Name something you can cook from scratch,what is the basic process, and ingredients?

Bread: flour, water, yeast, sugar; proof the yeast in warm water with a pinch of sugar, add to flour and water, knead for a long time, let it sit for a longer time, punch it down (deflate the bread) and shape it, let it sit for a few minutes before cooking, voila you have some delicious cheap bread. Different types of flour, different toppings or fillings (sesame or poppy seeds on top, fruit inside the dough), different portion sizes (buns versus a long french loaf) all change the final product, and it’s very fun (and tasty) to experiment with making your own unique bread.

Deviled eggs – Boil eggs until hard, cool them, peel the shells off, cut eggs in half, remove yolks and grind up with mayo and a touch of mustard, stuff the yolk mixture back in the yolk hole, sprinkle with paprika for color.

Eat eggs.

potato pancakes,
one whole onion,half a bell pepper or any pepper really,salt and pepper to taste,oil,roughly two pounds of potatoes, 1-french onion soup mix dry packet,3 large eggs or 4 medium eggs,1 half cup flour,half a cup water
cut and boil potato’s, as they will be mashed, saute onions and peppers,add salt and pepper to taste,let until done, mash potato’s with onions and peppers,transfer to lage mixing bowl,mix onion soup mix packet with water and bring to quick boil, add to potato’s add flour and eggs, mix well and make a batter, pour oil in pan bring to heat, spoon batter into pan cook for 3–3 and a half minutes each side, serve with your choice of condiment, i prefer dijon or spicy brown mustard.

20 minute hamburger helper
ground beef skillet browned and fat drained off
1 can of tomato sauce
2 handfuls of pasta
1 can of green beans, juice and all
1 can of corn nibblets, juice and all
enough extra water to just cover the ingredients
cover with a lid and simmer
shredded cheese on top if you’ve got it is yummy

There’s also my world-famous Refrigerator Casserole:
Put all the bits of food left in the fridge on the counter. Discard anything obviously rotten or bad. Divide it into veggies and meat, if you need more of either look in your freezer or cupboard (canned fish, frozen peas or corn, etc). Precook (to al dente doneness, you don’t want to overcook or they’ll turn into mush in the casserole) any ingredients that need to be heated thoroughly (meats, tough vegetables like asparagus or squash or potatoes) or where precooking will add more flavour (onions and mushrooms). Chop anything big into bite sized pieces. Cook up a few cups of pasta to al dente (any type that’s not a long noodle), then put the pasta into your baking dish (a casserole dish is best here, but I’ve also used a double deep glass pie plate with great results). Open a can or two of condensed soup (we often use one tomato, one cream of mushroom) and dump it on top of the pasta. Throw on your cooked meats and vegetables, and give the entire thing a good hard stirring. To finish it off, get something crispy (chips are great, Doritos are 100% awesome, breadcrumbs are a bit bland but work in a pinch), crumble it up and and put it on top, then cover the top with a layer of cheese. Bake in the oven until it smells so good you can’t resist it, 20–30 mins. It’s always unique, tasty, a great way to clean out the fridge, and almost guaranteed you’ll have leftovers for lunch the next day.

Easy Chili: Brown one pound of hambuger meat, drain fat, mix in chili seasoning, one can petite diced tomatoes, one or two cans tomato sauce(depending on how thick or thin you like your chili), 2 cans chili beans, 2 cans kidney beans. Simmer for 30–45 minutes and its ready to eat.

Liquid Dark Chocolate: Pour 3 cups of milk into a pot and start boiling..in the meantime, mix 2 cups of sugar with 6 table spoons of 100% cocoa powder…once the milk is hot enough, pour some of it into the mix and make sure there are no bumps…then transfer it all into the pot with the rest of milk and continue to heat, while mixing with a spoon..add 2 teaspoonfuls of butter…once it boils, turn off gas and let it cool

coffee

“Bomb-Ass” Chicken & Rice:

- Saute 1 chopped onion in olive oil, until translucent.
– Add 1 cup brown rice to pan and let cook for a minute or two.
– Add a can of chicken broth
– Add a 16 oz can of peeled tomatoes and all the juice. Use your hand to squish and break up the tomatoes.
– Add 2 bay leaves, curry powder, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste.
– Add 4 chicken breasts, cut into 1–2” cubes
– Cover and lower heat, allow to simmer. Stir occasionally, add more broth or water if necessary.
– When rice is almost done, add a can of olives (liquid drained) and frozen corn.
– Finish cooking until rice is ready.

Homemade noodles. Take a mound of flour (maybe 3 cups) and make a pool in the middle to hold 2 eggs. Whisk the eggs in the the pool and when they’re mixed, gradually incorporate the surrounding flour. This will make a dough that you can roll out flat and then run through a noodle cutter. You can also add pesto or basil or sun dried tomato to the dough to make different flavors and colors. Look up an exact recipe- I don’t remember the exact flour to egg ratio.

vodka sauce.

