Great Recipes for Camping at Home

Written Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 by Penny Hawkins

This summer, many of us are opting to stay home and vacation rather than spend the money to go somewhere out-of-town. If your family is one of those that has decided to "stay-cation" this summer, don't be bummed out...you can still have a great time right at home! All it takes it a little imagination and some great recipes! The key to "stay-cationing" is to make it fun...stir things up a bit and do things you normally wouldn't do like setting up the camper or a tent and go camping in your own back yard....your kids will love it!  If you are camping this summer, remember that no matter where you do it, no camping trip is complete without great food. Something about being outside not only makes you hungrier, it also somehow makes the food taste better too!  

When I was young, we camped a lot, both at campgrounds and in our back yard, and when we camped, no trip was complete without Hobo Dinner Bundles. These tasty bundles are an all-in-one meal that's cooked in a foil packet and they're lots of fun to do. The bonus is that your kids won’t know they are eating something that is good for them! These tasty burger bundles are topped with vegetables and bacon then wrapped in foil packets and cooked over a grill or campfire (or even in your oven). The foil makes cleanup super easy for mom and fun for the kids because they can eat dinner right out of the packets! To really get into the hobo spirit, encourage everyone to dress for dinner in their “best” hobo clothing, spread a blanket on your deck or patio, use large colorful bandannas for napkins, and (clean) empty jelly jars for drinking. Your kids will love it! To complete your hobo-themed dinner, get some clean sticks from the yard and make S’mores for dessert!

1. In a large bowl combine ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, lemon juice or vinegar,  grated cheese, green bell pepper, garlic salt and pepper. Using your hands, gently combine meat mixture and shape into 4 patties.

2. Place each patty in the center of 2 layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil (pieces should be large enough to cover and close).

3. On each patty, place potato slices, onion slice, and carrots.

4. Cut each piece of bacon in 1/2 and place both pieces on top of vegetables in each bundle.

5. Seal aluminum foil tightly and cook, seam-side up, on campfire, grill or in a preheated 350 degree F oven for approximately 45 minutes. Note: If using your oven, place foil packets on a baking sheet to catch any grease drips.

1. Top each of the 4 graham cracker squares with 1 chocolate piece and set aside.

2. Toast 4 marshmallows over a campfire or hot grill using a long-handles fork or long, clean stick (grownups should help kids with this). Using a 2^nd fork, carefully slide each toasted marshmallow onto each chocolate-topped graham cracker square.

3. Cover each marshmallow with a second graham cracker square to make a sandwich.

I hope each of you enjoys your summer, and remember that whether your vacationing away from home or "stay-cationing" right in your own back yard, make it fun.....be creative...and eat great food!

A Feast for Dad

Written Friday, June 11th, 2010 by Penny Hawkins

This Father’s Day, give Dad a break from the grill and satisfy his craving for meat and potatoes with this easy-to-make feast from your oven. The star of the meal is a hearty Beef Brisket Sandwich in a tangy barbeque sauce, served on your favorite bun or hoagie roll. Co-starring with these savory sandwiches are a cool and creamy Easy Coleslaw and zesty Seasoned Steak Fries. This terrific meal is a breeze to make, giving you more time to spend with your favorite guy on his special day!

Beef Brisket Sandwiches

The great thing about this recipe is that you do most of the work the day before. On the day you want to serve it, all you basically have to do is slice and reheat! Don’t be concerned about the beer; it helps to tenderize this otherwise tough cut of meat and the alcohol will evaporate during cooking. Also, you don’t want to leave out the horseradish; this is the secret ingredient that gives the sauce its’ zip!

1. Place beef brisket fat side up in a large (13x9x2 inch) oven-proof casserole or baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix beer, ketchup, and remaining ingredients. Using a whisk if you have one will make this go faster and eliminate lumps. If you don’t have a whisk, try using a fork to beat the mixture.
3. Pour beer mixture over brisket and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, covered loosely with plastic wrap.
4. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Remove plastic wrap and bake brisket in a 300 degree oven for 4 hours. Remove from oven and let cool. Refrigerate covered with plastic wrap overnight.

On the day you plan to serve brisket:

1. Skim fat from top of sauce in pan. Remove beef from pan (do not remove sauce). Cut beef in slices to desired thickness across the width (short side) of the brisket and put back in pan with sauce.
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Cover beef loosely with foil and re-heat in pan with sauce in a 200 degree oven until heated through, about one hour (you will want to check beef after 30 minutes, and every 15 minutes or so after that to avoid drying it out). Serve beef in buns with extra sauce spooned over meat, if desired.

