SatGourmet: Cooking for the Kids

We hear-tell we have children (*and grandchildren) but with CV-19, we don’t get many people braving the electronic fencing and mine fields to come visit us.

But a lot of our friends, who remained in the same city as their off-spring, are lucky enough to have kids.  So that means, when they come over, best to have something to put in their mouths.

I learned early-on that if I talked enough at the dinner table, the grown-ups would left me have seconds, thirds, and even…well, guess you know where the “boyish figure” came from, right?

For the Young Uns…

Looking Outside Of the Box (LOOB) is a frequent contributors on matters of human behavior at its best.  Proud to have such a reader in our midst.

Ever resourceful?  If you need some cardboard furniture?  Got’cha covered.  But did you know he could cook?  If the ankle-biters (which turn into wallet-biters by age eight, or so) are around, no one has any peace.

Behold!  Solutions!  (LOOB, take it way!)

“Here is two recipe’s that is used around here.. the grand kids love chicken nuggets.. so rather than run down and buy some we make them.. the kids can cut them out with different shaped cookie cutters.. I put a tablespoon of melted butter.. but oil works good.. in the chicken mix.. to smooth it out.. working it like a pastry dough or noodle dough.

The second recipe is quite old actually I found it in a really old literature for sausage balls.. I use bread crumbs.. and buy the bread crumbs with Italian seasoning in it.. or a blend up potato chips and mix with the bread crumbs to dip the balls in.. deep fat fry and enjoy..

I have a stuffed meat ball press that I use to make the meat balls.. the kids love them and during the big game they are a hit.. enjoy

Chicken Nuggets
Home made Chicken nuggets anyone… enjoy..
2 lbs. Chicken (1 lb. white meat + 1 lb. dark meat)
1 teaspoon of Salt
1/2 teaspoon of Parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon of Oregano
1/4 teaspoon of Pepper
2 Eggs, beaten
1 Cup of Flour + 1 tsp. salt
1.5 Cups of Oil for frying (I used Corn Oil)

1) Heat oil in a heavy-duty skillet (like a cast iron skillet) on medium-high heat while preparing the chicken nuggets – it should be ready to work with once half of your nuggets are ready to go in.
2) Cube chicken and place in a food processor. Add parsley, oregano, pepper, 1 tsp. salt and combine well. Blend chicken until it has all been taken apart and is a fine paste.
3) Combine 1 tsp. salt and flour on a plate and have your beaten eggs in a small bowl ready to work with.
4) Roll the chicken paste mixture into approximately 30 ping-pong ball-sized balls (smaller than a golf ball).
5) Roll ball a “chicken ball” in flour, then in egg, and then in flour again. Then, press the ball down to make a nugget. Set nuggets aside.
6) Sprinkle the hot oil with some flour and if it bubbles really quickly right away, your oil is ready for frying. Place as many nuggets as possible in the oil, and fry until the bottoms are golden, turn and fry until the other side is golden. Will take about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove to a towel-lined plate (to catch any excess oil)

Cheese, hamburger or sausage balls..
1 cup of mashed potatoes
½ tsp salt
2 Tbsp. flour
Inside…. Cheese one inch square.. hamburger, sausage
1 ounce of milk one egg mix dip in bread crumbs.. deep fat fry till golden brown..

Thank you!  All reader contributions are appreciated.  We can spend all our time losing money to the markets, right?

GAME Day Treats

As you may have surmised, people who live on sailboats very long (and I did 10+ years of that) develop a real flair for lazy ways of living. But it sort of twists up your thinking for “life on hard” which finally you decide so much freedom eats into other ambitions in Life.

A Perfect Game Day Menu

Shocking, before Elaine, Ure’s truly had other romantic pursuits.  Like stock trading, they’d work out for a while, but then…

Anyway, one woman in particular – very sophisticated professional – did something with French Toast that you could put together for tomorrow morning.

What she wanted was the perfect “morning after” meal.  So, before going to bed, (ahem…) she’d cut up a loaf of French bread into one-inch (plus) slices and give it a good soak in the usual mix of eggs and heavy (whipping) cream.

The next morning, the slices, which were in the fridge on a cookie pan, came out and were tossed in a 360 oven for 20-minutes, or until done.

Naturally, shakes of cinnamon and nutmeg and a shot of Bailey’s in the soak would be fine.

