Eating Waffles

One pot skillet dishes are great in theory.  Sometimes, however, I find the recipes and the final results to be vastly different.  With a collection of veggies building up in the fridge, a one pot skillet dish was needed.  Finding nothing stimulating on any of the recipes feeds, a new dish was created to meet our tastes and needs.  Something without tomatoes or tomato sauce.  A dish built upon a T&T staple, Porky Rice but slightly tweaked.  Thus, Porky Rice Vegetable Medley. Ingredients: 1 lb ground beef 1 cup each carrots, corn, bell peppers, chard, onion (diced bite size) 1 cup rice Tony Chachere seasoning 2.5 cups water Instructions: In large dutch over, brown ground beef.  Set aside to drain very well.  To beef fat in dutch oven, cook veggies (except chard) to soft.  Return beef, add rice, water, and seasoning.  Cook until rice is absorbed checking for seasoning and water level occasionally. When water is absorbed, toss in finely sliced chard and mix into rice to soften.  Let d

A local fast food created a breakfast sandwich a few months back and they are utterly delicious.  High is fat, high in salt, high in calories, it is the best breakfast sandwich ever.  With our local fast food dine-in closed due to Covid-19, we settled for a homemade version.  Equally unhealthy as the original, it was absolutely fantastic. Modifications Made: The original fast food breakfast sandwich is a hamburger patty, cheese, hash brown sticks, egg, bacon, and a creamy sauce piled high on a hamburger bun.  The homemade version was toast, left over homemade sausage links fried in the skillet, one and half hash brown patties, one egg, and extra buttery toast. Scaled for Likability: Great Bacon.  The homemade version did not have bacon but had plenty of bacon flavor as everything was fried in bacon grease.  Creamy sauce was missed as it is peppery in flavor and adds a bit of tang to the sandwich.  Not knowing what is in the special creamy sauce nor wanting to experiment, toast was heav

Many, many jobs ago the table counterpart had a job where traveling once again from the main work location to the sister city some three hours away was required.  On this long lonely trip was a taco vendor on the side of the highway who served briskets tacos with onions, pickles, and BBQ sauce in a flour tortilla.  Nothing fancy really, just not commonly seen.  Especially on the side of a highway literally in the middle of nowhere.  Every week, the table counterpart would stop for brisket tacos.  Every week for two years.   Twenty years later we are still loving brisket tacos and have been known to BBQ a brisket for the sole purpose of tacos.  Anytime a new person comes to learn about brisket tacos it is the same reaction: What! brisket is for BBQ with beans etc.... and then once they a coerced into trying just one brisket taco (with or without the onions) it is always snarf, snarf, snarf can I have another? Ingredients: Thinly sliced brisket Thinly sliced hamburger pickles chips or sa

Cookies, who doesn't love cookies.  The eldest table counterpart that's who.  Oh yes, cookies are eaten but not with the same satisfaction I eat them at.  Cookies are more just something sweet to eat when there is not cake.  However, this rule of "cookies are just cookies" does not apply to the tin butter cookies during the holidays.  Then cookies must be had.  Plain, boring, unimpressive to look butter cookies. Some refer to these as butter cookies (like the ones sold in the blue tin state) others refer to them a shortbread cookies. Difference between the two cookies lies in the sugar used.  I grew up learning shortbread cookies as butter, powder sugar, and flour.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Butter cookies follow the same line as other cookies with butter, white sugar, flour, egg, vanilla, etc.... Like these or these . Not knowing what sugar is used in the Royal Dansk butter cookies as the ingredients literally just say sugar, I went with a  3-Ingredient Buttery

Friends, they make life.  A friend stop by today with two fillets of fresh caught fish.  Not enough to eat on its own as fried or pan seared but enough when paired with slaw in a taco.  Fish tacos are a T&T recipe but not the slaw.  Normal fish tacos are seasoned with Tony Charchere's and topped with cilantro, salsa, pico de gallo, lime juice, sour cream, avocado, etc... Never a  Marinated Cabbage and Sweet Pepper Slaw . Modifications Made: None. Scaled for Likability: Great Making enough slaw to feed an army of fish tacos, it was a sad moment to realize there was more slaw than there was tacos.  Drats.  Luckily enough, the slaw was fabulous all on its own and there was none to be spared for left overs the next day.  I could see this slaw mixed with albacore tuna or chickpeas or lentils.  In preparation for the next time fish tacos are had, the slaw will be made the day before allowing the veggies to loose some of their crunch and flavors to meld together more.  Three hours was

