Day 12: The Other Chili!

We have two types of chili that we eat here in this house. One has elk and bacon and beans. Then there's this one, whom I blame on Dragon because if he didn't spend a majority of his life in Ohio, I wouldn't have even known about it.

The Other Chili

Ingredient round-up: 

* 1 lb (or so) of ground beef

* Can of tomato paste

* Packet of Cincinnati Recipe Chili mix

For those of you wondering, yes, this is what Ohio-ans usually refer to as Skyline Chili. 

It took me a while to get used to it, honestly. I'm used to thick, stew-like chili, full of beans and meat and deliciousness. This chili is... well... watery. But what it lacks in viscosity it MORE than makes up for with amazing flavor. Seriously. 

 

Packet in the stew pot, combined with the tomato paste. It's definitely not the most appealing look, now is it?

But if you take a whiff of it right now, you'll be able to smell all the spices they put in there. Especially the cinnamon.

Originally, I said to Dragon that cinnamon has NO BUSINESS being in a chili. It is an abomination, I said.

I was wrong. It is awesome. Trust me.

According to the directions, here's how it goes down.

You put the mix and tomato paste in the pot. Mix it together. Add 6 cups of water (yeah, see, that's why I said it's more watery than what I'm used to) and blend it all together.

THEN you add in the uncooked beef. This was a step that had me kind of meh. I'm used to precooking the meat and THEN adding everything in. But given how long this stuff cooks? Yeah, uncooked meat is the way to go. It absorbs all those delicious spices and gets super tender and very tasty.

Now then, the secret to Skyline Chili is how it's served. The back o' the packet has suggestions, but it all starts with a base of pasta.

As we are...mostly healthful with our grain choices, we stumbled across this little gem. -->

It's a hearty, yet delicious pasta that is just chock full of veggie goodness. It cooks in about the same amount of time as a regular pasta does (8-10 minutes or so) and tastes like regular pasta.  So there you go. Healthy-ho!

Put the pasta on to cook. When it's done, divvy it up.

Pasta in the bowl. Followed by a ladle or two of the chili, and smother that stuff with low-fat cheddar cheese. (Or regular cheddar...I happened to grab the wrong cheese by accident and it still tasted fine.)

Trust me when I tell you there will be enough leftovers to do the Chili-dog thing with, or to just heat and eat as you wish.


~Snarkstress

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 9: Shrimp En Sauce!

I've been craving shrimp for weeks. I think it all started back around our anniversary in December when I wanted to go to Red Lobster, but we never really had the money to do so.

Those who can't... make it themselves. Deliciously.

Shrimp En Sauce

Sounds fancy, right? Really, it's not. But it was mighty delicious.

So we started off with the following:
* Raw shrimp
*Creamy tomato sauce
*Piccolini Farfalle
*TJ's Veggie blend (peas, carrots, green beans, & corn)
*(not pictured) Crumbled Bacon
*(not pictured) Baby Bella mushrooms
*(not pictured) Butter
*(not pictured) Cajun blend spices

I'm not gonna lie. The bacon and mushrooms were later additions, done on the fly when Dragon decided there needed to be something else in there. For the record? The mushrooms were my idea.

First things first, you put some butter in the pan and dump the thawed shrimp in to saute. Now, if you end up with a seething, boiling shrimp-water mess, don't feel at all bad about pulling out the shrimp, dumping the water, adding new butter, and slipping those tasty morsels back in for a quick crusty saute.

And while you're add it, throw some Cajun spices on those bad boys for color and heat. I certainly did.

When they're done, pull 'em out and let them rest. Overcooked shrimp is definitely a bad thing. Can we say... rubber?

In the empty pan dump ye olde veggies. Also for a quick saute.

By the by, you should probably put on a pot of water to boil while you're doing all of this. Because you've got some pasta that needs boiling.

Back to the saute pan: cook it all down. Those 'shrooms are amazing. Seriously. You can hit all of this with more seasoning if you wish, and a touch more butter, if that floats your boat. Feel free to experiment.

Side note: That's why you don't see me doing measurements for these. I believe that cooking is a creative endeavor, an alchemy, and recipes are merely guidelines. I'd much rather give you a bunch of pictures and the ingredients and let you do with them as you will (if anything at all).

