Fancy-Pants Sausage Squash Soup/Stew

Normally, I wouldn't bother making a fancy soup that involves putting the soup into the blender and back into the pot. However, I tried it recently and realized that it is worth the few minutes it takes to transform a simple squash soup into something similar to what I would get at a restaurant. When you puree the squash, it looks like a creamy soup even though you didn't add any cream or milk. Some people would insist on adding cream or dairy to make it richer but honestly, I don't think it was necessary. So, for vegans, this might be a good way to have a fancy soup that suits your diet needs. As a bonus, according to MyFinessPal, this recipe is loaded with Vitamin A and Vitamin C. Eat a bowl of this and you'll have enough of those vitamins for the day. Eat a big bowl of this and you'll be overdosing on those vitamins, which is not such a bad thing to do.

The ingredients can vary according to whatever you like but you definitely need some winter squash to create a creamy-looking soup, whether it's acorn squash, butternut, or whatever's on sale at the market. Pureeing at least some of the potatoes and chickpeas with the squash will also make the soup a little thicker.

Ingredients:
(serves 6 to 10 people, depending on their appetites and whether this is the meal itself or an appetizer)

1 package of Turkey smoked sausage sliced into thin coins (e.g. 14 oz Butterball) (leave out if you're vegetarian and add something else that has salt and spices in it)
A bunch of kale (or whatever green stuff you have in the fridge) chopped
3 to 6 cloves of garlic (as you like) chopped
2 to 3 tomatoes (diced)
1 to 2 onions (diced)
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 medium potatoes (diced)
2 small winter squash or 1 medium/large winter squash (cubed)
2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 cup of water
possible seasonings: cumin, soy sauce, finely diced jalapenos, Frank's hot sauce, black pepper, nutmeg

After everything is chopped and sliced, put it all into a slow cooker for about 4 hours at around 150F. If you have time and would like to be extra fancy, saute the garlic and onion in olive oil before adding to the pot. If you don't, just dump it all into the pot. At the end of the 4 hours, put the squash and vegetables into a blender with some liquid. Leave the sausage in the pot. There should be plenty of liquid in there because the vegetables give off a lot of moisture in addition to the cup of water that you added at the start. The trick is to let the soup cook and to avoid opening the cooker while the soup is cooking. Puree the squash and liquid in a couple of batches. The soup is hot, so if you put too much in, the blender top might fly off. Put the pureed soup back into the pot to warm until it's time to eat.

Also, you don't have to puree all of the squash and veggies. It's nice to have a few chunks in there for texture. Actually, I like leaving most of the potato in there in chunk form. The chickpeas also add some interesting texture to the dish. If you're trying to impress someone, drizzle some olive oil on top of the soup when you serve it.

Mac & Cheese

Mac & Cheese is a dish that's almost as convenient as packaged ramen noodles. It requires a little more time than ramen noodles but is probably a little closer to "comfort food" than the ramen. However, a box of mac & cheese is basically a box of carbs and you need to add some stuff to it if you want to make a healthier and more balanced meal. It's a pretty flexible meal, so whatever is in your fridge will probably be a nice addition to the cheese sauce. Some examples are: a handful of frozen vegetables, mushrooms, bacon & diced onion, or egg & scallion. If you want to be extra fancy, dump the finished mac & cheese into a baking pan, sprinkle some crushed potato chips and shredded cheese over it, and broil it until the cheese is golden brown.

O'Day's brand, only 50 cents at the Save-a lot!

Once you mix in some veggies, bacon, other meat, and whatever, the taste of the mac & cheese will not be very important in the overall dish. So, if you're planning on using mac & cheese as a "foundation" for the rest of your meal, just get the cheap stuff. Make it healthy by adding veggies and beans. Actually, bean chili is a tasty addition and you'll get your daily intake of fibre quite easily.

Mac & Cheese brands: O'Day's, Trader Joe's, and CVS

How different are these brands of mac & cheese? See for yourself:

Nutrition labels for O'Day's, Trader Joe's, and CVS brands

Cheap spicy meal - Slow cooked curry

For about $10, you can make enough curry for at least 8 meals. If you want to lower the cost even more, use beans instead of chicken. That will drive the cost down to about a buck a meal and it will look like you have more food (because a pound of dried beans will increase in volume a lot). However, you'll have to boil the dried beans (about $1.39/lb) and then add them to the curry. You can also add a smaller amount of chicken for flavor and add a lot of beans.

