One Girl's Taste On Life

Going...Going...Gone!

2010-08-22T09:06:00.000-04:00

I've moved! As good as Blogspot has treated me this last year, WordPress just does me better. If you'd still like to follow me, please use the following link:

One Girl's Taste @ WordPress

I hope to see everyone there!

Drop me a line sometime (my web email is onegirlstaste@hotmail.com ) or leave me a comment to let me know what you like, don't like, or would like to see more of. Thanks!

Bethany

C25K: W2D3

2010-08-09T21:28:00.001-04:00

I want to be one of those people who says I went for a short 8 mile run today. Unfortunately, that is not the kind of person I am. Yet.

Luckily, there is a program for people like me to figure out how to run. You'd think it would be easy to run, right? Not for all of us.

The program is called Couch to 5K. This nine week program uses different amounts of running and walking to train your body. As you progress, the amounts of running become longer and the walking becomes shorter.

I started C25k a while back and never completed it. This time, I thought if I blogged about it, I might hold myself more accountable. So, please, follow me on my running journey.

Today was Week 2 Day 3 (W2D3). The other day I was feeling very tired towards the end of my shift at work. I knew I had to run after, so I decided to drink a 5 Hour Energy. I don't like to drink these too often, because I just don't feel like they can be good for you. Regardless, I downed one and then 1.5 hours later, I was running at the gym. I'm not sure if it was the energy drink or what, but, in the words of Forrest Gump, I just felt like running!

My workout that day was great! I felt fantastic after and proceeded to go home and have a great night with Jeff, eating at the mexican restaurant and sitting outside at the Greene listening to music.

Today, I wanted the same kind of workout. Hesitant that my great run on Saturday was due mainly to the 5 Hour Energy....I had another. At least I can say that it worked! Not only did I complete W2D3, I did it twice! I ended up running (I use this term loosely) 3.2 miles in about 45 minutes. Not great, but not bad. I like running at least 3 miles. It prepares me for the 5k I might actually do one day.

But that day is not today. Maybe in nine weeks...

And now, I must rest. My tootsies hurt.

Be Still My Heart

2010-08-09T21:06:00.000-04:00

Can I just say one thing?

That's all.

Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken

2010-08-08T01:02:00.003-04:00

For as long as I can remember, I have loved teriyaki chicken. I have also loved Hawaii. And what is synonymous with Hawaii? Pineapples. This recipe combines two of my great loves into one dish. What could possibly be better?

Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken
1/3 cup dry sherry
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup pineapple juice
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tbsp butter

In a large bowl, wisk together the sherry, soy sauce, brown sugar, pineapple juice, and cayenne pepper until sugar is dissolved. Add chicken thighs to sauce and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Grill chicken thighs over medium heat until no longer pink (approximately 4-5 minutes per side).

Bring the marinade to a boil over high heat. Add cornstarch and boil, wisking often, until the marinade thickens (approximately 3 minutes). Stir in butter and serve over chicken thighs.

I served this with my Corn and Black Bean Quinoa, as well as some zucchini and squash I grilled. Yummy!

*This chicken makes an excellent addition to a spinach and romaine salad.

Corn and Black Bean Quinoa

2010-08-08T00:53:00.000-04:00

Even though I didn't exactly achieve my monthly ingredient goal, I still wanted to try out this quinoa recipe I'd found. I was a little skeptical as I'm not a huge fan of black beans, but I must say it was quite tasty!

If you have never cooked with quinoa (which is a high protein grain for those of you not sure), I suggest you try it. It is very easy to cook (similar to cooking rice) and it extremely versatile! I plan to test out many, many more dishes in the future.

Corn and Black Bean Quinoa
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 onion chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt & pepper to taste
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
chopped fresh cilantro, optional

In a saucepan over medium heat, saute onion and garlic until onion is translucent. Add the quinoa and stir to incorporate. Add the broth, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Reduce heat to simmer and cook, covered, for 20 minutes, or until quinoa is tender. Add corn and black beans and cook for 5 minutes, or until the corn and beans are heated through. Mix in cilantro, if desired.

This dish can be eaten as a light lunch by itself, or served alongside a main dish for a hearty dinner. I served mine with Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken.

Weight Loss and Monthly Ingredients Challenges

2010-08-08T00:24:00.002-04:00

Last year around this time, my best friend, Carolyn, and I decided we were unhappy with our weights. To remedy this, we decided to do a Biggest Loser inspired challenge. Well, it's less of a challenge and more of an accountability type thing. Each Monday we email each other our weights, the amount we gained or lost, and a little blurb about how we felt, goals we want to achieve in the coming weeks, or various other tidbits from the weeks before.

We have been doing this off and on for over a year. To keep the game exciting, we have added an element of creativity to the mix. Each month, we pick a few ingredients with which we'd like to experiment. We research recipes and cook as many as we like. At the end of the month, we compare lists and suggest different ideas from said recipes. Or at least that's the plan....

Last month, the ingredient was quinoa. I picked quinoa because it is something many people on the food blogs talk about, yet it was something I had never played with before. I was so pumped to try it out. Wanna know how many recipes I made in July? Zero. Yep, just call me a slacker. I'm not real sure why I failed, but I did. In fact, the original plan for the challenge was to use a new ingredient each week. We kept pushing it back and pushing it back because I couldn't work quinoa into my meal plan.

After some discussion, we agreed one ingredient a week was a little rough. Instead, we chose to do at least one ingredient per month. This month, we have chosen green beans and basil. Green beans are in season through August, so better to experiment with something before it's season runs out. As for basil, well, I have a HUGE basil plant I have to use up. Do I smell pesto?

I have yet to make a recipe with either ingredient, but I do have a Garlic Green Bean recipe written on my meal planner. Stay tuned for results!

Quick Asian Vinaigrette

2010-08-06T11:58:00.000-04:00

I was trying to decide what to take to work for dinner tonight and I decided on a chicken salad. I chopped up the leftover chicken thighs from last night's Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Thighs (recipe to come) as well as the leftover zucchini, squash, and red pepper, added some chili peas and some romaine lettuce and voila! I didn't have a good vinaigrette to go with it, so I opted to make my own up. It's so much better to make your own dressing anyhow so you can control the ingredients! Unfortunately, I eyeballed it, so I don't have any exact measurements. I'm going to guess but if you like or don't like something, skew the measurements to fit your tastes.

Quick Asian Vinaigrette
2 tsp Low Sodium Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp Chili Garlic Paste
2 tsp Rice Vinegar
1 tsp Olive Oil
couple sprinkles Ground Ginger (probably 1/8 tsp)
juice of 1/4 Lime
two pinches of Salt
1 dash Sesame Oil (this really makes the flavor)
2 tsp brown sugar

Combine together and wisk until the sugar and salt is dissolved or do like I did and let them go for a quick whirl in the Magic Bullet (which is one of the best purchases I have ever made for our kitchen!). It makes about 2 tbsp.

Starting Over Yet Again

2010-08-06T08:39:00.000-04:00

For a while now, I have been telling myself two things: get your butt back to the gym (or start running in the hot and humid Ohio weather) and start going to Zumba.

The first thing, for some reason, requires some determination and mind tricking. I'm not sure why I hate ~~working out~~ going to the gym. Once I'm actually at the gym, nine times out of ten I get a great workout in and end up feeling amazing after. A euphoric runner's high if you will. But sitting here on my couch typing this blog thinking about going to the gym later this morning does not get me pumped. No matter how many times I tell myself You will feel AMAZING when you're done! Accomplished even! I still have to play little mind games with myself. Just go for thirty minutes. Walk if you have to. Just get there.

Well, I told myself when I was on vacation a few weeks ago that August 2 would be my Get Your Butt to the Gym and Start Eating Healthy Again day. It wasn't. I uber failed that day. Not only did I not go to the gym, but I didn't have any healthy food in the house. So I ate crap. And lots of it. It's OK I told myself. Just do better tomorrow! Yeah...no. Instead I bought a huge box of cookies at work and ate way too many of them. I did leave the box in the breakroom for others to share. Mini success.

Wednesday, it all turned around. I got up early, ate a healthy breakfast, and then went for a quick little run at the gym. I am starting the Couch to 5k program again and completed Week 2, Day 1. After, I had to haul ass to get everything done in time to meet Chrissy and Jeff for lunch. I ran to Dorothy Lane for a few items I didn't get at Kroger the night before, came home, showered, dressed, and headed to pick Chrissy up. I didn't eat particularly well that night (hello, peanut butter cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory plus two glasses of wine), but I did work out. Another mini success.

Yesterday was so much better! I ate really well (tons of fruits and veggies) and went to Zumba! Phew. Major success.

Speaking of Zumba, it was my other recent goal I wanted to achieve. Obviously, I did it. I'm a huge fan of Zumba. It's fun, it burns lots of calories, and it goes by really fast. Know what I'm not a huge fan of? Going to classes at my gym by myself. I'm not really sure why. I know that if I have never, ever been to a class before, I get very anxious and my stomach starts to hurt. I'm getting better about it, but it is still an issue sometimes.

Yesterday, I prepared myself all day. I kept planning the day out in my head. OK, I'm going to go home, cook Jeff dinner, change, and go to Zumba at 6:30. Then I can come home and eat my dinner and maybe have a spot of ice cream before bed. Telling myself over and over that I was going to do it helped me complete the task. I don't know if any of you have to do this, but it works for me.

I also made a friend in class. Well, sort of. She was really nice and let me know she goes to all the Zumba classes, so at least now I know I'll have a familiar face there. Hopefully that will encourage me to go as often as I can. I have to skip tomorrow because I have to work. Boo! But Tuesday it's ON!

Mom's Lasagna

2010-07-22T09:35:00.000-04:00

I'm not a big fan of ricotta cheese. I don't know if it's because the word "ricotta" sounds too much like "cottage" (I HATE cottage cheese) or what, but I'm not a fan. Luckily, growing up my mom made a version of lasagna that did not include ricotta cheese. Her lasagna is a big dish of meaty, cheesy goodness. Served with a Caesar salad and some Sister Schubert rolls, Mom's lasagna is what this Italian girl calls comfort food.

Mom's Lasagna
1 package Barilla no cook noodles
1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ham, cubed (You can get this at the deli, about 1/4" thick, or use the prepackaged cubed meat in the deli meat section.)
2 packages mozzarella cheese
2 jars pasta sauce
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (more or less depending on taste)

In a saucepan, cook the ground beef. You can break it up a little, but I like having some bigger pieces in the meat mixture. Drain the meat and let cool so you can handle it. Put the meat in a mixing bowl and add the ham and one package of the mozzarella cheese. Mix to combine.

Preheat oven to 375*. Spray a 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray and add a little pasta sauce to the bottom of the dish to create a "bed" for the noodles (so they don't stick). Layer four noodles on the bottom. They will most likely have to overlap a little, but they will expand during cooking.

Layer the rest of the lasagna as follows:
Top of Dish
Cheeses (Mozzarella mixed with a little Parmesan)
Pasta Sauce (about 1/2 a jar)
Noodles (4)
Cheeses
Meat Mixture (about 1/2 the mixture)
Pasta Sauce
Noodles
Cheeses
Meat Mixture
Pasta Sauce
Noodles
Pasta Sauce (to prevent sticking)
Bottom of Dish

I like to press down on the last layer of noodles before adding the pasta sauce and the cheeses just to make sure everything is even and level. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake lasagna at 375* for 50-60 minutes, or until heated through and noodles are cooked. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes. This helps the lasagna firm up so you don't lose all your layers on the first slice. It also prevents tongue burning!

The Sister Schubert rolls (if you choose to have them) take about 15 minutes at 350*, so it's the perfect thing to have on the side. Just follow the package instructions. You can also use this time to make your salad!

For some reason I don't make lasagna very often. Maybe because it takes a little more time than some other recipes. Maybe because there are lots of ingredients. Maybe because it's not the healthiest thing for me. I'm not sure what the reason, but I do know when I make lasagna it reminds me of my mama and it makes me smile. It also freezes beautifully! Mange!

Restaurant Review: City Barbeque

2010-07-20T10:55:00.002-04:00

After several people asked me about places to eat around Dayton, I decided a new type of post on my blog might be beneficial. I love eating at local joints. I find that food with local flavor tends to taste better. I like to think the reasoning behind this is that local restaurants make their food with more love and care than national chain restaurants. If you ask me where I want to go to eat, 75% of the time I'll pick a local place. For this reason, I have decided to start suggesting places around the Dayton (and sometimes Cincinnati) area at which I like to eat.

My first pick is City Barbeque (cityqbbq.com). I love barbeque. I grew up in Tennessee and good ole Memphis barbeque holds a special place in my heart. The location I visit most often is in downtown Centerville on the corner of 725 and 48. I work less than five minutes from this location and have, on more than one occasion, treated myself to a beef brisket sandwich for lunch.

Just driving by the restaurant makes my mouth water as I can smell the meat cooking and see the smoke billowing out of their smokers. They slow smoke all their meats, starting early in the morning, so even at breakfast time you can smell the wonderful aromas.

My favorite thing to get at City Barbeque is their beef brisket sandwich. Jeff loves the North Carolina Pulled Pork, which is a pulled pork sandwich topped with cole slaw and vinegar. The portions are good size here, so Jeff and I tend to each get a sandwich and then make one of them a platter (which just means we add two sides for $2.99).

We usually get their mac & cheese and their fries. When the fries are fresh, they are really good, but if they aren't fresh, they can get a bit soggy. I have had their cornbread, corn pudding, and hush puppies and they are all really good. Carolyn was visiting last week and she had the greens. I believe she liked them.

Some other things I have tried at City are their Texas Smoked Sausage (yum!) and the smoked chicken. The chicken had good flavor, but it didn't hold a candle to the pork or brisket. I have also had the Texas Sheet Cake (chocolate cake with chocolate frosting). Jeff and I had to wait a few minutes for fries one day and the manager didn't like that Jeff was finished with his sandwich by the time the fries came out, so he gave us cake for free. It was really, really good. Moist and sweet, just like I like it.

I have yet to try the ribs. Every time I go, I am craving the beef brisket! I just found out they have $1 rib days on Tuesdays (at least at my location), so I'm thinking I'm gonna go on a Tuesday. I also just found out they have a rewards card. For each $1 you spend, you get a point on your card. After you spend $100, you get a $5 coupon! I love rewards programs. One other thing...they have a lunch option. You get a 1/4 pound sandwich and two sides for $6.59. It's a pretty great deal! In fact, I think I'm gonna have to go there for lunch today...

I really can't say anything bad about City Barbeque. They have something for everyone, they have lots of locations, and their prices aren't bad. I also love the fact that my City is located right next to a Graeters (amazing ice cream)! But that's another blog...

Cinnamon Raisin Bread (Bread Machine Recipe)

2010-07-18T09:17:00.000-04:00

Don't you love a nice, warm piece of cinnamon raisin toast in the morning? I know I do. It's even better when you make it from scratch!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread
1 cup water
2 tbsp butter, softened
3 cups bread flour
5 tbsp sugar (original recipe=3 tbsp)
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 packet (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
2 cups raisins (original recipe=3/4 cup)

Put all ingredients in your bread machine in the order listed above, except for the raisins. You will want to reserve the raisins until the warning signal on your bread machine sounds, then add them. My machine takes a little over 3 hours to cycle completely through.

The original recipe was not as sweet or as raisin-y as I wanted, so I adjusted accordingly.

Just-As-Good-As-Starbucks Iced Coffee

2010-07-12T11:07:00.000-04:00

Carolyn has been a fan of iced coffee for as long as I can remember and she has raved about it to me for years. Only in the last year or two did I really start to appreciate the wonder that is iced coffee! A couple weeks ago she wrote me and said she had tried a recipe she found online. She made a base pitcher of iced coffee and keeps it in the fridge. She thinks it's just as good as Starbucks and cheaper! I made some this morning and I have to agree it's mighty tasty. I thought I'd share with you guys!

Just-As-Good-As-Starbucks Iced Coffee

12 cups water
8 heaping tablespoons coffee
*Desired sweeteners and flavorings

Brew coffee with the amounts of coffee and water listed above. Fill a glass with ice and pour the hot coffee over it. Add any sweeteners and/or flavorings you'd like.

Carolyn's Favorite: 1/2 cup skim or almond milk with either sugar free vanilla syrup or skinny caramel macchiato creamer

My Favorite: 1 tablespoon Fat Free Hazelnut Coffeemate, 1 packet Sweet N Low, drizzle of caramel syrup (available at Starbucks) *the best part about the caramel syrup is when it hardens in the icy liquid and you suck up bits of caramel through your straw!

I can already tell this is going to be a staple in my fridge!

Sweet Sunday Morning Waffles

2010-07-11T09:57:00.000-04:00

I rarely get cravings for sweets in the morning. Usually the thought of something sweet and bready makes me feel ill. Except for on the weekend... I don't know what it is about Saturdays and Sundays that make me want doughnuts, waffles, and french toast! I also rarely order waffles in restaurants because they are normally at least $5 and I always want something savory in addition to the sweet. (They should start putting 1/2 waffles on menus as add ons and charging $2-3 for them!) So, if I ever want waffles, I have to make them! Here's the one I like best:

Sweet Sunday Morning Waffles

2 eggs, beated
2 cups flour
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 canola oil
2 tbsp granulated sugar*
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together until just combined. Batter will be a little lumpy. Let sit for 15 minutes. Preheat a waffle iron and put about 3/4 cup** of batter in the iron. Let cook until golden brown and crispy.

