August 29, 2020

WEEKLY MENU 08.30.20

The Weekly Menu 08.30.20 is the last menu of August. Kind of – most of the week happens in September, but we’ll celebrate that next week!

It’s been a… weird summer, right? It’s not over yet – at least here in Erieland. We’re going to keep Bert working the grill as long as we possibly can. We’re also taking inspiration from him and making a little bit of a guilty pleasure.

We make no bones about the fact that we are a diner kind of family. The boys love meatloaf and mashed potatoes as much as they enjoy a crispy salty fry with gravy. Bert was reminiscing fondly the other night at dinner about something that the boys never got a chance to experience:

Kmart Blue Light Special

The Blue Light Special was a sale promotion within the store for a short period within store hours only. It was advertised using a rotating blue light, in the same style a police car used, and was announced over the store public address system with the phrase “attention Kmart shoppers”, a phrase which became a pop culture reference.^[23] The original Blue Light Specialfirst introduced in 1965,^[24] was retired in 1991.
Wikipedia

MUCH more important to those of us in the know was the lunch counter and restaurant inside the store.

The diner counter at Kmart is long gone, unfortunately. The smell of sauteing onions would permeate the entire store, and was a mouthwatering call to eat. The mashed potatoes were served up using an ice scream scoop and smothered with gravy. The veggies were canned – and buttered to perfection. A small white roll with a pat of butter (preferably on a piece of cardboard covered with another piece of paper) rounded out the meal.

Is it any wonder Bert wants a recreation?

SO we’re going to give it to him – on Monday night we’re having breaded veal patties (fingers crossed we can find them in the freezer section of the grocery store), mashed spuds with brown gravy and canned corn. I might even go crazy and make some homemade creamed corn. Wow. Just wow.

We’re eating other stuff too.

Smash Burgers are starting the Weekly Menu 08.30.20. (Affiliate links follow – see disclaimer page for details.) For his birthday, Bert was gifted a Sizzle-Q Griddle for the grill. (Yeah. It might have been a family gift in all reality.) It works great for burgers. We’ve already tried Smash Burgers:

Form small (2 ounce or so) patties from 80/20 ground beef
Salt copiously
Put on super hot griddle and SMASH with a spatula
Sprinkle raw, thinly sliced onions on top
Turn when the bottom of the burger is brown and crispy
Top with a slice of processed American cheese (remove the wrapper first)
Squirt a bit of water around the burger
Cover with a domed pan lid or metal bowl until cheese melts
Put a couple patties on a bun
ENJOY!!!

On Thursday, we’re having Italian Baked Rice. One of my all time favorite cookbooks is a recent addition: Jaime Oliver’s 5 Ingredients. It’s full of recipes that use only, you guessed it, 5 Ingredients. Simple, elegant fare. The Italian Baked Rice is no exception. It takes 10 minutes to prep and bakes for 40 minutes – giving us enough time to enjoy a glass of wine on the patio without babysitting dinner. If you get the chance, definitely check out this book.