Spinach Pesto Quesadilla

This almost feels like cheating, posting a spinach pesto quesadilla recipe as a separate entry, rather than as an addendum to last week's spinach walnut pesto post.  But it just didn't seem right to relegate this astonishingly simple, yet surprisingly filling and delicious treat to footnote status--especially since quesadillas actually occupy a special place in my proverbial recipe box.

Until college, I considered quesadillas to be drab and mediocre, merely conduits for sour cream intake.  That is, until I met my freshman year roommate, Rachel.  Very quickly, we'd struck a bargain--I'd be the cook, if she'd wash all the dishes.  On the rare occasion that she'd cook, it'd be (you guessed it) quesadillas.  They take less than 2 minutes to make, and it's hard to pass up an opportunity for melty cheese and copious amounts of sour cream and salsa.  Still, I was baffled, because as delicious as the crispy tortilla and gooey cheese combo is, I was convinced that quesadillas don't constitute a proper meal.  It's all cheese!

Years later, Rachel and I are still best friends and roommates (somehow we've ended up in the same grad school program, in labs right next door to each other--yes, it's ridiculous).  She still makes quesadillas all the time, and I still turn up my nose at the thought of bringing quesadillas into work for lunch--they get microwaved, ugh.  Sometime recently though, I've gone through another quesadilla revolution.  It all happened one fateful night that there was leftover steak. Preposterous, right?  Uneaten steak is a culinary rarity--unheard of, at least at my place.  But then the next day, with leftover steak in my quesadilla... it was a total eye-opener.  You can put anything into a quesadilla!!!  My favorite 'dilla-stuffer is still steak, sometimes with pesto, below.  It's so good, that when I have steak, it almost makes me want to save some for leftovers.

Spinach Pesto Quesadillas

Total Recipe Cost: $0.65 per quesadilla!

Inspired by Rachel's inexplicable ability to eat 'dillas every meal for days on end

This is so easy that it feels silly to have a recipe, but the genius about quesadillas (that took me a while to appreciate) is that you can add any veggies (spinach, peppers, etc.) or steak to make it more epic.  Another favorite variation is the pizza-dilla, with cheese and pepperoni (sans pesto, though).

1 large flour tortilla

1.5 tablespoon of spinach pesto

1/4 cup of shredded cheese (I used a cheddar/jack mix)

veggies or leftover steak (optional)

Place a tortilla in a frying pan, preferably non-stick (so you won't need oil).  Sprinkle cheese across half of the tortilla, and spread the pesto on the other half.  If you're adding extra meat or veggies, place them on the cheese-covered half, and sprinkle some extra cheese on top, to ensure that the cheese melts over and holds the delicious bits all together.

Heat for about 1 minute on high heat, or until the cheese starts to melt.  Fold the tortilla over (it's easier to fold the pesto side onto the cheese side), and continue to brown both sides until you reach your desired crispiness!  

Ingredients	Unit Cost	Total Cost
1 flour tortilla	$0.24/tortilla	$0.24
1/4 C cheese	$2.71/lb	$0.17
1.5 T spinach pesto	$2.52/cup	$0.24
TOTAL		$0.65

Spinach and Walnut Pesto
Total Recipe Cost: $2.52 for 1 cup of pesto!

Don't you hate it when recipes call for lemon zest, but no lemon juice?  Sadly, this one won't use up all the juice from your zested lemon.  Don't worry though, if you don't foresee finishing it in the near future, just freeze the juice in ice trays, and store frozen cubes in a ziploc bag. 

1 cup walnuts
1/3 lb spinach, flat-leaf (approx.)
zest from 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
salt
pepper

Arrange the walnuts in a single layer on a baking pan, and toast for 1 minute under the broiler.  This is the lazy quick way!  If you're absent-minded or prone to burning, toast instead at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, wash the spinach, remove stems, and spin (or pat) dry.  Add the spinach, lemon zest, garlic and walnuts to a food processor, and pulse until coarsely chopped.  Pour in the olive oil, lemon juice, and sugar; pulse until it's fairly smooth.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!

Use mixed with pasta--or, if you're too hungry to wait for water to boil, spread the pesto on crackers with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese for the perfect mid-afternoon (or midnight) snack.  Also coming soon... spinach pesto quesadillas. 

