it should be no surprise that my personal favorite resolution is always one to do with cooking. i made a chicken stew with butternut squash and quinoa (via pinterest) last night that was yummy, but oh so time consuming! (i nixed the kalamata olives in the recipe because i'm a midwestern girl who only likes generic canned black olives. it was still good.)
in case you were curious about how to best prepare butternut squash, a handy tutorial can be found here. (i think part of why my stew was so time consuming was that i steamed my squash on the stovetop and it took forever - plus i needed the same pot to cook my chicken. steaming it in the microwave and simultaneously poaching my chicken on the stovetop would speed things up mightily. plus, not having to look up a tutorial on prepping squash.)
also, in case you are curious about quinoa, i found this little gem. personal favorite quote, "if it were a movie, quinoa would star a flip-flop wearing jeff bridges and insist you call it dude." the page does have some handy tips on cooking and recipes in addition to a few funny paragraphs about how awesome quinoa is.
in addition to last night's stew, i also set aside some nice steamed squash cubes for the dino. he needed an early bedtime last night and thus didn't get to try any, but lunch today for sure. he's been doing an awesome job of feeding himself lately. mum mums, puffs, fried banana slices, oatmeal from a spoon, bits of dirt off of the floor ...
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unrelatedly, i went with a friend yesterday to a local cloth diaper store that's having a big 1/2 off sale, and while i didn't get any diapers, i did have some good finds! my personal favorite was a dino piggy bank in blue for $10 - so cute and so perfect.
biggest kind of splurgey purchase was a super duper baby/kid carrier for hiking (the deuter kid comfort iii) for $140 ... originally $280 there (or $288 on amazon or $299 at rei). a lot of money that i hadn't necessarily planned on spending at this point, but such a smokin' deal on a great product! it's apparently one of the lightest carriers on the market, but really nice and padded with good storage space, and mats loved the vantage point on our test walk last night! snowshoeing and hiking, here we come!
i also got him a pair of babybanz for $7, a new swim diaper for $6, and christmas and birthday gifts for kinley for $15. whew!
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
enough self-reflection already
with tomorrow beginning september, summer is basically over. i kind of can't believe it, and i'm a little sad that matsy's first summer is gone so quickly! but, in true marisa-style, i am making myself realize that the end of summer is the beginning of fall, and there are SO many fun things to look forward to with fall! my parents are coming to visit (yay!), football season (and while i'm not looking forward to the incessant games, i am looking forward to football parties), sweaters, changing leaves, weather cooling off and letting me open up the house and wake up to fresh air. and, perhaps best of all: SOUP. yes, soup. i realized this year that i really love soup. you just can't make it too often during the summer since it's, by nature, hot. like so many things, though, now that i can cook really good soup from scratch, the canned stuff just tastes kind of yucky and way too salty to me now. alas. but, without further ado, my favorite soup recipes in no particular order.
- baked potato soup
- roasted chicken and wild rice soup
- ham, corn, and white bean soup
- white chili
- tortellini soup (which has been a favorite to bring to friends with new babies this year)
- homemade chicken soup
weekend via recipe review
we had a super fun weekend: my parents came into town, i had my baby shower, scott and my dad installed closet doors and put together the crib, etc. with the furniture in and the rug down, the nursery is finally starting to really look like a nursery, which is so fun! the crib kit was missing one bolt, so i need to contact them this week - we finally got a crib mattress this weekend ($82 after tax at walmart!), but we're waiting until the bolt comes to put the mattress in. we also played boggle, and not only did i not win, but i lost to scott (and to my mom, i think!). i blame pregnancy brain.
and, of course, since we had company, i spent a lot of time cooking! friday night, we had cooking light's slow cooker beef stroganoff and steamed broccoli, saturday for breakfast i made cottage cheese pancakes which were amazing, and for dinner, we had friends over in addition to my parents, so i made guac, cooking light's salsa chicken, and refried bean tostadas. sunday, we went out for chinese for lunch and had leftovers for dinner. i'd made the beef stroganoff before and knew that it was a good solid recipe, but all of saturday's cooking was with new recipes - all three were big hits and definitely keepers!
of the three, i think the cottage cheese pancakes were hands down my favorite - a coworker gave me a tip this morning that they freeze well, so you can make them ahead of time, freeze, and microwave them as needed. you can count on finding some cottage cheese pancakes in my freezer before matson comes! they're a great way to add extra protein and calcium to your breakfast, even if you're not otherwise a fan of cottage cheese. the cottage cheese made the pancakes a little denser than normal, perhaps, but in a really yummy, filling way - and the cottage cheese all seemed to melt into the pancakes so that there weren't white chunks as you cut up your pancakes. the cinnamon in the recipe also gave it a great flavor. honestly, i can't recommend these highly enough! we had them on their own, but i think a fruit salad would go perfectly with them.
the refried bean tostadas were also really good, super easy, cheap, and reheated well. (i think they're intended as a main course, but i'd probably need to add a little ground beef to them to get that one past scott.) you bake tortillas in a muffin tin for a few minutes, throw in some beans, salsa, and cheese, and put them back in the oven to heat up - no actual cooking involved! the most challenging part of that recipe was making sure that the tortillas (which you stuff into muffin tin holes) had enough of an open bowl in the middle before you heat them up, to make it easier to get beans and salsa once they're a little crispy.
the salsa chicken seemed to be well received, and it was so easy (brown up chunks of chicken breast, throw in a pyrex, cover with salsa and cheese, and bake for ~10 minutes) i'll have to experiment with it some more. i didn't think it had a ton of flavor, but i use my own spices rather than a packet of taco seasoning, and i think that i just didn't use enough spice for the amount of chicken i had. plus, i used super generic mild salsa - i think going with a medium spiciness rather than mild would help, in addition to maybe getting a better salsa. (or using a fruit salsa, as they recommend!) worth playing with, for sure.
and, of course, since we had company, i spent a lot of time cooking! friday night, we had cooking light's slow cooker beef stroganoff and steamed broccoli, saturday for breakfast i made cottage cheese pancakes which were amazing, and for dinner, we had friends over in addition to my parents, so i made guac, cooking light's salsa chicken, and refried bean tostadas. sunday, we went out for chinese for lunch and had leftovers for dinner. i'd made the beef stroganoff before and knew that it was a good solid recipe, but all of saturday's cooking was with new recipes - all three were big hits and definitely keepers!
of the three, i think the cottage cheese pancakes were hands down my favorite - a coworker gave me a tip this morning that they freeze well, so you can make them ahead of time, freeze, and microwave them as needed. you can count on finding some cottage cheese pancakes in my freezer before matson comes! they're a great way to add extra protein and calcium to your breakfast, even if you're not otherwise a fan of cottage cheese. the cottage cheese made the pancakes a little denser than normal, perhaps, but in a really yummy, filling way - and the cottage cheese all seemed to melt into the pancakes so that there weren't white chunks as you cut up your pancakes. the cinnamon in the recipe also gave it a great flavor. honestly, i can't recommend these highly enough! we had them on their own, but i think a fruit salad would go perfectly with them.
the refried bean tostadas were also really good, super easy, cheap, and reheated well. (i think they're intended as a main course, but i'd probably need to add a little ground beef to them to get that one past scott.) you bake tortillas in a muffin tin for a few minutes, throw in some beans, salsa, and cheese, and put them back in the oven to heat up - no actual cooking involved! the most challenging part of that recipe was making sure that the tortillas (which you stuff into muffin tin holes) had enough of an open bowl in the middle before you heat them up, to make it easier to get beans and salsa once they're a little crispy.
the salsa chicken seemed to be well received, and it was so easy (brown up chunks of chicken breast, throw in a pyrex, cover with salsa and cheese, and bake for ~10 minutes) i'll have to experiment with it some more. i didn't think it had a ton of flavor, but i use my own spices rather than a packet of taco seasoning, and i think that i just didn't use enough spice for the amount of chicken i had. plus, i used super generic mild salsa - i think going with a medium spiciness rather than mild would help, in addition to maybe getting a better salsa. (or using a fruit salsa, as they recommend!) worth playing with, for sure.
food
i cooked dinner tonight! a real dinner! considering my history of loving to cook, you may be asking why this is so exciting? because i've been an awful cook since i got pregnant. (awful in the sense of having the energy and making the effort to cook, not as in making awful food.) most of the stuff i've made has been things like pasta or chicken legs, and i've probably cooked fewer than 20 times in the last three and a half months. yikes. (we've filled in with a lot of cheesy crisp, eggs, and frozen chicken nuggets in there.)
