So delicious Allison might eat it (if she could pick out the string beans)

Tonight's dinner is one of our staples. My mom used to make it when we were younger - and then she even made it when we were older, but then she used FAKE meat instead of real beef. I can remember her trying to tempt my high school boyfriend into eating it and he was NOT having it. It's quick and easy and it comes from the hysterically named book "Living the High Carbohydrate Way" by Jane Brody. Hey is that really any crazier than eating NO carbs and lots of bacon? Not really.

To prove how much of a staple this meal is, look at the recipe card! It is a mess. You can still make out my mom's impeccable handwriting though. Beware: I don't perfectly follow this recipe - well really I just double the amount of beef! Everything else stays about the same.

First put some rice on to cook. I don't know what proportion of rice you like to the stuff on top, but I like quite a bit. So for the two of us and leftovers I make 1 1/2 cups of rice. I am not including a recipe for rice because that would assume that whomever reads this is stupid. Check your rice package.

Have a helpful assistant (or yourself) cut off the ends of the string beans and then cut them into pieces. You can make them as small or large as you want. Here's how we do it in the Hodgman household:

Ok I lied that does NOT show you the size, but I cut them into about 1/2s of thirds or fourths if they are really big. Notice the AMAZING new Shun knife that Tom is carefully using. Really... they are worth the investment.

When your string beans are cut up put them in a bowl - you will need it for later.

Get a bowl and make the sauce. Dump in 1/3 cup of broth - I don't know why it says it should be warmed, I think that is ridiculous, one heaping Tablespoon of soy sauce, one heaping teaspoon of cider vinegar, one heaping teaspoon of sherry, and two teaspoons of cornstarch (to thicken it up). The heaping amounts should only be if you choose to double the beef. If you like skimpy amounts of beef then don't heap the liquids! Mix this all up with a whisk making sure to incorporate the cornstarch in. You'll need to stir this again later, but now you can just leave it.

Heat a frying pan over HIGH heat for however long it takes for it to get hot. The recipe says 30 seconds but currently we have an insanely slow electric stove. 30 seconds is good on a gas stove for sure. Put in some canola/vegetable oil - I'd say about 1-2 Tablespoons (2T) and swirl it around. Dump in the green beans and maybe turn the heat to JUST below high. Stir and let them sizzle. Don't burn them, but the sizzle is a good sign. Cook them for about 4-5 minutes. Then dump them out of the pan into the bowl and put to the side.

Now it is here that the recipe unwisely tells you to add garlic and ginger to the pan. If you do that (as I have done countless times) you will burn the crap out of the ginger and garlic, and it will spit and burn the crap out of you. Take the pan off the heat for a little bit if electric.....if you have gas just turn it the HECK down and let it cool down. When it is somewhat cooler and you feel safe, add a little more oil to the pan (I always need a little more) and add the garlic - 2 teaspoons (2t) and the ginger. I add way more ginger than it calls for. I probably do 2T instead of 2t. I like ginger. I use the pre-bottled kind because I got sick of peeling the ginger and having it be all stringy and nasty.

Ok so stir the garlic and ginger for maybe 30 seconds to get some flavor out. Sometimes I don't even add them first - I just add the meat and garlic and ginger at the same time. I do not think there is a big difference - so you choose. Now dump in your meat. Then add in a few shakes of red pepper flakes. Once again add as much as the amount of spice that you want. Like I said before I like to add 1 pound of meat instead of 1/2 a pound. This is where you veggie-only eaters could add tempeh or some other fake "I taste like meat" substance. Stir the stuff until the meat cooks through. Then very carefully spoon off the grease. I like to pour it into a glass jar that is now empty (veering off from this idea, I find it sad that only small things come in glass jars. I still have fond memories of the old Hellman's glass jars being reused by my parents. Isn't plastic worse than glass? Or is just that it's cheaper?) There will be varying amounts of fat depending on what meat you bought. Spoon off as much as you can.

Now at this point hopefully your rice is done!

Re-whisk the sauce and dump it into the beef/ginger/garlic/red pepper flakes mixture. Stir and turn the heat up a bit. When it starts to thicken (30 seconds) then add the string beans and stir them up so they can get warm again. Serve over the rice. Ta-da.

                          

I'd say it takes about 20 minutes from start to finish (including prep time). This serves 2 people with enough leftovers for one big lunch or two small lunches (I am basing that on the way Tom and I eat). I have made it to feed 4 people, but I feel like that is stretching it a bit. I'd say 3 normal eating people and maybe an anorexic friend too.... but not 4 normal people.

Spaghetti Carbonara with Spinach...Healthy? Jury still out.

Ok I will not try to become one of nine million gazillion food blogs, however I really do like writing about food. My life (at this moment) is just not that exciting - but food is!

