And now a few Bytes…I mean bites

Originally I intended this blog to be a combination of photos and recipes (sights and bites), but it seemed to evolve into something completely different. That’s okay, but I still want to devote  a few pages to my love of cooking. I am the primary cool in my household. My missus hates cooking, and I love it, so we compromised.  Without further adieu, here are a few of my favorites:

The first is my own concoction of Moose Burger and Scooby Doo Pasta. I call it “Scooby Moo” Moose burger is much more healthy than beef, low in fat and VERY tasty.

Moose pizza is another of the favorites in my house. My son loves the thing so much that he requested I make two pizzas for his birthday party. My lady (who hates moose) loved the ground beef pizza (that was secretly moose pizza)

Moose steak and veggies on a bed of noodles makes for a great dinner. Easy to cook and quick, I actually had requests for this dish from time to time.

Pork chops in a special sauce, a few mushrooms and onion, and baked fries smothered with ketchup. Easy and delicious.

Here is something my dad used to make. Chicken Heart stir fry. Most of you might be saying Yuck, but it really is quite good.

I was lazy with this one, Caribou stir Fry. A few leftover strips of Caribou and rice from the evening before made a great supper for everyone. My lady swears that this was the tastiest beef ever. Who an I to ruin the moment?

Hash Brown Casserole, with sour cream and cream of mushroom  soup, cheese and onion, with bacon  wrapped chicken was a delicious meal that everyone enjoyed.

I know it’s not healthy, but I eat healthy 6 out of 7 days a week. If I am going to cheat on my diet, it will be with beans, wieners, bacon and home made pancakes made from scratch. This topped with real Canadian Maple Syrup, and you have a breakfast fit for a king. King Me!

There you have it, a brief look at some of the meals I cook. There are more, but often before I get a chance to snap  a picture, the food is already gone.

 

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Brussels Sprouts, Sour Tongues and Poison Berries

Old Dog New Tits, one of my favorite bloggers, wrote a little piece about Brussels Sprouts. Her post inspired me to write this one.

When I see foods in the grocery store, I often wonder who decided that they were edible. I mean at some point, all those foods must have grown wild somewhere, never eaten for fear of being poisoned. I bet it took some brave soul to taste them, not die, and then tell his friends about them. I wonder if the guy who tasted Brussels Sprouts and didn’t die actually liked them? At the same time, I wonder how many people tasted foods that looked good and did die? Nobody will ever know that one.

As a kid, I used to eat ‘Sour Tongues’, which were small leaves that grew along the edge of the house. The tart leaf used to taste a lot like the sour candies that kids now enjoy. Mom used to warn us that eating the stuff would give us worms. I must have had worms then, because my friend Howard and I used to feast on those things. I didn’t die. I often wonder why you can’t buy them at the grocery store these days.

Squid, or Calamari, is a popular food here in Newfoundland. We never refer to the stuff as Calamari, we just call it Squid. Dad says that years ago fishermen used to throw them out of their nets because they figured that they were poison. The story goes that one night a fisherman got stranded at sea, and after finding his way to land, the only food he could find was squid, so he cleaned the thing and boiled it up. After he ate it, he was surprised at the great taste, and soon afterward, the thing was served in restaurants everywhere.  Not too sure whether the story is true, but it makes sense to me. Personally I cannot eat squid. I have a shellfish allergy, and even though the thing doesn’t have a shell, it is still a shellfish, but that is for another post, one about allergies that hide from you until you are on your way to emergency.

When I was a kid, I tried the little red berries that grew on a bush out behind my parent’s place. They constantly warned me about eating them, but you know how kids are. Telling ’em not to do something is like actually telling them to do it. Anyway, they didn’t taste that great, and after a quick trip to the emergency room and my stomach contents being pumped out, I decided against making them part of my daily diet. Hey, this may not have seemed like a good idea, but it was better than my pal Pat’s idea. He ate a four inch nail on a dare. The thing made it all the way to his bum, but stopped there, and he ended up going for a lengthy trip to the emergency room, and he still walks funny to this day.

My childhood friend Howard once tried to put an entire orange in his mouth, and the orange got stuck. When I looked over at him, all I could see was a crying kid with an orange shaped mouth. The teacher had a bright idea to try and pull the orange out, and almost burst Howard’s mouth apart. The principal had a much ‘better’ idea to cut a piece of the orange out, allowing Howard to crush the orange and spill the juice. This worked, but it was scary watching someone hack at an orange while it was in my friend’s mouth. Kids!

Anyway, I wonder what people will be eating in the future? Maybe the weeds we pull from our garden will become the food of the future, who knows? All it takes is someone to taste it and not die and all of a sudden you have a food craze. Now where are those sour tongues…and my tapeworm medicine?

Love is: a short poem

Love is…Butterscotch pudding in a cold bowl

the end.

A box of Special K Cracker Chips…Yum

In  my diabetic despair, I am always in search of a tasty snack not filled with sodium, fat or carbs. Today I found it. Right there in the grocery store I found Special K Cracker Chips. No fat, one gram of carbs, and low sodium. After one bite, I ate the whole box. The box. The crackers are still sitting on the counter. The box actually tasted better than the chips, plus the box contained a ton of fibre.

