Iron Top Chef: Jackson

Since the days when the idea of this trip out west to Jackson was but a foggy memory from the night before, we knew that we were coming for one reason: to ski the best North America has to offer (Valdez, Alaska - out of my league, price range). We knew we would road trip and we knew that we would pack light; I still can't believe we packed everything we both needed in the Camry (over 192k miles and counting). But most of all we knew that penny pinching would have to become less an ironic statement and more a simple way of being. Nowhere else in our spending is this more prevalent than in our Albertson's receipts.

By no means is Albertson's the cheap place to buy, but what Ryan and I talked so much about before ever touching foot in Wyoming was that we wanted to cook. And it turned from being a matter of urgency due to our economic situation into a matter of excitement and inquiry into what was possible, on the cheap. Were it not for Ryan's Crock-Pot, this soliloquy would not be possible.

Since arriving at our new home, we have rarely eaten out and tried to cook and fend for ourselves relying less on paying someone to package a meal for us. We have had now 2 all roommate supermarket shopping experiences and have done well to buy inexpensive and create meals inexpensively. As much as Dave, Kyle, and I have done in the kitchen, Ryan has done wonders for this apartments' collective palate.

His first official dabble with chef-hood began with an assortment of beans, tomato, chopped meat, vegetables, herbs, and spices. To say it was the best chili I have had would be a lie. But considering who the chef was, I was totally blown out of the water by Ryan's newfound skills. Plus, can you really screw up chili? His second official meal was beer chicken.

After soaking it for hours in a salty, herb filled water solution, Ryan worked his magic with the chicken while veggies were grilled on the deck. It was one of the better chicken experiences I'd had in more than recent memory*.

*My selective memory is astoundingly awful. This chicken was not.

On several occasions he has busted out the scrambled eggs which (sorry mom) Ryan can actually compete with my mom's scrambled eggs. Speaking as someone who can't make legit scrambled eggs and has feasted on his mom's delicacies for years, I wont dare to compare those two again.

And here are Ryan's recently made peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies: awesome.

Trying to maintain a cheap and inexpensive palate, we realized that although tremendously healthy for you, granola and yogurt aren't going to cut it financially for us. At $5 a bag for 12 oz., Bear Naked Granola is absolutely tasty, but unappealing to the average ski bum wallet. Our solution was to make our own granola. And Ryan decided he was going to spearhead that project.

I wish I had some information on how healthy/detrimental to my health Ryan's granola is because it came out awesome. I don't even know all that went in it (tons of peanut butter) but I do know he spent a lot of time preparing the granola for the house to share, on the cheap. And enough was made to fill a huge tupperware bin. It's just about time to bake another one up. Now, if only we could figure out how to make yogurt on the cheap.