Chicky Chicky Chicken!

I am watching Beau play video games with my sister and her boyfriend and it almost makes me want to join in! Almost... :) I have never been much of a fan of these things unless it involves a little frog hopping across traffic to the river. I am very very competitive so I like instant gratification; meaning I like to win as quickly as possible. All of this shooting people, story lines, blah blah blah. It's just not my thing. But it sure is funny to watch other people play!

I would just cuddle up with a cup of hot chocolate and watch them contentedly except that it has been nagging at me that I promised some chicken recipes. So I thought I would take a moment to not only jot them down, but also to brag that I still have chicken in the fridge waiting to be eaten! One 3 pound whole chicken has been feeding us for days now, and it all started with a broth...

I have been obsessed with Nadia G lately (if you don't know who she is, you can look her up on the cooking channel's website) and I wanted to try a soup she made called Aztec soup. So I bought the stuff which ended up being very affordable and that is what started all of these chicken meals. The recipe only called for 1 cup of cooked chicken, but I wanted a whole one so I could make a broth. So I bought one little chicken friend and made a delicious broth. Usually I just stick the chicken, carved of its meat, in a crockpot and let it go on low over night. But this time I left the meat on, chopped it up to expose the marrow in the bones, and let it simmer with some vegetables (all chopped). I sauteed some carrot, celery, onion, and garlic in a stock pot. Then I added fresh oregano, threw the chicken into the pot and covered it with filtered water. I simmered it for 2 hours and let me tell you, the house smelled amazing! After I let it cool, I strained all of the broth into mason jars and hand picked all of the chicken off of the bones. There was already flavor in the chicken from cooking in the broth which is a nice added bonus.

As for the soup recipe it is a Nadia G recipe and I am not sure what the rules are about putting somebodies recipes on these things so I will just tell you this: you can look up the Aztec soup recipe by looking for Nadia G on cookingchannletv.com. It is a delicious, flavorful soup that is kind of spicy and very hearty. There is chicken, black beans, corn and wild rice in it. I used wild rice but I know the stuff is expensive and after eating it I would say that brown rice would work just as well. And she grills corn on the cob and then slices off the kernels and uses it in the soup but I am here to tell you that frozen corn does the job! And creme freche is her topping of choice; sour cream people. Let's keep it simple. Oh and one last thing, I could not find dried chipoltle peppers anywhere in my local grocery store- canned chipoltle peppers in that yummy sauce will do the trick. So take my little handy hints and try the recipe! It is well worth it.

And then for the rest of the chicken? That has been the fun part! Sure I could have done the obvious: chicken enchiladas, more chicken soup, etc. But I decided to just throw it in anything and everything. Chicken sandwiches for Beau to take to work with just lettuce tomato and cheese were simple and a nice change from lunch meat. Grilled cheeses with chunks of chicken, and then a personal favorite is this cheap box of spiral noodles in a cheddar cheese sauce (kind of like macaroni and cheese) and then just toss in chicken! My next meal will be tacos which is so super easy, just toss with some spices and grilled onions.

I know I didn't exactly give you any solid recipes to work with but I hope I at least gave you some ideas! So go out there friends and buy up some whole chickens, because they really do save money. Hence the name of this blog; there is so much to be done with Three pounds of chicken!

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Quick and Easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole

cooked leftover chicken
a mexican blend of shredded cheese
green or red canned enchilada sauce
corn tortillas

heat your enchilada sauce and soften your tortillas one by one in it before laying it in a casserole dish. layer down your chicken pieces, top with some cheese, then add another layer of tortillas. You can make another layer, or just top with lots of cheese and some extra sauce. Bake at 350 until the cheese is melted and it looks bubbly around the edges. let it cool a little before cutting and serving.

There are so many ways to fancy this up and make it amazing, so use this as a little rough draft and make your own masterpiece! Or make it as is for a quick dinner when you need something fuss free. It freezes very well and can definitely be made ahead of time and heated right before serving.

Dog Food and Noodles

I remember being a kid and skipping into the kitchen to ask mom what was for dinner. "Dog food," she would say. "No mom, really! What's for dinner?!"

"Dog food."

We never actually ate dog food and I have no idea why these little moments always stuck with me. But they did, and last night when I was shredding beef from a leftover stew I realized it looked just like canned wet dog food! So this new recipe is now lovingly named Dog Food with Noodles. It is a wonderful recipe for leftover stew and thankfully tastes much better than actual dog food!


You will need...

leftover stew
corn starch (a couple pinches)
elbow noodles (cooked)
cheddar cheese, shredded- a couple handfuls


First off all, with your leftover stew, pull out your chunks of beef and shred them, then add them back into the stew. Heat the stew in a pan and add a little corn starch to thicken the broth. Toss the stew with cooked elbow noodles. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and put the whole pan under the broiler to melt the cheese and get a little golden crust around the edges.




Kind of like a homemade hamburger helper... but better! I served it with some garlic bread I made out of hamburger buns.

Chicken & Asparagus

I love everything about the holidays! Especially all of the food at all of the many holiday parties. We have all been there, eating too much and getting a little tubby around the middle. Maybe even getting lazy from all of the sugar overloads. But I don't even mind the extra weight or the laziness as long as I get to eat and eat and eat!

Some days after eating and eating and eating I forget that I actually have to make dinner so that we can eat some more! It seems impossible that we will ever be hungry again after some of these holiday spreads, but inevitably after some time we are indeed hungry again. And on these days when I am lazy from coconut macaroons, holiday cookies, and little plate after little plate of delicious finger foods, it really helps to have a quick meal on hand. One that is loaded with good for you-ness too so you can get that energy back! And as it would happen, I have one of those recipes.

My mom gave me this recipe a few months back and I made some improvements on it. It is a beautiful little dish that looks like it takes lots of time (but of course it doesn't), and what I really love about it is that your vegetables are cooked right in!

chicken roll, mashed potatoes and gravy, romaine lettuce salad

Chicken and Asparagus Rolls

Ingredients

1 1/4 pounds chicken breasts, pounded thin
4 slices mozzarella cheese
2 Tbsp crumbled goat cheese
1 lb asparagus
salt and pepper
and handful of flour
toothpicks

procedure

after flattening the chicken breasts to all the same thickness salt and pepper them and set them aside. (I marinated my chicken breasts for 4 hours in a dry brine. it was delicious! The brine is from William Sonoma. If you do not have a brine and want more flavor than just salt and pepper, you can make your own brine with course sea salt, pepper, dry sage and some dry thyme. rub the chicken, then pat it dry before cooking)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place a slice of cheese and some goat cheese crumbles then some asparagus on one end of chicken and roll it up. Hold it together with some toothpicks. Do this to all of them.
Roll the rolled chicken in flour and brown it on all sides in a pan with some butter or oil. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the toothpicks before eating.

My List Of the Bucket!

With the new year fast approaching I have been hearing a lot about resolutions, goals, weight loss plans... all the same old things we all seem to think about right around the time we put away the eggnog and hang up the new calendars. I happen to not really believe in New Years resolutions. It always seems to me that I either make them too broad or too specific. Like for example I might say "be a better person." Yes, well that is all fine and dandy except that you have no idea what it means. Or I might get really specific like saying "lose 10 pounds." This one is extra horrible because what I am basically telling myself is that I am not good enough, I am too fat and now I must lose weight. And if I don't lose the weight? Well I stress about it for the first few months of the year, eventually becoming exhausted and then failing, where I then feel like crap. Not good.

So as I have grown older and wiser (oh yes, I am very wise at my 21 years of age) and I have decided that New Years resolutions are not for me. But all the talk of goals and things has gotten me thinking about something I do believe in. Bucket Lists! I have had an unofficial bucket list going on in my head for years. Something I have never written down, and some things I have never even said out loud, but all things that I have been longing for and that I am determined to make happen by the end of this lovely little life I am living!

One year, ten years, it doesn't really matter to me. But at some point in my life these are the things that I want...

