A Contented Sigh

I had one of those days today that all other days just strive to live up to.  It was a GREAT day.  Beautiful sunshine, started the day running with my friend, Rachel, got most of my to-do list done and enjoyed a healthy and delicious dinner with the hubby.  Seriously, how could life get better?  These are the days when at the end of the day, I can put my head down to sleep and sigh one of those deep, contented sighs that comes from a life well-lived and appreciated.  I wish that for all of you.  :)

But, in the meantime, I did mention dinner...

I have been craving something with marsala in it ever since watching the Barefoot Contessa show on Food Network and she mentioned it.  Chicken Marsala used to be one of my most favorite dishes, but since going veggie completely, I've not had it over two years.  But, then, inspiration hit me.  Mushrooms.  Marsala.  Kale. Perfection.

And this was created...



Again, a contented sigh.  Because it was such a comforting type of dish that it deserves a sigh.

Hmmm...so about the recipe....I don't really have one.  I just sort of winged it.  I sauteed some mushrooms in a pan with butter, some Chef Tess all purpose seasoning, and salt.  Then I used the pan drippings to mix with a bit of flour to thicken it and then deglazed the pan with the marsala wine.  Then I put some chopped tuscan or dinosaur kale in the bottom of the strainer and strained my cooked fettuccine noodles over it to wilt it.  Then I tossed the kale with the mushroom and wine mixture and served it over the cooked pasta.

I love kale because it has a meatier texture and has so much healthy stuff going for it.  We are watching the quantities of it because of cutting back a bit on Vitamin A overload for the hubby's eye condition but knowing what foods go best with the Vitamin A seems to be another big piece of the puzzle.  I feel like I am forever researching...but if it helps him even a little to slow the deterioration, it's worth my time.  :)

And, since I've been all about the single serving desserts lately, I decided to make single serving bread pudding tonight!  Yummmmmmm!!

This was the perfect end to the meal.  Sadly, I again barely have a recipe for you.  But this is so easy, you can do it!  I had some leftover baguette to use up that I cubed.  It was about 1/3 of a baguette.  I mixed one egg, a splash of vanilla, about 1/4 cup of milk and a dash of salt together in a small bowl.  I added the bread cubes until all of the liquid was pretty much spoken for.  Make sure to really push the bread into the egg mixture to absorb it or you'll be eating egg coated bread crumbs.  Not the desired outcome.

Then, I lightly greased 3 small souffle cups, and poured the mixture into each one.  At this point, I set them aside and made my caramel sauce...a few tablespoons of brown sugar, melted into two tablespoons or so of butter and then a splash of milk added in and brought to a low boil, stirred constantly and then set aside.

I chose to cook my bread pudding in the microwave for time savings, but it could be baked - maybe 350 for about 20 minutes...You'd just have to watch them and judge time.  Microwaving was about 45 seconds each.  Topped off with the caramel sauce and it was just the right size and flavor.  I know if I'd have had more, I'd have eaten more.  Built in portion control is always a good thing!  So, one more contented sigh for the evening.

I live a blessed life.  That's for sure.  I hope I am always as thankful as I should be for it because it's a good one.  :)

Sheri

 

 

Catching up...

I can hardly believe it's already Wednesday...and it's Wednesday night too!  I know my posts on the blog are getting less frequent, but at least our facebook page seems to be busy lately!  I love all of our visitors  - old and new - and enjoy spending a few moments out of your day with you.

There's so much going on around here lately that I feel like I am just spinning in circles sometimes.  With the boy graduating this year and heading off to college in the fall, homeschool paperwork time is upon me.  I have been working on getting his documentation ready and making sure we've got financial aid forms filed, housing plans made, etc.  I'm sure you get it.  I'm busier than ever with that.  I have to say though that homeschooling my children has been one of my greatest achievements.  I know that may sound silly but to be able to be a very real and integral part of their educational process has been a blessing.  Sure, some days I have no idea how the heck I am going to be able to do it all but then, it all works out.  The boy is ready to be done but I'm impressed by his ability to refocus, and do what needs to be done.  He has really matured and I'm proud of him.

