New Place, First Meal

Yes, we've moved since I last posted here. And last night, I got the kitchen unpacked, so tonight, I cooked dinner!

I've recently started using Ibotta and Cartwheel to save some money. (I mean very recently... so far I've saved a little over $5 with Cartwheel and before the receipt for this meal I had $2.50 on Ibotta.)

So today when I went grocery shopping on my lunch break, I tried to buy exclusively things that were on one app or both. Out of the whole receipt, the only things not on either app were potatoes, which I thought I would use in tonight's dinner but decided to go with pasta instead.

Which means this meal was made exclusively from items purchased cheaper or with rebates using those two apps. And I totally winged the whole meal. And it was pretty delicious.

To ease myself back into the food blogging thing, I'm not going to do formatted recipes, just a narrative of what I did.

Boneless Pork Chops, Onions, and Italian-Parmesan Pasta

First, I started the water boiling for the pasta, to give myself some time to figure out what else I wanted to do. Once it started boiling, I put in the pasta and cooked it about 7 minutes (I didn't use much). While that was boiling, I put Italian breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and shallot-pepper seasoning in a bowl and mixed it up, and whisked an egg in another bowl. I also chopped up about half an onion. Once the pasta was done, I drained it in a colander and rinsed it with cold water. Then I put a skillet on the hot burner and melted about 1 Tbsp butter in it. I dredged the boneless center cut pork chops in the egg, then the breadcrumb mixture, coating them evenly, and put them in the skillet. I didn't time them, but a few minutes on each side? Part of the time it was covered, and part of the time it wasn't. Like I said, I winged it all. Once I cut into one and they were done, I moved them to a plate and put the pan lid over them to keep them warm. Then I put another 1/2 Tbsp or so of butter in the pan and put in the onions and maybe 1 tsp of minced garlic. I stirred them up to get the bits up from the pork in the pan mixed in with the onions, and I salted them a little. While they cooked, I put some zesty Italian dressing in the pasta and mixed it thoroughly, then did the same with some Parmesan.

Fancy Salad

I think it's hard to name salads. Either there's a perfect word or phrase that encompasses the essence of the salad, or you list every ingredient you can taste in the salad. That's why I'm calling this "fancy salad."

Fancy Salad

Ingredients
romaine lettuce
chevre (goat cheese crumbles)
chopped walnuts
apple
onion
balsamic vinegar
honey

Equipment
pan, stove

Instructions
Dice the onion and saute it with some oil or butter (I, of course, used butter) until golden brown. In the meantime, wash and dry your lettuce and distribute into bowls or plates, and dice the apple. Build the salads out of all the solid ingredients. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and honey to taste.

Yields
As many as you make.

Total time
About 20 minutes

Cleanup rating 3/10
There are lots of separate ingredients, so if you don't use them all up or you leave them strewn all over the counter, you have to devote a little time to putting everything away, plus you have the onion pan (which, I've cleaned far more difficult pans, so that's not a big deal).

Flavor rating 8/10
This would have been a very different rating if we hadn't adjusted the salad as we ate. First, I completely forgot the dressing. So we added a little balsamic vinegar. Then Birk said it needed something sweet. So we added a little honey. Perfection! It has a good mix of textures, too.

Difficulty rating 2/10
It's a salad; how hard could it possibly be?

Adjustability: high
Salads are made of adjustability. If you don't like romaine, use spinach or arugula or iceberg or whatever you want. If you don't like chevre, use a different cheese. Same goes for literally every ingredient. Granted, you wind up with a different salad, but that's the fun of salad.

Make it with...
As you can see in the photo, I browned some beer brats to go with this salad, and I would very highly recommend it. Anything meaty and salty would be delicious with this salad. I had originally planned on searing and slicing some sirloin (alliteration!) to put on top of the salad, but then I thought, "Mmm, beer brats."

Kale and Onion Saute

That's the chicken lazone from the last post, with garlic mashed potatoes, and the star of this post, kale and onion saute. The original recipe came from here, and you may notice some very clear visual differences between theirs and mine. I definitely want to make this again in the future and do a better job overall.

Kale and Onion Saute

Ingredients

head of kale, washed and dried

onion

vegetable oil

salt

Equipment

saute pan with a lid, stove

Instructions

Slice onions thinly and slice kale into thin strips. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in the pan and add onions, cooking until they start to caramelize. Add the kale and a few tablespoons of water and cover. Let it steam for 5-10 minutes until the kale is all wilty. Stir everything up to incorporate. Salt to taste.

Yields
The head of kale I used could easily serve 4

Total time
about 20 minutes

Cleanup rating 2/10
One oily pan and all the water you dripped all over the entire kitchen while trying to deal with your unwieldy kale is all you have to deal with here.

Flavor rating abstained
I refuse to rate this recipe until I try it again, because I flubbed. I was making chicken lazone at the same time, and I wanted them to be finished at the same time, so I didn't wait for the onions to caramelize. I also used pretty big pieces of onion. I think dicing it would work best (for both cooking and eating).