Still wanting a soup/stew/stoup with cool weather and having fresh chard in abundance  Harissa Stewed Black Eyed Peas with Okra and Collard Greens  was made.  Learning from the Mexican Black Bean with Carrot disaster last week, black eye peas were cooked earlier in the day in a simple pollo de tomate stock and then used as instructed in the recipe.  Results were ten fold better than the black bean mush. Modifications Made: White onions were softened in bacon grease, garlic and tomatoes were added and allowed to cook until tomatoes softened and juice evaporated.  Frozen okra, fresh collard greens, cook peas, and two cups of chicken stock were added to pot.  Tomato paste, harissa, and cinnamon were omitted.  Seasoned with Tony Chachere's, mixture was cooked until greens were soft. Rice was cooked on the side and added directly before serving to retain its texture and color. Scaled for Likability: Great Okra gumbo, black eyes peas and cornbread, collards with tomatoes and onion.  All

Times are hard right now and the stores are still limited on good stuff.  Not wanting to waste the left over apple pie filling and pre-made pie crust from two weeks ago, an extra large hand apple pie was made.  Well, tried to be made as the crust fell apart when unrolling it and made for a mess of a pie. Instructions: Fill one half of pre-made pie crust with one half can of apple pie filling.  Sprinkle filling with extra cinnamon and sugar.  Fold over second half of pie crust and press edges to seal.  Wash with egg wash for rich color and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 350 until pie crust done. Scaled for Likability: Great It would have been perfect if it had not been broken.  Good thing this table doesn't concern itself with imperfect cookies, cakes, and pies.  The crust was tender and sweet, the apple retained its canned crunch, and the extra cinnamon and sugar made it a not complete can taste filling.  The only thing that could have improved on the final result would have been a

Taking advantage of cool temperatures, another soup was requested.  Soups work well for new recipes as there are very few T&T soup recipes and every table counterpart loves a good soup.  Especially if served with bread.  And what soups are best served with crunchy breads, vegetable or potato soups.   Easy Creamy Homemade Potato Soup  was the perfect mix of potato base with loads of veggies.  If extra helpings of crunchy bread were consumed the veggies would offset the bread, right? Modifications Made: To the list of veggies, one handful of chard leaves were added to the mix as a boost of green.  Besides, greens and potatoes go well together. Not having cream, half and half, or sour cream, one cup of low fat milk was added instead of the quarter cup of the other options.  More milk was added since all the original options were all heavy milk base and low fat milk is really just watered down milk anyways. Scaled for Likability: Good It wasn't potato soup and it wasn't veggie

Bite size pieces of tender stewed meat covered in a rich earthy gravy is delectable all by itself.  Pour it over a taco with rice and cheese and it is love.  The T&T recipe comes from my aunt whose Carne Guisada will always be better than mine even though I follow her recipe.  Not having her recipe written down as it is burned into the fibers of my brain, I had to find one similar for you to follow such as this one here . My Aunts Ingredients: 2 lbs round steak, 1-2" cubes 2 tablespoon vegetable oil 2 tablespoons flour 1 yellow onion, diced 3 garlic cloves, whole 1 tablespoon chili powder 1 tablespoon comino 1 small handful cilantro 1 small bay leaf salt, pepper to taste 1 cube pollo de tomate 3 cups water  Instructions: In a searing dutch oven, brown meat.  Remove meat.  To pot, cook onion until translucent.  Toss meat with flour to evenly coat.  Add garlic and meat to onions, cook briefly to remove white coloring of flour.  Add remaining i

