KitchenAid Mixer on your wish list? Enter to win one!

One of the greatest things about being a blogger in Indiana is having the opportunity to get to know and work with several of Indiana's farming families. Much of that opportunity has come from the Indiana Family of Farmers. I've learned so much about where our food comes from and how dedicated these farm families are to bringing nutritious food to my table.

Now IFOF wants to learn from you -- and they'll give you a shot at winning a 5 Quart Artisan KitchenAid Mixer just for sharing your thoughts on food safety and nutrition.

What's required of you?

Click the survey link, then answer just 10 questions (click, click, click) about your perceptions of food safety and nutrition. Once you complete the survey, you'll click "DONE" and be taken to the entry page for the KitchenAid. Simple as that. 

Do you have to live in Indiana to complete the survey? 

NO. If you eat, or feed other people, and you have opinions about food safety and nutrition, you're eligible to participate.

When can you enter? 

Well, NOW would be good. But the survey will be available until December 20. But seriously, don't procrastinate. You're thinking about it now. Just do it. Now. Please.

Ready? Set? Opinionate: IFOF Survey.

-- Contest is open to U.S. residents ages 18 and over and ends 12/20/13. --

This post was sponsored by the Indiana Family of Farmers; I received compensation in exchange for sharing this survey opportunity. I did not receive a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, which, given my culinary history, is probably a very good thing.

My gastronomical paradox

I'm not a great cook. (If you recall my attempt at potato soup, this statement will not surprise you.) Often I can't think of what to cook. If I do have any idea of something to cook, it's not unusual for me to be without the time or ingredients to get the dish made successfully. And if I have an idea, the time and all the food necessary, then I put dinner on the table to hear my boys groan and declare, "I'm not eating that."

So of course, what is my favorite thing to watch on TV? The Food Network. It started years ago when I got hooked on Ready, Set, Cook. Who remembers that show? That's old school Food Network. Then it was Emeril and Mario Batali. Now my list of Food Network faves includes:

Worst Cooks in America
Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell
Chopped
Food Network Challenge
Diners, Drive-ins & Dives
Next Food Network Star
Iron Chef America
Unwrapped

In a pinch, I'll watch Cupcake Wars, though it's not one that I would DVR.

I could watch food TV all day. Chopped is probably my all-time favorite. At this point, I can start to predict what flavor combinations the chefs will go for and which dishes the judges will like.

With the exception of Diners, Drive-ins & Dives and Unwrapped, all the Food Network shows I like to watch are competition shows. So maybe I like the competition more than I like the cooking? And although she hosts two of my favorite shows, I don't care for Anne Burrell. The wacky hair, the clunky shoes with the short skirts. The attitude. Not my taste (pun intended).

I LOVE Alex Guarnaschelli, especially as a judge on Chopped. I think she might have a straight-up cooking show of her own, but I don't watch it. 

And I can't watch Restaurant Impossible. Chef Robert Irvine usually finds too much gross stuff going on in the kitchens of those restaurants. It makes me not want to eat out. Not eating out means more cooking and I've already established that as something I'm not too keen on.

Are you a food TV foodie? What do you like to watch? Does that translate into good cooking?

Hunk of Meat Monday

Oh wait. Wrong kind of hunk. Though if he makes your Monday a little brighter, I won't judge.

What I meant to share was an entry for a blog hop called Hunk of Meat Mondays. It's hosted by a fellow Indiana blogger. (I just saw on her site that they have a beagle. They live on a farm. Maybe they'd want a barnyard beagle-basset dog, too? But that's another post...)

Anyway, she (wish I could remember her first name. I've met her IRL once, but her name escapes me. It's probably something easy, like Amy) posted a yummy recipe for tetrazzini today. Well, mostly she posted it. All the ingredients and quantities, etc. But she didn't exactly spell out all the steps. She must be a good cook, because good cooks can get away with stuff like. BadLess experienced cooks like myself need step by step instruction.

