Oven Baked Fries

This is my favorite recipe of all time.  I love a lot of recipes--a LOT--but I can tell you without hesitation that this is my favorite of them all.  I think I'm just a fry person (haha, get it?).  Not only are these fries crispy and delicious, they are also super easy and relatively good for you.  These are seriously foolproof fries.  I have made them at least four times, each time changing it up a little bit, and not once have they turned out badly.  They are continually fabulous.  And super adaptable!
The trick with these is to make sure to soak them for a full thirty minutes.  This is easy because you can do whatever you want while they are soaking, but it does mean you probably want to start them a full hour before you are going to want to eat.  I adapted this recipe from this blog, which in turn took it from this book, which I am going to buy as soon as it comes back in stock at the local Barnes and Noble.  Because I have several gift cards and don't like actually spending money.
And that's another great thing about this recipe--it is super, super cheap to make!!  You can get five pounds of russet potatoes at the grocery store for under five bucks, and that will make a LOT of fries.  I love potatoes because they give you such a high return in flavor for so little work.  Oven fries, twice-baked, hasselback...no matter what you get a lot for a little.  And they are so adaptable!
Feel free to play with this recipe like I have.  Mix up spices and size.  We really enjoy these with hamburgers or chicken.

Oven Baked Fries (serves 2-3):

• 3 russet potatoes
• 5 tbsp oil (olive, vegetable, etc.)
• salt
• pepper

Wash the potatoes, removing all eyes/dark spots.  Peel if you wish.  Slice them into wedges and soak in hot water for about 30 minutes.  Take a large rimmed baking pan and coat evenly with 4 tbsp oil.  (I tilt the pan back and forth for a while until it's all covered.)  Sprinkle salt and pepper (about 1/2 tsp or so of each, use your judgement) evenly on the pan and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.  Drain the potato wedges and pat dry.  Dry out the bowl they were soaking in and return them to the bowl.  Stir in 1 tbsp oil until the potatoes are evenly coated.  Spread the potatoes on the baking sheet until they are evenly spread.  Cover with foil and place in the oven.  Bake for 5 minutes, then remove the foil.  Bake for another 15-20 minutes, turning the pan halfway through.  Remove sheet from oven and flip over every fry--I find a spatula and tongs works best for this.  Return to the oven for a last 5-10 minutes.  Serve immediately, while they are still hot, with mayonnaise, vinegar or ketchup.  Enjoy!

Flour Tortillas

Though homemade tortillas take certainly more time to put together than buying a package of eight off the shelf, the taste and cost difference makes them absolutely worth attempting.  Though it is not easy to make them perfectly round (M has done a far better job than I have making it work) these homemade tortillas will work for anything you want to make with them--including delicious homemade chips.  The reason I took an interest in learning how to make these is because for a budget conscious household (I have mentioned that we only spend $30 a week on groceries right?) foods like beans, corn and rice are relatively cheap sources of nutrients.  Many Americanized Mexican meals are simple to prepare as well, and so take less time and less money.  And M and I are both big fans of spicy food.  Foods like burritos are also easy to customize--I am a far bigger fan of cheese than M--so everyone is happy.  And, best of all, most elements of the dishes we Americans are accustomed to--burritos, enchiladas, etc.--have elements that are easy to make at home.  Flour tortillas, enchilada sauce, taco seasoning...all of these can be made at home with ingredients we already have, and for much cheaper than buying them in the store.
This recipe was adapted from this one.  I looked at a lot of recipes before deciding which one to try out and ultimately chose this because it uses oil rather than shortening.  (I hate shortening for some reason I have never been able to properly explain or understand.)  I have made it three times so far and though it surprised me by how easy it was the first time, I definitely have been getting better at it the more I do it.

Flour Tortillas (Makes 10):

• 3 cups flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 cup of water

Mix together in a medium sized bowl until a dough is formed.  With your hands, divide the dough into ten like-sized balls.  Roll each ball flat into as round a shape as you can manage with a rolling pin on a heavily floured surface.  I found that it helps to flatten the ball into a circle with your hands before using the pin, and to constantly flip the tortilla over as you go to keep it from getting too sticky.

Heat a pan (M prefers a griddle, I prefer a large frying pan) until very hot.  Carefully place the uncooked tortilla in the pan, and leave until just browned.  Flip over and then remove from the pan.  (Our smoke detector always goes off at this point.)  This has to be done VERY quickly--I find that seven seconds for the first side and then five for the other side is ideal with our stove.  Any longer, and you have a tortilla that is a little blacker than you originally hoped for.

