grad-cooking-experiments

[grad-cooking-experiments]

Spaghetti Casserole, Attempt 1: Rationale and Results

Rationale:

I vaguely had a casserole my granny made in mind when I was concocting this, mostly as a reference as to what would burn and what wouldn’t. I love spaghetti, but a casserole is a lot more practical in terms of what i can freeze and take to work with me, so I adapted. 

Ingredients:

-½ red onion

I love onions, and red onions are flavorful. Plus, they add some veggies to a pretty carb-heavy meal (I realize onions are veggies only in the sense that they’re called “root vegetables,” but they’re delicious and probably have antioxidants based on their stubborn refusal to brown, so) 

-1 24 oz jar Ragu spaghetti sauce (pick your poison)

Serves as a glue to hold a casserole together. If you have some strong moral opposition to Ragu or loyalty to another brand, you do you. 

-Meatballs (30, or about 1 lb)

I used store-bought pre-cooked ones from Walmart. I suspect a better brand or homemade ones would take this casserole through the roof, but I was busy.

-1 tsp oregano

-1 tbsp paprika

-1 tbsp garlic powder

I subgrouped these. If you’re not adding spices to store-bought spaghetti sauce, I can promise you doing so will change your life. I normally throw at least these three in there, and maybe other ones depending on the flavor of sauce I got.

-spaghetti noodles (1 lb)

This is like 8 cups of cooked spaghetti. Spaghetti is one of the worst things to try and measure dry, unfortunately, but most boxes tell you the dry weight of the noodles, and I usually eyeball it from there. 

-4 cups broccoli florets (frozen or fresh, I used frozen)

This cooked down to about 2 cups when I diced it. Pro tip taken from my best friend: save the water you cook the broccoli in and use it to make your spaghetti. I don’t have quantifiable measurements on how many nutrients are retained that way, but the noodles LOOK a lil greener that way, and it’s probably healthier. 

-2 cups cheese

Again, pick your poison. I actually used grated parmesan and cheddar cheese in this recipe and tried different ways to combine them. The one I just ate for dinner was great and had both, but I’ve also made a purely parmesan and a purely cheddar one, just for research. 

Future Work:

-Dicing everything- This was more work, especially when it came to the meatballs, but I think it helped a lot. It made the casserole spread evenly, for one thing, and for another, it made it seem like there was a lot more meat or veggies than there actually was. 

-Mushrooms- I’m really bummed that I didn’t have any mushrooms when I went to make this (I guess expecting them to last 2.5 weeks open is a bit much), but I really want to make this recipe with mushrooms next time. 

MAKE THIS LIKE EVERY WEEK IT WAS FREAKING DELICIOUS the broccoli on top was all toasted and yummy!!

[grad-cooking-experiments]

Spaghetti Casserole, Attempt 1

Makes about 10 meals

Ingredients:

-1/2 red onion

-1 24 oz jar Ragu spaghetti sauce (pick your poison)

-Meatballs (30, or about 1 lb)

-1 tsp oregano

-1 tbsp paprika

-1 tbsp garlic powder

-spaghetti noodles (1 lb)

-4 cups broccoli florets (frozen or fresh, I used frozen)

-2 cups cheese 

Instructions:

1. Dice and sauté onion.

2. Add onions, sauce, meatballs, paprika, oregano, and garlic together. Cook on low until meatballs are done. 

3. Fish out meatballs and slice into quarters. Add back into sauce and add 1 cup water.

4. Boil broccoli in a separate pot 5-8 minutes or until done. Remove broccoli and dice into smaller pieces. Set aside. 

5. Make spaghetti according to the package’s instructions. 

6. Assemble casserole. I did repeated layers of spaghetti > sauce with meatballs > broccoli > cheese.

7. Bake at 350*F for 25 minutes. 

[grad-cooking-experiments]

Crockpot Hamburger Potato Soup Rationale and Results, Attempt 1

Let’s talk about what I did, why I did it, and what I’ll be doing differently for Attempt 2 (which will probably be in a month or so, I’ll be meal-prepping something different for next week).

Rationale:

I had some leftover hamburger from a casserole I had made earlier in the week, and I love potatoes. Sadly, in the making of said casserole, I used up my last can of tomatoes, which is apparently a crucial ingredient for most hamburger/potato soups. I found a recipe by the Kitchen Magpie (original here: https://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/creamy-potato-hamburger-soup/) and used it as a reference to build my own recipe.

Ingredients:

-¾ of a red onion, diced

This would have been 1 whole onion, but my selected onion had a really nasty bruise on it. I’ll use a whole onion next time but included the amount actually used so I can keep track of what I did differently.

-½ cup diced mushrooms

In part because I considerably downsized the amount of meat involved, I added mushrooms. They add protein and taste fabulous, especially sautéd with onion. They’re also considerably cheaper than most meats, pound for pound. I freaking love mushrooms, so I often add them to recipes to cut down on the meat needed.

