Tag Archives: potato

Eat, Live, Garnish

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Bleck.  I’ve been in a crummy mood all day.  My retainer fitting properly finally means it’s actually working, which means my mouth is hurting.  Additionally I’m irritated with myself for not starting Biochem work.  I know the longer I put it off the worse it’s going to be but I’m a week in and it’s feeling a little daunting.  Plus I was so excited about these filled Mini-Wheats, but when I ate a small bowl this afternoon they hurt my mouth. 

Bleck.

I know something guaranteed to put a smile on my face was a blogger-approved dinner.

Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes from Emily at The Daily Garnish,

and Mom’s Sweet and Spicy Barbeque Baked Beans from Jenna at Eat, Live, Run.

The guacamole gravy?  That was all me!

It ended up being a very tasty meal.

A time intensive(ish) one as well, the potatoes required a good hour of hands-on time while the beans were baking in the oven.  As I was removing the caramelized onions from the pan genius struck, and guacamole gravy was born.  I kept a few onions in the pan over medium heat and added a chopped avocado and a bit of evoo.  Once everything was warmed through I deglazed the pan with some mushroom broth.  A bit more broth and some mashing, and the best potato topped ever was born!

It was great to get back into the kitchen and make my husband a nice hearty (vegan!) meal.  Sidenote – that’s not to say the husband didn’t help cook this meal, mashing potatoes is hard!

What is your favorite kind of gravy?

Gourmet for a Thursday

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Dinner tonight was pretty gourmet for a Thursday.  Actually, it was pretty darn gourmet in general!

We started with a salad course.

I had a romaine base with chopped pear, soy nuts, and low-fat poppy-seed dressing.

Super yummy.  This has been my favorite salad dressing for years, but I think this is the first time I’ve bought it since we moved from Miami in 2003.

For the main course I made Cheesy Meat Loaf Minis from Cooking Light.

Actually, I put all the ingredients in a bowl; Adam technically made it since he’s the one who had his hands all up in the raw meat.

We thought the recipe was pretty good (7/10), here are the changes we made –

  • 98% lean turkey subbed for sirloin, with an extra 1/4 pound of meat
  • no onions and no oregano (just because we were out, they would have improved the dish)
  • panko bread crumbs
  • an extra ounce of white cheddar subbed for parmesan
  • and horseradish mustard subbed in for horseradish and dijon

On the side we made a batch of Waffle Fries from Alexia.

I got this product for free using a coupon from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program.  To be honest, I probably wouldn’t have bought this with my own money, but I’m so glad I got the change to try it because I would totally spring for it again!  The fries were perfectly crispy and seasoned but not soggy at all.

All in all it was a very satisfying dinner.

We’ve been watching The X-Files (via Netflix instant watch) and I can’t get over how cheesy the first season was!  Did you watch the X-Files?

Like a Saftey

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Confession – in order to write my clever title I had to Google “football players who tackle.”  And I was a cheerleader.

Anyway, that’s what this weekend has been about, tackling my to-do list:

Hooray!

I tackled two weeks worth of laundry (actually, the husband tackled this, but I folded!),

I tackled the pile of outgoing mail,

I tackled my huge stack of unsorted magazine clippings,

I tackled my planner for the semester,

And more!  I didn’t work the whole weekend, but I did more in two days than I’ve done in two weeks.

Breakfast this morning had a mix of carbs and protein to fuel me up.

That’s a plan fat-free yogurt with Crofter’s Strawberry Jam stirred in, topped with Kashi H2H and some chunky peanut butter.

So good!  Peanut Butter and I have totally resparked our love affair lately.

Around noon I headed out to run some errands at school and replenish our food stores.  Wegman’s was terrible this afternoon – the hot bar was barely stocked and the store was packed.  Nonetheless, I managed to carve out a booth of calm and spend an hour tackling my NYE resolution to read more.

Eating materials, hot bar Asian style veggies, potatoes, and sweet and sour chicken.

Reading materials, The Food of a Younger Land, Mark Kurlansky.

When I got home from pushing my way through the hoards I snacked  on a mini bag of kettle corn and a glass of skim milk.

Dinner involved some prep throughout the day – chicken getting soft and shreddable in the crock pot, red onions caramelizing on the stove – but the end result was beyond worth it –

Bbq chicken pizza with caramelized red onions and gouda!

I topped a store-bought crust with caramelized red onions, shredded chicken tossed with bbq sauce, and gouda, and 10minutes later I had pure, steamy bliss.

Bliss served with a side of roasted asparagus.

It was a pretty heavenly dinner.

Dessert was from the bulk bins; yogurt pretzels, chocolate pretzels, and a piece of local sponge candy.

I’ve got to go shower and get my beauty sleep; school starts tomorrow!

Pizza for Breakfast and Presents for Dinner

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I’ve got to cover breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, so hang in for a longish post.  Thank goodness I don’t do things like work out or leave the house, there’d just be too much to say!

Breakfast (late breakfast) was one of my favorites, Pizza Eggs.

Eggland’s Best scrambled up with turkey pepperoni, sharp cheddar, and marinara sauce.  To die for.

Making it even better, I’ve discovered the best way ever to scramble – leave the yolks set (almost like you are making fried eggs) and scramble just the whites.  Then, at the last minute, scramble in the yolks.  Allowing the components to cook apart for a while takes eggs to a whole ‘nother level!

Lunch covered another favorite technique, my new favorite for tuna salad.

I call this “Last Date Tuna Salad;” my regular recipe – canned tuna, miracle whip, and tons of pickle relish – taken over the edge with the addition of lots and lots of chopped red onion.  Try it, you’ll thank me, just don’t kiss anyone right after lunch!

