DVinoR

I'm not one to really imbibe during the week, for no reason other than one drink often turns into two and two into three and three into hating my alarm clock. But after a little stressful bump at work today, I couldn't be more relaxed tonight than I am now: with a glass of vino and the Desperate Housewives season finale on DVR. Thanks to Shannon for the wine, Cline Cashmere.

It's delish. (And for the stemless wine glass too. I have always wanted a set!)

I received a few recipes after my last post; many, many thanks. To BZ and whoever else is interested, here is the recipe for homemade Runzas. Super easy and super delish.

2 tubes crescent rolls
1 package ground meat (I use turkey, but beef is the recipe)
Cabbage (Either a head or for a shortcut, use bagged chopped coleslaw. No one tastes the carrots)
One onion
Shredded Mozzerella
Salt and Pepper

(This isn't a verbatim recipe, but hopefully you get the idea):

Brown the meat with the onion. Place cabbage on top and steam. Meanwhile, lay one crescent roll out in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan (greased). Once cabbage is tender, spread meat, onion and cabbage mixture on top of crescent roll. Top with Mozzerella cheese. (Just go ahead and use an entire bag. You know you want to.) Top with the other crescent roll rolled out. Bake approximately 25 minutes covered with foil and an additional 5 uncovered to brown top. Serve with tons of ketchup. Very bueno this way!

There you go. Just like grandma used to make.

Reciplease

For the better part of living in Sloppy Joe, my weekdays have looked a little something like this:

Hour 1 (6:30 - 7:30 am): Shower/Get Ready
Hour 2 (7:30 - 8:30 am): Drive to work
Hours 3 - 13 (8:30 am - 6:30 pm): Work (that departure time is pretty generous, but let's do easy math here, people)
Hours 13 - 14 (6:30 - 7:30 pm): Drive to Sloppy Joe
Hours 14 - 16 (7:30 - 10:30 pm): Eat dinner, do whatever needs to be done around the house, iron and pack lunches for the next day, etc.
Hours 16 - 24 (10:30 pm - 6:30 am): ZZZzzzzzz

As you can see, that 3 hours of personal time, doesn't leave a lot of time...and the last thing I want to be doing then is cooking dinner! I've done a really good job (if I do say so myself), of cooking for the week on Sundays. Whether that's browning taco meat, assembling the casseroles so they are oven ready or chopping veggies for a cobb salad, by Sunday night our fridge is usually a beautiful sight.

That said, I don't enjoy slaving away in a kitchen all day and night Sunday, either.

I'm looking for some new recipes I can make ahead on Sundays and eat during the week. Preferably fairly simple. Crockpot meals too: what can I dump in the pot, put in the fridge Sunday and simply toss in the crock's skeleton (sounds interesting) on my way to work in the morning. Or lastly, I'll take tips on good multi-purpose ingredients (example: boil 6 chicken breasts, shred two for BBQ chicken sandwiches, cube the other four and marinate in wing sauce for buffalo chicken salads).

I know the notion of easy, weekday recipes isn't something I'm just looking for, so share, share away. I'm sure all of us busy gals no matter the occupation, just want some good ideas to get foods to the hubs and kids stat. I look forward to reading what you cook up. In the meantime, it's time to take the homemade Runzas out of the oven. I'm starving!

KC BBQ Review: RJs Bob-be-Que

The hubs and I decided that while we're living in the suburb of Kansas City that is Sloppy Joe, we need to take advantage of trips to "the City" and go on a Bar-B-Que sampling tour. Kansas City is renown for barbecue; I mean, there is a wikipedia page on the subject. It must be legit. It's something we need to do during our time down South.

The sampling tour kicked off Sunday--Mother's Day--at RJ's Bob-Be-Que in Mission, Kansas.

Overall, I'd give RJ's ****** (six out of 10 stars). Not terrible, not the best thing I've ever had.

Off the bat, I was disappointed when getting these salad dressing packets. Want to get on my good side? Give me a side of good, tasty, not-too-thick foodservice Ranch. TFitch and I often comment on a restaurant's ranch. ("Mmm, this is good ranch.") I realize how fat this is, but it's the truth. While the Marzetti's dressing was just fine, it didn't add any stars to RJ's review. However, the salad itself was pretty delicious.. Craisins and dill pickles were included. Random, but pretty delicious. It actually inspired TFitch and I to add Craisins to our salad tonight at home.

In terms of atmosphere, I'd say 7. I like dive BBQ joints (but am a little leery of one place my bro and his GF want to take us to. They swear it has delicious food but they were shut down temporarily because of rat poop in the smoker. Ew.) RJs was a good environment. Few things, though:

1. We went on Mother's Day. We waited about 10 minutes for our table, which wasn't horrible. However, we wanted to sit on the nice, big patio, but they insisted it was full. Funny thing was no one was out there.

2. It was a little warm in the place. Naturally cold-blooded, I'm not often warm. I guess those smokers and grills do kick out some heat.

3. It was a bit smoky in the restaurant. Not nasty Marlboro smokey, but BBQ smoke smoky. I just wanted to open a window to cool down and air out the place. Overall, not terrible but enough for me to notice.

4. Just a little cramped. As much as I am sure the table next to us was full of nice people and I was fascinated trying to figure out their family dynamics, I did not want to spend Mother's Day with them. 

I ordered the Memphis Po Boy with Chicken for my main meal. TFich ordered it with pork. I thought it was decent. I had to eat it with a fork because the cole slaw made the bun too soggy. (But you could tell it was a good tasting bun.) The chicken was pretty good, some parts were a little burned, but good chicken overall. I substituted cheesy corn bake for the french fries. It was weird but good. It was essentially Velveeta cheese with corn with chunks of ham in it (which were little morsels of deliciousness). Didn't taste much "baked," though. Feedback on the cheesy corn bake was mixed, but it didn't keep me from eating my condiment cup of it. I'd give my meal a 6.

My brother got the three meat sammich and couldn't stop raving about the chicken. His girlfriend got the pork butt burger (true story--what they're known for). We all took a pull of it. It was okay. Kind of weird, but it was exactly what you'd think it would be. Ground pork butt formed into a hamburger patty. She wasn't a fan of this for her main meal.

We ordered a slab of ribs for the table for everyone to try. I was not impressed with the ribs. They were burned and dry. TFitch makes much better ribs in his smoker at home. I have two ribs a try but just wasn't impressed. I'd give the ribs a 2.

Our bill for two people came to nearly $50, which I thought was a little expensive. This is with Diet Cokes to drink (no alcohol). However, we put the ribs on our ticket, which was $15.

One selling point for RJs is they sell Bernadette's Cupcakes and Cookies (and if you're a mom you got one free Sunday! Sucks for me.) Bernadette made my friend Rachel's wedding cake and I hired her for a cupcake order some years ago for my grandma's 80th birthday party. They're tasty.

So, that's my review of RJ's BBQ in Mission, Kansas. It was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, so be sure and check out Guy Fieri's review. And check back soon for a review from another infamous KC BBQ joint.