Cooking with femi94ce

[femi94ce]

I said "good" - but I guess taste is relative.

FF

[femi94ce]

If you're single, I bet it looks something like:

Fridge: beer, leftover pizza, moldy something in a plastic tub.
Freezer: 1/2 tub of ice cream, ice cubes
Pantry: package of Kraft Mac & Cheese, Top Ramen

Nothing's more depressing than cooking for one. I can rarely be bothered when I am alone. Funny thing happens, though. My mood starts to slump, my waistline starts to expand and my trading goes to pot. It's like when I don't care enough to make sure my body is running well, then my body shuts down the emotional and mental resources I need to trade.*

I hate grocery shopping and I hate meal planning. But I can't just throw something together if there's nothing to throw together. If I have a list of things I regularly cook with, then grocery shopping becomes less of a chore, and more of an autopilot kind of exercise.

Also, if I cook for myself the same amount as I would cook for many - then I have meals for the next 2 - 4 days. Cook once, freeze many.

Here's a list of things I try to always have on hand. When I have these, I can always throw something good together in a few minutes.

FRIDGE:

Eggs
Butter
White wine
Half and half (keeps better than milk believe it or not)
Bacon bits (I cook a pound of turkey bacon strips crisp in the microwave and crumble, but you can buy the regular kind in bulk at Sam's Club or Costco)
1/3 less fat cream cheese (hate the no-fat stuff, this tastes as good as the full fat with fewer calories)
Large flour tortillas
Salad vegetables

I am lucky my husband does all the cold prep. I despise vegetables and chopping them. If I am by myself I will buy a bag of the premix and a bag of baby spinach and a bag of shredded carrots and mix them together, then just throw a handful in a bowl with salad dressing.

Try using baby spinach instead of iceberg lettuce - it's mild and crunchy and has some actual nutritional value. If you're like me you remember spinach as being strongly earth flavored and gritty and yucky. Baby spinach will not hit you in the face with any of that. It plays nice with all the other vegetables.

Easy thing to remember about vegetables: the darker the color the better it is for you. A salad made from several dark colors isn't too hard to throw together - but I still resist doing that. I wouldn't blame you if you did either.


CONDIMENTS:

Ketchup
Honey
Dijon mustard
Salad Dressing
Breakfast Syrup
Corn Syrup
Maggi
Worcestershire Sauce
Balsamic vinegar
Wine vinegar
Malt vinegar (can you tell I like vinegar?)
Tabasco Sauce
Peanut Butter
Nutella
Sugar
Salt

FREEZER:

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (believe it or not, cheese freezes great. If you freeze a block of natural cheese, though, it will crumble apart when it thaws, so I only freeze cheese for cooking)
Parmesan Cheese
Boneless Chicken thighs (cheaper than breasts)
Ground Turkey (or beef)
Salmon (wild)
Shrimp
White fish (haddock or farm raised catfish)
Andouille sausage (spicy cajun kind. I use the chicken ones, but any will do - instead of hot dogs)
Precooked pasta and rice

You can probably do without most of these, but if I had to narrow it down to 4 items I would say stock the cheese, sausage, pasta/rice, chicken. Most recipes I use can sub out any of the seafood with chicken.

A note about catfish: it's one of those fish that I actually do want farm raised. Catfish are bottom feeders in freshwater systems, and God knows what's in our fresh water systems. I want a catfish where the bottom content is monitored.

PANTRY:

Aluminum foil
Plastic Wrap
Cheapo Throw-away Storage Tubs in small medium and large (thank God for these, they're so cheap and they dishwash on the top rack. I've had one set for almost 2 years, and I don't feel guilty when something gets forgotten and I can just throw away the whole container)

Olive oil
Peanut oil
2 - 4 cans of diced tomatoes
2 - 4 cans of red kidney beans
2 packs of Knorr leek and potato soup mix (use as dry ingredients, never as soup)
pasta
rice
grits
flour
chicken bouillon powder or cubes
Cooking onions
Garlic
Potatoes

SPICES:

Granulated garlic
Dried onion flakes
Dried basil
Ground oregano
Ground cayenne pepper
Ground chili pepper
Whole black peppercorns
Hot curry powder
Mild curry powder
Turmeric
Sweet paprika
Ground thyme
White pepper
Ground cinnamon
Ground ginger
Ground nutmeg
Lemon pepper

Flavor is one of the key pleasures of life. Food that has rich flavor isn't hard to make, and extra flavor can always be added to frozen prepared or fast food if I have the ingredients to hand.

