2017 Goals: Week 2

1. Exercise:
Running: 300 miles: To date: 14.45 miles 
Biking: 500 miles: To date: 0 miles (rain)
Swimming: 50 miles: To date: 3.34 miles
Walking: 150 miles: To date: 7.56 miles
Weights/ yoga: 30 minutes a week (1560 this year): 142 minutes (21 day fix Upper fix)

2. Grocery bill: Keep it under $7000 ($134.62/wk): $315.65 (uhhh...my 10 year old is in a growth spurt)

3.  Weight: maintain or lose up to 5 lb: didn't get on the scale this week

4.  Family:
Go on 12 family hikes: Zippo. Nada.  Little guy has a cold.
Do game night once a week: Clue (kiddo's friend won) and Settlers of Catan (I won, but the game was so long everyone was starting to help me win).

5.  Crafts:
- Crochet a blanket (a "thermometer" granny square blanket, based on the temperature each day): 14 blocks down, we hit 71 yesterday whee!  I got to use yellow.  I am running out of blue-green (51-60F).

- crochet a purse: nothing
- finish a quilting baby blanket: done

- participate in my quilting group's exchange: nothing
- make 12 snowflakes: nothing
- attempt to make socks: I've pinned a bunch of instructions?

6.  Sleep: keep track of it and see if the low dose estrogen helps: Haven't started.  Slept really well this week.

7.  Food: eat vegan 2 days a week: Weds and Friday.  I made oatmeal with almond milk for breakfast.  It was delish.  I ate bean and rice bowls for lunch or dinner, plus salad.  I also had oven roasted tofu from Eats Well With Others.

8.  Cookbooks: Try 1 recipe from every cookbook I own:
This week: Apple Pie Oatmeal  from The Oh She Glows Cookbook by Angela Liddon.  It was *very* filling.
Cocoa and raspberry (I subbed cherries) muffins from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. These were yummy but a little underdone on the bottom, even with cooking the full time.  But vegan, so do I have to worry if they are a little gooey?  I will probably just reheat in the oven.

I also made soyrizo cajun vegetable stew in the Instant Pot. I've made this before but edited the method to work in the Instant Pot.  Trying to get good at making things so I can use the sucker mid-week.  It was good, but I'm generally not a fan of using soy based processed foods.  So I need to figure out the spices so I can just make it with beans. I set some aside in the freezer for my vegan days (and the muffins are for breakfast).

9.  Work:
     a. Skills: Learn enough programming to automate the data pulls for problem lots (which requires pulling data from 2 different databases).  Haven't worked on this yet.
     b. Personal:  Don't engage.  Really.  Did okay here.

10.  Home: Contact contractor/ architect on adding a second bathroom.Nothing

11.  Garden: actually plant tomatoes this year.  Baby steps. Nothing
Ooh, need to add: put some ground cover in the back dirt patch

12.  Spouse: once a month lunch date: nothing

13.  Beverages:
- Drink less coffee and more tea (one cup coffee per day): Yes, Monday to Weds, and Friday.
- Do not buy any wine aside from my two wine club memberships: Nothing
- Drink two 24-oz bottles of water a day, minimum.  My doc thinks that my occasional light-headedness when exercising is a combo between low blood pressure + slight dehydration.
Mmm...probably did okay for half the week.  I need to take my 24 oz water bottle to work with me.

Two New Recipes! Zucchini Fritters and Egg roll in a bowl

I was on fire this week!  Well, we got zucchini in the produce box, and with it came a recipe for 5-ingredient zucchini fritters.  So I decided to give it a try.  I realized that while I planned to make them for dinner Wednesday, I'd forgotten that I had a PTA meeting.

So I made them Weds morning before work and after my workout.  But I made the mistake of getting dressed for work first.  So then, I smelled like fritters (oil) all day.  Hm.

Apparently the kids (big one especially) thought they were delicious!  I did too.  Pretty easy and great.

