The Perfect Fries

20 minutes hands on time, 40 minutes total elapsed time.

Five pounds of potatoes at Winco cost around 2 dollars. The cheapest. Could make 4 times if they were all medium size and healthy which sometimes are. Choose 6-8 medium size potatoes. Wash thoroughly rubbing with your hands, emptying the tub several times. Peel. I use my wonder peeler i bought in Vegas for about 2 dollars. Wash again. Could buy the pink potatoes and don't have to peel them, only wash. Fire the oven.

Don't mind the dimples, try to get rid of the mold stains. Cut in two, four, eight.

Spice. My favorite is dill, but i'm out of it. A bit of olive oil.

Mix by raising the spoon from bottom up. 10-15 times. Grease the pan (cookie sheet) thoroughly. I use a bit of coconut oil. This way you will be able to remove them from the pan. Arrange them.

Put in the oven at medium for 20 minutes. Check with a fork. Serve with yogurt, garlic sauce, V8 or as side for burgers.

Pandemic Cooking. 12" Angry Dough Pizza for About 2 Dollars

From scratch. Some, limited nutrition. 30 minutes hands on time. Elapsed time, about one and a half hours. Feeds 2-4 people.

Flour. One 5 pound (2.5 kg) bag for around 2 bucks at WinCo is enough to make 12 of 12" pizzas. Unbleached all purpose seem to be the norm and trend.

3 (240 ml) cups of flour (400+ gr) and one 300 ml cup of water. One+ topped tablespoon of dry yeast (dip the spoon in the yeast and pull, i keep my yeast indefinitely in a sealed jar in the fridge after opening the pack). A bit of salt. Keep some extra flour in the measuring 3 cup glass mug. First mix flour and yeast then salt then water. Mix for about 2 minutes with the spoon.

It's always hard to figure the flour/water ratio. Add a bit of water or flour while you mix until homogeneous (not like in the first picture below, only partially done). The goal is to make it as soft as possible to handle, later. Think ice cream consistency. Let it raise for about half hour. Indoor temperature is critical. Don't even think below 70 (20 C). If too cold, start the oven and let raise on top in a not too hot area. You will needed it later anyways. I call it angry dough because after raising, the face of an angry guy showed in the dough on the right.

Put some flour on the knitting board. Pour. Rain a bit of flour on top and knit for about 2 minutes. If too soft, add flour, keep knitting. Cut in two. Half will be used to make a pan bread. Or a second pizza, if  you have another pan which i don't.

I use a big jar to flatten one of the halves. A fingertip of coconut oil to grease the pan using your fingers. Essential if you want to ever remove the pizza from the pan after done. Transfer in the pan, add more flour on top and continue to flatten until it fills the pan uniformly.

Mix in a cup some V8, tomato sauce, pizza/pasta sauce, whatever you got with a bit of olive oil and a bit of hot sauce. Spread on the dough. Cut some thin tomato slices. Put on top. Aim to fill the whole pizza.

Grate some cheese on top (Second most expensive ingredient, about 50 cents/pizza). Add the pepperoni or other signature ingredients. Most expensive ingredient. For about 3 dollars you can get pepperoni for about 3 pizzas.

Thin slice a quarter of a pepper, onion. Ornate the pizza. These two give extra flavor, nutrition and help protect the pepperoni getting burned by the heat of the oven.

Let raise on top of the oven for about 20 more minutes. Bak at max oven temperature (500+) for 6-8 minutes or until done. I turned the other half of the dough into a pan fried bread, about 7 minutes on each side, at 4 (medium).

Best way to check if done is to open the oven door, wait a few seconds for the heat to pass, raise it a bit on a side with a stake knife an look under.

Can use your imagination to add or switch topping ingredients as you feel.

Pandemic Cooking. Quarter Pounder Under One Dollar

In about 20 minutes time.

(Can find a coupon for the 9 dollars/3 pound ground beef from Safeway. Sometimes they have the one pound same squeeze/"sausage" type pack for around 3 dollars).

Spice, mix energetically like knitting dough and turn into 4 equal bolls. Smash and form, about 5 mm or 1/4 inch thick.

Transfer. Fire up the electric pan at medium. No need for extra oil. Can be done on stove top in a regular pan. Crack your window. At this point all the kids in the building will gather under your window and that is the reason i write this recipe. It can be done by a 12 years or older. 5 minutes or until done on each side. They will shrink and thicken dramatically.

Did you know you can cut frozen buns and put them in toaster while still frozen?

I do use lots of foil wrap. I wash and cut the onions in two and keep them in the fridge, like peppers, cheese and other. (Don't have tomatoes right now to show how to cut in thin slices for the sandwich). Clean the pan immediately or it will stink. 

Grate some cheese while still hot. (I cut the big cheap coupon bought cheese bricks and wrap them in foil). Can wrap burgers for later microwave. Can serve them with a glass of V8 (or cheaper store brand vegetable juice, same ingredients) so much better than ketchup and soda. Next, the perfect fries and our favorite, baked peppers.

Actually baked peppers are ridiculously easy to make. Wash them, peel the label and put them vertically top or bottom first depending how they want to sit on a rack in the oven at medium for half our or until soft. On a lower rack put some preferably glass pans with water so it will catch the drips (otherwise the oven will stink big time). The only difficult part is to peel the thin peels after they're done using very clean hands. Try to save the juice inside, add a few drops of cider vinegar to make a sauce, cut to slices and add some thin cut onion like above. Serve with sliced tomatoes.