BBQ Sandwiches with Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I'm not huge on anything with barbecue sauce.  In fact, there is only one time in my life I've had anything with barbecue sauce on it that I liked that I didn't make and tweak myself.  We'll not discuss that one time, the place in question that served said barbecue sauce on their food closed down and broke my heart and it just...It hurts too much...I can't.

This is also another one of those "What do I do with all the fajita-seasoned skirt steak I bought on sale" posts.

Back to business.

Put the fajita-seasoned skirt steak into your crock pot on high...If you don't have one a regular one on the stove over medium-high will be fine.  This is about half a pound uncooked and it made 3 HUGE sandwiches.

Add in about 2 cloves of chopped garlic.

About 1/3 cup of your choice of BBQ sauce.

About 2 tablespoons or so of Worcestershire sauce.  Worcestershire is a word I can not say in real life.  True story.

...And top it all off with about 3 or 4 tablespoons of honey.  Make sure its the real thing, not that weird "honey-flavoured syrup"...stuff.  Add just enough water to where it almost covers the meat, put the lid on, and let it stay like that for about 3 hours or until the meat starts to fall apart.  Keep adding enough water so it doesn't dry out or burn, but if it cooks down and gets thick then that's good and will make your life easier later.

Now, here we're missing some pictures because I got impatient.  Cut up a large sweet potato.  Or more depending on how many people you're feeding.  I only made enough for the two of us because if I'd sent them with the Wookie to work with that extra sandwich I don't know how they'd hold up to travel and microwaving since they are rather tender, so, yeah.

De-railed myself again, damnit.

Cut up the potato french-fry style and put it, a little at a time so they all get covered, into a zipper baggy with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and rosemary - but be careful on the rosemary, it can get strong fast - then shake it all up so they get coated.  Repeat with more potato/oil/spices until you're out of potato, then line them up on a cookie sheet and pop them into the oven.  The oven that you should have preheated to 450.  You know.  Yeah.

So that meat in the crock pot?  If that hasn't cooked down to a shredded mess with a thick-consistency sauce, then we're about to fix that.  If it did cook down to a shredded mess with a thick-consistency sauce, then you can skip this part and you had more foresight than I did.  The potatoes should cook in about 20-25 minutes, so while they are going, add the meat (shredding it the rest of the way with a fork or tongs if necessary - I was on a time crunch) and whatever juice is left to a pot large enough to hold it, put it on your stove over high heat, and keep stirring until whatever juice is left has turned into a thick consistency sauce.

Now we're talkin'.  Take that off the heat to cool so the sauce can thicken a bit more, lid on.

When your fries look like that and are soft when you probe them with a fork, then they're done.

Now, for my sandwich, I used the end of a baguette and tore the bread out from the inside so I had a nice, hollow crust.  Greedily devour the parts you took out.  Yes, this is a required, necessary step.

Stuff it with the beef, serve it with some fries.

The Wookie prefers his on regular bread.  I sometimes mourn for his taste buds' lost sense of adventure.

Oh yeah, and dessert was banana pudding...Sugar free, low calorie, low fat with LOTS of banana slices.  Mmmm.

<3
The Wookie Wifey

Asian Noodles with Chicken

Ok, so I'm way behind.  I've been busy lately and have a gazillion and one pictures on my computer just waiting their turn in line to be blogged/posted.  So I guess I better get fucking started then, eh?

I love this dish...I'm sure it is the farthest thing in the world from being even remotely authentic, but I love it all the same.

It is quick, simple to cook and you can pack it with a gazillion vegetables.  I usually would like to use more than I did here, but we were out of most of what I usually would put into these little guys.

First you'll need some chicken, or meat of your choice.  I'm just using some chicken that was boiled with some spices and broth, then taken off the bone and cooled off.  This was the meat from 1 thigh/leg piece.

Next, cook up some noodles (I used 8 oz) then drain them and rinse them in cold water until they are all cooled all the way through and set them aside.

Next up is prep work!  Chop up everything you want to go in there.  I had to use frozen broccoli because I'm a loser and forgot to buy fresh.  I used lots of cabbage, green onions, fresh chopped garlic, (no measurements for the vegetables, I just threw whatever I could find in there) about a teaspoon of sugar, 1/4 cup of vegetable oil (peanut or just straight sesame works, whatever you have on hand, but I hate the taste of straight sesame oil), about 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, 1/3 cup of soy sauce, and a little salt and pepper.

Add the oils to the pan and let it heat up...I do this on high heat.  I do not own a wok.  /cry

Once the oils are hot, add the garlic and the green onions and let it cook about 20 seconds or so.

Then, add the soy sauce, sugar, meat and whatever vegetables will take the longest to cook...I threw in the broccoli.  I let it cook until the broccoli was basically just thawed since I like mine to have a lot of crunch.

Once the tough vegetables are cooked to the consistency you prefer, toss in the noodles, cabbage, and extra green onion if you want.  Toss it all together until it all gets hot, then if you want a stronger flavor, you can add more soy sauce.

