Not sure this qualifies as cheap, per se, but the pork loin was on sale.  And I'll be set up eating variations of this for a while.  Yum!

Pork Loin Roast with "Mojito" pesto

Cooking the Pork Loin
1 lb pork loin
oil
spices-  I used dried orange peel, cumin, a little bit of cardamom and liquid smoke

rub oil over pork loin, rub with spices, put in metal pan, and cook in 450 degree oven for 25-30 mins, or until thick part of loin is beige, rather than pink.  I should invest in a meat thermometer one of these days.

While it is cooking, puree these in your food processor:
lime juice
mint leaves
basil leaves
(ratio of about 3:1 mint to basil)
3 cloves garlic
2 generous spoonfuls crushed ginger
a tiny bit of sugar

After loin cooks, let it rest.  Spoon some pesto over the roast before serving, and serve with black beans and rice.  And perhaps a glass of white wine

File under: "turning the oven on in a heat wave makes me a crazy person, but--- so yummy!"

Amish Baked Oatmeal

(4 servings)  

• 2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar  (wound up too sweet for me, BUT I have next-to-no sweet tooth)
  
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup butter (tastes like a lot- will use less next time)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 a teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup dried fruit (I used cut up dried apricots, and also fresh blueberries)
  

Mix all ingredients and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven 30 minutes.

Add a little milk, and zap in microwave to reheat for breakfast!

1 c. chicken broth
1 c. instant brown rice

Microwave for 8 minutes

Mix in canned, diced tomatoes; sour cream; bacon bits.

This is called- I had to use up a bunch of yogurt and zucchini before going away for the weekend.  Found it on the Stonyfield Yogurt website.  Verdict: Delicious!

Still looking for more zucchini recipes, though.

I'm massively in love with dairy and I'm trying to basically eliminate all cow products from my diet, focusing on beans and poultry.  In particular, I'm especially interested in bean/lentil recipes, not including garbanzo, that are quick and easy, and include little or no tomato.  I love soups.  I've looked at some recipe books, but thought that some here might have some good ideas.

On vacation last week, I tried all manner of exciting new things. Learned some tips for homemade sushi and homemade pizza, learned that Ulu knives are not actually necessary for Alaskan chefs, and learned that salmon jerky is awesome (tastes like bacon, but made of healthy fish!). But the first thing I wanted to experiment with when I got home was recreating an onion soup that was good, but fell short of its potential.

( Onion Soup with Beef Ravioli and Dry Parmesan )

I kept thinking I ought to do a post with reviews of my cookbooks - and I finally got around to it - YAY!

( Cookbooks for general stuff )
( Cookbooks for entertaining )
( Soup Cookbooks )
( Other cookbooks dedicated to a single type of food )

( Regional Cuisine: East Asia )
( Regional Cuisine: Indian )
( Regional Cuisine: Mediterranean )
( Regional Cuisine: Mexican )
( Regional Cuisine: Middle East )

(Cross-posted to my journal)

So, there have been some alarming news headlines recently about skyrocketing gas and food costs. Yahoo ran a good article on cutting food costs this week here.
For me, there's a time issue. I work pretty hard hours sometimes. It really does take some time to implement some of the changes outlined in the article. Or, you know, not shopping in the 30 minutes before the store closes while sleep deprived. Now, back when my grocery store was in the same parking lot as Walmart, I did a lot of price-comparisons. Walmart really wasn't always cheaper for everything, because the brand selection isn't quite as good. Interestingly, I noted that when a new Walmart cum grocery store opened up, they had a huge selection of items, some of which are gone now, one assumes to test what would sell and what wouldn't. Something to keep in mind if a new one opens up near you.

At any rate, I've come up with the following chart :


Homemade >  microwave meals > microwave snacks that represent at least one food group > granola bar/ceral/powerbar > eating out

What is your favorite microwavable food item that represents at least one food group?

This one's easy, really fast to make (though you'll have to wait for it to get ready, the actual cooking only takes 10 minutes, tops), doesn't need a lot of ingredients, is tasty, healthy and cheap (especially in summer!).

1 big zucchini (or 2 small ones)
tomatoes - I use 6 cherry tomatoes, or 3 of the bigger ones
1 clove garlic
1 tsp olive oil
some olives, pits removed (black or green, both work; black ones look nicer)
some feta cheese
salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, rosemary

Preheat oven to 200°C (400° Fahrenheit).
Crunch garlic into olive oil and coat casserole dish with it.
Wash and slice zucchini and tomatoes. Put them into a bowl and add seasoning. Then pour them into the dish. (You can also do layers of zucchini/tomato/zucchini/..., but that's too much work for me.)
Quarter olives and dice (or crumble) feta - add to the top.
Put into the oven for 25-30 minutes.

