Reflection

For most people, December is the usual time for yearly reflection.  As teachers, Steve and I often have to remind ourselves that the "year" doesn't actually begin in September and end in June.  As such, we tend to reflect on our yearly progress right around May, when the wrap up for the current school year begins and/or we're so burnt out that we have dreams of summer and a new school year.  In the spirit of the "pantry raid" project, it seems like this is a good time to reflect on what (if anything!) we've accomplished:

Here's the data: Since 2/28, I have been grocery shopping 13 times.  I have spent a grand total of $969.19.  This averages out to $74.55 a week.  Not bad!  I have nothing to compare this to since we weren't really tracking our grocery spending before, and I guess I could figure it out, but I don't feel like it.

Both Steve and I have lost about 5 pounds each.  I attiribute this to the following: 1) the stomach flu.   We only had it once, but it nearly killed me.  But: I didn't gain any of the weight I lost back!  2) One of the reasons I think our grocery bill hasn't necessarily gone down THAT much is because we are buying more expensive foods.  Before we were eating a fair amount of processed foods and we've cut almost all of that out in favor of mostly organic, whole foods.  I clip coupons and the only problem with whole foods is that there really aren't coupons out there for broccoli or bananas.  All the coupons are for processed crap that we don't eat and as a result even though we're buying less, we're spending just about the same.  Before you think I'm being all judgy about the food, we still do buy some processed foods, just way less than before.  We LOVE: Wise potato chips, Jiffy corn bread, brownie mix, and I truly believe that a life without Kraft macaroni and cheese is not a life to be lived.  But we've cut way back, and I think our waistlines have benefited. 

If anyone is interested in reading how we did it, I would highly recommend picking up a copy of Michael Pollen's Food Rules. It's just that: simple food "rules" to live by, and it has nothing to do with losing weight or dieting.  It really is about living healthier and being aware of where your food comes from.  It's very balanced, non judgmental, non-crunchy granola. It's everything that I am with the exception of the balanced and judgmental part. Oh, and it's only about a hundred pages.

So there's my kinda crappy reflection.  The good thing that came out of this project was that we're eating healthier, being more aware of what we purchase and how much we might be wasting, and I think that we're going to try to keep up with it.  We have about 3 weeks or so until our farm share starts and then I'll transition the blog to how the hell we're going to keep up with that.  12 quarts of strawberries this week, anyone?

Here's the meal plan for this week:
Sunday: Happy Mother's Day!!! I'm not cooking a thing :)
Monday: Eggplant Stacks with Pasta (attempting - pathetically - to bring back Meatless Monday!)
Tuesday: Chicken Nuggets with Peas (pathetic, I know, but we had it all in the house)
Wednesday: Fusilli with Spinach & Asiago Cheese
Thursday: Tacos.  The real kind with the crunchy shells and the ground beef. Steve's request. 
Friday: Who knows?

In the spirit of Mother's Day (and what do mothers do better than brag about their kids!?!), here are my favorite two pictures of my little cherubs.  Here's me and Emma:

And here's one of Will getting ready to hit the links:

There were obviously some outfit "readjustments" that were made without my approval :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Thai it, You'll Like It!

Tonight's dinner: Thai Lettuce Cups.  In a word: a-maz-ing!  These are totally going into the regular rotation.  Personally, I think they rivaled the PF Chang's lettuce wraps, and that's a high bar that's been set.  Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts (that's right, just two - this is a great meal for stretching your dollars!), cut into VERY thin strips
• salt
• 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 red bell pepper cut into VERY thin strips
• 1/4 cup sweet thai chili sauce (in the asian foods aisle)
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 head iceburg lettuce, cut into quarters and leaves separated
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/2 cup honey roasted peanuts (I left this out because we didn't have any in the house and it was awesome anyway - I don't even think I would add them next time)

Here's what you do:
Season the chicken with salt.  In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil.  Add the chicken and cook until 1/2 done. Then, add the pepper and season it with salt.  Continue cooking, stirring until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain about 1/2 the liquid that will accumulate in the pan.  Put the pan back on medium heat and stir in the honey and the chili sauce and cook until slightly reduced. Add the lime juice and the basil and stir just to combine.

