Cooking with a crockpot

Summer is here so either grill, or cook on the stove. The oven is off 'til October.

But wait, there is another tasty and cool option. No need to heat up the house to make a roast. I use a crockpot, and in the last week there has been a really tasty pulled pork, and a pot roast.

For the pork I simply roasted in the crock, pulled it apart --shred with a fork-- and added my favorite BBQ sauce.

Delicious.

For the beef, just seasoned it with garlic, added potatoes and carrut, let it go for 5 hours, made a salad then enjoyed a great meal.

You probably have a crock tucked away in the attic or basement and usually used it for hearty winter fare.

But it's great in the summer for keeping the kitchen cool.

My favorite ingredient

Would have to be balsamic vinegar. I use it to add a depth of flavor to sauces and stir fries. just a bit, not more than a tablespoon or so.

I suggest a good 8 year one like as sold at Trader Joes

What's for dinner

Leftovers are tough to deal with. Boring. One of the keys for me is to repurpose them; a meatloaf becomes meat sauce, chicken leftover becomes a wrap.

Quickie recipe

This is fast, easy, inexpensive and delicious. What could be better?

Get a packege of crescent rolls unbaked. You can use Pillsbury.

Unroll them and spread with strawberry cream cheese.
Roll them back up and bake according to package directions. About 10-12 minutes or so.
enjoy warm

It makes 8 so it serves ummm...1

:)

Surely other cheese fillings are possible and would be tasty

New place--5 Guys

There's a new chain popping up areound here--5 guys burgers.

They have a real limited menu. Burgers, hot dogs, fries, and grilled cheese.
All I had was the burgers and fries, and they kicked ass. Truly like home made.

Happiness is a warm meatloaf

I always make meatloafs and they are different every time.

Today my recipe:

1 1/4 pounds ground beef (hey that's what the package was)
8 oz mushroom
1 large onion
1 cup bread crumbs
3 strips bacon
splash of milk
1 egg
red pepper flakes
salt

In the food processor, the onions and mushrooms were processed to tiny pieces. Bacon strips were cut in half, the half was reserved, and the other was cut into small pieces. Everything was combined, formed in a loaf. The bacon reserved bacon strips placed across the loaf and baked for 60 minutes at 350.

It tasted great, soft, yet not mushy.

I < ) Wendy's

Went to Wendy's today to try the new fries. It's always been my favoprite fast food place since I went there for the first time a few years ago. I even bought stock in it which has done well, thank you.

My favorite lunch is chili, fries, and a Frosty. All of this is around $3.
The chili is nearly as good as mine, and the Frosty is top notch.

But the new fries are absolutely the best you can find in any fast food place.
Burger King fries suck, McDonald's are usually soggy, but these are crisp and seasoned just right. They are a bit pricy at $1.29, but so good they are worth it.

Even as the cool off the have a great potato taste.

Sonic Review

Went to Sonic today. It's always crowded.

Why? Had the footlong quarter pound hot dog with chili. It was ok, but not the best chili. The dog was a 3 out of 5.

The chocolate shake was good, but too thick. That's not a complaint if really thick chocolate shacks are your thing.

Had some jalopeno poppers. They were too cheesy. Had no zip, because of the cheese.

The entire experience was a 4 out of 5 because it was cool seeing the servers skate to the car with moldy oldies playing in the background. A blast of nostalgia.

The food was solid but meh.

Skinny Cow

I tried the Skinny Cow brand Truffle Frozen treats. They are on a stick and I have had the caramel and the chocolate. They are made with skim milk but taste much richer. At 100 calories they are a guilt free dessert.

On a scale of 1-10, it's a 10. They are that good.

A home run for McDonald's

While most of MickeyD's food is kinda blah, the new hot chocolate is a home run.

Tried the small for $1.99, and my only complaint was that I should have gotten a large. Yup, it was that good.

I'm finally home

Been eating hospital and institutional food for the last 15 months.

Yuck.

So I had a palate cleansing double cheeseburger and fries from White Rose in Highland Park, NJ. Now ready to get back and plan to update soon.

Subway Chipotle Cheese steak

After living on hospital and rehab center slop for nearly 2 months, the Subway commercials got to me. The Big Chipotle Cheesesteak. I begged the Mrs. to pick one up for me.
She didn't get me the large, because my appetite is diminished, plus, well, I shouldn't eat that much anyway.
The half sub was plenty.

As far as taste, it was AWESOME.

Tender beef, and plenty of it, with a spicy chipotle sauce, and a smattering of jalapenos gave it a nice kick.

The sauce is kind of a creamy but, spicy, sauce. Not a lot of kick to it so that is where the jalapenos come in. Use them to make the sandwich as hot as you like it.

The sandwich costs around $5.50 for a half, so it's no bargain compared to the regular Subway menu. But sometimes you have to treat yourself.

This is rated 4.5 out of 5.

Hospital food

Because I've been in the hospital for a few weeks, I thought I'd review the food.

The hospital does proteins and pasta fairly well. They will deliver a piece of dry chicken covered in some yellow gravy. It will taste ok, and gravy covers the overcooking well. Pasta dishes are not too mushy, and the slightly sweet sauce can be doctored bedside with some Mrs Dash or pepper.

Be aware that any sides that accompany your meal will be terrible. Broccoli, green beans, and carrots will be so overcooked and mushy that they are almost baby food. Watered down baby food. Yes, even the mashed potatoes manage to have no flavor, save for the ever present gravy.

Dessert is where the kitchen comes through. It is as if they try to make up for the meal. Pudding is an excellent choice. Jell-o, of course is a staple, and graham crackers are always the snack of choice.

