Porky Rice, A Staple

Another T&T recipe was served last night. Back in October when this no repeat dinner idea was started, it was figured that the T&T recipe list has to be spread out across the next 12 months. Kind of like back up meals. You know, a meal after a week worth of less than stellar results, . A meal when a new meal cannot be found appealing. A meal for when the soul needs cheering, like tonight. Tonight was Porky Rice, a self made meal created out of the dead broke college days. Easy, simple, soul filling. Not to mention a teen counterpart favorite.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground pork
1 cup white rice
2.5 cups water
2 tablespoons Tony Charchere Original Seasoning

Instructions:
Brown pork. Drain excess fat. Return to pan, stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to boil and cook for 20-25 minutes or until rice is done.

Scaled for Likability: Great
As every student who has ever paid their way through college and even after college or right up into full on adulthood with hungry children, finding filling, cheap meals is a struggle. Luckily there is Porky Rice to save the day. Granite, it is not as cheap as it was back in college but as far as meat meals, it is cheap. To make it even cheaper, which has been done too many time to count, 1.5 cups of white rice can be added instead of 1 cup. Spread the wealth. For healthier meals, a simple frozen bag of green beans or corn or peas (YUK) can be added on the side. Even with the bag of frozen food, the whole meals feeds a family of four for less than five dollars. Can't go wrong with that.

Papas a La Mexicana (Ranchera)

It is a crying shame that there are six hens and not a egg in sight. What am I supposed to do with homemade ranchero sauce? Thankfully with a few quick searches of the internet a recipe from my hometown newspaper was discovered: Papas Ranchera . Not once in the thirty years I lived in my hometown did I ever eat at a local food joint serving papas rancheras. No time like the present to remedy this cultural dish. Because this recipe is hidden behind a paywall (grrr...) I have included it here for you: Servings: 4-6 Ingredients: 1 pound potatoes, diced 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/2 large onion 1 1/2 medium tomatoes 3 jalapenos 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup juice from canned tomatoes Instructions: Fry potatoes in vegetable oil until lightly browned (about 4-6 minutes). Saute onions, tomatoes, jalapenos until soft. Add garlic powder and salt. Add tomato juice until vegetables are covered (may need to add water). Bring to a boil and then add po...

Better Than Campbell's Old Fashion Vegetable Soup

Went to the store with the hopes of gathering fresh produce for soup. With more than 45 people in line for two packages of any meat product and the produce section containing only avocado, orange, and most randomly, strawberries, I settled upon canned soup. Well not canned soup since that section was still void of food, too. Instead soup made from canned goods as the canned vegetable section had been mostly restocked. Soups like this 15 Minute Vegetable Soup are ideal in dire food situations such as current times. Modifications Made: Plain petite diced tomatoes omitted, frozen carrots instead of canned, green beans and corn undrained, peas omitted (gross, nasty little pods), one cup celery, three cups diced potatoes, one can tomato sauce, two beef and two pollo de tomate bouillon cubes, six cups water. Once onions were softened, carrots/celery/potatoes/juice of green beans and corn, sauce, bouillon cubes, water were added and allowed to simmer until carrots almos...

Sour Cream & Chive Scalloped Potatoes

Can't believe the Month of the Potato is over. There are so many more potato recipes saved. Guess I will have to work them into another month. Last week's scalloped potatoes were one of the best new recipes during the month of potatoes. With today being the last day in the Month of Potatoes, I decided to go out with a bang by cooking another batch of scalloped potatoes but this time sour cream and chive. The Best Scalloped Potatoes , or so they said. Modifications Made: Recipe was reduced by half. Mayo was omitted and one entire package of chives were chopped and added to sauce before pouring onto layers. Scaled for Likability: Good Betty Crocker Sour Cream and Chive Box Scalloped Potatoes were the standard for this recipe. These were a family favorite for years but have long since been discounted. Bummer. Trying to replicate this seemed easy enough. Alas, it was not. These had a nice texture but were too oily from the cheese ...

Eating Waffles

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