You can lay them out on a platter, but we did ours kind of like tacos - with the lettuce "cups" on one platter and the chicken on another and we just assembled them at the table. Here's the final product:

I served ours with chicken dumplings on the side, and everything was gobbled up.  We learned that Will likes dumplings with gyoza sauce (he ate 3!).  We also learned that he can't be trusted with communal dip.  We're pretty sure that he triple dipped those dumplings. Listen, I'll take my gyoza sauce with Will's saliva in it if it means that he actually eats dinner, which he did.

While I was at the doctor's office over spring break I stole a bunch of recipes out of an issue of Food Network magazine. I can feel your judgment, but in my defense, I was waiting over 20 minutes past my appointment time and I would assert that I am OWED those recipes. This was one of them and I'm going to try another later this week for Buffalo Chicken Strips. 

One last thing: I just have to share that I stuck my head into Will's room this afternoon and witnessed the cutest moment between him and Emma.  With all the toys in the house, the two of them decided to play in the laundry basket. 

If this is all it takes to make them happy, next Christmas: Tide and dryer sheets! :)

See you soon!

It's Steve's Birthday! BAM!

This week was three things:
1) Spring Break: eat too much, drink too much, sleep too much.  We did next to nothing, but we got a chance to relax and recharge and it was perfect!

2) It was Steve's 32nd Birthday! He decided he wanted to have a couple people over for dinner and that he wanted vodka rigatoni for dinner which was odd since Steve really doesn't like pasta, but whatever.  Well, one day before his birthday, I realized that I don't have the pot and pan capacity to cook pasta as a main course for 12 people.  So...I changed the menu. It was still something special that I don't make often, but WAY more friendly for a party of 12.  I made Emeril's Jambalaya.  My dad gave me the recipe, and everyone I have ever made this for LOVES it (even my friend R who was worried about the spiciness and thought she was going to have to eat the Trader Joe's mac & cheese I made for the kids liked it.  If she didn't, she's a good liar, which is also possible). It's quite possibly the best recipe for a large group.

Here's what you'll need:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped peppers
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/4 teaspoons cayenne (you can back this off a little if you don't want it spicy)
• 1 pound andouille or chorizo, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 1/2 pounds chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 cups rice
• 6 cups water
• 1 cup chopped green onions
• 1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp (optional)

You also need 1 REALLY big pot with a lid - that's right folks, you only need one pot and a cutting board. Ingenious! Another BAM for Emeril!

Here's what you do - it really couldn't be much easier:
1. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the onions, bell peppers, 2 teaspoons of the salt and 1 teaspoon of the cayenne. Stirring often, brown the vegetables for about 20 minutes, or until they are caramelized and dark brown in color.  Scrape the bottom and the sides of the pot to loosen any browned particles.
2. Add the sausage and cook, stirring often for 10 to 15 minutes or until cooked through. Scrape the bottom and sides of the pot again.
3. Season the chicken with the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne.  Add the chicken and the bay leaves to the pot.  Brown the chicken for 8 to 10 minutes.  Scrape the bottom and sides of the pot one last time.
4. Add the rice and stir for 2 to 3 minutes to coat it evenly.  Add the water, stir to combine and cover.  Cook over medium heat for 30 to 35 minutes, without stirring or until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed.  Note: if you are adding the shrimp, season them with salt and pepper and put them in the pot when the rice has about 5 minutes to go.  Stir them in, then cover the pot again, and in 5 minutes they will be cooked perfectly. 
5. When the rice is cooked, remove the pot from the heat and let stand, covered, for 2 to 3 minutes.  Remove the bay leaves. Stir in the green onions and serve. BAM!

It's also great as leftovers and this one recipe serves 10 to 12 people, so you'll definitely have some.  Our friend C asked that I take Steve's "month" picture, so here you go: Happy 32nd (384 months) Birthday!

After dinner we had ice cream cake (Steve's favorite!) and drinks. Ok, I had one drink and Steve had many drinks.  All in all, it was a successful low-key birthday!

