sometimes my brother writes really short and sweet blogs, so i’m giving it a shot tonight.

yesterday, we had to travel up to michigan for a funeral, and afterwards went for dinner. i did good on the food – i got sushi. but i drank a lot of beers. well, hey, it was a brewery. and it tasted damn good. and, i grew up catholic, that’s what we do to celebrate someone’s life after a funeral. annie was a bright, crafty, wonderful person and she will be missed by many. she would have appreciated the day. cheers, annie!

i did better on the lunch today than i did the day before yesterday. i realized that while you can eat only vegetables for lunch, you (or maybe just me) have to choose the right kind of vegetables. substantial ones… like avocados! so i got a box that had 2 vacuum sealed packs of fresh guacamole (the spicy kind) and a fresh cucumber-jalapeno-tomato-onion salsa, and of course some tortilla chips. avocados are packed with fat – but it is the good kind of fat, monounsaturated, which if eaten on a regular basis, can seriously lower cholesterol. and when eaten in combination with something spicy, it actually works wonders for your metabolism. so, now i have one pack of the guac and more salsa and chips left for tomorrow, and i can’t wait. it was so yummy and really got me through the day without becoming crazy hungry.

seriously, read up on avocados. they are so good for you! and – did you know that you can mash it up and freeze it for months? (you have to remove the seed and skin.) next time they are on sale, buy a bunch, those babies aren’t cheap!

forgive me father, for i have sinned. it has been way too many days since my last confession. today i made poor food choices. but i started off with good intentions.

breakfast consisted of a honey-sesame seed bar from horrock’s. for lunch, i decided to go back to a healthy summertime favorite: sliced english cucumbers with feta and balsamic. yum, it was so good. but i did not take into account just how long this healthy food might actually sustain me. i had errands to run after work. once i got on the road home, i needed gas. and this is where i blacked out. 

i was starrrrrrrrving. the last thought i remember having was how yummy a cheeseburger from mcdonald’s would taste – but my faithful sensibilities reminded me that i gave up fast food for lent.

my eyes came back into focus about 10 minutes from home – right at that point when i was licking the barbecue off my fingers and staring down the barrel of an empty bag of chips. i started to laugh this really creepy laugh. then i started to howl. what the heck is wrong with me?!

what do they call it, “binge” eating? me, i like to call it “get-the-hell-out-of-my-way-before-i-take-a-bite-out-of-your-skinny-ass” eating. and i mean it, too. just ask jason.

as my husband would love to verify, i am sure, (easy there, tiger) i have serious blood sugar issues. when i get too hungry, i get crazy. like whacko jacko crazy.

i remember one time driving around chicago with jason, and he was driving up and down every street trying to find free parking. meanwhile, my hands were shaking so bad i had to sit on them to hide it. then my lips curled back and the fangs came out. poor guy never saw it coming. the tears, the demands to let me out at the curb, the orders to just park the f*ing car. now we look back and laugh (i think?) but that was the day he learned. if jessica says she is hungry, you better get on it. stat.

is anyone else out there crazy like me?

italian style stuffed red peppers

12:30 am finish writing the delish. (my own fault, i knew the insomnia was setting in and decided to blog, which i am glad i did!)

12:45 am get in bed and read a boring foodie book, hoping it will put me to sleep. (book reviews to come in a later blog post.)

1:15 am turn off light even though i’m not even close to tired.

1:30 am roll over to the other side, since the old standby right side is not working

1:40 am left side is not doing much better, so i begin to relax all parts of my body, tricking it into sleep.

1:45 am ahhh, feet are floating. calves are floating, knees are floating. what the fuck?? jason just farted on me. so much for spooning.

1:47 am look at the clock and cuss it out, knowing it will get it’s revenge in the morning.

1:48 am roll back to the right side and begin the relaxation process all over again.

1:50 am where were we? ahh, knees are floating… why in the hell am i thinking about work? 

2:30 am maybe this is about the time i fall asleep. i give up looking at the clock, because that only causes a string of curses about the daylight savings time (even though i really love it.) 

6:40 am the first alarm goes off. i sleep walk to reset it for another half hour.

7:50 am i must have reset the alarm again. funny how my brain rationalizes the resetting of the alarm without consulting, well, my brain!

