the "surfer on acid" roll at mountain town station in mt. pleasant. basically a california roll with extra wasabi.

for years, the thought of sushi totally grossed me out. i can remember eating caviar at the rehearsal dinner of a wedding i was in when i was 12. i can still remember the taste, and the immediate gag reflex. for some reason, i always associated that with sushi and seriously never thought i would ever eat it. 

flash forward probably 10 years. i remember being out to eat with some good friends, and my girlfriend kelly ordering tuna sashimi. she encouraged me to try it, and after much discussion, i finally did. i was shocked at how good it was. to this day, there are certain restaurants where i always order the tuna sashimi as my entree rather than my dinner. 

(yes, i have a weird memory. i can remember very specific events, and i have an especially good sensory memory. i can bring back the flavor memory of many, many things, as well as the smell of many things… the smell outside of jim beam distillery is one that i can close my eyes, take a deep breath, and it’s like i’m right there.)

even after years of eating sashimi, i somehow had myself convinced that it was totally different than sushi because it was a little bit cooked. still thought i’d never eat sushi. now, from what i understand, sashimi and sushi are both actually raw fish, it’s all about the accompaniment. so, now i’m all confused. what is that appetizer that i’ve been eating that is mostly raw with a light sear on the outside? somewhere, the lines have been blurred. 

if you can’t tell, i am a total novice at sushi. one day i was in the grocery store, and i saw some california rolls, and knowing there was nothing raw, i wanted to give it a try. i loved it, and still to this day, go back there a few times a month and get me some grocery store “sushi!” i know, i know. well, *now* i know.

everyone had been telling me about this restaurant in fort wayne – asakusa. i mean, i had at least three people that don’t even know eachother tell me it was the best sushi they ever had, and that they had relatives from chicago, or indy, or wherever, who say they can’t even get sushi this good in their city. i had been wanting to go there so bad, but my husband is totally not on board. (silly! i know he’ll like it, he likes everything in it!)

it was one month ago today, on my 30th birthday, that i got the real deal and – here goes that sensory memory again – my mouth totally waters at the thought. i was eating with my boss, who does not like overly spicy, so he sent me to get the takeout and that was the only instruction i had. me, who had never once had real sushi. i had to phone a friend on the way there. thank god for the picture menu! 

i was totally nervous and pored over that menu for a good 15 minutes. i was still a little nervous about the raw stuff, so i stuck with a straight up tuna roll, since i knew what that tasted like. i also got a dragon roll (i think) which from outside to inside, had avocado, rice, seaweed, rice, shrimp tempura and spicy crab. (nothing raw in this one, and i was told it was not very spicy.)

nowwwww, i see why my friends laugh when i tell them about the “sushi” i buy at the grocery store. the grocery store that is right across the road from asakusa. there is nothing quite like it. i am somewhat ashamed to say, i still get the grocery store stuff because it is so convenient, and costs a lot less. but now, i want to go back to asakusa with a group of friends and sample it all! i am totally hooked, and have been craving it ever since the last time. 

what i really wonder is, can i actually make something that good at home? i seriously doubt it. but you know i’m going to try! i have a good record of replicating restaurant food. but sushi is a whole other ball game. i actually have the sticky rice, the seaweed wraps, and even the sashimi grade tuna in the freezer. (but yeah, it’s in the freezer!)

i think the hardest part is going to be the rice. it has to be perfect. it’s definitely going to take some experimentation. the next tough part is, where on earth to get sushi grade fish around here? i got the tuna at a store in fort wayne, but the last time i went, they were out, and said they didn’t know when they would get it again.

so that leaves me in a conundrum. maybe it’s arrogance, but i feel like i can do it. i know it’s not going to be perfect the first time. maybe not even the second time. but i still want to try it.

have you ever made sushi at home? how did it turn out? should i just stick to the restaurant?

don’t get me wrong, we still cook interesting food. we try to be as healthy as possible, too. i love summer the most because i have so many more options for fresh produce. like tomatoes – i would never go buy one of those big beefsteak tomatoes at walmart in the winter time and slice it up and eat it with a fork like i would in the summertime. it is just not the same vegetable. fruit. whatever! 

i have a bad habit of going to the produce stand and just buying everything because it looks so good and i’m excited to see it. then, real life sets in and the next weekend comes around and i still have a whole bunch of produce. because what happens during the week? we have a couple nights of big fancy dinners, and then we get burned out, and we go back to something easy.

it’s funny though, looking back several years, what used to constitute an “easy” meal was a bowl of rice, a box of mac ‘n cheese, a can of soup, a frozen box meal, etc. we have evolved over the years to different foods and different styles, completely.

