Category Archives: Life

Baked Onion Rings

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I did this viral Onion Ring thingy a few weeks back.

I didn’t like it. It was too greasy even after it cooled down to almost room temp (so how is that appetizing??), and I didn’t like the seasoning blend every one seem to suggest was the best for basic onion rings you’d normally order in a diner.

I’m only into the way the parm cheese baked up. That part was tasty and I ended up eating that and throwing the onion rings away. The cheese also produced a really pleasing colour on the bottom of the whole thing.

Anyway, blech. To each their own. I did it, so now I can ignore it. If you want to make this, search the term ‘oven baked onion rings’.

Taco Hamburger Helper

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While I’m in front of the computer, let me give you the Taco Hamburger Helper recipe I got from the Instagram reel that kicked off my whole trip down memory lane.

Healthier Taco Hamburger Helper:
1/2 Lbs Ground Beef
1/2 Onion, diced or thin strips
Oil

Pan fry onions. set aside in a bowl to sear meat. Add onions back in. Add a small pinch of salt and start adding:

1/2 Red Pepper, diced or thin strips
2 Handfuls Spinach, washed/drained
10 oz Tomato Sauce
1 C Milk + 1/2 Water
1 C Egg Noodle Pasta
2 Tbsp Taco Seasoning Blend

Stir everything together, making sure the pasta gets submerged. Once the liquids start to boil, cover the pot and drop heat to low. Let that simmer for about ten mins before adding a can of rinsed off beans (black or pinto). Add a generous amount of Mexican blended cheese (reserve a bit for plating) and lid the pot again to melt it. After two mins, kill the heat and let it rest off burner to cool down.

Uncover and give everything one final good stir to combine the cheese into the mixture.

Plate with lettuce, sour cream, and pickled jalapeno or banana peppers, and a bit more cheese shred if desired. <– These are all the things I will add to make it a taco bowl meal when I make this next week.

DIY Hamburger Helper

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A few weeks ago I commented on an Instagram reel about DIY Hamburger Helper. I commented that I’d never eaten the box stuff before and asked what it tasted like. I never got a reply so I forgot all it until someone at work the other day was telling a co-worker she’s never eaten it before. She asked if I’ve ever eaten Hamburger Helper and then asked what it tasted like. Out of us three, not one of us had, and we come from three different age groups. And we all now work at a grocery store. I thought that was odd. What are the chances?

So, the three of us then had this back and forth about making it at home, and why it exists at all. The answer is, women started working outside the home in the 1970s. This product was marketed to every woman who was looking for faster, simpler meal ideas to feed their hungry family each night from the late 1970s onward.

The basic idea of Hamburger Helper has always been a box of small noodles with a cheese powder + curated spices packet, and all the consumer has to cook it with ground meat, veggies, and liquids to make it a complete meal. Easy peasy.

My mom made a version of HH which she could scale up (the box didn’t stretch far enough) to feed her army. So in that spirit, here is the basic idea of what Mum made us based on my memories, with spices I like, smashed together with what I saw in that Instagram reel. The husband and I loved it. I made enough for six big people meals on Monday at lunch, and by dinner tonight (Tuesday), it was all gone (save for one more portion for his lunch tomorrow.)

Aunt Stacey’s Hamburger Helper:
4 C Small Pasta Noodles, half cooked and strained (I only had penne on hand)

2-3 Tbsp Oil
1 Onion, diced
Salt Pinch
1 Lbs (454g) Ground Meat (of choice)

Fry the onion until it starts to soften; place into a small bowl. Lay the meat down in the oil to cook the first side, When the bottom edge is browned, carefully flip the meat over from you to sear the second side. Leave it go a full minute before breaking it up with a potato masher, twisting the tool as you push down on the meat to separate the strands into crumble.

Add to the meat:

1 Garlic Clove, minced (I used jar stuff)
1 Sweet Pepper, diced
1 Tbsp: Italian Seasoning, Ground Onion Powder (or more), Beef Gravy Powder (opt)
1 Tea Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 Tea: Ground Sage, Red Hot Chili Peppers grinds, Black Pepper
10 oz Canned Tomato Sauce (or canned diced tomatoes blitzed)
1+ Cup Whole Milk
1/2 Cup Water

Taste test the liquid. Adjust the flavours here if you want or need to. Add another small pinch of salt.

Bring the pot to barely a boil and drop in the half cooked pasta. Stir the pasta so 90% of it is submerged in the liquid. Lid the pot and drop the heat so it can simmer 10 mins to finish cooking everything and give the flavours time to marry.

Final additions:

1+ C Parmesan Cheese, grated or shredded
4 Marble Cheese Slices or 1 C Marble Cheese Shred

Kill the heat and lid the pot one last time to let the cheeses melt. Uncover and stir to combine everything evenly.

I’m not really sure how long this took to make, but I’d say it was between 20-30 mins. It was just as fast from scratch. The longest part was the time it took the meat to sear so I could start filling up the pan with the other ingredients.

