A new blog feature - J's preferred picks

Welcome to the info about a new blog feature you will be seeing.  I call it --

J's preferred picks


As I buy different food and cooking related products, when I find a product I really like, that I think is really good - I like to share with you about it and let you know about it. Well now, just today, I have come up with a new way to do that.  I will do it thru blog posts that I will call 'Js preferred picks'.  And being one of Js preferred picks will be a high honor for the product chosen.  I am picky about my food, and like good quality products for a good price that taste good.

So enough of that.  You get the idea!  Now on to our first J's preferred pick:

Oscar Mayer Angus Selects hot dogs

For the longest while, my IBS wouldn't let me eat hot dogs, which I dearly love.  But recently it has gotten better, and I am once again able to eat hot dogs again.  We discovered a great way to cook them in our toaster oven:

http://rcandfood.blogspot.com/2011/07/cooking-hot-dogs-and-sausages.html

So then I started trying different hot dogs to find out which ones I liked the best.  I tried the Hebrew National brand, which are good hot dogs.  But then I got a coupon online for these Oscar Mayer hot dogs, so I tried them.  They are now our favorite hot dogs.

Now the Hebrew National are great hot dogs too, my second favorite.  But these get the first spot.  They taste great cooked the way I talk about in my blog post.  Good taste, really satisfying and filling, and juicy too.  Great flavor.  Highly recommend these!

So there you have it!  My first J's preferred pick.  Keep a lookout for more to come.

Happy cooking and delightful eating from
-- Jacqueline D. --
the cook behind it all

Cooking hot dogs and sausages

Friends, I have just discovered today the absolutely best way to cook your hot dogs and link type sausages in the oven.  For the longest while, a digestive problem I have wouldn't let me eat hot dogs and the like.  But lately I have been doing better, so I decided to try some hot dogs.  I got some of the Ball Park brand hot dogs that come individually wrapped, and threw the package up in the freezer.

Well today I decided to cook a couple for my husband and me.  So here is what I decided to do:

I unwrapped the two hot dogs.  Then I took a piece of aluminum foil and laid the two hot dogs on one half of it, then folded the other half over; and folded the edges over, and sort of made a packet out of it.  Then I put it in my preheated toaster oven and baked them for about 20 minutes.  This worked really well.

It worked so well, that just a few minutes later my husband baked some hot dog type sausages he had that way too.  He baked those for 30 minutes.  And they turned out really good too!

I used just a simple little toaster oven set to 350 degrees.  Below is a simple illustration to help you understand about making the foil packet.  The foil packet works great in that it keeps all the juices inside.  So you end up with really juicy, tasty hot dogs or sausages.

Packet folding illustration

Happy cooking and delightful eating!

:))

Jacqueline Driggers

the cook behind it all

Having a great pizza at home

We had a great pizza last night, and it didn't come from a pizza restaurant.  But before I get into what we did last night, I want to talk a bit about what we had been doing.

For a long while, we didn't order pizza home delivery from our local pizza restaurants because we didn't think they were too good.  We would get the occasional frozen pizza.  But lately we had discovered that they had improved, and that a new restaurant had opened up.  We would sometimes get a pan pizza from Pizza Hut topped with ham, bacon, and mushrooms.  Also sometimes we would get a pizza from Pizza Kings, also topped with ham and bacon and mushrooms.

But last night we did something different.  Now the heat doesn't agree with my husband or I, so we wait to do our Walmart runs late at night when it is much cooler.  And last night we decided we wanted pizza.  Now by the time we got home -- well, it was already too late to order one from a restaurant when we went out.  So we got the fixings to do what we had done in the past, but hadn't done in a while.  So here is the recipe for our prize winning pizza that we had last night:

Get 1 Digorno's 4 cheese pizza
http://www.digiorno.com/Products.aspx/Four-Cheese/0f668676-30d2-437d-aecb-125cfc33b22d

Also get your favorite meat toppings.  Last night we used canadian bacon and smoked turkey.  You could use any meat toppings that you like.

You will also need some shredded cheese.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Put some Reynolds non-stick aluminum foil over your pizza pan or cookie sheet that you are going to bake your pizza on.

http://www.reynoldspkg.com/reynoldskitchens/en/product/nonstick.asp

This will help keep your pizza from sticking to the pan, and I think it helped to make our crust crispier.

