I had a plan.  I really did.  But you know what happens with plans...something always gets in the way.  This time it was just life.  The day to day stuff.

So here I am, a day late and a dollar short sharing the meal plan for the week.  But this isn't really what I want to write about.  And since of yet nobody is reading this, I only have myself to please.

Scratch meal plans.  I make em, I change em, I totally ignore them sometimes.  Boring.

Much more exciting is what is happening with my jungle.  I have cucumbers.  Actual cucumbers on my spiraling  cucumber plant.

How cool is this ?!?!?   Cooler still is that I'm pretty sure these flowers are attracting a hummingbird!  I've see him 3 different times.  He doesn't seem to be able to get to the cucumber flowers though.  This morning I bought friend for Bonnie Belle.  (That's my geranium...don't remember if I introduced you before.)  The Mandeville is sure to attract the hummingbird.  He is yet unnamed.  I'll take suggestions.  I'll share a picture when I see him.

Another cool thing is that I found out that it is perfectly normal that my Brandywine tomato plant hasn't set fruit yet.  I am partial to the flavors of heirloom tomatoes.  My Purple Cherokee has dozens of fruit, but the Brandywine is big and healthy with gobs of flowers.  But no fruit.  I googled this, willing to go to great lengths to encourage fruit.  This variety doesn't set fruit for 80-100 days.  We are still in this window.

Brandywine--her fruit could be 2 pounds.  Each.   It is sweet and tastes like my childhood.

Purple Cherokee.  This was a new find for me several years ago.  

Plump fruit from red to purple in color.

That bring you up to speed on my jungle.

I will tell you about dinner tonight.  Josh took Friday off as we were having the carpets cleaned.  One of the things we did was go to Trader Joes where I bought the cilantro chicken mini wontons.  I have infused 2 qts of stock (some mine, some boxed) with some Asian flavors.  We will be having wonton soup for dinner with a side of Chinese Roasted Broccoli.

That's what's cooking in my kitchen.  How about yours?

happy cooking

Monday got away from me.  I had planned to blog, but ran out of time.  That's true of so many things for so many of us!

But I do want to share my meal plan and even some recipes with you.  As I said last week, Mondays are meatless in our house.  Last week I was able to get the mushroom ravioli and I found  a parmesan "cream" sauce to go with it.  It was yummy.  There were no leftovers.  Yesterday we had pasta with my "gravy."  Italians call tomato sauces gravy and I am half Italian. So there you go.  We had red lentil pasta last night.  I got to have a little bit more for fewer WW points.  Josh didn't love the texture, I was okay with it.

I thought I'd share my gravy recipe with you.

• EVOO
• Yellow onion
• Garlic
• Tomato Paste
• Crushed tomatoes...from a can.  I like Cento.
• Salt, pepper, Italian herbs

I'm sure you noticed the lack of measurements.  That's not helpful and I'm sorry.  Last night I used about a tsp of oil, half a chopped onion, and 4 cloves of minced garlic.  I used fresh herbs from my herb garden and also added 4 or 5 Calabrian peppers.  It was also Cento's All in One tomatoes...kinda a chunky crushed. 

Heat the oil, add the onion on medium heat. Season with the addition of each ingredients...salt, pepper and herbs.  Add tomato paste; stir into onions till they are coated.  Mix in garlic.  Keep an eye on the heat...burnt garlic is bitter.  I added the peppers at this poin, too with another hit of the seasonings.  I'm talking about a pinch of Kosher salt and a grind of pepper and maybe a T of chopped fresh herbs (dried is much MUCH less).  Now add the tomatoes and stir.  Leave the lid a little off the pan and lower heat all the way.  Stir occasionally to prevent sticking to the pan.

Meanwhile, get your salted water boiling for the pasta.  Drop your pasta when you have a rolling boil.  Cook 2 minutes less than Al Dente.  Why?  Because you will transfer the pasta from it's cooking pot to the sauce to finish cooking.  A little of the starchy cooking water will cling to the noodles and help the sauce to cling to them.

We also had small salads...Caesar for Josh, roasted beets for me.  And we enjoyed Bake at Home French rolls.  A nice little a splurge for me.

So that was Monday.

