Buy a 50lbs. bag of elbow macaroni. This will feed you for a month.
Buttered-roni
1. Boil some macaroni
2. Drain
3. Add two-three pats of butter and a pinch of salt and enjoy
Red-roni
1. Boil some macaroni
2. Drain
3. Add large squirt of ketchup (ketchup packets from fast food places) and enjoy
Bean-aroni
1. Boil some macaroni
2. Drain
3. Add a can of drained red kidney beans
4. Add a red tomato sauce
5. Add garlic salt, oregano, basil and parsley to taste
Pizza-aroni
1. Boil some macaroni
2. Drain
3. Add some pizza sauce* (recipe down below)
4. Add some mozzerella cheese
5. Add diced pepperoni slices and enjoy
Cheesy-mac
1. Boil some macaroni
2. Drain
3. Top with favortie cheese and enjoy (making a cheese sauce is more advanced, but easy enough to do)
Chili-mac
1. Boil some macaroni
2. Drain
3. Top with favorite canned chili and enjoy
Cowboy-roni
1. Boil some macaroni
2. Drain
3. Add cooked beef and sliced hot dogs
4. Add can of favorite baked beans* (pork 'n beans or see recipe down below)
5. Garlic salt, brown sugar, ketchup and hot sauce to taste
Frito Chili Bowl
Take a microwaveable bowl and fill it with 1 cup of Frito Corn Chips. Add your favorite chili, I used Stagg Country Brand Chili, add some hot sauce and mix well together. Heat for a few minutes then take it out to mix it again adding three slices of American cheese. Heat a few more minutes. When done heating, add another cup of Fritos and mix well again. Enjoy
The above dishes are purely simple bachelor food dishes that I grew up on. Very simple and very fast to make.
When you get better at cooking, you can tackle more elaberate dishes. It's a good idea to get some of those in from the start. Here are some below now that are MUST learned recipes.
Meat loaf for meat loaf dinners and leftover meat loaf sandwiches, mac & chees elaborate and easy, pizza dough and pizza sauce, corn bread for corn bread and chili dinners, buttermilk biscuits and other fun foods to eat. The foods I've listed are what I ate the most growing up alone. When you earn more money, you can make for 'fancy' dinners.
MAC & CHEESE
1/2 pound elbow macaroni (2 cups dry)
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 large egg
12 ounces sharp cheddar, shredded
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Fresh black pepper
Topping:
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup panko bread crumbs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a sauté pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.
Remember to save leftovers for fried Macaroni and Cheese.
EASY MAC & CHEESE
2 Cups Dry Elbow Macaroni (1/2 lbs.)
2 Eggs
6 oz of Evaporated Milk (1/2 can)
1 tsp. Salt
3/4 tsp. Dry Mustard
Dash of Hot Sauce
Black Pepper to taste
4 Tbls. Butter
12 to 16 oz. Cheddar Cheese
In medium-large mixing bowl, stir eggs, milk, hot sauce, salt, dry mustard and pepper together. Boil macaroni in salted water and drain. Return to pot. Stir in butter until melted. Add egg mixture and cheese. Stir until cheese melts and is well mixed. Serve and eat.
TRADITIONAL PIZZA SAUCE
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons tomato paste
In a medium saucepan, sauté garlic and onions in olive oil for 6 minutes or until tender. Add seasonings and continue cooking 4 more minutes. Stir in tomato sauce, and then tomato paste. Simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.
PIZZA DOUGH
Add the following ingredients IN ORDER
2 Tbls. Sugar
1 Tbls. Salt
1 Tbls. Pure Olive Oil
3/4 (.75) Cup Warm Water
1 Cup Bread Machine Flour
1 tsp. Instant Yeast
1 Cup Bread Machine Flour
Developing
Mix ingredients in a bowl for electric mixer and use the 'mix' attachment for 5 minutes on 'medium' speed, or until bread mixture is well combined. Switch over to a 'hook' attachment, that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, and mix for 15 more minutes again on 'medium' speed.
After dough is properly kneaded, form into a tight, round ball and place in a very large bowl with a light coat of olive oil (2 tsp.) covering the entire ball and bowl. Next, place plastic wrap directly on ball to cover and place bowl in the fridge. Wait 24 hours. Time is needed to develop flavor and proper yeast gases.