Soups are the staple to any low budget meal.  Currently, soups are the staples to any pandemic meals.  With a wide variety of legumes and rice on had, a  Black Bean Soup  with a side of Spanish Rice was attempted. Modifications Made: Lime juice replaced red wine vinegar, hot sauce was omitted, stock was two cups chicken broth and two cups pollo do tomate. Scaled for Likeness: Good Way back in college, in my last semester of Senior year I had a class taught by the Dean of my field  who was known for her very challenging yet stimulating class.  On the day before the final, a pop quiz was given.  The quiz will forever stand out in my memory.  It went something along the lines of this: Name: Date: Instructions: blah, blah, blah, blah, read all the questions before starting the quiz, blah blah, blah. The number of questions nor the content mattered.  What mattered was reading the instructions.  As in READING the instructions.  Cause had I, like so many other students, had rea

In searching for new meals to eat, mostly dinners recipes are found like our new favorites  Spicy Sausage Pasta  or  Mexican Sopas  or  Turkey Salad Sandwiches .  Some of these dinner recipes are actually breakfast recipes served for dinner but they are still the main course.  Tonight I wanted to focus on a side dish that would be versatile with numerous meat options such as pork, chicken, or beef.  Roasted Potatoes and Carrots  was just the ticket. Modifications Made: Per the title of the recipe, this side dish was simply potatoes and carrots tossed in with Italian seasoning and olive oil.  Finding potatoes and carrots lacking in color vibrancy, zucchinni and green beans were added to the mixture.  Basil, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper replaced the Italian seasoning and onions were omitted. Scaled for Likability: Great Simple, fresh, refreshing.  With a twist of the flavorings, this mixture would be good with red, yellow or yellow potatoes, carrots, baby or kernel corn, yello

Score!  Went to the store with a wide open menu plan as I never know what is going to be available and low and behold they had ground pork and it was only $0.99 a pound.  A pound of pork has not cost less than $2 since I was in college a hundred years ago.  Less than a dollar I don't think has ever existed in my life.  With limitations on meat purchases to two, I bought two. Standing in the store wondering what I wanted to cook with pork then became the problem.  Here I am standing with my basket staring at my package of pork.  People must have thought I was off.  Hey, these are trying times.  Chill.  Already had Porky Rice  - a budget friendly meat stretching meal, Pork Burritos - not a meat stretching meal nor very good, Pork Potstickers - don't have wonton wrappers, and Pork Burgers  - not meat stretching but very yummy. Glancing over from the meat isle to the cheese isle, dinner plans formed.  Cheese enchiladas with pork meat gravy.  Pork gravy served a couple of pu

There is nothing more appealing than a beautiful meal filled with color and heart warming good stuff.   Pastas are heart warming but they lack pizzazz, color popping vibrancy.  Pastas, even the best of the best, are all red and white.  Anything in the pasta (chicken, sausage, or veggies) get washed out by either the red tomato or white Alfredo sauce.  That was until I stumbled across Sausage and Pepper Pasta on one of my new favorite recipe sites.  It was bold, it was beautiful, I hoped it was heart warming, too. Modifications Made: Again with the random quantities of sausage.  As always, sausage is a combination of hot and spicy.  Tonight was two regular and three hot.  Sausage was cooked in crumbles not in slices. To the list of veggies, one small bag baby spinach leaves were added hoping to brighten the color pop a little more and to offer more green into the color mixture of mostly red, yellow, and orange. Leftover random bits of pasta was used. Scaled for Likability:

In a post from the beginning of March, I stated Frito Pie was good with a variety of meats including lentils.  Lentil Frito pie got me thinking about all the other ways taco lentil meat could be substituted. Nachos, chalupas (both as a replacement for beans and meat) and of course, burritos.  Or maybe even a combo with Lentil Frito Burrito. With meat still on the hit and miss list at the grocery store, lentils might be the new norm. Scaled for Likability: Good These are not as good as lentil tacos but they absolutely would be eaten again.  Using lentil instead of taco meat was not a one to one replacement.  Normally a burrito has one large serving spoon of taco meat.  Lentils in burrito required closer to two large serving spoons.  Placing a thin layer of cheese at the base was a smart move as it melted into the lentils.  Placing another thin layer between the lentils and the Fritos then melted the three ingredients into one.  Once wrapped, the burrito was complete.  To make thi

