The frugal gourmet

[Random]

Originally Posted by Mitmo01

this thread is stirring up my appetite something fierce lol

Don't worry baby.. It will be done when you get home...

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by Random

Don't worry baby.. It will be done when you get home...

Were there any leftovers?

Gemme= getting hungry

[Ursy]

I made these chocolate chip cookies the other day and they're really really really good, even though the ingredients are pretty basic.

I swapped out half the chocolate chips for chopped walnuts.

http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/20...recipe_24.html

[Ursy]

Gonna make some lemon butter tonight... got some fresh white bread so we can have lemon butter toast tomorrow morning to kick off the weekend. Mmmm, heavenly!

I'd bake some bread in the morning, but work has been so crazy and I'm so tired, I don't know if I have the energy!


Ingredients
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
* 1/2 cup water
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 2 teaspoons butter
* pinch salt

Directions
1. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, cornstarch, and lemon zest. Stir in water and lemon juice, and continue stirring. After the mixture thickens and bubbles, continue to heat and stir for another two minutes.
2. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the butter. Serve warm.

It doesn't look like it would make much, would it? Wonder if I should double the recipe...

[femmennoir]

I just read the entire thread and enjoyed it immensely! Frugality is the mother of invention, and you don't have to spend a lot to have healthy, attractive meals on the table, no matter how many you feed!
I have started making my own bread with the "Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day" and "Healthy bread in 5 minutes a day" method, and I love it! (By the way, cookbooks can be ordered at a fraction of the price from this great website: jessica's biscuit.com)
I order all my baking needs from Kingarthurflour.com in as much bulk as my tiny New York City kitchen allows, and they carry organic grains and even obscure - but delightful - items such as cocoa nibs. Their yeast is superb!
Even though I live alone, and do not eat a lot of bread, this method really works for me! The hardest part was giving up enough space in my fridge for the bin of dough!
I used to make my own yogurt, and plan to do so again this summer, and will try the crockpot method! (I just yesterday retired the crockpot to a "winter storage" spot, on top of the cabinets, but can bring it down easily). I brought down the Donvier ice-cream maker to take its place! I plan to make good use of the green market's seasonal fruit for some delectable sorbets!
Elle*

[Bit]

Urs, please let us know how the lemon butter comes out! If it's good, I'll try it for Gryph, who lovvvvves lemon.

Elle, I read Bakers' Banter every time there's a new post! LOVE that blog! I've gotten some of my best recipes from KA Flour!

I really want to make our bread, but I have to find a bread machine first. My wrists can't handle kneading anymore, and after the fiasco with the pasta machine, I'm not willing to take a chance on a second-rate bread machine. That means it's probably not on the list until next year's tax refund.

It's gotten really humid here in Wichita and the heat is in the 90s day after day now, so I find myself less and less willing to actually cook. Maybe I'll make tuna salad for supper tonight... that sounds heavenly cool to me right now!

[femmennoir]

Bit, with this bread making method you do not have to knead the dough! You just mix the ingredients together, let it rise once, put the dough in the fridge where time does the job, and when you want to bake a loaf, you take some out, let it rise again and bake it, et voilà!
The bread is wonderful, and no work!
Elle*

[Chancie]

I had a health scare which requires me to eat a low to no fat diet, and there's very little wiggle room.

Luckily, we just picked up our third farm share, so Pete and I have been making really delicious pasta with greens.

On Tuesday, I made pasta with every green we got, including the beet tops.

I heated mild miso with a little organic chicken broth, garlic, ginger and the scallions we got from the farm.

When the pasta was al dente, I poured it over the greens in the colander to blanch the greens, and poured the sauce over the greens and the pasta.

We had grilled shrimp that night, but there were several portions left, and we've been eating really delicious pasta all week.

[Bit]

Originally Posted by femmennoir

Bit, with this bread making method you do not have to knead the dough! You just mix the ingredients together, let it rise once, put the dough in the fridge where time does the job, and when you want to bake a loaf, you take some out, let it rise again and bake it, et voilà!
The bread is wonderful, and no work!
Elle*

Ooohhhhh, Elle, could you share the recipe? Or tell me where to find it? Is it a KA recipe?

How big is the bin? I thought you were talking about a crock of sourdough starter--didn't realize it was a no-knead bread!

[femmennoir]

Originally Posted by Bit

Ooohhhhh, Elle, could you share the recipe? Or tell me where to find it? Is it a KA recipe?

How big is the bin? I thought you were talking about a crock of sourdough starter--didn't realize it was a no-knead bread!

It is not a KA recipe, it is from a book called "Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day" and "Healthy bread in 5 minutes a day"... They sell the book cheaply at jessica's biscuit
http://www.ecookbooks.com
which is a wonderful cookbook site, with many thousands books available at unbelievable prices!
But I will post the master recipe when I have more time!
I used to have a bread machine, and this is by far better! The bins are sold by KA among others, and you choose a size that works for you. I make the master recipe, around 7 cups of flour, depending on what flour I use, it makes two large loaves or three medium ones, which works well for me!
Elle*

[femmennoir]

They have a website (the people who wrote the book), with the master recipe and some tips!
here:
http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/
try it, it's fantastic!
Elle*

[Oneida]

Originally Posted by femmennoir

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

Great site...thank you!