1/2 lb bacon cut into 1/2–1 inch pieces
1 med-large onion, finely diced.
2 tbsp minced garlic
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 pt heavy cream
1/4–1 cup of vodka, depending on your preference
peas, chicken, shrimp optional.

cook the bacon pieces until they’re just barely not raw… but nowhere near crispy. Throw in the onions and sweat them a bit. Toss in the garlic and give it another few minutes. Dump in the tomatoes and let reduce for about 5–10 minutes. pour in your vodka and simmer for 15 minutes or so. Add heavy cream and give it another 5–10 minutes, depending on how thick you want the sauce. Add anything else you want, already cooked, or frozen peas… and give it about 2 minutes to let whatever it is heat through. Toss with penne.

I always get raves, RAVES… on this sauce.

Edit: You can salt and pepper where you like, add any herbs you like, or parm/reg. I prefer mine as is, with the exception of a little salt and pepper to taste.

@poofandmook : MMM! I’m going to try that. Over my homemade noodles, even…

There’s a new book called Ratio that’s all about this Q.

2 cans French cut green beans (drained)
1 can artichoke hearts (drained)
3/4 cup olive oil
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 cup shredded parmesean
2 cloves of garlic (pressed or chopped)

Mix ingredients. Spread in baking dish. Cover & bake at 350 for 25–30 min.

@Kevbo: That sounds heavenly.

oh and another favorite: hamburger gravy. Just brown a pound or two of ground beef, sprinkle and stir in a good amount of flour and cook for about 5 minutes, coating all the hamburger in the flour. Salt and pepper generously, more pepper than salt though. Stir in milk gradually until you get a nice, chunky gravy. Serve over mashed potatoes.

Change it to bulk ground breakfast sausage and serve over biscuits for breakfast. In both cases, I like it very chunky with little “soupy” factor to the gravy. I don’t like it to drip, in other words. Nice and chunky and sticky :)

Actually, one girl who tried it at a party described it as “erotic.” No lie.

I might cut the olive oil in half and replace it with a robust Italian dressing though. Oh NOW it sounds erotic. LOL

Shrimp and Orzo With Feta

Cook 1 1/2 cups orzo pasta as directed on the box, then drain. Meanwhile, melt a tablespoon of butter in a large skillet. Add 1 1/4 pound large shrimp (deveined and peeled). Season to taste with salt and pepper, cook for 3–5 minutes or until pink. Add 3 medium chopped tomatoes, 2–3 cloves minced garlic, and 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil. Cook and stir for 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Toss shrimp with orzo and 4 ounces of crumbled feta cheese.

I’d say this serves 6 generously, so it’s great for dinner guests. The feta mostly melts when you stir it into the hot pasta and shrimp, then combines with the juices from the shrimp and tomatoes to make a lovely, creamy sauce. If you chop everything and peel the shrimp ahead of time, throwing this together only takes about 20 minutes,and that’s including the time you spend waiting for the water to boil for the orzo. Yum yum yum!

Spaghetti Sauce: I go out to the garden and pick some tomatoes and pull up some scallions(onions). Then I go to my kitchen window garden and cut off some oregano and some lemon grass. I put a little bit of olive oil in the bottom of a pan, and add all the above ingredients, and cook at very low heat for about 30 minutes.

Grilled cheese sandwich. Butter both sides of the bread and don’t use a spatula. Get your fingers in there. Cooking needs to be a little dangerous.

Get day old challah bread, a stick of butter, a pint of milk, some cinnamon sticks, a pint of maple syrup and a dozen eggs from the co-op.

In a bowl, crack 4 eggs. add 1/4 cup of milk (or slightly less half and half), a 1/4 tsp. of salt and whisk until beaten thoroughly. Slice challah bread into 1 inch thick slices. Melt 1 tbsp. of butter in a frying pan over medium high heat. Dip the bread into the egg mixture, each side should sit for a few seconds. Carefully place the dipped bread into the frying pan and brown each side for 1:30 to 2 minutes. After placing them on a plate, take a grater and grate fresh cinnamon onto the toast. spread a bit more butter if so desired and pour maple syrup on top to taste. Serve with bacon, turkey sausage or Morningstar patties.

Jambalaya…that Louisiana treat: I used to make it in 50-gallon batches at a restaurant in New Orleans, so I don’t remember the exact proportions. This is one of those you can experiment with.

1st ingredient: Sausage. Traditionally, it’s made with Andouille sausage, but I’ve used smoked sausage and or hot links. It changes the flavor quite a bit, but this is a recipe that lends itself to improvisation.
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I usually slice the sausage link into about 1/4 inch slices, and brown the slices in the bottom of a large pot.. Then add the cajun trinity: Onon, Bell pepper, and celery, and enough oil to saute; cook until onions are translucent. Then add some stewed tomatoes; then add uncooked rice to the mix. I find that if you saute uncooked rice before adding the water, it is more flavorful. After the rice is fully mixed with the rest of the ingredients, add enough water to cook the rice (usually 2 parts water to one part rice). Once the water is absorbed, that’s when you add the chicken, shrimp, or other main meat that you want to flavor the jambalaya.