Put your frozen pizza on the pan.  Add the chopped meat you got.  In our case I chopped up some slices of canadian bacon, and just hand shredded some slices of really thin smoked turkey.  Then cover this with your shredded cheese.  I used Kraft shredded pizza cheese.  Bake for 28 minutes in a 400 degree oven.  When putting the pizza in and out of the oven, you will want to use care as the non-stick foil is really slick; and your pizza will slide around.  You want it to end up in your tummy and not on the floor.  

Our pizza turned out just great.  Crisp, brown crust; and plenty of toppings.  I would show you a picture of it, but hey -- it's just a great food memory now.  We will definitely be doing this again.  I think it is safe to say that Pizza Hut and Pizza Kings won't be getting too much of our business anymore.  The cost for this pizza was around $10-11 dollars, and you will probably end up with extra toppings for other uses.  We did.  A delivery pizza from either of the 2 places I mentioned:  ham, bacon, and mushrooms -- runs around $12-15 dollars.  A better deal and just as good a pizza.  

Happy cooking and delightful eating!

See you on my facebook page!

http://www.facebook.com/rcandfood

:)

-- jd --

Making your own popsicles, and some family fun too!

It is summer, and the kids are out of school.  Maybe they are clamoring for something to do.  Maybe they are clamoring for a popsicle.  Maybe they are doing both.  Why not take care of both issues with one activity.  Gather your kids and make popsicles with them.  To help you out, here are some recipes for you to choose from:

-- These links are for single recipe pages. 

This one uses fresh fruit and yogurt, and is written by a facebook friend of mine.  I highly recommend this one. 

http://www.examiner.com/family-holidays-in-buffalo/all-natural-frozen-fruit-bars

This one is a good sounding one too that uses sugar, water, and juice. 

http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/make_your_own_juice_popsicles/

This one is an orange-banana smoothie pop recipe.

http://www.countryliving.com/recipefinder/orange-banana-smoothie-pops-recipe

Here is a strawberry popsicle recipe that uses fresh strawberries and milk.

http://frugalliving.about.com/od/frugalfoodsrecipes/r/Strawberry_Pops.htm

And  here is one that uses jello in it.

http://frugalliving.about.com/od/frugalfoodsrecipes/r/Jello_Popsicles.htm

This is a sugar-free popsicle recipe that uses sugar-free jello and kool-aid.

http://dessert.food.com/recipe/sugar-free-popsicles-166109

Here is another sugar-free popsicle recipe that uses sugar-free jello and crystal light in it. 

http://www.food.com/recipe/sugar-free-calorie-free-popsicles-175966

-- The following are all links to pages that have several recipe links for you to choose from:

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cat/897/

http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,homemade_popsicles,FF.html

http://tipnut.com/homemade-popsicles/

http://www.countryliving.com/cooking/recipes/popsicle-recipes-0709

http://frugalliving.about.com/od/desserts/tp/Popsicle_Recipes.htm

-- This one gives you some popsicle making tips as well as recipes:

http://www.growingagreenfamily.com/50-amazing-homemade-popsicle-recipes-ideas/

So now you need to pick out the recipe that suits you.  Then gather your ingredients.  Involve the kids in every step of the process.  Let them help you pick out the recipe, and help with gathering the ingredients.  If you have to go shopping for something, let them help with that too.  When you get in the store, perhaps assign one to carry the list and another to help search out the ingredients. 

So what do you freeze them in?  You can buy reusable plastic popsicle molds.  Or you can simply use an ice cube tray.  Put your popsicle mix in the tray, cover it with foil, and poke popsicle sticks thru the foil in the center of each ice cube compartment.  I have read that you can also use dixie cups as popsicle molds too.  As I write this, I am sitting here thinking that you could also use disposable plastic drinking cups for popsicle molds.  As with the ice cube trays, you would cover them in foil and poke the sticks thru.  If you have trouble getting the popsicles out of the mold, with plastic containers, you can simply run the end of it under a little warm water at the faucet.  That should do the trick.

So go forth and make some popsicles to keep yourself cool with this summer.  And you can also turn it into a great activity to do with your kids (or grandkids) too.  And think of how much more fun it will be for them to eat something that they helped make.

Happy cooking and delightful eating!

See you on my facebook page!

http://www.facebook.com/rcandfood

:))

-- jd --

Getting a good hamburger real quick, without the drive-thru

Want a great hamburger quick?  How about one that comes right from your freezer?  Sound good?  Then you should check out the Walmart great value brand hamburgers.  

