Who am I?

So, I've been trying really hard to do the meal planning thing for a few months now.  I'd say that I'm tending to fall more on the side of success rather than failure, but sometimes it still doesn't totally work out.  I've figured out that the key for me is planning 4 meals, figuring that on at least one of the nights we will end up going out/ ordering in and on the other nights we can have some of our stand-by meals--veggie burgers and sweet potato fries, spaghetti and homemade frozen meatballs, Annie's macaroni and cheese, etc.  It is Thursday and I have to say that this week might be my biggest planning success yet!

On Monday, I made shepherd's pie.  It's probably my favorite meal from childhood and the ultimate comfort food for me.  I don't think mine is as good as my Mom's, but we still enjoyed it.  I forgot to take pictures, but let's be honest, you know what it looks like and it isn't all that picturesque, anyway.  We managed to eat have some leftovers for lunch one day this week, too.  Score!

On Tuesday, I made baked salmon with lemon-dill butter, gingery green beans, and whole wheat couscous.

One of the healthier looking meals, I'd say.

Healthy aside from the sort of large amount of butter on the salmon.  I'm new to eating seafood and previously the only salmon I would eat had to be marinated past the point of no return in teriyaki.  This was a big step, but it was SO GOOD.  We will definitely have this again.

On Wednesday night, I made some sun dried tomato pesto with spaghetti squash.

Some of my favorite foods combined!  Can't be bad!

I made up the recipe for the pesto, but it was basically: 8 oz of sun dried tomatoes, a handful of basil, 1 clove of garlic, 1/4 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper, enough olive oil to bring together.  Pulse the first 6 ingredients in the food processor until everything is chopped finely, then turn the machine on and stream in olive oil until it is a pesto consistency.  The recipe makes more than enough for two people, so I froze the rest for another night.

Today's dinner is what takes the cake, though.  It takes the cake because it's 7:05 am and I have already assembled everything for Buffalo Chicken and Black Bean enchiladas.  I know.  It started last night when I roasted some chicken overnight in the crock pot.

Not a bad thing to wake up to in the morning!

The chicken was roasted so perfectly and fell right off the bone.  I pulled the chicken and saved the bones and other stuff from the roasting pot for a future chicken stock.  I took some cues from Megan at Running Foodie and added black beans and more cheese, and she got the original recipe here.  I also forgot to get red enchilada sauce, but I wanted things to be pretty heavily buffalo sauced, so I used a combo of about 1/2 cup pureed tomatoes to 1 1/2 cups buffalo wing sauce.  I also really like cilantro, so I mixed some in with the filling, too.

It's going to be a long day thinking about this.

And this.

Matt might have band practice tonight, so I left this in the fridge with instructions so he can make it before I get home and have something tasty for dinner before he leaves.

I decided that I might as well just go for it and do all the dishes this morning, too.  So, tonight when I get home, dinner will be cooked and there won't be any dishes to do.  This is a major success.  Did I mention that I haven't even had my coffee yet!?!?!  You'll have to excuse me, I'm very proud of myself.

Have a great day!

Me + my Crock Pot = BFFs

If you are not using a crock pot on a regular basis, you are missing out, big time.  I try to incorporate at least one crock pot meal into my weekly dinner plan.  Why?  Well, there are a few reasons.

1.  The recipes are almost always:  Put some meat in the crock pot.  Add some veggies.  Cover with some broth/ sauce/ spice mixture.  I don't think any combination I've ever used has turned out poorly.

2.  It takes a few seconds in the morning to put this stuff in the pot.  But, I left this at home when I went to work.

A delicious beginning?

3.  Then, I got to come home to this!

Falling off the bone.

What's that you say?  Those pictures don't really look all that different?  Well, it's unfortunate for you that there isn't smell-o-vision to accompany these photos because they smell way different.  Not that it smelled bad this morning.  But this evening, before I even entered our porch I could smell Asian-beef goodness wafting from my kitchen.  

4.  Those smells will make all of the neighborhood animals gather at your house.  Okay, not really.  And, I guess most people wouldn't enjoy that kind of thing, but I would.

The moral of the story here is get a crock pot and embrace it.  It wants to help you. 

Bad blog habits.

Is it possible that another week has passed and I didn't post at all?  So sorry.  It seems a little tricky these days to find time in between work and wanting to fall asleep at 7pm because it's dark out already.  It's Saturday and this past week already feels like a blur.  The highlight of the week was having April and Will over for weeknight dinner party on Tuesday.

