Cooking for Slackers

What a great weekend, seriously!  I don’t want it to end!  Perhaps the best part is knowing that I don’t have to go to work tomorrow.

For lunch I made His & Hers (E-mealz) BBQ Chicken.  Actually, the recipe was for White BBQ Chicken, but since Brent is not crazy about white BBQ sauce, I halved the recipe and used Robertson’s BBQ sauce on his.  I, on the other hand, was very excited about the white BBQ sauce. In Alabama, the rule is: regular BBQ sauce on pork and white sauce on chicken.

I modified the recipe and used regular mayo instead of reduced-fat.  It was basically: ground pepper + mayo + lemon juice + sugar + salt + vinegar blended in the blender until smooth.  Then, the BBQ sauce was poured over the chicken and it baked for 40 minutes or so.

Pepper ground with the mortar and pestle.

Before – you can see the dam of aluminum foil to prevent mixing of the sauces, which would have given Brent a heart attack.  The mere thought of mayo induces his gag reflex.

After.  It was good, but I don’t understand why I had to cook the BBQ sauce – it made it all congealed and oily and the flavor really didn’t permeate throughout the entire chicken breast.  Next time, I will just bake or grill the chicken and pour the sauce on at the end.  Nevertheless, the white sauce had a very good Alabama-authentic flavor.  Not as good as Cypress Inn, but still tasty.

Steamed corn + carrots on the side (Brent said “blah” and fed the carrots to Oscar under the table.) and……..

Rosemary Rolls!

This is something I saw on Pioneer Woman.  Clearly, what I did is a knockoff, and I am a little embarrassed to actually link back to her recipe, but the idea is the same.  I’m an expert in working with what you’ve got and what I’ve got is some frozen rolls in a tin pan and some old dried spices. Despite their humble beginnings, these rolls tasted great! I just brushed the top of some Sister Schubert’s rolls with a little bit of melted butter (Smart Balance 50/50, actually), sprinkled dried rosemary on top, brushed again with butter, then sprinkled with sea salt. I covered them with aluminum foil and baked for about 10 minutes.  They were so good.  I really want to make the real thing sometime.

And then, I wanted to find a recipe (hopefully a dessert) to use up some miscellaneous ingredients in the refrigerator….ricotta cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, and vanilla yogurt.  I came across an Italian Ricotta Cheesecake recipe in the Weight Watchers magazine, but I didn’t have some of the ingredients. So, I found this recipe for Italian Cheesecake Cookies at allrecipes.com and decided to use it.  And by “use” of course I mean NOT FOLLOW.  Or only follow halfway.

Italian Cheesecake (The Good Enough Version)

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces reduced fat Ricotta cheese
• 8 4 ounces of cream cheese
• 1/2 cup Oikos vanilla-flavored yogurt (because I didn’t have any more cream cheese)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 1 T and 1 & 1/2 t. flour
• 1 T and 1 & 1/2 t. 2 T cornstarch (because I just didn’t feel like measuring 1 & 1/2 t again)
• 1/4 c butter Smart Balance 50/50, melted and cooled but not super hot
• 1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
• 1/4 lemon, juiced
• 1 pie shell

Directions:

Cream ricotta cheese and cream cheese together.  Add the yogurt and blend until smooth.  Add the following ingredients one at a time, beating well after each addition: sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, flour, and cornstarch.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Gradually (or so) beat in the melted butter.  Blend in sour cream, beating until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.

Pour into a graham cracker pie shell and bake at 320 degrees F for 40 minutes 1 hour and 15 min.  Allow pie to cook on kitchen counter for ~ 1 hour, then chill in the refrigerator.

Notes: The baking was a bit of a fiasco.  The original recipe (which was not for a cake but for bar-like cookies), called for baking for 1 hour at 320, then turning the oven off and leaving the cake inside to sit for 2 hours.  Well, since I was doing only 1/2 of the recipe, I decided to let it bake for 40 minutes, then turn the oven off and let it sit for about 90 minutes.  So when the timer went off the first time (at 40 minutes), I went into the kitchen, turned the timer off, and reset it for 90 minutes.  But I forgot to actually turn the oven off.  I didn’t realize this until about 35 minutes later.  I can’t tell that it “hurt” the cheesecake, BUT it did crack in a few places.  No big deal, though.

Brent ate it right out of the oven - seriously, before it had time to cool at all - and said that it tasted “more like egg custard than cheesecake.”  Humph.  What is egg custard?  Sounds disgusting! After it chilled it hardened up to the consistency of cheesecake.  So there.

It’s a little hard to say what this tastes like – it obviously tastes like a homemade cheesecake, but not a cream cheese-y cheesecake.  Must be the ricotta and sour cream.  It is tangier and tastes a little bit lighter than NY cheesecake.  Very good and it is going fast!  Brent apparently changed his mind about the taste, or else he really loves egg custard!

