Cooking with Croc

[Croc]

Here are a few quick and easy recipes that not only are cheap, but definitely NOT unhealthy!

"Chicken Rice"

Difficulty: easy

Combine can of Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup in a pot with some rice. Cook until rice is finished. Stir pretty frequently to keep it from burning as it is a very dry recipe. Very tasty! You can add curry and pepper to it if you want.

---

Cucumber salad

Difficulty: easy

Finely chop 3 cucumbers. Combine 1.5 tsp sugar, a fair amount of rice vinegar (3/4 cup or so), Kikoman Tempura Dipping Sauce to taste and 1 tbl water in a small bowl. Mix. Add cucumbers to bowl. You may also add shredded carrots if you choose. Hand toss and let marinate for a few minutes. While waiting, prepare 2 sheets of nori (dried seaweed) by placing on a clean, damp paper towel and pouring a small amount of rice vinegar on the center of the nori sheet. Using your hands, spread the rice vinegar all over the wrap to moisten it. Repeat with other side. When nori is moist (but still has some integrity to it) rip it up into strips. Add the nori strips to the cucumber salad while continuing to hand toss it. Serve and garnish with sesame seeds. Enjoy!

More coming soon...

Any recipes you like that aren't unhealthy or expensive?

Edited July 3, 2006 by Croc

[Enzora]

Why not just boil the rice first, then mix with the soup?

Having a George Foreman grill has come in handy this year in my apartment, especially since we're not allowed to have a real one on our balcony. Grill some chicken, mix with some sauce, serve with pasta. Or get any marinade, soak yer chicken in it, put it over whatever vegetables you like, grill, and serve.

Those are the main types of recipes that come to mind. I'm not exactly a gourmet chef.

[Croc]

Because it wouldn't turn out right. As written, the soup acts as the hydrator and the rice absorbs all the flavor. I've never tried it cooking the rice first then adding the soup...but my guess is it would be runnier...and take longer to make.

[VenSeattle]

What's considered "unhealthy or expensive"?

No eggs? No dairy? No beef? No white flour?

Give a cost limit.

[Croc]

as in it isn't chock full of fats and high in calories.

costs? it isn't prohibitively expensive. no special items you cant find in your average grocery.

[Croc]

Actually health food weenies use butter again as it does not have the awful hydrogenated oils in margerine.

[Croc]

I thought it was the partially hydrogenated soybean oil (transfat) they disliked?

Yes, which is present in margerine and not butter.

[Sixty8panther]

Interesting "food for thought"...

I'm from Eastern Europe, we eat tons of Bacon, Sausage, Butter, Salt etc. but somehow stay very healthy because we all get excersise and eat tons of garlic, onions and other vegetables to balance it out.

[NOS2006]

Here's an alternative to your cucumber salad (I like both methods, personally, although yours differs from the other one I've had):

Slice or chop cucumbers up. Add to bowl with chopped (but not real small pieces of) tomato. Slice up some chives and throw them in, too. Add Italian Dressing and you've got yourself a side-dish!

Edited March 30, 2006 by NOS2006

[balthazar]

Friend of mine has been eating like none of us ever has for a year now (super healthy) due to a myriad of afflictions. Amazing stuff I'm learning from him. You cannot eat what could be legitimately called "healthy" from chain supermarkets.

[the_yellow_dart]

Here's a slightly more expensive, slightly less healthy dish I've impressed a few people with. It's basically inspired by Alice Springs Chicken from the Outback, with my own spin on it.

You need:

- Pasta (any long-noodle type will do)

- Package of Alfredo sauce powder (or jar of the real stuff if you want to spend more)

- Smallest package of bacon you can find

- 1 Chicken breast / person

- Some honey mustard

Cook the pasta, enough for each person to cover a circle roughly the size of a CD. Cook the chicken breasts on a Foreman if you have it, or barbeque if possible, and place it on top of the pasta. Fry 2 strips bacon / person and place it on top of the chicken. Make (or just heat up) the Alfredo sauce, adding honey mustard until you can just taste it in the sauce. It will go slightly yellow. Pour the sauce on top of the chicken, bacon and pasta and you have a damn good meal.

You may want to put some vegetables on the side of this one, or don't blame me when you need a coronary

[Croc]

Friend of mine has been eating like none of us ever has for a year now (super healthy) due to a myriad of afflictions. Amazing stuff I'm learning from him. You cannot eat what could be legitimately called "healthy" from chain supermarkets.

