Thanksgiving Recipe Week: Green Beans with Almonds

Check back for a daily dose of Thanksgiving recipes all this week - it's a digital all-you-can-eat holiday brunch at the Cheap$kate Chateau!

Here's a perfect side dish for your Thanksgiving day feast. Fresh steamed green beans with crunchy almonds pair perfectly, and garlic gives it all a finishing flavor kick. My Green Beans with Almonds travel well, so bring a casserole dish full if you are a guest. Your host will surely place it between the centerpiece roasted turkey and sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

The green beans are steamed for a couple of minutes while some almonds saute with garlic in a frying pan. Finally spoon out the cooked green beans and mix it all together and serve. I used fresh green beans, but for an easy and cheap substitution it's okay to use fresh frozen green beans.

Green beans are a little more expensive than dried beans, but they frequently come on sale, especially during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Green beans even show up at my local 99c only Stores.

Nuts have been in the news lately touting their health benefits and as a diet aid to your appetite. Read about it by clicking here. You only need a 2.5 ounce package of almonds (a handful.)  I used unsalted, but it's easy enough to rinse off typical over-salted ones. Again I get my tiny package of almonds from my local 99c only Store. You can use almost any nuts on sale, including peanuts.

Add my Green Beans with Almonds to your Thanksgiving dinner menu, I'm sure the bottom of the bowl will be scrapped by hungry diners looking for seconds.

Ingredients (about 3 servings)

• 1 pound green beans - stringy stems removed. Okay to use frozen green beans. Canned green beans may be too mushy for this recipe.
• 1 small package of almonds - I used a 2.5 ounce package. They were unsalted and whole. I chopped each almond in half. If you get salted almonds then do a quick rinse and drain.
• 1 teaspoon garlic - I used chopped garlic from a jar.
• 1 teaspoon oil - I used olive oil.
• Salt and pepper to taste - optional. For salted almonds leave out salt in this recipe.

Directions
Rinse off fresh green beans. Cut off stems and any brown, discolored parts. If green beans are very long, it's okay to chop them in half.

You can stem the green beans in a couple cups of water or put them on a steam rack with water. Steam covered for 2 to 4 minutes to desired tenderness. I like them a little crunchy.

If you are using frozen green beans then follow package directions to heat them up - usually just steam in a 1/4 cup of water for about 3-5 minutes until defrosted and warm. Drain green beans when done.

While green beans are steaming, chop each almond in half (or most of them.) You could buy slivered (pre-cut) almonds, but they are much more expensive.

In a large frying pan add a teaspoon of oil over a medium/low heat. Add chopped almonds; stir and lightly toast them for about 2 minutes. You are just heating them through until just starting to brown - you will keep sauteing with garlic and steamed green beans.

When almonds are done turn down the heat to low and add a teaspoon of garlic. Stir as you add the garlic so it doesn't splatter out of the hot pan. Saute about one minute.

Green beans should be done by now, so add them (without the water) to the frying pan with the garlic and almonds. Mix well.

Ready to serve when green beans and almonds are mixed together and warmed through.

Hindsight

If you don't have access to almonds, almost any type of nuts will do. Just remember to rinse off salted nuts. If you use peanuts just call the dish Southern-Style Green Beans with Peanuts, or Chinese Stir-Fry Green Beans with Peanuts -- it'll taste delish with any name.

Thanksgiving Recipe Week: In-laws Sausage Stuffing

Check back for a daily dose of Thanksgiving recipes all this week - it's a digital feast at the Cheap$kate Chateau!

Thanksgiving at his in-laws' is a meal that I look forward to every year.

My in-laws make a great Thanksgiving bread stuffing using breakfast sausage links, and the Chef is not one to fool with perfection; however, I can't help but tinker with the recipe a little bit.

Cornbread stuffing is a Southern tradition, so I merged the two and created my version of In-Laws Thanksgiving Sausage Link Stuffing. Other extra additions include a few aromatics and fresh garden herbs.

Thanksgiving is all about "gobbling" up food sales (whole turkey is 59 cents a pound here; and go here for the L.A. Times newspaper's turkey carving and easy dry-brined turkey recipe video.) So now is the time to hit your local market and stock up on ham, turkey, and a few packages of your favorite stuffing.

The  Cheap$kate Chef has run across a few different types at local 99c only Stores, including dried cranberries, a new favorite. The cranberries reconstitute mixed into moistened breadcrumbs when stuffed into a bird and are a sweet/tart contrast. To keep the in-laws happy, I'll leave out cranberries this time.



Ingredients (feeds 2-3)
8 oz. package cornbread stuffing mix, follow package directions.
8 oz. package breakfast link sausage - Farmer John brand is a favorite.
1 cup each of chopped bell pepper, celery, and onions.
1 tablespoon chopped garlic from a jar or fresh.
1 tablespoon each fresh chopped parsley, sage, and/or oregano (1 teaspoon total if dried).
1 toasted bread slice (makes for a less crumbly stuffing.)
Water and butter per cornbread stuffing mix directions.
Salt and pepper to taste 

Directions
Sauté and break up sausage links, then pour out most of the rendered grease. Add veggies and saute until soft, about 5-10 minutes. 