generally, all of our meals are cooked on the grill during summer. with no ac, we do try and avoid turning on the oven, stovetop, crockpot or any other appliance that’s going to generate heat inside the house. so, when we’re trying to cop out and have an easy meal, it must either be cooked in the microwave or require no cooking. knowing what i know now, i don’t buy frozen meals, mac ‘n cheese or any of the old standbys. (did you know americans eat more than 2 million chef boyardee raviolis each year?)

even though i’m calling them easy meals, they are not all that easy. i run short of options. baked potatoes and nachos are the only things i can think of offhand that we cook in the microwave, besides leftovers. so that’s a short list. meals that require no cooking whatsoever are a little less limited. there are always sandwiches and salads. but we oftentimes find ourselves pulling out all of the “appetizers” we have and having a plethora of items. 

the appetizer meals are quite popular in our house. we actually love them, and they are so easy. we always have an inordinate amount of cheese in our fridge, so that’s where it starts. then we pull out anything else we may have (especially whatever’s open). at any given time, we have several kinds of dips, salsas, olives, peppers and pickles, breads and crackers. if i suddenly could not go to the grocery store, i think we could eat off the food in our freezers and cupboards for 4-6 months. it’s a sickness.

that’s the beauty of it though. i can put out a bunch of random foods with a bottle of wine and we eat like kings. usually, our appetizer meals consist of cheese, crackers, olives, pepperoni or salami, pesto, hummus, maybe some bread, crab dip… whatever’s in the fridge. the two trays shown in the above photos were actually one meal. one fantastic meal! my birthday gift from my brother was 12 different kinds of cheese, and we’re still working on those. with the cheeses, we had beer bread (a gift from my coworker, lea, thanks!) with spicy brown mustard (homemade by cindy, thanks! it keeps getting better as it ages.), pesto, and a couple kinds of crackers. and cream of balsamic, of course. oh and can’t forget the 6 pepperonis we had left in the fridge, ha. gotta use it up somehow.

if you have not ever made yourself an appetizer or “antipasto” tray for dinner, i highly recommend it. it’s easy, fast, and a great way to use up open items in the fridge.

do you have any easy meal ideas that you love to make?

the fridge was stocked, groceries fresh. we had all the fixins for breakfast. somehow by the time we were up and around, it was definitely approaching late morning and by the time we started to think about eating it was approaching noon. i’ve never been much of an egg fan because they upset my stomach. that always makes breakfast somewhat of a challenge. so, i did not want your typical bacon, eggs and toast. bleh. 

and this is how my meals come together. instead of thinking of a basic meal and just whipping up something simple or following a recipe, i always try to decide what i have in the fridge or in the cupboard that has to be used up. sometimes it makes for crazy combos. but it works.

on this particular day, i knew right off that i had eggs, bacon, baguette, and fresh tomato. and by fresh tomato, i mean a big wonderful specimen from my local farm stand. locally grown, and fresher than fresh. holy yum. i knew i had to work that in somehow, and i really wanted to use that baguette. then i remembered that i also had some hard boiled eggs that needed to be used. time to think outside the box. 

bacon, egg and tomato sandy

• sliced baguette (2 per sandwich, and if you’re hungry, you’ll probably eat 2 or 3)
• hard-boiled egg (2-3 slices per sandwich)
• bacon (1 long strip per sandwich, broken into 2-3 pieces)
• tomato (sliced, and cut in half if it’s a biggun, 1-2 pieces per sandwich)
• spreadable cheese (something with a little zip, such as stonemill kitchens’ three cheese peperoncini spread (found at walmart), my fav!)
• salt & pepper

the first step is to cook the bacon. preferably on a griddle. once it’s cooked, save a little bit of the grease and toast your baguette on both sides in it. sounds kinda bad, but we’ve been using the bacon grease to cook in as long as i can remember, way back to mom’s breakfast potatoes and eggs. it’s not the healthiest, but adds so much flavor. 

while the bacon is cooling and the baguette is toasting, slice up the egg and tomato. i opted not to use the egg slicer because i wanted the slices to be a little heartier. 

once the baguette is toasted, spread a little cheese on one side of each piece. now, i usually have several different spreadable cheeses in my fridge – everything from laughing cow light, to cream cheese, rondele, pinconning or horseradish. the stonemill kitchens’ three cheese peperoncini is my new favorite, for everything from crackers to sandwiches. it has so much flavor, and the peperoncini gives it a great amount of zip – just enough to really kick this sandwich up a notch!

assemble the sandwiches and promptly devour. i did egg on the bottom, then bacon and tomato. a great “brunch” sandwich – not quite breakfast, not quite lunch!