About now, you should be popping the pasta in for a quick cook according to the package directions.

Into the pan goes the shrimp, the sauce, and the bacon bits. Because everything is better with bacon (according to Dragon).

Verily, it is the candy of meat.

Let that get warmed through, stirring as you go. I generally time it with the pasta, so it ends up being about 10 minutes all told that it'll be simmering away.

When the pasta is done, just drain it, add it to the sauce and mix.

Or flip it, if you're fancy like that.

Into a bowl, and devour like a starving T-Rex at an all-you-can-eat Brontosaurus buffet.

Enjoy!

~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

Day 6: Meatball Party!

I believe both of us can give major props to Teen Titans Go! for this particular meatball infused dish.

Meatball Party Sketti!

In case you can't tell from the photo on the left, this is another of those "put a bunch of stuff together that sounds tasty and bake it" meals. 

Roundup of ingrediental suspects: Meatballs, cheese, angel hair pasta (this is Dragon's fault), and sauce. 

Wolverine cup is, of course, completely optional.

In other words: I'm sure this *could* be made healthier. But it's been one of those "Meh, let's eat something delicious," days where you don't particularly care what it does to your waistline because you know you're going to be working it off somehow anyway.

And no, pirating on Assassin's Creed 4 doesn't count. 

Though in an ideal world... it totally would.

First, you preheat the oven according to your meatball maker's directions. Pop them in a casserole dish and cook those balls of meaty awesome until they're done. 

Meanwhile, boil water. Add pasta. Cook to almost al dente.

A note of explanation about blaming Dragon for the Angel Hair pasta: he ruined regular spaghetti noodles for me when we were just a wee couple trying to make it in the world. It was something I tried because he insisted, and lo, I found I enjoyed it verily. Thus was history written.

While your noodles are a-boilin', after the meatballs have been cooked, pour in the jar of sauce and let it warm a bit while you wait for the pasta. 

When the pasta is done, drain it and add it to the casserole dish. Mix, thoroughly, and then cover with cheese. 

Your mileage may vary regarding the "cover with cheese" bit. As will the type of cheese you use. Depending on how badly we need a meatball party hug in our bellies, we adjust our cheese addition. In this case, about a cup of triple cheddar. Yum.

Let it cook in the oven for about 10 minutes more, until the cheese is all gooey and melty and delicious. Then pull out the bowls, fill 'em up, and weep over Downton Abbey, knowing that you have a warm, saucy, delicious meatball waiting for you when you're done wiping those eyes.

Enjoy!

~Snarkstress

Day 5: Fish In A Flash!

Tonight, I went simple and pulled out our go-to *mostly* healthy fish-based meal.

Fish In A Flash (aka What Snarkstress Makes When Hungry Yet Too Tired To Really Whip Something Up)!

I think this is where I need to mention that I said at the beginning of this blog that I would cook once a day in the kitchen. I did *not* say it would be from scratch. Just putting that out there before I begin tonight. Because sometimes, it really does only take a few minutes to throw something together that satisfies.

As you can see, the ingredients are very, very simple:
Gorton's lemon pepper grilled fish fillets
French style canned green beans
Trader Joe's Rice Medley (seriously, this stuff is amazingly good, and super healthy. Best of all? 3 minutes in the microwave and you've got grains.)

Not pictured: butter and bacon bits. For the beans.

I'm sure you've already figured out that I'm not pic spamming this post because, really, there's no need to. This is a simple, healthy go-to meal that we have, I'd guesstimate at least once a week. And it's damned tasty.

20 minutes in the preheated 400-degree oven (as per box instructions) on a foil lined cookie sheet. Tip: if you are not baking your fish on foil lined sheets, you are making your life much more difficult than it has to be.

3 minutes for the rice. 3 minutes for the beans. Put it all in a bowl and voila! A healthy dinner that's ready to go in no time at all. I suppose you could make it healthier by, say, getting your own fish and seasoning it, baking it the same way. Fresh green beans, sans butter and bacon. Freshly cooked brown rice (quinoa, barley, whatever floats your grainy boat). I've been known to do that myself. But tonight? Tonight I wanted convenient, tasty, and quick.

What recipes do you consider go-to faves? I'd love to hear about 'em.

Enjoy!

~Snarkstress