3) This spring break we wanted to take at least one day and do something as a family. Since we were totally lazy, we didn't get our act together until this morning when we decided to go to the Adventure Aquarium.  For anyone with toddlers, this place is perfect!  It's a very manageable size and they have lots of interactive stuff.  We had to drag Will away from the touch tank after 20 minutes of mauling a starfish:

The shark exhibit is a really cool walk through 360 tube thing (although it looks eerily like the one in Jaws 3 or 4 - I think, the one with the waterpark/aquarium).  We could have stayed there for hours - even the sharks were happy that we came to hang out. This guy was above our heads the whole time!

Will loved seeing the fish, especially Nemo (every orange fish was Nemo) and we got to see the penguins who were so stinking cute I could have taken one home with me. This one came swam right up to Will (I think his name was Penny - shout out to Nonna!).

We did the whole museum in about 3 hours, then got a Philly pretzel in the aquarium parking lot (don't judge) and hit the road.  A great morning and a great (almost) end to spring break!

See you after Easter!

Our Orange Dinner

No, I did not plan to have an all-orange meal.  But...it turned out that way.

So for dinner tonight we had one of our favorites, chipotle cheddar jack burgers with baked sweet potatoes and cantaloupe.  I didn't mean for it to be all orange, but seeing as that's Will's favorite color, it worked out well for all involved.

The burgers are one of our all time favorites. Here's what you need: 1 pound of ground beef (we use 90% lean, but you can use whatever), cheddar jack cheese slices, 1-2 chipotle in adobo peppers (the same kind you use for the tortilla soup I posted earlier.  Just put them in an airtight container and throw them in the fridge. They'll keep forever), 4 whole wheat rolls and barbecue sauce.

All you do is chop up the chipotles, mix them into the ground beef, season with salt and pepper and form into 4 patties.  Our grill is acting weird and some parts of our food were coming out extra well-done while other parts were raw.  No matter how you like your meat, it isn't a good situation, so I did ours on our indoor grill pan, but you can grill them outside too.  When they are done, serve them on the rolls with BBQ sauce on top.  They are SO good.  Smoky and spicy and the BBQ sauce adds just a little sweetness.  We rarely have regular burgers anymore because these are so delish!
I also tried a new recipe for baked sweet potatoes with cinnamon sugar.  Steve seriously LOVED his and ate every.last.bite.  All you do is mix 3 Tbsp. sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon together in a small bowl.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  With a fork, poke holes into 3-4 sweet potatoes.  Place them on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake for 45-75 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.  Cut the potatoes open and on each potato add 1 Tbsp. butter and sprinke with cinnamon sugar (you'll have some leftover).  Since Will decided not to try his, I gave Emma his portion and she gobbled it up!

After dinner Steve suggested we go out to DQ for dessert, which I was all about.  We had a nice family evening, and Will was super excited for ice cream and he even got rainbow frinkles (no, that's not a typo) for Zia Kristen.  Here's the evidence:

 Emma even had a good time, especially considering she's too little to eat ice cream.  She sat on Steve's lap chewing on a spoon, happy as could be:

We're gearing up for Steve's 32nd birthday on Wednesday!  Happy Birthday to my Old Man Hubby!  I wanted to order Chickie's & Pete's, but it's his birthday so I :guess: he gets to choose what he wants to eat and he's requesting that I cook so I will try to post the menu tomorrow.  Steve's favorite color is blue, but I can guarantee that unlike our orange dinner, blue will not be the food theme on Wednesday!

In other news, we are gearing up to potty train Will. We probably won't really start until the summer, but we're trying to set the stage now so he's ready when we kick it into high gear.  I like to call it Potty Training Preseason.  I think we'll probably handle it the way that we've handled most of our parenting issues - acknowledge that we don't know what we're doing, ask the doctor, find the book that most people use with any sort of success and do that.  We are rookies, but we recognize that fact and we follow directions well, so as long as the doctor gives us a plan, we can execute it.  I'm really not all that stressed about it.  Maybe it's just the optimism that comes with ignorance. I am, however, looking for potty training book suggestions, so if you have one that worked for you let me know!

