the-cooks-butch - Tumblr blog

[the-cooks-butch]

made a lemon broccoli pasta a few weeks ago for dirt cheap that paires super well with a very basic (and delicious) honey garlic chicken thigh (i prefer over breasts). tasted divine. the lemon sauce was very light but perfect amount of sour. i excluded sugar from this sauce since 1. i dont like cutting sourness and 2. the honey chicken brought in the sweet.

[the-cooks-butch]

this was a really straightforward recipe. though i defininitely needed more like 1/2 cup of olive oil to make enough seasoning for all of this (will def scale up in the future) it still turned out pretty good. this would probs pair well with some rice with a wilted green or something in it ^-^

roast vegetals

[the-cooks-butch]

and chimken

roast vegetals

[the-cooks-butch]

roast vegetals

[the-cooks-butch]

hm....

[the-cooks-butch]

i also did the portion/budget math for that sausage pasta. i do this because it helps me put into perspective how much im saving compared to ordering food. i buy most of my stuff from trader joes, then anything extra they dont have at walmart usually.

monterey jack cheese (1 cup, about 4 or 6oz): $1 (about 3 cups shredded I think in 1 $3 block)

elbow mac from aldi or lidl? i forget how much this was but i wanna say no more than $2 for the 2 lbs bag. i used ~8oz for this recipe so: $0.50

smithfield smoked pork/chicken sausage, ~7oz: $1.99 ($3.98 for 13oz package) at walmart

3 cups (~3oz) fresh spinach: $1.50 ($2 for a 4oz bag)

1 yellow onion: ~$0.50? i think a bag of 4 or 5 yellow onions is like $3 at tj's

1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes with chiles: $1.99

2 cups chicken broth: $1 ($2 for whole box at tjs, 2 cups is half the container)

this recipe serves 4

($1 + $0.50 + $1.99 + $1.50 + $0.50 + $1.99 + $1)/4 = $2.12/serving!

[the-cooks-butch]

made more sausage pasta

[the-cooks-butch]

meal planning can be fun sometimes

[the-cooks-butch]

THIS IS OKAY. I AM VERY BRAVE AND I CAN FIGURE IT OUT TOMORROW

kind of incredibly fucked i spent 2 hours cooking today and it got me 1 meal for the week and i still need another one for dinner

[the-cooks-butch]

kind of incredibly fucked i spent 2 hours cooking today and it got me 1 meal for the week and i still need another one for dinner

[the-cooks-butch]

some other thoughts abt that last recipe:

- i think in the future if i had to cook raw chicken id sub chicken breasts for boneless skinless chicken thighs for flavor and extra juicy-ness. im still trying to figure out how id season them though, like what kind of rub id use

- the heavy cream is rich but weighs down the recipes proposed season portions... i'd up all of it a bit and double the amount of red pepper i added previously

- i used unsalted butter and found it didnt need salted really. the chicken broth has that covered

[the-cooks-butch]

laying on my floor in a pile of clean laundry because i forgot that while i was cooking for TWO HOURS my bed linens were sitting in the wash.

[the-cooks-butch]

coco was a huge help in my last recipe

[the-cooks-butch]

this came out SOOO GOOD. even tho my chicken came out mid (more details below) its a filling and comforting casserole with a balance of rich creamy and flavor from the tomatoes.

pros of this recipe:

- THE SAUCE SLAAAAPS. fire roasted diced tomatoes w chiles always adds so much flavor

- freaking divine delichus comfort food. i usually nibble at my food i fucking obliterated this

cons:

- takes a long time. cooking chicken is a lot and prepwork takes time especially shredding mozzarella. if this turned out any less than baller i wouldve been tired and angry

- the chicken is mid. it came out toughish - that might be my cooking style (paranoid about food poisoning). but it was also mid bc this recipe doesnt season the chicken before frying. the browned chicken bits in the skillet obvs add to the sauce but... i dont think its necessary to produce a good sauce. in the future id probably opt to chuck chunks of rotisserie in before it goes in the oven to save myself time and a headache.

modifications/other notes:

- it calls for italian seasoning. mine on hand had rosemary in it. i dislike rosemary and dont think itd pair well with this dish. so i just chucked in some basil, oregano, thyme, and red pepper flakes. it could use some more in the future i think

- red pep flakes cause i like some heat

- only had it in for 15 min not 25. but i think thats cause my oven runs hotter.

- no casserole is easy to serve. but this one is esp difficult because of the spaghetti.... it is very hard to spoon out. i would probs need a spatula to cut at the spaghetti evenly to get a square of it out next time.

OVERALL VERDICT: 4.5/5 would make again, maybe with rotisserie to save time and add flavor

gonna try cooking this chicken spaghetti casserole this weekend. ive never made a casserole and i hate pan frying chicken but i will do it because i am so brave

[the-cooks-butch]

I think what’s wrong with a lot of people is theyr not eating breakfast. They’re starting the day with at most 16ounces of milk with espresso and riding on that until lunch time. What they don’t understand is eating breakfast helps absorb all the excess yellow bile that builds up overnight when they sleep and makes them angry. It’s basic humor balancing

[the-cooks-butch]

my god whats happening in there

[the-cooks-butch]

im so full of sausage and pasta