better part of waking up...

Tired of the daily cereal grind? Set that alarm clock 10 mins earlier, lay off the snooze button and mix in some bacon and eggs.

I delayed this for weeks thinking I didn't have time to squeeze it into the morning routine. But when the bacon starts looking questionable you make time to avoid tossing it out.

Easy system. I'm weird and I'm 83% sure I don't really like scrambled eggs. So I typically hard boil them when it's up to me. So wake up, throw 2-8 in a pot (pending protein necessary to take on the day), bring to a boil, remove from heat, hop in the shower.

 

Post shower, throw some slabs onto you fancy bacon cooking sheet that Mom got you and wave for about 1 min per slice. (Hint: undercook can be fixed. Chargrilled cannot.)

 

Throw on the wrinkle free slacks, tuck in the tee, crack off the shells and you have breakfast. Nice glass of O.J. really completes nutrient trifecta.

 

Fast Fact Friday

One out of four Americans eats fast food every day. 

Oh, no surprise... 60% of us are considered overweight or obese. 

Learn to cook peeps. Steam you some veggies. Make you a fruit salad.

[source: http://blog.partnersforyourhealth.com/Blog/bid/85971/Shocking-Fast-Food-Statistics-You-Should-Know]

The Professional

Amatuer hour is over. Brought in the big guns this weekend to show me how its done, and a quick guest blog.

MAMA! says -

Pops and I had the pleasure of helping Alex move into his new apartment in Atlanta where he will also be starting his “big boy” job soon as a Structural Engineer. And we all say YAY! As everyone knows, moving can work up quite an appetite and can also leave you with food in the pantry and refrigerator that you don’t know what to do with. My mama always taught me never to be wasteful and boy has that stuck with me. Because of that, I love to see what I can throw together with things on hand. So, that was my mission…to use up the leftovers. And this is easy to do, especially with pasta. Really. Read on and see what I came up with.

First of all, here are all the ingredients I used.

I cut up 3 chicken breasts that were left in the freezer.

I sliced a green pepper and cut grape tomatoes in half. I must confess these items I picked up at the grocery store.

Then, I began cooking the chicken in some olive oil and garlic in a skillet and sprinkled some oregano for seasoning.

I added the green pepper. Onion, mushrooms, or zucchini would be good to add here too, BUT those I didn’t have.

Then I added a jar of leftover vodka pasta sauce and simmered about 10 minutes.

Just before serving I threw in the sliced tomatoes. You do not want those to cook to mush.

During this time, I was cooking the pasta so it would be done at the same time. Timing of everything getting done at the same time may be challenging for some. All I can say is practice makes perfect.  
 

I wanted a salad and threw together something easy and delicious using a salad kit I found on “Manager Special” at Kroger’s, my “go to” store. Since I love a good bargain, finding those stickers always brings me great joy. I added fresh strawberries and blueberries to the spinach kit, which makes for a very healthy and yummy side to the pasta.   

Voila! Here is the finished meal ready to eat after a long day of moving in “hotlanta”. I grated some fresh parmesan on top of the pasta that was left from the fridge too. I have a garden at home and the cucumbers are plentiful right now and I share them with everyone I see, including Alex. As another side, I sliced and marinated a cucumber in red wine vinegar and sugar, which is something I learned from my mama growing up when we had a bounty of garden cucumbers. You can use regular vinegar too, but since I found the other in the pantry, well then, that’s what we used.      

 

Hey friends and family, Alex would love visitors at his new Atlanta apartment. I bet he would whip up something yummy for you in the kitchen too.

 

 

MAMA's performance: A+

She wins, she always does!

Dog Days

Getting into the dog days of summer. It may not be exciting & certainly doesn't make Mom proud but its quick, delicious and on budget. (Yes. That is bread instead of buns. So I forgot to buy buns. Everyone makes mistakes!!)

Personal performance: A

Great 'wave dogs are great

How not to Stir Fry

You would think stir fry would be easy and would be good every time. Well I figured out the trick to screwing it up. Fact #1. Thin sliced chicken does not need to be cooked in a crock pot. It's thin, it's a quick cook, 6 hours in a crock pot renders that nice dry, leftover, reheated chicken taste no buddy loves. Fact #2. If at first you don't use enough seasoning / Worcestershire sauce, soaking it does not make it better. Fact #3. Brown rice with assorted veggies boil in a bag + steamed broccoli can in fact disappoint. An all around lack luster effort.

