The First Week of School 2.0

It is amazing how little time it takes to completely lose one's stamina when the daily routine goes on vacation.

We just had our first week back to school, and it felt as if it was the first week of school all over again! My body wasn't used to all the work after two weeks off, and I couldn't sleep well because I had so much stuff to catch up on/do which is of course the thing I needed most was sleep.

Unfortunately, next week looks just as nutty, but my body seems to be re-adapting again. I failed to mention in last week's posts that I'm additionally hindered right now with a calf muscle strain that requires me to baby it, not exert myself too much (which as a teacher is kind of impossible), and wear a walking boot for support - which slows me down and DRIVES ME NUTS, UGH. My uninjured leg is suffering from the additional work it has to do, too. Needless to say, today was mostly resting it, but with the fun of babysitting our adorable goddaughter Emily with The Hubs. Luckily, for being just over 1 year old, she's remarkably easy to watch! We didn't have to chase her too much, and she was a breeze - all giggles and smiles!

In regards to the mini-goals for Jan.-March I posted about, I was better about my internet time, but cooking dinner at home pretty much didn't happen thanks to how hectic last week was. I was honestly not home earlier than 6pm any day last week! This week should be better, though, and I am planning on going grocery shopping Sunday, and pre-prepping my meals as much as I can after the grocery store so all I have to do is (hopefully) heat it in the oven, or mix the ingredients for 5 minutes before throwing it in the oven/saucepan. (Also, because I'm not busy enough, I'm also making a meal to take to a coworker who's out for health issues right now - but it's a recipe that I can easily double and make one for us at the same time!)

What am I making, you ask?

Spinach Tortellini Soup - it's delicious! I'm going to add turkey Italian sausage "meatballs" (where I squeezed the sausage filling out of the casing and rolled them into balls).

Enchilada casserole (This is the one I'm making two of - one for me, one for the coworker)

Chicken Broccoli casserole to serve over brown rice

Baked pork chops with Stove Top stuffing and veggies (this one I won't prep ahead, 'cuz pork chops don't take that long).

I plan to prep ahead by making the enchilada casserole ahead, then cooking the proteins ahead of time (except the pork chops). I only did four meals because Fridays are usually nights we eat out anyway - I'm just trying to make it the ONLY night we eat out this week. Fingers crossed!

Foodie Friday: Healthy Eating Recipes!

Let's be honest: You're here for the recipes, right? ;D I understand. Let's cover the food first, then if you're curious how I'm eating/exercising, that'll be below the "Read More" link!

Here are some of my favorite recipes that are low-calorie, and easily served alongside some veggies (if they don't incorporate veggies already)!

The one pictured above is my own mish-mash that I like to call "Asian Goulash" (even though it has nothing in common with actual goulash). I love Chicken Lettuce Wraps from P.F. Chang's, but it's an awfully expensive option. ;) I found this recipe from YumSugar years ago, and basically mish-mashed the recipe into my own combination of them. If I don't feel like scooping it into lettuce, I'll serve it over rice instead with a little extra sauce. This recipe doubles easily if you have more people to feed; I designed it for one large serving each for 2 people (The Hubs and myself).

Asian "Goulash"
Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground meat (I used turkey)
1/2 of an 8oz can of water chestnuts, chopped into bite-size pieces
2-3 celery stalks, chopped into small pieces
1 Tbsp minced garlic (or less, if you're not as into garlic as I am - I loooove garlic)
1 tsp minced fresh ginger OR 1/4 tsp ground ginger
3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce, split
1 Tbsp hoisin or oyster sauce (whatever you prefer), split
1 tsp corn starch, split
a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
dash of sesame oil (optional)
minced green onions (optional)
lettuce leaves (I love butter lettuce for this) or cooked rice

Instructions:

1. Chop your veggies and aromatics first! Sprinkle 1/2 a tsp of cornstarch over the ground turkey and mix it up. (The cornstarch will help give the sauce something to adhere to later.)
2. Mix 1.5 Tbsp of soy sauce and 1/2 a Tbsp of hoisin/oyster (whichever you chose). Go ahead and mix the remaining soy and hoisin, 1/2 a tsp of cornstarch, pepper flakes, and  sesame oil (if including); it'll be your sauce for pouring over the meat and rice. We're prepping all this stuff ahead because the cooking process will go FAST.
3. Spray a little cooking spray on your skillet. Throw in the garlic and ginger, and stir around a little, about 1 minute. Add the cornstarched-mixed meat, and cook until meat is cooked through. 
4. Add in the celery and water chestnuts. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring around. 
5. Pour the soy/hoisin-only mixture over the meat and veggies, and stir around to make sure everything's covered. You're done!
6. Serve over rice or in washed lettuce leaves, pouring the sauce over it if you desire. (If you don't think you'll want sauce, use it during the cooking process. The Hubs likes having extra sauce so I save half for serving.) Enjoy!

Served over rice, each serving is 352 calories, 9.4g fat, 37.3g carbs (4g of fiber!), and 28g of protein! SUPER-filling.

Spinach Lasagna Rolls

I actually typed the recipe up over on SparkRecipes already. But it's mine! I modified it from a vegan recipe on thekitchn.com because I like cheese too much to substitute the fake stuff. ;p

Other healthy recipes I like that I didn't create:
Sausage and Brown Rice casserole (I sub in carrots and cauliflower for the bell pepper)
Slow-Cooker Teriyaki Pork  (I serve it over brown rice and steamed broccoli!)
Fagioli Soup - pasta fagioli soup without the pasta
Cheeseburger Soup - Low carb and deeee-lish!

What's great about all of these recipes is that they HAPPEN to be healthy while also being super-tasty! The Hubs does NOT complain when we eat these, and I don't feel like all I'm eating is lettuce.

If you'd like to know what my general eating and exercise practices are, click on "Read More"!

Foodie Friday - 3 Fast Meal Ideas!

As I've mentioned before (multiple times), I am a lazy cook. If I can afford to go pick up the meal, I'm probably gonna go pick up the meal.

Of course, when one is trying to eat healthy, picking up a meal that's healthy-ish and cheap is a near-impossible feat! Good for you food fast tends to be more expensive; seriously, getting a meal-sized salad or adding a side of steamed veggies is more expensive than just eating the fries that come with most meals!Of course, when funds are limited, that's not an option, either. So what's left to do but order the cheap, bad-for-you option? Especially when cooking just takes sooooo long...

Not necessarily!

I've found that, for myself, the less time I have to spend prepping, the happier I am to cook from home. One thing that saves prep time is to buy cheap shortcuts, such as frozen veggies and frozen sides like rice; I try to avoid processed sides like Carb-A-Ronis because there's so much unknown crap in them! Even cheaper is to buy the stuff fresh and freeze it yourself, which I'll do when I can with things like rice or beans.

Here's three of my favorite quick meal ideas for when I want something fast, tasty, and don't want to eat from a fast food restaurant!

Foodie Friday - Fast, Cheap, and Easy: Breakfast Options!

So far, every job I've had since we moved here has required me to commute at least 30 minutes (if not more). I HAVE to eat breakfast, and as I value my sleep, I prefer it to be quick to make or reheat and something I can eat while driving. Even better if I can make/prep everything on Sunday night in as little amount of time as possible! Plus the easier and faster I can make a breakfast at home, the less tempting it is to spend money in a drive-thru!

