What's for dinner?

Here's what's for dinner this week

Friday - Pizza and salad - after all it is Friday

Saturday - Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes, Green veggie
Full disclosure I will be coating and cooking the pork chops in shake and bake.   What can I say G loves it and its super easy

Sunday - Taco Casserole, Salad
New recipe to be found here

Monday - Chicken Fingers, Potato/Sweet Potato fries (baked in the oven), green veggie
New recipe - can be found here

Tuesday - Leftover Taco Casserole

Wednesday - Freezer dinner, green veggie
Will take one of the casseroles I have in the freezer out - just not sure which one.

Thursday - Freezer dinner, green veggie

G just made a comment about me being organized again on dinners.  I basically sit on the couch (tonight we are watching the Fiesta Bowl - go Wildcats) and show him recipes that I've collected on Pinterest.  I don't get his approval on everything but on most.   My love affair with Pinterest only gets stronger.   Its a perfect place to just file things away for a later time.  Having a plan for the week just makes life so much easier.   G is going back to work next week so dinner prep will need to be more simplified as I never know how much time I will actually have.

In other news......I went to the library today.   Can't remember the last time I stepped into one......
More on that later......

Bon Appétit!

Super

So being that they week was a busy one G and I decided just to chill at home for the Super Bowl.  I knew it was going to be a good game but I didn't have a dog in the fight so I was fine with just hanging out at home.

We ate in "courses".

First course:
Smashed up a couple of avocados and added some cumin and salsa.  Served with some chips and a nice cold CocaCola.



not the prettiest dip but it was yummy


Second course:
Wings!  Just baked these at 375 for about 30 minutes with a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder.   Served with BBQ sauce & homemade ranch dressing (added some sour cream to make it thicker) and carrots and celery




Furry one LOVES carrots so that's what she was after

 
Third course:
Hot Dogs!  They are Nathan dogs - my favorite.   Cooked them in some beer.  Soaked some red onion in milk (makes them not so oniony), G grated some cheese, and sliced some tomatoes.  Yum! 

Then after the game we watched The Help. This again was one of those movies that I think you will enjoy more if you have not read the book.  If you read the book I think they missed the whole point of Skitter and her relationship to her "Nanny".  The cast however was great and really did make the movie for sure.   I would definitely recommend.

Vegan eats

No I haven't turned vegan.   Me with no cheese?   Please....

However my dear friend is a vegetarian and I was at an event recently and recieved gift cards to a new restaurant at Bridgeport called Native Foods so I decided to go and take her.   Have to say it was pretty yummy!   And the thing is you don't feel all bleh after you eat healthy like that.   Forgot to snap some pics but I would definelty reccomend the Saigon Rolls!   Yum!   Also, the cupcakes (you know I'm a sucker for a good cupcake) where delish as well.   The frosting was made with rice milk.   The trainer was there and stopped by our table to chat and it sounds like its just a great place to work.   She lives in San Diego but travels around.  Ah to be young and travel (I remember those days). 

Oh and another highlight of the evening.......Santa sighting.   Can I just say that Bridgeport has THE BEST Santa.   Real beard and all.   He was leaving his little house (probably to go check on the reindeer) and I said - "Hi Santa!"  to which he responded "Merry Christmas!"   Can you stand it?!   Made my whole night!

Merry, merry!

Sunday prep

So since I posted so many pictures of the trip in yesterdays post today will be photo less.

Just a quick update of the food prep for the week.

Sunday cooking:

• This week in the crockpot- a whole chicken. Thus will yield at least two meals. Will use the bones later to make some stock.
• Veggie spaghetti sauce (tomatoes, olives, onion, garlic, mushroom, t sauce, t paste, fresh & dried herbs)- one night with turkey meatballs and one with cheese ravoli
• Apple spice bread - TJ box mix spiced up with some orange and lemon spice and almond extract
• Lunch mush - I roasted cauliflower with a couple potatoes and onion. Then mashed it together with some garbonzo beans with the immersion blender. Also added some curry and paprika. All divided up and ready to throw in my lunchbox
• Also baked some eggs for grab and go breakfast to be wrapped in a flour tortilla with some laughing cow cheese

Later I'm going to stuff a little sugar pumpkin with some bread and cheese. Need to find the recipe however. I will take pictures and post if it turns out to be good.

Thank you Alice

Alice Water's is the reason.   The reason for what you might ask.   The reason we have organic and local foods in our market. The reason for us to think about where our produce comes from and how it is grown.  I try to live the 100 rule as much as possible and whenever possible partly because I adore Alice and all she stands for.  I would have her at my table of 10 and hopefully she would make something and bring it as well.    And since Chev Panisse is celebrating its 40 year anniversary I got out my latest book of Alice's and decided to make Tomato soup.   Now for those of you who know me right now your thinking.... What?.....because you see I used to - yes used to - detest tomato soup. 