I rate hospital cuisine one half star.

Wendy's New Chicken

I'm not sure what they call them, but Wendy's has some new chicken choices. They are available in different flavors and we tried them all.

The Buffalo style was spiced very well, and was hot, but not unpleasantly so. While Mrs was sure they were simply the nuggets sauced up, they seemed to be a little bit bigger. They were all white meat, and seemed to be a good value, costing 4 bucks for 8 decent sized nuggets.

The honey BBQ was slightly sweet, with a touch of spice. It was very good. It did have that artificial smoke flavor, which I don't like, but most people seem to.

Lastly was the Asian. That was our favorite. It was sort of a poor man's version of General Tso's chicken. The flavors were nicely balanced, it was neither too hot nor too sweet. I hope this one stays on the menu.

If we order again, Mrs will probably make some rice as a side dish, as that would work perfectly with any, especially the Asian one. The potato just didn't seem to fit.

Kentucky Unfried Chicken

We hit the Colonel tonight as the Mrs couldn't wait to try the newest version.

She liked it, I was sort of blase about it. It was ok. Just seemed a bit on the dry side, and a little underseasoned for my taste. One reason I like KFC is it is something I can't make at home very easily. This chicken could be easily duplicated. In fact, Mrs makes it better. I suppose it is decent for food in a hurry if one is on the road. I wouldn't buy it to bring home again-- though I do enjoy the cole slaw.

Pepsi Throwback

For a limited time, Pepsi is making soda the old fashioned way--using real sugar.

I couldn't wait to try it.

Well, today, the Mrs picked up a bottle at Stop and Shop, and we had some tonight. It's hard to explain, but it just seemed to taste better. Almost lighter, if that makes any sense. It certainly was more refreshing, and didn't have that cloying sweetness that usually accompanies cola sweetened with HFCS. (high fructose corn syrup)

Mrs was pretty much in agreement with me. She isn't a huge cola fan, but liked this one. After reading other positive reviews, I can only hope Pepsi makes this a permanent part of the lineup.

Baja Fresh is the Bomb

Just finished a nice lunch from Baja Fresh, which is a slightly upscale Taco place, I guess. At least compared to Taco Bell, it is.

I had the triple taco combo or whatever they call it. It had a grilled shrimp taco, along with a couple mahi mahi ones.

I do like my fish tacos, so the mahi mahi was fine with me. And the shrimp tacos were delicious, served with a slice of avacado, and a bit of salsa, they were unique and quite a tasty lunch.

We had a coupon, so it was 5 bucks for lunch, which is a good deal. Without the coupon, it would have been $8. That is a bit on the high side for lunch, but it did come with a scoop of beans and some nice Spanish rice. Maybe I'm just cheap, but that is a bit more than I feel comfortable with paying for lunch from a take out place.

The tacos were good, with a modest piece (more like 2 fish sticks) of fish, and (4 or was it 5?) small grilled shrimp.

It was fair at five bucks, pricey for 8.

Butter Chicken

We went to an Indian restaurant and got an order of butter chicken. It was on the menu as something else, riki tiki tavi or something like that.

We've never had it before, but we will order it again.

It is delicious. Little pieces of chicken in a sauce that reminded me of creamy tomato soup, served over basmati rice. The sauce was spicy, but not painfully so as some Indian dishes can be.

For lack of a better word, I'd describe the sauce as "rich." It was smooth and creamy, with a blend of spices, none very overpowering. It was perfect.

We tried a few other Indian dishes, and I have no idea what they all were. One was a dosa, which is sort of a pancake stuffed with chunks of potatoes. I liked that, but it was pretty heavy, too.

One thing, the meal was priced very reasonably. The two of us ate for around $20, and we had plenty of leftovers. Next time, we'll just get the butter chicken, and that should be enough for the 2 of us for about 10 bucks or less.

White Castle Goes Country

White Castle is probably the most innovative of the burger chains. Last night we saw a commercial for their newest treat, a BBQ pulled pork sandwich.
When I told Mrs. about this, she came up with an excuse to go out today to the Castle.

We each had to have one, and do a taste test.

To begin, the sandwiches were very reasonably priced at 99 cents. Of course, they were White Castle sized, so the average person is going to need at least a couple.

There is not a lot of filling (hey, what did I expect for under a buck?) but it was pretty tasty.

I've had plenty of pulled pork and before you suggest that NJ isn't exactly the BBQ capital of the world, we have attended festivals and had BBQ from some world class BBQ makers. We are not experts, but not exactly novices, either.

So, our analysis of the sandwich: The BBQ sauce was slightly sweet. We both personally prefer a more tangy sauce. The pork was tasty, and tender. If White Castle still has the sandwich when we go back, we would probably get it again, but get a few sandwiches, and double or triple up, combining the filling to make a super sized sandwich. It was just too "bready" for us. I think White Castle would have done better to make a thicker and sloppier sandwich. Sure, it would cost more, but the sacrifice for a price point left me unsatisfied. I would have much preferred paying $1.89 or even $1.99 for a double helping.
Sure it would be messy, but that is part of the BBQ experience. I remember having to nearly hose off the Mrs. after one festival. And it was so worth it.
On a scale of 1-5, I'd rate the sandwich a solid, and tasty 3.

Ben and Jerry's newest

A few of their flavors (I've had Cherry Garcia and Chocolate Fudge) are now available in Dixie cup sized containers. At 220 calories, it is one way I can enjoy my favorite Cherry Garcia without overeating it. Yeah, we all know how tough it is to put down the spoon once a pint is opened up. 4 servings? Like that is going to happen.
The cup comes with a tiny spoon and the chocolate bits seem to be sized perfectly.