MAC AND MUSHROOMS

      When I was growing up, my mother made mac and cheese all the time. She loved making casseroles. Perhaps it's the reason I avoided mac & cheese for years. But that's another story.

      But she did make a casserole using macaroni and Cream of Mushroom soup that I loved.

      I know it sounds weird. Mac and Mushroom soup ?? 

     My dear wife goes running from the room gagging whenever I mention this recipe.

      But every once in a while, She has a girl's night out. That's when I get to enjoy this 'disgusting foul recipe.' Her words, not mine. I happen to think this is right tasty. But she does not consider this to be "real food."

      This is a souped up recipe. (Pardon the pun) I have made it for years without the cheese and extra mushrooms. This idea took it to a whole new level.

      I am NOT a fan of canned soups. But I give in for this recipe, and a few in the slow cooker. Some day we are going to make our own home made Mushroom soup, without all the added crap you get in a can. More on that later.

     But for now, here is what you will need.

2 Cans Cream of Mushroom Soup

3 CUPS elbow Macaroni

1 Bag Mozzarella cheese. (or the cheese of your choice)

1 Can Mushrooms (drained) sorry, I took the picture without the can of mushrooms. But you get the idea.

      Cook macaroni per instructions. Do NOT overcook. 

      Drain the mac. If you used salt in the water, I suggest a good rinse.

      Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.

      In a large bowl, combine macaroni and soup.

     Stir, stir stir. I like mine with lots of soup. You can use just one can of soup if you desire. I do not salt. The soup has too much salt to begin with.

     Place mixture in baking dish. Right damn ugly, isn't it??

       Cover with mushrooms and cheese. (Amount to your taste. I like lots of cheese.)

      Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes. 

      Serve. (salt and pepper to taste.) I know it looks like hell, but food does not have to look great to taste great. I guess you could throw some green stuff in for color, but why bother? It goes good with some Catsup too.

 LOTS OF PEPPER...YUM YUM

      I forgot the beer.

     Enjoy. But wait until your bride is out with the girls. 

RESTAURANT REVIEW : LAKIS GREEK RESTAURANT – OCALA

Colours Plaza, 3405 SW College Rd #107

http://places.singleplatform.com/lakis-greek-and-italian-restaurant/menu

 Tucked away in a small shopping center

This is a restaurant my wife and I have been visiting since we arrived in Florida way back in 1989. It is one of our favorite places. We have watched all their kids grow up. They are like family.

I am not a guy who tries different things when I go out to eat. I hate to spend money on something I may not like, so I am a bit conservative in my choices. BUT, this place has something for everyone. Their Greek food is top notch, and their PIZZA is about the best in town.

But I go for the BAKED SPAGHETTI with Mushrooms. Man, there is nothing better.

The Sketti comes with a Greek salad that I give to Penny. She orders the GYRO.

But I always go for the sketti and Garlic Bread.

Watch OUT...The plate is HOT !!!!

Words can not convey how good this is. It's the best in town.

Yum yum

Good food and a great atmosphere

When My wife and I were restoring our historic home downtown, we lived on their carry out.

So the next time you get a hankering for some great food, run out State Road 200 and stop by LAKIS. You won't be sorry.

THE DESERT DISASTER - STRAWBERRY BROWNIES

Every once in a while, something will go terribly wrong. I 

mean straight into the bowels of hell. You think you have 

studied the recipe and followed it to the letter. This was the 

case of the famous 'STRAWBERRY BROWNIE DISASTER

OF 2017” I mean, we're talking a full F.U.B.A.R. here. It 

looked so easy to make and was going so well too. I took them 

out of the oven and let them cool for a while then put them on 

a rack to finish cooling. 

LOOK GREAT, RIGHT ?

Thirty minutes later I realized the soft Brownie mix had 

OOZED through the openings in the rack. 

It was one hell of a mess. It was a gooey, gooey mess. Just like 

the blob that ate Los Angeles, only in RED.

It also reminded me of some of my ex wife's cooking. But 

that's another story.

But I learned something. I learned that I should have cooked 

them a little longer AND NOT put them on a rack. (In all 

honestly, the rack was my wife's idea) They should go on a 

plate. Or just leave the little bastards in the pan. Following 

RULE SEVEN, I tried again the other day. I did some more 

research and found a couple of other variations of this theme.

 And I found some good tips that really helped me out. The 

second attempt was a raving success. 

 

With these tips in mind, lets give it another shot.

STRAWBERRY BROWNIES


http://www.familysavvy.com/pinned-it-tried-it-strawberry-brownies/

Here is what you need for the cake part
1 box of strawberry cake mix.
2 eggs.
⅓ cup of oil.


And the GLAZE
1 cup of powdered sugar.
1-2 tbsps of water or milk. (I used water)


In a mixing bowl, combine the strawberry cake mix, eggs and oil and beat until well combined.

Don't panic, this stuff is GOOEY … (I 'pushed' it into the pan with my hands sprayed with oil)
In an 8” square baking pan lined with parchment paper, (I lined the bottom and sprayed the sides with cooking oil) spread the batter and bake in a preheated oven to 350° for 20-25 minutes.

 (Cooking time depends on your OVEN. Keep your eye on things)



 To make the glaze, you need to mix the powdered sugar and water until smooth then spread it over the brownies.

