Ghetto Cooking

I've been trying to cook more, instead of eating cereal and mac and cheese all the time.  A few of my more elaborate dishes did not turn out well... so I turned to quick and easy recipes.  Easy to me means a bit less than Rachel Ray's "Easy" or Allrecipes.com's "Easy"- so I made up my own "recipes."  I'm not sure why I'm posting this, but for cooking for myself, I was proud. 

• Parmesan Wheat Thin Crusted Chicken breast- crush wheat thins, add a little parmesan (not very much), dip chicken in beaten egg and roll in mixture and bake.  (I do a super-ghetto thing and spray the pan with canola spray, then spray a little extr over the chicken instead of adding butter or oil... it's easier)
• Brown Sugar Graham Crusted Chicken- crush graham crackers and mix with brown sugar (then see above).
• Shrimp Alfredo Fettucini- I shortened some long complicated recipes for this and it was really good!  Cook one 1 lb box of fettucini noodles- drain and set aside.  Saute 1 lb raw, peeled shrimp in 1 cup butter until shrimp is pink.  Pour this onto the noodles and stir.  Add 3/4 cup fresh parmesan and 1/2 cup half and half.  I need to tweak this a bit- less butter I think, but it was delicious like this!
• Authentic tacos- ok, I admit, I copied this from what I get at Martinez bakery (by trial and error), but my family always makes me make the tacos now!  I don't know amounts, but it's forgiving!  Cook ground beef half-way, then add fresh hot sauce (at least good hot sauce, not Pace- probably about 1 cup?), 1/4 cup diced onion, 1/4 bunch fresh cilantro, salt and pepper, garlic powder, and the juice of 2 limes (meat should be moist, but should absorb all the juices and not b runny- I don't expect anyone to actually use these recipes... if you do, I'll give more accurate directions).  Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet to medium-low.  Place 1 corn tortilla at a time in the oil for approx. 5 seconds per side.  Then place on a paper towel- but fold it over in a taco shape first.  Serve meat in the shells and top with MORE lime (lots) and avocado slices (no cheese is better, and I LOVE cheese- lots of lime is key).  *optional- Put cooked meat in the taco shell and bake on 350 for a few minutes if you need like (some people like harder shells... not me)
• Breakfast quesadillas- so it's a flat breakfast burrito- still delicious!  Butter one flour tortilla, cut in half and place one half butter side down in a med-low skillet.  Layer cheese, scrambled egg, bacon pieces, grilled onion and tomato, then cheese again, then top tortilla butter side up (Put whatever ingredients you like, but keep it thin.  I usually cook the egg, onion, tomato and bacon together and let sit so it all sticks together, then do the tortilla and cheese and add that so its easier to flip and eat).  Flip once botton cheese melts and tortilla is golden crisp.  Serve with hot sauce.
• Yummy Sandwiches.  Just make a sandwich more exciting by toasting it!  I use King's Hawaiian rolls halfed and separated, add a tiny bit of miracle whip, lemon pepper, garlic powder, turkey, and top with provolone cheese to each half.  Place in toaster (I just push toast and it's ready in a couple minutes)

Finally, top all of these delicious, gourmet meals with wine!  I have finally found wines that I love!  They are VERY similar and super sweet.  For those unfamiliar with wine, these have the least alcohol content (5%- less than beer), are sweet, fruity, and from Italy.  Wine connosseurs will differ- I don't know what wines go with what- but who cares, these taste good!

• Vino de Fratelli Moscato d'Asti- $10 at HEB in the refrigerated section or in the 'Italy' section.  I'd suggest this one if you're new to wine- because it's cheaper and they're both so similar- except that these are very, VERY hard to open.  The cork is crazy hard to get out.

• Bartenura Moscato d'Asti- this one just has a slighty more fruity taste. $14 at HEB in 'Italy' section.  This bottle is super easy to open (still need a wine opener though).