Roughing It

The last two weeks at our house have just been torture.

Having four great cooks in the building has raised our daily culinary integrity significantly.

Here's a few of the menus in the last few days: (you can assume it's made from scratch unless specified otherwise)

(This Morning)
Blueberry Muffins (Krusteaz mix) with a Streusel topping (created by Jenny) topped with Trader Joe's Cranberry-Apple butter and fresh Starbucks coffee.

Pumpkin Muffins (Trader Joe's mix) with a Streusel topping (created by Jenny)

Wonky Chicken (secret recipe by our friend Andrew), Asparagus grilled with rosemary infused olive oil (Jenny), grilled peaches with goat cheese and balsamic vinegar (Jenny), fresh watermelon from a farmers' market with balsamic and feta (Levi), Cucumbers soaked in balsamic and white balsamic (Jenny & Levi), chocolate-covered coconut balls (Me).

Goat cheese stuffed chicken breast (Levi), Alfredo (Levi) over whole wheat spaghetti (boxed noodles), french bread garlic bread (Me.)



Balsamic chicken (Levi), Basmati rice with balsamic, sauted onions, fresh cherry tomatoes from our garden and feta (Jenny), tzatziki made from lemon and green cucumbers from our garden (Me).

Semolina Fettuccine (Scott) and Homeward Bound Marinara (Scott).

Moroccan Lentil Soup (Levi), Hummus (Levi), Tzatziki (Levi) and pita bread (store-bought).

Fettuccine Alfredo (noodles by Scott, sauce by Levi)

Any rotten day has been instantly improved by stepping over the threshold into a house of such culinary delights.

Anyone hungry?

Only A Little Unbalanced

Days like today are what make people think that I'm bipolar. I slept in until about 2:30pm, watched dvr'd tv for about 5 hours, went back to bed for another 3 hours, then got up, went to the grocery store (at midnight) and have been cooking since I got back.

I made a pot of Ecuadorian Potato Cheese Soup (recipe will be posted on the food blog shortly), a large pan of Apple Crisp (to be baked tomorrow) and there is a new variety of hot sauce simmering on the stove now. I decided to join in the fray and see if I can come up with a recipe that I like that can be marketed to the "mild" crowd.

Soon I will go back to bed. Tomorrow will be a more "normal" day... I'm supposed to have lunch with a friend, run errands, and make dinner.

But for today, I have enjoyed being completely lazy and then manic!

Updates

see more dog and puppy pictures

I went to the doctor this last Monday, mostly because I needed to find a doc here in GA for prescription refills and such, but we're also going to start trying to find out if there's anything amiss in our efforts to get pregnant.

Along with that, I wanted to switch anti-anxiety meds NOW instead of after becoming pregnant, because who needs raging hormones AND withdrawal?! As it turns out, Lexapro is actually safe to take while pregnant. I am currently on 20mg and will try to go down to 10mg, but not having to switch at all is a big relief.

Life has been hectic lately... It seems like the last few weeks my brain has only been capable of work, food and sleep.

Fortunately I love my job and I actually perform better with a bit of pressure, so things are going great in that aspect.

The house is a little chaotic, we have a guest at the moment and I feel really bad when I keep coming home and she has cleaned my kitchen! I'm off today though, and plan to get a head start on her so she can just relax.

In the food arena I'm trying to eat on a regular basis, which has been hard with everything that's been going on, but I'm down to about 125lbs without trying and if I am going to get pregnant I'll need to be better about nourishing myself.

EXTRA Love Day

Scott had to work Saturday morning and I closed the store Saturday evening. When I arrived home around 10:30pm I was anticipating some macaroni and cheese for a late dinner.

From the moment I opened my car door in the garage, I could smell that there was something happening in the kitchen that was a bit more than macaroni and cheese.

Scott made me home-made ravioli, complete with home-made filling and a butternut squash sauce.

It was fantastic.

Happy Valentines Day to ME!

