revenge of the gardener!

It has been brought to my attention that the meatloaf I made last night was liked by all. Check that one in the imaginary recipe box! I was able to mow the grass today. I had fun driving the mower through the garden. Slashing and cutting the broccoli that never flowered and squishing and pulverizing our midget corn that was once a beautiful green that turned into a sun-yellow. Although, I did run over part of the hose. And yes, it was damaged, well cut, well mutilated...but I think its still fixable. So now our sunflowers that once were towering above us looking down upon the beings below is now looking like it needs to be brought to the flower hospital and put on life support. What we need is some good compost. The soil needs some good ingredients. Or maybe it just needs to rest. So why don't I have an actual recipe box? I have my gram's but I never think to use it. Maybe I should try it, give it a whirl and see what happens....

hello??!! is it me you're looking for?

Last night I didn't quite make the stew I was hoping for....my hunger won and I decided to do the easy version...just some canned chicken, with some chopped onions, add a little chicken broth and corn starch with a side of green beans and some stuffing...voila! Dinner is served. Tonight is another attempt at the meatloaf. I did it pretty much the same as last time just added some mexican spices to it. so....we shall see, it will be a flop or a new menu item. I think I'll make some garlic mashed potatoes and wax beans to go with it. I know, not that exciting but hey the leaves are changing, the wind is blowing and comfort foods are knocking at my door...might as well let them in and say hello!

MyMenYou

Cell phones and I don't mix well. If you ever call me on my cell, please have some compassion on me during our conversation. For some reason, when I talk on a cell I can barely hear what the other person is saying and/or I'm in a place that is very distracting! I am not a multi-tasker and for that I am truly sorry. The groceries I just bought are all put away and I keep seeing my reminder note to freeze some cheese...gotta do that soon!

On the menu this week is....

1.meatloaf, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans

2.Baked chicken, potato wedges and salad

3. Pizza/mini hot dogs in a blanket (for Wed night, AKA: church night)

4. Chicken stew

5. kielbasa Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad

6. Pizza for the babysitter and kids and roast beef sandwiches to bring to a get together!

7. ?? no clue!

I did make the meatloaf last week. I liked it a lot! I followed the recipe and it was a very fine meatloaf :) I liked it so much I want to make another! Maybe I'll make the meatloaf tonight? hmmm....maybe I'll wait until tomorrow...its rainy today and the chicken stew sounds pretty good....whats on your menu for the week??!!??

I will....

Ok, so Loryn and I are the only ones who liked last nights dinner...remember the kielbasa, wild rice and corn? Yeah, Dave and Syd didn't like it, they said it tasted too "sharp". Oh well, that's ok. It doesn't matter....mostly because I'm sipping a banana shake topped with some soy whipped cream and the whipped cream has sought and found my nose more than once....that's all that matters right now. "Carpe" the moment. Right? Food does rescue me from so many things. I use it to heal and make things all better. Not such a great thing, in the grand scheme of things. Just one of my many flaws...

This week I will attempt meatloaf. Every time I've tried it, it hasn't turned out well. I've given myself some "I wills"...

1. I will use a recipe

2. I will take its internal temp.

I think I'll be safe if I stick to those principles. I love meatloaf sandwiches so if all goes well we'll be enjoying some leftovers. If not, I'm sure I will write about it...

Daily Deglaze

Cooking is definately relaxing for me, not the clean up but the cooking. I've got some kielbasa, onion, corn, mixed rice cooking together in some chicken broth. As I started the chopping then the sauteeing my mind began to wander...yes, my mind wanders quite a bit but its a theraputic wander. Before I deglazed the pan, with the chicken broth, the rice was beginning to stick to the pan and I thought about how our lives can become stuck from stress/chaos then we get frazzled and panicky. Some, like me, have a low "boiling" point. I don't multi-task well and I don't handle stress well. I begin to panic and become stuck like the rice. Now others have a much higher "boiling" point. Some people can be in a situation and be totally calm and think things through. Lets just say for people like me, we need people like that in our lives. As I began to deglaze the pan, I saw it as a stress reliever. It was relieving the rice from the pan, it was calming the rice down. I think sometimes we can allow ourselves no chicken broth, we think we can push through the heat and eventually we'll be done. But what we don't see is that we need the chicken broth to be done quicker and better. So deglaze and pour on the chicken broth!

'Tis the season...

