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!

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.

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. 

A Manwich, Light. If there is such a thing. Maybe it’s a girlymanwich. Moving on.

 

Remember this?

My mom used to make us Sloppy Joes when I was a kid. 

Lately I’ve been thinking.  I love Sloppy Joes.

I wanted to know what was going into my Joe, though, so I made some from scratch, if you will, in the crock pot.  I based it on a recipe from Fix It And Forget It: Lightly and added my own stuff too.

1/2 Onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb. Ground Turkey

Tiny sprinkle from a package of Dry Onion Soup Mix

some Cumin

1 can black beans, drained

1 can fat free refried beans

Some BBQ sauce

Sauté the onion, pepper, garlic, and turkey until the turkey is slightly browned.  Add it into the crock with the rest of the ingredients.  Cook on low for 8-9 hours.  Toast some small hamburger buns and plop some of this hodgepodge on there.

DC had 2.  And kept saying, “That was so friggin good”.  It’s always a good sign when he goes back for more.

You can eat 4 of these cookies, think about a 5th, and not feel guilty….unless you’re someone who never feels guilty about eating 4 cookies…DC.

 

I try to make these cookies about once a month. 

They are from Mark Bittman’s Food Matters.  If you haven’t picked this up yet, you should.  Very interesting with tons of good recipes- Everything we have made from this book has been fantastic.

These cookies go great with coffee, they’ll satisfy your sweet tooth, and you can put whatever you want in them.  With this batch, DC is averaging 5 a day.  1 before breakfast, 1 after, 2 at lunch, 1 at night.  It would be more, but my mom brought cupcakes over this weekend.  He has to space it all out.

Anyway, the recipe!

1/2 c. peanut oil or vegetable oil, or 8 tablespoons unsalted butter softened (I use Land of the Lakes light butter- it’s still not fantastic, but it’s about 1/3 everything of regular butter)

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. packed brown sugar

1/4 c. applesauce, or 2 eggs

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour

2 c. rolled oats (it says not instant but I use instant and they’re still amaze)

1 c. dried fruit- This is pretty much where I say forget the recipe and add so much deliciousness in the bowl that I think I could make 64 dozen cookies with one batch.

I do tons of raisins or craisins or both because DC says he can never have too many in a cookie

1/2 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (I do walnuts and I do waaaaay more than 1/2 a cup)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (more, please)

pinch of salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 c. milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (I just realized I forgot this for this batch- my mom is rolling her eyes and laughing at me, but guess what!  The cookies are still delish)

Hokay, so, mix the softened butter and sugars together, then add the applesauce or eggs and mix until smooth.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour and the next 6 ingreeds together

Alternating between the flour mixture and the milk, add them to the sugar mixture until mixed well

Add the vanilla, mix

Spoon onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes (I did mine for 14 because our apartment oven is bunk).

Cool 1 minute on the pan, then completely cool on a cooling rack.

Hide 1/2 the batch for yourself.

Devour.

Jillian's Dressing of Deliciousness

I was thinking.  For as much as I post about Jillian Michaels, everyone who reads this must think I am obsessed.

I'm not.  But I do think she knows what she is talking about.  Food-wise.  Exercise-wise.  Psychologically when it comes to eating addiction.

She really is a smart little pistol.

source

Anyway, we made a salad dressing from her Master Your Metabolism book and I needed to share it with you guys because

1. It is delicious

2. It is light

I don't know if I would put it on every salad, but it was great on the southwestern one we had (chicken, black beans, tomatoes, etc)

I'll zip it; here's the dressing recipe

1/2 c lime juice

2 Tbs Olive Oil

4 medium garlic cloves, minced

8 Tbs chopped cilantro

1-2 Tsp chile powder (I think I did 3)

1-2 Tsp ground cumin

1 Tsp salt (optional...I opted not to)

Throw it all in a jar, screw on the lid, shake it up for a minute, pour onto a salad, thou shalt not feel guilty for good dressing.

The End of Soup Season

When I cook dinner, I don't like to eat a whole lot of saturated fat.  There are exceptions to this.  Absolutely.  BBQ is one.  Whataburger is one.  Lord have mercy if there is pizza around.  Geez the rodeo is the best/worst dream/nightmare.  We definitely consumed chocolate covered cheesecake on a stick right after an Italian sausage sandwich and beer.  no regrets here people.  It was amazing.

DC says I have a small but extremely chubby girl living inside me.  I have to watch it ...no one wants that girl to come out for reals.  She's been around before (hello 1990-2006) and she can be a you know what when she's hungry.

