Remember when I said that you can get super-cheap wine at Trader Joe's? Well, you knew that. And while Mr. Charles Shaw's private reserve might not be the most impressive of table wines, add a little sugar and spice, and it magically transforms into the most delicious of boozy treats with a gross-sounding name!
So, it's actually MULLED wine, but it's pronounced like Mold. Mulled just means spiced, so all you have to do is dump a bottle of cheap wine in a big pot, put it on medium or med-low (not too hot - you just want to simmer, NO bubbling at all) put in a few teaspoons of brown sugar (I like 3, you might like more or less) and a few pinches of mulling spices.* I recommend red wine, obvs. Then just simmer on the stove for about twenty minutes, and serve warm in mugs! Delightful!
*I awesomely found tinned Mulling Spices at the freakin' drugsto for only 99 cents on sale! Deals! But if you don't have tinned spices, just assemble some cinnamon sticks (2ish), some cardamom seeds, maybe some dried or fresh orange peel (make sure you wash it if it's fresh!!!), some cloves, and perhaps a vanilla bean even. Hell yeah!
Showing posts with label Cheap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cheap. Show all posts
28 December 2009
I Love Grocery Shopping!
...I really do. I could just browse the aisles for hours finding all the delicious, weird things I might have otherwise overlooked! I could also easily spend over $200 in one go, which is far more than I'd spend on clothes during a single-shop stop. It's difficult to budget oneself and limit whimsical purchases when you are really stoned at the Gro. I mean, it's a challenge, but it's still the best way to go about it. Jeebus, but I love food.
So I live really close to QFC, we're talking four blocks west and one block south...of my apartment. The convenience is not overlooked, mind you - I even found a totally sweet bag-lady cart there! (You know, those square ones with the four wheels that you can fill with stuff...like bag ladies and people in New York use? Yeah, awesome.) But, despite their abundant deli cheese aisle and totally-sweet drug-store and bed/bath/beyond type annexes, they are motherfuckin' EXPENSIVE! Like, damn! I mean, sometimes you'll get a great sale deal, but overall...not so much.
This is why I must talk to you about Trader Joe's! Dudes! It's so fucking cheap! Seriously! I don't know why, but it is. Sadly, it's quite a few more blocks up the road, but I have Melissa's car this week, so I'm a mobile machine! Yeah!! Plus, Trader Joe's has bottles of wine for $3!!! (In WA, at least...thanks, WSLCB! You suck!) But I digress. They also have lots of great cartons of soup bases that are suuuper great and easy for making a soup out of anything. Last night, I cooked a cup of lentils, and added a carton of the TJ's Butternut Squash soup, plus some thawed frozen corn, and viola! It was a delicious, hearty vegan soup! And it was so cheap! Unfortunately, it looked kinda like barf. I added some cumin and curry powder to enhance the squash, and a little salt and pepper and onion powder. (Remember, salt is added last! Or you'll ruin your lentils!!)
You could really add any number of combos to a soup base, even meat if you like it. I think these are tastier and probably better for you than some shitty campbell's canned broth...blech.
Anyway, I am sharing this with you because I totally spent ONLY $100 at TJ's, and I bought a full cart-load of crap!!
I even got some newfangled hippy shitty-litter for Nigel, which I think will help with that whole crumb-bum problem we seem to be having...
So I live really close to QFC, we're talking four blocks west and one block south...of my apartment. The convenience is not overlooked, mind you - I even found a totally sweet bag-lady cart there! (You know, those square ones with the four wheels that you can fill with stuff...like bag ladies and people in New York use? Yeah, awesome.) But, despite their abundant deli cheese aisle and totally-sweet drug-store and bed/bath/beyond type annexes, they are motherfuckin' EXPENSIVE! Like, damn! I mean, sometimes you'll get a great sale deal, but overall...not so much.
This is why I must talk to you about Trader Joe's! Dudes! It's so fucking cheap! Seriously! I don't know why, but it is. Sadly, it's quite a few more blocks up the road, but I have Melissa's car this week, so I'm a mobile machine! Yeah!! Plus, Trader Joe's has bottles of wine for $3!!! (In WA, at least...thanks, WSLCB! You suck!) But I digress. They also have lots of great cartons of soup bases that are suuuper great and easy for making a soup out of anything. Last night, I cooked a cup of lentils, and added a carton of the TJ's Butternut Squash soup, plus some thawed frozen corn, and viola! It was a delicious, hearty vegan soup! And it was so cheap! Unfortunately, it looked kinda like barf. I added some cumin and curry powder to enhance the squash, and a little salt and pepper and onion powder. (Remember, salt is added last! Or you'll ruin your lentils!!)
You could really add any number of combos to a soup base, even meat if you like it. I think these are tastier and probably better for you than some shitty campbell's canned broth...blech.
Anyway, I am sharing this with you because I totally spent ONLY $100 at TJ's, and I bought a full cart-load of crap!!
I even got some newfangled hippy shitty-litter for Nigel, which I think will help with that whole crumb-bum problem we seem to be having...
04 November 2009
Making Something (Delicious) from....Crap.
I've decided to take things in a new direction, as bitching and complaining about humanity's utter lack of good manners is a little tired, and well, hopeless.
On a more positive note, please enjoy the first installment of a little something I like to call "Stoner Cooking," but you may also call it "Ghetto Cooking," "Hobo Cookin'" or "I-Never-Go-Grocery-Shopping Cooking," or whatever makes you most comfortable. The scope of these posts will be to provide easy, quick recipes composed of cheap crap and leftovers you already have in your kitchen*, for those nights when you are too broke or tired or stoned to actually go out and buy something to eat.
