Macaroni and Everything

Last night, I went over my friend Nikki's house. She provided me with several packages of almonds and non-perishable milk, as well as single-serving packs of peanut butter and jelly, so those will all likely be making their way into my recipes this week.

Here's a recipe that makes use of almonds and milk! It's MACARONI AND EVERYTHING.

Ingredients

• 1 box of macaroni and cheese
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 oz crushed almonds
• 1 can of tuna
• green beans as desired

How We Do

1. Bring water to a boil over medium heat in a saucepan.
2. Add macaroni. Stir occasionally until macaroni is tender.
3. Remove from heat and drain water. Put macaroni in a bowl.
4. Melt butter over remaining stove heat in saucepan.
5. Add milk and cheese packet. Stir well.
6. Add macaroni, green beans, and tuna, and mix thoroughly.
7. Crush almonds, and stir in.
8. Eat up and chow down!

Wow! The almonds actually go really, really well with the tuna, cheese, and beans. Give it a shot, it's surprisingly tasty!

Ramen Insanity

First off, I would like to apologize for my lengthy hiatus from this blog. I was on vacation in Portland, Oregon for two weeks, and then I was busy moving to a new apartment.

But now I am back, and ready to create some more dietary atrocities.

Today, I think I am going to do something even more unusual to my ramen... I am going to add green beans!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 packet beef ramen
• green beans as desired
• 1 tsp creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• add milk as desired for creaminess

WHAT TO DO

1. Boil enough water to cover noodles over medium heat. (I use a gas stove now!)
2. Add ramen, garlic, and ginger.
3. Let boil until noodles are cooked.
4. Add beef packet, peanut butter, and green beans and stir well.
5. Remove from heat.
6. Add milk and stir well.
7. Chow down!

...I'd personally give it an A-. I might have put too much peanut butter in there, or maybe not enough garlic and ginger. It is tasty, but it could be better. Try it and tell me what you think!

Cheers,

Dominic

Travelling Without Cooking

I've not posted in a couple days because I am on a two-week vacation to Portland, Oregon. Again, the original intent of this blog was to show off all the nifty things I can do with a minimum of foodstuffs, but as I am on vacation, I will probably not be preparing any of my own food. However, I am going to do my best to keep a log of the wonderful things I will eat while I am here.

I was inspired to do this as I was walking down the street late last night (or early this morning?) and realized that there are roadside food stands open until at least 2 AM; there was pho, sausage, and other amazingness, all just waiting for me to stumble hungrily upon it.

And stumble I did.

At about 1 AM, after a brief stop in a gay bar and a night of Rock Band at a local video game bar, my friend Palmer and I decided to get some food and go home. I asked if anything was open, and he reminded me of the food stands. We moseyed over to the nearest sausage vendor, and we each got a kielbasa link. Let me tell you, that was the best kielbasa I have ever had in my life.

Next time I go there, I am getting the reindeer sausage. YES. THEY HAVE SAUSAGE MADE OF REINDEER.

Oregon is made of magic.

Cheers,

Dominic

Holy Moly Ravioli

I should be working on a paper right now. I should have been working on this paper all week, and now I have allotted myself 6 hours in which to finish said paper.

PIECE OF CAKE, I SAY.

Unfortunately, a piece of cake won't give me 6 hours worth of energy. A whole cake might, but I am not in possession of a slice of cake let alone many slices of cake... (which would necessitate an entire rack? Never mind.)

Anyway, I require protein, and that seriously narrows my options given what we have for food in the house. I want something hot and delicious, and that narrows my options even further. As in, there is only one thing left to do....

Holy Moly, Ravioli!

Ingredients

• 1 tsp minced garlic
• a drizzle of olive oil
• 1 can of mini ravioli
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup tomatoes
• shredded mozzarella to taste

How To Do This Up:

1. Sautée garlic and olive oil over medium heat for just a little bit. Shake and shimmy it.
2. Try to open a can of ravioli, realize that your can opener needs to be replaced, and beat the can into submission until you finally get it open enough to extract the contents.
3. Realize that the garlic has now burnt to the bottom of the pan. Feel ashamed, wash the pot, start over with the garlic and olive oil.
4. Empty ravioli, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes into pot and reduce heat to medium-low.
5. Stir well while allowing to bubble ever-so-slightly.
6. Add tomatoes and stir.
7. Sprinkle mozzarella on top and stir once more until the cheese is as melted as possible.
8. Remove from heat, serve, and munch your lunch!

Mangia!

Cheers,

Dominic

Fancy-Ass Ramen #2

I am craving meat hardcore right now, but the closest I can get with what is in the house is meat-flavoured Ramen.

As I have mentioned before, that's not even remotely the same, but it's close enough in a pinch.