once you get out of the habit of cooking, it's so easy to stay out of the habit. i don't think about cooking, so i don't think about menu planning or grocery shopping, so i don't grocery shop, and then even if i want to cook something real, i have to go to the grocery before i can make anything, which means that it's easier just to heat up some chicken nuggets for dinner. if i take the time to think about what i'll want to cook and what nights we'll need to cook, though, and make sure that i have cookable real food in the house, i get to cook and remember that i enjoy cooking!
not to mention, tonight's meal does double duty, which is awesome. i made spicy honey brushed chicken thighs (which is one of my fallback easy, quick, tasty healthy-ish foods), steamed broccoli, blueberry muffins, and fresh pineapple and strawberries. all quite yummy. and then for tomorrow night, we'd signed up to bring dinner to some friends with a new baby, so i'll chop up the leftover chicken thighs, layer with rice, black beans, avocado, and chopped tomato and lettuce, and voila - burrito bowls! speaking of, i need to go get my rice going.
once you get out of the habit of cooking, it's so easy to stay out of the habit. i don't think about cooking, so i don't think about menu planning or grocery shopping, so i don't grocery shop, and then even if i want to cook something real, i have to go to the grocery before i can make anything, which means that it's easier just to heat up some chicken nuggets for dinner. if i take the time to think about what i'll want to cook and what nights we'll need to cook, though, and make sure that i have cookable real food in the house, i get to cook and remember that i enjoy cooking!
not to mention, tonight's meal does double duty, which is awesome. i made spicy honey brushed chicken thighs (which is one of my fallback easy, quick, tasty healthy-ish foods), steamed broccoli, blueberry muffins, and fresh pineapple and strawberries. all quite yummy. and then for tomorrow night, we'd signed up to bring dinner to some friends with a new baby, so i'll chop up the leftover chicken thighs, layer with rice, black beans, avocado, and chopped tomato and lettuce, and voila - burrito bowls! speaking of, i need to go get my rice going.
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while i (clearly) love cooking, i've never been a huge baker. i think i made a cake once for scott, back in our first year of marriage - he was just reminiscing about it this weekend - but it was from a box. i made bread and banana bread a few times, but it just made me cranky. i knew there was potential for me to love baking, particularly for the fresh baked breads, but it just wasn't happening. i think this is all about to change, though.
my parents got "us" (me) a stand mixer as an early anniversary gift, and i'm smitten. i just used it for the first time this last weekend to make those homemade hamburger buns, and it was such a joyous experience - no more wresting with the hand mixer, muscling it through stiff doughs, splattering all over the kitchen, getting massive shoulder knots and snapping at scott ... just dump in the ingredients and let it merrily go to town! (so really, the stand mixer is a gift to both of us - makes me a cheerful baker and therefore scott a happily un-snapped at husband, and he gets to enjoy the fruits of my labors.)
my next project for the stand mixer is sugar cookies and frosting. i'm helping throw a baby shower for a girl from church this weekend, and volunteered to make gingerbread man-shaped sugar cookies that we'll decorate with frosting onesies. the idea originally came from abba's bachelorette party 5+ years ago, when we decorated sugar cookies with icing lingerie. i've since done it for maura's baby shower with frosting onesies, and for christmas parties with ornaments - very versatile and yummy craft! in the past, i've always used tubes of premade sugar cookie dough and canisters of frosting because i couldn't bear the thought of trying to make it with my mixer, but this time i'm going all out with from-scratch sugar cookies AND frosting! the results will hopefully be delicious.
in case you're reading this asking yourself, "um, didn't she just write a post about doing a no-dessert july?" well, yes. i think i'm going to have to rename the month "no-daily-desserts july", because going an entire month without eating sweets is super hard! the other girl planning the baby shower with me is having a cake made - white cake with raspberry filling and whipped cream frosting. i seriously don't think i can be in the room with that thing for the entire afternoon and not have any. *sigh. being conscious of what desserts i'm eating and when is probably a good habit to get into, at least ... and i can still shoot for a dessert-free last half of july, right? (if you're now telling yourself that i have very little willpower, you're probably right.)
my parents got "us" (me) a stand mixer as an early anniversary gift, and i'm smitten. i just used it for the first time this last weekend to make those homemade hamburger buns, and it was such a joyous experience - no more wresting with the hand mixer, muscling it through stiff doughs, splattering all over the kitchen, getting massive shoulder knots and snapping at scott ... just dump in the ingredients and let it merrily go to town! (so really, the stand mixer is a gift to both of us - makes me a cheerful baker and therefore scott a happily un-snapped at husband, and he gets to enjoy the fruits of my labors.)
my next project for the stand mixer is sugar cookies and frosting. i'm helping throw a baby shower for a girl from church this weekend, and volunteered to make gingerbread man-shaped sugar cookies that we'll decorate with frosting onesies. the idea originally came from abba's bachelorette party 5+ years ago, when we decorated sugar cookies with icing lingerie. i've since done it for maura's baby shower with frosting onesies, and for christmas parties with ornaments - very versatile and yummy craft! in the past, i've always used tubes of premade sugar cookie dough and canisters of frosting because i couldn't bear the thought of trying to make it with my mixer, but this time i'm going all out with from-scratch sugar cookies AND frosting! the results will hopefully be delicious.
in case you're reading this asking yourself, "um, didn't she just write a post about doing a no-dessert july?" well, yes. i think i'm going to have to rename the month "no-daily-desserts july", because going an entire month without eating sweets is super hard! the other girl planning the baby shower with me is having a cake made - white cake with raspberry filling and whipped cream frosting. i seriously don't think i can be in the room with that thing for the entire afternoon and not have any. *sigh. being conscious of what desserts i'm eating and when is probably a good habit to get into, at least ... and i can still shoot for a dessert-free last half of july, right? (if you're now telling yourself that i have very little willpower, you're probably right.)
cooking kick
i think i'm on another cooking kick. i can tell when one is coming on because i find myself spending inordinate amounts of time thinking about food ... and i know it's here when i actually cook a real dinner at home several nights in a row. the products of this cooking spree have been particularly tasty, though. meals we've enjoyed in the last week and a half:
the homemade hamburger buns were super easy to make - it was my first expedition with the stand mixer my parents got me/us as an early anniversary gift a few weeks ago, and i love it already! the buns were so fresh and tasty, although i will say that without the preservatives stores add, they start to dry out by the next day. the recipe made 16 buns (next time i'll likely do a half recipe, unless we have a giant bbq at our house), so i sent a handful off with our friends andrew and anne, who were in town for the 4th before they set off on a grand three week camping expedition through the national parks of colorado, utah, and arizona.
the rosemary, basil, and chives were all from my little herb planter and so tasty! in addition to those three, i planted cilantro and sage. the cilantro has really struggled - a few of the stalks have died off, and the one remaining has really skinny, lacey leaves (rather than the broad cilantro leaves you think of) and has started to flower and seed, even though i tried to stay on top of chopping off flowers when they popped up. according to wiki, the seeds are coriander - who knew! oh, although this page suggests that's normal, and that cilantro just has a quick life cycle - also, who knew! the sage is going strong, but i have yet to actually use any of it. i need to figure out what sage goes in ... suggestions?
