Rough week...

Well this week wasn't one I'd like to repeat but thankfully it is over now.  The meals we had this week were...  well I remember Monday night was cereal for me and oatmeal for my husband.  Tuesday we celebrated an accomplishment by eating out at Chili's.  The best part of that was, to me, it was more tasty than usual.  A nice treat.  Wednesday night we had left over Jambalaya.  Since we were having that I prepared dinner for Thursday night which was veggie pasta salad.

The pasta salad consisted of small penne pasta, Parmesan cheese, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, red onion, carrot, radish, lima beans, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  J liked it okay but thought there was too much pasta, me...  not so much.  it was missing something.  I just don't know.  I think I will try not to go it alone the next attempt I have at a pasta salad.

Tonight we're going meat-free and having frozen fish sticks, potato wedges, and cole slaw we picked up from Publix.  I might attempt to make some cookies tonight.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

The hardest thing about these was trying to get a photo that looked appetising.  The next hardest thing was trying not to eat them so fast.  This recipe was inspired by many I found on the internet.  Non seemed to be exactly as I wanted so here is my version of the Asian Lettuce Wraps.



1 lb of ground turkey
1 head of Iceberg lettuce
1/2 yellow onion cubed
1/2 bunch of scallions sliced small
1/2 cup grated carrot
1 small can diced water chesnuts
1/3 cup of cashew pieces
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce

Gently cut out the core of the head of lettuce and begin to remove the leaves in one piece as best as you can.  These will be like lettuce taco shells.  Wash and dry the leaves gently.

Brown the turkey and mince well.  Drain if necessary.  Set the meat aside and in the same pan on medium heat add all the veggies.  In a small bowl combine the sauces and the ginger.  Pour into the veggie mixture.  Cook for 2 or 3 minutes.  Add cashew pieces and meat.  Cook for another 4 minutes. 

Serve spoon fulls in the lettuce leaves and enjoy. 

You might want to add a spicy sauce to top each one with if you prefer more heat.

Move over Aunt Jemima, Bisquick, what have you...

Here I am posting about breakfast again. I just couldn't keep this from my readers though.  We wanted pancakes to eat with the strawberries I washed & cut up yesterday but I was out of the Whole Foods whole wheat pancake mix.  So I thought, surely there is a recipe for pancakes.  Surely they haven't always come in a box!

I was right.  I did a quick Google search, lo and behold, there it was at the top of the page on Allrecipes.com.  These were called Good Old Fashioned Pancakes.  These were so darn good.  Honestly, why haven't I tried to do it from scratch before.  They were light and fluffy and just so yummy.

I do have to apologize though because we ate them so quickly there are no photos.  I used unbleached all-purpose flour but next time I'm going to try these with whole wheat flour. 

Burgers On Ciabatta Rolls

My husband and I both have depression but usually our depressive moments do not coincide with one another.  Tonight was J's turn and dinner was up in the air for quite some time.  My thought during these moments is what ever can help soothe his soul.  When I finally got him to tell me what he was craving we stopped in to Publix and picked up the things we needed for burgers.  I also picked up some supplies for tomorrow's dinner. 

So for the burgers I bought about a pound of ground round.  I pinched a bit off and made a tiny burger for my dog before I spiced the rest of it up with about 2tbsp of Grill Mates® Mesquite Seasoning.  Then I just grilled the burgers on our panini grill pan.  I cut up a fat tomato, some iceberg lettuce, and avocado to serve on the burgers.  

Since most burger buns are served in packs of 8 or more we opted to get two fresh ciabatta rolls so that we weren't forced to have more bread than we needed in the house.  

For a side we had sweet-potato fries.  Here's a little tidbit you will now learn about me...  I have awful timing in the kitchen.  This time was no different.  The burgers are almost ready and I exclaimed, "Oops I forgot to start the fries!"  Theses were frozen fries so all I had to do was heat up the oven but still.  We were done with our burgers before they were ready.  My husband is a lovely man though.  He did not fuss at me but just enjoyed them once they were ready. 




