Top 9 Recipes of 2016

As for year end lists, my Top 9 Recipes of 2016 is one you can really sink your teeth into. And all of my top picks are deliciously cheap to make. Just click on any recipe name to see the original 2016 blogpost, or play any embedded video below. The ranking order is random and not by delectability, so go ahead and dig in!

1. Cherry Pancakes
Let's start out with breakfast. I've been making pancakes with fresh fruit lately. Try mixing seasonal fruit into to your favorite pancake batter.

Cherries take a couple of slices to remove the seed, and you only need 2 or 3 cherries per pancake. So give my Cherry Pancake recipe a try next cherry season.

2. Huevos Rancheros
My favorite breakfast lately is Mexican-style Huevos Rancheros. It's really easy to make with fried eggs, refried pinto beans, and cheese topped with your favorite store-bought salsa, all resting on a couple of heated corn tortillas. You can get the ingredients cheaply, even canned refried beans, at your local grocery store.

My homemade recipe is so good I had to make a stop motion animated recipe video for it. So check it out below - warning, make sure you have eaten beforehand as the imagery is mouth-watering.



3. Chicken & Basil Stir Fry
I like to use fresh herbs whenever possible. Usually you only need a few sprigs or a small clipping. My next Top 9 Recipe of 2016 is a pungent Thai-style Chicken & Basil Stir Fry that's quick and easy to make.

I usually buy a whole basil plant and use some leaves as needed for Italian pasta sauces, but for my stir fry recipe I almost use a whole basil plant! Make some rice to soak up the basil and chicken flavored sauce, too.



4. Korean-style BBQ Chicken
During summertime I fire up the gill almost every weekend, and boy do I have a scrumptious Top 9 Recipe using cheap chicken called: Korean-style BBQ Chicken.

It's all about the marinade. The dominate sweet and salty soy flavors are a perfect savory combination. And copious amounts of minced garlic takes the marinade over the top. Korean-style marinade is a nice change from typical tomato-based BBQ sauces. So click on the recipe name above to get all the tasty recipe details. And add extra bonus points as this recipe is Wife Approved!

Korean-style BBQ Chicken

5. Peach Salsa 
Serving chips and salsa to greet guest for a party? Then try my Peach Salsa for a fruity change of pace. If you are from the South then you can get plenty of this stone fruit cheaply during peach season in late summer. Plus, the ingredient list is a short one.

Serve my Peach Salsa with blue corn chips for extra festive color.

6. Trump Orange Chicken
I threw my whisk into the bombastic U.S. Presidential race last year with my tasty Trump Orange Chicken recipe. I have to say it's the greatest and most beautiful recipe of the year...absolutely fantastic. Only short, lying, low-energy, small-fingered, ugly, crooked, and nasty people would disagree.

If you voted for Trump then celebrate the new POTUS by making my glazed, orange-hued, fried chicken entree. Or, if you think Trump is a pathological liar, narcissist, con man, chauvinist, whining crybaby, pompous ass, and bully, then just change the name from Trump Orange Chicken to plain Orange Chicken. My recipe is delish by any name or political persuasion!

7. Homemade Chili with Beef & Beans
Slow-cooking soothes the soul. There is nothing like the kitchen fragrance from a large pot of Homemade Chili with Beef & Beans. And I don't have to point out how inexpensive pinto beans are. I also use one of the cheapest cuts of beef out there called beef shank. This recipe is money in the bank.

So get out your favorite Chili toppings - I like chopped onion, melty cheese and crunchy Fritos Corn Chips!

I usually get most of my 99 cent ingredients at my local 99c only Stores, but lately I've has some good luck shopping at Dollar Tree. I came up with a Top 9 Recipe using bargains I scooped up from there.

Click on any photo to see larger.

8. Homemade Italian Sausage & Black Olive Pizza
Using breakfast sausage and some Italian herbs, I came up with a homemade Italian sausage, that tops my single serving pizza. The other Dollar Tree pizza finds include: black olives, tomato pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and small precooked pizza crusts (2 per package) - all for a dollar per ingredient. That's a lot of dough savings!

 Make sure to click on the name Homemade Italian Sausage & Black Olive Pizza to see the recipe.

9. Mashed Potatoes
The last recipe I made in 2016 was classic Mashed Potatoes. Potatoes are one cheap ingredient - sometimes even less per pound than brown onions.

Everyone know how to make Mashed Potatoes, right? Well if you are a cooking newbie, then check out my stop motion animated recipe video below and see how simple it is to make.



It has been a fruitfully abundant year of recipes here at the Cheap$kate Chateau. I did the heavy lifting for you, so now all you have to do is pick a recipe link and save yourself some hard earned cash by trying out any of the above. And if you have a favorite recipe of mine, then leave a comment to share.