Difficulty rating 3/10
It sounds stupid to rate this so easy when I managed to screw it up, but my issue was with timing this alongside another recipe, not this recipe itself. This is actually quite an easy recipe; I just need a do-over.

Adjustability: medium
The original recipe suggested sprinkling the finished product with apple cider vinegar and red pepper flakes, but I decided against both. It still wasn't bad. I quite like cooked kale, and I love onions, so even though I did it wrong, it turned out okay. Which goes to show you that you can season this basically however you want. Add other veggies to either stage: peppers with the onions, or spinach with the kale.

Make it with...
Anything you'd pair a green-and-leafy with, really. Birk thinks kale tastes a lot like broccoli (I don't disagree, but I don't think I would have made the connection without him pointing it out) so if you'd have broccoli with something, this would probably do well in its place.

Cost
Oh, fresh produce. I love you so much. You're so inexpensive (if you aren't organic, and I don't typically buy organic) and so delicious. You're the best.
Anyway, kale is $1.29/lb at my Farm Fresh. I don't recall how much I bought, but it felt like about half a pound if memory serves, so I'm going with $0.65 for how much kale I used. Onions belong in my kitchenventory, but they were on sale for $0.74 so I barely spent a dollar on this recipe (considering that vegetable oil and salt belong in my kitchenventory).

Chicken Lazone

I had never heard of chicken lazone before, but I ran across a recipe here and thought it sounded too easy and delicious not to try. It was good, but I think I need to make it again and let the sauce thicken a little longer and it would be perfect.

Chicken Lazone

Ingredients
2 thin boneless, skinless chicken breasts (either cut in half lengthwise or pounded flat)
garlic powder
onion powder
chili powder (I didn't have this, so I used taco seasoning... close enough!)
1 cup heavy cream
2 T and 2 T butter

Equipment
skillet, stove

Instructions
Season your chicken breasts on both sides with the three spices. Melt 2 T of butter in the pan and cook the chicken on both sides until done. Melt the remaining 2 T of butter around the chicken and pour in the cream. (If necessary, scrape up any seasoning that has stuck to your pan and incorporate it.) Cook for about 8 minutes until sauce thickens.

Yields
2 servings (two chicken breasts)

Total time
about 20 minutes

Cleanup rating 4/10
This rating was arrived at because I was a responsible adult and cleaned the pan immediately after eating dinner. Don't let this one sit. My sauce was thin enough that the little bit left in the pan just went down the sink drain, and it's only one pan so it's not too bad.

Flavor rating 6/10
Birk liked it more than I did, but it did grow on me the more I ate. Like I said at the top, I think I should have let the sauce thicken more.

Difficulty rating 5/10
It doesn't take a very long time, it's almost the same as my basic chicken recipe but with a sauce component added to the end, and the skills necessary are pretty simple (recognizing when chicken is done and when sauce is thickened).

Adjustability: medium
You can switch up the spices and maybe add vegetables or cheese or something. It's hard to say with this one.

Make it with...
I made this with garlic mashed potatoes (the sauce was delicious on them) and a recipe I'm about to post, kale and onion saute. Everything went really well together. The original recipe showed the chicken and sauce being served over a long noodle like spaghetti, which would probably be really good too.

Cost
Chicken, heavy cream, butter, and the spices all belong in my kitchenventory, so the garlic mashed potatoes (about $2) were the only thing I bought that I don't normally have on hand.

Skillet Potatoes

I cam here thinking I was just going to post a nice picture of tonight's dinner, but I discovered - to my surprise - that I had not yet posted the recipe for skillet potatoes! So instead, that's what you get tonight. I also made chicken (with Parmesan and salt and pepper and garlic powder) and zucchini (with Parmesan and salt and pepper and dried garlic and dried onion) but the recipe is skillet potatoes, which are... just amazing. I'm astonished that I haven't posted this yet.

Skillet Potatoes

Adapted from here

Ingredients

a pound of Yukon gold potatoes (that was about 5 of them)

half an onion, diced

1 Tbsp and 1 Tbsp of vegetable oil

salt

1 Tbsp minced garlic

Equipment
microwave-safe bowl, microwave, skillet, stove

Instructions
Peel and dice your potatoes and put them in the microwave-safe bowl. Toss them with a tablespoon of oil and some salt. Microwave for 10 minutes, stirring after each minute or two. Add minced garlic and onions and toss. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a skillet and add potatoes. Cook for a few minutes until they start to brown, then stir/flip until potatoes are browned and your life is delicious.

Yields
two big servings (I really like potatoes... a whole skillet of these sounds like a serving to me)

Total time
about 20 minutes

Cleanup rating 2/5
You have a couple dishes to do here (cutting board, microwave bowl, skillet, etc.) and they're all oily, but it isn't that bad.

Flavor rating 9/10
Have I ever given anything a 10/10? If so, this is probably a 10 instead of 9. It's really amazing and delicious and makes me so happy.

