The Fried Jack

I love this one.  It is slightly more complicated that boiling an egg, but not by much.

Before you start cooking, you will need the following:  two eggs, two pieces of toast, one handfull of shredded swiss cheese, one frying pan and a toaster.

Step 1:  Toast your two pieces of bread.  Once that is done, cut a hole in the center of each one.  The hole should be about two inches across.

Step 2:  Put the toast in the frying pan.  Break an egg into each hole in the toasts.  When the egg looks fairly well done, turn to cook the other side.

Step 3:  Remove the toasts with the eggs cooked in their centers.  This, by itself, is called a One-Eyed Jack.

Now for the magic.

Step 4:  Spread the shredded cheese onto the pan.  The shredded cheese should be formed into two shaped piles, each about the size of the toast.

Step 5: Place the toast on top of the frying cheese and wait.  After only a couple of minutes, you will see the cheese start to change color, becoming dark.  When this happens, you should find that you can slide a spatula easily underneath.  If you find the cheese "smooshes up" when you do this, then it's not cooked enough yet.

Step 6:  Remove, cool and eat.

I've tried this with different types of cheese and it's just not as good.  This is true even though I'm not a Swiss cheese fan.

Chili-Cheese Pasta

This is one of my favorite recipes for three reasons.

First of all, it's bulk.  This will fill you up in a hurry (depending on how fast you eat).

Second, you can make it in under 15 minutes, of that time, you are only working on it for about a minute.

Finally, it tastes great.

Here is what you need: Pasta, a can of chili and some shredded cheese.

What you are going to do it cook the pasta and then stir in the chili and cheese.  I say this ahead of time so you can think about the type of pasta you want to use.

Most men have some spaghetti in their cupboards somewhere.  I don't know why this is.  My theory is that it has a half-life of about 500 years so we can forget about it until we are really hungry and scrounging for some food.

I prefer shell pasta for this.  The reason is that the chili and cheese can hide in the the shell, making each bite delicious.

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.  To do this, you need to know how to (a) read directions (b) boil water and (c) tell time.  With pasta, it is always a good idea to start taste-testing it a minute or two before the time is up.  The reason for this is that what you consider to be cooked may not be the same as the person that wrote the directions.  Be careful not to overcook by more than a few minutes.

Drain the water from the cooked pasta and add a can of chili and maybe two handfuls of shredded cheese.

Stir in until the cheese is melted.

Eat and enjoy.

This will probably make more than a single serving, depending on how hungry you are.  This stuff is good for a couple of days.  Treat it like you would left over pizza.  It's good cold or can be warmed in the microwave.

jim

Simple Dessert

Sometimes we men need to entertain.

Typically, this means remembering where you left the remote for the big screen TV.

However, suppose you are having a date and you want to demonstrate how domesticated you are.  After cleaning up a bit, you download several of my recipes and soon, dinner is well underway.

The only thing that's missing is dessert.

So here we go.

Per guest, you will need one banana and one small serving of yogurt, preferable the kind with chunks of fruit in it.


Step 1: Peel the banana and cut it into 1/2 inch chunks and place in a bowl.

Step 2: Dump the yogurt on top and stir.

Keep refrigerated until you are ready to serve.

Bon Appetit.

Slow Cooker Stew

If you are a guy and are reading this, then I can read your mind.

You are thinking, "What the hell is a Slow Cooker?"

A slow cooker is an electric pot that you dump stuff into and then leave alone for several hours.

This is what makes the Slow Cooker such a perfect "single man" piece of cookware.

As men, we tend to burn or under cook just about everything that won't fit into a microwave.  A slow cooker is very forgiving as far as time goes so you almost have to go on vacation to overcook something.

Here is my recipe for Stew.

Buy a 2-5 pound chunk of beef, although this will work with pork.  Place it in your newly acquired slow cooker (also called a crock pot).  Chop up a couple of onions and about 5 carrots.  Toss them in with the meat.  Get a pouch or two of pre-made seasoning. (Remember this is man-food.  We make nothing from scratch if we can help it.)  The seasoning will tell you how much water to add.  Don't add more that it says or the stew will be overly watery.

Turn the cooker on to either low or high.  As far as I can tell, this setting is unimportant, so long as it's not in the "off" position.

Now, go do something for about 6-10 hours.  Do not check the meat constantly as lifting the lid lets out a lot of heat.  When you think it may be ready, take a fork and poke at it a bit.  If the meat falls apart, then it's done.  If it holds together and is still firm, then it's not done.  I have checked meat after 7.5 hours and found the meat firm.  I'd then check it half an hour later and it falls apart.  This is sort of weird and there is probably some chemistry involved.

If the meat is done, add a can of whole corn and a can of peas.  Don't add these before the meat is done since long exposure to heat tends to turn these to mush.

Eat and enjoy!