[Ebon]

Originally Posted by Mitmo01

this thread is stirring up my appetite something fierce lol

Man tell me about it. I want to make everything I saw. lol

[Ursy]

Originally Posted by Bit

Urs, please let us know how the lemon butter comes out! If it's good, I'll try it for Gryph, who lovvvvves lemon.

It was good hon, and super easy.

Next time, I might add more lemon zest. It had a lovely mild flavour but I think it would be even better with a bit more kick.

If you use it warm and straight off the stove, it's the consistency of a sauce and would be lovely with crepes. It thickened up a little after being chilled in the fridge, kind of like a soft jelly.

If you're going to use it on toast, I'd say add half a tablespoon or so more cornstarch, just to give it more body.

[Random]

Originally Posted by Gemme

Were there any leftovers?

Gemme= getting hungry

Uh huh and it was one of those things that got better and better as it got older...

The last bowl was hella good...

I'm thinking next time try it with rice and a cheese sauce, and sour cream...

[Ursy]

Originally Posted by femmennoir

Bit, with this bread making method you do not have to knead the dough! You just mix the ingredients together, let it rise once, put the dough in the fridge where time does the job, and when you want to bake a loaf, you take some out, let it rise again and bake it, et voilà!
The bread is wonderful, and no work!
Elle*

That sounds wonderful, Elle! I'd like to bake our own bread more often - the only thing that puts me off is the rising time etc... while it's not really that onerous, I often don't have a spare hour or two to do it, especially since I'm working full time at the moment.

[Random]

Originally Posted by femmennoir

They have a website (the people who wrote the book), with the master recipe and some tips!
here:
http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/
try it, it's fantastic!
Elle*

Elle,

Thank you so much...

I have a bread maker, but it just feels like cheating to me.. But on the other hand, I don't have the hand and shoulder strength to kneed dough to the proper consistancy any more...

I'm so trying this tomorrow...

[oblivia]

Originally Posted by Bit

I really want to make our bread, but I have to find a bread machine first. My wrists can't handle kneading anymore, and after the fiasco with the pasta machine, I'm not willing to take a chance on a second-rate bread machine. That means it's probably not on the list until next year's tax refund.

Sparx makes all our bread for home, all our pizza dough, day to day bread, buns, rolls, etc. We just don't buy it anymore and it has saved us a bucket of $ and I've now totally lost my taste for commercial breads because they taste very bland and artificial now by comparison.. but we started off by craigslist hunting for a used but good quality machine.

You can find some AMAZING deals on bread machines, used, because people are often given them as giffts or buy them and then just never get around to using them. I managed to get Sparx's a couple years ago for like $50 and it was a nice one that makes horizontal loaves...

Although... ultimately I could have gotten a totally different one because Sparx never bakes it in the machine. What She does that really seems to make it fun is she uses the machine for the mixing and kneading, and then unplugs the machine and lets it rise a bit, then pulls it out and shapes it into whatever (baguettes, buns, rolls, loaves, rounds), and if she wants it to have a really crusty outside she sprays the crap out of the dough with a bunch of water (she always mists it lightly while it rises to keep it moist but for a crusty/chewy crust, get it pretty darn damp) and then bakes it. She's finally perfected focaccia which is pretty easy and once you get the hang of it is one of the easiest ones....

We now buy 10kg (20lb?) bags of flour for like $7, and that plus sugar (or honey), yeast, a bit of salt, bit of oil, some powdered milk for white breads - gives them a nice texture) and we figured that our cost per loaf is something ridiculous like $.58-$.60 and omg is it yummy.

Once the bread has cooled, we put it into a plain white kitchen garbage bag to keep it from getting dry/hard too quickly - and it freezes well too (but we have a tiny freezer). LOL

[Ursy]

I made pureed cauliflower as a side tonight - it was on a cooking program last week and I was intrigued. Well, we weren't huge cauli fans before that, but we are now! It was a hit!

I was a bit frightened by the amount of butter the recipe called for - I didn't use quite as much as it says below, and it was still really really yummy.

Ingredients
½ head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 cup milk
125g (1/4 lb) unsalted butter, cut into 2cm cubes

Place cauliflower in a food processor and process until finely chopped.
Place the cauliflower and milk in a saucepan, bring to the boil and simmer for about 8 minutes until cauliflower is very soft.
Remove from the heat, then add 1 teaspoon salt and the butter and stir until well combined.
Blend in a small blender or food processor until smooth. Strain through a fine sieve set over a bowl, pressing down on the solids with a plastic pastry scraper.

[Kätzchen]

Here's what I do when I make bread (I make it by hand, not machine):

When I make regular bread and it has just come out of the oven, I brush down the whole loaf with olive oil (herbed with rosemary) and then when it's not so warm, I wrap it in cheesescloth to help it remain soft.

For those of you who want to reduce dependency on plastic, I have found that cheesecloth works great for various purposes!