7 Romantic Meals For $10 Or Less Creating a romantic meal at home is a somewhat bigger challenge than your standard Monday-night fare. Especially if you haven’t yet cooked for this significant other — or, if you’re in a long-term relationship, haven’t cooked for them often. And especially when the occasion in question is Valentine’s Day. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to up to romance factor, either overtly (like aphrodisiac ingredients and candles on the table) or covertly (that valentine’s favorite dish). Frugal Foodie recommends sticking to what you know, and what you know your sweetheart will like. We talked to chefs, home cooks and other relationship experts about their go-to date meals. There are appetizers, main courses, desserts and even a next-day breakfast, all for under $10 to prepare. Oyster with Spicy Vinaigrette and Apples Cost: $8.37 for half a dozen oysters, or $1.40 apiece. Strawberry-Tangerine Salad Cost: $5.36, or $2.68 per serving. No need to load up on aphrodisiacs. Chicken Madeira Intimidating?
French Fries: The No-Guilt Version There’s nothing like a french fried potato. The taste, the texture, the dip-ability; it’s probably one of my favorite go-to comfort foods. However, I don’t need the fat of an actual deep fried potato, and I certainly do not favor processed french fries that come from the frozen food section of the grocery store. Enter: Healthy French Fries* Step 1: Peel your ‘taters. Step 2: Cut them into strips. Step 3: Place potatoes in colander and rinse the starch off of them. Step 4: Pat down the potatoes. Step 5: Drizzle Olive Oil over potatoes. Step 6: Salt those babies up. Step 7: Mix them up so they all get coated with the olive oil and salt. Step 8: Arrange them, on a baking sheet, in a single layer Step 9: Add anything else you like. Step 10: Place the potatoes into your preheated oven for 20 minutes. Step 11: Flip and continue to bake for 5-10 minutes. And then, voila… Healthy French Fries *I usually do the same thing with sweet potatoes. Enjoy!
LaSaGnA TiMpAnO I went to see tUnE-yArDs on Monday night with some friends, and as always we wanted to cook a meal that somehow related to the show we were heading to. Sometimes this is hard to do, but other times it seems to come naturally. Finding culinary inspiration in Merrill's lyrics seemed like it would be tough, but my sister knew what she wanted to make without hesitation. "How about something layered, because of all the vocal and instrument layering in the music?" Start by making a lasagna crust. Finally got it together. Now it's easy, just start building the layers! Alfredo sauce with some salami goes first. After 3 alfredo layers, I switched to pesto. A cheese only layer, just for fun. Tomato sauce is last. It's important to press things down as you go. In my opinion, it can't be lasagna without at least a little ricotta! I painted on some alfredo at the end as a glue. All sealed up. After baking. The flip is always a scary moment. Unveiling. A thing of beauty. Cutting is another tense event. Glorious!
Beecher's "World's Best" Mac & Cheese We came up with this recipe when we opened Beecher's. We wanted to show our customers that you can cook with and eat great cheese every day, and this killer mac and cheese uses two of our cheeses with a background hint of garlic powder and chipotle pepper. We've already won the vote for Seattle's best Mac and Cheese, but the tens of thousands of people a year from all over the world who eat it in our store tell us it's the world's Best. serves 4 as a side dish SAUCE 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 3 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups whole milk 7 ounces Flagship cheese, grated (about 1 3/4 cups) 1 ounce Just Jack cheese, grated (1/4 cup) ½ teaspoon coarse salt ¼ to ½ teaspoon chipotle chili powder 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder PASTA 6 ounces penne pasta (about 3 ¼ cups) 1 ounce (1/4 cup) Flagship cheese, grated 1 ounce (1/4 cup) Just Jack cheese, grated ¼ to ½ teaspoon chipotle chili powder Instructions Preheat oven to 350F. Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes.
Sweet Potato Biscuits with Honey Cinnamon Butter Have you given up on making biscuits? Do they seem like too much trouble for the end result? I was kinda in that boat. There are far more interesting things to make…or so I thought! I made these for the first time last fall to go with some Thanksgiving leftovers. And to make a good thing even better, they always turn out great! And because I live in the land of biscuits and honey, we top it all off with some must-have honey cinnamon butter! Gather Up:2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potatoes 1 stick butter, melted 1 ¼ cups milk 4 cups self-rising flour Pinch baking soda 3 tablespoons sugar For the Honey Cinnamon Butter:1 stick butter, room temperature 3 tablespoons honey ¼ teaspoon cinnamon Pinch kosher salt Mix together the sweet potatoes, butter and milk until well blended. Shape the dough into a ball and knead about 10 times on a well-floured surface. Roll the dough out about ¾ inch thick and cut with a 2-inch biscuit cutter. Serve warm with the butter.
