Recipe Book: Three more Bachelor “Very Easy & Cheap eats”

Beef & Rice-A-Roni (feeds 1 to 2)

• 1 Package of Rice-A-Roni “Quick Serve” Beef flavor (prepare per directions)
• 1/2 or 1 pound Ground Beef, cooked

Cook the Ground Beef, and throw it into the Rice-A-Roni Beef when both are done. Very tasty, and cheap!. Recommended to serve with canned Del Monte’s French Style w/Roasted Garlic Greens beans, or drained cut carrots.

Chicken & Fettuccini Alfredo (feeds 2)

• 1 Package of Lipton/Knorr “Fetuccine Alfredo” Noodles
  • Add additional noodles to make a more heartier meal
• 1 Package of Tyson Grilled & Ready Diced Chicken Chunks
  • Microwave for 30 seconds in a small bowl

After the noodles & sauce have cooked, throw the chicken chunks in and mix. It’s now Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo! Add pepper for a twist. Recommended with drained canned Carrots for a side.

Bachelor’s Dinner Salad (feeds 1 to 2)

• 1/2 to 1 Package of “Fresh Express” Lettuce Trio
• 1 Package of Tyson Grilled & Ready Diced Chicken Chunks
  • Microwave for 30 seconds in a small bowl
• 1 Whole Tomato, your choice of kind, cut into quarter or third chunks
• Hidden Valley Ranch “Lite” dressing
• Hormel or equivalent Bacon Bits
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Ranch, Bacon Bits and Cheese quantities to your taste, or add additional things to your taste & Enjoy!

Recipe Book: Mushroom Garlic Pork Chops

I got some great emails liking my Beef Bake post, so here’s another one I have pulled out of the quick and cheap meals section that’s also another household favorite: Mushroom Garlic Pork Chops. This recipe is courtesy of Campbell’s.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 boneless pork chops, thin cut (about 1 1/2 pounds or 4 Chops)
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic Soup
1/2 cup milk
OPTIONAL (We don’t use): 1/2 of a 12-ounce package medium egg noodles (about 4 cups), cooked and drained
OPTIONAL: Add more sautéed (must be done separately) mushrooms

Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook for 6 minutes or until browned on both sides. Remove the pork from the skillet. Stir the soup and milk in the skillet and heat to a boil. Return the pork to the skillet and reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the pork is cooked through. Serve the pork and soup mixture (with or without the noodles)

Serves 2

Suggested accompaniment:

Fresh Steamed Green Beans
Garlic Butter & Onion Roasted Red Potatoes (available from Birdseye Frozen)

Of course, feel free to experiment!

Bon Appetite!

Review – Corner Store Fresh Choices Beef Jerky

I saw a free coupon for Valero’s Corner Store “Fresh Choices” Beef Jerky in my mail. Because I buy gas usually from their station (although I prefer Chevron), I decided to give it a try.

I’m a very fair minded person and usually give a lot of leeway to things. I picked it up hoping to enjoy a good package of their “Peppered” variety – cost without the free coupon for 3.5oz: $4.99 + tax.

I cracked it open when getting home. First piece: Shoe leather. Second: same. Third: same. The rest – well, we’ve been over that.

I don’t expect Jerky to be soft as meat. But I don’t expect it to hurt my teeth trying to chew it, either. I also don’t understand why it costs 5 bucks for that tiny 3.5oz amount of meat..for that price, I can get a giant fucking 5 pound log of the same cheap full of fat shit they use to make it in the grocery store – ground up – which adds even more cost – for not much more than the cost of their 3.5oz package.

PROFIT GREED…again. (Here I go off on a tangent…) All companies need profit to expand and survive – but near EVERY company today is destroying product quality to squeeze every last penny out…what is wrong with a decent profit/decent product? Why does it have to be MORE, MORE, MORE MONEY/SHITTIEST PRODUCT?

Proper time for Stouffers French Bread Pizza in the Microwave

For those of you who love those great slices of pizza goodness, you know Stouffer’s doesn’t give straight Microwave directions. There’s nothing wrong with cooking it in the Microwave, but (here’s your warning) you are definitely not going to get the crispy-crust you would from the oven – it’s more like soft French bread (which I prefer), and it’s not going to be cooked the same way like in the oven, but it’s still very good.

But if you still want to (I always do) cook it in the Microwave, just hit it for 3:10 on HIGH. You might need to adjust up or down depending on your Microwave, but in mine that cooks it just right.

Enjoy!

“Beef Bake”–a great, filling dish!

Here’s a good old classic that I dug up from our Receipe book. It’s called Beef Noodle Casserole, but me and my father love to call it “Beef Bake”. It’s delicous and filling. Serves 4.

Here’s the receipe – give it a try sometime!

