Quote

"I cannot live without books: but fewer will suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future object." -- Thomas Jefferson

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Getting Back to my Tightwad Roots

Time to get back to my Tightwad Gazette roots.

I have drifted away from making choices to save money.

A core Tightwad Gazette (TWG) method for saving money when shopping for groceries is to buy items for less by choosing substitutes for expensive items, by buying items on sale including buying extras for the pantry, and by being creative. Saving pesos add up.

On a recent trip to a local grocery store, I picked up a few items but I tried to make TWG choices.



Vegetable Oil

I am going to try switching from olive oil to canola oil because olive oil is expensive.

Olive oil, 750ml $115.00
.153 ml

Canola oil, 450ml $15.11
.033 ml


Savings: $0.12ml


Dry milk
 

Besides having dry milk for back up, I also use it to make liters of milk for everyday use.

1 360g Dry Milk pkg (deslactosado light) sale price $39.86
makes 2880ml, 1 Liter = 1000mL, package makes about 3 liters

1 liter of milk (deslactosado) approx. $18.00


1 liter dry mix = $13.29


Savings: $4.71


Powdered drink mixes

I had been drifting towards drinking fruit juices straight rather than as fruit coolers.

While I think fruit juices are healthier, an occasional powdered beverage is ok for me.

Common powdered drink mix flavors are:

Té Helado, Limón, Manzana, Coco, Mango, Fresa, Durazno, Uva, Arandana, Tamarindo, Piña Colado, Horchata, Jamaica, Naranja, Sandia, Piña, Guayaba, Mandarina, Melón, Guanabana

Unusual flavor: Áloe


My method for using a packet of powdered drink mix is to make a concentrate. Then, I use the concentrate to make a glass at a time.




1 pkg prices range from $3.35 - 4.10, 1 pkg makes 2 Liters liquid

In general, 1 liter of fruit juices range from $10.00 - 20.00

1 liter powdered beverage = $3.72 / 2 = $1.86


1 liter of fruit juice = an average price of $15.00

Savings: $13.14

I also plan to use the concentrates as flavoring in various recipes.


Sponges

1 pkg of 2 $11.00


I cut the sponges in half = 4 sponges.


Savings: $11.00

While comparing 2 large sponges with 4 small sponges is not an equal comparison, the cut sponges last just as long as the large sponges.


It was the TWG that spurred me to learn how to make meals at home for work lunches and more to save money.

While my original RKFNC cookbook contained several of the recipes I developed trying to follow TWG ideas and advice, I continue to try and expand my recipe repertoire.

Some other methods to save money available to most people:

Buy used clothes, books, kitchen utensils, furniture and more at thrift stores and yard sales.

Most of my clothes and books were purchased from thrift stores but here in MX, I have a harder time finding thrift stores. There are weekly flea markets in various locations and there are used furniture stores.

But, because it has been difficult to find what I need at these venues, like clothes, I priced clothes at various outlets. I found one where almost every item of clothing was under $50 pesos. I got several shirts and pants, and mix and match outfits.

Also, I found the best place to get cancletas (flip flops), at a low price.

But, it is funny, no matter what I purchase an item for, someone always says, “I got one cheaper than that.”


See post: 25 Small Ways to Save Money in Mexico, for more TWG ideas.


Saturday, June 8, 2019

Leftovers: Microwave Hot Chicken, Rice and Spinach

This is one of my favorite dishes using leftover chicken.

This makes one serving.


Leftovers: Microwave Hot Chicken, Rice and Spinach


Ingredients:

Cooked Rice
Cooked chicken, diced
Frozen Spinach
Mayo


Process:

Take a bowl, add a few tablespoons of cooked rice.
Add a few tablespoons of cooked chicken.
Add a dessert bowel of frozen spinach.
Add 1 tablespoon of Mayo.
Stir ingredients thoroughly.
Place bowl in microwave. Cover.
Microwave on high for two minutes.

Stir prior to serving.

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Toaster Oven: Single-Serving Peanut Butter Cookies

Hurray, It’s a Cookie!

