Kate's Cuisine

1 pound lean ground beef $4.11
1/2 onion, chopped $0.24
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped $0.23
1 teaspoon garlic powder $0.13
1 teaspoon yellow mustard $0.01
3/4 cup ketchup $0.45
1 tablespoon brown sugar $0.01
Salt and pepper $0.01

Total   $5.19

1.) In a medium skillet over medium heat, brown the beef, onion, and green pepper. Drain excess fat.

2.) Stir in the garlic powder, mustard, ketchup, and brown sugar; mix thoroughly. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

3.) Serve and enjoy!

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When you don’t know what to do with that pound of ground beef in your freezer, and you only have 45 minutes until supper needs to be on the table, this quick and easy Sloppy Joe recipe will do in any pinch! And, everyone at my table always gets very excited when they find out that we’re having tangy and delicious (and best of all, messy!) sandwiches for supper. This is truly something that you can whip up after just arriving home from work – even if you get home late!

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts $9.96
2 cups all-purpose flour $0.44
3 eggs, beaten $0.51
2 cups bread crumbs $0.84
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese $0.75
1 tablespoon dried parsley $0.21
1 tablespoon dried basil $1.38
1 tablespoon dried oregano $0.60
1 teaspoon dried mustard $0.03
1/4 teaspoon chili powder $0.12
Pinch of cayenne pepper $0.01
1 teaspoon onion powder $0.15
1 teaspoon garlic powder $0.13
Salt and pepper $0.02
Deep fryer full of oil; or at least 12 cups of vegetable oil for deep-frying

Total Cost   $15.15

1.) Heat your deep-fryer, or other oil, to about 400 degrees Fahrenheit. You can tell that the oil is hot enough by dropping a few bread crumbs into it. If they lay flat, don’t move and don’t begin to sizzle, the oil is not hot enough yet. If they start sizzling and browning, your oil is ready. If the oil starts splattering too high and the oil seems to attack the bread crumbs, your oil is too hot and you will need to turn it down before placing chicken in there.

2.) While oil is heating, mix together in a large bowl: bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, parsley, basil, oregano, dried mustard, chili powder, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Mix until ingredients are thoroughly blended.

3.) Place flour in a separate large bowl and eggs in another large bowl. Line all three bowls in the order of: flour, egg, bread crumb mixture.

4.) Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry. One by one, place chicken breasts in a resealable plastic bag. With a rolling pin, gently pound chicken breasts, moving outwards. Continue to gently pound until chicken breast has even thickness, about 1″.

5.) After all chicken breasts have been pounded out, thinly slice them into 1″ slices.

6.) Dredge chicken breasts, a few at a time, through flour, making sure to entirely cover the chicken with flour and then shaking off excess. Dip chicken breasts into egg mixture, again making sure that chicken is entirely covered with egg. Drop into bread crumb mixture and completely coat chicken with bread crumb mixture. Set chicken aside until all chicken strips have been breaded with flour, egg, and bread crumb mixture.

7.) After all chicken strips are breaded, drop them (about 7 or 8 at a time) into the oil. Cook in oil, uncovered if in a large pot of oil and covered if in a deep fryer, for about 10-15 minutes turning regularly so that oil can evenly cook chicken. When chicken becomes thoroughly browned, remove from oil and place on paper towels to rest and remove excess oil. Sprinkle very slightly with salt.

8.) Continue until all of chicken is completely cooked and has drained on paper towels. Place on serving platter.

9.) Serve and enjoy!

Read the review here

This has been something that I’ve been cooking since Brent and I first moved in together almost 14 years ago. I’ve updated it some and made it a little more sophisticated with an actual deep-fryer and a ton of dried herbs; but every time I make it, it still reminds me of when we used to throw them on for a midnight snack. Brent still loves them as much as he did back then and the kids are always thrilled when I make them too. I also like to make a big batch of them with 8 or 10 chicken breasts and then freeze what we don’t eat, which is a lot. They freeze beautifully and can be reheated in the oven easily.

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil $0.36
1 onion, diced $0.47
4 cloves garlic, minced $0.04
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes $0.06
2 zucchini, diced $1.40
2 red bell peppers $0.90
2 cups mushrooms, sliced $2.48
1 bay leaf $0.16
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme $0.60
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano $0.10
1/2 teaspoon salt $0.01
1/2 teaspoon pepper $0.01
1 can whole tomatoes $1.20
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped $0.26
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped $0.17
2 eggs $0.34
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg $0.04
1 small tub cottage cheese $2.49
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese $4.07
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese $3.05
15 lasagna noodles $1.99

Total Cost   $20.20

1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat; cook onion, garlic, and hot pepper flakes until softened, about 6 minutes.

2.) Add zucchini, red peppers, mushrooms, bay leaf, oregano, salt and pepper; cook, stirring, until edges of zucchini are golden, about 10 minutes.

3.) Stir in tomatoes, breaking up with the back of a spoon; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 30 minutes. Discard bay leaf. Stir in basil and parsley.

4.) In bowl, beat eggs with nutmeg; stir in ricotta, 2 cups of the mozzarella cheese and the Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

5.) When vegetables are ready, spread a tiny bit of the sauce into the bottom of a greased casserole dish. Spread lasagna noodles down to cover the bottom and then place more vegetable sauce on top. Dot with a portion of the cheese mixture. Cover with another layer of noodles and repeat layers until the dish is filled, ending with vegetable sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella sauce.

6.) Cover loosely with foil. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes and then uncover. Continue cooking until the lasagna is heated through, the cheese has melted, and the entire dish is bubbling throughout, about 25 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes.

7.) Serve and enjoy!

Read the review here

Whenever I think of vegetarian meals, vegetarian lasagna is always the first thing I think of, it’s such a classic! I made this dish when my mom was down visiting recently and we all loved it! There is no real sauce, just a chunky mix of vegetables that is kept moist with the tomatoes. My mom hates any kind of pasta sauce so I think that was her favourite part of the dish; and Maddie loved that it was loaded with vegetables! (Paige the Carnivore didn’t like that part so much.) This lasagna also freezes beautifully and can be reheated again and again without losing any of its flavour or taste.

I got the recipe from Canadian Living and changed just a couple of things about it. Because there were no nice eggplants at the grocery store when I went, I substituted mushrooms for those and I also substituted cottage cheese for ricotta cheese. I’m glad I did because this was how I found out that when you mix cottage cheese with egg and cook it, it turns into the consistency of ricotta; and info like that is always valuable around the kitchen!

I’ve thought about adding this post about my favourite cooking term for some time now and being an official newlywed, I feel that it couldn’t be a more appropriate time. As much as I love cooking, there’s not often that I get excited about a specific term just because I love the word, but there’s something about the cooking term “to marry” that’s just so plain nice.

“To marry” a dish means to put all the ingredients together and then let it sit for a little while, usually anywhere from 15 minutes to several hours. Allowing the ingredients to sit like this allows the ingredients to hang out together for a bit and blend together to eventually make a dish that tastes perfect. You can mix all the ingredients together and then use them right away. But it won’t taste the same as when you let them all really work together to make that something special; and the chances are that it won’t taste nearly as good. Because on their own, those ingredients are good. But together, they’re spectacular.

Of course, not all recipes will need you to give the ingredients time “to marry,” so don’t get all carried away with the term and start making everything you cook sit together before doing anything with it. In some cases of course, the ingredients were meant to stand alone. But the next time you see that a recipe calls for ingredients “to marry” – mix it up, wrap it up, set it aside and think about what a nice thing you’re doing for your food.