This week I decided to try shopping a little healthier and closer to home. I stopped in and bought some ground beef from Ledebuhr Meats, a local butcher shop, and a dried bulk soup mix (as well as some fresh green beans) from Rochester Wholesale Fruit, which sells a whole lot more than just fruit.

This little soup container makes 10 cups prepared.

Having heard a bunch of buzz about Domino’s “newly inspired pizza” I decided that this week I would focus on their new pizza as well as try out their relatively new Oven Baked Sandwich (Chicken Bacon Ranch variety) and Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes.

Our pizza was half pepperoni, mushrooms and olives, half sausage, onion and green pepper. The awesome part: it was still the same price as a regular three-topping pizza. Sweet!

This week’s fast food feature is on Taco Bell’s two new strange tacos, the Pacific Shrimp Taco and the Volcano Taco.

The Volcano taco comes in a retina-searingly red shell and, according to the menu, is filled with ground beef, lettuce, cheddar and “molten hot lava sauce.”

A close-up of Taco Bell's Volcano Taco. Can't help but wonder how much food coloring that takes...

Last night, I decided it was time to try out a recipe. Staring into my freezer, I decided on hamburgers because I had a bunch of frozen beef from a sale a week or so ago. (You can just call me Granny Danielle from now on.)

I ended up stopping in at Hamburger-Recipes.com looking for a basic recipe that even I could pull off. I was in luck.

1lb ground beef
1 half onion grated or finely chopped
4 pinches ground coriander
4 pinches paprika powder
a little pepper, fresh ground is better
a little salt
1 hand fresh bread crumbs
1 egg lightly beaten
1 quarter beef stock block dissolved in a quarter cup water

I didn’t have any bread except some buns, so I decided against the handful of crumbs and I don’t keep beef stock blocks because I haven’t gotten around to buying organic bullion. (Thanks to Nested Newlyweds for the heads up that such a thing even exists!)

Fresh ground pepper, fresh ground coriander and freshly ground sea salt were all thanks to the awesome salt and pepper grinders my friend, Kearstin, gave me for Christmas this year. The paprika was from a nifty spice rack made to look like a rack of test tubes, which we received as an engagement present a couple years ago.

Freshly ground pepper, coriander and salt, with some paprika on the side.

Chong’s Noodle House has been a little slice of culinary interest tucked away in Winona, MN. for some time now.

The decorations are unassumingly Southeast Asian, and the lighting is soft, yellow and warm. The restaurant itself is connected to a small Asian Market, which sells everything from seasoning packets to foreign candy to Milkis, a milk flavored soda, which I plan to do a feature on next week!

The menu was very simple but easy to navigate, and the prices made me look twice: a bottomless glass of soda for .75¢. No kidding. There were also chop sticks, soup spoons and a modest basket filled with all sorts of sauces and hot pastes.

Tableside at Chong's Noodle House in Winona, MN.