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: 

Six Sisters' Stuff

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.

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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. :)

Hosting a party, the HMHW way

So my husband turned another year older! I co-hosted a party to celebrate his breakin' out of his mom's uterus with another friend/ married couple, as J's bday is 2 days before The Hubs', so they wanted to have a joint bday/poker party.

I talked to J's wife, who is renown for her baking, and she offered to cook the sweets - so naturally, I offered to cook the savory. J then invited his family; not a big deal, except J has a huge family, which means the guest list nearly tripled! I now had to cook for a crowd nearing 30 (when the original guest list was around 10-15), which I've never done before. It also meant I had to change my plan of poker munchies (mainly apps) to something that would feed a crowd a good meal. OY.

Guess what? IT CAN BE DONE. In fact, not only can it be done, but it can be done to the point of overkill!

So first order was to change the menu. Luckily, my heritage has given me an affinity and comfort with Mexican food, and most people won't turn down a taco bar - plus it's easier to make a bunch of food that people can mix and match to their heart's desires than set plates, I figured. Not to mention taco fixings are relatively cheap. Once the bday boys approved, I started looking into how to accomplish this. 

The most helpful link I found was this one, which simplified the formula of how to account for how much to have of everything. I figured I didn't want to be a complete cheap jerk, so the bar consisted of refried beans, seasoned ground beef, and pork carnitas for the "fancy" filling. I also had nacho cheese, shredded cheese, salsa, guacamole, lettuce, and tomatoes for everyone to make their tacos as they saw fit. (Well, I say "tacos", but they were more soft tacos or burritos as the option; we also bought a mess of tortilla chips so people could make nachos if they wished.)

The day of, I made the carnitas in slow cookers (7 lbs. worth! OY). I drove to J's house 5+ hours ahead of the party to get the slow cookers cooking, then ran the rest of my errands and got ready for the party back at my place before heading back there 3 hours ahead of the party to get crackin' on the rest of the food. It got a little intense as the party start time grew close, as I was in the home stretch but not quite done with everything yet and started to freak. J's mom, bless her heart, actually stepped in and helped me finish, which I greatly appreciated. I'd say about the time everyone had arrived about 40 minutes into the party, I was done and everything was ready! I was quite proud of myself.

The spread!

Close-up of my toppings set-up: I love that sectioned platter, so classy IMHO

So for all the sturm und drang and stress, it went off fairly seamlessly (externally; internally, I was a basket case that took an hour to calm down OMG I was so stressed in that last hour). The carnitas were a big hit, and most of the guests dug in enthusiastically. I received lots of "it's great!"s from the guests.

Only bad things: 1. I severely underestimated people's love of guacamole and should've made more, and 2. I MADE WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. I figured people would KEEP eating, but everyone had one serving and stopped. We even had leftover carnitas - which everyone claimed was their favorite! Of course, it didn't help that some people ate before they came (?!?), and although most of the guest list showed up, I'd say only 2/3 of the people actually ate.

J and R declined most of the leftovers, of which there were a TON. For the rest of the weekend and the start of the week, The Hubs and I were eating nothing but Mexican food. After 3 days, we still had a TON of food leftover, specifically beans and taco meat, so I made a schnikey-load of burritos to freeze. I made 10 decent-sized burritos! (I used this link as a guideline for how to prep for freezing.) I love Mexican food, but I'm good for another couple weeks on eating anything other than the burritos, which'll be my lunch at work for the next week or two. Thank god I like my own cooking.

All in all, I was REALLY proud of putting this out. It made me confident that I could do a bigger-scale dinner party once we have a place that can accommodate a larger group! (We live in a one-bedroom apt.)

Foodie Friday: RAMEN!

One of the "joys" of being broke lately is that we've bought Ramen as our go-to emergency meal for when we're too tired to cook anything, or we just want some noodles. Aside from feeling like we're back in college, it's kind of fun to see how we can use them.

I'm one of those people for whom food isn't created in shades of gray; Asian foodstuffs stay Asian, Italian food stays Italian, etc. Ramen is clearly in the "Asian" category for me, so when I make it, I have plans surrounding it that are Asian-influenced at least. The neat thing is, though, I've seen posts of people who mix all sorts of different things in it.

My go-to Ramen meal is usually created like so:

• Boil the noodles for about 4 minutes (just long enough to lose toughness, but not back to doughy texture)
• Pull the noodles out of the boiling water and into my bowl
• Sprinkle the seasoning on the damp-but-not-soupy noodles, mix up the noodles.
• Play Picasso with soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and whatever Asian-style condiments I have. I've found I can't go wrong with a good forkful of hoisin, a couple splashes of soy, and sometimes a splash of teriyaki sauce. Maybe a little garlic powder or red pepper flakes, depends. 
• I'll throw in some de-frosted cooked shrimp, also, for protein.