8:59 am i arrive to work one minute before opening. yeah, i really should be there well before 9.

~and so it goes~

5:04 pm getting ready to close up when i get one of those fun calls, “i need a sign.” me: “what kind of a sign?” them: “i don’t know, your typical outdoor sign.” grrrrrreat.

5:19 pm i hang up the phone and having already gathered my laptop and purse, run out the door as fast as humanly possible before the phone rings again.

5:34 pm me, beep-beep (yeah we have nextel): “hey honey, can you put a pot of water on to boil so i can blanch the peppers for dinner?” jason, beep beep: “um sure, can it wait a few? i am changing the cat litter.” me, beep beep: “oh, by allll means, please. and wash your hands.” jason, beep beep: “10-4.”

5:40 pm i realize i also need rice, but don’t want to mess with the litter master, so i decide it can wait. it’s minute rice, only takes a minute, right?

5:57 pm walk in the door. kiss hubby. pee. get out pot for rice. me: “honey, where’s the minute rice?” jason: “i finished it off last week, why?” me: (internal thoughts – mothertrucker, why did i not call this one in?) “ok, no problem, we’ll use brown rice”

6:40 pm brown rice is done cooking. damn the rice for messing up my “quick dinner” plan!

6:55 pm stuffed peppers are in the oven.

7:25 pm stuffed peppers just don’t look done yet.

7:40 pm stuffed peppers are plated and ready to be eaten.

i think this is why i don’t cook so much lately, it never goes as planned!

 

 

 

• 2-4 large red peppers (i’m talking extra large, this recipe easily makes 6-8 regular sized red/orange/yellow peppers)
• 1 pound ground venison (or beef), browned
• 1 cup brown rice, cooked according to directions (makes about 2 cups)
• 2 cups feta (divided 1.5 and 0.5 cup)
• 1 29 ounce can plain tomato sauce
• 1 14.5 ounce can italian stewed tomatoes, quartered (i am quite partial to the dei fratelli brand)
• 8-16 leaves fresh basil
• freshly shredded parmesan
• garlic*
• oregano
• crushed red pepper

 

first, preheat oven to 350. then, cook rice, brown meat, and bring a pot of water to boil to blanch peppers (enough to cover them all).

if you have the huge red peppers like i did (long and skinny – like 6 inches long) cut them in half and remove stems and seeds. if you have regular sized peppers, cut out stem and remove seeds (so you have a hollow pepper in which to drop the stuffing.) boil peppers about 3-5 minutes. this makes them more tender and cuts down on the oven time.

combine meat, rice, 1.5 cups feta, half the can of tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and half the fresh basil (chopped or cut into ribbons).  fill peppers and top with remaining sauce, feta, and a sprinkle of granulated garlic*, oregano, and crushed red pepper to taste. bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

to plate, serve a pepper topped with fresh basil and some freshly shredded parm. no doubt about it, the fresh basil makes the dish delish!

*about the garlic: normally, i would use fresh garlic and toss it in with the meat while i was browning it. but, my meat was already browned from the weekend, and i didn’t have any fresh garlic. so, i used granulated garlic (from penzey’s, it’s the best) as an afterthought, and it worked out perfectly with some oregano and crushed red pepper on top. 

this recipe makes a lot and can easily be halved, but also makes great leftovers!

 

12:04 am finish writing the delish. what the hell, i’m a night owl.

yeah, i totally miss blogging. i have been so bad lately… and it’s mostly because i feel like the things i am cooking are silly and not worthy. not worthy of a fancy picture, not worthy of a blog post, not worthy of actually writing down a “recipe,” not worthy of actually even eating sometimes! then there is the fact that jason has been doing a great deal of the cooking lately. he now gets out of work at 4 pm, usually home by 5, whereas i get out at 5 and am home by 6. yeah working so far away from home definitely has a downside. i still love the job, but if i came home every night and cooked the kind of meals i was making all summer, we’d be eating at 7-7:30, and jason is in bed by 9, so that just doesn’t work. 

i think that the delish definitely helped keep me accountable for what i was putting in my mouth. jason and i both laughed the other day at the spare tire we’ve picked up this winter. we’ve been eating easy meals and haven’t kept the proper balance of produce in the house. i’m going to try to be better at blogging, but here’s the thing, i’m just going to blog. i can’t make any promises about the healthfulness of all the meals, and i may not always post a photo and recipe. it might not even be about food. i just want to get back to writing everyday, it is kind of food for my soul. we’re just going to see where this goes.