This is my first baked cookie in my Toaster Oven.

I am in heaven. I have hard-boiled eggs, Peanut Butter Mousse, Lentils with Garlic and Cookies!


Toaster Oven: Single-Serving Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe

(Adapted from: https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/07/26/single-serving-peanut-butter-cookies/)

This recipe only make 2 cookies.



Preparations:

Set Toaster Oven on Bake.
Pre-heat Toaster Oven to 350 degrees.
Add a layer of waxed paper to Tin Tray.
Add a dab of olive oil and wipe over waxed paper.


Ingredients:

2 Level TBspns flour
1 Level TBspn Sugar
1/16 Tsp Baking Soda
a dash of salt
1 1/2 TBspns of Creamy Peanut Butter
1/4 capful of vanilla flavoring or extract
1 Tspn Applesauce


Process:

In a small bowl, add the dry ingredients and mix well.
Add the rest of the ingredients.
Stir and mix well until mixture is smooth.
With a Tablespoon, divide the mixture into two portions.
Scoop up one portion and drop onto tray.
Drop the second portion onto tray.

Use Tablespoon to reshape, if desired. 
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Unbaked   



Baked
#GERD-friendly

Hotplate: Lentils with Garlic Powder

In the past, I have struggled to make lentil recipes I liked.

Surprisingly, this simple recipe came out perfect.

Looking at the lentils I bought, I think they are a mix of green, red and yellow lentils.


Hotplate: Lentils with Garlic Powder Recipe

Ingredients:

1 Cup dry lentils
Water
Garlic Powder


Process:

Add water to a pot.
Add 1 cup of lentils.
Make sure the lentils are covered and there is at least an extra 1” of water covering the lentils.
Add 5-8 dashes of garlic powder.
Bring to a boil.
Lower temperature to medium-high and simmer lentils for 30 minutes or until soft.

Drain the lentils.



I forgot. One cup of lentils makes a lot of cooked lentils.

Now, I had originally planned to dress up the lentils in various ways. But, when Lucy came today, we had a "buffet" that included some of the dishes I had made, including the "plain" lentils.


The combination of foods worked well with the lentils as a side dish.
"Lucy liked all my dishes!"
That is high praise to me because Lucy is a great cook.

#GERD-friendly

Microwave: Peanut Butter Bread Pudding

This blog has grown quite a bit over the years. In the past, I tried cooking several recipes in one day. That worked for awhile.

But, now, I am doing a bit of reorgranization. I am pulling out some of the recipes made on those marathon days and making them individual posts. I am also revising some of the recipes, like making a recipe GERD-friendly and such.



Microwave: Peanut Butter Bread Pudding Recipe 
(Adapted from: my Blueberry Bread Pudding Recipe)

Makes about 6-8 servings



Ingredients:

3 eggs
1/2 tbspn sugar
1 cup coconut cream or coconut milk
2 cups milk
2 tspns vanilla flavoring
2/3rds of a 16oz jar of peanut butter
6 slices of bread (multigrain), broken into chunks
Cinnamon



Process:

Mix eggs, sugar, cream, milk and vanilla.

Stir thoroughly and set aside.
Spread the peanut butter on the bottom of the casserole dish.
Spread bread chunks in a thick layer over the peanut butter.
Pour egg mixture over bread and peanut butter.
Sprinkle cinnamon over the top of the mixture.
Cover the dish with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate for 3 hours.
Microwave on high for 15 minutes.
Let casserole rest for 10 minutes before serving.


Caution: pull edge of plastic wrap away from you to avoid steam burns.

Black Bean Salsa

As I post this recipe, I have spent over two weeks researching and trying recipes for the Toaster Oven.

Buying the Toaster Oven threw my entire grocery/preparation/cooking system into chaos and blew a hole in my budget because I had to shop for other ingredients and a few extra cooking vessels, several times.

More chaos occurred when I tried to make bagels, biscuits and a potato croquette recipe where with each one I drown in sticky useless dough that was flung far and wide in my kitchen. I am still finding bits here and there.

