Big Mac Attack inspired Cheese Steak

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Oh my, will you look at this! Now I am starving for a Big Mac



I was talking to my sister on the phone about how I wish Mc Donald's would make a regular size cheeseburger in Big Mac form, they could call it the Mini Mac. I would not fell so guilty eating a Big Mac at half the size.


I even wrote to them suggesting it. They replied and said, they tested a similar product , years ago and it didn't sell. WELL TRY IT AGAIN RONALD! The world has changed and there are some of us now, who want to partake in your tasty burger but its way too big. If we could learn limit our meals to a REAL serving size and get a little workout in, we would be a much slimmer world. Okay, enough about healthy..that's a whole other blog! lol






As I am thinking about the Big Mac and making it at home in my recommended serving size, a light bulb pops up in my mind...how about a cheese steak with Big Mac sauce (Russian Dressing). I love to make cheese steaks at home, and must say, I make them very very well. Why I never thought of this before..but immediately I add the ingredients to my grocery list that I keep on http://www.foodmonki.com/ . To make it more of a serving size, I will put it on a Kaiser roll instead of a hoagie roll (some of you say submarine roll). Sure, my husband and boys will probably eat two..but little old me can try to keep my figure!

Shut up, I know its still fattening..I chose my battles wisely, and work out to make up for it. One of my famous quotes when I am eating junk food is..."Eat like there is no tomorrow and exercise like there is!" Yes, its my own quote, I know it will be stolen now that I put it in print..whatever, that's how life is ya know lol.

So anyway, back to the subject of the email...we are talking about having a good sandwich. I probably am not the first to think of this, but my friends and family have never concocted one, so its all new to us, anyway! We made them and loved it.

NEVER FORGET

Most people remember on this day, but how quickly they forget. For a few short days following today, America was united! We were one big family...politics, religion, race and economic class was put aside and Americans were a family. We were all Americans and that was all that mattered!

NEVER FORGET

Share the Table

I saw this website info on the Today Show today, Martina McBride was on talking about it.
Commit to having family dinner together at the dinner table (or kitchen table, or patio) at least a few times a week.

Why Family Meals are Important

Dr. William Doherty

Family meals are more than feeding events; they are precious opportunities for family connection in a hurry-up world. Dinner in particular is the only time when most families are together, face to face, doing the same activity and sharing in conversation.

At the dinner table we can reconnect, relax, discuss, debate, and laugh together.

It’s not that we can’t do these things in other ways, but for most families the rest of the day is too scattered with everyone going in separate directions. Family dinners are one of the main ways that families create their own cultures.

Parents tell family stories, children talk about their teachers and friends, people discuss the hot news of the day, and we get to know the ups and downs of one another’s lives.

Over time young children learn to understand and share more as they move fully into the life of their families.

They also learn to help with meal setup, preparation and cleanup – tasks where they learn that family life means working together. All of this makes common sense to most people. But in recent years research has shown important benefits to children, and also to adults, of having regular meals with their families.

Children grow up healthier, smarter, and better adjusted when their parents take the lead in having regular dinnertimes. And adults feel better about their own lives. Of course, there is nothing automatically good about sitting down to eat together. Family dinners can be hurried, hectic, and full of conflict, in which case they don’t do much good for anyone. But we can learn to make them times of connection rather than frustration. And nearly all of us can improve our family dinner experience even if we are already doing a good job. Ideas on this website show how.
http://www.sharethetable.com/

CORN FRITTERS AND TENNIS

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These are my corn fritters. YUM

I was so hungry for junk food last evening so I went ahead and made these even though I was home alone, and would have to eat the whole batch by myself...kidding, I refrigerated them for the boys and hubby and toaster ovened them back to hot when they finally go home late last night. they turned out pretty good.

I tweaked this recipe, as I always do..those who know me, know that I never follow directions (my high school teachers would testify to that lol).

I got this recipe from a Taste of Home email, so I thought I would include it here, in tact, so that you could make it the way it was meant to be or make it your own.


I switched up the peppers and made it with HOT peppers from my garden. I like spicy in anything and everything...so do it your way, but my way is HOT. I think they turned out pretty good..but I will definitely tweak this some more. I have a really good PA Dutch recipe book on ALL things corn so I am sure I can find a few recipes in there to take bits and pieces from.