There are a few options I have come up with that work really well for me; I need a healthy-ish carb, protein, and if I can squeeze in some veggies, all the better! I've sorted them between "ridiculously easy", "needs a little prep", and "needs a LOT of prep". Enjoy!

Ridiculously Easy

Foodie Friday: Antipasto Salad!

This salad is so easy to make, and tasty, too! Great for a summer picnic, plus it's easy to diversify it according to your own tastes. The only cooking that needs to be done is boiling the pasta, and then there's some chopping that needs to be done, depending on what you want to mix in. Plus you can make this vegetarian, or even VEGAN depending on what you mix into the salad!

I've made this before and posted the recipe before, but that was years ago and sans pictures, so re-post/update! I also promise I'll post something fancier than basic pasta salads one of these days. Maybe not next Friday, but someday, I swear.

I made this originally for a big picnic on the 4th of July, but then Miss Daisy got sick and we stayed home.  Luckily, The Hubs loooooves this salad (he hates mayo-based pasta/potato salads), so he helped eat it up within a few days! Hopefully your version will disappear just as quickly.

Antipasto Salad

Ingredients:
1 bag tri-color spiral pasta
1 cup of Italian salad dressing (I used Zesty Italian by Sunny Select)
1 can quartered artichoke hearts (non-marinated), drained
1 small can black olives, pre-sliced, drained
1/2 a tube of salami, cut into small bites (usually I cut slices, then cut those slices into quarters)
2 mozzarella string cheeses, cut into small bites

Here's what I mean by "small bites"

Other ideas for mix-ins: pepperoni, roasted red peppers, mini-mozzarella balls, whatever else you like on your antipasto platter

Directions:

1. Boil the pasta to "al dente" state - it'll soften more as it absorbs the dressing, so you don't want to boil it too soft to start. 
2. While the pasta's boiling, choppity-chop-chop your meats, cheese, and veggies (if you don't bother to buy them pre-chopped and canned)
3. Once the pasta's done, pour into a strainer and rinse the pasta in cold water so it stops cooking.  Put it into your container, mix in your veggies, meats, and cheeses. Pour half of the dressing over your salad, and mix it up good, then pour the rest and mix it up good again. 
4. It tastes good freshly mixed, but it tastes GREAT the next day! I try to make it the night before so it has time to absorb all the lovely zesty Italian-dressingness.

I may have linked up at: 

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Foodie Friday: Fast, Easy, & Cheap - Steak dinner!

So if you follow me on Twitter, you might recognize the picture below from when I tweeted it/taunted my followers with its deliciousness.

You might also remember that I bragged the whole shebang took about 30 minutes.

Upon reflection, it's about 40 including marinade set-up and chopping/scrubbing the potatoes. Yes, those are oven-roasted potatoes. Still, 40 minutes isn't bad for a steak dinner, am I right?

So how did it take so little time? Constant movement and a microwave cheat.

1. The steak was a nice New York strip I got during Savemart's $25 for 5 meat sale (which they do about once a month now, and I loooove it because it I usually need to restock right around the time the next sale comes up); I rubbed it with a dry rub, marinaded in this excellent (and easy) marinade, and let it stew for most of the day.
2. The potatoes are oven-roasted, but here's the trick: They're softened in the microwave first. I got this tip from an old book my mom gave me when I got my first apartment in college; it's "30 Minutes or Less", a cookbook published by California Cookbook in the 90s, but I can't find it anywhere online. Anyway, the recipe is to chop up 5-6 medium-size red potatoes (not the minis), drizzle olive oil over them in a microwave-safe bowl, and nuke 'em for 5 minutes on high. Then throw some seasoning on them (in this case, S&P, garlic powder, and thyme), toss them in a baking pan, and roast 'em at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-25 minutes.
3. WHILE the potatoes are microwaving, rinse, dry, and snap the asparagus (and take out the steak to let it rest at room temperature for a little while). Once you throw the potatoes in, lie the spears on a cookie sheet; drizzle olive oil on the spears, sprinkle with S&P, garlic powder, and grated parmesan cheese, and mix it all up so all the spears get nice and coated. Throw it in the oven with the potatoes for the last 12 minutes of cooking time. (If you want to roast it on its own, I prefer to roast it at 400 F for about 8-10 minutes; it lets the tips get crispy without the stalks getting soggy. With the potatoes, it stayed firm but not as crisp as I like it.)
4. Once the asparagus is in the oven, turn on your Foreman grill so it gets warm for the steak (I KNOW, sacrilege, but whatever, it works for me). Once it's hot enough, throw the steak on there, let it sizzle for about 5 minutes (if you want it medium rare-medium), then take it off the grill and let it sit until it's at your preferred doneness. Obviously, if you have a preferred method of steak-cooking, by all means. I'm still learning, and so far this method has worked OK for me. :)

My final touch was grating this tasty smoked gouda with bacon cheese that The Hubs had purchased onto the potatoes; it was good, not great. Needed a stronger cheese, I think (and crispy cooked bacon - the bacon in the cheese wasn't crispy). Still tasty, though!

So as you can see, it worked out that while one thing was cooking, the other stuff was prepped and then added to the cooking mix. So I was on my feet and moving for probably 20 minutes of the process, but it wasn't necessarily a rush to do. Plus it resulted in a tasty, filling dinner that was ready in about 30-40 minutes! Which is how I like to cook - fast, cheap, and easy. Yum!



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Foodie Friday: Taco Soup, version 1

One thing I've recently realized is that I love soup. Like, a LOT. Love, love looooove soup. Even in the summer, I still crave me a good ol' bowl of soup. I keep telling myself it's insane to want soup when I could probably cook it on the pavement, but I've never claimed to be sane.

I have two recipes that I alternately call "taco soup", although one is more like a chili and the other is an actual soup. We're going to talk about the soup one today!

Years ago, I found a soup recipe on SparkRecipes called "5 Ingredient Soup". It sounded tasty on its own, but I can never leave well enough alone (and I like meat). Oh, and I hate tomatoes unless they're beaten to a pulp first, so that HAD to change. So here's my 7-ingredient soup variation that I short-hand to "taco soup"!

Ingredients:

• 1 can refried beans (I use Fat Free Rosita brand - you can't even tell, I swear!)
• 1 cup Chicken Broth
• 1 can corn (I buy the small 8oz can that my local store sells)
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can tomato sauce (8 oz is plenty)
• either 1/2 lb. uncased Italian sausage or ground meat (turkey, chicken, beef - I usually use 2 turkey Italian sausages, removing the meat from the casings)
• Hot sauce, to taste
• OPTIONAL: Sour cream, shredded cheese, tortilla chip "croutons"

Instructions:

1. Brown the meat of your choosing. Drain the grease and set aside.
2. Drain and rinse the black beans; drain the corn as well. 
3. Combine everything except the hot sauce in a decent-sized saucepan. Cook over medium,  until the refried beans are "melted", so to speak! (Hint: It'd be easier to mix the broth with the tomato sauce and refried beans first, and let the broth help "melt" the beans a little first by stirring them, THEN add the beans, corn, and meat. Just an FYI!)
4. As it nears completion, splash that hot sauce in! I love Trader Joe's hot pepper sauce - it's VERY spicy, so a few dashes will do ya; I'd say using the high-heat sauce I put in about a 1/2 tsp, and that was with tasting it every few splashes... but I like it spicy! It added a great "zing"!
5. Serve it up as is, or add the mix-ins if desired!

