Farewell… July 29, 2010

Hello loves!  I just wanted to stop in to say I will be abandoning blogland until probably  Monday.  Wayne and I are leaving for a whirlwind of a weekend tomorrow… at 2 AM.  Yes friends, you read correctly, I said 2 AM… meaning in approximately 6 hours.  We will be heading back to MI for Wayne’s cousin’s wedding.  Unfortunately, we will be leaving our little SON home alone for the weekend, hence why the trip will be so short.  So while you’re all dreaming of lollipops and cupcakes tonight, we will be beginning our 11-12 hour drive to the homeland (sort of).  And keep your fingers crossed that nothing comes up along the way, since we’ll be cutting it pretty close to make it to the rehearsal on time!  Eeek!  We’ll be back on Sunday, and until then, I bid thee all farewell!  🙂

Who lives in a pineapple… July 26, 2010

Today I give you breakfast, lunch, and dinner!  Aren’t you excited?  I haven’t done a post like this in awhile, I think…? 

We shall start with breakfast, obviously.  I’ve been eating oatmeal and oatmeal pancakes for awhile, but today I decided I wanted eggs.  This is 1 egg + 1/4 cup whites, topped with a trio of amazing (salsa, sour cream, and TJ’s spicy black bean dip), and toast on the side.

Lunch was equally as yummy:  leftover corn chowder (tasted even better today!) and strawberries with cottage cheese on the side.

Then disaster struck 😦 Once I finished my soup, I was sitting there with the soup bowl on my lap, holding the strawberry bowl…. and I dropped it… into the soup bowl.  This is what happened…

Mom, I wish you didn’t have to see that.  I am going to try and glue it back together because, as you can see, it pretty much broke in half, and there are 2 smaller pieces underneath the cottage cheese.  *Sigh*

Onward to dinner.  I took inspiration again from my Cooking Light magazine (July 2010 issue) for this FAN-freaking-TASTIC salad. 

I won’t post the whole recipe here because it’s just a salad.  I say put whatever you want in a salad!  Just note though, this combination was EXCELLENT.  🙂  It had:

• Romaine lettuce
• Red onions
• Red bell peppers
• Cilantro
• Fresh pineapple
• Feta cheese
• Sauteed chicken, seasoned with chili powder, salt and grill seasoning

The dressing is what really made this salad foodgasmic.  I followed the recipe from Cooking Light pretty much exactly…

Spicy Pineapple Dressing

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces fresh pineapple, cubed (about 1/2 – 3/4 cup)
• 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro (I used more because I LOVE it.)
• 2 Tbsp fresh orange juice
• 4 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp habanero pepper, minced (I used 1/2 of a teeny pepper and it was perfect.)
• 1 large garlic clove
• I added some sea salt too
• 1/4 cup EVOO (I used 1/8 cup, or 2 tbsp)

Instructions:

• Place all ingredients except oil into a blender and process until smooth.
• Add the oil and process until well blended.

The dressing is green, you can see it in the lower left corner of the picture above, on top of that piece of lettuce.  I could drink this dressing, it was SO GOOD.  The heat is definitely there in the background and pairs perfectly with the sweet pineapple and fresh cilantro.  I will definitely be making this again, and I recommend you do too!!

Corny July 25, 2010

Hi, lovely people!  I failed at cooking much of anything this weekend.  We ate out much more than usual, including Mexican, Subway, Old Chicago, and Panera.  Eeek.  I also managed to get myself a nice chest sunburn at the lake.  Other than that, it’s been a pretty uneventful weekend.  After finally getting groceries, I whipped up a little chowda for dinner.