Speaking of the boy...he made me laugh today when everything went so crazy at naptime.  I was on a roll - you know when you are just flowing through the to-do list, the kids are napping, you're in a fantastic mood?  Well, I was in that zone.  I had made bread, peanut butter granola, was soaking almonds to make milk, the daycare kids were all asleep (baby included!) and then...sigh...I put the pretzel bites into a very hot oven - 500 F and opened the door just a bit to check on them and all of the sudden, the smoke detector went nuts.  And ours are the interconnected ones so it beeped in EVERY. ROOM. OF. THE. HOUSE.  Double sigh.  And then, my phone beeps.  A text from the boy who is upstairs doing school work.  "Way to go, Iron Chef."  I have to tell you, it cracked me up.  You're probably reading it and wondering why you're still reading anything I have to say but it was just in that moment of deciding whether to cry out of frustration.  All of the sudden, the baby was up and I had disturbed the sleep of everyone else to the point that my two teetering-on-sick toddlers were wide awake and the other kids minus one soon followed.   Now, the toddlers weren't sleeping well to begin with so  that didn't take much on my part, but still...I felt bad.  And his comment really lightened the mood.  He even went and talked to the baby and helped butter the pretzel bites when they came out of the oven.  And I realized he's a good kid.  I knew that, but sometimes we all need reminders.

So, in addition to trashing naptime and prepping to send my baby off to college, the hubby and I have been working on a plan to head out west this summer.  I am SO excited!!  I have never been anywhere but the Eastern Seaboard from New York down and even then, I think I've missed a state or two.  I mean, the only time I've been in New Jersey was the time I got stuck in the wrong lane, and crossed the Ben Franklin bridge in Philly with no cash.  I ended up in Camden and had to beg my way back across into Philly.  Fun times for sure.   I sure hope this road trip is nothing like that.  Yes, I said road trip.  We are camping and running all over the northern part of the US from Pennsylvania to Montana and back.  We've got 16 days and I know they'll go fast but I think it will be so much fun.  There is so much I want to see and do, and having to pare it down to fit into those 2+weeks is a challenge but so worth it!  The hubby and I never had a honeymoon, so maybe this makes up for it.  We will be married 19 years in June, so I guess it's about time.  If you live along the northern states we'll likely be traveling through, or know of some great nature type stops to make, please make a suggestion.  I'm all ears!  I will take lots of lots of pictures to share, I promise.  I want to send a big, big thank you to my hubby's parents for coming up and staying at our house while we're gone.  Our three big dogs plus their dog is no picnic...but it means a lot that they're coming anyway.  It will be nice for them to have time with the boy and girl too, so there's a plus.  And I know my house will still be standing when I get back which is a good thing.

Of course, this means that we won't be signing up for many races or anything this year because all extra cash goes into the road trip fund.  The only races I'm doing are already paid for and they were pretty inexpensive ones.  I'll be doing a half marathon this Sunday at a park near our house, Squirrely Tail Trail Half Marathon, and I'm running it with my friend, Michele.  I promised her I'd stick with her and I am excited.  Usually in races, especially trail ones, I end up alone, out of pace somehow with people I know.  But I'm sure we'll just chat through the whole race.  Next, I'll be running my first 50k in a few weeks.  Please be thinking of me!  I know I can do it, but I'll need those good thoughts!  I am very nostalgic going into this race.  It's the Hashawa Hills 50k Trail Run and it's in Westminster, MD, where all of my family is from, and some still live.  I feel a bit like I'm going home to run and am excited to be in a park I've not seen since I was a kid and run my first 50K in it.  It's emotional and my dad will be there to see me run!  That is a huge big deal to me.  Then, the next race is not until May and is the Farm Park Challenge, in Derwood, MD.  Michele is running that one with me too.  It's a 5+ mile loop that you do as many times as you can, keeping each loop under an hour.  It would have been my first 50K attempt if I hadn't made it into Hashawa's lottery.

So, there's my race plans.  Other than that, I'm just running and loving running this year.  January has been good to me.  Almost 115 miles and I'm happy with that, especially since I took the whole first week off.  Let's hope February is just as good!  :)

And, just so you don't think that I've forgotten this is a "food" blog...

Vegetable Empanadas

I used a recipe from Laylita's recipe for my Empanada dough.  I've used pie crust in the past, but I wanted something a bit more authentic.  It was really easy to make and to work with.



I used a small plate and a sharp knife to cut around as a pattern.

I filled them with a mixture of corn, peppers, feta cheese, black beans and avocado, dressed with some salsa and taco seasoning.

Aren't they cute???  Seriously, this dough was flexible enough to mold and wasn't crumbly at all like pie crust can be.

Ready to eat!  They weren't dry at all and really were a quick dinner.  I froze some of them for quick meals later on too.  The dough made about 12 empanada discs.