It's from the book The Art of Simple Food

Here's the recipe

Warm a heavy bottom pan.  Add:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, sliced
1 small leek, white and light green parts sliced (did not use this as I didn't have any on hand)
Pinch of salt
Cover and cook until soft but not brown - add water to keep from browning if necessary (I didn't have to)Add
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
Cook for about 2 minutes and add:
2 pounds ripe tomatoes (about 10 medium) washed, sliced, and cored
1 scant tablespoon white rice (add this it helps to thicken the soup)
Large pinch of salt (I prefer sea salt)
1/2 bay leaf (I didn't add this)
1 small sprig savory, thyme, or basil (I put in a big bunch of basil)
Cover over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes fall apart.  (If you like chunkier soup don't cook as long)
Add:
1 cup water (I left this out after the first batch so my soup would be thicker)
1 tablespoon butter)
Conti\inue cooking for another 10 minutes.  Remover the herbs.  Ladle into blender or use an immersion blender.  You can pass through a strainer but I don't - I love the real consistency.

I'll be honest.  I added just a smig of sugar to one batch and a little curry to another.   You could play around and do all kinds of things.  You could add a little cream or sour cream as well but personally I wouldn't do that and then freeze it, I would do that when I was getting ready to eat it.  Also, I doubled this recipe twice after I made the first batch.  For 10 lbs of tomatoes (and I still have at least 10 more lbs on the counter) I now have a little under 7 quarts of soup!  Yea for the freezer and enjoying this in the cold of the winter for lunches and perhaps dinners.   On tap for dinner tonight.....grilled cheese and homemade tomato soup!  Think I will make some homemade croutons to go on the tops as well.

In a pinch

Today is game day.....we are playing Wisconsin - at their house.   They are ranked #8 in the nation.   We couldn't even get past Sac State last week.  So far they've only scored once and its the 2nd quarter......
In other news the washing machine is fixed!   Not sure what G did but it works now.   And the nice man from Standard has fixed my dishwasher so all is good on the mechanical front here.

I've had this in the archive's waiting to find a day to post.  This is one of those dinners that I do when I'm in a pinch and don't know what to make.  It's super easy and we can get two dinners out of it which is my goal at least once during the week.

Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie



Brown the ground beef and onion (I prefer red if the walla walla's aren't in season)

Toss the ground beef in a greased pie plate, top w/ the cheese, and then pour the Bisquick mixture over the top.

 Oops...

You can garnish with all kinds of things:  more cheese, tomatoes, sour cream - the possibilities are endless.



Say Cheese!

I went to my first cheese making class Friday - mozzarella.  This takes care of one of my top ten for summer list items!  I will have to say right off the bat that there will be no pictures....sorry.  I took my camera but decided to just be in the moment and enjoy without worrying about taking pictures to capture every move.  

The class was taught by Debbie who just happens to be the wife of one of the engineers I work with.   She actually did a cheese internship in Italy.   Can you imagine how fun that would be?   I remember when she went and thought it was odd and wondered what she would do with the experience once she returned -well now I know.  The class was small about 12 people and we were divided into groups of two.   Debbie did a short introduction about herself and then had us go around the room and tell our names and why we were there.   It was mostly women with two men.   My partner was Jenny and she  was super nice but a tad interesting.   She didn't have a microwave and didn't seem to be married as her roommate had just moved out - and he had taken the coffee grounder.   She did however have a huge dog that she had gotten the DNA testing back on but had not had time to open it.   This I don't understand - how could you go to all the trouble to send in the testing and then not look when it came back - people are funny for me.  Since Jenny didn't have a microwave we did a different method on the finishing part of the cheese than the rest of the class.  The rest of the class used the microwave once the curd had formed.   We heated our whey back to 175 degrees and used it instead to "cook" the whey.   It made the cheese a different consistency then the others - not good or bad just different.   I think that this method would get easier the more you did it as well.  The microwave approach was more straight forward and you were able to do all the curd at once so you didn't have to handle it as much. 

Overall it's amazing to me how simple and easy it is to make mozzarella.   Definitely a good party trick and hope to do it for my next dinner party.  It is a task for two however - doing it by yourself might be a little challenging.  Debbie also sent us home with citric acid and rennet tablet so all you need is the milk and your off and running.

Debbie has a website found here that list her class schedule.  I would totally recommend taking one of her classes.  They are fun to go to with friends or totally doable to do by yourself and meet new people.  She also does parties so you could do a cheese making birthday party - would be kinda fun!  The classes are taught in the Mississippi area of Portland at Mr. Green Beans and they have other fun classes as well which are probably worth checking out.  Side note - there is a frozen yogurt shop next door and  couple of cute restaurants so it would be fun to go to a class and then dinner after.

Dilly Do!

One thing that I do every other summer is make dill pickles.   This is the on year.   Being that summer is late so are the vegetables (usually I would make these mid July - not the end of July).  Also, on my top ten summer list is canning something.  So in case I don't have the time to make tomatoe jam this definetly counts!

The cucumbers

 The dill

The jars

 The other ingrediants

 My "helper"

 The process

The finished product

The Recipe

Cut the blossom end off of the cucumbers (I trim both ends) Pack cukes in jars with dill weed, dill seed, and garlic.  You can also add grape leaves and picling spice but I don't.

Pour over this HOT liquid

1 cup vinegar

3 cups water

1/4 cup pckle salt

Be sure everything is hot!  Your jar, your rings and your lids.  However don't let you lids boil as this can affect the seal. 

