Sometimes the dogs get a special treat for their evening snack. They don't know how lucky they are that Mrs. Hillbilly Mom doesn't scarf it down before it hits their used paper plates!
Yes, I have a weakness. No. The cocoa bean is not my dark master. Sure, I like chocolate. I'm not some kind of freak! But BOSCO would not be my ATM code. I'm not one to swoon over sweet treats. Cakes and pies don't tempt me. Sure, I like Key Lime Pie Twizzlers. And PEEPS. But they're not an obsession. The PEEPS, maybe. But I'm not like a drooling Homer Simpson, giving the babysitter a ride home after taking Marge to the candy expo, and seeing that gummi bear stuck to the babysitter's butt as she gets out of the car, and leering, "Sweet can--" and getting framed for being a perv. That's not me.
I prefer the savory treats. Even if they're not marketed as official treats.
A couple weeks ago, I made spaghetti for Farmer H's supper. He likes the sauce with hamburger and mushrooms. Save A Lot has the best hamburger. None of that water-injected meat from The Devil's Playground! Even my mom used to comment on how good my chili and soup and spaghetti sauce was. I'm pretty sure it's due to the hamburger.
As the hamburger cooks, there's a problem with the grease. You don't want it popping. If I try to pour it off, I make a mess. So I take the oldest bread in the cabinet, and tear slices in half, and lay it along the edge of the cooking hamburger. Soaks that grease right up! Depending on how much bread is available, I either scoop it out and add another slice, or turn it over for maximum soakage. I set these slice-halves aside to give the dogs once they cool.
The problem is...once the hamburger has been cooked and added to the sauce, I set the skillet off the burner, and use a last slice of bread to wipe around and get the last of the grease. I'm pretty busy at this juncture. Popping garlic bread into the oven, or stirring the sauce, or adding noodles to the boiling water. Which means that last piece of bread often gets all toasty from being left laying in the pan.
Do you have any idea how tasty that bread is with a little salt sprinkled on top?
Yes. Sometimes, I eat the dogs' grease bread! Is that a crime? I think NOT! It's crispy and salty and fatty and delicious. Ambrosia.
Let the record show that I did NOT help myself to dog bread during spaghetti making. The willpower was strong in Mrs. Hillbilly Mom! I went out the front door with 8 slices of bread. That's 16 half-slices! No salt, either. No hypertension for my fur babies. Each dog had 8, because Copper is not THAT entitled. He got plain bread.
Puppy Jack and Sweet, Sweet Juno reaped the benefits of Mrs. HM's wise choices.
This time...
I've even done that when I've sauteed onions--run the bread around the pan to get the flavor and oil/butter that's left.
ReplyDeleteIt's okay to occasionally slip off the "good choice" train. Me--I rarely even get onto that train...
Oooh, grease; one of my favorites!!
ReplyDeleteSioux,
ReplyDeleteOil and butter? Who needs THAT when you have GREASE?
I've been chugging along on the good choice train for quite a while now. It's a pretty complicated feat, especially with being on the wagon at the same time.
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fishducky,
Good thing you're a fishducky and not a GOOSE! Because that grease would go through you like...uh...you know what I mean.
"Do you have any idea how tasty that bread is sprinkled with a little salt?"
ReplyDeleteYes I do. We ate it as kids, it was put on our plates alongside the burger and vegetables if mum had run out of potatoes, which was a rare happening.
River,
ReplyDeleteThen you understand how hard it was to resist! Those dogs live like royalty around here!
Being a member of GRITS (girls raised in the south), I know about the tastiness of grease! A scoop of bacon fat enhanced every pot of peas, beans and all vegetables in general. Lard was used for biscuits and cornbread and piecrusts. Everything that could be fried was fried!
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteBacon in green beans, mmmm.