Black Friday

Our dinner turned out fabulously, we will be posting pics and some recipes over on Are You Gonna Eat That? - our new food blog.







Buster got to enjoy some Thanksgiving dinner, and he was quite happy about it. Even the cats got a tiny bit of potatoes, stuffing, turkey and gravy - although they didn't really eat much besides the turkey and potatoes (and I'm sure that's because the potatoes were loaded with butter, goat cheese and sour cream).

We spent the evening watching TV, napping, snacking on leftovers and surfing the internet.

When I picked up a shift on Wednesday afternoon, my boss asked me to work today from 11am to 3pm. With that in mind I set the alarm clock for 9:30am and went to sleep around 2am.

At 8am my phone rang and it was my boss. Apparently I was actually scheduled for an 8am to Noon shift and she had given me the wrong schedule. She asked if I could come in right away and I complied.

I raced through my ablutions and managed to get to the store by about 8:40am.

For "Black Friday" it really wasn't bad at all. I helped a few people find some things, cashed several people out and did some unpacking of freight in the stock room - then it was time to go home!

I ate some more mashed potatoes and gravy and then took a several-hour nap.

Scott started on a batch of hot sauce this afternoon and I've been working my way through mass amounts of laundry.

Thanksgiving Dinner?

In honor of one of the cooking-est days of the year, Scott and I have started a cooking blog together!

You can find it HERE.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Big Task

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day (US).

Today is/was Wednesday.

Today I worked a four-hour shift at Pier One mostly putting together furniture. I'm enjoying my job there and hoping to work hard enough that they decide to hire me as a full time employee and put me on salary.

Yesterday Amy, Carrie and I spent the day in Aiken, SC. My first order of business was getting two very important letters mailed; one to our former landlord requesting all of our money back since they did not send us anything in writing within thirty days that they were intending to keep some of it, and the second to a former renter that still owes me $750. I'm hoping it will scare him enough to just come up with the money right away.

After that was taken care of we went into the downtown historic area and spent a little time in some of the galleries and shops. In an art gallery we saw an entire exhibit of paintings of places in Key West! It made me even more Key-West-sick than I have been lately (which is quite).

Once we were done window shopping we continued to Hitchcock Woods to hike and take pictures. Some of the paths were more sand than dirt so our legs got quite a workout. As we were arriving there was a group of fox-hunters coming out of the woods. The horses AND dogs were beautiful, and I admired the outfits of the riders as I am more used to seeing western saddles and dress than the english version.

As it started to get colder and a little darker we made our way back to the car and then on to Moe's, a wonderful mexican grill fast food joint. As I had eaten a sandwich right after my business at the Post Office, I wasn't as hungry, so I contented myself with a big bowl of guacamole, fresh chips and an icy Cherry Coke.

Finally full (and warm!) we were off to the Hobby Lobby, which I had never experienced before. For those in the northwest it's similar to a Craft Warehouse only even BIGGER if you can believe that! The selection is just incredible. We had a great time just browsing through everything and I spent a little of what little cash I had to buy two 8x10 frames for a couple of our wedding pictures.

Carrie took a lot of pictures of ornaments and Amy trying various ones on her head while I marveled at everything around me. Once we pulled ourselves away from Hobby Lobby we went to Lowes, where we acquired ten 50-lb bags of gravel that Amy and Carrie are putting down in the back yard (it WAS all mulch, but the dogs keep digging it up). Our final stop was Kroger where the girls stocked up on groceries and by the time we left the parking lot I was well packed into the back seat!

As we pulled into Amy's driveway Scott called, wondering if I was ever coming back... I assured him that I would be on my way shortly.



Scott and I are planning to cook Thanksgiving dinner for just the two of us (and the animals). I had invited several friends and family members from near states but they all had previous plans, so it will just be us.