Then it's more like Asian noodles than ramen SOUP... I've never been a fan of making it a soup, don't know why, although now that I'm thinking about it I could always make a Pho-like soup, huh? Heh. 

I learned the take-the-noodles-out-of-the-water trick from a guy friend in college, who made them for me like that; I haven't gone back since. I converted The Hubs to it, too; the downside is that since I'm a cook-by-taste rather than by measuring, I can't ever exactly recreate the same mix or specify what it is I did, so when The Hubs wants Ramen, guess who's stuck making it. Meh.

Anyway, I'm always looking for more ways to mix it up with Ramen, so please feel free to share your favorite ways to make Ramen (or how you used to make it, if you're out of the college mindset unlike myself and The Hubs xD).

Foodie Friday: A meal fit for Don Draper

I hope my husband will like this!

When I posted my "Anti-Hero Housewife" on Monday, I didn't even make the connection how fitting it was, timing-wise. Why so fitting? Because Sunday is the return of one of the MOST FABULOUS, FASCINATING SHOWS EVER.

MAD MEN SEASON 4

Oh yeah. Mad Men is back, ladies. I'm so excited, I'm actually tempted to bust out my 60's-style formal(ish) dress and get myself some pearls for the event. At the very least, I WILL be making a fabulous 60's appropriate meal for the occasion to enjoy while we watch. One plus side of my husband's TV obsession: We have HD, and the AMCHD channel is on East Coast time, even though I live on the West Coast. That means I get to watch the new episode at 7pm! So I get to watch Don Draper in HD 3 hours earlier. I know, I'd hate me too, I understand.

So what's on the menu? Well, it's actually pretty traditional stuff, but I've never tried making it before. I did my research via Food Timeline, and was informed that Swedish Meatballs experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 50's-60's. The Hubs likes them, I like them, and what says 60's more than gravy and buttered noodles? ;D (I was previously considering meatloaf and mashed potatoes, which is even MORE traditional, but the Swedish Meatballs sounds more interesting!) Food Timeline even provides a 1960's version of the recipe! Which is the recipe I'll be using, 'cuz I like to keep it authentic. I'm thinking I might do an Iceberg Wedge salad, too. Again, according to the Food Timeline site, this is how you make it:

"Take one wedge of iceberg lettuce. Open a bottle of dressing and pour. Garnish with a tomato slice. You've got salad, 1960s-style."
---"SALADS WITH SIZZLE; HOW DO YOU DRESS UP A SALAD INTO A MEAL? CHEFS OFFER THEIR SUGGESTIONS," Leslie Kelly, Spokesman Review (Spokane, WA), June 18, 1997, D1"

DONE. Hahahaha. I prefer blue cheese (which is even more authentic), but The Hubs will probably stick to Caesar or something else not-creamy. =)

To drink? Well, MY favorite old-school cocktail is the Gimlet. I recently discovered it at my last birthday, and it is a perfect mix of the sweet girly drinks that I used to enjoy and straight-up booze. I like sweeter stuff, but I'm done with the candy alcohol. Gimlets are PERFECT. Of course, traditionally they are made with Gin, but now the default is vodka. I don't like gin, but I love me some vodka.  Of course, the drink I really associate with Mad Men is scotch or Martinis, but neither The Hubs or I care for either. =)

Sounds delicious and PERFECT for a viewing of "Mad Men". SO EXCITED!

This is TOTES how I would look in the 60's.

Foodie Friday (+1) - And in the morning... I'm making WAFFLES!

If you noticed my Twitter last week, I happily tweeted (twitted? twatted? w/e) that I made waffles for the first time! And no one died! That's what makes it a real accomplishment.

For some reason, I'm always nervous when I try to make something for the first time, it scares me. I don't like to fail (which makes the whole point of this blog rather ironic), so I tend to put it off. Breakfast foods are even more intimidating for some reason - probably because we (The Hubs and I) aren't big breakfast people. BUT I had a ton of blueberries to use up from our failed July 4th breakfast plans, and The Hubs doesn't like eggs so I needed a way to use them up in a way he'd eat them. (In his defense, though, he offered to just eat bacon and sausage for breakfast. *rolls eyes*)

I searched on the Big Oven app I have on my iPhone (it's a 3GS, don't get too jealous), and found a basic waffle recipe that seemed relatively easy. I busted out the waffle iron we received as a wedding gift *cough3yearsagocough*, and got to mixin'. The waffle iron we have is a Cuisinart, and it made the waffle timing stupidity-proof - which means I even figured it out! xD (There's a light that switches from orange when cooking to green when done... I'd let it sit an extra minute to help crisp up the waffles after the green came on.)