*I like my waffles to be very sweet. I typically eat them without syrup. If you prefer your sweetness to come from your syrup, only use 1 tbsp of granulated sugar and omit the brown sugar, though I think the brown sugar gives the waffle an extra yummy flavor.

**I just eyeball the amount of batter I pour into my waffle iron. I use a one cup measure and fill it about 3/4 of the way up. Your waffle iron might need less or more depending.

Throwback Ribs

2010-07-02T08:14:00.001-04:00

Everyone has their own favorite rib style. There are St. Louis style ribs, baby back ribs, Texas style, Memphis style. Some like them swimming in sauce while others like to eat them dry. My personal favorite is a sort of mixture of a lot of different types of ribs. No matter what way you like, you must give these ribs a try.

My dad makes the best ribs in the world, in my opinion. I'm not a huge fan of tons of BBQ sauce. It's usually too sweet (though Dorothy Lane Market here in Dayton, OH makes a killer sauce that's just right). So growing up my dad would make his own basting sauce that would act like a BBQ sauce. His ribs involve two parts: a rub and a baste. The longer you let the rub sit on the ribs, the more flavorful they'll be. I always make baby back ribs because that's what I was raised on, but you can make whatever type of ribs you like.

Dry Rub
5 T Salt
6 T Sugar
2 1/2 T Black Pepper
2 T MSG (Yes I know MSG isn't a good thing, but that's just what this recipe calls for. You could probably just leave it out, though it may alter the flavor a little.)
1 T dried lemon powder (I had a hard time finding this so I used lemon pepper instead and just back a little on the black pepper)
1 T paprika

Combine all the ingredients together and mix WELL. You want everything to be evenly distributed. Put your baby backs on a cookie sheet and sprinkle the mixture liberally over them. Massage the mixture into the ribs. You want to make sure every inch of the ribs gets a little bit of the rub on it. Let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight. As I said, the longer it sits, the more flavor it has!

"Mop" Barbeque Sauce
I'm not real sure why it's called a "Mop" BBQ sauce. I personally believe it's because the creator of this recipe used to use a "mop" baster to put the sauce on the ribs. It is an extremely thin sauce that would benefit from a mop baster. At any rate, it smells amazing when it's cooking and gives great flavor to the ribs!

4 cups beef stock
1 cup worchestershire sauce
1 cup white vinegar
1 cup oil (vegetable, canola, etc)
1 T Tabasco sauce
1 T salt
1 T dry mustard
1 T paprika
1 T MSG (I left this out the last time I made it and it seemed fine)
1 T garlic powder
1 T chili powder
1 T ground bay leaf (I didn't read the "ground" part of this until I was home the first time so I just threw in four small bay leaves. It seemed to do the trick.)

Combine the ingredients in a large pot and bring to a rolling boil. Shut off the heat and let it cool on the stove. When storing, put the entire batch in a tupperware container and store in the fridge. It keeps for a pretty long time (like a year or so). When reheating the sauce, put the entire contents into a pot to reheat as many of the spices will settle to the bottom of the container.

Ribs
As I said before, the first step is to liberally coat the ribs with the dry rub and massage in. Let sit for at least an hour or overnight in the fridge. Pull out the ribs about a half hour before cooking to raise the temperature of the meat. Preheat your oven to 300*. Place the ribs in heavy duty aluminum foil and return to baking sheet. Pour 1/2 cup of the mop bbq sauce over the ribs in the foil. Gather the sides of the foil at the top and crimp them down, then crimp in the ends to make a somewhat tight package. You want to leave a little room around the ribs so they can "breathe" in the liquid. Place in the 300* oven for 2.5 hours.

After the ribs cook for 2.5 hours, move them to the grill to get a little color on them. Baste each side frequently with the mop bbq sauce and cook until desired color is achieved. I believe I cooked mine for about 15 minutes total. This step is optional. You can remove the ribs from the foil and put them back in the oven to achieve a similar outcome, though there's nothing like cooking meat on a grill.

**Originally my dad would cook the ribs on the grill at a very low heat the entire time, but it sometimes resulted in overcooked meat. Cooking the meat in a little bit of the bbq sauce in the oven allows it to essentially boil, thus retaining some of the liquid. Either way you go, these ribs are sure to be a hit! If you MUST, you can serve regular BBQ sauce alongside for dipping, though that's blasphemy in my book. :)

My Hummus Discovery

2010-06-30T11:26:00.000-04:00

For years now, I have heard hummus this and hummus that. I could never get into the stuff. Today at Kroger, I decided I would try it again. I bought the Private Selection Garlic and Chive hummus and mmm boy is it good! I am eating it right now with some pretzel crisps. The saltiness of the pretzels mixed with the creaminess of the hummus is perfect. Add some spicy shrimp sushi bought from Kroger as well and you've got a great lunch. Yum!

What is your favorite hummus and what do you eat it with?

Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs

2010-06-29T20:33:00.000-04:00

Long time, no see, eh? I know I've been MIA for the past few months, but hopefully this recipe will mark the return of my blogging!

It was such a nice night tonight, I thought I would grill out. I hadn't made kabobs in such a long time, but recently saw a Good Eats on them. I decided it was a great time to try them out again. Enjoy!

Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs
1 pound chicken
Assorted vegetables for grilling (I used onions, red bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and baby bella mushrooms)
wooden skewers

Marinade:
1/2 cup soy saucee
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup honey
1 tsp crushed red pepper flake
1 garlic clove, minced
2 pinches salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 lime, juiced

Mix the marinade together and place in a ziploc bag. Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces. Try to get them all similarly sized. Cut up your assorted vegetables to be as similar in size to your chicken. For my vegetables, I cut the onions and peppers, but left the tomatoes and mushrooms whole. Alton Brown suggests getting pearl onions so you don't have to worry about the onions falling about. Add the chicken and vegetables to your ziploc bag and massage the marinade into the items. Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.

An hour before dinner, place the wooden skewers in a pan filled with water. This will help prevent burning when you place your kabobs on the grill. When preparing your kabobs, it's best to put like items together (i.e. chicken on one skewers, onions on another, and so on). Most people like to put all their items together on the same skewer and, while that might enhance a little bit of flavor, it also may result in some items burning or overcooking while waiting for the meat to cook.

Preheat your grill and brush grates with a little oil to prevent sticking. We found it's best to put the meat and the onions on first and then about halfway through cooking, add the other skewers. Cook until the meat is completely cooked through.

*Tip: Alton suggested putting the meat in pita bread. Mmmm!

For more of Alton's tips, including helpful ways to thread your food on your skewers, you can watch his Good Eats episode here: Alton Brown's Dis-kabob-ulated

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

2010-05-12T12:10:00.000-04:00

If you like strawberry shortcake, you'll love this cake. It's a cross between white cake and shortcake. I came up with the idea last year and have been making it ever since. Every time I make it, I get rave reviews. Mmm. So good!

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

1 box white cake mix
3 egg whites
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 pints strawberries, diced
1/4 cup sugar (give or take a little depending on the sweetness of the berries)
1 container white frosting
1 container whipped topping (in the tub, not the canister)

Prepare cake mix according to the directions on the box. Put mix in a 13x9 in pan and bake as the box says to. Let cool completely (about 45 minutes to an hour).

While the cake is baking, wash and dice your strawberries. Mix in the sugar and let sit until the cake is completely cooled. Once the cake is cooled, top it with the strawberries.

In a mixing bowl, whip the container of frosting for 2 minutes, or until it becomes very fluffy. Fold in the whipped topping until well combined. Top strawberries with the mixture and refrigerate.

You can serve this cake immediately, but the longer it sits, the more flavorful the cake will become due to soaking up the juice from the strawberries.

Banana Crumb Muffins

2010-05-03T11:44:00.000-04:00

It's been a loooong time since I put a recipe on here. I made these muffins this weekend because I had some over ripe bananas I needed to use up. I wanted to make something different than plain banana bread, and this recipe was highly rated on Allrecipes.com. I hope you enjoy them!

Muffins:
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar

Crumb Topping:
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 375*. Lightly grease 10 muffin cups, or line with muffin papers. In a large bowl, mix together 1.5 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, beat together bananas, sugar, egg, and melted butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, 2 tbsp flour, and cinnamon. Cut in 1 tbsp butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Sprinkle topping over muffins. Bake in preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

They are fantastic warm or room temperature! Enjoy!

Great Discovery

2010-04-05T08:06:00.000-04:00

I love looking at nice houses. I always have. I'm my father's daughter in that aspect. Since Jeff and I own our own house now, I am constantly looking at other houses to get ideas for our own. We both love the looks of million dollar houses, but we obviously can't afford anything like that. We would like to achieve the same look, just scaled down a bit.

The other morning Jeff and I went out for a long walk and discovered a great neighborhood tucked way back behind a different neighborhood. The houses here are easily million dollar homes. They are amazing! From my house to that neighborhood, through the whole thing, and back is 5.25 miles. It's a long distance, but if I can get out of my house early enough to do it, it's a great workout.

Starting today I'm going to try to walk a little bit every day. Some days I'll walk 5 miles, other days I may only walk 2, but getting outside and getting moving is something that has to happen.

Time to Make a Change

2010-03-22T10:01:00.000-04:00

It has been almost two months since I last sat down in front of my computer to do a blog. No good. I have decided today I will be making some changes in my life. The weather is getting warmer outside, which means grilling season is back. As I was looking over my Calorie King entries from last fall (when I lost all my weight) I noticed a trend. We had some sort of marinated, grilled meat every two or three days with a vegetable or two on the side. I'm going back to that.

I have decided I will keep marinated meat in the freezer and pull one out the night before work. That way it will be ready to go when I get home at night. In fact, maybe I can convince Jeff to take up grilling! I have also decided that, instead of buying Lean Cuisine meals, I will be making my own. I am going to take the meals we buy most often (pizza, spaghetti, etc) and make my own healthy version. I can control the ingredients I use AND know exactly how nutritious they are. We call these meals "B Cuisine" in my house.

I have also been slacking in the working out department. Again, since it's getting warmer outside, walking will be a great way to get out and get moving. I love walking outside. You get a little fresh air, you get to look at other people's houses and get inspiration for your own, and it's a little harder than walking on a treadmill so your legs get a better workout. You can't lose! Well, unless it's raining...

I hope by changing myself I will have an effect on others. I hope people will join me in my cause to lose weight and get healthy. I hope to have a nice bikini body by summer. I hope..............

Cindy's Awesome Clam Chowder

2010-02-10T08:09:00.000-05:00

I try to find a new soup recipe to make each week. I am a HUGE fan of clam chowder, so this week that's what I chose. I got the recipe from Cindy in Pensacola. She is a great cook I follow on Allrecipes.com. Check out her recipe here!

My Meal Plans

2010-02-10T08:05:00.002-05:00

I get inspiration for meals from all sorts of places. One source in particular is from a lady's blog on Allrecipes.com. Every week, she writes down what she is going to make, a link to the recipe, and often the side dish she will serve with it. If the recipe can be split up into two or more meals, she includes that information as well. In addition, if she links the meal one week, freezes a batch of it, and uses the frozen meal a couple weeks later, she will mention that too. It is very organized and well thought out, which helps me. It also helps me that she cooks for just herself and her husband. When she says she is going to split a recipe into two or more meals, I know I will probably be able to split them into the same quantities since I'm only cooking for two people as well.
Something I have started doing over the past year or so is making a meal plan. I try to pick one of my days off to sit down and figure out exactly what I want to make for the next several days. I don't usually stick with a week because my schedule is not conducive to that.

One thing I should mention is any time I see a recipe I like, I write it down in a spreadsheet on my computer called "Recipes". If I saw the recipe on the computer somewhere, I will add a direct link from the spreadsheet to the web address the recipe can be found. If I see it in a cookbook, I will write down the cookbook name and the page number. Magazine articles have tripped me up in the past because I will tear out a recipe I want to try, but I'll forget to file the article away, resulting in lost recipes. I am going to get better about organizing my recipes, but that is a work in progress.

Anyhow, back to the meal planning. I have another spreadsheet on my computer called "Meals". I write down the day, date, and my schedule (early, late, or off) on the lefthand side of the spreadsheet. In the next column, I decide which protein I will serve at the meal. I try to mix it up and not have five days of chicken followed by five days of turkey or whatever. Then, I will go to my "Recipes" spreadsheet and pick out the recipes I would like to try. I will insert them into the "Meals" spreadsheet, complete with links to each recipe, and often the side dishes I would like to serve. Then, when it's time to make my grocery list, I just go to each recipe and copy down the ingredients I need to pick up. A little planning saves a lot of time in the long run. Check out a picture of my spreadsheet below:

Another thing I try to do, is follow Rachael Ray's advice and prep my food when I get home from the grocery store. I look at each recipe and see if there is anything I can do ahead of time to save a few steps when I go to make the recipe later that week. If I'm making stir fry and the veggies will not go bad if I chop them up, I do so. If I know I'm not going to need some of the protein I picked up for a few days or longer, I toss them in the freezer. Anything I can do on my day off that will save me time later on, I try to do. Many days I don't get home from work and the gym until after 6p. Jeff is usually starving by this point, so I have to either make food that can be whipped together very quickly, or I have to rely on my crock pot to do the cooking for me. Casseroles are another great thing to make ahead. I just leave a note on the counter that tells him what to do (preheat oven to 400* and cook casserole for 45 minutes, etc).

I hope this helps some of you out there that have a hard time planning meals and finding time to make homemade foods for your family. If I think of any more tips, I will let you guys know!

Mandy Forester's White Chicken Chili

2010-01-28T10:38:00.000-05:00

Recently Jeff and his brother, Paul, but a tv in the bathroom. We get to watch the news or other programs while we get ready throughout the day. One of the great things about having a tv in the bathroom is that I get to watch Rachael Ray while I get ready a late night at work. The other day she had a "Top Ten Recipe Downloads of 2009" show on. A recipe that caught my interest was Mandi Forester's White Chicken Chili.

This recipe has tons of options. You can top it with extra cheese, sour cream, Fritos, add in black beans or corn, you name it. A dollup of cream cheese would be pretty good in it too I'm sure! If you are like me, you like delicious, hearty soups like this one. An extra bonus...you can make it in the crock pot!

Mandi Forester's White Chicken Chili

1 32 ounce box chicken stock
3 cans white kidney beans
5 cups chicken, cooked and diced
1 16 oz jar of salsa (whatever heat level you like)
1 8 oz block pepperjack cheese, shredded
2 tsp cumin
2 garlic cloves, minced
pepper to taste
1/2 cup finely crushed corn chips (optional)

Here are Mandi's directions: Combine all ingredients except corn chips in a crock pot. Cook on high until the cheese is melted. You can also cook it on the stove over medium-high heat until the cheese is melted. After cheese is melted and chili is cooked, add the corn chips (if using) and cook an additional 10 minutes. Top with extra cheese, chips, or sour cream if desired.

Mandi suggested getting a rotisserie chicken, shredding it, and using that in the soup. I sprinkled three boneless, skinless breasts with salt and cayenne pepper, then baked them in the oven at 400* for 20 minutes. When you dice them up and add them to the chili, you don't have to add any extra pepper this way, plus the salt and pepper make the chicken taste extra yummy. I also let my chili simmer for a couple hours just so it would thicken up a little. Plus it made my house smell amazing. Enjoy!

Southwestern Chicken Soup

2010-01-27T09:37:00.000-05:00

My friend, Angela, brought me this soup to work one day and I loved it. I immediately asked for the recipe and proceeded to make it less than a week later. She topped hers with cheddar cheese, crushed tortilla chips, and sour cream. It was, in a word, fantastic. Thanks, A!

Southwestern Chicken Soup

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into strips
1 bag frozen corn
1 4 oz can chopped green chilies
2 small cans low sodium chicken broth
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp season salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and brown on all sides. Pat off excess oil.

In a crock pot, combine chicken with remaining ingredients and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir once. Top with toppings of your choice. Some suggestions are sour cream, cheddar cheese, crumbled tortilla chips, guacamole, hot sauce, salsa, etc.

GDL's Pasta E Fagioli

2010-01-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

I have started to come around on the whole beans-are-a-great-source-of-protein-and-oh-yeah-they're-yummy movement. For most of my life, I regarded beans as something I picked out of food. Thanks to my good friend, Sarah, who introduced me to one of my favorite soups Spicy Taco Soup, I now really enjoy beans. They are a great way to add flavor to a dish without increasing the fat content. They also thicken dishes quite nicely. Now, when I see a recipe that calls for beans, instead of flipping the page, I take a second look at the other flavors in the dish. I no longer throw out a recipe because of the beans, which opens lots of doors for me!

I saw this recipe in Giada de Laurentiis' Giada's Family Dinners cookbook and thought it sounded like a yummy filling soup on a cold day. I was right. It was a-mazing. I loved it. I couldn't get enough! I made it for myself and my friend, Chrissy, and we both liked it. I thought I'd share. Aren't I nice?

