Culinary Adventures of MadZak

Beans, barley, and tomatoes is something new to me at least. I’ve never heard of barley prior to my quest for dried beans and I think I’m hooked! This dish is easy to prep, cook, and clean (trust me I do that too!) and it’ll make a great packed lunch for the next day, saving that money for more important things.

Serve with some steamed broccoli and cauliflower and you got yourself a dinner worth sitting down for. This dish is a great replacement for standard rice and or pasta. If you are looking for something new to try that is cheap and healthy, this is it.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup dried barley pearls
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 cup black beans
• 1/2 cup green onion
• 1/2 cup onion
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup garlic
• 3 cups vegetable broth

METHOD:

In a deep skillet or sauce pot add oil, garlic, and garlic. After about 5 minutes add the black beans, tomatoes, barley, and the vegetable broth then bring to boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes. Stir occasionally.

After 40 minutes, add the green onions, salt, and pepper then continue simmering for 5 more minutes. Remove from heat and serve.

SERVINGS: 4

So you go out to dinner and the waitress comes on over after you’ve eaten your nice meal and asks you if you would like some dessert. Obviously this happens all the time but I’m about to present a new spin on the classic restaurant dessert. Just how much are these guys hurting your bank account and your waist line? Let’s take a look!

Below I took one of our favorite desserts that we used to purchase when we’d eat out at a local restaurant. My wife and I are suckers for cookies and cream, so it’s no surprise that a dessert including syrup, oreos, vanilla, and a brownie would wet our taste buds. My only issue was that price… it felt really high but of course giving into temptation would prove more powerful than frugality. Below I give you the homemade version below which goes very easy on your bank account and also your waist line (still a dessert, but you can indulge every now and then!)

Recipe

• Hershey Low Fat Chocolate Syrup – 2.35 2 tablespoons, 15 per container 45 calories
• Reduced Fat Oreo Cookies (funny) – 3.39 3 cookies 15 per container 150 calories
• Fat Free Cool Whip – .69  (-1.00 for shoppers card) 2 tablespoons 25 per container  15 calories
• Generic Vanilla Ice Cream – 2.49 2 tbsp 1/2 cup 14 per container 130 calories
• Betty Crocker Low Fat Brownie Mix – 1.69 1 brownie 18 per bag 140 calories

Modified Serving Size

• Brownie (cut into 14) = 180 calories costing $0.12
• Oreo Cookies (1 and 1/2 cookies crumbled) = 75 calories $0.11
• Hershey Syrup (1 tablespoon) = 22.5 calories $.07
• Cool Whip (2 tablespoons) = 15 calories $.06
• Ice Cream (1/2 cup) = 130 calories $.18

Results

• Calories = 422 ( about 1/3 of the original count guess)
• Total Cost = $0.54
• Restaurant Cost = 5.29 for 2 servings
• Total saved = $4.21
• Profit Markup = 490%

No Kidding Huh?

I’ve made it my own goal in my cooking career to make as much as I can from scratch. Once I figured out how to make the following recipes, I realized I could never buy them from the store again. There comes a point where convenience should not sacrifice the quality. These, along with a few other easy to make items, certainly require quality over convenience!

Salsa and Guacamole

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Avocado’s
• 2 Lemon
• 2 tablespoon Garlic
• 1/2 cup diced Onions
• 2 tomatoes diced
• 1 tablespoon fresh Cilantro
• 2 dashes salt
• 2 dashes pepper
  

EQUIPMENT:

• Two mixing bowls
• A measuring spoon and cup
• A fork
  

METHOD:

We’ll start with the guacamole so get one of the mixing bowls and your fork ready. Cut and scoop out the insides (throw away the pit) of the avocados and place it in the bowl. Add 1/4 cup diced onions, juice of 1 lemon, 1/2 tablespoon cilantro, 1 tablespoon of garlic, 1 dash of salt, and 1 dash of pepper. Now mix up with your fork until the guacamole looks as chunky as you desire. And you are done, yeah that simple!

Salsa follows the same method. Combine juice of 1 lemon, all the diced tomato’s, 1/4 cup diced onions, 1/2 tablespoon cilantro, 1 tablespoon of garlic, 1 dash of salt, and 1 dash of pepper. Mix trying to only smash up a few of the tomatoes. If you like it thin, smash up more tomatoes. Chill and serve.

I am a big sucker when it comes to potatoes and I can see why the american public is in agreement with me. Recently I moved out of the fried potato arena and into the healthier potato space and in doing so I decided to have some mashed potatoes.

After opening the fridge to get the ingredients for my classic mashed potatoes I realized I did it again, I was out of one of the most important ingredient, milk! After staring into the fridge for a few minutes and realizing that wasn’t good for the food in the fridge the idea came to me… I still had a nice quart of vanilla soy milk in the fridge and thought to myself “Well it’s milk right?”

Putting my culinary know how to work, I quickly replaced the missing item and ventured deep within the bowels of my kitchen to create this crazy contraption of mashed garlic and vanilla potatoes! As always, I was surprised by the result and in a very good way. The oil I used in place of the butter worked out well and you couldn’t even taste the vanilla from the soy milk. What you could taste was some good garlic mashed potatoes that serves about 6 people. Let me know how it turns out and if you tweak it, be sure to share.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 large baking potatoes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup soy milk, vanilla okay!

METHOD:

Peel, rinse, and dice the potatoes. Place into a large pot and cover with water, about 1/4 of an inch above the diced potatoes. Move to stove and cook on med-high for about 15-20 minutes. The potatoes should fall apart easily if pushed with a spoon or poked with a fork.

Heat a sauce pan up, add olive oil and garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat, add soy milk, and set aside.

Once potatoes are done boiling, drain water and transfer to a mixing bowl. Begin to mash the potatoes together until it becomes somewhat smooth. Add in the soy milk/garlic mixture and stir until it is very well blended and looks like mashed potatoes. Transfer to a dish and enjoy the potato goodness you just created.

I don’t know who doesn’t love a nice tall glass of freshly squeezed lemonade. It becomes very apparent when I see the lines for it at all the festivals and fairs and I am sure that I am  not the only one who finds it hard to resist stopping by the little stand ran by young entrepreneurs.

Once the first drip hits your tongue, the bitter and sweet flavor of lemonade begins to calm and refresh you! I can’t stay away from that great taste, but I was all out of sugar and to lazy to head out to the store to replenish the stock. One thing I did have was a nice large jar of honey and I thought to myself “sure why not.” So began my adventure into a honey based lemonade.

It took quite a few attempts to get the right balance and I still to this day tweak and turn the knobs of flavor to make it good for those who try it. In the end, it was proven to me that sugar is not needed for lemonade and that honey makes a very worthy substitute! I know you are looking at the recipe going “Hey there is an orange and lime in there!” Yeah I was surprised how that helped in the process as well. Sweetness from the honey seems to be a bit over powered by the amount of lemons but by adding the orange and lime, it tones down the bitterness while preserving that tart acidic flavor. Give this recipe a shot and let me know how it turned out for you!

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 cups water, cold
• 1 cup water, warm
• 1/2 cup honey
• 4 lemons
• 1 orange
• 1 lime
• 1 tray of ice cubes

METHOD:

Start by squeezing the lemons, orange, and lime into your 1 quart pitcher. I usually do this over a mesh strainer so that the seeds and pulp that come out do not mix with the juice. Combine the warm water and honey together in a side bowl until the honey is dissolved in the water. Pour the honey mixture into the juice pitcher and follow up with the cold water and ice cubes. Stir well and refrigerate. You can serve this in about 10 minutes if needed.