Egg Sandwich and Toasted Edamame

It's time for a two-fer!

Egg Sandwich

Ingredients

bread (we used the same everything French bread from last night's grilled cheeses)

eggs (about two per sandwich)

salt and pepper

cheese (I had white cheddar)

butter

Equipment

skillet, pan, stove

Instructions

Mix up eggs in a bowl with salt and pepper like you're making scrambled eggs (because you totally are). Butter a skillet and start the bread toasting. Cut your cheese into tiny cubes. Butter a pan and heat it up. Add the eggs. When they just start to cook, add the cheese. Keep stirring it and chopping it with the spoon until you have scrambled eggs. Keep an eye on your toast (flip it over when one side is toasted). Once everything's done, make sandwiches.

Yields

I made three sandwiches out of four eggs.

Total time

About 15 minutes

Cleanup rating 2/5

All you have to deal with is a buttery skillet, an eggy pan, and a raw eggy bowl.

Flavor rating 8/10

Yum! Simple but delicious. Hard to go wrong with butter, bread, eggs, and cheese.

Difficulty rating 2/10

Super easy. Unless you're terrible at cracking eggs. Then it's like a 3. Or like 5 if you're really, really bad at it.

Adjustability: high

It's a sandwich... add whatever you want! Use different cheeses, mix in vegetables or meats, add stuff like lettuce or tomato or whatever you want. That's what I love about sandwiches.

Make it with...

I made it with the recipe below, toasted edamame. But again... it's a sandwich. Chips, pretzels, veggies, whatever floats your boat.

Cost

Half a dozen eggs: about $2

Everything French bread from Walmart: $1

Butter from kitchenventory

Brick of white cheddar cheese from Target: about $3

Cost for all ingredients: $6

Toasted Edamame

Ingredients

bag of frozen edamame

vegetable oil

a few Tbsp Parmesan cheese

about 1 tsp minced garlic

salt and pepper

Equipment

baking sheet, oven

Instructions

Rinse/thaw your edamame. Toss it in vegetable oil. Add minced garlic and toss again. Spread it on the baking sheet and sprinkle with Parmesan, salt, and pepper. Bake at 350F for about 10 minutes.

Yields

a bag's worth of edamame

Total time

about 15 minutes

Cleanup rating 1/5

You have an oily bowl (or colander if you're like me and get tired of being told there's too much oil in your vegetables, so you added oil while the vegetables were still in the colander) and, if you line your baking sheet with foil, a piece of foil to throw away.

Flavor rating 7/10

I think this is an excellent vegetable side dish, personally. Our edamame had been sitting in the freezer for about a year, so it was a tiny bit tough, but it was still tasty.

Difficulty rating 1/10

The hardest part was opening the jar of minced garlic.

Adjustability: medium

You could use other spices or herbs or something, but that's about it.

Make it with...

Anything! It's a side dish. Goes with any meat, any non-meat, any sandwich, whatever.

Cost

Bag of edamame: about $2

Parmesan cheese from the kitchenventory

Minced garlic from the kitchenventory

Cost for all ingredients: $2

Cost for this recipe: $2

Grilled Cheese

No, I'm not going to just tell you how to turn loaf bread and American cheese into grilled cheese. I hope you know how to do that. This is a grown-up grilled cheese, and it's delicious.

Grilled Cheese (Grown-Up)

Ingredients

half a loaf of French bread (ours is "everything" pre-sliced from Walmart)

brick of Monterey jack cheese

butter

half an onion

Equipment

skillet, stove

Instructions

Slice the onion into half-rings and saute in butter. I added a little garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Remove from pan and allow to cool. Melt butter in skillet and place four pieces of bread on skillet. Cover each piece in slices of cheese, then layer onions on top, covered with more slices of cheese, then topped with bread. Wait until bottom piece browns and cheese is starting to get melty, and flip sandwiches over. (I used this time to work on making guacamole so the sandwiches wouldn't get underdone thanks to my impatience. Also Birk took over the sandwiches at this point.) Once the cheese is all melted and the bread is toasted on each side, boom, done.

Yields

four little sandwiches (2 servings)

Total time

about 15 minutes

Cleanup rating 2/5

You have a greasy buttery pan and an oniony cutting board to deal with, but that's pretty great. And your plates don't get messy either. They're sandwiches.

Flavor rating 9/10

Mmmmm yummy. Caramelized onions are totally the way to go with grilled cheese.

Difficulty rating 2/10

Children could make this. This used to be a thing I asked Birk to make for me. Now I can do it myself. So easy.

Adjustability: high

I couldn't decide what to put on these... onion? peppers? bacon? green apple? Expect to see more grilled cheeses for grown-ups here in the future. There will definitely be experiments.

Make it with...

As you can see in the second picture above, I made guacamole (smoosh up an avocado, squeeze a lime into it, sprinkle it with kosher salt) and threw on some tortilla chips. But it's a sandwich... have whatever side you like with sandwiches. Chips, pretzels, veggies, whatever.

