Sausage and Lentils

Sausage and Lentils
Serves 4
Ingredients

• 1 cups dried lentils
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon canola or vegetable oil
• 1 package of smoked or Polish sausage
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• handful of sliced green onions (optional)
• salt (for seasoning)

1. Fry the onion and garlic in a pan with the oil until tender; set aside.
2. Boil the lentils and water in a saucepan with the onion and garlic for 10 minutes.
3. Slice the sausage into chunks, then add the meat with the cumin to the lentil mixture.
4. Cook for 15 more minutes, or until the lentils are soft.
5. Top with green onions and serve warm.

Modified from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sausage-and-lentils/.

I'm not a big fan of lentils but this turned out pretty well. The cumin was neither too faint nor overpowering and the sausage provided a different texture. As it is a hearty and cheap meal, I'll be keeping it.

1/2 bag of lentils at $2.29/bag = $1.15 at Food Lion
1/2 onion: $0.32 at Food Lion
1/2 bulb of garlic: $0.40 at Food Lion
1 package of Smoked Sausage: $2.29 at Food Lion
Canola Oil: about $0.10 at Food Lion
Cumin: about $0.05 at Food Lion
Green Onions: $0.40 at Food Lion
Total Cost: $4.71 for 4 servings or $1.18 per serving

Chinese Dumplings

Chinese Dumplings
Makes 48, about 4 servings
Ingredients
Dough:

• 6 cups all purpose flour
• 3 cup boiling water

Filling

• 8 ounces celery cabbage (Napa cabbage) [Note: Regular cabbage does not work]
• 3 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound lean ground pork
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup of onions
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 tspoon sesame oil
• Pinch of black pepper
• 3 tablespoons canola oil

Dipping Sauce

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil

1. Cut the cabbage finely and mix with the salt, setting it aside.

2. Mix the pork, green onions, water, cornstarch, onion, pepper and sesame oil together, then combine with the salted cabbage.

3. Combine the flour and water and knead into a dough for about 5-6 minutes [Warning: Hot].

4. Separate the dough into 4 pieces and roll each dough ball until all are are 1 foot long.

5. Cut the dough rolls into 12 slices, each.

6. Flatten each dough slice and spoon 1 teaspoon of pork mixture onto the dough, then fold over and pinch at the top.

7. Heat the canola oil in a frying pan and fry as many dumplings in a single layer as possible, until golden brown at the bottom.

8. Pour in 1/2 cup water and cover, cooking for 6-7 minutes.

9. Repeat with the rest of the dumplings.

10. Mix the sesame oil and soy sauce together to make a dipping sauce and serve with the dumplings.

Modified from http://chinesefood.about.com/od/potstickers/r/potstickers.htm

The original recipe called for 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of water; this is not nearly enough. I used up half of the pork mixture and all of the dumpling dough and had to cook the rest of the pork separately. The dough itself was pretty tasty but the filling wasn't very good at all.

I tried using cabbage instead of Napa cabbage but that didn't work out so well.

All in all, I won't be making this again. 

I did break a spoon mixing the dough.

Flour, about $0.50

Cornstarch, about $0.10 at Food Lion

Pork: $2.99 at Food Lion

Cabbage, 1/4 of a head at $1.40/head = $0.37 at Food Lion

Green onions: 1/4 of a bunch at $0.59/bunch = $0.15 at Food Lion

1/8 onion: $0.20 at Food Lion

Pepper: $0.01

Canola Oil: $0.20 at Food Lion

Sesame Oil: about $0.50 at Food Lion

Soy Sauce: about $0.66 at Food Lion

Salt: about $0.20 at Food Lion

Total: $5.88 for 4 servings or $1.47 per serving

Homemade Pizza

Homemade Pizza
Serves 4
Ingredients
Dough:

• 1 packet of dry active yeast
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons shortening
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil

Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 6 oz can tomato paste
• 3/4 cup water

Seasonings: (optional)

• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

Toppings:

• 1 bag of shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 bag of pepperoni (optional)

1. Mix the yeast with lukewarm water and set aside.
2. Combine the flour with the salt and shortening and then add the yeast-water.
3. Mix well together until all of the water is absorbed into the dough.
4. Lightly flour a flat space and knead out the dough for about 5 minutes.
5. Pour the oil into a large bowl and coat the sides.
6. Put the dough into the oiled-bowl and coat the dough on all sides.
7. Cover and set aside for about 45 minutes.
8. Chop the onion and saute until tender. 
9. Combine all the spice together.
10. Simmer the tomato paste, water, onion and spices for 15-20 minutes in a small saucepan.
11. When the dough is ready, spread it on a baking sheet into one giant oval or 2 smaller circles. Roll up the edges for a fluffy crust if desired.
12. Spread the tomato mixture evenly on top.
13. Cover with cheese and desired toppings.
14. Bake for 20 minutes on 400 degrees on a middle rack.
15. Cut into pieces and let cool, then enjoy!

