Top 9 Recipes of 2021

 As for year-end lists, my Top 9 Recipes of 2021 is one you can really sink your incisors into. And all of my top picks are deliciously cheap to make. Just click on any recipe name to see the original 2020 blogpost for tasty photos and my money-saving tips, and be sure to play any embedded video below. The ranking order is random and not by delectability, so go ahead and dig in! 

1. Blackberry Pancakes

This fruity breakfast series is ongoing and past posts have featured Mangos, Strawberries, and Cherries. Now I can add tangy Blackberries. My Blackberry Pancakes are easy to do like my video below shows.

2. Swamp Chef Nachos

I can bet you've not had Nachos like these before! When I visit Louisiana to see Mom and my kin, the Swamp Chef comes out of the bayou to hang out. Check out the Cajun gooey hot mess he came up with, Swamp Chef Nachos.

3. Southern Fried Fish

What makes Fried Fish Southern is the cornmeal coating. And the fish of choice is usually tender fillets of catfish. So get out the hot sauce and a cold brew and check out my easy and tasty Southern Fried Fish recipe.

4. Chicken, Cabbage & Carrot Stir Fry

The Cheapest Chef has reached a new low. You can't squeeze more pennies out of a recipe that uses the cheapest protein and even cheaper veggies and it all comes together quickly as a delicious Chicken, Cabbage & Carrot Stir Fry.

5. Vegetarian White Beans

To make these Vegetarian White Beans extra-scrumptious I add plenty of flavorful chopped carrot, celery, and onion. If you have a fave veggie then go ahead and make this recipe your own,

6. Yuca & Mojo Sauce with Onion

Yuca or Cassava is unappetizing in appearance but tender and tasty when boiled like a potato. I first had Yuca at my local Cuban restaurant served with Black Beans, White Rice, and Roast Pork. It was made with a tangy Mojo Sauce that is just sauteed onion and garlic with lime juice. If you can boil a potato then you can make my Yuca & Mojo Sauce with Onion.

7. Swamp Chef's BBQ Sausage Po'boy

It's always a party when the Swamp Chef is cooking. Check out the Swamp Chef's BBQ Sausage Po'boy recipe and use the sausage of your choice.

8. Meatloaf with Spinach & Mushrooms

This is a comfort food recipe at its most satisfying. Everybody likes Meatloaf and I had to kick it up a delicious notch with the addition of sauteed spinach and mushrooms. Meatloaf may be boring, but give my Meatloaf with Spinach & Mushrooms a try, and the family will ask for seconds and thirds!

9. Easy Corned Beef

Come St. Patrick's Day holiday week, I always stock up on packages of Corned Beef to freeze. It is super cheap that week. The packages hold raw but brined hunks of beef brisket that only need three hours of boiling to tenderize for sandwiches or a main course served with boiled potatoes and cabbage. See below for my Easy Corned Beef recipe.

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 !

National Sandwich Day

 Sandwich: two pieces of bread with something (such as meat, peanut butter, etc.) between them. As defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary.

It's National Sandwich Day every November 3rd. Well, in the cheapskate chateau, it's Sandwich Day any time of the year - and you've come to the right place to get your fill ! So read on and click on any recipe name that meets your fancy to see recipe text and photo illustrations.

I have a sandwich at least once a week as it's quite easy to get nice quality lunch meat from my local 99c only Store and Dollar Tree.

Lately, I buy day-old (or week-old) bread from the bargain bin at my big chain grocer, Ralphs. Since the bread is no longer soft I will grill the sandwich or first toast the bread - now, it is no different than fresh-baked, once toasted. Anyway, I like to try out a new bread type on the cheap before I pay full price.

John Montagu, the Earl of Sandwich, is the namesake and is thought to have been one of the first to put some cooked meat between slices of bread while on a gambling binge. I guess they didn't have pizza delivery in England during the 1600s. It started simple, evolving to loaded, filled with decadent ingredients.

Fried Shrimp, Tomato, Lettuce & Pickle with Mayo on French Bread

The winter holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner, so bookmark my Ultimate Turkey Sandwich recipe to use up the dinner table leftovers. It's a versatile recipe, so make it your way. I like sliced turkey, stuffing, gravy, and cranberry sauce. What makes this holiday hoagie over the top is the addition of a sauteed slice of crunchy turkey skin - I like to use the whole bird. Check out my recipe video below and click on the name above for all the tasty directions.

A BLT is a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. It's satisfyingly simple. I should know better than to muck up things...well, in this case, I think a couple of tasty tweaks won't hurt. 

BLT Sandwich

It's blasphemy, but I like turkey bacon sometimes, it may be just as salty as regular bacon, but it is lower in fat. I'm old now so I gotta back off a bit.

The other addition is the letter "A" which stands for avocado. Now I know you will like that extra creamy inclusion - so just call this sandwich a TBLT + A.

Jews know how to make a sandwich, and here in LA, the temple to the open-face is served at Cantor's and Langer's Delicatessens.

