Cheap Eaten

[worth1]

Yet another delicious meal fit for a king.
The gravy is outstandingly delicious.

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[worth1]

Homemade Hamburger Helper
All fat was discarded from beef.
This one is cheeseburger mac.
Ground chuck.
Can diced tomatoes.
Fresh jalapeños.
Easy melt cheese.
Dried onion flakes.
Garlic powder.
Nutmeg.
MSG.
Pinch salt.
Black pepper.
Annatto powder for color.
The MSG makes a huge impact in flavor and you use less salt.

20211116_183157.jpg

[Tormahto]

Homemade Hamburger Helper
All fat was discarded from beef.
This one is cheeseburger mac.
Ground chuck.
Can diced tomatoes.
Fresh jalapeños.
Easy melt cheese.
Dried onion flakes.
Garlic powder.
Nutmeg.
MSG.
Pinch salt.
Black pepper.
Annatto powder for color.
The MSG makes a huge impact in flavor and you use less salt.
20211116_183157.jpg

Jumbo elbows or a small bowl?

[worth1]

Homemade Hamburger Helper
All fat was discarded from beef.
This one is cheeseburger mac.
Ground chuck.
Can diced tomatoes.
Fresh jalapeños.
Easy melt cheese.
Dried onion flakes.
Garlic powder.
Nutmeg.
MSG.
Pinch salt.
Black pepper.
Annatto powder for color.
The MSG makes a huge impact in flavor and you use less salt.
20211116_183157.jpg

Jumbo elbows or a small bowl?

Large.
Big bowl.

[Tormahto]

Homemade Hamburger Helper
All fat was discarded from beef.
This one is cheeseburger mac.
Ground chuck.
Can diced tomatoes.
Fresh jalapeños.
Easy melt cheese.
Dried onion flakes.
Garlic powder.
Nutmeg.
MSG.
Pinch salt.
Black pepper.
Annatto powder for color.
The MSG makes a huge impact in flavor and you use less salt.
20211116_183157.jpg

Jumbo elbows or a small bowl?

Large.
Big bowl.

That's what I thought.

No large elbows, here, for awhile.

What we do have is a collector's item, Boston Bruins' David "Pasta" Pastrnak penne. It's on ebay for $14.00, and currently costs .88 in the local supermarket. It has taken over shelf space from several other pasta types. The big error is that there is no cooking time instructions on the box. Someone needs to go to the "penne"alty box for that.

[worth1]

Had a few items that needed cooking.
Leftover pork gravy from last night's fried pork chops.
Some ground chuck that was saying cook me.
Taters.
Cooked the ground chuck seasoned with black pepper and beef bullion in skillet with lid on.
Drained off fat.
Heated up the gravy and put it in the skillet with the meat and mixed up.
Covered with russet potato slices skin on.
Sprinkled with chili powder and black pepper.
Put a lid on it and in the oven it goes.
Probably serve over toasted bread.

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[worth1]

65 degrees in the house and the heat ain't on.
Won't come on either.
This should keep me warm tonight.

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[worth1]

Didn’t need bread or toast.
After an hour in the oven with the self basting lid on it came out perfect.

[worth1]

So what do you do with a relatively cheap 7 bone roast.
First you cook it on high temperature in a skillet and eat the tender parts like a good steak.
Next you take the rest bone and all and put it in the refrigerator overnight.
Deglaze the skillet and set aside with cover.
Now the next morning you take the meat bone and all in put in a kettle with the juices from the skillet and water.
Add some Knorr beef bullion.
That leftover baked potato skin and potato you had leftover.
A small handful of dried cracked hominy yellow and white.
If you have it.
I get mine from the Mexican market.
A small handful of garbanzo beans AKA chick peas or whatever you have around.
Keep an eye on the water and let simmer for as long as it takes.
If desired like I will after everything is cooked and tender add a little soup like pasta of your choice.
Mine will be corkscrew pasta.
Not much just a little because you still want a soup not a thick stew.
Something like a beef minestrone.
Something to keep the body warm on a cold winter day.