#1 This one sounds like a weird thing to have on a bucket list, but I have really really wanted one of these dogs ever since I discovered the breed! I want to own a Bernese Mountain dog! They are so beautiful and such sweet dogs. When I lived with the Buddhists there was one of these pretty dogs living there with us. Poor thing though, it was fed a vegetarian diet because he was "cruelty free" which is, of course, something I am sure all dogs are concerned about. He was so skinny and his fur looked like crap. I very often thought about sneaking some steak into that dogs bowl full of rice. (not just vegetarian dog food. The dog ate just rice!)

#2 I was reading a Backpacker magazine one day and saw a little tiny picture of this beautiful green hill and some ruins off in the distance. The heading said "4 day hike in Peru: Machu Picchu" I was instantly drawn to it and decided right then and there that I would hike to Machu Picchu someday. I actually went as far as to call a travel agency in Australlia and became friends with the lady who always answered the phone. It is my dream hike, my dream vacation, my dream whatever. I love that there is so much culture there, you get to see villages and beautiful scenery, and then at the end of it all, you have the satisfaction of ending up somewhere and not just hiking a giant loop where you end up back where you started.


#3 This one is a little embarrassing, because part of me feels like who am I to think that anyone would be interested even if I were to do it, but here it goes... I want to write a book. I want to write a cookbook, and I also have an idea for a fiction novel that I have been dying to get published. Silly? maybe... but I will do it anyway.

#4 I have always wanted to learn Italian and then go to Italy and order coffee. Sound a little reminiscent of Eat Pray Love? I assure you I had the idea way before Elizabeth Gilbert ever told us about her adventure! It all started when I bought an Italian cookbook, then from there I fell in love with the food, then the culture and then the language. I have always loved coffee. And wouldn't you know it? So do the Italians! Good strong espresso, just the way it was meant to be. And those beautiful words, that delicious food... I will go there someday in my life, and hopefully many more times than once.



There are a few more... okay, there are a lot more! But these are the four that I have held near my heart for many years. So there it is. There is what I want my life to be in 4 little paragraphs.

"Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

(I hope you're right Ralph!)

Do stupid things Faster and with more Energy!

My dog is laying on my feet and I can feel his muscles twitch while he dreams. The baby is sleeping too. The house is quiet and covered in fluff from a giant stuffed bone I gave the dog a couple days ago. When everything is so quiet like this I can almost imagine my life before Ally, but I can never remember what it is I would do without entertaining and feeding a small baby! I can't imagine what life would be like if it was quiet like this all the time. Isn't it funny how you change once you have kids?

As if my life was not crazy enough, I have begun to move forward with plans to open a small business: a little coffee shop in downtown. Going through the paperwork and the motions, I am surprised by the simplicity of it all! So you want to open a business... go right ahead! It is kind of frightening that everyone has such a relaxed attitude about my future possibly unsuccessful (but hopefully successful!) business. I keep waiting for someone to say, "wait a minute! you are very young and it is possible that this may not work so maybe I should stop you! But instead they say "fantastic! let's open it as soon as possible!" Which is also very exciting as it is scary.

Yesterday I put on my nicest pants (which happen to be maternity pants that I had to keep up by folding over the elastic band) and gathered up my business plan and a notebook in a folder to go to a meeting at city hall to discuss my options and the steps I should take. The folder I was holding is red which is a "power color" and that fact was not lost on me. I wanted to look fierce, professional, and like I knew exactly what I was doing! Which could not have been further from the truth. The truth is, I know nothing about business. In my favor I have my knack for learning very quickly on the spot, an innate business common sense and a lot of business owners in my family. But the only thing I actually really know is coffee. Coffee is a passion and obsession of mine and being a barista continues to be my favorite job I ever had. So here I was in a fancy office sitting at the end of a long black table with a bunch of old men and my red folder. "what the hell am I getting into?" I thought.

But the meeting went well and as far as I know I fooled them all, just as I was hoping to. I am now looking for the building that I want to put my business into, and being that the mayor is a long time friend's dad, I feel like I have a lot on my side. So here goes nothing!

When I open this little shop, I have a collection of recipes I would like to use for the baked goods I will sell. One of them is a unique and delicious vegan brownie I have been making for some time now. It is really delicious, you won't even know it is vegan! And they are so easy to make.

Vegan Rose Brownies

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup strongly brewed black rose tea (I use Gypsy's). whatever you use it should smell like flowers when it is brewed
1/2 cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
optional: 1/3 cup shredded coconut. pulsed in a food processor to be minced

preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a pan. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Stir in the tea, then the rest of the wet ingredients. Fold in the coconut if you are using it. Bake for 20 minutes

that's all there is to it!

ms. piggy is delicious...

Alright folks! Between the baby and the endless list of chores I have yet to get to today, this is going to be short and sweet. But I feel it is very much worth your time!

I have an incurable addiction to magazines. For some reason I just really love the quick bursts of information littered with tips, recipes and glossy ads for things I can't afford. But being that we are trying to be super money savers lately, magazines are not on my list of things I am allowed to buy. But every once in a while a girl has to make an exception... like when this months issue of Better Homes and Gardens is just bursting full of delicious looking recipes I must try! So on my coffee table it sits, dog-eared and with pages ripped out. One of those pages in particular I want to share with you. A recipe for a stew that sounds like it has odd ingredients but is actually one of the most delicious stews in my recipe box!

Pork and Sweet Potato Stew

1 2 1/2- 3 lb pork loin cut into cubes ( I actually used pork roast on sale that I cubed and it was fantastic.)

3-4 Tbsp flour

3 Tbsp butter

1 large onion, chopped

2 ribs celery, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups chicken broth

10 oz. apple-cranberry juice (a little over a cup)

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

2 Tbsp fresh sage, chopped

(my procedure is completely different than the magazine's. so if you want to see how to do it their way, buy the mag!)

Preheat the oven to 325. cut off all if the extra pork fat and render in a cast iron dutch oven on a low heat. Once rendered, remove the fat pieces and brown the cubed pork on each side. Set aside. Add the butter and saute the onion and celery until soft. Add the sweet potato and saute for a couple minutes. Add the meat back into the pot, sprinkle with flour and stir to coat. Add the juice and chicken broth. The meat should be just barely covered, you can add more chicken broth or water if you need it. Season with salt and pepper and half of the sage. Put the lid on the dutch oven and place inside the oven. Cook for about an hour, until the flavors are melded together and the pork is cooked all the way through.

Delish! I served this stew with Hawaiian sweet rolls because it was right before Thanksgiving and they were on sale. The rolls were perfect with it!

Very Quick Lasagna

My lasagna definitely does the job on the days I don't feel like cooking. I have also discovered that it freezes exceptionally well and the ingredients are so cheap, why not make 2 or 3 for future dinners?

You will need...

a box of lasagna noodles (sometimes I like whole wheat, but the man doesn't, so it is up to you)

crushed tomatoes or canned tomato sauce

1 zucchini, diced

1 package mushrooms, sliced

2 red bell peppers, sliced

1 onion, diced

mozzarella cheese, shredded

grated Parmesan cheese

ricotta cheese (oddly, Beau hates this cheese! So i leave it out of mine)

fresh basil and oregano, chopped

butter or olive oil for cooking

in a large pot, boil your noodles, stirring to keep from sticking and then strain. Toss with butter or olive oil to keep them from sticking together and set aside.

Saute the mushrooms and onions with butter in a saute pan until just, soft. Set aside and saute the zucchini and red bell pepper until just soft. Now the fun part...

in a pan spread some tomato sauce so the noodles do not stick, and lay down your cooked noodles. On top of this add ricotta if you are using it, but if you do not like ricotta then layer some moz. cheese and lay another layer of noodles on top of it. Top this with some sauce, and then the veggies. Add one more layer of noodles, top with more sauce and then layer both cheeses on the top. Sprinkle with the herbs.

At this point you can either cover with saran wrap and freeze or bake in a 350 degree oven until the cheese is melted and everything looks delicious.

This is just my quick lasagna, but the great thing about this particular dish is its versatility! Swap out veggies for other veggies, add meat, or even use a white bechemal sauce instead of the red. The noodles are your canvas! and luckily, it is very hard to go wrong with layers of sauce, noodle and veggie.

