Keeping It Simple

I use to hate hot dogs.  They were just something that was so gross, I mean really, what's in them exactly?  Somehow over the years though I've found some that I like.  They are actually pretty good.  They are 100% beef and do not contain nitrites or nitrates and they don't have the funny intestine wrap around them.

I am pretty sure that's the main reason I like them.  They aren't going to squirt all over you and burn you with hot fat.

This summer that has been our solution to the quick, simple dinner.  Every few weeks I buy a pack of hot dogs and my husband grills them up until they have four little grill marks on all sides.  We then serve them in those new flat hot dog buns (best invention btw, who wanted all that extra bun anyway??).

Tonight we paired that really simple entree up with some homemade coleslaw.  We've been getting napa cabbage from our CSA for the last couple weeks and I am struggling to use it up before it wilts!  I feel awful throwing it out so we've tried several things (wraps, salads, and stir frys), but none require enough to help us pound through it.  It has a really strong flavor so I'll be honest, it's not really my favorite vegetable.

Tonight I shredded it and mixed up some dressing (basalmic vinegar, white wine vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, garlic and some poppyseeds) and tossed it with the shredded cabbage.  I was shocked by how spicy it was!!  Husband loved it however so I guess that's a win; it's not often I make spicy food.

We finished the meal off with some chocolate pudding and whip cream.

It was probably not the healthiest meal ever, but it was quick and easy.

Simple Summer Breakfast

I made the most delicious smoothie for my husband and I this morning!  It certainly isn't anything earth shattering, but we really enjoyed it.

1 medium banana
1 c. strawberries (mine were fresh/frozen, but you could use either)
1/2 c. strawberry greek yogurt
1/2 c. vanilla yogurt
1/2 c. milk (add more if it is too thick)

Blend in a blender until smooth.

We have this with mini bagels (who can eat a whole huge one anyway??) and cream cheese for breakfast.

Grilled Steak

While I am on the theme of simple summer food, it is a real treat for us to have a steak.  Especially a good steak.  I tend to buy cheap cuts and slice them into bit for stir fry or soups.  If it's a bigger piece like a roast, I usually use the slow cooker.  However, it was my husband's lucky day last Sunday.  The store had a rib eye steak on sale and marked down so I grabbed one for us.

I always make him a special steak for his birthday.  I coat it in garlic, rosemary and pepper before cooking it.  It is cooked in the oven at a high temp and topped with mushrooms and a wine sauce.  I don't even really like steak and it's amazing.

That's probably the only other time we cook whole steaks.  Tonight though, we are going to grill it.  I am going to try the same pressed garlic, rosemary and pepper coating and make sure the grill is well oiled before we stick it out there.  I don't have mushrooms, but I think it will still be very good.

On the side, I am planning on serving roasted kale and a foil packet of baby red potatoes, garlic, and onions (each roasted on the grill). 

It's really nice out today so I think it will be a pleasant evening to sit outside and eat.  Afterward, I think my might surprise him and go to a restaurant near our house for dessert.  They have the most amazing chocolate lava cake and it sounds just wonderful!

Summer Dinners

We have had a heat wave around here lately so I've been struggling to find cold meals that don't feel like we are running a sandwich shop and don't constantly contain salad.

Last night my solution was cold pasta salad with pesto.  My husband told me he'd prefer it warm.  Gee, thanks.  I tried it both ways and either one really is fine, I guess it just depends what you're looking for.

Here's what I did:

1. Boil the pasta of your choice, I chose whote wheat penne.  Drain and rinse when cooked.
2. Make pesto sauce (or buy it).  I just guestimate when I make pesto, it's never been an issue.  This time around I used 4 garlic scapes, 5 big bunches of basil and somewhere around a 1/2c. olive oil.  After it's blended in the food processor, I add a generous amount of parmesan cheese.
3. Mix pesto with pasta until the pasta is well coated.  Refridgerate pasta mixture until cool.  If you don't need all the pesto (I didn't even need half what I made) then just freeze the remainder in small portions for later.
4. Sautee a salmon filet (or two if you're big meat eaters) - I served it warm, but had it cold later, again, either is good.  I placed a half a salmon filet on top of each of our bowls of pasta and added a generous portion of chopped tomatoes.
5. I served this with a big slice of cantelope and we had chocolate pudding cream pie for dessert.

