tuna noodle casserole with olives & spinach

I'll be honest, I really wasn't sure I was going to post this recipe because it ended up being a lot more "involved" than I expected. But, after eating it for lunch and then wanting more once I got home from work, I figured all of the work and dirty dishes were worth it!

This recipe for Grown-Up Tuna Noodle Casserole landed in my mailbox courtesy of Thekitchn.com the other day and it looked so yummy that I thought I'd give it a shot. The only tuna noodle casserole that I've ever had was super creamy, rich, and gooey. I'm pretty sure there were a few cans of "cream of" soup in there. This casserole is not that. It uses a real, homemade white sauce (bechamel) and real mushrooms instead of the canned stuff. It's creamy, but not so much that it sits like a rock in the bottom of your stomach. I used The Kitchn recipe as a guide, but kinda winged it from there.

I had some leftover ingredients that I wanted to use up, so I tossed in some frozen spinach and kalamata olives. They're completely optional, but I love how they work in this dish. The spinach adds veggie goodness and balances the heaviness, while the kalamata olives add a pop of saltiness. The Kitchn version uses capers instead of olives, but for the same effect.

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lemon pudding cakes for two

I usually like to make my own version of recipes, but every now and then I come across a recipe that just looks too perfect to change. This recipe for Lemon Pudding Cakes that I found on Food & Wine was one of those.

I LOVE lemon, especially in desserts, and this recipe looked light enough to be enjoyable without making me feel sick afterwards. The top is light and fluffy like an angel food cake and the bottom is a gooey like pudding. That's the best of both worlds, right there.

This recipe will make you flex your kitchen skills, with all of the egg white-whipping, gentle folding, bain marie making, and lemon zesting, but the work is well worth it. Just make sure to give the instructions a good read (or two) because it is slightly complicated.

The only change I made was to scale the recipe down to two servings because I only have two ramekins and not six. ...well, and I also don't have six people sitting around waiting for dessert. My lemon pudding cakes didn't turn out quite as pudding-y as the photos on the original recipe, but this was still one of the best desserts that I've ever had. I felt like a Goldie Locks who had just found the one that was juuuuussst right. Light, sweet, and slightly gooey - perfect!

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hummus & grilled vegetable pizza

I know it sounds weird, hummus on a pizza? Well, back in the day when I was slingin' pizzas at Whole Foods, we made a special vegan pizza using hummus as a replacement for the sauce and cheese. We didn't really ever get any requests for this pizza but we made it a few times just for fun. So, what was it like? GOOOOOOOOOOD!

The hummus just kind of works because it's thick and rich like cheese and it's almost as moist as sauce. Not to mention, hummus has LOADS of flavor. I guess you can just think about it like dipping some pita into hummus and then eating some roasted vegetables in the same bite. See? It does make sense.

Anyway, I made this pizza from scratch using this dough recipe and this hummus recipe. So, it did take a while to make but I was able to make both the hummus and the roasted vegetables during the rise time for the dough. This is a great rainy summer day project.

If you don't want to go through the trouble of making the dough, check with your local pizzeria to see if they sell raw dough balls. Also, check the frozen section of the grocery store. Sometimes pizza dough balls are sold frozen. They just need to be thawed and stretched then they're ready to go!


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peppermint marshmallows

Need more homemade gift ideas? You've gotta try these peppermint marshmallows from Martha Stewart. Even if you're not doing homemade gifts this year, this is a really fun weekend project to do with your kids. It can get sticky, it can get messy and you might end up with red fingers but the end result is so worth it. The flavor is way better than expected and they melt wonderfully into hot cocoa or even coffee.

I'm going to mark this recipe as advanced because it does take some tricky moves. Two things you WILL need to make this recipe: a candy thermometer and a mixer. Did I mention that my parents ready the Kitchen Gadgets post and sent me a mixer and food processor as an early graduation/Christmas present? Very cool!

Anyway, two things that will make this recipe A LOT easier: a helper/extra set of hands and a stand mixer. I used a hand held mixer and it worked but a stand mixer will take this recipe from tricky to easy-ish.


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king arthur baguettes

I am on the hunt for the perfect baguette recipe. I live in New Orleans so really good french bread is everywhere... but I want it to be in my oven too. The perfect french bread is chewy on the inside with a medium-large crumb and a perfectly crispy, crackly crust. Good french bread (or po' boy bread) is pretty expensive at the grocery store so I'm quite determined to make it myself.

The first promising recipe that I cam across was this one from the King Arthur Flour website (there are even more detailed instructions and more photos on their blog, Baking Banter). The bread was excellent but only half way towards what I want to achieve. Using a starter that fermented over night gave the bread INCREDIBLE flavor. The crumb was a good size and the inside was wonderfully chewy but the crust was still lacking. I did make a few changes, notably replacing one cup of bread flour for whole wheat and reducing rising times and repetitions. I know this could have seriously impacted my results so I do plan on making this again and following the instructions to a T.