Apple pie. The most ingenious combination of dough, sugar, fruit and spices. By far, my favorite dessert. Today I made two pies. They're still in the oven. The process took quite a while. Let's just say I'm not the fastest peeler or dough roller...I believe it took about 40 minutes to peel, cut and slice/dice the 10 apples. Then an additional 30 minutes to make and roll out the dough. I do like my pie to have soft apples. In order to make a soft apple pie, I do a few things that deviate from the recipe...I know, big surprise. I almost always stray from the recipe. When I cut the apples I don't make them all uniform, making sure to cut out any of those horrid seed cocoon/shell things you find every once in a while. I slice some thin, some thick and some are cubed. This makes for different textures and consistency in the pie. So you have some slices that are fully intact and then you have a somewhat homemade applesauce as the filling. I also don't add in as much cinnamon but then add in a little extra nutmeg. As far as cooking time goes, the first ten minutes is at 400 degrees then after that I drop the temp down to 325 for 50 min. The entire cooking time is 60 min. Most recipes say about 30-40 min at 400 degrees but I like how everything cooks slower and longer. I may be tempted to just have pie for dinner tonight...I hope no one calls the food pyramid police.

rebellious couscous

Couscous, that funny little pasta. Each time I've tried it, I haven't really liked it. Recently I bought some to try it again...but this time, I didn't follow the directions. I know, I'm such a rebel. A rebel with a cous...yeah, I'm corny. I added garlic and my usual seasonings and extra water! What a difference some seasonings and extra water can do! Last night I cooked some diced onion and kielbasa together, added my usual spices, varying amounts than the usual just to come up with a different flavor and then some chicken stock...in 3 minutes it was done. My husband was rather unsure of it when he saw what we were having....I was glad to see he had seconds :) I made some Amish bread to go with it, some wickles (wicked good pickles) and applesauce on the side. Somewhat of an odd combination but it worked.

So if you don't like something, try it again but make it your own way...you may end up liking it like that.

Great Expectations....

Except for eating at Five guys, Dipsy Doodle and a recent burger at the 99 I'm disappointed when I go out to eat. Why is that? Is it because I'm expecting too much? Am I conceited b/c I like my own cooking? Am I too critical or picky? Am I selfish b/c I want my food to yell at me and say "Hello! I'm the best thing you've eaten all year!" Do I have my own agenda of wanting to convince myself and others that my cooking is the best??? Deep down, honestly, the answer is no. I guess everyone in their own way, likes their way the best. But is that what motivates us to have an opinion? Is being confident about what we like or don't like to fulfill a selfish desire or want?? Maybe for some...So what motivates us to have an opinion about what we like or don't like?? What motivates me? That's a good question. I'll have to think about that and get back to you.....in the meantime, I wouldn't get the chili from the new place on Rt 3 in Tilton....

doggy biscuits

This holiday weekend we had my sister, her husband and kids come over for a barbecue. We had a great time! We had our annual game of catch with a softball followed by all of us showing our kart wheeling skills... I must say, I was rather impressed by every ones techniques and abilities! We gabbed for a couple of hours while we made the kids go outside and play....Muhahahahah! Adults have such power...

For our lunch I made 2 lbs of burgers and two packages of Hebrew National hot dogs. We had some wickles and kosher pickles on the side, Dave made some barbecue beans, I made a tuna pasta salad with the wickles...if you haven't tried wickles they are a fantastic pickle that's "wicked" good...their slogan is wicked good pickles, hence the name wickles. Wickles have a hot chili pepper with garlic in the jar with them. So your mouth goes through a carousel of flavors and heat with each bite...its wonderful! My sister brought 13 ears of corn, of which I successfully burnt and undercooked them all at once! The grill was literally on fire! I was so disappointed in myself. She also brought a tortellini pasta salad. Once everyone had eaten and it was time to clean up, we had a TON of hot dogs leftover! So for the next three days, guess what we ate for lunch and dinner???!!! By Monday night I didn't want to see another hot dog but that's what we had so we had to make do. I had actually run out of my non-dairy hot dog rolls so I made some biscuit dough, rolled it out and wrapped a couple of hot dogs with it. I had a heated skillet with some olive oil and cooked them up...I was pleasantly surprised! The outside of the biscuit had browned nicely and the hot dog was nice and hot. I dipped them in some honey mustard sauce along with some barbecue sauce. It was very good! Now I know how to make pigs in a blanket in a cinch. Maybe, someday, if I ever have you over for dinner and on the menu is doggy biscuits, you'll know what it is!

