So here's a really simple recipe that is cheap and delicious. It's a Mexican delicacy called Chicken tinga and here's what you'll need to make it.

1 onion (I prefer yellow onions, but you can use white as well, but not red)
1 clove of garlic
2 chicken breasts
3-5 Roma tomatoes (I find roma work best, but you can also probably use vine)
1 can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Garlic Salt

Start by using a larger pot to boil the chicken breasts in. Add your garlic salt to give the chicken a little bit of flavour.

As the chicken is boiling, start sauteing the onion and garlic in a sauce pan till translucent. While that's cooking, quarter your roma tomatoes and then add once the onions and garlic are cooked. This is also when you add your chipotle peppers, and this is where personal preference comes in. I usually add about 6 or 7, but that's proving to be a little too spicy, so I would say use 2-4. Let this sit for about 5 minutes to cook through, stirring occasionally.

By now your chicken should be cooked, so pull the chicken out of the water and using two forks, find the grain and start to pull against it. It should pull easily if it's cooked. Once that's finished, you want to go back to sauce pan and pour the contents into a blender and add just a little bit of chicken stock (the boiling water from your chicken) to the blender and set to puree. I prefer my tinga to be a little chunky so I don't blend it for too long.

Once it's blended to your satisfaction, add it back into the sauce pan along with the pulled chicken. Stir the chicken in so all of it is coated with the sauce, then let sit on a low setting for about 5 minutes.

It should look like this:



You want that really rich red coloring to it, if it's a darker shade of red it means you probably added too many chipotle peppers and your mouth (and asshole) are in for a rough night.

Then basically you just serve that on top of tostadas, or you can use tortilla chips (which are pretty much the same thing, just broken up). As for toppings, you can use lime juice, cabbage, crema (thinner sour cream), guacamole, and cheese.

Anyone know of any good ways to spruce up Top Ramen? I've been doing seared tofu, sriracha, green onions, and a squirt of lime with mine lately. Does anyone have any other variations?

There's a good thing at the top of this list to spice up ramen
24 Incredibly Simple Ways To Make Your Food Taste Awesome


plus a million other yummy things. I've made the mac n cheese gnocchi before and it was amazing

What is it with people on this forum and Top Ramen? lol

It's cheap as **** and easy to make?

So I made a fucking amazing yellow chicken curry sauce last night. I ended up getting the curry paste from an Asian market and it comes in a little plastic bucket, you just scoop some out and put it into a pan. This was my first time ever making curry, but here's what I did.

First I put a little bit of butter and some vegetable oil into a pot and waited till that got hot enough, then did about 2 spoon scoops of the curry paste and moved that around a little bit till it was starting to break down and become a liquid. Then I added a little bit of coconut milk to give the paste something to break down into and continued to stir, slowly adding a little bit more in till I had about half a can left.

From there I cut up some chicken breast into thinner strips and added them into the mix, stirring and slowly adding in more coconut milk. While I let the chicken cook I chopped up a few carrots and added them into the mix and then brought it to a boil, then turned it all the way down to low and put on a lid for about 30 minutes. 20 minutes later I added some frozen spinach and then just served that over some rice.

The result was without hyperbole the greatest achievement mankind has ever produced.

I've used a couple slices of velveeta (or american), and a can of tuna (lot's of pepper, and some hot sause to taste). Poor mans tuna casserole.

That sounds delicious. I just had 'take out' curry chicken a few days ago, most of it's still in the fridge.

I keep mine simple by just adding your basic canned vegetables like peas, carrots, and corn, as well as some pickled banana peppers. It adds a nice little spice to the meal and something crunchy to an otherwise pedestrian meal most people eat out of financial necessity rather than actually enjoying the taste of it.

I'm looking for ways to make tasty nutritious meals that are also very affordable. I've always loved curry, but just never learned how to make it, but now that I've got one really good one under my belt I think it will become a pretty standard staple in my kitchen.

I'll definitely give it a try for dinner sometime, thanks!

I'ven't tried it with pickled banana peppers, that sounds really interesting. I've started adding roast beef to the finished product, which makes it very similar to Vietnamese pho. Lots of sriracha, soy sauce, and sriracha make Ramen pretty delicioso.

A friend of mine got me a book once that had a bunch of different recipes to cook top ramen, but it involved things like steak and I remember thinking at the time "if I could afford steak I wouldn't be eating fucking top ramen now would I?"

