dinner with joc’s parents
So I went home for dinner tonight to visit my parents in Connecticut. Mom cooked dinner and Mom is the Queen of “if it doesn’t come in a box or you can’t microwave it, she can’t cook it”! Aha aha aahha. Mom is more the cream puff type that likes to hang out at the yacht club, order take out and she is the one who taught me how to make reservations. Smart lady. Now I will admit she can make a few things *really* well, tonight was a dinner in a bag night. And I swear it was actually really good and the whole thing was done in 10 minutes. Now that is the kind of time I have to cook.
Bertolli, frozen dinner in a bag:
After 10 minutes:
Mom made garlic bread with garlic, parm and chunks of fresh mozzarella and popped it in the oven to melt the cheese:
Of course the bread burnt and the cheese did not melt. Sigh. This is why we don’t cook:
Yum:
Chloe, our dog, looking for scraps:
So if these simple dinners are boring you, go read my Blog. I went to see one of my favorite punk bands last night in Hoboken with Really Gay Dave. We got soaking wet in the rain, but we had a blast! Also, keep checking back, I am going to attempt to cook something on Wednesday. Fortunately the maid comes on Thursday to clean up the disaster I make of my kitchen every time I cook.
Ciao for now,
Jocelyn
Bloggysitter
Recipe:
1 Bertolli Complete Skillet dinner for two. ($5 at Target!)
1 pot
add one dollop of butter and pour in frozen contents of bag.
Heat for 10 minutes, stirring once after 5 minutes and again at 10 minutes.
Burn some garlic bread
Assemble on plate.
Pour yourself a drink
Consume. Enjoy.
Hah! Your mom has a basenji — and an invisible fence! (Does she know that the collar in the pic is on backwards?
Is her dog a Mata Hauri Basenji?
I never thought I’d be asking these questions on Smitten Kitchen!
I love the “if it doesn’t come in a box or you can’t microwave it, she can’t cook it†description of your mom. That’s my mom to a “T”, too, but I love her anyway (regardless of the burned-on-the-bottom Pillsbury crescent rolls and Idahoan boxed mashed potatoes shes serves at Christmas every freakin’ year). :)
That looks great!
What a beautiful dog! And you know, my fellow foodies might think I’m crazy, but I do occasionally love instant-foods (I grew up loving them and wasn’t allowed to eat them often!). I’ve been wondering how Bertolli bag food is, I see so many yummy commercials about it…
For those of you who have no idea who I am, I’m Jocelyn’s sister, not just some random person pretending I know what’s going on. I have no idea what a Mata Hauri Basenji is. Chloe’s one claim to fame is her double-curled tail (just like a little pig– which describes her physique quite well actually). I am curious what a Mata Hauri Basenji is though, Imperatrix.
By the way, Bertolli bags are delicious. I miss eating at home =(
Also, one of the things that our mom is *really* good at are burned pork chops. I’m not being mean, I’m being serious. When I was little I told our grandma that I didn’t want to have pork chops at her house because I liked how my mom made them black and crispy. Delicious!
Ahhhh Bertoli, I remember you well. You were my go to dinner when I was a college graduate and I wanted to splurge for dinner and I didn’t want your arch-nemsis, Ramen Noodles. You were expensive ($7 in the sticks of Alabama – Yes, Joce, it is that scarey) but so worth it when my budget allowed.
Good times. Good Times.
God Bless America! Dinner in a Bag! 24 hour Shopping! I’m SO THERE!
Jocelyn, you kill me. I’m finding your bloggysitting hilarious.
I’ve recovered just enough from rolling around on the floor in mirth to type this. mmm…burnt garlic bread. Thanks for making my day Jocelyn. I so totally needed a laugh right now, you can’t even know. Please can we have some cake from a box with the frosting from a can for dessert? If it’s vanilla you could make it as a tribute to deb and call it “the posh life without speckles.”
The foodies who read this blog must shudder when they read this stuff. I absolutely love it. I can’t cook worth sh** but I used to read the ‘old’ smitten so I keep comin’ back.
Let me suggest the Stouffer’s Bags O’ Food…they’re not bad at all.
Jocelyn, you’re hilarious! You also make an excellent ‘bloggysitter’. Thank you for all this advice on cooking, it’s definitely what I’ll be doing the first few years I live on my own. If my mother finds out though, I’ll never hear the end of it (she’s anti frozen food and can cook pretty much anything).
P.S. I wonder why the cheese didn’t melt?
I have no idea. We’re hopeless, I guess. Thanks for your support. I am going to cook something tomorrow night–you’ll see! Ah aha ahah a h
Just a quick tip…
Shredded (or thinly sliced) cheese melts much more readily than randomly chopped hunks. And you can buy mozzarella pre-shredded…in a bag, even!
Thanks for the giggle, Jocelyn. I look forward to tomorrow’s dinner. Will it be Kraft Dinner? Or a Lean Cuisine entree, perhaps??
It’s funny reading everyone’s shocked comments like this is so hilarious…. Jocelyn and I actually grew up on this stuff. We even enjoyed it!
Im willing to wager more people ate this for dinner or something like it more often than not…
Its a generational thing..
I think.
Anyone who’s shocked or laughing AT you is a hands down… buttface :)
hahahaha – great entry.
I am a foodie, but also wholly appreciate processed foods in all their pre-packaged glory. Sometimes, a gal is just too drained to cook…
I didn’t post the origional comment, but Mata Hauri is the name of a kennel that breeds Basenji’s. I have 4 myself and one has a double curl pig tail too. 3 of the 4 also look like little pigs. Nice and round, no sleek Basenji bodies there.
P.S. Bertolli YYYYUUUUMMMM!!!!
Just FYI mine are not Mata Hauri either.
Rose-
That’s so funny, Jocelyn’s and my mom is thrilled to hear that other basenjis get fat too.
I have tried two of the bertoli’s. The one featured in this blog and the chicken parmesean. The one here is great! The other not so much.
But what a funny blog, I will return! It’s a treat about food. Whoo hoo!
I just made one of these myself this morning (yes; morning…I know).
Hope you don’t mind-but I borrowed one of your pictures for my posting
giving you full credit of course :)
I want to try this flavor-looks yummy…the one I had was Grilled Chicken Alfredo.
I think it is hilarious that the bread burnt ;) The cheese did look cut up a little too thick =P
Haha, one time my mom tried one of those, and it came out dry because…. she picked out all the little frozen sauce squares because she thought they were sausage and she doesn’t like sausage. Sigh, the things only a mother could do.