Cheap Eaten

[worth1]

Used two packs of cheap ramen noodles and tossed the seasoning packs.
5 cups of water and about 5 teaspoons of Knorr shrimp bullion.
Teaspoon of Italian seasoning blend.
Hot smoked Spanish paprika.
Big squirt of Sriracha sauce.
Dash of garlic powder.
Some frozen precooked shrimp tossed in to just heat up in the hot water off the burner.
Turned out pretty good and nothing really fancy.

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[Tormahto]

Used two packs of cheap ramen noodles and tossed the seasoning packs.
5 cups of water and about 5 teaspoons of Knorr shrimp bullion.
Teaspoon of Italian seasoning blend.
Hot smoked Spanish paprika.
Big squirt of Sriracha sauce.
Dash of garlic powder.
Some frozen precooked shrimp tossed in to just heat up in the hot water off the burner.
Turned out pretty good and nothing really fancy.
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What, no using shrimp flavor ramen packets?

Wise move.

[pepperhead212]

I had another bowl of that mushroom barley soup for dinner, plus I made a snack of 1,2,3,4,5 chicken gizzards - something I made with some gizzards I got at the Asian market today. The original recipe was 1½ lb chopped up spareribs, with 1 tb rice wine, 2 tb dark soy, 3 tb white vinegar, 4 tb sugar, and 5 tb water, giving it the name. I usually add 1½ tsp 5 spice powder, which tastes great. I have used this method for boneless pork, and boneless chicken thighs, which works great. This time I put the trimmed gizzards in the Instant Pot, with the ingredients, mixed it up, and pressure cooked it 90 min. It got very tender in that time. Then I set it on sauté/high, and cooked the liquid down, until just a glaze remains. The gizzards had a really good flavor, with a strong, irony flavor, with that 5 spice glaze.
1,2,3,4,5 chicken gizzards, pressure cooked 90 minutes, then the liquid cooked down 7 or 8 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[worth1]

I'm going with the small amount of chili I had leftover from the Frito pie.
And will expose how I do some of the things behind the scenes I do.
First the pasta water.
For some time now depending on what I'm making i add Knorr bullion powder of some sort for the salt in the water.
This adds flavor and colors the pasta.
This time it was tomato bullion powder.

I didn't want tomato skins in the food so I cut the skin and took off the stem portion of said tomatoes.
Plunged them in the hot pasta water before I put the pasta in.
Not only does this save water it also saves energy and time.

Then the tomatoes are plunged into ice water to stop the cooking.
Once cold they are skinned and cut up.
The ice water then goes to the cats water bowl not wasted down the drain.

Another habanero is chopped.
More red onion and sour cream plus ranch dressing.
After the cork screw pasta is cooked it is drained and put in the leftover chili along with the sour cream mixture and gently folded in.
Lastly the raw cut up tomatoes are folded in.

Then to be even more (conservative) I used the same glass bowl I used to mix the sour cream in to eat out of instead of messing up another bowl.

For just a little bit of money this concoction will feed a few hungry little stomachs.
And no it's not screaming hot from the habanero.

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[PlainJane]

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Veggies from the garden and humus. Quick lunch before next meeting.

[worth1]

I'm going with a clear the place out giant soup today.
Lots of old potatoes carrots and various other odds and ends.
Like two bunches of cilantro and some poblano peppers.
Small amounts of frozen corn and such.
The brisket I cooked and so on.
Even some older spices maybe.
Small portion of mayocoba beans cooking separately.
Since the brisket was already cooked it'll go on last.

[worth1]

Other select ingredients are....
Dill seeds.
Cumin.
San Antonio chili powder.
Hot smoked Spanish paprika.
Fennel seeds.
Coriander seeds crushed.
Well over a pint of mashed potatoes with corn I had leftover.
Caraway seeds.
More tomato bullion powder for the needed salt.
More Yukon gold potatoes skin on for texture.
The first batch was old russets that cooked way down.
A good amount of sour cream that needed using up.
Oddly a small amount of roasted pecans so I could toss the bag.
I tasted this concoction and it's really good.
You could leave out the meat of which I haven't put in yet.