Pasta E Fagioli
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 large rosemary sprig
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup chopped onion
3 ounces pancetta or bacon, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 cans red kidney beans (**I misread and only picked up one can, so my soup had 1/2 the beans she called for.)
3/4 cup elbow macaroni (**I subbed whole wheat rotini instead.)
pepper
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Wrap the thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf in a piece of cheesecloth and tie with kitchen twine. (**I didn't have kitchen twine, so I just put the herbs into the soup whole then fished them out later. Leave the thyme and rosemary on the stalk for easy removal if you choose to go this route.) Heat the olive oil and butter in a large, heavy saucepan over a medium flame. Add the onion, pancetta, and garlic and saute until the onion is tender, about 3 minutes. Add the broth, beans, and sachet of herbs. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat, then decrease the heat to medium and simmer until the vegetables are very tender, about 10 minutes. Discard the sachet.

In a blender, puree 1 cup of the bean mixture until smooth, then return the puree to the saucepan. (**I used my stick blender to blend the soup a bit in the pot so I didn't have to fool with transferring hot liquid around the kitchen.) Cover and return the soup to a boil over high heat. Add the macaroni, cover, and boil, stirring occasionally, until the macaroni is tender but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Season the soup with pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

GDL's Italian Wedding Soup

2010-01-27T09:16:00.000-05:00

Italian wedding soup is one of those soups I think everyone can love. It's broth, meatballs, cheese, and a few greens. What's not to like? I got this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis' cookbook Giada's Family Dinners. I love her recipes. I am actually thinking of taking a page out of the Julie & Julia movie and cooking my way through one of her cookbooks. It's a thought...

Italian Wedding Soup

Meatballs
1 small onion, grated (**Make sure to grate your onion instead of chopping. I chopped mine, because apparently I can't read, and the meatballs looked like they had tumors all over.
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 large egg
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs
8 ounces lean ground beef
8 ounces ground pork (**I used 16 ounces ground turkey instead of the beef and pork and they were delish!)

Soup
10 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1 pound escarole
2 large eggs
2/3 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

To make the meatballs, stir together onion, parsley, egg, garlic, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in the cheese and bread crumbs. Using your hands, mix in the ground turkey. Shape the mixture into 1-inch meatballs, making approximately 75 balls. You will cook the meatballs in the broth, so just set them aside for now.

To make the soup, bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and escarole and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the escarole is tender, about 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and cheese. Add the egg mixture to the soup slowly, stirring with a fork to form thin strands of egg, about 1 minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Lade the soup into bowls and serve.

**Cook's Note: A great way to test the flavor of the meatballs before cooking the entire batch is to fry one up in a frying pan. I usually flatten one out to make the cooking time shorter and then taste it. Remember to take into account the other flavors of the dish the meatballs will be joining once cooked.

Also, these mini meatballs are great to make ahead and freeze. Just bake them off in a 400* oven until cooked through. Drain them on paper towels, then put on a baking sheet and freeze. Make sure they are not touching each other, otherwise they will all stick together.

Update on B

2010-01-27T08:56:00.000-05:00

Hello, my fellow food lovers. Yes, I know, it's been weeks since my last post. I have said this before and I'll say it again...I'm trying to do better. I have been cooking a decent amount, but I always forget to take pictures of my recipes! I think this is why I haven't been posting much. So, to remedy that, I am just going to post my recipes without pictures for a while and then hopefully it will remind me to take the pictures as I'm cooking.

I have been on a major soup kick for the past month. I used to think I didn't like soup, or it didn't make a filling meal, but I feel completely different now. I love soup. Soup and I have become best friends. I am going to post a few soup recipes today that I tried last week and LOVE!

I have also been doing a lot of crock pot and casserole cooking. I am ALWAYS looking for more recipes, so if you have any good ones, please pass them along.

On a non-food note, I am getting a baby niece today! It is very exciting. In fact, she should be here in less than an hour! I am hoping to see baby Ashley tonight! I can't wait to meet her. :)

I hope you all are doing well!

The Push I Needed (Thanks Heather!)

2010-01-09T11:22:00.001-05:00

Don't you love it when you try to talk yourself out of going to the gym, then decide to go, only to have a fantastic workout? I love it! That happened to me today. Today is Saturday (which doesn't really mean anything to me since I'm in retail and have to work weekends more often than not). It's snowy outside and Jeff is home in our nice, warm house. For these reasons (as well as being lazy) I did NOT want to go to the gym today, even though I didn't go yesterday. I posted a status on facebook saying I was trying to talk myself into going.

My friend, Heather, told me I should go because I would feel great the rest of the day. So what did I do? I put on my gym clothes. (Does anyone else feel more like going to the gym once you put your gym clothes on? I don't know what it is, but if I'm feeling wishy washy about going, I am much more likely to go once I'm dressed. Weird...) I'm so happy Heather told me to go. It was just the push I needed to get my butt to the gym!

So I put on my gym clothes and decided I would go and just do 30 minutes. It didn't matter what I did as long as I went for 30 minutes. I also downed a cup of coffee on the way to the gym. That usually peps me up as well. When I got there, I noticed two men running right next to the treadmill I like using. This solidified my decision to run today. And boy did I run.

Now, I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things after being "off" for over a month. I'm trying not to do too much too fast, but today I was just "in the groove". I love love love days like this. I wish every day was like today. I started running and ran for .75 miles, took a .25 mile break, and then ran an additional .5 mile. I finished my run with an uphill hike and then ran at an incline the last minute. Wonderful feeling!!!

After that, I was at around 340 calories, so I decided to start my weight training. I figured the more muscle I have, the more calories I'll burn, so I needed to start weights back up. I did arms today so they would be recovered by Tuesday (truck day at work). I'm going to do legs on Monday so they won't be uber sore on Tuesday. I kinda hate that I have to plan my weight training around my work schedule. Oh well. Then after I was done with weights I decided to finish up my workout with a short 5 minute bike ride. I'm not good at the bike or the elliptical because they both hurt my knees for some reason. *shrugs* Who knows why. Running doesn't bother my knees. I think it's crazy.

Anyhow, I burned over 500 calories, which was my goal, and made me feel very refreshed and happy. Gotta love those endorphins! Now I'm finishing the laundry, cleaning the kitchen, and taking a shower before I go into work. I am really pleased with myself and so happy I have started working out and eating right again. I can't wait to show off my new body this summer! :)

Polar F6 HRM and First Day Back at Neo

2010-01-04T18:59:00.000-05:00

Today was my first day back to my gym (NeoLimits) and it felt great! Carolyn went to the gym one day over her Christmas break and she said she forgot how amazing it felt! I notice a lot more energy tonight than I have in a while. Right now, for instance, I am cooking dinner and planning some meals out for the week so I can get my grocery list together. Jeff and I are going to head that way later tonight. I was planning on going after the gym, but it was too crowded to go then. Oh well.

Anyhow, two things happened at the gym today that surprised me in a good way. OK, well there were three surprises, but only two of them are ones I really care about.

First, I need to explain a little something about my gym. There are two entrances: one that goes directly into the gym (the front way) and one that opens up into a hallway that leads either to the gym or to the tanning salon (the back way). I almost always go in the back way because I'm either going to the tanning salon or to the women's locker room, which is at the end of the hallway but before the actual gym. The end of the hallway (before the locker room) has a table set up with a scanner that scans your membership card. Most of the time I just bypass this because it never opened a door or anything, so I thought it was pointless. I just walked right in. I mean, it's not like I'm sneaking in or anything...I'm just lazy and don't want to dig through my purse to find my keys. Well, today I noticed they had installed a door between the scanner table and the locker room/gym/etc. I guess people had been sneaking in a lot. Crazy. Wanna hear a funny thing? For a while (about four months) I was using this entrance and not scanning my barcode and then one day I realized they had not been charging my credit card. I was using the gym illegally! 8oP Whoops!

OK, so that was my first surprise but the one that didn't much matter to me because I'm not sneaking in the gym. The second and third things involved my new heart rate monitor (or HRM). When I got on the treadmill, I played with my HRM, turned it on, checked it out and all that, and then began my workout. About five minutes into the workout, I realized my treadmill had a heart rate on it and I wasn't touching the silver electrode panels. What's this? Is my HRM sending a signal to the treadmill and giving me an accurate reading? I quickly texted Carolyn (yes, I took my phone onto the treadmill with me) to double check and she confirmed my suspicions. How cool!!!

My third surprise followed soon after. The whole point (or about 95% of the point) of me getting an HRM was to accurately measure my amount of calories burned so I can put them into Calorie King and get a correct balance of calories, thus improving my weight loss. I checked my watch (part of the HRM) for a readout a couple minutes in and compared it to the treadmill...so far so good. Then a few minutes later, I checked again. My watch said one thing and the treadmill said a different number a significant amount off. I always assumed my treadmill was rounding up (i.e. when it said I burned 200 calories, I really burned 150 or something like that). Well...I WAS WRONG! Yay!!! Today my treadmill said I burned 215 but my HRM said I burned 307! How's that for a great surprise!

All in all, today was a good day. It started off kind of crappy at work, but I got back on track with my diet, got in a workout (in which I ran over 1/2 of it), am making a healthy, yummy dinner, and am getting my energy back! 2010 is gonna be great!!!

Chicken Meatballs

2009-12-03T08:53:00.000-05:00

I got this recipe from another blogger, but I liked them so much I thought I would share! This recipe is taken directly from: http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/10/baked-chicken-meatballs/

3 slices Italian bread, torn into small bits (1 cup)
1/3 cup milk
3 ounces sliced pancetta, finely chopped (you can swap in Canadian Bacon if you can’t find pancetta)
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 large egg
1 pound ground chicken
2 tablespoons tomato paste, divided*
3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat oven to 400°F with a racks the upper thirds. Soak bread in milk in a small bowl until softened, about four minutes.

Cook pancetta, onion, and garlic in one tablespoon oil with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper in a large skillet over medium heat until onion is softened, about 6 minutes. (Alternately, as in “I thought of this after the fact”, I’d bet you could render the pancetta for a couple minutes and cook the onions and garlic in that fat, rather than olive oil.) Cool slightly.

Squeeze bread to remove excess milk, then discard milk. Lightly beat egg in a large bowl, then combine with chicken, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, pancetta mixture, bread, and parsley. Form 12 meatballs and arrange in another 4-sided sheet pan (I used a 9×13 roasting dish).

Stir together remaining tablespoons of tomato paste and oil and brush over meatballs (the paste/oil does not mix in any cohesive manner, but just smoosh it on and run with it) , then bake in upper third of oven until meatballs are just cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes (though mine took a good 5 minutes longer).

* I accidentally added a heaping tablespoon of the tomato paste into the meatball mixture the first time I made it, and ended up liking it better than without it. I’d use the tomato paste on top too. It’s good both places.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe. Jeff and I made meatball subs with them and they were terrific! I'm sure they would be great with pasta or in any dish you would need meatballs. One little note...I used a mini ice cream scoop and ended up with 26 little meatballs. You can make a bunch in advance and freeze them as well. YUM!

Turkey Lasagna

2009-12-03T08:49:00.000-05:00

1 pound lean ground turkey
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 pound thick sliced ham
2 cups mozzerella cheese, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 package whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked and drained
1 jar pasta sauce

Preheat the oven to 400*. Over medium heat, brown the turkey in the olive oil. Add in the garlic towards the middle to end of the cooking process to avoid burning. Once the turkey is thoroughly cooked, remove from pan and drain on paper towels.

Mix turkey, ham, 1 1/2 cups of the mozzerella cheese, and the parmesan cheese together in a separate bowl. In a 13x9 baking dish that has been greased, begin assembling the lasagna. Put down a little sauce to prevent sticking and then lay down the lasagna noodles in a single layer. Next add a layer of sauce, then a layer of your meat mixture, then a layer of noodles. Repeat. On top of the last layer of noodles, add a little more sauce and top with the remaining mozzerella cheese. Bake for 45 minutes or until cheese is melted and lasagna is completely warmed through.

Tomato, Arugula, and Pancetta Pasta

2009-11-15T19:34:00.002-05:00

I watch Food Network a lot and one of my favorite shows is "Giada at Home". I love Giada. I love pasta and cheese and vegetables and everything Italian. I am Italian after all. One day I was watching "Giada at Home" and she made this dish that was out-of-this-world-yummy looking! Since it was a pretty simple looking meal to make, I decided to give it a whirl. I'm always looking for a quick and easy meal to make on a weeknight after work! If you'd rather visit Giada's recipe, please feel free!

**Sorry for the lack of pictures. I'm having trouble locating my camera!**

Tomato, Arugula, and Pancetta Pasta

1 pound filled pasta (i.e. ravioli, tortellini, etc)
6 slices pancetta, thin sliced and chopped
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups arugula
1/2 cup basil
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

Bring water to boil for the pasta. Cook pasta according to manufacturer's directions. While the pasta is cooking, heat a pan to medium high heat and cook the pancetta until crispy. Remove from the pan and drain. (I took the rendered fat out of the pan as well because I didn't want all that added grease.) Add the tomatoes, oil, salt, and pepper to the pan and cook until tender and warmed through. Add the arugula and basil and cook until they are wilted. Add the butter to the pan and let melt. Add the ravioli and cooked pancetta to the mixture and toss to coat. Serve immediately.

A few notes...
1. You can use whatever kind of filled pasta you like...cheese, vegetable, meat, etc. You can even choose to make it with some regular type pasta like bowtie. I'm sure it would be good no matter what you use.
2. I did not read the directions carefully before going to the store to get my pancetta and I ended up getting it thick sliced. I chopped it up into pretty small pieces, but I think the thin sliced would have been better. The thick was very crunchy and sort of dominated the rest of the dish as far as texture.
3. Jeff is not a huge fan of bacon-type meats and made the suggestion that it would be better with a different type of meat. I think turkey sausage would go great with these flavors. Ground chicken flavored with some garlic and/or pesto would do nicely too. You wouldn't get the crunch from either of these two meats, but that is something Jeff was not keen on with this dish. You could also make this with regular bacon if you didn't have pancetta on hand.
4. Giada's recipe on the Food Network website has a breakdown of times, so if you are curious about that, please check out the site listed above.

I hope you try this dish. It took less than 30 minutes to make from the time I started the water for the pasta to the time we sat down to eat. It is a great go-to meal.

Get Into That Christmas Spirit

2009-11-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

If you're anything like me, I spend most of the holiday season compiling a list of my favorite Christmas songs only to delete the list come January, thus forcing me to repeat myself in November/December! Last year, I got smart. We had an external hard drive, so I saved my songs in a folder labeled "Christmas". This year, all I had to do was move the folder back onto my computer and voila! Instant Christmas playlist! I thought I would share some songs with you to get you into that holiday spirit. (I know, I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but since I work retail it has been Christmas since before Halloween!!!)

**Just a warning...I listen to a lot of traditional music at my job, so a lot of my songs are the "different" Christmas songs. I do have some traditional music, but usually they are sung by a newer artist or have a twist of some sort on them. It's just what I like. :)

All I Want for Christmas Is a Real Good Tan-Kenny Chesney
The Angel At the Top of My Tree-Kenny Chesney
Baby, It's Cold Outside-Leon Redbone & Zooey Deschanel (from Elf)
Believe-Josh Groban (I cry every time I watch "The Polar Express" and hear this song. It is so beautiful.)
A Candle In The Window-Alabama
Christmas-Leona Naess
Christmas in America-Melissa Etheridge
Christmas in Dixie-Alabama
Christmas in Dixie-Kenny Chesney
Christmas is Going to the Dogs-Eels
Christmas Memories-Alabama
The Christmas Song-The Raveonettes
Elf's Lament-Barenaked Ladies
Feliz Navidad-Jose Feliciano
Green Christmas-Barenaked Ladies
Happy Holidays-Alabama
Hard Candy Christmas-Dolly Parton
Here Comes Santa Claus-Bing Crosby
Holly Jolly Christmas-Burl Ives
Homecoming Christmas-Alabama
I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas-Dr. Demento
It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas-Perry Como
It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year-Andy Williams
Joseph & Mary's Boy-Alabama
Last Christmas-Jimmy Eat World
Maybe This Christmas-Ron Sexsmith
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays-N'Sync
Mistletoe-Colbie Caillat
The Nutcracker Suite-The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Please Come Home for Christmas-Charles Brown
The Polar Express-Tom Hanks
Rockin' On Top of the World-Steven Tyler
Rocking Around the Christmas Tree-Brenda Lee
Run Run Rudolph-Chuck Berry
Santa Baby-Britney Spears
Santa Baby-Eartha Kitt
Santa Claus (I Still Believe in You)-Alabama
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town-Frank Sinatra
Sleigh Ride-Gap Commerical Version
Suite from the Polar Express-Alan Silvestri
Tennessee Christmas-Alabama
Thistlehair the Christmas Bear-Alabama
Tonight is Christmas-Alabama
Twelve Redneck Days of Christmas-Jeff Foxworthy
We Need a Little Christmas-The Muppets
When Christmas Comes to Town-Matthew Hall & Meagan Moore (I cry during this one too!! lol)
Where Are You Christmas?-Faith Hill

This is my starter list. There are more, I'm sure, but this is the playlist I have saved from last year. What are some of your favorite Christmas songs you listen to over and over again? As they are sent to me, I'll add them to my list. Thanks!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

2009-11-11T21:52:00.001-05:00

I love chicken cordon bleu. My ex-boyfriend's mom used to make it a lot and it was one of my favorite meals she cooked for us. She made a frozen version, but nevertheless it was fantastic! I tried to make chicken cordon bleu a while back and was upset when the filling fell out before it was even cooked. This time I tried for a casserole version. It was A-Mazing! So good! Jeff and I both loved it very much. And, bonus, it was really easy!

