Ground Beef and Fast Chicken

[ase]

I want to write an entry about RAM and how stickers really ought to make my laptop run faster, but what it boils down to is a new, eleventh commandment: thou shalt not cheap out on memory.

I have spent a fortune on groceries since I got back in town. Sometime in the last year, I started saying, "I don't care if the cantaloupe isn't on sale, I want cantaloupe" and having toast with expensive jam for breakfast instead of cream of wheat or grits with butter. Also, I had to replace my vanilla extract, and I was raised to think fake vanilla as Just Wrong. Of such small things are budget downfalls made.

Yesterday I made beef pasta, sort of. Call it Mutant Not Hamburger Helper. (Beef Pasta is the only Hamburger Helper flavor I've taken to.) Take 1 lb beef, browned and drained, add two medium chopped onions and sautée on med-high heat. Add 1/2 lb pasta, 1/2 cup brown gravy mix, 1 tsp thyme, 1 tbsp basil, and 4 cups water. Chop and add 2 to 3 stalks celery and fresh parsley to taste. Simmer/boil until pasta's done. You see how this is mutant, and only sort of hamburger helper. Next time I want to add carrots, and add the celery (and perhaps the rest of the herbs)with the onions, but my saucepan may not be happy with increasing the quantity of anything. Fortunately, I have pots!

I bought chicken to restock my freezer (buy bulk, freeze and store in recipe quantities), so tonight I made chicken with spinach (almost) salad: chicken cooked with basil, oregano, thyme and a little olive oil, an onion and half a green pepper, dumped over fresh spinach and a chopped tomato, with lemon juice squeezed on top of everything. Lemons are officially on the list of quick-save food additions. Having killed my spinach, I can add corn and peas and have fake fajita filling on rice for lunch, if I make rice. Which takes ten minutes. Yum.

Cooking is fun, but cooking for one person is a pain: portion control is a hassle when everything serves four Americans. On the other hand, you only have to cook a couple times a week, if you don't mind eating lots of leftovers.

Comments

[kinetikatrue]

I don't know how it would be without the cheese, but California Skillet is one of my two favorite ground beef casseroles from my childhood.

[ase.livejournal.com]

The recipe you linked to calls for ground turkey. Any other substitutions you commonly make?

[kinetikatrue]

Sorry for not replying sooner - I've been afc for the past few days. Anyway, these days we actually most commonly use veggie protein crumbles in place of any sort of ground meat. Also some other form of tomatoes than tomato soup (diced canned, etc) and other seasonings than chili powder (garlic's good. really, though, so is anything else you think might be). And, y'know, if you felt like other vegetables (peppers, mushrooms) they work, too. And that's about it.

Also, I meant to say that your chicken/spinach salad sounded tasty. 'S not the sort of thing I get to eat much of what with having vegetarians for parents.

[florentinescot.livejournal.com]

Yay for weight-loss goals! Since I"m leaving the men-folk behind, I'll be cooking for one again.

*sigh*

I'm hoping for *much* weight-loss.

[florentinescot.livejournal.com]

LOL. I'm sure you're wondering about the "weight-loss goals" comment. Believe it or not -- I had 2 friends posts about eating and food -- and the other one is eating, food and weight loss.

*blush*

[ase.livejournal.com]

By the way, congratulations on finishing your dissertation, Dr. florentinescot!

[florentinescot.livejournal.com]

*blush*

Thanks!

[hourglasscreate.livejournal.com]

If you need a bigger sauce pan, I happen to need a thrift store run, maybe we can team up?

[ase.livejournal.com]

I've got a larger skillet I can upgrade to (it's sans lid, but that's okay for this dish) but what I really want is a two quart glass pitcher. What's your schedule like these days?

[hourglasscreate.livejournal.com]

Not tomorrow (Fri) other than that, pick a day.