian seasoning (usually a blend of oregano, basil, rosemary, etc)

red pepper flakes

the process:

Place all ingredients in 5 or 6 quart slow cooker.  Add several shakes of italian seasoning and red pepper flakes (more red pepper = more spicy).   Stir it together, and cook on low all day, or on high for 4-5 hours.  Since there's no meat in this recipe, how long you cook depends on how "done" you want your veggies but they will be edible either way.  The longer you cook it, the more time the spices will have to be absorbed by the sauce and veggies.

If you want to add meat:

For ground beef or meatballs, cook them separately and add them at the end, so you don't keep all the fat in your food!  For lighter cuts of meat or for ground turkey, you can add it at the beginning, though you may need to scoop a little of the fat off later.  My preference is to cook your meat separately and add it, or even better, dump in your leftover chicken or steak or ground beef or whatever.  This time I made those great meatballs but kept them separate to keep a vegetarian version available.