Last Sunday was cooking day. While I think using this blog to develop recipes that are great for students on a budget and a time crunch is a sound idea, some days I just want to spend all my day cooking something awesome whatever the monetary consequences, within reason of course. Last Sunday was one of those days. Rather than doing homework all day and munching on cold pizza like the majority of the college students I know, I decided to cook all day. This was probably not the best use of time and my grades may reflect it later.
To start the day off right, there's breakfast. We chose to fix something incredibly healthy, Sausage Gravy and Biscuits. Unfortunately we fixed Bisquick biscuits. Homemade biscuits will come, but those require ingredients we have not yet acquired.
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup Bisquick mix
1/3 package of sausage
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp corn starch
Milk
Steps:
Use Bisquick mix and 2/3 cup milk and follow the directions on the box to make the biscuits.
For the gravy, fry the sausage in a skillet until nearly cooked. Add the flour and cornstarch and whisk until mixed. Add milk until gravy appears to be just slightly too watery. Stir until gravy thickens to your liking.
I believe this to be a fairly easy recipe. One can create gravy to their liking whether it be heavy or light on the sausage side, thick, or thin. Spices can be added to enhance the taste of the gravy. I would suggest adding sage to the sausage, I quite enjoy that additional flavor.
Enough about breakfast, for dinner we made a recipe that my grandmother makes that is delicious and fairly easy to make.
Chicken Southwestern
Ingredients:
Chicken
1 large onion, sliced
2 tomatoes
2 green peppers, sliced
1 small can of sliced black olives
1/2 cup margarine
2/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 cups chicken broth
Steps:
Boil chicken until no blood is present then pull apart. In a saucepan, melt margarine, stir in flour, salt, paprika, pepper, cayenne pepper, oregano, and cheese. Slowly add broth, stirring constantly until blended. Place chicken pieces in a Crock-Pot. Add onion, tomatoes, green pepper, and olives. Pour sauce over top. Cover and cook. Serve over rice.
We made a few changes to the recipe listed above. Instead of green peppers we used red bell peppers. We also added some Worcestershire sauce for an additional flavor. I understand that for most college students fresh vegetables are slightly too expensive for an everyday meal, but this meal is fairly simple and makes a large portion that you can eat on for a few days. There is still some of it in our fridge right now.
Continuing the Sunday cooking spree, I wanted to make some of my grandfather's homemade bread. So I called him up and wrote down the directions. This recipe is not something that I would suggest for someone who is cooking in a time crunch or on a budget. If that is the case, a simple loaf of bread from the grocery store will do. I simply enjoy baking and making my own bread when time permits. Granted this loaf of bread did not turn out as intended. I believe I heated the milk and shortening too much and then killed the yeast when it was added it to the dry ingredients. The bread tastes good; it just failed to raise like it was supposed to. For this reason in addition to laziness, I am going to put off writing the instructions for the bread until I actually get the recipe right. But I do have a picture!
I do not know when the next post will be. We didn't make anything spectacular this week and I am still finishing leftover Chicken Southwestern and Pinto Beans, although we will attempt to post the next dish within a reasonable time frame.
2 1/4 cup Bisquick mix
1/3 package of sausage
2 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp corn starch
Milk
Steps:
Use Bisquick mix and 2/3 cup milk and follow the directions on the box to make the biscuits.
For the gravy, fry the sausage in a skillet until nearly cooked. Add the flour and cornstarch and whisk until mixed. Add milk until gravy appears to be just slightly too watery. Stir until gravy thickens to your liking.
I believe this to be a fairly easy recipe. One can create gravy to their liking whether it be heavy or light on the sausage side, thick, or thin. Spices can be added to enhance the taste of the gravy. I would suggest adding sage to the sausage, I quite enjoy that additional flavor.
Enough about breakfast, for dinner we made a recipe that my grandmother makes that is delicious and fairly easy to make.
Chicken Southwestern
Ingredients:
Chicken
1 large onion, sliced
2 tomatoes
2 green peppers, sliced
1 small can of sliced black olives
1/2 cup margarine
2/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 cups chicken broth
Steps:
Boil chicken until no blood is present then pull apart. In a saucepan, melt margarine, stir in flour, salt, paprika, pepper, cayenne pepper, oregano, and cheese. Slowly add broth, stirring constantly until blended. Place chicken pieces in a Crock-Pot. Add onion, tomatoes, green pepper, and olives. Pour sauce over top. Cover and cook. Serve over rice.
We made a few changes to the recipe listed above. Instead of green peppers we used red bell peppers. We also added some Worcestershire sauce for an additional flavor. I understand that for most college students fresh vegetables are slightly too expensive for an everyday meal, but this meal is fairly simple and makes a large portion that you can eat on for a few days. There is still some of it in our fridge right now.
Continuing the Sunday cooking spree, I wanted to make some of my grandfather's homemade bread. So I called him up and wrote down the directions. This recipe is not something that I would suggest for someone who is cooking in a time crunch or on a budget. If that is the case, a simple loaf of bread from the grocery store will do. I simply enjoy baking and making my own bread when time permits. Granted this loaf of bread did not turn out as intended. I believe I heated the milk and shortening too much and then killed the yeast when it was added it to the dry ingredients. The bread tastes good; it just failed to raise like it was supposed to. For this reason in addition to laziness, I am going to put off writing the instructions for the bread until I actually get the recipe right. But I do have a picture!
I do not know when the next post will be. We didn't make anything spectacular this week and I am still finishing leftover Chicken Southwestern and Pinto Beans, although we will attempt to post the next dish within a reasonable time frame.
om nom nom. I'm so hungry!
ReplyDeleteHave you ever heard of tomato gravy?
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mamas-tomato-gravy/detail.aspx