Valerean

My guy loves onion bagels. I do not love the prices we have to pay lately for Lender's, his favorite brand, so I decided to find out how hard it is to make them. Although the recipe I first tried was a bit fussy, and the bagels came out too big for our little toaster, I tried tweaking it a few times. I've finally got it where we like it. My spin uses about half the ingredients, comes out smaller, crustier and has garlic as well as onion flakes in it. Cost is about a third of what we pay for six store-bought bagels, and my recipe makes 8. Ingredients: 1 cup warm water 1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast 1 tablespoon white sugar 1-1/4 teaspoons kosher salt 2-1/2 cups plus 3-6 tablespoons unbleached flour 2 tablespoons dried onion flakes + a tablespoon of warm water, mixed together to rehydrate the onions 5 cloves of crushed garlic lightly sauteed in a tablespoon of butter or margarine (you can also cook them in the microwave for 15 secs at a time, just watch them...

While my nephew is visiting this week I taught him how to make the homemade NY style pizza that I've come up with over the last six months, and he loved it as much as my guy. This will also help him save money when he goes home, as it costs only about $5.00 to make (less if you get the ingredients on sale.) Since he gave the recipe a thumbs-up I've decided to share it online. Valerean's Homemade Pizza For the dough: 2/3 cup warm water 1 teaspoon active dry yeast (I use Fleischmann’s in the jar; keep in the fridge) 1 teaspoon sugar 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon salt Mix yeast, sugar and olive oil in the warm water. Add flour and salt, and mix by hand or in mixer with dough hook for 5 minutes. Spray a medium bowl with PAM or other oil spray. Place dough in bowl, spray with top with oil and cover with plastic wrap. Place bowl of dough in larger bowl half-filled with hot water, cover everything with kitchen towel. Let the dough sit and ...

One dish I miss from the days when dining out was more affordable is Ruby Tuesday's broccoli and cheese soup. I would order that with the salad bar on an endless combo where you get as many soup and salad refills as you like. I have been known to eat three bowls of that delicious soup. I made my own version of the soup at home, but it never tasted quite the same, so I went looking for a copycat recipe, and found one that is so close I'd have a hard time telling the difference. Some tweaks: I cut down the amounts quite a bit to make two bowls rather than an entire pot. I did not use water, celery, tabasco, lemon juice, white pepper or dry mustard in mine, and I used a sprinkle of celery seed, one slice of processed cheese, 1/3 cup of shredded medium cheddar cheese, my own homemade chicken broth, a couple shakes of worchestershire sauce, and about half a cup of broccoli. I made the adjustments mainly because that's what I had on hand, and what I thought would ta...

I don't like many frozen foods, but there were a few from Stouffer's that I liked in the old days, like Grandma's Chicken and Vegetable Rice Bake. It actually did remind me of a rice casserole my grandmother used to make. It now costs almost $15.00 for a large size, and I'm not paying that, especially as the quality of the ingredients Stouffer's uses has gone so far downhill. So I decided to see if I could find a copy-cat recipe and make my own version (there is a copy-cat recipe online for basically anything, I've discovered.) This recipe came pretty close. It maybe cost four dollars for me to make. I did tweak it by using cream of chicken instead of cream of mushroom, as that's what I preferred, and canned peas and carrots instead of frozen. I also used only about half the chicken in the recipe, as we're trying to cut down on the amount of meat in our meals. It was tasty, although not an exact copy (a bit dry, and it had a slightly different...

One thing I really miss as a diabetic is bread. I can have regular bread as a treat now and then, but it takes a while now for me to work off the carbs. I have tried different keto breads, most of which are tasteless, and all of which are super expensive. That's why I've been on the hunt for a simple diabetic-friendly bread I can make in one small loaf for myself. This recipe has worked out to be the best of all the ones I've tried, including the 90 second microwave bread I've been making up until finding this recipe. Some tweaks: I use egg beaters instead of 5 eggs, and I opted for the baking powder version so I could avoid the vinegar. As a result my bread has a definite eggy taste to it, and didn't brown as much. I don't mind this, but if you're not a fan of the taste of eggs you should pass. It does not have the same texture as regular bread -- it's more like a cake texture -- and it's quite a bit heavier, so slicing it thin is a goo...