I made it for a day-date with my friend V and goddaughter E; E is a little too young to taste it, but V really liked it! She kept the leftovers for her husband to try, and reported back that he really enjoyed it as well. It's so simple, fast, and DELISH. Enjoy!


Linked up at: 

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Foodie Friday: Buffalo Chicken Salad/Wrap

Before I share what I rustled up, I have a recipe to recommend! When Googling for an easy teriyaki salmon recipe, I found a GREAT recipe for it. It's from Tammy's Recipes, and it is in fact easy. I fortunately had all the marinade ingredients, so it was a cinch to throw it together and throw it in the fridge! I let it marinade for about 4 hours, and then baked it exactly according to instructions. I served it with brown rice and broccoli, and it was SO GOOD. So easy, so fast, and SO YUMMY. Just a warning: The teriyaki sauce is very, very salty, and the skinnier pieces of the filet will really absorb the sauce - and the salt. You can either try cutting the marinade with some water, or maybe let it marinade for less time. But seriously, give it a shot! So good!

All right, so Buffalo Chicken Salad/Wrap. I wouldn't dare to call this a recipe, just a suggestion of how to throw together various food stuffs for maximum deliciousness!

The basic ingredients:

• Chicken strips or "Popcorn" chicken (I used popcorn chicken from Foster's Farms - in the freezer section)
• Frank's Red Hot Buffalo sauce
• Greens you like (I used butter, green leaf, and baby spinach)
• Carrots
• Celery
• Cucumbers
• Blue Cheese or blue cheese dressing
• if you don't like blue cheese, ranch would be tasty, too!

For the chicken, I baked it according to the instructions - I prefer not to fry, and baking works well for getting crispiness on the breading! Fill a resealable baggie with a good amount (about 2-3 tbsps) of the sauce; once the chicken is ready, toss it in the baggie and shake it around to get the chicken doused in the sauce!

For the salad, get all the greens you prefer, and prep the veggies. I like to either use pre-shredded carrots or I peel a carrot directly into the salad. I chop up the celery and cucumbers (I like to peel the cucumber and scoop out the seeds, the cut it in half-moon shapes), then I pour some of the dressing and mix it all up before I throw the sauced chicken on top. (If I'm using blue cheese in addition to the dressing, I'll throw the cheese in at this point too.)

The chicken goes on top, then I pour a leetle extra dressing on top of the chicken to help mellow out the heat of the buffalo sauce!

For the wrap, I do the same for the most part, except I cut the celery and cucumber into long strips instead of slices, and wrap the whole bunch in a flour tortilla. Yum!

If you're trying to make it healthy, you could do all the same things with boneless skinless chicken breasts (just maybe go a little lighter with the buffalo sauce, 'cuz the meat could absorb a LOT more sauce). If you like blue cheese, it'd be good to use the cheese itself instead of the dressing version. The cheese is very strong and flavorful which means you don't need a lot for a lot of flavor punch; I'd use the cheese and drizzle low-fat ranch instead to save some calories!


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Foodie Friday: Artichoke Couscous Salad

One of my favorite things to do is cook for other people. I don't much care for cooking for myself (although lately, with more free time, it has become a nice way to start my morning with a cooked breakfast or hot homemade lunch), but cooking for others is an unconscious way in which I show my love, I think. Nothing new, I'm sure. It's a common way to show affection through nurturing. 

I have been very fortunate in my time off to hang out more with my friend V and my goddaughter E, who is one of the cutest babies ever. (Oh my goodness, when I get her to smile it feels like winning the lottery.) Since I know V has to do all her household chores with E hanging off her hip, I figure the least I can do when I come over is bring some lunch with me! One less thing to worry about on her own. I like to bring one dish meals, less to carry and easy to scoop in a bowl and eat! So I made Artichoke Couscous Salad for one recent visit.

I originally found the recipe years ago on About.com, but it's disappeared since, which drives me NUTS. I hate not citing source material! I can't find the original recipe, plus I modified it (like I usually do) even the first time I made it. So here's the recipe as I make it now, after several revamps:

Ingredients:

• 1 package Near East Toasted Pine Nut Couscous*, prepared according to directions but subbing chicken or vegetable broth for water
• 2 cups broccoli florets, steamed (I used frozen) and chopped into bite-size pieces.
• 1 lb. chicken breast or chicken thighs, grilled and chopped into 1" pieces - I like to use McCormick's GrillMates Roasted Garlic and Herb blend, I sprinkle it on both sides before throwing them on the grill
• 1 can quartered artichoke hearts in water
• 2 oz. crumbled feta cheese (or more!)
• 1 lemon

*If you can't find the Near East stuff, or don't want processed stuff, I'd cook 1 cup couscous in 2 cups water or broth, then mix in about 1-2 cloves' worth of minced garlic and 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts when it's done (if raw garlic's not your thing, I'd throw in the minced garlic as the couscous is cooking instead). 

Instructions:

1. First things first, do all the prep: Cook the couscous, grill and chop the chicken (I use my handy-dandy Foreman), and steam that broccoli! 
2. Let the couscous, chicken, and broccoli cool; this is optional, but I like the salad cold OR warm. If you mix in the cheese while the couscous is hot, though, it'll get melty! (This is a good dish to make the hot stuff the night before, and let it chill in the fridge, then throw together in the morning.)
3. Drain the artichoke hearts; I take the time to sort out the leaves that are still tough, and sometimes I get so particular that I take off the leaves and only put in the hearts. I loooove me some artichoke hearts. 
4. Once the hot ingredients are cold, mix all the ingredients together!
5. Oh yeah, that lemon: Cut it in half, and squeeze out that juice from at least one half. Mix it in, sample, and if you're happy with it stop. If you think it needs more lemony goodness, use that other half! I like a lot of lemon, so I tend to use a lot. It's a matter of taste, but I highly recommend the acidity that the lemon adds.
6. EAT IT OM NOM NOM NOM NOM

It's really easy, really tasty, and really filling (thanks to the chicken and broccoli)! Plus couscous makes a ton, so it's a good dish to make for sharing. Enjoy!

Linked up at: 

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Foodie Friday: a Fabulous Brunch Menu

That's right, a Foodie Friday post - back from the dead!

Here's the deal: I am not a food blogger. Like, at ALL. Here's why:

• I'm a terrible photographer
• I'm a forgetful photographer
• I don't really "create" my own recipes (but I do modify and add to recipes a lot)

As a fervent Pinterest addict and blog-reader, though, I have noticed that while it helps to not be like me in regards to the first two bullets, the third isn't really an issue. If anything, most recipes I see on blogs are modifications of other recipes found on the internet (and some shouldn't even be called recipes, if I'm being really blunt).

So while I will never call myself a food blogger, or this a food blog, I have made some recipes lately that are quite tasty. They're modifications of other recipes, so I'll just include what I changed or any changes to the preparation methods were made along with the original recipe.