Prepare stuffing according to package directions. Mix prepared stuffing, toast, sausage, and sauteed veggies in a large bowl. Stuff your bird and put extra stuffing in a bread loaf-type baking dish. 

Bake extra stuffing during the last 45 minutes of roasting the bird. A tasty trick is to pour half a cup of turkey pan juices into the "extra stuffing" just before it goes in the oven.

Thanksgiving Recipe Week: French Fried Onions & Green Bean Casserole

Check back for a daily dose of Thanksgiving recipes all this week - it's a digital feast at the Cheap$kate Chateau!

Nothing is fresh in my latest cheapie recipe, and I'm proud of it! Yeah that's right, The 99 Cent Chef's latest dish comes straight from the Mad Men cable tv series holiday dinner table -- I'm talking 1960's Betty Crocker Cookbook can opener cuisine here. And involves the same amount of cooking skill as defrosting a Swanson Frozen TV Dinner. This is classic casserole comfort food that will fit perfectly on your Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving table -- an heirloom recipe to continue handing down.
 

All you need is a warm oven and a baking dish. And it's so easy to make you could do it blindfolded while nursing a martini.

Serve my French Fried Onions & Green Bean Casserole flanked by sliced turkey with stuffing, and cool cranberry sauce. This creamy soul-soothing veggie side is over the top in tastiness.

And all the ingredients are on sale for the holidays at any grocery store. French fried onions are a decadent topping -- while canned green beans are boring, until you mix in a can of Campbell's Mushroom Soup. *For a 21 Century version, use  fresh green beans that are on sale for a dollar per pound from now until Christmas.

I look forward to a French Fried Onions & Green Bean Casserole every November. I first had it at my in-laws Thanksgiving table; and now my mother-in-law, Annette, is generous enough to share her recipe (from a brittle, yellowing magazine clip). I hand it over to you, my special holiday visitors, for safe-keeping. Enjoy.

Ingredients

• 2 cans of green beans, drained - I used "French Cut", any type will do.
• 1 can of mushroom soup - or any "cream" soup you like.
• 1/2 "soup can" of water - Directions call for a full can of water, but I found it gets too watery.
• 1 package of French Fried Onions - or from a can.
• Pepper to taste - I find there is plenty of salt in the packaged ingredients.

Directions
In a casserole dish combine green beans*, mushroom soup, 1/2 can of water and half a package of French fried onions. Don't fill dish all the way to the top, as it may bubble over when hot. Mix well, cover and place in a 350 degree oven.

Bake for 20 - 30 minutes; since everything is already cooked you are just heating it all up.
Uncover and top with the rest of the French fried onions, and bake another 10-15 minutes.

This is a great dish to bring to any Thanksgiving gathering (best to bring a half package of crunchy fried onions to add at the last minute -- it will be too soggy otherwise).

Hindsight
* Okay to use a package of fresh frozen green beans. Allow to defrost and drain extra liquid, then add to baking dish with other ingredients.

For a fresh green bean version (about a pound),  remove any stems pieces. Chop green beans in half if they are too long. Blanch beans in boiling water for about 5 minutes (or to a desired tenderness). Remove beans and add to casserole dish. In this case you can salt to taste, then follow the rest of my directions.

🌹 Happy Birthday Mom ! - Recipes 💖

Mom turns 82 years young today.

And I owe it all to her, at least where I get my cooking chops (and any good sense I have.) Just check out my videos below to see what I mean.

She grew up in Texas on the Gulf Coast, in a small shrimping town called Port O'Connor. There, I learned to love seafood.

Her father was a shrimp boat captain. So, while we couldn't afford steak, we had all the fresh-caught seafood Big Daddy would skim off the top of the catch. Shrimp season was short, but crab and oyster season soon followed.

Mom had movie-star looks (like a young Elizabeth Taylor) and smarts, and a scholarship to college if she wanted it, but had no extra help from her parents.

So after high school graduation, she was soon married and I arrived on the scene, followed by my brother and sister.

Billy, Berry, and Brenda

My Dad was in the military so we moved around. Mom and us kids eventually settled back in Port O'Connor, after a divorce. Dad was quite a character and the life of the party, but he was also a little too profligate in the alcohol consumption department.

Billy Doyle Robinson

Mom went back to work as a waitress, so I learned how to literally pinch pennies when she poured handfuls of customer tips on the kitchen table for us kids to separate and count.

Mom got back on her feet and found love again with this shuffleboard-playing fellow below, Ken.

After a couple years, Mom remarried and a final sister, Denise, was born (catch up with my youngest sister Denise's Eggplant Recipe, video here.) We moved to neighboring Louisiana the year I enrolled in Junior High School. There she picked up a whole other way of cooking, Cajun-style.

