Super easy potato corn chowder

It's getting cold in Western New York, which means all I want to eat is hot comfort food.  One of my favorite things is potato corn chowder, because it's really not too unhealthy ( I think) and it is about the easiest thing ever to make.

You will need:
Instant mashed potatoes
Whatever those call for (mine needed water, milk and margarine)
Canned corn
Salt and pepper and whatever else you want

This whole recipe is kind of play it by ear.

First, make the mashed potatoes in a pot according to the box.

I may have overestimated my mashed potato needs this year.

I know some of you mashed potato snobs might not like my use of instant mashed potatoes, and normally I'm not into plugging brands, but the Idahoan mashed potatoes are legit.  They taste really creamy and not flaky.  I love them.

Once your potatoes are done, mix in some corn with the liquid.  The amount of corn depends on the amount of potatoes you made.  I only made two servings of mashed potatoes, so I used less than half of the can, but if you made enough for a family you'd probably want to use the whole thing.

This is where it gets a little sketchy.  Add water or milk until the soup is the thickness you want it to be.  Mine got a little watery, so I added some more potatoes.  It really depends on whether you like a thick soup or a thin soup.

Season the soup with salt and pepper and whatever else you feel like.  I had mine with salad and italian bread.

And diet A&W, beverage of champions.

Delicious, fast and comforting as shit.

Mama West's Lazy Stuffed Shells

I know I already posted today.  I'm probably going to post again.  I live by my own rules.

Actually, I'm procrastinating because I don't want to write a bio lab, and I remembered that I had three blogs worth of pictures on my camera.  But this meal was way successful, so I'm excited.

Last Friday, I got the urge to make Italian dinner for a bunch of people.  I'm 50% Italian, so that is just a genetic thing that happens every once in awhile.  You can trust me.  I'm in bio 105.

One of the meals my mom used to make a lot at home was these noodles with sauce and ricotta mixed in.  She usually mixed in some cooked ground beef, too, but the recipe is fine without it.  Without further ado--

MAMA WEST'S LAZY STUFFED SHELLS

Ingredients:
A box of shell pasta (or whatever shape you like)
A jar of sauce (I used prego, because some lady in Tops gave me a lecture on sauce and told me to buy it)
A container of part-skim ricotta (I am pretty positive it is 16 oz.)
A chopped up tomato

I also made salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumbers and green peppers, which is exactly what it sounds like, and garlic bread, which I'll walk you through.

For the shells, just boil them, strain the water, and mix in the sauce, ricotta, and tomato.

Good shit, huh Miroki?

All I did was chop the vegetables and toss the salad, but it was pretty, so here's a picture of that, too.

These were the first fresh vegetables I'd had in days.
They tasted like Jesus.

The garlic bread was easy and delicious.  Cut a loaf of fresh italian bread into slices about an inch wide, butter one side, and broil the slices butter side up.  Then flip the pieces, add butter and garlic to the other side, and broil them again.

I can't say anything sassy about garlic bread.
It is too wonderful.

Overall, the dinner was well received.  I liked having home-cooked mama food.  It was a good night.

Taking a flattering group eating shot=impossible.

This isn't really related to the noodles, but I also made chocolate chunk cookies that night for some friends who helped me with a flat tire.

You know you are Susie Homemaker when you exchange
cookies for car help.

I used nestle chocolate chunks and just followed the recipe on the bag.  They were way tasty.  Highly recommended.

Hi guys! Eggplant is gross!

I have an awkward relationship with eggplant.

Basically, it goes like this:

1. I forget that I hate eggplant.

2. I eat eggplant.

3. I remember that I hate eggplant.

The problem is, one of the things that I really miss since becoming a vegetarian is chicken parmesan.  And at home, we have a restaurant nearby called Tony's that makes an eggplant parmesan that I love more than most other foods.  Mostly because they fry the eggplant beyond recognition, melt a brick of mozzarella on it and cover it in their super awesome tomato sauce.

So when I saw this in Tops, a combination of step one in the eggplant cycle and me missing Tony's made me buy it.

Quick, delicious meal my ass.

It just was not good.  I'll walk you through it, but I'm telling you, it was not good.

So first, I, innocent, wide eyed, hoping for nothing more than delicious eggplant parm, cooked some eggplant.

Warning sign number 1: it still looks like eggplant.

I also cooked up some spaghetti, and then I decided to get fancy.  That's usually when things go wrong for me.

It sort of looks like roadkill...

I thought that if I put the spaghetti, sauce, eggplant and cheese in the pan and then broiled the whole business, it would taste like Tony's.  False.

I was so hopeful when I took this photo.

The noodles/cheese/sauce thing wasn't really bad, but the eggplant peel was weirdly hard and it just made the whole experience unpleasant.  My roommate made something similar later in the week, though, and she seemed to be successful.  You can see her blog post here.  Also, she has a really cool blog that you should read.

Anyways, the eggplant cycle completed itself one more time.  When I reread Becky's blog post just now, I couldn't help thinking it looked delicious, so I guess it's only a matter of time before the cycle starts again.