Chicken Salad

One of my favorite summer meals is chicken salad.  I enjoy it with pasta and as a sandwich spread.  I am going to share my recipe for sandwich spread chicken salad today.

I prefer to use grilled chicken breasts (2 normally), I think they have a better flavor that way.

I also use:
carrots (2)
broccoli (several small clusters)
radishes (3)
fresh parsley
black pepper

I put all of this in the food processor and blend until crumbly.  I then store this in a tupperware until I want to use it.  I only add mayonaise to what I am going to use in a particular meal so it has a longer shelf life.

I then serve it up on the best bread I have available or I a big spoonful on top of salad greens, sometimes with walnuts sprinkled on top.

Delicious Dessert

Applesauce Bars

1 1/4 c. quick cooking oats
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 c. softened butter

Mix all this together, cutting butter in last.  Mixture will be crumbly.  Set 1 c. aside for topping.  Spread remainded on the bottom of a 9x13 pan and press into place.  Top with about 1 c. applesauce (I just put enough to cover the crust pretty well).

Add 1/2 c. coconut to the 1 cup of topping you reserved and sprinkle over the applesauce.

Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.

Cool and slice!  These don't last long as they get mushy after a few days, but that's never been a problem for us. :)  Enjoy!

Big News!

We are expecting!  I've been keeping pretty quiet in real life, but since no one I know follows me here, I figured I can start airing out some of my meal planning ideas here so I don't lose them.

People have expressed mixed reviews of my plan to prepare about 60 meals in advance of baby, but I usually cook about 30 meals to use over the course of two months.  Somehow they never last as long once we start pulling them out for work lunches and such.  I have made a list of meals I hope to make and over the course of the next few weeks I plan to break it down into a workable plan.

By a plan I mean, identifying which dishes contain similar ingredients or needs. Wild rice casserole for example - I plan to make it with chicken, beef and turkey so it will probably end up on the same cooking day so I can make one huge pot of wild rice.  Another example would be soups, many require the requisite onion, celery, carrot in butter mix to start.

I usually store these meals in gladware style containers, but I am planning on using tin foil pans, foil wraps, and freezer bags this time around for space and simplicity sake.

After determining exactly what I am cooking, I am going to create a month long menu plan so dh knows what's available and there are plenty of simple things ready to go when I am hungry, but short on time or energy.

I am posting my list below in case you want to use it as a guideline.  I don't have all the recipes electronically available, but I will try to post them over the next few months.

After Baby Meal Plan

Bread

·         Pumpkin

·         Banana

·         Zucchini

·         Garlic pinwheels

·         waffles

Muffins

·         Blueberry

·         Poppyseed

·         Pumpkin

·         Zucchini

·         Chocolate pumpkin

·         Chocolate zucchini

Soup

·         Butternut squash bisque

·         Venison chili

·         Chicken soup (to add noodles, rice or make dumplings)

·         Vegetable beef

·         Potato sausage

Chicken

·         Caprese stuffed chicken

·         Stuffing stuffed chicken

·         Flautas

·         Enchiladas

·         Pot pies

·         Chicken basil meatloaf

·         Wild rice casserole

Turkey

·         Rosemary loaf

·         Burgers

·         Wild rice casserole

·         Sheppard’s pie

Beef

·         Lasagna casserole

·         Meatballs

·         “up-north” burgers

·         Taco meat

·         Meatloaf

·         Wild rice casserole

·         Sloppy joes

·         Sheppard’s pie

Pork

·         Shredded (for bbq sandwiches or tacos)

·         Sausage

·         Stuffing stuffed chops

Dessert

·         Red velvet cake

·         Red velvet cupcakes

·         Chocolate chip cookies

·         Peanut butter cookies

·         Apple pie

·         Apple crisp

·         Rhubarb crisp

Other

·         Spinach balls

·         Granola

·         cocoa

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Memorial day is the day you are suppose to get out and grill, but we grilled last night and Saturday night so when I mentioned spaghetti and meatballs my husband agreed that sounded pretty tasty.  A couple months ago I made meatballs from scratch with my aunt (we do batch cooking days a few times a year) so we used those.  On top of a bed of whole wheat pasta and sauce they were just perfect!  We had some fresh (read: husband made it) bread with garlic and butter on the side and raspberry lemonade to drink.  I found it quite refreshing!

Nothing too exciting, but some days you have to do what works for you!