Last night I went to dinner with some friends.  One of the girls from work had a friend in town who is actually interviewing at the hospital today.  So we were going to meet at Hokkaido, another Japanese grill in town (their choice), but I got there first and it was seriously packed -  standing room only.  So we went to Kobe (AGAIN).  This time I got the shrimp +veggies dinner and it was excellent, as usual, but I have had my fill of Japanese food for awhile!

My fortune from the fortune cookie: A small lucky package is on its way to you.  Hmmmm……..

Goodbye, January!!!

Baby, it’s cold outside!

It is freezing!  I wish it would snow!

This has been a great weekend so far, though.  Last night, we watched Orphan on recommendation from a friend.

I liked it!  There were two scenes that were a little too gory for me, but otherwise it was good and scary.  I love movies with an unexpected twist.

Today has been a great day to be inside!  This morning however, Brent went on a metric century bike ride (62 miles) and came back absolutely frozen, despite dressing like a ninja for the cold.

He said that his group got a few strange looks when they stopped at a gas station along the route.  Can’t imagine why. 

And while my husband was out pursuing ever-increasing levels of physical fitness with no regard to personal ease and comfort, I had a wonderful, cozy morning  at home reading my favorite magazines and drinking Tazo tea.  (Which turned out really, really good and perfect timing – we have decided to cut back on out soft drinks at home.  Actually, Brent is completely cutting out soft drinks.  I am cutting them out at home.  Diet Dr. Pepper’s get me through the work day.)

I love cutting magazines up, by the way.  I always cut out motivating phrases, pretty pictures, decorating ideas, recipes, coupons, interesting stories, etc.  Sometimes I use them for scrapbooking or decorating journals.  I have folders full of magazine clippings that I’m not exactly sure I will use.  I don’t cut up Southern Living or Real Simple, though! Ha.

We went to Kobe for lunchboxes (my pick) and then to Sam’s, which is our default Saturday afternoon activity.  We obviously live an exciting and adventurous lifestyle.  Today I was excited to find a box of Maple & Brown Sugar Quaker Instant Oats -- 40 packs for $3.  That’s 7.5 cents per pack and my favorite flavor!  I am set for breakfast until well into the spring!

Tonight we debated on going to a movie with friends, but we decided to stay in an rent another one instead.  Tonight we watched All About Steve.

Loved it!  Not as good as The Proposal, but still good.  Sandra Bullock is as good an actress as she always has been.  Definitely one of my favorites.

While watching, we enjoyed Walton’s.  They have the best chicken fingers ever.

Today we received our sponsor package from Compassion.  We decided to sponsor a child and I am so excited!  Compassion does so many great things.  Just looking at their website makes me want to adopt multiple orphans from third world countries.  Like Katie from Amazima.

Baby steps.

With work being so busy this week, I have been kind of exhausted and too tired to cook E-mealz.  Wednesday night I went to dinner with a friend for pizza at Newk’s. (Yes, again!  I could never get tired of it!)

(This is an old picture – didn’t take one at the restaurant.)

Brent made chili one night (which was GREAT) and I made pork tenderloin on another.  One of our E-mealz this week was molasses pork tenderloin and I accidentally got teriyaki-flavored pork instead of regular.  Since we didn’t think that would taste good with molasses, we cooked in the crock pot and ate it with yeast rolls…turned into a great meal anyway.

 

It is now 9:08 pm and Brent is in the bed.  He is exhausted!  I’m probably headed that way in a minute.

Beef + Broccoli

This afternoon we waited for Brent to come home.

And when he did, we had another wonderful E-mealz meal:

Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry

Trust me, it tasted much, much better than it looks in the bottom picture.  It took much longer than I thought it would (+ some extra corn starch) for the sauce to thicken up and if I make it again, I will revise the sauce recipe to include less water, less orange juice, more corn starch and more soy sauce.

The only “gripe” I have about E-mealz is that the meals don’t seem to be very balanced.  Take tonight, for example: rice AND French bread? It seems a little carb-heavy. And one recipe for next week calls for three sides: potatoes, carrots, and corn, which I always thought didn’t necessarily “go” together because they are all starchy.  Maybe it is just the South, or the way I ate growing up, but to me, a meal is not complete without a green veggie!  And not one that is stir-fried in a sugary sauce!

Regardless, I still <3 E-mealz.  We are talking about changing to the low-fat, non-Walmart option.  Publix, here I come! :)

And tonight I did go to dreaded WM for groceries.  It was so crowded (even my cashier was complaining) and it took me way too long because I couldn’t think of where certain things might be – for example, molasses or minced garlic.  Anyway, I got some goodies that I am excited to try!!!  Scale Back Alabama starts this week, so we are cutting back for sure.  Me and Brent are on a team together at work.

YES!  I found the Tazo tea from Manna!  Now I can make my own!!!

The Big Tempeh Disappointment

I had high hopes for tempeh after having read about it on several different recipe sites and foodie blogs.  I bought the Tofurky (yes, it does sound disgusting) brand and the actual product name was Sesame Garlic Marinated Tempeh Strips.

