What if your next meal was also your last?

What would you request for your last meal?

I read Dead Man Eating regularly and find the entries to be oddly and gruesomely fascinating, very much akin to the books and sites I read about medical anomalies. Reading what people about to be put to death ask to eat before they depart from this world is a little unsettling and sad. I can't seem to stop myself from peeking, though!

I checked it today to see if there was a new entry. Alas, there isn't. But each time I look at that site, I wonder what I'd order for my last meal. Oh my, what a tough choice that would be!

Diabetes be damned! Chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn on the cob with chocolate cream pie for dessert?

Porterhouse steak, 2 inches thick and barely cooked, with a sour cream, cheese, and green onion topped baked potato, and pineapple lemon cheesecake?

Crispy turkey bacon, eggs scrambled with cheese and bell pepper, and grits?

I might ask for my granny's apple cake, the aforementioned cheesecake, and a bag of fig newtons!

Honestly, I haven't a clue what I'd request.

What would you request for your last meal on this earth?

And would you actually be able to eat it? That's the real question.

Freezer Food Friday

Thanks to What a Crock! for hosting Freezer Food Friday. This is my first time participating but it won't be my last. Participating in the memes seems to help me stay on track.

Tonight's menu is Red Beans and Wild Rice. I don't freeze the rice but the beans freeze beautifully and tonight they're going to contain some of the leftover 'smoked' chicken a la crock, chopped. Yum!!

We love to eat red beans and rice with hot water cornbread but that's really a carb-a-rific meal so we'll not have the cornbread tonight.

There are a lot of great recipes for Red Beans but we don't like ours too hot and spicy. Savory, yes, flavorful, yes, but not so hot we can't eat them. So here's how we prepare them.

1 pound dry red kidney beans, rinsed, sorted, and soaked for at least 6 hours
2 green onions, stalk and all
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup meat(I use turkey ham or chicken, ground beef, homemade turkey sausage, etc.)
1 to 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning
Additional seasonings such as pepper, etc.

Pour the water off the beans, put the beans in a soup pot or slow cooker, and add water to two inches above the beans. Add the chopped onion, garlic, and meat and bring to a boil. Boil 10 minutes then reduce heat to simmer and let simmer (or cook on low if using a slow cooker) until done. Add the chicken bouillon and creole seasoning and let cook another 30 minutes or so.

To prepare the rice, use two cups of water to each cup of rice. Boil the water then reduce to a simmer and add the rice and any seasonings you like. I add just a little chopped green onion and garlic. Bring to a boil again, reduce to simmer, cover and let cook about 45 minutes. Wild rice has a crunchier texture than white rice so if you haven't eaten it before, don't expect it to cook up as soft as white rice.

Put some of the rice into a bowl and top with the beans, including the pot liquor, which should be fairly thick and rich. I like to garnish mine with a little cilantro and chopped fresh tomato.

After you've eaten your fill, freeze the remainder of the beans in air tight containers. When you're ready to eat some more, let them thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat in a sauce pan or microwave.

Pantry update

Well, it was time to update my pantry contents list so I did part of that this afternoon. So far I've only gone through the main closet. I have to head to work soon so I'll probably do the freezer tomorrow. Here's what's in the main closet, though. You know, looking at this list, it looks like all we eat is convenience food but most of this is kept for emergency use and times when I can't cook for some reason. It's nice to have this stuff on hand just in case!

1 13 ounce box instant potatoes
3 Jiffy corn muffin mixes
3 Keto Mac & Cheese
1 box Ronzoni spaghetti
25 pounds of varyious legumes
2 pounds wild rice
1 pound white rice
10 pkg popcorn
7 boxes store brand pasta dishes like hamburger helper
2 boxes Taco Bell taco dinner
2 boxes tostado shells
2 cans chili
2 jars peanut butter
1 box saltine crackers

1 jar mayo
3 bottles Dorothy Lynch dressing
1 jar Classico sauce
1 gallon barbecue sauce
1 jar Ortega taco sauce
1 jar Archer Farms mild red enchilada sauce
1 28 ounce can red enchilada sauce
2 10 ounce cans red enchilada sauce
1 bottle mustard