Beef Au Jus

I love my slow cooker!  I do not use it nearly enough!  Last week I bought a beautiful beef roast on sale for about $5.  It started at closer to $11 so I figured it would be a pretty tasty piece of meat and we don't buy roasts very often.  I knew right away that we should have beef au jus sandwiches!

Last night I took it out of the freezer and let it thaw over night in the fridge.  It was still pretty frozen this morning, but I don't really worry about that with the slow cooker, I figure it's got ten hours to thaw out and cook.

So this morning, I dropped in it the slow cooker with two cups of water, one packet of onion soup mix and two tablespoons of chicken bullion.  I sliced half an onion on top and then put the lid on.

Fast forward ten hours and it was waiting for me to come home and poke it a few times so it would turn into shredded meat (I seriously only needed to poke at it a bit, it just fell apart!).  We toasted a few hot dog buns and put the beef on top with a sprinkle of motzarella and then served it with a little bowl of "au jus".  YUMMY! 

The sides were super simple tonight as well - slice orange peppers, cantaloupe, and a tomato with balsamic and olive oil. 

I am now very happy that I have a clean kitchen and a big chunk of my night left!

Crazy Cooking Day

I have been meaning to update this, but life got away from me.  I have been working frantically on my capstone paper (still not ready to present to my commitee however) and neglecting any other sort of writing or reading.  Inspite of this though, I have manged to research and prepare a few new recipes.  I will share the links below along with my thoughts on them.

#1Autumn Pork Tenderloin

Very tasty!  We have made this once before and it was a hit with my husband then as well.  I used unsweetened applesauce instead of pie filling and we enjoyed it that way.  I think it reduced the sugar and calorie count a bit and makes it a little healthier without sacrificing the yummy apple sauce and flavor.  We served it along side the butternut squash soup and steamed cabbage.

#2 Roasted Chicken Risotto with Caramelized Onions

We also enjoyed this, but both agreed that it should have less balsamic vinegar.  It was quite bitter and I think it would be very good without the balsamic vinegar (which I usually enjoy!!).  While some people complained the it was time consuming, I thought it was worth it.  It did not require constant attention, but you definitely need to be present as the liquid reduces.  I was hoping to use this as a main course, but it really did not contain enough protein and there were no vegetables to speak of so it didn't end up qualifying.  It did make a tasty side dish for my butternut squash soup and the leftover tenderloin.

#3 Roasted Vegetable Orzo

DELICIOUS!!  We will be making this again!  I did not use asparagus as they suggested, it was just too dang expensive this week.  Instead I added more mushrooms which worked just fine for us.  I added a bit more parmesean cheese when we reheated it.  I also think you could just stir fry the veggies with the olive oil and garlic, they were mushy after roasting and unless you are roasting on a grill, I don't believe the oven adds a ton of flavor.  We had this with grilled chicken, but it would make a great side for any grilled meat.  I enjoyed it as a main course on its own and it was satisfying.

#4 Butternut Squash Bisque

We've had this before and we really enjoy it.  I usually forget how thick it and I really think it needs some extra chicken stock to thin it out just a bit.  If left as described, it is almost a baby food texture rather than a soup texture.  I don't mind it, but over time it continues to thinken so starting out a bit thinner would not be the worst thing.  I do use chicken stock in place of vegetable stock for more flavor, but it could easily be made vegatarian by keeping to the recipe.  I usually skip the nutmeg and add a touch of chili powder or red pepper instead.  I don't like my soups sweet and I felt the addition of some spice adds to the savory quality of the soup.  We served this with the chicken risotto and then another time with edamame and tortilla chips.

Happy cooking!

Salmon Burgers

Tonight we had salmon burgers and they were delicious!!  I have never really enjoyed them at home because they were missing something.  I could not figure out what that "something" was...until tonight!

Tonight I made a mayonaise mix to put on the salmon patties and we had romaine lettuce, onions, and tomatos to top them with.  The only thing that could have improved them would have been a really tasty bun and unfortunately we only had a plain, boring whole wheat bun.  I would have loved a crusty bakery roll of some sort or even a sour dough roll. 

The mayo mix was 50/50 mayo and dijon mustard, then I added fresh ground black pepper, parsley, and chopped capers.  HEAVEN! I will be making this again.

