Critique: Aunt Jemima's scrambled egg entree!

For a couple of bucks you get granular eggs, mushy hash browns and a couple of limp bacon strips! So, what’s not to love?

This 149 gram entrée from the folks at Quaker Oats would not seem that appetizing at first glance. It’s also a nutritionally challenged meal coming in at 310 calories of which 200 of those calories are derived from fat! To add misery to madness, the cholesterol does is 92% of the daily recommended allowance for an average person and there’s enough salt present (36%) to make you crave a glass of water afterwards. And don’t even get me started on the saturated fat content of this little puppy….

So, why do I buy and eat junk food like this? Call me crazy or perhaps just a bit off center, but this stuff does really taste pretty darn gooood!

Maybe it’s the fat content and maybe it all that salt. Whatever the reason, I like to make Aunt Jemima part of my breakfast plans one or twice a month. I scored this a solid 7 on a scale of 10. (The score would have been higher, but hey - this stuff will kill you)!

Critique: Michelina's Sesame Chicken

I would have guessed that any food description with the word sesame in it would be OK. After all, sesame seed plants are one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world! Why, I often eat hamburger with buns that have sesame seeds sprinkled over them (why this is even done is a subject for another post). So, I figured since this meal-deal was also on sale, I’d give it a go.

This Lean Gourmet offering comes in at a meager 260 calories and even the sodium, at 600 milligrams, ain’t all that bad. But…it’s also an Asian dish – something I missed when I pick it up at the store. It’s not that I don’t like all things Asian; let’s just say that I’m more a meat and taters kind of guy. Still, it was on sale and so into the microwave it went.

This brings me to a problem I have with this line of meals from Michelina. Most of these packages instruct one to ‘tear a corner to vent’ which is OK. What’s not OK is that the instructions are on the bottom of the package. So, if there’s more than one operation to perform in the prep cycle (and there is), you have to carefully hold the whole affair up over your head to see what the next step entails. Most times, they want you to open up the package and stir this or that before re-nuking for another minute or more. Problem is, that lid like to curl up and so is really difficult to place back over the contents! I’m forced to place some kind of plastic utensil over the lid to hold it down! Michelina – This was not a well thought out process and you need to come up with something else.

After working through the intricacies of meal preparation, I sat down to eat. Right off, I noticed that the pasta was not al dente, but rather al soggy. Also, there was the issue with actually finding any chicken. I did spy what appeared to be some meat cubes, but they were too small to readily identify ad coming from a bird. Lastly, I found the taste to be mildly objectionable. Asian is just not my cup of tea and even though I ate the whole meal, it’s not some road I plan to travel again in the near future! This one gets a 5 on a scale of 10. Another in my growing list of entrees I plan to serve to guests I don’t particularly like.

The flu is making early inroads this year!

After experiencing a number of years where the onset of influenza was either late or very moderate, this year could be a change for the worst!

As of the latest report by the CDC dated December 1, 2012, the flu is really beginning to ramp up in some states, most notably the southeast. As the graphic of states would indicate, the incidents of ILI or Influenza Like Illness is becoming widespread in states like Texas and Louisiana while Mississippi and Alabama are getting hammered! My home state of Missouri is doing OK, so far with only moderate to low occurrences being reported. Interestingly, neither Taney or Stone Counties have seen a single case so far, but that will more than likely not remain the norm for long.

This season, the main problem bug seems to be H3N2 aka Type A/Brisbane/10/2007 which is the same bug that was prevalent last year. It's thought, therefore, the vaccine currently being distributed should be very effective if applied early in the season (which means right now).

Critique: Michelina’s Salisbury steak!

This small, yet so very interesting, offering by Michelina gives a man just what he wants – meat and taters boy! It’s just too bad that this entrée is good to go for only us smaller dudes. At a bare 330 calories, there just ain’t enough ‘beef n spuds’ to satisfy most he-man types.

Having said that, I felt that this frozen meal deal might still be a good candidate for anyone looking to lose a few pounds (like me). And anywho, it was cheap! (I bought it at a local grocery principally because it was on sale for just $1.25). These days, while basking in that post coital Obama election glow, I find myself forced to limit my dining selections to the stuff that’s on sale. Long gone are those days where I’d stop over by the old meat isle and just grab myself a cheap porterhouse steak! Hey! Obama baby, I could use some o that free money right about now…

Yes, I'm afraid its become infected...

Quickly then, onwards to the bottom line….

After nuking in the microwave as per the directions and looking at the result (see picture), I really had no great expectations. (After all, by the time I’d gotten to this meal, I’d had a history of disappointing meals strewn out behind me in the form of previous posts. I was also reminded that I needed to get after a clogged up cesspool out back). So, it was with a heavy heart and a diminishing appetite that I took my warm meal to the dining room table.