I gave up and moved onto other recipes. I will try, again, to bake biscuits, cake and other recipes in the future.

While I was successful making:

DIY Bagel Everything Seasonings Variation
DIY Tartar Sauce
Toaster Oven: Baked Salmon Balls
Toaster Oven: Salmon Muffins
Microwave: Mug O’Oats and Spinach
Toaster Oven: Fruit Tart
Chocolate Frosting
Peanut Butter and Yogurt Mousse

there are plenty of desserts in that group, a few meal dishes, but no vegetable dishes. You can't eat Peanut Butter and Yogurt Mousse all day.

So, after more research, I found I had to fall back on several of my previous recipes in order to have a balanced choice of meals and side dishes.

After making:

Faux Spanish Rice
Carrot, Raisin & Almond Salad
and now Black Bean Salsa

I am getting back on track.

As a single person, it is a struggle to avoid food waste, so I often eat similar meals for days.

So, I hope to use this salsa as a side dish, snack, and quesadilla filling.

While this recipe has a mild flavor, others can beef up the taste by adding additional spices and vegetables.


Black Bean Salsa Recipe

(Adapted from:  USDA Confetti Bean Salsa Recipe)



Ingredients:

1 560g (approx 20oz) Can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
1 220g (approx 8oz) Can Kernel Corn, drained and rinsed
3 Tspns of Canned Salsa
1/2 Capful Lime juice concentrate
10 dashes of Onion powder
S/P to taste


Process:

In a medium bowl, add black beans and corn, stir well.
Add salsa, lime juice and onion powder, stir well.
Add S/P to taste, stir well.



Chill before serving.

#GERD-friendly

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Hotplate: Faux Spanish Rice

Since rice can be the base for many meals. I needed to make a batch of rice.

So, I went back to my old Spanish rice recipe and made some adaptations.


Hotplate: Faux Spanish Rice
(Adapted from: Recipes from the Kitchen of a Frugal Non-Cook)


Ingredients:

2 TBspns Olive oil
1 Cup Uncooked white rice
1 Tspn Onion powder

1 Tspn Garlic powder
1 Tspn Oregano
1 Tspn Chili powder (optional)
 2 Cups Water
1 8 oz Can salsa

S/P to taste


Process:

Add oil to deep skillet.

Heat to medium.
Add rice. Stir to mix with oil.
Add seasonings. Stir.
Cook until rice is a bit brown. Stir occasionally.
Add water and salsa. Stir to mix well.
Add S/P to taste. Stir well.
Cover and simmer 20-30 minutes or until rice has absorbed the liquid.



FYI: To order a POD of Recipes from the Kitchen of a Frugal Non-Cook, go to:
http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1597585

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Microwave: Mug O'Scrambled Eggs with Corn, and Salsa Topping

Microwave: Mug O'Scrambled Eggs with Corn, and Salsa Topping
(Got the idea from: http://bstrecipes.blogspot.mx/2015/07/squaw-dish-scrambled-eggs-and-corn.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed)


Ingredients:

1 roll
a bit of olive oil
1 egg
A dollop of milk
1 tbpsn kernel corn
Ground black pepper to taste
A dash of paprika

Toppings: 1 tbspn canned salsa
1 tbspn imitation bacon bits


Process:

Cut roll in half and toast in skillet with a bit of oil.
Set aside.
Break egg into an 8oz coffee mug with a wide brim.
Add the remaining ingredients.
Mix and stir vigorously for at least 30 seconds.
Microwave 1-2 minutes until liquid has cooked off.
Scoop egg out and place on top of one half of toasted roll.
Top with salsa.
Sprinkle bacon bits over egg mixture

Toaster Oven: Baked Salmon Muffins


I will attempt to describe how I made these muffins but during the process, I veered a bit from the ingredients and did not make notes.


