OK, last one. I think. Except for the Pasta With No Name and it’s lamb-based second cousin thing I did. Oh, no, wait. I also did Phad Thai and some Teriyaki chicken… but I didn’t take pictures so you’re in luck there.

I mashed the potatoes myself. If you use a packet, adjust accordingly.

Ingredients:
2 lb extra lean ground beef
1 cup peas
4 carrots
1 medium onion, chopped
worchestershire sauce
salt
pepper
3 lbs potatoes
2 tbsp butter
1 egg
1 cup milk
spices for the potatoes

Directions:
Potatoes: your standard mashed potatoes by hand recipe. Peel and cut. Put in salted water for at least 30 minutes until soft enough to fork through. Put in mixing bowl, add 1 egg, spices, butter, milk, and blend.

Spice and brown the meat (with salt, pepper, and worchestershire to taste), drain and set aside. Cook the carrots and onions until soft. Cook veggies with with meat if you want. Put veggies and meat in bowl. Add peas. Mix.

In baking dish: add one layer of potatoes. Add meat mixture. Cover with potatoes. Sprinkle top with paprika, fork for texture. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Broil at end until top is brown.

Cost: $10-12
Serves: 4-6
Review: 3/5. It’s not the most flavorful dish. I kept wanting a different texture than potatoes, but that was just me.

Pre-baking:

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Getting there…

Ingredients:
2 lb beef (I use stew meat; it’s already cut) (lamb will work too)
3 medium potatoes, cubed
1 small can thai red curry paste (better with masaman paste, but the grocery stores here suck)
1 can (14oz) coconut milk
1 large onion, cut into wedges
1 cup peanuts, roasted
2 sticks cinnamon
4 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic, diced
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp cayenne
at least 2 tsp salt (to taste)
at least 1 tsp pepper (to taste)
1 tsp white pepper
1.5 tbsp sugar
.5 tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp fish sauce
1.5 tsp la yu (chili oil)
some “Thai curry spice” I had in the pantry. No idea what’s in it.

Directions:
It’s been so long now, I can’t remember, precisely.

Brown beef. Drain and add to cooker.
Add everything else except bay leaves and cinnamon sticks.

Cook 4-5 hours on high. Add cinnamon sticks and bay leaves for 30 minutes on low at the end.

Serve over rice.

Cost: $15-ish
Serves: 4-6

Review: 3/5 – it wasn’t spicy enough and needed thicker paste and more peanuts. Will try again, with less sweet spices and more salty/spicy

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OK, got stalled on the catching up. Really have a recipe backlog. First up: my first take on a firehouse chili which I shall call Mr. Deadly

This is a warning of things to come:

Ingredients:
2 lb beef stew meat
1 can green chilies
4 serrano chilies, chopped
4 jalapeno chilies, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1-2 tbsp cayenne
1 large onion, chopped
1 15 oz can pinto beans
1 14.5 oz can tomatoes
pepper
paprika
salt

Directions:
Brown the meat. Drain the fat.

Put the onions and beans in slow cooker. Meat on top. Everything else on top of that. You might want to put the spices somewhere in the middle, but you’re going to stir it anyway, so no biggee.

Cook!

Serve with sour cream, cheese, the jalapeno cheese bread, and lottttts of milk.

This may look innocent, but trust me… it’s a vicious little bastard.

I like hot stuff. I really do. This chili is beyond heat. We’re into serious gastro danger territory here. I like it better after it had marinated in the fridge for a week, actually. This chili is not for the faint of heart and/or weak of the anii.

Review: 3/5

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One graphic nicely sums up our age of irrational and overcontrolling fear. We’re doing it to ourselves, people.

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I had totally forgotten about this series of exchanges between Judd Apatow (40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, etc) and Mark Brazil (that shitty 70s show, general insane douchebag-slash-multimillionaire). But just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile! (also – interested in ghostfinger’s take on Brazil’s particular form of mental instability).

This came about from the real estalker where I noticed that Brazil is eating his shorts on real estate deals (lost a mil on a sale last year, going to lose as much on today’s listing) … and it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

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