Where has the time gone?  It has been almost three weeks since an Asian recipe was cooked.  The last two were hit and miss.  The table counterparts did not like the Chicken Mushroom Asparagus Stir Fry and I not the Shrimp Stir Fry .   Sticky Pineapple Chicken  seemed like the perfect way to get back on track with a winning stir fry. Modifications Made: Chicken breasts replaced chicken thighs and raw cashews replaced roasted, salted cashews. To lessen the sugar, the juice stayed the same but the hoisin and brown sugar were reduced by half and soy was regular strength sodium. Three ribs of sliced green onions were added directly before the sauce. Scaled for Likability: Great This table (teen counterpart excluded) is not a fan of sweet Asian meals.  No to Sweet and Sour Beef/Chicken/Pork/Shrimp.  No to Lemon/Orange/Sesame Chicken.  Just no.  Understandably, most Asian stir fry sauces are almost equal parts sugar to soy.  Something about the sugar to salt ratio balances each

Dinners.  Since starting, most of the new recipes have been for dinner.  As stated before, breakfasts are not a thing here and lunch is usually leftovers or whatever one can scrounge up.  Trying to change the routine up a bit, a Cucumber Dill Chicken Salad for lunch was tested and approved. Modifications Made: In addition to dill weed, one teaspoon of dill seeds were added along with one cup finely diced celery.  Mayo replaced half the yogurt. Scaled for Likability: Good Well, it was not great like the the most beloved Turkey Salad  but it definitely good.  It could even be made great with a few alterations.  One: sliced cucumbers should be added to the sandwich and not the salad.  If not serving on a sandwich, the diced cucumbers would have been fine.  Two: fresh boiled chicken breasts from the bone would give this salad a more robust flavor.  When boiling the breast bones with meat, half of a small yellow onion, salt and pepper should be added to the stock.  Three: in

Is there such a thing as a bad cookie.  Overcooked and brittle, dunk in milk or add to your ice cream.  Too moist and falls apart, eat with a fork.  In fact, the only way a cookie; homemade are the only candidates here; could be bad unless burnt to a black mess is to have a cookie with a banana in it.  All chocolates, all nuts, all sugars, thick or thin, crunchy or chewy, it doesn't really matter as long as they homemade.  However, let it be said I am still on a mission to find the  Best Chocolate Chip Cookie .  No nuts, no oatmeal, no extras.  Plain Jane with a slight crunch on the edge and a softness in the middle. Modifications Made: In honor of all things green for Saint Patty's Day, green food dye was added to the wet ingredients until a bold green color was achieved.  Chips reduced to 1-1/2 cups.  Walnuts omitted which is a deal for me as I love to add walnuts to any chocolate cookie or brownie or ice cream.  Walnuts and chocolate, hand in hand, two peas in a pod.

In honor of St. Patty's Day and to spread some cheer on these past few stressful weeks, today we celebrate all things green.  Green represents growth and creativity, safety and security, freshness and the sense of flowing.   In health, green represents organic and wholesome.  All positive energy.  What could be more secure, wholesome, and fresh than  Pasta with Green Beans and Pesto . Modifications Made: Jarred pesto replaced homemade and fresh basil was omitted.  Whole grain penne was exchanged for all veggie rotini, because they are green in color.  Shredded Parmesan was added on top for extra zing. Scaled for Likability: Great Fresh, bold, great served hot or cold.  The recipe was doubled to make an entire box of pasta except there was not enough pesto to double. Pesto purchased came in 6 oz jars and I only had one.  If there had been two jars, I don't think I would have used two cups of pesto anyways.  It would have been just too much pesto for the pasta. Pre-s

Wow, the pandemic.  Who knew in 21st century America there would be a food shortage due to a virus outbreak.  The grocery store is bleak and barren.  Meals are planned as food is available.  What a change two weeks can make.  Guess meal planning is gonna be very tricky for a while. Having scored a package of polish sausage links my mind immediately ran through all the meals I could possibly make with sausage links that A) ingredients can be found for B) not something I had already made and C) stretched the sausage out into two meals.  What was settled on was a meal saved for the next time we went to visit the meat eating family Fried Cabbage with sausage and mashed potatoes.  Oh well, there is plenty of time to find another new meat meal for them. Modifications Made: Um, no bacon.  Knowing the bacon was a key ingredient to this dish, bacon grease was substituted instead.  Good thing there are two 28 oz cans of bacon grease in the fridge.  All other steps were the same. Scale

