Sunday Funday.

It’s almost time for sleeps. This weekend, as many of my past weekends have been, was packed full of good times. I did a bit of yoga, book shopping, tattoo shopping, drinks on a deck near the river… more yoga, some clothing shopping, Beer and Bacon for a good cause, & a trip to Costco. I’m exhausted. I’m not looking forward to my early start tomorrow!

But tomorrow evening, I have a BYOB dinner to attend also. I probably shouldn’t go, I’m all out of money, but the restaurant we’re hitting up is one of the more affordable ones I’ve been to lately.

I listened to NPR all day yesterday and today. I love NPR. They have so many great radio shows — especially during the day on weekends. Most are pretty light hearted. Car Talk is one of my favorites. Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me is always good too. They had one of my podcaster crushes on Wait, Wait… Luke Burbank of TBTL. (You can listen to any one of their podcasts… They have saved my life when I’ve done power-filing at work.)

Now I’m just hanging out in my living room, listening to the non-storm outside. I think it might be finished pretending to thunder. We didn’t get hit up my way nearly as hard as they did in Harrisburg. Looks like I headed home just in time.

I just realized that next weekend will probably be much more chill. HOORAY! I need some downtime, so listen… if you were going to try and wrangle me into doing things… I don’t want to. I’m doing yoga. Maybe I’ll see about getting my first tattoo. I’ll take my momma shopping, if she’s still up for it. Otherwise, I’m going to Wegman’s or Costco. I’ll try and find those damn spicy pickles again.

The thing about having a Costco membership is now I have 10 single serve bags of edamame in my freezer (because I gave two to my momma) and they will prooooobably be gone by this time next week. I almost bought mediterranean spinach and chickpea patties, but put them back when I saw the edamame. I also have a giant tub of spring mix for lunches this week… and olive and feta salad.

I love Costco. On my list for next time: figs, the elusive spicy pickles and probably more edamame. Maybe I’ll get some veggie burgers. We’ll see how my week of salads goes first.

Pretty soon I’ll be hanging out with some pretty damn cool people to see This Way to the Egress. I’ve done fairly limited research, but they seems like a pretty rad band. (I feel like their music would fit in nicely on Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries — which reminds me, I have to start binge watching that again. Maybe it will be my finish-your-homework motivation this week.)

I’m gonna head to bed and do a bit of reading. I just picked up Raising Steam from the library and I’m hoping to get through it within two weeks. (It’s quite the feat when you read before bed and you’re as tired as I’ve been.) How are things with all of you?

Food decisions of a grown-up.

Today, I had a delicious, mostly organic salad for lunch. It was super tasty. Tell me, is it possible organic lettuce actually tastes better?

Then, you know, ’cause I’m Christina, I ate red velvet ice from Rita’s. It was delicious and about 90% red food coloring. Holy artificial dye.

It tasted delicious, but is it possible to OD on food dye?

Tomorrow, I’ll probably eat another salad. And then a tomato or two when I get home. Tomorrow I’ll make better choices.

Scout’s honor?

A pound of cheese, an expanding waistline and a very happy gal. (Mac & Cheese)

I made this:

The most yummiest mac & cheese. <3

The recipe came from Smitten Kitchen (who adapted it from The NY Times)

This fed 4… but my family has no shame about downing a quarter pound of cheese per person.

What you’ll need:

• 1.5 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup cottage cheese (I used low fat, but not non-fat!)
• 2 cups milk (I used 2%)
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• Pinch cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound sharp cheddar, grated (I used a bag of 2% sharp cheddar and a bag of 2% Colby Jack.)
• 1/2 pound uncooked elbow pasta

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9-inch round or square baking pan with about half a tablespoon of butter.

2. In a blender, purée cottage cheese, mustard, cayenne and salt and pepper together. Once smooth, add milk and pulse a few times to incorporate.

