Confessions

I have the hope that this blog will keep me honest but also encourage me to be an example. The same idea is behind a food journal - being honest helps you understand why you are eating what you are eating.
I forgot to mention that one reason for sharing my menus was to keep me thinking about the image I want to present. I want to be a beacon of light in these dark times. Show how one can eat healthy on a very tight budget. Stand up for those who can't, speak out on the real issues when it comes to food.
Then last night the worst thing happened. My husband and I didn't have a dinner plan. Our son was going to out that evening having dinner with a group so it was just us - us and no plan. Not a problem, we'll come up with something but it didn't work out that way. The overstuffed refrigerator was just overwelming. Normally, it would feel like a blessing but last night, tired and hungry, it was just too much to think about. So I mentioned pizza and my husband jumped at the idea.
We snuck down to Little Caesar's and picked up a $5 pepperoni pizza. We topped it with fresh tomato at home but then panic struck. How was I going to explain this on the blog? Maybe I could just pretend to forget to post, could I dangle something better to make you not notice that I didn't post my menu. No - I had to be honest. The truth is - this happens and it happens a lot for some families. Not having a dinner plan leaves the family rushing out for something less than nutritious. Now we have about $10-20 in our food budget for these moments. We spend our $90 in food stamps and $30 (most months) on bountiful baskets so we're not actually spending the $150 food budget I mentioned so there is still some leeway for a pizza or two.
However, I felt guilty. I knew I had done something wrong. What does that say about our view of food. It was just my husband and I so one pizza was more than filling. We got our basic food groups - cheese, bread, tomatoes and pepperoni. It might not have been the healthiest choice but we didn't go hog wild. The money made us feel a little guilty but we had it.
For the two meals prior - we ate leftovers. Leftover scones for breakfast, then leftovers from sunday dinner for lunch. We had the same for breakfast today and I will have the same for lunch as well. So where did the guilt come from?
That's something I'll have to ponder and get back to you with an answer. Tomorrow I'll share my recipe for potato candy. I may have shared it before but I made some this week for my son's get-together yesterday and made some changes (not ones I had intended to make either). The result was a really tasty treat.

Corn Dogs

A year ago (or so) my husband bought me a corn dog maker for about $20 at Shopko. I still see these around and highly recommend them. They look like waffle makers with six depressions to make the corn dogs. They are not big enough for a whole hot dog but if you buy the bun size hot dogs and cut them in half - it's about perfect. I have bought regular sized dogs and cut off the excess and then used the little pieces in a corn dog and it worked out fine.
I have noticed that pretty much any corn bread recipe will work. We use the recipe that I shared in an October 2009 post (I'm not savvy enough to know how to link that to here).
You start with oiling the compartments and putting a spoonful of corn bread batter in. You can spread the batter evenly or press a hot dog into the batter to spread it. Top with a little more batter and close the machine. After about 5-6 minutes the corn dogs are cooked. It does take some trial and error to get it right but they are a great treat.
I have even put cake batter in the maker and made a version of "Twinkies". I sliced a line down the cakes and put vanilla frosting in the center and then frosted the top over the split. They tasted great but Chocolate versions get a lot of jokes which made me really not want to do that again.