Note: Meat can be served cold after this and leftovers can be frozen with sauce.

Easy Coleslaw

In a large bowl, toss the coleslaw mix with about ½ jar or bottle of dressing. If slaw seems dry add a bit more, but remember that the cabbage will give off some water as it sits in the dressing, so don’t add too much or slaw will become watery. Refrigerate for several hours to let flavors combine. When you are ready to serve, if slaw seems dry, add a little more dressing until it seems right to you. Remember, you can always put more dressing in, but you can’t take it out!

Seasoned Steak Fries

1. Bake fries as directed on bag on a large 15x10x1 inch cookie sheet.
2. While fries are still warm, sprinkle with seasoned salt as desired.

Cater Your Own Wedding and Save

Written Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010 by Penny Hawkins

It's June and that means time for weddings! The Wedding Report.com estimates that the average wedding costs about $23,040, not including the cost of the engagement ring, honeymoon, wedding planner or bridal consultant! They also report that $11,790, or about one-half of the total wedding budget, is spent on the wedding reception. With the reception accounting for one-half of the total wedding cost, it’s easy to see why a bride on a budget may want to consider self-catering as a money-saving option!

I experienced this first-hand when my daughter got married a few years ago. Just like many other brides, she was on a budget, and just like many other parents of the bride, my husband and I were watching the costs add up as she talked to us about what she wanted. In the end, through compromise and some creative strategies like purchasing her gown at a discount bridal shop, using silk flowers, and catering the wedding ourselves (including the cake which I baked and decorated- pictured above) we were able to hold the cost of the entire wedding to less than $3,000! From our experience, I assure you that it can be done, but there are a few things you should consider first.

If you are a bride considering catering the reception yourself, you should know what you are getting yourself (and friends and family) into. Among other things, you should consider these factors:

Where do I have the reception? You will need a location that allows self-catering and has adequate facilities and equipment. Church reception halls are ideal for this, and many are available for a reasonable fee. Keep in mind that serving alcohol and playing secular music may not be an option if using a church reception hall. Ideally, you will want the wedding ceremony and reception locations to be either in the same place or reasonably close together. We held the wedding and reception at a church near our home which was convenient and affordable.

Who does the work? Make no mistake, catering a wedding is work! As the bride, it will be difficult for you to contribute much to food preparation, especially in the days leading up to the wedding when last-minute details will compete for your time and attention.  Keep in mind as well that friends and family members who are doing the food preparation will probably also want attend the ceremony, so you will need to decide who stays behind to get the food out before reception guests arrive. All our food was prepared by family members of the bride and groom, and two very generous friends volunteered to stay behind to heat up food and get things placed on the buffet tables.

What do I serve? Fortunately, this is easier than it seems, and there are lots of creative solutions that will easily fit into your budget. One of the easiest ways to control what you serve is by carefully choosing the time of day you hold your wedding. Guests attending an afternoon (and I mean after lunch!) wedding will not expect a full meal, while guests attending an evening wedding will expect and deserve to be served something more than finger foods. If your budget does not accommodate a full-meal reception, choose the afternoon for your wedding instead. My daughter’s wedding was at 2:00, so we were able to serve a buffet of finger foods without her guests feeling slighted or hungry. Tip #1: A buffet saves you money because it requires no wait staff, although people will usually take more food when serving themselves. If you plan for this, you will still come out ahead. Tip#2: Use smaller plates for your buffet as guests will not put as much food on them. The larger the plate, the more food people will put on it. I purchased 7-inch plastic dinner plates at Sam’s Club for my daughter’s wedding and they were ideal.

Now that you have the time of day determined, what about the menu? The internet and cookbooks are good resources for finding menus that accommodate 50 or 100 guests ( I do not recommend trying to cater for a group larger than this yourself)! To help you get started with menu ideas, here is the menu from my daughter’s reception as well as some of the recipes we used (we expected 75 guests so we cooked for 100):

Sliced Beef Brisket with Rolls- See recipe for brisket below. Rolls (8 dozen) were from a local bakery and sliced at home.

BBQ Meatballs- 12 lbs. frozen pre-cooked meatballs and sauce (4 bottles your favorite bbq sauce).

Shrimp and Cocktail Sauce- Approx 4 bags of 75 pieces frozen shrimp purchased from Sam’s. We purchased 4 bottles cocktail sauce.

Potato Salad- 6 lbs. potato salad purchased from Sam’s Club and “doctored” with 1 small diced onion, 2 cups sour cream and 6 chopped hard-boiled eggs.