Ingredients	Unit Cost	Total Cost
1 C walnuts	$4.50/lb	$1.12
1/3 lb spinach, flat-leaf	$0.66/lb	$0.22
1 lemon	$0.30 each	$0.30
2 cloves of garlic	$0.24/head	$0.03
1/3 C olive oil	$0.32/oz	$0.85
1 t sugar, granulated	$0.58/lb	Negligible ($0.005)
salt		Negligible
pepper		Negligible
TOTAL		$2.52

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Spinach Walnut Pesto

Do you love pesto, but have trouble keeping basil plants alive?  That's me.  I'm on plant #2, which I adopted from a friend who moved away (thanks, Jen!) and so far, it's doing well.  My last one flourished for a time, then got nibbled down to the stems by bugs, so I'm still deep in the mindset of conserving the precious leaves.  With all the trouble my basil has put me through, I can't even contemplate harvesting the entire plant to grind up for a few measly tablespoons of pesto--no matter how tasty.  And don't even get me started on pine nuts...

Thank goodness for this cheapie version of pesto.  It doesn't taste anything like its traditional basil-based cousin, but it has that texture, that lightness, and tastes like a burst of summer.  Nothing's missing from this pesto, and believe me, you'll want to put it on everything.  I sure did!

Spinach and Walnut Pesto
Total Recipe Cost: $2.52 for 1 cup of pesto!


Don't you hate it when recipes call for lemon zest, but no lemon juice?  Sadly, this one won't use up all the juice from your zested lemon.  Don't worry though, if you don't foresee finishing it in the near future, just freeze the juice in ice trays, and store frozen cubes in a ziploc bag.

1 cup walnuts
1/3 lb spinach, flat-leaf (approx.)
zest from 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
salt
pepper

Arrange the walnuts in a single layer on a baking pan, and toast for 1 minute under the broiler.  This is the lazy quick way!  If you're absent-minded or prone to burning, toast instead at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, wash the spinach, remove stems, and spin (or pat) dry.  Add the spinach, lemon zest, garlic and walnuts to a food processor, and pulse until coarsely chopped.  Pour in the olive oil, lemon juice, and sugar; pulse until it's fairly smooth.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!

Use mixed with pasta--or, if you're too hungry to wait for water to boil, spread the pesto on crackers with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese for the perfect mid-afternoon (or midnight) snack.  Also coming soon... spinach pesto quesadillas.

Ingredients	Unit Cost	Total Cost
1 C walnuts	$4.50/lb	$1.12
1/3 lb spinach, flat-leaf	$0.66/lb	$0.22
1 lemon	$0.30 each	$0.30
2 cloves of garlic	$0.24/head	$0.03
1/3 C olive oil	$0.32/oz	$0.85
1 t sugar, granulated	$0.58/lb	Negligible ($0.005)
salt		Negligible
pepper		Negligible
TOTAL		$2.52

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Yi Mein (Birthday Noodles!)

Today is my sister's birthday!  She also loves to cook (hi Cheryl!), and while our kitchens are nearly 1400 miles apart, they're filled with little reminders of each other--from last Christmas's rolling pin, to this summer's ice cream machine.  In honor of my sister's birthday, I'd like to share a personal favorite (and traditional birthday treat).  For years I knew them only as birthday noodles; they are meant to signify longevity, and usually are the last (and best) course of every traditional Chinese 10-course banquet.

These are noodles you dream about.  More precisely, these are the noodles that I dream about.  In fact, one of my earliest remembered dreams was about trying to eat a bowl full of these noodles (sadly, I always woke up before the first bite).  So what's so great about them?  Let's start with how they're made.  They're a type of egg noodle, made with carbonated water to give the dough an unusually spongy and slightly chewy texture.  Then, the noodles get fried.  It's this fried form that gets dried into ramen-like bricks, which you bring home and fry again.

This is the only brand oyster sauce that my grandma uses... and she's usually
right about these kinds of things.  This is the best brand, and worth the extra money!

There's nothing that tastes quite like it, and quite frankly, no other noodles can top it.  It's the mark of a great noodle, when adding extra ingredients is sacrilegious.  Too many restaurants try to overcomplicate the dish, adding shrimp, lobster, meat... but I say, NO!  Just stop it!  The taste and texture is perfect already; all you need are a few finishing touches.  A dash of oyster sauce, a handful of mushrooms, and a scattering of scallions later, and you're ready to celebrate!  It's not your birthday, you say?  Well, find someone special to toast to, and thank them for supporting all your kitchen shenanigans (happy birthday, Cheryl!).