Toaster Oven: Baked Salmon Muffins
(Adapted from: https://efnep.ifas.ufl.edu/media/efnepifasufledu/pdfs/recipes/Salmon-patties-English-UF.pdf)


Preparations:

Pre-heat Toaster Oven, set on Bake at 350 degrees.
Using a paper towel or a reusable clean cloth, wipe muffin tin slots with olive oil.


Ingredients:

3 -140g (4.94 oz) Cans of salmon, drained
1 TBspn Lime juice
2 Eggs
1/4 Cup Celery, diced
1 TBspn Bell pepper, diced
1 TBspn Onion powder+
1 Cup Bread cubes, fresh*
1 TBspns Olive oil
1 TBspns Flour
S/P to taste
Topping: 2 Tspns of canned salsa
Garnish: Lime slices


Process:

Add salmon into a large bowl.
Add lime juice. Stir.
Crack eggs into salmon mixture.
Stir well.
Add celery and bell peppers.
Stir well.
Add onion powder. Stir well.
Add bread cubes.
Stir thoroughly. Mix cubes into mixture.
Add Olive oil. Stir well.
Add flour, salt and pepper. Stir well.
Add more bread cubes, if mixture is too moist.
Add water, if mixture is too thick.
Need mixture to be slightly thick and stiff to shape into muffins.

+Note: I added a dab of LO pickled onions from a carryout order.

Using tablespoon, scoop up mixture and fill tin slots with mixture.
Add extra mixture to each until you have an even amount of mixture in each slot.
Press the mixture lightly with the back of spoon to shape mixture evenly in the slot.
Top each slot of mixture with 2 Tspns of salsa.

Bake 45-55 minutes at 350 degrees.
Remove when done, place muffin tray on cooling rack.


Salmon muffins should be easy to lift out with a spoon onto a plate or into a refrigerator container with a lid.

*Can use commercial bread crumbs, or crushed crackers.

Easy Chocolate Frosting

A tin of cocoa powder has been sitting in my frig for quite awhile. In the past, I was making lots of Microwave Bowl Cakes but none recently.

So, I wondered what can I use the cocoa powder for? Originally, I thought of making a frosting for cookies and I came upon this recipe on BBCFood.com.


Easy Chocolate Frosting
(Adapted from: https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/simple_cocoa_frosting_95104)

This recipe makes a small amount of frosting.


Ingredients:

1 heaping TBspn of cocoa powder
 6 heaping TBspns of confectioners sugar
1 TBspn Olive oil
8 TBspns of heavy cream

Add ingredients to a container with a lid.
Stir and mix ingredients thoroughly until it is creamy.
Add lid.
Store in frig for future use.

I am trying to make drop biscuits or cookies and plan to ice them with this frosting.

Easy Peasy Peanut Butter Mousse

Updated 1/9/21
 
As I peruse the peanut recipes created by George Washington Carver, a noted Botanist, who promoted new agricultural methods and cash crops like the peanut and sweet potato to assist farmers in the South, I found his recipe for Peanut Frappe below which I find similar to my Easy Peasy Peanut Butter Mousse.
 
Source:
 
How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption, Seventh Edition, January 1940

By GEORGE W. CARVER, M.S. in AGR., Director
 
"5. Peanut Frappe

Make one pint of good gelatin; set aside to harden.
Stir 1 cup of granulated sugar into one pint of whipped cream;
when the gelatin is just at the point of setting, stir into the whipped cream by beating it with a fork;
add 3/4 cup of peanut meal;
serve in sherbert glasses with fresh or preserved fruit."
 
Slowly, I am discovering the fun and many uses of yogurt and peanut butter in various recipes.


Easy Peasy Peanut Butter Mousse
(Adapted from: https://eatsmartmovemoreva.org/recipes/yogurt-peanut-butter-dip/)



Ingredients:
3 heaping TBspns creamy peanut butter
5 TBspns plain yogurt
1 Capful vanilla flavoring


Optional:
Garnish: fruit slices or berries
Topping: Cinnamon 
 
Process:
 
Add peanut butter into a bowl.
Add yogurt and vanilla. 
Mix well until smooth. 
If a thicker mousse is desired, add more peanut butter. 
If a thinner mousse or dip is desired, add more yogurt.

