PSP

Some of you may be familiar with the Poor Man's Pizza (basically, pizza made open-faced on french bread or a sub roll). The Poor Student's Pizza (PSP) is an even cheaper version of this, using toast. Really, it's more an exercise in using up leftovers than anything else (I first came up with this 'recipe' this one time when I had some extra pasta sauce; not enough to make spaghetti, but enough to not throw out). It's great for a quick on-the-go meal as well.

-=PSP=-

Sliced Bread

Pasta Sauce

Shredded Mozzarella

Toppings?

Spread the pasta sauce on the bread and cover with shredded cheese. Add any toppings and spices as desired (I made mine with ham and dried oregano). Toast in a toaster oven until cheese has melted.

There's a lot of variations to this theme. The California, for example, uses avocado and cheddar. Feel free to make up your own versions.

Chicken Georgia

Named due to the peaches used in the recipe, this one is a bit more involved than most recipes I've been posting. Want to cook a nice dinner for yourself, plus one? Take a stab at this one. It's a two-part recipe, with a peach compote served over herb infused chicken.

-=Chicken Georgia=-

=Compote=
2 Peaches
1/8-1/4 cup Honey
1/8-1/4 cup Brown Sugar
Cinnamon
Cloves
Nutmeg

Cut the peaches into bite-sized pieces, and begin heating on LOW in a small pot. Add the honey and brown sugar, and stir until the sugar has been incorporated. The compote will take some time to cook down, so you can leave it be for a while and just keep stirring periodically to prevent the bottom from burning. After about 10-15 minutes, it should begin taking on a very syrupy consistency, and the fruit should be completely softened. Add cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to taste (I used about 1 tbsp, 1/2 tbsp, and 1 tsp, respectively). Continue letting it cook on low heat until ready to serve.

=Chicken=
2 Chicken Breasts
3-5 stalks (stems?) Rosemary
~1-2 tsp Sage
~1 tbsp Oregano
White wine
Salt
Pepper

Begin by slicing the chicken breasts into thinner pieces (you could also wrap them in plastic wrap and pound them flat, but that's a bit on the noisy side). Heat up some oil in a skillet on MED and add the rosemary, sage, and oregano. Let the herbs cook for a few minutes, then add the chicken. Add salt and pepper to taste. Flip the meat once, after it has cooked for about 10 minutes at most, and turn the heat down to LOW. Add about 1/4-1/2 cup of wine to the skillet. Once the chicken is fully cooked (the alcohol should have cooked off by then), serve with the compote on top. If you wish, the leftover oil/drippings can be saved to make soup/sauce stock.

Orange Chicken Stir-Fry

So, I never used to make Chinese food very often in the past. Hell I still don't really know how, I just have a few sauces I like to make and work around that (and most of those end up being more fusion-y dishes anyways...I'll have to put up one of my favorites the next time I buy salmon). Still, stir-frys are about the easiest thing to make, and it's pretty difficult to mess it up, since all it involves is more or less throwing everything in a large skillet (or wok, if you have one). This one was a bit of an experimental dish, so I don't really have set proportions for the sauce ingredients (this is where not using measuring cups tends to come back to haunt me), but when it comes to an orange-honey glaze, it's all up to personal preference anyways.

-=Orange Chicken Stir-Fry=-

=Sauce=
1 cup Orange Juice
1/4 cup honey
Corn Starch

=Stir-Fry=
2 Chicken Breasts
4 leaves Nappa
1-2 cups Green Beans
Salt
Pepper

In a small bowl, mix the juice and honey. Add a mixture of water and corn starch (~2:1 ratio) until sauce is the desired thickness. Cut the chicken into bite sized cubes and start cooking on high heat. Chop the nappa and trim the green beans, then add them in. Other ingredients to consider include white mushrooms, tofu, onions, and green peppers. For those of you who like spicy, dump in as much chili garlic sauce as you like. Serve over white rice.

Total time: ~20 minutes

Chef's note (ye gods that sounds pretentious): You may have noticed that I don't really talk about cook times. The main reasoning (other than the fact that I don't time myself) is that I usually spread out the prep work so that as each thing starts cooking, I'm working on the next item. Kind of like singing a round, except each person comes in with fewer verses so they all end at the same time. Okay, that was one helluva crappy analogy. But you get the point.