I'm sure making a french dish had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that I saw "Julie & Julia" yesterday...

For casserole:
1 cup diced ham
2 cups diced chicken
1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1/8 tsp ground mustard
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 cup milk

For topping:
3/4 cup ritz crackers, crushed
1/4 cup shredded swiss cheese
2 tbsp butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350*. Heat ham in a pan until browned on all sides (4-5 minutes). Remove from pan and saute onions in butter until soft. Meanwhile, layer chicken, ham, and cheese to a prepared casserole dish. (I used a 6x9 pan for this size casserole.) Add flour, mustard, and nutmeg to the onions. Stir to thoroughly combine. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened. Layer over the previous ingredients.

Combine the three topping ingredients until it becomes crumbly. Spread evenly over the casserole. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the crust is nice and brown.

Beef Tenderloin with Balsamic Vinegar Glaze and Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary

2009-11-11T08:38:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, I went to see "Julie & Julia" therefore did not get home in time to make a meal that takes a long time to cook. Instead, I picked up a few things from Dorothy Lane, our gourmet grocery store next to my house, and did my own little spin on them. I made a beef tenderloin in the oven served with a wonderful red wine, balsamic vinegar glaze. I also had roasted baby potatoes with rosemary and garlic on the side. It was yum! Here's what I did:

Beef Tenderloin with Balsamic Vinegar Glaze

For the steak:

2 filet mignon steaks

1 T olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped

salt & pepper

TIP: When picking out your steaks, go for the darkest one you can find. The darker the meat, the more flavorful it will be.

Preheat your oven to 400*. Start by patting your steaks completely dry. Something I learned from the movie is it's easier to brown your meat if it is completely dry. Who says you can't learn things from the movies?! So, pat your steaks dry, sprinkle them with salt, pepper, garlic, and rosemary and really push the seasonings into the meat. You want them to stick when you put them in the hot pan. Heat your pan to medium high and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, place your steaks in the pan. You'll want to hear a wonderful sizzle when you put your steaks in. After about a minute, flip the steaks over and let them cook for an additional minute, or until the other side is nicely browned.

If you have an ovenproof pan, you can just move the steaks (pan and all) into the oven to finish the cooking. If not, you will need to transfer the steaks to something that is ovenproof and put that dish in the oven. You are just looking to cook the inside of the steak to your desired temperature. I like to use a meat thermometer to ensure the proper temp:

120-125: rare; 130-135: medium rare; 140-145: medium

Oddly enough, I didn't use one last night, so our meat with well done (we like medium rare to medium), but I thought it was still yummy. Pull your meat out just shy of it being cooked to your desired temperature so it can rest a little before you eat it. It will continue to cook as it rests. If you like it medium, for example, you'd want to remove it around 135 so by the time you cut into it, it would be perfect. Remember to remove your steaks from the pan for the resting.

For the glaze:

1/4 cup red wine

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1 large pinch brown sugar

Combine all the ingredients and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer and cook until it has reduced. After you pull the steaks out of the pan so they can rest, you should have a good amount of "stuff" left in the pan. Pour your glaze mixture into the pan to "deglaze" it. The red wine and vinegar combined with the pan drippings makes for a phenomenal sauce! Remember, though, when you taste the sauce, it will taste super strong! "A sauce is supposed to be strong. If it wasn't, they would call it soup." I believe this quote is from Alton Brown's Good Eats television show. Once you put the sauce on the steak, it tones it down and everything just flows.

Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary

12-14 baby red potatoes, quartered or halved depending on the size

1 T olive oil

2 sprigs rosemary, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

salt and pepper

Can you tell I like garlic and rosemary? I wanted the potatoes to cook pretty fast, so I cut them either in half or in quarters. Put them on a cookie sheet and sprinkle them with the oil, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Then put them in your oven (that should be preheated to 400*) to cook. It should take about 20 minutes or so. Just cook them until they are nice and done. I usually try to flip them at least once so both cut sides brown evenly.

REMEMBER: Put your potatoes in the oven first. Like I said, they will take about 20 minutes to cook and your steaks should only take about 5 at the most. Get your potatoes started and in the oven before you even start on the steaks and you should be pretty good on time. Enjoy!

Julie & Julia

2009-11-10T17:13:00.000-05:00

Today I decided to treat myself to a movie since I had the whole day off and had already gotten in my workout early. I have been wanting to see "Julie & Julia" for quite some time because a. I'm a foodie and b. I have a food blog. And c. Julia Child is synonymous with cooking.

I. Love. This. Movie.

Meryl Streep did an excellent job capturing the essence of Julia. I do believe talking in Julia's voice would give me a headache though! Amy Adams was amazing in the movie too. I was hungry the whole way through! Good thing I ate before I went.

Seeing this movie made me want to learn more about cooking. It really solidified my desire to do something in food. I don't know if I want to be a chef or a baker, but I would love to do something in food! Maybe having a food blog is enough. Maybe not.

Seeing this movie also enhanced my desire to travel to Europe. I have always wanted to go to France and Italy. Those two places top a long list of places I want to visit. I will get there some day. And when I do, I will try anything and everything I can get my hands on!

Hi. My name is Bethany and I love coffee.

2009-11-04T17:41:00.000-05:00

When I was growing up, my mama and daddy had coffee every morning. Some days I would even make it for them. They taught me how to make it and they "took" it, and I would sometimes make their coffee and take it to them. I would be so proud.

I never liked coffee growing up though. I always LOVED the smell, but thought it tasted too bitter. My roommate in college, Carolyn, and her then boyfriend, Barrett, would drink coffee all the time. I secretly think Barrett's veins contained coffee instead of blood. I always wanted to be one of those people who would "run to Starbucks" and carry those little cups with them everywhere they went. I still could not get on board with the coffee drinking.

Then, one day before APO (our community service fraternity we belonged to), Carolyn convinced me to try coffee again. She suggested I get a Caramel Macchiato because most of the time they were sweeter than other drinks. She also suggested I get it with one less shot of espresso. Grandes come with two shots, so I would get a Single Grande Caramel Macchiato.

I told her the drink seemed a little rich, so then she tweaked my drink to be a Single Grande Nonfat Caramel Macchiato. I drank that same drink for about two years. It was the best thing in the world and it was super yummy every day during our APO meetings.

Then a few years ago, I decided to branch out. One day I went up to the Starbucks counter and nervously ordered a Single Grande Nonfat Hazelnut Latte. I know...big difference, right? Turns out, it was equally fantastic!

Eventually, I encountered a new problem. Hot coffee drinks in the middle of summer don't taste as good as they do in the middle of winter. Problem was, I didn't like iced coffee. Or so I thought... "Try it again!" Carolyn encouraged one day last summer. "I bet you'd like the Caramel Macchiato iced. The caramel gets all cold and you get big bites of it in your straw!" I tried it and ended up drinking the entire drink in all of about ten minutes. Yay! New drink I love!

Today...ladies and gents...I have reached another level of coffee drinking achievement. I did not "water down" my beverage by getting one less shot of espresso in my coffee. Let me expain...

I have recently taken to ordering the Skinny Lattes at Starbucks. I don't get Starbucks often because I don't like to "drink" my calories. Carolyn told me the skinny lattes are suprisingly good, so I tried one the other day. Basically I got the same drink I always get but with sugar free syrup instead of the sugary syrup. I still got one less shot of espresso though. It didn't taste as good to me as a regular latte, but it was Starbucks and I was treating myself to a caloric beverage.

I decided I didn't want to keep getting grandes, though, because that is an extra 2 oz of skim milk, therefore an extra 20 calories I didn't need to have. (I know what your thinking...it's an extra 20 calories. Big deal. But when you only get 1400/day and you'd rather have a chocolate bar and need those 20 calories, it is a big deal. To me.)

So today I got a Tall Skinny Vanilla Latte. No single shot, no other changes, just plain and simple. And you know what? It's FANTASTIC! It's my new favorite drink. And I know you all are laughing at me and telling me what a weird post this is. But you know what?

I don't care. Cause I have a Tall Skinny Vanilla Latte. And you don't.

November

2009-11-01T06:56:00.002-05:00

Can anyone else believe it's NOVEMBER already?

54 days til Christmas!

Wow...

Halloween Candy...and a Turkey Burger

2009-11-01T06:54:00.000-05:00

Carolyn came up on Friday to hang out with me for the weekend. We decided to go to a yogalates class yesterday morning and then to the outlet mall in Jeffersonville for a little shopping. After we came home, it was time to hand out candy to all the little neighborhood kids. There were quite a few of them! Well, needless to say, we had to help ourselves to a little Halloween candy. We kind of overdid it, but what are you gonna do? It's Halloween!!!

To balance out the candy, we decided turkey burgers would be a better alternative than going out to eat or ordering something unhealthy like pizza. I thought I'd share the recipe with you guys!

Turkey Burgers

1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons worchestershire sauce
1 egg white
salt
pepper
chopped parsley

Mix all the items (excluding the turkey meat) together until combined. Add the turkey meat and mix until just combined. Don't overwork the meat! Cook over medium heat in a nonstick skillet until no longer pink.

We ate ours with American cheese, ketchup, spicy mustard, and avocado. Yum!

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

2009-10-28T19:41:00.000-04:00

Today was the world's easiest pulled pork recipe.
No, seriously.
Like, there are only two ingredients! Ready? Go.

2 lb pork tenderloin (or other cut...whatever is a good price at your grocery store)
1 can root beer

Yep. That's it. OK...now the hard part.

Put your pork in the crock pot. Cover with the root beer. Turn on low for 8 or so hours.

Good lord, people. Could we get any easier?
I served mine with some BBQ sauce, whole wheat buns, and store bought roasted potatoes on the side.

Lemme tell ya...there were a ton of dishes tonight. ;o)

Spicy Taco Soup (w/Casserole Option)

2009-10-21T13:19:00.000-04:00

One of my friends at work told me about this soup she made the other day. When she gave me the recipe for Taco Soup I thought to myself...eh, this might be good. I had no idea...

Honestly, if I hadn't had most of the ingredients in my pantry I might not have made it. It sounded a little like chili to me and I'm not a huge fan of chili. I did have to make a couple substitutions (in bold next to the original ingredient) simply because I didn't have exactly what the recipe called for, but I'm sure it would be great either way.

Turns out, this soup is like chili and it isn't like chili at the same time. Either way...it's fantastic!

1 can whole kernel corn 1/2 family size bag Green Giant Frozen Sweet Corn (the kind with the butter chips)
1 can black eyed peas 1 can black beans
1-2 cans of other beans 1 can canneloni beans
1/2 jar salsa (I used off brand Tostitos mild chunky)
1 packet taco seasoning
1 large can tomato sauce
1/2 lb ground beef, cooked and drained 1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup hot sauce

Mix everything together including the liquids from the cans of beans in a large stock pot, let come to a boil, and then reduce temperature to medium low. Cook for at least 35-45 minutes. The longer it cooks, the better it tastes. Makes 8 cups.

This soup would be great topped with sour cream if you're a fan accompanied by some corn bread, or even in a casserole of sorts. Omit the bean juices and fill a casserole dish with the soup, then top with a l ayer of corn bread mix. Bake at 400* until corn bread is fully cooked.

Crock Pot Roast & Roasted Potatoes...A Sunday Classic

2009-10-20T09:06:00.000-04:00

I haven't had pot roast in years. I always forget about how fantastic it is! I don't know why. The other day I was trying to find a bunch of recipes for the crock pot that sounded good. I ended up deciding on Pot Roast because I knew Jeff liked it and I knew it would be extra simple to make. I went on my favorite website Allrecipes and did my traditional search through their wonderfulness of goodies. I found the following recipe:

Awesome Slow Cooker Pot Roast
2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup (I used the 98% fat free)
1 package dry onion soup mix
1 1/4 cups water
5.5 lb pot roast*

Basically you just mix up the top three ingredients real well, throw in your pot roast, and set your cooker on low for 8-9 hours or high for 5-6 hours. It was delightful. I use those slow cooker liners so I dont' have to fool with scrubbing my cooker after. Works miracles.

*I always have a problem knowing which cut of meat to use. I mean they don't typically have "pot roast" stamped on the label at my grocery store. Therefore, before I went I googled the best cuts of meat to use. I suggest you do this with anything you are unsure of. Just my opinion.

To accompany this, I decided to try a recipe I found on another blog: Her name is Ree and she is fabulous.

Roasted Garlic New Potatoes
2-3 pounds new potatoes, quartered
2 heads of garlic with the top sliced off
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white wine (or you could use chicken broth if you don't like using alcohol)
salt & pepper

Lay all the potatoes on a baking sheet in a single layer. Place the heads of garlic around the potatoes. Drizzle everything with the olive oil and wine, making sure to include the garlic. Sprinkle the mix with the salt and pepper. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 20-30 minutes or until the potatoes get all nice and golden. If you really love garlic, squeeze some of the roasted garlic onto toast or rolls. Yum.

**One thing I like about Ree's blog is that she includes photos for every step of the cooking process. If you cook better with a visual, you should definitely check out her blog!

Make Your Own Footwarmers

2009-10-18T20:05:00.000-04:00

My feet are the first thing to get cold in the winter and sometimes, no matter how many blankets I pile on, they just will not get warm! One year, many moons ago, my mom got me a product Jeff and I lovingly refer to as the "corn bags". Actually, Jeff refers to them as the "stinky, smelly, corn bags". They do kinda smell...a little like burnt popcorn.

Anyhow, they are cloth bags filled with dried corn kernels you can put in the microwave and heat up. They hold the heat for a long time. They are great for cramps, sore muscles, and of course heating up your cold feet in the winter.

The bags my mom got for me a long time ago have pretty much run their course. I have used and reused them so much I think I actually am burning the corn now when I heat them up. That being the case, I set out to make my own.

I had tried this in the past, but did not know where to get the corn part. Plus, part of the reason I wanted to make new ones was to get rid of the icky corn smell Jeff hated so much. After lots of research online I found out you can use rice. Yay! Easy to find and CHEAP! Wanna make your own? Here's how:

You will need:
1 piece of cloth approximately 12" x 8" (or whatever size you'd like your bag to be) *remember: you want to measure length by double the width since you will be folding the cloth over to make a bag. In this case my finished product is 12" by 4" approximately.
Needle & thred the color of your cloth
1 bag of rice to fill the cloth bag
Tea leaves (optional)

First, decide how long you want your bag. I wanted mine to fit across both of my feet with a little hangover on each side so it can comfortably lay on my feet and not slide off the side. Then pick out a pretty cloth from the craft store or find a scrap piece of cloth laying around your house if you don't care about aesthetics. I chose an old hand towel I didn't care about. I cut it in half width wise and then (when folded) it was the perfect size bag.

Next, sew two of the sides together to create a seam. If you are putting two separate pieces of cloth together instead of folding the cloth in half, you will have to sew three sides together. Either way, you want all the sides except for one to be sewn closed. Make sure you make the seam pretty tight. Rice is small and there is a chance of it escaping if there are any holes in the seam.

Once your seam is created, fold your bag inside out so the sewn part is on the inside. If you choose to mix some tea in with your rice, do so now and then place the rice mixture in the cloth bag. Don't overfill. You still need to sew the final seam so the bag is complete.

Speaking of which, go ahead and finish your bag. After all your seams are in place, you are left with a bag that can be heated over and over again to warm your tootsies. Each microwave is different, so you may want to start with 2 minutes on high and increase your time little by little. My perfect temp is between 3 & 3:30 minutes.

Updated!! Fake Out Mexican Pizza

2009-10-17T23:47:00.000-04:00

Thanks to one of my coworkers, I became obsessed with Mexican Pizzas from Taco Bell. With my new attitude on food, the 570 calorie menu item is just not worth it in my book. However, I still craved this yummy treat, so I decided to find a healthier alternative for nights when my craving just couldn't be quieted with a healthy snack.

Mexican Pizza

1 whole wheat low fat tortilla
1/2 cup fat free refried beans
1/4 cup 2% milk sharp cheddar cheese
2 packets mild border sauce (the packets of sauce from Taco Bell)

Toast the tortilla. The best way I've found is to use a toaster oven set to "toast", but you can use a pan with a little nonstick cooking spray or the regular oven as well. The toaster oven (as well as the regular oven I assume) removes more of the moisture from the tortilla, therefore making it crispier. Spread the toasted tortilla with the beans and top with the cheese and sauce.

It's not exactly the same as the fast food mexican pizza, but it helps satisfy a craving when I have one.

Oh...and it's just 290 calories for the whole thing.

UPDATE!!!!! 10/17/09
OK, so I hated coming home from a long night at work to wait on a tortilla to crisp up in the toaster oven. Plus, the flavor of the tortilla was not quite right when compared to the Taco Bell Mexican Pizza that I was trying to duplicate. I remembered seeing some sort of round, crispy, tortilla like disc thing at the grocery store, so I wrote it on my handy, dandy list and made a point to look a little more closely at the ethnic aisle the next time I went to the grocery store.