so for now, i will brag that i got to visit horrock’s in battle creek yesterday… it was wonderful. i have no stores here that come close to comparison. the produce section blows my socks off. the sheer variety of goods is one of those crazy little things that excites me. it is kind of sad to be so excited by a grocery store, but that’s what i’m all about. i picked up a bunch of fresh basil that i have been fantasizing about all day. and red peppers so big and long i start to blush at the thought. the fact that half of the $200 bill went to cheese speaks to my heart on. whew. 

moving on. (wiping brow.) today i used some of the special noodles i got at horrock’s to make a childhood favorite. i had to beep beep betsy for the recipe… and moms came through big time. in non-recipe format, here is the recipe: skinny egg noodles (like spaghetti width) cooked in chicken broth with a generous amount of chicken soup base or bullion. you are not going to drain the noodles, so you have to eyeball the amount of liquid – enough to cover the noodles but be completely absorbed as they cook. sometimes you have to add more liquid, as i did. the result was a somewhat salty, creamy noodle dish that paired perfectly with the crockpot chicken. (cooked with one beer, and salt and pepper only.)

there you have it. it’s not health food and it’s not gourmet. but it tasted good!

vegetable turkey

ahh, thanksgiving. one of my favorite culinary holidays. one that i have hosted enough times to know when to take the turkey out of the freezer, when to go to walmart (and exactly what i can and can’t find there), what dishes i can prep or make on monday, tuesday, and wednesday and still be able to pull off the traditional feast on thursday. i love thanksgiving. it is perhaps the holiday most responsible for my love of cooking and my need to experiment in the kitchen. 

it all started one year when we had first moved to fort wayne and i wanted to get our families together for the big day. i was still quite a novice at cooking, but somehow managed to pull off a hot, fresh and in-time meal for eight people. ever since then, i have been addicted to thanksgiving. when jason started working at a job where they are never closed, i continued to host a meal for friends, family or just the two of us each year.

my normal thanksgiving eating plan goes something like this: skip breakfast, eat lots of appetizers, and then dive into the big meal late in the day or around regular dinner time. now a couple years ago, i had a bunch of friends here, and i knew the meal would be late due to arrival times. so, i thought, heck, i have all day, let’s make new things i’ve never tried before…  errrrr. wrong idea. dinner was served, oh about nine? of course, that was stopping to greet everyone as they arrived, share a beer, ya know. dinner was late. at least i am never short of appetizers.

the moral of that story – keep it simple! i learned that most everyone really does actually look forward to the traditional turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, all the regulars. you can throw a curveball in there like some artichokes with roasted garlic sauce or try your hand at emeril’s skillet cornbread. but all in all, my friends and family dig the tradition.

of course, i can’t just have straight up mashed potatoes. i learned long ago from my aunt marie, that cream cheese does wonders for the starchy staple. just throw a couple blocks in at mashing time, and people will gobble them up! (pun intended!)

green bean casserole? why not throw some real mushrooms in there, maybe some cheddar cheese, and top with your own carmelized onions? 

and who wants dinner rolls when you can have monkey bread? rhodes frozen dinner rolls, a block of extra sharp cheddar, cubed. wrap a slightly risen, uncooked dinner roll around a cube of cheese, pinch closed, dredge through some melted garlic butter and throw em all into in a bundt pan. cook at 350 until the tops are browned. 

stuffing, i never used to eat. then i found this cornbread stuffing from paula dean and i love it. not mushy at all!

the turkey is my pride and joy. i have this just about down to a science and it is always tender and juicy. *always* – everyone raves about my secret recipe. so lean in real close and i will whisper it in your ear… it’s just my hero, alton brown’s brined turkey – click here! follow the recipe to a tee and you can’t go wrong. 