"Chaos is a friend of mine"

Becoming a mother has been one of the most challenging things I have done in my life thus far. Becoming a mother with a huge young dog is proving to be impossibly chaotic.

Beau and I had had "puppy fever" for quite some time now and we kept talking about getting a puppy. We wanted a Bernese Mountain Dog or a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. Huge gentle giants known for their calm, family orientated nature. And what beautiful dogs they are! But unfortunately, living in the desert makes breeders of these dogs very rare, and the few that do breed them take full advantage of their growing popularity by charging $2000 and up! Ya, right...

So when my mom told us about a program that lets you adopt breeder dogs for free and all you have to do is let the program take them and pimp them off twice a year, we jumped at the chance! The dogs are very well trained, beautifully bred to look their best, and you get to use the program's vet, boarding and training. Then as an added bonus, the program is a place that provides guide dogs to the blind free of charge, so in a way we are helping a wonderful cause. We visited the dogs twice and met Bob Dylan, a beautiful chocolate lab. As soon as I saw his perfect face I knew it was over for me. We brought him home that weekend.

When we brought Dylan home, he immediately found the toys we had bought for him, ran around the yard and snuggled up in his very large crate that came with him. This was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship...


Fast forward about a week. I have now learned that Dylan must be briskly walked twice a day, no matter that it is absolutely freezing a windy outside, or he gets bored and destroys the house. So my mornings are spent bundling up the baby, pulling Dylan off the furniture and shoving us all outside where we then walk all over town until he is tired enough to just sit nice and eat his toys. He has so far desroyed my only black bra, a huge body pillow that left fluff all over the house, a baby toy and so many dog toys I can't even remember the number. He has also eaten a pumpkin pie and a stick of butter. As I write this I am puppy-sitting my mom's dog (from the same program. She raises them to be guide dogs someday) and Dylan is outside. He has destroyed our screen door which I am sure my landlord is going to love, and he is now standing on top of the washing machine, looking into the kitchen window.

That is the funny thing about labs. They are such beautiful, happy looking dogs and you bring them home expecting to have photos of that perfect, all-American family with your dog sitting nice in the center... and then you realize you are now living out pages from the book Marley and Me. And yet you still love them! There is something about a smiling Labrador retriever face that you cannot help but forgive which is probably why we are all still breeding them and claiming they are perfect family dogs.

Add all this puppy chaos to a screaming colic-y baby and you have a petty clear picture of my life right now. Which is why I absolutely relish those couple of hours after Beau gets home and we walk the dog, then bathe the baby and put her to bed and we can snuggle up on the couch and talk about our days or just quietly watch Bitchin' Kitchen on the cooking channel (my new obsession). Those few hours are my favorite of the day and looking forward to it helps me look past the destroyed baby toys and just laugh when Dylan pulls out my box of Christmas decorations and litters them all over the floor. It's all good, because in only 3 more hours, Beau will be home... And yesterday he just happened to come home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers that are now sitting in front of me and they smell amazing. Maybe I do live in that perfect all-American family portrait.

"A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do." - Bob Dylan

Gravy Me

"mmm biscuits and gravy," I mused out loud. I had wonderful memories of sitting around campfires with my family, thick buttery biscuits smothered in creamy country gravy on my paper plate. We never got very fancy with them, it was all mostly pop-out-of-a-tube biscuits and some simple gravy from a packet, but it is truly one of my favorite meals.

"I've never had 'em," Beau said. I stared at him in disbelief and bought some biscuits the very next day. How on earth could anyone have lived for 25 years and never have had biscuits and gravy??

So this morning while I was lying in bed waiting for Beau to get the baby without realizing he was gone taking the dog for a walk, I decided this chilly morning was the perfect day to enlighten Beau with the beautiful thing that is, yes I will say it again, Biscuits and la Gravy!

I use the basic pop-out biscuits with a little black pepper sprinkled on top and melted butter painted over the top after they get out of the oven. Nothing fancy! And then, you can buy the Jimmy Deen sausage in the little tube and either make it into patties or brown it in a pan in crumbles that will later get mixed into the gravy. Mixing in some seasonings makes it that much more special. It sort of depends on what you like, but some garlic salt, fennel, or thyme are all yummy. And then the best part... gravy.

Some people seem to be letting their lives pass them by without ever knowing how to make homemade gravy. Shame on you! It is so easy and so so delicious! You will only need a few things:

a couple Tbsp of butter
a small handful of flour
about 2 or 3 cups of milk (this is country gravy, not brown)
salt and pepper
the drippings from the sausage you were cooking, or any other yummy drippings
a whisk

Heat the milk in a pot or the microwave. In a pan (it does not have to be a pot. I use a saute pan with sides) melt the butter. Once melted, sprinkle the flour in the pan and whisk it around until incorporated. Without letting it brown, slowly pour in the milk while whisking. Let it simmer at a medium heat while whisking until it begins to thicken. This can take about 5 minutes. If it never thickens, sprinkle in a little more flour and whisk. Once it is thick and has cooked for a while (you want to cook out the flour flavor) season with salt and pepper, then pour in the drippings (and sausage if that is how you roll) and stir. Ta da! That's it! Be sure to taste it for the correct seasoning. It may take more salt than you realize.

Then you can pour the gravy over your sausage and biscuits and savor. Mmmm... Best when enjoyed by a campfire, but when this is not possible, it is just as good when sitting across the table from your man.

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...

Beau is working late tonight, and in an effort to relax I decided to listen to a podcast I had downloaded a year ago from Yoga to the People and do yoga for an hour. I had no idea it would make me miss Berkeley so much!

Not just Berkeley as a place, but also who I was when I first began my journey to the city. It brought back feelings and memories of the beautiful smells, the damp air and soggy streets, and most of all, the exciting feeling that everything was brand new. It was a time when I was not only exploring a new and strange city, I was also exploring myself. I couldn't soak in enough of the people, the crazy random shops and the thousands of restaurants. I would never be in want of a coffee shop. For the first few months it rained and rained but I didn't mind at all. There was not a day gone by when I didn't cuddle up in my warmest Southern California garb and discover something new- be it a cupcake like I had never dreamed existed, or a scary ghetto neighborhood where there happened to be a fantastic farmers market. I didn't pass up any invitation for a party, an art opening or to go out and meet new friends. I met people who have taught me those sorts of important things only strangers can teach you, and I have also met people who I couldn't wait to get away from. All in all, those damp days were something I will cherish forever. The simple joy of starting every day walking next to the bay; soaking it all in, as if I new my time was limited. I have never been so happy.



And even more than those beautiful mornings and eventful days, oh those San Fransisco nights! The night I went to an art opening on a whim and met some of the most entertaining people I could ever hope to mingle with. That art is still some of my favorite I have ever seen. And outside the gallery, on a cold dark street, stood a band consisting of a tuba, drums, trombone, and other odd instruments. As they played, a chubby girl wearing a beanie sold homemade cupcakes for a dollar. I was delighted!

And then there was the jazz band that played once a week at the cafe down the street. Every evening I would walk to the cafe, buy a cup of tea and sit by myself listening to jazz... but I never felt alone. I believe the word I am looking for is content. Completely content.

I wouldn't trade all of those yoga classes in the city, eccentric artists' openings and BART rides for anything in this world.

Here is to you Bay Area! Thank you for being my home for the short couple of years I was lucky enough to live there. I miss your random beauty among the yuck and that excited feeling I would get in my belly when I found something new I had never seen before. *Muah!*

when life hands you Lentils

This past week has been one of those weeks that flies by and all I can really remember of it is little blurs of exhausting events. You know that kind of week...

swoosh! There goes me getting scammed with a fraudulent check! Vroom! There's my doctor prescribing me the wrong birth control and it causing my breast milk to dry up and my baby to scream at me with hunger pains! Smash! I've just been hit with wedding to-do's and Christmas plans and a super tight budget! ...sigh...