TADA! I found tostadas! Mmm, mmm, good! Tonight I tried out my mexican pizza and it was PERFECT! The tostadas are 155 calories for 3, so one is just a little over 50 calories. One tostada with 1/4 cup beans, 1/2 oz cheese, and 1 border sauce is the perfect size for a snack and it ends up being right around 150 calories. I'm guessing Taco Bell uses tostadas in their pizza, because the taste was almost identical! Try it! You'll like it! I promise.

Neato iTouch/iPhone Apps

2009-10-17T23:06:00.001-04:00

If you know me and are around me at all, you know that I love love love Apple and Mac and the whole bit. Buying an iTouch did not disuade me in the least. In fact, I think I love Apple more now than ever because my life has gotten that much simpler. You know the phrase from the commercial, "There's an app for that" ? It's true. Here are some of my favorite apps thusfar (click on the titles where applicable for more info):

1. Grocery iQ This is a great app for people in charge of doing the grocery shopping each week. You can load as many stores as you want and then create a shopping list of items to get at each store. If you are like me and tend to visit two different grocery stores, you can move items between stores. For example, I went to Kroger on Friday to get several things. While there, I could not find a couple items so I transferred them to my list for Dorothy Lane (my gourmet grocery store).

Another great thing about this app is that once you pick up the item at the store, you can click on the box to the left and it goes into your "cart" at the bottom of the screen so you only see items you still have to shop for. Once you are completely done with your shopping, you click on "Check Out" and the list you just used is saved into your history. I could go on and on about this app, but then I wouldn't have time to list any other ones.

2. CouponsManager I have been trying to become a coupon clipper for a couple months now, but for some reason I always manage to forget my coupons at home or I don't have time to organize them. Now, I don't have to spend as much time as before. This app allows you to input all the coupons you clipped from Sunday's paper. It takes down the product name, expiration date, the amount off, the number of coupons you have for each item, etc. Then you can sort them by name or date. I haven't used this one much, but if it works the way I think it is going to, I will be in love!

3. FitnessBuilder I believe I talked about this in a previous post. This app is AWESOME for figuring out what exercises to do to work out your desired body part. It is preloaded with over 100 different workouts, plus it lists tons of exercises separately so you can build your own. I have used this app a couple different times and am impressed that it tracks the amount of time spent on each workout and lets you keep track of how much weight you used during your workout. As many of you know, I use Calorie King to track my calories and my exercise. This app helps tremendously with the timing of my workouts.

4. My Starbucks Love coffee? Me too. Get confused at the million and one different kinds of coffee offered at Starbucks? ME TOO. This app is fantastic cause it tells you every single drink they offer and lets you customize it any way you want. You choose whether you want a hot or cold drink, then pick from their listing of beverages to get started. You pick the size, the type of shot, the type of milk, any add ons, and any extra preparation type things (upside down, room for milk, extra hot, etc) you want. Then, the thing I like best, you can complete your drink and it will tell you how many calories it is! Neato!

Those are my most favorite apps as of right now. Please feel free to let me know if you have any apps that are fantastic for you! I am always on the lookout for the next great app.

Crock Pot Cookery Bonanza!

2009-10-16T11:30:00.002-04:00

I got an email from my mom a while back listing a ton of different crock pot recipes. I thought I would share the website with you guys too! Let me know if you try any that you really like. Enjoy!

Crock Pot Cookery

Dinnertime Dilemmas

2009-10-16T10:50:00.000-04:00

I am pretty busy lately. My job requires me to be there nearly 50 hours a week, plus I usually go to the gym for about an hour each day. This leaves me pretty tired when I get home from work and not wanting to spend hours in the kitchen.

So, my dear readers, I need some dinner inspiration. What is your favorite, quick, weeknight meal? What do you find yourself making over and over again? Please leave me a comment and help me get out of this dinnertime slump. Thanks in advance!

Quick Tip #4

2009-10-16T10:47:00.000-04:00

Rachael Ray is onto something when she says to prep your produce when you come home from the store. I love adding sauteed peppers, onions, and mushrooms to my egg dishes in the morning. It keeps you fuller longer and it adds a great flavor!

I am a huge fan of those Ziploc Twist N Loc containers (I have a whole drawer full of them). They keep the air out and keep your food really fresh for a long time! I dice up my onion, pepper, and sometimes my mushrooms and throw them into their own container. Then when I need something, it is all ready for me to use. I even sometimes saute the vegetables and then put them in the container. They keep pretty well for a couple days!

Quick Tip #3

2009-10-15T20:48:00.000-04:00

Don't you hate when you go to use brown sugar and it is hard and clumpy? I know I do. Even when I use my handy, dandy airtight container, every so often I find myself with the hard and clumpy crap.

My solution to this problem? Pop it in the microwave for a couple seconds. It will "melt" the sugar, resulting in soft, yummy goodness for all your delicious cakes and cookies.

Ahhhh. Brown sugar makes me smile.

Quick Tip #2

2009-10-14T07:53:00.000-04:00

Jeff and I eat a lot of lunch meat. We eat have about 2 oz of Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Shaved Ham (or turkey or roast beef) each day in our lunch. That's 4-5 sanwiches per 9 oz package so we go through at least two packages a week. I can find them on sale a lot at Kroger, and when I do I stock up.

I have probably 10 packages of meat in my freezer. The only bad part about freezing lunch meat is since it's mostly water, when it thaws it is a lot juicier than it once was.

Great for chicken, bad for lunch meat.

After I thaw the meat, I line a plastic container with a couple folded paper towels on the bottom, add the lunch meat, and top with another couple folded paper towels. Cover with the container lid and stick in the fridge. The next day when I go to make the sandwiches, the excess moisture has been captured by the paper towels.

Fantastic.

Google Reader

2009-10-11T20:29:00.000-04:00

Just a little note for you guys who want to be informed of new postings on my blog (or other blogs for that matter). Google Reader is a website that will pull all the blogs you read into one central location so you don't have to go to each individual blog every day to see if there is a new posting. You just go to Google Reader, make a free account, and input the web addresses of those blogs you would like to keep up with. Then, each day you can revisit Google Reader and it will let you know if any of the blogs you read have new postings. Pretty cool, eh?

If you don't want to sign up for that, and you still want to be informed of a new blog that I write, you can give me your email address and I will have Blogger send you an email when I update my blog.

Or you can just do things the old fashioned way. :o)

Pumpkins

2009-10-11T13:35:00.000-04:00

We went to Hidden Valley Orchard in Lebanon, Ohio, to get some pumpkins yesterday. It was a gorgeous day and we got some pretty great pumpkins if I do say so myself!

Allrecipes.com & a Pumpkin Bread Recipe

2009-10-11T13:19:00.000-04:00

Allrecipes.com has the best collection of recipes in my opinion. I love to search for a recipe I would like to make, then sort by rating and go with the highest rated recipe with respect to the number of people that rated it. For example, one day I searched for a recipe, then sorted it according to rating. The top recipe had 5 stars, but only a couple people had rated it that way. The next recipe down had 4.5 stars with 1000+ people that rated it. I chose the second one.

After I choose a recipe based on the rating, I typically read the first 4 or 5 reviews below the recipe. A lot of times people will explain why they like the recipe better than others, or will give suggestions on how they changed the recipe and what happened when they did so. Then I take all that information and adapt it to my own needs.

Today I chose to make Downeast Maine Pumpkin Bread. After reading some of the reviews and using my own knowledge of baking, I came up with the following recipe:

1 15 oz can pumpkin puree

4 eggs

1/3 cup canola oil

2/3 cup Motts Natural (or any unsweetened) applesauce

2/3 cup water
1.5 cups white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

12 packets Sweet n Low (equivalent to 1/2 cup sugar)
1.5 cups whole wheat flour (sifted)

2 cups white flour (sifted)

2 tsp baking soda

1.5 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp ginger

Preheat oven to 350º. Mix pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce, water, sugars and Sweet n Low together. In a separate bowl, mix flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger together. Add to pumpkin mixture until just combined. Don't over mix. Separate into three loaf pans (or 2 loaf pans and a 12-cup muffin tin like I did). Bake in oven until a toothpick comes out clean. Loaves will take about 50 minutes, muffins about 35 minutes.

If you cut the loaves into 12 equal slices, the above recipe will yield 36 servings. Each serving is only 133 calories! It's a great addition to a low calorie breakfast like scrambled egg whites, or top a muffin with a tablespoon of natural peanut butter for a quick and healthy snack!

Tips and Tricks to Encourage Healthy Eating

2009-10-10T10:15:00.000-04:00

If you told me a few months ago I would be writing a post like this, I would have laughed in your face. I was the fast food queen! I would have it every day for lunch and sometimes for breakfast and dinner! I have found, though, that there are some things you can do to help yourself eat better.

1. Find a few healthy foods you like and keep them in stock all the time. For me it's apples with low fat caramel dip (about 200 calories), carrots and low fat garden vegetable cream cheese (weird I know, but around 90 calories), light string cheese (60 calories), and Yoplait Light yogurt (100 calories).

2. Introduce new produce little by little. I made the mistake when I first started eating healthy of buying a ton of produce. I bought stuff I knew I liked (apples, carrots) and a couple things I wanted to train myself to like (broccoli, fennel). It was a good idea in theory but when you over buy stuff you're not sure you will eat, they tend to go in the trash. I probably threw away $30 worth of produce that week. My new plan: buy what you know you'll eat in a week and add something extra you want to try. That way if you don't get around to trying it, you're only wasting a little bit of food rather than a whole fridge full.

3. Keep foods you eat often prepped and ready to go. I make lunch for myself and Jeff every day. At the beginning of Jeff's work week (my work week is ever revolving so I use his to have a definite start day), I prep items I know we will be using that week. For instance, every day for lunch Jeff and I have ham sandwiches. Therefore at the beginning of the week I make ten ham sandwiches and put them in baggies. Jeff likes dill relish on his and I like mustard on mine, but that would make the bread soggy so I leave them off. In the morning when I make Jeff's lunch, I remove the sandwich from the baggie, open it, spread relish between two pieces of meat (or any surface that is not touching the bread), put it back together, and return it to the bag. No more soggy sammie! For myself, I just throw my mustard into my lunch bag since I like to toast my bread at work.

Also, as I said above, I like carrots and cream cheese as well as apples with caramel dip. These items are easy to prepare. I have a whole mess of little ziploc snack size containers I fill with 1 serving each cream cheese and caramel (separate containers, of course!). I then weigh out 85g (1 serving) baby carrots into snack size ziploc bags. Then everything gets thrown in the fridge! Easy peasy, Japonese-y!

Finally, by having items portioned out, you can just grab what you want in the morning and toss it in the bag. As you know I watch my calories, but now I know if I'm working late I need approximately the following to have healthy meals within my calories: a ham sandwich, mustard, carrots & cream cheese, yogurt, a string cheese, a Lean Cuisine or other frozen meal (usually around 300 calories), apple & caramel, and sometimes I'll add in soup or a 100 calorie pack of cookies. I always write down what I eat, but if I don't have time to do it before I leave, I know I can take these items and be under my calories.

Quick Tip #1

2009-10-10T09:57:00.002-04:00

Love bacon but hate the extra fat and calories? Swap it out with turkey bacon. I know some of you are cringing at the thought of a bacon subsitute. I know I did. But if you fix it up a little it's not as bad:

Take a few slices turkey bacon and spread with a touch of maple syrup using a brush. A brush ensures an even coat and reduces the risk of using too much. Toast bacon (on a pan lined with a Silpat or foil sprayed with nonstick cooking spray) in a toaster oven or regular oven until somewhat crispy. Don't let the syrup burn though.

It's definitely not as good as regular bacon, but if you are really craving something this may just do the trick.

Of course this also works on pork bacon...
Mmmmm pork bacon...
Sweet temptation...

Geez, sometimes I think I like bacon better than chocolate.
Wait that's crazy.
Or is it..........

My Go To Meal

2009-10-09T17:23:00.003-04:00

One thing you must know about me is that I.Love.Chicken.

Well, ok, I love all meat, but chicken is so good for you and has so many applications how can you not love it? Wanna know something funny? Jeff told me he didn't like chicken when we first met. WHAT?!?! Crazy. Now this boy eats chicken almost nightly for dinner.

The easiest way for me to prepare chicken is by using one of the bazillion marinades Lawry's (or Kroger) offers. All I do is put a package of chicken (either breasts or thighs) in a Ziploc container, pour in the marinade, and let the chicken get happy. After about 30 minutes (or up to two days!), I throw the chicken on the grill and cook until done.

There are a couple tips and tricks I have for you, of course:

First, I typically get the Kroger brand because it's cheaper. If the Lawry's brand is the same price or if I see a flavor not offered in the Kroger brand I would like to try, I buy Lawry's. But really, they taste identical.

Second, I prefer using a Ziploc container (I like the ones with the screw on lids) as opposed to a baggie because I can take the container out to the grill, put the meat on the grill, and then stand my tongs up in the container. I used to use a bag and leave it outside with my tongs in it, but then the marinade would get all over my grill. This way I have a place for my tongs and I don't get chicken juice and sauce everywhere. Genius.

Third, this meal is great any time of the year. Can't grill your meat outside? Cook it in a 400º oven for about 20 minutes. The marinades typically have some sugar in them, so if you have a Silpat (nonstick mat) this is the perfect time to use it. Otherwise, just grease up your cookie sheet with some nonstick cooking spray. This also works in a pan on the stove, but the marinade tends to burn easier, so I usually stick with the oven.

Finally, the marinade is great on all meat! I have tried chicken, pork, and beef. Our favorite is boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Mmmm mmmm good. I will one day try it on shrimp, but since Jeff doesn't eat shrimp I haven't yet.

Some of my favorite flavors include:

Caribbean Jerk (my absolute, all time, yummiest, bestest, greatest choice)-This is great for entertaining. It is so quick and easy and everyone loves it. Every time I make it people rave about how good it is. My mom kept going on and on about how great the chicken was when she came to visit.

Buffalo BBQ-Great for making fake out Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches. Just marinate and grill/bake as directed above, slap on some ranch dressing and throw on a toasted hamburger bun and you got yourself a spicy, lighter version of the bar favorite.
Hawaiian (come on, it's me...you knew I was gonna say this one)-This would be great for making kabobs! Chicken, pineapple, red onion, yellow peppers...I can hear the ukelele already. Ooh! And a great side dish would be pineapple risotto.
Sesame Ginger-Obviously an Asian inspired marinade. Goes great in stir fry!
Steak and Chop-This one is wonderful on pork chops. The molasses in this marinade gives the pork a yummy, caramelly flavor that you just can't beat!

I hope you all enjoy these marinades as much as I do. Whenever I come home from a long day and really don't want to spend a lot of time standing in the kitchen, I use one of these. Jeff and I both love them and there are so many flavors you are sure to find one or two you and your family love!

I sound like a walking Lawry's billboard.

Exercise Music

2009-10-01T11:44:00.000-04:00

Apparently I'm on a blogging kick today. Must be something in the air. Anyhow...

I just got back from a walk and I was thinking about how hard it is for me to find good walking/running music. I'm sure lots of other people have this same problem. I have googled and ituned and blog searched my little heart out and I've decided it is SO HARD to find the kind of music I want.

Any time you search for workout music, you get tons of results for all kinds of weird, crazy music. Lots of techno (which is sometimes fun to work out to), rerecorded pop songs (I'd like to hear the original versions please), and music that just doesn't make sense as workout music.

Therefore, I am sharing my list of music I like to listen to when I work out. I would love love love suggestions for more music. I prefer to find regular songs that have a good beat as opposed to remixed versions of regular songs.

