Foiling Chuck

So, I think I mentioned the making of this particular recipe, Chuck Roast in Foil yesterday. And make it, I did. (This is the recipe pic from Cook's Country, not MY finished product!!!)  

The most tedious and time-consuming part (all of about 3 minutes, tops) was making the rub.  Cook's Country devised their own rub to replace mass-produced onion soup mix that's typically used in roasts around the country, in more normal kitchens.  This cuts WAY back on sodium levels and doesn't contain a plethora of unpronounceable additives and preservatives. Go them!!!  

Then there's the meat. Sorry for the pic, I cannot get the color of this pic to accurately portray the actual color of the meat, but that IS the color of my cutting board, so something is at least moderately correct. It was a healthy, not-rotting, piece taken out of the freezer Saturday to thaw. This hunk was about half the amount used in the recipe.  We had no need for a 4-lb roast. However, I did split it apart there in the middle and trim out some excess material.  I should have broken away all the chunks and eliminated all that hard stuff, but it stayed behind to help keep everything from drying out, then I trimmed it off later.

The veggies and bay leaves and soy sauce sprinklings (I did not measure and I used Tamari instead of regular soy sauce. It just tastes a bit better, to me.

The entire thing-before entering the stove. I must admit, I failed at this part. You are SUPPOSED to have an air-tight, foil-sealed package. First, I did not have wide enough foil. Second, I did not wrap it correctly. Third, I should have added another one to two layers of foil.  It leaked, thus eliminating the Au Jus portion of the recipe. More on that in a moment.....

Fin. And fine!!! 

As you can see, there's not a lot of Au Jus to be found in this pan.  THAT is because your dearly beloved cooking non-expert decided it wasn't necessary to reread the part that said "Heat oven to 300 F".  Instead, apparently, she thought 400 F was close enough.  WHILE the results (in flavor and probably texture) were SUPERB, I'm going to go out on a very wobbly, very tiny limb here and surmise that following the directions EXACTLY would've resulted in a roast that more closely resembled that shown in the first picture and a roast that was more swimming in Au Jus rather than just lightly coated with it.  

Oh, and since this cut of meat was much smaller than the recipe and the temp was considerably higher....

Cooking time was reduced to around 3 hours. I did lower the temp to 350 once I realized my faux pas, however, that just prolonged the inevitable, since the damage was already done at the 2-hour mark. 

Furthermore, I don't know what people have got against onions, but I leave them in, for eating purposes, because I LOVE ONIONS. I did remove the bay leaves. I did not take a picture of this all plated up....presentation was not a factor yesterday. By the time this was finished, we probably would've just sat at the table and ate it right out of the pan, we were that hungry and totally tantalized by the smell of it all!   

So, there you have it, one way to foil chuck. 

Admittedly, since we don't consume a wealth of red meat, this meal was not conducive to feeling energetic and ready to take on the world after eating it. I'm just glad I didn't make mashed taters and rolls or biscuits to go along with it or I would probably still be in bed. 

What IS on the Menu?

Having been somewhat more silent in the past week, I've had time to think about quite a few things, such as

• Changing the way we eat
• Changing up the daily lunches my beloved so faithfully consumes
• Changing how I do things with this here corner of the Internets
• Changing me.  

Change. A lot of it.  

Some things will take quite a while to accomplish, like improving on this blog or changing me. Other things, like changing the lunch menu and changing how we eat.....those things start changing today.  

I love Fall. Yes FALL, rather than "Autumn" which just sounds way too politically and socially correct for the likes of me. Fall, to me, means MAKING stuff....Spring means DOING stuff, but Fall means, there's nothing else to DO (like, outdoors), so now it's time to MAKE.  Winter gets here, it's time for dreaming and PLANNING all those things we'll do when Spring makes its appearance again in 2014. 

One thing I need and want to start focusing on is making meal plans.  Not a very arduous task when it involves only two people but still, planning is required.  Planning not only saves you money, it also saves a tremendous amount of time and stress over what to eat.  Planning helps you know exactly what you need to buy for the week, right down to how many and which color bananas (gently) throw in the cart.  

For well over a year, this has been my beloved's lunch: 

• 1 Coke
• 2 Waters (1 frozen, 1 cold)
• 1 bowl of oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon
• 3 Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches (with natural peanut butter and typically, Polaner All Fruit jellies)
• 1 banana
• 1 salad with a few grape tomatoes, maybe some cukes, croutons and his fave 1000 Island dressing
• 3-4 cookies
• Chips (Popcorners, Stacy's Pita Chips, plain Cantina-style tortilla chips) 
• 2 deli turkey or chicken sandwiches with a bit of mayo on buns.
• Occasional addition of some leftovers or 2-3 clementines, when we have them

He works ALL day and by all day, I do mean ALL DAY.  He leaves here in the morning and gets back some 13-14 hours later, so this is his food supply for the entire day. He is way more well behaved than I am...limits himself to 1 pop a day and eats his vegetables (salad) and fruits.  However, with the passage of almost 1.5 years of eating the same thing every day, he really is getting bored with the selection. and also noted that we need to get back to eliminating more of the unhealthy stuff and adding more vegetarian things.  (See here for why we would be mentioning anything vegetarian-related)

Which brings us back to PLANNING.  For the near, near future, anyway, we are still eating meat-stuffs.  Turkey, chicken and very little pork...and TRYING to cut out the red meat consumption.  After today.  After this:  

What we came up with is replacing the deli meats with leftovers and turkey burgers, which he adores. He's grilling up a bunch of those today, so I can just throw them together throughout the week. And, with the creation of the afore-pictured chuck roast, there will either be a few potroast sandwiches or just left-over roast  and veggies. 