Not all of the tortillas will turn out perfect--in fact in my latest batch one folded over and I did not get to it in time so it split down the middle when i was trying to flip it over--but that is not a problem!  Any messed up or slightly undercooked tortillas are perfect to make chips with, or even enchiladas.  They can still be absolutely delicious just the way that they are.

Enjoy!

Rice in Parmesan Sauce with Broccoli

This recipe has become one of our go-to dishes when there is not much food in the house.  I do the grocery shopping and to make $30 stretch for a week we buy a lot of basics to make many things out of--in this case butter, milk, rice and frozen vegetables.  I love frozen veg because it lasts forever and when it goes on sale it is super cheap.  It also takes less than 15 minutes to make in total so it's easy too.
We always buy brown rice, going through enough that I have to buy a big bag almost every week.  Rice is great because it is one of those things you put on the stove and then just leave for an hour or so, leaving you free to do other things.  Brown rice is super healthy, and (in my humble opinion) far tastier than the white stuff.
The key to this recipe is the white parmesan sauce.  I was always terrified of making white sauce because my mother warned me growing up of how important it is to constantly stir or it will go wrong.  When I finally bit the bullet and tried it for myself, though, I found that it was shockingly simple.  It's not exactly the healthiest addition to any meal, but I make it with skim milk and it works just fine and still tastes creamy.  It's also spectacular because of how flexible it is--you can add just about anything to it to make it perfect for just about any meal.  In this case we added parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
A note: for recipes like this I just eyeball lots of the ingredients, so the amounts here are approximations.  Feel free to play!

Rice in Parmesan Sauce with Broccoli (serves 2 as main dish or 3-4 as a side):


1 cup rice
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups frozen broccoli
1 cup milk
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt
pepper

Put one cup of rice and 2 cups water in a small pot.  Heat on medium-high until you can hear it boiling--about 7 to 10 minutes--and then leave on low heat for about 40-50 minutes more.  Put the frozen broccoli in another pot with just enough water to almost cover it and cook on medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes, or until cooked.  Drain and then chop into smaller pieces.  Set aside.  (It's okay if it gets cool--the parmesan sauce will keep everything nice and hot.)
About 20 minutes before the rice will be done, melt the butter in a small saucepan.  Whisk in the flour and continue whisking until bubbling.  Remove from heat and add milk, mixing thoroughly.  Return to low-medium heat and stir constantly until bubbling.  Let simmer (while stirring!) for 1-3 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.  Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to taste.
Mix rice, parmesan sauce and chopped broccoli together.  Serve while warm.

Glazed Sugar Muffins

I have a weird thing about muffins.  I love them, but I like them simple most of the time.  They have to highlight one ingredient, not three.  My favorite are raspberry muffins with so much fruit that you can barely taste the cake, but in a pinch I will take them stuffed with raspberry jam.
These muffins are not stuffed with anything, but they do highlight a single ingredient just like I love them.  That ingredient is sugar.  These sweet--but not too sweet--muffins are best made just a little bit small so that you don't over do it with them.  A bit of nutmeg brings out the sweetness, and the buttery glaze makes them taste very much like doughnuts.  It elevates them beyond a simple muffin into to something just a little bit more.
I adapted this recipe from two others I found online. Fruit is expensive and on a $30 weekly budget, I can't always spring for bananas or raspberries, so it is always useful to have muffin recipes that use only the simple staples in the cupboard.  I recommend eating these with a strong cup of coffee and a good book.

Adapted Sugar Muffin Recipe (Makes 12 Muffins):

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Mix together in a bowl flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and sugar.  Add egg, milk and vanilla and stir until smooth.  Grease muffin tin and fill with slightly less than 1/4 cup per muffin.  Bake 15-20 minutes (mine took 16) until a toothpick comes out clean.  Leave to cool in muffin tins for five minutes, then on a wire cooling rack for ten minutes before glazing.

Adapted Muffin Glaze:

• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3/4 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp hot water

Mix the ingredients into a small, shallow bowl until smooth.  Dip the muffins into the glaze individually top-first.  Let the glaze dry then dip again.  When the glaze has dried for a second time, enjoy!