If you can think of something to use instead of cheese, it's even vegan, I think. (I've never cooked vegan, so I have no idea. Suggestions are very welcome!)

Kitchen improv time!   And, despite everyone's tasty suggestions, it doesn't involve mint!

Preheat oven to 350.
Put a chicken breast and a thigh in a little glass baking dish with
A can of sliced tomatoes and their juice
A little white wine
some capers
a bunch of oregano
a few basil leaves (my basil is fractionally less sturdy than the mint)
Cook for about 40 minutes until the chicken is done.  At the 30 minute mark, put slices of feta over the chicken, and a few next to it, if you like.

While the chicken is cooking you can: make rice and watch a sitcom.  Or do it over steamed spinach.

Delicious!

My mint plant is getting so big I'm going to start charging it rent and ask it for help with the cable bill.  But a girl with a day job can only drink so many mojitos/juleps during the work week.

What have you got for tasty uses for fresh mint?   Foods, beverages, cheap, easy and suited for one.

This is from a cookbook called Dinner Tonight that will be VERY hard to find out of the Tri-State area of the US, but if you find a copy, pounce on it!  Otherwise, be patient while I work my way through it and post recipes I'm trying.  :-)

Turkey, Bean and Cheddar burgers
Makes 7- 9 one-inch-thick patties, depending on how big your hands are.  The ones you're not eating right this second can be frozen.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup diced sharp Cheddar
1 1/2 pounds lean turkey
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 15 oz can black beans, mostly drained
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1 cup chopped onion (1 small onion)
1 cup loosely packed cilantro, chopped
2 egg whites, lightly beaten.
Hamburger buns

1. preheat oven to 475.  Coat a baking sheet with  cooking spray.  Note- use actual cooking spray, as I was cocky, and used vegetable oil, and now I have nasty clean up to do.
2. Combine all the ingredients, except the buns, of course, making sure they are evenly dispersed throughout the mixture.  Shape the mixture into 9 1-inch thick patties.
3. Bake the patties for 13 minutes or so, or until they are cooked through.

Serve on buns, topped with mild salsa or tomato and onion.  Make a tomato-y salad to go on the side.  Mmm good!
Could be spicier, though, for those who like that.  Might also work with pepperjack cheese.

So it all started when I was hosting a bridge night at my house, and I thought that a nice low-work thing to serve would be various frozen dumplings steamed and fried. Turns out - this was an amazing plan!

And I made several ( dipping sauces )

But even after eating up all of the tasty dumplings we hadn't gotten through at bridge and after giving away about a third of the sweet-hot spicy sauce, I still had a ton of these dipping sauces left over.

So I thawed a ( pork loin roast )

But now I have the rest of the (cooked) roast in my fridge. So I took a few slices of pork, cut them into strips and made ( wraps )

So last night, I not only still had leftover pork in my fridge (which I'll get to next week), but also I had leftover wrap filling. So I put it on a ( salad )

Now I have to figure out what to do with the rest of the roast (though sandwiches, with mayonnaise on white bread, are high up on the list).

(cross-posted to libitina)

There were a couple of really tasty sounding pasta recipes in the magazine I picked up today. The first two serve four, but you could store the extra sauce or cut back the ingredients easily enough. Plus they're all super cheap to make.

( Lemon, Chilli and Garlix Spaghetti )

( Red Lentil Bolognase )

( 10-Minute Salmon Pasta For One )

For the first time ever, I baked shortbread.

( Photos & the recipe )

I needed to come up with an easy, interesting recipe for a student to cook for a solo home ec lesson. I hobbled this together. It makes four big satisfying burgers, and would probably be delicious taken cold in a lunch - by themselves or broken up over a salad - or just, you know, eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner fora day and a half. :) 

I had my student caramelize two small onions to serve on top of the burgers, and we ate them, open-faced, on a focaccia roll prepared with lettuce, tomato, mayo, and mustard. Total cost for JUST the burger ingredients was under $8 - and unless you have a voracious appetite, that's a pretty good deal for four meals.

Goat Cheese and Spinach Turkey Burgers

1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey
1 c. chopped frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry
4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
1 T. garlic, chopped
1/4 t. black pepper
olive oil

In a medium bowl, mix (by hand is the best method) all ingredients until incorporated. Form into four patties, no thicker than an inch. Place patties (which will be gooey) in fridge for half an hour to ease handling. In a large skillet, heat a sheen of olive oil over medium high. Add burgers. Reduce heat to medium. Cook 5-6 minutes. Flip. Cook another 5-6 minutes or until cooked through. Refrain from squishing down the burgers with your spatula - this expells the juices and will give you a dry final product.

http://www.serve.com/marbeth/high_heat_turkey_long.html

I realize this isn't quite within the bounds of the community, but I thought it was a neat cooking trick, and someone might get use out of it.