Changing the world...one MMP at a time!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
161

[Navin Johnson]The MMP blog’s here; the MMP blog’s here! I’m somebody! I’m somebody![/NJ]

I really like the look, McUne. And in the spirit of my curmudgeonly self, here is what I made for dinner tonight.
Well, I Suppose I Should Use Up Those Pork Chops aka Pork Pizza Sandwiches:

Pork chops
Italian dressing-- Wishbone, Paul Newman, homemade, oh so precious foodie stuff. Just not the spray stuff or the diet/“lite” stuff.
French bread or similar (need a sturdy bread for this)
Pizza sauce–some kind of tomato based sauce that isn’t ketchup or salsa*
Mozzarella cheese–I use whole milk mozzarella. Go part skim if you like melted plastic.
Anything else you like: oregano, chopped onions, black olives, peppers, god knows what you people put on your food. No, I don’t want to know!

  1. Take 4-5, maybe 6 thawed pork chops. I don’t care what cut, although the thinner ones do better. I don’t care where the pig came from, either. Buy the cheap cut–I’ll never tell. Cut the RAW meat off the bone in strips. Use something sharp; I use kitchen shears; do not use your teeth. And wash your hands! Discard the bones. Wash 'em again.

  2. Place the pork strips in a glass dish, pour the Italian dressing over them. Stir a bit, then cover with Cling (if you can get it to work; I never can) or tin foil (leave some extra for your hat). Place in refrigerator. We’re marinating the meat. How nice.
    3.In about an hour, maybe 2 or even overnight, retrieve the meat. Fry or if you went to private school, saute the pork in a hot skillet until it is slightly brown (it may not brown due to the marinade. No worries). Discard the used marinade.

  3. Cut the French bread into sandwich slices. Place on baking sheets. Put pork on top of bread. Now would be a good time to add your anchovies or peppers or whatever you want to the pork. Drizzle (or glop–it’s your food) the pizza/spaghetti/pasta sauce over the pork. Top with finely grated mozzarella.

  4. You an either broil them lightly until the cheese bubbles or you can bake them at 375 for about 8 minutes until the cheese melts. The goal is to melt the cheese; how you achieve that is your call.

These are usually gone in about 5 minutes. If they’re not, you did something wrong.
*If you must go south of the border, you can make this recipe with salsa and add peppers and [insert name of Mexican cheese here]. You may want to use soft tortillas then. Ole!

162

Ooooh, thunder and lightening. :: hides under blanket with Olive ::

163

McUne, that is awesome! Most triumphant! flourish of strumpets

I just got a call from my grandkid who’s writing a persuasive essay on why everybody should vote for Obama for President. His teacher said he needs more facts and suchlike so he was hitting me up for a link I sent his mom a while back that linked to the respective voting records of Obama and Clinton. In the process we also discussed habeas corpus, signing statements and why it would be good to have a former Senior Lecturer in Constitutional Law in the White House. We also discussed the infinitely greater benefits and utility of Gmail over Yahoo mail. The kid is so incredible, I feel blessed to have him–he’s smart and funny and opinionated and passionate and has such deep feelings and convictions for such a young age. I truly feel he’s a very old soul… Of course the fact that I am a Fond and Foolish Granny ™ has absolutely NOTHING to do with it!

The SO is cooking up what smells like a Stir Fry of the Gods in there using pork he earlier simmered then marinated in that sticky red stuff, then baked with sesame seeds all over it. I am drooling as we speak and trying very hard not to get it all over the keyboard.

swampy, repeat after me “I TOLD you not to dig there, but oh no YOU wouldn’t LISTEN! I told you not to, now SEE what you did!” If you see the numbnuts who did it again, kindly feel free to announce the above loudly and clearly in his general direction for a very long time. What a dildo!

**rigs, ** this: “Rigby’s Fucking Heavenly Cookies” made me laugh–not just the title but also the very curmudgeonly tone of the whole recipe! It’s all like “make me or not, fuckers, just GET OFF MY LAWN!”