9 cans salmon
10 cans tuna

3 jars instant coffee
2 cans regular coffee
1 box Swiss Miss cocoa
1 can vegetable juice

42 cans of stewed or whole tomatoes
16 8 ounce cans tomato sauce
1 27 ounce can spinach
4 cans spinach
5 cans potatoes
4 cans carrots
2 cans corn
12 cans green beans
4 cans mixed greens
5 cans mixed vegetables
7 cans of vegetarian beans
12 cans ranch style beans
2 cans refried beans
7 cans green chiles
2 cans artichoke hearts
3 cans mushrooms
12 cans chicken broth
9 cans cream of soup
2 cans pepper jack soup

large quantity of varying spices and baking items

"Smoked" Chicken A la Crock!

**Note to self - get batteries for the digital camera. The blog just isn't the same without pictures!**

Tonight's dinner is "Smoked" Chicken A la Crock, baked sweet potatoes, and salad.

I love the flavor of smoked chicken but without a smoker (heck, I don't even have an oven or stove right now!) I have to get creative to get that flavor. After a little experimentation I hit on the right combination of things to get a decent smoky flavor in my slow cooker. This is very simple but tasty and the leftover chicken makes delicious chicken salad.

Wash and rinse chicken pieces or a whole chicken. I prefer to use the whole chicken. Pat it dry and season with a little pepper, salt, and garlic. Put the chicken in the crock of your slow cooker and add 2 Tablespoons of Liquid Smoke. Add sliced onions, bell peppers, squash or any other vegetable you like, put the lid on the crock, set it to low and let cook about 6 hours. Because I don't like the boiled chicken thing that often happens in slow cookers, I drain the broth a few times during the cooking process, freezing it for later use.

When the chicken is cooked, carefully remove it from the crock. It will more than likely fall apart so you might want to put the chicken and vegetables in some netting before you put it in the crock. I don't do that normally but do it sometimes if I think I won't want to mess with fishing out pieces of chicken.

We usually have this with a salad and although it isn't exactly like smoked chicken, it's awfully tasty and is as close as I can get without paying $5 for one from the store! Try it and let me know what you think.

Confessions of a late night foodie...

It's 12:40 AM and I can't sleep. Rather than watch television, which would be difficult since I don't have one right now, I'm eating leftover spaghetti pulled from the freezer and nuked and perusing food blogs. I'm also drooling over some of the recipes I've found. Some are for sweets and others are for just good sounding dishes but a few have definitely gotten my attention. One that has is Copycat Macaroni Grill Reese’s Peanut Butter Cake. Reading this recipe gave me chills! And I'm trying to figure out if there's any way I can make it or a good facsimile in a slow cooker. I don't think it would work out well but I might try it soon just to see if I can do it. Now, back to my blog blunderings...

Carne Picada - Just what does it mean?

Some time ago I bought a package of meat labeled 'Carne Picada' from Wal-Mart. The meat was something like a cross between ground beef and beef steak cut in strips. It's absolutely fantastic cooked in a skillet with sliced onins until the meat is just slightly pink then topped with shredded cheese. Rod eats his between slices of bread and I just pile it on a plate and eat it with a fork. It reminds me of the steak used in a Philly sandwich or omelet.

Anyway, we picked some of that up at Wal-Mart a couple of days ago and I'll more than likely use it this weekend.

But I wonder... what the heck does 'Carne Picada' mean? A google search turns up many references to it and several that claim it means 'minced meat' but this meat isn't minced. It isn't quite ground, either. It's more like shredded.

So, do any of you know what Carne Picada means and do you know the meat I'm talking about?

Also, if you have other ideas on how to use it, I'd love to know them!

Today's excitement

My youngest son's girlfriend came over this morning and we went to Target. I had a gift card with $27 on it and we both needed a few things so we shopped a little and had a nice time together. She got a great little Chefmate slow cooker for $8.99 and we both bought some clearanced food items including red and green enchilada sauces, refried beans, and taco shells. Those are nice items to add to the pantry. Ole!

