I have been struggling with icky stuff so not much knitting over here but yes on cooking and food. So here are a couple of recipes~ probably not purist but how I learned them from my mom.
Piccadillo[mispelled I am sure] commonly refered to as Pinky Dinky:
Brown a lb or so of ground beef and drain if you feel like it. Throw in some pepper, a bay leaf, something green like oregano or basil or italian seasoning plus a splash of worcestershire sauce if you have some. Smash a clove of garlic with salt in your morter and pestle. Plenty of salt like a tsp. Add to beef mixture with some water @ a cup {make sure to swish the morter with water to get the garlicy salt mixture} Throw in some cubed potatoes ~3 or 4 and maybe add some tomato paste or a cut up tomato or tomato sauce if you have some. Cover and cook for half an hour or so until pots are tender. Meanwhile cook some white rice. When the potatoes are tender throw in some frozen peas a handful or two. Stir in gently. You can use cooked peas but I like them crisp so let the heat of beef mixture cook them. Yes go ahead and turn off your stove unless there is absolutely no ‘gravy’ in which case you will add some more water and let simmer a bit to get beefy flavor. Now if you want to get fancy {for company ha ha ha} dice an egg and toss in gently and garnish with green olives. I do neither of these things. OK mound your plate with some white rice. Create a crater in center and spoon in the Pinky Dinky. Carb out why don’t you and think about how you feed your family of 5, with some left over for your, and your kidlets, lunch the next day, for next to nothing :^>
Beef Milanese[again mispelled but eff its food OK]
Take a cut of steak. A thin cut like beef round or flank steak. Nothing fancy. Pound it to the bejeebers with your meat tenderizer. Thats why you want a thin cut…very hard to get from thick cut to paper thin trust me. Cut out any disgusting fat or sinnew areas. A normal sized steak will expand into 3 times its size and will be divided along these lines into smaller steaks. Salt and pepper. Go ahead and use garlic salt if you feel like it. Now dip the pieces into an egg wash and then bread with Progresso Italian Seasoning bread crumbs~ my personal favorite since its what mum used. Meanwhile you have been heating a skillet. With some oil in it~not too much just enough to coat the bottom. When your skillet is hot enough to make water dance add some beef to it. If you got the ultra thin cut of beef and didnt’ find any fat so left it in a huge piece that will take up the whole pan but normally you will fit 2 or 3 pieces in the pan. Flip the beef over in about 2 mins and cook an additional 2 mins on other side. The beef should be golden brown and if you did a good job with your mallet ummm beef tenderizer then it should be cooked through as well. Serve with some rice or noodles{we like Vigo yellow rice with real saffron over here} and a salad. Some rolls too if your a bread eater which I am not despite the ideal meal containing both rice and potatoes in same dish {see above} A lb of steak will feed my family of 5 for 2, count em 2, meals and the beef will stay in fridge raw for 2 or 3 days cause its been salted so pound away.
Elka the budget eater saying ttfn knitbuds