What the heck am I writing about?

Right.  Shrimp and Corn Chowder with Fennel.

Typically when I read my Real Simple Magazine (within 2 days of getting it), I skip over the recipes.  They look divine, but the back of the magazine has all of the nutrition facts and it is rarely good news.  And the word chowder is usually a no go.  But!  A month after getting the February issue, I ran across this recipe again, and it looked amazing.  Plus, I knew I only had a couple of weeks before DC would not accept soups for dinner anymore.  Hot Houston + a hot meal is not a good combo.  And he'll probably shave his beard around the same time as the soup cut off.  Why doesn't he just cut my heart out and rip it into pieces then spit on it and run over it on his bike?

I love his beard.  Him too.  Mostly the beard.

Oh my gosh worst post ever.  Who lets me drink so much coffee every dadgum day?

Ok so I took this recipe and made it a little lighter.  Don't hate.

I forgot to take a picture of the fennel before I cut it up.  If you've never used it before, it smells like licorice (don't gag), and it is frilly.  Yes.  Frilly.

So you want to cut the bulb off, rinse it, and chop it up.  Save the rest for topping a salad off, or for your husband who craves licorice.

Leeks!  I love to cook with leeks.  My love for onions tripled when I started using these.  I love them.  You're going to use the white to light green areas, so cut off the rest, then chop what you have.

Save the ends!  I planted them hoping for some little leeks.

Chop up some potato.  It calls for however many pounds, and I don't really want a ton of them, nor do I know how to measure how much potato I am putting in, so I just try to guess about how much potato DC and I would eat in one sitting (like a baked potato) and throw that much in there.  My recipes never make sense on here.  But they taste good so there.

Melt some butter or oil in a large pan.  I used this and only 1 tablespoon.  It works well for cooking, but not so much for baking.  Baking is hard to find substitutes for the bad stuff and still have it come out tasting good.

If I could go back, I would season the veggies more.  So, use some salt and pepper and whatever else you like.  Cook until the veggies are tender.  Then stir in about 2 tablespoons of flour.

Add the clam juice.  Do not mix this up with clam sauce!!

the potatoes

and the milk.  I totally meant to stop and get at least 2% milk for this, and I didn't.  It calls for whole milk and there's pretty much zero chance that I would use that, but non fat milk will have a hard time thickening.  Lucky for me, DC likes thin chowder.  You could also use a potato masher and mash them up for a thicker consistency.

Bring all of this to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 12 minutes.

Stir in 1 package of frozen shrimp (cooked, tail off, and thawed / drained) and one frozen package of corn (thawed and drained).  Be sure to season again when you stir these in.

This shrimp has no preservatives.  We likey.  I also have no clue where we bought them because we found this package in the back of the freezer when we were trying to make room for our wedding cake tier.  Also!  The shrimp in the picture on Real Simple has been grilled and placed on top.  If you simply toss shrimp in like I did, it's not going to get that "cooked on both sides" look.

Cook until shrimp and corn are heated through and the potatoes are tender.  The recipe says about 4 minutes, but this is so far off.  My potatoes took for-ev-er to cook through.

Stir in some lemon juice

How do you cut and squeeze your lemons?

Like Giada?

Like Rachel?

DC was still working on bikes, so I dished it up in these super cute personal pots and covered it with their lids.  Then I whipped up some garlic bread a la Giada.  You literally toast some bread (we love Whole Foods or Central Market's Seedalicious) and rub a garlic clove over the bread while it's still hot.  No butter needed and it tastes so fresh.

There she blows.  I forgot to snag some parsley at the store the week before so I threw cilantro on there.  I like it on everything, so it was delicious for me, but I don't know if everyone would like it.

Sayonara soup season!

Rice and Raisins! Who woulda thunk it?!

When DC and I did our 10k last Saturday, we sprinted across the finish line and immediately bee-lined it to the vendor tents.  We got our tshirts, some breakfast tacos, apples, water, and some Mojo bars.  The thing was, I had just run 6.2 miles and I didn't want any of that except water.  Until we went by the Minute rice tent and sampled this gloriously amazing post-race / post-work out snack.

So, start with some brown rice.  You can definitely use instant, and just follow the directions on the box.

BUT!  When it says to boil the water, instead of water, you are going to use apple juice.

This! just! got! interesting!  (Name the show?  Seriously name the show because I can't think of it)

When it's done, mix it up with some raisins

Drizzle some honey on it and eat.