Along with the bad, there has also been good but it was the kind of good that brings along its buddy, emotional exhaustion. Trying on wedding dresses, talking about the invitations and flowers and center pieces and Ahhh!!! With a really tight budget and only 7 months until the wedding date, I feel like I have been hit with a truck (a truck with cans tied to the back and "Just Married" written on the back windshield.) And along with everything else, as my baby gets bigger and cuter and more fun, she also gets more opinionated, fussy and she is starting to teeth. Needless to say, cooking fabulous meals and then writing about them has been way down on my to do list. And I mean waaay down. But I decided to sit at the computer today and blog anyway because I needed a little quiet mommy time. A little place where I can let it all hang out and complain.

Because today, as visions of Christmas to-do lists danced in my head and images of white dresses clouded my eyes, I did the classic Jasmine California stop a little ways up the street from my house and was immediately pulled over and ticketed. She said it was because my registration was expired, but no where is that mentioned on the ticket, just that I ran a stop sign (which I think is a little dramatic. "Ran" is not the right work for a really quick little stop-and-go-right-away). So there it is. A whole new week and already I have to show up in court and pay a fine for goodness only knows how much.

And now I am looking around and I can see that my flowers need to be watered, the wedding magazines need to be picked up and dinner needs to be started before my man gets home. The baby needs a nap, the floor needs to be vacuumed, the bills need to be paid, and the sink is full of dishes. I think of all of these people who give me strange looks or make snide comments because I stay at home to take care of my baby instead of working a "real" job and I wonder what their lives must be like where they can get away from it all for 8 hours a day and then come home to their family life. I think of it as a break! Don't try to tell me your life is harder because you have a real job. I never get a break from this! I don't get vacations or lunch breaks, and most of all, I don't get a paycheck! I am up at the butt crack of dawn with a boss who greets me by crying and sucking all of the nutrients out of my body and then poops. I spend my day making my man's house a place he is happy to come home to and I make sure his "kingdom" is running smoothly. Sometimes I forget to eat and I will dance around having to pee for hours before I get a chance to go. My hair looks like crap and the only make up I have time for is concealer to hide the dark circles and some mascara to make me look awake.

But the thing is, I wouldn't trade this last hard week for anything in the world. I do this job for free, but what I get out of it is more than I could have ever asked for. I have a man who loves me and tells me so when he comes home to me every night. And that screaming, pooping little bundle of spit up makes me more happy than I ever thought possible. So when my washing machine breaks, and the the car won't pass smog and I get a ticket, a fraudulent check, and the wrong birth control all in one week, well that's okay. Because I also get the toothless smiles, the hugs and all of the love I need to keep me pushing through.

So thank you to my little family! I love you guys and I am so happy that you love me enough to put up with the very simple dinner I will be serving you tonight; and I know you will not make a single complaint even if you really want to. =)

After a Hard Week Lentil Soup

4 or 5 strips of bacon
1 16 oz pack of lentils
1 large onion
2 ribs celery
3 small carrots
1 large beef (or pork) stock bone with marrow

in a saute pan, cook the bacon and render out all of the fat. Set the bacon aside and keep the fat. Dice all of the veggies and saute in the bacon grease. Add the lentils and saute for 1-2 minutes to soak up the bacon flavor. Pour the whole mixture in a crock pot, add filtered water a couple inches over the lentils and add in the beef bone. Cook on low until lentils are soft. Add more water if you need it. Season with salt and pepper and some dried herbs if you want them. Thyme, oregano, or sage are all good in this soup.

a control freak like me

It's that time of the week again, where I bust out my notepad and cookbooks and come up with the menu for the coming week. I take this task very seriously which is how I manage to spend very little at the grocery store and never repeat the same dinners two weeks in a row. I try my best to make sure the dinners I come up with will share ingredients in order to save me money, give me leftovers, and maybe even be able to be packed into Beau's lunch. And did I mention I am trying to spend as little money as possible?

This week was especially exciting because my baby girl slept through the whole night for the very first time last night, and it seems that someone stuffed some of my brains back into my head. It is amazing what some sleep can do for you (and how lack of sleep can turn you into a clutz!). I feel like I can think clearly again, so the idea of making dinners while I have a little more energy was a very enticing idea indeed. I turned to my old faithfuls for ideas, Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and a small book called No-Fuss Dinners that never fails to send light bulbs hovering over my head. I very rarely actually use the recipes in the books, but if I see a soup or a roast then it starts my creative juices flowing and I start creating menu ideas.

I always lay out my grocery list with unnecessary detail that turns out to be quite necessary as I run through my week. I think of myself as just being very organized... Beau calls me a control freak.

First, I write out each day of the week and proceed to fill in the spaces with my dinner ideas. There is actually a thought process to this, I always try to line them up so I can use my leftovers at appropriate times or use certain vegetables before they will be past their prime. Then in blank spaces I start to brainstorm snacks I will want for the week, things I can make with the leftovers, and ideas of things to pack in Beau's lunch. Then underneath I create my grocery list and I even have a specific order for that. Although it would make sense to create it to go in the order of the store so I can be in and out quicker, instead I line it up to go with the day's dinner. For example, if on Monday I am having a roast and on Tuesday chicken, I will put my list in the week's order: chuck roast, onions, bones for stock, chicken, rice, etc. This way, if I happen to make a change on one day of the week, I can look at my list and get rid of the things I don't need. Yes, it is very OCD but it works for me. I learned this when I was buying large amounts of food for big groups of people that I was working for. For some reason this is just what worked and i carried it over even when I am only cooking for a family of 2 1/2.

Somewhat out of boredom and also because tonight is a "leftover" night and I have no recipes to share with you, I am going to share my grocery list. This is a sacred and beautiful thing... use it wisely. :)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday- sandwiches (on the go. we will be driving to my uncle's house)
Tuesday- roasted chicken thighs, Julia Child's rice and onions
Wednesday- slow cooked beef stew, braised collard greens
Thursday- stuffed bell peppers, green salad
Friday- spicy quesadillas, black beans
Saturday- lentil soup, baguette
Sunday- Leftovers

snacks: homemade yogurt, nuts/trail mix, Fiber one bars, cheese cubes, ants on a log

lunches: sandwiches (tuna, meat and cheese, pb&j), soups, penne and spinach salad, large green salad

...

bread
cheese (swiss and cheddar)
lunch meat
lettuce
tomato
chicken
onions
rice
butter
heavy cream
beef bones
bacon
dried thyme
dried orange peel
pork knuckles
chuck roast
collards
bell peppers
boxed spanish rice
bagged salad
whole wheat tortillas
lentils
baguette
penne pasta (whole wheat)
spinach
goat cheese
balsamic vinegar
fiber bars
crackers
starter yogurt
flour
sugar
herbal tea
fruit

And there you have it! That is literally my grocery list for the next week. I am anticipating spending a little more money than normal because I am out of some of my staples, but it looks to me like it will fit right into my weekly budget. Job well done!

I like my buns toasty!

What to do, what to do... I almost always have a plan for my dinners because my life is hectic enough and I like to plan everything down to a T. Call me OCD but at least my life runs smoothly and I'm not running around like a crazy person looking for lost keys or forgetting to make my hubby's lunch. I am the queen of lists and I am proud of it!

But sometimes the lists need a little revising at the last minute, like on a night when you have spaghetti planned and that is the last thing you feel like eating. So what to do... well lucky for me, I had a house warming party a while back and there are still frozen Costco hamburgers in the freezer! So "what to do" turns into cheap-o meal #4- burgers!

Now burgers are all fine and dandy but don't we all get a little sick of the patty, lettuce, tomato, ho hum blah? I will raise my hand to that! So this meal cost me the price of buns, 1 red onion and a can of sliced pineapple. That plus a little trick to make the buns extra yummy and the burgers were gone so fast I didn't even have time to snap a picture of the deliciousness.

here is what to do...

