Foodies, Angry Birds and Norman Rockwell

skoral    Food Love    

A tired man once said, “There is no greater joy than to come home.”

The greeting of family, reunited after a day’s work around the dinner table to reconnect and enjoy close company, a vision from a Norman Rockwell painting perhaps, a reality for a precious few in this era of mobile living, ultra high speed internet, and Google. For me, it was the smell of a real home cooked meal simmering in delicious anticipation of my arrival, the scent of flavorful and robust spices– sage, oregano, thyme and other subtle smells hanging delectably throughout the kitchen.

A Calvin and Hobbes reference here would have been extremely funny, but there was no big orange tiger bowling me over as I opened the door. The intensely flavorful aromas of herbs and caramelized goodness, however, had much the same effect on this tired father and husband in a most warming and pleasing way.

She looks up amidst steam and mouth watering vapors at my tired presence and waves me to the table. “Dinner’s ready.” The children, pausing momentarily from mischief and mayhem come running for hugs and kisses as I set my bag down on the floor.

The living room is being used as an epic and climatic battleground between bird and pig as the boys lob Angry Birds at green pigs on the couch. There are four “dead” birds (or the soon to be re-thrown ‘remains’ of) laying upside down on the floor. Two victorious pigs sit on the couch, having vanquished the aerial assault, which leads me to believe that they’ll be eating just as good as us tonight (Perhaps egg salad sandwiches?)

Oh, what yummy goodness are we to indulge in tonight?

It started with caramelized onions and garlic to create intense flavors I am so much in love with. Next to go in is chicken and spices. She places it on top of the bed and allows it to simmer and gain flavor while I am on the long drive home from work. It simmers in spaghetti sauce until I walk through the door. Spinach and provolone cheese are placed on top of this spectacular homage to the food gods.

A wife demonstrates her love through food, bird holocaust in the living room, and future cook watching mommy… If only Norman Rockwell could see this!

Lunch for Less than $1 that feeds a family of 5

skoral    Food Love     asian food, cheap dinners, Ramen

In my quest for finding cheap, but good eats for my family, I created the ultimate Cheap Lunch today!

Ramen has always been a staple food group for our youth and bachlors. Often purchased for $0.25 per pack or less, it provides filling sustenance that lasts for a few hours.

In many cases, this diva of frugality is often joined by that oh, so quintessential “redemption in a bottle” known also as beer.

Today, however, I created this bowl of cheap goodness for Ji, the kids and I by doing the following:

Three packs of Ramen noodles- $0.15 each
Frozen mixed veggies
Green onion $0.10
Carrots and white onion

In a pot, pan or wok (whatever you have to cook in), boil six cups of water. Add 2 tsb of Soy sauce as it comes to a boil.

Next throw in the frozen veggies, onion and carrot slices along with the noodles.

Let boil for one minute and turn off heat. You’ll want to let it stand, covered for roughly three minutes more to cook well.

Serve and eat right away.

I estimate that this meal cost under a dollar given that I was reusing a lot of the foods that I previously bought and still had available. Not bad for a buck!

A Flash in the Pan for less than a Hamilton

skoral    Food Love     cheap dinners, recipes

Smoked Sausage Stir Fry

For our next installment of “Cheap Eats in under 30 minutes that make Rachel Ray Envious” we have tonight’s dinner:

Smoked Sausage Stirfry (on a bed of rice)
Meal serves 5 – 6 depending on how hungry the family is.

The goal for this dish is to be tasty, yet filling for less than two #1′s at McDonalds.

To start things off on our culinary adventure, I used a 12 inch skillet.

Start by coating  the pan with a light film of oil and warm under low heat.

Using 7 Kroger’s brand smoked sausage (they come in a pack of 16 for $4.89), slice them into 1/8 to quarter inch sections. Put them in the pan with e tablespoons of soy sauce. Turn the heat up to almost full.

I next used a bag of frozen bell peppers and three slices of onion and one clove of garlic ($2.80 estimated cost) and put them in the pan as well.

While it was cooking, I made the sauce.

1 cup of water
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of some Korean starch of some sort… I can’t read Korean.

Mixing this, toss it in the pan and turn often for five minutes or so until the frozen veggies are hot.

Remove from heat and serve right away on a bed of rice ($0.65 est. cost) .

The secret here is that the hungrier people are, the more rice you put into the bowl

Son’s Beef Soup Recipe for under $14 – Feeds 8+

skoral    Food Love     beef soup, recipes

Son's Beef Soup for less than $14

As a follow up to my Facebook post, “Son’s Meals for under $14 that feed 5 adults and 3 kids” I want to describe in more detail how I made the beef soup. Specifically, this is not beef stew, as it is made in 30 minutes, and is a soup. Beef stew is much thicker in consistency.

Prep:
First thing to do is to get your stock on the stove, heating up:
1/2 gallon water
2qts Beef stock
1/4 cup steak sauce
1/4 soy sauce
These all were already available in the house, so I didn’t need to purchase them. If you have to buy them, you could expect to add about $5 to the final price.

Cube the meat in 1/2 inch cubes and marinade.

The secret here is to create the marinade to taste before adding the meat. All amounts are approximate as I did this to my personal liking and taste.
1/4 cup steak sauce
1/4 cup beef stock
1tsb flour
McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning


Cut up the following as such:
3 Carrots
3 Celery stalks
1 Onion
1 small box of Mushrooms (around 20)

Add some herbs to taste in the broth as it comes to boil.

I used a couple pinches of each:
Thyme
Oregano
Cumin

As soon as the water comes to boil, toss in the veggies and turn down to medium high heat.
Put the lid on.
In a pan or wok (I used a wok), add beef cubes AND marinade all together until only pink in the very center. Usually five minutes under high heat.

Put the whole pan full of meaty goodness into your stock pot, reduce to medium heat and let simmer for the last 15 minutes.
I served this in a bowl with a cup of cooked rice.

For my family, this recipie serves all 5 adults and three kids (ages 2, 4 and 6), but the best part I still had half the pot to take to work the next day!

When does a good thing costs too much…

skoral    Food Love     asian food

Udon Noodle Soup

Ever have a moment when the perceived value of an object of your desire suddenly drops below the amount you thought you should have to pay?

I had one of those moments tonight. My wife and I decided to take the kids out to this place called “Kabuki” for dinner in Canton. We’ve eaten there before, but either they raised their prices, or I just never noticed before. We both got Udon noodle soup which, frankly, was about what I was expecting. The kids got a sampler plate that had a little of everything on it.

read more