[worth1]

The soup came out fantastic.
Ate 2 big bowls.

[worth1]

I got 3 bowls of it.
The last for breakfast.
It had the least amount of juice.

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[worth1]

Here's one for the books.
Chowder made from leftover Christmas ham, the potatoes and green beans leftover from Christmas dinner.
Additional ingredients are....
Some of my homemade red hominy I made some time ago.
Didn't have any corn/elote in the house so I simply make do with what I have.
Freshly ground cumin and Mexican oregano.
No salt added at this time.
Powdered milk will be involved.
Later will be fresh pablano chilies and some shrimp.
Using the term chowder loosely because I'll thicken it with oyster crackers.
This ain't your average everyday New England style chowder.
This is Texas style chowder.

[worth1]

Additional flavors added to the chowder are...
The Morita chilie and the Guajillo.
The Morita is somewhat like the Chipotle but not exactly the same.
Both Morita and Chipotle are a smoked dried chilie coming from the jalapeño family of chilies.
Last but not least will be the chilie de Arbol for spicy hot.

[Tormahto]

Here's one for the books.
Chowder made from leftover Christmas ham, the potatoes and green beans leftover from Christmas dinner.
Additional ingredients are....
Some of my homemade red hominy I made some time ago.
Didn't have any corn/elote in the house so I simply make do with what I have.
Freshly ground cumin and Mexican oregano.
No salt added at this time.
Powdered milk will be involved.
Later will be fresh pablano chilies and some shrimp.
Using the term chowder loosely because I'll thicken it with oyster crackers.
This ain't your average everyday New England style chowder.
This is Texas style chowder.

There's no "r" in New England chowda.

[worth1]

Here's one for the books.
Chowder made from leftover Christmas ham, the potatoes and green beans leftover from Christmas dinner.
Additional ingredients are....
Some of my homemade red hominy I made some time ago.
Didn't have any corn/elote in the house so I simply make do with what I have.
Freshly ground cumin and Mexican oregano.
No salt added at this time.
Powdered milk will be involved.
Later will be fresh pablano chilies and some shrimp.
Using the term chowder loosely because I'll thicken it with oyster crackers.
This ain't your average everyday New England style chowder.
This is Texas style chowder.

There's no "r" in New England chowda.

Like the difference between how you say and how you spell gunwale on a ship.
Wink wink.
Just watched a movie about JFK.
Not even close with the New England accent.

[worth1]

Lords and ladies I present to you Worth's Texas style shrimp and Christmas ham chowder.
You don't boil the shrimp just put it in 190F or so temperature soup and let it sit.
It'll cook.
Please don't boil the life out of shrimp.
Now when I'm ready I'll put some in a bowl with oyster crackers and freshly ground black pepper.

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[worth1]

Last but definitely not least are some freshly picked and hand crushed bay leaves from my bay tree.
It really does top off the multiple flavor profiles.

Who would have thought this is the result of leftover green beans and Yukon gold potatoes.

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[Sue_CT]

Looks delicious!

[worth1]

I was delicious.
Some of the best I've ever had.

[karstopography]

I think we are doing a chef’s salad tonight. I’ve got plenty of buttercrunch lettuce out in the garden that needs eating. So dang warm here this December, I fear it will bolt soon. Boil some eggs, fry some bacon, tossing a bit of ham, maybe a little purple onion, pepperocini, black olives. I love salad for dinner. Eggs are fluctuating in price a lot, though. Aldi might have the for 89 cents one day and then $1.39 the next. Aldi has great bacon for a bit of $4.00/#.

Eating out of the garden feels like cheap eating. I probably shouldn’t look too closely at the math, though. I’ve got a lot of stuff that’s needing eating now or soon. Chinese cabbage, spinach, lettuce, bok choi. I’m not going to be buying many vegetables for a while. That feels like cheap eating.

I’m glad Christmas is over. My stomach can’t take anymore rich Holiday feasts, food and sweets. A few salads in my future can only help.