**************************************************

The week before Memorial Day our family had two different college graduations! One had a big party that was hosted by the graduate's partner, and the second was a small family brunch hosted by me! I was really excited to celebrate our family graduate AND make my first brunch for people other than myself! 

The Hubs is not a huge fan of most breakfast foods, especially eggs. I'm not a huge breakfast person, but I like savory breakfast foods like bacon, sausage, and EGGS. Yum. Since it's usually just The Hubs and I, though, I'll usually make myself a nice breakfast and he just waits until lunch. *shrug* So this was exciting! Not only did I get to do something nice for my graduating sister-in-law, but I also got to try out a recipe I've been wanting to do but couldn't thanks to The Hubs' egg ban. 

My cousin made this recipe when I was visiting IL in November, and it was DELICIOUS. She actually made two batches; one with spinach, one without, and I preferred the one with spinach. Since The Hubs' sister and mom aren't as picky as he is, I figured this would be the best option for a main dish! Bonus: It can be made the night before! 

I still needed to fill out the meal with stuff The Hubs WOULD eat, and I feel a good brunch has something sweet and fresh fruit also. Here's the final menu I came up with!

• Egg Casserole
• Cinnamon Rolls (pre-made)
• Bacon
• Waffle-iron Hashbrowns
• Strawberries
• MIMOSAS! It's a celebration, after all.

 All right, so here's the recipe as I made it, based on Jimmy Dean's Easy Egg Casserole.

The casserole pre-baking. I forgot to take a picture post-baking. This is a perfect example of WHY I'M NOT A FOOD BLOGGER.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. turkey breakfast sausage, cooked and crumbled
• 8 oz sharp cheddar cheese block, grated
• 1 loaf French bread, cut into 3/4" cubes
• 8 eggs
• 3 cups milk
•  1/4 tsp black pepper (or 10 grinds of a pepper mill)
• about 2 cups baby spinach

Instructions:

1. Prep the ingredients: Brown the sausage and drain on paper towels, grate the cheese, cube the bread. 
2. In a BIG bowl (seriously: HUGE), combine the eggs, milk, and black pepper by whisking the eggs to break up the yolks into the whites, then to mix the eggs with the milk and pepper. 
3. Gently stir in the bread cubes into the egg mixture, then mix in the cooked sausage, spinach, and about 3/4ths of the cheese. (I didn't use a big enough bowl, so I had to do this in two stages and mix it up in the casserole dish. KIND OF A PAIN. Seriously, you want the big-ol' KitchenAid 6-quart mixer bowl size. I used the little 3-quart size. Sheesh.) 
4. Spray 13"x9" pan with non-stick cooking spray, then pour in the casserole. At this point, I put plastic wrap on it and popped it in the fridge! Then I went and watched my sister-in-law graduate with her B.S.!
5. To bake it, cook it at 350 degrees F for about 55 minutes if it's from the fridge (45 if it's not), or until a knife comes out clean (watch out for sticking the knife in a cheesy section - it's misleading!). The original recipe called for it to sit for 10 minutes but, uh, we couldn't wait that long. 

How to prepare it so all the food finishes at around the same time:

Once the casserole was in the oven, I busted out the Mimosa ingredients so they could start celebrating while they waited for the food! I also rinsed and hulled the strawberries so they could nibble while the food was cooking. Around half-time in the baking of the casserole, I baked the bacon (but since it's at a lower temperature than the link suggests, I baked it for about 10 minutes longer). Once the casserole needed to sit, I threw in the cinnamon rolls to bake and started the waffle-iron hashbrowns. (I follow the basic directions in the link, except I used EVOO and I also mixed in garlic powder and onion powder!) The hashbrowns took a little longer than I planned because I forgot how long the iron takes, haha. So the hashbrowns were given out as they were finished.

Everything worked out well enough, though: Mom- and Sis-in-Law both loved the casserole, The Hubs got bacon and hashbrowns AND cinnamon rolls to fill him up, and we all had a nice and relaxing brunch to celebrate the sister-in-law's big accomplishment! She was happy, and that's all I could ask for. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ah, love. Today is the day to celebrate ALL types of love, IMHO.

As a teenager, I HATED Valentine's Day as I was a perpetually single gal (Ah, the shallowness of teenage boys *sigh*). Then, my Junior year of high school, when I was still relatively new at the school, a group of new friends included me in their Valentine's Day celebrations. It was simply giving me a card and a carnation, but it totally brightened my day and I never forgot it, and the fact that there was nothing romantic involved but I could still celebrate other people I loved. Ever since, I've enjoyed Valentine's Day as a way of celebrating EVERYONE I love! Not every year, but most years I send out Valentine cards to my family and friends. Typically my mom, my grandmas, and my best gal pals. One of these years, I'm going to organize a Galentine's Day celebration.

This year's batch of Valentine's, made by MOI

Then in 2003, Valentine's Day got a whole lot sweeter when The Hubs agreed to be my Valentine. :) We were friends and coworkers for a year and a half prior, and we'd been flirting for the last half-year when, at the end of January 2003, I worked up the nerve to ask The Hubs out. We hung out after work, and I used the smooth line of asking if he'd be my Valentine that year. He said yes, we had some beverages while watching "Chasing Amy" and making out a little. (Funny sidenote: YEARS later he admitted that when we ran into each other on campus the next day and it was kind of awkward, he was considering breaking it off with me because he didn't want to ruin our friendship. Luckily for both of us, he either thought better of it or wussed out ;D)

We still consider Valentine's Day to be our official first date, even though we were already hanging out fairly regularly by then as a couple (but we were still keeping it on the DL from our coworkers 'cuz they were a bunch of gossips, and we also were still keeping things at the make-out stage because we didn't want to rush/possibly preserve friendship if we changed our minds). Our date was a movie followed by dinner cooked by me! The movie was "Daredevil"; the reason for choosing THAT gem was due to me being a huge fan of the comic book and having high hopes for the movie (which they did NOT meet). Man, The Hubs still hasn't let me live that down. The movie was a dud, but the meal was NOT.

I tried this recipe for the first time because it was easy and sounded good. Luckily it was both, and to this day it is The Hubs' favorite meal that I cook. I've made it so often that I actually have the recipe memorized. It's called Gourmet Chicken, and to be honest it's not gourmet but it's quite rich and tasty.

This V-day will be our 10th V-day together! The Hubs has requested his favorite dish to commemorate the occasion, and I am gladly obliging. I'll also be making chocolate fondue for dessert with pound cake and strawberries for dippin'. And, of course, sparkling wine! Yum! For my V-day gift to him, I bought us tickets to our local minor-league professional hockey team, which we'll go to on Saturday. Whooo!

If you're curious for the recipe for Gourmet Chicken, here it is!

Recipes I'm loving lately

One thing I love about the internet is that it allows me to find all sorts of new food ideas and recipes. I mean, seriously, I cannot tell you how big my "recipes" computer folder is (FYI: it's 103 MB), which doesn't include the physical binder of magazine tear-outs, and my massive Pinterest boards, broken into "Om Nom Nom Nom" (less healthy recipes) and "HEALTHY Om Nom Nom" (self-explanatory). I'll even take a snapshot with my phone of something that looks good in a magazine in a waiting room. Like I've said, I do honestly love to cook, I'm just usually too lazy. Hahaha.