Justin Timberlake-Like I Love You
Red Hot Chili Peppers-Higher Ground
Black Eyed Peas-Ring A Ling
Black Eyed Peas-Electric City
Daft Punk-Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Nelly-Ride With Me
The Clash-Should I Stay or Should I Go
Janet Jackson-Doesn't Really Matter
Lenny Kravitz-Lady
Michael Jackson-Scream
Michael Jackson-Thriller (it's actually a really good song to walk to)
Michael Jackson-Smooth Criminal
Missy Elliot-Ching-a-Ling
Black Eyed Peas-Boom Boom Pow
Black Eyed Peas-I Gotta Feeling
Bob Segar-Old Time Rock & Roll
Britney Spears-Freakshow
Charlie Daniels Band-Devil Went Down to Georgia
Roisin Murphy-Ruby Blue
Santana-Smooth
Britney Spears-Ooh Ooh Baby
Georgia Satellites-Keep Your Hands To Yourself
Lady GaGa-LoveGame
Lady GaGa-The Fame
Lady GaGa-Starstruck
Red Hot Chili Peppers-Snow
Akon-Freedom
Avril Lavigne-Girlfriend
Big & Rich-Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy
Britney Spears-Me Against the Music (Justice Remix) *I do like some remixes
Britney Spears-Mmm Papi
Britney Spears-Overprotected (Darkchild Remix)
Britney Spears-Piece of Me (Boz o Lo Remix)
Coolio-1,2,3,4
Deniece Williams-Let's Hear It For The Boy
Everclear-Local God
iiO-Be It *I do like some techno too
Jamiroquai-Cosmic Girl
Janet Jackson-All For You
Katharine McPhee-Open Toes
KT Tunstall-Black Horse & the Cherry Tree
Lady GaGa-Beautiful, Dirty, Rich
Marilyn Manson-Tainted Love (weird, I know)
Mario-Music for Love
Theory of a Deadman-Bad Girlfriend
War-Low Rider
Black Eyed Peas-Pump It
Britney Spears-Get Back
Britney Spears-Trouble
Britney Spears-Circus (Villians Remix)
Britney Spears-Do Somethin'
Britney Spears-Me Against the Music (Rishi Rich's Desi Kulcha remix)
Earth, Wind, & Fire-Boogie Wonderland (again...weird I know)
Enur-Calabria 2008 (feat. Natasja)
Foo Fighters-Learn To Fly
Gomez-How We Operate
iiO-The One
Jamiroquai-Canned Heat
Janet Jackson-Feedback
Janet Jackson-The 1
Katy Perry-Waking Up In Vegas
Kenny Loggins-Footloose
Kylie Minogue-Can't Get You Out of My Head
Lady GaGa-Summerboy
Lady Sovereign-Love Me or Hate Me
The McCoys-Hang On Sloopy
Missy Elliot-Shake Your Pom Pom
Red Hot Chili Peppers-The Zephyr Song
Shiny Toy Guns-Major Tom
Theory of a Deadman-Got It Made
Theory of a Deadman-Little Smirk
Black Eyed Peas-Don't Lie
Estelle-American Boy
Finger Eleven-Paralyzer
Foo Fighters-Breakout
Foo Fighters-Generator
Justin Timberlake-Love Stoned
Justin Timberlake-Damn Girl
Justin Timberlake-Losing My Way
Leona Lewis-Bleeding Love
Madonna-Hung Up
Madonna-Music
Madonna-4 Minutes
Metro Station-Shake It
Miley Cyrus-See You Again
The Offspring-The Kids Aren't Alright

This is a very weird, very ecclectic mix, but it keeps me entertained for the most part. I am always on the hunt for new, fun, get-me-moving music though, so if you have any suggestions, please leave me a comment and let me know. Thanks!

Chicken and Dumplings

2009-10-01T09:51:00.000-04:00

Another yummy dish.

This one's not low in calories though.

But it's mmm mmm better than Campbells on a cold, fall night.

And it's EASY.

For Soup:

1 package chicken breasts

salt & pepper to taste

1 tsp red pepper flake

1 Tbsp dried rosemary

2 whole garlic cloves, peeled

3-4 bay leaves

water
3 chicken bouillion cubes

For Dumplings:
2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cup milk

To start, put the chicken in a stock pot and fill 2/3 full with water. You are making the base for the soup and a lot of water evaporates, so be sure to add enough water now so you have a decent amount of soup at the end. Add the salt, peppers, rosemary, garlic cloves, and bay leaves. The amounts above are estimates. I like my soup spicy, so I add a decent amount of black pepper as well as the red pepper flake. If you are not a fan of spicy soups (and it will be spicy) then you can leave out the red pepper. I add about 1/8 cup salt and maybe 2 tbsp pepper, but again those are estimates. Anyhow, bring your water up to a boil and then reduce heat to medium. Let simmer on the stove for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked.

Remove chicken from water, add bouillion cubes, and let simmer for an additional 30 minutes. You are trying to add richness and more chicken-y goodness to the soup by letting all the flavors mingle. After 30 minutes, remove the bay leaves and garlic cloves (if you can find them!), turn the heat up and bring the soup to a boil.

Combine the bisquick and the milk together and mix until just combined. Do not overmix. This will result in chewy dumplings. I use a small cookie scoop and scoop the mixture into the boiled soup. Be careful when you are doing this, because the soup can splash up and burn your hand. I know from experience. Also, remember, the bigger your dumplings, the better the chance they are to be underdone in the middle. Eww. I hate that.

After all your dumplings are in the pot, reduce the heat again to medium, cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes. You will have to watch the pot during this time, because the soup will expand due to the flour in the Bisquick and could possibly overflow. If the bubbles start to get too close to the lid, just move the whole pot off the heat for a couple seconds until the bubbles die down, and return the pot to the heat. You may have to do this several times to avoid boilovers.

In the mean time, you can shred or dice up your chicken. I like to dice up my chicken pretty small so the chicken goes all throughout the soup. After you have cooked your dumplings for 10 minutes covered, remove the lid and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until the dumplings are competely cooked through. I hate underdone dumplings. I cooked mine this way last night and they were perfect. Add your chicken, stir to combine, and serve!

This soup is great for freezing. There are a couple great ways to freeze soup. First, you could put them in resealable bags and lay them flat in the freezer. If you have a FoodSaver, remove the soup from the bag after frozen and reseal it in a FoodSaver bag. Then when you want soup in the future, just insert the bag into boiling water until heated. Easy. Also, you can line your favorite soup dishes with plastic wrap, spray with a little cooking spray and pour the cooled soup into the dishes. Freeze uncovered until hard. If you freeze covered, the heat and air will have nowhere to escape, thus cracking your dishes. Remove from bowls and stack in a freezer bag or FoodSaver bag. When you want a bowl of soup, simply remove a frozen "bowl", place in your dish, and microwave on defrost until warm.

*Some people like vegetables in their Chicken and Dumplings. Some don't. It's your call. I have done it both ways and it really just depends on what I have lying around when I make soup. If I have vegetables, I will use them. If I don't, I won't. I myself like carrots, onions, and mushrooms in my soup. The possibilites are endless! Enjoy!

Open Faced Parmesan Veggie Scramble

2009-10-01T09:09:00.001-04:00

It looks good, right? You wanna take a big bite.

Go ahead.
I won't tell.

It's sinful.
Sinfully low in calories!

This oh-so-delicious openfaced breakfast sammie has a meer 235 calories! And for those of you on a low-carb diet, you could just forget the bread and it will save you an additional 60 calories (depending on the calorie count of your bread).

You wanna know the recipe?
Do ya?

3 egg whites
1/4 cup red pepper, chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
1/2 tbsp garlic, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
4 shavings (12g) parmesan cheese
1 piece whole wheat bread, toasted

Saute the vegetables in the olive oil over medium high heat until all the veggies are nice and soft. Remove from heat. Spray the same pan with nonstick cooking spray (if necessary) and cook your egg whites with a little salt and pepper. I cooked mine omelet style, but you could scramble them if you'd prefer. At the same time, be toasting your bread. After everything is cooked, begin layering. I did the toast, then the egg, then the vegetables, then the cheese. Your knife and fork will appreciate your effort.

*The best way to know how much cheese you are putting on your sandwich is to weigh it. I put a piece of paper on my scale, zero the scale out, and then weigh the cheese. If I weigh the cheese directly on my sandwich, sometimes it doesn't pick up the true weight since the cheese is so light.

And by the way...how crazy is it that it's October already?!

Grocery Gripe

2009-09-30T15:23:00.000-04:00

Does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with the grocery store? I am a foodie and I love most things, therefore going to the grocery store to look around is fun for me. You know what's not fun? Going to the grocery store in order to buy things for a week's worth of dinners and not knowing what to get.

I've done this a multitude of ways...I've made a list of meals I will make throughout the week, complete with sides and exactly which days to make what. I've gone with a list of possible dishes that might work for the week and then look to see what's on sale and go from there. I've also gone without a game plan and just picked up things at random. PS...the last one really doesn't work. I end up getting four packs of chicken breasts and a potato. Now I know you can do a million things with potatoes, but do you really think you can stretch a potato out to last four meals?

My ideal way to grocery shop is to go every day and get exactly what I want to eat for that night, but with my busy schedule and the fact that I hate the Kroger by my work does not lend itself easily to this option.

I also tend to forget those items that I told myself not to forget earlier in the week. I have started keeping a tab on the counter in my kitchen to write down exactly what I need to replenish, but this does not help with the figuring out what to make for dinner each night task.

I created a spreadsheet to help me plan my dinner attack, but that lasted for about 2 months and then went out the window. I would really love to be a OAMC (once a month cooking) gal, but I also want to eat healthy and most recipes out there are not healthy. I should really develop my own cookbook: "Once a Month Cooking To Keep You Sane...And Thin!" Would you buy that cookbook?

Anyhow, this blog post is extremely random but that's how I feel about grocery shopping! It's so random. Some days I'm really in the mood to shop. I go in, lists in hand, and feel so accomplished when I see my fully stocked pantry and refrigerator. Other days, like today, I feel like I spend a ton of money and got nothing because I was not prepared. In time I will figure things out. I just hope it's before those little kiddies arrive!

Chicken Nuggets and "Fries"

2009-09-29T19:52:00.002-04:00

I've been cooking up a store lately and I have two more recipes for you guys! I made chicken nuggets and sweet potato "fries" tonight and they were all SO GOOD! Check 'em out!

Oven Baked Chicken Nuggets
4 boneless skinless chicken tenders, cubed into bitesized pieces
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 slices whole wheat toast
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp hot sauce (or more if you like it spicy)
Optional: low fat ranch dressing & more hot sauce

Preheat oven to 425º. Set up an assembly line with three shallow dishes. The first one will contain your flour, the second will contain your eggs, and the third will contain the breading. For the breading, create bread crumbs by grinding your toast in a food processor. Then add the oil and hot sauce and mix to combine.
To make the nuggets, dredge each piece first in the flour (knocking off any excess), then in the egg (again knocking off any excess) and finally in the bread crumbs. You will want to press the bread crumbs into the chicken to ensure a yummy, thick coating. Place each piece on a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray or covered with a nonstick mat like a Silpat. Bake in the oven for 5-8 minutes or until your chicken is completely cooked.

Serve with any condiment of your choice. My husband and I like buffalo ranch sauce. I make this by taking about 1/4 cup ranch and adding as much hot sauce as you like. Both Jeff and I really enjoyed these.

Sweet Potato Fries
This recipe isn't anything new, though I did add some things to it to make it my own.

1 sweet potato, skinned and cut into small cubes
2 tsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
sweet n low
cinnamon
1/8 cup chicken broth
1 tsp maple syrup

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sweet potato and flavor with salt, pepper, sweet n low and cinnamon. Use as much or as little sweet n low and cinnamon as you like. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the potato has carmelized and starts to get soft. The middle should still be somewhat firm. Add the chicken broth and cover. Turn the heat down to medium low and continue to cook until potatoes are done. Most of the liquid, if not all of it, should have evaporated. Add the maple syrup, let warm so it gets runny, and coat the potatoes. Serve immediately.

Secret Banana Muffins

2009-09-29T16:08:00.001-04:00

I love to bake and my husband love to eat what I bake. He doesn't really have to worry about what he eats though (stupid boys), but I do. Well, every fall we love to have Banana or Pumpkin bread. This fall is no exception. I did decide to make our breads healthier this year though.

Last Christmas (I think) I got the Deceptively Delicious cookbook. It's written by Jerry Seinfeld's wife about how to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into otherwise less healthy foods. One of her recipes was for Banana Bread. Here's her recipe:

Banana Bread with cauliflower (Yeah, you read that right. Weird, isn't it?)
by Jessica Seinfeld

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1/2 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil I used 1/4 cup applesauce to cut more calories
2 large egg whites
1.5 cups banana puree
1/2 cup cauliflower puree*
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350º. Coat a 9x5 inch loaf pan, or 2 mini pans, or a 12 cup muffin tin as I did with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a bowl or a zipper lock bag, mix the flours with the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon, if using. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, mix the sugar and oil until well combined. Mix in the egg whites, banana and cauliflower purees, and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and mix just until combined.

4. Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes for the large loaf, 25 to 30 minutes for the mini loaves. Let cool on a rack for 5 minutes then turn the bread out of the pan to cool before serving. If using a muffin tin, cook for 25 to 30 minutes. I took mine out at 20 minutes and had to return it to the oven for an additional 10 minutes.

Makes one large loaf, two small loaves, or 15 muffins. I used two medium cookie scoops (one of those OXO scoops) per muffin. You are really going to love this though...there are 95 calories per muffin! Fantastic! And since they are made with whole wheat flour, they keep you fuller longer. Pair with a tablespoon of natural peanut butter for a really great midday snack!

*To make the cauliflower puree, I thawed a frozen bag of cauliflower and blended it in my food processor with about a tablespoon of water until smooth, which took about 2 minutes. I only needed 1/2 cup for this recipe, so I portioned the rest and froze it for another time.

ENJOY! If you make these, let me know if you liked them and what, if anything, you did differently.

Beef Stir Fry

2009-09-29T15:03:00.001-04:00

Made a really yummy recipe last night and thought I would share. Choose whatever veggies you like, but make sure to incorporate lots! More veggies equals less meat equals less calories!

Beef Stir Fry
adapted from the recipe Flavorful Beef Stir-Fry from Allrecipes.com

2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons sugar (can substitute Sweet N Low or Splenda if desired)
6 tablespoons soy sauce
1/4 cup white wine, apple sauce, or water (or chicken stock)
1 lb boneless beef round steak cut into thin strips
1 cup corn kernels, drained
1 cup peas, drained
1 small onion, finely diced
1/2 cup carrots finely diced
(*these are the veggies I had on hand last night. If I were to buy veggies specifically for this dish I would add mushrooms and substitute pea pods for the peas. I would also probably grate a little fresh ginger into the mix.)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons chili garlic paste
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups brown rice
soy sauce, chili garlic paste, & hot mustard to taste

Mix cornstarch, sugar, soy sauce, liquid of your choice, and beef together. Set aside to marinate. Saute your vegetables in 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil until desired doneness is reached. Add in soy sauce and chili garlic paste and stir to combine. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm. Drain the remaining marinade off beef and cook in a teaspoon of olive oil in a separate pan. Cook to desired doneness and add to vegetables in pan. Make a "well" with the vegetables and beef in the pan and add eggs to the pan. Scramble them and fold in with other food in pan. Serve over hot brown rice.

*You can also serve this over cooked ramen noodles or take a page out of BD Mongolian BBQ's book and serve the stir fry with hot tortillas!

When I made this recipe, I added a little hot mustard to my plate of food and it gave it an additional depth of flavor. Very yummy and a great way to incorporate those vegetables into your diet! Just remember to use a light hand with your oils!

I'll Be A Runner Yet

2009-09-29T14:45:00.000-04:00

I. Hate. Running. But I love the way it feels to be done with it! I go through phases where I want to become a runner, so I run for a week or so and then I decide I don't want to be a runner and just walk instead. Granted at least I'm not saying "screw this" and not working out at all, but still.

Yesterday was my "I'm going to become a runner" beginning day. Let me give you a little more back story on me. When I was in high school, I was not an athlete. I worked. I had an afterschool job I went to pretty much every day. Even though my work had a gym, I still did not work out very much. I was never taught the "right way" to run.

In college, I began working out a little bit more, but I still wasn't athletic by any means. I told myself walking around campus was enough cardio for me. There was a gym in the basement of my dorm, so I did join it for one semester, but eventually grew bored with it and stopped working out.

In the past couple years, I have gotten better. I go to the gym more frequently, but typically get bored or make excuses and end up not going for one, two, eight months in a row. Finally, about six weeks ago, I decided it was time to get serious. My best friend, Carolyn, and I are accountable to each other. We contact each other every Monday and discuss weight loss, motivation issues, and our strengths and weaknesses from the previous week. We agree this is a great thing and have really benefitted from our decision to do this. Not only does it help us stay on track, but I believe it has brought us closer together. It is hard to be very close to someone who lives two hours away, but we manage.

Anyhow, so yesterday I went to the gym and decided I really wanted to teach myself to run. My goal (as pathetic as some people may find it) is to run a mile. I have never in my life run a mile, or at least not that I can remember. I may have done it some time when I was a child, but as an adult I have never done it. So I started slow yesterday. I ran .25 miles, walked .25 miles and continued at this pace for 3 miles. Today I did the same thing, but only for 2 miles since I was lifting as well today.

Slow and stead is the motto now. I am going to keep this pace up for a week. Then next week I will increase it. Everyone I have talked to reminds me that building endurance takes a looooooong time and I have no intention of rushing it. If I rush it, I'm afraid I will get discouraged I'm not getting any better and quit. I'm one of those all or nothing people. I want to be able to get on the treadmill and just run. I can't do that. My husband, *sneer*, can do that. He got on the treadmill a few months ago after not having done cardio in years and ran something like three miles his first day. He did play soccer and ran track in high school so he has a background but still!! I was infuriated. Oh well. I still love him even if he is better at running than me!

So, that is the goal. Keep the training at a steady pace and eventually run a mile. How fantastic would that be?

Great Workout Program

2009-09-29T14:31:00.000-04:00

From Friday, September 25th:
I happened upon a great workout program the other day on iTunes. Unfortunately this only works if you have an iPod Touch or an iPhone, but there is a program out there by iPump called Fitness Builder. It runs on your iPod and holds tons of workout programs. It's fabulous! Not only does the program come loaded with workouts, but you can create your own if you want from their vast database of individual exercises. Today I did the "Butt, Hips, and Thighs" workout plus the "Stretching" workout. I really feel like I got a great workout from this program.