Mix powdered sugar and water until smooth. Add just enough water until thick but spreadable.
Pour glaze over brownies, spreading to edges.
Allow brownies to cool and glaze to set before cutting into squares.

Let cool before cutting and serving. I found it best to LEAVE it in the pan. Let it cool then you can put it in the fridge box.


I served it with Ice Cream and a bit of Whipped Cream. It was good and rich. It had the same texture as a chocolate brownie.

REMEMBER, the moral of the story. When you screw something up, TRY AGAIN !!!!


Enjoy!

PRIME RIB

      I love Prime Rib. It's my favorite thing in the whole wide world.

      That being said, why in the hell would you pay $25.00 to go out and only get ONE slice of this delicious steak ??

     I got this off the LONGHORN web site. Basically fifty bucks for 2 people.  We got a 3 LB prime rib on sale for $15.00.  

      You think it's hard to make ? Well, you are so so wrong my friend.

      This is one of the shortest recipes I have. Seriously. It takes no time at all.

      It is so easy and quick, you have time for some cute kitty pictures.

 “He said something about a mouse?”

“What's a 'bucket list'”

     OK, time to get to work.

     You have your prime rib, right?

     Salt and Pepper it all around. Put in a baking pan along with 2 Table spoons of oil. Or you can use a little butter and some BACON FAT....

     Brown that puppy (or should I say KITTY?) on all sides.

      Now this will sizzle and throw grease all over the stove. Live with it. Or get a really good fan.

     Ours sounds like a 747 on take off, and boy does it SUCK.

     Now that you have browned the meat. You're done. That's all you ask? Yep. That's all folks. Could it be simpler ?  'I don't think so, Tim'.

     Throw that thing in a 350 degree oven and cook for an hour (or until the internal temp is 140 degrees) Time for a beer.

     Let it rest for ten minutes. It's had a hard day.

     After ten minutes or so, cut it up and serve. 

      We served ours with the Baked Potatoes we made. And a beer.

     You won't find a better Prime Rib meal anywhere. For what you would pay at a restaurant, your wasting your hard earned money by eating out. This is one of the quickest meals we make.

     And we have time for another kitty picture. You don't get that when you eat out.

      Enjoy !!!

BAKED POTATOES

LET'S BAKE SOME TATERS

Baked potatoes. Just the words inspire me.  Not only are they 

one of the easiest things to make, you're talking about my

favorite tater. Well, next to fries and mashed. 

But first a word about using a Microwave Oven. 

DON'T DO IT !!!

STEP AWAY FROM THE MICROWAVE !!!!!

There are several reasons for not microwaving potatoes.

Microwaves do not heat evenly. Part of the potato will be at 

the correct temperate while other parts will not. This variance 

can be upwards of 30 degrees.

Micro waves also does funny things to the starch of the potato. 

I will spare you the chemistry lesson.

Micro waves turn the skin into leather and looks like hell. You 

might as well just save the time and eat your shoe.

So leave the microwave for heating water. Period.

SO here's how to properly bake a tater. Trust me on this.

STEP 1 OPEN A BEER – Drink it.

 

PICK OUT THE BIGGEST DAMN TATERS YOU CAN 

FIND. If you don't have any taters, you might want to hold off 

on the beer, and go to the store. BTW, Use only RUSSERT 

POTATOES.

Back from the store ? Good. Now you can drink that beer 

while you wash them little devils.

Place your oven rack in the middle position and pre heat to

400 degrees. If you have a GAS grill that will hold your

temperature at 400 you can use it, but I like the oven method. 

If you are cooking something else that calls for 350 degrees, 

don't despair. You can use that temp as well. You just have to

cook these boys a little longer.  In our case we were also doing

Prime Rib, so we set the oven for 350. All was well.

With a fork, pretend those taters are your ex wife and stab that 

bitch six or seven  times.

Feel better? I know I did. 

Put 1/2 cup of water in a bowl and stir in 2 Tablespoons of 

salt. You may need more water depending on the size of the 

taters. I needed a cup and a half. (Two LARGE taters) Just 

adjust salt based on the water you use.

 

Add potatoes and soak for just a couple of minutes. (Two 

minutes and 5 and a half seconds should do it)

Put potatoes on a wire rack and put rack into a rimmed sheet 

lined with foil. This is so the heat distributes EVENLY around 

the tater, and is the most important step of the day.

Bake until the internal temperature of the tater hits 205 

degrees. Use your handy dandy probe thingy.

Have a beer

When the taters hit 205, remove from the oven and brush each 

one with vegetable oil.

Return to oven and bake for an additional ten minutes.

Remove potatoes from oven and, using paring knife, make 

two slits, forming an “X”, in each potato. Using pot holders, 

hold ends and squeeze slightly to push flesh up and out. 

Or you can do it my way and just slice that puppy down the 

center. 

Put a bunch of butter on top. Season with a little salt and a lot 

of pepper. I'll pass on the sour cream. But if you want to ruin 

it, go ahead. 




Oh, and while you are screwing it up throw on 

some green chives for color. You can serve yours with a 

Cosmopolitan.

I would have included more pictures but taters are taters. Not 

much to look at , but BOY ARE THEY GOOD !!!

Serve with chicken or steak.  In this case, we had PRIME 

RIB!!