The other great thing about making curry is that it is very easy to do. Just get a 6-quart slow cooker, dump everything in, put the lid on, and go away for about 3 hours. You might have to stir it around once every hour but that's it. If you have one of those cookers with an adjustable temperature knob, you can adjust the time it takes for the curry to cook. If you're in a hurry, you can probably eat in about an hour (if you don't keep opening the lid). The temperature can also be set to about 180-200F if you plan on going to work/school and coming back in about 6 to 8 hours. Just make sure you have enough water in there and the lid is on if you're going away for more than a few hours (because if all of the water evaporates, the curry will burn).

NESCO cooker with adjustable temperature knob

Possible ingredients:
Chicken (or other protein) - $2.50
2 lb vegetables (frozen veggies are good) - $2.50
onion (diced) - $0.50
3-5 cloves garlic (chopped) - $0.10
2 large potatoes (cubed) - $1
2 plantains (cubed) - $0.40
4 blocks of Japanese curry roux (e.g. Golden Curry) - $2 (for half a large box)
1 can light coconut milk (e.g. Trader Joe's light coconut milk) - $1
water (depending on how much sauce you want - start with 2 cups and add if necessary)

* Prices are approximate

Big pot of curry all ready to eat!

Small portion - veggies, potato, plantain, mushroom

Small portion - veggies, potato, plantain, mushroom

If you have room in your fridge, the whole pot can be stored in there. However, it's probably better to store it in smaller containers so that you can take a box to school or work the next day.

The potatoes and plantains are enough carbs for some people but having rice on the side would be how most Asians would serve this. A healthier alternative would be to have a side of mashed beans if you did not use that as the protein in the curry.

Pizza - the cheapest meal in town

Most college students will have quite a few slices of pizza during their 4 years in the dorms or wherever they live. In one recent episode of the TV show, Nightline, pizza was shown to be in higher demand during recessions because it's such a cheap meal. So, it's no surprise that pizza is such a popular meal for poor college students. Unlike the rest of the population, there are fewer fluctuations in demand. This is why I thought that a post on pizza would be appropriate for this blog.

In my previous post on making pizza in the humble toaster oven, I didn't really get into the ingredients themselves. The point was to show you that the toaster oven can do things you might not expect were possible. This post is about the ingredients. At this point, you might be wondering why you should even consider making your own pizza? Getting a pizza delivered usually costs around $10. Depending on what you put on your pizza, you can make it at home for much less and with not much time or energy. The trick is to make a lot of dough at one time and then store it in the freezer. Defrost a portion in the fridge over night when you think you'll have pizza.

Get some Pizza Dough
Making the dough is what takes the most time. If you really don't want to make your own dough, you can usually buy the dough for very little money. Most supermarkets and Trader Joe's sell balls of dough for about $1 to $2 each. If you're willing to spend $2.50 (plus tax) for a ball of really tasty dough, try the balls of dough from Oggi Gourmet at Harvard Square. They're located in the Holyoke Center (by Au Bon Pain) and don't really advertise that they sell dough, but they do. Just ask for "a ball of dough". I try to get some every time I'm in the area. It's actually better than the stuff you get from supermarkets and worth the extra couple of bucks. It's still cheaper than ordering pizza! Most balls of dough from any place are enough for two medium to large thin crust pizzas.

For those of you who are willing to get your hands dirty and try making your own dough, a bread machine will save you a lot of time and effort. All you have to do with one of those is put the ingredients in the pan, choose the mixing function (so it mixes the dough but doesn't bake it), and start it. In about 1.5 hours, you have a ball of pizza dough! Go to any thrift store and there will probably be a bread machine selling for about $10 or less. As an added benefit, you can bake your own funny-looking bread in it too. Actually, it's better to mix the dough in the machine, take it out, put it in a baking pan, let it rise for an hour or more, and then bake it in the oven. That's just my opinion though - do whatever you have time to do.