- country ribs on the grill with corn on the cob and french bread
- fried rice made with leftover ribs and corn on the cob
- chicken fajitas made with leftover spicy honey chicken thighs
- homemade margherita pizza with garden fresh basil
- whole wheat pasta with broccoli and broiled chicken breast
- burgers on the grill with homemade hamburger buns and homemade salsa and guac for the 4th of july
- grilled rosemary lamb chops with basil, chive, and sundried tomato couscous
the homemade hamburger buns were super easy to make - it was my first expedition with the stand mixer my parents got me/us as an early anniversary gift a few weeks ago, and i love it already! the buns were so fresh and tasty, although i will say that without the preservatives stores add, they start to dry out by the next day. the recipe made 16 buns (next time i'll likely do a half recipe, unless we have a giant bbq at our house), so i sent a handful off with our friends andrew and anne, who were in town for the 4th before they set off on a grand three week camping expedition through the national parks of colorado, utah, and arizona.
the rosemary, basil, and chives were all from my little herb planter and so tasty! in addition to those three, i planted cilantro and sage. the cilantro has really struggled - a few of the stalks have died off, and the one remaining has really skinny, lacey leaves (rather than the broad cilantro leaves you think of) and has started to flower and seed, even though i tried to stay on top of chopping off flowers when they popped up. according to wiki, the seeds are coriander - who knew! oh, although this page suggests that's normal, and that cilantro just has a quick life cycle - also, who knew! the sage is going strong, but i have yet to actually use any of it. i need to figure out what sage goes in ... suggestions?
brown rice
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so i was just looking on cooking light's website for recipes to make brown rice fun - i have a bunch of it in my pantry because i was ambitiously healthy mood like a year ago and bought a bunch, but it turns out brown rice just isn't as tasty as white rice and scott isn't a fan. anyway, i have a bag or two to use up, so i turn to the web for help, and what does the web give me? brown rice and mushroom pancakes. um, what? it could turn out to be really good ... but i doubt it. plus i think scott would be out the door for taco bell in two seconds flat if i tried to make that for dinner!
food brain
we went to our 5280 dinner at the restaurant kevin taylor on sunday night with our small group - so fun! the portions were a little on the small side (which is par for the course at a fancy restaurant), but oh so tasty. i got the asparagus and gnocchi in a truffle parmesan sauce for my appetizer, lamb loin and ravioli with artichoke and gouda for my entree, and for dessert a cookies and cream semifreddo (which is basically like a chilled cookies and cream mousse with an oreo crust on the bottom). yummm. i'm hungry just typing that out. the guys were all a little disappointed that the food didn't come in greater quantity and threatened to make us go to outback steakhouse (where you get four huge courses plus beverage) for 5280 dinner next year. it's entirely possible that they were just spoiled by rodizio's all you can eat meat last year, though. (personally, i'd rather take advantage of eating at amazing fancy restaurants that i would never go to normally when i have an opportunity like 5280 - dinner for two for $52.80 from a pre fixed menu. i think scott's of the same opinion, so we'll have to work on the rest of them.)
on a much less fancy-food note, i made my favorite cooking light baked potato soup last night and it was sooo good. if you haven't made it yet, please do so tonight - you will love it. i bake my potatoes in the microwave because it's way quicker than the oven, use the baggied 'real bacon' bits from the grocery so that my house doesn't smell like bacon for the next week, and skim milk because that's what we have - it is so quick and so easy. heat flour and milk, dump in potato, cheese, sour cream, seasoning, and green onion, and serve. mmm. i'm a little bit jealous because we had leftovers and i had scott take them for lunch today. yes, my job buys my lunch so i don't have to bring leftovers, but it's just that good. i basically keep sour cream and bacon bits in the fridge solely for the purpose of this soup.
let me see - non-food related things going on in my life ... i sent the check off to our mortgage company last week to have it endorsed and returned, but they just called and said that our adjuster stopped filling out the amount of the check midway through, so they have to send it back to us, have it finished, and then return it to them. sweet. it's fine, though, we're really not in any imminent rush on the roof thing - it's not like we have any leaks in the house. the gutter guy is coming out to revise his estimate on thursday (apparently the gutter industry is hard up for work - as soon as we mentioned getting a comparison bid, the gutter guy said he could drop his price for us). we'd rather use this guy since they work with our roofing company on a normal basis so we think communication would be easier, but we also want to make sure we're getting a good price. i feel guilty sometimes when people drop their prices for me because i know that they need the profit to make a living, but i have to be a wise consumer and trust that they're being a wise business person. if i only had unlimited cash, i'd happily be fleeced by every home repair person in the metro. oh, and we're having a house painter come out to give us an estimate on doing our trim on thursday. we really need to figure out colors.
and, unrelated to both food and my roof, i have a sore throat today. it's been building since sunday, but has definitely progressed to full on sore for today. i woke up a few times last night with a cramp in my forehead muscles because i was furrowing my brow so tightly because it hurt to swallow in my sleep. i took some advil and scott dug out the chloroseptic strips for me, and i'm pretty sure i'll survive. 95% chance, at least. hmm, maybe if i complain about my sore throat enough, scott will leave the baked potato soup for me and my achy throat to enjoy! mm, except that i had already planned to make this bacon and mushroom pasta for dinner tonight ... and, well, mushrooms and bacon and pasta just sounds so tasty.
(for the record, no, i do not cook like this all the time. last week on the menu: papa john's heart pizza, tuna casserole, smashburger/mcdonald's, and three nights where i assume we must have eaten leftovers because i cooked nothing.)
on a much less fancy-food note, i made my favorite cooking light baked potato soup last night and it was sooo good. if you haven't made it yet, please do so tonight - you will love it. i bake my potatoes in the microwave because it's way quicker than the oven, use the baggied 'real bacon' bits from the grocery so that my house doesn't smell like bacon for the next week, and skim milk because that's what we have - it is so quick and so easy. heat flour and milk, dump in potato, cheese, sour cream, seasoning, and green onion, and serve. mmm. i'm a little bit jealous because we had leftovers and i had scott take them for lunch today. yes, my job buys my lunch so i don't have to bring leftovers, but it's just that good. i basically keep sour cream and bacon bits in the fridge solely for the purpose of this soup.
let me see - non-food related things going on in my life ... i sent the check off to our mortgage company last week to have it endorsed and returned, but they just called and said that our adjuster stopped filling out the amount of the check midway through, so they have to send it back to us, have it finished, and then return it to them. sweet. it's fine, though, we're really not in any imminent rush on the roof thing - it's not like we have any leaks in the house. the gutter guy is coming out to revise his estimate on thursday (apparently the gutter industry is hard up for work - as soon as we mentioned getting a comparison bid, the gutter guy said he could drop his price for us). we'd rather use this guy since they work with our roofing company on a normal basis so we think communication would be easier, but we also want to make sure we're getting a good price. i feel guilty sometimes when people drop their prices for me because i know that they need the profit to make a living, but i have to be a wise consumer and trust that they're being a wise business person. if i only had unlimited cash, i'd happily be fleeced by every home repair person in the metro. oh, and we're having a house painter come out to give us an estimate on doing our trim on thursday. we really need to figure out colors.
and, unrelated to both food and my roof, i have a sore throat today. it's been building since sunday, but has definitely progressed to full on sore for today. i woke up a few times last night with a cramp in my forehead muscles because i was furrowing my brow so tightly because it hurt to swallow in my sleep. i took some advil and scott dug out the chloroseptic strips for me, and i'm pretty sure i'll survive. 95% chance, at least. hmm, maybe if i complain about my sore throat enough, scott will leave the baked potato soup for me and my achy throat to enjoy! mm, except that i had already planned to make this bacon and mushroom pasta for dinner tonight ... and, well, mushrooms and bacon and pasta just sounds so tasty.
(for the record, no, i do not cook like this all the time. last week on the menu: papa john's heart pizza, tuna casserole, smashburger/mcdonald's, and three nights where i assume we must have eaten leftovers because i cooked nothing.)
sportsfan
i am sleepy today ... we went to the suns v. nuggets game last night, and while the original tip off time had been 7:00, it got pushed back to 8:30 so that they could televise it. 8:30 start time meant that we didn't get home til almost midnight. thus, now sleepy. it was a good game, though - suns won 109-97! and we got to meet the guy that goo is dating, which was very fun.
an insurance adjustor is coming out next tuesday to look at the roof. when he called, he offered that we could have our contractor out for the appointment also if we wanted ... not entirely sure what to do with that. on the one hand, it seems like it could be helpful to have a guy who's knowledgable and sort of "on our side" at the appointment; on the other, he's the only roof guy we've spoken to, and while we really liked him, i don't want to feel completely committed to using him if we need to price compare. we need to decide soon, though, so that we can get it on the roof guy's calendar if we do decide to have him at the appointment. (and the roof guy did offer that if the first adjusting appointment doesn't get the result we want, that we could request a second adjustor to come out and have him there also.)
we're hanging out with some friends to watch the superbowl this sunday, and since dips are apparently the official food of football, i'm making both queso and spinach/artichoke dip to bring to the game. the spinach artichoke dip because i had bought frozen spinach to make some like three weeks ago, never got around to it, so it's been sitting in my fridge and i want it gone. the queso, because i like queso and have a handy small crock pot just perfect for making queso, so why not? not to mention, i found this super tasty looking queso recipe - velveeta and rotel, yes, but also cream cheese, cheddar, chorizo, and black olives. oh my! (although actually, i decided to make queso a week ago and just found the recipe five minutes ago when i subscribed to the pioneer woman's tasty kitchen blog so that i can enter her cooking gear contests again.)
