Gourmet food, this is not. It's not even good food. If you want that today, go check out my friend Lauren's new blog. Rest assured, she's always cooking something good and healthy. Not me...
This evening, during my commute, I really started thinking about phoning in dinner. I mean really phoning it in. Well, not really--I'm not much for picking up the phone and ordering pizza or Chinese. That takes too much thought. No, I'm talking about hitting the drive-thru. I wanted bad food and I wanted it stat. No one would even be home to catch my binge as Husband is watching a movie for the second time just so his brother would go see it in the theater. I was debating over whose fries and burgers I wanted most and if there'd be room left over for a shake. I even opened my wallet at a stop light and thumbed through my available cash.
But in the end I steered my car towards home and cooked crap food. Just call this my week of box food. Tuesday was Stove Top and today is Hamburger Helper.What? It was on sale and I had a coupon.
If you're making Hamburger Helper (God forbid) and you're only following the directions on the box, you're missing out on a world on wonderful. You can't just eat it as is unless you're four. I mean, I've had four-year-olds tell me that Chef Boyardee is "Damn Good Stuff." I was babysitting at the time and probably should have reprimanded him but it was all I could do to get out of the room before laughing. What? He wasn't my kid. Point being: you can't trust a four-year-old's taste buds and if you're going to eat Hamburger Helper (or any of the Helper family) at least pretend to zazz it up. Also you don't want that white glove guy telling you what to do.
In the end, I'm pretty happy with the decision to skip the drive-thru. My craving for junk is satisfied and the cooking part was much more relaxing than driving to the drive-thru and waiting in line for the privilege to pay for "food." Also? This counts as part of the pantry/freezer project because I had everything on hand already.
This isn't so much a recipe as My Guide to Zazzy Helper.
Step 1:(I accidentally published right there. First time ever.) Get Helper. Wait until a sale/coupon combo. There is plenty of other cheaper crap you can buy in the meantime. What about the private label kinds? I don't know, but it can't get much worse, right?
Step 2: Cook your meat...or don't. This is the first and second-best place to take liberties with Mr. White Glove. You don't need a pound of meat, you don't have to use the meat they tell you to. Last time I used a mixture of cooked chicken and turkey for a chicken one. This time I used 1/4 pound hamburger and 4 or 5 slices of bacon. You can also use a mixture of ground meet and bulgur or other cooked grain. Or beans or tofu. Or veg you want to sautee like onions or peppers or mushrooms. Or skip this step all together.
Step 3: Mix in the noodles or rice and liquid and powder stuff. This is when I also make extra rice or noodles to stir in at the end. There is usually plenty of sauce/flavoring to support extra noodles or rice.
Step 4: Add in some more vegetables. Zazz it up! Priority number one for liberty taking. Sneak those vegetables past Mr. White Glove! Add anything you want sauteed with the meat (as I mentioned before). Add anything frozen or that you need boiled while you're cooking the noodles/rice. Add canned stuff or greens after the cooking is over.
Step 5: Eat it up!
Costs
Hamburger Helper was 75 cents.
Quarter pound of hamburger was 50 cents
Bacon was 60 cents
Onion was 20 cents
Milk was 48 cents
Broccoli was 33 cents
Tomatoes were 50 cents
Extra pasta was free (coupon)
Total $3.36. Way less than an extra value meal. With all the additions this could easily make 8 servings so 42 cents per serving.
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Breakfast: Peanut Butter on Toast 27 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 25 cents
Lunch: Orange Glazed Pork Chops $1.37
Snack: Yogurt with Blueberries and Banana 83 cents
Dinner: Zazz-burger Helper 42 cents
Total: $3.14
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