Cost

The recipe (sandwiches only):

Bread for $1 at Walmart and still have half a loaf.

Cheese for $2.50 at Walmart and we used the whole brick.

Onion for $0.61 at Walmart and still have half left.

Butter is part of the kitchenventory.

Total cost to buy ingredients: $4.11. Total cost used: $3.31.

The meal:

Avocados: 2 for $2.78 at Farm Fresh.

Limes: free because my friend Missi brought a bag to the New Year's party.

Salt: part of the kitchenventory.

Total cost to buy ingredients for guacamole: $2.78. Total cost used: $2.78.

Total cost to buy ingredients for whole meal minus drinks: $6.89.

Total cost used for whole meal minus drinks: $6.09.

Chicken and Onions

I didn't take a picture of this dinner, but I've made it several times before. In fact, I was surprised to find that I hadn't posted it here before.

Chicken and Onions

Ingredients
two boneless, skinless chicken breasts
one large onion, sliced
olive oil
salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder

Equipment
oven

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450F. Line a baking dish with foil (this recipe can stick to a pan and hold on for dear life). Put the chicken and the sliced onions in the dish and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with seasonings of your choice (I like garlic on everything, and paprika gives it a nice color). Bake for about 30 minutes.

Yields
2 servings

Total time
30 minutes

Cleanup rating 3/5 if you use foil
If you don't use foil, have fun scrubbing onion bits off your dish. Been there; done that. Now I only make this dish with foil.

Flavor rating 7/10
Sometimes I overcook this. Sometimes I undercook it. When I get it right, it's a 7/10. When I don't, it's like a 3.

Difficulty rating 2/10
So simple. Surprising, considering I just admitted to screwing it up sometimes.

Adjustability: medium
You can add other veggies, or use different seasonings, but that's about all there is to it.

Make it with...
This time I made it with rice in the rice cooker that I added shredded gouda to (try it, it's great). You can make it with mashed potatoes, or noodles, or any veggie side dish... it's really versatile, because it really just boils down to being chicken, seasoned however you want.

Kitchenventory
Cabinet: nothing
Fridge: chicken breasts
Countertop: onion, olive oil
Spice rack: seasonings
Miscellaneous: foil

Chicken Noodle Soup

One of my dad's favorite pastimes is to try making dinner without going grocery shopping. He likes the challenge of using what is already in the kitchen to make a meal. I don't have quite the knack for it that he does, but he has several years' worth of experience on me, so I don't mind.

However... I have to admit that I did a pretty amazing job yesterday.

I was cleaning out one of the cabinets (as part of the kitchenventory) and found an old can of chicken noodle soup... old enough that I didn't want to eat it. But it sounded good. So I thought, "Oh, I'll go to Panera on my way to work and get some soup for lunch." But then I thought, "There's chicken in the fridge, and I just pulled half a bag of egg noodles out of this cabinet." Lo and behold, I had the stuff to make an actual chicken noodle soup in the Crockpot.

This is a recipe where I'm listing what I had and used, but it's very versatile, so make substitutes all over the place.

Chicken Noodle Soup (Slow Cooker)

Ingredients

two boneless, skinless chicken breasts

about 3 cups of chicken broth

about 3 cups of water

half a packet of onion soup mix

half a bag of baby carrots

half a bag of frozen peas

half a bag of frozen green beans

salt, pepper, shallot-pepper seasoning

half a bag of egg noodles

Equipment

slow cooker

Instructions

Place the chicken in the bottom of the slow cooker. Cover with the veggies and liquids. Cook on low for 6-7 hours (mine went about 8 because of work schedule). Take out the chicken and shred it with a fork (this should be really easy, it'll just fall apart) and put it back in. Add the noodles and let it cook for another 20-30 minutes. Add more liquid if you feel like it needs it.

Yields
5-6 servings... I'm working my way through the leftovers now.

Total time
7-8 hours (prep time about 5 minutes)

Cleanup rating 4/5
If you don't use a slow cooker liner, slow cookers can be a pain to clean. But at least it's only one dish. Still, this has lots of little bits of things and if you don't lick the pot clean, you have to clean little bits of things off of it.

Difficulty rating 2/10
Make sure you remember to pull out the chicken and shred it and put in the noodles on time, but otherwise, this is super easy.

Flavor rating 8/10
It might be because this was exactly what I wanted or because I skipped lunch, but this was DELICIOUS.

Adjustability: high
Since this was an on-the-fly recipe, that kind of defines it as an adjustable recipe. Use whatever vegetables and seasonings you have on hand. Have more chicken broth? Use it; I had about three cups, so that's what I used. Have vegetable broth instead? Go for it.

Make it with...
Nothing or anything. This was a hearty meal on its own and didn't need anything to go with it.

Kitchenventory

Yup, I made up a new word: kitchenventory. This is my list of stuff to keep in the kitchen or at least keep tabs on (for example, we don't need to always have beer brats in the fridge, but I use them pretty often, so I need to know whether we have some in the fridge or if I need to pick some up).