How do you figure? Plenty of organic/natural foods are available there...you just have to avoid the processed stuff, which isn't too hard to do.

[the_yellow_dart]

Well... it is slightly less healthy. If you prepare it so. If you only use 2 small pieces of bacon, and use a little Alfredo, the chicken and pasta certainly aren't going to kill you.

However... if you go all out and pile on the bacon and slather on the sauce...

[Drew Dowdell]

Cooking with Drew:

Triple chocolate cake, dark chocolate layer, white chocolate layer, milk chocoalte layer... with white chocolate almaretto iceing.

Home made pound cake with a full pound of butter. Maple rum glaze and powdered sugar topping

Dark chocolate tart with almaretto icing and crushed almonds on top

[Croc]

Here's a Greek salad I love to make:

Salad

red leaf lettuce

spinach

mint leaves

Additional Ingredients

grilled mutton

coconut shreds

kalamata olives

red globe grapes

diced apples

feta cheese

Dressing

basalmic vinegar

kalamata olive oil/vinegar (from jar)

Everything to taste. Combine salad greens, mutton, apple, olives and grapes. Hand toss. Add dressing, but keep it light; add only in small increments until everything is coated, but not saturated. Crumble in feta and toss again. Serve and sprinkle coconut shreds to garnish.

[Drew Dowdell]

Interesting. Did you use two different sized bunt cake pans to make that?

Nope, just a nordicware cake pan. They have lots of patterns. I've been slowly collecting them as they go on sale at TJ Max.

I have a pan that makes six small roses about the size of a very large cupcake. Chas and I decided that flowers were too expensive around valentines day, so I made him roses <french vanilla cake with red food coloring> instead. I used a small heart shaped pan to make green "leaves" for the roses. Arranged it all out on a platter, a *bam* I've got flowers for my honey on Valentines day. I earned big points for that one. :AH-HA_wink:

I can do some great dinners, but my best work is always on the dessert tray.

[Croc]

Cosmopolitans are a favorite alcoholic beverage among family friends...and apparently I make the best Cosmos those lifelong alcoholics have ever consumed.

Croc's Cosmopolitan Recipe

Serves 2

2 shots vodka*

1 shot triple sec

1 shot natural cranberry juice (no sugar added)

1 shot POM pommegranate juice

2 key limes

Combine vodka, triple sec, cranberry juice and POM in a shaker with ice. squeeze juice from one key lime into shaker. cut other key lime in half and then partially cut each lime half (keep halves intact). shake and pour into martini glasses and garnish with each partially cut key lime half. Serve.

The "secret ingredients" of this recipe are the unique addition of pommegranate juice and the choice of key limes that add a unique and exotic flavor to this old standby. Enjoy!

*Croc only serves the very best vodka to his guests; no vodka is better than Belvedere.

Edited March 30, 2006 by Croc

[balthazar]

How do you figure?  Plenty of organic/natural foods are available there...you just have to avoid the processed stuff, which isn't too hard to do.

Again- most chain supermarkets produce is irridated & grown with pesticides, which kills off too many of the best benefits of eating them in the first place. 95% of packaged foods are compromised with additives, chemicals & preservatives- generally garbage. Packaged 'healthy' claims are most always misleading or at least misdirecting. Add to that that most people don't know how to eat or what a given item does to the body (or doesn't) and it certainly can be hard to do what's the best for you.

Proper nutrition takes a great deal of study to obtain and perserverance to follow. Start while you're young.

[Guest Josh]

I earned big points for that one.  :AH-HA_wink:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'll admit, I laughed out loud on that one!

[Croc]

Japanese Seaweed Rice

Cook Japanese sticky rice until rice is tender and water is absorbed. Add rice vinegar to rice (not too much, just enough to moisten it). Add Kikoman Tempura Dipping Sauce to taste. Moisten 2 sheets of nori per technique described on page 1 of this thread. tear into strips. combine with rice. A yummy and fulfilling snack!

Miso Rice

Cook Japanese sticky rice, but instead of cooking it in just water, add two packets of miso soup mix to the water (preferably a mix of red and white miso). Add strips of moistened nori if you choose.