And make sure to keep checking in here from time to time. I create yummy-looking blog posts with a dollop of humor, and while my tastes are cheap, my recipe flavors are top shelf!

Trump Orange Chicken

I throw my whisk into the political arena with a recipe that is both delicious and revolting: Trump Orange Chicken. If it's not obvious to you, the delish part is Orange Chicken, while the 2016 Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, is the latter.

Now that the buffoon has buffaloed the conservative populace, and belittled the other Republican presidential has-beens off the political stage, it's down to Cheddar Cheese-tinted Trump. So in anticipation of the future tweeting Troll-in-Chief's Inauguration Day, I've come up with a tasty entree to serve for his first White House meal: Trump Orange Chicken.

Since many Trump-branded products is made in foreign countries like China, I thought an Asian-inspired entree appropriate. For the future Bully Of The Free World orange is the new white, especially when he has the coloring of a slice of American cheese.

These days, the main ingredients are cheap. First, chicken is perfect for a tough-talking Cheeto-in-Chief, as it symbolizes his cowardice: getting 5 draft deferments to stay out of the Vietnam War during its apex, even after being a decorated cadet from the New York Military Academy.

This is the same guy who said, reacting to criticism from Senator John McCain (a tortured Vietnam War prisoner,) "He's not a war hero...I like people that weren't captured, okay?"

Boy, I can't wait to see him salute the troops off, as he sends them to win the war on terrorism. Here's his cowardly statement that you can see for yourself.

Video runs 2 minutes.

When I get skinless and boneless chicken from my local Latin grocery store, I don't stop to wonder if it was packaged by Mexican rapists and drug dealers, as xenophobe Trump would have it. And I didn't climb over or dig under a wall to get my budget poultry. If you have an ethnic market in the neighborhood, do visit it sometime, and don't be frightened away by Trump's race-baiting. Welcoming a mosaic of world cultures makes America truly great.

Fresh squeezed orange juice is the basis of my Orange Sauce recipe. But you can use any favorite grocery store frozen juice. After Trump's tan is freshly applied, I wonder if he perspires in orange? A disgusting thought, but not as deplorable as Trump's comments about women.

Click on any photo to see larger.

POTUS wannabe Trump once ran his own meat market, the Miss Universe pageant, and had the chutzpah to use it as a reference to his international diplomatic prowess to deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin - God, what a putz. And just as disgraceful is watching the RNC, conservative websites, and Fox (fake) News kingmakers applying lipstick on a chauvinist pig.

Having run a beauty pageant makes the possible Fake-Tan-In-Chief a great judge of a woman's worth - like the time he referred to fellow Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina in a Rolling Stone magazine interview: "Look at that face," he said. "Would anyone vote for that?" And adding "Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?" Yep, that's the Donald at his slimy best. Elect this childish potty mouth and we'll soon learn how he rates all the female world leaders he will have to negotiate with.

Video runs 54 seconds.

This is a fried chicken recipe so a lot of cooking oil is needed. But you'll drain the fried chicken, so it's not too bad. But for something really oily, look no further than the business dealing of a mogul born with a gold-plated pacifier stuffed between his puckered lips. Nothing like starting out in life with a Daddy Warbucks to fill in life's potholes and financially clean up your early failures.

For every Trump self-aggrandizing business success, there's a trail of stiffed contractors, tax dodges, and bankruptcies, like the Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City. Hey, you win a few and lose a few, so you can't knock the guy for trying...except when the United States economy is on the chopping block with Trump wielding the butcher's knife. 

My Trump Orange Chicken fillets are cut into bite sizes and crunchy coated. But what brings them over-the-top is a homemade sticky sweet Orange Sauce.

The Republican party is lapping up the sickly-sweet orange poison Kool-Aide Hued Trump ladles out. Like his coifed comb-over in a political windstorm, Trump adjusts his views in any direction. Future Egomaniac-in-Chief  Donald Trump is a morally corrupt billionaire con artist and only entered the presidential race to publicize the Trump brand. And the Republican Party has fallen for it hook, line, and sinker.

One year he supports abortion, and now he wants to punish women who get one; he supported the Iraq war at first, now is against it; once he suggested a ban on assault rifles before becoming another lapdog of the NRA.

And one of his biggest flip-flops? Straight from the jackass's, I mean horse's, mouth here's Trump's praise of Democrats and his support of  Hillary Clinton as a diplomat. Just check out the interview video:

Adding the President of the United States to his resume will line the Trump brand's pockets with speaking fees, Fox News commentator status, and create a gusher of Trump media hogwash. Ugh, now we have Donald Trump's toxic progeny, and cheated upon ex-wives, all over social media.

However much you may disagree (or tire) with my ranting, you can't deny the Filibustering Chef's latest entree, Trump Orange Chicken, is a ballot box stuffing success, both in flavor and appearance.