I served the burgers with fruit salad (apples, mango, and pineapple) and fresh sweet potato fries.  I sprinkled the sweet potato slices with fresh garlic, a spray of olive olive, crushed salt and a hint of chipotle pepper.  They were amazing as well and will be making a repeat appearance tomorrow night along side a meat loaf.

Super-Size Me

Ok, I am pretty sure I am the last person on the planet to watch this movie, but wow!

I am APPALLED by what people will eat and that they consider it perfectly good for them.

Really?  You think eating at McDonald's multiple times every week is healthy?  They inject their fries with burger grease to get that yummy flavor we like so much. Do I need to say anything else?

I cannot believe that in a matter of 21 days the doctors were truly advising him to immediately stop the experiment.  I am shocked he gained almost a pound a day on average and then it took more than 9 months for him to return to "normal"?!  Unbelievable.  Do you think perhaps this might be contributing to at least part of the obesity epidemic facing out nation?  I have to think that it could be part of the problem.

Now, I am the last person to advocate for eating fast food, but I must admit that eating it on a daily basis is quite the extreme.  Perhaps it is ok to eat it once a week or even twice a week in combination with a healthy diet.  However, it seems that our bodies are designed to develop cravings so why tempt yourself?

Obviously, we are not big fast-food eaters here, but this movie makes me never want to eat fast-food again.  I guess I have to continue to remind myself that we all have free will and every single day people choose to eat crap that isn't good for them.  Perhaps though, we could do just a bit more the educate people and providing transparent facts about the food we eat?  Just a thought.

Consider my resolve to eat at-home renewed.

Eggplant - Score!

I went grocery shopping on Friday night, which I really hate to do because I honestly believe that Target does not offer very good price markdowns on the weekends.  However, given my schedule lately, I really didn't have much choice.  I had to get some milk and eggs or it would have been a long weekend (without blueberry muffins - horror of horrors!).

Since I just couldn't have that,  I rounded up all the coupons I could find, made a rough list of what I wanted to eat this week, and headed into the store on the night I least enjoy.  It wasn't a week of great finds, but the deals were more than I expected.

My best find was an eggplant for 99 cents - half off and still perfect!  It wasn't on the menu, but I figured I could figure out how to use it in place of something else I had planned.  In this case I think it is going to be replacing a grilled steak of some sort.

I decided tonight was the night for the eggplant and discovered we didn't have enough marinara sauce for eggplant parmesean.  I also really didn't want to fry it so I had to work something else out.  I figured the best part of eggplant parmesean is the crispy eggplant as far as I am concerned. 

I decided to make eggplant sticks!  I sliced the eggplant in half, then in 1/2 inch slices and then I sliced those pieces into 1/2 inch sticks.  I dipped them in milk and whole wheat flour and refridgerated them for 30 minutes.  After that time, I dipped them in an egg and water mix and then a bread crumb mixture.  I sprayed them with olive oil spray and baked them at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes (golden and crisp!). 

The bread crumb mixture was a combination of the following:
whole wheat flour
crushed cereal and cracker flakes (I crush the remainder of our cereal and crackers if they are stale or we are really sick of it.)
parmesean cheese
parsley, garlic salt, ground black pepper, basil, cayenne peper

Let me just say - yummy! 

The menu looked like this:
     eggplant sticks with marinara sauce
     edamame
     spinach salad with craisons
     angel food cake with triple berries

It was marvelous!

Blueberry Muffins

I absolutely adore  blueberry muffins made with tiny little blueberries!
My husband's parents go pick these itty-bitty little blueberries by their house and every time we visit we get to take about a gallon of them home.  They are frozen of course, but I really can't imagine picking the dozens of gallons they must pick every summer.  However, these little treasures are perfect for baking!

Since we just went and visited them last weekend, I am back on the baking band-wagon.  We will be having fresh blueberry muffins for breakfast over the next few days!  In fact, I may make a triple batch because I need to bring "snack" to class in two weeks and these little babies freeze just fine.  I enjoy making these muffins because they are so easy!  The batter is also just a dream.  The first time I made them, I thought, wow, this is really thick batter, but now I know that is just how the recipe is! 

I found the original (terrific) recipe on a blog several years back, unfortunately, the blog is no longer around, but I did copy down the recipe at one point.  There are two changes I routinely make to this recipe:
  * I skip the crumbly sugar topping (unless it's a really special occasion) in an effort to be more healthy.
  * I almost always use whole wheat flour in place of half the white flour. 
     The muffins are a little more dense and a lot darker, but no one has every complained.