The Easiest Cheapest Way to Get A Bunch of Meals From One Source

I want to discuss with this blog the very best, cheapest way to feed a two-person household for about six to eight meals.  Of course, the first thing I must disclose is that M and I don't mind eating the same thing for five or six meals in a row.  Most of the time this is because what we make is so tasty that we enjoy getting to have it continually, but if this is not your cup of tea then I totally understand and just know that this will still feed you for as many meals, just more spread out.  The best thing about these meals, besides the price (which I was and you will be probably pretty impressed with) is that they keep for a while in the fridge and are absolutely freezable at almost every step in the process, so it's a great way to plan ahead for busier weeks.  The way to do this is a way most people have known for a very long time but I wanted to explain how M and I did it because, first of all, I think it will be useful for me to have a place to go back to to reference and second of all, duh, bragging rights.
The secret to all of this, in case you had not guessed it yet, is a soup.  Soup is a great way to make a bunch of food fast and in bulk, and it's also great to eat meal after meal because with each hour it has to steep in itself the flavors become richer and more delicious.  Soup in a crock pot, which is the way I recommend making it, is even better because after you finish chopping and pouring, all you have to do is set it and walk away.  Earlier this week I woke up and chopped up a few carrots, sticks of celery, chunks of chicken and two onions and I was set for the rest of the week's worth of meals.  It was spectacular.
To do this right you start with a whole chicken.  I used this blog as a reference for cooking it, and I highly recommend it for other recipes as well.
Wait until whole chickens go on sale, which they are wont to do for often less than a dollar a pound.  I got about a five pound chicken for under $4, which is the cheapest you'll get pretty much any edible meat.  So that's the first cost: the chicken.

Chicken: $3.80


Scoop out the insides of the chicken (gross, mine didn't come with them already in a nice little bag so that was less than fun) and rinse it inside and out.  Then season it both outside and inside the cavity.  I used garlic salt, pepper, oregano, basil and a little bit of paprika.  Then set the crock pot on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 2 and low for 4-5.  Don't add water or anything, just let the crock pot do its wonders.  This will make your first meal: juicy, falling off the bones chicken.  We had ours with vegetables and biscuits.


16 oz. Frozen Vegetables: $1
24 Homemade Biscuits: about $2

So there you have it your first meal costs at MOST less than $7 for two, or $3.50 a person.  I say at most because there is no way you are going to eat all of the chicken; in fact you will probably eat about or less than half between the two of you and in fact I'm counting on that fact.  Save all of the meat and put it in the fridge to use later.  Also be sure to SAVE ALL THE BONES and skin and other parts of the chicken you have no interest in eating (other than the giblets, which you can either throw away or use in other recipes).  After dinner is done put the chicken carcass, bones and excess pieces back in the crock pot.  You will not have gotten rid of the juices that are in the bottom and you'll leave them there.  Add enough water to cover all the chicken pieces--about 5 to 6 cups.  Set the crock pot on low and leave on overnight.  If you wish you can add seasonings like thyme and oregano in the crock pot as well.  You will wake up not only to your kitchen smelling like chicken, but an entire crock pot full of homemade chicken stock.
Because it's hard to tip a crock pot over and pour its contents into anything, first use a slotted spoon or small strainer with a handle to scoop out the biggest pieces of bone.  Then use a large ladle to scoop the rest of the broth into containers (we used big yogurt containers) with a strainer balanced on top.  There will be lots of little chunks of chicken and seasonings and you don't want to keep any of them.  Figure out the best way to strain the stock with the supplies you have.  Then put your stock in the fridge for a day.  Feel free to eat some of the leftover chicken and biscuits on this day, but don't eat too much of it; you'll want it later for soup.  (Remember we have still only spent seven bucks so far and it's day two.)
The next morning skim the fat that has gathered on top of the stock and either throw it away or save it to make more biscuits later.  Then pour back into the crock pot.  You will not need to use all of the stock you have for the soup--you should put 1/2 or 3/4 part water for ever 1 part stock.  Put the rest of the stock in the freezer, unless you have immediate plans for it.  Chop up 3-4 carrots, 1-2 onions and 3-4 stalks of celery and the rest of your chicken and put it all together in the crock pot with the stock.  Mix in whatever seasonings you'd like: I used basil, salt, pepper and thyme.  Set on low and leave it for eight hours.

Carrots: $0.65
Onions: $0.75
Celery: $0.45


If you want to make this a chicken noodle soup, add the noodles in an hour before the soup has finished cooking, or half an hour and set the crock pot to high.  We made homemade linguine to put in our soup, but I recommend if you do this cut it to about 1-2 inch lengths to make serving easier.  Re-season at this point as well because the flavors of the original seasoning will have melded into the others and grown more subtle.

