Food Basics

Eggs Dirk Benedict

It just seemed logical, that as I'm a fan of the original Battlestar Galactica series, another recipe should be called "Eggs Dirk Benedict." He played Starbuck and is now doing all kinds of other things, including writing books. His website is here. Interesting stuff!

Anyway, here's the recipe. Actually more like instructions.

In this order, layer:
Thick-sliced French bread
Poached eggs
Thin breakfast steak
Hollandaise Sauce

For a good, quick hollandaise sauce recipe, check here.

Eggs Benedict Arnold

Have you seen the pre-cooked sausage patties in your area? We use them for quick breakfasts and sandwiches mostly, but the other day we had some leftover cheese sauce and tried this:

Eggs Benedict Arnold

2 slices bread

2 sausage patties

2 poached eggs

Cheese sauce

Assemble in that order, and there you have it!

Turkey Club Salad

This is one of those things that seemed like a good idea at the time...and it was!

Here's the recipe --

Cubed cooked turkey

Cooked bacon, slices cut in thirds

Tomatoes

Black olives

Fresh spinach

Lettuce

Toss it all in a big bowl and you're good to go. Great with Ranch dressing , or (yikes!) Miracle Whip. Now, when was the last time you actually put Miracle Whip on a salad?

The Rising Cost of Food

I was stunned last week when I went in the grocery store, to find that the same cheese I paid $2 for, the same ground beef I paid $1.49 a pound for only a week or so earlier had doubled in price. Looks like we're going to be seeking out bargains this summer!

I'll also be dusting off my living-cheap helpful hints; in the meantime check out my Saving Money without Using Coupons series. That may need to be re-written!

The Secret Behind Cake Mix

I've been disappointed in cake mixes lately. It seems that they come out too thin when you follow the package directions. So I tried using a smaller pan, which helped some. I think they really have less stuff in the box than they used to, but one of my local grocers had cake mixes on sale, so we bought a bunch of them.

I discovered a little trick which I know works with chocolate cake, and I'm going to try it with modifications on other flavors.

What I did was this: I added 2 tablespoons cornstarch, 2 tablespoons baking cocoa, an extra egg, and half a cup of sugar. The result was truly amazing! A tall, fluffy, moist cake. What this amounts to really, is adding a package of pudding as they require for their pound cake mixes that often show up on the box somewhere. I was not inclined to drive into town for a silly box of pudding ;>)

Good thing, really, it worked out very well! I bet that's what they really add when they say "pudding in the mix." Just some cornstarch -- they make you add the extra egg. (Cake mixes without "pudding in the mix" only call for two eggs.) H'mmm...

Where have we been?

I know it's been awhile (too long by my standards) since I've posted here. With five blogs, I find I concentrate on one for a while, then another, and on and on. I did want my increasing numbers of readers to know that I'm not abandoning this one or losing interest -- there are just so many hours in the day!

Tubini

Tubini is a pasta product made by Barilla, who apparently comes out with neww shapes from time to time just because.

I got this kind because of the name, which appealed to my sense of the silly. I liked the sound of it ;>)

After I cooked it I realized what I had here was the pasta they have in Beefaroni. Now I've got to try making that stuff myself! Maybe I could even get my husband to eat it! He is not a fan of canned pasta of any kind, though he claims to have married me because of my spaghetti.