on another unrelated note, depending on the cost of this whole roof situation, i have a tentative brilliant idea for a long weekend getaway with scott later in the spring. thus far it's a surprise (the destination, not that i'm thinking of planning a trip - i would feel super guilty spending that much money without getting at least a general consent from him), but i did tell scott that it would involve plane tickets, and that it's not to chicago. i'm trying not to get my hopes too far up, because if we have to pay a lot out of pocket for the roof i think i'll have to dash the idea for now ... but it's definitely simmering in the back of my mind.
an insurance adjustor is coming out next tuesday to look at the roof. when he called, he offered that we could have our contractor out for the appointment also if we wanted ... not entirely sure what to do with that. on the one hand, it seems like it could be helpful to have a guy who's knowledgable and sort of "on our side" at the appointment; on the other, he's the only roof guy we've spoken to, and while we really liked him, i don't want to feel completely committed to using him if we need to price compare. we need to decide soon, though, so that we can get it on the roof guy's calendar if we do decide to have him at the appointment. (and the roof guy did offer that if the first adjusting appointment doesn't get the result we want, that we could request a second adjustor to come out and have him there also.)
we're hanging out with some friends to watch the superbowl this sunday, and since dips are apparently the official food of football, i'm making both queso and spinach/artichoke dip to bring to the game. the spinach artichoke dip because i had bought frozen spinach to make some like three weeks ago, never got around to it, so it's been sitting in my fridge and i want it gone. the queso, because i like queso and have a handy small crock pot just perfect for making queso, so why not? not to mention, i found this super tasty looking queso recipe - velveeta and rotel, yes, but also cream cheese, cheddar, chorizo, and black olives. oh my! (although actually, i decided to make queso a week ago and just found the recipe five minutes ago when i subscribed to the pioneer woman's tasty kitchen blog so that i can enter her cooking gear contests again.)
on another unrelated note, depending on the cost of this whole roof situation, i have a tentative brilliant idea for a long weekend getaway with scott later in the spring. thus far it's a surprise (the destination, not that i'm thinking of planning a trip - i would feel super guilty spending that much money without getting at least a general consent from him), but i did tell scott that it would involve plane tickets, and that it's not to chicago. i'm trying not to get my hopes too far up, because if we have to pay a lot out of pocket for the roof i think i'll have to dash the idea for now ... but it's definitely simmering in the back of my mind.
sorry so remiss
wow, this is not a month of inspired postings on my part, is it? let's see, things going on here:
1. this last saturday, we got to drive down to c. springs with mike and maura and kinley to see our old friends lori and aaron and their daughter (now 8 months old! this is the third time we've seen them since they moved back in july) and their new house down there. the visit was a lot of fun, as usual, but it started snowing early in the evening, so the roads coming back to denver were not fun. we made it home alive and in one piece, though.
2. thanksgiving is a week from tomorrow and i'm trememdously excited. in part for the food (mike and maura are having us over for dinner - her parents are in town for the holiday this year), but also for the 4 day weekend. love it. plus, thanksgiving means the start of christmas music season, and that i can put my pretty red berry wreath (from the martha stewart collection at kmart a few years ago) on my front door. also, and i guess this goes back to the food, i get to make green bean casserole, and that's never a bad thing. i'm debating making an extra green bean casserole for my fridge since i'm not sure if we'll have any leftovers from dinner, but i think that might be considered glutonous.
3. on saturday, one of the girls in our sunday school class is having a craft and cookie afternoon at her house, and i'm a little bit excited for that, too. i can't precisely decide what to bring - on the one hand, i started a little knit scarf for kinley like two years ago that i paused on because i realized that kids shouldn't wear scarves until they're two, so i need to get that finished if i want to get it to her for christmas. on the other hand, i'd really like to start cutting my quilt squares for my picnic quilt and that might be a good motivation to work on that. knitting might be more portable. (the scarf is cute - it's a pale yellow, because i started it before kinley was born and they didn't find out the gender beforehand, and ribbed. each row is something like 3 knit, 3 perl, etc, which makes a nice fat ribbing when you do it right. i'm going to see if i can get some bright yarns and make brightly colored pompom tassels on the ends.)
4. in a stroke of dinner genius last week, i made spicy honey-brushed chicken thighs for dinner on wednesday, then chopped up the leftover thighs on thursday, added rice, black beans, chopped tomatoes, lettuce, and sour cream - and voila, chicken burrito bowls! (spicy honey brushed chicken thighs are basically the easiest thing to make - especially if you use my generous sprinkling method of seasoning, rather than measuring out spices and rubbing them on. so what, like 10 minutes of effort for two dinners? sweet.) unfortunately i decided at the grocery store last time that i would give dried beans a try, and despite soaking for about 10 hours during the day and then simmering on the stove for close to an hour while we were at the gym pre-dinner, the beans were pretty tough. i've heard that slow cooking dried beans all day works well, though, so we'll give that a try next time. i saved the leftover beans for slow cooked chili this next weekend, i'll call that my trial run.
1. this last saturday, we got to drive down to c. springs with mike and maura and kinley to see our old friends lori and aaron and their daughter (now 8 months old! this is the third time we've seen them since they moved back in july) and their new house down there. the visit was a lot of fun, as usual, but it started snowing early in the evening, so the roads coming back to denver were not fun. we made it home alive and in one piece, though.
2. thanksgiving is a week from tomorrow and i'm trememdously excited. in part for the food (mike and maura are having us over for dinner - her parents are in town for the holiday this year), but also for the 4 day weekend. love it. plus, thanksgiving means the start of christmas music season, and that i can put my pretty red berry wreath (from the martha stewart collection at kmart a few years ago) on my front door. also, and i guess this goes back to the food, i get to make green bean casserole, and that's never a bad thing. i'm debating making an extra green bean casserole for my fridge since i'm not sure if we'll have any leftovers from dinner, but i think that might be considered glutonous.
3. on saturday, one of the girls in our sunday school class is having a craft and cookie afternoon at her house, and i'm a little bit excited for that, too. i can't precisely decide what to bring - on the one hand, i started a little knit scarf for kinley like two years ago that i paused on because i realized that kids shouldn't wear scarves until they're two, so i need to get that finished if i want to get it to her for christmas. on the other hand, i'd really like to start cutting my quilt squares for my picnic quilt and that might be a good motivation to work on that. knitting might be more portable. (the scarf is cute - it's a pale yellow, because i started it before kinley was born and they didn't find out the gender beforehand, and ribbed. each row is something like 3 knit, 3 perl, etc, which makes a nice fat ribbing when you do it right. i'm going to see if i can get some bright yarns and make brightly colored pompom tassels on the ends.)
4. in a stroke of dinner genius last week, i made spicy honey-brushed chicken thighs for dinner on wednesday, then chopped up the leftover thighs on thursday, added rice, black beans, chopped tomatoes, lettuce, and sour cream - and voila, chicken burrito bowls! (spicy honey brushed chicken thighs are basically the easiest thing to make - especially if you use my generous sprinkling method of seasoning, rather than measuring out spices and rubbing them on. so what, like 10 minutes of effort for two dinners? sweet.) unfortunately i decided at the grocery store last time that i would give dried beans a try, and despite soaking for about 10 hours during the day and then simmering on the stove for close to an hour while we were at the gym pre-dinner, the beans were pretty tough. i've heard that slow cooking dried beans all day works well, though, so we'll give that a try next time. i saved the leftover beans for slow cooked chili this next weekend, i'll call that my trial run.