Tuesday

I am grilling the main course and the broccoli.  This is a link to the chicken: 

 https://www.skinnytaste.com/korean-grilled-chicken-breast 

I have made this recipe before and we really enjoyed it.  The broccoli recipe came from WW.  Basically, you break into florets and toss in EVOO spray, salt and pepper.  When you pull after 6-8 minutes you toss it in soy sauce and lemon juice.  I am also making baked potatoes...russet for Josh, sweet for me.  My produce boxes have chock-a-block full of both kinds of taters.  We won't reach 70 degrees today, so heating up the oven isn't such a bad idea.

Wednesday is DateNight.  Not telling you my plans. You will have to come back on Friday to see the details.

The rest of my week is kinda busy.  I have to get my Friday chores done tomorrow as the carpets are being cleaned Friday morning.  Josh is taking the day off...can't be on calls when it's too noisy.  We are planning a nice afternoon.

This is what I'm cooking this week.  How bout you?

happy cooking!

 DateNight happened a few days ago.  I promised more details.  

Let's begin with cocktails.  They always happen, but are never a part of Instagram postings.  I made Josh a gimlet.  No picture, but I can share the recipe.  It's super complicated.  Are you ready?  3 ounces gin. 1 ounce Roses lime juice.  Shake vigorously and strain into cocktail glass.  It has to be Roses.  It's not a gimlet with fresh lime juice and simple syrup.  Bartenders these days want to convince you that it is. They are wrong. This is not a complicated drink (I was just teasing before). Don't make it something it's not.

Now my drink is different.  I am trying to enjoy smaller drinks and fewer of them, so I picked up this:

It was tasty.  Mild in flavor...Think LaCroix.  Did  it have any "kick?"  Think LaCroix.  It was refreshing.  At 3.6% ABV it was very light weight.  I could see myself enjoying them at a bbq or other outdoor event.  It was a happy experiment at 2 WW points.  I get just as "buzzed" though from my 0 point Diet Cranberry and club soda.😏  That's 0%  ABV.

Now on to the appetizer. I really enjoyed this.  So much, in fact, that I enjoyed Josh's too.  He was less enamored.

He did like the onions.  No surprise, they were Vidalias.  He didn't love the tomatoes.  I think that's because he is already anticipating my tomatoes. They are still a ways off, though.  I think the grape tomatoes will begin to be ready in a few weeks.  The Romas are slow coming in and the heirlooms won't be ready till September most likely.  I guess I should wait on tomato centric anything until my own are ready.

Main Course.  I asked Josh what he fancied for this week.  He said, "What about fish?"  I have prepared fish at home in the past.  We don't like (me especially) fishy fish.  I don't like my house to smell fishy.  But white fish are mild and frozen tilapia hardly smells at all.  So that's what I bought.  

WW had a recipe for tilapia crusted in potato flakes.  You read that right...instant mashed potatoes.  (I actually already had that ingredient.  It made fantastic "fried" chicken."  That's a recipe for a different time, though.)  It was okay.  There was a layer of seasoned mayonnaise between the fish and the potato flakes.  I have a love-hate relationship with mayo.  Mostly hate.  I just don't like the stuff.  In the end, I will make tilapia  again.  I will seek out a different recipe though.

I had planned broccoli with this meal as it was supposed to come in my produce subscription box.  But it didn't.  In fact the box, which is supposed to be delivered on Tuesday, didn't arrive till  Wednesday.  That also lead to dessert modification. More on that in a minute.  I always have frozen veggies.  So we had green beans.  (I had broccoli, but I prefer green beans.  The broccoli was only because I was supposed to get fresh.)  I roasted some little gold potatoes for Josh as well.

Dessert.  I actually wrote a recipe for dessert.  When I have perfected it, I will share.  This was not a perfect dessert in my book.

These are fruit stuffed wonton wrappers.  First, I wrote the recipe to have roasted cherries.  Had my box arrived as scheduled that's what they would have been.  Since it arrived late, I improvised with what a I had.  Peaches and blueberries.  A lovely combination, really.  I don't think it s visible from these pictures, but the bottom was very soggy.  Too much cooking spray is my guess.  I was modifying a savory stuffed wonton recipe that directed the pan be well sprayed.  In the future, I will spray less and bake on my sil-pat or parchment paper.  Also, as seen in the second picture, I think I over stuffed them.  Had I the cherries, I think I could have (by trial and error) achieved the correct "fullness."

