WTW – burger ‘n fries pot pie

So I have to apologize. I’ve kind of fallen off the face of the Earth. Between work, life, the sun setting far earlier, and my latest project, my attention and love and caring for yawyeor has kind of well, gotten lost in the mix. I’m hoping to step my game up again soon, but in the meantime, I will never leave you in a lurch when it comes to our dear sweet White Trash Wednesday.

Luckily for me, Beth from Happy Life Happy Wife sent me this pretty freaking spectacular White Trash recipe. Let’s just say it’s a spin on the old classic burger and fries meal you’d pick up at your local burger joint. And as much as you’re picturing it look like this, I assure you, it won’t. Because this is classy.

And this…

is not.

Burger ‘n Fries Pot Pie

ingredients
1 1/2lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)
2 cups frozen crispy French-fried potatoes (from 20-oz bag)

directions
1. Heat oven to 450°F. In 12-inch nonstick skillet, cook beef and onion over medium-high heat about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain well. Sprinkle flour over beef mixture. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in tomatoes; heat to boiling. Remove from heat.
2. In ungreased 1 1/2-quart casserole, spread beef mixture. Sprinkle with cheese. Arrange frozen potatoes evenly in single layer on top.
3. Bake uncovered about 20 minutes or until potatoes are golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Original recipe can be found here.

(Big thanks to Beth for this oh so white trashy find!)

WTW – Dipsticks, Snack of the Month

Not sure if I’ve mentioned, but I love getting emails from you guys. Love, love, love it. And what I really love is when you send me white trash recipes. It makes my heart all a-flutter. You know why? Because all I have to do is sit back and pretty much do absolutely nothing.

Kidding, kidding.
The other day Becki D. of Becki Bakes sent me her second White Trash Recipe recommendation.  The first one was the ever so tasty black ‘n blue pancakes. And this one, is more of a snack.  And she’s aptly named this snack, Dipsticks.

I discovered the perfect snack this afternoon while ransacking my pantry.
Anyhow, this most perfect WTW gem goes like this:
-Grab your jumbo-sized barrel of Pretzel Rods from Sam’s Club (because who doesn’t need a year’s supply of pretzel rods?)
-Grab your obligatory Foodie Approved jar of Nutella
-Dip pretzel and repeat as many times as needed to ward off the Crazies.
Not only does this recipe require 0 utensils or preparation of any sort, if you close your eyes you can almost pretend you’re chowing down Ferrero Rocher Fine Hazelnut Chocolates instead of pretzel sticks.

Sweet, salty, simple.

You’re welcome, ladies!

YAWYEOR note: These are awesome. I kid you not. I only had the honey wheat pretzel rods on hand, but went for it anyway and oh my goodness I thought I’d died and gone to chocolatey salty heaven.

Thanks Becki D. for introducing this treat to my world. From now on I will always have pretzel rods and Nutella stocked in my pantry.

*If you have a WTW recipe you’d love to share, email me at kmslat@yahoo.com. And just be prepared for me to include your entire email in the upcoming blog post*
Cheers!

White Trash Wednesday – Oreo Truffles

Sometimes, no matter how white trashy, a recipe just sounds tasty. And this one, well, it sounds tasty. I admit it. I’m secure enough in my Alabama heritage to admit that I don’t exactly have a refined palate.

So when a recipe is called “Oreo Truffle”, you can bet your sweet hiney I’m gonna be a fan.

 

You’ll need:
1 Package crushed Oreo’s
8 oz cream cheese, softened
Chocolate (of any variety: milke chocolate, semi-sweet, white…)
Powdered Sugar

To make:
1. Mix crushed Oreo’s and cream cheese until blended
2. Refrigerate mixture for 2-3 hours
3. Meawhile, melt chocolate over low heat in a saucepan, stirring frequently
4. Shape into balls and quickly dip into the melted chocolate
5. Dip into sugar, top it off with crushed Oreo’s, drizzle with chocolate.
6. Freeze for 10-15 minutes until chocolate has set.

Enjoy.

Recipe adapted from Suzie’s Recipe Box.

Sweeter in Tennessee

The past two weekends I’ve spent driving up to Tennessee. The first trip was to Nashville. This weekend was Knoxville.  And oddly enough, next weekend I’ll be heading up to Athens, GA for the Georgia / Tennessee game.  So I guess you could say it’s a bit of a Tennessee kind of month for me.

I’ve been lucky enough to spend these two weekends with two of my dearest friends.  And for the Knoxville trip, I finally met my friend, Elaine’s, soon to be 1 year old, Caroline.  

I met Elaine several years ago and our friendship developed over a mutual love of food…cookies actually.
Henri’s shortbread cookies to be exact. 
When she lived in Atlanta, we’d grab lunch a few times a week…
going to the same place everytime…
eating the same sandwiches everytime…
and with about as little guilt possible, eating the same shortbread cookies everytime.

She hasn’t lived in Atlanta for quite a few years, but her love of those cookies remains strong. And that’s precisely why I knew I had to bring a few  dozen along with me as an early birthday gift.

