i know i know, sometimes those two words just shouldn't be in the same sentence.  the thought of food makes you want to snuggle up more under those sheets and close your eyes in hopes of all the pain going away by the time you wake up.... 

anyone else have that feeling yesterday morning? that feeling where you start questioning yourself on everything you did the day before. why didn't i eat a solid breakfast? why did i drink champagne at work?  why did i accept that free shot of tequila from the bartender?  wait, why didn't i eat a solid meal all day on a day that i drank more than i ever do?

by the time you reach age 27, you should have this plan mastered by now, you KNOW how to avoid a hangover.....  but sometimes a big hangover creeps up on you like you just got smacked upside your head.

so here comes the best hangover food to the rescue.  i just thought it was a delicious bowl of rice porridge, until my mother-in-law convinced me it's hangover food. simple as this, she said "when my kids go out drinking all night, they need to eat this in the morning."  ok, we'll do just that.  mama knows best!




vietnamese rice porridge
(aka best hangover food ever)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground pork
1/2 medium red onion, diced
8 1/4 cups of water
1 cup white jasmine rice
2 chicken bouillon cube
1 tablespoon sugar
3 cloves of garlic, grated
3 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoon ground white pepper
3 stalks of green onion, chopped
heat large pot over medium high heat.  add olive oil, then add ground pork and diced red onion.  add about 1/4 cup of water to the pot so the ground pork gets cooked, but not browned.  while pork and onions are simmering, rinse rice in a fine mesh strainer.  when pork is thoroughly cooked and onions are translucent add rice, chicken bouillon, grated garlic, fish sauce and ground white pepper to the pot and stir.  once all incorporated, add remaining 8 cups of water and bring to a simmer until mixture begins to thicken, stirring every few minutes, about 15 minutes total.  once mixture begins to thicken, stir continuously until mixture becomes a porridge texture, almost like a thick soup or a runnier oatmeal texture.  should take another 5 mins.  stir in chopped green onions, then serve immediately.  sprinkle cracked black pepper on top if you want (or not, depending on your hangover situation :P)

the mixture will continue to thicken in the pot once it cools.  when you reheat for leftovers, you just need to add some water before reheating, and you'll be back to that silky texture from the first day!

sorry this wasn't given to you YESTERDAY, like when you actually needed it, but i'm eating it until the whole batch is gone, even though i'm no longer suffering from the nasty hangover.  i AM suffering from lack of sleep though.  i tried staying up until the end of the sugar bowl, slightly napping on the sofa until 1:30am!! yikes!  good thing it's friday, my friends (at least i have good leftovers to eat for lunch :P)

cheers.
jenn

if you follow @beyondthetoop on instagram , you had to know this recipe post was coming ;)

if you read the title thinking "ew gross" you'll be sticking your foot in your mouth after you try these.  our friend made them once during a dinner party, and i (along with everyone else) went crazy over them! they are the perfect combination of sweet and savory, and take hardly any more effort to make than regular rice krispie treats with just butter and marshmallow.  i made them for thanksgiving, posted it on instagram , and was requested to make them again for friendsgiving just a few days later! the lazy girl inside me thought i could get by with saving some from the first batch, but they definitely did not last long enough.  the entire batch was GONE before i had a chance to stash them away.

give them a try and let me know what you think!  read below for the recipe....

with all the excitement around here lately, hung and i have been slacking in the kitchen.  it's not that we haven't been cooking, it's just that we haven't been cooking anything new or, well, presentable.  i mean, ramen noodles with egg and spinach isn't exactly rocket science (but gosh does it taste good!).  a rotisserie chicken sammich? come on, guys, you don't need instructions on that….

you may have noticed there haven't been a lot of recipes on here lately.  that's not to say that we're not cooking (there's not a day that goes by that i'm not cleaning dishes at our house), we've just been total slackers when it comes to sharing the goods!  ...and we've been doing a lot more of "hey i saw this great recipe in food network magazine " or "i want to make this from thekitchn.com ".

last night was one of those nights we were dying to try something we saw on thekitchn.com :

savory muffins

i scored a half snow day from work, and told mr p i would make anything he wanted.  anticipating a response along the lines of something for dinner, he wanted muffins.  after trying scallion and black pepper scones at a&j king in salem a few years ago, we've been talking about savory baked goods ever since, yet we never take the time to make anything!

though not all of the ingredients for the muffins were things we had on hand, the actual recipe ( see here ) was simple, and didn't require a lot of dishes (that's the WORST part about baking sometimes!) with just 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour, the recipe was nearly gluten-free, and could easily be substituted with a gluten-free flour. the original recipe calls for prosciutto and chives, and i simply read that as "some sort of cured meat and something onion-y".  instead i used hard salami and scallions (hey, we had it on hand!) the recipe also calls for muffin liners and spray oil to keep the muffins from sticking to the liners. we didn't have any spray, and gosh they stuck so bad.  next time i'm definitely just buttering the pan and forgetting about the liners!!

the recipe is great for big group breakfasts, because the muffins are all finished at the same time (as opposed to cooking eggs, omelets, french toast, things that take lots of labor and you must eat as soon as it hits the plate.

.....well, and they are also good for snow days when you have a bit of extra time on your hands ;)

the recipe is a good base for any savory muffins, really. maybe i'll try adding amaranth or millet, or maybe i'll try adding in goat cheese and cracked black pepper! with all these ideas they make be on our weekend breakfast menu for a long time!  the amazing smell in the kitchen was enough incentive to make them again!

cheers.
jenn

(if you follow me on instagram, you might have already seen this)

that, my friends, might be the best thing mr p has made this year. 
that, my friends, is tuna noodle casserole.

(jenn, are you crazy? i feared that stuff as a child and vowed never to eat it again)

if that's what you think, i think you need to recheck your adult tastebuds .  i know most of you who "hate" tuna noodle casserole, have memories of your parents making you sit at the table until you ate it, or maybe you dumped ketchup all over it to hide the taste, or drank a big gulp of milk with every bite to wash it down without actually tasting it... i, too, was once a victim of food fear from my childhood tastebuds ....until i actually tried these things i used to hate.  i didn't actually "hate" tuna noodle casserole (at least i don't think so? i actually liked all the hamburger helper and tuna helper we used to eat all the time) that's because the mushrooms were hidden with no slimy chunks.

- he used 4 cans of tuna instead of 2 (more extra lean protein!)
- he used non-fat, plain greek yogurt instead of sour cream (and added more for more tanginess!)

go ahead and try out this recipe on your adult tastebuds... they might actually surprise you!

cheers.
jenn