But the neat part of this is you get the French toast without the hassle of hanging around the kitchen in the “morning after” which freed up time for more…er….well, you can figure it out.

Which meant a Mimosa (oj, vodka or unspiced run, and a shot of Cointreau) could be consumed.  With adequate supplies, you’d maybe have to consume two of them in order to ensure the French toast was thoroughly baked.

That was a dandy breakfast.

Game Day Lunch

Now we’re into a gray area.  Game Day involves a balance.  You want to have enough food so you don’t get shaky-weird hungry from crashing blood sugar on the one hand (especially when the jokes of heart-starter wear off a bit and speech slows to 200 words per minute).

But, if you get too many carbs going, well, that’s bad, too.

Progresso  makes an acceptable white clam chowder.  Which, reinforced with an additional can of minced clams and a good shake of bacon bits begins to come up to snuff.  But, still not quite enough.

I like to fill in around the edges with a plain bagel with lots of cream cheese. You can pace yourself pretty well.  If things look late?  Well, a second bagel.

When to Drink

Drinks, like everything in Life, work best in moderation.  So, if you had a Mimosa for breakfast, best to skip the booze at lunch.  In fact, the first drink (ideally) would be consumed just about the time the kick-off is in sight.

There’s a reason here:  If you drink alcohol for any of its psychophysical effects, it should be clear that if you get up and hit the sauce early and drink “all day” (as crazy people will),  then you’ll be shit-faced before the game starts.  Mentally you’ll have missed the day entirely.

On the other hand, with nothing to drink until moments before game time, then you may have actually gotten some things done.  Bills paid, load a laundry, a project or two, and for me, tuning the shortwave and ham bands.  See what people are talking about, right?

Before that first beverage (or smoke if in Colorado or Washington, or gambling a prison term in Texas) you’ll want to have dinner ready.

Game Day Chicken

As soon as game day breakfast is cleared, clean up and place in a bowl 1 or 2 chicken breasts per person.

Pat dry.  Then roll them around in a mixture of salt and cracked pepper.  Go heavy on the pepper, since most of it will fall off anyway.  Salting chicken (and overnight is fine, too) helps tenderize the hell out of it.  The #1 ingredient in Colonel Sander’s “secret recipe”?  Salt.  Unsalted chicken sucks.  Dries quickly, stringy, chewy, tough…no thanks.

On them pour 3-shots of agave tequila.  Toss around and come back on the first commercial break of the game.

Now take the chicken breasts (with salty juice and pepper) and drain the juice off.  DO NOT pat it.  A little tequila on it is fine.  Because now you’re going to put your favorite seasoning salt on it.

We typically roll with Lawry’s or Johnny’s Dock (*yum!).  A shake extra of Italian seasoning or herbes provence if your taste buds want more.  A few flakes of Cayenne pepper will bring it up hotter (if you’ve done wings during the first half).  But white pepper will be a milder approach.

Cover with Saran and refill everyone’s drinks.

2 Minutes  left, First Half

Start the BBQ and get out the store-bought potato salad.  This is a day God made Deli’s for.  Refill drinks.

Halftime Begins

Chicken should be nearly room temp (unless you live in a walk-in).  Spray lightly with olive oil, gentle passing shake of garlic powder and begin the BBQ’ing initially on high.

Flip, get ’em lightly browning to seal things in, then (fun part):  Get a shot of tequila and warm it up in your microwave.  Toss on the chicken and flame it.  Not enough to set the joint on fire, but it makes a good show.

If you’re friends are six sheets to the wind, do half-shots and have them do their own.  People love to play with fire.  But DON’T DO THIS IF THEY HAVE HAD 2 DRINKS.  Teetotalers are safer people to eat with.

When the inside has come up to 165-170, remove and serve.

If you have a jug of K.C. Masterpiece (because we think the Bucs will win) put on a good slathering a few minutes before the internal temp shows down.  Maybe around 150 F on the meter.

Ah…

For desert?  Second half, make cocoa and get your guests thinking about leaving.  Wean them off booze (a short of peppermint schnapps in the cocoa is amazing, though) so they can leave.  After the game, keep them occupied with a video game, replays, and load them with carbies.

Thinking a good slice of pineapple cheese cake with a raspberry sauce?

Write when you weigh normally, again,

George@Ure.net