Oddly enough, of all the things in the lists above, the spices will probably set you back more than anything else. I buy in bulk wherever I can. Ground oregano might as well be made of gold. I use ground, not flakes, because it takes so much less to do the same job. Cheaper in the long run.

Anyway - if you can keep those basics around, and not too many perishables in the fridge, then you will have the basics for a good tasting, quick meal with a salad just about any day.

Enjoy feeding yourself!
FF



*Exception: when I'm on a liquid fast, like this week. I plan this very carefully so that I don't short out my system.

[DiabolicDevice]

I am a single guy, and you pretty much nailed my food inventory except the leftovers are usually Chinese take-out and not pizza. I find that both frightening and depressing.

These recipes look great though, and seafood is my favorite, so perhaps it is time for me to branch out from Kraft Mac & Cheese & Hamburger Helper.

[femi94ce]

Hey y'all,

This one's coming straight out of the fridge/freezer/pantry ingredients above.

Glen is my ex-husband. We met when we were in high school and went to college together. But for his ability to boil water, he might have starved. Lucky for him, that was all he needed to know in order to prepare his favorite dish: Kraft Mac n Cheese with Wieners.

I put together this variation on that great bachelor theme later in life. You don't need to be able to do much more than boil water for this one.

prep time: about 15 minutes

y'all will need:

2 cups pasta - frozen precooked (thawed in boiling water) or cooked and drained (you can set it to boil while you're doing the sauce)
2 andouille sausages
2/3 package cream cheese (I use the 1/3 less fat kind)
milk or 1/2 and 1/2
dijon mustard
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
ground cayenne pepper
granulated garlic
salt to taste

In a pot on medium low heat melt the cream cheese and parmesan together. Add milk or 1/2 and 1/2 to loosen up the texture to a thick sauce-like consistency. Add a dollop of mustard, a dash of cayenne and garlic.

Cut sausages on a slant.

Add sausages and pasta to the mix. Stir until all is properly heated. Salt if needed.

Serves 2 as a side dish or 1 as main. Goes well with a handful of mixed salad greens from the bag in the crisper (see REFRIGERATOR inventory above).


Enjoy!

FF

[femi94ce]

Refrigerated cookie dough has gotten so lazy that you no longer even have to spoon balls of dough out of the container or slice dough from a tube. You can buy a tray full of perfectly portioned little cyliners - for those busy moms who want their cookies to come out with factory-standard uniform dimensions. I wonder if they count the chips in each one to make sure nobody gets a cookie with fewer chips than their little brother/sister?

Big problem with refrigerated cookie dough is that you end up with a cookie that might be warmer but still tastes like you bought it in a package. After all the work of greasing a sheet and warming the oven, I want something that tastes homemade, dammit.

I know I said I don't like to put anything in the oven - baking is the exception.

So here's the secret to counterfeit homemade chocolate chip cookies: BUTTER.

Prep time: 10 minutes

y'all will need:

Tube, package or tub of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
Regular salted butter (baking purists use unsalted. If I were a purist I would not be using refrigerated dough)
Baking sheet


Grease the baking sheet with butter.
Follow the instructions on the package for cookie dough balls / cylinders / slices
With a knife, swipe a small dollop of butter on each dough lump.
Bake per instructions.

Enjoy childhood memories with glass of milk.

I have served these as homemade recipe to unsuspecting southern church matrons. Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.

FF

[Bap]

Common Femi

You live where they have the best BBQ in the world also the best fish stew in the world. Give us some of the good stuff.
Cookies don't go well with beer.

Some nice recipes already thanks.

[DiabolicDevice]

Cookies don't go well with beer.

That's a lie. I had cookies and beer for dinner last night and it was delicious.

Have you ever dunked a mint oreo in a chocolate stout? Heaven.

[Bap]

DD
I am sorry. You are correct. I just had a Guinness with an Oreo it was magic. Brilliant.

By the by; I was born just across the river from you in Suffern.

[femi94ce]

Originally Posted by Bap

Common Femi

You live where they have the best BBQ in the world also the best fish stew in the world. Give us some of the good stuff.
Cookies don't go well with beer.

Some nice recipes already thanks.

Hey Bap,

It was a bit of an adjustment when I moved here and found out that BBQ was a noun, not a verb.

I personally am not a big fan of pork - I grew up downwind from a large swine operation where the pig shit was so strong it could wake you up at night, make your eyes water and your clothes stink. I can't taste pork without being able to taste the shit. So I'm sorry I'll have to disappoint you in that department.

You want some more fish stew? I got a fabulous cajun one coming up.

FF

[svtbolt]

Femi,

Good stuff! Looking forward to trying some of these.

Thanks!