Condiment Confessions

I confess, I love condiments....ketchup, mayo, mustards, barbecue sauce, dressings, A-1, you name it and I will most likely have put it on something, sometime in my life. I've been trying to lesson the drenching and increase the "natural" taste of what I eat. Since doing that I have found I like my food moist! Yes, moist. Not like "oh this is a moist piece of meat", I like it dripping with something that makes it gooey....It sounds gross but thats how I like it. I experimented today with my lunch. I cooked up some chicken tenders and some rice. The rice is a mixture of white, brown, wild and red. I added some spices to it and extra water. Once the rice and chicken were cooked I poured the rice on to my plate and the chicken on top of the rice. The rice was kind of soupie but not so much it was like soup, just enough to dip the chicken into it! It turned out to be pretty good, the rice had a lot of flavor! Yay, for experiments!

Blogcation

My blogcation has been good and very refreshing. The kids are in their second week of school and I'm starting to figure out our new schedule. Today has been very productive. It feels good. Some days feel like you've been working all day and everything is worse than you started! I just finished making some pasta for our dinner tonight, its chilling in the fridge. Pasta salad is one of those life preserver sides. When there's nothing to go with that main course, there's always pasta salad. We like ours pretty plain and simple. I just boil some kind of small pasta, tonight it was rotini, then drain and pour Italian dressing on it then throw it in the fridge. Before I serve it, I just pour a little more dressing on it and toss. Everyone likes it so it works for us. My husband had requested Sloppy Joes. He recently got invisiline so when he puts a new set in, his mouth is really sensitive and needs easy foods. I feel funny sending him off to work with oatmeal and applesauce...but its better than nothing. The sloppy joes consist of ground turkey, green/red peppers and onions from the food processor, and tomato paste with various spices. Sometimes I make Sloppy Jose's. That's the same thing just with "Mexican" spices like cumin and such. Its so easy to make sloppy Joes like this, plus we like it better than the can or the packets.

Now that I'm back from my blogcation, I shall be writing more about my love for that little thing I like to call food. (yes, that was supposed to be a lame joke...)

Sneaky Snacks

Snacks are that special something that I hate to love. Snacks are my enemy that I can't seem to get enough of. Snacks are like a secret agent who infiltrates the thickest web of secret service and somehow finds its way in the middle of the oval office staring at the president. Snacks sneak. They hide in the darkness and whisper in your ear, telling you to walk zombiefied to the pantry and the fridge and just look. There's no harm in looking, right? Yes, a snack is my kryptonite. I must regain my power over the snack. I must arm it with some kind of proximity alarm system so when it comes near, my common sense will be alerted and I can protect myself from the incoming snack attack. When all is said and done, my alarm is me, I am allowing myself one snack per day. I have it sitting in front of me. Its a small bowl of pretzels. When its gone, its gone. No seconds or convincing myself a tuna fish sandwich with bacon is in fact a snack and not a meal...because in order for it to be a meal you'd need some chips or a side of fries, right? EEEEEK!!! It's scary how some thoughts can help justify things! I've been going without an evening snack for a couple of days. I must say I am incredibly hungry when I go to bed. Yeah, I know I'm complaining a little bit. Maybe if I continue going snackless, the hunger will go away and I'll stop whining...

The King and I....sigh....

While on vacation, I chose to keep up with my posts with plain old pen and paper. So here is an entry from our week away from reality...

It's extremely humid here, by the ocean. The paper I'm writing on is damp and the fan is blowing the page every time I lift my hand. I think a little boredom has set in with the kids. They can't fully grasp the concept of relaxing or doing little to nothing. Between the bike rides, walks, swimming and late nights you'd think we'd be scooping them off the floor because they've oozed into some kind of gelatinous substance. As one of my dear children is peering through a broken kaleidoscope and the other is making necklaces with string and various odds and ends that she calls beads, my thoughts wander to food. What will eat? I suppose our lives revolve around eating, whether we'd like to admit it or not. If we don't eat, we don't function so whether we're planning our days around each meal time or cleaning up from the mess that is required to keep our bellies happy, there it is staring at us each and everyday, the need to eat. Ok, enough about trying to make myself not feel guilty about thinking about food or pondering about how much food we actually have to consume and how many times a day we're stuffing our faces....back to vacation....We've decided that each person will get to pick one restaurant to choose from. Today is my youngest's day to choose. Of course, like every fine 5 year old, who somehow sees every fast food window display, she has chosen Burger King but only for the happy meal toy....sigh.....We don't usually go out to eat so I suppose a trip to BK is ok....its vacation so anything goes, right??

The key to better tasting food: VACATION!