Noodles: about $1.50


And, just for the heck of it, let's say you make more biscuits to eat with the soup.  Assume you're not sick of them yet (we aren't).

24 Homemade Biscuits: about $2


Enjoy your soup!  At this point we have spent about $12 on two to three meals, or 3 dollars per person, per meal.  But that's not the only the last meal this will make.  M and I have enjoyed three meals so far of the soup and we have enough for one to two more still in the fridge, PLUS the 3+ cups of stock in the freezer.

Total Cost: about $12
Total Meals: about 6
Cost per person per meal: $1


And THIS is how we can afford to live on $30 a week grocery money!

Stecca Bread

As a wedding gift from M's boss we got a fantastic book about an easy no-knead method of baking bread written by a baker with a popular bakery and sandwich shop in New York. The book is really great: clear, understandable and offering a unique hurry up and wait method of bread baking that produces an amazing product. Though most of the breads featured in My Bread (by Jim Lahey) are not ideal for sandwiches they taste just great on their own or with a bit of butter and honey. We have been eating the bread from the recipes with soups, chicken pies, lasagnas and other dishes for lunch and dinner and just on its own for breakfast for weeks now. It's gotten to the point where I'm baking it every or every other day. Fortunately it's so easy that it doesn't crowd my mornings or make me feel like I'm doing way too much; instead, I feel like I'm doing almost nothing at all. I pretty much have the recipes memorized at this point.

The one issue with the book is that most of the breads offered need special equipment beyond the standard kitchen's supply. The most used item in the book is a dutch oven, which we were given with the book (SO generous) but other recipes also call for a pizza stone, a pizza peel, and a Römertopf French Bread Baker, none of which we have. The lovely thing about this recipe is that it requires none of the above: all you need is a rimmed baking sheet. Stecca has basically emerged as our favorite bread of the bunch; it needs a little more work than some of the others, but it is light and flavorful enough that we eat it on its own and often go through the entire batch in a single day. I think we maybe had leftovers once. Maybe.

The thing to remember with this bread (as with all the breads from this book, which I highly recommend) is that though there is little actual labor there is a LOT of waiting time. I generally stir up the dough for the first rise at about 6 or 7 pm so that it can rise all night and be ready to go when I wake up in the morning. This recipe is slightly adapted from the original with what I have learned works best for me from making it a couple of times a week for the last month. I took a lot of pictures when I made it this morning so that it would be easier for everyone else to try.

Adapted Stecca Recipe (makes 4 "sticks", or loaves):

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 3/4 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups water
• olive oil
• coarse salt

Mix together the flour, table salt, sugar and yeast in a medium sized bowl. Add the water and mix well. Cover with a towel (I always use a cloth napkin, because it will come in handy later) and set aside for twelve to eighteen hours. DO NOT try to make it rise any faster, it is vital for the bread to work that it rises a minimum of twelve hours. This is why I like to mix it up at 6pm, because by the time I wake up the next morning at 7.30 it's ready to go. Before rising it should look like this:

The next day the bread should look like this, having about doubled in size:

Using a floured spatula, scrape the dough out onto a HEAVILY FLOURED surface. If it is your first time making it, I suggest not using the table top but flouring a cutting board instead. Sometimes this dough will come out incredibly viscous and difficult to work with and you have to have enough flour to be absorbed AND keep the dough from sticking. If you have enough it should form fairly easily into a ball-like shape, looking slightly flattened. This is what mine looked like this morning, but other times it has been far flatter than this so don't worry about it:

If you have put down enough flour not only will you have a workable dough that you can pick up without fear of it oozing through your fingers, you will also have a ton leftover. Never fear! Sweep this excess flour off of the work surface and sprinkle it onto a towel or cloth napkin that is NOT fuzzy. I find cloth napkins work best for this; in fact I now have one specially set aside for baking bread with. A tea towel or dish towel will work as long as it does not have fuzzy fibers everywhere; they will stick in the bread and it will turn out gross. Anyway, using your extra flour flour the tea towel like you did your work surface. You should not need quite as much flour as you did before, but if the excess is not enough don't be scared to add more. Pick up the dough and flip it onto the dusted towel so that the creased part of the dough (from when you formed it into a ball) is on the bottom and the uncreased part (which was previously the bottom) is on the top. If it is still sticky sprinkle a bit more flour on top and then fold the napkin or towel over it for a second rise. Set a timer for an hour and a half.

