I've been pretty alone in the house all week. Some of the time I've been pretty depressed about it. But lately I've been getting used to it. I'm probably going to have to get used to having people around again when everyone moves back!
To pass time this week, I've spent some time in the kitchen... something difficult to do when you're in a tight budget situation like I've been.
(wearing my lab coat for cooking, as usual. Dressed up from a job interview)
When I don't have money, I basically live off of things like bread, cheese, milk, eggs, and frozen chicken breasts. To keep stock of these basic things, I only need about $20 per week. I usually also have stuff like flour, sugar, and maybe butter around too, because those are things I stock up on when I buy them.
So here are a few things I've been making, indulging myself, out of stuff that I just have in my kitchen.
#1 - "Omelet Pizza"One recent morning, I think it was yesterday morning, I was craving a more fulfilling breakfast than my recent ones, and decided to make one of my Omelet Pizzas (as I've decided to call them).
There's a small skillet at the XA house (where I live) that is absolutely perfect for making eggs. When frying eggs on it, it is just the right size that 2 eggs come out perfectly round, and effortlessly flip with the pan. It's BEAUTIFUL.
For my "omelet pizza" the other day, I put 4 eggs in a cup with the last bit of the heavy cream I had (heavy cream is an ingredient in one of my favorite dishes, which I'll post some day, and I almost always have some around), and whisked them up. I then seasoned with garlic salt, pepper, cilantro, and onion powder, mixed it up, and poured the homogeneous mixture into the skillet, warmed with oil spray.
Sometimes, when I have the ingredients, I'll put sausage, sauteed mushroom, peppers, or other things in with the egg mixture. but I'm broke, so don't have that stuff. My eggs were plain.
As the egg mixture cooked, I'd lift the solidified base and tilt the pan to let the runny egg on top move to the bottom to get cooked. When there was no more runny on top, I flipped the omelet with the pan.
Once it was fully cooked, I grated some mozarella and sharp cheddar, laid out a few slices of salami (one indulgence I allowed myself last week), some more cheese, and some fresh Parmesan cheese (I put cheddar, mozzarella, and parmesan in/on everything... fresh parmesan was my other indulgence last week). I topped it with pepper, dill weed (thinking of an egg salad recipe I used a while ago), and cilantro. I usually use basil, but I've been trying to learn the other herbs' flavors too... I haven't been cooking for very long. Here's the result!
The inside of the eggs was a really awesome texture which was about the consistency of Tofu! And it tasted yummy too!
#2 - Cherry PieOne night this week, I caught a nasty craving for cherry pie; something seemingly dangerous to have when you're on a ~$20/week budget like I've been. Luckily, however, I happened to have a can of cherry pie filling in my pantry left over from my cheesecaking during the school year! And of course, pie crust is pretty easy to make, having only 2 "real" ingredients: flour and shortening.
The one thing I didn't have was shortening or butter... so I allowed myself another indulgence and bought a small can of Crisco.
I sifted out 2 cups of flour, and 3/4 teaspoon salt into a bowl, then cut 2/3 cups of butter into it till it was crumbly. then I slowly added 6 tablespoons of water till it make a nice easy to manage ball. I then separated the ball into 2, making one larger than the other.
I rolled out the larger ball to fit an 8" pie pan (glass), using wax paper and flour here and there to make the crust not stick to itself. To transfer the crust to the pan, I folded it gently into quarters, lifted, and unfolded it in the pan. It fit perfect!
Next, I opened the can of cherry pie filling (yeah, cheating, a good pie has filling from scratch, but I'm poor and had this just laying around for months!) and poured it into the center.
Finally, I rolled out the smaller crust ball, and cut it into strips to lay across the top. Theoretically, I could have got creative, and cut shapes or something, but I was lazy and didn't really care so much.
In to the oven at 425 for 15 mins, and then 325 for 30 mins I believe was my last step. When it came out, I sprinkled powdered sugar on it, and it looked like this!
and close up, like this!