Aside my salad was a piece of ciabatta bread, toasted and buttered.

It was a smelly tasty lunch.

I had to eat a peppermint stick to slay my breath before the husband came home!

I also nibbled through the last two cookies this afternoon.

Remind me how I haven’t made every last one of Jenna’s recipes yet?

Then came dinner.

My generous parents know we’re too poor for healthy seafood (and I’m too much of a girl for sardines), so they gifted us with “charge some salmon to the credit card one night, and marinade it in the maple dill dressing from your stocking” for Christmas. <– Yes, this was a stocking gift; and yes, they’re a little crazy.

Alongside we roasted up some asparagus,

and mini yellow potatoes.

And then there was snack.  For dessert we sampled a new flavor of Pop Chips.

Think early bedtime thoughts for me please; tomorrow I’m going to try to get up and be a real girl, maybe I’ll even leave the couch house!

Drive Home Dinner

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Half of a random protein bar, split with the husband and greatly enjoyed by us both.  Buffalo chicken sub with fries.

Ugh.

Our New York City visit was fabulous.  Our return trip home not so much.  I’ll be back with all the good details tomorrow.

Better Than 32Minutes in Bed or 2.8Miles by Car

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Hello, Saturday!  We’re having a fun visiting day, but stopped by the house to do a huge load of laundry chat so I figured I’d do a quick post.

We put the late in late-night yesterday, but I was determined to go to the gym today.  Our in-laws are staying in a hotel with a little gym so I could work out there, then shower in the room, and then head to breakfast.  Doing everything in the same building was soooo nice; I would up my gym time exponentially if there was one attached to my house!

I decided to hit up the treadmill for a short run.  My right arch was killing me so I kept having to take walking breaks to stretch my foot, but I manged 2.8miles.  With warm up/cool down I ended at 32minutes.  I was frustrated about how slow that is, but then I put it in perspective – 32minutes and 2.8miles of activity is never a bad thing!

Neither is breakfast at Pano’s!

Adam and I split the California Omlette, “avocado, sautéed mushroom, green onion, tomato, shallots, sour cream, cheddar, pepper jack and swiss cheese; served with home fries and (sourdough) toast.”

It was a tasty meal, and sharing left us with the perfect portion size.

I’m not sure entirely what the day will bring, but this evening will be spent at the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.  Can’t wait!

I’m Done!

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For real this time – I’m done!  I’m done!  I’m done!

And, in further cause for celebration – I found out I scored a 93% with the curve on the Anatomy final, which means my final grade for the semester was a 87%!  And I think we did a great job on our presentation today.  Booyah!

This morning started off with a chocolate mint strawberry smoothie.

For two (I love that Adam likes these!) we mixed 2 cups of frozen strawberries and 2 cups of chocolate peppermint soy milk.  I know that picture is a little grim, but that what it’s like outside in Buffalo at 7am and 12*.

Our final presentation went well; not gonna lie, I think ours was the best.

Plus, I might have bribed everyone by brining in Tamarind Candy!

After a quick meeting I was free, free, free!  I spent almost an hour walking down Elmwood, just happy to be outside.  I can’t believe I don’t have class again until late January.  Or that I’m going to St. Thomas next week!

Lunch needed to be walking distance from the apartment, celebratory, and in my budget.

Chicken fingers drenched in Buffalo sauce?  Don’t mind if I do.

I scarfed this entire thing, got a bit sick to my stomach, and was totally in heaven.  All I need now are some sweatpants.

When does your holiday break start?

Waiting for Harvest, Waiting for Vengence

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It’s been quite the productive Saturday; I decorated the apartment, ran a bunch of errands, made (TWO) great dinner(s), and even got some studying done for Tuesday’s Nutrition test.

Our errands – just post office, Target, Wegmans – took hours; the holiday crowds are out!  We ended up picking up lunch from the hot bar when I declared myself too hungry to shop.

Everything on that plate was delicious!

Once we were home long enough to warm up, we bundled back up and headed to Starbucks so I could get a salted caramel hot chocolate to sip while I studied.

Delicious!  But even though I gave myself a sugar headache, I still had a weird, growly hunger.  I ended up having a few random snacks while I waited for/cooked dinner.  Like a latke straight from the fridge,

and half a tortilla with melted sharp cheddar.

Dinner was quick to prepare, but the 45minute cook time is when I required my snacks.  It was worth it.

Another family recipe attempt, this time Noodle Kugel (recipe at the end of the post).

I only made a half recipe; when Adam saw cottage cheese and raisins go into the casserole dish he told me lighting the menorah would be the extent of his Jewish traditions for the day.  Hence, dinner # 2.

Did you know we have an Aero Garden in our fire-place?

I should say had.

We harvested!

And I used the basils to make Adam some tasty homemade pesto for dinner.

My dinner was better though.

Kugel is sweet in a way that still feels like dinner and the crispy noodles on the top are the best.

My side dish was pretty rocking too.  I shredded two leftover latkes, mixed them with 2/3 cup of peas, and topped with the end of the cranberry sauce and a dollop of light sour cream.

The combination was to die for and the fact that I ended up with Christmas colors was a happy accident.

Quite the fantastic dinner if I do say so myself!

Noodle Kugel

  • 12-16 oz. wide egg noodles – cook, drain, run cold water over

 Mix the following ingredients, and then mix in the noodles:

  • 8 oz. sour cream
  • 8 oz. cottage cheese
  • 1 ¼ C yellow raisins
  • 1 stick melted butter
  • 3 eggs
  • ¾ C sugar
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1 t cinnamon

 9 x 12 greased casserole; sprinkle cinnamon/sugar on top (diagonal rows); cook 45 min. at 350*