Being  a badless experienced cook myself, I can't really contribute much to her Hunk of Meat Mondays. But, I do have a hunk of meat that I have no idea what to do with. This is it:

Three pounds of boneless beef ribs

I have no idea what I was doing buying fancy meat like that. Most of the meat that makes its way into this house is deli sliced, ground or flash-frozen. Apparently, I was feeling culinarily adventurous -- or maybe I was lulled into purchasing it by a big "Save $3 NOW" sticker on the package. 

However it got into the house, it's here and I have to use it.

I tried looking up a few recipes, but they included things like "liquid smoke" and I got scared off. Mike says I should just drop 'em in a crockpot, dump some barbecue sauce over it and eat whatever comes out. I'm not so sure. 

So, I hope this is not a violation of Hunk of Meat Monday, but I thought I'd ask if anyone out there has a tested and approved for use by a cook with good intentions but a bad track record. 

Let's hear it. 

A winner and a loser

The winner
In a case of "the last shall be first," Random.org selected comment #34, Caralyn, as the winner of the Chex Mix Muddy Buddies giveaway. If you want to learn more about Caralyn, check out her blog Blink and You'll Miss It. Caralyn, send me your address at 4thfrog70 (at) gmail (dot) com so I can have your Muddy Buddies prize pack sent directly to you.

The loser
You should never trust a recipe that a bad cook recalls from memory. I got it close, but left out a few things. I realized this when I came across the recipe I'd printed out. Here is the correct version:

Caramel Pork with Vidalia Onions

1-1/4 lb. pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 vidalia onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 c. chicken broth
3 TBS brown sugar
1 TBS soy sauce
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced (I used dried)
1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes
1 whole lime, cut into wedges

Heat a medium skillet over high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork, saute 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt. Add onion and garlic, stir-fry 2 minutes.

Stir in broth, brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger and red pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes or until slightly thick. Serve with lime wedges. 

I squeezed one lime wedge over the pork on my plate. It was really good. So there you go. The correct recipe. Just one more reason why this will never become the 4th Frog Cooking Blog.

Forced back into the kitchen

I don't love to cook. That's no surprise to some of you. I feel like my menu is one endless cycle of spaghetti and tacos and hot ham and cheese sandwiches. Pair that with the fact that Mike likes to eat out and that spells trouble. Or at least "S-P-E-N-D-Y."

But our budgetary constraints of late have forced me back into the kitchen a little more frequently. And I've actually surprised myself. It turns out that if I have time, an easy recipe at hand and all the ingredients in the pantry, I don't mind cooking so much.

In the past several days, I've whipped up (with more effort than "whipped up" makes it sound):

• Whole wheat bread (in the bread maker)
• Zucchini muffins (with zucchini grown in our own garden)
• Zucchini parmesan (yep, more zucchini) 
• Caramel pork tenderloin with vidalia onions

I'm happy to report that not only was everything edible, but the last two were quite tasty.

For the zucchini parm, I sauteed thinly sliced zucchini with 1 diced onion and 2 diced cloves of garlic. Then I put them in a glass dish, covered with spaghetti sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese and some Italian-seasoned bread crumbs. Baked it at 350 just long enough to melt the cheese and served with with whole wheat spaghetti. I just might do that again this week, it was so yummy.

The pork recipe came from an internet site that I had a free trial to and now don't have access to, otherwise I would just provide you the link. But here it is:

Caramel pork with onions
1-1/4 lb. pork tenderloin, cut into 1-inch strips
1 vidalia onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, diced

In a large pan (I used my wok), sautee the pork tenderloin strips for 5 minutes. Then add the onion and garlic and sautee for another 2-3 minutes. 

1/2 c. chicken broth
3 TBS brown sugar
1 TBS soy sauce
1 tsp ground ginger (it actually called for grated fresh ginger, but ground was all I had)

Dump sauce ingredients over pork, stir and cook over medium heat until it thickens a bit. 

Mine never got really thick, but it was still tasty. You could serve it with rice, but I didn't want to mess with that, so I just served it with chow mein noodles to sprinkle on top and a fruit salad on the side.

Just to be clear, if I hit the lottery tomorrow (which won't happen because I don't play the lottery), I will happily give up cooking. However, until that happens, it's nice to know that it's not as bad as I've made it out to be.