nestas feast for the evening

alright, i've got some good food i'm gonna eat tonight. in fact, it will be more food that i can eat, so it will last me at least through supper tomorrow, as i haven't got anyone i need to share this with.

my goal was to get a ton of good food for only a little money.

a big part of the effort is making use of ingredients i dont often use otherwise. i had a big thing of flour in the cupboard, so i just put my first ever attempt at homemade bread in the oven.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Bread/Detail.aspx

i also found a half decent looking beef roast at the store on sale...normally like 10 bucks, it was more along the lines of five dollars on sale, plus a store discount card on top of that.

the roast is cooking with a large white onion and two medium tomatoes in a slow cooker, along with garlic, a little bit of basil, salt, pepper, and beer.

altogether the things i had to buy to make all this (including a pastry brush and single use cookie sheet and cornmeal and yeast) cost me around 15 bucks, and will provide several meals worth of food. the bread i dont expect to come out incredibly pretty or anything cause, well, i've never made it before.....

but i've got a strong feeling it will be pretty delicious for such a tight budget. plus i mean the leftovers will probably make some damn good beef sandwiches!

 

oh i forgot, i'm not simply eating meat and bread, i've got either lima beans or broccoli to accompany it, but i AM on a budget and as such i just got frozen veggies, so they aren't that exciting

 

Savoureux

 

sounds amazing nesta

 

well the beef is good and the bread is okay, but i was probably a bit hasty with putting it in the oven...its was a bit too dense and moist, though the crust came out perfect....

it is still ok, but there are a few things i will do differently next time. knead it longer and give the yeast more time to work (i bet letting it rise more would help make it fluffier and less dense)

still, i'm very happy with this for my very first ever and completely uneducated attempt at making my own bread....and the bread itself costs very little...this is something i want to learn to do well. good bread is expensive, when it costs little to make it. its just a matter of learning how to do it.

 

ahh you're making me hungry!!! making alot of food for little money is a very important skill that everyone should learn, in my opinion. if most people weren't so wasteful world hunger wouldn't be such a problem.

 

i've got one of the most rustic yet appealing looking sandwiches i've ever seen wrapped up in the fridge for lunch tomorrow (i open, but tomorrow is a sunday so i dont have to be in till 6....so lunch will be around 10 or 11)

one of the loaves came out a bit wider. i cut a large section off of one end, and also cut a nice thick slab off one side of the roast. on either side of the meat i layed in some stewed onions and tomatoes....i gave it an extra dash or two of salt....but tomorrow i'll have a pot roast sandwich on homemade bread for lunch at work, and it will cost me no more than a sandwich from mcdonalds and will be much healthier and much tastier....

 

Do they contain weed, or are you just informing us about your alimentary income?

 

haha, the ever-important question...


nice work man! those first attempts at cooking stuff are great. that how you REALLY learn how to cook.

here´s a really simple and AWESOME thing to do with bread:

get a baguette or any artesian bread (or make your own) and cut into slices. put them in the oven and set for "broil." you want to toast the bread just enough to it´s somewhat rough to the touch, but make sure it doesnt get too brown. take a clove of garlic and rub it on the rough/warm bread - it should melt right on there. but dont over do it because then you´ll have death-breath for the next week. then cut a tomato in half and rub that on there.
sprinkle on some sea salt, olive oil, mozzarella cheese (if you want), and FRESH oregano. put it back in the oven under broil so the cheese melts.

the flavors of the garlic and tomato will be IN the bread, rendering it orgasmic.

 

cool nesta! Congrats on the bread making!

I had Prik Lea or however it's spelled. It's a hot thai dish made with tempura chicken in my case, sauteed bell peppers, and scallions. It was pretty good, but I ate way too late and am regretting it. I hate going to bed with a full stomach!

 

words are cheap nesta, we need pics!

 

ive always liked cooking and its always satisfying to cook something yourself. i never go all out with the different kinds of seasons that you do. the main spices in my cabinet are garlic powder, garlic salt, season salt, salt, pepper, parsley, diced onions, thats basicly it for dry seasoning if im cooking something for a long time in the crock pot or something then ill use all fresh onions and garlic. ive never been a big fan of roast beef i would eat a corned beef over that any day.

ive also wanted to learn how to make my own bread or even by getting one of them bread machines (i think all they do is help shape and work the yeast im not sure though LOL). i want to make some banana bread or some fresh home made cinnamon bread and use it for french toast or something. breakfast is always a good meal for dinner IMO because ive never really ate alot in the morning. i never have time i usually have to get up and drive right after i wake up so it sucks.

