Success Dinner – The Half Ginger

Food, Life, Picture Post, Success Dinner, Uncategorized

A New Summer

May 16, 2018August 29, 2018 R. Hamilton

So, I’ve lost quite a bit of weight over the last few months and I’m glad to say that I now weigh about 255. I started the year over 300 and I think it’s super important to me being healthier that I share with everyone. I’m still not super confident in myself but this summer I’m going to work extra hard to change that. A friend of my mum’s has offered me her bicycle since I won’t be leaving C-falls much this summer and to help save some money. My diet has gone from what the dining hall says I’m eating to what I say I’m eating. Speaking of what I’m eating:

and

Now aren’t you jealous? It’s really not hard, but it does take time. Also, where I’m currently at it’s really expensive. Starfruit is the cheapest “exotic” fruit I can afford. Blood oranges are a close second. Both are good though.

I’ve been spending more time in my tiny kitchen (I’ve got a rent free situation this summer in a nice two bedroom) than I thought I ever would. I was going to more Keto stuff but I’ve found a happy place in my diet. Chia seeds keep you so full!

I won’t lie, I have lost steam for this blog and most things lately. I know I say in a lot of them that I’m going to work harder at creating more posts and then I never follow through. So I’m just going to go ahead and say I’ll see you when I see you and hopefully I’m down another 50lbs by then.

Food, Life, Picture Post, Success Dinner

The Half Ginger Is Out of Work

February 9, 2016August 29, 2018 R. Hamilton

So, Hello everyone!

I’m out of work. I’ve filed for FMLA leave… again. Which is awesome. I’m sure this looks super great on my work history. Officially I have one more paycheck to pay off this months bills and by this time next month I’m hoping I’ll be back at work and okay.

What happened this time, is I lost my voice. I have been advised medically to not speak at all. Now, in my line of work, that’s a big deal because I talk all day. Literally, I talk on the phone for 8 hours. Before I was told to stop talking, I was whispering, which apparently wasn’t making anything better; and several people I spoke with during that time said I sounded like a ghost. Until I get (again) back on my feet, I’ve decided to ration the food I do have. Onto the ramen diet I go! haha. Right now dinner is elbow macaroni, spicy tomato juice, and black pepper. #poorpeoplefood

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That’s what is left. I give it the poor people food tag, because, when I first had this, I was living in a moldy trailer and I paid my rent in Pabst Blue Ribbon. I slept on a couch of suspicious stains, under a blanket of regret. During that time of my life though, is when I got Cora. Sweetest little girl. I’d hide her under my thin blanket instead of making her sleep out on the porch in the freezing cold. The people I lived with didn’t like it, but I wasn’t going to let the puppy (she was actually a puppy then) sit outside in the damn cold. I will love that little dog until the day I die, even if she lives with my mum now.

hpcepyp — This picture is a few years old, she is giving me that look because she is concerned about the life choices I was making at the time.

In the light of good news though, I’ve officially been accepted to MSU for the fall semester. WOO! I don’t have the letter yet, but I’ve been using the online undergraduate admissions checklist and that tells you. So, I’m super excited about that. Being out of work has given me a lot of time to catch up on Hiragana practice.

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That’s been fun. I’m also reviewing math for fun. Just kidding, not really fun. I have to take the MPLEX, which is a mathematics placement test. Since it has been YEARS since I’ve taken a maths class, I thought it would be good to review. I’m not going to show you those notes. Because, there are a lot of angry lines and squiggles. You can see the terribly simple mistakes that I make and how frustrated I get at them, haha. So yea, I’m not going to show you those. But it’s not as hard as I remember, but that may be because I have the time to sit and make myself understand the problem. I am soooooo bad at maths.

So, yes, not a lot new here. No cute lunch this week. No reason to make one. Hopefully next week. Everyone have a great rest of your week!

Food, Life, Success Dinner

Success Dinner: Homemade (from scratch) Creamy Tomato Soup

June 21, 2013August 29, 2018 R. Hamilton

So, hello everyone! I made something delicious in The Half Ginger Kitchen, my feet are killing me! I should actually be in bed but I just had to share what I made.

Now, I don’t like using recipes. I really don’t. If someone can tell me how to do something that is different. I don’t like opening a cookbook and following a cookie cutter recipe. If I did that all the time there would be many houses on fire (see post Chicken Fried Evil). Alton Brown, Paula Dean, and several others will never know the tears their recipes put me through. So, I’ve decided that I’m no longer following them. I’m making shit up as I go.