My general rule of thumb when it comes to ramen is if I'm going to add something to it, it can't take much longer to cook than if I was just going to make it as is. It's definitely a great way of getting rid of left overs though, especially if you have already cooked chicken, beef, or pork.

I made a pretty decent chicken bacon and penne served in an Alfredo sauce (from a bottle). It came out quite nicely and it was something I really whipped up in like 30 minutes, with only a quick trip to the store for some chicken breast, some garlic bread, and some wine.

Here's a good question though, illustrious chefs of MB, do you prefer chopping up your own garlic or using diced garlic from a jar? I'm leaning more towards the jar, sure it makes my farts really stinky, but it's a lot easier and saves time.

I always use fresh garlic. That chopped and jarred stuff is not as strong, so to get a decent garlic flavour you need to use a lot more of that than you would if you use fresh garlic cloves and chop it yourself. It's much more economical to chop it yourself, in my opinion.

I usually buy them fresh and vacuum sealed either precut or skin off at the store. Occasionally when i feel artsy with my dish I go to this site and buy distinctive garlics. Check em out, they add some great flavors to bland dishes.

http://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=C...rchase&cad=rja

I've grown the Italian and German red style. Pretty zesty and great.

I love roasted garlic, spread on thin slices of very lightly toasted crusty bread. Roasted garlic has a buttery texture and mild, nutty flavor that is just delicious. Here are some simple directions on how to prepare it (note: the recipe calls for a preheated 350ºF/175ºC oven, but I preheat to 400ºF/205ºC for 35 minutes which I feel imparts a better roasted flavor):

How to Roast Garlic with Step-by-Step Pictures - wikiHow

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphot...95875498_n.jpg

My boyfriend's birthday cake/pie/thing, Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pie :)

My god... send me some.

Damn you, Hermione. Damn you! :(

It looks soooo goooooood

It's amazingggg

Looks way better than the pic you posted earlier!

Now that's a great birthday present! It looks delicious. I love the caramel swirls. :)

Honestly it's a present that I'd love to get for my birthday. And my boyfriend's birthday is in about two months... maybe I'll bake him something.

That looks incredible Dayna. Now I want some.

Pah!

My God that looks delicious. Your BF is one lucky mofo.

My roommate tried to make brownies last night but they ended up burnt. She's going to make up for it by making an apple pie on Sunday while I make homemade chicken pot pies.

I'm thinking about making the roux in a slightly different manner, instead using crema instead of milk. This should hopefully make it a little thicker.

Alright so I tried my hand at making my first stir fry on Saturday and it came out really well. The trick to making a stir fry really is all about organization, you have to have all your food chopped up and prepped before you start cooking because the process is so fast. Anyhow here's my recipe for making a nice colorful stir fry.

1 Red bell pepper
1 Orange bell pepper
1 Yellow bell pepper
Handful of baby carrots chopped up
Bok Choy
3 mushrooms
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
2 celery stalks
Handful of Mandarin oranges
2 thin cut steaks
1 wok (flat bottom)
Peanut Oil
Soy sauce
Sugar
Water
Stir Fry sauce packet (you can make your own from scratch, but I felt like saving myself some work)

Start off with the meat, I like my meat to be as thin as possible which is why I go for the thin cut steaks, and my knife is sharp enough that I can easily cut that in half, and then longer strips, maybe about 2 inches long by 1 inch across. Put them in the wok with some peanut oil and let them brown, you can also choose to season them if you want, I just used a little bit of salt and pepper.

Once your meat is cooked, add a little more peanut oil into the wok and then add your chopped up onion and diced up garlic. I just cut the onion in half, then slice up each half for larger pieces, and let them cook.

Next you want to add your carrots, celery and mushrooms, I slice my carrots and mushrooms up the same way, just thin slices all the way across. Try to keep your sizes proportionate so everything cooks equally.

Then you add your peppers and just keep stirring, making sure what you just put in is at the bottom of the pan and your cooked food is on the sides.

Then you add your stir fry sauce to about a tablespoon of soy sauce, 1/3 cup of water, and a teaspoon of sugar, whip that around until its just a liquid, then add that to the wok with your cooked meat and stir that around. Now is also a good time to add your bok choy, but be warned, it cooks fast!

Lastly you want to add your orange wedges, but you want to be very careful because you leave them for too long and they dry out. Basically what you want is to warm them up nicely and get a burst of slightly salty orange flavor with each bite. It's a really nice surprise, especially if you get it right. I found that 3-5 minutes worked, none of them were dry or raw and it really made the meal better.