pizza is something just about everyone loves. probably partly because it tastes good, partly because it’s easy to call in a delivery order, and partly because of all the different options. these days, everyone wants it “my way.” what better way to feed a family of four than to custom order a combo for each person? as our society is progressing into a more healthy, foodie bunch of consumers, the pizza horizons are broadening. crusts come in deep dish, hand tossed, thin crust, white, wheat and whole grain. sauce? depending on where you go, you can get several types of tomato sauces, oil based sauces, pesto sauces, barbecue sauces, white sauces and more. toppings, ha. i’ll sound like bubba gump if i begin listing all the toppings. 

i think that’s the biggest reason the ol’ pizza pie holds such popularity. the possibilities are limited only to your imagination. what surprises me is how seldom people actually make pizza at home. and when they do, they are buying pre-made doughs and sauces. this is a good way to start if you don’t know what you’re doing, but once you break in the glove a little bit, making a pizza from scratch is really not that hard. i’ve blogged about it before, but i’ll revisit some of the high points.

the trickiest part is the dough. i’m not going to give you a recipe because i don’t make the dough in this family. but i’ll tell you this: once you find a recipe, you can make it however you want. jason normally uses 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 white flour. you can go heavy on the oil for a flakier crust, heavy on the flour and water for a firmer crust. play around with your yeast. make it and bake it right away if you’re pressed for time – you don’t have to let it rise. it may not be as airy as if you let it rise, but it’ll still taste good. i can’t say enough about this process after watching jason over the years: experiment, experiment, experiment. if you follow a basic recipe and add a little more or less of this or that, you’re not going to mess it up too badly. you know what dough should feel like when you knead it, just make sure it can form a ball and roll out without leaving half of it on your hands or the rolling pin.

we are always making homemade pizza. i would say once a week. that gets tough in the summer time: when you live in a house with no air conditioning, turning on the oven can be a pretty daring move. but still, we do it, because we love it. click here for a sampling of our recent pies…  last week, jason made a big batch of dough and broke them up into individual balls, wrapped them in saran wrap and stuck them in the fridge. this is a great time saver, and also gives the dough an extended period of time to rise and get nice and airy. i was talking on the phone with sarah when she told me about a pizza she had made on the grill. i was instantly intrigued and suggested the idea to jason. i could tell he was hesitant to try it. he thought the dough would take too long and not cook properly on the grill. then my brother told me he made a pizza on the grill. i stewed on it all week, knowing we had that dough in the fridge.

one day, i thought about it all the way home from work. i knew it could be done, i just had to bite the bullet and experiment! i got home and took charge of dinner. first, i preheated the grill. then, i rolled out the dough real thin. since i am lacking a grilling tray, i decided to try it out on foil. i made a double layer of foil, coated the bottom with olive oil, put the dough on, and brushed the top with olive oil. 

i turned the grill down to low, put the dough on, closed the lid, and went back inside to slice up veggies. after about 10 minutes, i came back out and here is what the dough looked like:

in my opinion, it couldn’t have turned out more perfect! the only thing i should have done differently is had the veggies ready to go on the grill at the same time as the dough, because i was not expecting the dough to cook that fast. so i took the dough off the grill and put the veggies on. i used zucchini, yellow squash and red onion. i sliced them pretty thin – next time i will go just a tad thicker, maybe about 1/4″ thick. i put them on dry – with only a little salt and pepper, because i have had too many experiences where the oil makes the veggies get soggy, and i did not want that. grilled them up on both sides and brought the dough back out to assemble. i used pesto as the sauce, and i also had some leftover beer butt chicken that i chopped up and put on there. mozzarella and parmesan finished it out. for this pizza, i put the cheese on top because now that the veggies were grilled, i wanted them to retain their moisture and not dry out while waiting for the cheese to melt. i left it on the grill about another 10-15 minutes until the cheese melted.

the end result? a party in my mouth. no, not just a party, a celebration! the flavors and the consistency all came together perfectly. i don’t think i could have done it better myself.

i mean, just look at that. divine. i am a proud mother. 

the moral of the story is: sometimes you just gotta throw caution to the wind. just because people don’t normally make pizza on the grill doesn’t mean it can’t be done. i hereby dare you to step outside of your comfort zone and try something new for dinner. post a comment here and let me know how it goes!

cream of balsamic. if you are a freak over vinegar like i am, you must try this stuff. 

i will never forget the first time my tastebuds got turned onto balsamic. we were standing in the kitchen at allison’s parents house, at just the time we were both really starting to enjoy cooking. i don’t remember what we were talking about or why it came out, but allison had me try a little bit of balsamic on a spoon. it was in a small crock jar with a cork. i am pretty sure she said her mom had gotten it at the ann arbor art fair. i remember at the time thinking, how weird is this to be eating vinegar from a spoon? allison encouraged me to just try it and i would be surprised. it was thick. it was sweet. it didn’t have that nose-tingling, almost-makes-you-cough aroma and biting taste that most people associate with vinegar. it was full of flavor and downright delish. from that moment, i have had an obsession with balsamic vinegar, which has turned into a love of all things vinegar related.