I was in the mood for Asian and we had some pork chops from our CSA so I decided to make our favorite pork stir fry.  It is loaded with fresh ginger and the combination of the snap of fresh green beans with the sweet and tender pork is perfectly matched with the salty soy/ garlic/ ginger sauce.

I wish you could smell this while looking at the photo.

Normally, we serve this stir fry with some brown basmati rice.  Speaking of, do you have a rice cooker?  If you don't, you really should.  We had contemplated getting a fancy electric rice cooker, but decided to try our luck with a microwavable one instead.

Nothin' fancy.

It isn't anything amazing to look at, but it does really make the rice cooking much easier.  Since April is a vegetarian and wouldn't be partaking in the pork stir fry, I decided I needed to make something other than plain rice for her.  So I made up a little extra rice and then made Shiitake (Portabello) Fried Rice.

Fried rice is the best.

For some reason when I went shopping this week I wrote down Shiitake mushrooms and read it before picking them up, but my hands went directly to the Portabello bin.  Weird brain stuff must have been going on, but it totally worked and was super yummy.

Since this was a weeknight dinner date and I wouldn't be getting home until about an hour before dinner was to be served, I did all the prepping the night before.  That meant chopping veggies, cooking rice, slicing pork, and grating ginger.  I have to admit that while I was doing the prepping I wasn't enjoying it.  However, it's really nice to follow a recipe the next day and feel like you're on a cooking show and prep cooks have done all the chopping and you can just add things as the recipe says.  

For dessert, April brought over some peanut butter and chocolate covered frozen banana slices.  So. Good.  We had a great time chatting with them, as always, and I think the food was a success.

In a strange turn of events, we realized after they left that we had a Groupon to our favorite ice cream place, Herrell's.  Herrell's is owned and run by Steve Herrell, who is a pretty big celebrity in the ice cream world.  I see him in the Northampton store sometimes and he also seems like a nice guy and a good person to work for.  He is also the true inventor of the mix-in concept, which was kind of stolen by Cold Stone Creamery (no link for them!).  Anyway, we totally didn't want to miss out on using our Groupon, so we went down to grab a quart of Burnt Sugar and Butter to bring home.  Once we were in there, we couldn't not get ice cream to eat right then and there.  I don't stray from Burnt Sugar and Butter unless they are out of it (which makes me sad), but since I knew we had a quart to bring home, I decided to be super adventurous and get New England Chocolate Chip, a slightly maple ice cream base with chocolate chips.  It tastes nearly identical to my old standby, but that's beside the point.  A very sweet end to the evening, indeed!

Pork and Green Beans with Ginger Sauce (from Stir-Fries Best Ever Wok & Pan Recipes, published by Bay Books)

**We make a half recipe and it works great for the two of us, but also stretched for three of us this week.

3/4 C soy sauce

4 tbsp white or rice wine vinegar (get the rice wine!!)

1 tsp sugar

pinch of dried chili flakes

3 tsp cornstarch

1 1/4 pounds pork fillet, trimmed into thin slices (put it back in the freezer for about 10 minutes after it's thawed for easy slicing)

2 tbsp peanut oil

11 oz fresh green beans

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsp grated fresh ginger

1.  Place the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, chili flakes, cornstarch, and 1/3 C water into a bowl and mix well.  Add the pork and toss to coat well.  (I literally ALWAYS forget the water here.  It works out to being a thicker sauce and a little stronger in flavor, but definitely still works!)

2.  Heat a wok over high heat, add half the oil and swirl to coat the side.  Drain the pork, reserving the liquid, and add to the wok.  Stir-fry over high heat for 1-2 minutes, or until brown.  Remove the pork from the wok.

3.  Heat the remaining oil, add the beans and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.  Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute, or until fragrant.  Return the pork and any juices to the pan and add the reserved marinade.  Bring to the boil and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

Shiitake (or Portabello) Fried Rice (adapted from Vegetarian Cooking & Vegetable Classics, by Roz Denny and Christine Ingram)

2 eggs

3 tbsp vegetable oil (I used olive oil and it was fine at this heat)

12 oz shiitake (or Portabello) mushrooms, chopped into small pieces

8 spring onions, sliced diagonally

1 garlic clove, crushed

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1 oz butter

6-8oz long grain rice, cooked (definitely go with 8 oz.)

1 tbsp medium dry sherry (I forgot to pick this up, so I used a little white wine.  Whatever.)

2 tbsp dark soy sauce

1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

salt

1.  Beat the eggs with 1 tbsp cold water and season with a little salt.  Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large non-stick skillet and pour the eggs, making a large omelet.  Lift the sides to allow all of it to be cooked (no flipped required).  Roll it up and turn it out of the pan onto a cutting board. 