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another new recipe for your tasting pleasure: whole wheat pasta with broccoli sauce. pappardelle's pasta is a local "gourmet" pasta company (seriously, i just checked their little online store, and it's like $7.50/lb for their pastas) - i've never had their pasta, but my coworker picked up some pasta at a farmer's market this summer, and it came with this recipe. i just used barilla whole wheat fettucine, and normal broccoli instead of broccoli rabe. (primarily because a) i'm not entirely sure what broccoli rabe is - some type of green?, and b) i don't think my across-the-street grocery store has broccoli rabe, and i didn't feel like going down the street to whole foods. plus i like broccoli.) oh, and i used reduced fat cream cheese. and i added italian sausage since scott basically boycotts meatless meals.
my edits aside, though, it's a really easy/tasty pasta recipe. the cream sauce is really light - it's mostly chicken broth with a little cream cheese melted in, so it's not heavy and thick like an alfredo sauce. the sauce is almost more like a glaze on the pasta; it gives a nice flavor to every bite without being overwhelming. i did a 1.5 recipe since there were 8 of us total for dinner, but we have probably enough for a good lunch or dinner for both of us left (we served salad and garlic bread with it). i'll have to figure out how to reduce it down to be suitable for a dinner for 2, but i'll definitely be making it for us again. maybe like 1/2 box pasta, 1/2 cup ckn broth, 1 onion, 1 broccoli crown (since 2 was about a pound), and 3 tablespoons cream cheese. anyway, i recommend it highly. (particularly if your husband makes homemade creampuffs drizzled with chocolate icing and with strawberries on the side for dessert.)
speaking of amazing dinners, we went out for indian last night, and wow. there's an indian place in a little strip mall that's basically in the parking lot of the home depot near us that we had seen and wondered about, then we got a coupon in the mail and figured we'd give it a whirl. apparently the newspaper restaurant reviewer gave it an a-, and i'd say that's spot on. we tried the chicken ticca masala and the chicken curry (yes, both mild, we've been burned before by too-spicy indian food) and the plain naan, and it was SO GOOD. so good. so so good. good to the extent that i can't express in writing how tasty it was - i think "mmmmmmmmm" is the only phrase coming to mind that sums it up. apparently our coupon is only good sunday-thursday (whoops), but we were not at all sad that we'll just have to go back another time to use it. we shared leftovers today at lunch, and still loved it.
oh! and another terrific recipe that i tried and loved this week: tilapia tacos. i've always made fish tacos with tuna steaks before, but tilapia was so much cheaper at the grocery that i went for it and figured i'd make do. i was really pleased, though - the tilapia cooks quickly since the filets are so thin, and it has such a mild flavor that you think more "mm, good tacos" than "ah yes, i'm clearly eating fish tacos that happen to be tasty". (i almost didn't make them because i was just so not in the mood for fishy smell/taste.) i'm not much one for measuring my spices, nor am i one for spice blends, so i just threw some cumin, coriander, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and maybe some garlic powder and salt and pepper on the tilapia (on each side), then squeezed some (bottled) lime juice in and let it cook. my filets fell apart in the cooking process, so i just used the spatula to flake it up in the pan. very good! i had an avocado in the fridge that was about half-good still, so we chopped up the good parts, added some cherry tomato, and sour cream - yummy.
i'm impressed, we've eaten well this week. okay, monday night we had the mini cheese pizzas that came with our jack o'lantern pizza from papa murphy's last saturday - they weren't amazing - and tuesday night i made cheeseburger crescent rolls. but hey, three days in a row of good food is not too shabby.
my edits aside, though, it's a really easy/tasty pasta recipe. the cream sauce is really light - it's mostly chicken broth with a little cream cheese melted in, so it's not heavy and thick like an alfredo sauce. the sauce is almost more like a glaze on the pasta; it gives a nice flavor to every bite without being overwhelming. i did a 1.5 recipe since there were 8 of us total for dinner, but we have probably enough for a good lunch or dinner for both of us left (we served salad and garlic bread with it). i'll have to figure out how to reduce it down to be suitable for a dinner for 2, but i'll definitely be making it for us again. maybe like 1/2 box pasta, 1/2 cup ckn broth, 1 onion, 1 broccoli crown (since 2 was about a pound), and 3 tablespoons cream cheese. anyway, i recommend it highly. (particularly if your husband makes homemade creampuffs drizzled with chocolate icing and with strawberries on the side for dessert.)
speaking of amazing dinners, we went out for indian last night, and wow. there's an indian place in a little strip mall that's basically in the parking lot of the home depot near us that we had seen and wondered about, then we got a coupon in the mail and figured we'd give it a whirl. apparently the newspaper restaurant reviewer gave it an a-, and i'd say that's spot on. we tried the chicken ticca masala and the chicken curry (yes, both mild, we've been burned before by too-spicy indian food) and the plain naan, and it was SO GOOD. so good. so so good. good to the extent that i can't express in writing how tasty it was - i think "mmmmmmmmm" is the only phrase coming to mind that sums it up. apparently our coupon is only good sunday-thursday (whoops), but we were not at all sad that we'll just have to go back another time to use it. we shared leftovers today at lunch, and still loved it.
oh! and another terrific recipe that i tried and loved this week: tilapia tacos. i've always made fish tacos with tuna steaks before, but tilapia was so much cheaper at the grocery that i went for it and figured i'd make do. i was really pleased, though - the tilapia cooks quickly since the filets are so thin, and it has such a mild flavor that you think more "mm, good tacos" than "ah yes, i'm clearly eating fish tacos that happen to be tasty". (i almost didn't make them because i was just so not in the mood for fishy smell/taste.) i'm not much one for measuring my spices, nor am i one for spice blends, so i just threw some cumin, coriander, chili powder, cayenne pepper, and maybe some garlic powder and salt and pepper on the tilapia (on each side), then squeezed some (bottled) lime juice in and let it cook. my filets fell apart in the cooking process, so i just used the spatula to flake it up in the pan. very good! i had an avocado in the fridge that was about half-good still, so we chopped up the good parts, added some cherry tomato, and sour cream - yummy.
i'm impressed, we've eaten well this week. okay, monday night we had the mini cheese pizzas that came with our jack o'lantern pizza from papa murphy's last saturday - they weren't amazing - and tuesday night i made cheeseburger crescent rolls. but hey, three days in a row of good food is not too shabby.
around-the-house weekend
dinner last night turned out well! i was skeptical at how the bread would turn out - i felt like i had to add a lot of extra flour to make the dough non-sticky - but it was good! the recipe turned out two big round loaves, and our small group (8 adults plus a 2 year old last night) pretty much polished them both off. definitely will add extra cornmeal to the baking sheet next time, as the loaves stuck pretty thoroughly after baking. green beans were very tasty, but not as much of a hit as the bread. squash was also quite good - even scott ate two pieces, and he normally won't touch squash with a ten-foot pole! i probably should have cooked it an extra few minutes, but it's hard to tell how long to cook stuff when you have an oven crammed full ... plus my oven door sort-of broke (a very important screw fell out) mid-cooking, and i was tired of trying to hold the door together to check on the squash.
oh, and the beef stroganoff from saturday was also super tasty. the downside of cooking dinner in the crockpot all day while you're at home is that you can smell dinner all day and thus you're hungry all day. it's definitely a recipe i'll keep on hand for future use, though. (the reviews on cooking light's website said that they thought the sauce on the stroganoff was a little bit runny. i added probably an extra cup of liquid - plus a little worcestershire sauce - because i didn't think there'd be enough liquid to keep the stroganoff from burning over 8-9 hours of cooking, and we thought the sauce was perfect. oh, and i used dried parsley instead of fresh, and some rosemary and tarragon instead of dill because i didn't have any, and it was still good.)
anyway, this leads me to a list of things we broke this weekend:
1. two wine glasses. the pretty green pottery barn ones that we bought after our wedding, that i had carefully stored in a cabinet for three years, then happily put in a wine glass rack above our sink when we moved into the house. we started with six, and now have three. (and no, pb doesn't make them anymore.) scott was doing dishes, thrust up his arms to get his sleeves out of the way of the soapy water, and knocked two off of the rack - which is, ironically, precisely what happened to the third one back at easter.
2. my favorite cutting board. it was a gripperwood board, so it had lovely little rubber feet on the bottom so that it didn't slide around the counter when you cut. acorn squash are evidently very dense and hard - i was using my biggest, sharpest knife to cut them for dinner on sunday, but the knife became wedged mid-cut. my ill-advised solution was to grab the handle of the knife, pick up the whole thing - squash and knife wedged together - and smack it on the cutting board a few times to try to make the knife finish cutting through. it did finish chopping through the squash, but also broke my cutting board in half.
3. an extension cord. scott was out front finishing trimming the bushes saturday morning, i heard the electric (corded) hedge trimmer start up, and 10 seconds later scott was inside with a sad look on his face - he'd accidentally cut through the extension cord. yes, this is the second time it's happened in the year that we've owned the thing - i think the first time was within the first few minutes of its use - but to his credit, it is easy to accidentally do. i used the trimmer to cut back the barberries that overhang the driveway, and almost cut the cord a few times myself.
4. oven door. well, we didn't really break this, it more sort of broke itself. one of the screws at the top inside the door fell out while i was cooking for small group - i had to hold the door together with an ovenmitt every time i opened it until we found the screw (in a little lip on the drawer under the oven). it's fixed, now, though, thank goodness.
