By KAREN MADORIN
I don’t know about you, but the time of year when I struggle to plan creative evening meals has arrived. Breakfast is easy--eggs and sausage or cereal. Lunch is easier—ham and cheese or peanut butter and jelly with diversions to leftovers. Supper—oh man. How does a cook keep coming up with something nutritious, delicious, and original. That O word is the bane of January and February. Winter’s not over, spring hasn’t begun, yards look dull and boring, and the garden exists only as a figment of my imagination. To top this grey season curse, taste buds crave something different. This has driven me on a quest to find interesting recipes.
We’ve been married long enough that over decades my guy has harvested wild game ingredients that led to pheasant nuggets, crappie tacos, wild turkey kabobs, elk or moose fajitas, venison goulash or tenderloin medallions cooked in wine. Unfortunately, we’re plumb out of game in the freezer so I’m desperate for more conventional concoctions.
That led me to The Pioneer Woman. She feeds a ranch family that’s hungry for tasty meals created from items normal cooks stock in their pantries. During my search, I spied her recipe for homemade hamburger helper. That struck a nostalgic chord, so after checking the supply list, my cupboard contained everything necessary to assemble it. To guarantee it was worth time and expense, I read the comment thread. Folks who’d made it responded enthusiastically, adding it came together quickly and provided leftovers for a second meal unless you had a huge family. The one question I failed to consider was how many appetites sat behind those plates. Our house is down to two people whose stomachs fill much faster than they used to.
What a misstep! I should have halved or better yet quartered that recipe. By the time I pulled our steaming supper out of the oven, enough food to satisfy eight hungry ranchers or farmers who had labored all day without a bite to eat bubbled and simmered along the edges of my largest dutch oven. While combining ingredients, I’d transferred the unbaked concoction from my small kettle into the big one--a less than subtle hint we’d eat the same thing for weeks.
Even though the instructions only called for a pound of ground beef and 4 slices of bacon, it also required a large onion, 3 garlic cloves, a slug of seasonings, 3 cups of beef broth, 15 oz. of tomato sauce, a cup of cream, and LOTS of cheese. Those items came before the addition of 12 oz. of elbow macaroni. Yep, that last ingredient soaked up the liquid and swelled 3 - 4 times its normal size.
Thank goodness I averted disaster when I poured the mixture into the big pan. Otherwise, I’d be scrapin’ burnt remains from the bottom of the oven and wouldn’t have time to write. The way it is now, I had plenty of delicious goodness to share and enough freezer meals I won’t need to cook for a long time. I can use those extra hours to crank out more columns. For future reference, the quest for interesting recipes ended. Boring is good.