Veggie Platter and Spinach Dip- Baby carrots (no cutting required!), celery sticks and grape tomatoes. We purchased 3 lbs. carrots, 1 ½ lbs. celery, and 3 qts. cherry tomatoes. Dip (4 qts.) was purchased from Sam’s and cost less than making from scratch.

Cheese Ball and Crackers- See recipe for cheese ball below. Two large boxes fancy crackers purchased from Sam’s.

Carved Watermelon Fruit Basket- This had to be assembled hours before the wedding due to the number of fresh ingredients. Plan for 5-6 pieces of fruit per person. We bought the following:

Robert’s Beef Brisket (Thanks to my friends Robert and Stephanie for sharing this delicious recipe) Makes a 4 lb. beef brisket-serves 12 people.

Mix all ingredients together. Place beef fat side up in an oven-safe container. Pour mixture over and refrigerate several hours to marinate. Bake in a 300 degree oven for about 4 hours. Refrigerate overnight. Remove beef and drippings from pan. Skim fat from drippings. Slice beef against the grain, put back in pan, add drippings. Heat in 200 degree oven until warmed through. Beef can also be served cold after this and leftovers can be frozen.

Note: This recipe was scaled to accommodate the required number of servings. There are computer programs such as MasterCook that will do this for you accurately. To help with portion control and save time, I paid a local deli to slice the meat for me. This is the best way I know to serve beef to a crowd without the expense of a carving station (I purchased 25 lbs. of brisket from a local meat market for less than $3.00 per pound)

Dried Beef Cheese Ball (I doubled this recipe and made one large cheese ball)

In a medium bowl or food processor, combine cream cheese, dried beef, and garlic. Mix well and then add onion salt and Worcestershire sauce. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

Cold Drink for a Hot Day- Eskimo Cups

Written Thursday, May 27th, 2010 by Penny Hawkins

Hot weather has arrived just in time  for the Memorial Day holiday, and I bet you're thinking about a cold drink right about now aren't you? I know I am!

In my quest for cool refreshment, I decided I wanted something different than tea or lemonade, so I started looking though my many cookbooks for inspiration. After an hour of looking, I still hadn't found what I wanted...something unique and different....and then an idea hit me. I collect antique cookbooks, and many of them are from the days when not all households had an electric refrigerator, most people had their ice delivered, and nobody had even thought of air conditioning. I figured that if anyone would have great hot weather beverage ideas, it would be the cookbook authors from the "good ole' days".

Within a few minutes, I found the perfect recipe in a cookbook from the Prohibition days of the 1920's. The recipe is called "Eskimo Cups".  Sounds cool and refreshing doesn't it? I fell in love with it right away! So if you want to beat the heat this holiday weekend, try this alcohol-free drink (remember this is from the days of Prohibition)....you can always add some Vodka to zip it up if you want.

Eskimo Cups

Retro Recipe: Tuna Chow Mein Casserole

Written Saturday, May 15th, 2010 by Penny Hawkins

 As promised, here's another peek into my 1970's time capsule...my mother-in-law's Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library. Today's recipe will be familiar to those of a certain age (you know who you are) and it's another favorite from my childhood- Tuna Chow Mein Casserole.  This tasty recipe has all the elements that I look for in a casserole: simplicity, good flavor, and it's made from ingredients you probably already have on-hand.

Tuna Chow Mein Casserole(adapted from The Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library, copyright 1971, General Mills, Inc.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a large skillet; cook and stir celery, onion and green pepper in butter until onion is tender and translucent. Stir in tuna and next 5 ingredients. Add 1/4 cup chow mein noodles and stir to combine. Pour into ungreased 1-1/2 qt. casserole. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup chow mein noodles. Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until casserole is hot and bubbling. 4 to 6 servings.

Retro Recipe: Porcupine Meatballs

Written Thursday, May 6th, 2010 by Penny Hawkins

Recently I have been in Spring cleaning mode, sprucing up and organizing our big ole' barn of a house from top to bottom. It's a lot of work, and not something I look forward to, but my efforts have resulted in some unexpected benefits as well. Not only do I now have clean closets and drawers, but I've also uncovered some long-forgotten treasures like the notebook from my 9th grade Home Economics class that I wrote about the other day.

During my recent Spring cleaning frenzy, I was cleaning the home office my husband and I share, and came across another treasure- the Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library that used to belong to his mother. It was given to me by D's brother after our sister-in-law Kitty passed away, and it's exactly like the one my mother used to have. This yellow plastic box with recipe cards is vintage 1970's and chock-full of recipes that are truly a blast from the past.