On the bright side I did do well with breakfast this morning.  I know I don't usually post those meals because it is only the weekends when we are able to eat a nice breakfast.  This morning I served us scrambled eggs with peppers, onions, mushrooms, sausage, and cheese.  I got the timing right here because I started the onions and peppers first!  I guess I don't always screw it up but I do have trouble keeping it in mind. 

D'Acampo's Linguine with garlic, shrimp and spinach

I was feeling particularly lazy tonight so this was a particularly good dish for dinner.  Aside from the time it took to boil the pasta, dinner only took 6 minutes to cook.  You can find the recipe towards the bottom of this link. 

This dish was fresh and light.  We used the parsley from our garden which I have to say I enjoyed more than the last time we used it.  The only change I made was that I had no lemon zest so instead I squirted some lemon juice in the dish.  I don't think it was as tasty as it could've been because of this but what's a girl to do?

Ash Wednesday

Today is a day of fasting and abstaining for me. Our dinner tonight was the leftover lentil stew. To me it was better this time than it was when we first had it. I'm unsure if it was because I had not eaten much today, but it was very satisfying. It actually seemed meaty and made me question if we had put meat in it.

Since I originally posted this I ran across a homesteading site called Organic Gardening and Homesteading.  Here I found this interesting post about lentils. 

"Fortunately, there is a wonderful, healthy, low-cost substitute for that ground beef. Try cooking with the lentil, an often overlooked, under-appreciated member of the legume family. This wonderful little bean can be cooked quickly without pre-soaking (20 minutes generally) and can be used as a substitute for ground beef in tacos, chile and any casserole calling for beef."

Amazing!

Short & sweet tonight. Take care of yourselves. 

Oh what a wonderful husband I have...

J fired up the slow cooker today while I was at work.  We decided that since today is Fat Tuesday we'd have Easy Slow-Cooker Jambalaya for dinner.  So I asked J if it was easy to make and he said it was fundamentally just chopping.  We did mix up the Cajun spice mix last night instead of buying some.  It made a lot but we decided to just store the rest in a jar so we'll have some the next time we go Cajun.  After grinding most of the spices by hand I commented to J that I understood why others cheated and bought the mix.  That was quite a wrist work out. 

So the dinner was tasty but again I think it could've been spicier.  Also we used frozen shrimp and I'm certain fresh would've been a better choice.  The parsley added some nice colour.  One other thing to note is we decided to cook the rice seperately in our steamer and then added it later.  Afterwards we realized that it caused the jambalaya to be more soupy than we wanted.  Still it was filling and tasty. 

It seems lately we've been able to use herbs from our garden and today was no exception because we were able to use some of our parsley.  The thing about parsley is I've always considered it just a decoration or something I'd immediately remove from my plate so I could get down to eating.  So I decided to do a little bit of research on parsley.  Apparently the parsley we have is considered flat leaf parsley.   Also I found out that it is a good companion plant.  I think to myself, "Oh it is a nice house plant to keep someone company?"  Actually this means that it assists in pest control of other plants like tomatoes.  Pretty cool!  Other than that I decided that my previous opinion about parsley remains the same.  It's just decoration.

Garlic Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon

I'm quite certain that me and my husband, J, are the only ones reading this blog but that's okay with me.  The idea was for me to have an audience (real or imagined) to write for which means I have to cook too. 

Tonight was a perfect example of a night that I didn't want to cook at all.  My feet were so achy and on top of that dinner didn't get started until close to 8 pm.  Not really an issue but we go to bed normally around 9 or 10.  The later it got the grouchier I was getting and thinking, "what can we order in?" It is now 9:15 and I have just finished eating my dinner.  I'm happy with that!

So this, Garlic Roast Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon, was another one of Rachel Ray's 30 minute meals.  This truly did take 30 minutes.  I think I might have to start using more of her recipes.

The changes I made were few.  Since it was just the two of us I used only 2 chicken breasts which was just over 1 lb of meat.  I kept the rest of the amounts the same except a little less oil and 1/2 the lemons juice.  The rest I used for my water.  I served the chicken witha side of rice pilaf that I made from a box.  This was J's least favourite part of dinner but I liked it.   He just likes everything made from scratch.  I don't know how to make rice pilaf with out a box and a seasoning packet.  Maybe I should look into that...  The vegetable was corn and limas I grabbed from the freezer.