I did have to google the proper way to roast garlic, but I just needed temp for that. But that’s how far I took the seriousness of my from scratch soup. The only thing I didn’t do myself was the chicken stock and that’s because I didn’t have a chicken carcass to boil for a hour or two. But it still turned out AMAZINGLY AWESOME! Oh, and the cream. I used Kalispell Kreamery Half and Half. Not only to support a relative’s business, but because it’s some of the best stuff available.

So here it is.

Kas’ Soon to be Famous Homemade Creamy Tomato and Roasted Garlic Soup

Roast The Garlic:

Take a bunch of garlic, and peel off the skins. Keep the cloves together and some of the skin on them. Rub them with olive oil. Oven. 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 30-35 minutes.

Forget it until the timer goes off.

Chop Tomatoes and onions

I used 5 Roma tomatoes and about half an onion. I chopped them up into neat little bowls like on the Food Network.

That’s the oven with the garlic in it.

I got distracted while the garlic was roasting, but that’s okay. Because I got everything else prepped. Once the garlic is done, you should be able to take out the cloves from their husks by holding the end of the bunch and pushing on the butts of the cloves with a fork. Make sure it’s cooled first.

Then, mix 2 tablespoons of butter, the onion, and ‘some’ garlic (I literally just put some in it. I had chopped it up and put about 2 cloves in it, if we needed t be exact). You want to be a vulture here. Do not leave this alone. Use a low heat and stir constantly. I actually didn’t burn it, but knowing my luck I could have.

This stage usually only takes about three minutes of stirring and not burning. If you burn it you must start over.

Next, we add our tomatoes and chicken stock. Now, I didn’t peel my tomatoes, and it made the soup chunky. So I highly recommend peeling the tomato. It doesn’t effect the flavor, but if you don’t mind a chunky soup don’t worry about it.

It’s not going to look very good at this point, but GIVE IT TIME! It will look better. You can season it at this stage with salt and pepper, or you can wait until the end. I seasoned both here and the end. Bring this chunky mess to a boil and them let it simmer for a while. I think I did 8 minutes.

While that is simmering, dig around in your mother’s kitchen. “Why would I do that?” you may be wondering. Well, you do it BECAUSE you might find this:

I was SO EXCITED! I was tripping over myself with excitement. Until, I realized it wasn’t working. I tried everything and it wouldn’t work. So after the simmer, I did this:

I did it by HAND! I have a tendency to do things by hand anyway, but this was ridiculous. I stood there for a while, chunking away. More and more and more chunking. So that happened.

I then poured the soup back into the pot and added the delicious KK cream! Oh it was awesome! So whisk that in, and wha-la! Soup.

BUT! Then something else happened. I was re-assembling the food processor and I heard a click I hadn’t heard before. I checked the top of the bowl and BOOM!

I didn’t realize that I needed to use more force to get it to work. So, I decided that it was okay and I RAN IT ANYWAY through the PROCESSOR! BOOM!

It got rid of more chunks and helped thicken the soup. It was awesome.

I topped it with parm cheese and it’s fabulous!

These are my dishes from the food processor, I wanted to show that I was actually able to use it!

Yum yum yum in my tum!

Food, Success Dinner

Success Dinner: Taqichiladas!

June 1, 2013June 1, 2013 R. Hamilton

So, hello everyone!

Tonight I was successful at making dinner! Now, as most of you know, I am quite lazy when it comes to food. At least making it, I’m pretty good at the eating it part. I know, from my previous success dinners, it looks FANTASTIC and it looks like I can cook. Well, I can, I’m just lazy about it.

Also, those who know me, know I love taquitos. They are some of the best little concepts around. I buy them from Costco is 50 piece boxes (they are stuffed with beef, not chicken. You only get 30 chicken ones for the same price as 50 beef ones). I also love enchiladas. I think it’s because of all the cheese.

So, Bryant’s mum, is awesome and told me how to taquito enchiladas (hence the name, Taqichiladas (Tak-kee-cha-la-das)). You need taquitos, of course. Enchilada sauce. I couldn’t pick between red or green, so I bought both of them. I mixed them thinking I would get orange sauce and I thought that was cool. Instead it turned kinda brown/red. Bryant’s mum said to use the big can, when I was buying cans of sauce I didn’t think that my pan is SIGNIFICANTLY smaller than her pan. Mine is an 8×8, I think, while her’s is 9×13, I think. So, lots of sauce.

Well, I mixed those together in a tupperware container because I’m going to make these again very soon and I knew I would have lots of sauce. So a full can of sauce if you are using a 9×13, I think. Gauge sauce usage, based on pan size, I would say don’t drown the tasty taquitos in sauce. So, pour the sauce over the taquitos. Take shredded cheese and make a layer on top. Once again, up to you how much you want to use. I used some. It was a nice layer of cheese on top.