(side note, speaking of turkey – i made the turkey mignons last week, and besides the rest of the meal flopping on me, the mignons were awesome. i found them at sam’s club.)

this year, thanksgiving will be at aunt marie’s house near washington, dc. being that i am flying out there, i can’t bring my own feast with me, so we’ll all be aiding in the kitchen this year, due to am being laid up from surgery. i have no fear that me, my mom and grandma will pull it off. my big responsibility is my famous turkey, which begins it’s preparation wednesday night! 

have a happy thanksgiving, everyone, and don’t forget to save the turkey bones to make turkey noodle soup! the carcass freezes well, so freeze it if you must, don’t just throw it away! i’m making the soup on friday, so i’ll be sure and post a recipe. 

meanwhile, here is a bold appetizer i made a few years ago. the recipe came from a magazine, and looks pretty, but in reality, there are some things on this tray nobody will eat. at least it’s a way to spice up those boring old veggie trays!

 

 

 

dip: (or put your own cheeseball/dip here)

• 3 – 8 oz pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 8 dried figs, (calimyrna if possible) stems removed & finely chopped
• 1/2 c. crumbled bleu cheese
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/4 tsp. hot sauce

 

vegetables:

• 1 lb. thin asparagus, 5″ pieces
• 2 c. broccoli florets
• kale
• 2 heads endive, leaves only
• 2 each red, yellow and orange peppers, sliced with 1/2 yellow pepper reserved for neck and wattle
• 1 rib celery, leaves reserved
• 1.5 c. baby carrots
• 1 english cucumber, diagonally cut into thin slices
• 1 small plum tomato
• 1 c. pecans
• 1 black olive

 

1 hour prep time, 2 hour chill time

 

dip: beat cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. stir in remaining ingredients. coat bowl with cooking spray. line with plastic wrap and transfer dip to bowl. cover and refrigerate at least one hour, up to two days.

vegetables: bring pot of salted water to boil; add asparagus. cook until just tender, about 30 seconds. meanwhile, fill bowl with ice water. with slotted spoon transfer asparagus to ice water. when cool, remove and pat dry. repeat with broccoli. 

arrange kale around two adjoining edges of platter. arrange endive, peppers and asparagus, overlapping slightly to make “tail feathers.”

uncover dip, invert onto corner of serving platter opposite tail feathers. position bowl so that celery rib and carrot “feet” line up with edge of platter. arrange cucumber slices around dip. 

remove bowl and wrap from dip. place tomato in center for “head.” place celery below. press nuts (reserve for just before serving) broccoli and celery leaves into dip for “feathers.” for “beak” halve 1 carrot crosswise. cut hole in tomato and insert carrot. for “eyes” cut dots from olive and attach to tomato with dip. trim reserved yellow pepper to make “feather” and “wattle.” place feather over celery under tomato. insert toothpick into tomato above beak, press “wattle” onto pick. add nuts just before serving.

(mine doesn’t have nuts, they would just cover the dip.)

taco pie

besides vinegar and slacker meals, we make a lot of stuff in this house. in fact, writing this, i just realized i can probably taste one of the pickles i made a couple months ago.

when i started my new job, our travel schedule was (still is) so hectic on the weekends that i began to worry i would not get to canning this year. so i planned it out carefully, and actually spent my day on labor day canning bloody mary mix. i am still kind of disappointed that i cannot find my recipe from last year, but i did it again this year and didn’t even attempt to write down a recipe. i forgot, but then i knew i forgot and could have done it, but decided… ehh what the heck. that’s part of the fun for me – just winging it. 

so i got out the trusty victorio strainer, hooked it up out on the deck, and cranked 2 bushels of tomatoes through that puppy. i saved the skins and seeds for salsa (see below) and then got out the juicer. i figured out last year that you really can juice just about anything. i started with about 6 different kinds of peppers and a few onions. ever so thrifty, i saved the pulp from the peppers and some of the onions to put in the salsa. then i carried on with carrots, celery, garlic, turnips, radishes – basically anything that i thought would give good flavor. last year, i tried juicing parsnips and decided that was utterly disgusting. this year, i picked up a horseradish root and ran that through the juicer. let me tell you – it totally put the finishing spice on the mix, but it made me cry worse than any peppers or onions i have ever juiced or sliced. that stuff is potent! all together, it yielded about 42 quarts of mix.