Blueberry Muffins
1 1/2 c. flour (I use 3/4 each white and wheat)
3/4 c. white sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 egg
apx. 1/3 c. milk
1 c. blueberries (I use frozen)

Topping
1/3 c. flour
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. sugar
(I find that if I am making smaller muffins, I sometimes run out of topping so you may want to increase this if you want generous amounts of crunchy topping.)

Blend topping ingredients together until it forms pea sized crumbles.  I find a pastery knife works well.

Directions
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine all dry ingredients.  In a liquid measuring cup measure the oil, add the egg, then fill with milk to the 1 cup mark.  Stir into dry ingredients.  Do not over mix.  Add blueberries and fold in carefully.
Distribute batter into baking cups, adding topping if desired, and cook until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

Delicious Breakfast

Our morning routine is the same just about every day.  As I've mentioned, my husband cooks breakfast on the weekend because I cook all week.  Despite the morning rush, he only has about 50 minutes to get out the door (I have about an hour and a half), he sits down and eats with me every morning.

We get up around 5:30 and by 5:45 he heads out to walk the dog, a lovely job that I am so glad I don't need to take care of in the morning.  While he is walking her, I start the coffee and prepare whatever I am making that day.  If I am really on top of things, the coffee pot is ready for me to simply hit on.  I was very glad when I got up this morning that I already had it ready to go.

Sunday night I cut up some ham and onions and took the green peppers out of the freezer to minimize the Monday morning work.  Today I turned those chopped yummies into a wonderful omelet served with cinnamon toast and peaches.  We had coffee to drink, I am pretty sure I couldn't function in the morning without my homemade mocha (coffee, milk, and a small scoop of cocoa mix).

Sounds gourment you say?  The five minutes I spent prepping this on Sunday allowed me to made this whole meal in less than 15 minutes.  To be exact, it took 13 minutes to get in on the table.  My husband got home about ten minutes into this process and started taking plates to the table.

I use to think that getting up and preparing breakfast was for the birds.  Now that I see how nice it is to sit down and commiserate about our early rising time together while we try to start moving in the morning.  I am also encouraged to continue doing this because I know my husband appreciates it.

School Lunch vs. Home Lunch

Recently, my attention was drawn to this article about prohibiting student's from bringing a lunch from home to school.  The school, located in Chicago, does not allow students to bring their own lunches from home unless it is medically necessary (read: allergies).  The reasoning behind this is that the school lunch is more nutritious that what students bring from home.

I am outraged by this!  I am appauled on a weekly basis by what some of my students bring for lunch when it comes from home, but on the other hand I also recognize that generally parents have the best of intentions to feed their child well.  I have spent countless lessons discussing the importance of making healthy choices, explaining the need to temper sweets with fruits and vegetables, and helping kids identify what a balanced meal looks like. 

I am passionate about eating good food (otherwise why would I bother with a blog on the topic??), but I don't think it is the school's place to dictate what a child may or may not eat for lunch.  Will some children bring ding-dongs and chips?  Of course!  That might be a good time to call the family and mention that it did not keep the child full all afternoon and to please consider sending some fruit and protein with the chips and dessert.  I would be willing to bet they will at least humor you or perhaps they've never seen what their child packs for lunch.  It's worth a phone call.

I don't feel like my child needs to have a wheat allergy for me to be allowed to send him a lunch with food I prepare.  We eat a large amount of organic food, we do not eat processed food, I make our granola and baked goods, and I am not impressed by the mass produced foods reheated in the ovens at schools.  The texture and flavor of the foods is often over-cooked, not a good example of what proper food tastes like.  That doesn't mean it shouldn't be eaten, just that I should be able to provide higher quality food if I prefer.

It is also mentioned in the article that parents feel they can create a quality, balanced lunch, for a cheaper price that the $2.25 the school lunch costs.  I agree with this point.  I am certain I could create a balanced meal for less than this cost.  A turkey sandwich wrapped in a tortilla with lettuce served with a cheese stick, carrot sticks and a juice box costs less and is perfectly healthy.  If I know my child will eat this then I would prefer to send this with that and know they'll eat it than purchase a lunch they'll throw away.

What are your thoughts on schools prohibiting home lunches?

Busy Week!