Summer Squash and Corn Chowder
Altered from recipe in Cooking Light, August 2010 issue

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 slices bacon (I used 4 slices chopped turkey bacon)
• 3/4 cup green onions, sliced, divided
• 1/4 cup celery, chopped
• 1 pound summer squash, chopped (about 2 medium squashes)
• 1 pound frozen corn, thawed, divided (I used 4 ears of corn, cut off the cobs)
• 2 1/4 cups milk (I used skim)
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped (I used a couple dashes of dried thyme)
• 1/2 + 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• I also added some garlic powder and a pinch of cayenne pepper.
• shredded, extra-sharp cheddar cheese for topping

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cook bacon in large soup pot, then add summer squash, 1/2 cup of green onions, and celery to the pan.  Cook until softened, about 8 minutes.
2. Reserve 1 cup corn, set aside.  In a blender, put 1 cup of the milk and the remainder of the corn.  Puree until well blended.  Add remaining 1 1/4 cup milk, 1/2 tsp salt, pepper, and thyme.  Blend until just combined. 
3. Add pureed mixture, 1/8 tsp salt, and the 1 cup of corn to the pan.  Simmer until heated through, stirring frequently. 
4. Top individual servings with reserved green onions and cheese (and hot sauce!).  Makes 4 servings.

Shrimpies and Randoms July 22, 2010

Hello, lovely people!  I’m still up to my ears in wedding projects today.  Well, I guess now I would say I’m up to my… waist?  It’s been frustrating at times, but for the most part, all my projects are turning out well and I can’t wait for little sister to see everything 🙂  So anyway, the other day I totally got lost in Super Target while shopping for components for said projects.  I literally had to stop in the middle of an aisle and think to myself “Which Target am I in?” and “What did I even come in here for?”  That’s what happens when I don’t have a list.  Two hours later, I emerged with many things for my sister, but also:  a cute tank top for myself, a clearance tankini top, cute metallic ballet flats, this awesome nail polish…

Kinda mango-y, no?

and this new-to-me Sabra.  I almost did a little “Squeeeee!” in the aisle because I was so excited about finding it.  It was delicious and seriously rivaled my beloved Greek Olive.  It was gone in less than 48 hours.

Also, have I told you about my recent obsession with cherries?  Gotta love in-season fruit. 

That brings us to tonight’s dinner.  I find myself, once again, in a state of minimal groceries, so I had to get pretty creative tonight. 

• I took some cooked shrimp (about 1/2 pound) from the freezer, thawed them out, and took the tails off. 
• Then I sauteed onions and garlic in a dab of EVOO till they were nice and brown, then stirred in the last of a jar of salsa, the last of a jar of plain spaghetti sauce (about 1/2 jar), and some water.  I seasoned it up with garlic powder and lots of Frank’s hot sauce and let it simmer for awhile while my brown rice and broccoli cooked. 
• Just before serving, I stirred in the shrimp and let them heat through.   

This meal was ridiculously easy, surprisingly tasty, and 100% from the “pantry!”