For that reason, the instructions below are EXACTLY as they appear on the King Arthur website. The price break down includes my use of bread flour and whole wheat. If you do plan try this out, I suggest giving their instructions and pictures a scroll through as well (links in paragraph above).

This recipe literally takes a day and a half so plan it for a day that you'll be home taking care of other business (you'll start it the night before). Despite being a "needy" recipe, it was still enjoyable and I plan to try it again!


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english muffins

I'm an English Muffin fanatic. They're complete breakfast heaven to me, especially when turned into a breakfast egg sandwich. I vaguely remember baking a batch eight or nine years ago and as far as I remember, they turned out pretty good. So, now that I have time and space to do some baking again, English Muffins were on the top of my list.

After looking at a good 20+ recipes, I decided to work off of this one on allrecipes.com. After reading a bunch of reviews, I made a few changes.

It seems that there are two keys to getting an English Muffin with the classic "nooks and crannies" they are famous for. First, make sure the dough stays soft and loose. This means not adding too much flour during the kneading process and kneading for a shorter length of time (about 5 minutes). Second, letting the dough rise three times (as opposed to the usual two for most breads) allows giant gas bubbles to form. The muffins turned out nice and light with a decent amount of nooks and crannies. There weren't enormous pockets like the store bought muffins but I'm willing to trade some of that for a muffin that only costs eight cents (and is pretty fun to make).

Because there are three "rises", the total time required for this recipe is pretty lengthy. Luckily, most of that is passive rising time. So just pick a day when you need to be home doing things (studying, cleaning, laundry, etc.) and make some muffins in the "in-between" time.


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pork & ginger pot stickers

I wanted to make something to eat along side my sushi bowls this week so I decided to make some Pork and Ginger Pot Stickers. I remember attempting to make pot stickers a long time ago but... well... lets just say they stuck to the pan and just didn't work out. This time I did a lot of recipe research and tried a few different methods of cooking them (boiling, steaming, frying and combinations of all three) and I can proudly say that I think I have mastered the art of the pot sticker. The process is a little lengthy and requires a lot of steps so I'm going to rate this as "advanced". That being said, don't be afraid of them. They're quite delicious and a great challenge/experience for those of you who are more seasoned cooks. The greatest part about these pot stickers is that you can fill them with just about anything... while you stand there filling and folding them you're likely to come up with about ten different delicious ideas for fillings. I know I did!

I used shredded and sauteed cabbage here as a filler to offset the cost of the ground pork (the most expensive ingredient in the dish). I also had a little bit of leftover shredded carrot from the sushi bowls so I threw that in as well. Don't be tempted to use dried, ground ginger in place of fresh grated ginger in this recipe. Fresh ginger is quite inexpensive (you can break off a chunk that is just the size you need, you don't have to buy the whole big piece) and it adds an amazing amount of bright, fresh flavor. The fresh ginger and green onions really made these pot stickers shine!


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cranberry & walnut stuffed pork loin

Stuffing meat is fantastic. Not only does it add extra flavor and texture but it takes advantage of Budget Byting Principle #2: use ingredients wisely. That means taking an expensive ingredient (the pork) and combining it with a less expensive ingredient (the stuffing) to bring the cost per serving down.

The second trick that I used to make this recipe so cost efficient was the fact that I snatched up this huge 27 oz. pork loin when it was on sale ($4 off!!) and stored it in my freezer 'till I was ready to use it. Normally, $8.99 for a pork loin is just too expensive for my taste but slash it by almost half and I'm game!

Lastly, even though dried cranberries and walnuts are by themselves expensive ingredients, if you use them sparingly to just add a little bit of "oomph" to the stuffing, they won't do too much damage to your bottom line.


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cheesey shepherd's pie

A while back my roommate made a Shepherd's Pie and I knew that I would have to make one for the blog due to it's hearty, satisfying simplicity. I had all but forgotten about the Shepherd's Pie until I saw an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown made Shepherd's Pie while acting out scenes from Sweeney Todd (he's so funny!). I love how Alton Brown so meticulously pays attention to every ingredient and preparation method to get every aspect of a recipe right. It was for that reason that I decided to adapt his Shepherd's Pie recipe for Budget Bytes. He uses lamb but I switched it for beef. Although I LOVE lamb, it just didn't fit my budget today (maybe on a special occasion!). I didn't have fresh rosemary or thyme so I had to make do with dried and because I was in a rush, I bought frozen peas and carrots rather than fresh. Oh yeah, I also used cheddar cheese as a binder in the mashed potatoes rather than an egg yolk (because I love cheese!). It turned out pretty tasty and I know it will keep me satisfied for the rest of the week!


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