American Chop Suey

Not sure what it should be called, but that's what we called it when we were kids. This recipee can be made meatless or vegetarian or even vegan. Elliminate the meat, not a biggie, and be sure to use eggless macaroni and eliminate the cheese topping, maybe sustitute with something more vegan and your there. One should note that the amount of meat being used is relatively small to the total composition of the dish, so we are still limiting meat intake and again providing a low cost meal that is a complete and nutritious. You might add a salad to this and some bread and butter.

• 1 Onion - medium sized chopped
• 1 Green Pepper - medium sized chopped
• 1 Tablespoon of chopped garlic - I buy the chopped garlic in a jar
• package of sliced Mushrooms - I buy presliced, you can save money and buy them whole and slice them yourself.
• 2+ tablespoons Olive Oil

Ok, I use the Presto cooker, put the olive oil in the pan and then add the rest of the ingredients. Turn the cooker up to around 200 to fry thes ingredients. Do not cover or at least I don't cover them. Stir as required, use a wooden or bamboo spoon to stir the ingredients.

In a separate frypan, brown 1 lb. of hamburg. I am using a separate pan as there are already too many ingredients in the presto cooker to fry the hamburg properly. Be sure to evaporate any moisture so that all is left is chopped hamburg and the grease it generated. Now carefully scoop the hamburg into the Presto cooker leaving the fat behind. We could skip this whole operation and we would have a vegetarian version of this dish. There are sufficient other ingredients for this to work well as a vegetarian dish.

• 60 - 64 oz. of Tomatoe Sauce
• 2 TBS Dried parsley
• 2 TBS Dried Oregano
• 2 TBS Dried Basil
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  

Add the above ingredients all at once and cook for 30 minutes or more. Italian cooking does not measure ingredients, so you be the judge and add more or less of ingredients as you desire.

Lastly we are going to add a 1 pound box of macaroni, I like to use the veggie rotini, but you can also use small shells or elbow macaroni, the primary idea is to use small macaroni pieces, but not too small like soup mac would be. The veggie rotini come under various names but the macaroni contains spinach and tomatoe for extra variety. In this dish, the macaroni will become fully cooked unlike other spaghetti dishes. Be sure you have sufficient liquid to cook the macaroni in. Add water if necessary, if too watery leave cover off to reduce the water in the pot.

When done everything should be done in a heavy mixture. Don't worry about burning stuff, nuthing burns in a Presto pot. You are now ready to enjoy. Don't forget the parmasan cheese.

Presto Cooker

Ok, why this cooker, it only costs $20 and isn't a crock pot much better. Well don't believe all the hype that you hear. This is undoubtedly one of the best cookers I have seen in a very long time.

I use it for making soups and stews. This pot has a detachable control, which means it can be put in the dishwasher if it fits. It doesn't fit in mine, so I wash it in the sink. It is super easy to clean as nothing sticks to it. The teflon coating is inside and outside the pot. It has a super thick teflon coating, which means nothing ever burns in it. Sort of a failsafe device for those of us who can't remember what the hell were doing in the kitchen. The heating element heats up supper fast or can be set for slow cooking.

This is one of the most convenient items I have come across in a long time, it is used almost everyday, the true value of a an item is how much use does it get. Right now my cast ironware are collecting dust and I hate to say it, but they are being replaced by this little gem.