2013 - Week 43

Hello from Week 43 :)

Fall has finally arrived and we had a great time with some friends on a fall colors road trip and having fun at a farm market (complete with awesome petting zoo). We had so much fun :)

For my exercising, I did more Wii boxing and it went much better this week.

Looks good to me :) 

I didn't have any new recipes because I'd made a huge batch of chili that fed us for most of the week, but then I had a big summer squash that needed something done with it. When I cut into it I realized it was very hard on the outside, more like a winter squash. So, since I couldn't saute it like I was planning, I looked up other things to do with it and found these recipes: stuffed roasted squash template and quinoa stuffed squash. Using these for inspiration, I cooked some quinoa in chicken broth while the squash baked in the oven. I sauteed tomatoes with garlic, a jalapeno pepper, a chipotle pepper, some roasted red peppers, a little bit of applesauce and lots of spices. (As you can guess, I was trying to use up a variety of ingredients in my fridge and freezer) I called it chipotle Scarborough stuffed squash because there was parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme in it :) I also made a three cheese blend (mozzarella, cheddar and Parmesan) that was mixed with the filling and melted over the top. It was a different type of meal than I usually make, but I thought it actually turned out pretty well.

If that wasn't enough . . . considering we are planning on moving very shortly, I wanted to get some crock pot meals prepped and put in the freezer so once we move all we have to do is pop them in the crock pot, go to work, then come home to a ready made dinner so we can work on our new house :) I had a few hurdles trying to get all of my ingredients, but finally, in four hours, we prepped twelve crock pot meals (my awesome husband took care of all of the meat for me). Of course I can't tell you how any of them taste yet, but I'll fill you in as we try them. It was kind of a crazy day, but I think the hard work will pay off in the end. These are the two websites I used: Six Sisters Stuff and Loving My Nest and this is the list of what I made:
1 - Black Bean Taco Soup

1 - Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

1 - Hearty Beef Stew

1 - Cilantro Lime Chicken w/ Corn and Black Beans (although I forgot the limes so I used lemon juice)

2 - Bean Stew

2 - Pork and Veggies

2 - Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 - Chicken Taco Soup

And the grand total of almost all of my ingredients (I didn't have to buy too many new spices) was only $76.27 . . . and considering each of those meals should feed us for 2 meals, that's 24 hearty, tasty meals for only ~$76 (or about $1.60/person/meal . . . not too bad if you ask me :) I even had some carrots, potatoes, and hamburger left over :) I'm very much looking forward to trying all of these creations.

Food Part 1

Food Part 2

Food Part 3

Our Well-Stocked Freezer :)

Have any of you ever tried anything like this before . . . any good recipe suggestions? 

Okay, I guess that's all for now . . . see you all next week then :) 

2013 - Week 42

Hello from Week 42 :)

Not too much to report this week because our major task was the inspection of our prospective home. It took about three hours and I learned a lot of things. Everything went pretty well and we are hopeful that we will be able to move into this home in the very near future . . . how exciting :)

Other than that, I did more Wii boxing and a bit of knitting. I'm making myself a new scarf and I really love it so far. The pattern looks really professional and my husband got me the beautiful yard I'd been wanting as a birthday present :) I'll make sure to post pictures as soon as it's finished :)

Alas, no new recipes to share this week . . . sorry. Since it was my birthday last week and I love free things, I'm signed up for just about every restaurant "free birthday meal" program out there so we ate out a lot last week. Plus, we were really busy, so it work out well to not have to cook. Hopefully I'll have some recipes for you next week.

Until then :)

2013 - Week 41

Hello everyone from Week 41 :) Thankfully, my husband fixed the corrosion issue on our second Wiimote so I could get back into my Wii boxing this week. It kind of kicked my butt, but it was fun to get back into it.

As for my new thing this week, I tried purple cauliflower for the first time. I really love cauliflower (especially covered in cheddar cheese), but purple cauliflower is even better :) Moms of the world, have your little ones caught on that "snowballs" really aren't snow balls? How about trying some purple cauliflower, or as I like to call it, "fairy puffs" :) I was worried that once it was cooked, the cauliflower would lose its lovely purple color like some other vegetables (I'm talking to you purple beans), but hooray, it stayed purple the whole time. What a wonderful vegetable :)

See, isn't it cool? 