I have the cherries now and I still have a lot of Wonton wrappers, so I will be working on this.  When I am satisfied, I'll share my recipe with you.

That's what's been cooking in my kitchen.  How about yours?

happy cooking :-)

First thing in the morning, before I look at my phone or make the coffee, I step out onto my deck to talk to my vegetable plants.  I think they like it.  Or maybe I want to think that they like . In any rate, I like it.  I check for flowers and fruit.  I come back in with that faint tomato perfume and sometimes my fingers are green from pinching suckers or pruning herbs.

It's not the only time I commune with them.  Usually, I water in the late afternoon/early evening.  Yesterday, I sat down in front of my Purple Cherokee tomato plant and thoroughly examined her.  She has had lots and lots of flowers for a little while now.  I was getting concerned that I wasn't seeing any fruit. Not worried anymore!

There is actually at least one other one, too.

My pepper plant was the first of my veggies to produce.  There are now 3 peppers.

That's the biggest one.  

You can see at least one more here.  There really are three, though.  There is also a sticky, white something on this plant.  Any idea what it is?  Thank goodness I have access to the webernet to find answers to my gardening queries.

My grape tomato plant is a trooper!  She has much fruit and more flowers!

My Roma and Brandywine plants have lots of flowers, but no fruit yet.  S'okay...flowers mean fruit.

The most interesting part of the jungle this year is my cucumbers!

Again, no flowers or fruit yet, but I am "training" them (there are 4 plants) to climb this "trellis" that my dad and I built. 

This is actually my second go at the cucumber plants.  Mom and Dad came at the beginning of May, before our frost free date.  As usual, they (Dad) planted my deck garden for me.  It was too early for the cukes...got too cold at nights and they died.

 

Another fun thing in my jungle is my herb garden.

A few years ago, my father-in-law built me a stair tread planter.  It is literally stair treads purchased at your local home improvement store.  We rotated it 90 degrees so that the "step" became the riser to better accommodate the planter boxes and make a smaller footprint on the deck.  This year, my dad made some repairs, stained, and replaced the planter boxes.   

This is the first of many "jungle" posts this year.  Stay tuned.

Today is Wednesday and DateNight is this evening.  That post will be on Friday, though there will be pictures on Instagram tonight.

This is what's growing in my garden.  How about yours?

One of the things that I learned about myself a long time ago is that I like to feel a measure of control.  I don't think that's unusual.  It's just really difficult in the world we live in.  

So I control what I can.  Like I make the bed every morning. And I make lists.  Lots of lists.  Grocery lists. To do lists.  I even made a list of blog topic ideas this morning.  It's kind of an obsession, but it makes me feel in control.  I actually relax a little when I make my list for the next day.  Maybe I'm weird.

One of the things that makes me feel super in control is meal planning.  It's not just helpful on my weightloss journey (although it really is key).   It allows me to be more efficient when I do my marketing.  I keep my lists on my phone and check things off as I get them.  I love checking things off!    

The topic of today's blog (and maybe all future Monday entries) is this week's meal plan.  This won't be super exciting, but here goes:

MONDAY  I have been making Meatless Monday meals for a couple of years now.  I married a real meat and potatoes guy.  He could eat beef everyday, but I won't let him.😊  He wasn't sure about this idea when I introduced it, but he's on board with it now.  Especially because Meatless Monday includes pasta.  And my homemade sauce.  That's the plan for tonight...Pasta.  If my market has Rana mushroom ravioli (for which I have a coupon), I may get a little splurgy.  Otherwise it will just be a regular short cut variety. (I don't do well with long noodles...messy eater.)  With Grilled Romaine.  Josh's will be Caesar, mine just with vinegar and oil.

TUESDAY We do our Family Worship evening on Tuesday evenings...before dinner.  This means dinner has to cook while we study.  This week I have planned a Mediterranean Sheet Tray meal.  Chicken thighs, cauliflower, peppers, artichokes, kalamata olives, onion, garlic, oregano.  Should be yummy and leave leftovers for Josh's lunches.

WEDNESDAY  This is DateNight.  I have a plan, but you have to wait.  Sorry.

