Under Pressure

My husband came home from the store one day and remarked "Look at all the dried beans there are! And they're so cheap! I bought 5 bags!"

This was about 2 years ago. They're still in the pantry, but in a moment of hunger+below freezing temperatures+ I really wanted white beans= I'm starting an experiment. The problem with dried beans is that they need to soak overnight, then cook for at least an hour, so it's not something you can whip up after work. Another problem is that after waiting 16 hours or so for some type of food, you tend to want something more exciting, like ice cream, rather than, well, cooked beans that you could have had out of a can. However, the Homespun warrior never wastes food, so I'm taking down some of those beans. I think the trick is this: You still always need to soak them, but if you put them in water when you go to work, you cover the minimum soak time and can cook them when you get home in a pressure cooker. I realize not everyone has one of these, and I don't use mine that much, but I'm going to start trying because it's truly amazing. The beans are ready to go into the pot and the cooking time, as stated by the Presto Pressure Cooker Manual, is .... 1 minute. Seriously.
I'll report back later on the outcome, but I'm pretty fired up. Beans will do that to a person.

Promising something for everyone

We had a Halloween party at the Commune, and in looking for a 5 person costume came up with the Love Boat. Yes, that's Issac, Julie, Dr. Bricker, the Captain and his daughter welcoming you aboard. We had this in three apartments, so we made them into decks: the first floor was the boarding level, the 2nd floor was the Fiesta deck (midnight buffet) and the third floor was the Lido deck (bar). Food on the midnight buffet included such favorites as ham, pineapple and cheese cubes on sticks, stuck into a watermelon rind and Swedish meatballs. The Lido deck features Mai-Tais and tropical fruit. Richard Simmons made an appearance, as did a lovely retiree from Boca Roton. No Charo, unfortunately.
I loved the fact that two days before this party, no one had done anything, and then with the addition of a couple of wigs and a Just For Men beard dye kit suddenly we got our mojo back. A little effort always makes things more special, and we definitely set a course for adventure. Take your theme party to the next level by doing that thing that seems like "too much". It's not. And your passengers, I mean guests, will love it.

Cheap and Easy, just like your Mom part I

The mack-daddy of making one thing and getting a ton of meals out of it is a whole chicken. Even if you spring for the organic, grain-fed, college-educated chicken, you're still at around $8 for at least three meals.

Whole chicken can be adapted to whatever flavors you like. Take your chicken, rinse it out, make sure you remove the plastic bag of giblets in the cavity, and dry it off with paper towels. Rub olive oil or butter all over the skin (top and bottom). Sprinkle with salt and pepper and any spices you like. If you have a roasting rack, put the chicken in it. If you don't, cut up some onions or celery and put them in the bottom of a pan and put the chicken on top of them.
The temperatures and times for chicken come from a great recipe from Mark Bittman in his 'How to Cook Everything", which I like because it makes the skin crispy and the meat tender. He says:

1.Heat over to 500.
2.Put chicken breast side down and roast for about 25 min.
If the skin looks crispy, turn the chicken over. The easiest way to do it is take the handle of a wooden spoon, put it in the cavity, and then spin it with tongs and put down.
3.Lower the heat to 325. Roast for about a hour more, or until the temperature reaches 160-165. If you don't have a thermometer, you can make a cut near the thigh and see if the juices run clear, or wiggle the drumstick- if it moves freely, it's probably done.
4. Tip the bird up so the juices run into the pan, then let it rest for at least 5 minutes.

Carve it up! You can strain the pan juices and serve it with that, or make gravy if you're feeling super homespun. If you don't, don't feel guilty about it.

That's meal number one. You could even have thrown some cut up peeled potatoes in the pan after you turn the heat down and your meal is done.

Leftovers ideas will come....when else? Tomorrow.

Is it time for Mock Apple Pie?

For those into American food history, or those who just ate a ton of Ritz crackers as a kid, you'll remember the Mock Apple Pie. This is a dish made popular during WWII that tastes like apple pie (sort of) made with Ritz crackers and not a lick of apples. This frugal recipe recently sprang to mind after the recent (well, latest) economic crisis prompted all the millions of people who get hired to run their pie holes on cable news talk shows (the same people who came up with the gem "staycation") to start making pronouncements on how Americans will be changing their lives. Wow, if people have less money they might stop ordering takeout? What insight.
Homespun Urban already knows what to do with news like this. Use everything, buy food in its original form, and make/fake what you can't afford. With that in mind, we come back from our summer (well, and early fall) hiatus to introduce another series:

Cheap and Easy (just like your Mom)

Interpret that anyway you want. We'll try to post some ideas for meals that don't cost much and can be used for a few meals at the least. And if you really want to try that mock apple pie, go for it. Although now that I think of it, it might be cheaper to buy a bag of apples than a box of Ritz crackers. How times have changed.

The Homespun-iest Urban-like Recipe I Ever Invented

Hi folks! I'm Richie Rich! Need a way to use up leftover pate? I know, me too!


Well, sort of. Stick with me, folks: I went out to dinner on Sunday to a French Bistro, ordered pate to start, and had way too much to eat before dinner, so I took it home. (Urban).