Chesterfield's Most Wanted

When I went to Disney this past March I was warned not to come home with any tchotchkes.  I didn't buy any Mickey ears or t-shirts that say "Leave me Alone, I'm Grumpy" (get it? Like Snow White?!?) on them.  Instead, I ended up coming home with 2 items: 1) a mug for Steve that made me laugh out loud.  It's of Tinkerbell and I think it's really just supposed to be funny because she didn't get enough sleep and needs coffee, but with my sick sense of humor all I could think was that Tinkerbell looked like she was right out of the trailer park.  Here's a picture:

I knew Steve would also appreciate the joke, so I bought it.  He did.  We're probably the only 2 people in the world who think it's hilarious that Tinkerbell looks like she's straight out of a doublewide in Neverland Park Adjacent, but that's why we're made for each other.

The second item was a cookbook: Chef Mickey.  It's full of recipes for all the great foods in the parks: the Sticky Toffee Pudding from the Rose & the Crown at the British Pavilion in Epcot, the Cheddar Cheese soup from Le Cellier in Canada, you get the point. So tonight I decided to make the Ohana Coriander Chicken Wings from the Polynesian Resort.

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients for the Wings:

• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 2 Tbsp. paprika
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. EACH: black pepper, turmeric, ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 4 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 4 pounds chicken wings

Ingredients for the Wing Sauce:

• 1 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 Tbsp. ground coriander
• 2 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup honey
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch.

Here's what you do for the wings.
1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil.
2. Combine all chicken wing ingredients except chicken in a large glass bowl.  Add chicken and toss to coat.
3. Spread the seasoned wings on the baking sheet and roast until browned, about 35 minutes.
4. To serve, toss with wing sauce.

While the wings are baking, make the sauce. It couldn't be easier - combine all the wing sauce ingredients in a small saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, until liquid reduces to a syrup, about 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and keep warm. Then toss the sauce and the wings together, and you're done!

I didn't take a picture, because, let's face it, chicken wings don't look pretty, but they were pretty tasty. I don't know if I would make the wing sauce again, it was a little salty for me, but the wings themselves were seasoned perfectly, and I definitely would use the spice rub again for when we BBQ chicken in the summer.  All in all, a success (especially after my sesame noodle fiasco!)!

Just because I think it's really funny, this weekend we were at a party for my grandmother's 80th birthday and my police officer cousin Dan let Will walk around with his handcuffs.  We managed to snap a picture:

I full on intend on using this to torture him someday.  I just love the look on his face - like it's his mugshot after being caught on a toddler no-nap bender of too much milk and finger painting. Priceless! Bad boys, Bad Boys, Whatcha Gonna Do...
Later!

Eeeewwww!

Anyone that knows me knows that I have been concerned about Will's speech.  He doesn't have a ton of words and he has some issues with articulation, but tonight, I learned that he has a new word!  The word: Ewwwwww!  How do I know this, you ask?  I know, because just after he put a big bite of his dinner in his mouth, he made a face like I was forcing him to eat a sweat sock, and then he spit it all out, and yelled, "Ewwwwwww!"  If I thougtht that dinner was great, I would have been insulted, but to be honest, he hit the nail right on the head. 

In case you want to torture your family, here's the recipe I made tonight: Sesame Shrimp and Noodles. I was so excited about this all week, and I encountered the following culinary roadblocks:
1) The recipe only serves one.  Who the heck makes a recipe that serves 1 person?!?  Even single people eat leftovers, or like to entertain!  Because of this, I had to multiply the recipe by 8 since I had a pound of pasta.  Ridiculous!
2) Since I multiplied by 8, I had to use a 1/2 cup of soy sauce, and a 1/2 cup of toasted sesame oil.  Both are seriously strong!  I used low sodium soy and it was still really salty.
3) Here was the final product:

Doesn't it kind of look like worms?  Now, I forgot to buy scallions, so there should have been some green on the plate, but even with it, it just doesn't look appetizing at all!
4) Since we are eating organic-ish, I've been buying the foods on the "Dirty Dozen" in their organic varieties. Steve supports me in this, so long as everything gets eaten, which it typically does. Take a look at those yellow peppers. They cost $6.99/pound! I died a small death when we threw out all the leftovers.