This recipe is for both political parties, and even independents can join in. So make the right choice this election year and serve my latest bipartisan recipe. Your dining guests will surely give you a landslide of compliments!

Orange is the new white.

Ingredients

• 4 pieces of chicken - boneless and skinless. I used 2 thighs and legs. Okay to use a whole chicken breast.
• Salt and pepper to taste - optional. Soy sauce has plenty of salt for me.
• Oil for frying - about 1/2 deep in a frying pan.

Frying Batter

• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup water - start with 1/4 cup of water. Stir, then add a tablespoon at a time, to reach a pancake batter consistency. Total amount of water is about 1/2 cup.

Orange Sauce

• 3/4 cup orange juice - freshly squeezed or bottled.
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest - optional
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon honey - or your favorite sweetener
• 1 teaspoon vinegar - I used apple cider.
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch - to thicken sauce. Use one tablespoon of cornstarch for a thinner sauce.
• 1 teaspoon ginger - optional.  Fresh chopped or from a jar.

Directions for Orange Sauce
Orange zest is pungent. Use a grater to remove some orange peel. It can be grated or just peeled. Try not to include the white bitter pith, just below the bright orange peel. This is optional.

Over medium heat, add all orange sauce ingredients to a pot. Add orange zest. Mix well.

Click on any photo to see larger.

Finally, mix in cornstarch. Make sure to stir and dissolve cornstarch.

Bring the sauce up to a low simmer. Reduce the sauce to low heat. The sauce will thicken as you cook up the chicken pieces. The sauce should only take 3-5 minutes to thicken. Add a little water if the sauce gets too thick, like jam.

Okay to turn off the sauce heat, then reheat when ready to mix with the finished fried chicken.

Directions for chicken batter and frying
Prepare chicken if necessary. I used skinless and boneless dark meat. All I had to do was slice chicken pieces into bite sizes.

Mix dry ingredients in a wide bowl. Slowly stir in water and mix with dry ingredients until a pancake-like batter is formed.

Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a wide frying pan. Use medium heat. Get the oil hot, to about 300 degrees. I don't use a thermometer, as my gas stove temp settings are close enough.

When oil is hot, time to fry the chicken. First set out the chicken pieces and dip them in the batter. Add coated chicken pieces to hot oil.
 

Mainly, you want the coated chicken to bubble when in contact with hot oil. Be careful when adding the first piece of wet-coated chicken to hot oil.

When chicken is added to the pan, it's best not to move chicken pieces around - just let them cook for 3-5 minutes each side. When you see browning along the edges of chicken then it's fine to check for a golden color.

Check the thickest chicken piece for doneness. Just remove a piece and slice into it. There should be no red or pink juices. Dark meat takes longer than white meat to cook through. Cooking time will vary depending on how hot the oil is and how thick you slice the chicken pieces.

Place fried chicken on a wire rack or paper towels to drain off some oil.

Reheat the Orange Sauce if necessary. Place cooked chicken in a bowl and pour in the Orange Sauce to coat the chicken. Lightly mix. Okay to just pour on Orange Sauce over chicken when you serve it, too.

You can serve Trump Orange Chicken over white or brown rice, or with a favorite side dish.

 

Orange Chicken by Banquet - Deal of the Day

Banquet are up to their old tired tricks in my latest Deal of the Day, that features Orange Chicken. Even with "Natural" plastered all over the box, the chicken nuggets taste anything but.

The main attraction is a big fail. Nuggets are a good size, but it mainly breading and not much chopped pulpy white meat.

Starting with the breaded coating you are sucked in. The coating is seasoned well and, surprisingly, stays somewhat crunchy. It was a good start.

They might as well just used ground chicken, as the "chicken breast" is pulverized - no solid chicken that I could detect. The chicken meat could have been white or dark, as any meaty flavor is barely there.

If you are going through the trouble of using 100% Natural Chicken Breast with Rib Meat, then don't grind it into pulp - at least leave it somewhat flaky? The pieces looked nothing like the back label photo.

Click on any photo to see larger.

The Orange Sauce is more sweetness than orange flavor. The Orange Sauce around the chicken nuggets became a sticky puddle of syrup when heated through. It was okay, and mixed well into the rice.

The best part of this meal is the rice and veggies. Usually frozen dinner rice comes out soggy, but this was cooked almost perfectly - a firm texture, but still cooked through. The red bell pepper pieces were very thin, with a tiny amount of veggie flavor.

This latest cheap$kate Deal of the Day from Banquet on my Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, gets a lowly 3.

Any earned points are for the the rice part of the meal. With the "Natural" hype, my expectations were indeed dashed; so this meal gets deducted points in that regard. Truth in advertising should be paramount - I got suckered again.