After nearly seven years of providing gourmet-ish meals for the man of my dreams, he dropped a bomb on me. He wanted me to make a casserole. If you know me very well, you might have figured out that I am not a crock-pot, casserole, one-dish meal type of gal (chili doesn't count). Let me clarify however that - I will gladly eat and find delicious any meal cooked via those various techniques, but it pains me to even think about making them myself. After all, it's hard to plate those items in an attractive fashion and I am a bit of a snob when it comes to the way my food looks (And thus by saying this my meals will now be subject to scrutiny I'm sure. I hope not.)
I have made one other casserole, it was this Christmas for breakfast and it had feta and spinach in it. It was beautiful. The one Ben wanted me to make included - rice, ground beef, onions, cheese and yikes, I can't even write it, cream-of-junk (Rachelle I hope you don't mind me using your term). It was not beautiful but it didn't taste half bad, although "not as good as" his moms. Fine. I didn't want to be known for my awesome rice casserole anyway. And I made the unforgivable mistake of not having tortilla chips to eat it with. I didn't realize it doubled as a dip.
So another (equally disturbing) culinary first that I had this week was buying something I promised myself I would never buy - American Cheese - aka - Processed Cheese Food Product. What is that?! I've always been wary of Velveeta - how can you trust a cheese that can keep for years on your pantry shelf?
Anyhow, I read an article interviewing Padma Lakshmi, the gorgeous hostess on Top Chef, where she claimed that American Cheese made the best grilled cheese sandwiches. I figured that she was just trying to sound common and that only the finest artisinal cheeses pass her lips, however, against my better judgement and instinct I stood in front of the Cheese Food section for 10 minutes trying to decide which package to buy (I had the incorrect notion that there was only one kind - Kraft Singles). After nearly becoming sick while comparing labels, I choose the cheapest one. They all seemed disgustingly similar to me, why waste another two bucks on an experiment. Apparently, this was the wrong choice as I wasted some darn good bread making three sandwiches in which the cheese failed to, well, melt, Ben informed me that Kraft Singles were the only quality cheese food product, besides Velveeta of course. I don't think I'll be trying them - in my kitchen anyhow. But if you want to make me a sandwich or a burger with the stuff - I will not bat an eye. I might even enjoy it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
dang. i was hoping you would love processed cheese and use it in all your recipes.
I agree with you on the casseroles, it's not my thing either. You eat with your eyes first, right? As with the cheese, Erick use to eat those American cheese slices by themselves, however I've helped refine his taste buds and he now only eats Tillamook Cheddar :-) Those American cheese slices do make good grilled cheese sandwiches though.
So is processed cheese actually fake, or is it just . . . what?
Also, can I therefore put your blog in my link list? =) I've been wondering if that would be "legal." I'm just going to, and you holler if you'd like me to remove it.
those boys, i never new about processed cheese product, or whatever it's called, until ryan entered my life. it's amazing all the different kinds. but i have to say velveeta makes an awesome casserole. maybe once a year...
I'm with you, I think singles are gross. I got them for my kids and they thought they were gross after a couple of bites too, and they love cheese.
never been of fan of kraft single myself... ben's lucky to have you... can't remember the last time i cook a meal for shawn, sad huh!!
Gross. I can eat a lot of junk, but processed cheese is not one of them. I think the only thing worse is that spray cheese that comes out like whipped cream. Disgusting.
You need to put Cheese Whiz on the list too. That stuff gives me the hibbie gibbies when it's squirting out of the aerosol can--I think my Ben really likes it but I have yet to waste my money on the stuff.
The next time we do dinner together, I'll make a crock pot meal but have you Westbrooks blind fold your eyes so it won't matter a bit what it looks like.
I broke down and bought a crock pot during the Christmas sales. Everyone told me I needed to buy one. I've used it a couple of times, and I'm not won over. I'm with you on everything else too.
Lynn--you are such a great wife. I hope you got a big reward for making his special request.
Another good and more alliterative version is cream of crud. Good description of almost any and all casseroles. You do make beautiful food.
Post a Comment