Sweet and Savory Beef

Take a break from take-out, and make your own with this easy, fast, and cheap beef dish! Serve with rice and vegetables

Cost per serving: $1.50

Ingredients:

1 lb Beef chuck steak

1 can of Coca Cola

4 tblsp corn starch

1 tsp salt

2 tblsp vegetable oil + more for frying

2 garlic gloves, mashed

1 tblsp ginger, mashed

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tblsp red pepper flakes

2 hot peppers, chopped*

1 tsp sesame seed oil

Green scallion for garnish

*optional

Instructions:

1. Marinate the steak in the Coca Cola for 2 hours.
2. Drain the Coca Cola and slice the steak in pieces, against the grain, on a 45 degree angle
3. Sprinkle the cornstarch and salt over the steak and mix together so that every piece has a light coating of cornstarch. Set aside.
4. In a small saucepan, saute the garlic and ginger in vegetable oil on low heat until fragrant
5. Add the water, soy sauce, brown sugar, red pepper flakes, hot peppers, and sesame seed oil. Let simmer for 5 minutes
6. In a separate frying pan, heat enough oil to fry the meat. You want enough oil to cover the pieces. Fry the meat until brown, turning once. Don't worry if your meat isn't fully cooked.
7. Remove with a slotted spoon onto paper towels.
8. Remove any excess oil from the frying pan
9. Add the meat back into the frying pan
10. Pour the sauce into the frying pan and bring to a simmer. Stir until the sauce thickens
11. Garnish with chopped scallions and serve with rice and vegetables

Seafood Medley

A simple seafood soup that is good served during the cold months of the year. You can add fish, squid, octopus, crab, lobster, you name it. I kept mine simple for budgetary reasons. Often times, you can find shrimp and mussels for sale.

Cost per serving: $4.32

Ingredients:

2 tblsp Olive Oil

2 Garlic cloves, chopped

1 Yellow onion, chopped

1 Green bell pepper, coarsely chopped

1 Yellow bell pepper, coarsely chopped

1 Can whole tomatoes, drained

2 Cups store bought seafood broth

1 tsp dry thyme

1 tsp dry basil

1 dry bay leaf

1 tsp red pepper flakes

Half pound mussels, cleaned and beards removed

Half pound shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1 can whole baby clams, save the juices

Instructions:

1. In a large soup pot, saute the garlic and onions over low heat. Cover for 10 minutes
2. Add the green and yellow bell peppers, stir, and cover for 10 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes, seafood stock, reserved clam juice, basil, thyme, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes. Raise the heat to high until it reaches a boil.
4. Once it reaches a boil, partially cover it with the lid and let simmer for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally with a large spoon, pressing the tomatoes against the pan. Don't let the tomatoes turn to mush.
5. Taste the broth if it needs salt and pepper
6. 5 minutes before you serve, add the shrimp, mussels, and baby clams. Stir, let it reach a boil, cover, and turn off heat.
7. Enjoy!

"Oh Hot Clam" Pasta

Clam pasta I made with dry ingredients I always have stocked up in my pantry. Of course, fresh herbs would give the pasta a stronger taste, but I run on a budget so dry herbs will do!

Cost per serving: $2.78

Ingredients:

1lb Linguine Pasta

2tbsp Unsalted Butter

1tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

3 Garlic Cloves, minced

2 (6.5oz) cans Chopped Clams

8fl oz Clam Juice

1 tblsp Dry Thyme

1 tblsp Mixed Italian Herbs (rosemary, oregano, thyme, parsley, red pepper flakes)

1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

1 tbsp Anchovy Paste

1/2 cup Fresh Parsley, chopped

• Cook linguine in boiling water until it's a little before al-dente
• In a separate pan, saute garlic in butter and olive oil on medium heat until fragrant
• Add anchovy paste and mix until well blended
• Add thyme, italian herbs, and red pepper flakes. Let sit for two minutes
• Raise to medium-high heat and add chopped clams (including juice) and clam juice
• Let simmer until the sauce reaches your desired consistency
• Add Linguine and cover for 3 minutes
• Add fresh parsley right before serving

Wontonderful!

Easy homemade wontons made with ground beef, mushrooms, and water chestnuts. I made these for an event and they were gone within a matter of 20 minutes. I usually use ground pork and shrimp, but the supermarket I went to was out of ground pork. You can experiment with the filling with any choice of meat you'd like, or you can even make a vegetarian filling (medium or firm tofu, mushrooms, scallions, carrots, peanuts). You can fry them, steam them, or even boil them when you're done. I like making them in bulk and freezing them in ziploc bags so I have them readily available. Taste great eaten by themselves, or you can add them to chicken broth to make wonton soup.

Cost of making 100 wontons (servings about 10):

$16.50 ($1.65 per serving!)

Ingredients:

2lbs Ground Beef (or meat of your choice)

1/2 cup Soaked and minced dry shiitake mushrooms

1/2 cup Minced canned water chestnuts

4 Scallion Stalks, chopped

4tblsp Soy Sauce

1tblsp Sesame Seed oil

1tblsp Minced Garlic

1tblsp Minced Ginger

White Pepper to taste

2 pkgs Frozen Wonton Wrappers

3 eggs

Peanut oil for frying

• Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes.
• Next, prepare your wrapping station. In a shallow bowl or dish, whisk together the two eggs until combined. Have your wonton skins, egg wash, and filling readily accessible.
• Grab 1 wonton skin and place it in front of you so that it looks like a diamond. Take some of the egg wash (with a brush or your fingers) and spread it on the lower right and left sides of the wonton skin (it should look like a V). Make sure not to put too much; it shouldn't be more than 1cm from the sides.
• Place 1 tsp - 1 tblsp of filling near the bottom of the wrapper. Start rolling the wonton skin over the filling, and continue rolling until only a small piece of the wonton skin is left. Turn the wonton 180 degrees (turned upside down) and pinch the sides to secure that the filling won't come out.
• Take some of the egg wash and lightly coat the two ends and slowly bring the ends together (don't do it fast or you'll rip the wrapper!)
• After you wrap them, you may cook them or freeze them for future use

Optional:

• If you're having trouble wrapping them like the way I did above, you can certainly wrap them any way you want. Easiest way is to place the filling in the middle of the wonton skin, coat the sides with egg wash, and fold diagonally to create a triangle. Press on the sides to seal the wonton.
• You can serve them by themselves, or you can pair them up with some dipping sauce: combine 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar, 4 tblsp brown sugar, 2 tblsp pineapple juice, 1 tblsp ketchup, 1 tsp soy sauce in a small sauce pan. Mix together 2tsp corn starch and 4tsp pineapple juice and then add into the saucepan. Boil for 3 minutes. You may add more cornstarch to make it thicker.