in my cupboard right now, without looking, i would venture to guess i have five to six kinds of balsamic, and five to six other kinds of vinegar, not including my homemade red wine vinegar and the bottle of balsamic i keep at work. i just love the stuff, and i am forever on a quest for different flavors of age, barrel, and process. i know that as balsamic ages, it gets thicker and sweeter. to get the true aged balsamic, you’re going to pay big bucks. i’ve seen (and drooled over) bottles that cost $150, $200 and up. no, i have never bought one.

now, my brother, tyler, has introduced me to this wondrous substance called cream of balsamic. it is everything i imagine those $200 bottles to be. (well, just about everything, but at that price, i’m willing to run with it.) it is thick and sweet and delish! the kind in the above picture is a brand called isola, but a quick google search shows there are many brands, which i would think you could find at your high end grocery stores. i know tyler gets it at zingerman’s in ann arbor.

basically, cream of balsamic is an artificially aged vinegar. it has been cooked and reduced, and in some cases, infused with flavors to simulate the $200 bottles. to me, totally worth it. one day when the stock market picks up, maybe i’ll get rich and buy all the true aged balsamic i can find. for now, this is it. 

what to do with it? it’s great on cheese – especially semi-hard to hard cheeses. use it in any way that you would use regular balsamic, but treat it with a little more respect. as weird as it sounds, try it on fruit such as strawberries or fresh pineapple. once you’ve tried that you can graduate to ice cream. trust me, your taste buds will thank you.

speaking of balsamic and fruit… i have a new “second favorite” vinegar. pineapple balsamic. i picked some up at fustini’s oil & vinegar shop in traverse city, mi. i bought it because it tasted great. i didn’t really know what i was going to do with it. until one day i bought a pineapple and a bunch of other fresh fruit, but i forgot lemons. i started brainstorming what i could do to this fruit salad to make it special. i considered a splash of white wine or champagne, but then i remembered the pineapple balsamic. best idea i ever had. 

balsamic fruit salad

• 1 pineapple
• 1 carton strawberries
• 1 carton blueberries
• 3 nectarines
• 4 plums
• 1/2 bag green grapes
• 1/4-1/2 cup pineapple balsamic vinegar

clean and chop all fruits and toss with vinegar. super easy, super delish.

i have a couple different kinds of pesto in my fridge, and i use it all the time. sam’s club carries two kinds i absolutely love: one is the member’s mark brand which is thicker and a little heavier on the cheese – great with cheeses, crackers, bread and tomatoes. the other kind is sauces ‘n love homemade pesto, which is greener – a little lighter on the cheese, heavier on the basil and oil, which is perfect for pastas and meats.

i believe everyone should enjoy regular use of this wonder ingredient. don’t be scared of the fat content in pesto, it’s all of the good-for-you monounsaturated fats from olive oil and basil is packed with vitamins and other goodies. (read more about the health benefits of olive oil by clicking here and basil here).

later in the season, i will probably clean off my basil plants and make my own batch of pesto. nothing quite compares to the homemade stuff, but to make a decent sized batch takes so many leaves, i usually have to buy more herbs and those are somewhat hard to come by around here. that, and i like to use the fresh basil in so many other ways that i’d rather save it for day to day use. and did you know pesto freezes very well? learned that from my girl kristi! it works out great to use really small tupperware, or put it in an ice cube tray and freeze, then foodsave.

here’s the basic list i came up with for my mom. if you have any other creative ways you like to use pesto, leave a comment! i’m always on the hunt for new ideas.

• slice up a fresh tomato, top with salt & pepper, fresh mozzarella and pesto (in the above pic, i have also used cream of balsamic)
• serve as a side with cheese and crackers
• use as a sauce for homemade pizza
• use as a dinner pasta sauce
• toss in with pasta salad

• take a baguette, slice it up, drizzle with olive oil and bake till it’s toasty. top with fresh mozz, a slice of tomato and a dabble of pesto 
• use in place of garlic/butter and top with mozzarella cheese for garlic toast
• use as a sauce for chicken or tuna salad, with or without mayo
• put it on any kind of sandwich, bagel, ciabatta, etc
• mix with mayo or cream cheese for sandwiches or bagels
• mix in a little olive oil so it is thinner and drizzle over any meat or fish
• mix with mayo and sour cream for veggie dip
• add to soup (such as my mom’s tomato spinach swiss soup, recipe here)
• toss with redskin potatoes or roasted potatoes
• mix with ricotta when you make lasagna
• spread on fish, wrap in foil and grill or bake
• use as a marinade, adding a little extra oil and white wine

stay tuned this week, new blogs are written and will be posted at 9 am on weekdays.

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!

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?

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!

italian style stuffed red peppers

• 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.

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!