@LadyNighteyes I have a really good recipe for black bean and hominy stew which may or may not match up to your dietary restrictions but it definitely is hearty and filling, so I’ll drop it here just in case: 1 can black beans 1 can hominy 1/2 can diced tomatoes (optional, adds acidity and flavor, but this stew cooks for long enough that texture issues w/ tomatoes probably won’t be a problem) About 1.5 cups cubed pumpkin, sweet potato, or butternut squash (or similar winter squash) - can usually get this pre-cut and frozen Brown sugar or maple syrup to taste - start with a couple teaspoons Cumin to taste, about 1-3 teaspoons Chipotle or chili powder (optional) Put everything into a big pot (don’t drain any of the cans, you want the liquid). Add like a canful of water, bring to a boil, then simmer until it reaches the texture you want to eat it at. You might need to add more water at some point. Goes great with either cornbread or a little goat cheese on top! I usually double the recipe and freeze the leftovers, since freezing doesn’t hurt the texture at all.
@sirsparklepants Ha, yeah, definitely too scared of deep-frying, but "falafel wrap" is one of my Grab A Food After Work staples. @TheOwlet Possibly! Egg stuff can be hit-or-miss texture-wise for me, but it's a protein source I know I should probably be using more. (The tomato complaint is mostly because my standbys are: 1) vegetable jambalaya, 2) chili, 3) chicken cacciatore, 4) simmer sauce chicken and vegetable curry (mostly tikka masala, since that's what they most often have at Aldi, and 5) tomato-basil pasta, and when I'm completely out of spoons it's just "cook some pasta and open a jar of marinara sauce." Which means basically every time we make a hot dinner, it has tomatoes in it. Which is getting pretty old.)
I'm just gonna throw a link to my favorite recipe blog in here - it's cheap, you can sort by dietary need or main ingredients, and I wouldn't rate any of the recipes as any more difficult than intermediate, and the blogger doesn't do the unfortunate chatty food blogger thing, two paragraphs max of explanation. I'm linking directly to the beans and grains section since it seems most relevant to you, but I've never had a recipe from this blog that was underspiced - the blogger definitely believes in the value of seasonings.
I love budgetbytes! I've adapted several recipes from there for my needs and they've always been good.
witnessed on the decision paralysis. that is a major problem for me too. but you can't go wrong with stir-fry. or rather, you can, but in terms of decision making it's kind of like... clean out your vegetable drawer and chop until you're bored with chopping, kind of thing.
@LadyNighteyes Spoiler: recipe Needs, per Person: Two stale breadrolls/two to three thick slices stale bread One egg Splash of milk One small onion (optional but recommended) Salt, pepper, chopped parsley (frozen stuff is fine) Do: cube up your bread producti in bitesized pieces into a bowl. Crack the egg over it, add your milk and give it a good mix (hands ideal but implements work, too). Let it sit for a Moment while you slice your onion into small bits. Add onion to bowl, the Salt, pepper and parsley to taste. Mix again. If mix seems very dry, add a little more milk until it's as wet as you want, but it shouldn't be swimming in liquid. Heat some oil or butter in a pan on medium heat. Once hot, dump in your bread mixture and start frying, occasionally breakjng clumps apart. Fry to golden-brown. Pile into a plate. It's a fairly hearty dish (absorbs some oil during frying) so i like to spoon over something acid like pickle juice or straight up vinegar to balance it out but any other sort of condiment will do too. Dig in! Food has happened to you and however many associates you want to feed
Veggie pie. This is a somewhat flexible recipe, depending on the size of your tins Puff pastry or pie pastry Eggs About one or one and a half spoons of flour for each egg, depending on how eggy you want the filling. More flour for less eggy, less flour for more eggy Half of that amount of milk and of an oil or melted butter Salt, pepper, garlic, other seasonings to taste Onion, if you want it Grated cheese (optional) Vegetables. I usually make this with whatever is available when I want to use up leftovers, but my favorites are a mix of broccoli/cauliflower, a can of carrot-potatoes-corn-peas mix, or pre baked sweet potato or other root veggie Place your pastry in your preferred pastry baking utensil and follow instructions if you have to pre bake it (but dont prebake puff pastry). Dice onions and mince garlic; chop your vegetables in tiny bits, and if not using precooked give everything a good pass in a pan. Season to taste, then dump it in your pastry. In a bowl, mix enough egg, flour, butter and milk to cover your vegetables. Season to taste, then pour over vegetables. Cover with cheese if that's your thing, then bake on low/low medium.
does anyone have any tips for getting cooked omelettes out of the pan without breaking them? I've been making a lot of them lately, and this part of the process is the only remaining thing that keeps tripping me up...I use non-stick pans and grease the surface with butter before adding the egg mixture, but I'm still having trouble even just moving the omelette out of the bottom of the pan, never mind off onto a plate--either by tipping it out or using a spatula--without it breaking up do I need to use different pans, or maybe an oil instead of butter? or is there some fancy magic technique that helps separate the omelette from the pan? basically looking for that kind of help here
i’m not SUPER good at omelettes because i only ever make them for other people, but does your pan have rounded sides? i find that a gentle curve to the sides of the skillet REALLY helps with both flipping the omelette and getting them out of the pan something like this, rather than this
OXO good grips do a large, soft omelette turning spatula, if you're willing to invest in a piece of kit; it has good reviews for flipping and serving, but I've not tried it myself (my knowledge of it comes from art videos.)
unfortunately there don't seem to be any pans with rounded sides in the house...closest I have is pans with sides that slope down into a flat valley (like this: \_/) that does look useful! hm...wonder if a simple silicone spatula could achieve a similar effect, or at least a better one to a normal spatula? I may have to test that out the next time I cook up an omelette...
Try two spatulas supporting as you lift it out of the pan? That's what I do with a particularly filling heavy omelet
unfortunately I can't say much, it came with my home chef order. They tasted really good though, and had really finely ground salt, like popcorn salt on them. The salt was a bit smoky as well, though I'm not sure if that was a smoked salt, or if it was smoked along with the almonds. < They did add a nice flavor to the dish. They were a little bit softer than regular almonds as well.
I'm trying to find a place to buy smoked almonds online and getting kinda sad now, they all seem to be either coated in a smokey flavored salt, or only available in 5lbs bags. the ones i got were definately smoked though, i could see the way the smoke penetrated them when i chopped them up.
I've definitely gotten a 1lb bag of smoked Blue Diamond brand almonds at the grocery store before (not smoke flavored, I'm so not into that) so I'm not sure why that option wouldn't be available online, huh.
