Greek Inspired Spaghetti

Nothing worse than changing a menu on the fly. Originally I was gonna cook this Greek Spaghetti. As I read over again and again I decided against it for its lack of flavorings and oily potential. An entire stick of butter, really? So literally at the last minute (the meat was browning on the stove) I decided to modify Quick and Easy Greek Spaghetti to suit my needs. A combination of both if your please.

Modifications Made:
This is will only cover the meat sauce. Noodles are noodles and I would think you know how to make those.

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef

1 small yellow onion, diced

2 teaspoons garlic, minced

1 bag frozen spinach

8 ounces tomato juice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon basil

1 can sliced mushrooms, undrained

8 ounces black olives, sliced in half

1/4 cup parmesan, grated

Feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions:

To a large dutch oven, brown beef, onion, and garlic. Add spinach, tomato juice, cinnamon, basil, mushrooms with juice, and black olives. Cook on low for 30-45 minutes. Adjust water and seasonings as needed. When done, mix in grated parmesan cheese.

Serve with cold feta cheese on top.

Scaled for Likability: Good
Greek food conjures up black olives, lambs meat, feta, pita, spinach, strong hard cheeses, fresh tomatoes, and red onions. To have a Greek spaghetti without any of those items is not hardly Greek at all.

Creation of the two combined meat sauces was good but not good on noodles. Meat sauce would have been better inside a warm pita pocket over a bed of lettuce or in a bowl with baked pita chips and a lovely Greek salad on the side. The noodles just weren't cutting it.

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...

Cold Corn Bean Salsa

Nothing says junk food like chips and salsa, chips and cheese dip, chips and guacamole. Over the years I have perfected my salsa. It's good on tacos, on nachos, on enchiladas, and of course on chips. Just because I have the best salsa doesn't mean I don't like to try new salsa's like this Best Black Bean and Corn Salsa. Modifications Made: Shoepeg corn was replaced with one can of standard yellow corn with no salt added. Petite diced tomatoes were reduced by half. Italian dressing was swapped for half teaspoon comino, half teaspoon of chili powder, and two tablespoon of fresh lime juice. Salsa was made and let rest for two hours before eating. Scaled for Likability: Good Salsa this was not. Good it was however. It was too much for chips by themselves but was great served over a soft beef taco.

Eating Waffles

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