Tonight, I'll be preparing Fancy-Ass Ramen #2, Italiano-style.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 package beef flavor Maruchan Ramen
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/4 cup diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 cups water
• a pinch of red pepper flakes
• shredded mozzarella to taste

How To Make It

1. Sautee and shimmy garlic and olive oil in pot over medium heat.
2. Add water and red pepper flakes.
3. Let water come to a rolling boil.
4. Add Ramen and flavor packet.
5. Boil until noodles are soft.
6. Add tomatoes and cheese.
7. Devour!

Ohhhhhh, YUM. It tastes a bit like pizza, and could only benefit from chunks of italian sausage and some fresh basil!

Please try this. It is FANTASTIC.

Cheers,

Dominic

Slackeroni

Okay, I know this is a food blog. And my original intent was to post something every day. Clearly I can't be held to that on days when I am not home, but today I am just too lazy to cook anything even remotely interesting.

So, lunch today is canned macaroni and beef with shredded mozzarella on top. Or, as I call it, Slackeroni.

Dinner is probably going to be leftover fried chicken and sticky buns.

The rest of the day will be spent in the hot tub or sauna, or doing homework.

With any luck, I will be back to my normal wacky-food-making self tomorrow. Otherwise, I'll be sure to at least post something like this.

Making Excuses and Macaroni & Cheezus

I apologise for not posting yesterday.

As soon as I woke up, a friend invited me out to lunch at a local restaurant called Downtown Olly's. This in itself should be proof that I sleep far too late for my own good.

After lunch, I helped another friend run errands, for which he paid me back in the form of bacon cheese fries and a salad at Outback Steakhouse.

I was out of the house from the time I woke up until 2 AM, so I did not have the chance to cook anything let alone post about it.

I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

Either way, here's Macaroni & Cheezus, so named because it is a miracle that something so delicious can come from a box of macaroni and cheese. WAY more impressive than turning water into wine!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box macaroni and cheese
• 1 can of tuna
• lots of water (The macaroni box says 6 cups, but I don't measure. I just fill a large pot halfway.)
• 1/4 cup margarine or butter. I have no butter, so I am using margarine.
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup diced tomatoes
• parsley and red pepper flakes to taste

How To Do It:

1. Put water in a pot and put the pot on high heat on the stove.
2. When the water boils, put macaroni, sans cheese, in the water.
3. Decrease heat to medium. Stir macaroni every so often.
4. When macaroni is tender, remove pot from heat, drain the water, and leave macaroni in the strainer.
5. Place the pot back on the stove, and put milk and butter/margarine in the pot.
6. With heat on medium-low, stir until well-blended.
7. Turn off heat and mix in cheese packet.
8. Return macaroni to pot with cheese sauce. Mix well.
9. Blend in can of tuna and tomatoes.
10. Add parsley and red pepper flakes as you see fit.
11. Drool in amazement at the wonder you have created, then devour it.

...and it was good!

This is one of my favourite dishes, because it makes enough for two meals, or enough to share. Sharing is caring. Make your own batch, though, because this'll be gone well before you get here.

Cheers,

Dominic

Tantalizingly Twisted Turkey Burgers

Did I ever tell you how much I love meat? I ADORE meat.

I know, the last couple days, my posts on here have had no actual meat ingredients... and I am not counting the chicken packet in Ramen; it may not be vegetarian, but, honey, it's not meat.

Anyway, meat is expensive, and I am a college student living off financial aid, so I don't get as much meat in my diet as I would like when it involves actually preparing the food myself. However, the last time I went to the store, I bought a pound of ground turkey, and now I'm going to use it to make the most Tantalizingly Twisted Turkey Burgers I can come up with.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb. 93% lean ground turkey
• 1/4 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp ground mustard seed (and I don't even like mustard! I'm getting bold!)
• 1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (this could be scary....)
• a dash of ground red pepper

This is the easiest recipe ever!

Let's go:

1. Place all ingredients together in a large skillet.
2. Wash your hands or put on kitchen gloves if you are afraid to get our hands covered in meat and spices.
3. Mix the craziness together! Do it well! Make sure it's ALL mixed in!
4. Separate the meat into burger-sized chunks and make patty shapes with it. By my measurements, this makes about three burgers and smells delicious already.
5. Put the skillet on medium heat.
6. Flip the burgers (using a spatula, please!) as you see fit, but not too often. However, the burgers should be cooked, not burnt.
7. While those are cooking, I'm going to toast two slices of wheat bread. You can do whatever you want for bread, but that's all I have right now. I'd use a potato roll if I had one.
8. I'm going to put just a trace of BBQ sauce on mine, because I love BBQ sauce, and in my opinion, even the most tender of burgers can benefit from a little extra sauce.
9. Chow down!

I'm eating this now, and it is beyond delicious, but now that I've bitten into it, I'm going to put some pickles on it. I hope that's alright with you.

Now go get your own. These are mine.

Cheers,

Dominic