Hump Day July 21, 2010

Happy Wednesday, everyone!  I’ve been up to my ears in wedding projects for my sister.  I fully plan on blogging about all my little projects eventually, but not now since there’s a 0.1% chance that she reads my blog.  Anyway, I have some food for you all to look at.  Ready?  Mmmkay, here goes… 

~~~

Below you will see possibly the best salad I’ve ever had.  It contained:  Romaine, leftover corn on the cob, leftover reheated steak, avocado, snap peas, cucumbers, lemon juice and BBQ sauce.  So freaking good.  

This was a lovely little dinner I whipped up that same day.  First I made some couscous and sauteed up a big chicken breast that I diced and seasoned.  Then I stirred some salsa, seasonings, leftover corn on the cob, red bell peppers, and snap peas into the couscous.  Lastly, I topped it with cucumbers, avocado, feta and hot sauce.  Very easy and very tasty! 

Here’s last night’s dinner… mini turkey meatloaves (turkey, minced onions, salsa, bread crumbs, garlic powder, salt), garlic bread, and veggies with hummus.

This little gem was my breakfast this morning.  I was inspired by a tweet from Miranda to make some blueberry softserve.  So on top of my plain oatmeal with peanut butter, I put a big blob of creamy blueberries and bananas!  Yep, it’s just frozen bluberries with a couple frozen banana slices… all processed in the food processor.  Delicious.  

Lastly, it’s our first tomato harvest!!  Haha, I have been babying our little tomato plant for MONTHS now, and it has finally given us something!  We will be enjoying these in a big salad tonight… I hope they’re good!

Camera unload July 19, 2010

Hello all!  How was your weekend?  Mine was relaxed and included a trip to the lake, a trip to the theatre to see Inception, work on some maid-of-honor projects, and an awkward grilled steak dinner.  I don’t really have an organized flow of pictures, so I’m basically gonna just unload my camera here, K? 

Delicious lunch of amazing fruits and veggies… white fleshed peach (no, I don’t eat the fuzzy skin, eww), whole mango (couldn’t eat it all though), snap peas, cukes and Sabra classic hummus.

Tasty post-lake dinner… best mixture of fruit ever (mango, peach, blueberries, strawberries), deli turkey, and random pasta salad (whole wheat pasta, banana peppers, cukes, pickles, red peppers, onions, light mayo, banana pepper juice [secret ingredient!], Salad Supreme seasoning, salt and pepper). 

Previously-mentioned awkward grilled steak dinner.  I say awkward because we went down to the apartment pavillion to grill the steaks, and we may have used someone’s personal grill that was sitting down there.  Not a big deal, except that once our coals were well on their way to getting white, an overly-tanned dude in a wifebeater came down to let us know he would be coming back shortly to use his grill. 

Son kept trying to run away with my corn cob…

After dinner cocktail… Skinny Girl Margarita… how I love your measley 37.5 calories!

Lastly, oatmeal is back in my life.  I’ve been eating it every day for like the past week or so.

That’s all for now, cupcakes!

Grocery Strike July 15, 2010

Hello, friends.  I have random eats for you today.  I’ll start with last night’s dinner.  I’ve kinda been on grocery strike all week (aka, I just didn’t feel like going shopping).  All I had in the fresh produce department were 3 zucchinis from the farmer’s market that needed to be used up.  I sent out a plea via Twitter for ideas, and my blog friend Jill gave me the great idea of making zucchini noodles.  All you do is scrape the zucchini with a potato peeler to get long “noodles.”  Once you hit the seeds, you stop.  Now I need an idea of what to do with the zucchini inards!  Paired with some ground turkey, onions, jarred spaghetti sauce, and freshly grated parmesan cheese (secret ingredient!), this was a pretty darn decent meal! 

So breakfast this morning was equally as creative since we had no bread, no milk, or fresh fruit.  I came up with oatmeal (made with water and leftover evaporated milk from Wayne’s bday cake!) topped with banana soft serve and PB.  Wowwww, this was really good!  The temperature contrast reminded me of that ice cream topped brownie dessert you see in restaurants everywhere.  I will definitely be eating this again. 

This little man joined me while I ate breakfast in my PJs…

Lunch was the most pathetic of all… canned soup!  I didn’t photograph it for obvious reasons.  Blech.  I finally got my butt to the store after lunch.  I didn’t have a list or any meals planned… just wandered and picked stuff that looked good.  I never do this, so it was a little anxiety-producing and I kind of feel like I got $100 worth of what??  Anyway, I decided on simple wraps for dinner.  I would say at least 50% of what I bought was produce, so I will be eating stuff like this for awhile. 

On the side are blueberries and snap peas.  The wrap, from bottom to top has: 

• Sabra Classic Hummus
• Yellow tomato slices
• Cucumber slices
• BBQ sauce
• my first ever Sriracha <—-Holy tongue-burning
