Hungry Blogger

If you have ever wanted to eat hot dogs while you were eating pizza, then your ship has come in! Pizza Hut had decided to boost their sales with an insane new creation: the hot dog stuffed crust pizza.

 

Not content to stuff their crusts with cheese (a substance which at least already belonged on pizza), those mad scientists in the Pizza Hut food labs have decided to make their crust out of pigs in a blanket, more or less. 

 

The pizza is surrounded by 28 hot dog bites, each of which is wrapped in crust. Pizza Hut suggests that you dip these in mustard for the full hot dog experience, then I guess eat your pizza.

 

Personally I never wanted to eat hot dogs and pizza together, but what do I know?! 

Retirement homes are notorious for serving bland, institutional food. Most of it comes from centralized, corporate centers which ship out truckloads of frozen meals, which are then reheated on site. The same services that provide food for hospitals and airplanes - two other places notorious for bad meals.

 

There are a lot of problems with feeding someone this way long-term. It's boring and not very tasty, for one thing. Like any heavily processed meal, they aren't very healthy. And they provide little in the way of variety. Finally, some retirement homes are finding that these meals also cost more than cooking food from scratch on-site.

 

NPR recently profiled several retirement homes which have seen the light, and converted to a full kitchen with a proper on-site staff and chef preparing meals. Food is fresh, local, varied, and delicious. The kitchen staff is also trained on making specialty foods for people with disabilities, like mini bite-size quiches and hash brown bites, for people with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Disease who have trouble using silverware. 

 

Even better, the retirement homes are finding that not only are their clients happier with the better food, but they are saving money across the board. Talk about a win-win!

Last night I bought way more chopped walnuts than I needed, plus I had apples that I needed to use soon, and I was inspired to make Waldorf salad.

 

Waldorf salad is a chilled sort-of-fruit salad, with a base of diced apples and chopped walnuts, typically served over a bed of lettuce. Most recipes add halved grapes, thinly sliced celery, and a cream dressing. Optional additions include diced chicken, dried cranberries, raisins, and lemon zest.

 

The classic Waldorf salad is made with mayonnaise, although since I happened to also have bought way too much plain yogurt, I decided to use that instead. 

 

(Unfortunately, I chose a Martha Stewart recipe which calls for WAY TOO MUCH SALT. Do not use more than a pinch of salt, trust me!)

 

The salad was created at the Waldorf Astoria hotel sometime around 1895, and became an instant classic, particularly as a summer appetizer.

I recently moved to southern California, where avocados literally grow on trees. They are everywhere here, and often on sale, so I am much less reluctant to experiment with them than before.

 

The biggest key to guacamole is making sure that your avocados are ripe enough. The timing can be tricky here! If you need your avocados to ripen faster, put them in a paper bag. Adding a ripe banana to the bag will help them ripen even faster.

 

Guacamole is like salsa: it comes in a million different varieties. The basic ingredients are avocados, lime juice, minced onion, cilantro, and some heat - in whatever form and amount you like. If you are a spicy food enthusiast, mince up serrano or habanero peppers. Jalapeno peppers are a little more mild. You can also just use cumin and cayenne pepper, for the flavor without the heat.

 

Here are several different guacamole recipes you can try, and feel free to substitute for the ingredients you have on hand.