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Shirataki Pad Thai
Pad Thai is traditionally made with rice noodles, but I need something with a lot fewer carbs and calories, at the moment. So, this is my current incarnation that I plan to tweak over time. Authentic it is not, but it takes care of the craving adequately.
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Pumpkin Pie Dump Cake
I ran into this at a Halloween pot luck and loved it so much I practically demanded the recipe. It has become one of my favorite desserts.
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Tzatziki
The remaining gyros place in town seems to have closed, so I needed to find some other way to get my Greek American food fix. Luckily, my grocery store sells gyros slices, but they don’t sell the classic sauce that goes with it. So here’s a version that I can make up in small batches, as I’m the only one that eats it.
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Chewy Flatbread
When I began making my own gyros, I decided that I couldn’t put up with the store bought pitas for them anymore. After trying a few different recipes online, this is the one I landed on. This, along with tzatziki sauce and store-bought gyros slices makes a really good combination.
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Baked Spanish Rice
I’ve been making Spanish Rice in the Instant Pot for a few years, but I liked how easy the Oven Fried Rice was to make, so I modified this to use the same technique.
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Oven “Fried” Rice
I’ve kept fried rice on the menu rotation for a couple of years now, but making it from scratch just wasn’t worth the time and effort. Which is to say, I’ve been buying it from the freezer section. However, I recently came across this method from Chef John that made me reevaluate making it at home. It turned out wonderfully for reasonable effort. Here’s my variation.
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Chinese Five Spice Powder
I needed something to punch up my oven fried rice a bit, so I thought of Chinese five spice. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it in any of my local grocery stores. Rather than just order it directly, I figured I’d make my own. However, I did end up having to order one of the ingredients from Amazon: Szechuan peppercorns.
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Swedish Meatballs
The whole family loves these with mashed potatoes, even though I’m too lazy to make the meatballs from scratch.
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Elephant Ears
My local state fair calls these “tiger ears” for some reason, but they’re known as “elephant ears” nearly everywhere else. Really, they’re very similar to the “Indian fry bread” I used to get in Arizona and the sopaipillas I’ve occasionally come across in Mexican restaurants. It’s really just fried bread dough.
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Cream Cheese Crepe Filling
Something like a liquid cheesecake, I love this filling in crepes with fresh berries.
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Restaurant-Style Salsa
When I want good salsa to go with tortilla chips, this is the recipe.
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Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
This is our go-to recipe for basic cookies.
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Vegetable Korma
Another new addition to our menu, it’s one of the few ways that I still like to eat a decent amount of vegetables. We frequently have it with Jeera Rice and Kheema Matar.
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Kheema Matar (Indian Ground Beef with Peas)
This is a new addition to our menu. Rachel and I love it, while the kids won’t touch it. It comes very close to what we’re used to in an Indian restaurant, while still being simple and cheap. It would probably be even better with ground lamb, and I’m sure it would work great with ground turkey as well. We like to pair it with Jeera Rice and Vegetable Korma.
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Classic Cheesecake
When I have more time than money, I make this cheesecake instead of just buying one at the store.
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Basic Crepes
This is a cut down batch that makes only 2 crepes, which is how many I typically want. I typically fill them with cream cheese filling and fresh berries.
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Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
This is by far my favorite way to use up overripe bananas. If you have a 13x18” baking sheet, you can double this recipe to use it.
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Lazy Man Pizza Crust
I finally decided that I wanted decent pizza crust enough to make it myself, but not enough to actually maintain a sourdough starter. Or knead it repeatedly. This recipe yields a great flavor and wonderful texture, and there’s no real kneading to speak of. It does however take about 24 hours, so you have to think ahead.
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Lo Mein
Chinese soft noodles with vegetables and sauce. Kind of like fried rice, only with noodles.
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Potluck Gelatin Salad
When I want to bring something sweet to a potluck lunch but I don’t want to put much effort into it, this is a great option. However, it really does need about 4 hours of chill time to work correctly.