Peach Pancakes can be made with fresh or canned fruit.I like canned peaches with fruit juice or lightly sweetened. Canned fruit can get very mushy when cooked, but Peaches hold up quite well when mixed into pancake batter and sauteed.
I like to eat the peel on my fresh fruit, which canned peaches remove. Even without the fuzzy texture, sliced peaches, fresh or from the can, have plenty of peachy flavor.
Canned Peaches and fresh ones are still cheap enough for this Budget Epicurean. Make sure to wait for fresh Peaches to ripen soft.
No special tricks to this recipe, I just add sliced Peaches to a lightly oiled heating pan and pour on pancake batter
My recipe is basic; I use premixed pancakes from the box. Nothing special really. The average mix is usually just enriched flour, sugar, dried egg, and milk. Normally, you just add water. You can use your favorite mix, or even a homemade one. If price is no object, then get organic from Whole Foods or from your fave health food market.
I do like to finish my pancake with a pat of real butter. It's up to you if you want to go that far.
Check out my tasty breakfast, Pancakes made with sliced Peaches. I like to start my day with a sweet fruit.
Peach Pancake Recipe - Video
Play it here, video runs 1 minute, 44 seconds.
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.
Ingredients (2 servings, using a pancake mix)
1 cup pancake mix - any favorite
3/4 cup water - okay to use milk for a richer pancake batter.
1 peach sliced - add as many slices as you like.
1 tablespoon of cooking oil - to grease the skillet. Add more when needed, depending on how many pancakes you make.
Butter and your favorite pancake syrup - add as much as you like.
Directions Prepare pancake batter according to package directions. My pancake mix calls for 1 cup of flour and 3/4 cup of water.
Mix pancake ingredients in a bowl. When mixed, it will be like thick country gravy.
(If you are using frozen blueberries, it's okay to add them right to the batter. Defrosted or not, as they will warm up during pancake cooking.)
Add a teaspoon of oil to the pan or griddle. Heat the pan over medium heat.
Slice a fresh peach and remove the seed. For canned Peaches, just drain. Okay to slice peaches into smaller pieces. Large slices tend to separate from the pancake.
Arrange on a hot pan or griddle. Add as many as you like, depending on the size of each pancake.
Brown pancakes for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, depending on the pan heat. When you see air pockets, then check the bottom of the pancake to see how it's browning.
The instant box of pancake directions mentions cooking time to brown each side as 1.5 minutes each....hmmm, they must be using a super hot pan! Best to just check the pancake for color as you go.
If you want a dark brown pancake presentation, then cook one side to get the right hue of brown, then cook the other side for a minute to finish. Serve browned side up on the plate.
I prefer a heated plain Croissant with coffee in the morning. When I have them in bed, it's a flaky affair. I usually have the L.A. Times newspaper laid out underneath my chin to catch the crumbs. That's how I like to start National Croissant Day.
Croissants can be filled with chocolate or feta cheese and spinach, along with many other sweets or savories. Usually associated with the French, Croissants originated in mid 1800s Austria. The pastry is layered with butter so you get a puffy and airy interior with a hard flakey brown exterior.
While not the same by any means, Flakey Biscuits and Crescent Rolls in the can/cardboard roll give you a rough idea if you have never had a Croissant.
Croissants are now featured on many breakfast menus, even in fast food joints like a Jack in the BoxSupreme Croissantmade with scrambled eggs, cheese, ham, and bacon, and they are pretty tasty, too.
If you are staying at a vacation B & B (Bed and Breakfast), they often serve a Continental Breakfast that includes Croissants. But Croissants are best fresh from a bakery deli case.
Lately, I get mine cheaply from my local Ralphs supermarket bread bargain bin. They usually come four to a box and are less than a dollar per Croissant. Mini-Croissants turned up this year. Lately, Everything Croissants with poppy and sesame seeds are not too much of a good thing. This year, I found Croissant Rolls in the Dollar Tree, too.
They may be a few days old, but because I like them warm, they reheat to an almost fresh state, crunchy on the outside, and buttery soft on the inside.
I like to buy a container or two at a time, as they freeze and defrost well. Since I get a great deal there is no reason to make my own...maybe one day I'll give it a shot.