I used a cast iron indoor grill but burgers can become a social gathering by lighting up the barby, so have at it if you have the time and a few cold beers. Cook the burgers like normal, adding a little seasoning salt for flavor. Slice some cheese and red onion and set aside. Layer a thin layer of mayo on some hamburger buns and set aside. Once the burgers are about halfway done throw some pineapple slices down and let them get dark grill marks on each side (yum!). after you flip the burgers and they are almost done, melt some cheese on top of them, then put the mayo-ed buns on the grill and grill them until they have crispy edges and have grill marks. And there you have it! Put a burger on a bun, top with grilled pineapple and onion and some bbq sauce and enjoy! Sounds simple because it is, and it is absolutely delicious! I love the sweetness of the pineapple with the burger and for some reason it just works with the cheese and bbq sauce. And um, hello? Who can say no to toasty buns!

So there it is. In a pinch, grilled pineapple burgers are a yummy way to get dinner in your man's belly without breaking the bank. Be sure to make lots of extra pineapple because it tastes amazing and I always eat at least half the can to myself!

You say veggies, I say Pie!

All day I have been absolutely convinced it was Tuesday. Maybe if I do not cook dinner myself then the day is not a real day to me or something, but it got to be about 4pm before I finally realized it is Wednesday. Then I did a little dance because it is hump day and Beau gets paid on Monday. Woo hoo!

It was another one of those hectic type days where Ally is fussy in a doctor's office, but this time it was her doctor and she was getting her shots. I hate hate hate taking her to get her shots! I know it hurts me more than it hurts her, but oh does it kill me! Thankfully the nurses who give her the shots are all very sweet and always try their best to make me feel better. I would love everything about the doctor's office if it wasn't for some very odd murals on the walls. When you first walk into the building there is a painting of a tree and a couple fictional story book characters. You think "aww, a little kid friendly painting. how sweet." But then you look at it again and notice, oh my God is that a vagina??!! I swear the center of the tree, where the painter was trying to make a tree-like face I am assuming, there is a huge tree vagina. It looks so lifelike and pornographic I can't believe I seem to be the only person (besides my mom) who notices! It could be my dirty mind, but I sort of doubt it. And that's not all. When you go inside the office, in the hallway directly behind the waiting room, there is more to the painting. The artist painted the back of the vagina tree and made it look as though you were looking at the same scene from the waiting room, but from the back. Neat, right? Wrong. Behind the tree, in the dark shadows is the tin man wielding his ax very threateningly and looking like he is ready to hack the little storybook girls to pieces who are standing innocently in front of the tree... and did I mention this is my pediatricians office?

But anyway, Ally got her shots and she is now sleeping soundly in her crib and Beau and I are full and on the couch, both on our separate laptops. (technology sure gets in the way of bonding doesn't it?) After my emotionally exhausting trip to the doctor, i wanted an easy dinner to make and I am so lucky that this one was! I have never attempted anything like it and it just happened to be very simple and completely fantastic! What was it? Mushroom Pot Pie! And if you already have the ingredients to make a crust, as I do, then all you need to buy is a couple different types of veggies and boom badda boom, there it is! Super cheap, super easy, super healthy and yummy. I have been working on this crust for some time and I think I have it perfect! It is flaky and buttery and the exact kind of crust that I cannot stop eating.

VEGETABLE PIE

for the crust:
1 1/3 cups AP flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1 stick (8 tbsp) butter (I used a butter margarine blend for money saving sakes), chilled
3 Tbsp vegetable shortening
1/4 cup cold water

for the filling:
2 small onions, diced
2 small packs mushrooms, sliced
1 cup diced green beans
2 small potatoes, peeled and diced
3 ribs celery, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 1/2 cups broth
3 heaping tsp flour
large pinch dried sage
salt to taste (make sure to taste! It uses a lot)

to make the crust: mix together the flour, salt and oregano. Add in the butter in chunks and the shortening. Use your fingers to mix and crumble together the mixture until it is incorporated. Slowly add in water, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Form into 2 balls, wrap in plastic wrap and chill. It will be a little soft, but it rolls out fine with a lot of flour on top and on the rolling pin. Roll it out and place in a pie tin. Cook in a 350 degree oven until golden; about 20 minutes.

for the filling: saute the onions and mushrooms until soft. add the rest of the vegetables and saute for a few minutes. Add stock then flour. Bring to a boil and then simmer until potatoes are soft and sauce is thickened. Pour into pie pan. Top with the other half of the dough (the raw half) and bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving to set up.

I really enjoyed this dinner! The filling is very versatile though, you can add whatever veggies you want, meat, herbs or anything else you can dream up.

Cheap-o Dinner #2

Cheap meal #2 is turning into a take-out night! I can count the number of times I let us eat take-out for dinner on one hand, but it was one of those crazy days where you sit in a doctor's office for 2 hours with a screaming baby and cooking sounds completely lame-o. So when I came home all bedraggled Beau quickly suggested we get burritos from a little Mexican place down the street. I think he really wanted a burrito and dinner was going to be late if I tried to cook so I caved and we headed out to El Mariachi.

When I was in high school, El Mariachi was the place to be! But what can you expect from a little town with 3 fast food places and not much else in the way of quick food? The truth is, the burritos are huge and they aren't bad tasting so guys tend to love it. It is not my favorite place in the world but if you really feel like being a fatty then the carne asada fries are exactly what you are looking for. It is this massive pile of fries topped with cheese and meat and all the fixins. Yum!

I was planning on all of these healthy meals this week so the fast food sort of threw me off a little bit, but I made up for it with my favorite good-for-you breakfast, homemade yogurt! So instead of a cheap-o dinner recipe, I will give you my recipe for my breakfast this morning. If you do not make your own yogurt, hop to it! Yogurt is fantastic for you and if you buy the stuff in the store it has so many odd ingredients in it who knows if it is really yogurt or just a little plastic tub of chemicals and preservatives? Plus, I like plain yogurt and for some reason that is terribly hard to find. I eat a lot of yogurt, so I invested in a yogurt maker from Bed Bath and Beyond. The best $30 I ever spent!

I used to make my yogurt with exactly 2 ingredients: raw whole milk and 1/4 cup of a good yogurt that I would use as a starter. Then I moved to So Cal where I could not find raw milk in the regular grocery store and my yogurt would never set up! It always came out runny and I hate runny yogurt. And then I discovered (insert heavenly music) The Yogurt Bible by Pat Crocker! And ta-da! The secret ingredient as it turns out to thicken runny yogurt is powdered milk! So for those of us who sadly do not have access to raw whole milk, here is a recipe for plain yogurt.

PLAIN YOGURT
(from the Yogurt Bible)

4 cups fresh whole milk (this recipe can easily be doubled. I double it for my yogurt maker that makes 7 little glass jars full)
1/3 cup instant skim milk powder
1/4 cup organic live-culture yogurt (I use Fage. It's not organic but it is plain and I get 2 batches worth out of it)

In a stainless-steel saucepan, heat the milk to 170 degrees over a medium-low heat, stirring often. Add the skim milk powder and stir until incorporated. Remove from heat and let it cool to 110 degrees, stirring often. in a bowl, combine the starter yogurt and add 1/2 cup of the cooled milk. stir to combine and add to the rest of the cooled milk. pour into the clean cups and place in the yogurt maker *or* a temperature controlled environment. I have heard of people wrapping the yogurt jars in a warm towel, leaving them in a warm oven (100 degrees) or all sorts of things. You will have to continue to check the temperature of the yogurt so it doesn't get too warm or too cold. Leaving it in the warm (but turned off!) oven overnight should do the trick! If you like Greek style yogurt like I do, strain it in some cheesecloth before eating and drizzle with honey.

Veggie Me

To veggie or not to veggie... that is the question of the week. In an attempt to save some money this week, a lot of my dinners are meat-free, and I find myself wondering if vegetarianism might be something I want to commit to again.

I think just about everybody these days knows what it is to be a vegetarian. It just means you do not eat meat. There are plenty of other delicious ways to get your protein and in some ways it is cheaper. However, I have been a vegetarian off and on for 8 years and I find it is not so cut and dry as "do I want to eat meat or not". I could go on and on with reasons to not eat meat and I can be pretty convincing too! I can use the human body to prove to you that our bodies are not designed to eat meat, or I can tell you about how much energy you will have, the health benefits and all of the diseases you will prevent by cutting out animals. But the truth is, if I am true to my body and my experiences, I don't know if being a vegetarian is really the cure-all that I once believed it was.

