First Meal in First House

We finally, by the grace of the dear Lord in the sky, made it to the grocery store.  If I had to choose a place to pick up dinner one more time, I was driving my car straight off an overpass.

First meal in our first house!  

It was pizza, friends. 

But the pride of this here pie is in the crust

because it's cauliflower.

We need to infuse as many vegetables as possible in our meals to make up for the nasty from the last few days.

Oh, and also, we're glutards.

I made up the recipe as I went and it was moderately successful in holding together, but very tasty.

Here is sort of what I put in it (sort of = I don't remember)

- Cauliflower (you have to process it down, then steam it, then wring out ALL of the water and I mean all of it)
- 1/3 c shredded cheese
- Pizza from Penzy's
- Garlic Powder

I'd recommend baking it at 450 for about 15 minutes before you make your pizza- I did mine for about 10 minutes and it wasn't very crunchy

I also made the sauce from scratch-ish (does one can count?) not because I'm hipster or want to rebel against all pre-made foods, but because I forgot to pick some up.
It's a bit difficult...
- 1 can tomato paste
- 3 cloves garlic
- water

BOOM.  PIZZA.

Your mom makes salsa! So does mine.

48 tomatoes

6 onions

27 peppers.

eleventy billion garlics

38 jars of cant-find-it-better-anywhere-made-with-my-mama hot sauce

happiness.

Delicious goat cheese pasta....or IS it?!

Can you tell I'm rusty on thinking of quirky titles?

Sheesh.  Sorry.

Ok, so I get Real Simple magazine every month because I like to:

a. dream about being organized

b. look at pretty things

c. drool over recipes that are WAY too hefty for me to cook.  By hefty I mean awful for me.

But!  This month's issue seems to have toned it way down, and I cooked a meal out of it almost every night last week.

This one called for a short pasta (like penne or something), basil, olive oil, goat cheese, salt and pepper. 

I'm a sucker for goat cheese.  I'm also a sucker for rice krispy treats, but that's irrelevant.

To. die. for.

And if you're a sleuth, you will notice that I didn't use a short pasta.  In fact, I didn't use pasta at all.

May I introduce you to the spaghetti squash?

Cut in half, scoop the seeds out, put in a microwave safe dish with some water in it, cover with wax paper (for steaming), cook about 10 min. in the microwave.  

When it's soft, scrape it out with a fork.  It looks and feels and tastes just like noodles.

But it's a vegetable.

I am obsessed with this cucurbita pepo.

This is a Loaded Post. Prepare yourself.

My girlfriend's birthday was yesterday, so I wanted to deliver her something super colorful and bright with a wine theme.  Because she digs the vino.

I just wrapped a wine bottle in raffia. With some tacky glue.  This was specifically called Hollywood Raffia.  I guess because it is shiny?
Random fact: my parents wanted to name me Holly.  But then my name would have been Holly Wood.  Thank you for not doing that and thus making middle school even more awkward.

Happy Birthday to my #1 She-ruby!

And in completely unrelated news, remember the asian chicken?
We beefed it up.

And it was incredible.

And then I stayed up until midnight baking Monkey Bubble Bread aka thebesthingIhaveeverbaked aka totallyworththelackofsleep aka IloveyouKitchenAidemixerandBakedcookbook.

aka YourewelcomeBiblestudygroup.

Pity Party Concluded

Last night, I got elbows deep in the kitchen and cooked my little food-loving heart out.

And it helped me stop sulking about the marathon.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

Netflix.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

Birthday talk.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

Talking race training with D-sauce

You know what else helped me stop sulking?
Planning trips

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

Thinking about how to train the 2 ladies at work who asked me to help them train to walk their first 5k.  Proud.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

 Looking at mission trips

You know what else helped me stop sulking?
My dad calling me last night

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

 My husband trying to walk around the apartment with a heating pad strapped to his ankle...plugged into the wall.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

this 

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

The fact that I go OFF CALL today.  No more cuckoo patients calling me at 3:15am.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

getting re-taped for frizee in rehab and then beating him up for not fixing my knee.

(slight exaggeration)

You know what else helped me stop sulking?
My brother telling me to stop sulking.

You know what else helped me stop sulking?

The gloriousness that I made in said kitchen while channeling my inner Mrs. Day and practicing everything she has taught me in crash course cooking class reviews.

You have never made an Asian glaze this good.

That's awfully ballsy of me to say.

But It. was. incredible.  It thickened perfectly (no corn starch needed thankyouverymuch).

I think Dev may have almost said a curse word when he tasted it.

Then he named 461 things we could cook with the same glaze.

That. good.

And the zinger!  

This whole plate full of tastygoodness = right around 400 calories.

And naturally, I can't find the recipe online anymore.  Hang tight for that.

Annnnnnd a bajillion hours later, I found it!

Ever used a parsnip?