• Chicken
• Red bell peppers

That’s all for today, everyone!  I’m off to watch SYTYCD and nurse the pounding, splitting headache I’ve had all day.  So far, I’ve tried:  taking my contacts out, drinking a jug of water, taking a nap, laying down, and now I’m drinking a Diet Coke for a little caffiene (I didn’t have my coffee this morning).  Nothing is working.  I know I should just take some Advil… but eh.  What do you do to remedy a headache?

Wayne’s Birthday Re-cap July 13, 2010

Well it’s finally over… Wayne’s birthday weekend!  haha.  Yesterday was his actual birthday, and we decided to go to an amusement/water park for the day. 

This place was definitely Cedar Point ‘s little brother, but it was fun nonetheless!

Favorite ride of the day… Power Tower!  This place had many rides identical to those at Cedar Point.  Apparently, Cedar Point and ValleyFair are owned by the same company.  <—Just a fun fact for you 🙂

First sugary purchase of the day… an atomic green, highly disturbing, green apple Jolly Rancher slushy.  The picture really does not do it justice in terms of the color.  It was blinding.  I had a couple sips, and yep, spot-on liquid Jolly Rancher.

After riding the rides, we went back to the car to have a little lunch and get our gear for the water park.  I packed sandwiches, carrot sticks, chips, water, and Nutty Bars (*gasp!*). 

I left the camera in the car for the rest of the day, so just imagine your typical, extremely packed water park 🙂  On the way back to the car at the end of the day, we may have purchased some cotton candy to eat on the way home.  Here’s the photographic proof…

Awhile after we got home, it was time for Wayne’s birthday dinner.  He really wanted his grandma’s German Potato Salad, and he even called his Aunt (who lives with grandma) for the recipe.  I made this the day before since he said it tastes better the next day.  Coincidentally, we bought almost everything we needed for this salad at the farmer’s market!  I just had to go out and buy the bacon.   

Grandma Betty’s German Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• 8-9 potatoes, boiled, peeled and chopped
• 2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 lb bacon, chopped and cooked until crisp, 2 Tbsp grease reserved (I used 12 oz. turkey bacon which did not yield any measurable grease.)
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• cornstarch + water slurry (I would estimate 1/4 cornstarch + 1/4 cup water)

Instructions:

1. Soak the onions and cucumbers in a bowl of salt water while the potatoes are boiling and you are preparing the rest of the ingredients.  (I’m not sure what the purpose of this step is… perhaps to take the strong onion flavor away?)
2. Once the potatoes and bacon are done, combine them in a large bowl and set aside.
3. In the same pan you cooked the bacon, add the vinegar, water, sugar, and reserved bacon grease.  Bring to a boil, then add some of the cornstarch slurry, using a whisk to mix it quickly and avoid lumps.  Keep adding the slurry until the sauce reaches a consistency just shy of gravy. 
4. Remove sauce from heat and let cool slightly for a few minutes.  Drain and rinse the cucumbers and onions.
5. Add the sauce, cucumbers, and onions to the potato/bacon mixture and combine everything gently. 
6. Season with salt and pepper if desired.  Salad can be served warm or cold. 

As with every year I’ve been with Wayne, he requested his favorite cake… German Chocolate of course!  I usually just make the boxed mix (*another gasp*), but this year I wanted to try a homemade version.  I used the recipe HERE, halved it, and ended up with a 9×9 cake.  This cake was very dense, almost like a brownie actually.  I think that’s because I refrigerated it, though.  We left it out on the counter last night, and Wayne said it tasted MUCH better at room temp today. 

Lastly, here’s the birthday boy… aww, ain’t he cute?  (Please excuse that pile of junk behind him!)  Bonus points if you can find my son in the picture  🙂

Sassy Saturday July 10, 2010

Hello, lovepies!  I’m feeling a little more in the bloggy spirit today, so I thought I’d share my Saturday with you.  We started out this lovely Saturday at the Farmer’s Market and came home with these green and yellow goodies.

• Cucumbers (No, I’m not making pickles out of them, although I’d like to!)
• Zucchini
• Onions
• Yellow beans
• Potatoes

Then we went to the mall to return some things.  I also had to talk to a jeweler about my wedding rings.  I’ve developed some sort of allergy (likely to the nickel), and I’ve been unable to wear my rings for a couple weeks months now.  Hopefully having the rhodium plating re-done will help, at least for awhile 😦  I won’t have my rings back till Wednesday!  Booo.  Our day continued with lunch at where else but B-Dubs (Buffalo Wild Wings).  Since it’s Wayne’s birthday weekend, that’s where he wanted to go!  Sorry, no pictures, but I had the blackened chicken salad, yuh-um.  After that, Wayne decided he wanted to go golfing.  I don’t golf, but somehow he convinced me to come ride along in the golf cart. 