 

banana bread is a "quick bread," and doesn't require any yeast. Let's see if I can remember my recipe off the top of my head:

I can't lol! But it has butter, sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, mashed ripened banana, eggs, and maybe some other stuff. I can't think of it. But quick breads are insanely easy to make. You just mix the batter and pour it into a greased loaf pan and bake for about an hour and that's it.

 

oh i know doesnt have yeast but ive still never made regular bread or that type of bread. a friend of mines mom makes cinnamon, banana, and pumkin breads. they are all small loads but they are so delicious. just put a little whip cream on it some slices and its amazing. my mom used to make some banana bread every once in a while (she hates regular bananas thats the only way she will eat them is bread) she would use one of them small metal coffee cans to bake it in and i always thought that was neat when i was little. like it had premarked spots to slice it from the ridges in the can.

 

words are cheap, digitaldj. so is homemade bread, which is why i was eating it last night. unfortunately my phone doesnt take good pictures, and digital cameras are NOT cheap.....

anyway, the bread wasn't the best looking "french bread" i've ever seen, but it came out looking like a couple of damn respectable loaves of bread regadrless. i ate about one and a half loaves last night! it wasn't as good as it looked, but it was still quite decent.

i even cut a piece of it in half with a serrated knife, got a couple nice slices of pot roast, got some stewed onion and tomato in there and then put some brown mustard on it and wrapped it up for breakfast/lunch at work today...and it was great.

i'll try again before long. i'll see if i can get pics!

 

wait how can you make bread without yeast??

 

they are called quick breads nesta. Ever had pumpkin, banana, or even beer bread? They are wonderful and best warm with a little butter on top.

Tonight for dinner I'm making a greek caponata and it smells amazing!!! Eggplant, tomatoes, red onion, green pepper, garlic, yellow squash, zucchini, oregano, olive oil, and feta cheese. It bakes in the oven for an hour and I'm having it with a greek salad lol.

I just made this little punch with orange juice, vodka, triple sec, and sprite. I shook everything but the sprite with ice, and then I poured it in a glass and topped it off with sprite, and added a cherry, and a little cherry juice. It's really good. Mostly vodka though.

 

i can't stand vodka anymore, except in a select handful of drinks...and it has nothing to do with the cost of the vodka....theres some really pricy vodka out there which is priced based only on image (such as grey goose) but still tastes nasty....then there are cheaper vodkas that are smoother despite a lower price and less appealing packaging (tanqueray sterling, iceberg vodka)

but none of it is good in my view...tastes nasty...one of the few liquors i can NOT take a shot of unless i'm already REALLY drunk and have a chaser....

lately i've been on a gin kick, though....and in reality, gin is just a fancy flavored vodka....of course my favorite is hendricks, but my second favorite i just discovered, and i'm finishing my second bottle of it for the week tonight....its called new amsterdam straight gin....its really pretty good, and nice and refreshing and smooth....and to top it off its only like 14 bucks for a fifth of it got my martini in the shaker in the freezer, just waiting for some ice cubes and some shaking

 

I was on a big gin kick for awhile too, but I will never drink cheap liquor. Those days are far too over for me lol. I only like drinking the best of the best. And tanqueray, and bombay sapphire are my gin faves. And at 47% alcohol, you can't go wrong with the 22 bucks a bottle. That's why I'm been drinking mostly vodka lately. Well when I have been drinking since I've slowed way down.

My caponata or you can call it ratatouille is smelling so heavenly.

 

i like both tanqueray and bombay sapphire ok....but i like bombay sapphire better....still, i enjoy the new amsterdam just as much as either of them (in all fairness it is a bit milder on the juniper) and i find it to be surprisingly very nice for the price. i'd buy it as soon as i would get tanqueray, honestly. i think i prefer it a bit....

hendricks is amazing, and one of my all time favorite liquors, though at a bit over 30 bucks a bottle, its clearly not for everyday for someone like me.

its a LITTLE easier on the juniper than many brands, but the really interesting aspect is the refreshing character of cucumber...they're the only gin i know of with cucumber added, and the addition is notable and delicious...it is very nice....a hendricks martini with a slice of cucumber instead of an olive or lemon or something is incredible...i highly, highly recommend trying it if you have the money to spend at some point, if you haven't tried it yet

i can't say its the best of the best or anything as i dont usually drink too much gin and haven't really liked it more than occasionally until recently...but i do think its better than bombay sapphire, tanqueray, or beefeater...