The other recipe I'd been reading about is "Egg Roll in a Bowl".  I found many versions, and started with this one.  I decided to try it because we got green cabbage from the box. It was a definite hit!

I used sliced steak for the meat, because I had it.  I think the key to this recipe (and a good stir fry), is getting the balance right of the spices - in this case, green onion, garlic, and fresh ginger.

For the Zucchini fritters, I used the recipe that came with the box - they have a newsletter. I don't have a picture of the actual fritters, because we ate them.  But maybe I'll take a picture later this week.

5-Ingredient Zucchini Fritters
4 cups shredded zucchini (the food processor is your friend!!)
2/3 c. flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup sliced scallions (green & white parts) - I will have to sub regular onion this week
Vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

Put shredded zucchini in a colander over a bowl and sprinkle lightly with salt.  Allow to sit for 10 minutes.  Or in my case, the length of a shower + getting dressed.  Using your hands, squeeze out as much liquid as possible.

Put zucchini in a large bowl and mix with flour and eggs and scallions, plus 1/4 tsp and 1/8 tsp pepper (you know I eyeballed that).  Stir until combined.

Line a plate with paper towel.

In a non-stick skillet, heat a generous amount of oil.  Put over medium heat.  When the oil is hot, scoop a 3-Tbsp mound of the mixture into the pan, pressing lightly into rounds and spacing 2 inches apart.

Cook 2-3 minutes and flip, and cook 2 more minutes until golden brown.  Transfer to paper towel lined plate.  Repeat until done.  I think I made 15 of them.

They are delicious with sour cream, or just plain.

Marcia's Famous Salad

Next up!  Not a recipe.  It's not a surprise if you know me, but I eat a lot of salad.  Like every day.  I get a free lunch at work tomorrow (sandwiches) so I get a break from making a salad.

My husband is getting tired of sandwiches.  So I offered to make him one of my salads.  He used to eat sandwiches for lunch (for decades), then he started taking leftovers (and was competing with me for them).  I used to work that into my meal plan - however lately I've been giving him sandwiches. (because if he eats leftovers, then I have to cook dinner more often, KWIM?  And: baseball.  So many nights away from home.)

The risk here, though, is that he wants me to make him salad more often.  Hmm...

Tastes like...

I could say "chicken".  Because we grilled chicken this weekend (it was black on the outside and raw on the inside...not our best work).  And I made my standard Trader Joe's breaded frozen chicken on Tuesday.  And Wednesday we had leftover Crockpot Butter Chicken from last week (I froze it) over the mashed potatoes we had on Saturday. (The most successful dish of the "burned chicken" night.)

But what I really mean is to channel Biz and say "tastes like ass".  Because this weekend I bought some fruit at Ralph's. And it sucked.  I bought pears which were hard and tasteless, and apples that were mealy and gross.  I mean, it's October.  Apple season, right?  Ugh, how can the apples be mealy and tasteless?  They were galas.

The last two pears and the apples are getting turned into applesauce with some better fruits this weekend, from my boss's tree and the CSA.  I bought the apples before the boss brought in the fruit.

I am a fruit snob.  From now on, I will stick to Trader Joe's for apples (pink ladies, never mealy) and cantaloupe, the farmer's market, the CSA, or my boss's trees.  Actually, last week I bought pears at Tri County Produce, and as expected (based on the store name), they were quite good.

The rest of the week has gone along as planned:

Saturday: burned chicken, mashed potatoes, salad.  At 8 pm we were eating the still burned but no longer raw chicken, that was finished in the oven.
Sunday: More of the chicken made into quesadillas with guac, green beans, mashed potatoes
Monday:  The last of the chicken and some frozen meatballs, broccoli, mashed potatoes
Tuesday: Chicken fingers, tater tots, Indian spiced cauliflower

Wednesday: Crockpot Indian Butter chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed cauliflower with feta.  Now, why I didn't make the Indian spiced cauliflower the same night as the Indian butter chicken...I dunno, I'm weird that way.