Tall man, short club

I had to break into my purse stash of almonds around hole 4 or so, hehe. 

After that, we stopped at the liquor store, and I saw the new Skinny Girl Margarita and couldn’t resist.  I have a very good friend who I know is laughing at me right now if she’s reading… *Kelsey, where you at?!* 

This stuff is made with tequila and agave nectar, so it’s ready to drink straight out of the bottle.  I poured it over ice, took a sip, and holy crap it’s strong!  I added a little more agave to it, and that helped a lot.  It’s actually pretty good, and I would buy it again.  So, remember that Papa Murphy’s pizza from last weekend?  Well, the coupon we had was for TWO pizzas, and guess what Wayney-pie wanted for dinner?

Overall, we’ve had a very nice and relaxing Saturday.  Tomorrow shall consist of more sassy, laid back activities, and Monday (Wayne’s actual birthday) may even contain a visit to an amusement park, weeeee!  Hope you all are having a nice weekend 🙂  Toodles for now.

Freezer fun July 9, 2010

Well, I’ve done it again.  I’ve left you postless for two days.  First, I will give you the excuses… Wayne was gone on business and I’ve been eating boring leftovers and salads, therefore providing no decent blog material.  Now I will give you the real reason… I’ve been feeling less than inspired about blogging lately.  I guess you could call it a rut.  I don’t really want to post meal-by-meal, but I don’t really have any good dinner recipes for “stand alone” posts either.  Meal planning has just been painfully excrutiating lately.  Coming up with dinners every week just seems like an impossible task.  I need a change or some food inspiration or a new cookbook or something!  Anyway, while I sulk, I decided to jazz up a post I’ve had saved in my drafts for like two months.  This is Wayne’s birthday weekend, so posting will probably continue to be irregular.  For now, I will leave you with a fun freezer tour!

*****

A lot of time, I find that I have a lot of extra sauces and ingredients in the fridge.  Instead of letting them sit there forever, then eventually having to throw them away, freezing is always a good option.  I mean, what do you do with that half jar of leftover pizza sauce or 2/3 of a can of tomato paste?  I’ve used lots of different methods to freeze stuff… here are a few…

1.  Here, I lined small containers with plastic wrap and poured 1/4 cup of leftover pizza sauce into each one.  Then I froze them, pulled the sauce out of the container, and put the “cubes” into a freezer bag.  These would be perfect for individual pita pizzas. 

2.  Here, I poured extra enchilada sauce into an ice cube tray, froze it, and popped them into a freezer bag.  Now I don’t have to open a new can next time I want a random burrito! 

3.  With the tomato paste, I placed individual tablespoons onto a small, lined baking sheet.  Then I froze them until they were solid, wrapped each one in plastic wrap, and put them in a freezer bag.  Next time a recipe calls for “1 Tbsp of tomato paste,” all I have to do is pull one out!   

4.  I did pretty much the same thing here with leftover chipotle in adobo.  First, I chopped up the actual peppers and then put teaspoonfulls onto a lined baking sheet.  I froze them, then put them into the freezer bag.  The little container is just the leftover adobo sauce without any chunks of peppers.  I’ve dipped into this bag many times since a teaspoon of this stuff goes a long way.  I love how one can of chipotle in adobo can last forever this way. 

I also like to freeze leftover food when I make large amounts of it.  This is individually wrapped portions of Southwest Shepherd’s Pie.  These pieces reheat very well and are perfect for those days when the grocery supply is low.  I always label the bags with the contents, date, and calories if possible.  

Frozen fruit is something I always try to keep on hand.  Whenever I have leftover bananas or bananas that are ripening too fast, I slice them up and add them to the banana bag.  These are great for smoothies, banana soft serve, or just on their own dipped in a little PB.  I don’t bother labelling these because I’m constantly eating them or adding more to the bag.  

More frozen fruit and my favorite Yoplait Smoothie mixes…

And of course you must have some frozen veggies.  I always have at least one bag of frozen broccoli on hand.  Throw it on a baking sheet (frozen) with some seasonings, roast at 400 until browned, and you have the world’s easiest veggie side dish.

Burger collection… perfect for quick lunches or dinners.

And finally, you see Wayne’s small collection of frozen treats.  (The Vita-Tops were mine though!).  Right now, our freezer may or  may not have TWO containers of ice cream in it, and a giant pizza… moderation, right?!

So there you have it, a tour of my freezer.  I hope you enjoyed it! 

Questions:

• What’s the best thing you’ve made and/or eaten in the past week?
• Anything you would like to see more or less of on the blog?
• What’s the best thing in your freezer right now?