Put it in the dish of your choice, garnish with extra green onion if you want, and there you go!  :)  This recipe serves 4, of if you're like us and there's only two of you,  one dinner then a few lunches.  This stuff re-heats great, you can just heat it in a skillet with a little extra oil in just a matter of minutes and it tastes just like the first night it was made.

<3

The Wookie Wifey

And now for something completely random...

May I present to you the most awesome/odd/creepy banana sticker ever.

Didn't notice it until a day or so after I got them home.

Isn't it awesomely creepy?  What is it?  Is it a skull?  A lady?  A dead woman?

Sort of looks like a female version of The Amazing Screw-On Head, which was incredible and I wish so badly there was more than just the one episode.

Anyway, I kept it and stuck it to the fridge.

I'm weird enough that I'll have to restrain myself from pawing through all the bananas next time I'm at the store to try to find more with this same sticker.  I may start hoarding the creepy stickers.  I love them so.

That is all.

<3
WW

Goodness on Rice

I have no idea what to call this dish.  It was born out of necessity and turned out to be so incredible that I can not wait to cook it again.  Its one of those dishes that really doesn't look so hot, but it tastes like absolute Southern Heaven.

First,  you need about a half pound of skirt steak that is pre-seasoned for fajita meat.  Or you could just use regular skirt steak and season it yourself.  Also, start out with a large pot.  I started out with that one thinking it would be enough, but since I'm an idiot it boiled over and I had to switch and then wash TWO pots.  I'm a fucking genius, you'll catch on to that.  Put that puppy on high.

Add one small, chopped onion and about 3 cloves of minced garlic.  I didn't take a picture of that...See "fucking genius" statement above for explanation.

Anywho, let that shit boil for about 3 hours, or until the skirt steak starts to fall apart.  Don't forget to keep adding water, just enough to cover things is fine.

Once it looks about like the above, its time to add this:

Mmm...Mustard and turnip greens.  Once these are in the pot, leave it on high and keep doing the whole "add water" thing.

Next, its time for rice.  Since I don't have a fine mesh strainer, I used the toe of some unused stockings I mauled and turned into leggings, which worked great...The leggings and the strainer.

Rinse the rice through the stocking, (or your mesh strainer if you're lucky enough to have one), until the water runs clear.  Then, soak the rice in some water for 30 minutes.  After that, let it drain.  I tied the stocking to my faucet for the draining.  Be sure to let it drain well, because you don't want more water in when you cook it than you think.  Unless you want soggy rice.

After that, cook the rice as normal.  I used 1 cup of rice, 1 3/4 cups of water, a dash of salt, and a tablespoon of olive oil.  After it has cooked, let it rest, covered, for 30 minutes.  This does make a huge difference.

Once your rice is almost rested, your greens and stuff should have boiled down to where everything is nice and shredded and there is only a bit of excess water, like so:

Once it looks like that, add a packet of brown gravy mix and stir it all up well.  Take it off the heat and let it stand, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes so it can thicken and turn into the awesomeness it is destined to be.

Plate it up, and there you go.  This is the only shot that wasn't blurry since it smelled soooooo good and I was in a huge hurry to start shoving it into my face.  This stuff will probably, sooner or later, be named a sin by the Catholic Church.  Its.  That.  Damned.  Good.

Would love feedback if you give this a shot. 

<3

The Wookie Wifey

Taco Bowls!!

I've made these three times now and they never, ever disappoint.

Start off by browning 1/2 a pound of ground beef and drain all the grease except about a tablespoon.  I did all this on medium heat.  You may have to go higher/lower depending on how hot your stove gets and whether or not you're using cast iron.

Next, add a packet of your favorite taco seasoning mix (or make your own, either works...I'm having so much allergy trouble lately I'm having to use mixes because I tend to WAY over-season when my allergies freak out).  Follow that with a can of corn, undrained.  Don't add water the way the mix tells you to, the juice from the can of corn will be plenty.  At this point, I'd usually add a drained can of diced tomatoes and a poblano pepper, as well, but I was out.  The recipe is just as good either way.  Let it cook down until most of the liquid is gone.

Then, dump in a can of black beans, drained and rinsed.

Stir it all up, then sprinkle about a cup of shredded cheese of your choice on top.  I'm using a Mexican blend.

While the cheese is melting some, crumble up a corn tortilla in the bottom of each bowl.  This is a GREAT way to get rid of stale tortillas because once you stir it all up, you won't know the difference.  Once your bowls are ready to go, the cheese should be partially melted.  Don't just let it sit on top, stir it into everything else in the skillet until it is one big, uniform mass of goodness.

Scoop some into your bowl on top of the crumbled tortilla pieces and add some sliced avocado on the top.  Or whatever toppings you desire.

The Wookie prefers his avocado on the side.  I don't hold it against him.

Its ever-fucking delicious, this dish.