Thursday: The last of the Indian chicken with some mashed potatoes and maybe more potatoes if we run out of mashed.  And...it looks like carrots.  I think that's the only veg left in the fridge.
Friday:  Wow, I thought the curry chicken would take me until then, but it probably won't.  So probably we'll have grilled cheese sandwiches with a vegetable.

Lunch for the adults is Spaghetti Amatriciana.  I cooked up a pound of pasta and it makes 10 lunches.  Plus we're eating leftover veggies, hard boiled eggs, and carrot sticks.

Breakfast for the kiddo has been pancakes that I made on Sunday morning and froze.  I've been eating yogurt with fruit or toast, depending on whether it's a workout day or not.  Toast if it's a workout day.

The mashed potatoes were quite good and not really pictured.  You can kinda see them under that curry chicken.  We got chives.  So, they have chives, butter, milk, cream cheese, and sour cream.

The Indian spiced cauliflower was great.  I used the aloo gobi spice mix.  I steamed 1/2 head of cauliflower (it was a big head) for 3 minutes in the microwave.  I then sauteed it in one Tbsp oil in a skillet until it started to brown.  Cauliflower absorbs a lot of oil.  Then I added the spices and stirred (I used 1/4 of the spice mixture, because the full recipe has a full head of cauliflower AND potatoes), and added 1/4 cup of water, covered, reduced heat, and simmered about 5 minutes until done.

On that note, I still have a kid's lunch to pack before bedtime.  On a new-mommy note, I'd like to add that my 3 month old baby has slept 8-10 hours for three nights in a row.  From about 7:30 to 4:30 or 5:30.  I may have to revise my statement that he's the hard baby.  His big brother didn't sleep that long until 8 months.

And he's so snuggly.  I'm lovin' the snuggles I get from my boys.  Pure heaven.

The Microwave

Tonight's dinner brought to you by the humble microwave.

I opted for a stir-fry, but I need to keep things fast and simple.  So here's how Mr. Mike was involved in our dinner.

Step 1: chop your vegetables - broccoli, carrots, kohlrabi.  Steam 4 minutes in the microwave.
Step 2: stir-fry some onion and red pepper in a little oil.  When they are soft, add the microwaved vegetables and some Trader Joe's Island Soyaki sauce.  Then add a little cornstarch and water mixed to thicken the sauce.

Step 3: Microwave the leftover sesame noodles from the weekend (look a couple of posts down for the link - yum!)
Step 4: Microwave some Aidells Chicken and Pineapple meatballs.
Step 5: Don't tell your kid about the pineapple.

Enjoy.

Lack of Meal Plan and some pics

Well, after all that cooking for the week, I didn't really make much of a meal plan more than a couple of days out.  But then - surprise - I got one day's notice of spouse's trip to El Paso. So, I didn't really need a meal plan.  There are enough leftovers of the beef and frittata to last me the week.  Last night I made Trader Joe's turkey burgers with steamed artichokes and stir fried baby bok choy.  It was awesome.  My camera battery was dead.  Sorry!

Since it's the "get on the scale" week, I am going with a few days of low carb.  Helps make sure I'm not retaining a lot of water.  Breakfast today was cottage cheese, strawberries, and breakfast cookies (almond butter, eggs, coconut, dried fruit, nuts).

Lunch was a little bit of quinoa/rice, topped with beef and a LOT of mushrooms and zucchini.  I'm a big snacker too, mostly fruit, nuts, cheese, yogurt.  Today was apple with cheese, and nuts with a piece of dark chocolate.

Dinner was frittata and raw vegetables with the peanut lime dip.  YUM!

Boy the baby's been moving like crazy today.  I hope he lets me sleep.  It's funny to watch the belly move.

I'm sad that I'm missing out on 3 workouts this week because of the travel (2 swims and an elliptical/lifting day).  But tomorrow is walk to school day, so I'll get in 1.5 miles of a walk over a BIG hill at least.  Friday I may try to swim in the evening instead of in the morning.  Thursday...probably out of luck unless I squeeze in a lunch time walk.

