Recreate Restaurant Meals at Home
Create Dinner Meals For a Fraction of the Cost
Apr 11, 2009 Vanessa LaBranche
Who doesn’t like to go out for a relaxing time out with a love one or friends to enjoy a good meal? Besides the tasty food, we enjoy restaurants for their atmosphere, customer service among other things. Just because money is tight, there still are ways to recreate the same great food experience while dining at home.
Creating an Economical Meal For Family and Friends
Think global when it comes to making the dollar stretch to create a meal. Ethnic cuisines from the Caribbean, Mexico and Asia make impressive meals and lots of dishes made from these regions are affordable. Here are some suggestions for making meals for family and friends.
Make a Latin style paella and serve family style. This one pot dish is made from a mixture of seafood, rice, sausage and vegetables. To cut down on the cost of a recipe, use less seafood. Add dark chicken thigh meat to replace some of the seafood. Mussels are another inexpensive option and adds wonderful flavor and eye appeal to this one-pot dish.
Recreate the flavors of Jamaica with jerk chicken or pork. This mixture can be made from scratch, but to save time, buy a bottle of the pre-made mixture from the grocery store. Rub the paste onto the meat and bake in stove. To complete the meal, pan fry in oil inexpensive green or yellow plantains and serve with a mixed salad.
Make Pad Thai. This is a dish made with Asian glass noodles. This dish consists of ground peanuts, small amounts of shrimp or chicken and finished with fresh lime juice and coriander.
Creating an Economical Meal For a Loved One
Having a great meal with a loved one can be special when one is willing to cook. To make a restaurant style meal, couples should think about some of their favorite places to dine and then take that concept to the kitchen. Try some of these examples for suggestions.
If Italian food is a favorite, try making a simple pasta dish such as chicken marsala. There are no special culinary skills needed to make this easy dish, which has minimal ingredients and is loaded with lots of flavor and looks elegant. Chicken marsala also is excellent to make during the week, as it takes minimal time to prepare. This dish can also be served with steamed rice. Round off this tasty meal with a quick sauté of green beans with minced garlic and fresh lemon juice.
Love Thai Food? Then make a quick Thai satay made with chicken or pork. This kind of meat dish also has minimal ingredients, but packs much flavor. The key ingredient is peanut butter infused with Thai ingredients easily available. Complete this Asian inspired meal with a spicy cucumber salad.
Make dessert no fuss to end a meal. Slice store bought pound cake and top with whipped cream and frozen thawed strawberries. Or, simple serve a scoop of premium ice cream in a fancy parfait glass to end the evening.
Get the creative juices flowing and make delicious restaurant style meals at home with ease.
References: spain-recipes.com
Chicken Marsala
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