The peanut sauce was a success, even moreso than expected. A cup of rice, a bag of frozen "asian syle" vegetables, and a bag of the peanut sauce lasted four very generous meals. I could have made it last a couple more meals if I didn't eat such big portions.
It's fun to see how plans and ideas work out. This week I'm venturing into the pumpkin sauce, so we'll see how that goes.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
Hitting the sauce
Every few weeks I spend a day making a menu, shopping, and making large quantities of food to freeze for later meals. God bless whoever made the FoodSaver. I am trying this new thing where I spend as little money as possible, so today's adventure at the store posed some new challenges. My theme this go-round is rice and sauce. I bought a 5 pound bag of rice for $3, which seemed like a great price. I made three different sauces using some ingredients I already had here, and some I bought at the store. And I bought 3.5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts to freeze too. It was $11. If I bought a whole chicken, it would have been $3.99 total. I just couldn't quite make the leap today though... something about gizzards and necks being a part of the decision.
Anyway, I've wanted to start posting recipes here, especially those that are cheap and fun and delicious. Most of the recipes I make are adapted from things I find on allrecipes.com, which is a great website and launching pad. Just a quick note, though - I measure and add ingredients to taste, and rarely use measuring devices. So most of the measurements I will use are estimates, or based on how it tastes or looks.
Peanut sauce
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup Karo syrup
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
few squirts lime juice (maybe 1/2 lime if fresh squeezed?)
Mix all ingredients except for milk and heat on low-medium on stovetop. Stir continually until all ingredients are mixed and smooth. Add milk until color is a little lighter than regular peanut butter color, or until it's your preferred consistency, or until it tastes good and continue to heat until smooth. I think this ended up being about 1/2 cup of milk for me. I think it would be really good using coconut milk instead too.
I halved the pot and froze this in two bags, each bag probably worth about 3 meals. I bought frozen veggies to go with this, and the chicken if I'm feeling generous.
Coconut Curry
2 cans coconut milk (my favorite is the brand Chaokoh if you can find it)
6 teaspoons Thai Kitchen green curry paste (almost the entire jar)
I had this stuff at home. I just decided to make a mass quantity of it and freeze into individual portions. I use way more paste than the jar says to, but I think it tastes better that way. This also goes well with the frozen veggies and chicken (and garlic) and should last about 8 meals.
Spicy Pumpkin Sauce
1 can pumpkin puree
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 stick butter (or whatever equivalent olive oil)
Mix all ingredients and heat on stovetop until smooth. I found something like this on allrecipes but it sounded really sweet. So I omitted some things, and added the spicy stuff. I actually thought it tasted really good, and I'm curious to see what it tastes like over rice. I'm thinking I could make it with chicken, or with diced apples and baked acorn squash. So many gross-sounding possibilities. The sauce should last about 4 meals.
Anyway, I've wanted to start posting recipes here, especially those that are cheap and fun and delicious. Most of the recipes I make are adapted from things I find on allrecipes.com, which is a great website and launching pad. Just a quick note, though - I measure and add ingredients to taste, and rarely use measuring devices. So most of the measurements I will use are estimates, or based on how it tastes or looks.
Peanut sauce
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup Karo syrup
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
few squirts lime juice (maybe 1/2 lime if fresh squeezed?)
Mix all ingredients except for milk and heat on low-medium on stovetop. Stir continually until all ingredients are mixed and smooth. Add milk until color is a little lighter than regular peanut butter color, or until it's your preferred consistency, or until it tastes good and continue to heat until smooth. I think this ended up being about 1/2 cup of milk for me. I think it would be really good using coconut milk instead too.
I halved the pot and froze this in two bags, each bag probably worth about 3 meals. I bought frozen veggies to go with this, and the chicken if I'm feeling generous.
Coconut Curry
2 cans coconut milk (my favorite is the brand Chaokoh if you can find it)
6 teaspoons Thai Kitchen green curry paste (almost the entire jar)
I had this stuff at home. I just decided to make a mass quantity of it and freeze into individual portions. I use way more paste than the jar says to, but I think it tastes better that way. This also goes well with the frozen veggies and chicken (and garlic) and should last about 8 meals.
Spicy Pumpkin Sauce
1 can pumpkin puree
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 stick butter (or whatever equivalent olive oil)
Mix all ingredients and heat on stovetop until smooth. I found something like this on allrecipes but it sounded really sweet. So I omitted some things, and added the spicy stuff. I actually thought it tasted really good, and I'm curious to see what it tastes like over rice. I'm thinking I could make it with chicken, or with diced apples and baked acorn squash. So many gross-sounding possibilities. The sauce should last about 4 meals.
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