Peanut Lime Dipping Sauce

So, in the end I combined a couple of recipes.  It's very good.  I plan on dipping yellow and orange peppers, snap peas, cucumbers, and carrots for snacks and lunch during the week.

Peanut Lime Dipping Sauce
1/3 c. natural smooth peanut butter
1/2 tsp dry ginger
1 T sesame oil (dark)
1 clove garlic, pressed
2 T soy sauce
juice of 1 lime
2 tsp sugar
1T rice vinegar
1/4 c. water

Mix all ingredients with a fork until smooth.  Lick the fork when done.  Yummy.

Cooking and Prep for the Week

In general, I have been (in the past), a master of cooking and prep for the week.  I spend a few hours each day on the weekend cooking, baking, chopping, preparing 2-5 dishes so that lunches and dinners are taken care of, at least until about Wednesday.  Funny that as I keep in contact with friends from high  school, college, and all over via facebook, I've noticed that it's definitely a theme for the working parent.

Or just the working person in general - my sister (no kids) also does a lot of cooking on the weekend.  It's efficient.  I am constantly impressed by how Biz cooks and preps for the week - not only for herself, but also for others.  She's so organized!!  My neighbors (husband and wife team with 3 girls under 6) seem to seamlessly cook on Sundays for the entire week.

Enter pregnancy, work stress, and lack of sleep.  I still enjoy cooking on the weekend, but I tire more easily.  What I notice first is the aching feet, legs, and back.  I can only really stand to be on my feet for about an hour.  So that means my prep has suffered.  This means that I cook more often during the week, and by the time spouse gets home - dinner is ready, but I'm beat.

This weekend I'm trying something new.  I am still doing my cook and prep, but I will do it in 1 hour increments, then I will rest. 

Also, I walked 1 mile (up over a big hill) to the grocery store first (and back), then started cooking.  I left my shoes on when I got  home.  It seems to be helping.  I am up to 1.5 hours on my feet right now, and I'm still okay.  Maybe I need the cushion with the extra 32 lbs.  I'm not sure how much longer I can make that big hill.  But last weekend I sucked it up and bought a maternity swimsuit.  I have 9 weeks to go.  If I wear it 3x a week for the next 9 weeks, I can get it down to just over $1 per wear. :)

So here is what I am prepping for the week.  I am trying to go lower carb/ more paleo to stem this weight gain.  Hence the trip to the store for even MORE vegetables. 

I made this delicious beef roast in the crockpot yesterday (45 mins of prep - not "a dump and press go" recipe by any means).  I bought a large (6.5 lb?) roast (organic and free range) for $50 from my coworker "beef source" (she buys in bulk).  She recommended the crock pot.  The recipe came from my America's Test Kitchen Family cookbook, and was a southwestern roast recipe (in honor of Cinco de Mayo).  If you can't have a margarita, might as well make tacos, right?  The only thing the roast needed was more salt.  I used homemade stock, so my food is always under-salted.  2/3 of this went into the fridge, and the rest into the freezer for a later date.

Now, I know this soupy runny beef would taste GREAT over some rice.  But I want to limit my carbs a bit.  So I cooked up some white rice and red quinoa and put 1/2 cup in a container for lunch.  But I am also cooking up a bunch of zucchini and mushrooms, and will use that as the primary base for the lunch.

In summary:

Beef roast (tacos!)

White rice/ quinoa

Mushrooms and zucchini

Bacon, chard, beet green, turnip greean, onion, zucchini frittata (that's dinner, with a salad).

Peanut lime dipping sauce (for my carrots, snap peas, and colored peppers).  Or maybe this one.  Or a combo.

Meal Plan - Update

I like it when things last a little bit longer than I expect.  Here's an update:

Wednesday:
Lunch: Leftover frittata, salad
Dinner: Leftover bean/chicken/veg burritos.  Here's the filling with the veg as I was cooking:  cabbage, onions, peppers, carrots.  Later on added pinto beans and chicken.

