Today is National Junk Food Day. Now in order for me to share this post today, the food was actually prepared a while back just for this very share. To me, junk food is anything that resembles a TV Dinner. It’s an age thing, I guess. While TV Dinners were all the rage back in the day, we ate real meals. And we did so at the table, not in front of the TV.
When I served up my take on Junk Food, Hubby was delighted. He said I should make meals like this more often. I had to laugh. Really? I’m sharing this for Junk Food Day. Junk Food? It’s not junk food! It’s delicious. Really – even the green beans came from a can of generic, store brand cheap green beans. The potatoes were instant. I love Hubby, but the truth be told he and Kiddo could live on Hamburgers, Hot Dogs and Pizza, with an occasional grilled Ribeye for good measure.
Why did I pick this meal to share on Junk Food Day? To ask the question, just what constitutes Junk Food? If we are talking no high in nutritional value, then I’d say I hit the mark here. Although today we tend to think bags of potato chips or fast food as junk and not home cooking that resembles a TV Dinner. No offense to the TV Dinner industry. They have come a long way from those first dinners served in frozen tins. As a teenager, the first time I had a TV Dinner, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I had never tasted anything so artificial and processed in my entire life. Now I know that sounds crazy, but to me it was exotic and strangely forbidden. In my mind Junk Food is anything that is bad for you. And TV Dinners must be bad. Why else were we never allowed to have them? I didn’t understand then what I do now. My mom was a stay-at-home mom. She sewed our clothes (which we modeled at the PTA Fashion Show) and always had a good, home cooked meal at the end of the day. Cream of Wheat in the morning and a baloney sandwich in our lunch pail was about as close as we came to convenience. It was a different time. And the notation of Junk Food had a different meaning.
As an adult, I can look back on my childhood and realize fully just how fortunate we were. Life was simple. We played outside until the sun went down. We saw our friends in school and at church. Communities were tight-knit. Pride had a different meaning. There was family pride, school pride, community pride. We wore our Sunday Best, said please and thank you. I’m glad I grew up when I did. Society does have a hand in who we become and what we value. I hate to think what the future might hold with all this division and anger. And yet I am sure the one in charge has a plan.
Happy Junk Food Day!
Onion Beef Patties in Brown Gravy
Beef Patties
2/3 Yellow Onion, divided
1 lb Ground Beef
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
2 tablespoons Bacon Drippings
Warm oven to 275-degrees. Spray a serving platter with cooking spray, hold in the warm oven.
Peel onion. Finely mince a third of the onion, set aside. Thinly slice remaining third.
Place ground beef in a large mixing bowl. Top meat with the minced onion. Season with salt and pepper. Mix together until well-blended. Form mixture into three patties. Set aside.
Note: this can be made into 4 smaller patties if desired.
Heat bacon grease in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Scatter onion slivers over the grease. Grill onions until just beginning to turn a golden color. Remove from skillet, set aside.
Place beef patties into the now empty skillet. Sear for just a few minutes, then reduce heat and cook patties through, about 5 minutes per side depending upon thickness. Once cooked through, transfer patties to the platter and hold in the oven while the gravy is made.
Beefy Brown Gravy
4 tablespoons Butter
3 tablespoons Flour
2 cups Beef Stock
Salt to taste
Black Pepper to taste
In the now empty skillet melt butter over medium heat, scraping up all the browned bits from the meat and onions left behind. Once the butter is foamy, sprinkle with flour and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is a creamy-coffee color, about 4 minutes.
Slowly whisk in the beef stock, increasing heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to a nice simmer and continue to cook until a gravy consistency is achieved. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Remove platter from the oven. Spoon gravy over the beef patties, top with grilled onion. Serve remaining gravy on the side.
Green Beans
1 can Whole Green Beans
Warm beans in a saucepot over medium heat until ready to serve.
Instant Roasted Garlic Potatoes
1 cup Water
2 cups Milk
1 tablespoon Butter
1 Family Size Idahoan Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Heat water, milk and butter in a large micro-wave dish for 5 minutes. Remove from the microwave, empty package of instant potatoes into the hot liquid. Fluff with a fork and serve.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and He has been my savior.
He is my God, I praise Him;
the God of my father, I extol Him.
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