That said, as a motivator to eat healthier, I've been seeking out and trying new ones, and I've actually found a few that are worth sharing! Unfortunately, I'm not a food blogger, so I rarely (if ever) take pictures of my food - and the few times I do, they're pretty crappy... as evidenced by previous food posts. xD

(None of the pictures are mine, please click the links to go to the recipe!)

Mexican Chicken

We liked this a lot, although I want to find a better enchilada sauce OR maybe try making my own - the sauce I bought had a weird bitterness (but it didn't bug The Hubs). We served this with refried beans and a salad, and I honestly didn't miss tortillas.

Adobo Pork Chops

THIS IS SO GOOD. The key is to let it marinade a LOOOONG time; I made this full recipe, but only cooked half the day of, and froze the other half - the frozen half we had a couple of weeks later was waaaay better. The Hubs figured it was the fact that it marinaded as it defrosted overnight in the fridge - the flavor really penetrated, whereas the first batch was tasty but not as deep (despite a 6-hour marinade).

Slow-Cooker Savory BBQ Chicken

I made this with chicken legs (They were cheaper at the time), and it was tasty. Might try adding a smidge of sweetness with Stevia next time, though, because we like our sauce a little sweeter.


My friend Traci's chili

It's goooood. Not too spicy, a little too tomatoey, but that's a bug that can be worked out.

What Works For Me: Learning to Love My Veggies

Ok, so here's the thing.

As I've mentioned before, I have to change my eating habits for health reasons - mainly working on cutting out the unhealthy carbs, which are basically all the white (and DELICIOUS) ones. Ideally, I'm aiming to eat as few carbs as possible at dinner (so I'm eating the healthy carbs during the day, when I'm more likely to burn off energy), which means I need to sub those carb-y side dishes that I'm used to with vegetables.

The "problem" (because, let's be honest, if it ain't famine, homelessness, or warfare, it ain't really a problem) is that The Hubs and I are semi-finicky eaters and only like certain veggies. Actually, I am semi-finicky while The Hubs is FINICKY. I have reliable veggies that I like - salad greens and spinach, cucumbers, celery, carrots (raw only), broccoli, green beans,artichokes, cauliflower, and asparagus... that's about it. Some of those veggies The Hubs will eat, and even then he'll only eat them certain ways (like the carrots have to be cooked, and he only likes asparagus if it's roasted). I'll try veggies that I didn't like previously to see if my tastes have changed (because sometimes they have), but it's rare that they change, and The Hubs is even more resistant to changes. For the most part, though, I either steam them or eat a salad. I esp. enjoy lunch salads (I'm so trying the mason jar salads when work starts back up... Mmmm!)

That said, if we're going to eat veggies as our main side at dinner, I'd like to find some decent variations on them. Here's some methods I've tried so far, and recipes I've found that I'm planning to try!

Tried:

• Pureed - Works like a charm so far, but I've only tried it in stuff that's sauce-based. But, I mean, seriously, in the veggie meat sauce I made, the veggies are all so minute that I can eat vegetables in which I hate their texture - like peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes! I'm trying this trick next with a Jambalaya recipe that is otherwise delicious-looking except for the peppers and tomatoes that are only chopped - they will be pureed to be easier to "choke down" for Mr. and Mrs. Finicky.
  

  

  See? You can't even SEE all those veggies - and it is LOADED with them!

• Roasted - So far I've only tried this with veggies I already like, with one exception - my friends the P's had us over a few years ago for Xmas Eve dinner, and they made roasted brussel sprouts. I hesitated at first, because I'm not a huge cabbage fan, and the only way my folks made them was boiled (and they smelled AWFUL). But I tried them, and they were DELICIOUS. Of course, I haven't had them since, but I have a recipe "pinned" on Pinterest to try. Basically, I want them as crispy as possible. My favorite roasted veggie so far has been roasting broccoli - it tastes like broccoli tempura without all that pesky battering process. YUM. 
• Grated - if I can get away with grating a version of an "icky" veggie, I will. I tried a recipe for a Thai peanut-style chicken  in the slow-cooker, which was not that great. BUT it called for grated zucchini as part of the recipe, and I'll be darned, you can't taste it. I've also made zucchini pancakes, which was also highly enjoyable. 

Recipes I'm excited to try:

• Green Monster Spinach Smoothie - it's supposed to taste like a delicious smoothie, and I'm willing to give it a shot because I like spinach raw AND cooked, so I figure with it's mild taste I won't notice it and the texture isn't a problem in the first place. Plus I get a load of vitamins, protein, and fiber in one drink? Um, SOLD. I'll report on how it tastes! If it tastes good and whirs up fast, I'm thinking it'll be a great easy breakfast when I start teaching!
  

  

  It borders on disturbingly green, though.
• Crustless Spinach and feta pie - Hmmm, spinach and cheese. Gee, sounds like a tough choice. I'm thinking this will be great next to some grilled chicken. Mmm. 
• Vegetable "pasta" - I want to try this because I had a delightful meal at a really nice restaurant in NYC years ago (which I can't remember the name of, except that it was really long and old-sounding and I think it was in the East Village) that was basically the same type of veggie "pasta" with this great tomato sauce, shrimp, and parmesan cheese. I was skeptical that I'd like the veggies, but with the sauce they were great! I figure it's worth another shot. 
• Zucchini tots - I like this as an alternative to zucchini pancakes, which have a lot of breading. This seems like it'd get more zucchini, less carbs. What a fun side dish to go with burgers - hopefully it'll help me cut off the potatoes. 
• Mashed cauliflower "potatoes" - I haven't tried these before, but my friends who have say it's worth the effort. I love cauliflower, so I can't really seeing going wrong. Cheesy cauliflower pancakes are worth a shot as well. 

I'm actually excited to try all these new veggie recipes - esp. the smoothie and the "tots"! As you can see, I've got some options to make me eat more veggies, but I'm open to ideas! Please share your favorite ways to prepare veggies, I'm begging you. The simpler the better, 'cuz I'm a lazy cook. ;D

Living in the Clean World - Attempting Clean(er) Eating

So as I've mentioned before, my medical issues are 1 for 2 so far in regards to the issues getting better. The one that's getting better is, of course, only really helped by medicine. The other is a mixture of meds (which we're still trying to get right) and a lifestyle change. "Lifestyle change" meaning "STOP SHOVING JUNK FOOD IN YOUR GOB, MORON". Or at least that's how it translates to me.

Of course, the problem is that junk food is delicious. Man oh man, I love junk food. Actually, I love food, but I especially love those refined sugars and carbs. Mmm, mmm, mmm.  It's hard to stop eating them, too... it feels like an addiction. In fact, my nurse practitioner said that it IS like an addiction, and understands how hard it is.

I miss eating carbs. I hate dieting. I hate having to accept the fact that I have to pay attention to what I eat and count calories. It's the WORST, and when I've been "good" for a few days, my addiction kicks in and I'm going nuts wanting what I know isn't good for me - then I give in and feel bad (emotionally and physically).

