Taco smolocko! It's what I likeo!

For this very humble soul, a good homemade taco IS a tiny taste of heaven, while also being fairly nutritious!

As everyone has a favorite style of taco, I prefer a soft flour fajita such as those made by Mama Lupe, (each 31 gram circle bringing about 90 calories to the game). As for the fillings, I prefer; taco meat, chopped lettuce, black olives, chopped green onions, Mexican styled shredded cheese and a good medium hot salsa! I like to prepare the meat ahead of time and then refrigerate it. Likewise, most of the other ingredients are setup in small containers that are ready to go when I'm ready to go throw everything all together..

Preparation consists of a quick nuke job on the fajita and meat (1 minute 45 seconds on high), a small amount of each of the other ingredients, and I'm off to the races! Total calories at about 145, but who's counting? You know, a great taco is like an awesome woman. Warm and soft with just a touch of heat, and very satisfying to … well, you know what I mean.

A pound of homemade potato salad? Yeah, that works!

Every so often I get a hankering for some good old fashioned potato salad. The problem was, I didn't particularly like the offerings at my local Deli. I also wasn't too fond of paying two to three bucks per pound! Thus it was that I came up with this simple old fashioned recipe which goes together fairly quickly, produces about one pound of salad and costs only about a dollar to make!

Ingredients:

2 medium Russet potatoes, boiled

¼ tbsp vinegar

3 tbsp mayonnaise

2 tsp mustard

2 tbsp onion, minced

3 tbsp celery, chopped

2 tbsp pickle relish

1 hard boiled egg, chopped

Dash of celery salt to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Dash of smoked paprika

To make hard boiled eggs

1. Place egg into a pot of cold water.
2. Heat to boiling.
3. Remove from heat and cover.
4. Wait 12 minutes, drain, cool and peel.

Directions:

After boiling the potatoes for about 15-18 minutes, place them in the fridge until they cool off, then remove, peel and cut into pieces and place in a small bowl. Next, take the hard boiled egg and rough chop into pieces and add them to the bowl. Next, add the rest of the ingredients and mix everything together with a fork pretty well. Place into a covered container and refrigerate for at least one hour. Makes about four servings.

Notes: For a fast way to cook the potatoes, just nuke them for about four minutes instead of boiling.Much of the flavor is in the mustard, so adjust amounts accordingly.

A neighborly meatloaf!

A good neighbor of mine, Carol, dropped off a couple of slices of meatloaf on a rather chilly and overcast day in October. This was very much appreciated, as I was really not in the mood to cook. (I was also curious as to how the meatloaf would taste when it was made by someone else).

5PM - It was now dinner time and one of the sliced pieces of meatloaf was sitting pretty as you please on a plate where I also paced a side of corn and potatoes with brown gravy. To me this was a real 'comfort' type of meal that I would remember with some fondness.

The verdict: I scored this meal a solid 9! The meatloaf was moist and flavorful and it got extra points for it being made by someone else! However, I was also inspired to have a go at making one myself!

French fries – are they really a very good deal?

DanO Dog and homemade fries!

Let's face something right off the bat. French fries are really not a very good food to eat from a health standpoint. But, just like potato chips, everyone including myself seems to be addicted to the potato. Addicted that is if said potato is boiled in oil, made into sticks or peeled thin and saturated with salt!

I wrote this shortly after stopping at a local McDonald's and buying an order of medium French fries for a cost of $2.09 that then came to $2.26 after taxes. Seriously? At 340 calories, 16 grams of fat and 44 grams of carbs, this is definitely not your standard serving of health food! (A rather expensive way to sledge hammer your heart too)!

So, rather than stop at a fast food emporium, I took a small potato, fried it in olive oil, added a DanO Dog and pigged out. Prep time was about seven minutes and the total cost was under half a buck! I also suspected that this method wasn't all that bad for me!

My homemade Italian spaghetti sauce!

As I was at the tail end of a failed diet, I figured what the hell. I might as well cook up a nice plate of pasta with French garlic bread on the side. (Women really dig fat old guys, right)?

The recipe shown here was copied oh so carefully from an old Italian recipe. I then immediately did a total hatchet job on some of the ingredients and most all the amounts. (Did that mean I was a better cook than some old Italian master chef? Heck no, it meant that as a real life screw up, I thoroughly enjoy screwing up other things around me as well)!

Ingredients:

2-28 ounce cans of crushed tomatoes

4 tbsp of finely chopped onion

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tbsp of dried basil

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp olive oil

3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1 minced green Problano pepper

Procedure:

I start off with a Le Crueset 2 quart mini pot. I add the oil and then heat it under medium heat for about 30 seconds. I then add the chopped onion and saute for these about 10 minutes until translucent, not burned. Next goes in the garlic for another two minutes after which I add in the black pepper, green peppers, basil and the tomatoes. (Note that the tomatoes had been blended in a food processor to a fine consistency). This mixture is brought to a slow boil, stirring often for a minute or so at which time the heat is reduced. The contents are then simmered, uncovered for about an hour after which time the contents are dumped into a slow cooker set on high for about two hours. Towards the end of the cooking cycle, I add in the cheese. Makes about 8 servings!

Notes:
Like most of my 'creations', this deal did not come together in exactly the way I had imagined. The 'tomato sauce' was already thick right from the can, and so, I pretty much skipped the step where it simmered uncovered for an hour. It all went went right to the slow cooker (I did saute the peppers and onion), set to high for three hours! 

The sauce was very good - I'd score it a solid 8 on a scale of 10!