The recipe (courtesy of princessfiona on Big Oven.com)
Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, well-beaten
• 1/2 stick butter unsalted, melted (add more for a crispier waffle - I didn't do this, but I might next time!)
• 1 1/2 cups milk

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the waffle iron until it's good and hot.
2. Whisk together the DRY ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together the WET ingredients in a separate bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour in the wet ingredients into the well. Whisk gently... the batter should have a pebbly look when mixed. 
3. At this point, you can add a 1/2 cup of anything you'd like. (I added fresh farmer's market blueberries!)
4. Add about 1/2 cup of batter to the hot iron, close the lid and DO NOT OPEN until the steam has almost stopped (or your light switches to green xD). If not serving immediately, keep warm in a 200-degree F oven. 

 The waffle-cooking line! Whooo!

What I learned:

• I'm going to add a little more than a 1/2 cup of blueberries, or try adding the blueberries to each serving individually, next time. Might even mottle them a bit first, to get more blueberry goodness! I might also add a little vanilla extract next time - I think it'd add a little richness.
•  Try to keep the batter to the middle as much as you can. If they go too much to the left or right, they ooze over. Not that it's a big deal, but it gets messy.
• Oh, and I'm going to try cooking spray next time - these suckers stick like whoa, even when cooked and crispy! I had to pop them off with a spatula, haha.
• These are very tasty, but not very sweet. A great transport for maple syrup - unless you don't like maple syrup, like me. xD Still liked them, though!
• Don't stack them on top of each other while waiting to serve them - they get soggy. Eh heh. (I learn these things for you! So you don't make the screwups I make! Eh heh, yeah, that's the ticket...)
• These freeze BEAUTIFULLY. I layered wax paper between each one in a big ziploc bag, and to use them in my toaster, I just cut 'em in half and pop 'em in. Quick, tasty breakfast! LOVE IT. 

To eat them, we cooked bacon on the Foreman (which makes me feel like a dork (or Michael Scott), but whatever, it worked) and buttered them up. We didn't have maple syrup, but now we have a reason to buy some - 'cuz I can make waffles! WHOOOO!

Foodie Friday: 10-minute-prep meal! Pork Chops and Couscous

That's right, a 10-MINUTE MEAL. SUCK ON THAT, RACHEL RAY!

Ok, cooking-wise it's longer than 10 minutes. In fact, it's actually about 30, heh. BUT the prep-time is really quick, I swear. Basically, I have a mental recipe book of food I can make in about 30 minutes with about a 10-minute prep time, so when I'm not feeling a frozen dinner or we want to avoid fast food, I can whip something up that's quick, easy, and satisfying.

So what's on the menu? Breaded baked pork chops and couscous. Easy, fast, and filling! This week, what with my back being strained again, and being sick of pizza and frozen meals, I wanted something "real food" for dinner, but since The Hubs claims inadequacy in the kitchen, that meant I had to make something that took very little time on my feet so my back wasn't screaming in pain the whole time. Then it dawned on me: One of my "quickie" meals, pork chops and couscous, takes about 10 minutes total of prep time! PERFECT. All I had to do was thaw the meat, then whip up a quick and tasty meal! (BTW, I thaw my meat in the sink with cold water. Takes longer, but I hate risking pre-cooking the meat using the defrost function in the microwave.) And as I suspected, my back barely made a whimper the whole time. Mission accomplished!

Now, keep in mind this is just enough to serve 2 people, as it's just The Hubs and I being fed. Double as needed.

Ingredients:
The Chops
- 2 boneless pork chops, about 3/4" thick
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp thyme

The Cous
- 1 cup water
- 3/4 cup couscous
- 1 cube chicken bouillion (or 1 tsp if using powdered kind)
- 1 tbsp butter (or more, if you feel it's needed)
- 1 tsp garlic salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking tray with aluminum foil, and spray with cooking spray.
2. Rinse pork chops. Mix breadcrumbs with salt, garlic powder, and thyme (optional: If I'm lazy, I'll mix in 1 tsp of powdered Ranch dressing mix - a tasty option!), and then throw the porkchops on the baking tray. Spray top of pork chops with cooking spray (it'll help the breading crisp up!) Cook for 20 minutes, flipping them over at 10 minutes.
3. After flipping the pork chops over at the 10-minute mark, set a small saucepan filled with the 1 cup water to boil (put the lid on it, it'll boil faster!) over medium-high heat. Once the water's boiling, mix in the chicken bouillion and let it dissipate into the water. Once the bouillion's blended in, take the saucepan off the heat (turn off the burner!) and stir in the couscous. Re-cover the saucepan with the lid, and LEAVE IT ALONE for 5 minutes.
4. Once the couscous has sat for 5 minutes, you may start to add seasoning. Stir in the butter and garlic salt. Sprinkle the garlic salt in gradually, tasting as you go; you might need want more or less, depending on your taste. =) Other flavoring ideas: McCormick's "Grill Mates" Roasted Garlic and Onion (I like to sprinkle a little in while the couscous is hot).

That's it! Simple, tasty, filling. I usually throw in some lettuce from a bag o' salad or nuke some frozen veggies to get some veggies in. Bon appetit!