I served mine with rice, but if you're using chow mein noodles you will add them to the dish towards the end as well.

Anyways, that's how I made my stir fry, but I'm open to suggestions, especially if you know your own secret stir fry sauce recipe.

Sounds like a hell of a recipe Pete. I'll have to give it a whirl sometime and let you know. Maybe i'll add some different veggies and such.

This past weekend I tried my hand at making some pumpkin bread with spiced icing, and it came out pretty darn good if I do say so myself. Very moist and heavy. Still good even three days later.

Sorry about the crappy picture:
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e4.../Capture-1.jpg

I got the recipe from here:
Sweet Pea's Kitchen » Pumpkin Bread

Picture looks fine to me, pumpkin bread looks great.

I need to get back into baking, my roommate made an absolutely delicious pie Sunday night in like... 2 1/2 hours or something, or maybe even less.

Anybody from the mid west ever try their hand at making beer brats? I'm curious if any kind of beer will do, or if a specific kind is preferable.

I would assume German beer would be preferable. Lots of people online have said Guinness is a great addition. I soaked em in wine when I had a superbowl party one time. I don't personally eat meat, but from what I understand they were great.

Brats, Kielbasa, Italian sausage in a crock pot w/sauerkraut, and 1 bottle of Heineken, on high for about 4 hrs.

I've used cheapo beer too, but a good premium makes it a little tastier.

My recipe is easy

Balat Ng Lumpia
chopped and diced meat (chicken, beef, pork)
onions
tomatoes
garlic
soy sauce
Sriracha
Cheese

Stir fry the above with the exception of Balat Ng Lumpia and the Sriracha

Put cheese and sriracha with the stir fry in the wraps (balat ng lumpia)

bake in oven at 350 for about 10 minutes

enjoy

(Balat Ng Lumpia is egg roll wraps, philipino style)

Would be awesome to garnish a plate with for a nice candle lit dinner. :laughing:

Anybody wondering Petes stir fry recipe was delicious. I added salmon instead of meat and it still came out fantastic. I'm gonna try my hand at this Salmon recipe this evening. It sounds like a very mild addition to the taste of the Salmon and i'm gonna make a side of asparagus drizzled in olive oil and then sprinkle some parmesan and bake it. Also baked potato and side salad. Yeah i'm a pig. Oink.

Mouthwatering Grilled Main Dishes : Recipes and Cooking : Food Network

Morrocan grilled salmon

I'm glad it worked out for you. It was a lot of fun, but it's not something I could do every night (I'm pretty lazy when it comes to cooking and there was a lot of prep work involved). I will try out Plankton's beer brats recipe once I get a crock pot.

I kind of find the prep work to be a lot of fun. I throw on tunes and just go at it. I actually have two crock pots. Nothing better then a slow cooked meal. Its the ultimate plug and play.

Christmas dinner for me:

Sirloin steak, left close to the radiator for a few hours just so it's a tiny bit warm/room temperature. Fried and then glazed with one of these - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007XR1R6...SIN=B007XR1R64 A jelly stock cube basically.

Home made chips, fried in goose fat with added herbage such as rosemary + thyme plus some minced garlic.

Mushrooms fried in olive oil (some juice from the steak when it's been fried too), with some herbs added for taste.

Think that's it. Don't like turkey, overdone it is bloody terrible.

I'd take top sirloin over turkey any day. I think I'm going to do a prime rib this year, or maybe just a typical Sunday roast just to fuck with tradition.

Does anybody have a recipe for pesto that doesn't make the world fall out of your ass at 4 in the morning? I definitely used too much olive oil, but at least my shit was well lubricated.

Tried this one awhile back, its five out of five stars and deservedly so. The pine nuts and Pecorino cheese are the keys and fresh basil. I substituted a good gruyere cheese one time and it was still fantastic.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...7QSufj0Ll2AgeQ

I usually roast the pine nuts a little before tossing em in the processor/blender.

Thanks! I'm going to send this recipe to my mom. She's been looking for a decent pesto recipe.

Thanks, that looks simple enough. I'm tired of using sauces out of jars and we definitely have everything required for the recipe. Last night I just put the pine nuts in with the pesto sauce in the pot, but I have read others who roast them in the over at 350 for about 15 minutes.