 
Serve in a small dessert bowl.
Add garnish and cinnamon.
 
 
References: 
 
Texas A&M Agrilife Extension
https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/fruit-nut/carver-peanut
 
Miami New Times Blogs
Top 5 George Washington Carver Peanut Recipes
(Accessed 2/10/2010)
 
#GERD-friendly

Friday, May 31, 2019

Microwave: Mug O'Hot Oats with Spinach

Microwave: A Mug O’ Hot Oats with Spinach
(Adapted from: Worts Recipe by Jack Monroe from Cooking on a Bootstrap)

As you will see in subsequent posts, getting a Toaster / Convection Oven (TCO) has thrown me into a tizzy trying to find recipes for the TCO.

Anyway, in the midst of my research, I bought a Kindle version of Jack Monroe’s Cooking on a Bootstrap.

Jack has found the secret to writing a good cookbook, include personal and historic stories of life and food with the various recipes.

Jack is clear about how she creates her recipes and where she finds her sources of information and inspiration. So, when I found her Worts recipe, a 200+ year old recipe, they found in British Library, I was intrigued on many levels.

The recipe features oats.

Anyway, as I read the recipe, I thought this might make a good Mug recipe. So, I thought, I’ll cut the recipe in half and make a mug meal.


While I had used an online Metric Converter to translate the grams and milliliters into ounces, when I went to the kitchen, I forgot to halve the recipe, but after some messy maneuvers, I made a mug of hot oats with spinach and spices and it’s pretty good.

I have so few oat recipes, I am happy to add one more to my repertoire.

Because I follow a GERD-friendly diet, I use onion powder instead of onions, for me this works with no acid reflux issues.

Also, hot sauce in a recipe seems ok, but if it’s in a sauce used to top food, that’s hard on my stomach.

But, too much of a good thing may set it off, so I try to use onion powder, hot sauce and ground black pepper and other GERD-Unfriendly ingredients sparingly.

Bouillon, Bullion, Billion… one letter can make a difference. I’d love to have a Billion Bullions but you can’t cook with them like you can with Bouillon.



Ingredients:

Olive oil
1/2 TBspn onion powder
3.5 oz dry oats
1 bouillon cube
13.5 oz of water
3.5 oz or a dessert bowl full - frozen spinach
1 Tsp lime juice
3-5 dashes of hot sauce (To make this #GERD-friendly, do not use hot sauce)
S/P to taste



Process:

Put oil in a 16 oz coffee mug.
Add onion powder.
Microwave 30 seconds on high.

Put water into a microwavable measuring cup.
Add bouillon cube.
Microwave 2 minutes on high to dissolve cube.

Put spinach into a microwavable dish.

Microwave spinach 2 minutes on high to soften.

Add oats to coffee mug.
Add bouillon water.

Stir well.
Add spinach.
Mix and stir well.
Place a saucer under the coffee mug to catch spillover.
Bring to a boil.

Here’s the problem. Because I did not halve the recipe, the mixture overwhelmed the 16 oz mug. I had to remove half the contents and put it into another bowl while I microwaved the rest for 3-5 minutes on high.

Then, I added the bowl of mix back into the mug and microwaved for about 2 minutes. There was some spill over.

By this time, the mixture had thickened.


If necessary, continue microwaving the mixture for a 1 minute or 2 more to thicken.

When done, I added lime juice, hot sauce and some ground black pepper and stirred the mixture thoroughly.

I like it. In the future, if I halve the recipe, I think it will be fairly easy to make.




6 / 1/ 19 Update:

I made another Mug O'Hot Oats and Spinach.

This time I halved the recipe, used chicken bouillon (the previous recipe used tomato bouillon), and less hot sauce. It turned out great. Both recipes are good but I like this one, today.

I can see I am going to make this recipe alot.

#GERD-friendly

Toaster Oven: My First Baked Hard Boiled Egg Toast Topping

A landmark achievement!