Whats the world coming to? Four Dollar Ice Cream Bars, that’s what

I just stopped by the local convenience store to buy an ice cream. I have always loved Polar Bars, the chocolate covered ice cream on a stick bar that used to cost 75 cents. Well it used to cost a lot less than that when I was a kid. With just a quarter, I used to buy a coke, a bag of potato chips and a fudge sicle, and still have a nickel left.

Anyway, as I was saying, I attempted to buy an ice cream. The store didn’t have polar bars, but the guy at the checkout said the Magnum Classic was essentially the same thing with a fancier package. The bugger! He neglected to explain that there was another difference as well. The Magnum Classic Polar Bar imitation cost $3.89! $3.89 for a ice cream bar! For that price, the ice cream would have to lick itself!

I didn’t buy the thing, instead I visited another convenience store and found a box of polar bars for $2.89, a dollar cheaper than that Magnum thingy.

A Break in the Diet…

Okay, I did it. After eating relatively healthy all week (well, the past month, actually), I went out and bought the two piece snack with fries and onion rings for lunch. The onion rings were absolutely to die for, a meal in themselves. I didn’t get many of the rings, the ladies in the office (yeah, the ones on daily diets and the ones who spend countless hours on treadmills and at gyms like Curves, etc) helped me eat the rings. They disappeared quickly, to say the least.

The chicken was the best part, not greasy, but still juicy. How juicy you ask? I took a bite and the juices squirted onto my glasses, that’s how juicy!

I ordered the fries because I find the taters too filling, but they are all good. The gravy had a small twinge of salt, but all good, good, good.

If you ever have the good fortune to find a Chester Chicken restaurant near you, check it out. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Trifecta: Head Cheese

Being of Aboriginal descent, my family never wasted anything. Such was the case one Autumn day when my cousin from California came to visit. My dad and uncle were just in from the annual moose hunt, and on this day, they were very successful. Together, they bagged a twenty-five point bull, a huge animal that would easily feed the two families. My dad was especially proud of the head, to which he skinned and removed all the meat, and everything inside the head. He then proceeded to boil the meat, along with the tongue, which he skinned, and a few other organs as well.

When the meat was fully cooked, it had a pudding-like texture to it. Various spices were added, and the meat was then stored in a casserole dish, and put in the freezer for two days. We call this Pot Head, but it is also referred to as Head Cheese.

My cousin was excited to enjoy a few traditional Newfoundland foods. She had been away from the island for a number of years, but she always craved foods such as Salt Beef, Jig’s Dinner, and Bake-apple Jam. Apparently she never tasted pot head before, but given that she was not aware of the ingredients, she was excited to try some.

Dad proudly cut up the meat casserole in to slices, and adding it to his home made bread, which was covered with his own home made butter, the sandwich looked delicious. My cousin was first to the table, and as soon as the tea was poured, she started eating.

“I tasted this stuff just this morning, at your aunts”, she said, “But it wasn’t half as good as what you have here, is there something you added that they didn’t?” she asked.

My dad was quick to reply. “My sister doesn’t add the brain“, He said, to her horror. “It’s the tastiest part”…True Story.

This is my second entry into Trifecta: Week Twenty-One

Diet ideas

I am working at cutting out Junk food in my diet. (notice how I capitalized ‘Junk’? That’s how much I love Junk Food)

Last evening, I sat and finished off a bag of Lays Ketchup Chips. I love em, but I know that they are not good for me, and even worse for my sugars (Diabetic here).  This got me to thinking. I don’t really care for the chip part, but I love the flavor, so why can’t someone make Ketchup Chip flavored water? How about Ketchup Chip seasoning for lettuce? You get where this is going, we need a product that we can put on healthy food so that we can enjoy the taste and not worry about the effects on our health.

“Hey Snb, what are you having for lunch?” a friend could ask.

“I am having a bottle of Ketchup Chip water, and I have a wonderful veggie salad topped with healthy Ketchup Chip flavored seasoning” would be my response.

Until then, I will treat myself to my chips once per month as I always do, and walk an extra few minutes afterwards.

Doritos Chicken for supper

Now I did it, I got everyone in the office going home this evening to make their own Doritos Chicken. I found the recipe online, and it just looked so yummy! I am using Zesty Cheese Doritos, one of my co-workers plans to make Sweet Chili Heat Doritos Chicken, and the other is planning on making Cool Rance Doritos Chicken. Want to know something even better? We each promised to bring in a sample of our spicy goodness so that we can determine which is best. You got it, a Doritos Chicken Challenge

Stay Tuned. For now, here is the recipe:

Doritos Crusted Chicken Breasts with Salsa

Ingredients

2 large chicken breasts, skinless and boneless
1 jar Salsa (your favorite kind – it should be at room temperature!)
1 bag Doritos (Sweet Chili Heat, or your favorite kind)
1 cup milk
1 egg

Procedure

In a food processor, grind Doritos into a coarse meal. You need about 2 cups of the ground Doritos. Once ground, place the meal into a large bowl.

In a small bowl, beat the egg well. Pour in the milk and whisk until blended.

Dip a chicken breast into the egg wash, and then dredge it in the Doritos meal until fully coated on all sides. Place coated breast into a greased baking dish. Repeat process with remaining breast.

Bake breasts in 350 (F) degree oven for 25 minutes or until internal temperature is 165. Remove from oven and cover each breast liberally with salsa. You can serve at this point, or bake an additional 5 minutes to warm the salsa up. Plate this on a bed of Spanish rice, or by itself.