Egad! This stuff wasn’t all that bad! I have to give the Michelina folks some credit where credits due. The steak tasted a lot like meatloaf and the mashed potatoes, well, they tasted like they were supposed to. All in all, a great little meal for the money. I’d give this one a solid 7 on a scale of 10!

You elected him. Now live with it.

President Obama met Wednesday with 20 of the nation's top CEO's, looking to tap into their nearly $2 trillion in cash reserves to help stimulate job creation.

But the looming fiscal cliff, financial uncertainty in the Eurozone and the ongoing implementation of ObamaCare have businesses fearful of expansion. On Monday, Hostess Brands announced it is closing three bakeries and laying off 627 employees. The company joins Boeing Company, Groupon Inc, Applebee's international, Papa John's and Murray Energy, which have all announced layoffs or other job cuts since the election.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/14/anxiety-over-fiscal-cliff-obamacare-has-businesses-holding-back/#ixzz2CHYaiiwt

My take: 'This guy is not a total CF. He just needs a little more time....'

Now, how many times did I hear that lament in the months prior to this election? Well everyone, he's got four more years of rope with which to hang both himself and this country.

Obama’s Dream of Nanny-land comes true!

'We’re living in a world called Nanny-land

and trying not to let it show…

Somewhere in that world called Nanny-land

Heartaches can turn into joy!'

Yes, my fellow thinking Americans, I know this is hard to believe, but millions of your not so smart fellow citizens have taken the bait! Obama is da king and America the beautiful will soon be magically transformed into Nanny-land - Taker from the evil rich and giver to the lazy, the poor and the weak. Yes, in Nanny-land it’s all about you baby!

Listen up! You say you don’t feel like working? You say you’re tired and worn out and can’t seem to get up off that couch? No problems matey! Nanny-land will come to your rescue with all the cash you can possibly handle! You just settle back and take it easy while Big Mama Washington makes that mean old booboo called work go away. Yeah, she’ll take it from the rich and give it all to you, you sorry sot, so you can sit on your ass for as long as you want.

See! It is all about YOU! Wow! And though it may seem just a bit too good to be true – our government has so many pockets (really deep pockets) and mirrors that you’ll be long dead and buried before your kids even get wise to this wild and crazy scam.

So, let us all rejoice, drink and make merry…..while we can, Jan.

Making a rump roast in a slow cooker!

The problem: I wanted to cook a rump roast in my slow cooker, yet most recipes refer to cuts of meat in the 3 to four pound range. My little roast came in at only just over 2 ½ pounds.

In general, cooking a roast is pretty much a no brainer. You sear it over medium high heat in a frying pan to brown it and then you dump it into a Dutch oven along with some carrots and potatoes with just a little bit of water and wine and then throw it into an oven set to 350 for about two hours. No big deal….

However, after doing some research, I came across this slow cooker recipe and instructions:

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lb beef roast of your choice
• olive oil
• 2 carrots, cut into pieces
• 2 Russet potatoes, cubed
• 1/2 onion, quartered
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 sprigs of Rosemary
• 1 can beef stock
• 2 cans hot water

Directions:

• Brown roast in a pan with a little bit of oil over medium-high heat.
• Layer half of the carrots, garlic and all of the onion on the bottom of crock pot
• Top with browned roast
• Arrange the rest of the carrots, garlic and potatoes on top of roast
• Mix beef base in the hot water, pour over roast and veggies
• Cover crock pot tightly, set on high
• Cook for six to eight hours, meat will be very tender, falling apart and veggies cooked through

OK, I thought to myself, I’ve got most everything listed here, so let’s give er a go! Note: I did modify the original recipe for some items (won’t say which ones) to accommodate what I had on hand and to suit my personal tastes). The slow cooker used in this preparation was an old three quart model made by Rival.

After 3 hours of cooking on high, I decided to check the contents of the slow cooker to see how things were going….. (I figured if either the meat or the veggies were not done, I’d dump them into a Le Creuset and finish them off on the stove top). Instead, I reduced the heat to the low setting and went 2 more hours at which time everything looked good to go.

The end result was pure ambrosia! The roast came apart using just my fork!  And, with a little bit of Horseradish I thought I was in pot roast heaven! Serves 4 (see note).

Note: If a mistake was made here it's that next time I might need to add maybe two more potatoes along with two or three more carrots! Then, I might have enough to serve 5 or 6! 

Update: It's about time to make this again! It's November 2015 and I've just moved into a condo. I'll publish a link here as to what happens!