Has anyone else noticed the Oscar Mayer “Blogworthy” ads?  I admit to liking the fact that “blogworthy” is a positive attribute. But I can’t quite think about blogging about prefab food.

I made these oven baked French fries again tonight, along with the aioli like sauce.  I watched them a bit closer and stirred twice rather than just once. They came out fantastic.  I used some of the JoJo Potato Seasoning I’d been sent as a sample a while back and the fries were fantastic.

Served them tonight with hot dogs cooked on the George Forman Grill Very nice!

When the girls were little, we tried to make something each Valentine’s Day. But it’s a challenge to not spend too much money, have something they can make, and have it be something everyone enjoys. We made airplanes out of chewing gum sticks one year (wrapped so the recipient could chew the gum!), various pretzel things, cookies, and so forth. But the favorite was red play dough hearts!  You’ll want to double this for about 24 hearts.

Play Dough

1/2 cup salt
1 cup flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 Tbs vegetable oil

1 cup water
food coloring

Put everything in a heavy saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it forms a ball. Remove from heat. Put the dough onto a board and let it cool a few minutes, then knead for 5 minutes or so.

Roll the dough out and cut into heart shapes with cookie cutters, put them in sandwich bags, and either write directly on the sandwich bag or slip in a paper heart with the recipeient’s name.

Enjoy!

I made this Thai Noodle Soup tonight for dinner. Oh my.  So good!

I used a quart of homemade chicken broth I had in the freezer and about 1/3 of a package of firm tofu. I wasn’t sure what kind of pepper to use so used a jalapeno.

This is just unbelievably good! Not at all spicy but very flavorful.

The pork chops last night were great–but we still had about 3/4 of one left over. Tonight I used it to make up some fried rice. I had leftover rice from dinner last night. Fried rice comes out a bit better if the rice you use is leftover and dried out a bit, but if you’re stuck just cook up the rice first thing.

3 cups cooked rice
4 Tbs oil (divided)
1/2 an onion, sliced in big slices
4 ounces (?) diced leftover meat, raw or cooked
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 carrot, peeled and shredded
2 stalks carrot, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 eggs, beaten
3 green onions, sliced

Heat 1 Tbs of the oil in a large skillet (or wok) on medium high heat. Add the onion and cook a minute or so, stirring frequently. You want it soft and just beginning to brown.

If the meat is raw, add it and cook a minute or so until done.

Add the vegetables and cook, stirring frequently, until crisp tender, a minute or two.

If the meat is cooked, add and heat through, another minute, stirring.

Add the garlic and stir a minute or less and then remove the meat and vegetables from the pan and put them in a bowl to keep while you cook the rice.

Heat the other 3 Tbs of oil in the pan until hot, then add the rice and stir 2-3 minutes. Add the beaten egg in and stir, cooking until done, another minute or so. Add the meat and vegetables and stir to heat through.

My kids like to add extra soy sauce at the table.

This works well with a variety of meat and vegetables. If you suspect you’re going to end up with some leftover meat from something one night that would work well, just cook up the rice that night so you can make it with leftover rice. It goes together quickly once you’ve got things sliced or chopped so it’s a great weeknight dinner.

I know pork chops are leaner than they used to be and hence older recipes will turn out dried hockey pucks if you’re not careful. I have a few good recipes that consistently turn out moist chops. But I’ve been reading about brining and have brined pork tenderloin with good results before and thought to try it with pork chops last night. I just brined them for an hour in:

1 quart water
4 Tbs kosher (coarse) salt
2 Tbs sugar
5 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp celery seed
juice of one orange plus the rinds

I mixed this all up in my big 2 quart Pyrex bowl and then dropped the chops in and refrigerated for an hour.

Afterwards, I dredged them in seasoned flour (salt and pepper) and fried them in shortening. These were thick bone-in chops. I cooked them about 5 minutes on one side, then 5 minutes on the other side so they were browned well. I covered the pan and cooked another 5 minutes. You’d need to vary this of course with thinner chops. These were about 3/4″ thick.

They were quite tasty! I think next time though I’ll brine them and cook them my normal method, sauteeing them in the pan with less fat and then doing a sauce with some wine and mustard and capers.

I’ve just received a cookbook to review and have to say I love the concept! The Warehouse Gourmet is out to help you shop the “big box” stores in an economical fashion. None of that overly processed pre-packaged stuff in here. Instead, the book is full of great-sounding recipes for “6 pounds of ground beef” or “3 flank steaks” and other common big package meat items. I’ve already tried one beef marinade that turned out great. Next time I get a chance to get out to Costco, I’m going to try a few more recipes. But I’ve gotten pretty good at “reading” recipes and predicting the results and these ones sound good!

You can buy the book off their website. It’s a nice looking, sturdy, spiral bound, well done book. I love cookbooks that stay open!

Oh, they’ve got a food blog too.

I’ve just received a cookbook to review and have to say I love the concept! The Warehouse Gourmet is out to help you shop the “big box” stores in an economical fashion. None of that overly processed pre-packaged stuff in here. Instead, the book is full of great-sounding recipes for “6 pounds of ground beef” or “3 flank steaks” and other common big package meat items. I’ve already tried one beef marinade that turned out great. Next time I get a chance to get out to Costco, I’m going to try a few more recipes. But I’ve gotten pretty good at “reading” recipes and predicting the results and these ones sound good!

You can buy the book off their website. It’s a nice looking, sturdy, spiral bound, well done book. I love cookbooks that stay open!

Oh, they’ve got a food blog too.

On Thanksgiving, I threw the turkey carcass into the freezer, not wanting to deal with that then. Over the weekend I pulled it out and made some lovely broth! Then the other day, I used some to make some very simple vegetable soup.

2 Tbs oil
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1/2 pound of green beans, trimmed and sliced
6 cups turkey broth
1 15 ounce can diced tomatoes with juice
2 tsp dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil over medium heat and saute the carrots, celery, garlic, onion, and green beans about 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. When the onions are translucent, add the rest of the ingredients and bring to simmer. Cook for 30-40 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

I was looking for a light soup. If you wanted a heartier one, add a cup or two (or a can) of cooked beans, or 1/2 cup rice or barley, or a cut up potato or two. You could also add some chard or spinach (or other greens), which I would have done had I had some around. Slice the greens thinly and add with the broth. A red pepper would have been nice too, both for color and flavor.