Thursday:
Lunch: Leftover frittata.  For me, hubs had a business lunch.  But he ate frittata for breakfast after getting his bloodwork done.  Results: low good cholesterol (as usual), meaning - eat more fish.  So then we move to...
Dinner: Baked salmon with dill, dijon, and brown sugar glaze (from the neighbor...he has a "fish guy"), with frozen green beans.  We wanted to get dinner done fast - spouse cooked and I wasn't home from the CSA yet.  I love this fish.  6 ingredients, really easy.  We bake ours at 375F for 35 minutes, vs. broiling.  I don't broil much.  The oven doesn't like it, and the fish was too big for the toaster oven. 

Friday:
Lunch: Last of the frittata
Dinner:  Leftover salmon, the last of the chicken burrito stuff, and kale chips.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner: Oatmeal, Salad, and Pizza

Okay, the oatmeal was from yesterday, but the salad and pizza were from today.

I sauteed 1/2 an apple with a tsp of sugar and some cinnamon, and put it on top of a leftover instant oatmeal packet.  Good for my sore throat yesterday.

I have this great cookbook called "Eat Drink & Weigh Less" by Mollie Katzen and Walter Willett, MD.  One of my favorite recipes is for marinated white beans.  It's pretty simple: white beans, olive oil, vinegar, basil, oregano, garlic, with some optional veggies.  I made it today and tossed it with spicy salad mix from the CSA.  I added some tiny tomatoes from my still producing 2011 tomato plants, and some olives.

And tonight was pizza night.  I am starting to fear what it will be like having two boys in the house.  Though my son only had 1 slice of pizza, this afternoon he ate an ear of corn (from the lady at the park), a banana, applesauce, carrots, a few slices of homemade focaccia, romanesco, milk, 3 girl scout cookies, more bread, and I'm sure I'm forgetting at least one thing.  Now, I'm eating for two, so I'm showing my third piece of pizza prominently on my plate (and I had a couple of slices of focaccia also).  Hopefully by the time we have a 6 year old and a 12 year old, we'll be close enough to 50 that spouse and I will have slowed down our eating.

Oh, and last night I stir-fried some bok choy, carrots, and kohlrabi, and we ate it with Annie Chun's teriyaki noodles, leftover from our vacation trip.  Those things aren't the healthiest, but they are easy to prepare if all you have is hot water.

Vacation Eats

It's no secret that I don't like to eat out much on vacation.  When I go, I try to balance staying in places with kitchens (like family's houses, condos) or places where I can to SOME cooking (like a hotel room with a fridge/microwave, or camping).  This vacation was very similar.  We did eat out some here and there (definitely a lot towards the end of the trip because I got sick as a dog - my throat is so sore that I want to cry).

We visited with friends in the Bay Area (SF Bay Area, that is).  There was a little bit of eating out/take out, and some cooking dinner - our friends in Mountain View built their own wood burning pizza oven...okay, that makes good stuff.  Then it was offf to Yosemite and we rented a house, and we cooked.  I have to say, though it was challenging and I was tired, I very carefully planned our meals before I left (for Yosemite specifically, since there are no nearby grocery stores), and it was worth it.  I took a minimal amount of food and brought home very little.  Usually, I pack WAY too much.

Broccoli from the CSA, mac and cheese

Pancakes (from a mix that does not require eggs) with strawberries (from the Mtn View farmer's mkt) and bananas.

Sunflower seed butter and jam sandwiches (with apples and carrots!)

Rice, canned chili, cheese, avo (brought from home), and more CSA broccoli

More pancakes, and I took a page from Biz's book and sauteed the fruit to sweeten it a bit

Well, I'm sick and it's 3 am and I have insomnia, so that's all you get from me right now.  Maybe I'll share my vacationing philosophy more at a later date.  Going to try to read a bit and maybe sleep some more.

Stir fry!