Tonight's Menu: Macaroni Surprise!
Equipment: Medium-sized pot to boil pasta, collander
Ingredients:
~One box of macaroni, plus fixin's for the sauce. If you don't have milk, just add a little extra butter. If you don't have butter, just add a little extra milk. I use margarine, because it's about 1/4 the price of butter. Yay.
~Canned or frozen small veggies of your preference - I like peas and corn, because they are small and taste delicious, and are usable in both canned and frozen form. Some veggie medley might work nicely too, and a bag of frozen peas is really cheap - and when you get in a fight, you can use it to ice your shiner!
~Cheese!!! This is another thing I think you should always have in the fridge. I know it's not cheap, but it's really the only expensive thing you need. With cheese, the sky's the limit!
~Chicken Nuggets! I know you have a few chicken fingers or nuggets or maybe even a veggie burger in the back of the freezer....I use veggie nuggets (I call it "ficken nuggets") because I am fancy.
Directions:
1. Make the macaroni as you would normally make macaroni. MEANWHILE, throw your handful of nuggets (like, 5 or so would be fine, whatever is left) or patties into the oven or microwave to defrost/heat them.
2. While the mac is cooking, put the colander in the sink and toss in a handful of veggies. You really only need about 1/2 cup total of veggies, canned or frozen - you don't want them to dominate your delicious cheesy pasta. Rinse them veggies in the collander with warm water if they are frozen (you DO NOT want to put frozen peas into hot pasta. Ew.) Save the leftover canned stuff in a jar (re-use old salsa jars, the are the best.) to use for another stoner meal later this week. We'll get there.
3. Drain mac straight into the veggies in the colander. Now everything's warm and nice. Once it's drained, throw the whole mess back into your pot, and add the cheese sauce and stir it up.
4. Grab those hot meat products now, and chop 'em up into bite-sized pieces. Throw 'em in the pot and stir them in too.
5. As a finishing touch, I like to add a few handfuls of grated cheese into the mix and stir it up for extra cheesy-protein-licious-ness. Then sprinkle a little on top to make it look fancy.
6. Enjoy! Impress your friends. Serves 3 or 4, easily. (The more extra crap you add to stretch the macaroni, the more you can feed, obvs.)
Also keeps nicely to bring to school/work for lunch tomorrow! YuM!
*Disclaimer: I believe that one should always have some very basic baking ingredients in the house: baking powder, flour, and sugar are a good place to start, and also, they are cheap, and they last a long time. Just get some now and it will save us a lot of grief later.
**I am also assuming you live somewhere that there is a kitchen - ie, a fridge, sink, stove, and oven. Ok? Good.
On a more positive note, please enjoy the first installment of a little something I like to call "Stoner Cooking," but you may also call it "Ghetto Cooking," "Hobo Cookin'" or "I-Never-Go-Grocery-Shopping Cooking," or whatever makes you most comfortable. The scope of these posts will be to provide easy, quick recipes composed of cheap crap and leftovers you already have in your kitchen*, for those nights when you are too broke or tired or stoned to actually go out and buy something to eat.
Tonight's Menu: Macaroni Surprise!
Equipment: Medium-sized pot to boil pasta, collander
Ingredients:
~One box of macaroni, plus fixin's for the sauce. If you don't have milk, just add a little extra butter. If you don't have butter, just add a little extra milk. I use margarine, because it's about 1/4 the price of butter. Yay.
~Canned or frozen small veggies of your preference - I like peas and corn, because they are small and taste delicious, and are usable in both canned and frozen form. Some veggie medley might work nicely too, and a bag of frozen peas is really cheap - and when you get in a fight, you can use it to ice your shiner!
~Cheese!!! This is another thing I think you should always have in the fridge. I know it's not cheap, but it's really the only expensive thing you need. With cheese, the sky's the limit!
~Chicken Nuggets! I know you have a few chicken fingers or nuggets or maybe even a veggie burger in the back of the freezer....I use veggie nuggets (I call it "ficken nuggets") because I am fancy.
Directions:
1. Make the macaroni as you would normally make macaroni. MEANWHILE, throw your handful of nuggets (like, 5 or so would be fine, whatever is left) or patties into the oven or microwave to defrost/heat them.
2. While the mac is cooking, put the colander in the sink and toss in a handful of veggies. You really only need about 1/2 cup total of veggies, canned or frozen - you don't want them to dominate your delicious cheesy pasta. Rinse them veggies in the collander with warm water if they are frozen (you DO NOT want to put frozen peas into hot pasta. Ew.) Save the leftover canned stuff in a jar (re-use old salsa jars, the are the best.) to use for another stoner meal later this week. We'll get there.
3. Drain mac straight into the veggies in the colander. Now everything's warm and nice. Once it's drained, throw the whole mess back into your pot, and add the cheese sauce and stir it up.
4. Grab those hot meat products now, and chop 'em up into bite-sized pieces. Throw 'em in the pot and stir them in too.
5. As a finishing touch, I like to add a few handfuls of grated cheese into the mix and stir it up for extra cheesy-protein-licious-ness. Then sprinkle a little on top to make it look fancy.
6. Enjoy! Impress your friends. Serves 3 or 4, easily. (The more extra crap you add to stretch the macaroni, the more you can feed, obvs.)
Also keeps nicely to bring to school/work for lunch tomorrow! YuM!
*Disclaimer: I believe that one should always have some very basic baking ingredients in the house: baking powder, flour, and sugar are a good place to start, and also, they are cheap, and they last a long time. Just get some now and it will save us a lot of grief later.
**I am also assuming you live somewhere that there is a kitchen - ie, a fridge, sink, stove, and oven. Ok? Good.
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