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May 21, 2012

Working on Something New – Saving Money

I’m trying to use more coupons to save money on my grocery shopping.  Here are two tips that I’ve found that work

  1. Never buy anything that’s not on sale (other than staples that you have to have).  I shop at Harris Teeter, so I hardly ever buy anything that’s not on VIC special.
  2. If your coupon is for an item that’s not on sale, hold on to it.  Typically, before they expire, the item will be on VIC special.

Using those two goals, I’ve been able to be at least 50% off from the list price for my groceries.

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November 21, 2011

Crockpot Beef Stew

I found a deal on some beef stew meat at the Teeter so I decided to throw it in the crockpot.  I don’t know if I’ve done this yet, but I’ve got to wax philosophical about the crock pot.  Basically, y’all, if the crock pot is appropriate for cooking what you’re trying to cook (and sometimes if it isn’t), the crock pot is the proverbial shit.  It’s the ultimate lazy or busy person’s cooking tool.  You can turn something on low and cook it for the entire time you’re at work and it’ll be ready for dinner.  For something like beef stew (or any number of other things), the recipe with the crock pot goes something like “dump things in crockpot, turn to low, leave for 8 hours”.  Not to mention, it’s a handy holding device for leftovers that will keep your food in the fridge for days.

Here’s what I put in the crock pot on Saturday

  • beef stew meat (pick your favorite)
  • a red onion, chopped (not too small)
  • russet potato, chopped (ditto)
  • handful of chopped carrots
  • salt/pepper
  • red pepper flakes
  • 2 bouillon cubes – seriously, go buy some of these and keep them in your house
  • 2 cups boiling water

Here’s what it looked like

I cooked it for about 8 hours.  I was really pleased with how it turned out.  The broth that was left over was amazing and had very complex flavors.  I might tone down the red pepper flakes if you’re not a spicy person, but I liked it.  I was pretty generous with the salt and pepper and I think that was appropriate.  I think if I was going to do this again, I might consider some vegetables that would provide color, maybe some peas or something.  But other than that, I was really pleased, and of course, had plenty of leftovers.

The finished product is below.

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July 7, 2011

Bruschetta

I’ve never really been one for appetizers, instead preferring to make my food and eat my food on the spot.  I wasn’t raised in a home where we had appetizers (or come to think of it, bread prior to a meal), and being a single person has amplified that disinterest in appetizers.  When preparing food for one, I often find that it’s very difficult to get eat all of the leftovers before it goes bad, and adding extra food that doesn’t directly connect to the dish seems a little counterintuitive.

Bruschetta is a dish that will make even the most average of cooks look like an epicure.  It feels high end, but it’s incredibly simple to make and relies more on the ingredients to be the star than the cook itself.  Make it for a date and serve with a nice riesling and you’ll get things off to a great start.

You can make your own variations on this dish; some people add a slice of mozarella on top, some people add different vegetables.  This one is my favorite, but feel free to experiment and try something new. Tell us about it in the comments!

Bruschetta

1 French Bread Roll
1 Package of Basil Leaves
1 Clove of Garlic
1 Red Onion
1 Tomato
Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil

Chop the red tomato, red onion, and basil leaves and place into a large mixing bowl.  Crush the garlic clove and add to the mixing bowl.  Add a tablespoon of the balsamic vinegar to the mixture (the amount of balsamic will differ based on how much volume the vegetables take up.  Start with the tablespoon and taste after mixing.  Add more if needed).  Mix and let rest while you make the bed.

Slice the french bread roll into slices than are about a half inch thick.  I liked slicing at an angle as it adds some extra surface area and also provides a unique look to the bread.  Cover a baking pan with the bread, add some olive oil on each slice and place under the broiler.  These cook really fast, so pay attention, it should be done in under 5 minutes.

Take a spoon and place a scoop of the vegetable-balsamic mix on each bread slice.  Serve!

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June 20, 2011

Grilled pizza

I borrowed some ideas from my neighbor @modonmendenhall‘s Grilled Pizza recipes.  However, I didn’t make my own dough, because, well, that sounds like a lot of work.  Anyway, here’s the recipe I was borrowing.

So, you’ll need some pizza dough.  If you want to make your own dough for some reason, you can check out Mod On Mendenhall’s recipe.  If you’re lazy like me, the dough from Harris Teeter works just fine and it’s like 2 dollars for enough for one pizza.  The Chef and I went a little crazy on the toppings and in retrospect, I’m not sure I’d recommend it.  We went with:

  • goat cheese
  • hot banana peppers
  • red onion
  • ham slices
  • tomato
  • pizza dough

Before I go into how to actually do this, let me first go into the mistakes I made.  I was stretching and flattening the dough in my pizza pan and decided that I should cover the pan in olive oil, for some reason aka Mistake 1.  Doing that caused the pizza dough to stick to the pan when I was trying to transfer it to the grill.  Mistake 2 – not regreasing the grill with oil when I tried to flip the pizza, which caused the dough to slightly stick to the grill.  Honestly though, neither of these really detracted from the meal, but they’re just things I’d do different.