The main four things that I always hear as reasons to go veggie are 1. your skin will be clear, 2. you will be thinner, 3. you will have more energy and 4. it is better for the environment. Sounds good right? But here is what I found happened to my body when I cut meat out of my diet.

First of all, it is important to note that vegetarian or not, you must eat a good diet to see good results. Junk food is junk food regardless of whether or not it contains animal products, and you should always eat lots of fruits and veggies.

Your skin will be clear...
My skin was terrible when I did not eat meat. I cannot explain it, maybe it was just a period of time in my life, but I had to wear so much make up as a vegetarian, and now as a meat eater I literally wear as little make up as possible and my skin is amazing! Is it because I am older? Or am I getting some sort of skin clearing nutrient that I was lacking in my meat free diet?

You will be thinner...
I have always been somewhat thin, but I did not like how I looked when I was a vegetarian. I seemed to gain weight in all the wrong places (read: Buddha belly anyone?) and I felt like my body shape was strange. However, when I took it a step further and cut out all animal products as a vegan, I was thin and I had trouble putting weight on! So maybe the secret of a thin body is no animal products at all. But I do know, that now with meat in my diet it is easier for me to lose weight and easier for me to build lean muscle that looks much better on my body. I am thin both ways, but there is no doubt that I like my body better now.

You will have more energy...
yes this one was true. I felt cleaner in a way, like I was less heavy and I had a lot more energy. But it could be argued that it is because as a veggie you eat a lot more vegetables in place of meat and vegetables do give you more energy. But whatever the reason, I would always pop up first thing in the morning, go for a jog and be full of beans all day! I loved it and I do miss that extra energy.

It is better for the environment...
this is also true. Mass production of cows has really been terrible on our land and the air, plus not to mention horrible for the way the cows are being raised now. So sometimes the choice to not eat meat is solely a moral one. I believe it was Ghandi who said "you can know a country by how they treat their food". Unfortunately for us, we do not treat our food very well. (just watch Food Inc!)

So there it is... good reasons and bad reasons to not eat meat (for my body anyway). So what to do? Regardless of what I decide to do in the long run, for now there was no meat in my soup last night. And the price of the soup? Literally zilch! I already had all of the ingredients, and although I would add more flavors in the way of spices or herbs next time, it was filling and Beau and I ate it up with some yummy bread that cost me $2.50 from Wal Mart.

Soup that Cost me Zilch

3 small onions
6 small carrots
3 celery ribs
4 small potatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 head cabbage
filtered water
salt and pepper to taste
a pinch cayenne and paprika

dice all of the veggies to bite sized pieces. saute the onion first, then add the carrots and celery and saute for a little while. Then add the rest of the ingredients and fill the pot with water until the veggies are covered plus some. Salt well and serve with bread.


This one pot will feed us for days and even if I would have bought everything it is very very cheap. But like I said, a little flavoring will go a long way. I liked it with sour cream in it!

Part 1: recipes for a GF friend

To a dear family friend, here are some gluten free recipes!

The most obvious recipes are ones that don't contain any bread or wheat at all like meat dishes or veggies. Sometimes people get so caught up in being worried about not eating gluten that they forget that a lot of our basic meals are okay to eat when you are on this special, and difficult, diet. But if you are at all like me, bread is a staple and sometimes I must admit, I just don't feel satisfied without it! So here are a couple recipes that use special flours to create that bready texture that you crave.

Banana-Nut Blueberry Muffins

this recipe is straight out of my cookbook from my training as a natural chef and the credit should go to Jennifer Miller who created it. It is not only gluten free, but dairy and sugar free as well! But I will write in less expensive, animal product options for those of us who cannot afford/find some of these ingredients :)

2 cups dried coconut (NOT the sweetened kind for baking. Can also use 1 cup coconut flour)
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp flax seeds (this is to create a "flax egg" for vegan muffins. You can also use 1 egg, beaten)
1/3 cup water (this is for the flax egg as well. Omit if you are using regular eggs)
2 very ripe bananas (I like more but that is optional)
3/4 cup water (or milk)
1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted (or butter, melted)
1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup frozen blueberries

1. preheat the oven to 350. grease the muffin pan
2. add the dried coconut to a food processor and pulse until ground finely. It should be the consistency of flour. Mix the coconut with the rest of the dry ingredients and combine well.
3. grind the flax seeds (or use already ground) and whisk together with 1/3 cup of water until it becomes gummy and the consistency of an egg. Blend with the rest of the wet ingredients.
4. Blend wet ingredients with the dry until combined. Be careful to not over-mix. fold in walnuts and blueberries
Fill the muffin tins and bake for about 35-40 minutes

I know the amount of ingredients, especially in the dry section, looks a little daunting! But alas, so it can be with gluten free baking sometimes. But the good news is, once you buy these flours, you always have them on hand so you can whip up a batch of muffins or biscuits whenever you have the need!

Gluten Free Crackers

This is also a recipe I adapted from the Bauman College staff. I remember them being delicious and satisfying! But I decided they needed some herbs for a little more flavor and they are fantastic sprinkled with sea salt when they are hot out of the oven. Great dipped in hummus or eaten on their own

2 Tbsp coconut oil (or butter)
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 Tbsp water
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper
2 cups grated hard goat cheddar (optional. another cheese can be used or none at all)
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/8 cup potato starch
1/8 cup tapioca flour
1/8 tsp xanthum gum

preheat oven to 350

melt coconut oil (or butter) and then let it cool
mix oil with egg and water in a bowl until well combined. in a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients. add the wet to the dry and mix until it forms a solid dough. cut the dough in half, wrap with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for 40 minutes.
roll out the dough very thinly (the thinner, the crunchier and more delicious!) on a piece of parchment paper. Move to a baking sheet, parchment and all. score with a knife or fork and bake for 25 minutes. sprinkle with sea salt right away and let cool


Gluten Free Buttermilk Biscuits

yet again a Bauman recipe that I added to. What can I say, the most of my gluten free cooking experience was in Berkeley! :)


1/3 cup sorghum flour
6 Tbsp tapioca flour
3/4 tsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthum gum
1 pinch salt
3 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup cooked ham, diced
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped

preheat oven to 450. lightly butter a baking sheet and set aside

sift dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. "cut" butter into flour until it resembles small peas. (this is just what it sounds like. use two knives to literally cut the butter into the flour.) Stir in enough buttermilk to form a soft dough that holds its shape when pressed together. (you may not need it all) fold in ham, cheese and herbs.
you can roll out the dough and cut out circles using a glass, or make drop biscuits by dropping bits of dough onto the baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned.


These are some of the yummier gluten free recipes I have for baked goods (and some pictures from my time at Bauman College where I got them). Stay tuned for a few gluten free fish and grain dishes that are easy to make on any weeknight!

surprisingly delicious spaghetti

One of Beau's favorite dinners is spaghetti. To be honest I never take the time to make meatballs, I just brown up some hot Italian sausage and add it to a jar of red sauce. It is quick, Beau likes it, and I happen to really like the sausage over meatballs anyway. But all that heavy sauce and noodles always leaves me sluggish and bloated and I feel heavy even the next morning. So as much as Beau loves it, I tend to be more hesitant to make it.

And then I discovered a whole new way to make spaghetti! Okay, well it isn't actually new at all but it is something I never tried because the ingredients always scared me off a little bit. I have heard it called several different things so I just call it spaghetti a la delicious. You create a little sauce with fresh or canned tomatoes and a things like anchovies and capers and I find that if I use whole wheat noodles then I don't feel so bad about scarfing down a second helping. And as it turns out, the anchovies scared me but the whole meal comes together really well and tastes fantastic! Plus it is so fast to make. If you just take the time to measure everything out and chop it up then you can just toss it all together in only a few minutes.