There is something in my brain that turns almost every soup into stoup.  I just can't seem to make enough broth.  This issue was never more prevalent than in my attempts to make  Chicken and Rice Soup with Garlicky Chile Oil . Modifications Made: In the same pot the garlic oil was made, one whole small chicken with diced onion, salt, pepper, and a couple of smashed garlic cloves was boiled and deboned.  To the same broth with garlic clove removed, shredded chicken was returned along with one heavy cup of white rice, salt and pepper to taste.  Rice was boiled until almost done.  Finely sliced chard was added in the last five minutes of rice cooking. Scaled for Likability: Great As it turns out, one can truly cook on autopilot.  My brain saw chicken and rice and therefore made my T&T recipe of chicken and rice , not chicken and rice soup.  The addition of the chard and the garlic oil chips was a nice flavor enhancement to the T&T chicken and rice.  What was best like

To make Shepherd's Pie, both refrigerated roll and one frozen pie crusts were purchased along with two cans of apple pie filling.  With dinner made using the two rolled pie crusts, I now only had one frozen pie crust to make apple pie.  Combining the cooking instructions from  Mrs Smiths Deep Pie Crust  for a one crust pie along with the dutch toppings from Betty Crocker Dutch Apple Pie , I created the most perfect semi homemade apple pie.  Let it be known during the holidays when given the choice between apple and pumpkin pie, pumpkin pie even without Cool Whip wins hands down. Modifications Made: Streusel topping on premade apple pie filling seemed to be too sweet.  Half cup brown sugar replaced two-thirds cups brown sugar and a quarter cup of flour was added to offset the sugar content.  Without the extra flour, I was worried the streusel would be a buttery mess. Scaled for Likability: Great The crust was not soggy, the apples not over cooked nor too sweet, the streusel

In my head, Shepherd's Pie is an easy meal to make.  Meat, carrots, potatoes, onion, celery, cream of soup, two pie crusts.  Yet, every time it is made, the end result is anything but.  Having made a successful chicken pot pie during the holidays, I was renewed in my efforts to make a tasty Shepherd's Pie. Ingredients: 1/2 pound pork, ground 1 cup each celery, onion 2 cups each carrots, potatoes 1/8 cup flour 1 cup chicken broth Frozen pie crust x2 salt and pepper Instructions: All veggies were diced to small bite size piece, seasoned slightly with salt and pepper, cooked separately to al dente, and placed in large bowl.  Ground pork was browned with salt and pepper and drained of fat, and placed atop of veggies.  To brown bits of pot, 1/8 cup of flour was added, browned, and whisked with chicken broth.  Flour broth cooked for five minutes to allow bit on bottom to release then added to pork and veggies.  Mixture gently stirred to incorporate flour broth and place

The last night of Spring Break.  So sad.  All these meals and not one picture of all the new desserts made!  Normally when I come to visit family I make a new dessert for every night there and one extra to have during the day.  Can't believe it as the desserts were all new cookies, too.  There was sprinkle shortbread, soft chocolate chip, and dark chocolate walnut (cocoa not chips).  It is a good thing pictures of the new meals, like  Cabbage Sausage Potato Soup , were taken otherwise my time would have been wasted.  Not!  There were three batches of cookies and repeat carrot cake. Modifications Made: Sausage was the leftover five links from the pasta.  Today, however, the sausage was thee links of regular and two hot working .  Five link of sausage according to the package weight 19 ounces, not one pound. Not seeming like an Italian dish but more German, seasonings were modified to 1 teaspoon fennel and 1 teaspoon of caraway along with salt and pepper.  Scaled for Likabi

Spring Break!  Most people think of trips to the lake or the beach or to some amusement park for fun filled week celebrating the coming of warmer days and just a few weeks of the school year left.  This table and its counterparts spent it with family.  Yeah a full size kitchen with five mouths to feed three meals a day for three days.  Can't wait.  Yesterday it was Italian, tonight in honor school cafeteria foods,  Classic Beef Stroganoff .  Tomorrow a soup. Modifications Made: Two onions seemed like way too many onions so one large onion was used instead.  Beef broth was made from a Knorr cube and additional salt was reduced to offset the salty broth cube.  Worcestershire sauce was doubled.  Sour cream was reduced to 8 ounces.  To offset the sour cream, 1/4 cup of extra flour was added along with one cup of milk.  An entire bag of wide egg noodles were cooked instead of three cups. Instructions have the entire meal cooked in less than 30 minutes.  Knowing full well meat co