as i said above, i hate to see so much tomato, pepper and onion meat go to waste. and the thing of it is, it’s not like it’s a dried out pulp – there is still plenty of juice in there to make it work for you. so, then i took the juiced tomato and pepper/onion pulp and give it many laps around the bowl in the food processor, until the skins were nice and chopped up. cooked it for awhile on the stove, added more peppers as necessary and then added lots of black beans. my mom thought i was crazy for making “tomato skin salsa” but when i gave her a few jars, she said she ate almost a whole pint in one sitting! 

my friend kristi’s mom and dad have a huge garden chock full of peppers, so i had plenty of extras, and at the suggestion of sarah, decided to make pepper jelly. it was my first time making it, and since you have to use gelatin and you want it to set up right, i just followed a recipe i found on the internet. i’m not sure i am confident enough with my jelly skills to start experimenting there. regardless, it turned out quite delish! serve it over a block of cream cheese with some crackers, or use with meatballs and you can’t go wrong. 

i also made pickles and pickled asparagus. here, i am a little more daring, but pickling is kind of basic. i go for lots of peppercorns and garlic. and as i said, i haven’t tried those yet, so hopefully they turn out! the cucumbers came from someone at jason’s work and they were all crazy shapes and sizes, so they aren’t going to be winning any beauty contests, but with any luck, they’ll make a great garnish for bloody mary’s. 

last year, my mom and i started what i am hoping becomes a yearly tradition. she gets a couple bushels of tomatoes and makes stewed tomatoes and i do the bloody mary mix, then we trade a bunch so we have both. so, this weekend, i’m thinking of making a batch of chili with the stewed tomatoes and bloody mary mix. they are both on the spicy side, so they are perfect for chili. next year, if i can find the time, i may just try my hand at a plain tomato sauce that i can spice up as desired for pasta dishes. we shall see. heck, i’m just getting around to blogging about this year’s canning adventure, i really can’t be thinking about next year already!

i think jason was feeling left out in the craftiness category, so he has begun brewing his own beer. actually, he’s taken a long time to research and understand the process so that he can do it up right. i never thought there would be so much science or equipment involved, but i am still excited to taste his brews. he’s got a lot of ingredients around the house and in the fridge to make all kinds of beer. there are big glass carboys (huge jars, really) in various hiding spots throughout the house. he kind of took over one of the spare bedrooms with beer supplies. i hate clutter, so in a way this is slowly driving me crazy, but what can i do? i love the beer, too. 

he made one batch that we’ve got to try – a mead. mead is an interesting brew which can be made in the style of beer or wine, and it’s made with very simple ingredients: basically honey, water, yeast and spices if you like. of course, he made it in the beer style, but it still tastes a little bit like semi-sweet sparkling wine. it’s really, really good and i can’t wait till the next time we drink some!

for dinner this week, i’ve been trying to use up leftover soups and various food-saved concoctions in my freezer to make room for the venison from jason’s 6-point buck! i don’t know how, but my regular freezer and my deep freezer are both pretty full. this weekend, we’re cleaning them out and reorganizing, which should unearth interesting meal ideas from the bottom of the deep freezer. i think we still have some steaks down there from purchasing a half of beef, so we’re probably going to make some jerky, too! i’ll let you know the recipe if i come up with a good one!

with the eat-the-freezer quest going on, i haven’t made anything exciting, so i am sharing a recipe from my cousin annemarie. i believe this is from her mother-in-law. what i really love about this recipe is it is so open-ended… you can add just about anything to tacos! yum! tomorrow night, i am making the turkey mignons (which i’ve never had) and edamame, so i’m sure i’ll be able to concoct a decent meal for the delish. 

 

• crescent rolls
• 1 lb. ground beef/venison/moose etc.
• taco seasoning
• mexican blend of cheese
• taco toppings

preheat oven to 375.  place crescent rolls in pie plate to form a crust.  bake 11-13 minutes.

meanwhile, prepare beef as instructed on taco seasoning packet.  add a handful of cheese.  (i add black beans sometimes).

pour meat mixture into crescent crust and bake another 5 minutes or so.

top with your normal taco toppings and enjoy  this can be made fairly healthy by using 96% fat free beef (or venison), reduced fat crescent rolls, 2% cheese, and top with a lot of veggies, etc.

another end of week pack-up for another weekend trip. don’t get me wrong, i am excited as all get out… my brother is meeting me in fort wayne tomorrow night, and we’re road tripping out to st. louis for the national journalism convention – where my mom is getting a lifetime achievement award!! woot woot go mama, go mama, it’s your bigday, it’s your bigday!