From Tuesday, September 29th:
I had originially written the above post and was going to add a video to it showcasing the program I was talking about, but my camera made the video blurry and then it was going to take 3 hours to upload. My computer went to sleep in the middle of it, so no video. :( Oh well.

I did another program today. It was called "Express Upper Body". I was thinking OK express means really fast. I'm thinking express meant "get your body toned really really fast using this program" because the entire thing took me over an hour! It was 10 exercises long and you were supposed to do 4 sets of 10 reps. I decided to do 3 sets of 15 reps, but still!!! Geez... If that's how long it's going to take me to do my entire upper body, then maybe I'll have to split it up like Jeff used to do. We'll see.

All in all though the program still works really well. I love that there are so many preloaded programs to choose from, as well as the option to create your own programs. Keep an eye out for more info about it!

Grilled Pizza

2009-09-26T06:54:00.002-04:00

As my mom suggested on a previous post, I thought I'd share my recipe for grilled pizza. It is a healthy and tasty way to get in lots of veggies while still feeling like you're indulging. This is the pizza I make, but the possibilites of toppings, sauces, and flavors are endless so pick what you like to eat. Enjoy!

Grilled Pizza

1 ball of whole wheat dough*
basil pesto
chopped sundried tomatoes
sauteed mushrooms
onion
pepper
arugula
chopped garlic
fresh mozzerella**
proscuitto
nonstick aluminum foil
olive oil

First thing you want to do is preheat your grill. You want your grill to be pretty hot when you put the dough on it. You may also want to go ahead and cover the grates with nonstick aluminum foil now so you don't have to mess with it when the grill is hot. Then you need to prepare all your toppings ahead of time. Once you start grilling you won't have that much time to do other things aside from watching your food. I saute my mushrooms in just a tiny bit of olive oil with salt and pepper. I also cook my onion, pepper, and garlic together just to soften them up a little.

Roll out your pizza dough to the size you prefer. I typically divide my dough into three sections: two bigger, personal pizza sized sections and one smaller size for dessert pizza***. If you haven't already covered your grill grate with aluminum foil, now is the time to do it. Then brush your pizza dough with a dot of olive oil on one side and any herbs or spices you like. Italian seasoning, garlic or onion powder, or salt and pepper work great here. Throw the oiled size down on the grill and cook the dough until it is lightly browned just like you were toasting bread. The oil helps it to brown better.

Take the pizza back inside and brush the non-browned size with oil and any herbs you like. Then load up your pizza with the toppings of your choice. I am normally a fan of meat on my pizza, but with all the yummy toppings listed above, I only used one slice of proscuitto. You may also have noticed I did not list pizza sauce as one of the ingredients. I just don't care for pizza sauce on this pizza. I use a little pesto instead. Just remember, it is a strong flavor so a little goes a long way.

After all your toppings are in place, put the pizza back on the grill and cook until the cheese is melted and all the ingredients are nicely warmed. I wait to top my pizza with arugula after it is done cooking simply because I like cold greens on my pizza.

*If you have a hard time finding pizza dough, check with a local pizza place. They will usually sell you a ball or two of dough for a reasonable fee. I get mine at a gourmet grocery store that serves fresh whole wheat dough, but you can also use the dough that you find in the refrigerated section by Pilsbury. It's just as good, though it's not whole wheat.

**If you are grating fresh mozzerella, throw it in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour to harden in up. Or you can use a food processor with the grater attachment.

***A yummy dessert (copycatted from Papa Johns) is to take your leftover dough, brush it with a little vegetable oil (you want to avoid using olive oil here since the flavor is so strong) and cook the pizza on one side. Then flip it over, add butter to this side like you're buttering toast, and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Mmmmm. If you so desire, you can melt a tablespoon or so of butter and mix in some powdered sugar and vanilla to make a drizzle for the top.

Yummy Breakfast Option and a Few Pointers

2009-09-25T12:02:00.000-04:00

See what happens? I go away for a week or two and then I write three blogs in one day! Phew. Anyhow:

I made a yummy breakfast today. I had a whole wheat english muffin topped with three egg whites and 1 tsp parmesan cheese. I did the sandwich open faced so it looked like I had a lot more to eat. I also drank 1.5 glasses of water with the meal which really stretches it. In fact, I feel stuffed right now.

I know some of you are trying to start eating better and I think that is AWESOME! I have been doing this for a few months now and I thought I would give you some tips to help keep you full and satisfied. Many of these tips have been passed along to me via my best friend, Carolyn, who is a registered dietician and a well of useful knowledge (if you ever have diet questions, just ask me and I will forward them on if I don't know the answer), and via several food programs I have watched over the years.

1. Drink lots of water. Not only is water great for your body, but it really does help you feel full. I try to drink at least one glass of water with each meal. When I go out to a restaurant, I try to drink at least one glass before the meal even reaches my table. This way I will hopefully eat less and be less likely to overdo it with appetizers or dessert. Also, a good way to cut calories is by not drinking them. What I mean is many drinks out there have tons of sugar and unnecessary calories in them that we don't even realize. One 20 oz Coke has 239 calories!!! That is insane! By switching to diet drinks, or by eliminating soda and other high calorie beverages all together, you will save yourself so many calories a day. I have recently begun drinking Crystal Light powders in my water if I need a change of pace and it seems to do the trick. I feel like I'm having an illegal treat when I do this. :o) I tend not to drink alcohol either for the meer fact that it's empty calories and if I drink alcohol I would have to give up something else throughout the day. I do, however, drink coffee most days in which I use cream and sugar substitute, but I am unwilling to give that up.

2. Exercise is a must! I tell myself I am going to exercise every day. I used to plan to work out 3-4 times a week as many fitness websites tell you to do. I would plan to go every other day and rest on a weekend day or something like that. Then something would happen on one of my exercise days, forcing me to skip. Then I would skip the next day as originially planned. This would snowball and I would end up skipping 4 or 5 or more days. After a few days it becomes harder for me to convince myself to work out. If I plan to work out every day, and then I need to skip one day, I don't beat myself up for it. I just go the following day as planned.

3. Quit making excuses. I do not like to workout. I am not one of those people. I don't have that gene. I do, however, like the results I get when I workout. I also love that sense of accomplishment I get after a really good workout. So, even if I've had a horrible day, I'm in a bad mood, or all I want to do is sleep, I really try to make it to the gym. If I am really having a bad day, I tell myself, "Just go for 20 minutes and walk on the treadmill. Once you're done, you can go home." And I'll tell you a secret...more often than not, I'll get to the gym and get on that treadmill and get really into it! Those are the great days...the ones where you don't want to go, but go anyways and end up doing 45 minutes on the treadmill or run an extra minute or two. I'm telling you the term "runner's high" is not made up. For me it's more like "walked really really fast high" but you know...

4. Make the switch to whole grain and READ THE LABEL. I used to eat white bread and white pasta and white everything. Now, I can't tell you the last time I had white bread. It took a bit of searching, but I found a really wonderful whole wheat bread I love. It's Klosterman's Homestyle Whole Wheat bread. I'm not sure if it's available everywhere, but it is yummy! I don't miss white bread at all. Also, the reason I said read the label is because the marketing on breads, pastas, etc can be misleading. Just because it says "wheat" doesn't mean it is the right kind of wheat. It is important for "whole grain wheat flour" to be the first or second ingredient and you want to stay away from "unbleached enriched wheat flour". This is the bad kind of flour!

5. Eat your fruits and vegetables. This is a no brainer. I mean, come on. Fruits and vegetables are loaded with nutrients and all sorts of healthy things for your body. I have heard people say negative things about corn and potatoes and all that, but in my opinion if you are choosing to have corn or potatoes over corn bread and potato chips or french fries, that is a good choice. Now in the same aspect, be smart about your veggies. It's best not to mix too many starchy vegetables (like corn and potatoes) on the same plate, but better to incorporate a healthier veggie (broccoli, peppers, cauliflower) or a fruit in the mix.

6. Be conscience of portion sizes. For me, this is a biggie. I was very bad at figuring portion sizes. To help me, I got one of the most helpful tools to me in the kitchen: a food scale. This was extra helpful in putting my food into Calorie King, my online food journal. Just because you measure out 1 cup of cereal doesn't necessarily mean you are getting 1 serving because each time you measure something you will most likely get a different weight. If you use a food scale, you will get the exact right amount of food each time. Of course, I am one of those weird people that actually likes to weigh my food. If you aren't like that, then research portion sizes online. They give great examples for how to determine portion sizes using ordinary household objects (ex: 3 oz meat is roughly the size of your palm).

7. Try new things. Mama always told me to try everything at least once. I took that one step better...I try things I previously didn't like probably once a year or two. I still am not a huge fan of broccoli but I will eat it if I am served it at a restaurant or a friend's house. I do, however, love mushroms now because one day I decided to try them again. Also, try new things! Couscous and polenta are two items I have tried in the past couple years that I like now. Any time I see something on Food Network that looks good but I've never tried it, I pick it up from the grocery store and give it a whirl. Who knows? You may love some things that are super healthy for you that you would have never tried in the past. As always, when I find something new I like I will post a blog about it.

8. Finally, and most important, listen to your body. I get 1350 calories per day to do with whatever I wish. I try to break them down as follows: 100 calories for coffee in the morning (I use creamer and sweet n low so this is unfortunately not a free food), 200-300 calories per meal, two 200 calorie snacks (one in the morning and one in the evening), and a 100-150 calorie treat at night. This is right around 1350. Now, typically I end up wanting more to eat for dinner, and if I work out that day I can do that. Most days I work out I get an extra 200-400 calories to play with.

The reason I listed this under the "listen to your body" topic is because I really pay attention to what my body is telling me. If I wake up, have my coffee and my breakfast and am hungry in an hour, I eat a little something. Maybe I eat 1/2 of my snack for that morning then and have the other 1/2 in another hour or two. If I am not hungry until lunch, I save that snack for the afternoon or I don't eat the snack at all and have a little extra at dinner. I also make sure to drink my water with every meal, because more often than not when your body says it's hungry, it's really telling you it's thirsty.

I also don't eat until I'm full at meals. Your brain needs time to realize your stomach is full and if we keep eating until that signal hits, we typically over eat. By stopping after you've eating a normal portion size and waiting, many times your body will get that signal and you will not feel the need to eat any more.

Another thing is I try to never been too full or too hungry. If I'm too full, as I stated above, I have probably overeaten. If I'm too hungry, I will eat whatever I can without stopping to think about making healthy choices. I try to keep healthy snacks around (string cheese, almonds, yogurt, applesauce, apples, carrots with low fat garden vegetable cream cheese, 100 calorie popcorn and snacks, etc) and reach for those if I need a little boost. The best way to satisfy your needs and make it to your next meal is to have some carbs (for an instant boost) and some protein (for sustained energy) together. That is why I typically eat carrots (carbs) and cream cheese (protein) or string cheese (protein) and Blue Diamond Almond Nut Thin crackers (protein and carbs).

I know this is a lot of information and you may be overwhelmed at the amount of it, but I promise if you make little changes and over time try to incorporate as much of this as possible, your ability to have a healthy, full life will be achieveable. I have been trying to incorporate these tips in my life for nearly 8 years (since I started living with Carolyn) and have just now gotten a handle on it.

As everyone says, everything in moderation. :o) Good luck!

New Things To Try

2009-09-25T10:38:00.000-04:00

I love fall. Fall reminds me of baking and baking reminds me of breads, cakes, cookies, brownies, etc. Of course since I'm changing my "lifestyle", I need to find ways to have these treats and still maintain the set amount of calories I allow myself per day.

I have a few recipes I want to try including a pretty healthy banana bread and a hopefully yummy rendition of my favorite meatloaf. I will post any new recipes (or old recipes for that matter) that I try and my thoughts on them. If you have any great, low calorie recipes (baking type or otherwise) please share!

One thing one of the girls at work shared with me was a yummy-sounding twist on a dessert. She takes fresh berries and sprinkles a tablespoon or two (not sure of the exact amount) of vanilla pudding powder on top. Then she mixes it around and tops it with a little whipped cream. If this turns out to be good, the possibilites are endless! Strawberries w/chocolate pudding, bananas w/chocolate or butterscotch pudding, etc! You could even add a little chocolate syrup to the mix. Mmmm. I will have to get some fruit and pudding at the store today. I'm gonna go with the sugar free variety so I save even more calories and of course fat free whipped cream. Check back for results!

As I said, I'm always looking for new foods and recipes to try, so please feel free to leave a comment sharing your favorite recipes. :)

"Cook Yourself Thin" rant

2009-09-24T08:48:00.002-04:00

I recently started watching "Cook Yourself Thin" on LMN to get some good tips on how to cut calories out of recipes I love. Of course, being best friends with a dietician I know pretty much all these tips already. Not only that, these girls have good intentions, but I feel like they are setting some of the women on the show for failure.

For example, the first episode I watched was about soul food. They took Mac & Cheese, Cornbread & Greens, and Red Velvet Cupcakes and slimmed them down. They start out the show asking the girls what their ideal weight is and this chicka said 135. Their theory is 135 x 10=1350 calories per day to reach your goal weight. Then they proceeded to change the recipes above so they equalled about 1200 or so. Now, if I'm the lady they are helping, I'm screwed because, yeah, they saved me a bunch of calories, but if I'm eating mac & cheese, cornbread, greens, and cupcakes for one meal, I'd have to eat celery and carrots for the other two meals.

The hosts say nothing about spreading out your calories throughout the day or that, while they take a recipe from 900 calories to 450 calories, it's still 450 calories for one item! I try to keep my meals around 300-400 calories and that's with two or three items to eat, not just one. I just feel that if you don't have enough health education, you would look at this program and think, "OK, I can make this whole meal and eat it all and still have breakfast and lunch."
Maybe that's just me. I would love to see change in America with lower caloric intake and higher exercise rates. Decreased childhood obesity would be a big bonus. I think this program has good intentions but I would tweak it a little if I could. :/

Guilt Free Treats Are The Best

2009-09-10T23:33:00.003-04:00

OK, so I have 1350 calories to "spend" each day and, I'm sorry, but I need a treat every night. Most of the time, I want some form of ice cream, so the Weight Watchers frozen ice cream treats are the best. So good! At between 90 to 150 calories a piece, I can usually "save" enough calories to get a treat. Usually I factor these things in when I plan out my day so I don't over eat, thus giving up my treat.

If you haven't tried them yet, you are missing out! My favorites are the Latte Bar, the Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich, and the Candy Bar (it's like a Snickers Ice Cream bar and SO YUMMY!!!).

Microwave Cleaning Trick

2009-09-08T11:36:00.009-04:00

I'm sure many people out there know the trick to cleaning microwaves, but I just recently learned it. Two words: vinegar and water. Our microwave was DISGUSTING. I am not sure how it got this way, all I know is I kept forgetting to clean it, or I kept putting it off and putting it off until one day I opened it and it looked like this. Eww. So today, as I am getting the house ready for my mom's visit, it was imperative that I clean the microwave. I knew there was an easy way to clean it, but couldn't for the life of me remember. Good thing google and I are such great pals. I looked it up and discovered all I needed was a glass bowl half full of water with a tablespoon of vinegar. I went ahead and added more like a 1/4 cup of vinegar just to make sure it did the trick. Then I put the bowl in the microwave on high for 5 minutes. The purpose of this step is to steam the baked on food particles so they loosen up their grip and you can, hopefully, wipe them right off.

So after 5 minutes, I opened the microwave, took out the bowl of water carefully and used dry paper towels to wipe off the door. Oh. My. Word. I was amazed at the ease of cleaning the door!!! I kept going and found it just as easy to clean the rest of the appliance. It was even easier when I went the paper towel with the vinegar/water solution. You have to be very careful when doing this step as well because the water is near boiling. I would just put a little corner of the towel in and then sort of fold it back on itself so it wasn't touching any part of my hand.

Cleaning the microwave took literally 5 minutes (aside from the 5 minutes it took to boil the water). Now my appliance looks like this: If you have any cleaning tips, please leave me a comment so I can put them to use!

Soups, Soups, and More Soups

2009-09-04T23:25:00.006-04:00

I am forming an addiction to soups. It started last winter. All I wanted for lunch was soup! Applebee's has the best French Onion and Tomato Basil soups around. I have this problem, though, that for some reason soup coming from a restaurant tastes better than soup from a can or from my own home. Weird, isn't it? Anyhow, so I would go to Kroger every day on my lunch break and get soup. The only problem with this is that it would take me 10-15 minutes to drive to Kroger, go in, get my soup, pay, and get back to Walgreens. And then there was always the possibility that they wouldn't be serving a soup I liked. They tend to have Broccoli Cheese and Chicken Chili, two soups I'm not crazy about. Also, if it was rainy or snowy outside, I would not want to walk through the parking lot and get my pant legs wet just for some soup.

Taking these factors into consideration, I decided to try to find a replacement for the Applebee's Tomato Basil. I had gotten Campbell's Condensed Tomato a while back and did not like it at all. It tasted like the "broth" from Spaghettios. Ick. Then yesterday I spotted a new item at Kroger: Progresso High Fiber Tomato Basil. Worth a try I thought. So for dinner last night I heated it up on the stove and served it to Jeff and myself with a little grating of parmesan cheese. It was fan-tastic! So yummy!