THURSDAY  Chicken Fajita Salads with Grilled Corn.  I am trying to get us to eat more salads and this is one of our favorites.  Because the weather is so nice right now, I can prepare all of this on the grill.  And I may even do this on Wednesday.  

FRIDAY  If you've been paying attention, you'll notice some leftover potententials.  If I  play my cards right and we are not entertaining over the weekend, I don't have to cook again till Monday next.  We have a couple of take out places that we support regularly.

Hiya!  Long time, no see.  That's my fault.  Or I think I can legitimately blame COVID for this.  Josh is at the computer from 8-5 every day!  That's actually a good thing, thing though.  It means he has steady work.  I think that's good, don't you?

We were gifted a slightly used, but really nice, laptop a few months ago.  This was primarily to help us connect to our congregation meetings on Zoom a little more easily.  Now that we have it, I think I will revive my blog.  This excites me and makes me happy.  I hope you agree!

Last post I shared that I had rejoined Weight Watchers.  2020 was a good year...I lost 40+ pounds.  In '21, I keep losing and gaining the same 5 pounds.  Not throwing in the towel, though. I have another 15 to reach my goal.  Still adjusting and trying my best.  I really want to do this!  Goal is single digit sizes and smaller belly circumference.

To that end,  I have added walking to my routine.  I have been waking up stupid early.  Like 5:00.  Josh sleeps till 7:30.  Bless his sleepy head.  I just can't do that.  I try...believe me, I TRY.  Can't.  Don't know why.  So this past week it has been really hot.  And WW had a #walkingweek challenge.  So I hopped on that train and took a walk every morning.  I was home before Josh woke up.  The heat breaks this week, so I will be able to take my walk a little bit later, and some days take a second walk with hubby!  Yay!!!

I am still cooking, even creating new recipes! I still do a weekly DateNight on Wednesdays.  Instagram pics will be up by Thursday and I hope to blog in a little more depth on Friday.  My deck garden is thriving.  I'll post some pictures later this week.

But right now, I'm going to sign off.  It was really nice getting to chat with you.  I'll try to respond to any comments/questions you have.  Never know, something you say could spark a whole post.

Tata for now and Happy Cooking!

This Pandemic is getting tiresome

Lots of people have taken up new hobbies during this quarantine.  Not me.  It's not that I don't want to, it's just that I haven't.

I did order a needlepoint kit on Amazon.  That was 2 months ago.  I still don't have it.  It's coming from Great Britain. That was not clear to me when I placed the order.  Anyway, that's not really a "new" hobby.

What have I been doing?  My usual stuff.  Cooking, cleaning, riding my my stationary bike. (I can read while I ride.  More on that later.)

Things are different though. Josh is working from home.  We don't have a separate office space.  It's the study/office/lounge area.  And he has multiple conference calls each day.  That means loud chores, like vacuuming, have to happen on weekends or in the evening. Or using my food processor has to be carefully orchestrated.  

It's okay.  I still like him and on evenings when it's not too warm wet a walk together.  Which is good for both of us.

Actually, that leads to what I have mostly been doing during this pandemic.  Where many people are experiencing the Covid 15, I've actually lost more than 20 lbs! I'm doing WW again and am more committed this time.  Josh calls it the gamification of weightloss.  I think he's right!  I get x number of "tokens" each day. I can earn more and I get "gold stars" for playing well.

I've been doing this since January. I didn't incorporate exercise till April.  Usually my exercise is riding my bike.  As I mentioned at the outset, I can read while I ride.  I'm not doing anything crazy like Peleton.  It's just a recumbant bike.  So I've read the Sherlock Holmes stories.  Really enjoyed The Other Alcott (until the end, but no spoilers from me). I've read 3 or 4 others as well.

So that's what's up with you?  How are you coping with these always changing circumstances.

Pinterest may be killing me

So  this was an "off" Friday for me as far as the ministry goes.  I feel like on the Fridays I'm not in service, I should accomplish something worthwhile at home.

I'm not sure if this is really the right idea.  I end up killing myself (not literally, of course) with some tedious chore.  This makes my weekends tough.  Really, though, we are a couple who prefers to do nothing on the weekends, so maybe it's not too bad.  Just keep telling me that, please.