My high school daze was spent in Gonzales, Louisiana, the self-professed Jambalaya Capital of the World. So you know this town is serious about chow. Click here to see a culinary video tour of some local Cajun cuisine at the weekend Flea Market, including Crawfish Pie, Boudin Balls, and, of course, Jambalaya.

And here's our first video we made together in my Los Angeles kitchen - and my dear late wife, Amy, even makes an appearance at the very end of the video. You'll get a kick out of Mom rockin' the cast-iron kettle. I make her Cajun Jambalaya more than any other recipe - it's simply delicious.



Here is a link to her Jambalaya recipe with text and yummy photos.

Mom was always popular with my high school buddies, especially during lunch or dinner time. She brought her Tex-Mex Enchiladas to Cajun Country, and my Louisiana friend Marvin ate them up!

Me, Marvin & Dennis

During my last visit to Louisiana, I had him over when I filmed Mom making Tex-Mex Enchiladas. Marvin liked the Enchiladas so much, he had a flashback to our high school daze.

Make sure to watch my wacky recipe video to the end, that's when our flashback hijinx really get to smoking (wink, nudge.)



Mom takes a star turn with her next video recipe, her popular Chicken and Sausage Gumbo.

It's a traditional Southern dish and it's cheap, too. Just chicken, sausage, and the Cajun veggie trinity of bell pepper, celery, and onion. What gives Gumbo its unique taste is a dark brown roux, which is flour cooked in oil until chocolate brown.

Just check out the video below - Mom will take you through the steps. And, as an added bonus, my oldest sister Brenda makes a nagging appearance a few minutes in.



Click here to read all about making Mom's homemade Gumbo, from roux to rice!

My Mom's Cajun Potato Salad is the perfect side to her Gumbo and Jambalaya. When she visited me in Los Angeles I got her to do it on camera. I couldn't help but give her a hard time with the recipe. I called it Cajun Mashed Potatoes and she called it Cajun Potato Salad - well, I guess you'll have to watch the video below to see who wins that argument!

I satiate my sweet tooth during visits with Mom. And the best of her pastry delights are Mini-Pecan Pies. If I couldn't make it for the Christmas holiday, then she would send a shoe-boxed size package with a dozen of these tasty pies.

Mom attracts a kitchen full of hungry relatives when these pies come hot out of the oven. And it's a miracle they were done right because this Chef de Shutterbug was shoving a camera in her face (and a hot oven) during the whole procedure. We butted heads a few times, but fortunately, it all turned out fine.

I even came up with a way to dodge the high prices for pecans - so check out the video below to learn my budget secrets.

And click here to see Mom's Mini-Pecan Pies recipe with text and tasty photos.

Mom has lived half her life in Gonzales, Louisiana. My last vacation visit there fell on Christmas, and she pulled out all the stops with a huge holiday spread, that included Pumpkin Pie. I got her on video making it, and it turned out perfect, as you will see below.

The recipe is a traditional one made with simple ingredients. The pumpkin came from a can, but the crust was handmade with wheat flour.



All the easy-to-follow steps are written out here, and with delish photos, too.

In Louisiana, there are fast food drive-thru's serving slushy Daiquiris. I don't know how the heck they get away with it. Every time I go back to visit my Mom and Sis, I am reminded about this quirky Cajun roadside icy, thirst-quenching, to-go cup.

Now, there are rules to this. Louisiana has an open container liquor law. So, when you get your Daiquiri, as both Mom and Sis reminded me several times: "Do not put the straw in!" That is a DUI violation if you are stopped. However parched you are, resist plunging the straw through the drink top -- until you get home. Fortunately, Mom's house was less than 5 minutes away.

Check out my last video below, and ride along with my sister Brenda and Mom for a cool beverage on a hot Louisiana summer day.

Happy Birthday Mom -- I love you !

National Sandwich Day - Recipes

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, and get the goods right here.

Egg Salad Sandwich

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 decadent.

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, so don't let your dinner guest leave it on the plate. Check out my recipe video below and click on the name above for all the tasty directions.



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 Homemade Corned Beef and Pastrami Sandwiches.

Corned Beef Sandwich

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 corned beef, you boil the beef brisket until fork-tender, then slice it up. Pastrami is the same, but with a short smoking stage. 

In my Homemade Pastrami recipe video below, I show you how to make corned beef from scratch, but if you can find an already corned beef then go right to the boiling and smoking stage.



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



For my next sandwich it all in the family, that is 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 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.



A Patty Melt is the most decadent 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.



A BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich is one of my favs - it's what we served for our wedding day. I get whole pork shoulder 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, too. The sandwich is uniquely constructed of Cuban roast pork, ham, Swiss Cheese, pickle slices and smeared with mustard, and all between a sliced browned bread roll.

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.

Egg Sandwich

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

I'll end this blog post with live music and picnic sandwiches. My wife and I caught a great free concert by songbird Aimee Mann in a seaside park at 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.



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