Easy Garlic Lo Mein

Stress eating. Times are hard right now and all anybody at this table wants is junk food, fast food, and sugar. Until three weeks ago, I would have considered this table to be fairly healthy eaters. Fast food three to four times a week, junk foods every other month or so, and sought out sugar (ice cream, brownies, candy bars) once a week or so. Who knew eating would be hard during a pandemic?

Who knew kicking these bad habits would be so hard? Junk food (frozen pizzas, pot pies, hot dogs from the convenience store) as it turns out were the easiest. These were back up, spur of the moment meals. Not something anyone really wanted but it filled a void. Fast food is more of a routine than a true desire. It is an hour away from the house where a meal can be had and enjoyed in the company of family and friends with no cooking, no dishes, no demands. Sugar, on the other hand should be classified as the new crack, the new heroine, the new legal drug of choice. Sugar as it turns out, is in EVERYTHING. Bread, tomato sauce, canned veggies, sliced lunch meat, boxed mac and cheese.

Trying to find something to eat that sounds appealing to the mental stomach is harder than finding something that is appealing to the actual stomach. Mental is so much more demanding and challenging than physical. Lacking the desire for any food, meals seem to revolve around the easiest to cook instead of creative. For example Easy Lo Mein. With a name like that and a short cooking time from start to finish, dinner was decided.

Modifications Made:
Ingredients: Pasta was doubled. Baby bella mushrooms and sugar snap peas are both sold in 8oz containers. Large bell peppers could not be found but mini tri-colored peppers could. Spinach was omitted.

Modifications Made:
Sauce: If I have learned anything from this particular challenge when cooking Asian foods, it is to pay close attention to the sauce quantities. This table seems to prefer the dish to be swimming in sauce and most recipes result in just a hint of sauce. Therefore, sauce contents with exception to the Sriracha were tripled. Two heaping teaspoons of garlic and a large handful of green onions were added.

Scaled for Likability: Great
Of all my new found recipes sites discovered, this one holds true time and time again. Easy Lo Mein was everything the recipe stated it would be. By the time the noodles were done cooking, all the veggies were cooked and the sauce was at the ready. Once mixed, the lo mein was saucy with the correct amount of sugar to heat ratio, the noodles were adequately covered in sauce, and the veggies were bold, crispy, and independently flavorful. Unlike fried rice, lo mein can be made with fresh pasta or left over pasta with the same results. Good food for the mind and the stomach!

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 potatoes. Cover and reduc

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 almost tender. Green be

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 and did not contain enough onion, garlic,

Eating Waffles

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