This took no time to make. Very little mess. I am out of grapeseed oil, and have to get to the Mennonite store to get more,cheapest place around for a bigggg can of it. That is my oil of choice to fry...second is avocado oil..pricey! I was out of Canola oil too and well, I do not fry things in Olive Oil...that's just not right! lol. So I used LARD...Paula Deen would be so proud of me! lol. I told you I was hungry for junk food, I didn't say I was eating healthy!
Of course, I didn't measure either...just eyed it up, looks like 1¼cups to me, because that is how I measure. I am too lazy to wash measuring cups and spoons unless I am baking. I know, I said that before. YAWN.

Here's a pic of it on my plate with my fork just to show ya the size I made them.

This picture above their recipe is THEIR fritters...notice mine are smaller (and theirs too perfectly uniform in size..hey, I was not playing food stylist, or photographer, I was hungry okay?..I wanted mine more of a Corn Nugget like corn fritter, as the picture at the top of the page shows. I like my corn fritters pancakey when I am in a pancake mood and when I am in a mood for junky fried food...I like them small and crispier.
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Peppered Corn Fritters
Cumin complements the corn and peppers in these fritters Precious Owens, Elizabethtown, Kentucky, shares.

Taste of Home
SERVINGS: 4-5
CATEGORY: Side Dish
METHOD:
TIME: Prep/Total Time: 30 min.
Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups fresh or frozen corn, thawed
1 cup finely chopped sweet red pepper
1 cup finely chopped green onions
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup milk
Oil for deep-fat frying
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the corn, red pepper and onions. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cumin, salt and pepper; stir into corn mixture. Gradually add milk, stirring until blended. In an electric skillet or deep-fat fryer, heat 1/4 in. of oil to 375°. Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls, a few at a time, into hot oil. Fry until golden brown, about 2 to 2-1/2 minutes on each side. Drain on paper towels. Yield: 13-14 fritters.


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I sat munching on them in front of the TV watching the US open, happy about Miss William's win (that should be plural, they both won, but I only caught the Venus match), but not too happy about Nadal beating out Keifer..only because I thought Keifer was so good looking lol. It was a win win though, watching two hot men battle it out for three hours on the tennis court! They were playing in Flushing, NY and it was past midnight when the match ended..I was tired just sitting on my sofa while watching them lol.

You go girl, I could watch the William's sisters play tennis all night.

Nicolas Keifer (Germany)..very nice eye candy!

Check out that brace on his knee..never saw anything like it.

And of course, the winner in the Keifer/Nadal match...

Rafael Nadal

Oh, one last note...Will Farrell was in the stands..funny, during the one play, someone yelled something hard to understand and it included Will Farrell's name...Nadal bounced his ball a few extra times to regain his composure as the crowd laughed.

Kitchen Monki

I came across this great new site on facebook and joined. Its free.
http://www.kitchenmonki.com/ If you love to cook, I highly recommend joining. If you join, please look me up. (Shannon Dillman)
You can look up recipes, post your own, mingle with other cooks and so much more. There are meal planning calendars, shopping lists, even one for your mobile phone that you can check off items you got, as you grocery shop right on your phone.
I posted two recipes on it yesterday but didn't have a lot of time to post more yet,but plan to. I can't wait to play on it later today.

I tried to post the video here of the mobile feature in use but seem to be having a problem with my blog page today so here is the link to see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyJ1KNLHlnk I had great interaction with the moderator and this is a wonderful site! I hope to see you on KitchenMonki!

Seven Layer Dip and then some!

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This is a great dish to take to pot lucks. My sister in law made the first one I ever tasted years ago, and it was so good.

This version, I tweaked (I can never just leave well enough alone lol) and I added guacamole,hot peppers, black beans, and corn expanding it to more than 7 layers. Make two dishes, so you can make one hot for the people who like their Mexican food the way its meant to be...HOT!

You can make it in a bowl also, or a fancy schmancy dish. Below are some serving dish ideas. I am thinking of putting my gigantic margarita glass to good use for my hot and spicy one for my next "partay". And surely, the spider one at Halloween.


