In the Kitchen with Phlip x Dads at War -- "Don't throw out those leftovers!"

This is something I came up with 6 weeks ago...
I found myself faced with a fridge containing leftovers that I no longer wanted as they were at the time, but unwilling to throw out or give to the dog food that was still good.  I sat the Ava down in front of Yo Gabba Gabba and went to work.

Started with some boneless/skinless chicken breasts I'd had on that Monday...

And some cheesy coarse-mashed potatoes from that Wednesday...

Now, addressing the chicken, make with the knifework and dice it up as fine as you can make it go...

Line the cookie sheet with foil and (not pictured) hit it with the cooking spray...

Panko bread crumbs and go ahead and put that oven on 400 now)...

(not pictured) simply fold into and mix the chicken and potatoes together, add some cheese if you're feeling sporty and pat out into 2.5"x1" patties, then dip into the bread crumbs to cover completely hit the tops of them with that cooking spray one last time to aid in crisping...

(40 minutes later)...

... and that's IT!!!  Give em a couple minutes to cool, and enjoy!  You just saved yourself the cash that the things you'd have otherwise tossed actually cost you on the front end!

Dads At War -- $ave on your Grocery Expen$e$

Today, I am teaching a lesson…

This past weekend in line with the release of the Galaxy S4, I joked on the social networks about the unemployed people who have no actual income but always have money for new fly shit and how I stretch my money to make sure that I myself can afford at least some of the fly shit that I desire.  Yeah, I was being TOTALLY judgmental.
Well, one of the things that I mentioned doing is that I can make $100 worth of groceries last 3-5 weeks.  I assure you that people on Facebook see what I am capable of cooking and eating more than those who may be trawling my blog.

                Rather than spend time on the humor in my taking these people to task, the conversation turned to just HOW in the hell I am making $100 go just THAT far.  The rest of the conversation turned to me explaining how and why most of what people lose in their grocery budget goes right into the trashcan, literally.  Waste from cooking too much and seeing the leftovers go bad is the #1 culprit – or it was in my house – and luckily is one of the simplest to overcome.

And this is where I come in to help you…

• When you buy your staple items (to make a long story short, I am talking about your meats here), buy in bulk and save on unit price.  The more you buy at once, the less you spend per pound.  Don’t be shy about the flash markdowns within the last couple days before expiration, more on why in a second.
• Once you have that (those) huge package(s) of meat and you have gotten it home, divide it out into meal-sized portions that you will then freeze for later use.  THIS is why there is no good reason to be shy about the discounted stuff; you’ll be freezing it before its “use/freeze by” date anyway.  Smart money says that if you intend to marinate it to go ahead and do it now before putting it in the freezer.
• With properly planned/portioned meals according to the number of people who live in your house, you will only be cooking for people who will be eating and in quantities that you will not have a ton of leftovers in the fridge for a week for the kids to get tired of and get tossed out.
• (note:  this applies to my house and may not necessarily work for yours)  Not eating red meat goes a LONG way in the saving of money, as it is a simple fact that poultry and (most) seafood will cost quite a bit less than similarly applied red meat (beef/pork/etc…) items.  With that in mind, being a snob about dark meat vs white meat can and will unnecessarily drive your grocery bill up, so be realistic with what you’re needing and what you need it for.

The only thing you should realistically have to go back to the store for in between your paydays is milk and bread (yes, eggs and cheese will keep that long).

Look at this…

Those are chicken leg quarters, plenty enough to feed me and my family one meal at a time.  Each one of those bags represents one day.  That nine days’ worth of chicken cost me $9.77 at Satan’s nutsack Wal Mart.  Similarly – as you will see in the only other image contained in this post – others items will be frozen as well.