3. Reserve a handful of cheese for topping. In a large bowl, combine the rest of the cheese, milk mixture and the uncooked pasta. Give it a good stir and pour into the greased pan. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

4. Uncover pan, dot with remaining tablespoon of butter and sprinkle with reserved cheese.* Bake, uncovered, for another 30 minutes until it’s pretty and browned. Let cool 10 -15 minutes before serving.

5. Eat it and pretend it’s health food, ok? I served mine with peas so, hah! Veggies!

*In step 4, you’re suppose to stir it a little before you dot it and add the extra cheese. I didn’t do this. I don’t think it makes a huge difference as long as you mixed it up really well before you poured it into the pan.

Veggie soup!

Ok, so veggie soup is kind of awesome. This is mostly because, well, you can make it with whatever you want, really. Last night I made some like this:

What I used: (makes about 6-10 servings, I guess)

• Olive oil
• 4 carrots
• 4 stalks of celery
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 pinch dried thyme
• 2 pinches dried parsley
• a bag of frozen corn
• 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1 14 oz can of white beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 14 oz cans of veggie broth
• 1 14 oz can of water
• 1 cup cooked pasta

What I did:

1. Chop clean, peeled carrots. Chop garlic. Dump into a pot with oil over medium heat. Stir.
2. Chop celery and onion. Dump into same pot with oil. Saute for a few mintues until veggies become softer. Add corn, warm through. Add herbs.
3. Dump in tomatoes with juice and beans. Stir. Add broth and water. Simmer for 20 – 30 minutes.
4. Add pasta and serve.

Next time:

This soup was actually very good, but next time, I think I’ll add a jar of pizza sauce instead of water. Or maybe I’ll replace a can of broth with it and keep the water. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll skip the thyme then too (since pizza sauce is kind of herb-y to begin with). It’s worth playing with. : )

Oh, and I’ll just use the whole bunch of carrots (about 6?) because carrots are the best part of veggie soup in my world.

Strawberry cakes, oh my!

I am currently making this cake for the fourth time. It deserves a post.

Strawberry Summer Cake. (It’s a smitten kitchen recipe (which was adapted from Martha Stewart) and I didn’t change it at all, except to get rid of some of the notes. I’m too lazy to seek out barley flour and I love sugar and yada yada.)

You’ll need some of these.
They smell like heaven.
They make your hands look like part of a murder scene as you cut them.

You’ll need butter, sugar, flour, baking powder, salt (if your butter isn’t salted), milk, an egg and some vanilla.

Here… these are the amounts and measurements.

6 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt (only if you’re using unsalted butter
1 c granulated sugar for batter plus 2 tbsp for sprinkling before baking
1 large egg
1/2 c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb strawberries, greens lopped off and berries halved.

What you’ll want to do (other than eat all the strawberries in front of you):

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pam/butter a 9-inch cake pan (I’ve also made it in a 10″ disposable pie pan).
2. Whisk flour and baking powder (and salt, if using) together in a bowl. In another bowl, beat butter and 1 cup of sugar until light colored and fluffy with an electric mixer/KitchenAid (I love my KitchenAid), this will take a few minutes. Add egg, milk and vanilla and mix until just combined. Add flour mixture gradually and mix until smooth.
3. Pour batter into greased cake pan. Arrange strawberries (with the cut side down) on top of the batter as evenly as possible. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over the strawberries.
4. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees and then reduce temperature to 325 degrees and bake cake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out batter-free, about 50-60 minutes. Let cool and then cut into wedges.

Prepare to eat this for breakfast every day for a week + as a snack on Monday just because you can. Legitimize this by remembering that you’re eating fruit and you wouldn’t want such deliciousness to go to waste. Or… share with a friend. Whichever is your style.

Since there’s so much butter in this, I’d like to give it a try with a butter/olive oil combo. I’m also sure I’ll make it using fruit other than strawberries. Right now I’m making a strawberry-peach cake… so we’ll see how awesome that is.

Chicken pasta casserole.

From Pioneer Woman/Tasty Kitchen.