Vacation, a time for whatever you feel like. Whether its scheduling yourself so you can cram every last ounce of fun, excitement and sightseeing as you can or just "mozying" around, doing nothing. Basically, I like my vacations to be guilt free. Free from guilt even if the sun is shining, the water is perfect and I decide to take a nap! Free from guilt even if I blow our food budget on chips, taboule salad and Tasty Cakes! Its OK. I think everything tastes better on vacation. Maybe because I'm doing what I feel like or I'm out of the usual routine. When we go to the cottage, we like to make a spaghetti dinner. For some reason, it always tastes better there than at home. Now, while we're at the cottage, we're usually biking, walking or swimming. All of which works up a good appetite. So that could have something to do with it. Although, there maybe scientific proof for why things do taste better. I recently heard an interview with a neuroscientist who studies mice and the taste section of their brains. He explained how he had the brains mapped out and had a visual of their brains on a computer monitor to show if the taste section would light up when he gave them certain foods. He explained one day how he placed his coffee mug down, which made a noise. When the mug made a noise the taste section of the brain lit up. So after doing multiple tests, blah, blah, blah he published his findings. He found that taste is connected to sight, sound and smell. So not only is your mouth connected to taste but what your hear, see and smell counts when you taste something. So atmosphere really does matter! That got me thinking, if we surround ourselves with things that are pleasing to us such as decorating, music or lighting our food might in fact taste better to us! We may not fully understand it but if it works, then hey go get yourself a new table cloth or get dressed up for dinner and see what happens!

A Healthy Brownie: Myth or Legend???

Could I be arrested for saying there's such a thing as a healthy brownie? Well, in Steaky's World there is. When I make brownies I add some oat bran and flaxseed meal, making sure to add extra water and olive oil. Yesterday I made some from a ghiradeli box mix that contains no dairy. I think it was a double chocolate with chocolate chips mix. I spooned the mixture into cupcake papers and baked them....sooo good! Whenever you add some oatbran there is some, let's say "texture" to it. If you can get past the texture issue, its a great way to get some much needed fiber into your diet. Plus, if its in something thats "chocolatie", there's more motivation to eat it! I started to use my 4 mile walk video again. I've tried walking up and down our dead end road and doing multiple laps around our driveway circle but the video seems to keep me at a good pace and motivates me to complete the 4 miles. I seem to give up too easily and don't push myself hard enough when I'm on my own. The walking is supposed to help in the chub banishing mission along with the food journal. Yesterday I had 2 cups of coffee, too many slices of amish bread (3 to be exact--2 of the slices had bacon between them-how did that happen!?!), a banana shake, a handful of wheat thins, a bowl of cereal, chicken n mashed potatoes along with the peas from our garden and then 2 brownies!! EEEEEEK!!! What was I thinking!?! I guess there's a danger in exercising because it gives you a false sense of being able to eat more than usual. I definitely don't want my exercising and eating to become a wash...or to exercise so I can eat more! So today I did 4 miles again and I plan to make my green banana shake, not too sure what I'll do for lunch but I think some tomatoes and cucumbers should be included. As for dinner tonight? Not sure....we shall see....could brownies topped with raspberries be considered dinner??

Rain, rain down....

Last night was filled with odd dreams. As well as odd thoughts that made perfect sense. I had one thought of a black square that was inside an envelope, it being inside an envelope was to prove something....can't quite remember the something that was trying to be proven, thankfully I don't remember the details when that happens...it always makes for a strange day, the morning after, trying to figure out why you thought that thought was so good!! Anyway, the rain is falling now, only a screen door separates me from being completely soaked. The rain is good! Not only for its value but for its smell, sound and the sights. The garden really needs the rain. Yesterday I picked some cherry tomatoes and peas. A large bowl of peas became a small bowl of peas once we took them out of their pods. The girls and I worked on the peas together. I told them how I used to help my grandmother with the peas she picked. I remembered how helping was a great way to spend time with my grandparents. Even though they had certain chores they had to do, they would let me help. They included me. Whether it was peeling apples and me eating the apple peels or taste testing the frosting or watching the beans soak, it was time spent. The girls reserved some of the bigger peas to make maracas. Now they're drying on the counter. My youngest asked if they were ready to be maracas only 20 minutes after we put them out to dry. The simple mind of a child is priceless and yet a little redundant at times...So now, as the rain is falling, a cup of coffee is calling for me. The porch beckons me to join it so I shall relinquish my will and do as they command.