Spaghetti A La Delicious

handful of whole wheat spaghetti
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 tsp hot chili flakes
2 cloves garlic, minced
about 6 anchovy filets, mashed with a fork (optional for a vegetarian version)
1 can of diced tomatoes (fire roasted or with herbs)
a small handful of kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1 Tbsp capers, chopped
1 tsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp fresh oregano and thyme, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

cook the spaghetti in salted water

heat the olive oil in a pan then add the hot chili flakes and garlic. saute for a couple minutes until garlic is brown. Add the anchovies and saute for a few seconds, then add tomatoes and simmer (while stirring) for about 5 minutes. Stir in olives, capers, brown sugar, herbs, salt and pepper. Add the spaghetti to the sauce and toss together until it is coated.

Remember that capers and anchovies are salty on their own, so taste before adding any more salt!

Man Stew!

I thought for sure I would have posted this stew at least once, but after searching through blogs of rainy days' past, I didn't find it! So I feel it is absolutely necessary to share this easy and hearty stew. I make it a lot because Beau likes it and it is super easy. I make it in the crockpot, but you can make it in a regular soup pot too. (slightly different directions for a soup pot will be at the bottom of the recipe)

We call it...

Man Stew! And you will need...

3 small carrots, diced
1 onion, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
2 small potatoes, peeled and diced
3 strips of bacon (this is for the grease. if you would rather, a little olive oil will work just fine too)
2 lbs of stew beef
3 Tbsp flour
1 can diced tomatoes
2 bottles Guiness beer
salt and pepper to taste
1 Tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

In a large skillet, cook the bacon to render the fat. Remove bacon and set aside. Saute carrot, onion, potatoes, and celery in the bacon grease until soft (potatoes won't be soft, but that is ok). Add the stew meat and brown. Once brown, sprinkle with flour and coat everything. Saute for 1 minute to cook out the flour flavor. Transfer to a crockpot and add tomatoes and beer. My crockpot takes hours on high to cook, but if you have a good crockpot you can cook it on low. Let it cook until meat is done and tender and the stew is thickened. Stir in fresh oregano and salt and pepper to taste.

If you do not want to use a crockpot, do all of the steps in the soup pot and simmer for 2 hours on the stove.

This is a chunky and hearty stew and is really yummy with just a hunk of bread as a side. Don't worry, the beer taste cooks out and makes a yummy broth. :) I did learn however, that the extra stout Guiness does not taste as good, you have to buy just the regular beer in the black bottles.

Enjoy!

Feels Like the Very First Time

A few years ago, before Beau, Berkeley and all of the wonderful food experiences I had in the Bay Area, I had my first romantic evening with food as my +1. I remember it well as one of those life altering moments where I realized I truly had a passion for food. I was 18 and a vegan. I would buy my make-up from an Aveda salon in Redlands and I just happened to notice at one of my routine visits that they were putting on a vegan benefit dinner at a place called The Farm. The money would go to the California beaches which I justified as the reason I would just have to pay the $65 for a ticket. How could I not help the beaches? I'm not a monster!

The dinner night finally arrived a few weeks later and I got dressed up like I was going on a date. Little black dress, heels, my hair was up in the messy boho fashion I was wearing in my vegan days and I hit the town. I had butterflies as I anticipated the delicious food waiting for me.

Once I arrived, I realized I was the only one there by myself! But I didn't let that stop me. I held my head up high and owned it; I pretended to be one of those fashionable old ladies who always goes out alone and looks fabulous doing so. It didn't occur to me until later that I was also the youngest in attendance... But anyway, I walked through the giant oak doors and was seated at the end of one of the long tables amidst a group of hairdressers who all came together. Their hair talk faded into the background while I looked around and took in the room... deep colors, low lighting, wine glasses and bottles lining the wall behind the bar. Oh yes, this would be a romantic night!

And oh what a night it was. I was served a 6 course vegan meal including polenta, soups, delicious roasted vegetables and an amazing dessert. I closed my eyes and tasted, really tasted, every bite. The food was comforting as well as fantastic and beautiful to look at. It broke my heart that i didn't know anyone who would be as excited about this food as I was! And then I knew... Maybe I am a little different from the rest of the population when it comes to food.

Lucky for me I would move to a place where a "foodie" is as common as the hobos that lined the street corners and I would get to have many more romantic food evenings. But none quite as exciting and sexy as that night I went out alone to explore the world of high end vegan cuisine. I guess nothing compares to the "first time".

I would love to share an incredible vegan recipe with you to go along with this post, but I have not been a vegan for a long time and I may have lost my touch! :) But if you are ever in the mood, make a reservation at this beautiful restaurant in downtown Redlands. That was a vegan event but the restaurant serves meat, and deliciously I might add! They also have an amazing wine selection and all of their food comes from local farms. Does it get much better than that?

No such thing as too much pumpkin!

"umm... not that I don't love your pumpkin waffles, but do you think maybe sometimes we can have regular waffles?" -Beau

Okay, I guess I go a little overboard on the pumpkin this time of year. But I can't help it! Pumpkin spiced anything is delicious and for some reason it is only delicious around this time of year. This is hands down my favorite time of the year. I love how (in Southern Cali anyway) it is always blistering hot and then all of a sudden it happens almost overnight; the wind blows in a chill, the trees are suddenly an array of beautiful golds, reds and yellows and the sky turns a silvery gray. It is beautiful! The air smells like damp earth, and there is no better smell than the smell of a wet desert. I get a thrill from pulling out the old cozy sweaters and fuzzy socks. A rush of childhood memories of Falls and Winters past hit me full force as I slip into an over-sized hoodie and cuddle up with a book while listening to some of my mom's favorite old CDs. And then the best part: I'm already bundled up all the time anyway, so I have no qualms about baking (and eating) all my favorite goodies!

I am not huge about decorating my treats into little spookie critters or covering everything in candy corn. What I like the most is what the season has to offer this time of year, and it finds its way into everything I make: apples and pumpkins! Sure apples are in the store all year around, but this is apple season and there is nothing better than an apple just picked off the tree in its season. There is something intoxicating about the smell of a perfectly ripe apple. It smells so sticky sweet and almost flowery. Yum!

And then there are pumpkins... where do I even begin with pumpkins? As a kid I thought pumpkins were just for decoration and then I got a little older and discovered the joy of pumpkin pies, pumpkin spiced cookies and cakes, lattes and anything else you can throw some pumpkin in. I have so many pumpkin recipes I had a hard time narrowing down which one to share, but in the end it was obvious what my favorite has been lately: pumpkin waffles! I make a bunch of batter and store it in a mason jar in the fridge so I can get to it whenever I have the urge, which is more often than I should. I could literally eat these waffles morning noon and night which is probably why Beau is so sick of them.

Yesterday when I woke up it was gray and drizzly outside and absolutely freezing in my house. I stuffed my feet into really tacky fuzzy socks decorated with green and white stripes and put on two sweaters and did the only thing I could think of to do when you wake up and everything is drizzly. I turned on my computer and played some rainy day music and then pulled out the waffle iron. The smell of these pumpkin waffles set the mood for the rest of my day and I could not have been more happy to sit at my table and eat while watching the rain glisten off the field behind my house and the crows bounce around eating walnuts that had fallen from my tree.

Pumpkin Spice Waffles with Walnuts

1 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree (fresh or from a can)
1 2/3 cup milk
4 bsp melted butter, cooled
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl beat the eggs, sugar. Then add the pumpkin, milk and butter. Fold the wet into the dry. Pour some batter into your waffle maker and sprinkle with walnuts. Cook according to your iron's directions. Serve right away with some fresh whipped cream or maple syrup. Mmmm...


.....

This another recipe to celebrate the season that I got from a tart recipe from Julie Child's The Art of french Cooking. The tart is delicious too, but if you ever have a few extra apples and you don't want to eat them inside a pastry shell, this is just as good on its own!