In addition to all that, I've got my mind set towards making that spinach lasagna today, and if he likes it, he can eat that too....if not, more for me...to freeze.  Also, I stocked up on chicken boobs, so we'll be having some variation of this: 

and this (because I remembered to get the broccoli and the fish sauce yesterday!) 

Therefore, there will be NO shortage of different foods for him to consume during the workday.  Nor will I have any excuse for not eating anything during the day (out of sheer and unadulterated laziness). This, to me, seems like a tremendous amount of food, as in too MUCH food, but I often forget that he likes to have a little something at night when he gets home as well, and having healthier things like the chicken dishes will be better for him than junk. 

What's on your menu for the week?  

Upsetting the Stomach Cart

Today is a nauseating day. For the foreseeable future, it will continue to be a nauseating reminder of all that is wrong. Probably too dark a topic for this particular blog, so instead of focusing on giant elephant in the room (country), we'll just stick to what I know best. Food.

I had grandiose plans to make that lovely spinach lasagna....the spinach is all thawed out now and waiting patiently in the fridge, But today is just not the day for huge celebratory cooking festivals in my kitchen.

 

Instead, lets discuss junk. And how it makes us feel when we EAT it. And WHY we eat it, when we know damned well that it will make us feel very, very poopy.  

So, I went into town today, to purchase cat foods, so as not to become a snack for the feline population of the household. I was all about getting the cat food....and then, some Vernor's Ginger Ale (because I like it damn it), and then some wheat bread...pronounced, like this.......

But then, I'm all like "OH, I need something snackity....but I don't want a whole lot of anything....", so I saw a can of Pringles.  Stupid me, I bought them. Stupid me, I ate them with this...for lunch....

Cracked Pepper turkey and tomato with a bit of mayo on that Whhhhhhhhhhheat bread and the rest of the tomato.  I should've just stopped there. 

Same goes for milk. Regular cow milk. I just can't handle it anymore. Having this the other night, for dinner...

with about a teaspoon of regular white sugar and 1% milk, gave me miserable stomach upset/crampage within an hour. Can we say LACTOSE intolerant?  

However, I shall NEVER be CHEESE intolerant. That's just a whole other category, it has to be. The world is not right without cheese.  Speaking of cheese, I probably should've grabbed another bag of shredded mozzarella for the lasagna...but I did not.  Another good reason for not making it-insufficient levels would render it a failure!  

See, what you don't know about your humble wanna-be foodie is that she eats alone five out of seven days per week. The cooking SQUARED part comes in during weekends. When I started this blog, we did eat dinner together but work situations have changed and here we are. And that's the thing about cooking for two or fewer...you have to think on your feet, that and you have to have the urge to COOK things. Otherwise, you get what we had here today.....consuming junk and then feeling like poo because of it.  

So, I've narrowed down the reasons for poor eating habits, like this: 

• Boredom
• Laziness
• Impulse buying
• Emo-eating (don't do much of that but it has been known to happen occasionally

I've also narrowed down the things that should be eliminated in order for me to not feel like poo: 

• Sugar
• Anything sugar-related
• Pop
• Sugar
• Potato chips (it just never ends well)

So, in the interest of providing some informative, useful, and mightily entertaining content in the upcoming weeks, I think I shall start a series of posts regarding Cooking x 1. I know I can't be the only one who is married and yet eats alone almost nightly.....nor am I the only one who works at home, alone.  Some serious planning, consideration, preparation and cooking can help those of us on the single start to eat better when no one is watching.  

Stay tuned!  

For The Love of Spinach

Tomorrow, this.....

is what I am making. Damn it. I don't care if I do eat the entire pan myself (over several days, weeks or even a month)....I am making this for me.  Here is the recipe, if YOU too want to try it.  

There's something to be said for second (and even third) chances. Take spinach. The first time I ever had it was when my poor, dear mother tried a new recipe...some chicken breast stuffed with spinach.  When she served it, we all looked at it as if we were seeing alien eggs hatching on our plates. Kudos to dear mom for trying.  

Spinach is one of those love it or hate it vegetables, like cilantro. Maybe it's all in the preparation, because frankly, to this day, you still won't find me eating boiled or creamed spinach. YUCK.  However, over the years, it has become a somewhat staple in our household. Salad, yes. Frozen spinach lasagnes, yes. Spinach-stuffed ravioli, yes. Even spinach on a Buffalo chicken sub from Subway. Over the course of time, I will explore and find new ways to eat it that won't be offensive. I will! Watch me!  

I think, next Spring, when I get my garden started (and yes, I WILL have a garden next year!!), spinach will be on the short list of things to add. Though it's a fairly economical find at the store, I still want to know what it's like to have it at its absolute freshest. Let us (pun intended) hope that it doesn't turn out as shoddy as the arugula I tried a few years back.  Talk about horrific! I cannot, for the life of me, figure out the charm of that absolutely bitter and nasty green salad additive!  

According to Nutrition Data, you really can't go wrong with consuming spinach, especially raw.  Zero fat, zero cholesterol, a wealth of vitamins and only 7 seven calories per cup.  If you are trying it for the first time, I recommend buying a small bunch, usually located by the other greens, lettuces, kales, etc., rather than buying the big, pre-packaged bag. That way, if you just absolutely detest it, you won't be wasting a lot of spinach or greenbacks. Make sure there are no slimy or wilty bits or yellowing leaves in the bunch and you're good to go.  

Go green. Go Spinach.  Check back tomorrow to see my progress.  I trust that, following the Cook's Country recipe to a T, there will be no negative results and only a happily full me.  If you're a spinach lover and you know of some excellent, kick-ass spinach recipes, feel free to share them. Immediately!