It's been quite a rough week.  Work has been awfully stressful...people have been out, some stuff has gotten messed up, and hey, I am in serious need of a vacation.  It's like clockwork, really...every 3 months I need a week off.  I missed my week off in September and it was NOT pretty.  My last time off wasn't exactly a vacation either.  So, my son's "spring break" is very much needed, and it shows.  Soon, anyway.

As I was trying to figure out what to cook mid-week, I had a few criteria: 1. easy.  2. not require a shopping trip.  3. healthy.  So I found some cooked chicken from the Costco chickens in the freezer, some frozen green beans, leeks (literally the LAST of last week's CSA produce - otherwise, we're dry!), and the leftover cooked rice.

Stir-fry seemed perfect. But the sauce... A couple of weekends ago I was at the grocery store and I had to pee.  Because I'm pregnant, and I always have to pee (3 times in today's meeting at work).  As I was waiting to use the ladies room, I perused the discount rack at the store, and found mango jelly made with juice not sugar.  It was half off, or about $2 for a jar.  I thought that would go really well in some of my stir-fry mixtures.  I would have bought a bunch (and the papaya too), but I hate to do that on an  unknown, so I only got the one jar.

I mixed a couple of tablespoons with some rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and sesame oil.  It made a tasty sauce for the chicken and green beans. 

Of course it's not stir-fry without sriracha on top.  And I tossed on some chopped cashews for crunch.

On another note, my kid is starting to get cranky complainy pants on me about dinners.  Probably because in my 1st trimester I made really easy things that he likes and is familiar with, and now I'm back to my more adventurous self.  In any event, time to nip that attitude in the bud.  This is dinner.  Eat it or not.  If it's not on your list of 5 foods that you don't ever have to eat because you hate them, then I expect 3 bites.  I am not a short order cook.

Spicy Peanut Noodles

Boy, has it been a busy weekend.  I had a bad work day on Friday, followed up by not feeling well in the evening (and not sleeping).  My hubby went out for burrito takeout because he didn't feel like leftover bean burgers or salmon patties.  I ended up not being hungry for my burrito either.

The rest of the weekend has been a flurry of activity.  The season of "birthday parties" has begun.  Saturday I quilted at a class while the fam attended a party.  Sunday we attended another party while hubby worked.  I worked on a quilt today for our school auction.  I have only 11 days to finish it, and my walking foot broke today.  So that has slowed me down tremendously. I'm still pretty sure that I can finish.  I will have to buckle down and do a little bit every night.  This probably means we are eating at the coffee table most nights this week.  My sewing table = dining room table.

We spent the afternoon making 3 kinds of cupcakes for my son's birthday, while joking about cupcake wars.  Dinner wasn't ready until 8 pm (which is really 7, right?)  By the way the cupcake recipes - one from Elie Krieger (chocolate cupcakes), one lemon cupcake, one vanilla cupcake (from this month's Fine Cooking, also Elie Krieger).  I liked the cupcake recipes because they called for whole wheat pastry flour, and are a LITTLE bit healthier (less sugar), and some substitutions also - a little less butter.  We didn't frost them - that's a no no in my son's class.  Nobody wants 26 kindergarteners hopped up on sugar.

I wanted something easy tonight after the cupcake afternoon.  I chose vegan spicy peanut noodles with vegetables, from Wildly Affordable Organic.  I won't post the recipe here, but it was easy and delish.  Well, it WOULD have been easy, but I ran out of peanut butter, and had to spend 15 minutes stirring up the new jar, which is a real arm workout.  My version had the stir fry greens from the CSA - no kale this week, just cabbages and bok choy and tatsoi.  I also had carrots and broccoli stems...I just got tired of trying to get all the aphids out of the florets...they went into the compost.  I didn't make it very spicy, but happily put on sriracha at the end.  Definite keeper.  There are a lot of vegan and vegetarian recipes in that cookbook. I highly recommend it (and the E-books at Cook For Good, if they are still available).  Mostly the same recipes.

