But... will we be making the same thing tomorrow night?

did you make quinoa, snap peas, and radishes last night?

This may be considered blasphemy. But I made a monster grilled cheese last night with some left over Easter ham, extra sharp cheddar, a thick slather of stone ground mustard (on the inside) on sourdough bread.

Here is what is likely to be the blasphemous part...............I don't put butter/mayo or anything on the outside of the bread. I put it in the pan dry, on lower heat and let everything slowly come together that way. Because I use condiments on the inside there is still plenty of moisture, the bread still gets nice and toasty and the best part is I don't have to wash my hands 6 times afterward to get all the butter off my hands.

how is delicious food blasphemy?

apparently the best way to heat up store bougth naan bread on a pan is actually a little water on the pan...

I've told others I don't butter or mayo the bread and they look upon me as if I have leprosy.

i mean whatever. just dont oil bread for fat.

I mean. You don't butter bread when you put it in the toaster.

You're essentially doing the same thing, except in a pan.

Maybe you don't. I'm civilized and have a countertop oven for toasting my bread.

I always scoffed at people who did bunless burgers, but man does it bring out the flavor of the beef...

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While I've not tried that, I can see it working.

Messy, but working.

Was planning to post dinner last night, but it turns out that we had an EIC meeting yesterday at work which I'd forgotten about until my reminder went off. At the quarterly meeting, they always have catering by Lou Malnati's, and while I wind up feeling shame and regret afterwards, I am unable to resist the temptation.

As a result, dinner last night consisted of nothing more than a glass of whiskey. I'm still stuffed. (And, to be brutally honest, there's been some scary poo. Lou's is not easy on the digestive tract.)

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Chicken. Dry-rubbed with store-bought mojito-lime seasoning, baked, and topped w/ sliced mandarin orange (from a can.)

The side is shredded cabbage and roasted poblano and jalapeno peppers, in a sauce of a dab of mayo, some of the juice from the can, a dash of salt, a shot of lime juice, and some chili powder.

Simple, but good.

It's grilling season! Trying to nail down this little smoke box -- loaded with mesquite chips here, adds a nice hint of smoke, but the corn was taking to it way more than the chicken, but that could it had an assertive stout beer, honey, soy, garlic marinade ( which I later reduced for a glaze ) .

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happy with the grill I went with. I had a 4-burner run-of-the-mill unit from Lowes. Really just rusted out from the inside, and was bigger than I really needed for my usage ( although I have hosted a few times where that was almost too small ). But went with Broil King brand over Weber -- for the same price the specs were just way more in favor to Broil King, and they are North American made and not China, so easy decision.

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Let's shift gears for a few. I have to tone it down for a bit, so show me your favorite large-batch, poverty recipes. Except chili, we have an amazing chili recipe, but other things.

The company that bought my mortgage, has apparently been miscalculating the escrow since I bought the house 20 months ago. They have also changed their minimums during this time for the escrow, needless to say, I'm less than pleased about my mortgage increasing 38%-ish, for the next year to make up the deficit.

So my goal is to make that up in just a few months. So fancy beer, going out, etc, is going to be off the table for a bit. Sobeiski Vodka and soda and cooking at home will be the name of the game until I get these asshats handled.


Also, US Bank should ingest a satchel of Richards.

How the fuck does a financial company "miscalculate" anything with a $ or % sign??

Well you know. They don't work with numbers very often.

Weird, I didn't realize the multi-trillion dollar bailout for the banks and auto companies was that long ago. Already forget how we continually get fucked by Wall Street or?

Trust me, I lost my shit. I spent an hour and a half on the phone reading multiple people the Riot Act. But what it boils down to, is they fucked up, but it's still my problem if I want to keep my house. The amount isn't a big deal (for me), but the percentage. The average American, if their housing iincreased by nearly 40% in 45 days......................that would be a huge problem for most Americans.

As Carlin said, "It's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it."

But this is the food thread, not the Gov't/Wall Street is sticking a red hot poker up our ass thread.

This is more my language. Poverty food. Mostly what i eat (when i don't go out).
Honestly, the majority of the stuff you see in here is poverty food. It's very simple and easy to make, cheap, and healthy.

I will literally bake a piece of chicken, with a potato(mashed or baked), and steam some broccoli. Add desired seasonings. Pasta is extremely cheap. Even making my own sauce (i usually use a youtube video or online recipe). This is my "use the last of the veggies in the fridge" meal. Usually i make a little extra and take it for lunch. This for me is extremely important.
I buy stuff in bulk (like 30 packs of stuff) then break it down into smaller bags and freeze. Defrost in the AM or night before. For just me, eating out once or twice a week i can get buy with spending $300 a month. I stay away from all chips junk food, frozen meals, ect. I buy what i call "raw materials" and try to only use coupons and buy stuff on sale. I think this helps more than just eating "poverty" crappy low end food.


And speaking of grilling. Man i've grilled more at work than i have at home this year.

I'm with you 110%. Just looking for other recipes I haven't thought of or made yet. But also why I said "large batch" I like stuff I can make a huge batch of on Sunday and not cook for dinner the rest of the week.

Especially now since the better half isn't working from full-time like she has been for last 9 months.

Delicious budget = crock pot cooking

There's a reason poor people around the world cook stews. They can be tailored with whatever meat and vegetables are on sale and can be seasoned differently every time for added variety. And they work well with cheaper, tougher cuts of meat because slow cooking makes everything tender.

Look at Indian food dishes, Irish stews, chilis, all sorts of Caribbean Spanish foods like carne con papas or ropa vieja, jambalaya, caldo Gallego, etc. Rice and beans are extraordinarily cheap staples of life if bought in quantity and when added to stews full of whatever meat and vegetables were on sale plus spices like garam marsala or whatever you have an endless variety. Salt, pepper, and garlic go in nearly everything. Onions and potatoes are cheap and go well with most dishes.

Cheap pork butts are your friend.

And don't discount the value of smart shopping. We've saved about 50% by buying all we can from Aldi and buying less processed foods. Things like boxed cereal and prepared foods in boxes or cans are a colossal waste compared to cooking for yourself. And fresh is better for you because there are no preservatives, additives, fillers, and colors.

For lunches, my wife generally does a couple of crock pot meals on the weekend and stores them in individual serving Pyrex dishes to take to work. And I've had a stew of some sort for breakfast more than once and found it to be a very satisfying alternative to traditional American breakfast.

If you must eat out at a restaurant drink water with lemon because the biggest profit center percentage-wise is the beverages.

That's my rambling train of thought answer.

^ Pretty much that.

I went through a curry phase about a year ago. Curries are rich and delicious, but don't require a lot of expensive material input.

Dried beans are your friend. Not only are they cheaper than canned beans, but you get the benefit of being able to infuse them what whatever flavor you want during the rehydration process. I now use them exclusively when preparing Cuban style black beans.

Asian markets. They have everything in bulk for cheap. Rice, vegetables, meats, fish...