Recipe: Nut-Butter Banna-Dog

Here's another of my bachelor-style* culinary inventions: the nut-butter banana-dog.**

Ingredients

• 1 hot-dog bun. I like whole-wheat ones, but use whatever floats your boat.
• 1 to 2 tablespoons nut butter. I like almond and cashew, but peanut, is a classic and is also acceptable.
• 1 small-ish banana.

Directions

• Open the bun.
• Spread the nut butter of your choosing on both inter surfaces.
• Peal the banana and press it, firmly, into the bun.
• If needed, slide banana back and forth to spread the nut butter.

* This one's also great for a kid, or for a child-at-heart like me.

** No dogs were harmed during the development of this dish. Although, one might have eaten some pieces of the prototype that were "accidentally" dropped into his bowl.

Recipe: Spaghetti Enchilada Casserole

Today for lunch I'm having spaghetti enchilada casserole: leftover spaghetti sauce---with ground turkey!---layered with corn tortillas and reheated in the mircowave oven. It's not just international; it's tasty.

Recipe: Oily Bread

Here's another of my bachelor recipes.* I call it oily bread, and I think it makes a great snack or side-dish.

Ingredients

• 3 English muffins or small pitas.
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil.
  
• 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar.
  

Directions

• Split the English muffins or quarter the pitas.
  
• Toast the bread.
  
• Mix the oil and vinegar** in a small bowl.
  
• Dip the toasted bread in the mixture and enjoy.

* I can't help but wonder how horrified a gourmand like Nick is by these.

** As best you can.

Recipe: Herbal-Tea-Flavored Hot Cereal

Here's another bachelor-style recipe that I invented, though I think even non-bachelors may appreciate it.

Ingredients

• 1 serving (usually about 1/2 cup) dry hot cereal. I typically use oat bran, but you can use oatmeal, or anything else you like.
  
• Milk or soy milk, quantity determined by cereal directions (usually about 1 cup). I like to use unsweetened soy milk, but you can do what you like.
• 1 ripe banana.
  
• 1 bag of herbal tea.*  I usually use something fruit-flavored: blueberry, pomegranate, apple-cinnamon or some such.
• (Optional) 1 teaspoon of flax oil.
  

Directions

• Mix the cereal and milk, then cook according to the cereal's directions. I usually find the 90 seconds in our microwave suffices.
• Cut or tear open the bag of herbal tea, then mix its contents into the cereal.
• Slice the banana into the cereal.
  
• (Optional) mix the flax oil into the cereal.

This recipe may sound strange, but I find that the herbal teas usually have a melange of spices that work together to complement the cereal. I encourage you to try it.

I'm certain that the flax oil seems odd to most of you in the readership. I like to use it to provide a solvent for the oil-soluble spices in the tea and to add some essential fatty acids to the dish. It also produces a bit of an odd flavor, which some may not enjoy.

* I feel compelled to point out that "herbal tea" is a misleading name, since this bevearges does not contain leaves of Camellia sinensis.  Instead, it should be called a tisane.

Recipe: Chili Dog Casserole

Alison posts most---to date, all---of our recipes, so I thought it was time for me to post one of my own. What follows is a "recipe" for the chili dog casserole I make---assemble, really---sometimes when I'm feeling lazy, espcially when Alison isn't around. This dish is well within the bounds of what I call "bachelor food." What I mean by that phrase will be obvious when you read the recipe, if it isn't clear from the dish's title.

• 4 hot dogs. I use uncured chicken dogs, but you can use something more traditional, if you like.
• 1/2 can chili. I use low-fat vegetarian chili, but again you can certainly use "regular" chili.
• 2 hamburger buns. I use whole wheat buns, but...
• 1 to 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion.
  

Cut the hot dogs to whatever length you desire, mix with the chili. Heat in the mircowave to desired temperature. Pull the buns into smaller pieces. Add the buns and onion to the heated mixture. Stir, then eat with a spork.

Ah, the Bachelor Lifestyle 5: Good Thing I was a Single Child

Alison has gone out of town again, this time for a bit of a reunion with her two roommates from Atlanta. Even though the girls have awarded me the honorary title of Fourth Roommate, I remained behind to look after Newton and, more importantly, avoid using up my vacation days. Fortunately, Newton's become a bit easier to single-parent these last few months.

Ah, the Bachelor Lifestyle 4: Man Stuff

My bride, Alison, has gone out of town for a week to visit family. So, Newton and I are bachelors for the next few days. We plan to do some man stuff together. You know, working on cars, watching sports on TV, objectifying women, and so on. Maybe, if we have time, we'll keep someone down.

Ah, the Bachelor Lifestyle 3: Your Newton Update

Newton has made some significant progress recently, so I thought I'd report it here.

• First, for the last couple of weeks, excluding our disorienting trip to my ancestral home, he's been sleeping through the night. He hasn't woken us up because he needs to use his box* or, as is more often the case, because he's awake and wants to play. Ah, sleep...
  
• Second, for about the same length of time, he's been much better behaved around the house. Aside from being quite consistent about using the box, he doesn't chew as much on things he shouldn't , and when you tell him to drop something, he often does. Good boy!

All of this is particularly useful now, since Alison has gone to Chicagoland to visit her family. While she's gone, I've been practicing my single-parenting skills and doing "guy stuff" with Newton.

* I don't know if we mentioned this before, but we are litter-box-training him.

Ah, the Bachelor Lifestyle 2: Revenge of the Bachelor

Alison has gone out of town again, leaving me to my own devices. Apparently, "my own devices" means "bike, visit the bike shop, buy groceries, clean the house, work on the bikes, watch Family Guy on DVD, bike again, clean the house some more, 'forget' to mow the lawn, and blog."

Ah, the Bachelor Lifestyle

Alison has gone out of town for a few days to visit her broken-hipped grandmother, her mother, and, most importantly, Muffy in Florida, where all retired people are legally required to reside. So I'm living the bachelor lifestyle this weekend: sitting around in my underwear all day, eating cold pizza over the sink, watching hours of sports on TV, and playing poker with the boys while drinking cases of beer. Hah! Actually, yesterday, I worked on 2 of my bikes, went for a 3-hour bike ride, monkeyed with some of my new electronics, watched a bunch of The Simpsons on DVD, and read a bit of my latest sci-fi novel. Today, my plans are to futz with the electronics some more and lift weights. Oh, and blog a bit. Yep, I'm going hog-wild.

Jon Story #2 - Jon vs. Food

So, continuing with my Jon stories, here are two short anecdotes about Jon and his tendency toward culinary ineptitude.

Apparently, when Jon first moved into his own apartment (as opposed to the dorms where they cook for you), he decided to make a frozen pizza for dinner. Ah, frozen pizza. The ultimate bachelor food. It's sooooo easy! All you do is throw it in a frying pan on top of the stove and heat!

Wait, you mean that's NOT how you cook a frozen pizza? Well, tell that to Jon. He swears that it turned out OK, but I imagine it wasn't pretty. Apparently, he ate it anyway, though.

Jon also likes to call me up for advice on various girl-related things such as cooking rice. He called me up one night and said, "Hey, how do you cook rice? I bought a bag of rice, but I don't know how to cook it and I have a girl coming over soon." I patiently explained that the way to cook rice was to turn the bag over and read the back where it said, "Instructions" or possibly "Directions" and then do what it said. He was pretty amazed at my culinary prowess. "Wow! How did you know to do that?" he said admiringly.

I really enjoy these two stories because it wasn't like he screwed up complicated French recipes or something. He just didn't read the darned package! Twice!

Ah, Jon...