And we ate them.
For a snack, for a dessert treat, and, rumor has it, for breakfast too.

Somehow those cookies tasted just a little bit sweeter in Tennessee.
Thanks Elaine.

Reminder

I may have forgotten to mention that the White Trash poll voting ends on 10/22.

Weird, right?  Well, I gave the whole thing a month. Figured, by that time, I would be…

A) mentally prepared to make a corndog casserole (if ultimately that was decided)
and
B) most likely be back in town for a few consecutive weekends to be able to put said white trash dish together.

So. For those of you who have voted, thank you!
If you haven’t yet, not to worry, you still have time.

Have a great Friday everybody!
Is it 5 oclock yet?

White Trash Wednesday Poll

A couple of people have made mention (ahem, you know who you are) that I don’t always make the recipes I post on White Trash Wednesday. Well, the obvious reason is that most of them are gross. Funny, but gross. The other reason is that there just aren’t enough stinking hours in the day. So I’ve gotten a bit lazy. Well, since I’m admitting to my laziness, I’m going to take it a step further and make you decide which White Trash Recipe I should make next.

And remember, I plan on doing this again….so be gentle.

Autumnal Equinox.

The calendar tells me that we’re hours away from the first day of fall, but the suffocating heat is telling me something else. I don’t know about you, but when I think of Autumn, I envision wearing jackets, enjoying the crisp air not stressing over how low I can move the dial on the thermostat.

But right here in Atlanta it’s 90 degrees.
90.
Degrees.
That is insane.

My stomach wants me to cook fall food like pecan pie.

And chili…

Not iced drinks and ice cream cakes.

There is something very, very wrong with this picture.

Fall, if you don’t get here soon, well, we’re just not going to be friends anymore. Who’s with me???

The Georgian…The End

Figure I’ve bored you enough with the Santa Monica stories this week so I promise, this will be the last one.
But I had to show you our hotel…
And the food we ate at that hotel.
And some scenes from the Santa Monica Pier (where I ate cotton candy. There is no proof of that though.)

(oatmeal)

(french toast souffle. seriously. french toast, as a souffle.)

And just think, this is how we started our day, everyday. (Tell me again why I had to go home?)

Especially when the views were exactly like this…everywhere you looked. Ugh…

And because I took something like 400 pictures of the ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier, I’m making you suffer through these next few…

Thanks for indulging me this week in my futile attempt to mentally remain on vacation. It’s been far more entertaining than acknowledging the obvious fact that I’ve been back in reality this whole time…
ps. T-8 days until my next out of town adventure.

White Trash Wednesday – Triscuit Pizza

Those my friends are what I like to call cracker sized bites of heaven. I wish I could take credit for them, but I swear my sister told me years ago that these little beauties are a part of the Sugar Busters diet. Then again, I could be wrong. It could be in fact that my sister is a genius put on earth to make up wonderfully delightfully white trashy recipes just for me to enjoy.

Or not.

Either way, I eat these. I’m not ashamed to admit it either. Because see, here’s the thing…on the weekends I never have lunch type foods around. Don’t ask me why. But I do always have Triscuits and cheese. And on the ever so rare occasion (which isn’t so rare), I have pizza sauce and pepperoni slices. What? That’s normal, right?

So making these for a meal is easy.

It requires four whole ingredients.

ingredients:
pizza sauce (don’t skimp, get the Ragu Pizza Sauce)
pepperoni – turkey or regular
Triscuits – I actually only use, I mean eat, the reduced fat ones. Really, when you’re eating cardboard, there’s no difference in taste.
shredded mozzarella

To make:
Lay out your Triscuits on a baking sheet.
Top with the sauce (as little or as much as you’d like)
Add the cheese
Finish with a slice of pepperoni

Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes or until your cheese has melted and the pepperoni starts to look crispy.
But be careful…as Amy put it, that sauce will be hotter than magma.

iced mocha frappe

Yesterday was yet another 100 degree day here in Atlanta and it’s practically impossible to cool off. So in an effort to beat the heat I made a frosty treat…one that should only be consumed when you don’t give a rat’s hiney about calories…
Trust me…

Ingredients:
4 cups brewed coffee, hot
4 packs hot chocolate mix
4 tablespoons sugar (I opted for 2 packets splenda- my lame attempt at saving calories)
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Whipped cream, for garnish

Directions:
In a heat-proof bowl or pitcher, add the coffee, hot chocolate mix, and sugar/splenda. Stir until well combined. Pour the mixture into ice cube trays and freeze, covered, for at least 3 hours and up to 1 week.

When ready to make, put the frozen cubes* in a blender. Add the cream and vanilla and puree until smooth. Divide the frappe into tall glasses and top with whipped cream.

*I  had enough coffee mix for two ice trays, but only used one tray of cubes when making the frappe. Still used 1 cup cream and 2 tsp vanilla extract.

ps. does this blog make me look fat? i thought so.
pps. this was pretty darn close to tasting just like a starbucks mocha frappuccino except I think the version I made had twice as many calories.  heavy cream? are you kidding me?