Realms Beyond Cooking

[Cornflakes]

Does baking count? Here's my favorite cookie recipe: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip

I grind the wheat at home (using an electric mill, not by hand), and use a less processed sugar called Sucanat which gives a slight molasses flavor. I consider these more of a health food than a cookie due to the oatmeal, flax and the whole wheat and will eat these for breakfast whenever I make them  I also cut down the chocolate chips, still using a 1 cup measure but not topping off. My wife uses a heaping cup and pours over the bowl so the excess falls in, for an extra 1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips  The extra flour and the lower baking temperature give a nice thick soft cookie, without being gooey. You may need to adjust the baking time/temp to your specific oven/altitude/preference, as you can see I've tweaked it several times.

My wife is now dairy free due to allergy and these work perfectly fine substituting the butter for an appropriate alternative (Earth Balance is the specific brand we like).

   

***Cream the butter and sucanat (sugar) very well. It works best if you leave the butter out to soften for a couple hours before making these, or carefully soften in the microwave a few seconds at a time so that it doesn't turn into liquid. Put the butter and sucanat in the mixer on high first thing and let it mix away for 5+ minutes while I get the rest of the ingredients out, grind the wheat, and mix the dry ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) together in a 2nd bowl. Then I turn the mixer down to about 1/4-1/3 speed, add the eggs + vanilla, pour the dry ingredient mix in as soon as the eggs become indistinguishable, and add the chocolate chips at the very end once everything is combined well. Don't overmix!

EDIT: Pecans are optional and I rarely add them since several family members don't care for pecans.

[suboptimal]

Im looking at all these veggie dishes and cringing. So many veggies. I have a Chili recipe that i use, but im not a chef so none of the things i make besides chili are like.... not box-instructions.

I'm always on the lookout for a good chili recipe as I haven't found one I quite like yet.  What's yours?

[GeneralKilCavalry]

I've recently discovered the wonderful world of hominy grits. We usually eat a different kind of corn porridge called Mamaliga, but grits honestly taste better.


I buy the quaker oats brand "old-fashioned" ones (can't use instant grits, no no no).  The hard part of the recipe is getting the grits just right, because they seem cooked through even 10 minutes in, but when you try them, well, they taste gritty, like sand. You have to be patient, stir, keep everything on low heat, and wait till everything becomes a homogeneous paste. For a cup of grits and 4 1/2 cups of water, this takes about 30 minutes. Once they're done, all you need is chili powder/flakes, paprika, bacon, fried onion, and cheddar sprinkled as thickly as you can afford or to taste. Replace the bacon with salo for extreme decadence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salo_(food)

Also, the Borani Banjan is very similar to a common meal we eat at my house that we just call "saute", just replace the turmeric with a can of tomato paste, replace the yogurt with sour cream.

I should try that soup recipe Chumchu, sounds wonderful.

[Bobchillingworth]

Does baking count?

Baking always counts. I'll have to try this out, cookies for breakfast sounds like exactly the sort of meal that goes hand-in-hand with "social distancing".

[superdeath]

Im looking at all these veggie dishes and cringing. So many veggies. I have a Chili recipe that i use, but im not a chef so none of the things i make besides chili are like.... not box-instructions.

I'm always on the lookout for a good chili recipe as I haven't found one I quite like yet.  What's yours?

It aint much, but i like my chili thick, simple, and delicious.

1 or 2 pounds of ground beef, browned.
6 oz can of tomato paste.
1 large can of Mrs. Grimes brand Chili beans.
1 large can of Tomato sauce.
Your favorite brand of Chili seasoning to taste.


Brown the beef, add paste and stir, then add everything else, stir.. then let it warm up. Adding seasoning to your various heat level. Makes a thick chili. Thick enough that your saltine crackers will practically break trying to scoop some.

[chumchu]

It's a very easy recipe GKC. Go for it.

If you cant find gochujang then another sweet/hot chili sauce like sambal oelek would work. The soup needs a kick of chili to be more than just umami.

[Cornflakes]

Here are two of my favorite quick-and-easy dishes that feed 6-10 people for less than $20, or lunch leftovers at work for the week. These were served often growing up, and were a staple in college. My wife does most of our cooking now with her own family recipes but I still go to these, especially when some friends come over and we have a few more people to feed.
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My favorite casserole, which my mom called Hamburger Pie. This is variation of Shepherds pie, but better you can get sophisticated and make a homemade sauce, mash potatoes yourself, and use fresh veggies ... but I have only done that one time, and honestly it didn’t taste as good as when I used the processed ingredients below.