#3 - Chicken Pot PiePart of my reasoning for indulging myself with the Crisco was so that I could experiment a chicken pot pie, worthy of a couple meals during the week. Also, last night I got some good news on my financial future and celebrated with my weekly $20 shopping spree. I bought my usual... eggs, cheese, milk, no bread because I have a couple loaves from last week still (I buy 3 at a time and freeze 2) and also decided to buy stuff for my chicken pot pie: carrots, frozen chicken breasts, and a can each of cream of chicken and cream of celery. I knew I already had corn and broccoli at home. All together I spent ~$23.
When I got home, I prepared the same pie crust that I used for the cherry pie, using the same procedure. I also cooked a couple chicken breasts in a skillet, and steamed the corn, chopped carrots, and broccoli.
In a small/medium mixing bowl, I emptied the cans of cream of chicken and cream of celery. I then grated a little bit of mozarella in and added some salt and pepper and cilantro (again, I'm experimenting with cilantro to learn its uses). When the chicken was cooked, I cubed it and put the cubes into the soup mix. Likewise, when the veggies were done steaming, I added them, mixed everything up, and poured the mix into the pie crust.
Finally, I rolled out the second smaller ball of crust and instead of cutting it into strips like the cherry pie, I just left it flat, and placed it on top of the bottom crust and filling, doing my best to connect the top piece with the sides of the bottom crust.
Here's where I wasn't really sure what I was doing. I hypothesized that the 425 degree heat from the cherry pie was to make the crust crispy before cooking the center... so I did the same thing with the pot pie: 425 degrees for about 15 mins (I didn't really keep track of time). Then I turned the heat down to 325 and left it in there for a while. I'm not sure how long, but it was probably about 45 mins. I figured that this pie filling was denser than the cherry, so needed more time. But also, everything inside is cooked, theoretically, it really only needs to be heated! But I'm sure there are also some other chemical processes that happen at 300+ degrees, so... what ever...
When I finally pulled it out at 10:00 last night, I was ready for dinner... It was pretty good! It tasted like a pot pie to me!
I didn't really have a recipe for the pot pie, I mostly just theorized it in my head, and made it real... and it turned out pretty yum! I'm sure there are things that could make it better, but on my budget and with my lack of kitchen skills, I didn't have anything else or know what else to do.
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Comments (14)
Looks good!
May I also suggest allrecipes.com and foodnetwork.com for recipes to experiment with?? Sometimes I find recipes that are fairly cheap and fairly fast to put together. OR even better, things that I can put into the crock pot and by the time I get home, dinner is already done. (If you can only afford $20 ish a week for dinner, you might want to ask for the crock pot for a Christmas, Hanukkah, etc holiday gift.)
It actually look bomb. :) and I would try all of it.
Especially the chicken pot pie. I have a secret love for anything in a pie. Especially savory foodiunno, maybe it's the lighting in the pictures but that dough really doesn't look done.
delicious!!
The cherry pie looks good! A LOT of jam...
I was going to say...Cherry pie on a budget? Cherries are expensive! Then I saw the part "cherry pie filling in a can." Great ideas. I noticed someone mentioned that you should obtain a crockpot, I agree. You can make inexpensive cuts of meats taste better, or you can cook legumes of all types (which are inexpensive) and with cool weather coming, perfect for soups and stews.
i love that you state that you haven't been cooking long, yet, you are making a lot of really great things to eat... and learning lessons from what you just made to add to what you are attempting to make.
recipes are great, but sometimes they don't work. good cooking takes gut feeling, too (no pun intended) and you seem to be on the right track for that one!
happy eating!
definitely gonna try to make an omelet pizza soon!
http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/ is an amazing food blog for those on a budget.
@live_for_love@xanga - exactly what I was thinking...
But everything else looks good :)
I want to try the chicken pot pie.
Great ideas!
I want to try that omelet pizza!
I like these because they are made by a man, and it's with a limited budget, which is cool.
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