Dining In

Manwich Sloppy Joes

Mmm sloppy joe. Slop-sloppy joe. Ok. I have just recently been on a kick for these. I was grocery shopping and wandering around looking for something different for dinner. We get in these dinner ruts and you just keep eating the same 5-6 things. So I wanted to change it up when I saw this. 1 can, 1 lb of hamb meat, buns and "yummy" cheese. Soooo good. The sauce is hard to explain. Its kinda smokey w/ a tomato-y taste. And bonus, its a full serving of veggies. LOL I cant ever eat these w/o making a mess. Its impossible. I think the next time I'm gonna put a towel over me.
If you are stuck in the dinner rut, here's a "new" old favorite to mix it up.

New Companion Blog

Fat Girls Life is a blog for what I am doing when I'm not eating.

I know, when am I not eating!

Check it out.

Fat Girls Life

Snack Time

I am broke so on the way to work I wrote a hot perfectly fund covered check, to get food for lunch/dinner today. And I went to the place I knew I would never over spend. A drug store. Ah hahahaha. I always get more then I go in there for. I am a drug store junkie. I should have bought something to help w/ these headaches I am having. Whine. Pout. Sob. Sad face.
Anyway, snacks.

#1 - Goldfish crackers Xtreme Cheddar

I never buy these. I don't think I like cheese flavored crackers. Cheese Its, Nips, goldfish. But if you eat them around me, I will eventually ask for a couple and I always like them. I don't know why I pretend like I don't. Weird. So as usual they are just as expected. Salty "cheese" crackers. Goldfish are so convenient. Especially for my type of work. Since I work on the phone sex line I cant eat things that take a long time to chew. Its very rude to chew and/or crunch in someones ear. Since these were of the FLAVOR BLASTED persuasion these smiley goldfish were like the best chip over and over. Lots of powdered seasoning. Yum.

#2 - Flipz Milk Chocolate

After the salty, I needed something sweet. And chocolately. I kept walking down the snack aisle and saw cookies, jerkey, nuts, pretzels...oooo Flipz. I tried this once when they first came out and really liked them. Then I started making my own for awhile. I remember my grandparents thinking I was crazy for combining sweet and salty. Like I was the person who invented that. I do remember one specific argument conversation with my gpa regarding chocolate covered pretzels. He was insistent that I was a moron for mixing sweet and salty. I tried to explain that this was a common occurrence. That it was really quite good. He would hear nothing of it, and walked off in disgust. Anywho, sweet and salty is really good, but these aren't that salty. Its more like salt less pretzel. Its still good tho. Good amount of chocolate to pretzel. They also make a, or used to make a gram cracker one. Those were really good. I cant find those any more tho. Bummer.

Taco Cabana

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

I never get chicken enchiladas if they are sour cream. I prefer my enchiladas to be covered in queso. Mmmm queso. I was talking to my coworker about the beef enchiladas from Taco Cabana and she said I need to try the chicken ones. Last night on the drive home Fat Guy and I were trying to decide on dinner and the final answer was Taco Cabana. I got the 3 enchilada plate, it comes w/ rice, beans and 2 flour tortillas.

The sour cream sauce was good. Tangy and creamy. A good combo w/ the seasoned shredded chicken. Plenty of chicken in the enchiladas. I couldnt tell if the meat was white or dark, maybe a combo of both. The one complaint I have for all of Taco Cabana's enchilada's is the corn tortilla they use always, ALWAYS is too tough to cut w/ a fork. Sometimes its so bad that I can't ever get it to cut and end up just taking out the filling and throwing out the corn tortilla.
The rice is fluffy and has a good Spanish rice flavor. The refried beans are normally ok. I am not a fan of refried beans. But this time is was awful. Tasted like pure salt. Blech. And the 2 flour tortillas as always were delicious. So soft. I love homemade flour tortillas.

Starbucks

Red Velvet Whoopie Pie


I had no idea what the heck a whoopie pie was. My local Starbucks has red velvet cupcakes and so I asked the anonymous drive thru voice if they had those, at the Starbucks by my work, he said no but they have red velvet edgvre efrea.
Uh...what?
Red velvet whoopie pies.
Oh ok. Yeah I guess I'll try one of those.

