A delightful find at the 99¢ store

Periodically I pass by Jack's 99¢/ Jack's World in Midtown. This place is HUGE and carries a pretty large variety of food stuffs as well as the atypical items you'd find in a dollar store.

I was strolling through the aisles when I spied 2 pound bags of brown rice for only 99¢!

WOW! What a bargain and for BROWN RICE!

I bought 2 bags. Call me crazy but it was a delightful find.

Check out your local dollar store from time to time and you too may have a delightful find of your own!

Recipe: Bang Bang Chicken

This dish is so named because of the sound of banging as you hit the cooked chicken breast into loose meaty threads.

Consider this a Szechuan Chinese version of the American chicken salad. It's a great way to utilize the poached chicken breast from making White Cut Chicken ("Bak Chit Gai") which you can also find on this blog.

The Szechuan pepper lends a lemony flavor and numbing sensation to the dish.

This dish stimulates all the tastes of sweet, salty, tangy, and spicy.

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the salad:

• 1 large chicken breast (cooked)
• 1 large cucumber (or you can substitute 1 head of romaine lettuce sliced thinly)
• 1 large carrot julienned (cut into match stick sized pieces)
• 3 scallions cut into 2" pieces and then thinly sliced lengthwise (so it looks like grass)

For the dressing:

• 2 tablespoons tahini sesame paste (you can also use smooth peanut butter)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce (I use Kikoman)
• 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil (I like Kadoya brand)
• 1 tablespoon Chinkiang vinegar (you can substitute Balsamic)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground Szechuan Pepper (optional)
• 1 teaspoon Chili flakes (optional)
• 4 tablespoons water

Directions

1. With the back of a chef's knife, bang the chicken (skin side up) until the chicken starts to flatten and loosen into fibers. You can then pull the chicken meat into bite sized pieces.
2. If using cucumber, cut in hald lengthwise, scoop out seeds with a spoon, and slice thinly.
3. Put all the salad ingredients into a large bowl.
4. In a small bowl combine all the dressing ingredients and mix well. The sauce will look like it's breaking but keep stirring until it is all smooth.
5. Toss with the salad ingredients and serve.

Recipe: Spaghetti with Anchovies and Bread Crumbs

Dried pasta always seems to go on sale at the supermarkets. I stock up on it when it sells for less than $1.

I learned this recipe from my roomie who learned it from their Italian boss. Originally it called for much more bread crumbs but I found it too dry and adding more pasta water made the whole thing gummy. I modified the recipe a bit.

The pine nuts add extra crunchy texture and a nice flavor. I bought a bag at Costco and keep in the freezer.

This dish does not have a fishy smell or taste as anchovies lend a salty and fullness of flavor (they're used in Caesar dressing).

Paired with sauteed zucchini and yellow squash, you'd think you were in an Italian restaurant!

This will make 8 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 tin of anchovies in oil
• 1 pound of spaghetti
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 6 large cloves garlic chopped finely (or you can use a garlic press)
• 3/4 cup Italian flavored bread crumbs (has more flavor than plain)
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts (optional)

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the spaghetti al dente (about 10 minutes)
2. While the pasta is cooking, prepare the sauce. Open tin of anchovies, drain off oil and chop finely.
3. Add the olive oil, chopped anchovies and minced garlic into a deep large frying pan (you are going to put the pasta into the sauce to finish so you'll need something with high sides) and simmer over low heat stirring until the anchovies dissolve into the oil.
4. When pasta is done, reserve a 1/2 cup of the pasta water and drain the pasta.
5. Add the cooked spaghetti to the garlic-anchovy sauce and toss well until fully coated in the sauce. If it looks too dry, add a little bit of the pasta water to loosen it up to your liking (you could use more olive oil instead but it will add more calories to the dish).
6. Add the bread crumbs and toss well again.
7. Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle the pine nuts on top.

Recipe: Cranberry Walnut Granola

I still have Ocean Spray dried cranberries and walnuts from a previous trip to Costco. A large 10 pound box of oats was on sale last month and I had also bought a bottle of honey from Costco all using their coupons. After getting a bit tired of eating oatmeal everyday, I decided to attempt making my own granola for use in yogurt parfaits after seeing how expensive they are in the local delis.

You can use any type of raw oats but "Instant" just means that the oats were pressed thinner during processing to cook faster. I like "Old Fashioned" style which is thicker and give more crunchy texture to the finished product.

Ingredients

• 3-1/2 cups uncooked oats
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 cup honey (*check out my tip below)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats and walnuts.
3. In a small bowl, combine oil, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well!
4. Pour over the oats & nuts. Mix until oats are totally covered in the honey mixture.
5. Spread mixture evenly on a aluminum foil lined jelly roll pan or on rimmed baking sheet.
6. Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes so that granola bakes evenly. Watch to prevent burning!
7. Cool granola completely.
8. Stir in dried cranberries and store in an airtight container.

Since there are no preservatives, the granola can store tightly covered up to 1 week.

Makes about 12 half cups servings.

*TIP I measured the oil first with a tablespoon so that when I measured the honey, it wouldn't stick to the spoon. 8 tablespoons = 1/2 cup liquid

Mambo Sprouts Free Coupons

Searching the internet for more coupon resources, I discovered Mambo Sprouts

You can access the coupon page here and select the coupons you want to print out and take to your nearest store.

Coffee filters are not just for making coffee

I was recently at a store that sold all kinds of kitchen gadgets and stuff and noticed all these items for protecting your bowls and plates from scratching each other when stacked. Pricey!
It got me thinking about alternatives that I could use that wouldn't be just a uni-tasker (to borrow wording from Alton Brown).

I brew my own coffee at home (saves money on having to buy it at a coffee shop) and my machine requires coffee filters (which I buy at the dollar store). It dawned on me to try using the filters as liners for my glass bowls and sure enough it was the perfect shape to do the job! Flattened out, it works for small salad plates.

Recipe: Chicken & Dumplings

Pathmark tends to have kale, mustard greens, collards, and the like on sale for 79¢ per pound.

When that happens I usually buy a bunch of kale to make this dish that is perfect on a cold Winter's Day or cool Spring Evening. I just bought chicken thighs for 95¢ per pound and it's perfect to make this dish. Dark meat has more flavor and hold up well to stewing than white meat which toughens up. This recipe will serve 2.

Ingredients

For the Chicken Stew:

1 pound chicken legs or thighs or mixed

3 cups chicken broth (fresh or low sodium canned)

1 bay leaf

1 celery rib sliced crosswise into 1/4" pieces

2 medium carrots peeled and sliced into 1" pieces on the diagonal

4 small onions skins removed and cut in half (or you can also use 2 cups frozen pearl onions)

2 springs of fresh thyme

1 cup packed of coarsely chopped kale leaves

Salt and fresh ground pepper

For the Cornmeal Dumplings:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces

1/3 cup milk

Directions

For the stew:

1. In a large saucepan, combine the chicken pieces, broth, and bay leaf and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to moderate, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
2. Skim the broth of fat that floats at the surface with a spoon. Stir in the celery, carrots, onions, and thyme springs. Cover pot slightly and allow to simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
3. Stir in the chopped kale and season to taste with salt and pepper.

For the dumplings:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. With your fingertips, work the butter pieces into the flour until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in milk until blended.
2. Drop tablespoons of dumpling bater in 8 clumps over the top of the stew. Reduce the heat to low and cover allowing the dumplings to steam and cook through for about 10 minutes.
3. Discard the bay leaf and thyme springs before serving.