Gourmet Food on a Budget
Recipes and tips for foods you might want to serve for a holiday celebration, special occasions, or just because you want something a little fancy.
Ginger Man Shrimp and PastaThis shrimp and pasta dish is very easy to make, comes together quickly, makes an excellent choice for a weeknight dinner, and would also make a great dinner for guests. You can use raw shrimp, or cooked shrimp you might find on special at the supermarket.
Recipes in this PostSome many things happened in 2016 that just absolutely floored people. The person who won the popular vote, Hilary Clinton, lost the electoral vote, and much to many people’s chagrin, Donald Trump is our new President-Elect. There were many technological breakthroughs, including the Amazon Echo, an AI which is so useful, it almost becomes part of your family. Many of our favorites in the entertainment industry are no longer with us, including David Bowie, Prince, Carrie Fisher, a list that is too long and sad.
The Nesco makes a great Honey Baked ham, whether you’re just warming one up from their store, or making your own. I hope you’ll try my Nesco Honey Baked Cola ham.
Shrimp And Crab Casserole Bake is a rich casserole that is simple to make, delicious to eat, and doesn’t cost a fortune.
I found this recipe on the back of the Zulka brown sugar bag. The cake looked great on the package, I happened to have apples in the refrigerator, and I wanted to try something new.
The instructions on how to make the cake on the bag make no sense, therefore, I changed it to the traditional method of creaming the butter and then creaming the butter and sugar together. Okay, so you don’t know what creaming is? It’s very simple. Put room temperature butter into a large bowl, and then beat it with an electric beater until it is nice and smooth. If you don’t have room temperature butter, you can cut the butter up into small pieces and then cream it. The best way to beat is with a stand mixer, but a hand mixer will do just fine. Don’t try this with a whisk, it’s too difficult.
This is a very moist cake, and may take quite a while to bake. The original instructions said 40-55 minutes, mine was in over 80 minutes, your mileage may vary.
Cream Cheese Cranberry Stuffed Celery is a healthy and easy appetizer to make. It’s great as an after-school snack or something to do with all that leftover celery. A little sweet, a little savory, it’s a perfect appetizer for the holiday season.
It rained today, and it’s a bit chilly, the night before Halloween. Social media is talking about killer clowns coming out in my city, so I’m double-locking the doors, just to be on the safe side. It’s a perfect night for apple pie.
Someone gave me a can of apple pie filling and a package of frozen puff pastry. When I received the gift, I put both away, thinking I would use them for other things. But, today, I realized I could put them together and make a wonderful pie. There is no need for a pie pan, just a sheet pan, and some parchment paper to keep the pastry from sticking. Of course, you could use other fillings, cherry or blueberry would be great.
Recipes in this PostI have been a fan of Chinese Chicken Salad since the 1980’s when I first had it. Everyone once in a while, I have all the ingredients to make it. This afternoon, Spane and I went and had a very filling lunch at Everest Burgers, so we didn’t want a heavy or big dinner. I asked him if salad would be good, and he said yes. Then I went to my pantry and saw that I had Mandarin oranges, I knew what to make.
This salad has everything but the chicken, and if you happen to have cooked chicken, you are more than welcome to add it to this salad. Make sure you have a sharp knife because you will be chopping the greens and the onion into small pieces.
You could add other fruit to this salad as well, like lychee nuts, or even cherries. I had unsweetened coconut chips which had just enough sweetness, sweetened coconut would be too powerful, so I don’t recommend it. Please choose whichever Asian salad dressing you like, we like Girard’s Asian Dressing.
Last minute New Years recipes to help you bring in the year in a stress free delicious manner.
This is something that I really love, and when I don’t have leftover turkey, I have been known to go to the store and get the frozen one – you know which one I mean. But, this dish is really best fresh, made from the leftover turkey at your feast.
I have found other recipes that called for peas, no sherry, white wine, etc. Well, it’s just not the same thing! This is the Turkey Tetrazzini you have been looking for, that you remember, that you crave, the one with celery, mushrooms and sherry cream sauce. You can make a lot of this, put it into individual serving trays and freeze it for some night when you don’t want to cook, but you want something comforting.