Its kinda like the tops of the cupcake with a layer of frosting in the middle. Now since it was red velvet all I really wanted was cream cheese frosting. The cake was ok. Honestly I wasnt impressed. I dont know what I was expecting w/ the cake since red velvet doesnt really have a flavor. But the cream cheese frosting was delish.
Portion size was good. Nice 2-3 bite little snack. I did NOT like the red decorative stripes they put across the top of the cake, it was a mess. It stained my fingers and teeth afterwards. Thats why I ended up eating it w/ a fork.

Totino's Party Pizza

Who doesn't love Totino's pizza's?
My mom used to buy them when I was still living at home for my teenage brothers. I never ate them. I just didn't think I'd like them. One day Fat Guy made one and it looked and smelled so good. I asked him to make me one, just like his. He cooked it and just put salt and pepper on it. It was so good.

Today I had a pepperoni. My fav is the Mexican one, but I cant ever find that. I cook mine on a baking sheet bc I like the softer crust. If I have cheese I add alittle extra and I like to top mine w/ Lowry's and dip it in Hidden Valley Ranch.

It really is a tasty treat. Its good almost anytime of day. The flavor is better then any other frozen pizza and really competes w/ delivery too. The cheese isn't that great and the toppings are be sparse but the crust and sauce is yum.

If you've never had one, pick up a few and I bet you will like them, and really you cant beat the price.

**PS I have never seen a family size or a "for one". "For one" is the regular size. Ha.**

Dining In

Beef Stroganoff

Found this recipe on a Betty Crocker email. I am always looking for good crock pot recipes. Since I work, I am always looking for easy recipes and especially ones for crock pots. So when I came across this one I couldn't wait to try it. I always loved Beef Stroganoff from Hamburger Helper, I knew homemade would be better.
Its so good. Its creamy. It has cream cheese! That makes everything better. Its like bacon. They must be related. Anyway, stroganoff...You cook the meat w/ cream of mushroom and onion for the day. The meat gets so tender. Its so good. Then while you wait for noodles to cook you add cream cheese and sour cream to make it super creamy. The noodles are a perfect pairing and everything comes together. Creamy beefy.
Now I gotta heat up the leftovers....

• 2 lbs beef stew meat
• 1 reg can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 reg can cream of onion (I used cream of chicken bc I couldn't find onion)
• 1 medium onion chopped
• package of cream cheese
• small thing of sour cream
• egg noodles (or rice/potatoes/etc)

In a crock pot combine meat, onion, and soups. Cook on low for at least 8 hours.

After meat is cooked, cook egg noodles per instructions on package.

Cut up cream cheese and stir into the meat mixture until melted. Then add sour cream until combined.

Drain noodles and stir into crock pot.

Subway Pt 2

12" Subway Club
You can read Pt1 here.

I love Subway. Who doesn't? Its perfect. All those yummy selections. I get the turkey sub. Everytime. I finally decided to change it up and started getting the Subway Club. Turkey, roast beef and ham. I get it on white. I tried wheat for awhile. Its good. But white is better. So soft and squishy. Well they messed it up today. They forgot the ham and put on bacon instead...

Uh... I watched her make the mistake and whispered to fat guy "she forgot the ham, but I'm getting bacon instead"

Score. Free Bacon :-)

I get shredded cheese and toasted. Then I add mayo, a little lettuce, tomato, extra pickles, a little onion and salt/pepper. To me, this is a perfect sandwich. Its hard to criticize a sandwich that you basically made. But I will say the bacon was a whole new taste. If you have never added bacon, you should and this might become my "new" sandwich. The smokey salty taste of the bacon was the perfect added flavor for this sandwich.

Nom. Nom. Nom.

I'm not even hungry and I want another one... to save for later. LOL

Subway Pt 1

Raspberry Cheesecake cookie

Even though I had awesome tater tot cass leftovers, I didn't have time to clean a container and pack 2 lunches for the fat guy and me after running a million errands before work today, so we stopped at Subway. Now I did get a sub, but I haven't eaten it yet. But I did get the new Raspberry Cheesecake cookies.