But Pinterest!  I both love it (recipes!!!) and hate it (cleaning!).  It makes me aware of ways to clean things I didn't really know needed to be cleaned and teaches me how to do it better.  Frankly, doing it all would be "better", right?

So I scheduled in my head that today was going to be Kitchen Day.  I told Sweet Husband that today was going to be Kitchen Day.  And you know what?  Today was Kitchen Day!!!!

It started with a bang!  I got to see something gross get clean right before my eyes.  I can show you.  It's really gross. Ready?

 

Greasy Dirty Vent

Squeaky Clean Vent

How'd you do that, you'd like to know.  Baking soda and boiling water! At least that's what I was supposed to do.  But I didn't have a stock pot large enough to hold the vent.  No problem...that's what my sink is for.  So I filled my kettle and put it on to boil.  But then this happened:

I actually saw the plastic melting.  This is is really a gross piece of kitchenalia.  I have this fairly new and definitely beautiful kitchen.  And then there is that ugly, disgraceful piece of poop on my cooktop.

NOT ANYMORE!!!  Meet Chantal (I didn't name her...it was on the box.  I swear!)

She's so pretty...looks like she belongs in my kitchen.

So back to my icky dirty vent.  I poured what boiling water I could on the vent.  And it worked!  But not everywhere.  So out came my Blue Dawn and a gentle brush and the rest is history.  All the icky grease fell away.

Left my sink kinda dirty, but that's okay.  I cleaned, polished and shined my sink!  Things you didn't know you could/should do, right?  It involved more baking soda, flour, and olive oil.  (Not all at once...that makes bread.) In three discrete steps with rinsing and drying in between.  Looks pretty good, but not picture worthy.  (How did I know to do this?  You got it! Pinterest!)

I also cleaned the outside of my cabinets.  Don't get me wrong, I knew where there was some greasy smudges.  I was aware.  And I was mostly happy to turn the lights on so I couldn't see them.

But then I saw on Pinterest how to clean them.  And I had everything I needed.  Water, check.  Blue Dawn, check.  Something to wipe with, rinse with and dry with?  Check, Check, Check.  I really didn't have an excuse not to do it.  Except that I'm short.  And my cabinets go all the way to the ceiling.  I cleaned as high up as I could get on my tip toes.

Did you know you could you use Turtle Wax to polish your stainless steel appliances?  You can. I love the way my appliances look, but they are a bear to keep clean.  Drips on the dishwasher; fingerprints on the oven, microwave and fridge; and food splatter on the cooktop.  So I use Pledge mostly to keep them clean.  About once a month, I really clean and buff them.  Today, I actually bought Turtle Wax (previously I was using their Clean and Wax product...this time I went right for the big guns).  I think they look pretty good.  They'd look better if I could get my brawny husband to do the buffing for me.

Anyway, I'll sign off with a picture of the fridge.  Tell me what you think.

kristen out

DateNight--July 20, 2016

So in the midst of the crazy cleaning, I prepped a pretty good looking DN meal.

It actually started yesterday when I marinated the flank steak.  It's been in the fridge for about 30 hours now.

It kinda blends in with the granite, but that's really just the grainy mustard, basil and balsamic vinegar.

To go with the flank steak, I will be grilling sugar snap peas.  That's right, I said I'd be grilling them.

                            
  

First I put some olive oil, lemon zest, black pepper and fresh thyme in a zip top bag and massaged it around.. Then I added my skewered snap peas to the bag and gently (you don't want to puncture the bag) massaged that.

When I take them off the grill I will toss them in this lemon juice garlic mixture.

I have never done this before.  I was determined to prepare them on the grill with the steak and saw pictures of something like this Pinterest.  Not exactly this recipe or method.  I'll let you know how it works.

Hubby always has to have potatoes with his beef.

These will roast at 425 for about 45 minutes.  Because I like them crispy, I will make sure that all the cut sides are on the foil.

(On a side note, are you understanding how much I really don't enjoy washing dishes?  Zip top bags for marinating, foil lined pans for roasting.  I couldn't make that work for dessert or appetizer.)

Dessert!  Chocolate Banana Mini Chip Cupcakes.

                                     

Total cheater here...this is a box cake mix.  I added my bananas (thawed from the freezer), 1 egg  and a bunch of mini chocolate chips.  They baked for about 22 minutes.  I think.  I checked them after 17 and thought I set the timer for an additional 3 minutes.  Turned out I set it for 3 hours!!!!  I think I rescued them in time.