Matter of fact, here’s that pic now…

On the top shelf, you will see about 8 frozen and vacuum-sealed tilapia filets from a bag that I (well, my mom since SHE wanted fish and didn't need to have 20 filets) only paid about $11 for.  On the next shelves after the ice maker, you will see one quart of spaghetti sauce and six 8x8 pans, two contain baked mac and cheese and four contain pre-rolled (but not yet cooked) meatballs.  As we should consider that our time is money, preparing these items ahead of time is a WINNER considering work/exercise scheduling and still having a meal ready to eat by dinner time.  Knocking 45 minutes of prep time off is the move.  Next down, you see all of the above-pictured chicken as well as what was already in the freezer from previous hauls.  Bottom drawer is FULLY stocked with frozen vegetables.  Not pictured and in the cabinets are various rice/pastas and non-perishable side items.  All told, I spent $60 in Wal Mart the past Friday ($14 of that was nonfood items) and we will EASILY eat on that for the whole of two weeks.
(Phlip Note: don't ask to see my fridge, the fact that I cook from my freezer makes my fridge look like I am a poor college student)

Individual results will vary, of course.  Remember that I have a small family and a very small child but following this lead will be the first step in saving some money on food supplies.

In the Kitchen with Phlip -- Chicken/Feta Meatballs

            I advise that this will be another of one of my short ones of these.  It was seriously just that simple to construct and do…

Simplicity is not without cost, though.  Let’s start with a cast of characters:

(Ground chicken, chicken sausage, chipotle Panko breadcrumbs, Feta cheese, and ranch dressing mix.  In observance of my granddaddy’s birthday last weekend, I am opting for brown eggs this week.  That is $17 in supplies and I have not even gotten to the sauces yet.)

Before doing anything, put the chicken sausage through your mini-chopper and chop it up as completely and finely as possible.  There is not a picture of this step in the process because it really is that simple and a mini chopper can be had for less than $10 at Wal Mart so you should already have one.

Now for the easy part, EVERYBODY IN THE POOL!!!

(Yes, simple as that.  Put everything in the mixing bowl, add a couple dashes of hot sauce of your choosing and (an option I visited) Worcestershire sauce, then mix everything thoroughly.)

Set that aside for now, it is time to make a sauce, with the following:

(not pictured: 1cup apple cider vinegar)

Put it all in a small pot on the stove, adding the hot sauces (and embellishing with some cayenne and/or sriracha to your own particular tastes).  Reduce to medium/low heat and set about the task of rolling bawls (heh heh heh), making them about 1.5-2” in size.  Set the bawls down into a sprayed/greased baking dish, then cover with the sauce.  Wrap tightly in foil and bake at 375° for 45 minutes or until your meat thermometer shows 160° in the middle of the biggest one.

Finito:

Did someone say "side item"?

Simple!

Start with 2 russet potatoes, slice them into 4-5 pieces, then hit them with your apple corer to make them into medium-sized chunks.  Heat up some oil on the stove and make home fries:

While you’re doing this, place one can of cream of chicken soup into the microwave for one minute, and when it comes out, mix in one cup of milk and 4-6oz of shredded cheese.  Pour this over the potatoes with some diced onions (optional) and coat completely.  Sprinkle a little more cheese on top to cover, then bake for 20-30 minutes.

Voila!:

Where I am normally the champion of the $20 meal that feeds two people for several days, this one was a bit more wasteful for what it included.  I easily spent $30 or more on this one, and while the yield was twice as many meatballs as were pictured above (the rest were shared with my mother and sister - who LOVED them), it was still considerably less than I get when I use turkey as my recipe normally calls for.

In the kitchen with Phlip -- oven-crispy catfish nuggets

            The sweet thing about this post will be how little it actually wound up costing.  I honestly had no plans when I went to the store to make it, but when I walked past the fish, it was priced so perfectly that I could not have left it there.  I went into the store with intentions on getting something simple and inexpensive to cook and it was ABOUT to involve some chicken and probably potatoes, but then this happened.

Cast of characters…

3 small packages of farm-raised catfish (wild catfish are fucking disgusting bottom feeders) nuggets  ($1.33, $1.35 and $1.45, respectively):

½ cup of lemon or lime juice ($1.79 for the bottle):

Call your mom on the way home from the store and raid her cupboard for a few handfuls of Jingos and cheez-it crackers ($0.00):

½ cup vinaigrette of your choosing ($0.00, already in the house):

Seasonings of your choosing ($0.00, already in the house):

(not pictured) 3-5 dashes of Worcestershire sauce and about the same amount of oil (vegetable, olive, canola… whatever you have around)