{{Haze}} Ees okeh, no worries about de lightnin’! You be okeh!

164

Yay! I’m glad that that you all seem to like it. :slight_smile:

I can’t wait to keep adding recipes on there! I need to go through mine and add a couple.

165

That crazy swan chased me on my way out of work today! I’d stopped to say hello to the birds as usual and as I walked away I heard this big splashy noise and turned around and he was out of the water and walking towards me with, I swear, death in his eyes. Needless to say, I sped up. He stopped after I went a few feet but kept watching me for quite some distance.

That bird has it in for me. I think it’s personal!

166

Dang, I know it. Not expecting lightning, I actually peeked out my blinds. I thought someone was taking flash photos at first…

I should really be looking for another job. I’m wildly overqualified for my present position but I feel that the effort to compensation level is fair. The job has become stagnant and i know I can find interesting work that might offer better compensation. Ho hum. It’s so easy to settle into that rut. I need a kick in the ass.

Pork pizza sandwiches…sounds terrific. I’d mix some parm or maybe queso cotija cheese in prior to baking.

167

A big hug to beebs.

A big ~wave~ hi to everyone else.

Still kinda reading along some but not much time to post. So I’m still here with you, I’m just in stealth mode. :cool:

168

Who said that? I don’t see anything! :cool:

169

McUne, remember these:

Pepperoni Cheese Bread

Ingredients
Bread
2 cups self-raising flour, sifted (see note)
1/2 cup chopped oregano
1 1/4 cups sour cream
1 tbspn milk

Filling
250g (about 8-9 ounces) spreadable cream cheese
1 tbspn milk
200g (7 ounces) sliced mushrooms (sauteed if fresh, or tinned)
200g (7 ounces) sliced pepperoni (or ham, if you prefer)
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 tbspns parmesan cheese
Method

  1. Combine flour and oregano in a large bowl. Combine sour cream and milk and stir in to dry ingredients. Mix quickly to form a soft dough.

  2. Turn onto a lightly-floured surface. Knead gently, Press or roll dough into a rectangle shape, about 5mm (1/4 inch) thick.

  3. Prepare filling - beat cream cheese with milk until smooth. Spread evenly over dough. Top with pepperoni slices, mushrooms and cheddar cheese. Fold dough over and crimp edges with a fork.

  4. Place on a lightly-greased (or lined) baking tray. Cut a few slits across the top of the dough and brush with extra milk. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake in a hot oven (200C/400F) for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. Serve warm with a green salad.
    Note: you can make self-raising flour by mixing 2 cups all-purpose flour with 2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and a pinch of salt.

Nom nom nom!

Okay, off to work! McUne, I also have saved copies of swampy’s Cheese Crisps recipe, someone else’s Beer Cheese Soup recipe, and the unforgettable Cheesecake Brownies and Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies. I shall PM them to you later today!

ETA: Maybe we could add a link to the Pioneer Woman’s cooking site on the blog?

170

Here’s the Peanut Butter Choc Brownies recipe, which I hunted down from [post=8798688]July last year[/post]:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients
Melted butter, to grease
150g (6oz) dark or cooking chocolate, coarsely chopped
100g (4oz) butter, chopped
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 eggs
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter, slightly warmed

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 160[sup]o[/sup]C (325[sup]o[/sup]F). Brush a 16cm x 26cm (6in x 10in) slab pan with melted butter to grease. Line base and 2 long sides with non-stick baking parchment, allowing sides to overhang.

  2. Sift the flour and cocoa powder into a bowl with the sugar and peanuts and combine well.

  3. Place the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan half-filled with simmering water (ensure the base of the bowl does not touch the water). Use a metal spoon to stir until the chocolate and butter melt and the mixture is smooth.

  4. Add the chocolate mixture and eggs to the dry mix and stir until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan. Spoon dollops of the warmed peanut butter over the brownie mixture and use a round-bladed knife to swirl through.

  5. Bake in oven for 35-40 minutes or until crumbs cling to a skewer inserted into the centre. Allow to cool completely before slicing and serving (Yeah, right!!!).