Appetizer I have no pictures of.  I haven't made it yet.  It will be a caramelized onion and goat cheese flat bread.

We will have Manhattans (or maybe Martinis...have to ponder on this) with our appetizer and red wine with dinner.  Probably there will be whisky with dessert.  Usually is.

That's all from me.

happy cooking

Crazy Cleaning Day

I'm thinking maybe I need to change the blog title to a "Whisk in One Hand and a Feather Duster in the Other."  Not that I use a feather duster, but...

This trio has become a favorite of mine

I'll show you how I've been using them.

That's a cotton swab wrapped in a pre-moistened dusting rag.

A few weeks ago, I proudly realized that my house was well dusted.  Then I looked again.  The surfaces were well dusted but the bases of the furniture not so much.  And then there are the knick-knacks.

Don't even get me started on the baseboards.

So today, for he second week in a row, I crawled on the floor getting into the nitty gritty of my living room.  And if I happened to be near a base board, I gave it a swipe too.

Next Wednesday, I'll tackle the study/lounge/office room.

Foods!!!!

My last post had nothing to do with food.  So I thought I ought to tell you what's been cooking in my kitchen.

Pineapple Salsa!

Technically, this is a no cook recipe, but you should see it anyway.   Fresh pinepple, pineapple sage (my herb pot runneth over with this), red onion, jalapeno, lime zest and juice.  Yum!  I made this yesterday with the plan to mix it with avocado and into the rice I will make tonight.  I think that will make a tasty side to for my Salsa Verde chicken.

Then last night I made roasted fruit for dessert.  I usually only make dessert on DateNight or for company.  Well I had the fruit, thinking my sister in law was coming over on Sunday.  She didn't and the fruit needed to be used.  This was a combo of peaches, strawberries and  blueberries.  I had a whipped some cream last week and a dollop of that with some toasted almond slivers made for a nice last minute dessert.  This fruit roasted with  brown sugar at 350 for 30 minutes. Again I say Yum!

I have definitely cooked more than just these 2 things and many of them can be seen on my Instagram page but this is what I chose to share right now.

happy cooking

Busy, busy, busy

I know that's not really an excuse to go 14 mos without a post.  I don't really have a good reason. Life just got in the way.

But I've made some adjustments to my weekly schedule.  I've followed it for the last 5 or 6  weeks and it feels like habit now.  It does continue to get tweaked, but for the most part, it stays the same.

Let me share my schedule.  This is what works for me.

Every day my husband and I start the day with some morning worship while we drink our coffee. This is one of my favorite things.  We sart together on the same page.

MTW and F I follow that with some personal Bible study.  And then I eat breakfast and take a nap.  I know.  A nap first thing in the morning.  I don't sleep so well at night sometimes.  I don't always fall asleep, but that time between 7:30 and 9:00 is allocated as such.

By 9, usually, I am ready to start my chores.

On Monday I tackle our bedroom and bathroom.  Now that the bedroom has regular attention (meaning I dust every week, not just change the sheets) I find that other bad habits have righted themselves eg I know longer hang my clothes on the dresser...they make it all the way to the closet. I'm proud of this.  Hubs would like the shoe garage under the dresser to go away.  We'll see.

Tuesday is about laundry.  I also try to make my personal appointments on Tuesday.  Does'nt always work. Not all the people I need to see are available on Tuesday.  This is also the day I run errands and go to the market.  Today, I'll leave about 1:45 and drop clothes at the cleaners, stop at the drug store. Then I have a dental appointment and I'll go to the market.  Dinner tonight is fairly simple...Salsa Verde chicken in the crock pot and Rice baked in the oven (best way I've ever made rice!  I'll tell you about in another post.)

In addition to being DateNight, Wednesday is also the day that I dust the rest of the house and vacuum.  Now that I've been at this schedule for a few weeks, this is a pretty easy day.  Depending on how elaborate DN is, I can do a deeper clean. Last week for example, I spent a loooong time with QTip and a pledge wipe cleaning the molding in my coffee table.  Once the surfaces are clean, you can't help but notice the dirt beneath. UGH!!!