I felt the chicken was a bit dry but J disagreed.  Oh also I omited the last part with the broth or wine because we had no wine and the broth is for tomorrow's dinner.  I didn't miss the juices poured on top at all though.  It had such a nice fresh lemony flavour!  This will definitely be one recipe I'll keep to use again and again. 

Oh, one more cool thing about dinner tonight...  I got to use rosemary from our garden.  This plant has been growing just out our front door for over a year now.  Very easy to take care of too. 

Mexican Lasagna

First I must confess.  As I'm writing this I'm sipping on a Mojito.  What is wrong with that you might ask.  Well, it is totally artificial.  What I mean by that is I am using a product called Stirrings.  It is a mix.  Normally I wouldn't balk at this myself but when I have fresh mint in my garden...  By the way it's just, okay. 

Now for the dinner.  Tonight I made Mexican Lasagna.  The changes I made were I used ground turkey and I used fire roasted tomatoes instead of salsa.  I preferred the idea of chunks of tomatoes instead of a salsa.  The other thing that I would have liked to know before making this dish was how large a casserole dish I should use.  I started out with a 3 Qt. Pyrex® dish but quickly realized I didn't have enough to fill it so I decided on the 2 Qt..  My husband and I both loved this dish but he did suggested maybe a bit more heat would be nice.  I'm quite wimpy when it comes to heat but I think he might be right.

 

To go with the dinner I made fresh guacamole and served it with chips.  This turned out great in spite of the issues I was having.  I make guacamole a few times a month because it is easy, fresh, and I love that my husband loves my recipe.  This day as I began to make it I had a few problems.  First I cut the tip of my finger off!  Of course I had to be chopping the jalapeno while doing this so it made the pain a little worse I think.  Then after recovering from that I discovered the avocados I planned on using were both rotting on the inside.  We made a quick trip to the store and picked up some fresh avocados.

Since my recipe for guacamole is my own I will post it here:

3 Haas avocados
2 cloves of garlic
2 plum tomatoes (less seeds and more meat)
1/2 small yellow onion
2 tbsp cilantro (fresh from our garden)
2 tbsp lime juice (lemon will do in a pinch)
1/4 to 1/2 jalapeno

Mix well but allow the avocado to stay a little chunky.  I prefer to use my OXO bread hand mixer to mix my guacamole with.

cilantro

Overall, tonight's dinner was quite a success.  Thanks Rachel Ray, for your recipe.

Pizza Leftovers

We still had half of a pizza from our delivery a few nights ago so that was our dinner tonight.  In other food news we went to the grocery store today and spent exactly $58 on groceries for the comming up week.  I'm pretty pleased with that because my budget for groceries is $100 a week and this was almost half of that.  That's $42 extra dollars in the bank. 

Also those bush green beans were trying to push the dome off of their greenhouse so I transplanted all of the new sprouts in our garden.  After doing some reading I discovered that these bush variety will grow as a bush unlike of the pole variety which needs support.  I hope this is correct because I really wasn't eager to support these but of course I will if necessary. 

After making the grocery list today using the super cool Grocery IQ app on my phone & computer I decided we really need to be growing onions and garlic since we buy these a lot.  I'm going to investigate growing these.

If I may brag a bit here is another plant I'm growing...

This is mint.  As a friend just said to me, "Can you say Mojito?"  My husband taught me that this must be planted away from other plants because it will take over everything.  I plan on cutting some off and bringing it into work to share with my friends.  I love how the soil it is growing in even smells like mint!

Hearty Lentil Stew

This was made while I was at work today by my wonderful husband. When I got home the house smelled so nice and welcoming. Though this stew was made with chicken broth, it was an another attempt to eat a meatless meal.  I found the recipe in a bargain book I bought at Barnes & Noble.  The book is called Slow Cooker Magic in Minutes.  Unfortunately it seems it isn't available anymore because we've made use of many of the recipes in this book but fortunately I always seem to find the exact recipe online somewhere.  This fact though convenient, does not bode well for the future of cookbooks in my opinion.  You might find yourselves asking why buy a cookbook when you can just find a recipe online. 