Ingredients:
1.5 - 2 lb lean ground beef
1 can each of canned corn, peas, and cut green beans
2 cans Campbell's Tomato Soup [yes, soup not sauce]
1 large box of dried mashed potato flakes (with at least 10-12 servings). I usually make enough mashed potatoes so that the potatoes are about 1/3 of the total casserole. You can adjust the quantity that you make based on preference. 
*Garlic, Italian seasoning, and paprika to enhance the mashed potatoes

Prep - preheat oven to 400 (°F):
1) brown 1.5-2 lb lean ground beef (pour off most excess grease if you use a fatty beef, but leave a couple tablespoons for flavor)
2) While the beef is browning, boil water for the mashed potatoes. Prepare mashed potatoes according to instructions on the box, but add but some garlic, Italian seasoning, and paprika to taste. The mashed potatoes will be spread over the top of everything else at the end so make them ever-so-slightly thinner so they spread easier. I usually follow the instructions and the splash in a little extra milk just before spreading.
3) drain liquid out of the canned veggies.
4) Place beef in large oven-safe casserole pan and add the drained veggies. Pour/scoop out the tomato soup but DO NOT ADD WATER like the can says, just use the concentrated soup as-is out of the can. Mix everything well in the casserole dish. After mixing, level off everything inside the dish (usually fills about 1/2 to 1/3 of the 
5) Spread the mashed potatoes on top of everything. 
6) Bake for about 20 minutes ... everything is pre-cooked at this point, just need to heat everything up an brown the top of the mashed potatoes.

Enjoy! Should look something like this:


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And a quick-and-easy pasta dish, which my mom called Goulash ... you could probably go all homemade on this as well, but this is a decent-taste-for-little-effort-on-a-low-budget dish. When making as a meal I usually seam some mixed vegetables as a side and make garlic bread, but this is also great for a potluck.

Ingredients:
1-1.5 lb lean ground beef
2-3 boxes of your favorite mac & cheese brand
1 box of dried noodles (match the quantity of dried noodles to the amount of noodles in the mac & cheese boxes, usually the plain noodles come in a larger box)
1 medium jar of your favorite tomato-based pasta sauce.
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Prep:
1) Boil all noodles together in a large pot according to box instructions.
2) While noodles are cooking, brown 1.5-2 lb lean ground beef (pour off most excess grease if you use a fatty beef, but leave a couple tablespoons for flavor)
3) Once noodles are cooked, mix the cheese packets from your mac & cheese into the noodles according to the box instructions. The cheese will look less than normal since the noodles are doubled, this is OK.
4) Add the ground beef including a couple tablespoons of grease for flavor.
5) Pour in pasta sauce about equal in quantity to the cheese sauce. I usually start with about half the jar, mix, and add a little more.
6) Mix in the mozzarella cheese (a sprinkle of garlic and Italian seasoning doesn't hurt)
Enjoy!

[KingOfPain]

Here are two of my favorite quick-and-easy dishes that feed 6-10 people for less than $20, or lunch leftovers at work for the week. These were served often growing up, and were a staple in college. My wife does most of our cooking now with her own family recipes but I still go to these, especially when some friends come over and we have a few more people to feed.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
My favorite casserole, which my mom called Hamburger Pie. This is variation of Shepherds pie, but better you can get sophisticated and make a homemade sauce, mash potatoes yourself, and use fresh veggies ... but I have only done that one time, and honestly it didn’t taste as good as when I used the processed ingredients below.

Ingredients:
1.5 - 2 lb lean ground beef
1 can each of canned corn, peas, and cut green beans
2 cans Campbell's Tomato Soup [yes, soup not sauce]
1 large box of dried mashed potato flakes (with at least 10-12 servings). I usually make enough mashed potatoes so that the potatoes are about 1/3 of the total casserole. You can adjust the quantity that you make based on preference. 
*Garlic, Italian seasoning, and paprika to enhance the mashed potatoes

Prep - preheat oven to 400 (°F):
1) brown 1.5-2 lb lean ground beef (pour off most excess grease if you use a fatty beef, but leave a couple tablespoons for flavor)
2) While the beef is browning, boil water for the mashed potatoes. Prepare mashed potatoes according to instructions on the box, but add but some garlic, Italian seasoning, and paprika to taste. The mashed potatoes will be spread over the top of everything else at the end so make them ever-so-slightly thinner so they spread easier. I usually follow the instructions and the splash in a little extra milk just before spreading.
3) drain liquid out of the canned veggies.
4) Place beef in large oven-safe casserole pan and add the drained veggies. Pour/scoop out the tomato soup but DO NOT ADD WATER like the can says, just use the concentrated soup as-is out of the can. Mix everything well in the casserole dish. After mixing, level off everything inside the dish (usually fills about 1/2 to 1/3 of the 
5) Spread the mashed potatoes on top of everything. 
6) Bake for about 20 minutes ... everything is pre-cooked at this point, just need to heat everything up an brown the top of the mashed potatoes.