I pan-fried the strips for ~ 2 minutes on each side.

Then mixed with steamed brown rice + Ginger Miso sauce (keeping with the Asian theme).

NOT GOOD!  AT ALL!

The texture of the faux meat was fine, it was the overpowering sesame garlic marinade that was the problem.  I only ate a few bites.  Maybe the non-marinated tempeh products would be okay; I’m not sure. I’ll just stick with meat for now.

The last E-mealz Easy Enchilada saved the day!

I also had one of the chocolate chip cookies from the first batch for dessert an appetizer. :)

First Light

Sleeping in until 7 a.m. is just wonderful.  Two days off in a row!  It looks like today is going to be a beautiful day!

This past weekend was rainy, cold, and SO busy at work on the evening shift.  While I like having the morning free, working from 12:30 – 9 really consumes the entire day.  This was on the way to work yesterday morning:

Brent went on his first century ride Saturday!  He’s getting started early!!! 

And yesterday for lunch I made another E-mealz recipe, Swiss Chicken:

It was SO good!  Also the first time I have ever used white wine in a recipe. Totally not bland AT ALL for a low fat recipe.  The main ingredients were chicken breasts, fat free cream of chicken soup, stuffing, and Swiss cheese.  Broccoli was served on the side – I steamed it in the microwave in a zip-lock steamer bag for about 2.5 minutes with 0.5 tbsp. 50/50 Smart Balance spread + seasoned salt. So easy.

Already accomplished for this morning:

1.  Devotions – I am now on Unit 7 of Experiencing God and I am still loving it!  I learn something new on every single lesson.

2. Breakfast

Plain instant oats + water, 1/4 c. Bare Naked triple berry granola (good!), cinnamon, a few almonds, and ~ 1 T peanut butter.  Actually not as good as usual – plain oatmeal is SO BLAND. One day I will try “real” (non-instant) oatmeal, but this is just SO easy.

3. Blogging!  Ha!

On the agenda (today and/or tomorrow):

• Take Milly to vet.
• Exercise
• Mail two books that I sold through half.com
• Groceries

Will be back later!

More pictures from this morning:

Pizza Day!

I have a history with pizza. When I was in elementary school, the cafeteria served pizza one day a week, usually on Fridays, usually with corn + a salad.  I looked forward to Pizza Day all week; everyone did.  We never had pizza at home (we lived too far out in the country for delivery), so it was a special treat.  I even remember the very first time I went to Pizza Hut with my parents and sister….oh my goodness! I didn’t know pizza could taste so great!  Brent loves it also, so we typically order it once a week.

My favorite is from the Gondolier – nothing tastes like this pizza and the crust is perfect.  Unfortunately, there is not a Gondolier near Tuscaloosa.  Or maybe that’s a good thing…..

  So, I had two meals today, and both were PIZZA!  What a great day!

After my dental appointment this morning (just a cleaning – no cavities!!) I met Brent for lunch at Manna Grocery and Deli (I suggested it because I was craving their sweet tea!). Manna may just be my new favorite restaurant.  Brent had the stuffed tilapia (which looked great) and I had the herb + veggie pizza with a side salad and sweet tea, of course.

This is it in the to-go box (at home), because I’m sort of embarrassed to take pictures in restaurants….I need a phone with a good camera so I can do it discreetly.  This pizza was good, but hearty and I had lots left over to bring home. 

Interestingly, we saw a girl from back home at Manna.  We went to college with her at Tennessee Wesleyan and she ended up in Tuscaloosa also. We occasionally see her around town and later Brent or I always remark about how it is such a small world.

Today I also went shopping at Publix.  Oh, Publix, I love you and your shiny clean produce.  I miss you and your friendly employees and your bakery bread.  I am seriously considering switching our E-mealz plan to the Publix option.  While there, I found a few new products to try:

Bare Naked Fit granola (for my oatmeal) and an energy bar, Lay’s Reduced Fat Kettle Cooked chips (very good!), marinated tempeh, and a few pears.  I have never had tempeh before, but have heard that it is good.  Looking forward to trying it.

Thursdays are typically pizza + The Office…Yay!  We also got caught up on 24.

They accidentally gave us one cinnamon stick with our breadsticks.  Brent remarked: “It’s like finding a tater tot in your french fries.”  Exactly!

And then I decided to try chocolate-chip cookies from scratch. It was kind of a whim.  I did modify the recipe only a tiny bit based on the ingredients I had in the kitchen.  It took three batches to get them right, but they were really good!  Still not perfect, though, but I will work on it! The secret is taking them out of the oven on time, which is actually before they look done.  I didn’t have enough vanilla extract, so I added a teeny tiny bit of almond extract. I will leave that out next time, as it made the cookies taste a little too sweet.  But they were beautiful!  I love, love, love baking.  I totally calms me down and lifts my mood.

First batch: too big and too crispy.

Second batch: better.                With milk: perfect!

Tomorrow it is back to work….evenings for 3 days, then two days off, three days on, two days off!