They have the bacon cheeseburger, the cheeseburger, the hamburger, and the mini cheeseburgers.  All the hamburgers come 2 sandwiches to a box, and the mini-cheeseburgers come 4 sandwiches to a box.  At our local Walmart, the bacon cheeseburgers cost $3.76 for a box of 2 burgers.  We (hubby and me) consider that to be a pretty good value.  The bacon cheeseburger consists of the sesame seed bun, a slice of bacon, cheese slice, and burger patty.  Of course the cheeseburger has burger, bun, and cheese; and the hamburger has burger and bun.  The mini-cheeseburgers aren't on a sesame seed bun, but are on just a regular bun.


Since my husband and I discovered them, we keep them as a regular staple in our freezer.  We like them a lot.  They cost about the same as a burger that you would get from most any drive-thru, or even cheaper.  And we think they are just as good as any drive-thru burger you can get.  Add some of your favorite frozen french fries, and you have yourself a burger and fries right from the freezer.  If you are feeding a whole family, it might not be that economical versus homemade burgers; but if you are cooking for 1 or 2 or 3, it is a good deal.  As far as feeding a family at an eat-out place goes, these would more than likely beat the cost of feeding a whole family at a restaurant.  For $2-3 dollars, you can buy a bag of fries that will feed your whole family.  And you would only need 2 boxes of burgers to feed a family of 4.  Approximate cost for feeding a family of 4 burgers and fries this way:  $12-14 dollars.  Add your favorite movie on the tv, and you can have movie and burger and fries for a family of 4 for a cheap price.  


And these aren't wimpy, little burgers either!  These are nice, big, hearty burgers.  With really good meat and buns, and a nice-sized slice of bacon too.  The box directions tell you to microwave the whole thing in the inside plastic package.  (You open one end of it and microwave for a minute or so, read box directions.)  But I want to share with you how we fix them.  I think it makes for a much better burger.  If you fix them per box directions, then the juice from the thawing & cooking meat will slightly soggify your bun.  But I have developed a method of fixing them that avoids that.  It involves taking the burger apart and microwaving the parts separately.  So here is what I do:


Take the burger out of the package, and take it apart.  Separate the bun from the burger, cheese, and bacon (if it is a bacon cheeseburger).  Take just the bun, wrap it in a paper towel, and microwave it for 30-40 seconds on high.  Then take your bun and put it in your toaster, providing you have a wide slot toaster that accommodates buns.  If you do not,  you could put it under your oven broiler for a moment or two. The purpose of this is to finish thawing the bun and toast it a bit.  For if you microwave any bread too long, it will make the bread tough and chewy.  


Then, place your burger on a paper plate, with the cheese and bacon (if your sandwich has it) on top of the meat patty. Microwave this for 1 minute at high power.  Now add your favorite condiments and assemble your hamburger, and eat.


We like doing it this way because it seems to result in a better tasting burger.  As far as condiments, I would recommend your traditional ketchup, mustard, and pickles.  My favorite pickles for hamburgers and other sandwiches is Vlasic ovals:

These are nice, generous size pickles; and they have a good dill pickle taste too.  


So now you can keep the stuff to satisfy your burger and fries cravings right in your own freezer, with no drive-thru to deal with.  Why not plan a burger and fries and movie night for you family instead of going out.  Or perhaps burger and fries, and then a board game.  This is also great for folks who cook for just 1 or 2 or 3 as well.  You can have easy to fix burger and fries in your freezer any time you want.  And this is much quicker than buying the ground beef and cooking it. I'm not against cooking, by all means no!  But I do love all the good convenience foods available out there now, and like to share them with others too.


So here are some links for you:


Great Value hamburger


Great Value cheeseburger


Great Value mini-cheeseburgers


Great Value bacon cheeseburgers


Vlasic ovals hamburger slices

-- good food and good eating -- jd --



** July 13th, 2011 **
Have an additional note for you on this.  I have decided that the cheese slice that comes on the hamburger sort of tastes like cardboard cheese.  So I have started throwing it away.  Here is what I now do:

Fix the bun as directed above.  Throw away the cheese slice that comes on the burger.  Microwave the burger with the bacon laid on top of it for 30 seconds.  Then add your own cheese slice.  I used Kraft Velveeta slices.  Microwave it for an additional 30 seconds.  Place on toasted bun and top as desired.

-- jd --