Anyway the recipe can be found here on this TLC website.  Pretty dandy if I say so myself.  So the review...  Well my husband liked it and so did I.  I'd give it 3.5 stars out of 5 I suppose.  It was easy to make, so he says, and convenient.  One bowl was filling enough though next time we might add some crusty bread to accompany the stew.  We have enough for another meal one evening.  The changes we made were to use frozen cauliflower and to make our own salt free chunky tomato sauce.  My husband thinks maybe fresh cauliflower would be a little crunchier still.  Everything was quite soft but we suspect that is the reason for adding the dry roasted peanuts on top of the stew. 

For the chunky tomato sauce I just combined a can (15 oz) of unsalted chunky tomatoes, 1 tbsp of concentrated tomato paste (365 Whole Foods), 1/2 can of water, 3 cloves of garlic minced, 3 large basil leaves minced, and sprinkled in some oregano (about 1 tbsp).  The basil was from our garden so of course that gets me excited.  It makes me wonder though if I will ever get over the joy of eating food that I've grown?  Reminds me of my brother-in-law really.  He raises rabbits for food and I am starting to understand more why he is so keen.  If you aren't squeamish about fresh meat and butchering you could check out his blog, dtulkin's posterous.  His Facebook page is called FogCity Rabbitry.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Pizza Delivered Tonight

Well after an unusually long day at work (175 boxes opened) my wonderful husband suggested delivery.  How could I say no to that when I really just wanted to go bed.

So my only thing of interest to share tonight are the seeds that are sprouting in my kitchen window.  From left to right there are radishes, summer squash & green beans.

Maple Pork with Mushrooms and Baked Potatoes

Yet another evening is here.  The temperature is a lovely 72 degrees Fahrenheit outside so we thought we'd use our George Foreman grill, especially since it was just cleaned.  Tonight's dinner was just thrown together really.  We had bought some scalloped pork that was on sale Sunday.  I had the mushrooms and potatoes left from some previous meals so I just seasoned the meat with Grill Mates® Smokehouse Maple Seasoning.  I think I put too much on it though and my husband agreed.  Maybe next time I can mix up my own seasoning so it is less salty.  Note to self:  research how to make your own rubs/seasonings.


The best part of the meal was the baked potato.  I put sour cream inside with chives from our garden!  How cool is that?  It's like free food even though we paid for the seeds & soil.  

There's a first time for everything...

I have to admit I am starting off with quit a boring dish compared to what I have made recently.  Nevertheless, this was a healthy, quick, easy, and tasty meal.  Not to mention cheap!  Those are all the traits I look for in a recipe.  If I had to rate them in order of importance I'd definitely say quick is usually at the top of my list.

I spend five days a week lifting heavy boxes that weigh on average 30 lbs..  No big deal when it is a few boxes but when we get in an average of 90 boxes a day that begins to add up.  For instance, my main delivery Monday was 157 boxes weighing over 2400 lbs. in total.  So, all this dribble is just to explain my need for a quick meal.  Many days I do not want to stand on my feet cooking after 8 hours of that kind of work.

Today I made a Chipotle Bean Burritos recipe that I found on myrecipes.com.


Husband's rating:  "Was good.  We should make it again.  Maybe next time adding some fresh cilantro that we have in our garden."  I think he has a point there.  I made the recipe tonight close to what was called for except I used whole wheat tortillias, when possible I used Publix brand ingredients to save a few extra dimes, I shredded my own cheese, and I had no chipolte chili powder so I used regular chili powder.  Still it was tasty.  I think I will keep an eye out for that stuff.  It could only make it a more interesting dish.  One last thing, I used fresh avacado in the burritos because you really can't go wrong with avacado!

Here is where I usually post a photo of my meal but I had a technical issue tonight, we were so hungry we ate the meal before we took any photos.  Maybe next time.  For now I will cheat with someone elses photo.

Until our next meal, eat well and remember to play well...