[VenSeattle]

Simple quiche recipe

Basic ingredients:

3-4 eggs

½ cup sour cream

1 ½ cup grated cheese (american, cheddar, swiss, combination, or other)

Splash of worcestershire sauce

Cap of lemon juice

Pinch of cayenne pepper or paprika

1 uncooked deep 9”-12” pastry shell

Select 2 special ingredients:

Ham, bacon, sausage, broccoli, mushrooms, onions, chives, spinach, etc…

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375. Place grated cheese & special ingredients (pan fry meat products first if raw) into pastry shell while evenly distributing throughout. Mix eggs, sour cream, & spices (Worcestershire, lemon juice, cayenne pepper) together in large bowl until smooth. Pour mixture into pastry shell over the special ingredients. Bake 35-40 minutes or until firm.

It’s very simple, keeps well, freezes great, and I’ve never had any complaints. As for the “healthy” part, I’ve prepared it with fat-free cheese & sour cream without any impact on flavor.

[2005 EquinoxLS]

I have heard too that regular butter is actually BETTER for you than the margerine or other fake butters. I am also leery of some of the diabetic sugar substitutes because of the chemicals in them.

[Croc]

Good point.

Here's my opinion on the various sweeteners:

NutriSweet: stay away from this. it causes water retention and bloating. it builds up in your joints and can cause arthritis. Your internal organs may swell. If you're allergic to it, well you will swell up like a balloon if you consume it like my friend does. STAY AWAY

Splenda: this stuff is toxic. it is not made from sugar; the sweetness is derived from the chlorine in it. more than 15% of ingested Splenda is absorbed by the body. it has been known to cause severe reactions in some people, including unexplainable gastrointestinal pain (nothing shows up on tests). other people have developed rashes. STAY AWAY!!

Sweet n Low: this is the only one I will ingest. why? it was once on the carcinogenic list, then was proven to be so safe it was removed from said list. That makes it safe enough for me. If anyone knows of any documented ill effects, let me know...though it does NOT lead to cancer.

[balthazar]

NutriSweet (Aspartame) is akin to formaldehyde and it crystallizes in the joints. Don't even think about consuming products with this. For that matter, avoid ALL synthetic sweeteners and of course, no processed (white) sugar. Not easy to do in prepared foods.

If you want a harmless sweetener you need to find a natural one, like a stevia-based one.

[tmp]

NutriSweet (Aspartame) is akin to formaldehyde and it crystallizes in the joints.

(I read this as I finish my fifth diet Coke)

Time to go back to green tea, I guess

[turbo200]

don't drink any diet anything. drink water and natural juice! and cool thread

[Croc]

The hardest thing about sharing my recipes is that I don't really measure...I just kinda go with what works. For example, my french toast recipe...

3 or 4 eggs

Milk

Flour

Sugar

Vanilla Extract

Go heavy on the flour with a decent amount of sugar. Add milk until it is a batter, but a fairly thick batter. Add a tbl or two of the vanilla extract. Whisk it until smooth, but remember it needs to be thick. Basically just add the ingredients until it is thick but smooth...and so that the batter when tasted is pleasant but not too sweet or too "floury." Take a pyrex dish and place 4 pieces of bread in it. pour less than half of the batter in. On top of these four pieces, place an additional four slices of bread. Cover with remaining batter (should be mostly submerged...if not be sure to have some batter on top of bread slices). Place in fridge overnight. Come morning, fire up the skillet and melt a generous pat of butter on it. Use a spatula to pry the heavy, dense bread from the pyrex dish. Place in skillet and press down with spatula. When it seems ready, flip it. End result should be a nice golden color. Serves 4, and is nowhere close to healthy...but man is it good!

Note: you can make it with single slices if you wish, but the doubles allow for a slightly gooey inside. Yum!

[trinacriabob]

Croc:

Do you have good recipes for alligator? I heard it takes like chicken. Seriously, in South Florida, they have those stands where you can taste a "Gator Burger."

Thought this would be up your (Alligator) alley. (The Floridians on the board will get this last pun).

