I broke down and bought the Thursday Best Buy Bonus Deal of the Day, the Chefman 2.5L Air Fryer for only $39.99 (normally $80 more!). I’m trying to wean myself from quantity cooking –  so much I have leftovers to feed an army battalion.  Also interested in fast roasting and maybe the hype. It’s gooood. Here’s the picture of three medium to large skin-on thighs with seasoning and vegetable spray going into fryer at a 390 degree setting for 25 minutes.

After 10 minutes the skin starts to brown, so I turn them over for ten minutes.  Last five minutes were spent on the original side.

25 minutes and you have extremely crispy chicken.  So fast I knew I would only be able to make smashed potatoes (although boiled with fresh rosemary) with butter.

Remember the December 28th Word of the Day for Crazy Cuizine Asian dinners?  Set the rice cooker going earlier today and when PITA and I got home tonight I pulled out a couple of packages of Terriyaki Chicken and started cooking according to directions.  After about 15 minutes I dumped in a leftover bag of Kale from Jewel produce and let it wilt down, then added the two packets of sauce, along with a small amount of water to thin it down (it’s too sweet and thick for our tastes and we’re serving it on rice).  You see our finished product.  yummmmm

Eggs were 97¢ a dozen at Jewel, the “hash browns” were those nasty Mr. Potato Head frozen shapes on the Face Book Freebie and the Farmer John pork links were a frozen clearance at Dollar Tree for 25¢ for a package of 8.

The trick with the potatoes is to let them thaw completely, smash them while still in the bag and pour them into a frying pan with the oil/grease from the sausages.  Turns ’em into tasty hash browns.

We may not have a lot of money, but we sure do eat good!  The organic, grass-fed strip steaks were on Jewel clearance plus I had the $2.50 store coupons, so paid about $2+ for each; the new potatoes were dug up by Pita from one of the COD horticultural garden plots.  Rosemary and parsley come courtesy of my garden.

I use peanut butter in cooking and sandwiches, so running out is scary.  Which is why I really stocked up on the Fisher peanuts back in May at Jewel.  Each pouch was 25¢ after the sale and convenient tearpad.  Poured five pouches into the trusty Vita-Mix and let it run for a few minutes until there were only a few chunks remaining.  Did not add any sugar or oil and it came out great.  This large container cost $1.25

Of course, Pain Perdu really means French toast (translates to lost bread – a great way to use up stale bread), but why not pretend you’re the world’s greatest chief?  Not like anyone else in the house is running to the stove for breakfast, right?  Hard to get finished photos when the slices fly right off the platter!  I always pick up and freeze Panettone bread when it goes clearance.  Perfectly yummy to start with; sweet enough that I don’t use sugar or syrup.

Couple of eggs, large splash of half & half (or milk), some vanilla extract plus a sprinkle of ground cinnamon, all whisked together.  Fry in butter until golden brown on each side.  If you’re using this type of bread/cake, don’t slice too thin or they’ll fall apart when they hit the egg wash.  That’s all there is to it!

So let’s see how much this simple, healthy and filling meal cost: 9 cents for the Red Gold tomatoes, zero for two boxes SuperGreen rotini, olive oil (how do you calculate a pour) and shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano, which ain’t cheap…  Cups of leftover cream of tomato soup on the side.

The day I turn on the heat means bread!  Made a fast batch of dough last night, completely ignoring the recipe and putting in tablespoons of table salt (not kosher).  Salty enough for a pack-a-day smoker!  So I dumped in more flour and water and a tablespoon of yeast and let it rise for about an hour before baking (which really isn’t long enough, but I have a life).

And you know what?  I don’t think you can really mess up baking bread!  While not as high as it should be, this is a respectable loaf of bread.  Here’s the link to a prior post.  The only thing I do differently now is bake in a covered cast iron pot so the bread steam bakes like a commercial oven.  Oh, and mixing the dough in a storage container so I don’t have to wash the stand mixer.

I’m using the recipe (ha!) from the original Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking.  If you need gluten-free recipes, then buy The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking which has whole chapters devoted to that.  I’ve made English muffins, baguettes and more with this dough and never been disappointed.

No secret that I like to play around with food – never met a recipe I completely bonded with.  Had two trays of clearance chicken tenders from Target (+ 40% Cartwheel) and decided to add chicken broth, coconut oil, two onions, bell peppers I’ve stocked the freezer with (from that 49¢ Jewel deal), ginger and garlic (both from jars) and peanut butter – – hence the Thai in the heading!  I’m thinking the kitchen smells pretty good when DH and PITA take a break from football and wander it.  DH:  Oh, Mommy’s cooking.  I thought it was gas from the lawn mower across the street, told PITA to close the windows.  But now that I see it, it smells good.  and yet he lives…

When you have lots of cheap bell peppers, you not only grill and freeze them, but sometimes do a little song and dance for your tummy with stuffed peppers!  Tossed two pounds of pub burgers and a roll of Bob Evans pork sausage into my new Vitamix (early holiday present from DH “since I was doing all those recipes” – hope he forgets by Christmas!), adding chicken broth to help pulverize the meats.  Added leftover white rice since uncooked never works for me…usually still crunchy at the end.  Stuff into peppers, cover with foil and bake for about 1 ½ hours at 400°.  For the veggies, I used green pepper strips, baby carrots and celery hearts, drizzled with rosemary olive oil, salt and pepper.  Covered with foil and baked with peppers.  After about 1½ hours remove foil to brown.  Turned off the oven, removed veggies and sprinkled shredded cheese on pepper tops; left in hot oven to melt cheese.

Really not as much work as it sounds.  PITA is chowing down as I type (on her 2nd!).