Difficulty rating 6/10
You have to be very present (taking something out of the microwave and stirring it every minute for ten minutes takes a lot of attention, plus the whole skillet thing requires a bit of presence).

Adjustability: low
Other than adding seasonings or maybe some other vegetables, there isn't much else you can do to this. The original said you could use red potatoes instead but I like peeling Yukon golds.

Make it with...
Everything. Or nothing. Just make them. Always. Now. Go make them. Right now.

Skillet Corn

I forgot to take a photo of this one. So I'm borrowing the photo from here, which is where I got the recipe from.

From here

Before I made this, I didn't really know what creamed corn was. It just brought to mind a tin can of gelatinous goo with corn in it. (Turns out, I wasn't far off on that count.) But I described to a coworker this corn that I made over the weekend, and she said it sounded like creamed corn. So I guess creamed corn is actually pretty good. At any rate, the original recipe poster called this skillet corn, which sounds way more delicious than "creamed corn."

Skillet Corn

Ingredients

3 cups corn

1/2 tsp salt

pepper to taste

1 Tbsp sugar (I'm fairly certain I accidentally left this out)

1/2 cup water

1 Tbsp flour

1/4 cup milk

Equipment

skillet with lid, stove

Instructions

Put corn, salt and pepper, sugar, butter, and water in 10" skillet. Cover; simmer 15 minutes (stir occasionally). Combine flour with milk. Stir into corn. Cook another 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

Yields

about 3 cups of corn

Total time

20 minutes (negligible prep time, 15 minutes to simmer and 5 minutes to finish it off)

Cleanup rating 2/5

All you have to clean is a pan, spoon, and whatever bowl you put the corn in. And the measuring cup. Nothing sticky or anything; very simple.

Difficulty rating 3/10

Just make sure you stir constantly after you add the milk; I'm always very wary after adding milk to a hot pan because I know it can do weird, disgusting things. The rest is incredibly easy.

Flavor rating 5/10

Yum. It might have been better if I had remembered the sugar, but it was still good. It went perfectly with burgers and hot dogs on a beautiful-weather Father's Day.

Adjustability: low

I don't know what else you could do to it.

Make it with...

Well, like I said, it went great with cookout food. But it would also work with... pretty much anything. Chicken, beef, pork, whatever.

Avocado Chicken Parmesan

I sent a photo of this one to my dad to tell him it's okay for him to be jealous of my dinner. That's a pretty good sign that this was amazing, because my dad is an excellent cook so I have to do a really great job to think I can impress him.

Avocado Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients

Chicken breasts

Flour

Egg

1 Tbsp milk

Bread crumbs

Tomato sauce*

Avocado, sliced

Cheese (mine was a 4-cheese blend with Parmesan in it)

Equipment

Cookie sheet, foil, oven, a bunch of bowls

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F. Set up your bowls: one for flour, one for an egg beaten with the milk, one for bread crumbs. Do one chicken breast at a time: lightly bread it with flour, dip in the egg, thoroughly coat with breadcrumbs, and lay on greased foil lined pan. Bake for about 4 minutes, flip them over, bake another 4 minutes. Take them out of the oven and spoon sauce over the top of each one. Lay slices of avocado on top of each, and sprinkle with cheese. Return to the oven for about 5 minutes, unless cheese is all melted.

Yields

As many chicken breasts as you make. For every two chicken breasts, use one egg and one avocado.

Total time

About 20 minutes

Cleanup rating 1/5

Don't spill sauce everywhere and you're fine. You've got foil on the pan, so you've got a few bowls to rinse out and toss in the dishwasher and that's about it.

Difficulty rating 3/10

I almost gave this a 2 but then I remembered that a lot of people have difficulty slicing avocados for some reason. I had what I'm pretty sure was the world's most perfect avocado so that kind of helps I guess. But all the other steps are really easy.

Flavor rating 8/10

YUM. Remember how I said up there at the top all that stuff about how amazing this was? Just refer back to that.

Adjustability: medium

Use seasonings in your flour and/or breadcrumbs! Switch up your sauces (see the asterisk below)! Try different cheeses!

Make it with...

Original recipe told me to serve it with a green salad. I made peas with garlic butter. Pretty much any vegetable will be friends with this chicken. It doesn't really call for much else. You could make a little spaghetti and add some of your sauce to that too.

*I "made" my own tomato sauce too. I use the sarcastiquotes because it wasn't hard, so it doesn't really feel like I "made" anything. Target had a tiny little can of tomato sauce for $0.39 so I got that instead of buying a giant jar of shmancy sauce that I'll barely use any of. Then I added basil, oregano, shallot-pepper seasoning, LOTS of garlic powder, and some Brady Street cheese sprinkle. So this part is super adaptable.

Bonus photos!

My sauce and avocados, waiting for the chicken to bake.

Adding the avocados

 

Beautifully done!

Mmmm, dinner.