Fast Food: From Cheap to Fancy

Quiche. My mouth waters just thinking about it.

Burger King Croissan'wich. Not so much.

But wait. According to Fancy Fast Food, you can make two mouth-watering mini-quiches purely by deconstructing a Croissan'wich meal and a few other items you can buy at BK.

At least the picture looks mouth-watering. I haven't been brave enough to try.

Fancy Fast Food does exactly what the name promises. The site has directions and images on how to recreate typical fast food meals into something special.

Domino's Pizza becomes chow mein.

Popeye's Chicken becomes sushi.

And unlike the "before" photos, the after shots look not only edible, but good.

Inspired? Submit your own fast food creations to the site!

Homemade Bagels: Easier Than You Think

I like to cook.

Scratch that. I like to bake.

Homemade bagels straddle that line, and I've always been too scared to give them a try.

That is, until this easy bagel recipe was posted on The Thrifty Gourmet. (Shameless plug: I'm a contributing writer there.)

In my neighborhood, bagels go for almost a dollar apiece. For the same price I can make a half dozen at home-- maybe more.

And making bagels really was easy, and tasty, too. Yes, it takes time, but most of it is spent allowing the dough to rise. It doesn't get much easier than that!

Flour, yeast, sugar, salt, oil, water and two hand to knead: That's all you need for your very own homemade bagels.

Grape Salad from My Mom

And today, a recipe from my own mother. It's my favorite recent addition to my recipe box, and a quick side dish or dessert that's easy and cheap.

Grape Salad

2 pounds (or more) of grapes
8 ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the last four ingredients until smooth. Stir in whole grapes. Enjoy!

Muesli From My Mother-in-Law

Happy Mother's Day (almost) to all those moms out there!

I'm not one myself, but I do have a pretty great mother and mother-in-law, so here's to you both. Cheers!

In their honor, I'm featuring one tasty, thrifty, easy recipe from each of them. My mother-in-law's muesli gets the spotlight today. And on Monday... well, you'll just have to see the recipe my mother has shared with me.

I like cereal, but I absolutely love this muesli. The recipe's pretty adaptable-- you can make it sweeter or healthier with little effort. I always half the recipe (and usually keep it in the oven for about half the time). The muesli stays fresh for a long time-- but it tastes so good that you'll probably never find out exactly how long!

I'll post the recipe exactly as it was given to me, but I usually change it based on what I have around. I use quick oats, skip the wheat germ, nuts & pumpkin seeds, and up the brown sugar and sunflower seeds. I'd like to try it with dried cranberries, too. Enjoy!

Muesli

1 cup wheat bran
6 cups Old Fashioned rolled oats (not quick oats)
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup nuts or pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cups raisins

Mix dry ingredients except raisins and heat in 300 degree oven for one hour. Stir every 15 minutes. A few minutes before removing from oven, stir in the raisins and heat another 5 minutes. Heat oil and honey together and pour over the dry ingredients after they are removed from the oven. Mix thoroughly. After cooled, store in air-tight container.