5. my tire. again, didn't really break it. friday night while we were out, the low tire pressure light came on - the last time it came on a month and a half ago, the tires were just a little low, so we didn't think much of it. got to church on sunday, i'm standing by the rear of the car waiting for scott to get his stuff out of the back seat, look down, and see a squished tire. whoops. it was at 14psi, we filled it up and by this morning it's back down to 26psi. wally's at goodyear right now getting patched up.
oh, and the beef stroganoff from saturday was also super tasty. the downside of cooking dinner in the crockpot all day while you're at home is that you can smell dinner all day and thus you're hungry all day. it's definitely a recipe i'll keep on hand for future use, though. (the reviews on cooking light's website said that they thought the sauce on the stroganoff was a little bit runny. i added probably an extra cup of liquid - plus a little worcestershire sauce - because i didn't think there'd be enough liquid to keep the stroganoff from burning over 8-9 hours of cooking, and we thought the sauce was perfect. oh, and i used dried parsley instead of fresh, and some rosemary and tarragon instead of dill because i didn't have any, and it was still good.)
anyway, this leads me to a list of things we broke this weekend:
1. two wine glasses. the pretty green pottery barn ones that we bought after our wedding, that i had carefully stored in a cabinet for three years, then happily put in a wine glass rack above our sink when we moved into the house. we started with six, and now have three. (and no, pb doesn't make them anymore.) scott was doing dishes, thrust up his arms to get his sleeves out of the way of the soapy water, and knocked two off of the rack - which is, ironically, precisely what happened to the third one back at easter.
2. my favorite cutting board. it was a gripperwood board, so it had lovely little rubber feet on the bottom so that it didn't slide around the counter when you cut. acorn squash are evidently very dense and hard - i was using my biggest, sharpest knife to cut them for dinner on sunday, but the knife became wedged mid-cut. my ill-advised solution was to grab the handle of the knife, pick up the whole thing - squash and knife wedged together - and smack it on the cutting board a few times to try to make the knife finish cutting through. it did finish chopping through the squash, but also broke my cutting board in half.
3. an extension cord. scott was out front finishing trimming the bushes saturday morning, i heard the electric (corded) hedge trimmer start up, and 10 seconds later scott was inside with a sad look on his face - he'd accidentally cut through the extension cord. yes, this is the second time it's happened in the year that we've owned the thing - i think the first time was within the first few minutes of its use - but to his credit, it is easy to accidentally do. i used the trimmer to cut back the barberries that overhang the driveway, and almost cut the cord a few times myself.
4. oven door. well, we didn't really break this, it more sort of broke itself. one of the screws at the top inside the door fell out while i was cooking for small group - i had to hold the door together with an ovenmitt every time i opened it until we found the screw (in a little lip on the drawer under the oven). it's fixed, now, though, thank goodness.
5. my tire. again, didn't really break it. friday night while we were out, the low tire pressure light came on - the last time it came on a month and a half ago, the tires were just a little low, so we didn't think much of it. got to church on sunday, i'm standing by the rear of the car waiting for scott to get his stuff out of the back seat, look down, and see a squished tire. whoops. it was at 14psi, we filled it up and by this morning it's back down to 26psi. wally's at goodyear right now getting patched up.
why i like family, among other things
so i have to confess that the number one reason why i enjoy family coming into town is entirely self-serving: free dinner out. scott's half-sister (yes, that makes her my sister-in-law, but as i have four of them i thought i'd specify) and her boyfriend are in from california for a work conference and offered to take us and goo out to dinner. we originally thought they'd be in denver, but turns out his daughter lives in boulder, so they're based up there for the week - who are we to pass up a free dinner just because of a 45 minute drive, though? we're driving up to boulder after work. :) i have absolutely no idea how nice we're talking, or where we'll be going, so i'm wearing my normal jeans and cardigan to work, and brought a skirt in case they take us someplace nice. i even wore a necklace today. (edit: scott just told me that the angels playoff game is tonight, his half-sister is a huge angels fan, so we're going to this sports bar called the lazy dog up in boulder to do dinner and watch it. i'm possibly more excited about that than i was about a fancy dinner because i love the lazy dog. there was one in denver when we first moved out and we went there all the time to watch games, but it closed a few years ago. they have amazing bbq chicken pizza, and i get to wear jeans.)
other exciting things this week:
- i bought a chair for $25 off of craigslist. a glider and gliding ottoman, to be specific. it was just such a good deal, i love gliders, and i have the perfect nook for it in my upstairs living room. (right next to the stairs in the big empty space.) the cushioning is in really good condition, and it's going to be the comfiest place to sit and read once i get it recovered. the current fabric is plush and shiny, sort of gray with blue and pink streaks in it, very early 90's. if i can convince scott to let me out of house project duty for a while on saturday, i think i'll run down to joann fabrics and see what sort of upholstery fabrics they have available, and how much it's going to set me back. i'm very excited about my project. almost as excited as i am for the picnic quilt that i already have fabric purchased for.
- i spent a good 5 minutes both last week and this week arguing with the kid i tutor about how old he is. he was born in december of '98, so he's 10, right? except he thinks that because he was born in 1998 and it's now 2009, that makes him 11. *sigh.
- we got to use my office seats for the last pre-season nuggets game on tuesday night. we used them a few weeks ago when they played belgrade (which is in serbia, fyi), and i will confess that watching two american teams play each other is much more exciting. we ate dinner at home before the game with the solid intention of NOT getting junk food there ... but you can really only sit in the presence of things like nachos and hot dogs for so long before you crave something. scott got us a churro in the 3rd quarter.
- i got to work out, eat home made chicken pot pie, and have a 2 hour long phone date with my friend alison last night.
- and i'm very excited about cooking this upcoming weekend: i bought some stew beef on clearance sale a while ago, and finally had a brainstorm last month that i can use it to make beef stroganoff. i did some investigating today and found a slow-cooker beef stroganoff recipe on cooking light that i'll be making for dinner on saturday. then sunday night we're hosting small group, and the host typically makes dinner for the group to eat together beforehand. i think the last time we hosted, i didn't feel like cooking, so we got papa murphy's pizza for the group. this time, though ... oh, this time i'm making a small fall feast. chicken legs, green bean salad amandine, homemade rosemary walnut bread, and the pioneer woman's sweet-roasted rosemary acorn squash wedges. trust me, i'll let you know how it all goes. and if you've never made chicken legs before, i highly recommend you give it a whirl - all you need is chicken legs and a canister of italian breadcrumbs which you can get generically for like $1.29 and lasts for forever. dump out a small pile of breadcrumbs on a plate, roll your thawed chicken legs (yes, skin and all) around in it one at a time until they're coated, put them on a sprayed baking sheet, bake at 425* for like 35-40 minutes, and voila. cheap, easy, seriously tasty stuff.
other exciting things this week:
- i bought a chair for $25 off of craigslist. a glider and gliding ottoman, to be specific. it was just such a good deal, i love gliders, and i have the perfect nook for it in my upstairs living room. (right next to the stairs in the big empty space.) the cushioning is in really good condition, and it's going to be the comfiest place to sit and read once i get it recovered. the current fabric is plush and shiny, sort of gray with blue and pink streaks in it, very early 90's. if i can convince scott to let me out of house project duty for a while on saturday, i think i'll run down to joann fabrics and see what sort of upholstery fabrics they have available, and how much it's going to set me back. i'm very excited about my project. almost as excited as i am for the picnic quilt that i already have fabric purchased for.
- i spent a good 5 minutes both last week and this week arguing with the kid i tutor about how old he is. he was born in december of '98, so he's 10, right? except he thinks that because he was born in 1998 and it's now 2009, that makes him 11. *sigh.
- we got to use my office seats for the last pre-season nuggets game on tuesday night. we used them a few weeks ago when they played belgrade (which is in serbia, fyi), and i will confess that watching two american teams play each other is much more exciting. we ate dinner at home before the game with the solid intention of NOT getting junk food there ... but you can really only sit in the presence of things like nachos and hot dogs for so long before you crave something. scott got us a churro in the 3rd quarter.
- i got to work out, eat home made chicken pot pie, and have a 2 hour long phone date with my friend alison last night.