her awards are too numerous to list, but i know that, as a teacher, it’s not the “a”wards that mean the most to her, it’s the “re”wards. she has expressed many times what it means to her to have influenced a student to pursue the difficult angle in a story, to climb the tree to get the best photo, to keep on tweaking until the page is balanced and eye-catching. she takes pride in empowering young journalists – writers, photographers and designers alike. 

and she is so good, that no matter how uncool it was in high school to do what your mom told you, she still has a daughter going on 12 years in the graphic design field, and a son making a name for himself designing the front page of the detroit news. not to mention her 400 friends on facebook, most former students, and many of them also pursuing a career that she had a hand in guiding them toward. word! you rock, mom!

 

and while we’re on the subject of mothers… haha, you had to know i was going to go there! time for a vinegar update!

might be hard to tell, but that spotty, wine-colored mess is my first successful mother of vinegar! it’s finally transformed into a slimy blob covering the top of the wine. folks, it looks perfect! i mean, exactly what i imagined it would be – i just did not know if it would work, and it did! here’s another pic:

i am hoping i did not harm it, but i took a spoon and moved it aside so that i could “feed” it with a little more wine. i’m pretty sure it’s ok. it’ll rise back to the top. this one, i started with a mother that i found in a brewery supply store. it was a blob floating in a jar in a watered-down cider-looking (vinegar-smelling) liquid. i simply dumped it in my crock with about 2 cups of sweet red wine, covered it with a cheese cloth. it needs to breathe, so the cheese cloth helps keep out other contaminates such as bugs and cat paws. it’s been going for about 6 weeks now, and i have been feeding it about a cup every 2 weeks. i think it looks pretty good – and it definitely smells like vinegar!

i haven’t gotten up the nerve to taste it yet. but, they say you can just siphon it off (like with a turkey baster) as you like, and it will just keep going and going forever. you have to maintain it as it ages, and it is good to break up the mother and pass it along to friends. so, if you want some, tell me! i don’t think we’re there yet, but soon…

i also have another crock going with a dry red wine vinegar started, but i am a little worried.

see how there is darkness in all the crackles? well, i can wipe that off with my finger, and it smells like wine. hmmm. i am just not sure about this one. it’s been going for 4 weeks, and does not show any sign of having a mother on the top. but – i have read that it can take up to 3 months – and the mother i started with was a little different. for this one, i used 2 cups cabernet savignon and 1 cup bragg’s apple cider vinegar, which is a raw, unfiltered vinegar with the mother. you can find this in most health food stores. the difference though, is, the “mother” in this one is just kind of a settlement of chunks at the bottom of the bottle, and not a big blob like my other mother. 

so, it might take longer to form. but, i also might have a problem with my crock. now i don’t know if the crock is contaminating my whole sample, or if i would be ok maybe just switching it out. i don’t know. i am going to give it more time and then probably dump it if it doesn’t work. if any readers have any insight, i’d love to hear it. 

another exciting tidbit – i found a “malt” vinegar mother a few weekends ago at the michigan brewing company. i do believe i start this one with beer. how exciting is that! haven’t done it yet, but maybe next week!

sorry, i don’t have a recipe to share today. we’ve been feeding off the goulash all week. next week, i’m planning on trying out some turkey mignons and some edamame that have been in my freezer for awhile, so stay tuned! have a great weekend!

goulash

well, the 4-wheeling trip was a total blast. quick roundup: it took us 6.5 hours to get there, with about 1.5 hours worth of stops. (hey, we had to get dinner!) got up bright and early both mornings, grabbed breakfast and headed out on the trails. it turned out to be 70 degrees and beautiful on friday, and only in the 40’s on saturday, which was fine with me, i packed for cold! sunday morning, we were up and out on the road before 8 am.

several people we were with have been there many times, and have regular trails and stop offs, such as “the rock,” which stands at the very corners of pennsylvania, maryland, and virginia:

“hay bale field,” which is named for the hay bales that are normally there this time of year:

my favorite was “the peach valve,” named after a peach colored valve on the trail which runs along a gas pipeline. check out this view:

then there was “the pavilion” and “the swamp,” where unfortunately, my camera battery was dead (i have video!) but jason had lots of fun getting stuck in the mud – and getting himself out!