I reheat them on the stovetop in a pan, just for a minute on each side. A toaster oven works quite well, too. If I am heating up a few Croissants then I will heat them in the oven at 350 degrees for 5 minutes or so - they don't need to brown anymore, just heat through - so check on them frequently just in case - warm to the touch is enough. Of course, they are delicious at room temperature.
I like my Croissants warm and plain, but lately, I've been making stuffed Breakfast Croissant Sandwiches. Check out my Scrambled Egg Croissant Sandwich video below. Nothing to it really just scrambled eggs anyway you like them, then load them into a sliced-open Croissant. I finally heat the Croissant for about a minute on each side.
For my next recipe video, I added cheese on top of the scrambled eggs. I use American cheese, but you can use any favorite cheese. Again, nothing to this simply deliciousScrambled Egg and Cheese Croissant Sandwich, it's so quick and easy to do!
My last Breakfast Croissant Sandwich is the most decadent with not only scrambled egg and cheese, but add a slice of ham -- check it out below.
I'll celebrate National Croissant Day any day of the year, and when you try my above Croissant Breakfast Sandwiches, you will, too.
Roast a whole turkey for Thanksgiving?No thanks!! I'll go the easy route and just roast a turkey breast - it's quick and easy to do my way. Take the pressure off and keep it simply delicious.
And as a bonus, I add Stuffing under the flap of the breast wishbone skin and I add an extra mound of Stuffing that the turkey breast rests on. So you get it all with my Easy Roast Turkey Breast recipe.
The advantage of only cooking a Turkey Breast is that you don't have to worry about dark meat when cooking a whole turkey. Usually, dark meat takes longer to cook than white meat, so often the white meat will dry out even when covered with aluminum foil to help keep it moist.
I don't know about you, but I like a succulent slice of turkey breast, not a dry bite of bird.
Of course, you have to be a "white meat" person for this recipe, I like both white and dark...can't we all get along?
Turkey breast comes in many sizes/ weights starting at about 5 pounds, so you will serve 3 or 4 guests easily and there's little waste, without a lot of carcass bones and skin to throw out.
You could just buy a whole Turkey on sale and break it down. Practice on a whole chicken first. It's economical and you can make separate meals with dark meat and wings later. Defrost a frozen turkey in the refrigerator so it stays cold. It may take 3 to 4 days until the whole turkey is soft enough to slice apart.
The trick to breaking down a chicken or turkey is to slice into where the poultry leg and wing connect to the main body until you see bone. Next, grab the leg or wing and pull away from the body until you hear a crack - that is the joint separating. Finally, just slice around the round joint and continue slicing until the part is free. You can try to cut through bone, but you need a saw or cleaver for hacking. For a whole breast, I slice easily through the rib cage and break apart the joints just underneath the breastbone.
Refreeze the dark meat legs, thighs, and wings. The backbone is great for a veggie-loaded Turkey Soup. Of course, you can roast a breast and a leg or thigh together if you are feeding a few.
Usually, figure about 15 minutes of roasting per pound of the breast at 350 degrees. My (about) 5-pound Turkey Breast cooked in an hour and a half - that's half the time of roasting a whole turkey!
The skin gets crackly, and the meat stays moist. Always allow a few minutes of resting time once the Roasted Breast is out of the oven, while setting the table and finishing side dishes.
I can't resist Bread Stuffing with Roast Turkey Breast, and I'm not particular. I use a typical boxed stuffing from my local Dollar Tree and add a few sauteed veggies for good measure. I like cornbread or plain white bread stuffing.
A chopped stalk of celery and some chopped onion, mushrooms, and garlic all sauteed together, are what I add, then follow the box directions. If I have a small package of breakfast sausage, I'll saute that too and mix it all together. MyEasy Stuffing Recipe is a click away here.
You don't need the whole bird to make a satisfying Thanksgiving meal; my Easy Roast Turkey Breast will do the job!
Easy Roast Turkey Breast - Video
Play it here. The video runs 1 minute, 38 seconds.
Ingredients (serves 3-4)
4-6 pound turkey breast - It comes in various sizes, so cooking time will vary. But in general, it's about 15 minutes per pound at 350 degrees -- the internal temperature of the thickest part of the breast should be 150-155 degrees. My turkey breast took an hour and a half at 350 degrees.
Salt and pepper to taste - just sprinkle on as much or as little as you like, about a teaspoon total.
Optional - a box of favorite Stuffing. Follow the box directions or see my recipe by clicking here.