Yi Mein (Birthday Noodles!)  
Total Recipe Cost: $6.63 for 6 servings!
(The noodle packaging claims there's 12 servings, which is outrageous.  I could easily finish this in 4, but let's pretend to eat like normal people and call it 6. )


20 dried shiitake mushrooms
(1) 12 oz package of yi mein, also called e-fu, yee-fu, yifu, or yi noodles
3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon oyster sauce (see preferred brand above)
3 stalks of scallions*
oil
salt
pepper

Reconstitute the dried mushrooms in a bowl of water, for about 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, thinly slice the scallions, and start boiling a pot of water for the noodles.  When the mushrooms become soft, thinly slice them.  Lightly coat a pan with oil, then saute the mushrooms for about 5-10 minutes.  (If you're using fresh mushrooms, it will take longer to cook, since they release a lot of liquid.  Just cook down almost all the liquid.)  In the last minute, add 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce and a sprinkling of salt.

Drop the noodles in the pot of boiling water and briefly submerge until they are soft and pliable--this will take slightly less than a minute.  Drain the noodles, then place in a lightly-oiled pan (enough to coat the bottom and then a little extra).  Toss the noodles to coat with oil, then pan fry for about 10 minutes on medium-low heat.  There should be no burning or crisping of the noodles!  In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add 3 tablespoons of oyster sauce, and most of the sliced scallions (reserve enough for garnishing).  Salt and pepper to taste, toss to coat the noodles evenly, and continue cooking until the scallions are slightly wilted.  Garnish with reserved scallions, then enjoy!

Ingredients	Unit Cost	Total Cost
12 oz package of yi mein	$0.33/oz	$3.99
3 stalks scallions	$0.33/bundle	$0.17 or free*
20 dried shiitake mushrooms	$12/lb	$2
3T + 1t Oyster sauce	$0.28/oz	$0.47
oil		Negligible
salt		Negligible
pepper		Negligible
TOTAL		$6.63

* Scallions are ridiculously easy to grow!  Watering is optional needed only occasionally.  Mine have survived over a month without watering!  But they prefer at least once every few days.  

When you buy scallions (with roots attached), use the stalks as usual, but leave at least an inch or two from the end of the roots.  Fully submerge the root portion in water for a few days.  Then, plant the rootlets and enjoy the bounty of your free food!  

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Foolproof Coleslaw

Mayonnaise and I have always had a volatile relationship.  When I was young, I was obsessed with the stuff.  It baffled me that my dad would diligently scrape off every last trace of mayo from his McDonald's chicken sandwiches; as far as I was concerned, the mayo was the best part!  The more, the better, was my philosophy.  Of course, that all changed one fateful afternoon when I decided to get a little inventive in the kitchen.  This is when I learned that generous spreads of mayo on both bread pieces plus in between bologna slices is always a bad idea.  Nauseous and betrayed, I went years without even looking at mayonnaise.

You know, mayonnaise is really polarizing--people either love it or hate it.  Personally, I'm back to loving it (in moderation).  It's all got me to thinking about another favorite of mine: coleslaw.  Why do people always hate on coleslaw?  Is it just those mayo-haters out there?  Some might blame the public school system, for years of indoctrination that cafeteria coleslaw=real-life coleslaw.  I don't even recall my school serving slaw, and yet I can easily picture those ubiquitous buckets filled with stringy slop.  But it's a lie!!!!  Actual coleslaw is tangy, sweet, crunchy, and above all, just bright.  There's nothing muddled at all in these flavors.

Best of all, you don't have to do much to make it delicious.  It's really just lightly dressed cabbage, and I think it should be clean, simple, and fresh.  And while I can't expect my version below to turn people into coleslaw-believers, I hope that at the very least I've demonstrated some hard-learned restraint in mayonnaise use.

















Foolproof Coleslaw
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Total Recipe Cost= $3.16 for 6 servings!


Depending on how crispy or wilted you like your slaw, you can let your dressed cabbage sit for a while before eating.  Half hour is more than sufficient for my tastes 1) because I can never seem to wait any longer and 2) I like it crunchy (then it feels like I'm eating a healthy salad).

1/2 medium green cabbage
1/2 small red cabbage
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, whole-grain (I wouldn't skip the whole-grain, the texture is perfect!)
salt
pepper

Thinly slice green and red cabbages into fine shreds.  Prepare the dressing by mixing the mayonnaise, vinegar, sugar, and mustard.  Toss the cabbage and dressing together to your desired sauciness--you may not need all of the dressing.  Though you won't need much at all, salt and pepper to taste.  Mix the coleslaw about half hour before eating, then dig in!

