Let's Cook! :a culinary experience in Columbia

Last night Brent and I went downtown to take a Carribean/Cuban cooking class at place called Let's Cook!  It was AWESOME.  We got there 15 minutes early, so we went ahead and opened the bottle of wine that I brought in my purse!  (By the way, I didn't just happen to have a bottle of wine in my purse... I was told I could bring one... which made me like this place before we even got there.)

 Once everyone else got there we went ahead and put on our aprons and started making Mojitos!  I'm not sure I'm a fan.  With every sip of it I tried not to make a face... it was pretty much minty straight rum!  I loaded it with sugar, but I don't know if I'll be making them again anytime soon.  Brent on the other hand...had no problem.

After we made our drinks we made a mojito cake!  It was really easy and sooooo tasty.

Then we started the chicken, and while the chicken was cooking, we made a jicama, orange and avocado salad.  I've never tried jicama before and it was delicious!!  All that was in the salad was: shredded jicama, orange segments, slices of avocado, cilantro, a little bit of vinegar and a little bit of sugar.  We were also given salt and pepper to use as needed  for this.... but Brent dumped it in somewhere in something....we never figured out where he put it.

We threw tomato, onion, garlic and rice in with the chicken, and it was so good!  The whole experience was amazing.  There were only 3 other couples, and we all sat around a big table to eat and just talked and had a blast.  We'll definitely be going back... who wants to come with us!?

Say yes to Chow chow :) yum yum

Chow chow must be a Southern thing.  I'd never heard of this delicious concoction before moving to S.C., and I gotta say... I'm in love.  Not only does it only have 15 calories/ Tbsp, but it's so flavorful and versatile that you can put it on just about anything!  I've had it on green beans, chicken.... Brent puts it on tortilla chips.... and last night I tried it on tilapia.  Delicious!!  Now, you might be saying to yourself... chow chow??? Sounds like something she should be feeding her dog, not her husband.  But then you would be wrong and missing out on one of the tastiest little creations this side of... the Atlantic?  Anyways, it's awesome.  It's basically cabbage, onions, peppers, vinegar and some spices.  I got a jar at the farmer's market for $4.00, but I'm pretty sure you can find it in most grocery stores as well.  Here's the SUPER easy and EXTREMELY healthy dinner we had last night:
Tilapia with chow chow:

1. 4 tilapia fillets (buy frozen when it goes on B1G1)                  $3.69
2. jar of hot or mild chow chow                                                $4.00
3. 1/3 cup flour                                                                        pantry
4. salt and pepper                                                                    pantry
5. 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil                                                  pantry

1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat
2. Salt and pepper both sides of the tilapia.  Then dredge in flour (you'll probably have some excess flour leftover)
3. When oil is hot, fry tilapia for about 3 minutes on each side (or until done...keep an eye on 'em!)

4. Cover in chow chow.  It doesn't get much simpler than that!  Each piece of fish with 2 Tbsp. chow chow is about 200 calories.  A serving is 1 piece of fish... I ate 2 :)  Total cost per serving: $1.92.  Oh, and it takes less than 10 minutes. :)  LOVE!

It's not General Tso's... it's better!

Brent's OBSESSED with Asian food.  His all time favorite: hibachi.  Ask him where he wants to go for dinner, and you can be sure he'll answer with one of the following: Fusion Bowl, Tsunami or Miyos. (Even if you're not familiar with those restaurants... the names alone should give them away)  So I always keep Asian spices on hand, and he's actually learned that he can mix a few of them together, put it on chicken, and it turns out pretty tasty.  Mixing them in a bowl and dunking 1-inch cubes of chicken breast in it is the most cooking I've ever seen the man done.  But he's proud of himself (and I'm proud of him too).  :)
To create Asian flavor you need:
1. rice vinegar
2. sesame oil
3. minced ginger (I'm telling you... buy the tube!  Mincing ginger is awful)
4. garlic (jar!)
5. some sort of chili sauce... he likes the red stuff with the green cap: sriracha

Having these on hand made the following meal REALLY cheap for me, but if you have to go out and buy all of these things... this may get a little pricey.  Another trick to making a meal a little cheaper is to buy chicken thighs instead of the breasts.  Definitely stock up on chicken breasts if they go on sale, but if you don't have any breasts on hand, then go with chicken thighs.  They're a quarter of the cost.

Tonight's meal: Asian glazed chicken thighs.  This recipe is based on one I found in Cooking Light magazine.  I changed just a few things based in trial and error:

Ingredients:
1. 1/3 cup rice vinegar                      pantry or  $2.50
2. 1 Tbsp sesame oil                         pantry or  $3.75
3. 3 Tbsp honey                              pantry or  $1.99
4. 1 Tbsp chili sauce                         pantry or  $4.15
5. 2 Tbsp. chopped garlic                 pantry or $2.49
6. 1 chopped jalapeno                      $0.15
7. 8 skinless chicken thighs               $5.15

1. Mix ingredients 1-6 in a bowl with a whisk.  Put the marinade in a big freezer bag.  Dump the chicken thighs in the bag (I always cut off the excess fat first).  Marinade for 1-3 hours.
2. Heat oven to 425.  Spray a cookie sheet with at least 1/2 inch sides with cooking spray.  Spread out the thighs and cook for 10 minutes.  Reserve marinade!
3. Remove thighs.  Baste with marinade.
4. Bake another 10 minutes. Remove thighs.  Baste with marinade.  Throw out the rest of the marinade.
5. Bake a final 10 minutes.  (so that's 30 mins of total bake time, with 2 breaks to baste)
SO good!!! -makes 4 servings (2 thighs each)

I had all of the Asian flavors in my pantry already, so the cost of this meal for me was $1.33/serving!!!!  However, if you need to buy ALL of those spices, you're looking at a pricey $5.05/serving.  However, then you have all of them on hand for your next Asian meal!   