Now, the sandwiches are expensive there, but they are so stacked with corned beef, brisket, turkey, tongue, etc. that you can easily get two meals out of one sandwich. But if you have been following my blog posts then you may have seen my cheap$kate recipes for Corned Beef and Easy Pastrami.

Corned Beef

I always buy a few on-sale packages to freeze corned beef during St. Patrick's Day - yep, my recipes are a mashup of Jewish and Irish cultures, so get out your green yarmulke and get to cookin'.

They are not that difficult to make, and if you are on a budget, then do it my way. I take a shortcut and start with already corned beef from the grocery store for Easy Homemade Pastrami. For Corned Beef, you boil the raw Corned Beef, brisket until fork-tender, then slice it up. For Pastrami I add a short smoking stage. 

Smoking Boiled Corned Beef ='s Pastrami

In my Easy Homemade Pastrami recipe video below, I show you how to make it using a grocery store-bought corned beef.



Once the Corned Beef and Pastrami are cooked it's time to make sandwiches and believe me they will be as good as any deli-made. Keep it simple with just sliced rye bread and a smear of mustard.

Or, kick it up a notch and make Rachel and Reuben Sandwiches - they are the best! Both sandwiches have Swiss cheese and Russian Dressing on rye bread. A Reuben Sandwich has the addition of sauerkraut. See my video below for the tasty details. 

Reuben Sandwich with Sauerkraut

For a Rachel Sandwich add a big scoop of Coleslaw to the sandwich. Of course, I have a delish Coleslaw Recipe a click away here. And look at my video below for a Rachel Recipe.

Rachel Sandwich with Coleslaw

The next couple of sandwiches come from Cajun Country, which is Louisiana. One of their signature sandwiches is called a Muffaletta.

It's just a loaded deli sandwich with cold cuts and cheese. What sets it apart, beyond a round bread roll, is an Olive Salad or Olive Relish. 

 It's all in the family as my nephew Chef Matt rustles up a Cajun specialty, an Alligator Po'boy.  I suspect not many of you will make this, but the recipe can easily be adjusted by substituting alligator with catfish, shrimp, or oysters. 

It is the most outrageous sandwich of the group and worth a viewing - just for the uniqueness of the bayou reptile ingredient.

If you're ever in New Orleans, you can use this video below for a Po'boy Sandwich Guide. You'll find some great eateries serving Roast Beef to Fried Oyster Po'boys. 

For my vegetarian visitors, my sister Denise makes a mean Veggie Burger made with eggplant. Just watch the video below that also includes a cheap$kate shopping spree in my local 99c only Store for all the ingredients that make up an Eggplant Burger.

Another tasty veggie sandwich is my grilled Portabella Mushroom, Bell Pepper, and Cheese Burger. 

Of course, use a slice of vegan cheese. When I came up with this recipe a decade ago there was not much in the way of vegetarian whey. Brush on the veggies a simple vinaigrette of olive oil and balsamic vinegar then saute or grill the veggies. Finally, melt on the cheese and toast the buns or bread.

A Patty Melt is the most decadently delicious of sandwiches. There is no nutritious lettuce and tomato, just butter, caramelized onions, and a slab of fried ground meat. But I do make a less fatty version using ground turkey instead of ground beef.

 Patty Melt Sandwich

You can visit my blog post or just watch the video below to get all the tasty details.

It's intermission time, that is you can watch the video below to cleanse your palette with my noir-tinged nighttime romp through Los Angeles eateries looking for the perfect sandwich. Turn up the volume for my Restaurant Nocturnes video below.

A most unique sandwich is the Bánh mì by way of Vietnam. It is loaded with crunchy veggies like cucumber, radish, carrot, and spicy jalapeño. The meat components are pâté, head cheese, and roast pork. Due to its French influence, all the ingredients are tucked inside a crunchy French roll. It reminds me of a Louisiana Po'boy sandwich. I have a simple version of Bánh mì a click away here. 

I first had one when I worked in Santa Monica and read about the Nom Nom food truck that featured a great Bánh mì sandwich. They were so good I had to do a video about the sandwich and the cool chefs who worked there and customers that hung out. Check it out below.

A BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich is one of my faves - it's what we served on my wedding day with my late wife, Amy. I get whole pork shoulder on sale sometimes for less than 99 cents per pound at my local Latin market, too! If you have an ethnic market in your neighborhood, do check it out for interesting food ingredients, often cheaper than you can get at a regular market.

Pulled Pork just needs a simple dry rub made with inexpensive dried spices like cumin, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, and sweet brown sugar.

A typical Southern Pulled Pork Sandwich is dressed with sliced raw onion, sour pickles, and BBQ sauce. Just check out my recipe video below to see how I do it.



I make Cuban Sandwiches with tender slices of pork from a citrus-marinated slow-roasted pork shoulder. The sandwich is uniquely constructed of Cuban roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickle slices, and all between a sliced browned bread roll smeared with mustard.

