Days 10 & 11: Slacker Leftovers!

I have no pictures for these two days because they were all about leftovers.

No, really. We ate up all the leftovers in the house from earlier in the week and I'm pretty sure you didn't want to see a repeat of all of that nonsense.

Never fear. Back in the kitchen to "cook" on Sunday!

Here. Have a happy gif!

~Snarkstress

Day 8: Faux!Mex Tacos!

Dragon was feeling like tacos for dinner. We needed to head to the store to get lunch for tomorrow anyway and the thought occurred to me... how can I make one meal work twice?

Faux!Mex Tacos

Tacos aren't what you call "complex" food here at Hus af Snark. Generally, I brown up some GBeef, add some taco seasoning and water, let it simmer, heat up taco shells, and pile it all together when the meat's done.

Dragon wanted chicken tacos. I thought it was a marvelous idea. Our neighborhood Ghetto-F-C was out of the marinated chicken strips we used for the nachos we had on Saturday night, so a decision had to be made: Do I go ahead and go with regular ol' chicken strips... or do I save myself some money AND cooking time?

After walking past the display of pre-roasted chickens, well...the decision was simple. 

Meet Charlie. Wave to the camera, Charlie. -->

Now, I've seen this trick done before (and I've used it myself way back when) of using a precooked chicken to make your meal. Unfortunately, delicious though he looked, Charlie needed a good shredding before he'd be fit for any sort of taco consumption. 

With bare hands, Dragon watching on, and four cats circling like piranha around my ankles because the glorious "C-H-I-C-K-E-N" had descended into the kitchen space (and because they saw me pull out the knife and cutting board which *clearly* means there is meat to be had)... I dug into Charlie's carcass like a starving vulture.

Poor bird. Never stood a chance.

<-- As you can see, there was quite a bit of good meat on that bird. This isn't nearly all of it (I thought it a good idea to take a picture before my hands were completely juice soaked) and by the time I was done, the board was covered with fowl flesh.

Surprisingly enough, Charlie had been roasted damn near to perfection. Dragon and I were both surprised when we took a sample. Juicy, delicious... just downright tasty.

All that done, I commenced with the shredding. An arduous task that took me longer than I wanted it to take because SOMEONE *coughDragoncough* was too busy holding his Fluffy Overlord to help me shred. 

The things I do for this family.

Since Dragon didn't want me to get all elaborate-like and add taco seasonings to the shredded chicken, the rest of the assembly was pretty straight forward. 

We tried out these Stand N' Stuff flour taco shells (not my ideal, but hey, Ghetto-F-C, y'all) because there is a clear divide in this household about proper taco shellage. 

Dragon likes it soft. I like it crunchy. Since he was the one who suggested it...these shells were my compromise. 

Because that's what marriage is all about. I made the best of it by layering the sour cream in the bottom...

... topped that with a little cheese n' shredded chicken. 

As you can see, the shredded chicken looks amazing. But unlike boring Dragon with his boring "no spices" blandness, I like my taco fillings to taste, well, like they should be ON a taco. 

Meat-wise, anyway.

So I tried something new. A green taco sauce in the vein of the Verde sauce from Taco-Hell. Because I have a serious love for green sauce.

That green sauce turned out to be SO GOOD. I went pretty light with it on these, but next time? It's totally on. Because yum.

Also? Black olives. Because I've been on a bit of a black olive kick lately on my Faux!Mex food. I don't know why. They just seem to work. 

Dragon also learned my sordid past with black olives. Namely, I was that kid who went through innumerable cans of pitted, whole black olives because I liked putting them on my fingertips and pretending I had alien fingers. True story. 

A little more cheese and 45 seconds in the microwave.

And voila. 

Faux!Mex Chicken Verde Tacos. 

Turned out pretty delicious, actually, and the chicken meat will be getting another visit today for lunch, as the protein element to our salads. 

Enjoy!

~Snarkstress

Day 7: Lazy Stew!

I'm apologizing in advance because Lazy Stew is... well... *shrug*. I said I'd cook in the kitchen at least once a day. And today, I cooked lunch...but forgot to take pictures. It was a thing of beauty too... tuna, peas, mac n' cheese. Simple and tasty. No microwaving involved.

For dinner? Instead of ordering takeout, I went back into the kitchen... and made Lazy Stew.

Lazy Stew

I wasn't kidding when I called it that.

This is, to me, the easiest, laziest dinner I ever make. Seriously. Even sandwiches take more work.

Two "ingredients" (and I use the term in the loosest possible sense:

A can of Dinty Moore Beef Stew
A bag of TJ's Organic Brown Rice

That's it.

The stew has beef and potatoes and carrots and sauce. The rice, well, is my pathetic half-hearted attempt to make it ... healthy-ish.

And to add insult to injury, I didn't even take the pictures with my regular camera. I took them with my iPhone. *hangs head*

So, you take the stew and put it in a big plastic bowl. Then you add the rice to it. You mix it all together and pop it in the microwave for 3 minutes. Stir when it beeps and put it in for another 3 minutes.

Let it cool. Dish it out. And Voila.

Lazy Stew is served.

Now, I know I'm not the only one with a dish like this that you roll out on those days where you're just wanting to eat and either have no free cookware OR you just don't feel like making more of an effort.

Lemme hear it, y'all. What's your go-to lazy meal? I can't be alone in this!

~Snarkstress