Our Menu:
Turkey (Scott is making this and he and Buster will eat it. I may try a bite if it smells good.)
Stuffing (We are each making some, winging our own recipes. Mine is sourdough & mushroom.)
Salad (just a plain old green leaf lettuce and whatever veggies are on hand)
Mashed Potatoes (with goat cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, chives and butter)
Gravy (my uncle's recipe in which there is white wine and mushrooms and a few other things)
Pumpkin Cheesecake (it just went in the oven)

We're watching various tv shows thanks to our Comcast dvr and I'm pausing them to cook now and then.

Life Grinds Slowly Back Into Gear

I started orientation at Pier One today.

I was scheduled to have an interview there at 2pm on Friday. Yesterday at about 4pm I realized that it WAS FRIDAY.

I should have deduced that it was Friday because I watched CSI the night before, wished a friend happy birthday only to have him tell me "thanks, but it was yesterday", but it took looking at the TV Guide website telling me it was Friday to figure it out.

Fortunately my interviewer was understanding and when I called to assure her that I am NOT a total flake, she told me to come in for the interview right away.

It's nice to be working again, although it makes me very store-sick for the pet store in Key West.

This afternoon Scott and I planned out our Thanksgiving Day meal and then went to the grocery store to stock up, first having dinner at a Thai restaurant next door to Publix.

During dinner we talked about ideas for a poor-economy Christmas and came up with some rather good ones, I think.

I got started tonight on one of the major projects, I would say I'm about one-fifth of the way done with it and haven't spent a dime. I'm hoping that the recipient thinks it's as kickass as I do... if someone made this present for ME I would LOVE it.

The other highlight of the evening was when Scott discovered that it's a bad idea to feed The Stink from the couch. This results in her constantly wanting up to see if there's more and then wanting down to look for it herself.

Home Cookin'

I made a very tasty meal a couple of nights ago without any recipes...

Reese's Vegetarian Stuffed Bell Peppers

2 parts water to 1 part rice (I made two cups of rice tonight and it was about four times what I needed for two peppers): Put the water in the pan, add a package of taco seasoning and bring to a boil. Add the rice, cover, turn burner off and let cook for a half hour.


Meanwhile...back at the ranch...

preheat oven to 350

Cut the tops off the bell peppers - about an inch from the top. Discard the stem and dice the rest of the tops.

Saute the diced tops in a pan with half a white onion, also diced and some olive oil. Add in about four cloves of garlic, diced. Once the onions and peppers start to soften, add in a package of Boca burger crumbles and stir occasionally for about another five minutes, then turn the burner to low.

Clean out the bottoms of the bell peppers. Drizzle a little olive oil in the bottom of the peppers and in the bottom of a covered baking dish. Place the bell peppers open side up (covered) into the preheated oven for about fifteen minutes. Take them out of the oven and turn them right side down in the dish, cover again and cook for another fifteen minutes.


After the second fifteen minutes, sprinkle the inside of the peppers with a pinch of kosher salt. Layer spoonfuls of the rice with layers of the burger/peppers mixture. Put back in the oven for about five to ten minutes.

Sprinkle a tiny bit of shredded cheddar on top.

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Black Bean Quesadillas...

I mixed a can of diced green chilies (drained) in a bowl with about an equal amount of drained canned black beans.

Cover a cookie sheet with tin foil, put a flour tortilla on the pan, sprinkle a thin layer of shredded jack cheese and place in the oven on the bottom rack (still at 350) for about five or ten minutes - until the tortillas start to get crispy and the cheese is melted. Take out of the oven and move from the pan. Lay down new tortillas, another thin layer of cheese then spoon a bit of bean/chili mix on each tortilla and place the first round of tortillas w/ cheese on top. Back in the oven for about five to ten minutes - until the cheese is all melty.

Serve with guac and sour cream.

My trip...

This is going to be mostly pictures, at least at first... with a bit of narration in between.

Friday I left Key West around 4:30pm. This was the plane I took to Fort Myers.

I got to sit next to the pilot.


The views were amazing.

After a quick connection in Houston, I arrived into Portland around 11pm and after being picked up, was immediately dropped off to join Chelsea's bachelorette party.

They had already completed three events and were now salsa dancing and doing karaoke.