I've broken the list down into where things go in the kitchen: cabinet, fridge, freezer, counter top, and spice rack. There's also the miscellaneous list (for non-food items like foil and paper towels) and the non-kitchen list (for things like cat food and cat litter and toilet paper).

Cabinet
dry pasta, rice, flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, bouillon (chicken, beef, and vegetable), tortillas, hot sauce, vanilla, vinegar, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, bbq sauce, onion soup mix, brown gravy mix, syrup, Pam, sriracha, Bisquick, canned pineapple

Refrigerator
Always: butter, Parmesan, wonton wrappers, wine (white and red)
Sometimes: chicken breasts, ground beef, stew meat, pork tenderloins, bacon, sour cream, bell peppers, carrots, raw spinach, green onions, cheese, zucchini, beer brats, milk, eggs, mushrooms, cucumbers

Freezer
peas, edamame, spinach, corn

Countertop
potatoes, onions, garlic, sweet potatoes, avocado, apples, vegetable oil, olive oil, sesame oil

Spice Rack
garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cumin, salt & pepper, cayenne, basil, oregano, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes

Miscellaneous
aluminum foil, slow cooker liners, dish soap, dishwasher detergent, paper towels, Ziploc (quart and sandwich sizes)

Non-kitchen
cat food, cat litter, toilet paper, naproxen, Tylenol, cleaning products, toothpaste (and toothbrushes), laundry detergent

I'm sure that changes will be made (additions, removals, replacements) but this looks pretty solid to me so far. If I had enough of these ingredients in the kitchen, I could feed us for at least a month and not get bored with food.

French Onion Soup

French Onion Soup

Ingredients

3 large yellow onions (slice 'em up)

4 Tbsp butter

1 cup white wine (I used pinot grigio)

42 oz beef broth

Salt and pepper

bread

shredded cheese (I used Gouda)

Equipment

slow-cooker, skillet, stove

Instructions

Melt the butter in the skillet. Add onions and saute until they're soft and a little bit browned. Add the wine. Pour it into the slow-cooker with the beef broth, and a dash of salt and pepper. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Toast the bread lightly. Serve in bowls with bread on top, cheese on top of that, and add a little more soup on top of the cheese to melt it all together.

Yields

4-6 bowls of soup

Total time

4.5 hours: About 15 minutes of prep, 4 hours in the slow-cooker, 10 minutes to finish off

Cleanup rating 4/5

Slow-cooker recipes always have higher cleanup ratings. We didn't like this enough to keep the leftovers, so I strained the liquid out of it with a colander into the sink, and threw out the remaining onion pieces. Plus you have more dishes than you normally get from a slow-cooker recipe: skillet, knife and cutting board, and the five billion tears from cutting up so much onion at once.

Difficulty rating 3/10

There are many steps, but none of them are particularly difficult. You do need to try to get the onion slices approximately the same size for even cooking, but that's probably the trickiest part.

Flavor rating 4/10

Meh. I don't really know what went wrong with it, but it just wasn't very good. The wine flavor was pretty strong, which is not what I want out of a French onion soup. I think that was the biggest problem. I would cut down on the wine.

Adjustability: low

There isn't much to French onion soup. There's onions, liquid, then bread and cheese. It's rare for "peasant food" to not be very adjustable, but this one doesn't have much of anywhere to go. Different onions, different wine, different broth, different bread, different cheese, but they're all the same basic ingredients. For what it's worth, the gouda worked really well, even though the original recipe suggested Swiss.

Make it with...

I made it with beer mushrooms, sauteed beer brats with garlic, and potatoes. It could be its own meal, or go with all sorts of things.

Beer Mushrooms

You know what's awesome? Beer. You know what else is awesome? Mushrooms. But guess what wasn't double-awesome? These beer mushrooms. They were okay.

Beer + mushrooms = beer mushrooms

That's them, on the right, with beer brats and potatoes.

Ingredients

8 oz mushrooms

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup beer

salt and pepper

Equipment

skillet, stove

Instructions

Melt butter in a skillet. Add mushrooms. Add beer. Cook for about 30 minutes, letting the mushrooms absorb all the beer. Salt and pepper to taste.

Yields

3-4 servings

Total Time
about 30 minutes

Cleanup rating 2/5
The thing about making something with a lot of butter and leaving it in the pan while you eat dinner is that it gets that fatty stuff all over the pan. I think it's kind of gross, but it's easy to clean up.

Difficulty rating 2/10
Patience factors into difficulty, which is the only reason this isn't a 1/10.

Flavor rating 3/10
Meh. I like mushrooms. I like beer. (At least, I like the beer I used for this.) I didn't really like this.

Adjustability: low
Use a different beer (the original recipe recommended a stout, maybe that was part of my problem) or use different mushrooms, maybe add some other herbs/seasonings, but that's about all you can do.

Make it with...
I made this to go along with French onion soup, sauteed beer brats with garlic, and potatoes (they were sliced this time to make them cook a little faster). You could make them with just about anything... chicken, pork, beef, vegetarian meals, whatever.