2.  Heat another 1 tbsp of the oil and stir-fry the spring onions and garlic, until softened, but not browned, about 3-4 minutes.  Remove them to the cutting board with the omelet.

3.  Add the pepper to the pan, stir-fry for 2-3 minutes, add the butter and the remaining 1 tbsp of oil.  Add the mushrooms and stir-fry over a moderate heat for 3-4 minutes until softened and browned.

4.  Pour the sherry over the mushrooms and then stir in the rice.  Heat the rice over moderate heat, stirring to prevent sticking.  You can add a little more oil if it's getting really dried out, but I didn't have to.  Stir in the onions and garlic, sliced omelet, soy sauce, and cilantro.  Cook a few more minutes and serve while hot.

Today I am...

happy that:  I get to go see Shannon today!

less than happy that:  making my coffee seems like such a huge chore right now.

daydreaming about: getting my Christmas shopping started soon?  Will this be the year that I finish early?

 

Current reading:  Still going on Catching Fire, albeit a little slowly.  It's because it's getting dark so early.

Next up:  Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins 

Playing on the flute:  I blame it on the dog upstairs.

Weekend catch-up!

Happy weekend, everyone!  I got to leave work a little early yesterday so I could skip out to Worcester for my friends' wedding.  I worked with Mike at the EcoTarium and Krystal was a volunteer there.  If two people could ever really be made for each other, it's them.  They balance each other so perfectly.  Their wedding was beautiful and fun--a great kick-off to the weekend!

Me and the beautiful bride!

We got home pretty late, so it was only right that we stayed in bed a little late today.  When we got up, Matt and I went to the Route 9 Diner for breakfast.  I had a Sante Fe omelet (avocado, tomato, and onion--topped with LOTS of Frank's Hot Sauce.  Yum!) and Matt had Irish Eggs Benedict (English muffins topped with homemade corned beef hash, a poached egg, and Hollandaise--I stole a few bites and it was delicious!). 

When I came home, I forced myself to do some laundry and watched some Felicity on Netflix.  Then, I did something pretty awesome.

No, I didn't upload the incorrect picture.

Why is a closed door amazing?  Well, it's my closet door and I haven't been able to easily close it since we moved into our current apartment in June.  There are some hooks on the doors and for some reason I've been just hanging stuff up there rather than really putting it away.  My shoes were all falling off the racks and it was basically chaos.

Now it looks like this!

I should have really taken a "before" picture so it made more sense why this is a triumph for humanity, but I didn't, so you'll just have to trust me.  I got another bag of stuff for Goodwill and a dress and purse that I might be able to get some cash for from the consignment shop.  Getting rid of stuff always makes it easier to give everything a place.  Since I have a lot of clothes and not a ton of room in my dresser and closet, I have some plastic drawers that I use for off-season clothes and miscellaneous stuff that I don't use as much.  They were totally disorganized and full of stuff that I just couldn't deal with.

Those little pink things?  Post-its with labels of the drawer's contents.   Yeah, I'm crazy.

To reward myself for all of this organization, I bought myself my first-ever cashmere sweater.

Isn't it dreamy?

I've been wanting to invest in a good cashmere sweater for awhile now, but I could never decide what kind of sweater, what color, what weight, etc.  It felt like this huge commitment so I just never got one.  But, today was the day.  Oatmeal is one of my go-to colors since it goes with everything and that buckle--amazing!  Also, I really strongly favor cardigans with a sort of drapey bottom, so this is right up my alley.  It's also SO SOFT.  Thank you, Cynthia Rowley and whoever is responsible for this sweater ending up for more than 50% off its retail value at TJ Maxx.

Now I'm hanging out, finishing laundry, and planning my meals for the week while I let in a little fall air and burn my Autumn candle.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Today I am...

happy that:  the fall weather is back and hopefully here to stay!  Sweater weather is my favorite!

less than happy that:  it's starting to get darker a lot earlier these days.

daydreaming about: wearing my new sweater.  I might just keep going to pet it.

 

Current reading:  I finished Hunger Games earlier this week and I absolutely loved it!  Just getting into Catching Fire now, but I'm liking it a lot so far.

Next up:  Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins 

Playing on the flute:  I tried playing the Zelda theme song the other day (I thought Matt would like it), but the neighbors' dog was freaking the eff out so I decided to stop.  I really need to have my flute tuned up.  Yeah, that must be the problem.

The Big E is for Eating.

