Gourmet Food on a Budget — Ever Forward, Ever Flavorful
Ham Steaks with Russian Red-Eye Gravy and rice pilaf invites diners to embark on a culinary adventure where every bite tells a story of flavor harmony. In this exquisite pairing, elegance meets comfort, creating a memorable dining experience that lingers in the senses long after the last morsel is savored.
Chicken Cordon Bleu is one of my favorite dishes. Usually, it is flattened chicken breast rolled around ham with cheese, breaded, and fried. An American dish, it has its roots in the Schnitzel from Switzerland and Chicken Kiev from Russia. Cordon Bleu means Blue Ribbon, not to be confused with the famous cooking school of the same name.
Beer Can Chicken has a wonderful flavor but does not lend itself to small pieces of chicken.
I try to not deep fry things too often, and I don’t like breading that much. I had chicken tenders, black forest ham, Swiss cheese, and a can of beer. I thought I could combine them and make Gussied Up Beer Can Chicken. Perfect!
My small 4-quart Nesco Roaster oven was the best appliance to use for this, just simply fill the well with some of the beer, and let it cook. Beer Can Chicken all gussied up. The 4-quart is no longer available, but the 6-quart will be just fine.
This is a really simple dish to make. If you don’t have a Nesco, then you can use a baking dish, a cake rack, some foil, and your oven. It might not turn out quite the same, but it will still be good.
This recipe calls for Lavender mustard – if you can get it, wonderful, if not, use Dijon.
It had been so hot lately in Los Angeles, and even though the day promised to be only in the high 70’s, I still did not want to heat up the house. It was also Friday, which in our house, means no meat. We had some leftover grilled sweet peppers that I wanted to use, and some remnants of other vegetables. My friend, Amber, had planted a basil plant I had brought home into two larger containers, and they had plenty of leaves to go with my vegetables. So, what kind of good, cool salad could I make and still have the protein that our bodies require? Lentils were the perfect answer!
As I was checking out at my favorite store, the Adams Supper Market in Glendale, I mentioned my plan to the cashier and said I would be back later to get some nice crusty bread to go with it if I didn’t have any at home. As it turned out, I did have bread at home, but by the time I discovered I didn’t have any butter, Adams Supper Market was already closed. No problem, Olive Toast to the rescue!
It’s a recipe for a cool, protein-rich salad on a hot day.
Oh, the joy of Almond Joy Coconut Cream pie! If you’ve always wanted Mounds to have dark chocolate, then here’s your dream come true. A simple, no-bake pie your family will love.
Grilled Asian Cornish hens are just wonderful on a summer day with a light vegetable and pasta salad. You can use an outdoor grill or a stovetop grill. Enjoy this with white wine or your favorite beer.
| One Corn Tortilla | One Flour Tortilla | |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 40 | 110 |
| Total Fat(g) | 0.5 | 2.5 |
| Carbs (g) | 8 | 18 |
| Fiber (g) | 1 | 1 |
| Sugar (g) | 1 | 1 |
| Protein (g) | 1 | 3 |
| Sodium (g) | 5 | 320 |
I love to find uncommon cuts of meat on sale. I found a flank steak that I was planning on stuffing, and put it in the refrigerator, hoping that it would get cool enough to warrant heating the kitchen to cook it.
Alas, that did not happen, and to prevent that meat from getting freezer burn, I decided to make tacos out of it.
I won’t use taco seasoning packets, they are full of fillers, salt and preservatives. Why pay for that stuff when you can make it at home – without all the nasty fillers and preservatives.
The great debate about tortillas. When Hernán Cortés invaded the Aztecs, they were using corn tortillas. Wheat tortillas are a relatively recent import. Their popularity was driven by the low cost of inferior grades of wheat flour and by their ability to keep and ship well. Wheat tortillas don’t have much flavor, and are probably popular because their appeal to bland American taste buds. But, those taste buds need to change, as corn is a lot healthier than wheat, as you can see in the comparison table.
Baked Julia ApplesI used to love watching Julia Child on The French Chef when it was on Saturday afternoons on my local PBS station. I think Julia Child kind of reminded me of my mother, they were both tall, loved to talk, and they were never afraid to take anything head-on. My mother was a good cook, taught me the basics, and let me prepare meals when I was 10. Sadly, my mother died when I was 15 but left me in the capable hands of my Aunt Georgia, Grandmother, and Julia Child.
Today would have been Julia Child’s 100th birthday, and I thought I should share a recipe which is inspired by Baked Alaska Apples that I watched Julia make on the show. You can find out more about Julia Child.
Have you ever heard of a DDOS attack – it’s a Distributed Denial Of Service. Basically, thousands of computer send simultaneous requests to a single server, and there are so many requests that the server is unable to respond, and has to shut down until the attack stops.
It’s as if you’re in a room with a hundred people, and they are all asking you different questions at the same time. I don’t know about you, but sometimes, I feel like I’m under at DDOS attack when Spane starts asking me “Mom, why does this? Mom, why does that? Mom! Mom! Mom!”. You know how it goes if you have kids.
When I was a little girl living in Germany, my mother used to get frozen crab cakes. I loved them. A few years ago, I found a package of Zatarain’s crab cake mix, and I made it with imitation crab. Yup, you heard me right – imitation crab.
Here’s my thoughts on imitation crab. What is imitation crab? Imitation crab is made from surimi, a concoction of fish, usually pollock, a binder and flavoring. I never think of imitation crab as crab, I think of it as Krab.
I went to the market yesterday, and stood there thinking about what to make for Friday Food. Krab was on sale, and there was a nice package of small bay shrimp on sale as well. Since I was going to be making this for Amber’s family as well as mine, I got both, and thought I would mix them together.
The Good Plate, Wings has been published in e-book form. I’m very excited. This is just a collection of four recipes, just to see how it goes. If you would like to view it, or download it, please head on over to Smashwords, and download The Good Plate – Wings for yourself. If you have …