Cuban Roast Pork

Cuban Sandwich

You have to break a few eggs for the next sammies: a simple Egg Salad and Fried Egg Sandwich, plus a Homemade Egg McMuffin.

There is something so soothing about Egg Salad My recipe couldn't be simpler, just chopped boiled egg, fine-chopped celery, and mayo. 

It's a dangerous recipe that I have too often just eaten right out of the mixing bowl. But if I can resist I'll refrigerate the Egg Salad and make a fatEgg Salad Sandwich.

Egg Salad Sandwich

I make Fried Egg Sandwiches the most. As long as it takes to fry an egg, I toast slices of bread, slice a tomato, peel off a leaf of lettuce, and I finish the sandwich with a smear of mayo, that's it.

 Egg Sandwich Recipe

My Homemade Egg McMuffin recipe will save you trips to McDonald's, and you can slice the ham as thick as you like, plus go ahead and add an extra slice of cheese.

What's the big deal with McDonald's McRib? I mean it's an okay sandwich, but kinda weird as there is no rib in the sandwich and the meat is just pork ground meat that has the texture of a McNugget.

Ripoff McRib

For my version of a McRib, I use an outrageous shortcut - a Boneless Pork Riblet by Banquet frozen foods! 

How does it compare? The patties look and texture are the same, and the flavor is very similar. This TV dinner slab of pork is smothered in BBQ sauce just like the McRib -- it's not too bad really plus a lot cheaper. Click here to see all the tasty details of how I pull off this ripoff recipe!

OMG, the Fried Chicken Sandwich is everywhere. Almost all fast-food joints have a version, and that's because they're the bomb. And chicken prices are still a steal. 

Fried Chicken Sandwich

I have a great spiced crunchy coating for the chicken filets a click away. Get an inch of hot oil going and after about 10 minutes of frying, assemble the sandwich and you're ready to dig in!

Check out my recipe video below for all the juicy details. I like my Fried Chicken Sandwich with lettuce, tomato, pickle slices, mayo, and mustard, how about you?

One of my most acclaimed recipes is a luscious Scallop Roll. I was even linked and highlighted by the Huffington Post when I published the recipe. To read about it click here, then click on "See Gallery" and arrow ahead - I'm number 4.

Scallop Roll

I got the idea after reading and fantasizing about what an East Coast Lobster Roll would taste like. I couldn't afford lobster, so I got the next best thing, tender bay scallops for $1 per small package, just enough for a cheap$kate Homemade Scallop Roll. Go ahead and see how I make it here!

I'll end this blog post with live music and picnic sandwiches. Amy (my late wife) and I caught a great free concert by songbird Aimee Mann at a seaside park in Marina del Rey. I brought along Finger Sandwiches made with Cucumber & Cream Cheese, Salami with Dijon Mustard, and Ham with Butter.

We set out a blanket, opened a bottle of vino, and ate our sandwiches while Amiee Mann serenaded the picnickers. Just check out the video below to join our picnic and get all the Finger Sandwiche Recipes.

So click on any recipe name above if you have the appetite for one of my delish and cheap$kate sandwiches.

Swamp Chef's BBQ Sausage Po'boy - Recipe Video

My brother from another daddy, the Swamp Chef, hung out with the family at my Mom's house and manned the BBQ grill. And what's the perfect accompaniment to a family gathering but BBQ Sausage Po-boys!

It's an easy and tasty recipe if you can rustle up some good-quality sausages. Well my nephew Chef Matt has a connection in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the meat purveyor is called Iverstine Farms Butcher. You can read all about them a click away here.

They've been around for a decade and they butcher and smoke their own meats. And you can believe the Swamp Chef on this one, Iverstine Smoked Sausages are the bomb, yeah!

Just show up at the deli counter and take your pick. The Swamp Chef went for it and got three different types of smoked sausage: Green Onion, Jalapeño,  and Flyin Hawaiin (sic.) 

The flavors are subtle, so the meat and smoke dominate. There's a little heat from jalapeno, some onion flavor, and sweetness, too.

These sausages are rough-ground just the way I like it. And since they are smoked and cooked all the way through all you need to do is char them a little bit on the grill.

Now for a Po'boy, it's all about the bread, and most grocers here in Gonzales, Louisiana sell large loaves of fresh French Bread. Local French loaves are a bit softer than typical crusty and chewy loaves you might get at a French restaurant. 

Jason & his brother Chef Matt

Normally a Po'boy Sandwich is dressed in mayo, lettuce, tomato, and pickle slices. But since the Swamp Chef had the grill going it was easy to throw on some bell pepper and onions for the Po'boys - sausage with grilled veggies and a smear of Dijon mustard are a great combo.

Check out the video below. If you have a fave local sausage then you can make your own Swamp Chef BBQ Sausage Po'boy.

Swamp Chef BBQ Sausage Po'boy - Video Recipe

Play it here, video runs 7 minutes, 14 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

If you're looking for a tasty side for the BBQ Po'boy then look no further than my Mom's Cajun Potato Salad. Click here to see the tasty recipe and yummy photo illustrations.