To save money (or for other reasons) I'm trying to recreate dinners we've always liked at restaurants, which I found I can make much cheaper. Here's an example from last month: my guy grilled a steak for him, and I made salmon in the air fryer for myself, with a baked potato, a loaf of french bread with an olive oil herb dip, and a wedge salad for both of us. Breaking down the cost: I shopped around until I found four ribeye steaks for $23.00 at Winn Dixie (which has consistently been the cheapest place for steak.) The entire loaf of bread was $1.00 at Wal-Mart, and it is surprisingly quite good if you can get it the minute they put it out on the racks in the bakery (that's also cheaper than even I can make it.) The oil/herb dip was made from a 10-serving packet, and cost about fifty cents per portion. The wedge salad came from leftover iceberg lettuce I got for $3.00 and used for two other meals. We grew the radishes. The potatoes were from a five-pound bag f...

Earlier this month I tried this recipe for a skillet sausage and pasta dish that turned out to be very tasty, and just enough for two hungry people. You do have to reduce the broth-based sauce twice, but it's not that difficult to manage. Mostly out of necessity I did make some tweaks: I used mild Italian chicken sausage instead of spicy (my ulcer is still acting up), grated parmesan-romano cheese blend instead of parmigiano-reggiano cheese (they don't sell that kind of cheese here in the country), medium pasta shells instead or orecchiette pasta (ditto on that oddball pasta) and regular chicken stock instead of low sodium chicken broth. I was delighted to use fresh arugula from our garden in the recipe, but honestly, I couldn't really taste it. I think the next time I might add some diced tomatoes and some crushed fresh garlic as my guy likes both in his Italian dishes.

Because it looked economical and tasty I wanted to try this wine-braised chicken and pearl onion recipe in my slow cooker, only I couldn't find pearl onions at our market. So I cut up a regular onion and that worked just fine, as did 1-1/2 chicken breasts I used instead of the chicken thighs. We had it on steamed white rice, and it was very good. If you don't like tarragon I'd skip it, though. I think the only tweaks I'll make to it next time is doubling the liquid and seasoning ingredients to make more gravy, and adding some chopped celery as my guy suggested (he likes celery in everything.)

Garlicky Chicken Dinner , one of the new recipes I tried last month, turned out so tasty my guy asked me not to tweak it. Since we both love garlic (this recipe uses a lot) and he ate the carrots -- which he hates -- without complaint, I had to agree. I did make some changes during the cooking; I used four pieces of chicken (two of each) and four medium russet potatoes because that's what I had on hand. I often downsize like this to make it suit two people. I didn't remove the chicken from the pan when I got to the final stage of adding the spinach. Also, the cooking time for the meat for me was an hour, I think because my chicken thighs and drumsticks were on the thick side. Finally, my market does not sell 5-oz. bags of fresh spinach, so I used a 10-oz. box of frozen which I first defrosted and drained. I thought it was a bit heavy for a summer meal, but my guy ate two huge plates of it, so there you go.

My guy loves meatball subs, but the quality at the sub shops has been steadily declining, so I decided to try an idea for a meatball sub he could dip that I based on the construction of some of the party rings in this Tasty video . I used two cans of crescent rolls (16 altogether) to make the crust, and a small bag of thawed frozen Italian meatballs that I first browned in a pan plus about a cup of low-fat mozzarella as the filling. I assembled everything on a parchment paper-lined baking pan, and then I baked it for 14 minutes in a 375F oven. The dipping sauce is just a jar of garlic/onion marinara sauce that I warmed up on the stove. He really loved it, although I think the next time I make it I'll use my own meatballs and sauce, and sprinkle a little oregano and basil over the filling.