They also had some clearanced Del Monte canned vegetables but I didn't have my coupons with me so I'll take the coupons with me tomorrow and get a few cans of vegetables to add to our pantry.

After shopping we went to lunch then she had to head out to get her son from school so I came back home and am about to head out again to do laundry.

Tonight's dinner is wild rice with beef roast gravy, green beans, and salad. Yum!

Tonight's dinner & a little grocery shopping

I got home from work about 6:00 PM and was very hungry so I ate the beef roast, vegetables and gravy I'd taken for lunch and hadn't had time to eat. DH shared it with me then we went to Wal-Mart to get our free redbox rental. While there we bought a few groceries, about $19 worth. We decided that tomorrow night's dinner will be the gravy leftover from the roast with a little bit of the meat cut up into it, served over wild rice and with a salad and green beans. It won't be quite meatless but will be very close and will be both tasty and frugal.

I'm off tomorrow and don't go back to work until 2:45 Thursday so I'll probably make the slow cooked smoked chicken Thursday. If I get it started early I can take some to work to eat during my lunch break. So, that's my plan.

Minor change to tonight's dinner

Rather than make gravy with the broth, spices, and cornstarch, I decided to make Ray's 3 Envelope Roast then when I realized I lacked one of the four ingredients, I adapted it slightly to use what I had on hand. Oh, the resulting roast and vegetables are amazing! Ray's recipe is so good I don't know why I bother cooking a roast any other way and tonight's dinner reminded me of that! The gravy that it makes is excellent and the meat turns out tender every time. I'll take some of the leftovers to work with me tomorrow and if my coworkers are nice, I might share!

So, without further fuss, here's the recipe Ray shares with others in his PressureCookerRecipes Yahoo Group.

3 pound roast
1 envelope of dry Italian salad dressing mix (I didn't have this on hand so I used an envelope of chicken gravy mix)
1 envelope of dry ranch salad dressing mix
1 envelope of dry brown gravy mix
Water - for a pressure cooker 1 cup water for slow cooker 1/2 cup water in a slow cooker.

In a slow cooker you can cut in half the dry ingredients if you find it overpowering. In the pressure cooker use the whole envelopes.

Put the water in a measuring cup that is larger than the amount of water you are using. Now add and mix all three envelopes of dry salad dressings. Mix until blended completely or as best you can.

Brown the roast, if desired. I brown it in the PC itself. Add the meat to your cooker. Pour the water and salad dressing mixture over the roast and cook as usual. I cooked mine tonight for 20 minutes, then used quick release, and added the vegetables and cooked another 15 minutes.

If you want to make this in a slow cooker, cook it on high for about 4 hours on low about 8 hours.

Menu Plan Monday and menu for the week

I decided to join Laura at I'm An Organizing Junkie for her Menu Plan Monday. It looks like a fun way to keep my menu planning on track and I can always use ideas for meals. I've read some of the other MPM posts and it sounds like there are some great cooks out there. Since I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal and like a little freedom in my planning and cooking, I plan the meals but rarely assign nights and menus are subject to change. We do try to keep to the general plan, though, since that's part of our budgeting efforts.

So in no particular order except for tonight's dinner of beef roast, here are the meals for the next week.

Beef roast cooked in my Cook's Essentials 8 quart pressure cooker with carrots, potatoes, and onions. Gravy will be made in the cooker, also, using the cooking liquid, spices, and a little cornstarch.

Beef vegetable soup made with the leftover roast and vegetables. If there's any soup leftover it will be frozen and later thickened and used to make beef pot pie.

Slow cooked "smoked" chicken. To make this, I season well a whole chicken with garlic, freshly ground black pepper and a little salt and throw it in the slow cooker with about 2 Tablespoons of Liquid Smoke and cook it all day. The meat falls off the bone, is moist and savory and has a very nice smoked flavor. We'll have some of the chicken with large salads and green beans.

Chicken and rice made with the leftover chicken, rice pulled from the freezer, and served with cooked mixed greens and tossed salad.

Scrambled eggs, turkey bacon and wheat toast.

Red beans and rice with salad.