I picked up some other soups from Kroger as well that I am going to try. I got another condensed soup: Chicken Won Ton. I had it for lunch today and was not super crazy about it. It really just tasted like condensed Chicken Noodle but in a different form. I wouldn't write home about it, but I wouldn't throw it out either. What are some of your favorite canned (or homemade) soups?

Fall Means Apples Right?

2009-09-02T08:43:00.002-04:00

Fall to me means the coming of crispy, cool weather, bright colors of the autumn leaves, the Renaissance Festival, and of course peak season of one of my favorite fruits...apples. I have been longing for an Apple for years and I can't seem to get one. Are you confused?

That's because I'm talking about a Mac Apple! I want an Apple laptop more than anything right now...except maybe a trip to Hawaii. I have several loves in my life...my husband, my friends and family, Hawaii, and Mac computers.

I was teased with a Mac laptop when I was in college working for my university's Marketing Department. I got to play with said laptop a couple hours out of every week and it was fan-freakin-tastic. Then, of course, I graduated thus ending my time with my precious computer. Back to boring PCs I went.

I currently own a Sony Vaio (thanks to my dear husband) and it has been a good computer aside from the cable used to charge the computer and the battery lifetime. The cable started "chirping" about a year after I had the computer and I had to get it replaced. Then, a year later, it started "chirping" again! I had to replace the cable again. Then the prongs on the one side of the cable messed up so we had to replace that part (luckily it was the cheaper end). Finally, just recently I caught the cable in the metal of my recliner and it cut a hole in the rubber, exposing the electric fibers of the cord so it doesn't charge my computer anymore.

The cord not working wouldn't be as big of a deal, but my computer holds a charge for literally 5 minutes. That is not an exaggeration. I unplug my computer, take it into the kitchen to log my food, and then after 5 minutes I have to go grab my cord. It is not fun.

Anyhow, I am going to get a new computer eventually, but I do not have the necessary funds at this point in time. If anyone wants to send me money or a computer, I would be willing to take it. It would be a tough job, but someone's gotta do it right?

I do love fall though. It's my absolute favorite time of the year. Yay FALL!

Foodie Finds

2009-09-01T10:33:00.009-04:00

As you know, I'm on a mission to eat better, lose weight, and feel great! Part of this mission is to try new foods I have never tried before, or to try things I don't like in new ways so I hopefully like them better.

1. New Foods

Couscous is talked about in many of the shows I watch on Food Network. The reason being because it is relatively nutritious and quick and easy to prepare. I bought a quick cooking version at Kroger and thought I would give it a try. It says to boil the grains in water, but since I am one to flavor every level of the dish (thanks, Giada!), I used chicken broth instead. All you do is bring your liquid to a boil, toss in your couscous, stir, cover it, and let it sit off the heat for 5 minutes. That's it! The flavor of the couscous reminded me of cornbread. I thought it was good plain, but wikipedia says it is traditionally served under a meat or vegetable stew. I can see that. It would probably work well with chili also, since I typically think of chili with cornbread. Maybe that is something to try when it gets cooler out...well, even cooler than it is now!

I wanted to try quinoa because it is another grain often used on the healthy cooking shows. My bestie says it is pretty good, though there isn't much she doesn't like or hasn't tried! I feel like every time I find something new I want to try she has already tried it several different ways! Maybe I have to go to Europe to find stuff she hasn't tried. Ha ha. Anyhow, so I went to Trader Joe's to look for quinoa because I couldn't find it at Kroger and I dont' have a Whole Foods near me. I found regular quinoa, but I also found a blend of grains called Trader Joe's Harvest Grains. I made it later that night, but I think I cooked it wrong because it ended up being kind of hard in the middle. You know how rice gets when you either don't put enough water in it or you don't cook it long enough? It gets done on the outside but the inside is still kind of crunchy. That's what it tasted like. I served it to both Jeff and myself and he couldn't eat it. He told me it tasted like "bird food" which, after he said that, I had to agree. I'm going to try it again, but I can plan on only making enough for one!!!

Bulgar is something else I want to try, as well as wheatberry, but I am having a hard time locating both. I have yet to go to Health Foods Unlimited, though, so I'm not completely out of options yet. I know Whole Foods has them, but the closest one to me is in Cincinnati and I'm not making a special trip for grains! I'm going down there this Saturday, so maybe C and I can venture into one. She can point out all the good stuff she's found there! :)

2. Old Food, New Ways

I am not a huge fan of fish. I never have been. I told myself a while back, though, that I was going to limit my intake of red meat. I love love love steak, but since red meat isn't as good for you as chicken, fish, and pork I decided to try eating less steak and more of the trio. I love chicken and shrimp, like pork, and am getting better at eating fish. I'm also loving me some sushi lately(well, California Rolls and the shrimp sushi Carolyn got at the lake but you know). I decided to make fish the other day. I salt and peppered it and tossed it in the toaster oven to broil. Then I made a sauce out of chicken broth, soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, orange juice, and I think a little sweet-n-low. Mmm mmm mmm was it tasty. I let the sauce reduce and get all syrup-y and then poured it over the fish, added some brown rice, and I had a great meal! Yesterday I decided to try some Andy's Fish Breading. C and I used to get this when we lived together in college. You just wet the fish, pat dry, and then coat with the breading mix. I did this with chicken as well for Jeff and threw them in a 400 degree oven. I put the chicken in first for 10 minutes and then added the fish to the pan for another 10 minutes. I was scared Jeff wouldn't like it, but he said it was some of the moistest chicken he's had in a while. I made a little ranch/hot sauce spread for him and it was like he was having healthy Buffalo Chicken! I will definitely be using the breading again.

I have decided to try my vegetables over and over until I find a way to eat them that I like. For example, I HATE broccoli. Ick. I have found most people either love it or hate it. Well...I hate it. I think it's all those Chicken Broccoli casseroles from years past, Mom! I am going to buy a stalk of broccoli and try it in several different ways until I find one I like. I'm going to steam it using chicken broth instead of water, put parmesan cheese over it, and also try baking it in the oven. We'll see what works. I read about some lady slicing an eggplant really fine, adding salt and pepper, and baking them in the oven until they formed chips. I'm going to try that too. Yum!

Finally, this is not a new thing, just something I found yesterday. My favorite peanut butter is Skippy Natural. My Kroger only carries the creamy version so when I was at Wal-mart yesterday and saw Skippy Natural Extra Crunchy kind I had to have it! I'm sure it's been out for a long time, but I had never seen it. I got some Thomas Whole Grains Whole Wheat english muffins and had myself a good breakfast this morning! Yum yum yum.

**Why is it I can't write just a short little blog? All my blogs are like books! Hope y'all like to read! That also reminds me...I hate when people spell y'all ya'll. It's not ya all, it's you all. Y(ou)'all! Come on poeple! Ok. Rant over.

My Hair Saga

2009-09-01T08:27:00.016-04:00

**Disclaimer: I apologize for the spacing in advance. Blogger is being stupid.**
Part One: My Curly Haired Mop I Call Hair

I have had hair issues for as long as I could remember. They have changed over the years, but there have been issues nontheless. When I was in high school, I had this horrible curly/straight thing going on before my sister taught me how to blowdry my hair and I was introduced to a straightening iron. I remember when I found the iron I thought it was going to change my life forever and my hair problems would be O.V.E.R. I was half right.

I have tried multiple irons over the years thinking they all worked fine. Then one day, I was at my friend, Jennifer's, house and she let me use her roommates Chi. I was in love. I got one a couple months later for Christmas. A-mazing.

OK, so my straightening issues were taken care of...or so I thought. My friend, Chrissy, always had beautifully straight hair and I did not know how she did it. Finally, for my bachelorette party in Nashville, she showed me how she did it. YAY! Now my issues were over for good.

Part Two: Hilitin' Addict

For my wedding, my sister offered to get me a HUGE discount on getting my hair hilited. I was so excited because I had never gotten my hair professionally colored ever. After he got through I was in shock because my hair was so light! I have had dark brown hair forever and he put almost blonde hilites in my hair. For a while I did not like it. It was SO different! But after I colored it back to my dull, dark brown, I looked at wedding/honeymoon pictures and realized I really liked the color!

Now what was I gonna do? I didn't really have the money to spend on getting my hair done professionally again, so I found a boxed hair color/hilite at Walgreens and tried my hand at doing my own hair. I had dyed my hair with a single color before so I figured if all else fails I'd just buy another box of color if the hilites looked really bad.

They looked great if I do say so myself! So for years I did my own hilites. Every 4-6 weeks, I would reapply and everyone always told me how much they liked my hair. When I told them I did it myself they were amazed! I was pretty proud of myself.

The only bad part about doing my own hair was that I would slack on getting my hair cut. Since I have long hair, I don't notice I need to get it cut very often. Whenever I would think about getting it cut, I would usually be at work or some other place that didn't allow me to leave right then and get it cut, so I would forget. For years I went to Supercuts because it was cheap and I was just getting a trim so it wasn't uber important I go to someone with tons of cutting experience. So months and months...and months...would go by without me getting my hair cut. I think my record was like 11 months or something.
Finally, after such a long time, I decided that I needed to start going to a salon instead of a Supercuts so I could have a decent hair cut and then book my appointments that same day. This would give me no excuse for not getting my hair cut. I went it and boy almighty was I damaging my hair by putting that boxed color on it! My stylist said that if I hadn't come in when I did, she would have had to cut a lot more hair off than she did. She only had to trim it, luckily, but she told me to stop using the boxed color immediately. I knew it wasn't that good for you, but the way I was putting the hilites on my hair was exceptionally bad. I would put them on the same hairs over and over again, basically killing the hair and making it very brittle.

She told me to wait for 6 weeks and then she could put color on my hair if I wanted. Six LONG weeks went by (you could clearly see my roots for like 3 of the weeks) and then I joyfully went to get my hair professionally colored. Yay! I liked the color she did, but it wasn't light enough for me. She also put some red in it, which I thought was pretty, but Jeff was not a fan. I decided the next time I went, I would get it much lighter and without the red. I like being "blonde" now I guess! ;o)

Yesterday I went to get my hair done. I took a few pictures of hilites I had given myself in the past to let her know exactly what I wanted. Chunkier and lighter is what we came up with. She colored me and then put a toner on my hair to give it more "brightness" or so she said. After I was all done, she chopped a couple inches off my hair and I was on my way. I. Love. It. It is a little bright right now because I just got it done yesterday, but I am much happier with this hair color!

Paula's a Thief!

2009-08-25T21:07:00.004-04:00

Paula Dean stole my recipe. Thief. I happened to turn on Paula's Home Cooking tonight and the episode that recorded was her "Sweet Endings" episode. And what was Mrs. Paula making tonight? Eclair Cake. She "tweaked" it a little...added an extra row of graham crackers and made her own chocolate topping instead of using the prepared frosting, but it was the same thing. Now everyone will know my go to dessert recipe secret. Oh well. Guess I may as well share my version of this recipe here. See? I told you I would post some recipes!

Eclair Cake

2 small boxes (or 1 big box) french vanilla pudding
3 cups milk
graham crackers
1 small tub whipped topping, thawed
1 container chocolate frosting

Line a 13x9 pan with a layer of graham crackers. Mix pudding and milk together and stir well to combine. Mix in the whipped topping. Pour over graham crackers. Add a second layer of graham crackers. Melt chocolate frosting in microwave until just melted. Pour in an even layer over the crackers. Put in the refrigerator to set. I think the best way to make this is to do it the night before so it gives the crackers a chance to soak up the extra milk from the pudding.

Tips: I tend to make this dish to take to parties, but usually do not want to leave my 13x9 pan. I buy the foil pans and "line" my glass dish with the pan. This way, the pan will be sturdy enough to take to the party without worrying about messing up the dessert, but you can easily remove the foil pan later that night and take the glass dish with you.

Also, this recipe is available on allrecipes.com and one poster suggested dipping the graham crackers in milk briefly so you wouldn't have to wait overnight for them to get all nice and mushy. That sounds gross, but I promise it's good.

I have never tried to change the recipe up, but you could do so many things with this recipe. You could make a banana cream eclair cake, you could do some sort of version using the cinnamon grahams, the list goes on and on.

Coffee and Ice Cream

2009-08-25T05:37:00.004-04:00

I. Love. Coffee. Plain and simple. I don't know how I got so addicted to this yummy beverage, but I could drink coffee any time of day. I really don't drink it so much for the caffeine, but for the taste of it. I really hate that I have to use creamer though. It is the one drink I drink that has calories. I don't drink alcohol often if ever. I don't drink juice, smoothies, or milkshakes unless it's a treat. All my beverages are calorie free (water, diet soda, etc). This is the one beverage I have to count in my calorie king total. It irritates me to no end. But what are you gonna do? I save around 100 calories for the early morning for coffee and another 100 calories for evening for my treat.

I have to have some sort of treat at night after dinner. I love ice cream too. Well, let's be honest. I love all dessert...cookies, cakes, brownies (mmmm), ice cream, pudding. I find though that ice cream is the most satisfying. I like the Weight Watchers ice cream bars (especially the latte bars) and they are around 100 calories each so that works out perfectly. I am starting to "invent" new recipes for desserts around 100 calories so I will have more choices. Whatever I come up with I will be sure to post the recipes here.

Category-Less

2009-08-07T23:27:00.006-04:00

My Hummus Discovery
Chicken Meatballs

Beverages

2009-08-07T23:27:00.004-04:00

Just-As-Good-As-Starbucks Iced Coffee

Side Dishes

2009-08-07T23:26:00.013-04:00

Veggies:
Roasted Garlic New Potatoes
Oven Fries
Corn and Black Bean Quinoa

Breads:
Pumpkin Bread

Desserts

2009-08-07T23:26:00.012-04:00

Strawberry Shortcake Cake
Eclair Cake

Soups, Salads, and Dressings

2009-08-07T23:25:00.009-04:00

Quick Asian Vinaigrette
Mandy Forester's White Chicken Chili
Southwestern Chicken Soup
Pasta E Fagioli
GDL's Italian Wedding Soup
Spicy Taco Soup
Chicken and Dumplings

Breakfast

2009-08-07T23:23:00.006-04:00

Cinnamon Raisin Bread (Bread Machine)
Sweet Sunday Morning Waffles
Banana Crumb Muffins
Open Faced Parmesan Veggie Scramble

Main Dishes

2009-08-07T23:17:00.019-04:00

Mom's Lasagna
Throwback Ribs
Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs
Turkey Lasagna
Tomato, Arugula, and Pancetta Pasta
Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole
Beef Tenderloin with Balsamic Vinegar Glaze
Turkey Burgers
Fake Out Mexican Pizza
Chicken Nuggets
Beef Stir Fry
Grilled Pizza
Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken

Crock Pot Recipes:
Crock Pot Pulled Pork
Crock Pot Roast

One Girl's Taste On Life

Going...Going...Gone!

C25K: W2D3

Be Still My Heart

Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken

Corn and Black Bean Quinoa

Weight Loss and Monthly Ingredients Challenges

Quick Asian Vinaigrette

Starting Over Yet Again

Mom's Lasagna

Restaurant Review: City Barbeque

Cinnamon Raisin Bread (Bread Machine Recipe)

Just-As-Good-As-Starbucks Iced Coffee

Sweet Sunday Morning Waffles

Throwback Ribs

My Hummus Discovery

Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs

Strawberry Shortcake Cake

Banana Crumb Muffins

Great Discovery

Time to Make a Change

Cindy's Awesome Clam Chowder

My Meal Plans

Mandy Forester's White Chicken Chili

Southwestern Chicken Soup

GDL's Pasta E Fagioli

GDL's Italian Wedding Soup

Update on B

The Push I Needed (Thanks Heather!)

Polar F6 HRM and First Day Back at Neo

Chicken Meatballs

Turkey Lasagna

Tomato, Arugula, and Pancetta Pasta

Get Into That Christmas Spirit

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

Beef Tenderloin with Balsamic Vinegar Glaze and Roasted Potatoes with Rosemary

Julie & Julia

Hi. My name is Bethany and I love coffee.

November

Halloween Candy...and a Turkey Burger

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

Spicy Taco Soup (w/Casserole Option)

Crock Pot Roast & Roasted Potatoes...A Sunday Classic

Make Your Own Footwarmers

*Updated!!* Fake Out Mexican Pizza

Neato iTouch/iPhone Apps

Crock Pot Cookery Bonanza!

Dinnertime Dilemmas

Quick Tip #4

Quick Tip #3

Quick Tip #2

Google Reader

Pumpkins

Allrecipes.com & a Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Tips and Tricks to Encourage Healthy Eating

Quick Tip #1

My Go To Meal

Exercise Music

Chicken and Dumplings

Open Faced Parmesan Veggie Scramble

Grocery Gripe

Chicken Nuggets and "Fries"

Secret Banana Muffins

Beef Stir Fry

I'll Be A Runner Yet

Great Workout Program

Grilled Pizza

Yummy Breakfast Option and a Few Pointers

New Things To Try

"Cook Yourself Thin" rant

Guilt Free Treats Are The Best

Microwave Cleaning Trick

Soups, Soups, and More Soups

Fall Means Apples Right?

Foodie Finds

My Hair Saga

Paula's a Thief!

Coffee and Ice Cream

Category-Less

Beverages

Updated!! Fake Out Mexican Pizza