Guess Why We Had Waffles for Dinner Last Night?

Homer: Why do you mock me, God?!

Marge: Homer, that's not God, that's a waffle Bart tossed up there last week.

(she gets a broom and scrapes the waffle off the ceiling, then leaves)

Homer: I know I should not eat thee ... but ... (chomp) ... Mmm, sacre-licious.

Precisely.

We saw that episode a few days ago and Hannah and Rose both began longing for waffles. Though none wound up on the ceiling, thank goodness. I used a basic recipe, similar to this one.

This was called to mind as I read through this article which my friend Tammy, knowing me so well, about 25 lessons we can learn from The Simpsons about cheap, healthy eating. Enjoy!

Pacman Sugar Cookies

Both funny and creative! See how to make them at Snack or Die. Via Miss Cellania.

Product Review: Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce

We're not big steak sauce users in our family.

Truth to tell, we don't even own a bottle of steak sauce. So I guess you could say that we generally ignore the product altogether. Not from dislike. We just never think of it.

However, I received a very nice email a week or two ago offering some of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce to try out. Never being one to look a gift horse in the mouth I promptly agreed and a few days later received two bottles.

Intrigued, I immediately bought some ground chuck and we grilled burgers, one pound of meat seasoned with 1 tablespoon of sauce.

Everyone agreed, even picky Hannah, that the burgers had a certain ineffable deliciousness that they had never had before.

So far, so good.

Next I was making Hamburger and Rice ... a favorite in our household for all its extreme simplicity ... and thought I'd try out a tablespoon of Bob's Sauce in there.

The consensus was that it provided an enriching flavor which slightly changed the overall feel of the dish but that everyone approved.

I am going to be trying out Country Bob's All Purpose sauce some more. For one thing, I am extremely interested in their Swiss Steak recipe. I noticed that they use all fresh ingredients in their recipes for the most part ... and this one has plenty of mushrooms. Mmmmm, mushrooms. I imagine that some of Bob's Sauce is going to make it a very flavorsome dish indeed.

Red Cooked Beef

This originally was from a food newsletter that I subscribed to. I can't remember the name of the newsletter now, however, immediately recognized it as a sort of variation of Chinese Red Cooked Beef and thus I dubbed it in our household.

I do remember that it was made with round steak. It never seemed to me that round steak held up to the long simmering time so I changed it to chuck.

Other than that, it is unchanged. Simply scrumptious for a winter day I must say. I post it now so that y'all have a frame of reference for my Hamburger and Rice recipe.

Step 1:
2 pound chuck steak, in 1” cubes
2 tablespoons oil
Brown beef over high heat. Remove meat and juices to a bowl.

Step 2:
2 large onions, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaping tablespoon sugar
Cook onions with garlic and sugar until golden. Push onions to the side. Dump meat back into pan and pile onions over it.

Step 3:
3 tablespoons dark soy sauce
Water
Add soy sauce and water (enough for the meat to simmer in). Let meat simmer, covered, until tender (1½-2 hours). When tender, uncover pan and cook a little more to thicken and intensify juices.

Hamburger and Rice

It is somewhat embarrassing to admit that this is one of my kids' favorite dishes and one of the very few that I created myself. It is a bastardization of Red Cooked Beef which developed as I was cooking weeknight meals and didn't have time to go the whole nine yards on the original ... which is also much loved in our household.

Step 1:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, pressed
In a large nonstick skillet cook until softened.

Step 2:
1 pound ground round
Add and sauté, until lightly browned.

Step 3:
1 tablespoon flour
Soy sauce
2 cups chicken broth
Sprinkle in flour and stir to combine. Sprinkle in lots of soy sauce, then stir in broth fully. Simmer until mixture thickens slightly. Correct seasoning. Serve over rice.

I Forgot How Good This Is ...

Got back from Chicago and the first thing I made was Stir Fried Noodles with Shrimp, Chiles, and Lime ... Heavens to Betsy, I'd forgotten how good that is. Not that hard either. It was like a tango in my mouth.

Likewise with this Kao Mok Gai ... or Thai Style Chicken and Rice. I made it last night and the ginger in the rice just sang.

If you're looking for something new and interesting, but not too difficult, give these a try.

Now Serving Hot Links ...

• Everything's coming up ... tomatoes ... at How To Cook. From types to freezing to peeling to which canned ones to buy ... an amazing resource.
  
  
• Dispatches from Afghanistan Sam: How to Buy, Slaughter and Spit-Roast a Sheep ... I think that title pretty much says it all. With photos. Enjoy!
  
  
• What do the Chinese really eat at home? World Foodie Guide clues us in with Cantonese Home Cooking. That Chicken and Potato Stew looks pretty good and I have printed it out to try.
  
  
• How Local Can You Realistically Go? Barbara at Tigers & Strawberries has a wonderful example of how to take a down-to-earth look at your meals before patting yourself on the back for local buying. Also an interesting report of farmers' efforts to provide more basic foods locally.
  
  
• Nuts Online ... Siggy reports:

  Great quality. Third order and stuff is top notch.
  
  The coffees are great as well.
  
  I just rec'd 300 bucks worth of stuff- -worth every penny and way better and cheaper than whole foods type stores.
  
  The sun dried tomatoes are what I imagine your cinammon buns taste like.

  That flatterer! But I am going to check out this resource.
  

Gone to Chicago ...

... for a week.
Details here for anyone who is interested!

God Bless America, Land That I Love

Happy birthday, USA!

To those who are not Americans, I like the way that podcaster B.J. Harrison says it (as with so many other things he says):

I know that many of my listeners are not American, and to them I wish joy and freedom of the glorious land which they call home. How wonderful to have a day to celebrate independence. To me, independence proclaims our ability to choose right from wrong, and denotes a celebration for the right choices we make. These are the things that give us freedom. May we all rejoice in the freedoms we enjoy, and in the freedoms we create.

Here are 10 good ways to celebrate American freedom.

3) Walk around your house enjoying the lack of soldiers

Gimme a Moon Pie and a RC

A little bit of food-ish history over at Forgotten Classics, my podcast.

Quick Look at a Good Book

The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper: Recipes, Stories, and Opinions from Public Radio's Award-Winning Food Show by Lynne Rosetto Kasper and Sally Schneider****

In spite of my complaints about some of the absolute worst book design I've ever seen, the content is very good (which just annoys me more about the design). I haven't made anything from this yet but definitely will. One word of warning: this book title may make you think that it is all one needs to know about the "basics" of cooking supper. Not so. It is an interesting mix of basic information with some extremely sophisticated taste combinations that may be intimidating to a beginning cook. Which is probably exactly why so many cooks are raving about it.

This was one of the books I read in June ... the rest of the list is here.