I made my First Baked Hard Boiled Egg Toast Topping.


There were many reasons why I bought a Toaster / Convection Oven (TCO), one was because my hotplate can not boil water, so I couldn't make hard-boiled eggs, a favorite menu item.

When I read that one could make hard-boiled eggs in a toaster oven, I got excited.

The purchase of the TCO was a bit much for me. Plus, it has thrown my whole cooking, shopping routine into a tizzy.

So, inch by inch, recipe by recipe, test by test, I will expand my menu choices.

Thursday, May 30, 2019

Cooking on a Bootstrap: Over 100 Simple, Budget Recipes by Jack Monroe

I was trying to buy Jack Monroe's new book, Tin Can Cook.


Whew, but nothing is simple anymore.


Without going into detail, using my devices has become a nightmare. I can not do one thing without a problem or interruption. And I do wish other recipes sites would stop throwing stuff at their visitors, like popup boxes and multiple moving videos, it makes the site look unprofessional and I run like hell from those sites.

Anyway, while I have a copy of Jack's book, A Girl Called Jack, I had it delivered to another address, so I have not seen it yet.



When I went to try and buy the Tin Can Cook, Kindle version, Amazon would not let me buy it, probably because I am not in the States at this time.

They let me buy the Kindle version of Cooking on a Bootstrap: Over 100 Simple Budget Recipes.

And I am enjoying the heck out of it.


I love how Jack adds her personal experiences into her recipes, like not having the time for breakfast as she rushes out the door with a banana blackening in the bottom of her handbag.

While I have skimmed the book, my cooking life is in a twirl. I have spent a whole week looking for recipes I can cook, including some in Jack's book and most of the time I am missing a crucial ingredient, like say, yeast.

What do I eat while I am trying to figure out what to cook?

Well, I have eaten several dead bagels for two days, hard-boiled egg scrambled egg accidents, local rotisserie chicken with rice, carrots with peanut butter, with salad dressing, celery with peanut butter, Beans on Toast, successful blueberry pie filling tarts, and Baked Salmon Balls with DIY tartar sauce. There's always cereal.

My struggles with cooking and food are complex. I am poor but where I live, I can stretch a dollar. But, I don't have a car, so that limits my food choice options, but on the other hand, I do have many options, but I am trying to cook American or British or Indian recipes in a place where most of the ingredients available are for Spanish recipes.

Go to a nearby mom and pop convenience store and you won't find Sunflower oil. I was fortunate to go to a government grocery store and find Canola oil.

I am not complaining, really. I eat well. But, I still can't cook. So, I depend on Cook/Authors like Jack to guide me through the jungle of terms, processes, utensils, ingredients, substitutes and more to inspire me to keep trying to make healthy food within my budget.

The funny thing is as I listen to Bollywood's top song hits while I search for recipes etc., and read Jack's book, my eyes roll back in my head because I have to convert grams, liters, milliliters etc., and sometimes there are terms I just don't know like sultanas (I am assuming they are raisins) but that is why I spend so much time on the internet trying to figure things out. Anyway, my brain is being "stretched" as it seems I am trying to live in four worlds at the same time.

Which is also why I laughed when I read that Jack has gone to the library to research ancient recipes and found a recipe for "Worts" which she altered and improved. Going to the library is always a good idea.


Also, I love Jack's stories about her thrift store finds like her 20p Royal Doulton glass. 

I feel like I passed Amy Dacyczyn's "Tightwad Gazette "Course" with a C+ and have moved onto Jack's Budget Kitchen Classes.

Anyway, I appreciate Jack's mission to help people eat well on "peanuts."

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

DIY Everything Bagel Seasoning Variation

It is common for me not to have everything a recipe calls for, so, I am learning to make substitutions. In the case of this recipe, it called for poppy seeds which I did not have, so I used Chia seeds. The Chia seeds added texture but not much flavor. 
 
This recipe makes enough seasoning for four bagels. 
 
