1/31/12 - Tuesday

Roast Beef Biscuit Sandwiches

I know this sounds wierd. But it was actually pretty good. It was created based on availability as always and my husband also needed some meat to put in his precious "wraps" he makes for lunch everyday (must I do everything?). I have found that alot of times we waste leftovers because there are too many options for lunch. So my strategy recently has been NOT to buy deli meat so that we force ourselves to eat leftovers. The husband will throw anything into a wrap, so as long as I make enough for that....he is golden.

I had Hormel Roast Beef that often goes on sale. You can get it for between 4 and 5 dollars at Brookshires during a sale. I also have tons of buscuits that I got on sale for less than a dollar. During a brainstorming session with my coworker, we came up with these sandwiches.

Let me pause and interject the current status of RL...

She has been crazy with her sleeping patterns lately and I went back and forth all day today strategizing on how I will triump over the random sleep monster. Welllllll........she never woke from her "on the way from school" nap. Crisis averted!!! Maybe we can triump tomorrow....
Moving on....this is what I used.....

Cook the buscuits and then slice them open and add cheese. For this meal I used pepper jack cheese. Sliced and shredded cheese is waaaaay cheaper when purchased at Sams (fyi). Season the veggies (Natures Own and Pepper) and serve! I added some creole mustard to the sandwiches, bc I thought it needed a kick. And it did. And so does my husband.......most of the time :)

Results:

1) RL again ate nothing

2) D gave it a 7. Everything was good with no suggestions. He apparently is not a huge fan of roast beef which affected his rating. Who knew?

3) I thought it was fine and super easy. Wouldnt serve it to guest (obvs b/c it is microwave meat), but I will make it again based on the easy and sale price factors.

Sooooooooo..........here is a question for my 3 members. I checked the veggies I cut up earlier in the week and this is what my potatoes looked like???

What is this? What does it mean? Anyone? I dug out the celery and carrots therefore there was some survivors. However the pots didnt make it and they were discarded with an unspoken (and non-existant) ceremony.

Someone please explain?

Monday 1/30/12

Husband playing volley ball and sleeping baby

EQUALS……

beautiful quite time for mom catching up on shows that H and RL refuse to watch. Some may utilize this time for rest and relaxation. What do I do??

Chop up some onions I plan to use later on in the week. The strange part? I was excited about it!!! Chopping in the kitchen with no one pacing back in forth impatiently waiting and snacking on ANYTHING around and a little one pulling on my leg begging for ANYTHING I will give her. Now, I know that I am extremely blessed to have these grubby little (using the term very lightly) mouths to feed……..but sometimes I like to cook in peace where the only sound is trash tv in the background that most are embarrassed to admit they watch.
Another reason I’m excited .............I plan to try a new pinterest idea. Regrowing green onions! If you noticed in the pic, I have my white ends in some water. Apparently they will regrow? I cant find the pin that tells me exactly what to do, but I think you just put it in the sun. So we will see!!

They smell tremendously bad and I am not sure this would be a good idea for somone with a small closed in kitchen. Im hoping that my H will allow them to stay long enough to see if it really works. Green onions are not terribly expensive, so I am not sure the smell is worth it.

1/29/12 - STEW

A had two bags of potatoes that I picked up in a buy one get one for a penny sale at brookshires that I needed to get a move on using. I also recently picked up some pork stew meat that was sportin a bright yellow tag. Apparently, Wal-Mart has been labeling thier “about to go out of date” meat with definitely noticeable yellow stickers. I am typically not a fan of Wal-Mart meat, but I am always looking for a good deal and this was definitely a good deal!
I decided to make a pork stew based on this recipe.

http://www.food.com/recipe/crock-pot-pork-stew-45412

I used meat, pots, carrots, and celery, 1 pkg. of chicken gravy mix, ½ can beef broth, and a full can of chicken broth.

I browned the meat first although some reviews said that they just put all in the crock pot. Raw pork mixed with my fresh veggies freaks me out a bit. I seasoned the meat with Natures Own, Lemon and Pepper and Worch.

I cut up all the vegs in random sizes and saved a good bit for a dinner a little later in the week. RL usually loves carrots so hopefully she will this week. Potatoes have always been a no go with her so we are on own there.

Once everything is in the crockpot.....I seasoned with more Natures Own, that Marjoran stuff that the recipe called for and some chopped up bay leaves. I only used the bay leaves and the M word because they were included in a spice rack I was given as a gift. I used them and felt very sophisticated, however, I do not believe they had any affect on the final product.

I left it all untouched in the crock pot for 8 hours on low.

Results:

**Served with crackers, ketchup and cheese because we like those things**

1) RL ate nothing. I am not sure what her deal is.....hopefully I have not forever damanged her by using the term piglet.

2) D loved it and rated it a 8. It was a good solid meal and he made no suggestions.

3) I thought it was pretty good and I appreciated the tenderness of the pork stew meat. I am not sure if that is because it was pork or the result of the crock pot. This could easily be assembled in the morning if the veggies were already chopped and you have about 10 minutes to brown the pork. Or you could do it all the night before and just throw it in in the morning. I will definately make this again if I hit a sale and maybe include some rice next time.

