(Insert Flavor Here) Mac 'n Cheese

It's been one of the those weeks - My roots are showing, the gym membership card has been lost and the girl at the Wendy's drive-thru knows me by name. 

Yep, microwave the Cup-O-Noodle and eat the random cupcake that someone left in the break room at work. This week I'm the poster child for Who Give a Fuck. 

But I have seen the light at the end of the tunnel. My body must be tired of all the junk, because I was inspired this afternoon to spice up a box of mac 'n cheese (I'm sure many of you have tried the old tuna and peas trick). Today I turned my shameful lunch into Southwest Mac 'n Cheese. 

As the macaroni was cooking, I chopped up some red onion and red bell pepper and cooked them in a non-stick pan until just tender. I added a can of drained and rinsed black beans, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper and tossed until mixed. When the macaroni was ready, I added the fake cheese and my bean mixture. 

Sure it's not a healthy meal, but it's a first step. I actually made something that required more than a microwave. And even though it was just a bowl of mac 'n cheese, I feel like I'm on the road to recovery. 

Maybe this afternoon I'll even order a salad from Wendy's instead of a bowl of chili (Welcome back Amber, do you still want a frosty with that?). 

Kitchen Sink Potatoes

Weekends are a great time for family traditions. Usually it's a Sunday night dinner, a special batch of brewed coffee or maybe even a homemade dessert. In our household it's breakfast potatoes.

On Saturday or Sunday morning my husband always makes breakfast potatoes. I call them kitchen sink potatoes because we just use the leftover produce and meat in our fridge. Some weekends it's potatoes with chicken and mushrooms. Others it's potatoes with bacon and onion. It all depends and it's always good. 

This week he made potatoes with bell pepper, onion, jalapeno, green onion, tomatoes and a bratwurst link. 

I've never been good at potatoes because I don't have the patience. While they may be nice and golden brown, they always come out undercooked. But the significant other has got it down pat. 

First make sure you cut the potatoes into small cubes. Too large and they'll take forever to cook. Then heat some oil (we use olive) in a large skillet. We also like to add some butter. Add the potatoes and cook on medium heat, for about 20-30 minutes, turning just a few times. 

If you turn too much, the potatoes won't brown - Not enough and your potatoes will burn. 

When the potatoes are about done, season with salt and pepper. Then add the rest of the kitchen sink in order of what takes longest to cook. Onions, peppers, mushrooms, blah, blah. Toss a few times and you're done. 

If you have meat, I'd suggest you cook it separately and then add it, but my husband likes to just clear a hole in the pan and cook it with everything else. Not sure how safe that is, but I haven't been sick... yet. 

Cook up a couple of eggs the way you like them and serve them on top. Enjoy!

Tailgating, Texas Caviar & The Two Dollar Grill

College football season kicked off this week and I was very excited to get last minute tickets to the UNLV Wisconsin game. Not so much because of the game, but because of the tailgating.

There's something about tailgating that I love. Maybe it's the fact that middle-aged people can stand around in a parking lot and drink beer without feeling weird about it. Yep, that's definitely it. Imagine standing in the parking lot of a Target or Sears drinking beer. Weird. 

We only had a day to whip up a tailgate party menu and we had two big problems. Problem number one? We don't have a grill. Problem number two? It was expected to be 105 degrees that afternoon. 

The grill was no problem. If you ever need a grill or don't want to bring your own grill because it's a mess, buy a disposable grill. You can find them in the charcoal section of the supermarket or the camping area of places like Target and Walmart. It's usually around $4 and comes with everything you need. We found this guy in the summer clearance section of our supermarket for $2. The best part is when you're finished, you can just throw it away. 

One word of warning. These grills are pretty ghetto. I wouldn't suggest cooking chicken or ribs on them. I pretty much buy them when I want to grill hot dogs. 

So first problem solved. Now the second problem was to find a dish that can add some life to my hot dog and chips menu, without melting in the heat. That's where the texas caviar comes in. 

Texas Caviar has nothing to do with fish eggs, and is pretty much a classic bean/corn salad that's made with black eyed peas. There are about a million recipes online, with different variations. I needed one that was easy to make, so I used a recipe called Cowboy Caviar that I found on myrecipes.com.  It was a big hit and only took about 15 minutes to make.  

This picture is of day-old leftovers, so don't let the wilted cilantro and browning avocado fool you. It was really good.