Meatless Mondays

Brent and I have been very into documentaries lately.  You name it: eat more vitamins, don't use plastic water bottles, juice fasts, etc... One idea that really stuck with me made economical, nutritional and environmental sense: Stop eating so much meat.  The meatless Monday was born!


Here's the EASY vegetarian sandwich we had tonight:
The BMTB: Basil-Mozzarella-Tomato-Balsamic


Ingredients:
(makes 2 servings)


1 fresh tomato                      $0.50
1/2 fresh mozzarella ball     $4.00 (so 1/2 would be $2.00...save the rest to put on a mini-pizza!)
6-8 leaves fresh basil           a la basil plant sitting in my kitchen ( Farmer's Market!)
1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar    pantry
2 ciabatta rolls                      $1.25
Extra virgin olive oil              pantry
salt and pepper                    pantry
cooking spray                       pantry


1. Simmer the balsamic in a small pot for a few minutes until it begins to reduce.  Don't simmer too long because it will burn (trust me on this one...)
2. Split the ciabatta rolls and brush the reduced balsamic on the bottom half.  Top in this order:
        1. 2 slices tomato
        2. 2 1/4-1/2 inch slices of mozzarella
        3. salt and pepper
        4. 3-4 basil leaves
        lightly brush the top of the ciabatta bread with extra virgin olive oil
3. Heat up a skillet (or grill pan if you got one) and spray with cooking spray
4. Place the sandwich in the skillet, top with a heavier skillet to flatten.  Grill for 3 minutes, spray the top of the sandwich with cooking spray, flip and grill for 3 more minutes.  Done!

You're looking at about $1.88/sandwich if you already have balsamic vinegar and basil.  Also, the entire sandwich is about 450 calories, (because of the delicious bread... which is really what makes a good sandwich anyways right?) so enjoy with fruit or veggies.   Lovin' meatless Mondays :)

Discovering how much I love eggplants (especially when they're free!)

2 days ago I went to the local farmers market for the first time.  I can't believe I'd never gone before.  I'm hooked.
I somehow timed my first venture to the F.M. perfectly, arriving about 1/2 an hour before they were all packing up to leave.  When you go towards the end of the market, you have a better chance of hearing the following sentences:
"Why don't you go ahead and take a few more. We're trying to get rid of these."
"Go ahead and take 5 for a dollar instead of 3... I don't want to put them back on the truck."
...or my favorite
"Just throw one of those in your bag too.  Don't worry about it."


That last one is how I got my first eggplant. 


So I left the farmers market with some peaches, cucumbers and a free eggplant.  I knew the eggplant was going to become eggplant Parmesan... I just hadn't worked out all the details yet.  I perused the Internet for some ideas, combined a few things, threw out unnecessary steps and ingredients, and came up with the following recipe.  and it rocks.


ingredients
1 medium eggplant                    (mine was free... in season you're looking at about $2 or less)
2 egg whites                             (carton=1.59/12= .13 per egg so.... 26 cents)
1/2 cup breadcrumbs               (pantry)
1/2 Tbsp Italian seasoning         (pantry)
1 garlic salt                              (pantry)
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan           (fridge)
jar of tomato sauce                   $1.50-$3.50 depending on brand
1/4 box of angel hair pasta        $1.00
shredded mozzarella cheese        $3.19
1 tsp. red pepper flakes             (pantry)


Steps:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 pan.
2. Cut off the ends and all of the skin of the eggplant.  Slice it into 1/2 inch thick rounds.
3. Mix the Parmesan cheese, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning into the breadcrumbs.
4. Dip the eggplant into the egg whites and then smother it in the breadcrumb mixture.  The whole slice should be covered, but shake off any excess.  Repeat with each slice and place in a single layer (or as close as you can get to one) in the 9x13 pan.
5. Bake for 12 minutes, flip all the pieces, bake for an additional 12 minutes.
6. While the eggplant is baking, cook the angel hair according to package directions
7. Take out the eggplant and on each slice place a big spoonful of the jarred tomato sauce and 1/8 cup of mozzarella cheese
8. Bake for an additional 10 minutes.  During this time, stir some of the same jarred tomato sauce into your angel hair pasta and add some red pepper flakes.
 Done! Serves 4.


This entire meal costs $1.65/ serving.  It's healthy because we're not frying the eggplant, we're just baking on the breadcrumbs to make it taste fried.  It's delicious.  Enjoy!