So, here’s what you do need to do.  Roll out the pizza and flatten it out and do your best (seriously, just do your best) to make it into a pizza shape.  Part of the endearing part of homemade pizza is that it’s not perfect.  Seriously, check out Cecelia’s photos and she’s a better cook than I’ll ever be.  Oil up the top of the pizza and salt and pepper.  When the grill is ready, put the dough on the grill and let it go for 2-3 mins.  Honestly, I made another mistake here.  It’s better to get this pizza closer to burnt.  The grill flavor is enhanced when it’s a little crispy, so don’t be shy here with getting it over done.  Take the dough off and regrease the grill quickly with some olive oil.  Cook this side for 1-2 minutes (a little less done).

Take the dough off and put your toppings on.  Here, you have two options.  Either use the oven at 450 for 10 minutes or so or put back on the grill and cover until the cheese is melted.  I tried both, and I don’t really think there’s a bad option here.  I might go with the grill though, if I did it again (which I will).

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June 14, 2011

We’re Syndicated! Singular City Post – Bruschetta

Check out out post over on Singular City.  Thanks to Kim from Singular City for hooking this up.


http://singularcity.com/food-wine-and-cooking/805-menu-for-one-bruschetta

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May 13, 2011

Guest Post from @wmsteele – Strawberry Jam

Guest post from @wmsteele.  You can check out his blog at 
http://beardofsteele.com/
.  Think you have some sweet cooking ideas?  Like taking photos of your food?  Are you a gastrosexual? Submit your own stuff to singleguycooking AT gmail.com.  If your stuff is good and you can come up, you’ll be added as an author to the page, with login.

This recipe was super easy and only took about an hour. That may seem like a long time for some jam, but it did yield three jars, which will last me for several months. Also, let me stress the importance of using good strawberries. You can use whatever you can find at the supermarket, but in this case, a trip to a produce stand or local farmer’s market will make something good even better. I used NC strawberries I picked up from “The World’s Largest Strawberry” in Rockingham (I like to think that had something to do with my success).

Ingredients:
- 1 gallon (About 4 quarts) of fresh strawberries (if purchase fresh, then freeze, that’s fine, just make sure they thaw completely.
- 1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice
- 4 cups of sugar
- 1 lemon rind, cut into fourths
- Mason jars, with lids

Place two small plates in the freezer. In a large, heavy bottom pot, mash the strawberries with a potato masher (or something similar) until a desired consistency is reached. Add the lemon juice and about half of the sugar while heating on medium-low. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, increase heat to medium.

At this point, taste for sweetness. I only used about 3 1/4 cups of sugar and mine turned out great, but not too sweet. It’s all a matter of preference. I added the other cup and 1 1/4 cups here.

Add the lemon rids. When the mixture starts to simmer, increase heat until mixture reaches a rolling boil. This is important. Once the mixture reaches a rolling boil, set a timer for 10 minutes. Stir on a regular basis to prevent sticking or burning. After 10 minutes, place a tablespoonful of the mixture on one of the plates and place back in the freezer for a minute or two. Then run your finger through the mixture. If it stays separated, chances are you’re good to go. I wasn’t satisfied though, and boiled mine for another 5-7 minutes to insure perfect jam consistency. Fish out the lemon rinds before pouring into jars.

Make sure your jars are completely dry on the inside, otherwise you may have a mold problem. If you purchase new ones, you don’t need to wash them, because what we are about to do will sterilize them. Carefully fill each jar with the jam mixture, leave about half an inch seal room. Place the lids on tightly, and immediately turn upside down. In another pot, bring enough water to a boil to not quite cover your jars. Remove the pot from heat and place the jars upside down in the water with tongs. Leave there for about 15-20 minutes. Remove the jars and place upside down on a towel to cool. The upside down position and the boiling water will seal the jars just like a canning apparatus would.

Let the jars cool completely to room temperature before you place one in the fridge to chill. Once you do so, the jam will be chilled enough to enjoy in about 2 hours.

*Note: don’t be too quick to increase the heat, or it will burn for sure. Slowly increase the heat periodically until you get to that rolling boil so you can start the timer.

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May 13, 2011

Beef and Cheese Enchiladas

This death is ridiculously simple and delicious.