Modified from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mikes-homemade-pizza/

Nothing is quite as delicious as homemade pizza. This took about an hour and a half to make but there wasn't anything hard about it. I don't know where my pie cutter went so I improvised with a knife (that's why the slices look weird). The cheese had a tendency to fall off but I wasn't too concerned about that.

This is definitely a keeper. 

Note: I rounded up the cost for the spices so they are no doubt horribly exaggerated. 

Yeast, 1 packet of 3 at $1.11/trio = $0.37 at Food Lion

Flour: about $0.85 at Food Lion

Canola Oil: about $0.20 at Food Lion

Tomato Paste: $0.75 at Food Lion

1/2 onion: about $0.35 at Food Loin

Shortening: about $0.50 at Food Lion

Spices: perhaps $1.20 in total from Food Lion

Mozzarella: $2.27 from Food Lion

Pepperoni, 1/4 of a packet at $3.49/packet = $0.88 from Food Lion

Total : $7.37 for 4 servings or $1.84 per serving

The Celtic Cross Cross Stitch - Part 1

I've been at college for two weeks now and have't started something new? It's way past time to start a project!

I picked this up in Scotland about five months ago and kept putting it off. But no more!

You know, I could have sworn I wasn't going to be doing another counted cross stitch...

Strawberry Shortcakes

Strawberry Shortcakes

I'm not going to post the recipe this time - I can't find it online and I don't want to copy it from Betty Crocker's Cooking Basics. There should be plenty of shortcake recipes out there - though my whipped cream came from a can.

It's delicious but very sweet. Those strawberries are mixed in with pure sugar. I can't recommend making this too often. But given that I have no other use for shortening, I'll need to make more of these later on. I wonder how they would taste with raspberries or spiced apples?

Decisions, decisions...

Italian Summer Salad

Another school year, another kitchen.

Virginia is hot and muggy in the summer and a hot kitchen is never ideal. Good thing this salad requires no cooking!

Italian Summer Salad
Serves 3-4
Ingredients

• head of romaine lettuce
• 2 tomatoes or handful of cherry tomatoes
• 1/3 cup of red wine vinaigrette or Italian dressing
• 1 can of cannellini beans
• 1 can of sliced water chestnuts (optional)
• 3 oz of pepperoni or other deli meat

1. Chop the romaine into 1/2 inch wide slices along the core and rinse, discarding the root.
2. Wash the tomatoes and chop them into small pieces, if not using cherry tomatoes.
3. Mix the lettuce with the tomatoes in a large bowl.
4. Drain the beans and water chestnuts and add to the bowl.
5. Toss in the pepperoni and mix with the dressing.

I believe this recipe was modified from one in a Betty Crocker book.

I prefer my salads crunchy which is why I included the water chestnuts, but this recipe lends itself well to modification. Cucumbers, squash, onions - whatever you have on hand would probably taste just as good.

The pepperoni can be substituted for any other deli meat or omitted - as I like to eat just this for dinner, it's good to get a little protein in.

Head of Romaine Lettuce: $1.79 at Food Lion

2 Tomatoes: $1.09 at Food Lion

Can of Cannellini Beans: $0.89 at Food Lion

Can of Water Chestnuts: $0.99 at Food Lion

Pepperoni, 1/2 of a bag at $3.49 /bag = $1.75 at Food Lion

Italian Dressing, 1/3 of a bottle at $1.79/bottle = $0.60 at Food Lion

Total Cost: $7.11 for 4 servings or $1.78 per serving

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 5

This one turned out much creepier than the others. I'm not sure why.

I've decided to end my project in felting. Each step feels like more and more of a chore instead of a new hobby. I'm tired of felting whips of wool that won't stay on. I want my projects to be fun, not boring.

I made 3 seal pups, enough that I got what I paid for ($19). The kit was for 3-4 seals, though given the amount of wool I have left over, I'm not sure what the manufacturers were thinking.

I'm a bit miffed about the waste of wool here but I can't keep it.

I can definitely say that I've tried felting and it wasn't for me. At least I got one good animal out of this:

The Seal Pup Felting Project - Part 4

2 Seal pups down, 2 (?) more to go:

I'm pleased with how this one turned out: the body is shorter and has more structure because the 'chest' is thicker than the rest of the body. The back flippers curve up and the head is better placed. It still doesn't look the picture in my instruction booklet but it's closer than the last one.

I still didn't sew the eyes in; there aren't any instructions on how to do that. I wasn't really happy with the face because it looks like the head of a polar bear. Felting 'wisps' of wool is difficult and it's the most noticeable part. I don't have the patience for this sort of work.

It does make this guy look happy which is a happy trade-off. I can live with that.