Directions
Nothing to this recipe really, just preheat the oven to 350 degrees and sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Okay to put some fresh or dried herbs under the breast skin if you like. Rosemary is a pungent herb, or sage and rosemary, too.
Place the turkey breast skin side up and let it roast until done, about an hour and a half or until the juices run clear when sliced, or the internal temperature is 150-155 degrees in the thickest part of the breast.
If you are a stuffing fanatic, then add some to the turkey breast before roasting. I like to stuff the wishbone area, which usually has a large flap of skin to enclose the stuffing.
Turn the breast cavity facing up and lay in the stuffing against the wishbone. Raise up the skin and fasten with a couple of toothpicks. Finally, make a mound of stuffing in your roasting pan and place the breast right on top of it, covering it with the breast cavity.
The turkey juices will flavor the stuffing perfectly. And you get a little crunchy layer of stuffing that cooks against the pan.
If you are looking for a few side dishes to go along with the plump roasted breast, then click here to see what I recommend.
Whether you roast the breast with stuffing or without, try my Easy Roasted Turkey Breast for Thanksgiving, or anytime.
Today is National Taco Day, the most hallowed of culinary days in my cocina (kitchen). I can have tacos morning, noon, and night. So read on and you'll know what I mean - just click on any taco name, or highlighted text, to see all the tasty details from my blog post recipe or review. Andclick here or check out your local Mexican joints and gringo fast food Taco Bell, Del Taco, and others to see local taco deals.
In the morning, it's spicy Mexican chorizo with scrambled eggs and refried beans nestled into a warm corn tortilla.
Breakfast Tacos
And my Chorizo & Egg Taco is about as cheap as you can get. I get Mexican chorizo from my local Latin grocer, natch, and all kinds too, like beef, pork, and even soy (which is a recent favorite).
*Click on any recipe name to see the original blog post recipe or review*
My recipe for a Shrimp, Jalapeño & Egg Taco is based on one fromJosie's Mexican Food Cantinain Port O'Connor, Texas, a small seaside town where my mother is from.
Check out my version of a Shrimp Taco below, which blows other breakfast tacos out of the water!
For Breakfast Tacos, it's all about the salsa toppings. I like salsa from a jar, but sometimes I just gotta go for it and make my own Homemade Salsa, and it's easy to do.
My Mango Salsa recipe with yummy photos and tasty text is right here, but you can check out the video below:
I buy a 5 to 6-pound budget pork shoulder, and I can get a couple of dozen tacos out of it, so no one leaves hungry.
And boy, it's the perfect budget recipe that your friends and neighbors will line up for. You let them do most of the work -- they get to build each taco to suit their taste. I like to set out some chopped onion and cilantro. You can make your taco bar any way you like. Go ahead and add a bowl of shredded cheese, chopped lettuce, and tomato, and a cheap jar of salsa, too.
Some palates can't handle pork,so I noticed at my local Latin grocer's deli case, they serve Carnitas made from Turkey. Well, it works, especially the 99 Cent Chef recipe way. I make mine flavored with Mexican Cola. Sweet and succulent slow-cooked turkey leg meat is delicious not just on Taco Tuesdays, but every day!
Chicken is still one cheap protein. My Chicken Tinga recipe will have your guests coming back for seconds...and thirds! Chicken Tinga is a stew simmered in tomato sauce with a can of spicy chipotle peppers, but you can make a milder version with a can of enchilada sauce.
Chicken Tinga
One of my most unique tacos came about one summer while on vacation at our spectacular national parks in Utah. I stopped to eat and had an Indian Frybread Taco. Frybread is flour dough that's rolled out and deep-fried. You top the frybread with chili beans, lettuce, tomato, and cheese.
Frybread Taco
Carne Asada, or grilled steak, is a favorite taco of mine. Just make my marinade for thinly sliced steak, let it sit for an hour, then slap it on the grill. After the Carne Asada is done, you chop it up and serve it on a corn tortilla
Carne Asada Taco
The marinade is a simple mix of lime juice, oil, cilantro, cumin, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Drive anywhere in Los Angeles and you will see taco trucks, sidewalk taco vendors, and taquerias on almost every street. And I've stopped at many of them. What follows are a few of my faves - with a few recipes I cribbed from them, too.