A thousand years ago I feel in love with a Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meal involving farfalle pasta, Italian sausage, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, heavy cream, parm cheese, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Never having ever succeeded in making the recipe in 30 minutes but closer to an hour, the additional time requirements do not dissuade my cooking of this tasty meal because it was easy even if time consuming.  It was everything one wanted in a pasta recipe.  Pasta, petite diced tomatoes, mushrooms, and lots sausage crumbles all coated in a creamy and very cheesy sauce.  Leftovers saved perfectly and made enough to feed an army.  If I had lived alone upon discovering this recipe, I probably would have made it every other week.  As it was, I tried to make it every six to eight weeks much to grumblings of the table counterparts. The other night  Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta Creamy Tomato Sauce  came into my life.  Close to my much loved Rachael Ray Pasta (which is how I refer to it as the

Don't start.  I realize this is not a picture of anything to do with food.  But it does, let me explain.  It's Spring Break, we are visiting family, and having a good ol' fresh caught fried catfish cookout with all the sides.  Tater salad, beans (pinto and baked), french fries, chips, coleslaw, and candied sweet potato.  Not, sweet potato casserole with marshmallows and pecans. Candied sweet potatoes like the kind served at every turkey day dinner all across America.  Because apparently candied sweet potatoes and fried catfish go hand in hand.  NOT!   Scaled for Likability: Great But oh my word, I ate two helpings of candied sweet potatoes and fried catfish.  It was so, so yummy and in my sugar induced coma I forgot to snap a picture. So see this picture was the precursor to something delicious.

This has been said many times when looking for new recipes and it will be said many more times before the years' end.  Simple, simple, simple.  Nobody ever complains about the simplicity of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich yet one will complain when an entire meal  has only four ingredients.  Sense this does not make.  Frito pie is one of those meals where simplicity wins over and over again. On occasion depending upon meat choice, five ingredients will create this timeless meal. Ingredients: Fritos Ranch Style Beans Meat Choice: Hot Dogs, Chili Meat (ground or chunk, without or with beans), lentils Cheese, shredded Optional Ingredients: corn, sour cream, chives, onions Instructions: In a bowl create the following layers: Fritos, diced hot dogs, ranch style beans, cheese.  Warm in microwave till cheese melts. Enjoy. Scaled for Likability: Great This is great for lunch, dinner, late night snacks.  Have loved this meal since a child and expect to love u

Wanna take a guess as to what we had for breakfast this morning?  I will give you two hints.  It wasn't anything to do with pork taco meat (YEAH) and I mentioned it in a post a few days ago. Thinking... Thinking... Burgers! They were oh so scrumdiddlyumptious.  Any time burgers are made on the pit, extras are always cooked.  Extras for more breakfast burgers, extras for burger steak in a gravy with taters, burgers for salad toppings.  It is most time efficient means to cooking. Scaled for Likability: Great Our burger salad today was just the toppings found on a hamburger minus the buns.  Lettuce (lots and lots), tomatoes, cheese cut into chunks, pickles diced, mustard, and in this case A1 sauce.  Nothing fancy, just tasty.

Yesterday, you were informed about the missing pork burrito picture.  Well, you are in luck as we had pork burritos for breakfast today, albeit slightly modified from the other day.  The first time pork burritos were served it was pork, rice, Monterrey Jack cheese, lettuce, salsa on a flout tortilla.  Today it was Colby Jack cheese, rice, pork, charro beans, lettuce, cilantro, and salsa (not pictured).  It was my thinking the yellow cheese, beans, and cilantro would offer more flavorings to the pork. I took my burrito even one step further and made it on a spinach tortilla.  Scaled for Likability: No, Thank You Sadly, I have to report none of the modifications made any improvement to the pork itself.  Three different meals yet I cannot determine what is wrong about using pork for taco meat. Perplexed, am I.