And now we can prep…

Mix the lemon (or lime) juice with the vinaigrette and a couple dashes each of all of the seasonings, place the fish into the smallest bag that will fit it.  Pour the mix into the bag, shake it well then press all of the air out of it and place aside – but come back to it every few minutes or so to turn it over in making sure that the fish stays coated and all that goodness:

Plan about an hour or so at least for as much penetration as possible.  Pass the time by placing the crackers into your mini chopper and pulverizing it really thoroughly:

(yeah, I have about worn that bad boy out)

You will still need to add a little cornmeal and some bread crumbs to make sure the mix is enough to coat all of the fish without getting messed up.  Add some seasonings to this as well.  In addition to the ones above, I added some parsley flakes, a couple of dashes of sage and ground ginger, and a SMALL amount of cayenne pepper:

(naturally, you would mix it all up really good before you use it, like I did after I took this picture)

After an hour or so, shake as much of the marinade off of the fish (use a colander) and coat the pieces with the breading then place them onto a foiled/sprayed cookie sheet.  Turn your oven on to 375° while you do this to give the coating time to “set”.

(looks good enough to eat, but these are RAW)

Once the oven is up to temp, go ahead and put it in and leave it in until they have reached the desired color:

I enjoyed mine alongside some frozen fries ($2.49) that I tossed into the oven with a few minutes left to cook these.  All told, this meal cost me $8.41 to make, and I didn’t even USE all of the fries in the bag yet.  It will be good for two dinners tonight and three lunches tomorrow.  Oh, how I love to stretch a buck.

Note:  I have NEVER laid claim to making "pretty" food, my claim is to making TASTY food.

In the kitchen with Phlip -- Shrimp Cakes!

            This is a concept that I have ATTEMPTED three times before finding success with it.  I would say “with varying degrees of success,” but I would hardly refer to anything that even I left the situation saying “it was good, but not like earth-shattering or anything…” myself as a success.
It turns out quite simply that I was overthinking it.

            Inspired by the mountain of leftovers back at Christmas – and a meatball recipe I'd devised ONLY for the holidays but have been demanded to revisit – I realized that this would be DEAD-ass simple.

You will need…

2 bags of peeled, deveined, tail-off RAW shrimp:

(did y’all notice that bags of shrimp are now coming in 12oz instead of a pound these days?)

You WILL need to use raw, because already-cooked shrimp will be too tough when you finish.

1 box of Stovetop Stuffing:

(I preferred the Savory Herbs one, but you can use whichever you choose)

1 medium-sized yellow onion:

Seasonings to your taste, minced garlic, ⅔-cup chicken stock, ¼ cup of milled flax seed (or bread crumbs, crumbled crackers or any combination of the three) and 3 eggs (none of these items pictured)

Now it is time to cook, and it will be TERRIBLY simple…  Start with cutting the shrimp in half and diced the onion:

(sorry, I cut the onion yesterday morning and didn't photograph it when doing so)

Making it all come together is as simple as “everyone in the pool.” and then mix it all up until it starts to thicken:

(look, I KNOW it's not pretty right now, but gimme a few minutes!)

Go ahead and put your oven on 375° while you’re mixing everything together.  Now break out your handy dandy MUFFIN PAN and some cupcake liners (ease of cleanup, thank me later):

Set the cups into the pan and spray them with a shot of cooking spray (ease-of-release, again thank me later).  Spoon the shrimp/stuffing mixture into the cups:

Now, put them into the oven until cooked through – about 40-45 minutes...
CUTE BABY BATHTIME!!!!

All games aside, here is the final product:

Expect turnout to be about 17 of them.

ENJOY!

How America Could Have BENEFITED from "Fiscal Cliff" Negotiations

(fiscal Cliff, get it?)

            With all this “fiscal cliff” talk, I was thinking that even though there WAS some kind of agreement reached, that what we the American people will be given will be of no real benefit to us.  With that said, our elected government that is supposed to be “by the people, for the people” will continue to be shown as anything but.