I made it through my first day back at work. In fact the second I saw the little second grade faces I melted and remembered that I adored them. Even though I left them in December all hyped up on sugar and looking like gremlins, they are once again normal looking and acting. Wow, I like them more off the sugar! We discussed presents and what we did over vacation. One second grader (not in my class) informed me that she loved, "the color of my hair." I am not sure how it is any different than the color it has been all year, but hey I'll take a compliment wherever I can right?

So back to cooking. Tonight I made. Wait I have to stop because Tom just informed me that I have soot covering my entire face. How is it that I rearrange the fire for 10 seconds and immediately am covered in soot, but Tom can play with the fire all night and have NO soot on himself. I don't get it. Ok so cooking. Tonight I made something that I started making a few years ago when Leah and I had cooking dates with each other (miss you Leah and Bailey....and Nate). It's a Cooking Light (although not very light) version of Spaghetti Carbonara (with the apparently healthy addition of spinach - although I'm not sure spinach makes bacon and cheese healthy). I will give simple instructions - hopefully Deana can even follow them!

First cut up some spinach. Cut up way more spinach than you could imagine needing to eat. It calls for a 6 oz bag of baby spinach. I think that's a lie. I buy the regular spinach and one bunch is seriously NOT enough - I would do two bunches. Cut off the stems and then chop it up a little bit, but not too small. Heat a frying pan and coat it with some cooking spray (or olive oil or butter if you please). Add the spinach and a little sprinkle of salt and let it cook until it wilts. Once again the recipe says 1 minute, but that is BS. I think it's more like 3 minutes.

While that's cooking chop up about 6 pieces of bacon into smaller pieces (you can probably do as much or as little bacon as you like....but you need something to add some flavor). Sharp knives (such as the ridiculously amazing Shun knives I now have) make it super easy. Take the spinach out of the pan and put it into a bowl. Now add the bacon. Beware that if you have bought organic not so fatty bacon (as we now do. I think we became official yuppies with this Seattle move) you might even want to add a bit of oil to the pan. Cook for as long as you want. Depends on how crisp you like your bacon. The lying recipe says 3 minutes but it has never taken me less than 6 minutes to get it even near to being crisp. Ok so now take the bacon out and put on a plate with a paper towel (if you have a better draining idea let me know).

Add about 1/2 a large onion (around a cup or so) to the pan with the drippings. If you used super fatty bacon then skim off the fat and leave maybe a tablespoon or so. If you used yuppie bacon you might need to add some oil. Cook the onions over medium to medium high heat (really i hate those ranges. On my stove I cook it at about a 7!). Scrape up the bacon goodness too while you are at it. Cook for about 3 minutes (that part is correct - yay recipe!) and then add 2 tablespoons dry white wine. I think you can add whatever you want here. I had no dry white wine tonight so I added sherry. It came out the same as before. I wouldn't stress about this part at all - no wine - whatever, don't add it. Ok so now the wine cooks off for like 30 seconds.

Oh crap....hopefully you have already started boiling your water. I think this pasta is better with spaghetti noodles rather than angel hair (I typically only eat angel hair...not sure why....but I like it the best). Recipe calls for 8 oz...I say make however much you want. I probably made about 12 oz. Just know that the more you make, the less sauce to go around. When you drain the pasta save about 1/4 cup of the liquid. Once again the recipe says 2 T, but I say save some more.

So the pasta is done and drained. The onions have cooked all yummy and brown. You now need to mix one entire egg and one egg white (today I did two eggs because I felt too lazy to separate... all was still delish), a pinch of salt and pepper and a ton (probably a packed 1/2 cup measure) of parmesan cheese. Those of you who know me know that I am addicted to Kraft cheese (I just am!), but I actually added a better quality tonight. The better the cheese I think the yummier the meal for sure. However I still advise putting Kraft cheese on top when you are done (I just can't help it). So you mix the egg, egg white, s & p and cheese with a whisk in a bowl. Put it in a big bowl or you will get egg chunks all over yourself!

Now dump the pasta into the pan with the onions. Add the extra cooking liquid from the pasta. Stir it all around. To make it easier to stir you might want to cut up the pasta while in the pan (I still cut my pasta when I eat it, so this makes me life doubly easy). Now add the bacon and spinach back in and put the pan at around a 4 (medium?). Mix it all around - good luck if you haven't cut your pasta!!! Now dump in the egg cheese goo mixture and stir stir stir. Cook long enough to not freak out about the egg. Recipe says 1 minute, I go for probably 3 minutes. Do this while still stirring. When all done sprinkle some parsley on top and then of course I like to cover my entire plate with parmesan cheese. YUM!