After ninety minutes have gone by, make sure there is a rack in the middle of your oven and set it to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Pull out a rimmed baking sheet (the book recommends 13 by 18 but a bit smaller or bigger works too) and oil it with vegetable or olive oil. Set your timer for an additional thirty minutes. At the end of that half hour your dough should be finished rising again and it will look something like this:

Isn't that pretty? Now take a large, sharp knife and flour it. Use the knife to cut the dough into four equal and separate pieces.

Now take each piece individually and stretch it so that it reaches from one end of your oiled baking sheet to another. Stretch all four on the same sheet, with at least about an inch between them. I like to pat them down a bit with my fingers to even them out, but they are not going to look uniform so give that up before you start.

Brush the loaves with olive oil and sprinkle with the coarse salt. We don't have a pastry brush so I just fill a teaspoon and dribble it over the dough, then spread it with the back of the spoon. It takes about 1/2 to 3/4 of a teaspoon per loaf for me. Don't be scared of the salt, either, if you end up accidentally putting too much on you can brush it off before eating and it will still taste great.

Put the tray in the center of the oven and set your timer for fifteen minutes. If the loaves look golden and crusty after baking that long take them out; if they don't leave them in for a bit longer. When they are done baking turn off the oven and leave the tray on the stove for five minutes before transferring the loaves to a cooling rack. Let cool at least half an hour before eating; they are still baking after they have come out of the oven! Enjoy as a snack, with some soup or for a delicious savory breakfast. As I've said M and I have not yet found a need to even put butter on this bread. It's absolutely amazing.

Brown Sugar Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting

So salted caramel can't really be called the "it" thing anymore I suppose since Starbucks has it (and with that I am officially a hipster) but it is still mighty delicious. I adapted this recipe from two recipies in Betty Crocker's FANTASTIC Big Book of Cupcakes which was given to me by a lovely friend at my bridal shower. It is absolutely worth it if you love cupcakes, not just for the recipes but also for the tips and the fact that every cupcake recipe has a corresponding frosting recipe that gives you pretty darn close to the exact amount you'll need for perfect frosting. It's been super helpful not to have too little or way too much frosting around (though having too much can be fun, I suppose). The salted caramel frosting on these cupcakes is FANTASTIC, though it doesn't turn out quite like frosting I'm used to: I ended up having more to mold it to the cupcakes than spread it. But it tasted amazing. M even asked me after a bite where I had gotten the caramel from. And it was also far easier than I had ever anticipated. To be honest I only tried this recipe because M promised to wash the dishes afterwards, but it was not complicated and only took a bit more time than your average cupcake. Absolutely worth it!

Adapted Brown Sugar Cupcake Recipe (makes 12; if doubling only add 1 egg):

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease or line the muffin pan. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a microwave safe bowl. Cut the butter into the bowl and add both the brown and granulated sugar; mix a bit before putting into the microwave until the butter is half melted, about 30 to 45 seconds. Mix until smooth. Add the eggs, vanilla and milk and stir. Scoop into muffin tins. I used a little less than a quarter cup per cupcake, filling each at least 3/4 full. Bake in the middle of the oven for 15-22 minutes. Mine were done after about 17. Pull out and place on racks to cool.

Salted Caramel Frosting:

• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/8 cup milk
• 1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• kosher or coarse salt

In a medium saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. When it is melted whisk in the brown sugar. Keep whisking continually until the mixture begins to boil, then add the milk and stir it in well. Continue stirring until it returns to a boil, then remove from heat and let cool for about thirty minutes. This is actually pretty great because it allows both your frosting and your cupcakes to cool at about the same time. The mixture should look something like this:

When the thirty minutes are up add the powdered sugar gradually, mixing thoroughly. I'd recommend against using the whisk to mix in the sugar because it gets all caught inside and is very annoying.

Frost the cupcakes like you normally would and sprinkle a small pinch of the kosher salt on top. Use your judgement on this; I was nervous about it but M thought I got it just perfect and I think they came out quite well.

Anyway I highly recommend these cupcakes; the flavors work very well together and the frosting really does taste like you plopped a giant golden caramel right on top. I love the salty/sweet thing, but if you want to skip the salt step go right ahead, the cupcakes will still be delicious.