Applesauce

3 lbs apples, peeled and cored and diced
1/3 cup apricot preserves, forced through a sieve (this is to get all of the large bits of apricot out. If you don't mind large bits then you can leave it as is)
1/4 cup apple brandy or rum
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
zest of 1/2 lemon Place the apples in a saucepan, cover and cook on a low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once tender, beat in the rest of the ingredients. Raise the heat to a boil, stirring until applesauce is thick

(p.s. these are not my pictures! I stole them from Google because my camera was lost :) but it is found now, so pictures of my food will be coming soon! ... Nice picture of waffles though right?)

what is green, warm, and delicious all over?

Warm spinach salad... I have come to the conclusion that this is the most delicious way to eat spinach! I will be honest, I am not the best when it comes to eating my veggies; I am more in the fan club of sweets, fruit and lots of bread and grains. But like a good girl I make sure to include some green stuff as often as I can. This recipe is incredibly simple and super delicious.

Warm Spinach with Roasted Garlic

1 bag baby spinach
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 head garlic
1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

preheat oven to 400 degrees. cut off the tip of your head of garlic with a sharp knife and wrap it in foil. roast in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour. it is done when it is fragrant and the clove is golden brown once peeled. once it is done, let it cool and then peel off the skin

in a saute pan, heat the olive oil. add the spinach and immediately drizzle lemon juice over the top. saute the spinach until halfway wilted, about 2 minutes. turn off the heat and toss with the garlic cloves and salt. serve immediately

Delicious!

Less Fat... More Scraping?

Okay, so I am going to admit something a little embarrassing today. I have a serious woman crush on Jennifer Aniston (I mean, it. I'm kind of obsessed). I know she is not the hottest person in Hollywood, but for some reason I just love her. She seems incredibly approachable to me and she seems to have a little bit of a hippie side, which appeals to my hippie side. Plus, I am a yoga freak and they say that is the secret to her fantastic arms and legs. So there it is! I am crushing on a 40 year old actress who does yoga.

But that is not exactly why I am writing this blog; it is only partly relevant to Jennifer. It just so happened that some time ago Oprah did an article on Jennifer Aniston having a dinner party in her home and she ran it in her O Magazine. The article described Jen's home and the little dinner party she was having and it also interviewed her personal chef's and listed the menu they prepared for the party. In the menu, under the appetizers, her chefs prepared (among other things) mushroom quesadillas. Not that I had never heard of a mushroom quesadilla before, but they did something different I had never heard of. In order to cut out any unnecessary fat, the chefs cooked the little Mexican treats on top of course sea salt! Apparently the salt acts as a barrier to keep it off the pan and from burning instead of the usual pat of butter or margarine that creates a nonstick surface. I read this little tip while I was reading the article (and relishing the pictures of Jennifer's beautiful kitchen and patio) and I was instantly intrigued.

So today while I was at the store I bought some whole wheat tortillas and a few quesadilla goodies and decided to try it for dinner. I prepped my mushrooms (always wipe with a damp cloth, never ever run under water! They absorb the water and shrink a lot when you cook them) and got everything ready and sprinkled the salt in the pan anticipating a magical little barrier and a perfect quesadilla. Well unfortunately that is not what I got... the salt sort of adhered to the tortilla and made a little bit of a salty mess. I kept scraping it off so it wouldn't be too icky tasting to eat. They were right though, they don't burn! But who would want to eat so much salt?

Fortunately I am a good scraper and I was able to save our dinner. And with the difficult cooking process aside, they were delicious! I was very impressed with the combination and I must admit I actually liked the way it tasted with no fat on the tortilla. Sometimes a little butter can make it taste more fried and kind of heavy. These were light and healthy but still really filling! So if you want to try these cooked with a little Pam, a little spot of butter, or if you don't mind scraping off salt, it doesn't matter, but I do suggest you try them!

Mushroom And Spinach Quesadillas

4 whole wheat tortillas
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded jack cheese
1/2 cup baby spinach
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
2 tbsp course sea salt (if you plan on cooking it this way)

In a small saute pan, heat your olive oil. Add the garlic and mushrooms and oregano and saute until lightly golden and delicious. set aside. In your other pan add the salt (or butter or whatever) and heat the pan. Lay down a tortilla and on one side layer mushrooms, spinach and cheese. Fold over and cook until golden and crispy and them flip it and cook until golden and crispy. Do this for every tortilla. Makes 4.

My Love Affair with Muffins

Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man? Oh, I know the muffin man!

Here, let me introduce myself-

My name is Jasmine, and I LOVE muffins! I have often said that my favorite food invention is the combination of bread and sugar (cupcakes, quick breads, cakes...) but more than any other sweet, fluffy bread, I love the taste and texture of good muffins. There is truly something about a muffin that I almost can't put my finger on... it is the way the top will give way under your fingers and tear off to reveal the perfectly soft center, and the way it smells as you bring it to your lips. Or maybe it is the way it feels against your lips, soft and plush and a little buttery. I love how it melts on your tongue, back into the dough that it was before you baked it. The word muffin actually comes from the French word "moufflet" which means soft. It cannot be described any better way!

I have to admit that the fluffy bready texture is my favorite thing about a muffin, but of course the reason muffins are so popular is all of the fantastic flavors and that wonderful sweet taste! Blueberry (my personal favorite), banana nut, cinnamon apple and anything else you can dream up. The possibilities are endless when it comes to these palm-sized treats. But muffins did not start out that way. Muffins started out at a yeast-leavened bread that was not particularly sweet. In fact, the word muffin originally referred to what we know now to be an english muffin. Those disk-like little breads with holes that are delicious with butter and a cup of tea; that is what they were baked for- tea! There really was a man called a muffin man back in the 19th century in England who would carry muffins on the street while ringing a bell and selling his treats at tea time. I love this image of a little man carrying muffins and ringing a bell. I can't help but picture cobbled streets and quaint little cafes with trendy, thin women sipping tea wearing gawdy pearl jewelry.

English muffins traveled to America along with other food recipes, but they were not oh so very popular until the 1970's and 80's. It took that long! Americans took the recipe for muffins and tweaked it in the way that we Americans do... add chemicals and lots of sugar! It was in the 1970's that less and less women were baking at home and more were taking up post in the work force. This started a trend in mixes and foods you can grab on the go. There was also a rise in gourmet coffee shops and healthier food. The recipes of muffins changed to a bread that was leavened with baking powder rather than yeast and they were baked in muffin pans (or cupcake pan, they are not sure which sweet treat came first). Ironically, the healthy food movement caused muffins to grow 3 times their size in these pans! And to keep the muffins fresh longer so that they could be sold in the new trendy coffee shops, there was a lot more sugar and fat added. People still imagined that muffins were better for them than the donuts or bagels that were the other breakfast or treat options, so they would opt for the muffin, even choosing a carrot or blueberry in hopes of getting some healthy nutrients. However, if you are a calorie counter then you know that a muffin should be an occasional sugary treat and not an everyday breakfast as the people of the 70's and 80's were led to believe. There isn't much about the muffin that is actually healthy, but who cares when they are so delicious?

After my hubby bought me a giant muffin pan (if the regular muffin is 3 times the normal size of a muffin then the giant ones must be 10 times the size! No wonder I can't lose these last 5 pounds!) I made it my business to find the very best muffin recipe out there. After sampling and and scouring the internet I had narrowed it down to 2 recipes. Both of them claimed to be the very best muffins you have ever eaten, and they each had a completely different batter. We did a taste test and I ended up coming up with my own recipe that combines the two! Careful, these muffins are not for the faint of heart or the diabetic among us. I have a very large sweet tooth and the batter is almost cake-like... yummm.

Jasmine's Blueberry Muffins

1/2 cup butter
2 cups flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup blueberries (I use frozen)

topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Sift dry ingredients into a small bowl. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs. Add the milk and flour. Fold in the blueberries. Fill the muffin cups all the way and top with the crumb topping. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes

to make crumb topping: combine all ingredients together with a fork. you don't need to mush up the butter, just leave it cubed and evenly distribute it on the muffins.


Enjoy by ripping off the crunchy, sweet top and tearing apart the fluffy bottom; eating it in soft little pieces with or without butter. Then eat the top in little orgasmic bites and curse the muffin gods for making this muffin go straight to your jeans and adding to the muffin top on your hips.