I closed out the night with Billy Joel's Piano Man and Monica and I went back to her house and everyone crashed.

Saturday morning I was supposed to be at the dressmaker's house at 9am, and once Monica and I made a quick trip to Starbucks and wandered around the long way, we arrived. The dress fit fine, and she measured the hem.

Then we proceeded with the days' events - church, lunch, a wedding in Salem. Through the course of the day I managed to down about four times my usual caffeine quota and had no nap. This lead to my anxiety attack Sunday morning around 1:30am that lasted until around 6am... I finally got to sleep around 7:30am and slept until 10am, when I got up and had to go and fetch my bridesmaid dress.

The wedding on Sunday was at Bridal Veil Lakes, a beautiful location a bit outside of Portland up the Columbia Gorge. The wedding theme was 70's...and the guests were also requested to dress in theme.
It was quite a large turnout and the whole afternoon was a riot. I disintegrated into a walking heap of sleep around 6:30pm (the wedding started at 3pm) and Mom and Lou took me back home where I crawled into my bed on the couch and didn't get up until 10am on Monday.

Monday was Monica's birthday, so we started off the day with breakfast with another friend and one of Monica's sisters-in-law at Biscuits Cafe in Clackamas. We enjoyed fabulous omelettes that come with pancakes AND hashbrowns.
After a day of shopping, 30 of us gathered at Claim Jumper in Clackamas to celebrate her birthday, then I went back to Mom's, packed, tried to nap, and was dropped off at the airport at about 11:15pm. I checked in and my flight left just after midnight.

This trip was way too quick. I barely had time to breathe.

When You're Poor...

You eat everything in the house.

I have started to make my way through the freezer and cupboards to see how fabulous I can be with what we've got.

I'm going on a west-coast trip and Scott is going on a three-week business trip, so I'm not really wanting to stock up on groceries until after we are back.



I googled "Sour Cream and Blueberry muffins" and took a look at the options... I decided to go with the first one that came up, I transcribed in onto some nice paper (in case it is worthy of keeping).

I don't have fresh blueberries, so I just left the bag of frozen blueberries out on the counter for about an hour while I waited for the butter to soften and did some dishes.



I think this is my first time making muffins (at least since I was a child and made them with my Grandma) and I think they look pretty good!



I'll let you know how they taste in a minute.

Nom nom nom.

They're really good.

Food.

You may have figured out by now that I'm a bit of a foodie.

When Jenny and I go to restaurants we take pictures of our food. When we cook, we take pictures of our food.

I love eating, cooking, reading cookbooks, looking at pictures of food, watching The Food Network...

There are several amazing restaurants in and near Key West.

The best ON the island is The Rooftop Cafe, closely followed by The Cafe. On Cudjoe Key is the Square Grouper, and in Tavernier is Chad's Deli.

Tonight I made home-made tacos. For some reason this is one of my favorite meals in any circumstance. I don't know if it's the fried shells (corn or flour), or the combination of fresh chopped white onion, sour cream and a little salt.

The mix of flavors and textures is just perfect.

I ate myself silly.

Dinner Plans 1, Husband 2, My Own Laziness 2

So here was the plan:
Tuesday - Veggie BLTs on rye, with Morningstar Farms fake bacon strips, swiss and avocado along with the "L" and "T".
Wednesday - Burritos (to use up the last of the home-made chili from the birthday party)
Thursday - Ravioli Lasagna based on a Rachael Ray recipe, but with what I have already in my cupboards, and a Romaine hearts salad with a vinaigrette based on another RR recipe.
Friday - Stuffed Bell Peppers. RR has a recipe for a stuffed pepper and I have one from a family friend, I'll probably combine them and twist it up a bit.
Saturday - Egg Noodles with Mushrooms (another RR recipe) and some sliced fresh fruit.


What ACTUALLY happened...
Tuesday: Scott made chili dogs for friends that came over for a work pow-wow.

