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!
Monday, May 30, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
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!
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!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
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!
#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!
Monday, May 9, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, May 2, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
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!
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!
Friday, April 22, 2011
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!
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!
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