Would love feedback if you give it a shot.

<3

The Wookie Wifey

About Me

Wife of a wookie.  (Obviously)  What is a wookie?  A hairy, nerdy man who is the most epically awesome person ever.  I may be biased, though.

I'm a complete nerd almost to the point of embarrassment.  Despite the blog name, I'm a devout Trekkie...Hubs is the light saber-wielder.  I'm also a hordie, I love D&D and have an almost disturbing soft spot for old-school games.

I love to cook.  I'm trying to learn more and more to cook from scratch and attempting to learn to cook healthier foods, which is a completely new area for me.

I'm a kitchen witch, I make herbal remedies for almost every sniffle, sneeze, scrape or burn the Wookie or I end up with.

I read everything I can get my hands on.  This includes shampoo bottles and even sometimes looking up what's in them, which inevitably leads to a panicky "cleaning out of the cabinets" ritual from time-to-time.

I believe in all things natural and try to live as sustainably as our budget will allow.

I have more tenacity than is good for me.

I'm not perfect.  I screw up, I freak out, I lose it A LOT (thank you, anxiety).  I also curse like a sailor and don't understand why people get so offended by it.

I loathe the words "socially acceptable" and generally run from them.  To me, they are just another form of saying that being yourself isn't okay unless you're just like everyone else and that is lame.

I love girly things and I like my nails long and glittery, wear enough makeup to rival RuPaul, and frequently pair shorts with combat boots.  I wear what I like, not what's in style.  Life is too short to do otherwise.  If I had to describe my style, I'd say its roughly what would happen if a bohemian chick ran into a J-pop girl, then bounced off a drag queen.

I'm a metalhead.  Someone once told me, "You have an aura of dread and metal", and I found it to be a seriously huge compliment.

I hate roses.

Anything I left out?  Just ask.

***Note:  Since I'm a n00b to this whole blogging thing, I wasn't sure where in the hell to put this, so I just made a post and put a link at the top...Laugh at me if you must.  Or tell me how to fix it in slow, simple terms I can grasp since I'm a book nerd, not a computer nerd.

Corn Dog Muffins

These little guys are so cute.

They also may be the easiest thing ever.  I found them just bumbling along one day at My Kitchen Adventures and knew instantly that they fell under the "man food" category the Wookie loves so I figured I'd cook some up so we could try them, although I did modify them some, which, it turns out, may not have been epic.

First off, I used regular muffins because I was too lazy to scrub things and was out of mini liners.  I used regular hot dogs and that cheap-o cornbread mix.

Make the mix according to the directions, then fill 'em up.  I put in a teen bit of batter just to cover the bottoms of the cups, then the hot dogs, which were cut into thirds, then filled it the rest of the way since I didn't want the weight of the hot dogs to offset everything and make a huge mess.

Once they are done, serve them with mustard.  Or whatever.  I like mustard.  Old clearance Halloween cupcake liners are optional, of course.

And here's what they look like from the inside:

They were a pretty good lunch, they made the Wookie happy, my only drawback is that next time I want to make the cornbread part from scratch so I can omit the sugar.  The mix I used was just a bit too sweet for this.  He didn't complain about the tinge of sweetness, but he didn't jump up and down, either.  I did like the large muffins instead of the mini, though, because the batter on the corn dogs is what gets me hot-n-bothered and this way there's more batter-to-wiener ratio.

I'm going to stop now before I go off into some sort of odd, dirty joke tangent.

Give 'em a shot.  They were super easy and pretty fun to make.  I love the idea of non-sweet cupcakes.  Now my brains are turning for what I can make tonight...Dinner from a cupcake tin, perhaps?  MUAHAHAHA.

<3
WookieWifey

What I Ate Wednesday

Here's a first, and I have no clue how faithful I'll be with this, but I figured I'd give it a shot this time at least.  For now, I'm just pretty proud of myself that I learned how to do the badge-thingy up there.  I hope to keep up with this at least once a month if not the once a week it should be.

I started my day off with coffee and a banana...Coffee with sugar and caramel creamer.  I'm hopelessly forever addicted to flavored liquid creamers.

And all through the day I had about a gazillion glasses of filtered water, as usual.  Yes, I drink my water out of an iced coffee cup.  I make iced coffee in them, too, just to be crazy sometimes.

I had a snack of some carrots and ranch vegetable dip...I only ate about half that dip I couldn't find my little sauce bowl.

Must. Organize. Cabinet.

Lunch was a Caesar salad in a jar (addicted to salads in jars, now SO easy), and potato and cheese perogies.  The jar salads look very pretty from the side...Unless you were lazy in your re-purposing and didn't scrape the salsa label off the jar.  Then you can't see the prettiness and have to take the picture straight down.

Dinner I forgot to take a picture of.  It was homemade chili with black beans and lots of fresh tomatoes put in.  Not so pretty, so I'm sure the pic isn't missed, but it was very tasty.