 

I don't think I had ever heard of them.  Or, it's possible that it was one of the ingredients I would skip over when I looked at a recipe thinking it wouldn't matter if I had parsnip or not.  In fact, if alone, I may have looked for parsnip in the bulk spices first.

This is me being transparent about my grocery retardation.

We based our delish cassoulet off of this recipe and added a few things of our own along with 2 different kinds of sausage and many more spices.

Perfect for the burr weather!

Faster, lighter enchiladas arriba arriba!

I didn't have a tomato, so I used whole ones in a can, rinsed them, drained them, and chopped them

Mix up the green onions, cheese, cottage cheese, and tomato

Layer corn tortillas (we use Mission- they have the best ingredients and nutrition facts that we can find) and then half of the mixture on top of the tortillas

Do it again.  At this point, I put it in the fridge until Devin got home; it was too early to cook it.

This is what corn tortillas do in the fridge.  Just flip em over.

Drench in enchilada sauce

Layer with cheese, cook.

My recommendation is to not get cheese that is labeled "reduced fat".  It won't melt as well.  Get one that says "Made with 2% milk".  Still lighter, but will act more like cheese and less like orange plastic weirdness

Check out this recipe for full instructions

Flex your mussels.

Last night, I made mussels marinara.

I have never cooked mussels in my life.

But I do love to eat them.

And now I love to cook them- this took all of 12 minutes.

These are a fantastic source of protein and are very low in fat.  The aroma from this meal was un.bel.ievable.  I couldn’t stop taking big whiffs over my bowl of steaming, laughing mussels.  Don’t they look like they’re laughing?  Or maybe screaming.

So- 2 lbs. mussels (we bought 3 and it was too many for 2 people, so keep that in mind), 1 cup onion chopped, 5 cloves garlic minced, 1 28oz. can diced tomatoes, 1/2 cup white wine, parsley, oregano

Saute the onions and garlic until translucent, add tomatoes with juice, wine, parsley, oregano, cook 3-4 minutes, add mussels (washed and make sure you remove any cracked or open ones), cook about 7 minutes or until they are all open.

Latin Baked Chicken

Per requests from yesterday’s post, here is the recipe for the Latin Baked Chicken from Cooking Light circa 1989.  Don’t quote me on that date.  I think it may have been more like 2007 but the magazine looks like it’s been through 21 years.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  If your oven is anything like our apartment botch-deluxe of an oven, this will take 7 hours.

Mix 3 Tbs soy sauce, 2 Tbs honey, 2 Tbs minced Chili in Adobe Sauce, 1/4 cup fresh lime juice in a large bowl.

Place 8 chicken thighs (with bone, skinned) in bowl and toss to coat.

side note: our grocery store does not sell chicken thighs with the bone unless you want to buy 400 thighs.  I bought them without the bone and it worked.  Also, I did not make 8, though I think DC would have preferred it

Marinate for at least 10 minutes.

Place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray, reserving the marinade, and cook chicken for 15 minutes.

Place the rest of the marinade in a blender and puree.  Bring to a boil and cook 3 minutes.  Brush chicken with half of this mixture, cook another 10 minutes, then brush again and cook 10 more minutes. 

side note: I skipped this entire step.  I was trying to Banish Fat and Boost Metabolism while doing this and couldn't stop to make a dadgum puree.  I just brushed on the marinade as it was.  So many of you are shaking your heads at me.

I would have taken a picture, but Devin ate it all.

What a crock.

I need you to tell me about your crock.

We have this one and we use it at least once a week (more in the winter...like every day...like I had to buy a new slow cooker cook book this weekend because we've made all of them in our first book) and we love it...

The only thing is that if we want to cook something for only 6 hours while we're at work, it turns on the "keep warm" setting, which actually means "overcook your dinner" setting. We have resorted to one of us drawing the short straw and having to come home at lunch to turn the crock pot on. That sort of defeats the convenience of it, doesn't it??

So this weekend we dreamt up what we really want: a crock pot that we can program like our coffee maker. We can set the clock on it and program to start at, for example, 10:00 am so it will be ready when we walk in the door, and not burnt.

Turns out they don't make these.

Tell me about your crock pot and why you love/hate/both it.

Tabbouleh Shmabbouleh

I usually plan out our meals for the week and make our grocery list accordingly.  For this particular night, I knew we would need something quick and light, so I made some Tabbouleh for the first time.  I already had everything I needed minus the produce.

I got the recipe from 101 cookbooks.  Another one of my favorites. 

You’re welcome.

This meal is high in fiber and protein and low in fat.  Perfect for a post work out/run dinner.

When it was all ready, I was very very VERY worried that DC would hate it, but he didn't.  He even ate it cold the next day for lunch.

Tabbouleh.  We likey.

Oh...and does anyone even know how to say Tabbouleh?

Make Meal Be Happy

We like us some Thai food.

More like love.