I realize how immature it is of me to say these things, though, and I'm in the position where I'm working my way to it. I've done lots of research on websites that have explained how I should be eating to best treat my condition, and I think I can do it. It's not as terrible as I thought, and if I make these changes, I will feel better and my body will help to heal itself.

That said, this is easier said than done. The best way I've found to make eating healthy easier is to find shortcuts and substitutes that make me feel like I'm not being deprived. For example, I love burgers - I love them on buns, so if I'm at a restaurant (like the other night) and I want a burger, I'll get the darn burger and forgo the fries for a salad. If I really want the fries, though, either I eat both and feel gross, or I gotta find a solution.

Well, luckily, The Counter figured out a solution, and I'm cribbing the idea for myself. For those not fortunate enough to live near one of The Counter's locations (which now includes me, because the local branch recently closed), it's basically a build-your-own-burger joint that offers, like, a crazy amount of options for burger meat, bun, toppings, and sauces. It's awesome (their fries and shakes are awesome, also), and one of the options they offer is to forgo the bun entirely and have a "burger bowl". Basically, the burger is served on a pile of lettuce (either a lettuce blend or mixed greens) instead of the bun options, and you can still build it with all the same toppings and sauces. They had some crazy-fun toppings, like these carrot strings that were these insanely long curlicues that were so crazy my friend took a picture of me attempting to eat them:

They are INSANE. That is ALL carrot!

So when I had a hamburger for lunch the other day (and I'm not keeping bread in the house to avoid temptation), I remembered the crazy-awesome burger bowls and made my own!

The burger: pre-made turkey (on sale for $2 for 4 big ones) that I grilled on the Foreman with some Montreal Steak Seasoning on both sides.
The cheese: Pesto Jack from Spring Hill Jersey Creamery
The Bowl: romaine lettuce, cucumbers, and lite ranch dressing. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of toppings in my fridge to add to my bowl o' salad, and the idea sounded so good that I didn't want to rush to the store for one freakin' meal. Plus, my own carrot strings will never live up to the greatness that is the Counter's carrot strings.

That said, it was a tasty lunch! (After taking the photo, I cut up the burger to make eating it easier.) (Also, there ARE cucumbers on that plate, they just disappear into the lettuce apparently.) I didn't even miss the bun! Slap a small amount of sweet potato fries on the side (and some more salad toppings, because I'll plan ahead next time), and I've got a meal that tastes great and I can eat without shame! Whooo!

Also, I am very aware that I suck at food photography. Hello, the name's "Hot Mess Housewife"!

Timing is everything - especially in cooking.

Y'know, I've been cooking for myself for at least 10 years now.

I've been cooking for more than one person for at least 6.

Yet I still CAN'T FREAKIN' TIME MY MEALS RIGHT!

Ok, I'm exaggerating, I can - some of the time. Maybe even most of the time. Depends on the month.

USUALLY it's a big fat timing failure because I just jump in without having read the recipe directions, just the ingredients. It's a bad habit I developed that I've mostly broken myself of, so tonight, I thought I had it ALL FIGURED OUT, that it was going to work out PERFECTLY. I'd read the recipe directions and knew what I needed to do, and figured out the timing so everything finished at the same time... or so I thought.

Tonight's meal (which is already eaten or I'd post a picture) was oven-"fried" boneless pork chops and a new-to-me recipe, spinach and rice "pie".

photo by Cooking with My Kid!

So, the pork chops I had are THICK - like, over an inch thick. I usually cook them fast at a higher temperature, but I figured they could cook slow at the same temp as the spinach/rice bake and would probably need an hour to cook completely. So, brilliant time-manager that I am, I did the pork chops first, threw them in the oven, then started the recipe, figuring it'd be ready in the 30 minutes I'd allotted to give the pork chops a head start before throwing the spinach/rice bake in the oven while the chops finished cooking.

The rice part of the bake is a rice pilaf box mix that you have to cook before you assemble the "pie". Well, I didn't read the damn directions on the box and LO AND BEHOLD, the particular mix I'd bought took 25 minutes to cook, and needed another 3-8 to "set"! ARGH! By the time my pie was ready to bake, my pork chops had been in there 45 minutes and the pie needed at least 25 minutes MORE to bake.

Not wanting dried-out chops, I took them out to see how close they were to being finished... and they were done. Like, perfectly juicy done. So I took them out, and they sat there while the side dish took its 25 minutes to cook. *facepalm*

The result was actually a quite tasty meal, for all the strum und drang . The Hubs and I like oven-"fried" pork chops, it's a staple, and the spinach/rice bake was actually quite good! The Hubs is kind of finicky, and he had seconds! SUCCESS. My only modifications are to add a little garlic powder and parmesan cheese, and mix salt and pepper in before I bake. It's not BLAND, but a little salt and pepper over the top gave it a little something more, if that makes sense. It probably doesn't, I do that a lot.

The main lesson to take from this is to READ THE DIRECTIONS ON THE DAMN RICE PILAF MIX, and to take the chops off the hot baking pan if they finish before the rest... they dried out a LITTLE bit from waiting around for the stupid side dish. It's not the end of the world, obviously, if anything I wrote about it because even when I break my bad habits (not reading recipe instructions before cooking), I still somehow manage to mess it up. The name of this blog isn't merely to appear clever. ;p

What Works for Me: Good Food FAST at home

As crazy as I am for the holidays, I figured this blog could use a "palate cleanser" post; even I get tired of talking about decorations. (Not THAT tired, but tired enough to discuss something else for one post.)

This'll be a short post, too ('cuz lord knows, I can TALK/WRITE for days). The inspiration last night was realizing that I have a small arsenal of recipes that I cook when I'm too tired to cook but also want something that's homemade-tasting and cheaper than take-out.

I wanted to post them, as well as other resources/ideas for emergency meals, because a purpose for this blog is to share what helpful tips I've learned for others who might not be as good at the art of housewifery, like myself for the most part. I'm all about education, people, even on my blog.

So here is a list of my quick-n-tasty meals that take literally 15 minutes to cook. Seriously!

• Pesto Ravioli and Italian Sausage -  Frozen cheese ravioli, pre-made pesto, and turkey Italian sausage (we prefer the spicy version). The sausage takes 8 minutes on the Foreman grill, and I boil the water for the ravioli while the grill warms up. I'll also throw in some frozen veggies from Trader Joe's, like their cauliflower/romanesco combo that comes with a garlic butter sauce; I nuke my servings in the microwave for about 4-5 minutes, covered with some cling-wrap (but not touching the food). 
• Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese - I use Trader Joe's carton of tomato soup, 'cuz we like it and it doesn't taste as ketchup-y as the condensed stuff. Sometimes we eat it as is, but I'll vary it up by adding in some drained canned cannelini beans, a single Italian sausage (meat taken out of the casing and browned), and fresh baby spinach at the end and some parmesan cheese. As the soup warms up over medium heat (when it starts to bubble, I switch to low), I do my grilled cheese mise en place (thanks, "Top Chef", for helping me make grilled cheese sound pretentious!). I butter the bread (I sprinkle garlic powder over the buttered bread and spread it a little with my butter knife) and pre-set the cheeses I'm using. If you like American cheese (which I do sometimes, for the melty factor), I suggest prepping the cheese leaving one side of the cheese wrapper attached, then alternating the unwrapped slices so they're easy to grab. I pre-prep the sandwiches because once the first sandwich is done, the other sandwiches grill SUPER-FAST.
  