I started flipping through the slightly-faded cards, and came across so many recipes I remember from my childhood...dishes my mom used to make on a regular basis like Tuna Chow Mein Casserole, Pizza Potatoes, and Foil-Wrapped Dinners. These oldies but goodies are still as delicious today as they were 30+ years ago, and I will be sharing them with you from time-to-time because retro is cool again, and good food never goes out of style!

Today's recipe is probably my favorite from childhood, mostly because the name appealed to my 10-year-old self more than the actual dish. The Betty Crocker recipe card calls it "Oven Porcupines", but my mom always called it "Porcupine Meatballs", a name that never failed to amuse me and my brother. This recipe is 70's comfort food at its' best, and tastes just as good now as it did when my mom made it.

Oven Porcupines aka Porcupine Meatballs(adapted from The Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library, copyright 1971, General Mills, Inc.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine meat, rice, 1/2 cup water, onion, salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Shape mixture by rounded tablespoonfuls into balls. Place meatballs into ungreased 8x8x2 baking dish. Stir together tomato sauce, water, and Worcestershire sauce; pour over meatballs. Cover with aluminum foil; bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes. Serves 4-6.

Note: This recipe can also be prepared in a skillet on the stove. Prepare meatballs as directed. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in a large skillet; brown meatballs. Drain off fat.  Stir together tomato sauce, water, and Worcestershire sauce; pour over meatballs. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 45 minutes. If necessary, add small amount of water during cooking.

Egg Sense 2010

Written Thursday, April 29th, 2010 by Penny Hawkins

As you have probably already guessed by some of my previous posts, I'm a collector of kitchen hints and tips...and it always excites me when I find more of them to share with you. The other day, I was cleaning out a closet and found a notebook from my home economics class waaaaayyy back in middle school (don't ask how long ago, 'cos I'm not telling!).

What a trip down memory lane. Inside that old notebook, I found notes  and handouts from my 9th grade Home Economics class with my favorite teacher, Mrs. Oberg. She really knew her stuff and I learned so much from her, so it was great to find those pearls of wisdom from so long ago that I can share with you today.

Here are some of Mrs. Oberg's kitchen wisdom tidbits to add to our "egg sense" collection (click here to see previous posts "Egg Sense" and "More Egg Sense"). Enjoy!

1. Put your eggs in the fridge as soon as you get home from the store. Every hour you leave them out at room temperature, they age at the equivalent of one week in the refrigerator.
2. Store fresh eggs in their carton on a refrigerator shelf, not in the egg section of the door. It’s too warm there, plus your eggs will get jiggled every time you open the door, so they could crack or break.
3. If your recipe does not specify what size egg you need, use large eggs as this is the recipe standard.
4. If your recipe calls for you to separate your eggs, do it while they’re still cool because it’s harder to do when they’re warm.
5. To store raw egg yolks, put them in a container, gently fill it with cold water and cover with a tight lid, and they will stay fresh for several days.
6. To store raw egg whites, freeze them in an ice cube tray (be careful not to spill them). Once they’re frozen, place the “egg white cubes” into a labeled freezer bag. To thaw frozen egg whites, place the cubes in a small plastic Ziploc bag and let cool water run over it until whites have thawed enough to use (and use them right away).
7. For best results, beat egg whites in a glass or metal bowl at room temperature.
8. Wash your hands thoroughly after handling raw eggs or eggshells to avoid spreading harmful bacteria.

Member Recipe Review:Breakfast Pot Pie

Written Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 by Penny Hawkins

I tried this recipe a while back and I'm sorry it took me so long to get this review posted because Breakfast Pot Pie rocks! I love the name, and it's comfort food, so what's not to like? Meat? Good! Cheese? Good! Biscuits and Eggs? Good!

I had to make a couple of adjustments to Goldie's recipe, but not because the recipe needed it (it's great just like it is). The first change was because of poor planning on my part...after I started cooking, I realized I was out of Bisquick! (Confession time- this situation was very the reason I wrote my post on "What To Do If You Run Out of..."). A quick scan of the freezer revealed some frozen buttermilk biscuits, so rather than scrap the recipe, I decided I'd try them and see how it worked (they were yummy). The second change was just a small one to keep my hubby happy. My picky eater only like his eggs scrambled, so instead of cracking the eggs and adding them to the pan like Goldie did, I whisked the eggs a bit before pouring them on top of the meat and around the biscuits, and it worked just fine.  