What you’ll need:

• 1 1/2 lb. chicken thighs
• 1/2 stick (4 tbsp) butter
• 4 tbsp oil (olive or canola or a mix of some sort), divided
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 lb white sliced white mushrooms
• approximately 1/2 cup dry white wine, divided
• ¼ cups Flour
• 2 cups Chicken Broth (from a can or reserved from cooking the thighs)
• 1-½ cup milk (I used 1%.)
• 1 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese (plus a little extra for sprinkling on top of casserole before baking)
• approximately 1 cup sliced black olives
• salt and pepper
• 1 pound pasta

What you’ll do:

1. Place chicken in a pot of water and boil on medium-low heat for 40 minutes. Remove chicken from pot and allow to cool (until you can comfortably handle it). Keep some broth in the pot and reserve two cups of broth for later.
2. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large skillet; add garlic and mushrooms. Dump in 1/4 cup white wine and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes (or until liquid has totally evaporated). Remove mushrooms from skillet. Set aside.
3. Bring broth to a boil. Add pasta to boiling broth and cook according to package directions. Drain when al dente. Remove chicken from bones and shred.
4. Return skillet to medium-low heat. Add 4 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp oil. Sprinkle flour over butter and whisk to combine. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Pour in 2 cups broth and whisk to combine. Pour in milk, additional 1/4 cup wine, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until thickened. Turn off heat, add Parmesan cheese, and stir.
5. Add mushrooms, chicken, and chopped olives to cheese mixture. Stir to combine and check seasonings.
6. Pour the pasta into a greased/oiled/Pammed 9 x 13 casserole pan and pour chicken mixture over top. Toss to incorporate. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
7. Serve with something green, like brocolli or asparagus… and maybe some bread.

“Foolproof Jambalaya” (from Tasty Kitchen)

You can see the original recipe here.

I was sooooo hungry for kielbasa.

I proooomise it tastes so much better than this photo looks. This was after it was in my leftover container too. I'm a bad blogger when it comes to photos of food.

What you’ll need:

• 1/4 c vegetable/canola/Smart Balance oil
• 1 whole onion, chopped
• 3  garlic cloves, minced or run through a press
• 1 small pack of frozen okra, thawed
• 1 green/yellow/orange/red pepper, chopped
• 2 pounds chicken, bite sized pieces
• 1 pound (turkey) kielbasa, cubed
• 2 cups uncooked rice
• 1 14.5 oz can of chicken broth
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoons dried thyme
• Salt To Taste

What you’ll do:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan and saute the onion, garlic, (colored) pepper and okra over medium-high heat until the veggies are tender.
2. Add the kielbasa and chicken to the veggies and cook for 10 minutes. (If your large pan isn’t large enough to do this, cook the chicken in a separate pan and add it to the mix after it is cooked through. My large pan is apparently not an actual large pan.)
3. Add rice, broth, tomatoes with liquid, cayenne, and thyme. Cover pan and bring liquids to a boil.
4. Reduce heat until liquids are simmering; cook covered about 30-40 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
5. Fluff the rice and give everything a good stir. Serve.

Pasta a la Allison.

Adapted (healthified) from The Pioneer Woman (because while butter and cream are awesome, it’s March and summer, the season of half nakedness, is just around the corner.)

((I only slimmed down the cream part. Butter is a health food.*))

You’ll need:

• ¾ lb penne pasta (I used Smart Taste for the calcium, fiber and white pasta-ness)
• roughly 1 lb shrimp (small-medium sized, unless you want to chop it into bite sized pieces), peeled and deveined
• 3 tbsp butter *
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• ½ cups white wine or low sodium chicken broth (DON’T DRINK COOKING WINE!)
• 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 cup fat free half and half **
• fresh parsley (and basil), to taste
• salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation Instructions

Boil pasta until al dente.

Take your shrimp and heat 1 tbsp butter and olive oil in a skillet. Add the shrimp and cook until just opaque. Avoid over cooking them.  Remove from heat, allow to cool and remove the tails if necessary. (If you have large shrimp, let them cool for a few minutes and chop the shrimp into bite –sized pieces.) Set aside.