  A sandwich variation I like for feeling fancy is to make a butter compound with parmesan cheese and garlic powder for the outside, then fill the middle with proscuitto and mozzarella. Mmmm. 
• COUSCOUS! Couscous is the wonder side dish. You literally have to just boil water! For flavor, I boil the couscous in chicken or vegetable broth, and mix in butter and a garlic seasoning mix from McCormick. I'll either mix in chopped pre-cooked chicken if I have it, or turkey Italian Sausage or chicken apple sausage (which The Hubs loves). 
• The reason I use sausage so much, aside from it's freakin' delicious, is that it works well for me as an emergency protein. The Hubs is a devout meat-eater, and he likes sausage, plus if I forget to take meat out from the freezer the night before for dinner, it only takes about a half-hour to defrost in a cold water bath, which makes it SO convenient.
• "Wonton" Soup - I put "wontons" in quotation marks because it's not authentic wontons; I use frozen potstickers (the chicken ones from Trader Joe's - why yes, I AM obsessed with that store!). It's SO GOOD, though, seriously. Bring 32 oz. of chicken broth to a boil, then turn it down to medium-low; add the potstickers and Asian-style veggies to your liking (I use frozen shelled edamame, chopped baby bok choy, water chestnuts, and carrots shreds), and some frozen shrimp. Watch the shrimp - you don't want them overcooking, and they'll defrost & cook FAST in the hot broth. I also add soy sauce, minced garlic, ground ginger (go easy if you're not a ginger fan - I only add about 1/4 tsp.) and a little hot pepper flakes and sesame oil to the broth, sorry, forgot to mention that! (Go slow with the soy sauce - you can always add more later, you don't want it TOO salty!)

Some other helpful links:  YourNutritionista has 3 easy microwave meals (and other recipes, if you check out her "Easy Dinners" section); The Noodle Soup Oracle (which has some damned randomly fabulous-sounding ideas, mmmm); My Fridge Food lets you enter what you have on hand, then provides recipes!

Hopefully these are some helpful, easy recipes! I like them because they use pre-made stuff which saves times, but they come together to create what feels like a full meal. Plus it lets me be lazy, and if I'm being honest, I'm ALWAYS going to choose the lazy route, but it saves us money and The Hubs still thinks I'm cooking. ;p

If you have any similar "quick and easy" meals like these, let me know! I love getting new recipes!

The Holiday Trinity: Turkey Day Wrap-Up!

I have so much to say, and yet it feels like any more discussion of a holiday that was over half a week ago is unnecessary for everyone else while still relevant for ME, since MY version of the holiday just happened last night.

So rather than do a long recap (which is only interesting to ME, let's face it), let's just do a list. Who doesn't like a list!

Successes:

• Despite falling a half-hour behind my self-made schedule, the food was on the table and (mostly) warm at the "scheduled" time. 
• Turkey skin was brown AND the meat stayed juicy! 
• The Hubs was on FI-YAH; Once all the cooking was done, I poured myself a "ghetto pour" glass of wine and relaxed; he was on the dishes like white on rice, we have barely anything to clean up! Such a great guy. 
• Everyone said the food was great (or were at least nice enough to lie).
• My centerpiece was gorgeous and we had a lovely table setting. Of course, I'm so caught up in hosting that I never end up taking a proper picture, but I took a pic of the centerpiece during the "aftermath":

Et Voila.

Failures:

• My first time making gravy was a big fat fail. Well, there was a brownish liquid that looked kind of like gravy and tasted kind of like gravy, but it was bland and watery. Going to have to find an easier recipe for next time. 
• My mashed potatoes tasted delicious, but my biggest pot could only hold half of the potatoes at a time, so the first batch of boiled potatoes kind of refused to truly "mash", so they were REALLY lumpy. Cooked through, but the starch just wouldn't let me break them down completely. (They still tasted great, but they just taste BETTER when they're smooth.)
• The corn-casserole-in-the-crockpot burned all around the edges. Luckily, the middle was delicious and the exact texture I wanted, but it kind of halved the final output. Still, I put it in a separate dish and no one knew, so it only bugged me. 
• I made way too much food, as usual. But that's ok, 'cuz there's LEFTOVERS!

Using that last "fail" as a brilliant segue, here's what I'm doing with my LEFTOVERS!
~ Making THE ULTIMATE LEFTOVER SAMMICH.It turned out REALLY good, and it's REALLY rich. I loved it on the biscuits - and you'd think the cranberry sauce would be weird, but it's actually a perfect touch of sweet (if you spread it on thin). BTW, that's MY article I'm linking to.
~ leftover cranberry sauce was mixed with chili sauce (found near the cocktail sauce) and a good-sized spoonful of garlic-chili paste and poured over frozen meatballs for one of The Hubs' fave dinner/snacks for dinner tonight.

Plus I just eat the leftovers as is. I've come to realize that I actually CAN keep eating the same meal if I find it to be really tasty and I have a "palate cleanser" meal in-between; e.g., if I had Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner, I'll be happy to eat some for lunch or dinner again as long as I had something different in between the last time I had leftovers. I know, I'm weird.

I know this is WAY late, but I just got out of a depression episode (nothing major, just couldn't fight off the "Mean Reds" for a week), and now I'm in the thick of Christmas prep, which will be posted VERY soon! YAY THE HOLIDAYS!

The Holiday Trinity: Turkey Day Menu!

The cool thing about Thanksgiving, IMHO, is that it's a basic menu that most people follow, but there's room for individual twists and spins. I loooove reading housewifery magazines to see what variations they offer for recipes, but I'll admit that my own menu is fairly traditional because, well, I like the traditional stuff, and The Hubs is finicky so I don't even have that much room or point for variety. Seriously, of my menu, The Hubs will most likely stick to turkey, a little stuffing, and lots of mashed potatoes with gravy. That's IT. Sheesh. (Though in his defense, he loves my step-grandma's food, which is where we will eat on actual Thanksgiving - he chows down on her cornbread dressing and greens, and hell, I don't even like greens.)

So since I enjoy seeing what the possibilities are from other people, I figured it was only fair to share my menu and my version of the recipes. Hopefully this is helpful, and makes you hungry for Thursday!


Wondering where the rest of the meal is? I'm asking my in-laws to bring a dessert and my cousins to bring an appetizer, so all I have to worry about is the main meal and the drinks (which we already have leftover unopened bottles of wine, beer, so all we need is soda). I'm picking up a can of mixed nuts, too, so there's something to nosh on if people arrive hungry.

What Works For Me: "Two-fer" freezer meals

A Home-making post? On a blog that claims to be about housewifery? That even calls itself "Hot Mess HOUSEWIFE"?!? Blasphemy!

I'm just as shocked as you are.

I will never claim to be a master chef, 'cuz I'm NOT. I can cook, though. The Hubs even admits that one of the things that "sealed the deal" for him was that I can cook as well as, if not occasionally better than, his mom. And she has some tasty dishes in her arsenal. (My MIL even claims that I roasted the best turkey she's ever tasted! THAT was a huge compliment.) I'm not quite at the point where I can make my own recipes, but I alter a lot of them to my own needs, and generally improve them. I think I'm getting to the point where I should just stop being a big weenie and give it a shot.