[tmp]

Just in the interest of balance, a recipe that's fattening, a little dangerous and a bit expensive:

Fettuccine Carbonara

4 oz fettuccini

4 oz pancetta, 1/4" dice

3 tbsp white wine

3 egg yolks

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 ea scallions -- sliced 1/4" thick

2 garlic cloves -- sliced thin

2 oz parmegiano -- grated

1 oz pecorino -- grated

1/2 cup cream

1/2 tsp Moldon salt

freshly ground white pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a lberal amount of table salt and add the fettuccine

Saute the garlic in the olive oil until golden, remove with a slotted spoon and discard (you're just flavoring the oil). Add the Pancetta and brown, then set pancetta aside and discard all but about 2 tablespoons of the oil and grease the pancetta releases. Add in the wine to deglaze the pan. Add in the cream and cook reduce by half.

Drain cooked pasta. In a separate dish, whish the eggs thoroughly- they should change color from deep ochre to a light yellow and be slightly frothy.

Add pancetta back into the pan and the hot drained pasta. over medium heat, add in the eggs and turn into the past with tongs to coat everything. Serve with the scallions, Moldon salt, pepper and cheese.

Serves 4, 1 if you want your choleserol higher than my zip code.

Edited March 30, 2006 by tmp

[trinacriabob]

Just in the interest of balance, a recipe that's fattening, a little dangerous and a bit expensive:

Fettuccine Carbonara

4 oz fettuccini

tmp, you are putting me to shame. I am of the extraction indicated by this food and I could not cook an Italian dish to save my life.

BTW, if you like Carbonara, try a sauce called Boscaiola....even better (pinkish sauce, onions, bacon and mushrooms).

Edited March 30, 2006 by trinacriabob

[Croc]

...what's dangerous about it?

[tmp]

Raw eggs. The eggs end up not quite cooked.

Boscaiola

Man, that looks good.

For someone who lives on zone bars and diet coke, I'm a repertory or fattening recipes.

[Croc]

Oh...that makes sense.

[Cory Wolfe]

I'd share some recipes... but none of them are very healthy.

[Croc]

but none of them are very healthy.

eh who cares at this point?

[pow]

Linguini with clam sauce... it's very easy and very good.

Pour some olive oil into a hot skillet, throw in lots of minced garlic, and then chopped, canned clams. Let it sizzle for a sec, and add crushed red pepper flakes, coarse salt, and some torn basil leaves. Mix sauce with cooked linguini, and you're done.

[pow]

My mom makes really good meatballs... I don't remember the exact recipe with all the measurements and stuff, but this is what she does:

Hand "ground" flank steak and pork with the dull side of the knife. This prevents it from being all crumbly and Taco Bell-ish. Marinate it with soy sauce, corn starch, oil, sugar, and white pepper.

Add chopped basil, garlic, freshly grated Parmesan, bread (any baguette, soaked in milk, squeezed, and crumbled), cooked spinach (optional, the frozen stuff from Trader Joes is fine), and eggs into the meat. Mix and roll into large-sized balls. Stuff a chunk of fresh mozzarella into each ball; it will melt and become really gooey and nice when you bite into it.

Coat the meatballs with breadcrumbs and "fry" them in a skillet with some olive oil. This will make the crust. Pour tomato sauce (canned tomato sauce; Sriracha hot sauce; processed, pre-made "pasta sauce") all over the meatballs, and let simmer.

Serve with pasta and garnish with more basil leaves. Mmm, it makes me hungry just thinking this over...

Edited April 1, 2006 by empowah

[Croc]

MORE COOKING WITH CROC!!

Croc's Easy Stir-Fry

1 bag baby spinach

1 bag "herbal salad" blend

1 head of bok choy

1 egg

1 lb. extra-lean ground beef

5 nori sheets

bean sprouts

alfalfa sprouts

sesame oil

soy sauce

sugar

white pepper

carrots

rice vinegar

garlic cloves

brown rice (short-grain)

Cook the rice. This takes about an hour, so continue with the other steps, checking on occasionally.

Marinate the meat. In a bowl break the meat up and combine 4 tsp sugar, 4 tb sesame oil and 4 tb soy sauce. Add white pepper to taste. Let sit in a fridge while the other prep work is done.

Prepare the vegetables. Wash and dry the vegetables. Chop the carrots. Coarsely chop the bok choy.

Create the sauce. Combine 6 tsp sugar, 6 tb soy sauce, 6 tb sesame oil and rice vinegar to taste in a bowl. Generously add white pepper to taste. Peel and press the garlic to taste and add to the sauce.

Make the omelete. Add egg to wok with a pinch salt. Wait for egg to be finished on one side before flipping. After egg omelete is cooked, remove from wok and chop.

Rice should be nearing completion before you begin the next step.