3 3/4 cups Wide noodles, uncooked
1 lb. Ground Beef
1/2 cup chopped onion (we substitute dried, minced onion)
1/2 teaspoon dried minced thyme
3/4 cup (4-oz. can) sliced mushrooms, drained
1 3/4 cups (14-1/2oz. can) whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped into quarters
1/2 cup sour cream (we add a little more to make it more creamy)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 350F. Cook noodles according to package directions for 4 minutes, drain. Meanwhile, in large skillet, cook meat and onion, drain. Stir in thyme, salt and pepper, place in large bowel. Add mushrooms, tomatoes, sour cream and noodles. Spoon mixture into greased 2-quart casserole bowel. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake, uncovered, 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. 4 Servings.

Enjoy and bon apatite!

Why is Coffee so expensive?

Over the last year or so, I’ve noticed that the price for Coffee is astoundingly high, and for no good reason. It’s been rising for years.

At our Safeway in Glendale, AZ, Folgers and Maxwell House are both $11-12 per can. If one or the other is on sale, it’s still $9.

Even the Safeway brand coffee is $8 per can.

What the hell is going on???!!!

Both Folgers and Maxwell House do NOT use Fair Trade practices, which gives the Coffee farmers a fair market price for their coffee. If you ever watch any documentary on Coffee, you will come to find that the farmers are paid pennies for their coffee and can barely make a living. But at $12 per can, you’d think their making bank…not so.

There’s no reason that the Coffee should cost that much money, especially considering that the crops are doing quite well, more countries are producing more Coffee, etc. etc. etc. – even when you factor in the shipping, roasting, grinding, packaging, etc. it’s beyond ridiculous.

As far as I’m concerned, this is pure greed on the part of the companies and their executives. A can of coffee shouldn’t cost more than $5.

Just another reason why this world sucks more every day…

“Down Home Mac and Cheese” – Check it out!

I just stumbled upon a like on my French’s post by the blogger “The Ranting Chef”, and looked over his BLOG. He seems to be one hell of a culinary expert, for someone who say’s he’s an “Amateur” on his BLOG title!

Anyways, his Mom used to make a real homestyle mac and cheese that I just drool over….remembering the crusted-over mac & cheeses my Grandma even made before she passed away (god bless her soul) – but his called it her “Down-Home Macaroni & Cheese” – so check his page out!

I’m going to try and make this sometime soon – it makes my mouth water!!!

Here’s the link:

http://rantingchef.com/2012/04/28/not-kraft-mac-and-cheese-wahoo/

UPDATE: French’s French Fried Onions Plastic Taste

I decided to email French’s myself and ask for a personal reply, noting to them specifically that several reviews on Amazon have the same experience as I had (as in the previous post).

Here’s what I got:

Thank you for your email regarding French’s® French Fried Onions.

We are sorry to learn that you did not have a satisfactory experience. Since feedback from consumers is vital to the further development of our products, your comments will be shared with the appropriate department for review.

As a token of our appreciation, we are sending complimentary coupons to the address provided in your email.

Sincerely,
xxxxxxx
Consumer Relations

Same shit the other poster, Christine, on Amazon got…

Here’s how I interpret it:

Thank you for your email regarding our new shitty plastic-taste French’s® French Fried Onions.

We are sorry to learn that you didn’t like the new and improved PLASTIC-E® taste in you product, and did not have satisfactory experience. Since feedback from consumers means jack shit to us, and feedback like this, as well as any of your comments, will go right in the round file (i.e. Trash can).

We’d be happy to send you some buy-off coupons to your address so you don’t bother us again.

Thanks for emailing us, because we don’t really give a shit anyway, so fuck off…

Sincerely,

Donna Givea Fuck
Consumer Relations

Seriously…if they are getting complaints via Email, Phone, etc….and they aren’t recalling or changing the product – do they even care? For every 1 that complains I’m sure 10 don’t and just throw the shit away. This used to be a household name for Green Bean Casserole…

Until they do something, please see my previous post – let it sit out for a little while. We use it in their “Onion Chicken” recipe…

But that brings to mind – could we put them in the oven for a bit to bake off the plastic taste, then use them in our Chicken and GB Casseroles?

Comment, Like, post it on your Facebook or Twitter – let’s here from you guys and get these ASSHOLES IN GEAR BACK TO THE GOOD STUFF!

UPDATE 2:

“Coupon” just arrived with the letter today. The image of the stupid form letter is attached.
I got a $3 off coupon for plastic taste…I’m out of words for this total BS…

French’s French Friend Onions Plastic Taste? Yep…

Me and my father always enjoyed the French’s Onion Chicken…but now, almost not…

A lot of people have gotten the new “containers” of French’s French Fried Onions, only to have them taste like the plastic container they are in. Myself, and many others, are experiencing the same thing. For every person that complains, 10 or more know but don’t complain to the company or throw it away…

LEFT:  NEW PLASTIC, RIGHT: OLD TIN FOIL LINED CAN

The only thing that has helped, for us at least, is to let the entire batch sit out on a wax paper sheet for 30-45 minutes, then do the recipe. Still, we get some plastic taste.

We have to ask – if it tastes like plastic, what are we ingesting?

PLEASE EMAIL, MAIL, OR CALL FRENCH’S AND LET THEM KNOW THIS IS WRONG!

Here’s some reviews of the same:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1FCS9VZR3V394

If you have the same, comment here, and also write/call/email French’s!