-½ cup dry pinto beans 

The original recipe I based this on called for vegetables, but I only had frozen broccoli and green beans on hand, neither of which I particularly wanted to eat in a soup with potato and hamburger. Also, beans are another good protein substitute for meat. 

-1 cup browned ground beef with grease (approx. 1/3 lb)

This is probably one of the biggest changes I made (it’s like a sixth of what’s originally called for), but it’s what I had on hand, so that’s what I used. 

-4 cups potatoes (use whatever kind you like, excluding sweet potatoes)

I used Yukon Gold ‘cause that’s what Aldi had when I went (I love Aldi). 

-4 cups chicken bullion

You can use stock if you want to (that’s what the recipe I based this from used) but bullion as a rule is cheaper, so guess which one I have?

-1 cup milk

-2 tbsp margarine

I’m from the South? Potatoes with margarine are yummy? Considering I left the grease in from the hamburger, I have no excuse for this. 

-1 tbsp garlic powder

-1 tbsp flour

I had vague hopes of a gravy-like thickening effect with the additional of this (for the science of flour+fat= happiness, check out this article: http://scienceblogs.com/chaoticutopia/2006/11/22/the-science-of-gravy/) 

-1 tsp paprika

-1 tsp red pepper flakes

-½ tsp black pepper

-½ cup sour cream

I added this last for a reason. Sour cream tends to curdle in the crockpot. It did add a really nice twang to the soup (you can taste it faintly) but it does detract from the flavor.

For next time:

Margarine-I first want to apologize for the margarine. It is not a good idea. I hope no one ever tries Attempt 1, because the margarine is totally unnecessary. It’s getting X’d from the ingredients list next time. 

Spiciness-Next on the X’d list is the paprika or red pepper flakes. Both aren’t really necessary, and the soup’s honestly a lil spicy. I ate it with rice to help tone it down, but I’ll probably make adjustments to fix that next time). 

MORE MUSHROOM AND ONION. I just really love mushroom and onion, and they made a nice flavor addition. I’ll probably bump that up to a whole onion and 1 cup of mushrooms. 

Flour- I definitely either 1) didn’t add enough flour or 2) don’t need to add it at all. Without the cheese, the soup isn’t really “creamy” per se, so I’ll probably leave it off to tone down on the carbs. 

Sour cream- This needs to be added wayyyy later on. It broke down well, but I’d like to see it more dissolved in the bullion rather than curdled into tiny flecks evenly distributed. Will probably add it with 30 minutes left of cooking next time.

Meat- There are a few options here. I overall liked the amount of meat in the soup, so rather than increase the amount I used, I might want to try ground turkey next time. I usually hate ground turkey, so we’ll see if I actually do that or not. 

[grad-cooking-experiments]

Crockpot Hamburger Potato Soup Recipe, Attempt 1

I hate food blog posts that don’t, you know, start with the recipe, so here’s the good stuff. Note: This is NOT the final recipe. Stay tuned for updates, or you can check out my next post for what I’ll be doing differently next time.

Makes about 10 meals worth (judging from how much I just ate with a cup of rice)

Ingredients:

-3/4 of a red onion, diced 

-1/2 cup diced mushrooms

-1/2 cup dry pinto beans (must pre-soak: I soaked for ~4 hours, then boiled for 20 minutes before I added them to pot. Use 1.5 cups if using canned)

-1 cup browned ground beef with grease (approx. 1/3 lb)

-4 cups potatoes (use whatever kind you like, excluding sweet potatoes)

-4 cups chicken bullion

-1 cup milk

-2 tbsp margarine

-1 tbsp garlic powder

-1 tbsp flour

-1 tsp paprika

-1 tsp red pepper flakes

-1/2 tsp black pepper

-1/2 cup sour cream

Instructions:

1. Sauté onions, then mushrooms, in whatever oil you prefer. I used olive.

2. Add all ingredients to crockpot. Turn on high.

3. After 1.5 hours, add sour cream. Leave crockpot on high for 2 more hours. I then turned mine to low.  

4. Remove from heat and store. 

[grad-cooking-experiments]

A lil bit about me

I just moved to Cleveland, OH, to pursue a PhD in biological sciences (re: speciality TBD). I love cooking and always have, and I’ve never been afraid to experiment, downsize, upsize, or repeatedly substitute ingredients in recipes. However, in talking to some of my friends, I’ve found that sometimes people are intimidated by meal prep recipes meant for a family of 4 (none of us single people want to eat the same thing for 20 straight meals). So, in an effort to help those who are just starting out (like me), I thought I’d catalog my experiments and final recipes. 

Also, I’m a scientist and we love writing everything down. Tumblr is more eco-friendly than paper notebooks so...