Begin the stir fry. Coat the wok with a thin layer of sesame oil. add the ground beef. after ground beef is cooked, add the carrots. After a few minutes add the remaining vegetables as well as the egg. Press more garlic and add to wok. Pour the sauce over the mixture. Stirfry until vegetables are cooked.

Cut the nori sheets into strips of approximately one inch wide.

At this point the rice should be finished, so scoop a healthy amount of rice into the wok. Continue stir frying, and at this point add the nori strips. Stir fry until rice is finished.

[capriceman]

hmmm... buy some Johnsonville Brats soak in beer for 5 hours. Lite charcol BBQ and cook Brats until cooked* but on bun with your choice of condements.

*= could be Well Rare medium-rare ect.

Or if you like chewing on leather or shoes do what my roomate did years ago buy the cheapest Round steak and boil it in water on stove top pot. I think my steal toed boots would have been easier to eat.

[NOS2006]

My parents made a simple, delicious meal the other day...

Ingredients:

Chicken breasts

Bacon

Lettuce

Tomato

Thousand Island Dressing

Sub buns

Grille the chicken to preferred wellness. Slice the chicken and put on the bun. On top of the chicken, layer the lettuce, tomato, and bacon. Throw a little Thousand Island on top, add the other side of the bun, and enjoy!

[ocnblu]

All of these latest recipes sound good. I've never had stir-fry with hamburger and egg before. If I try this, I'll leave out the seaweed sheets though. I mean, it keeps the sushi rolled up, but...

Nos, those chicken sammiches sound good.

[aaaantoine]

aaaantoine's not-so-famous hamburgers

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

2 slices american cheese

Make two or three separate patties out of the ground beef. Put on grill. Add salt & pepper. Flip when top-side begins to turn brown. Poke with fork to check for remaining blood. Add cheese 1 minute before taking off grill. Serves 1 or 2, depending on hunger levels.

[NOS2006]

Damn, sweet recipe, QuadA! haha

[ocnblu]

Quick, somebody post a recipe for Cheerios and milk.

[NOS2006]

Quick, somebody post a recipe for Cheerios and milk.

:rotflmao: You get me every time, oblu.. Oh man.

[Justin Bimmer]

Carrot Salad

take some carrots and get the skin off of them and grate them with a cheese grater

then get some raisins and put them in

take some balsamic vinegar and let it soak for an hour or so

add a little bit of sugar and some salt and pepper

mmmmmm a good california treat

[Croc]

Tuna Niçoise Salad

1 Tuna Steak

1 package "herbal salad" blend

1 package baby spinach greens

1 or 2 tomatos

1 small jar capers

4 tb wasabi mayonaise

kalamata olives

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1 lemon half

1 tb miso paste

Wash and combine all vegetable ingredients in a large bowl. Drain the caper liquid into a bowl (for dressing) and add the capers to the large salad bowl. Add the olives to the salad, using the same process as with the capers. Finely dice the tomato and add it to the salad.

Add the miso paste to the bowl with the caper and olive liquid and mix until miso paste is disolved. Squeeze the lemon half into the dressing (mind the seeds) and add the wasabi mayonaise. Add the red wine vinegar. Mix well. Add water to dilute the dressing to the desired consistency. The dressing should be light and runny.

Grille the tuna steak as per your preference. I prefer rare (top and bottom are grey, everything else is still red). When cooked to your satisfaction, chop it up into pieces. Add to the salad along with the dressing and toss until everything is well mixed and coated. Serve and enjoy!

Edited June 28, 2006 by Croc

[pow]

I've been making pizza a lot recently... here's today's creation.

Sausage, mushroom, tomato, tomato sauce, mozarella, ricotta, parmesan...

One without mushroom or tomato...

A day earlier I made Margherita pizza, which is mozarella, tomato, basil, garlic, and last Friday I made chicken garlic butter pizza, which is, like, really, really good.

I just use the dough from Trader Joe's ($.99, enough for 2 pizzas), and because I don't have a pizza stone, I partially bake the crust before I put on the toppings... it seems like I can never get the crust nice and golden-brown without burning the cheese.

[capriceman]

at above post^^^^^

[Croc]

Dude that &#036;h&#33; looks really good...

I should make my stirfry again and have the clarity to take pix. Or maybe my salad...hmmmmmmm

Or maybe something totally different!