Ingredients	Unit Cost	Total Cost
½ medium green cabbage	$0.49/lb	$1.23
½ small red cabbage	$1.29/lb	$0.97
1 C mayonnaise	$0.08/oz	$0.64
2 T Dijon mustard	$0.20/oz	$0.20
2 T apple cider	$0.11/oz	$0.11
2 t granulated sugar	$0.58/lb	$0.01
salt		Negligible
pepper		Negligible
TOTAL		$3.16

Questions about the "Total Recipe Cost"?  Click here!

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Apple-Pluot Crisp

Want to know a secret?  I wish I were an extreme couponer… also, I love to eat.  Yeah, I know, that won’t be a surprise to anyone that’s met me.  The real surprise is that I’m starting a blog!  It’ll be a combination of my favorite things—cooking food and saving money.  Because honestly, is there anything better than delicious food that doesn’t cost much?

Occasionally, I get outsmarted.  For instance, last week’s pluots were on sale for 59 cents/lb (seriously, who wouldn’t buy a lot?) but little did I know what I was getting myself into.  I didn’t take long for me to realize that in spite of the enticing exterior, the tart, crisp skin of each pluot encased pulp with the sweetness and consistency of oatmeal.  Bad oatmeal.  Still, I slogged through the lot, swallowing each bite after a maximum of two chews in order to minimize the time it spent getting tasted.  After all, I refuse to get gypped!  Even so, there had to be a better way.

Not sweet enough?  Add sugar!  Terrible texture?  Add crumbs!  Before I knew it, a pluot crisp was begging to get made.  Somehow, I’d already managed to eat all but two of the pluots, so since I don’t really do small-serving desserts, it’s turned into an apple-pluot crisp!  Crumbly crisp on the outside, warm and gooey on the inside, it's more tart-sweet flavor than I could have expected to coax out of my lackluster fruit.  Could this have tasted better with better pluots?  Probably.  But is this a delicious way to utilize a sub-par batch of fruit?  Absolutely.  

Apple-Pluot Crisp

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated: The New Best Recipe

Total recipe cost= $3.77 for 8 servings!

If you're like me, and get occasionally disturbed by a puddle of fruit liquid at the bottom of your crisps, try adding, as CI suggests, 1 tablespoon quick-cooking tapioca to the fruit filling.  Alternatively, next time I'll probably add 1 tablespoon of corn starch instead, since it's already in my pantry.  

Topping:

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter (cut in chunks)

3/4 cup walnuts

Filling:

2 pluots (pitted and cut into chunks)

4 apples (peeled and cut into chunks)

lemon zest from 1 lemon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Place all ingredients for the topping into a food processor, and pulse several times until the mixture resembles wet, clumpy sand.  If you like chunkier walnut pieces, add the nuts and pulse after processing the other ingredients.  (You can also do this with a pastry blender or two knives to cut the butter into the dry ingredients.)  Put the topping mixture in the fridge while you prepare the filling.  

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Mix all the filling ingredients, then spread the fruit mixture into a 9 inch pie/tart plate or a 8 in square baking pan.  Evenly sprinkle on the crumb topping, then bake for 40 minutes.  Turn the oven up to 400 degrees, then bake for about 5 minutes until the filling is bubbling, and the topping is browned.  Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream!

Ingredients	Unit Cost	Total Cost
6 T flour	$2.99/5 lbs	$0.06
¼ cup brown sugar	$0.99/lb	$0.07
½ cup granulated sugar	$5.79/10 lb	$0.13
¼ t cinnamon		Negligible
¼ t nutmeg		Negligible
¼ t salt		Negligible
5 T unsalted butter	$3.49/lb	$0.55
¾ cup walnuts	$13.49/3 lbs	$0.84
2 pluots	$0.59/lb	$0.30
4 gala apples	$0.99/lb	$1.49
1 lemon	$1.99/6 lemons	$0.33
TOTAL		$3.77

Questions about the "Total Recipe Cost"?  Click here! 


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First blog post accomplished!  Yay!  Given my inclination towards excessive perfectionism and anxiety at people reading about/judging my food, this blog may not have happened if not for encouragement from my mom (who will be very happy to read this), food blogging advice from my friend Tina (who might read this), and inspiration from my all-time favorite food blogging icon, Deb Perelman (who almost certainly won’t read this).  And of course Jean, without whom I’d still be stuck on blog names… though “A Pinch of Pennies”—which apparently makes no sense (cents?) to people—will always have a special place in my heart.  

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