This food is sneaky.

After last week's field trip to Apple Valley and my subsequent purchase of the disgusting-looking "corned beef," we had to have reubens this week, right?

Looks... "yummy"?

I picked up some regular corned beef for Brad (I'm not that mean!), some Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, 1000 Island dressing, and a few sandwich rolls (I don't do rye... pickles! Yuck.) and got to making our sandwiches. I also whipped up some oven fries, which I'd forgotten how much we love. I toasted the rolls, then heated the full sandwiches in the oven for the last few minutes while the fries were cooking.

Looks like a reuben.

I have to confess... I give this two thumbs up! Seriously. I'm not just saying that to justify the purchase. Does the corned beef taste just like corned beef? No. It even has a fake-bologna-y taste to it. And it's bright pink. BUT I really liked it and it totally quenched the mad-reuben-desire I've been having for months. I will say I was not a huge fan of the Vlassic sauerkraut, though. I like my sauerkraut super sour, and this was just hardly tangy. Otherwise, I'll make this again. And I did -- for lunch the next day. (Brad also enjoyed his reuben with real corned beef [at least, corned beef made out of real meat; I just got cheater lunch meat from the deli]).

Last night I took another risk and snuck anchovies into our dinner. Actually, anchovy paste. I picked that up when we first moved -- had no plans for it, was just so surprised to see it at our little grocery store that I had to have it. Last month's Rachael Ray had a recipe for Sicilian spaghetti with anchovies, and last night I had a craving for some spicy spaghetti. Of course, I didn't mention the anchovies to Brad until he'd already said he liked it!

The recipe called for a ton of stuff I didn't have, so I did what I could with what I had. The sauce I whipped up had: a can of diced tomatoes, probably 6 teaspoons of anchovy paste, a few squirts of tomato paste, two bay leaves, a palmful or so of crushed red pepper, regular pepper, a few sprinkles of salt, probably two palmfuls of dried parsley, a few dashes of veggie broth, and about half a cup of diced onions, which I sauteed first.

I let it simmer for about 20 minutes or so, then I mixed it with some spaghetti. I know noodles all taste the same, but I always forget how happy simple spaghetti noodles make me.

This meal was another success. I was worried I'd over-red-peppered it, but it actually had just the right amount of spice. I'm glad I continued to taste it and adjust while it simmered (same with the anchovy paste). I had no idea what effect the anchovies would have, but that worked out well, too. Mostly just salty with the slightest slightest hint of fishy (in a way that wasn't fishy at all, if that makes sense). Will definitely make this one again, too -- and maybe next time I'll even have all the actual ingredients!