And one day last week, I had a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich for breakfast.

Key Lime Bars and Homemade Rolls

So, the problem with me blogging a day or two after making something is that I'm too tired to actually type up the recipes.  I'm sorry.

On Saturday, I made an early V-day gift for my spouse (who hates chocolate) - key lime bars from last month's Taste of Home cookbook.  It's got a crust of vanilla wafers and nuts and butter, a first layer of cream cheese and sugar (and I added the zest of the limes), and then an egg/lime juice layer.  Very tasty, but could be a bit tarter.  I can't imagine what it would have been without the lime zest (which wasn't called for in the recipe).

Last night we had soup and rolls.  I was going to make Split Pea Soup, but had a bit of food poisoning or something from a bad burrito on Friday night.  Or maybe I just have a sensitive stomach.  But really, I generally have an iron stomach.  Instead I opted to make the rolls using the bread machine recipe and open up a carton of Imagine garden tomato soup (low sodium).  With kale chips.

Tonight I roasted a bunch of veggies...fennel, beets, brussels sprouts, and onions (can you guess what we got from the CSA?)  Turns out, my kid doesn't like fennel either.  Hub and I don't care for it either.  Served with rice pilaf from a box and frozen breaded chicken.  A working mom's best friend.

Roast Vegetables and Stir-Fry Asian Greens and COOKIES!!

I love vegetables.  I bet you didn't know that. :)
This week from the CSA we got some baby beets, baby scarlet turnips, and cauliflower.  I decided it would be tasty to roast them all in olive oil with some onions and garlic.  But the baby beets were so...baby...I mean, they were all beet greens, that I was perplexed.  So.  I composted them.  The remaining veggies were great!  I roasted for about 40 minutes at 400F.

We also got some great Asian greens.  Kale, baby bok choy, tatsoi.  I love baby bok choi and tatsoi.  I stir-fried them quickly and put some of Trader Joe's Island Soyaki sauce on them delish!  And in the same Trader Joe's vein, we had breaded chicken cutlets.

I was also craving something sweet yesterday.  Bad me.  I thought about cookies, and where better to look than Love Veggies and Yoga.  I mean, all the desserts Averie makes - she's a pro.  I found her recipe for Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies, and the rest was history! I cooked mine a little longer than she did, but they were still tasty.  My only regret is that I made bagels on Saturday and needed only egg white for that, but I needed an extra yolk on Sunday for the cookies.  Next time, I'll make them on the same day.

Ginger Glazed Carrots and Turnips, and Leftover Brisket

Okay, the brisket was MUCH better on day 2.  That's probably why the recipe suggests you make it the day before.  Softer, not chewy, flavorful.  Yum.  Maybe I'll try it again sometime.  It was delicious over brown rice.

I used this recipe from smitten kitchen.  My brisket was only about 1.75 lbs, so I edited it.  And I didn't have chili sauce so I used a little salsa.

I also made ginger glazed carrots and turnips.  I got this bunch of teeny tiny baby turnips from the CSA, and thought they would go well with the rest of our carrots. 

Tomorrow is Wednesday.  Last Thursday was our first pick up day of our CSA.  All we have left is a lemon and some lettuce.  Good thing pick-up day is coming the day after.

Chicken and Rice

I was originally going to make chicken fried rice.  But I didn't have the energy to make the rice ahead of time (and it's much better if you do).  And I also didn't feel like dirtying another dish.

So I made the chicken and rice all in the rice cooker.  And except for the fact that I added the peas too soon (and they got gray), it was very good.

Chicken and Rice in the Rice cooker:
1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1/3 to 1/2 cup leftover pan juices from roasting the chickens (see note below)
1 cup frozen peas
2 large carrots, chopped
1 chicken breast, chopped
1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce

Note: The Fine Cooking recipe for citrus roasted chicken recommended saving the pan juices to use as flavoring later.  I saved about a cup of it.  1/3 was chicken fat that solidified in the fridge.  I skimmed off most of the fat, leaving about 1-2 Tbsp.  I put that and the rest of the pan juices that had also solidified into the rice cooker.