Personal performance: D-

:(

Fast Fact Friday

Fast Fact Friday makes it's triumphant return!

The chances of getting a double yoaked egg is 0.1%

 

 

I WIN! right?

Enchiladas, si

After a long lay off, finally strapped my apron back on this eve. I tried my hand at one of my favorites by Mom.

Always have to utilize the crockpot when you can. I spiced up the chicken prep a touch by adding some chicken broth, red pepper, some left over taco seasoning and some onions to let the chicken thighs bath in.

 Turn this

into this. BAM.

*Note: Did not fry tortillas for a few seconds until limp, tortillas are already limp. #confused.

Personal performance: B

Per always, Mom wins. Nothing to complain about. But nothing too exciting either.

The Grocery Store Curiosity

I came to an interesting conclusion at the grocery store last eve, our brains are weird. I've made a slow, painful progression over the years from

this for $1.09

 to this for $2.87

sometimes this for $3.67 (usually only when its on sale)

and really splurge for this for $4.29 (on sale for $3.34). But never will I buy

this for $5.99. Why? because $6 for a pizza at the grocery store is a ridiculous price!! and yet

is a great!! deal. I don't think there is another place on earth that our brain tells us to buy the off brand because its 11 cents cheaper. We won't even bend over to pick up 11 cents and yet we downgrade our food choices to save the dime. This is very odd to me. I have skipped over buying fresh chicken for years because it was $3.50/ lb and you can get a frozen bag for $2.25/ lb. And yet sure, throw in a small queso for $3 to go with my burritos at Moe's for $10 is perfectly reasonable. I would never buy queso at the grocery store. why? because it's $3! Same concept with gas station sodas. I'm pumped if they have an any size for a $1 deal. So you get a 32oz for $1. But never would I buy a 2L at the grocery store for more than $0.85.

Mom, can you please explain the transformation of thinking that occurs when you walk into the grocery store? OK, Thanks!

TIME!

"I wonder if ABE has finished off that BBQ from a while back?"

Yes, just did. Thanks for asking. 

Backcountry

"Hey ABE, these recipes are great and all but they don't have electricity, or big pots in pans, or ingredients out where I'm going."

BAM!

The overnighter essentials. Trail mix & Granola Bars for vista snacks, PBJ, Ramen & Tuna for Dinner, and a little oatmeal in the morning. 2 days of food, less than 5 lbs, less than 3"x8" of space.

Tacos

Don't worry hungry readers, I'll feed you... So I got a crock pot in the fall thinking it would make meals far easier. Turn it on when I leave, dinner ready when I get home. Well, turns out that is true. What is also true is it takes a lot of thinking ahead and planning. Ergo, it doesn't get used all that much. But, it did get dusted off for some chicken tacos this eve.

1.25 lb boneless/skinless chicken thighs

Can of diced green chilies

Can of cannellini beans (drained)

2 tbsp of taco seasoning

HEY MOM! I bought the 1.25oz package of  package taco seasoning, do I use the whole thing? (keep in mind, I'm no fool, tbsp is a volume - oz is a mass, even if you get the app, those don't convert)

"Umm, open the package and measure out 2 tbsp ..... ??"

Ohhhhh. Good point.

THANKS MA!

Pile it all in and cook on low for 6 hours

I didn't make it home until 10 hours later. This is when Mom would usually call me saying "can you turn off the crock pot please". But one perks of buying the $45 crockpot over the $30 is it's got a built in "can you turn off the crock pot please - but keep it warm too" function. So I made it home, pulled out the chicken, gave it a shredded, mashed the beans (no idea why, just following instructions), added rice, Monterrey Jack cheese, splash of hot sauce and...

Personal performance: A

Actually very good. No real complaints. If I had more fixings they could of been my first A+. I'm real concerned how the chicken is going to hold up to the reheat though.

STIR FRY NIGHT!!!

It's Monday which apparently means its STIR FRY NIGHT!  I finally finished off my stock of rice and broccoli (pretty skimpy on the broccoli tonight unfortunately). I finally through in a little more cow into my diet, picked up a pack of strip steak on manager's special as the stir fry center piece this eve. I lathered it down with Teriyaki 30 minute marinade.  These marinades are just like cigars, sound like a great idea, never that happy with the decision. Otherwise a great dinner. Steak is better than chicken, per always.

Personal performance: B-

What's a good marinade / moist flavoring?