Thursday, well Thursdays I do nothing.  Literally nothing. After morning worship I take NyQuil and fall asleep until it's time to get Hubby his lunch.  Did I mention that he works from home on Thurs?  He does.  The afternoon is all dozey until it's time for my shower before our meeting.  Dinner is always, ALWAYS, a frozen pizza on Thursday.

My Fridays change.  Every other I spend in the ministry.  As far a s housework goes, it could be mopping the kitchen floor or vacuuming the downstair entry area.  It might be that I have other errands to do.  Friday is my slush day, my catch up day.


That's what's going on with me.  Ciao!

Date Night May 13, 2015

It's Wednesday.  To most of you that means today is our Date Night.  Don't get me wrong.  It is.  And I think I've done a pretty good job with this one.

But Wednesday is also my "big clean" day.  You know, bathrooms, dusting, vacuuming.  This part of my day has really been an epic fail.  In part, I think, to the "pretty good job" I did with Date Night.  I only have so much energy, and this week it has been waning.   So I do the important things first.

Like make gravy, er Spaghetti sauce to you non-Italians.

By 9:25 I already had my sauce bub-bub-bubbling away

It looks good, doesn't it?

So I'm sure you've figured it out.  If I started with tomato sauce, tonight's DN must be Italian.  You would be right, it is.

Let me start at the beginning of our meal.

Cocktails

Manhattans  

I do know how to make other drinks.  It's just my favorite.

Appetizer

Panzanella

What's that?  you ask.  It's Italian Bread Salad.  You toast some cubes of bread (a little EVOO, Italian seasoning for 10 minutes at 400) and toss them with some tomatoes in a simple red wine vinaigrette. 

You can see the thinly sliced shallot.  There is also a couple of finely diced garlic cloves in the mix. There really should be fresh basil, but I didn't have any and Dear Husband doesn't like herbs as much as I do.

I have some little mozzarella balls that I may add.  And I have some pretty glass bowls that I'll serve it in.

Dinner

Getting back to my gravy.  I started in a way I never have before.  I halved a head of garlic and tossed it with about 1 pound of grape tomatoes in olive oil and  little salt and pepper. I roasted them at 425 for about 45 minutes.  When they were cool enough to handle, I dumped the tomatoes into my food processor and squeezed in the roasted garlic.  Then I let it rip.  YUM!

That was the first time I used, and then washed my food processor today.

Then I sauteed a diced onion in some olive oil, added my tomato paste, and a couple glugs of red wine (to the pot, not to me) and started adding my canned tomatoes and the roasted tomato garlic mixture.  By the time I was satisfied with my concoction, it had a bunch of herbs (including fennel seed...another new one for me) some parmesan, and some sugar.  I think it's a winner.

But, Kristen, you say, Dinner can not just be tomato sauce.

You'd be right, it's not.  I made braciole (braa-zhole).  This is an Italian "stuffed" flank steak. I have made this before but have always used a whole flank steak usually butterflied.  I did something different this time.

Let me tell you about the stuffing first.  It's grated provolone and parmesan cheeses, minced garlic and flat leaf parsley.  Bread crumbs, olive oil, and a little bit of salt and pepper.

So this time, instead of asking the butcher to butterfly if for me, I tried to do it myself.  This was not a complete disaster.  I ended it up with many thin slices of flank steak.  (This is actually more how my grandmother would it make it.  She could buy beef for braciole in her local market.  So far I can't.  I may ask Mariano's to help me out next time.)

As you can see from the pictures, you spread some of the filling over the slices of steak and then you tie them with butchers twine or impale them with tooth picks.

Then these little bundles of yumminess are seared in pan, the pan is deglazed with white wine and the whole shebang gets added to the gravy.  it then goes into a 350 degree oven for 90 minutes.

The filling was the fourth and final time I used and washed my food processor today.

Dessert

Between making the gravy and making the braciole, I made dessert.

This proved to be a headache and frankly a pain in my back, too.  You see, I wanted to make a cannoli tart.  Okay, I did make a cannoli tart, just not with the crust on the website.  I tried.  It tasted great, but I couldn't work with it.  It was too sticky.  I tried to fix it but I'm not a baker.  There are things I can bake, and bake well.  This wasn't one of them.  

