Chicken Salad Sandwich with Baked Tater Tots

   Last night I made a very simple meal.  I bought an already prepared rotissorie chicken and used some things I had left to make creamy chicken salad with romaine lettuce, tater tots baked in the oven and some amish macaroni salad.  A simple and mostly healthy meal.  I used real mayo to make the chicken salad which is why I say mostly healthy.  But none the less it was a delicious meal, all agreed.  Tonight my wife and I will be going to chorus practice so I will not be posting anything tonight but I will be back tomorrow.

Grilled Roast Beef Sandwich with Tater Tots

   Tonight I was cooking for myself, which allows me some freedom as to what to make.  I decided to use some left overs in combination with a few new items to create something interesting.  I personally like a lot of flavor so sometimes the flavor profile is a little complex.  Tonight I made something that seems simple but is complex none the less.  

   First I took some white onions sliced thin and some baby bella mushrooms sliced thin and placed them on my griddle, flipping over once during cooking, I cook until they are softened and have a small amount of color then remove and set aside.  Then I took several slices of left over roast beef and placed it on the griddle again flipping once to heat the meat and get some caramellization on both sides.  Then I poured a small amount of thousand island dressing across the meat and covered it with some American cheese.  

   I griddled the ciabatta roll before any thing else to get some color and crispiness.  I did it before to allow it to cool completely before the rest is finished.  I also heated the deep fryer and got some tater tots together.  Once the cheese melted on the meat I placed the onions and mushrooms on the roll, as well as some fresh sliced tomato, then topped it with the meat and cheese.  Then I poured some bourbon flavored barbecue sauce on and some fresh Romaine lettuce and topped it with the top of the roll. 

   The complex flavor profile of this sandwich paired with some delicious tater tots made the ultimate dinner for me.  I hope that if anyone tries this recipe they enjoy it as much as I did.

I'm back!!

After a short break from here, I am back and will post something tonight.  However tonight's posting will be different, as tonight I will cooking for only myself.  My wife is taking her mother to the movies and out to eat, so I will be alone for dinner.  I am not sure what I will be making for myself, but I will post it tonight.  Stay tuned.

Chicken Patty Parmigiana and Vermicelli

   I haven't been here for two days but I am back now.   Tonight I made another simple meal, I bought premade chicken patties at the store.  I deep fried the chicken patties to get a nice crispness to the coating they have.  I then took them and put them in a greased baking dish and piled mozzarella on top of them.  I let them sit for 5 minutes to cool, because I didn't want to risk over cooking them.
   At the same time I put on a pot of salted water on the stove to boil.  I also combined a jar of mushroom flavored spaghetti sauce and a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes in another pot and began it heating up.  Just before the pasta water reached a boil I put the chicken into a preheated 350 degree oven.  The pasta finished at the same time as the chicken and I began to plate it up.  As I said before this was a very simple meal, especially since I usually make chicken parm with fresh chicken breast, but did not have the time to prep it today.   Enjoy, and I will see you tomorrow.

A Flash from the Past in Meals

   I thought that anyone following my blog at this time just might enjoy to see a video that I created in my near past where I make a Philly Cheesesteak Pizza with a Salad.   The video is in two parts as I had to split it to upload to Youtube.com.  It can also be found if you search edentrek at youtube.com.   Enjoy!!

Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich with Perogies

   Tonight I was unsure of the state of the house as my mother-in-law acted out yesterday, so I wanted to continue with the simple meals.  So I decided to make one of my favorites, a philly cheessteak sandwich and perogies.  I went to the store and bought fresh shaved beef, onions, green peppers, potato-onion perogies, provolone cheese, and sauce.  I diced some of the onion and all of the green pepper to go into the sandwich.   Then I slice the rest of the onion thin to go into the frying pan with the perogies.
   I placed the diced onion and pepper onto my electric griddle to heat them and give them some color.  Once they begin to get color I remove them and set aside.  At the same time I have butter and olive oil heating in the frying pan.  I first throw in the sliced onions, for about thirty seconds then add the perogies.  I stir and flip the perogies regularly to heat them evenly.  Next I throw down some of the shaved beef and add the diced mixture to it spacing it all out evenly.  I don't need to have hot and cold spots on the griddle so this is important.  I keep stirring and flipping the meat until it is fully cooked through but not browned.
   While making sure not to forget the perogies, I get the meat cooked and add a few tablespoons of sauce.  You can use all kinds of sauce depending on your mood.  My wife and mother-in-law like chili sauce.  Flip and stir the meat mixture until the meat is browned then add provolone cheese broken in half on each portion.  I seperate the meat while stirring it around into three even piles.  I make the piles long and narrow and split the cheese to cover each pile completely.  If you have a lid that will cover each pile, now is the time to use it along with a few drops of water.  The water will steam up and melt the cheese but keep it from burning to the griddle right away.  When the cheese has melted down into the mixture scoop it off and fill the roll.  Place three perogies with one sandwich on each plate.  I hope that enjoy this one as much as we did.  See you tomorrow with another meal.

Szechuan Beef Stir Fry with Brown Rice

   Today I had a different kind of influence as to what to make for dinner.  My mother-in-law is on meds that she doesn't believe she needs.  Therefore from time to time she acts out.  Today was one of those days, so I needed to make a meal that would take little prep and little time to make.  This influence lead me to Asian food, something simple that I know how to prepare.  I went to the store and looked around and decided to make a beef stir fry and rice.  So I picked out some stir fry cut meat, and some frozen veggies.  At my grocery store they sell 2 different Asian style frozen veggie mixes.

   I bought one that had onions, peppers, carrots, snap peas, and baby corn.  I then went to the international food aisle and picked up sliced water chestnuts, chow mien noodles, and then looked at the various sauces they had.  I decided to go with a Szechuan sauce.  I then came home sprayed the frying pan, as I don't have a wok, and began cooking the meat.  I then drained the meat and added the sauce.  When the sauce began to simmer I added the veggies.  Now of course while I am doing this, I have the brown rice cooking.  Once the veggies were nearly heated through I added the sliced water chestnuts.  When everything was up to temperature I put rice on my plate and spread it out, then I added the chow mien noodles and spooned the stir fry over it.  This was a simple dinner, very delicious.  Even my mother-in-law agreed.  The whole process took about 30 minutes.