Enjoy! Should look something like this:

I like that, using processed food to create a new product. It looks good too. I can see canned corn would be better than fresh (texture and seasoning) but I am imagining the canned peas would be mushy even right out of the can. May give frozen peas (then again, it's a different taste and texture) a try?

[Bobchillingworth]

Very simple / basic rice noodle dish; takes around 25 min start to finish-


Ingredients:

* Wai Wai brand "Oriental Style Instant Noodle" rice vermicelli (note: "instant noodle" may be a misnomer, these aren't anything like ramen)

* "Healthy Boy" brand mushroom soy sauce (you can use regular soy sauce instead, but I prefer this one for having a more mild, earthy taste)

* Reduced acidity rice vinegar; I prefer Kong Yen brand's water-diluted 4.5% acidity bottle.

* Seasame oil

* Vegetable oil

* Chili oil

* Half a 15 oz can of baby corn (about 8 pieces)

* Half a medium-sized yellow or white onion

* Your choice of hot peppers (I prefer a combination of Thai Dragon chili peppers and jalapenos)

* Red chili flakes


Meal prep:

1. Dice Onions, hot peppers, and cut baby corn in half. Add all to a small bowl, and toss with about a tsp of the chili flakes.

2. Briefly rinse rice vermicelli under cold water to remove dust and loose starch. Fill a large bowl with hot (not boiling) water, add in two blocks of the vermicelli (about 1/3 of a package) and let soak for approx. 4 minutes

3. Pour vermicelli out into a strainer once it has softened to the approximate consistency of very al dente pasta, shake to remove excess water, set strainer / vermicelli aside on a towel to continue drying.


Cooking:

1. Add about 2 tbsp each of the various oils, soy sauce, and the rice vinegar to a wok, turn heat to high. Stir to mix.

2. As soon as oil starts bubbling / sizzling, add bowl of vegetables and chili flakes. Reduce heat to medium after the first minute of cooking. Stir approx. every minute to keep oil fresh and prevent veggies from burning.

3. After five minutes, dump in the rice vermicelli. Vermicelli will immediately soak up almost all of the oil / soy sauce / rice vinegar in the wok.

4. Use tongs to constantly toss vermicelli and vegetables, to ensure even cooking. Add around another 1 tbsp each of sesame oil, chili oil, soy sauce, and rice vinegar, in that order, constantly moving vermicelli and vegetables to ensure thorough and distributed coating. The goal is for the vermicelli to be a light brown; too dark and it'll be oily and salty, too pale and it'll be bland.

5. Cook in the above fashion for 3 - 5 minutes. Transfer everything in the wok to a large bowl or plate. Fin.






You can also sub out the peppers, chili flakes, and chili oil for egg, madras curry powder, and chicken stock respectively for something resembling Singapore Noodles.

[mackoti]

I've recently discovered the wonderful world of hominy grits. We usually eat a different kind of corn porridge called Mamaliga, but grits honestly taste better.


I buy the quaker oats brand "old-fashioned" ones (can't use instant grits, no no no).  The hard part of the recipe is getting the grits just right, because they seem cooked through even 10 minutes in, but when you try them, well, they taste gritty, like sand. You have to be patient, stir, keep everything on low heat, and wait till everything becomes a homogeneous paste. For a cup of grits and 4 1/2 cups of water, this takes about 30 minutes. Once they're done, all you need is chili powder/flakes, paprika, bacon, fried onion, and cheddar sprinkled as thickly as you can afford or to taste. Replace the bacon with salo for extreme decadence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salo_(food)

Also, the Borani Banjan is very similar to a common meal we eat at my house that we just call "saute", just replace the turmeric with a can of tomato paste, replace the yogurt with sour cream.

I should try that soup recipe Chumchu, sounds wonderful.

Hey are you romanian?