This was the second time I used and washed my food processor.  Have I mentioned yet that there is a bowl, a lid, a blade and insert-y thing on the lid that all have to be washed?  I'm not complaining, I just wanted you to understand that this isn't just like washing a spoon or bowl or something.

I decided that Pillsbury puff pastry would make a better crust.  I'll let you know if it was or not.

So then I used my food processor the third time to make the cannoli filling.   This tasted pretty good.  Actually, it tasted really good.  

Did I mention the chocolate chips?  There are chocolate chips.  And there is amaretto in the filling too.  Why did I bother making braciole?

That's what's been cooking in my kitchen...pretty much since 8:00 this morning.

happy cooking

Dump recipes and Tomatoes!

So I was a busy girl today.

My husband was home sick.  So I quickly rearranged my plans to be more available to him.

But, honestly, how much effort did you think that took?  More mental and emotional than physical.

So, what did I did I do?  I went to the market and bought the ingredients to make 5 (you read that right 1...2...3...4...5!!!) meals for my in-laws.  It's not really as much as I'm making it sound.  These are "dump" recipes.  See, I put all of the ingredients in in zip-top bags with some chicken.  They can be either baked in the oven (350 for one hour) or cooked in the crock pot (3-4 hours on low).  Really it as easy peasy...done in one hour.

But then....

Then, well what do you make of this?

Is it salsa?  Bruschetta?

Actually, it's BOTH!!!!

I realized a little while ago that my bruschetta and my salsa begin the same way. With Tomatoes, Red Onion, and Garlic.

Knowing that my meals for the next week included both bruschetta and salsa, I processed 10 cups of tomatoes, onions, and garlic.

It proved successful already.  Dinner tonight was Italian Sausage (which I grilled...I love keeping the cooking mess outside) topped with bruschetta. I just added some EVOO, balsamic, mozzarella and basil!

To make it salsa, I'll add jalapeno, cilantro, and chile powder.  Maybe a little cayenne, too.

They are both oh-so-good.  And oh-so-done!!!!

That's all from my kitchen.

happy cooking!

Date Night--Wednesday, April 22, 2015

It's been one of those days.  You know, "those" days.  I woke up to snow.  You read me correctly SNOW.

I got dressed, did the coffee, read the Bible, kissed my husband goodbye, and then fell asleep on the sofa.  Until I was late for my infusion.

Which was great, by the by.  I immediately felt a little more energy.  That was really good.   I needed to make a Date Night happen.

And happening it is!  I'm proud of this one.

Appetizer and Cocktail

I lack energy and am happy to let Trader Joes do the appetizer for me.

I will make Manhattans to accompany these tartlets.  I think they look good and caramelized onions fit nicely with dinner.

Entree

Are you ready?  You need to be ready for this. Are you sure you're ready?

French Onion Soup Meatloaf.  BOOM! I said it and I've made it.

Well almost made it.  It's ready for it's first bake.  Let me walk you through the process.

Three onions, thinly sliced on stove with  olive oil, salt and pepper

Caramelized onions with red wine and beef broth

Basic meatloaf--eggs, bread crumbs, salt and pepper.  Except instead of in loaf form flattened into a 10x12" rectangle.

See, now I can add a a layer of mozzarella cheese

And most of the previously pictured carmalized onions

Now you roll it up into a "loaf" of sorts, and transfer it to a baking sheet.

So this will bake for 45 minutes at 350 and then a sauce of red wine and beef broth plus some other flavorings and thickeners will be poured over it and the remaining 1/2 c of cheese and onions will top it.  It will bake for another 20 minutes or so.

Side Dishes

Really, do they even matter?  I mean look at this meat loaf.

Well you know me, so you know I'll have some.  Mashed potatoes because what else could go with this.  And green beans

Dessert

It's a "gob" cake.  I didn't know exactly what a "gob" cake was until, well until just now.  It's basically a whoppie pie. At least I thinkg that's what it is.  That's not how it looks on the recipe site, but a little more googling and I found out that it is more of  a "sandwich" cake.

This is how mine looks

Devil's food cake with mandarin oranges in it and cool whip "frosting"   I made two portions, I'll keep the leftover undressed.

That's what's been cooking in my kitchen.  And I've kept up with the clean up, vacuumed, and did a load of towels.  I  definitely deserve my cocktail tonight.  :-)

happy cooking