Your cooking has two moves Marge....

After a day of trying to convert some serious engineer-speak ("select the selection and after you have selected the selection blah blah blah..." seriously?) my brain usually hurts. It's really a day spent doing some serious manual translation. You need to read every sentance, figure out how many thoughts are really in there, then play with the software and try to figure out what the heck they REALLY mean, and then work it all into something that can be useful to a reader AND not offend the submitting engineer enough that they'll throw a hissy fit. Because some do - when you don't use their exact wording, they will fight you. Sometimes to the point where you need to go "well I'm not asking you to fix X, Y, and Z in your code... don't play around with the words. That's my job."

Ugh.

So, tonight I needed comfort food. Something that makes a foodie really happy.



Hey... Shake'N Bake and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese makes me happy sometimes. Deal with it.

And I love the Steamfresh veggies. If you haven't picked them up, do so. I have a bit of a complex about using too many microwave steamer bags, and I figure these cook in the bag they came in, so my ecological guilt is appeased, a little.



Oh yeah... don't forget the apple sauce. SO important with pork chops.

I am not so much of a food snob that I disagree with some help from store-bought products and not doing everything from scratch. Would I serve this if company was coming over? No. Was it a nice, stress free cooking night for a day where I was so out of it that I walked into the kitchen 15 minutes after I put the pot of water on the stove, only to find I forgot to turn on the burner? Yes. Was it tasty enough? Yes.

All items were prepared as per package directions. Hey... ya don't have to crap up a good thing. Just follow the directions that someone translated, even from food-engineer speak.

15 Minute Meals

Hi, I'm the Suburban Hausfrau, and on this blog, I make 15 minute meals.....

Wait a sec. That's not right.

Try again.

Hey. Suburban Hausfrau here. Sometimes I'm lazy, too lazy to even go to a drive thru, but I like to eat. I also like to clear out all the junk that I have in my fridge and freezer. Here is how you can throw together dinner in fifteen minutes while also filing your nails, reading the new issue of Bon Appetite and watching old Molto Mario episodes on Fine Living.

Mis en place....


This includes chili I took out of the freezer a couple days ago, hot dogs bought over Memorial Day weekend that were not coooked, half an onion, and shredded cheese. The jalepeno mustard in back isn't involved. It just likes hanging with the cool kids sometimes.

I'm from Chicago.... and in Chicago, we boil hot dogs (sometimes, at least). I plop them in a saucepan with some water, and bring it just to a boil until the hot dogs start spinning. Then you let them sit in the hot water for five minutes (or until you go wake up your husband to tell him dinner is ready).




Next, nuke your chili. Man, can you remember back to life without the microwave? I kinda can. And I'm so glad we have them now.




Mmmmm...

Chop your onion. Doesn't matter if it's small or big pieces - it's your preference - sometimes I even just throw it in the mini chopper. I actually busted out the knife and cutting board and did it in about a minute tonight.

Open your cheese. I seriously hope you don't need directions or photos to figure out how to do that.

Lay out everything attractively on your counter, and wake up the hubby and tell him to come down and eat dinner.



Like my counterscape? The french vanilla coffee mix, cake flour, Prego, red pepper flakes, bottle of Strawberry Crush, chip clip, expensive balsamic vinegar, honey, cider vinegar, ketchup, cheap balsamic vinegar, cayenne pepper, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, already seen Jalepeno mustard and out-of-season glass have nothing to do with tonight's dinner. It's just all crap that either hasn't been opened and therefore found a place in the fridge, or stays on the counter, or just can stay on the counter until I really feel like organizing.

Been an uneventful week. Tried a buttermilk-brined chicken breast recipe that was a total bust. Overcooked some SpagBacParm until the lovely carbonara sauce curdled. Ooops.

Hopefully, next week will be more exciting.

I think there is a wormhole in my pantry....

Dude. Seriously.

The agenda for today was to make chili, given the unseasonable cold and the depletion of my reserves of chili in the freezer. And I figured I'd get the bonus of using up some of the many cans of tomato soup and beans that I'd seen when I did a re-org recently. Got the beef and onions done, and went to find the beans and tomato soup from the pantry.

One can of beans. One can of tomato soup.

I *know* I'd seen more.

And also, while I was looking, there was a bottle of Dijonaise right up front/on top of everything. When I cooked brats last week, I spent ten minutes moving/looking for that bleepin' bottle and could not find it. It was not there last week.

Stupid pantry wormhole. Sigh.

So, it was off to the market, and I did have a couple other things I wanted to pick up. No biggie.

Decided to go to the "other" produce mart I hit sometimes. Great produce, great deli, lots of ethnic items. But man, I hate the people who shop there. It seems like every person in the store at any given time thinks that they are THE most important person in the world. It starts in the parking lot. People parking in the fire lane, non-handicapped people parked in the handicapped spaces, Hummers taking up two or three spaces... it's a nightmare. And then you walk in, and people are rude and it's just not enjoyable.

But I did make it out alive, with a giggle at two dudes in chef gear who were raiding the sections of fresh herbs.

Home, and the chili is cooking away in the crockpot, so I can take it easy this afternoon. Was thinking of going over to Trader Joes... but I'm feeling lazy. And I'd like to catch up on the two episodes of The Riches that are waiting on the Tivo. Or I might just continue to watch the Top Chef marathon.

Can I just forget this past weekend??

Ugh. It's been an eventful weekend, and not in a good way.

Immediate family is all fine, but there has been some very unexpected drama in the extended family. I'm not going to go in to it here, but here in Casa de Hausfrau we're trying to get back to normal.

Cooking has been on the backburner, although I did pull some greenshell mussles outta the freezer for dinner tonight in an attempt to throw something together for dinner. Mussels in a garlic and wine sauce (with a little shrimp stock), some pasta for the hubby, and loads of garlic bread for me. Always tasty.

I wanted to do a pork tenderloin tonight, but due to the fact I had too many adult beverages last night and didn't feel like joining the world of the living until very late morning, I didn't pull the tenderloin out of the freezer until late and it didn't defrost. But, I did also prep a dish of mac & cheese (Alton Brown's recipe) to throw in the oven tomorrow as a side. I had a bunch of hunks of cheese (cheddar, dubliner, and some gouda) leftover from Christmas still, and I knew it wouldn't be long until they started to get moldy. It probably could be more cheddar-y, but I'm sure it will still be plenty good.

We've had bone chilling temps in Chicago this weekend, so it was my plan to not head out for the usual grocery store errands anyway, and after the family drama sucked up all of Friday night and Saturday, I know I won't feel like hitting the stores tomorrow, so... Peapod to the rescue!!! We've had the Peapod service in Chicago for quite a few years, and I have been a fan of it for a long time. Loved it when I was in college living in the city and it was actually cheaper to have stuff delivered then shop at the little local (overpriced) store, and I've always loved it for busy weekends or times I just don't feel like braving the masses at the store.