Did you notice two days ago there was a missing post?  That would be because two days ago a huge pot of Mexican taco meat was made using ground pork and yours truly forgot to take a picture of the resulting meal.  Pork burritos.  Made almost the same as beef burritos but with some variations to accent the pork flavorings.  White flour tortilla instead of spinach, no beans, Spanish rice, Pepper Jack Cheese instead of Colby Jack, lettuce, and salsa.  They were not half bad.  Not as good as ground beef but would work again as a substitute for beef again.  Especially since pork is way, way cheaper than beef. Tonight with still loads of pork taco meat in the fridge, I decided to get crazy and go way out of the normal by making Pork Ranchero Enchiladas. Made in the microwave, the whole meal came together in less than 10 minutes. Ingredients: Corn tortillas Pork taco meat Ranchero sauce Monterrey Jack cheese Instructions: Blend rachero sauce to a puree. Warm corn tortillas in

If you are following this crazy train as an outsider, it has probably come to your attention most of the brand new meals are dinner.  And you'd be right, partially.  Breakfast at this table is not your standard All American Breakfast of eggs, hash browns, bacon, toast, coffee.  It is more along the lines of hamburgers (lots of burgers), beef or vegetarian beef soft tacos/burritos (not the same as tacos as burritos always contain beans), enchiladas (cheese, chicken beef), potstickers now since having learned how to make them, and numerous other non breakfast meals.  In fact, I would say the only real breakfast item eaten regularly are breakfast tacos (eggs, meat, potatoes, beans, cheese).  It is not as though we don't like the All American Breakfast, cause we do almost every day it is just that we like it in a different fashion.  Egg fried, sausage, American cheese sandwiched between a biscuit or a hamburger bun with french fries on the side. I can and do literally eat this

Guess I should not have counted the number of days in a row a brand new meal was served.  Today an all time favorite from the T&T list was served as backup to the dinner originally planned.  Chicken and Rice was one of the few meals saved from my childhood at moms.  She'd make a pot of chicken and rice when she knew in advance the week was going to be busy.  As an adult looking back, on the days when dinner was not served at the table because one or the other was working late, I don't know when my parents ever ate dinner, if they ate dinner at all.  Those are the nights when chicken and rice saved the day as it is a meal that only gets better as it sits in the fridge waiting its turn. There are many variations of chicken and rice.  Some with veggies, some with creamed soup, some baked, and some flavored to different ethnic flares.  Mom's chicken and rice was one step above poverty food and I LOVED IT! Wait, I still LOVE it. Ingredients: One chicken, boiled and s

Feeling guilty about the sufferings of the table counterparts at dinner last night, tonight  Shrimp Stir Fry  was made, kinda like a modern olive branch. Modifications Made: This recipe was different from all other stir fry recipes.  Sauce was made ahead of time, veggies were cooked then steamed, and shrimp was cooked after veggies.  Concerned the dish would be extra fishy from not cleaning the skillet after the shrimp was cooked, many cooking modifications were made.  With an exception to the rice, stir fry is a one pot meal. Shrimp, three quarters of a pound with no salt or pepper seasoning, were cooked then set aside.  Skillet was cleaned and prepped for veggies.  Veggies, five cups with no salt or pepper added, were stir fried separately and set aside when done on the same plate as the shrimp.  With all veggies cooked, the sauce was made, allowed to slightly thicken, shrimp/veggies were added back to the same skillet, and tossed until well coated and sauce completely thick.

Two weeks since the last non brand new recipe was made.  Some recipes have been slight modifications to recipes served in the past so they don't count as brand new meals but they do classify as a non repeated meal.  For example, last night's flautas, only a different form of taquitos.  The last true non new recipe was chalupas as they have been made numerous times over the years.  They would be made more if I did not have that detest for frying foods.  Two weeks has to be some type of records.  Gonna have to look into this.  Until then, lets add another brand new recipe,  Ginger Chicken Asparagus Stir Fry Modifications Made: Ingredients: Chicken was seasoned with salt or black pepper but cooked plain. White onions were replaced with half batch of thinly sliced green onions.  Green onion were not cooked but tossed into the chicken, mushroom, asparagus mixture directly before the seasoning were added. Sauce: Regular soy sauce replaced low sodium soy.  Chili garlic sauce w