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

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

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.