Last week was a ridiculously busy week! 

I did not update my blog for many reasons:
*Spring break was over and my classroom required a lot of attention!
*I was dog sitting for a family member and so I wasn't eating at home or cooking for my huby.
*It is hard to plan meals when you didn't do the grocery shopping.
*I had to study and prepare for my class on Saturday.

I know, I know, excuses, excuses...

As I mentioned last week, weekends are when we try to cook something a little more "gourmet" for breakfast.  I am also spoiled in that my husband generally does all the breakfast cooking on the weekend (unless we are having scones) because I do the majority of the cooking during the week. Weekend dinner and lunch a little more of a collaboration and often depends on if we have plans and how much time we have to prepare something.  Cooking is something we typically enjoy doing together though and it's a nice way to spend some quality time each week.

This past week was pretty busy and we didn't spend a lot of time together at home.  Family dinner is something we have worked hard to develop in our household despite not yet having children.  We both agree it is important to spend some time together every day and make an effort to accomodate each other's schedules and sneak a dinner in together even if we have other commitments. 

I believe there are several benefits to eatting together. 

First, I noticed a definite difference in the quality and quantity of food I ate this week when I was not sitting down at a table with my husband.  I tend to graze when I don't have a reason to cook a whole meal.  My husband is the same way.  However, when I know we are going to eat together and I have a plan, I can put aside my desire to chomp down some cheezits and realize I have an amazing meal coming together very soon. 

Second, I enjoy the time we spend actually communicating and discussing our day or current events when we sit down at the table together and eat.  Some days we have long drawn out conversations, but don't misunderstand me, we definitely have our days when we are both just so exhausted from work that neither one of us is up for much conversation.  Even then it is nice to know we are sitting their together.  It is a comfortable silence that says "I accept that you have had a tough day" and I like it.

Finally, even though we don't have kids, I feel like when we sit down to a meal together we are identifying ourselves as a family.  I grew up in a household that practically requried you to be home for dinner every night.  I think it's important and I understand now why my mom would hold dinner if there was a chance we could all be home at a reasonable hour.  After a week of eatting alone, I can eagerly say I am looking forward to having the companionship of my little family at my dinner table tonight!

Anyway, I thought I will take this opportunity to share what is on our menu for the week at the bottom of this post so please feel free to check it out.

Sunday
   Breakfast - blueberry pancakes, oranges and coffee
   Lunch - some friends had us over
   Dinner - hot dogs on the grill (it's 75 degrees outside today, which is seriously crazy for April!) we will probably have some salads on the side.

Monday
   Breakfast - fruit and yogurt smoothie for me; cereal and a smoothie for my husband (this stays the same all week)
   Lunch - turkey sandwichs with lettuce and avocado, carrots, apples and a brownie to go with it
   Dinner - BBQ ribs on the grill with corn and cheesy biscuits (white bread dough with lots of cheese and garlic kneeded into it)

Tuesday
   Lunch - leftovers
   Dinner - lasagna bake with salads and the rest of the cheesy buns

Wednesday
   Lunch - leftovers
   Dinner - Turkey sandwiches on the panini grill edamame on the side

Thursday
   Lunch - Chicken and cheese quesadillas with guacamole and fruit (probably mango)
   Dinner - Probably leftovers because we are visiting family this weekend and I don't want to leave anything in the fridge to go bad while we're gone.

Friday
   Lunch - the remains of the leftovers so we can empty out the fridge.  This may mean a PB&J for me since my husband doesn't enjoy those at all.

As you can see, lunch may not be gourmet, but it's defnitely cheaper and healthier than going out for lunch every day (or in my case eatting school cafeteria food).

Thinking About Food

Sometimes I think the hardest thing about cooking is deciding what to cook.  Take last week for example.  I wanted to bake something, particularly something bread-like (is that a word?), but realistically if I had made everything I wanted there was no way we could have eaten it all.  As it is I put half the buns in the freezer and gave a way several of the scones, we just simply cannot eat that much!

One way I have found to prevent the last minute decision making, and frustration of not having what I need in the cupboard, is meal planning.  Sometimes I am very formal about it and write down exactly what we are having for dinner every night and the types of things I expect to have for breakfast, but other times I just keep it in my head. 