It's even purple on the inside :) 

I also found some awesome recipes this week that I think you will all love. First of all, this super easy crock pot BBQ chicken recipe. I only had five or six chicken thighs, so there was quite a bit of sauce left over, but it was really good and went surprisingly well with the super easy cornbread that I made and the green beans :) I didn't have any creole mustard, so I just used regular yellow mustard and as my hot sauce was less hot than the Tabasco they were probably calling for, I put in closer to one teaspoon instead of the one quarter tsp that was listed. I put the partially thawed thighs in my slow cooker with the temperature probe set to 170 F on low heat while I was at work and when I got home, voila, dinner :) That cornbread recipe was one of the easiest I've ever made and it turned out great. Definitely a keeper :)

YUM

Now if you thought that recipe was good, just wait until you hear about the copycat truffle mac & cheese that I made. I was so bummed when I recently went to Noodle's & Company to get my free birthday bowl of noodles. Their truffle mac & cheese has quickly become one of my favorite dishes so when I saw the sign that it was being discontinued I was a little heartbroken. Since it was its last day, I figured I had better order it, but disappointment again . . . they were out of truffle sauce . . . oh no! So, I had to settle for something else, but I went home with the determination to figure out how to make it myself because it was just so good. Luckily, the blog Pretty Kitten's Kitchen made it super easy because she'd already figured it out for me. I didn't have any panko breadcrumbs, so that wasn't quite right, but the rest of the recipe was easy, and pretty spot on in my opinion. It's also not as unhealthy as I would have imagined. I even substituted skim milk for the cream and it still tasted good. Also, I used baby portobello mushrooms which I think is closer to what they served at Noodles & Co., but any mushroom you like would be fine I'm sure.

So, my task to you is to go try at least one of these fantastic recipes and let me know what you think. Unless you are a bit of a foodie, you probably haven't invested in any truffle oil, but you can always try one of the other recipes. And then go buy some truffle oil and make the mac & cheese . . . it's worth it :)

See you next week :)

2013 - Week 40

Hello from Week 40 :) This week, I tried out my hour long Pilates work out. It wasn't as difficult as I remember it being from doing it in high school, but it was still pretty challenging. Also, our house hunting is going very well :) I'm happy to report we have an accepted offer!!!!!!!!! We still have the inspection and all of that to do, but if all goes well, our days in our apartment are numbered :) Anyone want to help us move? ;)

As for recipes, I was quite busy this week. First of all, with the help of my lovely husband (who did the nasty head chopping off part), I made some baked trout. One of my coworkers really enjoys fly fishing but doesn't like to eat the fish that he catches, so he shared some with me. I'd never had trout before, but this method of cooking them was excellent, and if you don't mind picking out all of the bones, the trout was very good :) I combined a few different recipes and finally came up with my method: After cleaning and removing the heads, rinse the trout in cold water and pat dry with a paper towel. Rub olive oil inside and out and season with some salt and freshly ground pepper. Stuff a few lemon slices and some fresh parsley inside the fish, place fish on a piece of aluminum foil with a few more lemon slices, and seal up in a packet shape. Bake at 400 F for ~25 minutes or until the thickest portion is at 140 F. Enjoy. Hooray for almost free, healthy dinners :)

I also wanted bake something special for a dear friend who lives far away. Since I had to ship it in the mail, I did a little research on what sort of foods last a really long time, and the best dessert I could come up with was biscotti. Last year, she had been missing pumpkin pie, so this year I decided on gingerbread biscotti . . . hopefully the flavors remind her of home :) I've never actually had biscotti before, and gingerbread isn't my favorite flavor, so these weren't my favorite cookies. But I think biscotti is typically dipped in coffee, so that might improve them. They are pretty good, if you like crunchy biscotti :)

Shaping biscotti

Finished product

I signed up to make treats for our church's Sunday morning Bible study this week too and instead of the usual ~30 people, this session there has been close to 100 every week. This is wonderful, but it meant that I was going to have to make LOTS of treats. I made the following recipes: cinnamon coffee cake II, a double batch of mini cheese danishes, a double recipe (in a 13" x 9" pan) orange cornmeal cake (covered with orange glaze (1 cup powdered sugar + 3 Tbsp. orange juice, omit sugar topping)), and 24 chocolate peanut butter cupcakes (I used an apple corer to remove the centers before adding filling, the bag piping did not work). I must say, they were all tasty and well received :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Mini Cheese Danishes

In Progress

Mmm

I hope you enjoyed all of the recipes this week. Let me know if you try any of them :)