Cheesecake cookies. OMG!

The cookie dough seems to be just regular sugar cookie base. But then there are hunks of "cheesecake" chips and pieces of raspberry flavored jam. In typical Subway cookie fashion the cookies are slightly undercooked for a chewier softer texture. The over all flavor is very sweet and there are a ton of cheesecake chips. I could go for less chips and more raspberry. And I think the chips are really white chocolate and the cheesecake flavor is artificial flavoring added to the cookie dough. For shame.

I think I like regular choco chip better.

Dining In

Tater Tot Casserole

I was introduced to this at my high school BFF's house. Her mom made it one weekend night I was spending the night. I remember my friend was annoyed because she hated it. But I tried it and LOVED it. I got the recipe from her mom and started making it for my family on my nights to cook. Almost everyone has loved it.
Who doesn't love a cheesy potato casserole? Yum.
Its easy, cheap and makes alot. So its a good recipe for families. Or for leftovers.

Everyone has a different version. Some people add onions, or corn. I've seen green beans too. Its like a Shepard's Pie but easier. Some versions add the tots on top only. I personally mix all the ingredients together and put them in the casserole dish.

Tater Tot Casserole

• 1lb ground meat
• Family size can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 bag frozen tater tots
• 2 cups shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Brown meat. Drain. In a large bowl mix meat, soup (no water), tots and cheese.

Pour in casserole dish. Bake for 30-45 mins.

To me its a cheesy potato-y salty goodness. Its very filling. For me and fat guy it serves about 6. But normal portions probably get around 8-10 servings. Try it out and I'm sure you'll like it too.

Photo credit Craving Comfort blog

Chacho's

Crispy Beef Tacos Fiesta Style

On the way to work today me and Fat Guy decided we wanted Chachos,which is some good Mexican food, relatively cheap and quick, across from where I work. I have never been inside at this location, only the drive thru but its always busy. The employees always seem to be happy. Weird.

Anyway. The tacos. I paid 69 cents extra per taco to get them Fiesta style (guac/sour cream/cheese) and Fat Guy ordered his crispy tacos w/ meat and cheese only. So 6 total. And an order of guac. First issue was the order was wrong. They brought out 1 taco for Fat Guy, and my 3 Fiesta tacos. Uh... No we need the other 2. Waiting.... Few mins later we get the tacos and get to work. Start checking my boxes and open my taco box to find this:

Now a regular taco comes w/ lettuce, tomato and cheese. Boo. I don't really care for tomato's and hate lettuce on my taco unless its fresh cold iceberg. This is not. If I wanted a salad, then that's what I would have ordered. But after I picked off all the lettuce and tomato's, the tacos were pretty good. The meat was seasoned well. And not like the powdered mix you get for 49 cents at the grocery store.

I also had an order of guac and chips. Nom nom nom. So good. Its the creamiest guac ever. With random hunks of avocado. They dont season it in anyway, so it needs alittle salt, but other then that its so good. Most restaurant's put tomato in their guac and they don't, its just straight up mashed avocado perfection. I didn't think to take a pic before I devoured it.

Overall I think I would give the tacos another chance and hopefully they get the Fiesta kind right. The guac is a keeper for only $4.79 for a 1/2 pint and a bunch of chips.

I thought everyone should see the ridiclous amount of lettuce and tomato's came w/ the tacos that shouldnt of had ANY!

Jack in the Box Cheesy Fries

Tonight on the way home I wanted a fountain coke from Jack in the Box. The one by my house is always the perfect level of syrup vs carbonation. So anyway, the line was kinda long and I feel silly just getting a coke so I ordered some cheesy fries.
I dont know if this is on the menu at all the JITB's. I had actually be ordering this for a few years of the menu. I don't know if I like the menu version. The order size of the fries are a small maybe. The new fries are pretty good. Crispy and salty. The cheese is the same they have been using for the Bacon Cheddar Potato Wedges. Its like an American cheese, nothing fancy.
For $1.99 I think I'd rather get 4 of their greasy tacos.