I notice an obvious difference in the flow of my week nights when I have it written down!  I have an amazing husband and I think he gets as much pleasure out of "following my plan" as I get out of making it.  On several occassions I've come home after him to find that he has consulted my list and started things accordingly.  I love it!  I am a blessed woman to have a husband that is so helpful!

I find that when I write out my meals in advance it also helps me come home from work and allows me some time to zone out for a while before I have to pay attention.  If the list says spaghetti and meatballs then I know I need to start the water and collect those ingredients.  If the list says stir fry then I just need to find all the vegetables I can and start chopping.  The list tells me what to do and prevents any further decision making on my part, which is good because by the time I get home, I am ready to stop making decisions! 

Did you know that teachers generally make 1,500 decisions every day?  I learned that in college and just never forgot it.

Back to our topic of meal planning, I know many women keep their meal plans in a binder and cycle through them every so often and just pull out an old menu and beging the cycle again, but I don't think that would ever work for me.  We enjoy a variety of food and I work hard to buy our food on sale so that often determines what goes onto the menu plan.  In addition, we like to try new recipes and I don't think cycling through a constant rotation of spaghetti, pizza, calzones, stir fry, and baked chicken would satisfy my husband.

Anyway, thats how my meal plan saves me and if I am smart, I will remember this advice and be more purposeful about creating my weekly or biweekly meal plan.

Dinner Tonight:
Tonight we are going to enjoy some leftover Chicken Cacciatore, salad with sweet peppers and tomatoes, and warmed whole grain bread.  It should be a simple, tasty meal in only about 15 minutes.

How about you, what do you do to make the most out of the food you buy?

Lazy Saturday Morning

I love scones!  My husband loves my scones!  I had time to make scones this weekend for the first time in three months.  It was wonderful! <sigh>

It was the best Saturday morning we've had in months and the scones were an intricate part of the relaxing morning.  I found my scone recipe on a blog that is no longer around and am thankful every time I make them that I printed the recipe! 

The scones are blueberry and I have lots of small containers of fresh, wild blueberries that my in-laws pick each summer.  I love using the tiny, little berries because you get twice as many berries in each bite!  They really only take about 15 minutes to put together and then another 15 to bake so I was left pondering why I hadn't made them lately even though I've been busy every Saturday since January.  They really are that simple!  While I prepared the scone dough, my wonderful husband made coffee and prepared some fruit.  We had quite the fancy little breakfast.

After enjoying our delicacies, we took our coffee to the couch and spent another hour reading and relaxing in the morning sun.  It was a wonderful way to start our weekend!  I'm going to have to remember this and plan for this to happen more often.

How did you relax this weekend?

Saturday Evening Blog Post

I am running a little late on the "Saturday Evening" portion of this, but I thought I'd join in Elizabeth Esther's page.  You can find all the links here: Saturday Evening Blog Post.  The ladies involved in this blog have lots of great stories and anecdotes to share about families, life and food.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Food Revolution

The Food Revolution returns on April 12th!  If you didn't catch this show last year, I highly recommend you take some time to check it out this year.  You don't need to be a "foodie" to appreciate what Jamie Oliver has to teach us about food and how food is made.  He is incredibly passionate about his mission to change the way people eat! 

My favorite part is how blunt he is about the problems with our food.  A large amount of food in our country is highly processed and that means we really don't have a very good idea of where our food comes from.  That is a problem!  Last season Jamie showed students various vegetables and they had no idea what they were.  They had no idea where a french fry came from!  How does that even happen? 

I think it is the "wow" factor that keeps me watching.  I am appalled by the resistance he faces in his attempts to education people about their food!  I am also disgusted by how flat-out rude some people are.  Why not just take the information he is giving you and the advice he has and try it?  Better yet, even if you don't want to try it, what is the harm in listening?  At some point you may have the time or interest to give it a go. 

It seems that often his proposals are seen too difficult or exceptionally odd.  I struggle to see his ideas as radical.  It seems like common sense that when presented with fatty, sugary, salty choices people will choose them over a piece of fresh fruit, grilled meat or steamed veggies.  However, when only presented with sauteed, grilled or fresh food they will eat it because they are hungry! 

Did you watch the Food Revolution last year?  Do you plan to check it out this year?  What are your thoughts on the subject?

Food Waste Friday

My husband has always been the bread maker in the family and it's always so tasty nothing goes to waste!  However, this week I thought I'd give it a go since he was at work and I was home. 