- and i'm very excited about cooking this upcoming weekend: i bought some stew beef on clearance sale a while ago, and finally had a brainstorm last month that i can use it to make beef stroganoff. i did some investigating today and found a slow-cooker beef stroganoff recipe on cooking light that i'll be making for dinner on saturday. then sunday night we're hosting small group, and the host typically makes dinner for the group to eat together beforehand. i think the last time we hosted, i didn't feel like cooking, so we got papa murphy's pizza for the group. this time, though ... oh, this time i'm making a small fall feast. chicken legs, green bean salad amandine, homemade rosemary walnut bread, and the pioneer woman's sweet-roasted rosemary acorn squash wedges. trust me, i'll let you know how it all goes. and if you've never made chicken legs before, i highly recommend you give it a whirl - all you need is chicken legs and a canister of italian breadcrumbs which you can get generically for like $1.29 and lasts for forever. dump out a small pile of breadcrumbs on a plate, roll your thawed chicken legs (yes, skin and all) around in it one at a time until they're coated, put them on a sprayed baking sheet, bake at 425* for like 35-40 minutes, and voila. cheap, easy, seriously tasty stuff.
the treadmill ...
remember the pioneer woman? turns out she has a has a cookbook coming out later this month, and is doing a book tour. book tour? as in traveling to different cities to talk and sign books? yes, friends. i merrily clicked on the link to her book tour page to find out when she'll be in denver ... and found out pw will be in town on a monday night, which is when i have whiz kids. blerg. i was thisclose. alas!
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we've been working out at the rec center near us for the past year, and i have to say that other than the few weeks that we did weights in 10th grade p.e., this is probably the first time in my life that i've actually enjoyed and looked forward to working out. i'm glad for that, because a few years ago i really despaired that i would never enjoy exercising but felt like i should do it anyway.
along with enjoying working out, i'm also enjoying the benefits of working out - not that i've lost any weight (which doesn't really make sense to me), but that i'm definitely in better shape than i was pre-workout era. i remember the first time i used the elliptical, i lasted like 10 minutes and was huffing and puffing the whole time with a ridiculously high pulse rate; now i have to remind myself to get off after 25 minutes so that i can get some stretching and weights in before scott's done with his workout. the first time we rode our bikes last spring, i think we rode for a grand total of 20 minutes and my legs felt like jelly afterward; our last few rides of the season, we were out for close to two hours and went home because it was pitch dark out and we have no bike lights.
the point of this storytime, though, is that i very proudly reached a new milestone in my workouts last night. the past few times at the gym, i didn't feel like i was coming away feeling as pushed as i used to, so i decided to step it up a notch and hit the treadmill. the treadmill. i have only used a treadmill one other time in my life, when we lived at our first apartment out here that had a mini-gym in the community building. i think it went well, though. i spent about 25 minutes on there, half each running and walking, split up into several minute segments. the gym does have an indoor running track, too, and maybe i'll venture up there eventually; for right now, stepping out of my elliptical comfort zone within the safety of the cardio machine section is enough. when we got home post-gym last night, i realized that after spending an hour at the gym, i actually felt energized rather than ready to collapse. my legs (and ribs??) ache for sure, but in a good, i-pushed-myself-and-won kind of way. i guess getting out of your comfort zone every once in a while is a good thing.
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oh, and for dinner last night, i made stuffed peppers. they turned out well! i used a salt-free tomato sauce and felt like i added a ton of salt to the rice/meat mixture and that it was still bland, so i'll probably use a normal tomato sauce next time. and maybe add a few dashes of tabasco to the mix. i was skeptical, but one stuffed pepper each was really enough for us for dinner - scott did request that we have corn and/or beans on the side next time, which i suppose is a request i can accomodate. all in all, very tasty - i recommend it.
__________
we've been working out at the rec center near us for the past year, and i have to say that other than the few weeks that we did weights in 10th grade p.e., this is probably the first time in my life that i've actually enjoyed and looked forward to working out. i'm glad for that, because a few years ago i really despaired that i would never enjoy exercising but felt like i should do it anyway.
along with enjoying working out, i'm also enjoying the benefits of working out - not that i've lost any weight (which doesn't really make sense to me), but that i'm definitely in better shape than i was pre-workout era. i remember the first time i used the elliptical, i lasted like 10 minutes and was huffing and puffing the whole time with a ridiculously high pulse rate; now i have to remind myself to get off after 25 minutes so that i can get some stretching and weights in before scott's done with his workout. the first time we rode our bikes last spring, i think we rode for a grand total of 20 minutes and my legs felt like jelly afterward; our last few rides of the season, we were out for close to two hours and went home because it was pitch dark out and we have no bike lights.
the point of this storytime, though, is that i very proudly reached a new milestone in my workouts last night. the past few times at the gym, i didn't feel like i was coming away feeling as pushed as i used to, so i decided to step it up a notch and hit the treadmill. the treadmill. i have only used a treadmill one other time in my life, when we lived at our first apartment out here that had a mini-gym in the community building. i think it went well, though. i spent about 25 minutes on there, half each running and walking, split up into several minute segments. the gym does have an indoor running track, too, and maybe i'll venture up there eventually; for right now, stepping out of my elliptical comfort zone within the safety of the cardio machine section is enough. when we got home post-gym last night, i realized that after spending an hour at the gym, i actually felt energized rather than ready to collapse. my legs (and ribs??) ache for sure, but in a good, i-pushed-myself-and-won kind of way. i guess getting out of your comfort zone every once in a while is a good thing.
_______
oh, and for dinner last night, i made stuffed peppers. they turned out well! i used a salt-free tomato sauce and felt like i added a ton of salt to the rice/meat mixture and that it was still bland, so i'll probably use a normal tomato sauce next time. and maybe add a few dashes of tabasco to the mix. i was skeptical, but one stuffed pepper each was really enough for us for dinner - scott did request that we have corn and/or beans on the side next time, which i suppose is a request i can accomodate. all in all, very tasty - i recommend it.
oddly excited for football season
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labels:
recipes
it's officially september, do you know what that means? college football season! do you know why i put the exclamation mark after that rather than an elipsis (...), signifying excitedness instead of sadness? because football season = football games on tv = we get to have friends over to watch games = i get to cook for other people! duh.
man, my life has changed dramatically in the last few years - mike and maura had us over to watch a game when we first became friends with them four years ago, so i brought a book and sat in the corner. not that i'm super into football yet, but i am at least capable of watching an entire game. usually. don't quote me on this come the bowl games in december/january. or when scott only wants to watch games on saturdays and doesn't have friends over to amuse me.
anyway, foods i'm excited to cook for football games this fall include:
- homemade soft pretzels
- shrimp quesedillas
- buffalo wings
- cheeseburger crescent rolls
- chile con queso
- guacamole
- tomatillo salsa
not all at once, of course. unless we host a superbowl party next spring, in which case all bets are off.
man, my life has changed dramatically in the last few years - mike and maura had us over to watch a game when we first became friends with them four years ago, so i brought a book and sat in the corner. not that i'm super into football yet, but i am at least capable of watching an entire game. usually. don't quote me on this come the bowl games in december/january. or when scott only wants to watch games on saturdays and doesn't have friends over to amuse me.
anyway, foods i'm excited to cook for football games this fall include:
- homemade soft pretzels
- shrimp quesedillas
- buffalo wings
- cheeseburger crescent rolls
- chile con queso
- guacamole
- tomatillo salsa
not all at once, of course. unless we host a superbowl party next spring, in which case all bets are off.
penne with pork tenderloin and summer squash in white wine
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labels:
recipes
oh my, i just made a very tasty dinner. so good, in fact, that i feel the need to preserve my impromptu recipe for posterity.
penne with pork tenderloin and summer squash in a white wine sauce
(i need a better name for this)
8oz penne pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 boneless pork chop, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
splash low-sodium soy sauce
salt, pepper, italian seasoning
(probably also good with a dash of crushed red pepper here - didn't think of that til just now!)
1 yellow squash, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 green onions, chopped
white wine
splash lemon juice
fresh basil, sliced
parmesan cheese
boil penne. dice pork chop, saute in olive oil with chopped garlic. splash soy sauce on cooking pork chop, season with salt, pepper, italian seasoning blend. when 50% cooked, add squash and zucchini to pan. cook until beginning to soften. add white wine (until bottom of pan is covered, plus a little extra) and a splash of lemon juice. continue cooking until squash and zucchini are cooked almost through. add cherry tomatoes and green onions. drain pasta, add to pan with pork/veggies/sauce. serve, top with shredded parmesan. enjoy!
i was actually planning on making something similar yesterday, but with swiss chard that i got at the berry farm's farmer's market instead of summer squash. apparently chard is very perishable, though, because in the 48 hours that it was hanging out in my fridge at home, it totally wilted, so i ended up tossing it. we made sweet and sour chicken instead. alas and alack.
