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For dessert: Pudding Pudding has five ingredients and takes 15 minutes. Milk, sugar, cornstarch, salt, vanilla. If you want other flavours, have dark chocolate or peppermint extract or almond extract or butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips or whatever the gently caress on hand. 3c milk (I used a mix of whole and 2% because there were only 1.5 cups of whole left) 1/2 c sugar 1/4 c cornstarch 1/8 tsp salt (or a couple grinds because gently caress measuring salt) 1 tsp vanilla (or whatever looks good because gently caress measuring vanilla) Set up a makeshift double broiler. I used a pan and a stainless steel bowl that fit on top of it. Get an inch or two of water heating. It should be at a gentle simmer when you put the bowl on top of it. Whisk together sugar, cornstarsh, and salt. Pour in milk whisking the whole time. Try not to spill the goddamn pudding while putting it on top of the pan of now-hopefully-simmering water. I stir neurotically, but it's really not that big of a deal. Stir it a bit with your whisk until it thickens. When you dip a spoon in, and it doesn't all immediately slide off, you're good. I cooked for another five minutes after this point, 'cause I like my pudding THICK. This whole process should take < 15 minutes from mixing dry ingredients to thickening. Start stirring in flavourings if you're using things that need to melt. I crunched up 6oz of 68% dark chocolate baking chips and mixed those pieces in, stirring constantly until it was all one color. Take it off the heat and add whatever extract you want. I added some vanilla extract to my chocolate pudding, because it gives it more depth of flavor. I'm sure you could do chocolate peppermint or chocolate orange or vanilla almond or even possibly use a touch of liqueur to flavor it. Experiment. It's your drat pudding. Stick that bitch in the fridge and ignore it. At a half-hour, it will be starting to set and still nice and warm and your fiancee will eat half of it. Overnight it will thicken into the most rich, delicious, thick, gloopy amazing pudding you ever had. If you want to avoid pudding skin, smooth some plastic wrap right on top of the pudding to keep air away. That's a lot of words for 15 minutes of work and some waiting, but it really doesn't take long. In the name of all that is good and holy, home made pudding is so much better than box, but I don't need to tell that to this thread. It's not even all that bad for you made from real ingredients. I still remember when I learned pudding could be made from scratch. I was in college. Don't be me, kids. Learn to make real pudding now.
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Jan 6, 2012 04:30
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 01:04 |
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Another idea for cheap, good food is to make your own sauces. A roux is fat and flour cooked together. Add some liquid slowly, then season. You can use a ton of different liquids for different flavors. Milk, cream, any kind of stock, water (not going to be very tasty), hell just about anything. You can melt in cheese or mix in tomato paste or some hot sauce or whatever. Sauces are cheap and easy and infinitely flexible for adding more flavor to a dish.Hawkgirl posted:I freaking adore Sprouts, I don't think I've ever left that place paying more than $20 for the week, even when I'm buying the aforementioned obscure ingredients. 99 Ranch Market is also 30 freakin' miles away from me though, and the local Asian market does not stock rabbit. I really want to try rabbit again. They're opening up a Sprouts within walking distance of me, but I live in Mountain View right next door to Los Altos Hills. You don't buy a house in Los Altos Hills. You buy an estate. So I am happy that one is opening, but I am not figuring on it being reasonably priced.
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Jun 13, 2012 06:36
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Mizufusion posted:Whereabouts in Mountain View? I know there's one in Sunnyvale that's a pretty short drive down El Camino, but I've never been there. Right now I do a lot of my shopping at Fresh & Easy, because the Rengstorff location is in walking distance. I'm also pretty close to a Mi Pueblo, which I've been meaning to check out. I get fliers in the mail all the time and some of the produce at these places is ridiculously cheap. Spouts.com posted:
I live at California and Rengstorff, just west of Central Expwy, and I mostly shop at Safeway and Trader Joe's. I'm going to start going further afield soon to ethnic markets and more interesting stores, but it is so goddamn WASPy this close to Los Altos and end of year is so crazy for a teacher, that I've just done the easy thing since moving.
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Jun 13, 2012 19:33
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Mizufusion posted:Oh, nice. I'm on the other side of Central, a couple blocks from where it intersects with Rengstorff. The grocery stores I mentioned in my previous post are pretty close to you, then. The Mi Pueblo is at Central and Rengstorff, and the Fresh & Easy is further up Rengstorff, by Middlefield. I don't know about you, but I'd consider both of them within walking distance, unless you're planning to stock up on a million things. THAT Mi Pueblo? I thought that was just a taqueria. I've walked past it on my way to Hobee's. Will def check it out. I get my bike back from the shop next week, so basically everything is within biking distance around here. I'll keep you updated if I find anything particularly amazing/egregious. And now, time to start prepping for supper for my Wedding Planning party tonight. Menu: Tri-tip, roasted veggies, roasted corn on cob, and chocolate pudding that is currently cooling in the fridge. I asked his parents to make a salad, because they were getting very anxious about not contributing something.