Spaghetti breakfast

This morning as I was contemplating what to have for breakfast I saw the leftover spaghetti sitting in the fridge. Throwing away any scrap of will power I heated it up and ate it. Yes, spaghetti for breakfast and some amish bread on the side. I am thoroughly satisfied and warm with contentment. What does this mean for the rest of the day??? Maybe a bowl of cereal for lunch and for dinner....but it was good and I'm glad I had it for breakfast. The spaghetti sauce was an experiment. The experiment came from some bacon meatballs I make sometimes. last night, I chopped up some bacon, crisped it up, added some chopped onions and then the ground turkey. Splashed in some worcestershire (woostahsheer) sauce, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and basil. Once that was cooked I added some crushed tomatoes to it, added more garlic and basil and a little salt/pepper to taste. We had some angel hair pasta and the amish bread I had made earlier in the day. This might not sound very good to some of you out there but you're not eating it, I am :) We make the foods we like and we cook 'em the way we like them!

good food day!

I keep a food journal when I see that my chub is becoming more and more comfortable showing its face in public....let's just say the chub has slumped down in the comfy couch, put its feet up, cracked open a Pepsi, ripped open a bag of chips and has gotten unlimited cable installed with a pack of no-dose sitting beside it. So here it goes, my food journal for yesterday

coffee: sugar and silk creamer

chocosilk green banana shake (12oz)

cucumber & tomatoes on oatnut barowsky's (no preservatives) bread with miracle whip

chicken breast on romaine lettuce, topped with zuchini'n'summer squash soaked in balsamic vinegar

fresh squeezed grapefruit juice

YUMM!!! I have no idea how many calories it was but it was a great food day! Hopefully I can shame my chub into repentance and it can go back to lurking in the shadows....far, far away from any public appearances.

The calm before the storm...

Today is the day. The day I switch on the coffee mill. I've read over the manual for the thirteenth time and I think I'm ready. I bought some whole beans and they're ready to go in the hopper. I washed the bins with warm soapy water and now they're drying. The only thing missing in the grand perfect cup of coffee equation is a tea kettle. Right now I heat the water in the microwave in a Pyrex measuring bowl. In the grand scheme of things, I suppose its not the worst way to get hot water into a frech press....

This morning was a wonderful morning. I made my coffee and went out on the porch. My oldest daughter came out with me and as we rocked in the rocking chairs, we talked. As the clouds meandered by, we talked. As I sipped my coffee, we talked. It was so very relaxing and nice. I love those quiet times when you slow down and really listen to someone. Isn't that what we all want, is just someone to listen? I listened to my daughter talk about so many things, including her excitement of buying school supplies, at times I had to reel her back to reality when she started wondering about all the different colors of whatever and which one she would pick. But those times of just listening are so important and coffee time is a great time to do that. There's no rush, no hurry, no multitasking....just sipping and enjoying the calm before the storm. The storm of the day, when you cramm all you can so you can have a productive day and feel like you've accomplished something. As a mom, I feel more productive in that 15 min it takes to drink a cup of coffee, when I sit and listen and talk...giving my time and myself is just as important as doing the dishes, laundry, bills or making meals. Its what builds that bond that can last a lifetime. Coffee isn't only for the drinker, it can be so much more than that. It can be a tool to slow down and give yourself to that person who needs to be heard.

A Midsummers barbecuedream

The summer is filled with days of grilling. Filled with smoke billowing from the escape hatch on the side of the lid, teasing the bystanders who are patiently waiting with their plates in hand. The smells of the grill transports even the hardest of folks to a place of bliss and peacefulness. To a place where dreams come true and Utopia and contentment resides in each nostril.

So whats a girl to do when she has company coming? Grill, baby, Grill! When I think of cooking for a group of people, the grill is always there to help me in my quest. Ahh, the grill. I know some people are intimidated by it but its gotta be the easiest way to cook. Its a skillet and oven all in one. The other night I made some barbecue chicken and burgers. The chicken legs had an apple tomato sauce and the chicken breast had a chile lime sauce. The burgers were cooked over the charcoal grill and the chicken was cooked on the propane grill. As far as grilling goes, my rule of thumb is to give it a good sear or even a little burn, rotate and then take it off heat and let it "bake". I do like to use a sauce with some kind of sweetness so you get the "caramelized" pieces. I like grilling b/c it adds texture to the food. Its no longer one type of flavor but multiple flavors and textures when you taste it. I'm not saying to burn your food all over, just little parts of it. The parts that are cooked more taste and feel differently from the parts that aren't cooked as much. Don't get me wrong, sometimes the barbecuedream can be that of a nightmare where the meat is like cement or a ball of charcoal. But if its done right with care and patience, when its in the middle of summer and you've gotta cook, let it be that of a beautiful dream that will send you and your guests into a state of bliss and contentment that they won't want to wake up from.