Y'all seriously.  It's delicious.  Best post-workout snack EVA.

Me gusto enchiladas, ay yay yay yayyyy! Arriba.

Enchiladas are, like, the easiest thing to make.  Ever.  Maybe.

I don't typically toot my own horn, or any horn for that matter, but I make some freakin' good enchiladas.  Ladies, especially if you are lacking in the cooking-skills-making food for your husband/boyfriend/fiance market, make these ladas and you will be a goddess who rules the brain of your man.

As usual, I don't have a solid recipe to share (see black bean hummus).  So, try to stick with me here.

Drizzle some oil in a pan and throw in whatever spices you want your meat to taste like.  That's what sh...never mind.  I think I used chili powder and garlic something and some other things.  You can use whatever you want.
This particular time, I made ground turkey enchiladas.

DO NOT! knock it until you try it.  If you try to be health conscious as we do, make sure to get the extra lean turkey.  Sometimes people are all, "Oh I'll be all healthy and get turkey", and then they don't read the package and end up buying the turkey who spent his whole life at the bar drinking beer and eating pub food and then stumbled home and stopped at the pizzeria every night.

Throw the meat in and cook it until it is mostly not pink.  You're going to cook it again, so if it's not completely done, it's not the end of the world.  No need to throw it against the wall and cry because you are the worst cook in the history of America.  Not that I've done that.

If you want to make pulled chicken ladas, throw some chicken breasts in boiling water for about 10-30 minutes.  Look, I don't know how long I boil them for, so just sort of watch until they are done aka not pink in the middle.  Then get them out and pull them with a fork.  If you don't know how to pull chicken, email me.

Next, open the wine.

It would be pretty cool if I could say I make enchiladas with wine somehow, but, it's simply to drink while you cook.  It will make it so much more relaxing, I promise.  Some of my favorite alone time is spent cooking with some wine and DC's ipod playing in the living room.

This one was on sale at Central Market and it ended up being delicious.

And since DC wasn't home yet, Rico Paco Manuel Eduardo kept me company.  Courtesy of Jellie.

Ok so while your meat is a rockin' in the pan, you need to decide what else you want to put in these bad boys.  If you just want meat and cheese, that's fine, you can be boring and remind me of a friend in elementary school who would only eat cheese enchiladas and mac n cheese.  And chicken nuggets.  Or you can pull stuff from your fridge and make this interesting and be a more intriguing person to me.  It's up to you.

As you can see, I have chosen some mushrooms (I can't believe it either, but I am really starting to enjoy them), chopped cilantro, TONS of chopped onion because I love them and I am cooking so I do whateva I want, and green pepper which would not normally be a choice of mine, but I needed to use them before they went bad.  When your meat is done, put it in a large mixing bowl, then throw your veggies in the leftover meat-cooking-juice-goodness.  Cook them down until they are pretty soft.

While the veggies cooked, I threw in some green chilies I had leftover.  Leftover from what, I have not one clue, but I like me some spice, so they were perfect.

When everything is cooked up and lookin' good, mix it all together in a big bowl.  I added half a bag of fat free (you can find some kinds that melt...some don't) cheese

and you can add half a can, or a whole can of enchilada sauce (I used some cans of medium and some of hot) if you want.  I didn't add it to my bowl because I realized half way through that I didn't have enough of it and it's more crucial to use it for the top of them.  Just, like, add some srirachi or some tobasco or something.  Or, if you're a wimp and don't like spice, I don't know what to tell you.  Just leave it I guess.

Then just stuff them with the mixture, roll em up, and put them seam side down in a pan.  Check out those tortillas.  We get them at Central Market (non-Texans, this is like Whole Foods) freshly made.  They're usually still warm in the bag.  Delish.

After every layer, you want to pour some enchilada sauce on them.  If you leave any spots dry, it will be crunchy after they cook.

I did one layer of the jalapeno tortillas and one of some whole wheat tortillas.  Then, cover every inch with enchilada sauce and cheese.  Put a humongous piece of foil loosely on top and cook in the oven (maybe on 350?) for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

While they cook, drink some wine and chop up some tomatoes, more cilantro, get out the sour cream, and anything else you want on top

You can also whip up some guac and chips for your man who is still at work makin that change to provide for your ridiculous shopping habit slash your amazing trip to the mountains.

Love.

And then, devour.

This really makes too much food for DC and myself, so we freeze about half of it and eat it during a week when, say, we have returned from an excellent vacay and have not one grocery in the place.