At first I thought I would make cinnamon bread, then decided perhaps I should make blueberry muffins, and then I moved onto  scones (indecisive I know...), but that got scratched because we don't have half and half.  Finally though, since we didn't have any bread and we still had some deli turkey and cheese, I decided that perhaps making some rolls was the smarter answer. 

I did end up making blueberry muffins, but that is for another blog.

I decided to make whole wheat dinner rolls and found this recipe at The Frugal Girl.  They were simple and delicious!  I was quite impressed and definitely plan to make them again in the future. 

I am not going to detail the whole process here because she does a lovely job all by herself on her blog, but while I was there I found something called Food Waste Friday.  Combined with the book I am reading, American Wasteland by Jonathan Bloom, where ironically she is also mentioned, I am going to join her in being more mindful about what we throw out each week and chronical our wasted food on each Friday.

Unfortunately, this week I had to throw out five of those delicious rolls I made because I became distracted (my husband came home from work, what can I say?).  I don't have a photo to share because my camera is at work, but fortunately that would be all I have to show because nothing else got tossed this week - yay!

How does your household handle food waste?

What's For Dinner?

Keeping dinner simple tonight, it's been a busy day of errands and oil changes - both cars are in good repair!  I am very happy and thankful to hear that news.  While that makes me want to celebrate and I am very much in the mood to go out for dinner, I already have dinner planned (thank goodness or we would be headed out for some over-priced meal that makes us feel bloated and fat).

The plan looks like this:

Breaded and baked tilapia
Roasted kale with sea salt
Parmesan couscous

We don't have dessert every night, but we still have some apple pie leftover so we will heat that up and have it while we catch up on two TV shows we missed while I was at class the other night.

What are you having tonight?

A New Adventure Begins

I just signed up for our summer CSA and I am so excited!  This will be our second year receiving produce from our farmer.  Last year we participated in a summer and a fall share and had a great experience.

For those who don't know, CSA is an acronym for Community Supported Agriculture or as a friend of ours put it "adopt a farmer".  We pay in advance for a share (about 3/4 a bushel) of weekly fresh produce and the farmer uses that to support the season.  Then I hope and pray for good weather because obviously he can only deliver the produce if it grows!  Once a week I drive to an arranged meeting point and pick up my box of fresh vegetables.

When we began this adventure a year ago I was most excited to be receiving local, organic produce.  Now though, I am just as excited about the variety that awaits me every week, with a CSA you just never quite know what's coming.  We are fortunate, our farmer provides a list of the upcoming foods a few days prior to a pick up day so allow time to plan and shop accordingly.

I started off last summer just reading through the list, enjoying the variety and marveling at the variety of foods I'd never heard of, but by the end of the summer I realized that I needed to have a plan!  Fortunately, the only thing we did not use last summer was a bulb of fennel (I had no idea what it was!!), but I still feel kind of bad about that.  I can proudly say that I am armed with multiple fennel recipes this year and eagerly awaiting my bulb of fennel!

Do you participate in a CSA?  What vegetable caused you the most difficulty the first time around?

You mean you cook dinner every night?!

In response to that question, "Yup, pretty much."

Now, don't get wrong, it is not always fancy and it's not always a brand new meal, but more or less, the meal is created at home by myself or my husband. 

At this point you might ask, How you do have time for that if you both work full-time? And my response would be something along the lines of, "I've never considered it an option." (If I am being really honest, I will tell you that I am a big fan of leftovers, once a month cooking, and that having summers off doesn't hurt either!)

And with that I begin to wonder how you don't cook every night!  With those thoughts and comments in mind, I decided to start a blog about what we cook, why we choose to eat at home, and what we do to make it work.

I am on spring break right now and while that might sound very relaxing to many, it just signals a long to-do list in my mind.  I get a lot done when I have a random day off from work!  Part of today's tasks were to bake whole wheat rolls, blueberry muffins and scones.  After discovering that I did not have any half and half I scratched the scone idea and decided to instead bake an apple pie I made in October and froze.  Upon completion of those tasks I turned my attention to dinner. 

Tonight's dinner looked like this:

Salmon filets seasoned with thyme and pepper poached on top a bed of sliced cabbage served with whole wheat buns and butter.  Start to finish (rolls excluded) this meal took about 15 minutes to prepare because I had set the filets out in the fridge last night and they were thawed by the time I started dinner.  Of course the apple pie was dessert!