Seven Layer Bean Dip

You will need:

refried beans

Whole black beans (opt)

16 oz homemade guacamole

diced olives

shredded cheddar cheese

Corn (opt)

diced tomatoes

diced green onions

1 cup of sour cream

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

1 packet of taco seasoning

Shredded Lettuce

diced jalapeno or poblano peppers (opt, I like it hot)

Serve with tortilla chips and have a jar of spicy taco sauce nearby for anyone who might want to top it with that too.


Layer the following ingredients in a 9x9 pan.

1st layer- refried beans and black beans

2nd layer- 1 tub of guacamole

3rd layer-combine 1 cup of sour cream, 1/2 cup of mayonnaise and packet of taco seasoning

4th layer-shredded lettuce

5th layer-diced olives and corn if desired

6th layer-shredded cheddar cheese

7th layer-diced tomatoes, hot peppers

This is a super idea for a Halloween Party! Use a plastic baggie with the tip cut off or an icing piping bag and draw a spider web on it with sour cream...top with olives cut into the shape of spiders.

You can make a big dish or it, or, for a small crew coming over..




Cutsie Patriotic one for Memorial Day, 4th of July or for a party for a Soldier.

Lunch Box fun

Making lunch fun and interesting will help your child, or hubby, or even you own day a little bit better. My kids are homeschooled, but when they did go to school 8 years ago, they always had fun lunches packed. My friends would ask how i got my kids to eat veggies...they just always did...as toddlers, fresh broccoli was little trees. We would bite the top off of the tree, pretending to be a dinosaur. lol....silly but simple things to make eating healthy, fun.

My kids love sushi, yes even the sashimi, raw fish...but of course, taking fish in a lunchbox is not very safe unless you have early enough lunch and/or you have a place to keep it VERY cool,. but making sushi is fun, and really rather easy...and you can make it with just veggies or have tofu in it also. You can get a book on it at the library or just watch on you tube...my family loves to make it, 15.00 worth of sushi grade fish stuffs us all, and a restaurant it would cost that to tease one person. I am sure you could make sushi with fish and keep it cold enough, just be certain not to rely on an ice pack that is too small. It must be kept very cold...I recall the scene in the Breakfast Club where Molly Ringwald takes sushi and Jud Nelson comments on it.

Another alternative is to make basic wraps (lunch meat, even pb and jelly) and cut them into spirals and arrange them to "look like sushi" in a container. I made wraps like that for a picnic and everyone that walked up to the table asked if it was sushi...Its best to make the wrap, and put it in the frige a few hours before you slice it into spirals. It will keep its shape better. I like to flavor cream cheese and use that as the base before I add meats or chicken salad or even just veggies...green pepper, cucumber, spinach, whatever floats your boat. And of course they have tomato and spinach wraps to make it even more interesting. Blt spirals are so yummy and refreshing.

You could put the Sushi or the Spirals in a sandwich container or better yet, a cool bento box. They come in all shapes, sizes and materials they are made with. You can even get stacking stainless steel ones if you do not use plastic...I try not to use alot of plastic, but I pick my battles, sometimes ya just gotta use it!

Also you can put juice or some type of drink in a small canning jar with a lid. I use small canning jars in my cabinets for juice glasses to save space. We dont' use plastic cups or plastic storage containers in our house. Canning jars are my only food storage containers and I have all sizes for big and small storing jobs. The wide mouth small are cute for drinks and you could cushion it in a can huggy in the lunch box or even wrapt it in a cloth napkin, using it as the lunch napkin can help save the planet just a little more.

Another thing my kids love is a twist on the cream cheese sweet bologna spirals. Spread cream cheese (and if you flavor it with spices, even better) on a piece of sweet bologna, put a whole or even spear dill pickle on it and wrap it. Put in frige for about an hour and then slice them into spirals. I am telling you, this is sooo good.

And why not a little treat in the lunchbox. SUSHI CANDY!

Here are some fun sushi pics I found.


And this gives me a brilliant idea!!!!! (the sushi cake)...that is another post!

I totally had this lunch box when I was a kid!