You don't need a water bath on these if your liquid is hot and your jars and rings are hot.  Everything should seal just fine - listen for the magical PING.

I do this in batches.  I double the liquid and do about 4 quarts or 6 pints at a time. 

You will notice there is no exacts for the garlic or dill weed or seed because it's personal choice.  I put in a good amount of all three but its totally up to you how much you do.

This is Ada Irene (my grandma's) recipe and I think she was actually with me in the kitchen this year helping me along and laughing at me but then again I feel her with me a lot these days when I'm doing these kinds of things.

Also, you can't eat these babies right away.  I say it's always best to wait until Thanksgiving but truth be told we probably won't get to these until next spring.  However the pints.....those are for presents so if you have me to dinner at your house or you mention that you might want to try some I might be so inclined to give you a jar.



Easy Veggie Soup

So recently I had a run where I didn't have anything for lunch - or I should say anything easy to throw together for lunch.   We have a cafe at work but I either make bad choices (hamburger and fries) or it doesn't settle well in the tummy.   So I decided to make veggie soup.  I know that sounds crazy for summer but lets be honest - its a very cool summer here in Oregon (not that I'm complaining) and where I work its freezing.  I had some homemade chicken stock in the freezer that wasn't getting any younger and a fridge full of celery, carrots, and squash so I was set.  The pictures aren't terribly exciting but I took them so they will be posted - ha!

Carrots, red onion, and celery with a little olive oil

4 cups of homemade chicken stock defrosting in the micro

After the carrot mixture cooks for a while I added the squash

Aftere the veggies cooked for another while I added the broth and the other stuff.  This is where you can get creative and add whatever other spices and herbs and such that you want.   My go to for savory dishes- as you may or noticed - is curry powder.

Recipe:

2 Carrots - rough chop

4 Stalks of celery - rough chop

1 Red onion - rough chop

3 Zucchini - rough chop

4 Cups chicken stock/broth

Seasoning to taste:  I added House Seasoning & Curry Powder

I cook the carrots, celery and onion with a little olive oil to start.  Once they soften a bit I add the zuchinni and cook for a little while longer.  Then I add the chicken broth and let the whole thing simmer away for about 30 minutes or so.  You could add some pasta or rice but I wasn't feeling that this week - and I have a tendancy to add to much and it takes over the soup.  Keep in mind my broth/stock was homemade so it wasn't really strong - just right in my opinion.   If you use store bought you may or may not want to add water as well - totally up to you.

Once completed I put it out in dishes for the week.  As the week came around I could add stuff to the soup.  For instance one day I added some leftover corn and chicken from the night before and another day some left over beans.  So I didn't get bored with it throughout the week.  I'm not going to do this every week but it was nice to have easy lunches for the week that were healthy!

I know this is super easy and almost seems silly to post but everyone needs inspiration and maybe this will inspire you to make some soup for your family or lunch for an upcoming week!

The Island

Last summer we went to Whidbey Island.  Not sure why but it seemed close enough that you could drive there and I could be by the water and try something new.   We had a wonderful time and have always wanted to go back.....and so we did.  However, this time instead of staying in an Inn we stayed in a little cottage and took the furry one.   Let's just say that we can't wait to go back again next year.   And we hope to go to the same place but stay for a week instead of 3 nights.   I guess that means we had a good time.......

The Cottage........
......was wonderful!

The View
The sunrises were amazing!   And when it was clear you could see all the way across the Saratoga Passage to the Cascades.  

The Food, The Drink, & Langley
We ate at some wonderful places!  
Homemade chicken noodle soup and salad at Pickles and the bread was wonderful as well.  Will be a new go-to on the island for us.

Tasting room in Langley for Ott & Murphy

 

 No vacation is complete without my Skinny Girl

Prima bistro is probably one of my favorite restaurants.   Had some amazing clams and G had the smores dessert which we had last year as well.

  

 This is the wonderful apple sausage corn chowder from The Braeburn in Langley.  I had a caprese sandwich to go with and it was all wonderful.

The Deck......

.....was perfect for reading, relaxing, and playing cards. 

The Beach.....

.....was serene.   I collected some fun rocks and beautiful shells to take back as a little slice of the island.  Also, found a walking stick that I had to take home.   Also accomplished one of my top ten!  I know it says ocean and technically this is the sound but I think it all counts.

The Ferry......

.....is part of the adventure.   Just a quick 20 minute ride across the sound.   It was so windy on the way over you couldn't go outside without your sunglasses getting blown off but on the way back it was more peaceful.

The Golf.....

.....you didn't really think we would go on vacation without some form of golf being mentioned did you?

This is what the refer to as pasture golf.  This place was too funny for words.  We didn't play because the day we drove out there the weather was less than ideal but I think the pictures are worth thousands of words.

Island Greeens

The Wildlife.....

.....drove the furry one insane.   She learned a new word on this trip "bunny".  

And last but not least.....if you are looking for a vacation home word on the streets is this one is going for a good deal.   Was right next door to us so you know it has a great view.  Just needs a little TLC.....