I recommend this recipe highly...it's perfect for an impromptu "breakfast supper", or to feed a group for brunch. I thought this was a very creative recipe and I'm jealous I didn't think of it first! Great job Goldie!

The following pictures and instructions are based on my ingredient changes. For Goldie's original recipe, click here.

Breakfast Pot Pie (revised)

1 can Roast Beef Hash
1/2 small onion, minced
2 T. butter
1 c. cheddar, shredded
4 eggs
dash Salt & Pepper

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in an oven-proof pan on top of the stove (for example, you can use your cast-iron skillet, if you have one). Cook chopped onion until opaque, then add canned hash and break it up, stirring to mix.

Flatten a layer of the hash on the bottom of the pan; you're going to allow this to cook and brown a little over medium heat. Top with cheese; do NOT stir. Turn heat to low.

Place frozen biscuits on top of cheese and hash. Carefully pour eggs on hash and around biscuits.

Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste.

National Food Bloggers Bake Sale

Written Tuesday, March 30th, 2010 by Penny Hawkins

 This post is a challenge to each and every food blogger  out there to show the children of America how much we care!

Share Our Strength, the national organization whose mission is to eradicate childhood hunger in America, is having their Great American Bake Sale once again. This year, food bloggers are answering the challenge in a big way!

Food bloggers from across the country are uniting to support the Great American Bake Sale National Challenge by hosting bake sales in their states on April 17.  Efforts are being organized by Gaby Dalkin of WhatsGabyCooking.com.  Gaby's website has a list of all states with food bloggers who are coordinating the bake sale for their state. If you don't see your state, or if you have questions, please e-mail Gaby @ whatsgabycooking@gmail.com.

I urge each of you to find out if there is a bake sale in your area and help any way you can. If there is no sale in your area, then please click here to donate directly to the national bake sale that benefits Share Our Strength's efforts. I know that HHM food bloggers are the best, and I thank each and every one of you for your contribution on behalf of  the Great American Bake Sale!

Featured Community Member: TV Food and Drink

Written Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 by Penny Hawkins

Half Hour Meals member Gary, a TV producer and writer who lives in Los Angeles, authors a cool blog laced with his own special brand of sarcastic wit, and dedicated to his three favorite things: television, food, and drink. From the moment you visit Gary’s blog, you are transported to another place…a land where groovy people are drinking Harvey Wallbangers and having witty conversations while Dean Martin plays on the hi-fi in the background. Meanwhile, there’s Gary in the center of things, effortlessly cooking something amazing to serve his guests. Read on to learn more about Gary’s world:

Your blog, TV Food and Drink, is a fun mix of food, drink and television. What inspired you to start a blog that combines your favorite things? Thank you! I had been looking for an angle for a while.  Then about a year ago, my doctor noticed my blood pressure had gone up quite a bit and suggested some diet changes.  My days of fast food were numbered, so I started cooking for the first time in my life.  I discovered I had a passion for it.   But my job keeps me pretty busy, and in order to keep content coming in, I wanted to widen out the theme of the blog.  I love experimenting with new cocktails, and I love television (my profession), and I’m often eating, drinking, and watching all at once.  Combine that with the fact that the domain name I wanted – tvfoodanddrink.com – was available, and I had everything I needed to get my blog up and running!

How long have you been cooking? What types of food do you like to cook best? I have only been cooking for about a year.  Prior to that, I could manage spaghetti and grilled cheese, and that was about it.  So everything I try is a challenge.  I don’t really have a preference for the type of food I like to cook, because I feel I have a lot of catching up to do.   I want to be able to make anything and everything.  I only have a few requirements: 1.) It should fill the halls of my complex with an aroma to make the neighbors jealous.  2.) It should be something my boyfriend will enjoy.  I want him to be proud of me, after all.  3.) It should be something I can post to HalfHourMeals.com, of course!

Do you have a signature dish? What is it and how did you come up with it? I don’t think I have a signature dish yet, but I will tell you my favorite meal to make for myself… roasted cherry tomatoes with Italian sausage, goat herb cheese and garlic, cooked for about an hour and served over toasted ciabatta bread.  I sleep like a baby after eating that.  And I am a sucker for homemade pizza, though I’m still having issues with pizza crust from scratch.   Can’t make my damn dough rise the way it should.  Doesn’t stop me, though.