When I moved to Los Angeles over 50 years ago, I discovered the taco truck. Boy, have they evolved over the years. In the beginning, it was just hamburgers and tacos made with ground beef. Well, that all changed in the year 1991 when a hotel chef named Roy Choi, was down but not out. Rebounding from couch surfing to start Kogi Taco Truck.
A fellow co-conspirator came up with the idea of a Korean taco, and chef Roy Choi assembled the taco ingredients of Korean barbecue short ribs with a kimchi-style coleslaw, served on corn tortillas. His truck was an instant hit, and Kogi jump-started the nouveau taco truck renaissance.
Kogi is still around, and I still love them. Check out my video below, where I hang out night and day, for L.A.'s most uniquely mouthwatering taco.
Inspired by Kogi's mashup of Korean BBQ and Mexican Tacos, I came up with the Loxaco, which combines Jewish and Mexican cuisines.
A Loxaco is comprised of homemade lox (cured salmon) in a fast-food crunchy taco shell, topped with cream cheese and thinly sliced red onion. I introduced this preposterous concoction at a book signing in Libros Schmibros, a lending library in East Los Angeles. How did it go over with book lovers? The following video is a twofer, you get a recipe plus a literary happening scene -- even the late great food critic Jonathan Gold makes an appearance - while his wife and kid tried them, Jonathan gave them a pass )-:
After a double feature at my fave art house cinematheques like the Egyptian Theater or the Academy Museum, on the way home, I swing by Leo's Taco for a couple of Al Pastor pork tacos. They just cost $2.50, and the line can be long, now that the word is out.
This is porcine perfection on a paper plate. It's tender and flavorful grilled marinated pork, that's cooked in front of a gas grill called a trompo. A cook manning the grill slices off thin slivers, finishing the taco with flair: a flying slice of pineapple. Check out the yummy action below.
I've followed the Two Hot Tamales from the beginning, when the Border Grillwas in a storefront with half a dozen tables on Melrose Avenue. Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken are fixtures on the L.A. dining scene who jumped on the taco truck train, bringing their neuvo take on Mexican cuisine to four wheels.
My Tacos El Primo video review has gone viral. That means this YouTube video gets thousands of hits per month - right now it is pushing a million total views. Why? I'm not sure. Let's see... in this video, I review Buche and Tripas tacos, or tacos made from slow-cooked stomach and intestines. Gross right? One thing I noticed is that half my visitors are from Mexico, so maybe half my audience is curious about how gringos react to offal.
That doesn't seem interesting enough, really, but hey, what do I know? I'll take it. I did the taco review because Tacos El Primo was a midnight munchies stop on my return home from various Hollywood treks.
When you have a neighborhood food stop, you eventually dive deeper and try eats that you would not normally taste.
Tripas (intestine) Taco
Well, join the multitudes and check out my Cheap$kate video review of Tacos El Primo.
Deep-fried Fish Tacos are one of L.A.'s great culinary contributions. These battered depth charges of crunchy perfection are based on the street food of Baja Mexico and other coastal communities. If you like British Fish & Chips, you will love Fried Fish Tacos.
Fish Taco
The battered fillets of fish are typically served on corn tortillas and topped with a white crema (similar to a mild sour cream) and chopped cabbage. I have my own recipe for Fish Tacos, which you can see by clicking on the recipe name.
And this is the best taco deal in town: Today (Wednesdays) is $1 Fish Taco Day at Tacos Baja! Yeah, that's what you heard - don't believe me? Just watch the video below and see it for yourself. (The Wednesday Special is now $1.59.)
I like a gringo-style hard-shell taco from local fast food joints like Taco Bell. They usually come with shredded lettuce and American cheese, with seasoned ground beef. You can blame California for introducing this type of taco to the masses.
My go-to Taco Tuesday deal is from Del Taco, because I can walk to it. They have an afternoon-to-evening special.
I like to add a slice of avocado, chopped onion, and tomato to my fast-food Taco Tuesday special.
It's easy enough to make your own gringo taco. Hard corn shells and all the other ingredients come cheap enough.
Do celebrate National Taco Day with me. Hey, celebrate it any day now that I've shown you a slew of taco recipes you can make easily and cheaply.
And, what the heck, I'll end with a queasy taco review, from of all places, fast food Jack In The Box's 2 for 99 cent tacos...ugh, watch it with a barf bag. (The price has increased since I made the video review.)