Spinach, Mushroom and Pesto Lasagna When I was growing up, my Mom kind of took meatless Lenten meals to the extreme. Not only was it forbidden to eat meat, she was fairly adamant about making sure we ate something that we really didn't like. There were no Friday night fish fries at the Legion Hall for us. So Mom... Spinach, Mushroom and Pesto Lasagna 9 lasagna noodles 10 oz chopped frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry 1 3/4 cup ricotta cheese 1 large egg 1/2 tsp garlic powder salt and pepper 1 TBSP olive oil 1 TBSP butter 2 cups diced onion 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced dash of crushed red pepper flakes 8 ounces of button mushrooms, coarsely chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 TBSP all-purpose flour 1 1/2 cups whole milk 1 1/2 cups Half & Half 3/4 cup plus 2 TBSP basil pesto 12 oz mozzarella cheese (I used slices) 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a separate baking dish place lasagna noodles and cover with boiling water. In a large skillet heat olive oil and butter over medium heat.
Two Minute Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake This, friends, is where procrastination gets me. I was staring at the computer, mired in writers’ block. I clicked on that Stumble button I installed in my toolbar but never use. Oh look! The chocolate:peanut butter ratio wasn’t quite right, and so I made the cake chocolate with a spoonful of cocoa. Chocolate chips are a must – they turn into gooey pockets of melted chocolate in the finished product. Butter or spray a ramekin, or do it right in a mug. It took mine a minute to cook, rather than 30 seconds. Note to self: pick up some vanilla ice cream. Two Minute Chocolate Peanut Butter Cakewith thanks to Cassie of Back to Her Roots! Peanut butter AND portable? Grilled Corn and Tomato Fettuccine | How Sweet It Is - StumbleUpon Last summer I fell in love with a million things. Nude nail polish, avocado toast, baked beans on top of eggs and super long walks with lots of gossip to name just a few. Oh and cold beer. By far, the cream of the crop was grilled corn. Anywaaaaay. Grilled corn is the bees knees. It became a thing. An addiction. Sooo… I also grilled the tomatoes, which was in a word… awesome. Grilled Corn and Tomato Fettuccine serves 2-4 1 pound whole wheat fettucine 4 large ears of corn 3 vine tomatoes, cut in half 1 green pepper, seeded and sliced 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/4 cup + 3-4 tablespoons olive oil 1/4 cup parmesan cheese salt and pepper Preheat the grill on the highest setting. Boil water and prepare pasta according to directions. Once corn is finished, unwrap and let cool for a few minutes. Summer rocks my world.
Spaghetti and Meatball Pot Pie Remember those meatballs I made for a “special idea” on Friday? Here is that idea, Spaghetti and Meatball Pot Pie. I took the concept and figured if pizza was a good pot pie, then spaghetti and meat balls would be too. This isn't as much a recipe as it is a process. I started by greasing the inside of ramekins (1 cup sized, 3 1/2” in diameter). Next I add in two of the meatballs and sauce. Top that with some vermicelli that had been tossed in the sauce too. Another piece of cheese. For the crust, we made one order of our standard pizza dough and then cut out 3 1/2” circles. I rolled those out a little bigger and then pressed them over the top of the ramekins. Since I wanted the crust to be reminiscent of garlic bread, I made a glaze of butter, roasted garlic, parsley and thyme. I fired up Alexis' Big Green Egg to 450f and set it up in “convection oven” mode with the plate setter legs down. I baked the pot pies on a pizza stone on the plate setter. About 15 minutes in, they started to brown.
Fluffernutter Cupcakes At 6PM last night, the last thing on my mind were cupcakes. Until I looked at this bowl of batter. After a magical food-and-wine filled weekend, all I wanted was a normal one-course dinner without 3 forks and 2 spoons. Since I was staying near the airport to gain easy access to my flight this morning, I dragged myself to the nearest restaurant and plopped down in the booth. I ordered, I ate and I even declined the dessert menu because surely nothing was going to taste as incredible as the vanilla bean panna cotta I ate twice this weekend. Then I reached for my wallet. But all I found in my purse was four lip glosses, a few hair-brush fur balls, makeup removing face wipes and like six hundred unorganized receipts. Uh… what? So I asked if I could see the dessert menu. I ordered some banana cream pie to go, and when Justin Bieber my server brought me a square of styrofoam, I asked if he could also bring me some chocolate cheesecake. He just sort of stared at me. I left. So that’s my story.