Crimes Against Food - Guilty!

The photo above is a food crime.

I like to think of myself as a skilled home cook. HOME cook. And sometimes you get out of work late, and then you get stuck in traffic for an accident they don't report on the traffic report on the radio, and you have to make a couple stops because there is going to be a snowstorm tomorrow and it'll probably take you over an hour to get home, and then you find one neighbor didn't tell their guest to not park like an idiot and leave you space to park out front while the other neighbor has a work van parked IN FRONT OF YOUR EMPTY DRIVEWAY and apparently doesn't think it's going to inconvenience you and you have to wait fifteen minutes for her to get the work dudes to move the truck. I felt sorry for the work dudes, they were utterly embarrassed that she didn't point it out after both the hubby and I were throwing daggers as we watched them move the truck (by that point in time, BOTH the hubby and I were waiting, with cars running, just trying to park our cars).

The old dude next door with the guest... at least he called last week to let us know, and more so to TELL us to leave space for the guest's car... yes I am peeved he didn't show US the same courtesy, but at least he tried. The other neighbors... they're just rude and inconsiderate. Period. Why they all think they have more of a right to exist than other, I will never understand. If I wasn't so tired, I would have gone over and possibly done some screaming. It's not like they haven't done it to us.

Where was I?

Oh yeah.... food!!

Sometimes, after all the above has happened and you're also mentally picturing what you have on hand that can be used/should be used before it spoils to get a quick dinner on the table at the understood dinner time, you might commit a small food crime.

Cream of mushroom soup.

Ya'll know it. Ya'll have eaten it in dishes before (although has anyone ever had it as JUST cream of mushroom soup? I never have). Before I left work, I managed to get around our web filter and found this recipe. Easy enough. And I have a fondness for beef + cream of mushroom soup... my favorite meatloaf growing up was this one.

Ding ding ding... we have a winner. Even though it took me awhile (and searching one cabinet twice) to find cream of mushroom soup... I also have cream of onion soup on hand, and I figured that would work equally well.

Easy enough to do... I mixed up the meat in the Kitchen Aid.... seriously - if you have a Kitchen Aid mixer and have never used it to mix up a ground meat mixture - do it. You're going to dirty a bowl anyway, it's not much more to throw the paddle attachment on and use the mixer to do it. It mixes up quicker, better, and in the case of my fondness for long, fake nails, it means you're not still picking out pieces of meat mix at 10pm. I love my Kitchen Aid and I like to think it sits on my counter for more uses than pastry or for it to look pretty.

Where was I??

Oh yeah.. the biggest of the culinary crimes tonight...

So... I did a salad as the "veggie" for our meal because I was so woefully behind (my earlier adventures also ate into my workout window for tonight) and I wanted to use up some iceburg lettuce and cherry tomatoes that were headed south. Nothing too bad about that. Quickly peeld and chopped some potatoes for a mash.

But rather than add the water, a quick look through my fridge revealed a third-full container of veal stock.

Veal stock... into the party!!

The foodie in me knows it's a food crime to use lovely, beautiful veal stock with cream of mushroom soup... but the weekday "get the dinner on the table" in me is happy it was used and there is a little more room in the fridge, and that it was EXCELLENT in the finished dish. I've tried the meatloaf before with the hubby and no dice - he hated it in meatloaf form - but pretty much the same ingredient list in patty form, he had seconds and kept saying "this is SO GOOD!" as he ate. Maybe it was the veal stock.

The veal stock might have actually taken away from some of the usual saltiness that comes along with canned soups. I have to admit... it wasn't bad. It reminded me a lot of Mom's meatloaf. I could have forgotten the meat and just had that gravy loaded on a huge pile of mashed potatoes and been happy.

Yeah... it was a crime against food. I'm sorry.... lovely veal stock... that your end was a combo with cream of mushroom soup. But it was good. And it was quick. And the hubby ate seconds. And I am happy.