Wednesday: I came home and went straight to bed, getting up at 1:30am to check on something at the store and Scott and I went ahead and went to McDonald's and got fries and burgers (mine without any meat).

Thursday: I made the Ravioli lasagna... although with marinara I had in the fridge and sauteed mushrooms instead of spinach. I also made a variation on the vinaigrette, although with lime juice instead of lemon curd, and I added fresh basil in addition to the chives. It was quite tasty.

Friday: I stayed at work until 10:20pm (having gone in at 11:20am) and then went to Denny's by myself and had a large salad and a small grilled cheese sandwich.


Tonight: I haven't decided. I'm spending the evening catching up on my week of Y&R since Scott went downtown to watch the UFC fights with some friends. I'm considering being selfish and enjoying the last box of pierogies in the freezer...

Dinner Plans 0, Husband 1

Originally tonight was Veggie BLT night. I was going to put some leaves of fresh basil in them as I didn't go to the store on the way home.

However, one of our friends (that is Scott's coworker) had some stuff she wanted to run by "the guys", so Scott prepared stuff for hot-dogs, even grilling some onions and mushrooms.

I'm ok with the deviation from the plan because he didn't buy anything to put this together, AND even used up some leftovers.

De Plan, De Plan!

In the hopes of saving money and becoming a bit less slovenly, I'm going to attempt weekly menu planning for our dinners (we usually do leftovers for lunch and neither of us really eat breakfast).

I'd like to do the shopping and some of the prep work for the week on Sundays, but since it's Monday I decided to plan today and shop/prep tomorrow after work.

Here's the plan for this week:

Tuesday - Veggie BLTs on rye, with Morningstar Farms fake bacon strips, swiss and avocado along with the "L" and "T".
Wednesday - Burritos (to use up the last of the home-made chili from the birthday party)
Thursday - Ravioli Lasagna based on a Rachael Ray recipe, but with what I have already in my cupboards, and a Romaine hearts salad with a vinaigrette based on another RR recipe.
Friday - Stuffed Bell Peppers. RR has a recipe for a stuffed pepper and I have one from a family friend, I'll probably combine them and twist it up a bit.
Saturday - Egg Noodles with Mushrooms (another RR recipe) and some sliced fresh fruit.

With the staples I have and what I bought today, I only need to pick up a few additional basics to cover all these meals (romaine, shallots, avocado, tortillas, egg noodles, and whatever I decide to stuff the peppers with).

Of course we're hoping that a by-product of this experiment is also healthier eating, but we'll see how it goes!

Don't Be Afraid To Try Something Old.

As a kid, I did NOT like pancakes. Perhaps all the pancakes I tried at the time were a bit undercooked, but I always felt that pancakes were doughy and gross, and I much preferred waffles.

In the last year, I have been trying things that I have strongly disliked in the past, and even things that I never had the guts to try, ever.

This morning (okay, afternoon) I decided that I wanted to eat at IHOP. Once we arrived I decided that I was craving pancakes. How can I have a craving for something that I always disliked? Strange.

I ordered an omelet (which I always want to spell omelette) and for once didn't request hashbrowns instead of pancakes, in fact, I asked for both!

When served, my three buttermilk pancakes had a lovely dollop of whipped butter on top, which I spread evenly on all three layers. Then I tested three of the four syrups available (I skipped the strawberry) and found that the perfect combo is Butter Pecan and Old Fashioned.

Scott laughed at me marveling over the goodness that was my breakfast, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.


_______________________________________________________________
In firing employees news: An employee that was supposed to work today called the owner at 8am and said she was on her way to Miami because her grandfather was dying of a heart attack, complete with tears. Turns out she was LYING and has been at home laying on the couch after shopping at Radio Shack (where she ran into the other owner).

Instead of firing her, we are cutting her pay for a month.

What is wrong with these people?

Mama's First Grill-Out

I've never grilled something myself before.

True, I didn't start the grill (I don't know how, truthfully). But I did all the prep and the hands-ON grilling.