  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 10 tortillas
  • 1 onion
  • 3 red peppers
  • Jack Cheese
  • Cheddar Cheese

I cooked the chopped onions with some olive oil and then added the 2 pounds of ground beef.  When the beef was almost done, I added the chopped red peppers.  I filled the tortillas with grated Jack cheese and then added the beef mixture and rolled the tortilla up and placed in a pan.  Once I had a layer of these, I added a layer of ground cheddar cheese to the top.  I was able to find some green enchilada sauce and added that to the top of each layer.  Great stuff!

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May 13, 2011

Better Strawberry Ice Cream

Stupid Easy Recipe.  I actually did a strawberry ice cream and it involved boiling and all kinds of things.  I decided I didn’t want to boil anything and didn’t want to put any eggs into the mix.

So, I used

  • quart of half and half
  • quart of heavy cream
  • half of one vanilla bean (had to get this at the fresh market, but I seriously think it would be fine to use vanilla flavoring)
  • one container of farmer’s market strawberries
  • 3/4 cup of sugar

I cut the tops off of the strawberries, and MASHED them; I think this is critical to getting the strawberry taste you’re looking for in ice cream.  I took the vanilla bean, cut it open and scraped out the inside, then I added the sugar.  I poured all of the cream and all of the half and half and then mixed all of this together.

I put it in the ice cream maker I have according to the instructions.  This ice cream was so much better than what I’d made before.

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May 5, 2011

Chicken Spaghetti with Whole Tomato Sauce

Every once in a while, I get inspired to attempt an experiment.  I had seen on Alton Brown months and months ago that the best tomato sauce came from actually cooking down the tomatoes and I was curious.  So this week, I had bought some whole tomatoes as well as some onions, some garlic, and some spaghetti noodles.  I had some chicken that I had the girlfriend cook up when she was making chicken mole the other night.

I put the garlic, tomatoes, and onions in the pan with some olive oil.

I left them cook down a little bit and then added some red wine and the chicken, chopped up pretty small with a butcher knife.

I put that mix on top of the spaghetti noodles and served.

It turned out pretty well!

A few things I would change:

  1. I had decided this was a cooking wine.  In retrospect, it was probably a “pour down the drain” wine.  I think I put too much and it overpowered everything else
  2. Using grape tomatoes is probably ideal.  They cook through quicker than the bigger ones that I used.
  3. More garlic is probably better

All in all, a solid experiment.

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May 3, 2011

Pig of the Month BBQ Review

I received a fairly surprising email in late March from Lea with Pigofthemonth.com.  I’ll give you the text, just for complete openness….

I’m with Pig of the Month BBQ, www.pigofthemonth.com, and we ship BBQ meats, sauces, & southern favorite side dishes all around the country.  I was thinking since a big chunk of your readership are obviously single guys this might be a great product review for you to do.  We ship everything frozen, with reheating instructions so its an easy dinner to put on the table without sacrificing quality. And what guy doesn’t love BBQ??

Intrigued, not just by the offer (this was a new one), but by the name (as was the Fedex lady when I picked up my order, I decided I wanted to give this a shot.  Pig of the Month sent me a package of ribs, a plastic container of pulled pork, some baked beans, corn pudding and a couple rolls.

The product arrived in good shape, and everything was quickly transferred to the refrigerator and freezer (meat in the freezer and sides in the refrigerator).  I wasn’t sure exactly when I planned on taking this down, but I was pleased to note inside the package that “meat was flash frozen to ensure freshness.  As long as meat is cool to the touch when you get it, they are good to eat, freeze, or refrigerate”.  I was please to see this note because FedEx made me pick up the package at their facility since my hectic schedule did not allow me to be at home and I was a little worried that the dry ice wasn’t still in the package.  It made it home safely though!

I cooked the BBQ in the microwave, per the instructions and because I was feeling lazy.  I don’t know if the Pig of the Month people know that I consider myself a BBQ fanatic when they sent this to me, but I’ll say that this BBQ fanatic was pleasantly surprised,  The meat was tasty and well-cooked (i prefer chopped and this was pulled, but it was good pulled pork), the sauce was delicious and the beans and corn pudding were excellent.  The beans, in particular, were delicious.   The roll was kinda crappy, but I’m not sure how you pull off a roll in this context without it being kind of crappy.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take a photo (this is more of a problem with this blog than you’d think).

The ribs terrified my girlfriend, who chose to eat something else rather than join me in the eating.  I cooked these in the microwave (side note: my microwave keeps shorting out the breaker, which is all kinds of annoying) per the instructions and dug in.  I was really impressed!  I asked the Pig of the Month people to send me something they were proud of, and I think they should be proud of these ribs.  I ate them with the Sweet Potato Fries and a beer and I couldn’t have been happier.  The serving is really for two people so I ate them for lunch the next day.

You can check out the Pig of the Month folks on their website.   Tell them SingleGuyCooking.com sent you and they may even throw you a discount.

A happy rib eater:

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