More like when we go to our favorite Thai place we just smile and stare at the waiter because we love him SO much just for working at a place that serves amazecakes food.  Also because we have the same waiter every time and when he brings the food to the table he acts like he has a big surprise for you.

Our spot is Nit Noi.  Their hot and sour soup reigns on the throne of all that is hot and sour.  Don’t argue, just go.

We rarely make our own Thai food because one time I tried when we first got married and I won’t tell you what Devin said it did to him.

Over a year later, we tried homemade Thai again (not the same recipe as mentioned above…it is forbidden).

Sweet. little. baby. Moses. in a basket.

Unbelievable. 

Cooking Light’s Mango Shrimp Rice Deliciousness Salad

Ingreeds:

1  tablespoon  minced fresh garlic

1  tablespoon  minced peeled fresh ginger

1  tablespoon  low-sodium soy sauce

4  teaspoons  curry powder

1/8  teaspoon  ground red pepper

1/8  teaspoon  ground cumin

1 1/2  pounds  medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 36 shrimp)

2  cups  water

2/3  cup  light coconut milk

1 1/4  cups  uncooked long-grain rice

3/4  cup  shredded carrot

2  cups  diced peeled mango (about 2 mangoes)

1 1/2  cups  diced red bell pepper

1/2  cup  sliced green onions

1  tablespoon  chopped fresh cilantro

1  tablespoon  chopped fresh parsley

2  tablespoons  fresh lime juice

1/2  teaspoon  salt

Cooking spray

Cilantro sprigs (optional)

Prep:

Combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add shrimp; toss to coat. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Bring water and coconut milk to a boil in a medium saucepan; add rice. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed. Add carrot and next 7 ingredients (through salt); toss gently to combine.

Prepare grill or grill pan to medium-high heat.

Thread 3 shrimp onto each of 12 (6-inch) skewers. Place skewers on grill rack or grill pan coated with cooking spray; grill 3 minutes on each side or until shrimp are done. Serve skewers over salad. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, if desired.

Nutrish!

Calories: 342 (11% from fat)

Fat: 4.1g (sat 1.8g,mono 0.5g,poly 1g)

Protein: 27.4g

Carbohydrate: 48.9g

Fiber: 2.9g

Cholesterol: 172mg

Iron: 5.3mg

Sodium: 478mg

Calcium: 95mg

Wrap it up

A good motto in general

but I’m talking Lettuce Wraps

Onion (the more the better as far as I’m concerned.  Also, raw onion as a pre-run snack is possibly the worst idea ever.  I’d never admit that to the man that told me to stop eating them), pepper, water chestnuts, garlic, fresh ginger

Oyster, soy, srirachi sauces

sesame oil, white wine vinegar

As ushe, heat the oil, cook the onions first

 

add the garlic and ginger

add the chestnuts and pepps

add the meat- we used some ground beef (93/7 kthanks) we had in the freezer, pour in some vinegar, cook it up, mix your sauces and oil and some other special ingreeds you like (might I suggest peanut butter), pour the sauce in.  If it doesn’t get thick, add some corn starch

  

I got distracted.

 

Better than P.F. Changs.  I said it.

We did our own thing here, mostly due to the fact that I cannot successfully buy things for a certain recipe and we end up winging it.  For a step by step with more ingredients (and direction for that matter), go to the number one woman.

Bon appequiche

Spinach and Red Onion Quiche
Preheat oven to 350

You need a frozen pie crust from the store.  We bought organic whole wheat.  Poke holes in the crust to keep it from making bubbles. 

When the oven is ready, cook the crust alone for about 20 minutes.

While it cooks, cut up a red onion and throw it in a skillet with a smidge of olive oil for about 4-5 minutes or until soft.  Then add 1 clove finely chopped garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.

Trim and slice some shitake mushrooms and add them to the skillet. You can buy these pre-sliced in some stores.

Cook until softish – about 4 minutes.

Chop up tons of spinach and add it to the pan.  Cook it until it is wilted- about 1-2 minutes.

Pour the cooked mixture into a strainer and press with the back of a spoon to get the moisture out.

Transfer the mixture to the cooked crust and spread evenly.

In a medium bowl (I used our pancake bowl for easy pouring), plop in 3 large eggs

love those hands.

3/4 cup milk.  The recipe called for almond milk, but I’m all why am I going to go buy a different milk just for this when I have milk in the fridge?!  So I used cow.

add 1/2 c grated parmesan cheese, a dash of nutmeg, salt, and pepper, and whisk together.

        

Pour evenly over the spinach mixture

and bake for about 40-45 minutes.  When you pull it out, let it stand for 15 minutes.

First quiche I’ve ever made = friggin good.

Here’s the nutrish on this one.  Very good.  You can change the fat in this based on which crust you choose.  Ours had a smidge more fat than we like, so next time we’ll look for one that suits us better or go crust-less.  While our quiche cooked, we did Yoga Meltdown.  A little butt kicking earned us some quiche for sure.