(for dessert, i highly recommend leftover ice cream cake from maggie moo's that you took to small group and thought would get eaten up, but ended up with 6 pieces to take home. don't worry, we did work out tonight.)
penne with pork tenderloin and summer squash in a white wine sauce
(i need a better name for this)
8oz penne pasta
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 boneless pork chop, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
splash low-sodium soy sauce
salt, pepper, italian seasoning
(probably also good with a dash of crushed red pepper here - didn't think of that til just now!)
1 yellow squash, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 green onions, chopped
white wine
splash lemon juice
fresh basil, sliced
parmesan cheese
boil penne. dice pork chop, saute in olive oil with chopped garlic. splash soy sauce on cooking pork chop, season with salt, pepper, italian seasoning blend. when 50% cooked, add squash and zucchini to pan. cook until beginning to soften. add white wine (until bottom of pan is covered, plus a little extra) and a splash of lemon juice. continue cooking until squash and zucchini are cooked almost through. add cherry tomatoes and green onions. drain pasta, add to pan with pork/veggies/sauce. serve, top with shredded parmesan. enjoy!
i was actually planning on making something similar yesterday, but with swiss chard that i got at the berry farm's farmer's market instead of summer squash. apparently chard is very perishable, though, because in the 48 hours that it was hanging out in my fridge at home, it totally wilted, so i ended up tossing it. we made sweet and sour chicken instead. alas and alack.
(for dessert, i highly recommend leftover ice cream cake from maggie moo's that you took to small group and thought would get eaten up, but ended up with 6 pieces to take home. don't worry, we did work out tonight.)
good night and good luck
all things considered, this has been a good evening! (and by all things considered, i mean, it's been a good evening despite the fact that i didn't get to go buy a car.) the c. springs dealer called me again as i was leaving work to ask what color of forester i'd like so that they can keep their eyes open at the auction tomorrow - isn't that the nicest thing ever?? even though we haven't purchased with them yet, they have provided such great customer service. i always laugh when i see the goony complimentary letters that people write to small companies that get posted on the company website, but 8 hours into my contact with this dealer, i would totally write one of those letters. (for the record, i told them i'm fine with pretty much any color except for the bright blue as long as the price is the same as the car i was looking at earlier today - they said they'd be priced the same. apparently they had their two foresters listed at $14,500 last week, they weren't selling, but then they dropped the price to $13,994 and they've had a ton of interest! i love subaru's olivey green, or their lighter "newport" blue color, but i'm also happy with silver or dark gray.)
we ended up doing a workout tonight, which was very needed, and felt great! i had sort of finished my workout but scott was still swimming, so i did 10 minutes on the bike and watched some of "i'm a celebrity, get me out of here!" - and it was AWFUL. truly. everyone on the show was just so stinkin prideful and full of themselves. i literally heard the phrases, "don't you know who i AM?" and, "i'm too famous for this!" come out of several peoples' mouths. blaah. i planned to make a margherita pizza when we got home, but i only had half of a roma tomato, so i made a veggie pizza instead - it was amazing! jiffy pizza crust (made with a little extra water), salt, pepper, garlic powder, italian seasoning, olive oil, spinach, tomato, yellow squash, onion, mozzarella, and parmesan, and it was by far one of the best pizzas i've ever made! oh, i guess i did toss a little pre-browned hamburger i had in the fridge on there as well. anyway, i highly recommend it.
we ended up doing a workout tonight, which was very needed, and felt great! i had sort of finished my workout but scott was still swimming, so i did 10 minutes on the bike and watched some of "i'm a celebrity, get me out of here!" - and it was AWFUL. truly. everyone on the show was just so stinkin prideful and full of themselves. i literally heard the phrases, "don't you know who i AM?" and, "i'm too famous for this!" come out of several peoples' mouths. blaah. i planned to make a margherita pizza when we got home, but i only had half of a roma tomato, so i made a veggie pizza instead - it was amazing! jiffy pizza crust (made with a little extra water), salt, pepper, garlic powder, italian seasoning, olive oil, spinach, tomato, yellow squash, onion, mozzarella, and parmesan, and it was by far one of the best pizzas i've ever made! oh, i guess i did toss a little pre-browned hamburger i had in the fridge on there as well. anyway, i highly recommend it.
tgif
yay!!! after all of that talk about waiting a few months to buy a car, we're going to go test drive one tonight! scott's dropping dinner at our friends' at 5 while i head straight to office to meet him - a dealer that has a few well-priced foresters happens to be maybe two hundred yards down the street from his office building. (i just checked their website - they apparently have 36 total cars, 6 of which are '08 foresters ... we think that'll give us a little edge in talking them down more.) i'm super excited. not only have i loved the forester from afar for four years, i've never gotten to be a part of choosing my own car. that's completely fine, of course, because my parents have always lovingly provided a car for me, and chosen good (usually) reliable cars that i've enjoyed ... but there's just something about getting to choose your own car and having almost 100% control over the decision and knowing that this is absolutely what you want that i am excited about. (plus i'm looking forward to hopefully not driving erma that much longer - she's developed a full fledged rattle above 30mph.)
all that to say, i've realized that i get emotionally attached to the oddest things. a few years ago, the summer before my wedding, i found myself really grieving i-55 - it had been a mainstay of my life over the past several years, being the main route between my parents' home and my life at college. and then last year when my work upgraded me to an iphone on the company plan, i was genuinely sad that i wouldn't be able to use my cute pink razr phone anymore. two weeks ago, when we first began the discussion about replacing erma - the car that i've had a mild contempt for since my parents bought her for me back in college, whose back window rolls down but not up, who bucks on the interstate and requires three and a half lanes to make a u-turn - i was surprised to find myself getting mopey and nostalgic at the prospect of not driving her anymore. for all the grief erma's caused me, she still gets 30mpg, has been reasonably reliable over the past few years, was free to me, and fits in the tiny parking spots in my garage at work ... even though she has her quirks, they're quirks that i know. (i think i'll get over it, though.)
oh, and in case you were wondering how that lemon pepper shrimp scampi with orzo recipe turned out last weekend: it was fabulous. tasty, healthy, and really quick to make. in fact, i'm pretty sure i picked it to make in the first place because it was in cooking light's 20-30 minute dinner section.
all that to say, i've realized that i get emotionally attached to the oddest things. a few years ago, the summer before my wedding, i found myself really grieving i-55 - it had been a mainstay of my life over the past several years, being the main route between my parents' home and my life at college. and then last year when my work upgraded me to an iphone on the company plan, i was genuinely sad that i wouldn't be able to use my cute pink razr phone anymore. two weeks ago, when we first began the discussion about replacing erma - the car that i've had a mild contempt for since my parents bought her for me back in college, whose back window rolls down but not up, who bucks on the interstate and requires three and a half lanes to make a u-turn - i was surprised to find myself getting mopey and nostalgic at the prospect of not driving her anymore. for all the grief erma's caused me, she still gets 30mpg, has been reasonably reliable over the past few years, was free to me, and fits in the tiny parking spots in my garage at work ... even though she has her quirks, they're quirks that i know. (i think i'll get over it, though.)
oh, and in case you were wondering how that lemon pepper shrimp scampi with orzo recipe turned out last weekend: it was fabulous. tasty, healthy, and really quick to make. in fact, i'm pretty sure i picked it to make in the first place because it was in cooking light's 20-30 minute dinner section.
long weekend
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labels:
landscaping,
recipes,
work
bah! i had to stay at work until 5pm, and i was not a happy camper. just me and one coworker most of the day, and then he left at 3:30 ... the last call that came in was at 1:15 (out of 5 calls total all day - two of which were solicitors, and none of which were important). however, for the next three days ... FREEDOM! hoorah! tonight we're cleaning the house, tomorrow a.m. is helping friends move, tomorrow p.m. we're hosting an event/bbq for our sunday school class, then sunday and monday no plans! (except for likely yard work.)
even better: tonight for dinner, i'm making finally making a lemon pepper shrimp scampi with orzo recipe that i've been moving around the calendar for two months now.
even better: tonight for dinner, i'm making finally making a lemon pepper shrimp scampi with orzo recipe that i've been moving around the calendar for two months now.
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