After time is up, take out dough ball and cut in half. Form each piece into a flat disc by pounding and flattening on counter top (DO NOT use flour). Form back into a smooth, round ball. Cover dough ball with tea towel for 30 minutes.
After time has passed, flour a pizza peal and flatten dough ball on peal into a disc using the heal of your hand and moving around in a circular pattern while slightly stretching out your dough. Once you have the desired shape, form a 'lip' on the outer edge of pizza dough by stretching a few inches from the outer edge and forming a large lip on the outer edge of your pizza dough. Next, stretch pizza dough by passing dough back and forth from one hand to the other while rotating dough in a circular motion. Spin dough in the air and occasionally stretch dough with your knuckles and on peal. Let pizza dough stand for 30 more minutes uncovered on peal.
After waiting 30 minutes, lightly coat pizza dough with olive oil. Add pizza sauce while making sure not to add too much or pizza will fall apart while eating. Add herbs now, if you wish to do so, or they will burn while in oven. Add cheese of choice, but equal parts provolone, jack and mozzarella with a light sprinkle of Parmesan is more traditional. Add toppings of your choice.
Cooking
Place on top of heated pizza stone in a heated oven set to 450 degrees and cook for about 7 minutes. Rest for 3 minutes before cutting or pizza will fall apart. For a more 'New York' style pizza, cook in a closed BBQ for 4-6 minutes.
FRIED SPAGHETTI
The next time you make spaghetti, do the following:
1. Mix the leftover sauce with the leftover noodles. Blend them well together, making sure you don't add too much sauce, if a lot is leftover. Adding too much sauce will cause it to pool up on the noodles, which will ruin fried spaghetti.
2. Put it in a large bowl, and cover it up and put in the fridge at once. You need to build up condensation so the water can drip back down into the spaghetti. This helps the noodles get big and fat, which helps the sauce incorporate into the noodles, which is needed.
3. Let it "age" in the fridge for at least 24 hours; 48 being best.
4. Preparation: Heat up a large frying pan. Add one stick of margarine, and margarine ONLY. Adjust if there is not a lot of spaghetti to be fried. Once the margarine is melted, add the spaghetti, which should be ice cold. Do not let it get to room temperature. With a large, flexible spatula, slice off a layer of the spaghetti, and add it to the frying pan. Keep doing this until no more room is left in the pan. Allow the melted margarine to absorb into the bottom layer of the spaghetti, about two minutes time, and then flip over sections like a pancake. Let it cook now for a few minutes, and then constantly flip the spaghetti over, and over, until it is well heated. It should take about ten minutes to heat the spaghetti. Toward the end of the heating process, add a little bit of Parmesan cheese to the spaghetti.
5. Preparation notes: The spaghetti will steam like mad. This is what you want to happen. It also cracks, and pops, like mad, too. This is the water in the noodle turning into steam. You are now caramelizing the spaghetti noodles like it was fried rice. It should take a similar color to fried rice too, but not exactly like it. You'll also notice the noodles are a lot smaller, because you cooked most of the water out. You might, and really should, cut the spaghetti with the end of the spatula. Cutting it will make it easier to flip, and mix the spaghetti during the heating process. It'll make it easier to eat, too.
Enjoy!
BOSTON BAKED BEANS
1 lbs. Bacon (sliced pieces)
1 Onion
2 Jalapeno Chilies (diced)
1 lbs. Northern White Beans (dry)
1/4 Cup Tomato Paste
1/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Molasses
4 Cups Bean Water with Vegetable Stock
1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp. Fresh Cracked Pepper
2 tsp. Salt
Wash (rinse) Nothern beans and lay them flat on metal racks checking for rocks, dirt or bad (discolored, cracked or shriveled) beans. Soak beans overnight (8 hours) in plenty of water just before cooking. (Note: Beans will double in size, so soak with lots of water in a large enough container) Save bean water adding vegetable stock until you make 4 cups. Save this liquid for later.