 
DIY Everything Bagel Seasoning Variation



Ingredients: 
 
1 Tspn each of:
Chia Seeds
Crushed sesame seeds
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Rock salt with Macha (Macha is optional) 
 
 
Process: 
 
Put ingredients in a jar with a lid. Shake contents rigorously to mix.
 

Toaster Oven: Hard Boiled Eggs


Toaster Oven: Hard Boiled Eggs
(Adapted from: https://ashleydiy.blogspot.com/2012/05/toaster-oven-hard-boiled-eggs.html)

Wow! Hurray! A Success!
I did it, I made hard-boiled eggs in my toaster oven, thanks to Ashley.


Preparations:

Set Toaster / Convection Oven on Bake.
Set temperature to 325 deg.
Pre-heat Toaster / Convection Oven by setting timer to 5-7 minutes.
Need a Toaster Oven rack set in the middle of the oven.
Need oven mitts or pot holders.


Ingredients:

3 eggs
Bowl with cold water (add ice)


Process:

Wash eggs.
Place eggs onto rack.

Bake 25 minutes.



Remove eggs and place into bowl with cold water with some ice cubes for 15 minutes.

When the bath was done, I took the eggs out and peeled one. It peeled without any problems!


Notes:

When I started, my eggs were cold. I let them sit out while the oven pre-heated. They were still cold when I put them into the oven.

When the eggs were done cooking, one egg was spotted. It was hard to retrieve the hot eggs from the rack, I had to grab them one by one and drop them onto an oven mitt. Then, I dropped the eggs into the ice cold water.

Also, I forgot to change setting to Bake, it was set on Toast, but they still cooked.


I used one hard-boiled egg to make a toast topping using guacamole sauce as a base on one slice of toast. I added a few slivers of hard cheese.

Then, I sliced the egg and added slices to the top of the guacamole and cheese. Then, I topped this with imitation bacon bits, a few bits of cooked, diced, bell peppers and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.


Then, I cut the toast into quarters. Yum.

I am looking forward to more hard-boiled egg recipes!


Other Resources: 
 
Make Hard-Boiled Eggs in the Oven
 
Easy Hard-Boiled Eggs in Oven
 


Monday, May 27, 2019

DIY Tartar Sauce with Capers

DIY Tartar Sauce with Capers
(Adapted from: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/homemade_tartar_sauce/)


Ingredients:

3 Heaping TBspns of Mayo
2 TBspns Pickle Relish, drained
1 Tspn capers, drained
1 Tspn yellow mustard
2 Tspns onion powder
1 capful lime juice
3 dashes of hot sauce
Ground black pepper to taste



Process:

Add ingredients to a container with a lid.
Stir thoroughly until sauce is smooth.
Cover container, place in refrigerator.

While I did not care for the taste of the Tartar Sauce, straight, it tasted well with Baked Salmon Balls, (see blog for recipe).

 

Toaster Oven: Baked Salmon Balls

Toaster Oven: Baked Salmon Balls
(Adapted from: https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/baked-salmon-balls-82375)

I made 12 Salmon Balls.

Preparations:

Pre-heat Toaster Oven to 350º
Lay a sheet of waxed paper on tin tray.


Ingredients:

1 Can 140g (4.9oz) salmon, drained
1/4 Cup Bread crumbs
1 Tspn Onion powder
1/2 Tspns Garlic powder
1 Capful Lime juice
1 1/2 TBspn Mayo




Process:

Add salmon to a bowl.
Add bread crumbs, onion and garlic powders.
Stir dry ingredients.
Add lime juice and mayo.
Stir ingredients thoroughly.
Stir and mash ingredients.

If mixture is a bit dry, add more mayo.
With your clean fingers, pick up approximately a TBspn of the mixture.
Roll, mash, and roll the mixture between your palms to form a ball.
Place the balls onto the wax paper on the tray.
Bake at 350º for 20 minutes.

When done, move tray to a wire rack to cool.

Move Baked Salmon Balls to a plate.



Serve with DIY Tartar Sauce, (see recipe on blog).