But that's not the point of this post. The point of this is to "pass it on", in the sense that I love reading "housewifery" blogs because they are full of great tips and recipes. I hoard recipes - if they did an "internet Hoarders" special, I'd probably get an intervention and take up most of the hour. But yeah, so I figure I should share what strategies work for me - like I do with recipes, I've mixed and molded ideas to figure out what works for me. I've gotten my rhythm in some areas, but I'm still playing around in others.

One area I've found my rhythm is the feeding of our tiny family, for the most part. Yes, there was a 2-week gap between meal plans recently, if you noticed my meal plan side-bar not changing... it's been crazy around here, schedule-wise. I'm working as a temp, and my current position requires a nearly 2-hour commute each way. I'm compensated quite nicely for it, but it's EXHAUSTING. The job is off and on - over the summer, it averaged about one week "on" every 3 weeks, but it's picked up lately to where I'm working every week, and almost every other week is a commuting week (the rest of the time is local). So as it started happening more frequently, I started seeking out and cooking more recipes that could freeze well. The Hubs and I would eat one serving, and any leftovers were wrapped up tight and thrown in the freezer.

Now, as long as I remember to take the food out of the freezer the night before, I can come home, microwave the food for 10 minutes, and have a hot home-cooked meal that is instantly comforting. Plus The Hubs is happily fed and we aren't wasting money on fast food.

Some of my favorite meals to cook now and freeze for later:
Enchilada Casserole
Slow-Cooker Creamy Italian Chicken
Chili (I don't have a link for the recipe, it's my friend's recipe)
Taco Soup (I prefer it without the tomatoes, and I add black beans)

Also, I like to freeze the components that mix to make great meals, like my Burrito Bowls (shown below). They are DELICIOUS, and cheaper to make than to buy at Chipotle!

Carnitas Burrito Bowl (like "Chipotle"!)
To cook:
Cilantro-lime rice (recipe)
Black beans (canned or cooked from dried - I'm lazy, I use canned), warmed in their "juice" in a sauce pan.
Carnitas (recipe below)

Layer the rice, beans, and carnitas into a bowl. Add toppings like cheese, sour cream, salsa, etc. Nom the S*** out of it, it's freakin' delicious.


My carnitas recipe (modified from various other recipes) - if you're cooking for a small family, this recipe halves easily and works just as well!
- 4-5 lbs. Pork shoulder or Pork roast (I prefer pork shoulder, but pork roast is less fatty)
- 2 tsps. cumin

- 2 tsps. garlic powder
- 2 tsps.salt
- 3 cups beef broth

Cut your pork into huge chunks (about 2"x2" at the biggest). Mix up all the spices and rub the pork chunks with the spice mixture.

Pour the beef broth into a 4-quart (or bigger!) slow-cooker. Lower the chunks into the broth, cover, and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours. (I've done high with no problems, but my slow-cooker cooks a little fast.)

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F towards the end of your cooking time. Once the pork chunks are done, take them out of the broth and shred them however you prefer. (I use two forks, old-school.) As meat's shredded, put it back in the broth so it stays juicy. With all your meat shredded, put it in a baking pan, spread out, and spoon some more broth on the meat. The meat should be wet, but it SHOULDN'T be swimming in broth. Place the pan in the oven and let it cook for 15-25 minutes; this crisps the meat up a little and enriches the flavor of the meat. (You can skip this step if you want, but the carnitas taste AMAZING after you bake 'em for a little!)

To Freeze:

- Rice - Let the rice cool to at least lukewarm. I put it in plastic zipper sandwich bags, about 2 cups per bag.
- Beans - again, let cool to lukewarm, and put it in plastic zipper sandwich bags, about 1 cup per bag (or one big bag if you're not doing individual servings), with some of the "bean juice" from the can.

- Carnitas - 3rd verse, same as the first! Let them cool to "warm" temperature, baggie it up - only change is to ADD SOME MORE BROTH. It'll help the carnitas stay juicy when you warm them up later.



To Reheat:
- The night before, put beans and carnitas in fridge. LEAVE THE RICE FROZEN UNTIL ABOUT TO EAT.
- Warm up the rice in the bag for about 30 seconds, just to make it more pliable, then transfer to a bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap (making sure it's not touching the food). Nuke 2 more minutes, stirring once. Add defrosted beans, warm covered 1 more minute.
- Warm up carnitas w/ liquid in another bowl for 1-1:30 minutes, covered in plastic wrap. Top rice and beans with carnitas, and add desired toppings like the first time.


TA-DA! Delicious dinner that lasts for two meals!

Packin' a Picnic

Yay, it's summer! I'm officially out of work (as in, the school year is done and my job has ended), and my first week off has been FAN-FLIPPIN'-TASTIC. Oh man. I know I should be stressed being unemployed and all, but, um, I'm not. I'm too bitter about the teaching market right now to be upset (plus we have $ to get through the summer, which also helps with the stress). So instead I'm going to enjoy my summer (while job-hunting, naturally), and take advantage of the time to just enjoy my life and improve it where needed.

Of course, while we're financially secure through the summer, that doesn't mean we can go crazy when it comes to entertainment. So The Hubs and I are trying to find as much free/cheap entertainment as possible. LUCKILY, we live in the suburbs of a decently-sized city, so there are some decent options that we can do on the cheap.

This week, I checked the local park districts websites to see if there were any good free options coming up. Turns out, a nearby park was putting on a free concert, so I thought it'd be fun to pack a picnic and watch the show! The Hubs agreed once I figured out a tasty menu. ;D

The fun part for me was dining al fresco and packing my first ever picnic! (Not going on my first picnic, my first time MAKING the picnic.) The concert ended up being ok; we only stayed about 1.5 hours because sitting on the ground made our backs hurt. We'll need to invest in some folding lawn chairs.

Food all packed and ready to go! (The basket: Free! A student used it and never picked it up, haha - I gave him the whole school year!)

 

The menu (of DELICIOUSNESS): Roast Beef wraps, Pasta Salad (recipe below), Strawberries, Blondies. I also pulled a total "college"-style move to sneak in booze by drinking part of a bottle of cranberry juice and filling it back up with vodka. Hehe. (Turns out there was no need to hide it, there were people drinking wine and beer all over the park!)

The band, called "Lucky Dogs". They played mainly classic rock covers, which was nice.

Kids dancing and enjoying the show

It was a really nice night, and a great park! I'm going to keep my eye on the park's website in hopes they'll be putting on more evening events!

Oh, and the pasta salad was homemade, here's the super-easy recipe: Boil 12 oz. of spiral pasta, drain and rinse until cool. Chop up some salami (the stick, not the slices) and mozzarella stick cheese into bite-size pieces (I used two sticks and about 4 oz of the salami). Add whatever veggies float your boat (I used canned artichoke hearts, quartered, and sliced black olives - drained both before adding). Mix in 1 cup of Italian dressing (I used store-brand "Zesty Italian", and it was DELISH). Let it chill in fridge for at least 4 hours! It was REALLY tasty.