I wanted to have spaghetti and meatballs tonight, but I didn't have quite enough hamburger. (Homespun).

I mixed in the pate with the ground chuck, and voila (Urban) and hoop-de-doo (Homespun), I got some of the meatiest meatballs ever!

This could just be the essence of the whole damn book.

Bake Sale Tirade! 50 cents each!

I made it myself!

You know that old bumper sticker about how it will be a great day when schools have all the money they need and the Pentagon has to hold bake sale to buy a bomb? I do agree, but I would like to add on the following:
It will be a great day when a school has a bake sale that sells things that someone actually baked.

This is obviously much less important than the world of fully funded education and peaceful living advocated in the first version, but this is nevertheless my rant of the day. My gainful employer had a bake sale today and this is what was on the table:

cans of soda
individual bags of potato chips
Dunkin' Donuts
Oreos put in sandwich bags
a dozen or so sad Toll House cookies that may or may not have been from a tube
A pan of Rice Crispy treats.

Does anyone else think this is a bad message on so many levels? Get beyond the obvious tendency towards childhood obesity, and you also have consumerism, and the missing message of the whole bake sale thing: If you put in a little sweat equity, you earn money and can feel good about giving it to your cause. Not to mention the important childhood memories of learning to make a real cookie, smelling it bake, licking the bowl , etc. I know people are busy. I know you could say, "What the hell do you know? You're not trying to run a household of 1 to 4.3 kids", but really? No one knows how to bake? No one's nanny knows how to bake? They should just call it a "Snack Sale". Or a "Junk Food Sale". And of course they made lots of money. But they didn't make memories! Oh no they didn't, dammit!

If I were to make something for a bake sale right now I would make this or this. But I guess that's just me.

Cooking for others

Today's Boston Globe features an interesting article by the restaurant critic. She acknowledges feeling guilty reviewing swanky restaurants and at the same time reading about the current rice and cooking oil shortage in developing countries. Her proposal is this : If you're planning on going out to dinner, change your restaurant to one a step down in price range than you were planning on going to, and donate the rest to world hunger organizations. Not a bad idea, eh? You could take it one step further by going homespun and cooking that meal you were going to have at home, then donating that money. I think that a steak dinner: Steak, salad, potato, etc. is just as good, if not better, at home, and think of the money you could save! Feed your palate and your conscious at the same time.
Here's the article. Her blog also features a list of organizations who need donations.

The Gnomes and Fairies helped me

I baked a cake recently that was magical: A plain chocolate cake batter, but then you mixed sugar, more cocoa and boiling water together and poured it on top of the batter. When it bakes, the top magically becomes cake, and the bottom magically becomes a chocolate/pudding sauce. Fantastic! Unicorn dreams and rainbows!

It is good. I'm too lazy to type the recipe right now, but if you really want it, email me and I'll post it.

The cake made me think of other magical foods, specifically the most famous magical food: Impossible Cheeseburger Pie. For those who don't know, it's ground meat, Bisquick and cheese: except that you pour all that shit in a pan, and it magically separates and the crust floats THROUGH the meat to the top of the pan.

I know there's scientific reasons for all this, but I don't care. I prefer to have it be magical! Pixie dust and unicorns!

24 hour cauliflower

I recently read the woman who writes the Orangette blog's column in Bon Appetit. She talked about a meal she had as an exchange student in France that blew her mind and shaped her palate from there on out. One of the things she spoke about was a plate of steamed leeks with a vinaigrette. For some reason, this sounded just about perfect, and since I had the day off (Patriot's Day: A holiday only in Massachusetts, Maine, and strangely, Wisconsin, that celebrates the revolutionary-type Patriots, not the soul-crushingly defeated football team), I thought I'd make a nice meal. I roasted a chicken with lemons under the skin, and cut up a cauliflower I had to roast as well. The reviews of the cauliflower on epicurious all talked about how "transforming" it was, how good, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

We had a lovely meal, the leeks were delicious, and this morning when I got up the husband asked "hey, weren't we going to have cauliflower last night?" Oops. I opened the oven, and there they were: Shriveled, defeated, a shadow of their former glorious selves. Full disclosure: When I reached in the oven to get them out, I put on a pot holder. Why? What can I say-it was early. He started to throw them away, but I wanted to try them.

They tasted like cauliflower bar mix: salty and crunchy. Well, and cauliflower-y.

I ate the whole pan.

Next tag line: Too Busy to Cook? Leave the Meal in the Oven All Night!

Why breakfast is the best of all possible meals

This revelation came to me recently watching, of all things, a Denny's commercial. It just looked SO GOOD. But think about it:

1. Any thing you could possibly make is quick.
2. There's toast.
3. Everyone loves it.
4. It perfectly fits the occasion it inhabits (weekday quick bowl of cereal;post-hangover greasy eggs and hashbrowns)
5. It involves coffee.
6. It's cheap.
7. Easy decisions at a time when you need it. If you can't decide between pancakes or eggs, it's encouraged that you get both. Try that with a Chinese/italian/Thai/sushi/steak discussion.
8. It's ok to have breakfast at other times of the day. No such luck with the other way around. (Shrimp scampi with your coffee?)

I think I'll go make some pancakes.