Status Updates Archives - Poor Man's Gourmet Kitchen

Combined Recipes

What this Means

One thing I’ve never been too keen on is filming recipes twice for different videos. For example, If I added up the times I used my Blackened Seasoning in a video and had to refilm how I make it, each and every time, I would lose my mind. That’s why I always mention that I already have a video to teach you how to make it, so you can refer to it after you learn the recipes at hand.

The problem is, I’ve always wondered if that bothered people… having to go look up another recipe just to complete the one they’re interested in. I make it super simple, though. I always place a link at the end of the video and always in the video description and/or on my blog page where you can find the exact ingredients.

The point is, I’ve decided to combine several recipe videos into one video, so that you get everything you need in one video. In truth, I’ve been leading up to this all along. So you might see a video or two that you have viewed before pop up as a “New” video but they’ll be extremely relevant. Especially since the majority of these videos only have a few thousand views so, it’s very likely you haven’t seen most of them.

I’ll be putting together videos like the ones I’m including in this post, as well as the examples I’m listing below, and many others.

Country style BBQ Ribs = No Bake Boston Beans
Seafood and Crab + Red Chili Sauce = Seafood Enchiladas
Sweet and Sour Sauce + Chinese Fry Batter = Sweet and Sour Pork, Shrimp or Chicken
Fried Rice Noodles = Mongolian Beef & Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Steamed Clams=Stuffed Clams + Clam Chowder + Clam Dip + Clam Sauce
Pot Stickers + Shrimp Dumplings = Pot Sticker Dipping Sauce
Roast Beef = Roast Beef Stroganoff
Naan = Shrimp or Chicken Tikka Masala
Wonton Soup + Red Sauce Wontons
Homemade Pasta = Alfredo Sauce, Vodka Sauce, Pesto, Bolognese

2 Stuffed Peppers Recipes, Southwestern style and Cajun by PoorMansGourmet.

Southwestern style Tex-Mex Stuffed Peppers | Cajun style Roasted Stuffed Peppers

2 Dessert Recipes, Fried Banana and Oreo Waffles with Berry Syrup by PoorMansGourmet.

Egg Roll Fried Bananas with Berry Syrup | Oreo Waffles | Berry Syrup Recipe

2 Dessert Recipes, Oreo Cheesecake and Homemade Crepes with Cherry Topping by PoorMansGourmet.

Oreo Cheescake with Peppermint | Homemade Crepes with Cherry Filling Topping

Meat, Cheese and Crackers

As you may or may not know, my family and I celebrated my wife’s Birthday this last weekend. I received such a good response from some of you on Facebook, wishing my wife a Happy Birthday, that I decided to share one of the things I did for her. And since it pertains to food I thought you might enjoy this.

As you can see in the photo above, I’ve got 2 plates covered with Cured Meats, Crackers and Cheese. Which in most places around the world, it can really eat a hole in your wallet. I mean, it’s no secret that cured meats and cheese can be very pricey. Especially if you start getting exotic. Where I live, for example, I can buy 4 oz. of Prosciutto for about $10 bucks. But, that’s virtually $40 dollars a pound! Are you kidding me?

So am I telling you that’s what I spent for each one of these cured meats? No, I’m not and I didn’t even come close to that kind of expense. The Great thing about food is nobody wants it to go to waste. So if you hit the markets when they’re in rotation, you’re going to save your self a ton of money.

Another example, in the above photo I have two different Salami’s; Genoa and Boars Head Black Pepper Salami. Both are a half pound each and were marked down 50%. The Prosciutto was only 2 dollars for 3 oz. But at full price, on any other day, I would’ve spent $20 bucks just for what you see on the plate and when it was all said and done, I walked out the door paying only 1/3 that price.

Now when it comes to these Cheese’s the price continues to soar. That is, unless you can pick these up on rotation too, and you can. The funny thing about cheese, however, is you can’t really tell when it goes bad because it stinks when you buy it. So you’re completely at the mercy of the attendants, swapping out the prices to keep up with the expiration dates.

Between these five cheese’s alone one could spend $40 to $50 dollars all together. Some of these slices normally range between $8 and $13 bucks a piece. There’s a Fromager D’affinois Cheese that is very mild and Creamy(top left), a Port Salute(Orange Label) that is mild and creamy as well just a slighly different taste. The Blue Cheese is obvious, you either like it or you don’t. The English White Stilton with Blueberry interesting because it’s very sweet and similar to the taste of cheese cake. And last but not least, the Jarlsberg lite, which is just a fancy way of saying “Deli Swiss”. And if you’re wondering what’s in the middle, those are my Marinated and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes!

So the night before my wife’s Birthday, we started celebrating each others company with the peace and quiet of the house(after we put the kids to bed), the widescreen with Netflix, a cheap box of wine and some very expensive Meats and Cheese’s that I bought for practically nothing. And just so you know, I’m not a cheap bastard, I just know how to live and moments like these are priceless! 😉

Grocery Shopping – Ingredients for Oriental Recipes

Believe it or not, it’s so easy shopping for ingredients for Oriental recipes. I’d dare say, it’s even fun. You get so much culture in such a little place and sometimes its just really nice to get out of my comfort zone only to realize it can be just as comfortable somewhere else.

The folks at this 1st Oriental Market are amazing people. They’re so eager to help with all your needs. And I find that this is common just about anywhere I go when it comes to foreign food. People like to share their experiences and culture. I find that it isn’t any different here and the owner, Earl and his wife, make it a real pleasant experience.

Most Oriental Cooking, these days, is very simplified because almost all of the guess work has already been cut out for you. I don’t have to make every individual sauce that is used to combine with other sauces to make one great recipe. For example: when a recipe calls for Hoisin Sauce, you don’t have to make you’re own Hoisin Sauce from scratch(which would require several other ingredients), you just crack open a bottle. And what about Plum Sauce… could you imagine having to make that beforehand too? Both of these ingredients are in my Chinese Barbecue Sauce recipe, which only has 5 or 6 ingredients: Hoisin, Plum Sauce, Ketchup, Sugar, 5 spice powder etc., and that makes it really simple just buying each one of those premade bottles. But, could you imagine having to make all of those ingredients as well? You’d be making ingredients for your ingredients.

That being said, I would just like you to understand and realize that you don’t have to learn translations of ingredients you’ve probably never heard of in the first place. Because, most of the basic ingredients I show you in this video are very versatile to most of the popular Americanized Oriental recipes that you’re likely familiar with anyway.

So get familiar with the few I show you now and I’ll introduce more as we go and you’ll be a pro before you know it!