then there was this:

yep, that’s jason in the red, and that is our 4-wheeler on it’s side! everyone keeps asking, were you scared? the answer is no – i never even saw it coming. i feel like i took a little nappy, and woke up on the ground, still straddling the machine. it was so surreal. then of course, i’m thinking – jason! are you ok?? we both were just fine, and so was the atv. we just came around a curve and hit a hidden stump or something and over we went. 

all in all, great trip, and i’d go again in a heartbeat. 

when we got home on sunday, we had just enough time to unload, change, and plate our dinners when the power went out. it stayed out till 11 pm that night, so instead of staying up late watching desperate housewives and brothers & sisters, i hit the bed early and felt totally rested on monday. 

which is why i was able to put a little effort into dinner!

 

 

 

• 1.5 lbs. venison burger (or beef)
• 1 box whole grain rotini (regular size, i forgot how many ounces)
• 2 tbsp. parsley
• 2 tbsp. oregano
• 2 tbsp. herbs de provence
• 1 tbsp. granulated garlic
• 29 oz. can tomato sauce
• 14.5 oz. can organic diced tomatoes
• 1/2 quart spiced stewed tomatoes
• 2 heaping tablespoons pesto*
• 1-2 cloves fresh chopped garlic

 

put a large pot of water on to boil for rotini and brown the meat in an oversized skillet or dutch oven. once the meat is just about cooked, add parsley, oregano, and herbs de provence. (if you don’t have this, use more of the others and maybe a little bit of basil and a tiny bit of sage.) allow the spices to cook with the meat about 10 minutes over medium heat.

your water should be about boiling. add rotini, and follow the instructions for “al dente” or err to the just barely undercooked side. 

add remaining ingredients to meat, and let simmer. once the pasta is cooked, drain and mix in with sauce. cover and simmer 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

*a note about pesto: this is perhaps my favorite ingredient to add to my sauces – be it homemade, or just to enhance a pre-made sauce. of course, i prefer it freshly made, but you can buy a jar of it at walmart. i recently found a brand, “sauces ‘n love – homemade” in the refrigerated section at sam’s club that i absolutely love for this use. i keep it in stock always!

 

 

garlic bread

 

• 2 thick slices homemade bread (or 4 slices regular)
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. mayo
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1/4 c. shredded fresh mozzarella
• 1/4 c. grated parmesan

 

this is basically sarah’s bread recipe, i just switched out the cheeses and lessened the portions. of course, i had to buy a loaf of homemade bread from the diner next door to our hotel in PA…

melt butter and combine with remaining ingredients. spread generously onto bread, and bake on a stone or cookie sheet at 450 degrees about 10 minutes – watch carefully – until cheese is just browning. yum!

mexican mix-up

jason and i and twelve others are leaving on a four-wheeling trip out to pennsylvania tomorrow night. of course, tonight has been one of those whirlwind nights… we’ve been packing all week, but tonight was the last ditch effort to get it all in order. you know, things like, change the kitty litter, mix up trail drinks, gather up clif bars and other, ahem… absorbent snacks, etc. etc. 

in the midst of all this, i got home and had dinner and the delish on my mind. i was trying to figure out what to blog about, and more importantly what healthy meal i could whip up with little time involved. if you can imagine a highly energized, excited, and busy person bouncing off every single wall in the kitchen, that would be me. jason was just kind of bobbing and weaving to avoid what could have been a traumatic injury to suffer prior to the big trip.

all of a sudden, i realized i needed to update you on the status of my vinegar. i grabbed the camera to take a picture of my pots and here is what i got:

 

 

yeah. maybe not the best time to try and get a shot of what the vinegar looks like (which really isn’t too interesting.) but fyi, i do have a sweet red wine vinegar and a cabernet savignon vinegar in the works. i don’t have a total slimy mother covering the top yet, but i know it’s close! i’ll have to choose a different night to give you all the details.

can we at least agree that i have scored in convincing jason to drink bud select? since it’s not only tasty, but also low carb, it’s a big step up from his choice of busch light. then there’s gatorade. and vodka. and pucker. don’t worry mom, we go easy on the trails, (can’t be having any foolish mistakes out there!) but you gotta have a little something for later, right? electrolights… not so bad, right? at least it’s better than coffee and bailey’s. come to think of it… we might get chilly. that sounds kinda good. *note to self* need to think on this one.

as you can see, my brain is everywhere right now. as it was when it finally clicked that i had no idea what to make for dinner. upon opening the fridge, i found a nice, big, fully cooked chicken breast from last night’s dinner. i contemplated a minute, then decided to go for a super-easy, zero effort meal. i’m tellin ya, this is how it’s been lately…

have a great weekend, everyone!