  6. Eat until you feel sick! :smiley:

171

swampie shouldn’t be a lion! He should be a bear! Someone get new Zodiac signs, pronto!

Driving by, so please take hugs and boos and apologies for not answering as appropiate. Been busy crazy but not in a bad way. Yesterday filed my first trimester of self-employed taxes (sniff, I feel so proud!). This morning got an out-of-the-blue offer for a 6month gig in, uhm, the town where I was born. That’s a 20’ drive from my flat and 1h away from Mom and The Bros. One of my agents was passing CVs of some folks around in a meeting with a Big Company there and the folks from BC jumped on mine, they apparently had references (I have worked in other companies in the area and my name is hard to miss) and decided on the spot that they wanted me please with sugar on top.

It’s support, which I don’t like, but it’s home. And the salary is international, yay!

172

See “the Da Vinci code,” which presents as true an old French legend which has been used as a basis for many other fantasy books, only these were presented as, well, fantasy, therefore keeping most of The Morons (that’s what TM stands for) from reading them. It’s not that no morons read fantasy, but the morons who read something because it’s in the best-sellers list, those don’t.

I think it’s sometimes very important to realize the difference between, say, a XIXth century novel which includes old legends collected by the writer as a way to preserve them, or a XIXth century novel from a “naturalist” writer (who tries to represent people as they would really act) or a XIXth century novel from an “enlightened” writer (who tries to present people as he thinks they should act). I have specific Spanish examples for the three genders - which parts you can “believe” and which not vary enormously.

173

Extremely fast drive-by…

Congrats on the job offer, Nava! :slight_smile:

Rigs, I think you missed a whole page! :stuck_out_tongue: :eek:

Missed you long time, **Roo **-- what’s up?

**Spaz **-- the reading habit is something the kids got mostly from their mother :o And she never really liked THHGTTG that much. Maybe because it loses a lot in translation (you’re talking a bunch of Hebrew readers, here.)

Bye, now…! Vroooooom

174

Another drive-by here too, got a lot to do and I’m on a four-day week this time so I need to get stuff finished before Thursday 'cos that’s my Firday! Woo and hoo!

Congrats, yays, boos, hugs, appropriate and inappropriate things for everyone!

175

Up and caffeinating … time to leave for work! Happy Wednesday all. :slight_smile:

176

MCUNE I’ll check out the recipe blog later. I’ve never been into blogging but this might be the one that sucks me in. :smiley: I’ll root around my recipes and send ya some to post. Thanks for sharing the cheese crisps recipe Dotty. Everybody needs addictive foodstuff in their lives.

Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffienatin’ here. Soon purtification for workification shall commence. Oh, and no worries, I shall continue to hassle the electrical folks about what they did. They will pay for the repairs. Oh yes, they will.

Nava a whole new zodiac created just for me? I’m flattered! Yay on the new gig!

Later Y’all!

177

Morning Mumpers! I’ve been busy. I got elected to the Booster Club board. Nelly celebrated by pooping on the rug. I went out for drinks with lady friend. It looks like it won’t tun into anything serious. That’s OK, I still like going out for drinks with cynical 40-something women. :waves at rigs: :smiley:

Congrats on the job offer, Nava!

Haze, Nelly hates lound noises, so she might join you under the blanket during thunderstorms.

Hi Roo!

McUNE, I bookmarked the blog. Thanks.

{{{{MamaTigs}}}}

:noogies for beebs:

Haze in LiLi’s pants? Strumpets flourishing in the MMP? I’ll be in my bunk! :smiley:

178

A quick and dirty recipe for the blog:

Operation Eat Me Cake

1 garden variety yellow cake mix, with all of the regular extra ingredients called for on the box (oil, eggs, etc)

1 cup of well broken (but not crushed) pecans

2 tsp vanilla

Butter cream frosting, commercial or homemade

Mix the cake, per directions, adding the vanilla and 3/4 of the pecans. Bake as usual. When cool, frost, spreading balance of pecans over the top.