There is a distinct retro vibe to the posts in your blog. Where does that come from? If you could live in any era you wanted, which would you choose? I think I was born in the wrong decade.  I certainly was obsessed with all things television as a kid.  I’m really fascinated by production, watching a show that aired fifty years ago and observing how they did it, what’s different now, what’s the same.  Any era?  I would have to say the fifties and sixties so I could have gotten myself hired as a producer on What’s My Line? Actually, I would really like to have been a panelist on the show, but I think I’m always destined to be behind the camera, try as I may.

I am a huge fan of the way you weave TV, food and drink together in your posts. The Milk Chocolate Cookies and Crystal Bowersox post was both delicious and laugh-out-loud funny. Are you this funny all the time?  First off, thank you very much.  And secondly… yes I actually AM that funny all the time.  But come on, I defy you to find someone who watches television with friends and DOESN’T come up with a ton of snarky, sarcastic things to say.  I can’t be the only person who loves to scream about what he sees on television.  P.S. GO CRYSTAL!

Surprise! One of the stars of All My Children (perhaps Susan Lucci?) is coming to dinner! What would you serve? But she’s so skinny.  Does she even eat?  I guess you have heard that All My Children just re-located from NYC to the stages right next door to ours.  Well first off, obviously I would give her a large martini in case she wanted to dramatically toss it in my face.  Stuffed mushrooms would follow (recipe to be found at HalfHourMeals.com).  An hour or so of conversation on the balcony, and if I didn’t have to worry about serving something that would jimmy up her waistline, I’d go with some fried chickpeas and chorizo with fresh spinach and breadcrumbs, because that’s my current fave.  Yes, when you come to Chez TV Food and Drink, you eat what I serve you, Emmy winner or not!

I have to ask…what TV show(s) do you work on? Ever get tongue-tied when you meet someone famous? If so, who was it? Currently, I work at GSN Live on the Game Show Network.  Home viewers call or log on to be entered for free as contestants, and they can play live on the air for cash and prizes (here’s the plug… go to GSN.COM/LIVE to enter for your chance to win!).  We’ve had a parade of classic game show celebrities as guests: Vanna White, Monty Hall and Wink Martindale were three personal favorites of mine.  The closest I got to tongue-tied was Betty White for sure.  What a sweet woman!  She really is as kind and delightful as you could imagine.  And when I met Bob Barker a few weeks before his retirement… that was pretty incredible.  I spent my childhood re-creating the games on The Price is Right with playing cards and Legos, so it was a lifetime dream fulfilled.

If you could do your own TV show that combined your love of television, food, and drink, what would it be called and what would it be like? I think “TV Food and Drink” would be a good name, don’t you?  Wait!  Even better… “TV Food and Drink with your host… that inimitable personality… Gary Green!”  Cut to me coming out from behind a curtain in a tuxedo and thanking my sponsor, Stopette.  There’d be some cooking with a famed chef, lots of witty banter, an in-house band and an in-house bartender.  Sunday nights at nine.  I’d kill off those sniping Desperate Housewives for sure.

What are three things people don’t know about you?

1.)    If I get to know you at all, I’ll probably create a television show in my mind where you are the star.  I’ll even brain-write a couple episodes to see if it has the legs to run a minimum of five seasons.

2.)    I watch reruns of Match Game for fun when there’s cleaning to be done.

3.)    I hate cumin.  Absolutely despise it. Ugh!  You’ll find less resistance if you try stapling a beehive to my tongue.

Do you see yourself still blogging several years from now? How do you balance food blogging and life? I love to blog but to do it well takes time and thoughtfulness.  I don’t want to just blabber on about myself.  I want people to read and think, “YES!  That’s how I feel when trying a recipe that’s more complicated that my skill set!” or “YES!  I thought the same thing watching American Idol last night.”  It’s tempting to just post like crazy when you’ve taken a new picture or made a dish that makes you especially proud, but I like to construct a little story around it first.  I want my posts to be fun, but I also hope they’re smart.  Will I be blogging several years from now?  Oh, we’ll have something new by then, and I’ll be trying to grab my share of unique web hits with it, that’s for sure. 

If others were to ask you about Half Hour Meals, how would you describe the site to them? I’ve done my share of website design, and HHM does a great job of visually hooking a foodie and keeping them faithful.  So many great recipes I have never even heard of and would never have thought to make, always a new post or recipe to check out whenever you drop by.  And it’s completely driven by average chefs just like me.  HHM is doing a great job, and I’m happy to have found it.  And thanks for including me!

My deepest thanks to Gary for letting us into his world for just a bit. I hope you all will stop by and visit his page at Half Hour Meals, and be sure to check out his wonderful blog as well!