The basic ingredients for dough are flour, sugar, yeast, salt, and water. Flour will be about $2 to $4 a bag and sugar is quite inexpensive at CVS. If you plan to make your own pizza and bread for an extended period of time, you can get 2 lb bags of yeast for less than $10 at BMS Paper Company or at haymarket in the middle-eastern store. Even though you don't need a lot of yeast for each batch, the stuff you get at the supermarket is not cheap. Try to find some friends who might want some yeast and divide that 2 lb bag. It freezes quite well. I've had the same bag in the freezer for over 2 years and it still works. Just take out a few ounces at a time and put it in a clean jar to store in the fridge.

Roll out the dough
If you sprinkle some flour on your pizza pan before rolling out the dough on it, you'll have an easier time cleaning up afterwards. Now, when I say, "rolling out," I don't really mean that you need a rolling pin to flatten it. All you really need to do is to press down on the dough on the pizza pan a little bit at a time and eventually, it will stretch out enough. If it doesn't seem to stretch out enough, let it sit for a while and then try stretching it again. When the dough gets to the edge of the pan, throw the toppings on and put it in the oven.

Throw the toppings on!
The toppings are relatively easy to prepare. Grate the cheese and chop up everything else. At haymarket, you can get a chunk of cheese (around 6 to 8 oz, depending on the type of cheese) for $3, 2 chunks for $5, or 3 for $7. If they have cheddar, muenster or mozzarella, that's going to be about 8 oz. You shouldn't need more than half a chunk for a small pizza. For sauce, buy the pasta sauce that goes on sale every now and then (usually 3 jars for $5). Go easy on the sauce though because too much sauce will make dough soggy. The thinner the dough, the lighter the toppings need to be. Otherwise, you won't be able to pick up the pizza and have it stay in one piece.

If all of these instructions are a little overwhelming, here's a video by Sousoukitchen to show you (in English and in French) how to make the dough using a food processor to mix the ingredients to get the dough together and the rest of the process step by step.

Average cost of a homemade pizza:
Let's say you make 6 pizzas with one bag of flour ($4 a bag), which comes to 67 cents a pizza. Two lbs of sugar at CVS is only $3 when it's on sale. There are 9 cups in one of those yellow Domino round containers. Let's say you use 2 Tbsp per pizza, which means it will be less than 10 cents a pizza. The yeast should also be less than 10 cents a pizza. For salt, if you seriously don't have any, go to your school cafeteria and take a couple of salt packets. Water is free. So, the dough should cost about  87 cents to make. The cheese is the most expensive part. If you use half a chunk of cheese, that's about $1.50 or less, assuming that you bought only one chunk of cheese at haymarket. The amount of sauce you use will be very little, so let's say that's about 17 cents (10% of the Ragu jar from CVS, on sale for 3 jars/$5). Tally it up and each cheese pizza costs only $2.54. Any toppings you add will be extra but probably won't add up to anywhere near $10. Now you know why Domino's makes so much money.

Save even more by using the toaster oven (to save electricity)
If you have a large toaster oven, you can bake a pretty big pizza and use less electricity that you would with your regular oven. If you have a smaller toaster oven, it's possible to make small pizzas that feed one person. Two personal pizzas can probably fit in a small toaster oven. It should take about 20-25 minutes at 400 F to fully bake the pizzas. Larger pizzas will take a few more minutes. However, each oven is different, depending on size and accuracy of temperature. Watch the cooking process closely at first to make sure you don't burn it.

The humble toaster oven (continued) - making pizza

In the last post on the humble toaster oven, I made bread. In this post, I'm going to show you how easy it is to make pizza in whatever size toaster oven you have. If you have a small toaster oven, you can make a small round pizza or medium rectangular pizza. It doesn't matter if you don't have a pizza pan because you can just make one out of some aluminum foil.

The toaster oven I used to make pizza was the GE convection toaster oven that I got from the Goodwill. The pan that I used barely fit in there so I would probably use a slightly smaller pan or a rectangular pan the next time. To make this pizza a little healthier, I used a bean and tomato sauce puree instead of a regular tomato sauce. The advantages of doing this was that I could use up my leftover red beans, get some extra protein in my pizza without adding meat, and the bean puree was less watery than tomato sauce. If you've ever made homemade pizza and ended up with a soggy crust, it was probably because you put too much tomato sauce on it. The bean tomato puree had just enough moisture in it to moisten my dried mushrooms, which were the main topping on the pizza.