I sliced and salted some eggplant and then tossed it in olive oil. I marinated baby portobello mushrooms in balsamic vinegar and some tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, green and yellow patty-pan squash in olive-oil and balsamic.




I boiled some small red potatoes for about 20 minutes and then tossed them in olive oil and salt, threw in a handful of whole garlic cloves.

I wrapped some baby asparagus in tinfoil and drizzled them with olive oil, cut some fresh rosemary and oregano and steamed it on top of the kebabs.



I made a salad with Boston lettuce, baby carrots, and fresh tomatoes from our back yard, tossed with the balsamic and oil from under the other vegetables. I added a little red wine vinegar and lime juice, a sprinkle of Mrs. Dash and tossed it.











Everything turned out pretty darn good I have to say.













Scott liked it too - despite the fact that he added cheese and a microwaved veggie-hot-dog.

And on the 23rd Day, It Rained.

This Burger King must serve all eleventy-billion at this location alone. That's a lot of french-fries.

Maybe there is a conference room in the middle with a giant shake and twelve-thousand straws coming out.

I don't know. I just thought it was amusing.

ANYWAY...

Monday morning Mom woke me up and I drove her to the Miami airport in my pajamas. Her flight was scheduled to leave at 10:05am so she decided to be there by about 8:50am. I deposited her at the terminal with plenty of time to spare and went back to the motel and crawled back into bed.

At 10:15am she called to tell me that she was (obviously) not on the plane. Her flight was delayed three hours and would not be departing until 1pm. We all wished we had thought to check her flight when the alarm clock first went off, as she could have gotten more sleep and not been bored in the airport.

Jenny and I finally got up around 11am and checked out around noon. We went in search of the "Dolphin Mall" but found the Miami International Mall instead. I succeeded in purchasing three much-needed pairs of shorts and then we made our way to the food court.

After perusing the options we decided on a Mediterranean counter. For "Fast" Mediterranean, it was pretty good!

Jenny had a combo plate with Greek salad, falafel and hummus.

I had cucumber salad, roasted potatoes, hummus, two stuffed grape leaves, and we each finished with a piece of baklava.

Jenny had to be at work at 6pm, so around 2pm we hit the road.

Back in Key West I took a nap and then got up for a couple of hours to eat dinner and put away my purchases before going back to bed.

About an hour before I retired again for the night, it started raining VERY hard and there was strong wind.

Day XXI - More of the Same...

Saturday I had to work, and didn't get up until I had to. My work went by pretty quickly, and I got to give Mom a quick tour of the store when Scott brought her by in the afternoon.

Once I was off work I rushed home and changed, and the three of us went downtown for our reservation at The Rooftop Cafe (what we consider to be the BEST restaurant in Key West).

Back in February, Scott's family came to town and we took them to Rooftop for Gary's birthday dinner. They gave us a gift certificate to Rooftop as a thank-you, and we were intending to use it for Valentine's day, but there was a kitchen fire the weekend just previous to the holiday.

The proprietors come in to the pet store on a regular basis and have been updating us as to the progress of the rebuild. The Rooftop Cafe finally re-opened on June 2nd, so this is our first opportunity to go back since the fire.

Mom and I are both vegetarians, so while I selected a side from a steak entree as my entree and a salad, my mom threw herself on the mercy of the chef and said "surprise me!"

Her entree was a combination of sauteed portobello and zucchini, some roasted garlic potato gratin, some mashed potato, and some steamed spinach and onions underneath.

I chose a goat cheese and black bean quesadilla with fresh avocado on top, and Scott got the "Surf, Surf, Surf and Turf" pasta.

After dinner we retired back to the house and watched the wedding video.

Southwest in the Southeast

Scott is making home-made chili tonight, a pot with steak for him and a pot with morningstar crumbles for me.

I made some salsa and guacamole too, now I'm hanging on the couch trying not to eat ALL the guacamole.

My salsa has been pretty popular down here, and my secret is using a little balsamic vinegar and at least three kinds of tomatoes.