The unfortunate result of this culinary misadventure: Steve (aka. the trash compactor) was so hungry that he declared that it wasn't "that bad" (not every wife gets showered with these kinds of compliments!  Thanks honey!), and he ate 2 servings.  After his declaration, Will wouldn't get near his plate and ended up having a dinner of a banana and half a kiwi fruit (Mother of the Year!).  I fed Emma instead of eating the worm noodles and just finished my real dinner, a bowl of Cookie Crisp.  The real winner tonight was Emma who got to have freeze dried yogurt bits and pea puree. Who'd have thunk it?

I'm just so disappointed since the recipe looked good and I had such high hopes.  On the menu this week: spicy stromboli, chipotle and cheddar burgers, and Disney World Ohana chicken wings. I guess there's nowhere else to go but up this week!

I'm Back!

It feels like it's been forever since I last posted!  We have had so much going on & then we had computer issues, but I'm back up and running!  First, Steve asked that I update the blog with this picture of our refrigerator:

We found humor in the fact that we are almost officially completely out of food, and yet there is no space in our fridge because we are hoarding beer.  Actually, I am not hoarding beer, Steve is.  I benefit from it though, so I guess that makes me an enabler.  Anyways, we had friends over last Friday night and Steve told everyone to bring beer and the result was that we had pizza and LOTS of Pabst Blue Ribbon. We got a pretty good chuckle from the look of our fridge.  Between this, the condiments and the Lean Pockets, our fridge looks like it belongs to a 19 year old frat boy.

On the food front, here's the meal plan for the week:
Monday: We had Rainbow Shrimp Pasta (I'll share the recipe in just a second).  We've basically abandoned meatless Monday, but it's mostly just because I have the meat in the house and I think buying meat alternatives kind defeats the point of this experiment.
Tonight: We had chicken fajita quesadillas
Tomorrow: Homemade Pizza with Peppers and Onions
Thursday: I think I'll finally make the sloppy joes that I've been blogging about for the last 2 weeks
Friday: TBD

As for last night, I hit a new low. I turned to a real "Real Housewife" for dinner. I found this recipe for Rainbow Shrimp Pasta on Bethenny Frankel's website (LOVE me some Bethenny Ever After!). Here's what the final product looked like:

It was SO delicious!  I made a couple changes: I didn't have white wine so I left it out & I substituted a quarter cup of olive oil (I know, healthy, right?!?).  So I used a quarter cup regular olive oil plus 2 Tbsp. of the sundried tomato oil.  I added a ton more garlic so it was more like a shrimp scampi (think 4-5 cloves for the whole recipe).  I also omitted the red pepper flake because I didn't want it to be too spicy for Will, but I'm sure the recipe would have been even better with it.  I also used red pepper instead of yellow because that's just what I had in the fridge and I didn't have any fresh herbs (see below) so I left those out too.  All in all...awesome! Will even gobbled it up.  He still won't touch shrimp, which makes him a freak, but he's young and doesn't know any better.  I'll let it slide for now.

Tonight I made chicken fajita quesadillas using fried peppers & onions (we'll use the extra tomorrow night for the pizza topping), whole wheat tortillas, taco cheese, and fajita chicken.  I also happened to have cilantro since I attempted to buy fresh parsley for the pasta above, but I bought cilantro by accident.  Luckily, Steve and I love cilantro and it provided just enough brightness to the dinner.  Plus it makes the food look so pretty!  Here's how they came out:

I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture, but Steve actually started eating his before I could take the picture so I had to kind of cover up his bite marks with salsa in order to take a picture where the quesadilla didn't look like it had been mauled by a bear! I figure it's a compliment that he couldn't wait to dig in!

Tonight we are having a history geek evening watching Ken Burns' "Civil War" documentary on PBS.  It's on because it is the sesqicentennial anniversary of Fort Sumter (that's the first battle for those who don't know).  We chose to watch the episode "A Long Bloody Affair" about Shiloh and Antietam last night instead of watching the national championship game.  No, that's not a typo, that's a normal weeknight night for us.  Heck, that's a normal Saturday night for us.

Tomorrow I'll have new recipes and Civil War fun facts to share (I KNOW you are hanging on your seats!).