Toppings:
bean tomato puree (use blender to puree cooked beans and tomato sauce)
minced garlic
dried mushrooms
grated swiss cheese
tomato sauce (for the smiley face)
olive oil (so the dough didn't stick to the pan)

Pizza about to get baked

This is what it looks like when it's done.

The dough was from Oggi Gourmet in Harvard Square. Their dough is much better than mine. The bean puree was actually very good on the pizza! Initially, I put it on there just because I was trying to put more beans in my diet and wanted to create a less watery sauce but it also adds another layer of texture to the pizza. I'd put it on pizza again just because it tastes (and feels) good. The dried mushrooms were more flavorful than fresh mushrooms and had a nice earthy flavor. However, I dried those mushrooms in a dehydrator, which means that they might not be as dry as the shitake mushrooms at the Chinese supermarkets. If you want to try adding dried mushrooms, it might be a good idea to soak them for at least 15 minutes before putting them on the pizza.

Here's a video showing the baking process:

Making chili in a frying pan

I am not a vegetarian and love to have a nice toaster oven-broiled ribeye steak whenever possible. However, once in a while, I like to pretend that I'm a vegetarian and eat a lot of beans. Usually this happens when my pants are feeling a little tight and the universe is telling me, "Hey! Lose some weight, fatty!" As you can see, the universe and I have a very frank and honest relationship. After about ten days of eating at least 2 meals that include beans each day, my pants start to feel a little looser. That's good because it's difficult to find pants for short people here. Eating beans is actually not as bad as it sounds. After all, beans are usually not the first thing one thinks about when someone mentions delicious food. As for the farting, that goes away after a few days. Just go outside to take a "break" once in a while. :)

The trick to making beans taste good is to use a lot of spices. A little olive oil can be nice too but if you're trying to lose weight, too much oil is not a good thing. Spices usually have 0 calories, so use as much of those as you like. The other seasonings that make beans taste almost gourmet are Frank's hot sauce and soy sauce, each of which has very few calories. I like to use soy sauce instead of salt because it's in liquid form, which means that it spreads out a lot easier. It should enhance the hot sauce but not do much more than that.

Good bean spices:
cumin
cayenne pepper (use sparingly) or chili powder
black pepper
paprika
curry spice (can be mixed according to taste): can include cardamom, turmeric, coriander, etc. (Click the link for Alton Brown's curry blend)
salt

Here's my recipe for "Addictive Bean Chili" (catchy name, eh?). It's great for using up leftover beans and vegetables. Think of it as a quick bowl of chili that you make in a frying pan. The Secret Sauce makes it addictive. I guess it's not a secret any more...

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

Part of the "secret sauce"

Secret sauce: Frank's hot sauce and soy sauce (start with equal parts, a few shakes of each, and adjust to taste)

Cumin or Curry spice (a little or a lot, depending on what you like - start with 1 Tbsp and add to taste)

Sliced or diced vegetables (however much you want - start with 1 cup and add more if you like) - if you'd like some suggestions: tomatoes, okra, mushrooms, eggplant, squash, zucchini, and corn
1 chopped/minced clove of garlic
1 diced potato
1 portion of cooked beans (any kind, whatever you can eat in one sitting) If you have a rice cooker, use that to cook dried beans.

Instructions:

1. On low-medium heat, in a frying pan, add the oil, the "Secret sauce" (Frank's hot sauce, and soy sauce), and cumin.
2. When you see the cumin sizzling a little, add the vegetables, garlic (and potatoes if using), and beans.
3. Cover the pan with a lid (or another frying pan that has been flipped over). Don't open the lid too many times because you're trying to steam the vegetables in the pan. If possible, don't touch this for 5 minutes!
4. After 5 minutes, the vegetables should have released some of their water and mixed with the Secret Sauce. There should still be at least a little liquid in the pan (unless you left the pan uncovered too long in the previous step). If all the liquid has been evaporated, add 1/4 cup water  and stir to deglaze the pan. The beans will absorb some of that liquid.
5. If there is too much sauce, let it simmer without the lid.
6. Serve and eat

 A 1-pound bag of dried beans will make 5 cups of cooked beans in a rice cooker. That's enough for about 5 large servings. The bag says that there are 12 servings but if the beans are the main part of your meal, there are 5 servings.