Burger Mac & Cheese Soup

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While tooling around online, I came across this Big Mac & Cheese Soup idea that was perfect for using up some stuff I have kicking around in my fridge. Namely two leftover burger patties, and half a jar of spicy cheese sauce (soo good).

You know I love to play around with recipies to make it my own if I can, but more importantly, I need to make it simple enough to be both fast & dirty, and tasty as hell. I think I nailed this one. Check out what I came up with:

I started by cooking the pasta in water with a beef cube together from the jump. As this pot boiled, I heated up water and chicken stock powder in a small sauce pot off to the side.

When the pasta was done, I reserved about 1/4 cup of the flavoured starch water and drained the rest. While the cheese sauce and ground up burger meat heated through mixed into the pasta, I diced up a dill pickle to stir in as well to keep the Big Mac burger theme going.

I gave it all a good stir together and spooned heaping amounts of the mac & cheese into bowls, and then ladled the chicken stock over top to turn it into a soup. This dish stands on its own without the chicken stock if you’re not into soup. My husband loved this dish as a straight pasta + meal meal.

The original recipe above called for milk in the sauce mixture, but I wasn’t into that idea today, so this is all I used to make this meal:

Burger Mac & Cheese Soup:
2 C Macaroni Pasta
I Beef Bouillion Cube

2 C Chicken Stock

2 leftover Burgers (with an dry onion soup powder in the mixture)
1/2 C Salsa con Queso (found at Walmart)
1/4 C Dill Pickle, small dice

I hope you love making this one. It’s a hearty, tasty meal. It’s also fast and dirty, and tasty enough to satisfy. I really like that the spicy cheese and the onion soup mix did most of the heavy lifting. This is a no-sweat meal to make on the fly when you want to clean our your fridge more than you want to be all gourmet and fancy.

My Sausage Fingers Strike Again

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The other night I cooked a pizza for dinner, and as we were sitting down to enjoy a few slices with some soda, my fat sausage fingers got me into trouble again. *le sigh*

As I was reaching for another slice, my knuckle knocked the full glass of Fresca that was in front of the pizza on the cutting board, and this caused it to fall over and hit the hard wood board. It smashed and spilled my drink all over, under, and around the pizza slices, along with a bunch of big and small glass pieces.

I had to throw those slices (mine with the black olives) into the trash and work as fast as possible to mop up the drink that was now flowing all over the dining table as well as the cutting board. *le sigh*

“Would you like a some pizza with your broken glass?” asked the husband.

Smash Big Mac Quesadilla & Seasoned Fries

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We were going to smoke some ribs on the BBQ but time got away from us today and it’s about to rain, so switch of plans for dinner tonight.

I have been thinking about these small tortilla smash burger tacos, but I only have one large tortilla left, so I’m planning to make a quesadilla version for two. I bought some medium ground beef that I’ll season with S&P, garlic powder, and mince some onion into the mix.

Here is the classic Big Mac sauce I’ll be using. I’m renaming it for this meal idea.

Smash Mac Sauce:
1 C Hellman’s Mayo (I have no idea why this makes it taste better but it does)
2 Tbsp: Vlasic’s Relish / White Wine Vinegar
1 Tbsp Yellow Mustard
1 Tea: Regular Paprika / Garlic Powder / Onion Powder

Tuna Burgers

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I’m slowly weening myself, and by extension the husband, off of red meat. We tend to eat a lot of red meats all year, but in the summer, we tend to go bonkers smoking every thing we can get our hands on. I haven’t figured out what this summer will look like for us yet, but if Mother Nature has her way, she’s not into giving us many long weekend bbq/smoking sessions. 🙁

Sidebar: Doesn’t this Smoke warning look like a suggestion to smoke some bacon??

Anyway, I found this online recipe for Tuna Burgers, and having noted I have two cans of tuna collecting dust (not really) in my pantry just this morning, I instantly knew what to make for dinner tonight. I love tuna melts and tuna burgers. This recipe wasn’t far off of what I would have dreamt up had I had enough mental clarity to do so. I had a long day at work, so I needed a recipe geared towards the living dead tonight. 🙂

The burgers turned out nicely, too. I used some herbs from my garden in the patties as well as in the burger sauce, so that worked out nicely for me. I have to keep using them so they keep growing back and all that jazz.

Speaking of herbs, I am growing a small bunch of Strawberry Mint to use in simple syrups and to mottle down for faux mojitos. Fojitos?

I clipped a bunch the other day and whipped it over the fence for my neighbours who love to make summer drinks for their endless parade of visitors in their backyard. I really should have added a few rocks to the bag because it only just got over the fence, and then landed behind their bbq grill. LOL I quickly texted her and she grabbed it after they came back from walking the dog.

Like the other herbs, the more I harvest, the more it regrows. I should have a lot by this time in July. Woot.

Trying New Coffee Drinks

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Stopped by the local coffee shop that took over when a Starbux closed (imagine that!). They have some new drinks so I decided to try their Rosa Mocha. It’s an interesting and complex flavoured coffee drink: espresso, heavy cream, and a blend of hazelnut/strawberry/chocolate syrups.

It’s weird combination, yet it works for me somehow.