Now, to the step I always forget to tell people. You should have preheated the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Ignore what the taquitos box says for cook time, we’re changing that here. With your three layers, taquitos, sauce, and cheese, pop that in your preheated over for 30 minutes. Yep, thirty minutes. I know it seems out there, but it’s true.

After thirty minutes remove them from the oven and let cool slightly. My cheese migrated the the center of the dish so I added more. Serve up like you would enchiladas and enjoy. That’s how I made dinner, and that’s how you can make Taqichiladas!

Happy cooking/baking/not burning down the house!

Food, Success Dinner

Success Dinner: Food Loaf

April 8, 2013June 1, 2013 R. Hamilton

This is Food Loaf. I made it last night for dinner. It was AMAZING! Now Food Loaf is made of what ever you can fit in a loaf pan. I posted a picture of it on facebook last night and people were asking for the recipe. Well, I didn’t have one, but I’m going to post what I can.

ALSO! There is NOTHING healthy about this type of Food Loaf, I’m sure I could make a healthy one but I didn’t!

Food Loaf (Italian Style):

1 jar Prego Italian Sausage and Garlic sauce (you can use more, I used one)
Foster Farm Turkey Meatballs (as many as you would like)
1 Bag of Pasta, (I used an Organic bagged pasta that I bought at Costco, I don’t remember the brand… THIS ISN’T WHAT THIS IS ABOUT!)
Half of a White Button Mushroom
Grated Cheese (LOTS OF CHEESE)

Boil your pasta until it is done.

Heat sauce in saucepan and throw in meatballs. cover and let simmer, but don’t burn your sauce. Stir occasionally to avoid burning.

Strain pasta. Spray two loaf pans with non-stick cooking spray. Cover bottom of both pans with pasta, only one layer. not too much. Cover layer of pasta with layer of cheese (thick layers here, cheese is the binder).

The sauce should be done by now, use a toothpick to test the meatballs, if you can put a toothpick into the meatball without any resistance they are done. Layer meatballs and sauce as the second layer. I put three meatballs on this layer. NEXT, MORE CHEESE. Bryant assisted me in the cheese department, we bought a 5 pound block and we used a good portion of it.

Next, layer more noodles. Noodles are important. More cheese. Layer more sauce and meat balls (i put two balls of meat on this level). More cheese.

Pack as MANY noodles as you can on top of this level. This next part is extremely important… You’re going to put so much cheese on the top level that your arteries will clog at the very thought. No exposed noodles, no empty corners. just cheese. I even tucked cheese down the sides of the pan to make sure it wouldn’t melt over the edge of the pan and we would lose cheese. Cheese is basically what this food loaf is about…

If you haven’t preheated your oven, you probably should have. It should have been preheated to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. I probably should have told you that sooner.

Anyway, put both pans now filled with deliciousness, into the over. Now, we’ve already cooked the majority of our ingredients, so you may be wondering WHY we are putting them in the oven. TO MELT THE CHEESE! SO MUCH MELTY GOODNESS! It’s going to bind the pasta, sauce, and meatballs together. Don’t put it in for too long because you’ll burn it and then I will be disappointed.

About five minutes, or so. Just keep checking on it. When the cheese has a nice crust to it, not necessarily a dark crust, just a nice melted looking crust. The cheese will sweat if you use Tilamook cheese. Which I did, but it was the best. So use that cheese. And don’t get it pre-shredded, shred your own cheese!

So, after five minutes you’re going to have a delicious melty cheesy food loaf, Italian Style!

To properly remove your food loaf from the pan take two thick paper towels, layer them together. Take the loaf pan (which shouldn’t be hot because all we did was melt the cheese. Well it may be hot, depends on what you consider to be hot) by the little sides and flip the loaf onto the paper towels, Make sure you have a plate. The cheesy crust part will be on the bottom and that IS NOT where we want it. Grab the paper towel (if you used thick paper towels this won’t be a problem) and slowly place the paper towelled loaf on the plate. You’re going to have one chance at this, pull the long end of the paper towel and flip the food loaf onto the plate. BOOM! Food loaf! Let it settle and eat it.

We didn’t cut the first one, we just ate it right off the plate.

Now if you are looking around and you realize that you have one pan still full of food, you can put it aside go eat the first one and then come back to it later. Once it sets it will be a firm loaf. You can cut it into slices and make Food Loaf sandwiches. YUM YUM YUM!

You can wait with both loafs, but once you smell that melted cheese, you won’t want too!

This Success Dinner did put me into a food coma. So beware, but it was a happy food coma