Sonic still a pretty good deal in Forsyth MO!

When compared to some other fast food joints (McD's comes to mind), Sonics located in Forsyth MO is still a pretty good deal!

I stopped there on Thursday, October the 10^th and ordered an All American Dog along with a medium order of fries. I like this location, not only for the fair prices (my meal cost only $4.75 with tax), but also for the fast and efficient service.

Time for some Crockpot chili!

What was that old saying? Chili today, hot tamale! Not wanting to go against such a tome, I decided to make up a batch of my favorite chili via the slow cooker.

Yes, I know. I've posted about a million-jillion (Definition of jillion - an extremely large number) chili recipes, in the past, with most all of them sounding about the same! But, on this day I was planning to add something really new! First off, here's my tried and true recipe:

1 lb ground beef (80% - 20% mix)

1 onion, chopped (for use as a topping,when you eat the stuff)

1 can petite diced tomatoes, 8 oz

1 can red kidney beans, drained

14 grams of Williams chili mix (per lb ground beef)

1 tsp Olive oil

1 tsp brown sugar (optional) per lb ground beef

Dash of cayenne pepper

dash salt and pepper

and now for the new stuff!

2 banana peppers, minced (adds a little more heat)

½ bell pepper, minced

See! Who said you couldn't teach an old dog like me a few new tricks? Seriously, though, I was slowly zeroing in on the ultimate simple chili! That, you see, is my life's ambition.

Now if you add in some pasta and a few more toppings you get this!

No more wieners in buns!

'Sticking my pink wiener into a warm brown bun,

makes me happy and want to come...

to your nice house on some fine day,

where we can play this game the live long day!'

I politely submitted this rather good poetic effort to Michelle Obama, as I understood that she was something of a known food critic. The answer I got back, was less than gratifying, if I do say so...

I did write her back explaining that the original idea came from something I did earlier with Anthony Weiner. Soon after that I received a visit from the police. What?

Critique: The All American hot dog!

Why does this look like a very fucked up vagina?

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council estimates Americans consume 20 billion hot dogs a year - more than twice the retail sales figures. That works out to about 70 hot dogs per person each year. Hot dogs are served in 95 percent of homes in the United States.

That is one heck of a boatload of dawgs! (For myself, I think that the total would be a much more conservative rate of consumption... maybe 68 hot dogs a year). Whatever the actual count, I thought to examine this very popular pastime in a bit more detail!

Right off the bat, let it be known that (like eggs), there are many variations you can eat out there; you have all sorts of meat wieners combined with many kinds of buns which are slathered with more crap than I could ever recount here. For this review, I decided to concentrate on your average run of the mill dog and bun! Here's a list of what I used for this post...

A disclaimer: This particular combination of ingredients was not the best a health conscious person could buy, nor was it the worst. (It was the kind of stuff I was able to easily purchase at my local Country Mart located in Forsyth Missouri).

I decided not to add anything about taste as that would be a waste of time. If you do not like to enjoy a good hot dog, you are very likely beyond the administrations of medical science....

What's actually in a common wiener?

All hot dogs (those that are sold commercially in the US) are cured and cooked sausages that consist of mainly pork, beef, chicken and turkey or a combination of meat and poultry. Meats used in hot dogs come from the muscle of the animal and looks much like what you buy in the grocer's case. Other ingredients include water, curing agents and spices, such as garlic, salt, sugar, ground mustard, nutmeg, coriander and white pepper. And that don't sound too bad... [Rumors that some dogs contain ground up eyeballs, beaks and other sordid and sick animal body parts. Not true, those are only sold to some West Coast consumers!]

Calories per gram!

After doing much research, I determined that there are about 2.3 calories per gram in this particular dawg. So, at 57 grams for the Frankfurter and 46 grams for the wiener, that came to only about 230 calories! Really, not all that bad even after adding some additional toppings.

The toppings!

For myself, I like a fairly standard group of stuff to throw on board; mustard, ketchup, minced onions, hot pepper and relish! I also like to lightly brown the inside of the bun for that finished look! 

In the end, you have thrown together a great tasting treat for low cost and a minimal impact on your waistline... enjoy!

Sonics Chicago dog and fries still a good deal!

Forsyth MO - Grabbing a fast food meal that won't kill a diet can be a bit tricky. But, at only 690 calories, the Chicago styled hotdog at Sonic's along with an order of French fries ain't all that bad! Over the years, I've found the quality of fare at this venue to be of the best of quality, and so I make it a conscious decision to forgo burger joints like McDonald's.

And, while McDonald's will set you back almost $7 for a Big Mac and medium fry, my Sonic fare came in at only $4.85! That's a major savings, in my book, at marginally better nutrition.My only gripe about the meal is the sodium content of the dog. At 2300 milligrams, it's way over the top!

Critique: Subway's Cold Cut Combo!

At some point last summer, I stopped at a Subway located near my home in Forsyth Missouri and fell in love with their Cold Cut Combo 6” meal deal! (A great lunch time selection and hopefully a  healthy addiction over time)!

And so it was on one of the coldest mornings of the 2015- 2016 winter, that I stopped at the 14974 US Hwy 160 venue, just to the north of Forsyth Missouri on Highway 160, to get a midday fix!

The Combo is just one of many sandwich offerings to be found at Subway, but it had tickled my fancy mostly because it was a combo of veggies and meats on bread - simple and wholesome, just like myself. OK. So, maybe I'm just simple.

I arrived at the popular eatery a little bit early on a Monday morning, around11:30 AM, in order to skirt the crowds that show up at about the noon hour. I ambled on in to the always spotless eatery and found that there was only one person at the order counter. Perfect. Now a word of caution! As you approach that counter, there is a great looking display of all kinds of chips-in-bags, just begging to be snatched up. Don't do it! These little bags of joy are actually 'caloric bombs'! And when they detonate, they can wreck even the most carefully devised diet! Thus, as I approached the counter that morning... I quickly grabbed myself a bag of Lays chips! [So, go ahead and sue me]!

Bag in hand, I then got the attention of the person I like to call the 'Facilitator'. (That's the guy or girl who assembles your sandwich according to your instructions). From a strictly procedural standpoint, you first call out the base and style of the sandwich. 'White bread, 6 inch cold cut combo,' I stated assertively that morning. The Facilitator eyed me casually and then asked, 'Ya'll want that toasted?' 'Yes, I do', I answered right back. (My mouth had began to drool a bit, at that point. A troubling, but well understood development from past visits).

That chore done, the last item in the order process was what most always got me flustered. My 'virginal bun' had just come out of the flash oven and it smelled terrific! It was hot-to-trot and merely awaited my personal selection of veggies from what looked to be a cornucopia of mouth watering selection bins. (On this day, excessive drooling, forced me to forego normal speech in favor of animalistic grunting and pointing. Thankfully, the Facilitator interpreted these strange gyrations correctly). [FYI - I prefer hot peppers, mayo, lettuce and onion on my cold cut combo]. In no time, the meal was expertly 'wrapped up'  and I then paid up.

OK, just a word about Subway and the cost of their food. It's atrocious! Seriously, I sometimes feel like an addict scoring some drug for a hundred dollars. OK, may be not as bad as all that. Still, the 6 inch sub and the bag of chips cost $5.25 including tax! Personally, I think that a little costly! But hey, I'm a true culinary addict, like I said...

An atomic hotdog!

I found that sprinkling even a small amount of fresh Habanero pepper (little red bits in the picture) on your typical plain Jane hotdog will definitely make a statement of heat in the overall scheme of things. Thankfully, the very small amount made for an over pleasant experience! This meal came in at about 340 calories!