In a Dutch oven with a tight-fiting lid, heat on the stove top the diced bacon until fat is completely rendered out. Add diced onion and jalapeno chilies until soft. Add tomato paste, dark brown sugar and molasses and stir to combine. Slowly add heated bean water + vegetable broth (4 cups) liquid while stiring constantly. Add cayenne pepper, black pepper and salt and stir until well combined. Heat until it starts to boil. Place tight-fiting lid and add to 250 degree oven for 6-8 hours.
MEAT LOAF
The Meat
1lbs. of Ground Pork
1lbs. of Ground Sirloin Beef
1lbs. of Ground Beef Chuck
The Seasonings
1.5 tsp. of Sea Salt
0.5 tsp. of Fresh Black Pepper
1.5 tsp. Garlic Powder
.5 to 1 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp. Liquid Smoke
Few Dashes of Worcester Sauce
The Aromatics
One Half to 3/4 of chopped Green Bell Pepper
One Half to 3/4 of chopped White Onion
The Glaze
Few Dashes of Red Pepper Sauce (or your favorite hot sauce)
One Half Cup of Ketchup
One Half Cup of BBQ Sauce (Bullseye or K.C. Masterpiece)
Tbls. Honey (Optional)
When you mix everything together, for the love of Pete, don't over mix or smash the meat! Lightly, with open fingers, mix everything together. If you squish or mash the meat together, you'll end up with tough meat loaf, which is bad.
Set the meat probe to 140 for internal temp and the outside temp to no higher than 300 so you don't burn your glaze. Oh, AND DON'T COOK THE MEAT LOAF IN A MEAT LOAF PAN!!! Put it on wax paper on a shallow rack of some kind. That way it wont steam in its own fat and juices, which is bad. Also, the glaze can cover most of the meat loaf when you don't put the meat in a meat loaf pan. Use leftover glaze for meat loaf dunking at dinner time, so make a lot.
CORNBREAD
1/2 c. sifted enriched flour
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. corn meal
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1 stick butter
Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. stir in corn meal; add eggs and milk. Melt butter in skillet and swish around in the skillet to grease well. Pour butter into mixture; mix well. Pour mixture back into skillet. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
BUTTERMILK BISCUITS
3 cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup Crisco shortening
Sift the flour to make sure there are no lumps. Add in
the baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add the
Crisco slowly, working it into the dry ingredients.
You can use a large spatula or spoon, but I preferred
using my hands.
Next add the buttermilk, working it into the mixture
too. After everything is thoroughly mixed, plop it
down on a floured counter top or cutting board.
Turn you oven to 450 to allow it to preheat. While
it's heating up knead your dough until it is about
the consistency of clay that kids play with in
grade school. You can make it a little dryer
if need be by sprinkling more flour on your
counter or cutting board. As you knead your dough
it will pick up more of the flour.
After you have it the right consistency you can
shape your biscuits by hand or using a cookie
cutter. I preferred pinching off a chunk, rolling
it into a ball, and then patting it a little flat.
It takes a little practice to get you biscuits all
about the same size. If you want them more perfect,
you can roll out your dough using a rolling pin and
then cut them with a round cookie cutter. That
would look neater when you have company over.
Anyway, place you biscuits on a cookie sheet that
is either lightly greased or lightly sprinkled with
flour. If you use the flour option, be sure not to
put too much.
Bake these biscuits for rougly 18 minutes on the
middle rack in your oven (depends upon how hot
your oven is and how far this rack is from the
top). If the rack is too low you can move the
biscuits to the top rack the last minute of so
to get them browned just the way you want. Leave
them on the middle rack and thy should turn out
lightly browned.
YORKSHIRE PUDDING
9 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 2 cups
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups whole milk, room temperature
1/4 cup beef drippings, divided*
A standing rib roast cooked in a 13 by 9-inch roasting pan will give you enough drippings for the pudding. Prepare the pudding while the roast is resting.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Leave 2 tablespoons of drippings in the roasting pan and place in the oven.
Place the flour, salt, eggs, milk and remaining 2 tablespoons of drippings into the bowl of a food processor or blender and process for 30 seconds. Pour the batter into the hot roasting pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. While the pudding is cooking, carve the roast. Serve the pudding with the roast.