I can cheat and have a tiny slice of cake (sometimes) but otherwise all the desserts I make belong to my guy. I've been trying to downsize these, too, as he can't really eat an entire cake by himself. I hunted around for a small pineapple upside down cake recipe, and I was happy to find this one that serves four. I used a small loaf pan as I didn't have a 6" round cake pan, and I left out the pecan halves, but otherwise I followed the recipe. Don't tell my diabetes doc, but the results were delicious. :)

I've been looking for some smaller recipes for chicken breast, and came across this recipe at Food Network that I knew I could scale down. I wasn't sure about using tumeric and cumin instead of Sazon Completa, which was what they use to season arroz con pollo in Miami, but I went ahead and tried it with a few tweaks to tailor it to our tastes and needs. I did not use a whole chicken, as three small boneless & skinless breasts work better for us. Because I didn't have the chicken bones and skin to flavor my rice I added an extra two tablespoons of butter and crumbled a chicken boullion cube into my low-sodium chicken broth. I also only used about a quarter cup of peas because my guy doesn't like them. Despite my tweaks the dish came out absolutely delicious. I loved it and my guy really loved it, so this one will go into the cookbook for future meals.

My guy really loves Italian food and sloppy joes, so I decided to try this recipe for Italian Sloppy Joes on Texas Toast . I made a half recipe, of course, and used 8 oz. of tomato sauce to replace the diced tomatoes, as my market didn't have smaller cans of the latter. I also left out the tomato paste as that tends to be overpowering in smaller quantity recipes. It turned out surprisingly tasty but very filling -- one was all I could eat. My guy ate his share of two and said he liked them a lot, so I'll give this one a thumbs up.

This week I tried this new recipe for a Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad that is a copycat of Applebee's Asian Chicken Salad, which I've always liked. It's pretty close to the restaurant version, too; the dressing is super close. The only thing I did differently was used chicken breast I cooked in the air fryer, and sliced raw almonds rather than slivered and toasted. My guy liked it enough to eat three plates, and he is not a fancy salad lover.

I've been looking for some small, low-sugar fall desserts for me and my guy, and decided to try making this recipe for an apple tart. I tweaked the recipe a bit by skipping the egg wash of the pastry, and using sugarfree apricot preserves for the glaze. It came out very good and light, and reminded me a lot of apple danish.

For something different the other night I tried this Cajun Chicken Club Sandwich recipe , which was delicious. My tweaks were using onion rolls and cutting the recipe in half for two sandwiches (I also used only three strips of bacon.) My guy and I really liked it a lot. Image Credit: Cajuncookingrecipes.com

To use some green pepper from our garden I made this Shortcut Sausage Jambalaya recipe . The only changes I made were using turkey smoked sausage instead of kielbasa, chili flakes instead of cayenne pepper, and I served it on top of steamed long-grain rice instead of prepackaged prepared rice. Very tasty and quite easy to make.

I had some overripe bananas to use up, so I decided to try another recipe from the vegan cookbook Maria gave me, and baked this utterly scrumptious vegan & sugarfree chocolate chip peanut butter banana bread. This is the banana bread for people who aren't terribly fond of bananas, as it's got all the chocolate and peanut buttery goodness of a cookie combined with the wholesome banana breadness. The book calls for a quarter cup of sugar but I left that out and frankly it was plenty sweet enough from the bananas and the stevia chocolate chips I used. Here's the recipe if you want to try it.

My cholesterol has gotten out of hand, so I have to make some drastic changes to my diet, which includes no more beef or pork at all, and eating vegan at least three days a week. I don't mind, although my guy won't eat that way, so I'll have to make separate meals for us most of the time now. I love chili, but I don't care for it made with ground chicken or turkey, so I'd mostly given it up (I've been cheating and having a little when I make the regular kind for my guy.) I need to find healthier alternatives, so I tried a recipe for a roasted sweet potato chili from a vegan cookbook Maria gave me that sounded interesting with some corn muffins for my dinner the other night. There's a lot to love about this recipe -- it tastes a little smoky, like something you've made over a campfire. It's rich and filling, and the flavors are wonderful. I've never tried cooking with poblano peppers before, and I have to say, they're deli...

My guy really likes soft pretzels, but since the pandemic began we've not been to the city (where the malls are) to buy them. They sell soft pretzels in the freezer section at the market which are almost as good, but they're pricey and the box takes up too much room in my little freezer. That's why I decided to learn how to make them myself. The best-tasting and easiest recipe I found was this vegan version ; although it does take a bit of time to make they're just like the mall soft pretzels. The only difference is that I make them into balls rather than attempted the twisted pretzel shape, which I can never manage with my stiff fingers. The balls turn into soft pretzel bites. :)