 

 

 

• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 large or 2 small chicken breasts, boiled and chopped
• 1 can organic diced tomatoes
• 1 can black eyed peas
• 1/2 cup salsa
• a few dashes hot sauce
• salt to taste

 

place rice and water in rice cooker and let it do it’s thing. (or just cook the rice, but if you don’t have a rice cooker, ask santa! they are usually $20-$30 and it cooks rice perfectly every time – i am rice-challenged, so i love it!)

my rice cooker switches over to “warm” when it’s done cooking – add chunked chicken, drained black eye peas, undrained tomatoes, and remaining ingredients, and stir. switch the rice cooker back to “cook” and let it go for 5 minutes. (set a timer, or it’ll overcook!) (and again, if you don’t have a rice cooker, just mix all the ingredients and heat on the stove for 5 minutes to meld it all together.)

i served on a plate with a dollop of low fat sour cream, a few jalepenos, and a handful of crunched up fritos (because i had them, tortilla chips work too.) the extra crunch and salt really made the meal. considering that everything else in the meal is pretty good for you, a small handful of chips isn’t going to hurt anything. 

it tasted awesome, and jason was impressed that i basically did nothing but throw ingredients together!

spinach ravioli and marinara

and sarah, and cindy, and mom, and aunt marie, and allison, and annemarie, and aunt jean, and all of my faithful followers who have inquired about the status of my blog. i seriously did not intentionally ignore you or give you flakey answers. i had really good intentions of responding with a blog. so here it is, a little late.

i’m back. and i need the delish like no girl has ever needed her blog before! 

the new job is still awesome. i am settling in just fine – but am just now figuring out my routines and getting back into the habit of focusing on healthier meals. it is different not having a couple-three days off a week to mosey around and cook extravagant meals. wah wah, i’m a big crybaby, i am fully aware! but when you have had two plus years of cake hours and oodles of free time, it is quite different to get up and leave the house at 7:45 am and arrive home at 6 pm *every day!* 

so yeah, i had a serious breakdown in the healthy cooking category. admittedly, there have been many nights where i have thrown a frozen meal in the oven or on the stove without even thinking about calorie content and fat grams. there have been nights when jason beats me home and makes an entire mexican meal from a can. *shudder*

then there’s the fact that jason worked in gas city for 5 weeks, or was it 6? i forget. the buffalo wings and the grinders and the pizzas are all running together in my memory. you see, it’s an hour and a half south of home – making that 40 minutes for me to get to work from home, or 50 minutes from gas city. of course i want to see my husband and keep him company, so i stayed in the hotel with him.

cook? i think i forgot how.

weight-wise, oh man. i just looked at some pics from august and can already tell i am gaining weight back. that hurts. reading back over my blogs, i realize how terribly far i have gone astray. i mean, damn, look at all these healthy and delish recipes. this bitch is back!!!

so, here’s my new plan: i might not blog every day, but it will be a minimum of twice a week. that there’s a promise. new focus: healthy and easy! so, bring it on girlfriends, if you have a quick and easy meal idea, bring it!

thanks, everyone for your continued support, and i hope to get back in your good graces!

 

 

with that said, here’s an example of a quick and easy meal i threw together. healthy? ehhh…

 

 

 

• fresh, storebought spinach ravioli (i found at sam’s club, yum!)
• fresh, storebought refrigerated marinara sauce (i found at sam’s club, yum!)
• 3-4 roma tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons pesto
• sprinkle of parm

cook ravioli according to package directions. warm marinara, chopped tomatoes and pesto in a saucepan and pour over ravioli. sprinkle with parm and you’re done! 

i think this took about 10 minutes. easy, breezy, not so creative-girl!