I think I could propose a better solution, one that keeps the American people involved and interested in the process, as well as subsidizing the process in and of itself at the same time.  The Huffington Post reports that the exchanges between Harry Reid and John Boehner became quite heated, with each accusing one another of being more about their party than the common good of the American people.  It is said that at least twice that Boehner told Reid “go fuck yourself.”
[link]

            To be totally honest, I would have gladly paid this $5 bill I have in my pocket right now to witness this taking place.  Some Americans – not me, mind you, just “some” – are interested enough in the process to want to see it as it unfolds.  The back-and-forth of it all, the contentious moments and all might make for better television than a representative 84% of the crap that advertisers are paying networks good money to promote their products during.
And that is where my idea enters…
See, exchanges on this level HAVE to be a regular occurrence, especially when dealing with two political parties hell bent on taking their own personally-convenient method of arriving to the NON service of the people who elected them.  The point, here, is that if this shit has to happen and no change that will actually matter will come of them, why in the HELL are these not being placed on commercial television for profit?  Soap, financial, technology, restaurants and car companies pay HUGE money to put banners up at arenas and to show commercials during all kinds of events – sporting or otherwise.  Why have we not allowed them to do the same to the House and Senate floors, arrange a system of cameras to tape the proceedings and broadcast them live (on a 7-second delay, of course).  Look, I know that 95% of the time, what happens is purely mundane, but we ALL know that at least once yearly that there will be one of THESE exchanges, and THOSE are the ones that the American people would be willing to be inundated with commercials to witness.  Selling commercial spots to anyone other than “official” sponsors will be to the highest bidders.  The amount of money that this would make would EASILY pay for all of the salaries/benefits of the do-nothing congresspersons.

            Any spillover after congress has been (over)paid would go directly to the deficit (or building surplus, as it were), with NO monies to be given to ANY special interest, no other groups would be allowed to put their hands in the pot, and no one could benefit from it but the American taxpayers.  Speaking of the American taxpayers, since they would no longer be on the hook for the paying the salaries of congress, those monies would ALSO go to the deficit/surplus.

            I imagine that if congress has to meet quarterly to have one of these heated meetings, it would be special-enough as a television event to warrant paid advertised televising.  Again, since advertisers are providing the cash, the event effectively pays for itself like the Superbowl or World Series or something.

Hip Hop x Basketball -- The Future

     Okay, so we have talked about the past, we have brought things up into the present.  The very natural next question is “well what does the future hold?”

As much as I would love to say that I have the answer to that question, the fact remains simply that I cannot have such information.

     This coming year, the NBA Commissioner of the hip hop era is retiring and one of his understudies will take his position.  It will remain to be seen whether that means that he will continue the non hip hop friendly approach that Stern attempted within the past ten or so years or if he will simply let things fall to the way of profitability of the time just before those years.  What we DO know is that kids are still playing ball, even if not outdoors as much as they did when those around my own age did.  What is known is that rappers are still dropping basketball metaphors and are still seen courtside at games.  I cannot imagine that last fact changing as long as the prohibitive-to-regular-people cost of those tickets continues to freeze out anyone but the ultra rich.

     As long as we continue to herald our sports stars as entertainers, the naturally most kindred of spirits will be between those who have grown up on basketball and hip hop simultaneously.  In line with the fact that no one is playing outside anymore, it is only fitting that you will ONLY ever be indoors to view a basketball game, an advantage held over baseball and football; America’s former and current/next national pastime.  Not to say that NBA ball will overtake either of those for the position of favor in the American landscape, so much as it will remain terribly comfortable in its current position and likely will not fare any worse barring any unforeseen disasters.  Fights, financial woes, and lockouts have failed to derail basketball.  Similarly, violence, legal issues, financial markets lending to lessened sales and artists needing mostly to go it alone at least in their beginnings have failed to derail hip hop.  Similarly, there is a bitterness held against those who write the checks in both mediums resultant of the just-mentioned.

     I say all of that to say this… We don’t know where NBA ball and hip hop as connected mediums are going, and it would be unfair to attempt to guess.  The fact, though, remains that we never saw what we have gotten to this point coming and the fun has all come in watching it unfold.  With that, you can bet I will be affixed to ESPN, TNT, ABC and NBATV to take in all of the NBA action that I am able to.  Similarly, I will continue to follow hip hop – in whatever iteration I am allowed to do so – until I simply cannot take it anymore.  As ever, the fun will be in the ride, so who it taking it with me?

Thank you for reading.