On Sunday, Matt and I made our annual trip to the Big E.  The Big E is a giant fair celebrating New England, which means it is right up my alley.  While a lot of people are quick to complain about our nasty winters, humid summers, impolite drivers, etc., I genuinely love New England and all that is has to offer.  There is a building for each state (fun fact: these buildings are technically in their home states, despite the fact that they are located in West Springfield) that house local crafters, farmers, artists, and all sorts of other stuff...

But mostly, the Big E is all about food.  Deep fried food.

After our first stop for mini-donuts (breakfast), we made our way to the alley between the CT and NH buildings for Texas baked potatoes (brunch).  We joked that CT is the lamest state in New England (sorry, Shannon!) so they have to take something from Texas to make them cool.  But whatever, the potatoes are delicious.  Matt and I split one--my half had butter, bacon, chives, and cheese and Matt's had all of the aforementioned goodies plus BBQ pulled pork.  As usual, when I got really excited about the food we were eating, I forgot to take pictures.  For lunch, we had pizza from the American Flatbread Company in VT.  It's so so so good.  For an afternoon snack, I had a gyro, while Matt had a White Hut burger.  And finally, for dessert we had some deep fried Oreos.  I wish they weren't good... but, they are.  They really are.  I feel like I might be missing something, but I'm pretty sure that covers our gluttony for the day.  I realize it's a ridiculous amount of food.  That's why we only do it once a year.

I did remember to take some pictures of non-food stuff at the Big E.

The sweetest little baby alpaca, ever!

Matt wants to have an alpaca farm someday.  I am actually on board with this.  Although, he really wants a llama.  Because they're so angry looking.

Hard to tell, but this is Matt and Jake riding the big, yellow slide!

This was Matt's first time ever riding the slide.  (Know that I am picturing your look of complete disbelief, April!) I seriously don't know how he got to be 27 years old without riding the slide, but I'm glad he has it under his belt now.

Aw, he liked it!

When we got home, we pretty much collapsed to the couch.  Eating that much food takes away any energy to do anything else.  While Matt and I were on the couch, Lulu found a new place to sleep.

Inside the broken drawer of our coffee table.  Cats.

Today I am...

happy that:  I finally had time to sit down and finish this post since I've been working at it for two days.

less than happy that:  there are dishes to be done.  Boo.

daydreaming about: Krystal and Mike's wedding on Friday!

Current reading:  Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Next up: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

Playing on the flute:  Meh.

Success!

Science is a lot more fun when it does what you want it to.  This is what I've been working on all week.

It's pretty AND it tells exactly the story I wanted it to tell!

And since I know you'll get this, Shannon, it was really hard to keep myself from cutting off the edge with half smiles.

Blargh!

Okay, I dropped the ball a little on my resolutions this week.  Mainly, I have been having a really difficult time being positive this week.  Work has been totally chaotic and stressful, I've been coming in early and leaving late (which I make it a point to NOT do under most circumstances), and I've just overall been a bundle of nerves since Monday morning.  Since it's Friday (my favorite day of the week), I decided to do a brief check-in with the blog and with myself to remind myself to move on from this bad week and make next week better.

I did cook some delicious things this week, but aside from the Golden Tomato Soup I invented on Sunday, I really didn't take any pictures.

So yummy!

I made this up as I went, but this is a brief overview of what I did.  I think the most important thing is that you start with fresh, ripe heirloom tomatoes.  I chose one large yellow, two marbled orange/ yellows, and a small green (roughly 1.5 pounds).  Remove the skin of the tomatoes, which is done easily by either blanching them quickly in boiling water or singeing the skin with the flame of a gas burner or the broiler.  Heat 1/4C olive oil over medium heat in a saucepan.  Briefly saute one clove of garlic then squish in the tomatoes.  Try to mash them up as you go and cook for about 5 minutes.  I pureed this mixture in my blender here, but be very careful, it's super hot and full of oil.  Return to pan and add a 15oz can of chicken/veggie/beef stock.  Simmer for a few minutes and at the last minute, add a few tablespoons of cream/ half and half/ milk and some torn fresh basil.  Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan and some crusty bread croutons.

I promise to be back this weekend with better posts!

Today I am...

happy that:  it's FINALLY Friday, I might join my coworkers and boss for a beer this afternoon, and it's Big E weekend!  Woo!

less than happy that: there is a LOT of rain in the forecast.  And, it's super humid and gross today.

daydreaming about: maybe getting a haircut tomorrow and going to the Big E.

Current reading:  Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Next up: Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins

Playing on the flute:  Meh.