[worth1]

Annnnd I just got hot pepper powder in my left eye.
Please stand by for technical difficulties.

[pepperhead212]

I hope it was just that hot Spanish paprika, and not something like powdered habanero. But then, if had been something really bad, you wouldn't have been able to post here very soon after.

[bower]

This is the reason I don't cook more with hot peppers. The flavor is superb but the risk of pepper handling is... no fun.
But @worth1 is so into it, I know this doesn't happen often. Hope you are all clear in 5 minutes, buddy!

[worth1]

All was well after a week but.
Last but not least I added green peas a can of tomato puree a splash of marsala and kitchen bouquet.
The brisket cubes were melt in your mouth tender.

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[worth1]

That was supposed to say wee bit not after a week but.
Its what I get for measuring by the handful.
After my eye started burning I looked at my hand and it was bright red.
It really doesn't upset me like it does some people.

[worth1]

After the soup has melded in the refrigerator the spicy heat has intensified considerably.
Not to much but it's getting close.

[worth1]

Grilled cheese sandwich.
Bread toasted in ghee.
Haven't had one in a coons age.

[karstopography]

Grilled cheese sandwich.
Bread toasted in ghee.
Haven't had one in a coons age.

We eat grilled cheese sandwiches about once a week for lunch. I do them in the skillet and start the process with putting two pats of butter into the heating skillet and then lay down the slice of sourdough bread onto the melting butter pats. I build the sandwich in the skillet, which amounts to putting a slice or two of cheddar onto the now warming bread in the skillet and putting a another slice of bread on top of the cheese. Sometimes, I have a block of cheddar to slice. When it’s time to flip, I put down two more pats of butter. I’ll flip the sandwich until it is dark brown on the bread and cheese is good and melted. Too much butter, the bread gets soggy with it and that’s not good. Too little butter, the bread doesn’t really toast right and the texture is wrong and the sandwich lacks that rich butter flavor.

Wife likes to do grilled cheese sandwiches in the oven, but that takes too long. I like the flavor of skillet made grilled cheese sandwiches better anyway.

Same with bacon, carefully fried in the skillet bacon trumps in flavor and texture the best oven baked bacon, but bacon done in the oven is easier to get uniformly cooked.

I haven’t had any american processed cheese slices in the house for years.

[worth1]

@karstopography
You would serve yourself well by cooking with ghee or clarified butter and the bread won't get soggy.

I had another one tonight become I was in conversation with someone on the phone of which I ended with talking to a parrot named Pinball.
Added was 4 slices of pepperoni on the side and 4 fried sweet peppers with flaked finishing salt..

[worth1]

Been on a grilled cheese sandwich thing all week.
This one is from monster cheese, sweet peppers, onion powder, cumin hot smoked Spanish paprika, chopped cilantro and my last 4 slices of pepperoni.
Bread toasted in the last of my homemade ghee.
My late wife said I made the best grilled cheese sandwiches ever.

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[Uncle_Feist]

Really cheap breakfast.
Marked down bacon and peppers, salvage store sourdough bread, Mexican hot sauce and cranberry juice. The apple jelly is homemade with salvage store cane sugar, and the eggs are from my hens.

[MarkAndre]

Gluten free fusilli parboiled, added frozen cooked meatballs, mostly drained, further boiled to doneness in pasta sauce. Poured over baby spinach while still hot enough to cause wilting. Eaten with store brand Parmesan. A one pot dish.

[worth1]

I dreamed up the most amazing idea for supper.
It involves my charro beans and cornmeal.
Waiting for beans to get warm.
First the cornmeal pancakes.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 tablespoons sugar.
Big pinch of my cumin coriander black pepper cinnamon spice blend.
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal.
1/4 cup flour.
1 egg.
2 teaspoons baking powder.
Water so as to make it stiff but flowable.
Oil hot skillet and cook.
Makes about 3 small pancakes.

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