The Game Changer

I don't mean to overstate what I'm about to share with you, but I might be saving your relationship right now. You see the beauty of the microwave menu is you unwrap the plastic and throw it away. Beautiful system for us lazy young men. The major flaw of cooking like a grown up is it creates this..

I'm sure all of us at some point in our lives have lived with this person. I myself am this person. This has without a doubt caused a riff in a relationship at some point in your life. And the problem is there is no solution. Nobody likes doing dishes. Men are lazy and think dishes are women's work. Women have made up rules of "I cooked, you clean" to get out of dishes. Parents have made dishes a chore for generations because they have the power to force the poor kids to do the dishes. Beans even tried to chop her finger off just to get out of dishes! Simply put, dishes are miserable. But in order to cook, you must clean. So here is my how to guide to make MOM (and all other important ladies in your life) happy...

1. Personal pet peeve.

These are dishes.

This is a dishwasher.

These are pots.

 

This is a pot washer.

Let's keep it that way. I know its a lot easier to stick the pots in the dishwasher, get over it. Wash the pots.

2. My Pops goes overboard with the pre-wash and dish organization but the concept is solid. Line up like dishes with like dishes and it's much easier to empty the thing. Hence it gets emptied and dirty dishes don't pile up in queue. Also, if the thing is full, no need to jam 3 more things into it. It's not the last life boat off the Titanic, wait for the next load.

3. Finally, dishes are never going to be fun. But what I have found this year is this. Double sinks are a must, have plenty of counter space for drying, and put a TV right in front of you. Grind through. You will have kids you will force this task upon one day.

You're Welcome, in advance.

Guests

Treated my good pal Matt McCrary to Bean's spicy sausage pasta.

 

Personal performance: A

Yeah. It was spicy. Yeah. It was delicious.

Fast Fact Friday

As much as you want to believe it, plain and vanilla are not the same thing. Do not be fooled.

(makes for a very unique tasting chicken alfredo)

Make-shift Bayou Stew

Buckle up hungry readers, we have reached stage 2 cooking. Now usually the number 1 rule when requesting recipes from MOM is 5 ingredients or less - I'm poor but more importantly expertly frugal. Well tonight's meal does not apply...

Not only is that 14 over the legal limit but the spice count alone blows a .08... But after 3 years behind the wheel of these pots and pans I have actually amassed a spice rack that can handle this bad boy.

The problem was with poor planning is I didn't have onions or the can o' stewed tomatoes. Not a problem, very overrated ingredients anyways. Now there are few things I like more than some good Momma Made Jambayla....

Personal performance:B+

For a spur of the moment dish, job well done. A small part of me definitely resides in the Bayou though. I have a gift for making it just hot enough so that the sinuses begin to drip.

The Sequel

So if you recall 'what's for dinner?' last Monday, same answer tonight. A sequel can never be a carbon copy though. You have to mix it up, take a few risks, see what happens.

HEY MOM! Is olive oil still the trick for frying pan chicken if you go with some fiery 5 pepper seasoning?

"Yes, olive oil is magic. Always works."

Ok. What about throwing some black beans into the mix with the broccoli & squash?

"If you have spicy chicken to go with it that should be fine."

THANKS MA! 

As you might expect with a sequel... It's never as good as the original. Stick with the original recipe. 

Lessons learned: just because you need to get rid of an ingredient, doesn't mean you can toss it into your dish. 

Personal performance: C-

The black beans worked, but not well. Just did too much. Turned the plate into a mound of mushy mess. 

The Inspiration

So if you are looking for someone to thank for this blog of wisdom, it was the (not so) new sister, Sara Beans, who has inspired it all. Her collection of pinterest-ipes jump started my advanced course in cooking. Beans is now speed dial #2 when Mom doesn't answer.

Yummmm... Simply Jacobson

I can attest that the chicken broccoli alfredo, the breakfast casserole, chicken fajitas, salsa chicken (as a nacho topper), taco pasta bake, and the spicy sausage pasta are all worth your time.
         

Cook on peeps.

Chx-Parm

Got another quick and easy.

Dice up some chickens

Quick egg dip, Italian bread crumb slather and hot olive oil bath

Boil some noods

Add some sauce, mozzarella & stinky cheese (if you like), 400 covered for 15, uncovered for 10.

Enjoy! Don't worry MOM, I got this one...

Personal performance: A

Suggestion: dicing up the chicken was nice for eating but made prep twice as hard.