Here is the story of a Random Kitchen, in a new house, with a new mom, in a small town.......

I do not claim to be an outstanding cook or by any means gourmet, however, I do a lot of cooking in my household and make up a lot of recipes that my family seems to enjoy. Of course, I think my family would eat almost anything so I may be getting lots of false praise!! Regardless, I make a lot of stuff!! If I’m looking for something new, I typically find a recipe…..read over it a couple of times……and then make my own version of it. In most cases I don’t like buying new ingredients for new recipes so I try to use what I have stocked. Of course, that is not always true, but most of the time.

With the inception of Pinterest my brain has been overflowing with recipes ideas that I am waiting to try. It is hard to choose and even harder to choose one that can be prepared on a weeknight. And here is the opportunity to introduce my little piglet………..Reese “Landon”.

I am sure there are all kinds of mommy rules that say I should not refer to my child as a “piglet”. And I don’t……well………I don’t out loud……well, most of the time. This child can eat!! She is not really in to patience at the tender age of 13 months especially when it comes to getting food on her highchair. On a typical afternoon, she is going to fuss (with no interest in playing) until dinner is served. Therefore, I am trying to fast forward my steps of dinner preparation while singing silly songs in a silly voice because I feel like I should always be doing SOMETHING when my child is fussing. Otherwise the “proper mommy” feelings of guilt will emerge.

You may wonder my husband’s role in this afternoon ritual. Well, he will not participate in anything involving meal preparation. Apparently, it is his worst nightmare……..he hates to spice, chop, stir, mix, etc. His culinary practices stop at pouring a bowl of cereal…which he is great at by the way…..he does it about 5 times a day. Yes, he can eat as well. Like father like daughter.

Back to dinner………finding something that I can prepare on a week night that resembles a somewhat reflection of healthy food groups with a nutritional value is a continuous challenge. Sometimes I succeed……………sometimes I just slap some frozen pizza on plates/highchairs. Because sometimes…….I just don’t WANT TO COOK!! I love it…I really do…..I’m just sayin…

So this blog is created to serve as a record of the meals I have prepared, how I made them, and the rating from my family. I really just need a record for myself, otherwise I forget successful meals and they disappear into the Good Food Bermuda triangle.

Soooooo let’s roll……..

Friday 1/27/12 NACHOS!

As I mentioned, I like to use ingredients that I already have which was my intention for this recipe. I thought I had a whole bag of chips, which is obviously the backbone to this recipe. Nope…..the father/daughter team strikes again. So, the chips had to be purchased. Moving on.

Below are the ingredients I used. Since I am new to the blogging, I haven’t quite discovered how to arrange things so that they look like those Pioneer Woman type bloggers…..so that will be a goal I achieve later in life……maybe when I’m 33.

First I browned the meat. I use lean or deer meat. At the same time, I will sauté the green peppers and onions. I don’t always put these on nachos, but this is what I had and I needed some color. Presentation is always important! My method for sautéing changes everyday…..depending on what I have available. Today I will use – butter (I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter b/c I way over-use butter, it’s REALLY good, AND there have been coupons lately), Worchester sauce (say that 5 times real real fast), Natures Own, and Pepper. Usually, I will let the veggies soak for a while and then drain the liquid out so that it will actually cook. One thing I must mention is that I am never ever afraid to season. Speaking specifically about the veggies, I will season with the pepper and natures own about 5 different times until they are tender.

The meat is seasoned with Natures Own, Pepper, and Cumin. Cumin gives it the Mexican Restaurant kind of taste although the scent is a little bit nauseating (flashbacks to first trimester and the all types of Mexican food boycott).

How I put it together:

Chips
Can of black beans – spooned directly from the can
Meat
Onions and peppers
Cheese – lots and lots of cheese

Oven on 350 and CAREFULLY place it in oven. The mound of chips easily shifts on the cookie sheet and it could be a tremendous disaster! Or if you have a dog…or piglet (hehe)….it could be euphoric!

In the mean time, I decided to make some homemade salsa. I have never attempted this feat, but I saw it on pinterest, it didn’t look to challenging and I had almost all of the ingredients. Here is the original recipe. I started out following it with the exception of using minced garlic and sliced jalapenos.

http://www.mountainmamacooks.com/2012/01/quick-and-easy-salsa/

I blended it all together and tasted. It did not have much of a taste so it was time for the randomness of how I make things. I took every ingredient (besides the toms) and doubled at least. I added ALOT more cilantro, ALOT more cumin, and ALOT more honey. Stirred and pulsed. It honestly is best suited to your individual taste, but it is definately a great easy starter recipe. I also added corn once removed from the blender because we like corn.

Finally, everything is prepared and it is time for the family test. RL (formerly known as "piglet") randomly went to bed at 5:30 so she missed out. The husband was in awe. He stated that this meal does not fall under his summer wieght diet, but I convinced him that it wasn't THAT bad. Lean meat and black beans have to be better than the alternatives! It didn't take long for him to plant himself in front of the mound of bliss and forget his previous statement.


Results = A TEN!!! No suggestions for improvement and the salsa was the best he ever tasted!! This meal has definately exceeded expectations! It can surely be a weeknight meal if you skip the homemade salsa.

And thats it!! Until next time...........