Into the rice cooker: brown rice, water, pan juices.  Press go.

About 15 minutes before it should be done (45 min later), add diced chicken and carrots and stir.  I also added the peas, but I'd recommend adding them even later.  When the rice cooker is done, stir well and eat!

Top with a little soy sauce.

Macaroni and Cheese Week...and...when life gets in the way

You know how you sometimes have those weeks that are SO busy you cannot even think of blogging?  Well, this week was like that.  Who am I kidding.  Every week is kinda like that.  This was no exception.  But I remembered to take pictures!

So what I have for you, my friends, is not recipes.  It is photos and descriptions, so you can see what is seasonal and delicious in Southern California in October.
Scrambled egg with chicken and homemade salsa and cheese, with Martha Stewart's Soda Biscuits on the side (this was breakfast):

Stir-fry

I did make the promised stir-fry this week, using up the leftover veggies from the friend's kid's birthday party.  It was fast, easy, and delicious.

We also had roast chicken (from Costco), salad, and lots of chili and lasagna to eat this week.  On Friday, we went out for pizza and to test out our Axxess card (local discount card).  We tried a new pizza place, and the pizza was soggy and greasy.  Won't be going back there!

Pantry/Freezer meals, week 1

I made a serious effort to eat foods out of my freezer(s) this week.  My small freezer in the laundry room doesn't have much in it.  Some popsicles, some bread, a steak, and a piece of liver I bought at the farmer's market.  And a bunch of chicken stock.

The above-the-fridge freezer is a different story.  Bread crumbs, frozen fruit, frozen veggies, bread heels, and some unidentifed items wrapped in foil  (turns out, these were pancakes and cooked tri-tip, but not together).

My pantry is not much better, with rice and pasta and beans and things that I stopped eating when I went low-carb.  I've kind of drifted away from the low-carb thing, and I'm actually not feeling all that healthy about it.  Ah well, it's a process.

Last weekend I made another loaf of no-knead bread.  This time it was rye bread.  I used up some rye flour and caraway seeds from the pantry (well, I didn't "use them up").  The Cook's Illustrated bread recipe calls for beer.  I found one dusty beer a few weeks ago in the laundry room, and have been using it for the no-knead breads.  I just stick a wine cork in it and put it back in the fridge.

Roast Chicken and Vegetables

This is, perhaps, my favorite meal ever.  Ina Garten is pretty awesome, and this recipe never steers me wrong.  Since I am doing the "Primal 30 day challenge" (albeit badly at times...I cannot seem to give up the bread or beans 100% -  maybe 90%), I thought it would be a good choice.  One of the carbohydrate heavy vegetables that are recommended in moderation in the Primal plan are sweet potatoes and winter squash.

Well, it's sweet potato season, so I thought I'd give that a try.  I don't think I've ever seen them at our local farmer's market.  Potatoes must not grow well here.  But after scouring the big market on Saturday, I found one guy in the last aisle with sweet potatoes.

So I followed Ina's recipe here, and for the vegetables, I used a bed of sweet potatoes, onions, and carrots.  I was disappointed that the particular chicken vendor I chose at the market has stopped giving the giblets with the chicken.  The livers are my favorite part.  Next time I'll try the other person (we get our turkey there for Thanksgiving).

I roasted two chickens, which is just as easy as one.  My neighbor has a lemon tree and wasn't home (and lest you think I am a thief, has told us many-a-time to help ourselves).  I kept one chicken for dinner and leftovers and sent one over to the neighbors' (a different neighbor).  We both have kids, and we both have two working parents, and we both know what a chore cooking every night can be.  I got soup in return. :)
The best part about this recipe is that the chicken fat and butter run down the chicken while it roasts and coats the vegetables.  They get all carmel-y and fatty and delicious.  Best is that there are leftovers for tomorrow's lunch, and maybe another lunch after that.