Time for a wash!

For this meal, I used a yellow tomato (they're less acidic than the red ones), a purple potato, 3 white mushrooms, some basil, corn, and garlic (last two were not the picture above because they were shy). I also grated some Irish cheddar on the plate.

The "Secret Sauce": Franks' hot sauce, cumin, soy sauce, and olive oil

Everything into the pan!

Two scoops of black beans and the basil join the party!

Add some corn, cover the pan, and don't touch it for 5 minutes!

Cook on low-medium heat!

Making a fancy plate with some grated Irish cheddar from haymarket.

This is what it should look like when it's done. Just make sure the potatoes are cooked.

This was about half the pan of food. There was enough for two plates like this.

This should be a delicious meal that fills you up. It's healthy and very cheap to make. If you have a small amount of jarred tomato sauce that you need to use up, throw it in! That can be used to deglaze the pan or added at the beginning to help steam the vegetables. Tomato sauce can also be a substitute for the hot sauce if you don't like that much heat. I've also used fresh basil leaves to add some extra flavor and freshness to the dish. Just use whatever you have in the fridge.

If you really want some meat in this dish, add it in the first part of the recipe with the vegetables. One strip of chopped bacon can add a good amount of smokey flavor to the dish However, I think the sauce and garlic makes it savory enough without the meat.

Cheese is another ingredient that can be added either to enhance the creaminess of the sauce or as a garnish when serving it (see picture above). Either way, grate the cheese or crumble it up into small pieces so that you can incorporate it evenly into the dish. Smoked gouda is good for adding the smokey flavor if you don't have bacon. Cheddar adds a nice bit of tang without being overpowering.

Enjoy!

Triple Eatery - Jamaica Plain

This is the first in a series of good places to eat in Jamaica Plain. I had a Buy With Me deal for Seamless Web (which is pretty cool, by the way) and decided to try Triple Eatery because it looked like the better choice for Chinese food. With 132 regular items, 4 "Health Diet" items, and 26 House specials, you're sure to find something that will satisfy everyone in the house.

I ordered the Triple Delight House Special ($9.50), small Spicy Hot & Sour soup ($1.95), Fried baby shrimp ($5.25), and spicy Szechuan dumplings in hot oil ($4.25). The only reason I got so much was because the Buy With Me deal was for $20 worth of food. The only item I would not order again is the shrimp, just because I was expecting a lighter batter. They were tasty but not my kind of thing. On the upside, the shrimp came with a creamy sauce that could be used on a sandwich (e.g. a Reuben). The soup had a kind of spiciness that strengthened as I ate it. At first, I thought it was quite tame but eventually, I imagined that it could slap your sinuses around if you had a cold or stuffy nose. The dumplings were actually a larger portion than I had expected for the price. They were tasty and would be good in a noodle soup too. The highlight was the house special, which was the most expensive but also the largest portion. It had shrimp, beef, chicken, and veggies in a tasty sauce. That dish alone was enough for at least two people (or maybe one big football player). If you make your own rice and order a couple of house specials, that's enough food to feed at least four people (who are not football players).

So, if you have a group of people and need a lot of tasty food for about $5 to $10/person, try Triple Eatery. The video below is a brief scooter ride along Hyde Park Avenue and Cummings Highway to Triple Eatery. Enjoy!

Shrimp, House Special, Hot & Sour Soup, and Szechuan dumplings

I've ordered from Triple Eatery many times...

Happy Family - beef, pork, shrimp, chicken, and veggies

Eggplant in garlic sauce (left) and family style tofu (right)

Family style bean curd

broccoli with garlic sauce

Fried chicken

Fried chicken with shrimp fried rice

Dip the scallion pancake in the hot & sour soup!

Scallion pancake cut up for you 

Scallion pancake and hot & sour soup

Hunan shrimp lunch special includes soup