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Jun 13, 2012 22:33
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Mizufusion posted:Yep, that Mi Pueblo. If you want a taqueria nearby, go to La Babma. It's right next to Fresh & Easy and it's hella good. Sometimes I have lunch there before shopping so I don't feel compelled to buy a million things. They also have a location downtown so you can fill up before hitting all the bars, but that's for a different thread, I think. I'm plumb full up on food right now, but I will do some exploring in the next week or so. Also, I hope you had the coffee cake at Hobee's. Going there and not having coffee cake is like going to Disneyland but not riding any rides.
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Jun 14, 2012 07:34
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big rig nig posted:What are some good recipes that incorporate chicken breasts? I bought one of the frozen 3 lb bags and the suggested baking on tinfoil is too boring even for me. 1) Return them and get something else. 2) If you want to keep them, my favorite method for plain breasts is to thaw in the fridge, then rinse off and pat dry, stick in a ziplock baggie or in a pan or something, thinly coat with olive oil and whatever spices you want, let it hang out while you preheat the oven to 350. Bake until internal temperature is 165. I actually get pretty moist, flavorful, tasty chicken breast this way, but I stopped buying them in favor of more interesting (cheaper/tastier) meat. 3) Slice it up, pan cook it, cover in delicious sauce. Buy the meat and season/shape it yourself. Way tastier, way cheaper, and only has the additives that YOU put in it. Also usable for many other delicious dishes.
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Jun 14, 2012 22:50
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big rig nig posted:Uh, do you have any alternatives to recommend for the frozen breasts then? They seemed like a really good deal, and I like white meat/not being pressured to cook it right away. I just gave you two different ways to cook them: bake on foil but with olive oil and spices to give it a tasty flavor and slice up, cook in pan, cover with sauce. Curries, mole, tomato sauce and have over pasta, a cream sauce and have over pasta, roasted with a bunch of vegetables. Harminoff's frying suggestion is also good. There are a million things you can do with them. Yup, you can freeze ground meat. You can even shape it into burgers and freeze those so you have your own fresh, tasty, seasoned to your liking frozen burger patties. Do you want specific recipes and directions, or are these general suggestions enough to get you started?
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Jun 14, 2012 23:07
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big rig nig posted:Thanks for the ideas everybody. Also, what's the best way to store frozen meat to keep it fresh? Ziplock bags? Mea culpa. I thought "alternatives for" meant recipes rather than "alternatives to". Anyway, boneless/skinless thighs are an option for frozen. Alternately buy fresh chicken of any sort (quarters, thighs either bone in or Bonless/Skinless, legs, safeway has packages of b/s breasts AND thighs sometimes), portion it out, and stick it in your freezer. Again, it's much cheaper and tastier, doesn't have as many additives as the packaged frozen chicken breasts, and you have more control over how it's seasoned and prepared. Check the circulars of the store to see what's on sale and go for whatever's cheap or the best deal (like tritip for $4 a pound instead of $7, which is still cheaper than b/s chicken breast). Get cheap meat and then google it for ideas. If you can't find ideas, go to the general questions thread and ask. Folks there are super helpful for people who want to learn how to make more kinds of awesome food. I store frozen meat in ziplock bags, but I fret over how wasteful it is. Still trying to find a better method that is less wasteful but also sanitary.
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Jun 15, 2012 00:21
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GrAviTy84 posted:Wrap in waxed paper (like the kind that comes in the boxes at restaurant supply stores, the kinds you use at a donut cabinet), and freeze in a cambro. The wax paper will keep the individuals from sticking to each other, and the cambro will keep them separate and organized from all the other food. I'm assuming that will work with other freezer-safe containers. I have tupperware coming out my ears and have zero space to store any more. Now to start searching for donut papers.
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Jun 15, 2012 00:29
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GrAviTy84 posted:Just saw a commercial for these, sounds like you might be interested: Mizufusion posted:There's a Smart & Final on El Camino, off of Grant... Still have a metric buttload of frozen berries taking up space in my freezer, though. Should probably do something about that. I'll keep an eye out and go check S&F. My mr needs to take his car in to have the brakes checked tomorrow, so I may drag him around on a journey of shopping for random things while that is happening.
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Jun 15, 2012 06:29
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Ghost of Reagan Past posted:You don't need to thaw pierogi. You can also make jiaozi, eggrolls, and samosas. Freeze them, and cook them straight from the freezer. Is there a way to make wrappers that aren't absurdly thick besides a pasta roller? I can't get dough thin with my rolling pin AT ALL. What's the secret?
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Jul 7, 2012 23:19
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 01:04 |
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captkirk posted:You can freeze the dough or just reduce the recipe some to reflect the amount of bread you will eat in a 14 day period. Mine got all mouldy in the fridge within a week. I only got two loaves out of a full batch. I was very sad and haven't made it since. Maybe I'll try again soon, but it was very disheartening.
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Jul 11, 2012 07:48
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