FAIL!

Lunch Menu: Homemade Corn Dogs and French Fries
Dinner: Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Salad and Breadsticks
Dessert: Peanut Butter Cookies

Ok, so it’s shaping up to be big fat fail week. Yesterday, I missed the bus and had to drive to work (I hate driving to work!). Then when I got to work, the internet wasn’t working. Bah! Today, I thought I’d get all creative and make homemade corn dogs. I found a recipe online for making oven-baked spicy corndogs. Perfect! Or so I thought. The thick batter stuck to the dogs really well, at least until I put them in the oven. The batter sort of slid off and made a pool around the dogs. It looked so bizarre with the hot dog just chilling, naked, in the middle of a cornbread biscuit. The sad part is, the crust tasted really good. It was sweet and spicy and crisp. It was everything you’d want wrapped around your hot dog… it just wasn’t wrapped around the hot dog. Because of their bizarre look, the guys didn’t really go for them. I seeing good food go to waste, but there was nothing I could do. Luckily tonight’s dinner was a safe one. I could make spaghetti with meat sauce in my sleep. By the way, the internet still wasn’t working. It’s really beginning to annoy me. What am I supposed to do in the afternoon if I can’t mess around on the internet? They said they were working on it, but I’ll believe that when I can start reading my 9 Chickweed Lane again every day. (Have you ever read that comic? It’s my favorite because they have a cat that is my George to a T complete with sleeping on the face and random spazz attacks.

Well, lunch may have been a big fat fail, but dinner last night wasn’t. I made red beans and rice with smoked sausage. I knew it was going to be popular when I had several guys come down to investigate what smelled so good. If the pied piper wanted to attract frat boys instead of rats, all he would have to do is put down his flute and sauté some sausage, onions and garlic together. I was going to grill the sausage, but it was really cold and windy yesterday. You can’t make me grill when the wind chill is 15. But, I didn’t hear any complaints. Next week I might be sneaky and do the spaghetti burgers on the griddle rather than on the grill…

Red Beans and Rice with Smoked Sausage
Serves 26-30

8 lbs Smoked Sausage
2 cups Onion, chopped
5 cloves Garlic, minced
1/3 cup Hot Sauce
2 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
6 cans Diced Tomatoes, drained
10 cups Chicken Broth
5 cups Rice
5 cans Red Beans, drained (if you can’t find canned red beans, you can cook 2 lbs of the dried ones according to the directions on the bag)
Vegetable Oil

Slice the sausage into approx. ½ inch slices, cut in half again. Sauté half of the onion, garlic and sausage over medium high heat until onions are soft and translucent. Repeat with the remaining sausage garlic and onions. In a large stock pot, add meat, garlic and onions to the remaining ingredients. Stir well and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes or until rice is tender.

Note: You can grill the sausage, just omit it from the recipe and follow the directions for the rice and serve the sausage alongside the rice. You can make this meal lighter by substituting turkey sausage and brown rice.