Yeah, a tough one I know, but the added nuts and vanilla are enough of an improvement that people want to know how to make it.

If you don’t like pecans, walnuts also work. I despise walnuts personally, and I grow my own pecans, so there’s a little bit of a bias.

Off to forage for brekkie. Later dudes and dude-ettes.

179

I’d posted these in a recipe thread a few months back:
Damn Good -n- Easy Chili - Serves many (main dish)

Since chili is a subjective thing, the quantites are up to the individual, but this is how I make it. Also I only know how to make large quantities of the stuff, since I usually only make it as party fare, but it also freezes well and goes great over pasta or rice

You’ll need

Two large cans of crushed tomatoes
1 jar of chunky salsa (heat level of your choice)
1 small can tomato paste
roughly 4 to 5 cloves of garlic, minced (I use two teaspoons of the pre-crushed garlic in a jar)
4 cans of beans (your choice of color and type - I use a different combination each time I make it), drained and rinsed.
2 pounds of ground beef (but you could use a combination of beef, pork, lamb, and/or turkey).
1 pound stew beef, cut into cubes
1/4 teaspoon of each of your choice of dried herbs (I rely on oregano and parsley but have been known to experiment)
red pepper flakes (a 1/4 teaspoon will do, but feel free to add more)
1/4 teaspoon onion powder (not onion salt)
2 stalks of celery & 2 carrots, finely diced
2 portobello mushroom caps, cubed
salt & pepper to taste

Start with the crushed tomatoes in a large, non reactive (8 or 10 quart) stock pot on medium heat. Add the salsa, the dried herbs, the tomato paste, and the red pepper flakes, stirring regularly but not constantly.
When this starts to bubble, turn the heat down to medium low and allow it to simmer while, in a non stick skillet, you brown the ground beef (or meat combination), crumbled into bite sized pieces. If your skillet isn’t that big, work in batches. Drain the browned meat and add to the tomato mixture. Stir.
Add the drained beans, the chopped veggies, the garlic, the onion pwder and the pepper flakes. Stir as you turn the heat up enough for it to resume a quiet simmer, then lower the heat back down.
Now brown the cubed stew beef, and when it’s done, drain it and add it to the chili. Let the whole shebang simmer another half hour on low, stirring occassionally, and give it a taste. It probably won’t need any salt or pepper, but that’s up to you.
Regularly stirring over low to medium low heat will help tp prevent the tomatoes from burning on the bottom of the pot. Give it a good 2 or 3 hours for all the flavors to marry.
Serve with tortilla chips, chopped onion, shreadded cheese, sour cream, guacamolé, whatever your fancy, and enjoy.
Really Easy “Chili” (serves two) (main dish)

Brown a half pound of crumbled ground beef in a skillet.
Add one jar of chunky salsa (your choice of heat level)
Add a 1/4 teaspoon chopped garlic (one clove)
Add assorted herbs to taste.
Stir to combine over medium heat til the beef is thoroughly cooked
Serve over rice or under shreaded cheese.
Versitile Veggie Melange (side dish)

Very low cal, very high fiber, very delicious

1 bag frozen veggie mix (best combo for this is the broccoli/carrot/cauliflower mix, but whatever your favorite is will do)
1 jar chunky garden style pasta sauce
Italian herbs to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste
one small pinch kosher salt (yeah, I’m an AB fan)

Cook the veggies in a sauce pan til heated through but still firm (al denté)
Drain off into a colender, then place said colender in an ice bath to stall the cooking
Pour the psta sauce into the same sauce pan, and heat to just before a full simmer.
Add back the veggies, then add the herbs, pepper, and salt, and stir to combine.
Allow to simmer until the veggies are heated again, but still mostly al denté.

Serve as a side dish to your favorite protein, or over pasta, or by itself as a healthy lunch alternative.

180

Yay!

The Da Vinci Code is a good example of what I’m talking about, yes. Irresponsible authors + lazy readers = ignorance spread.

Ugh, I feel groggy. Need. Coffee.