Dice the onion and garlic and add to a skillet with 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp olive oil; sauté, stirring occasionally. After the garlic and onions begin to soften, add your white wine (or chicken broth). Let the wine evaporate for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.

Now add the tomato sauce and stir until well combined. Then add 1 cup of half and half. Stir again until well combined. Turn heat down to allow the sauce to simmer.

Chop your herbs and add about 1 tbsp of each type to the sauce. (I couldn’t find basil, so I added a pinch of the dried stuff. Fresh would be better.)

Add your shrimp back into the sauce. Give it a stir and add salt and pepper to taste. Now add the cooked penne pasta and toss to incorporate.

Serve with some salad, broccoli, or something else really green. Don’t forget about bread!

This is what you get (as leftovers because I’m still a failure at taking photos BEFORE eating):

Mmmm. Tomato cream might become my favorite!

* Ok, not really. Butter is not so good for you, but it really does include some nutrients! And it’s not all chemical-loaded like margerine.

** So, I know I said butter is better than margerine because of the lack of chemicals… but I’m sure fat free half and half is probably the least natural thing I’ve ever heard of. Whatever, I do what I want.

Avocado pasta? Interesting.

So, tonight I made this recipe.

It looks like this on their website:

Pretty, right? Well mine didn’t look so pretty… but I think I got the taste down.

FYI: The sauce is enough to cover 4 servings (half a pound) of white pasta. I couldn’t eat all that. I can eat TWO servings, but not four.

My thoughts?

• Holy dragon breath. I’ll be breathing garlic for days.
• Um, this tastes pretty awesome. Kind of like an Italian guacamole!
• Wait, hold on. Shoot, is this turning into a “steak nuggets” experience?
• Yep, yep. This isn’t so great anymore.
• It’s so… goopy! And it tastes kind of green…
• Maybe it’s the copious amounts of garlic?
• Maybe it’s just because I’m staring at 4 servings of pasta and I know I’m only gonna get one serving down?
• Shit, I can’t eat all this. I’m full. Or maybe I just don’t like it. I don’t know.

Rating? 2.5 out of 5 stars. It’s not awful and I can definitely see why some people like it. Sadly it’s just not for me.  If I would ever try it again, I’d cut the garlic from 3 to 2 cloves for sure. I don’t think I’ll make it again though. I encourage you guys to try it out (it doesn’t take long to throw together or anything), but I can almost guarantee no one directly related to me would like this. It was average in my book. *shrugs* I’ve been losing a lot of food battles lately.

 

Also, as I did my dishes tonight, I broke another drinking glass. At this rate, I’ll have four to drink out of by June. I might need to start looking for some cheap, awesome (plastic) drinkware. Or some good, sturdy glass stuff.

Cinnamon Maple Oatmeal Cookies.

Or maybe they should be “cinnamon sugar maple oatmeal cookies”… but that name is so long.

So, these are the yummies I made for dessert tonight. I didn’t want to buy anything because I’m sick of buying ingredients for cookies. This used what I had on hand.

I based what I did on the Oatmeal Crispies on the Pioneer Woman website.

What I needed:

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon maple flavoring
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 cups rolled oat

What I did:

1. Cream shortening and sugars until well combined. Then add the eggs, vanilla, maple flavoring and cinnamon and mix for a few moments.
2. Slowly add the flour, salt, baking soda and oats until mix until well combined.
3. Scoop tablespoon sized hunks of dough onto a baking sheet (either lined with parchment paper OR oiled) and flatten them out a little with your fingers. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.

I think I got approximately 42 cookies, if my fuzzy math is anywhere close to accurate. There were a LOT of cookies. 12+12+12+6 = 42, right?

Anyway, these were pretty awesome. I had at least 4 tonight. (Don’t tell! I won’t eat more than one tomorrow… I swear!)

Really really yummy. :)