 

I hope you are all having a great week and I'll try really, really hard to not take so long to write a post again!!

Sheri

 

 

Pretzel Stromboli...and a Great Day!

Yesterday started off pretty average for a vacation day around here.  I couldn't sleep so I was up around 4 am, and decided to do my review of my 2012 goals.  Who knew that admitting that I didn't hit my goal of 1000 likes on HSH's Facebook page would spur my bloggy friends into action.  But it did.  Cooking from a SAHM who has guest posted here a few times, sprang into action and before I knew it, I had all kinds of new friends to talk to!  By the time the hubby and I headed out for our trail run, I was at almost 1000 likes.  Seven miles and about an hour later, I had 1032!  Thanks to Lysska for her support.  I am blessed with so many wonderful people in my life.

Speaking of our trail run...it wasn't our easiest run because I think we're fighting some type of head stuffiness, but it felt awesome to be out on the trails in the sunshine, snow crunching under our feet as we ran and just breathing that crisp air.  I didn't appreciate stepping in a wet puddle of snow only a 1/2 mile in but it wasn't terrible so, I kept on running and before I knew it, that foot was warm and toasty again.

We did stop to appreciate the day at our turn around spot..and captured some nice shots.



Doesn't that look like a fun morning out?  And, then, we came home and did some shopping for some much needed grocery supplies (like goat cheese!) and while the hubby was taking a nap, I made this...



A pretzel stromboli!  I was soooo excited.  It was pretty tasty too.  One of the best tasting doughs I've ever made.  I used a King Arthur pretzel dough recipe and then rolled it out, filled it and brushed the baking soda/water combo that gives the brown crust to a pretzel.  Usually you'd dip a pretzel, but I had to improvise for a stromboli.  It's filled with kale, mushrooms, onions, peppers and provolone and fontina cheeses.  Delicious!!

I hope you all had a fantastic day too!!

Sheri

Happy Monday!

So, I guess as long as I can manage a post a week, I'm going to just have to be happy with it.  I'd rather give you lots of good stuff than a few posts here and there!  So, as usual, we've been busy around here.  For once, it's not been as much running as usual though.  Just enjoying life.

Thought I might start with giving a glimpse into our menu for the week ahead.  I haven't done that for awhile, and thought it would be a good start to the week...

Keep in mind that breakfast and lunch are geared toward the daycare kids, and may include meat.  Dinner is for the hubby and I, and occasionally the boy, and won't include meat.  :)

Monday:

Breakfast: Banana Smoothie, Toast, Lunch: Chicken & Rice Bake, Dinner: Veggie Soup & Grilled Panini\

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Applesauce Baked Donuts, Lunch: Pizza Stuffed Pita Shells, Dinner: Sweet Potato & Black Bean Quesadillas

Wednesday:

Breakfast: Pancakes, Lunch: PB Banana Wrap, Dinner: Veggie Stromboli

Thursday:

Breakfast: French Toast, Lunch: Egg & Potato Hash, Dinner: Large Salad, Corn Fritters

Friday:

Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal, Lunch: Spaghetti, Dinner: Out with Friends!

So, there's our plan for the week.  I try to plan flexible meals and I change things up as needed. I have to say that I am looking forward to Friday night's dinner the most!!  We're headed out with some very good friends to Gettysburg and going out to dinner and then are doing a ghost tour through downtown Gettysburg.  The hubby and I did it last year and, besides the frigid weather of last year, it was a great time.  We're doing a different tour this year, with a different company and there will be 8 of us.  The weather is looking perfect too!!  No hat, gloves and boots required!  I will try and snap as many pics as possible to share with all of you.  :)

Now, what have I been making this past week, you wonder???



A great sauteed veggie platter with potatoes, kale, feta cheese and some spinach and feta pierogies added in.  Delicious and healthy!



And this was our Sunday breakfast...yummy!!



And while I was at it...I made some buns for Sunday lunch to use with our veggie burgers.  :)



And these are the apple hand pies I made for the daycare kiddos breakfast last week...they were tasty!



And this was the inside of the apple pies.  I used my Pampered Chef cut and seal tool to make them.  I love that tool.  I make my own uncrustable PB&J with it too.  Kids (and the hubby love it!)

So, I've shared our menu, shared our past meals and I guess all that's left to do is share about my running.  Of course!

I had a rough week last week.  Healing up from running my unofficial marathon was a little time consuming.  My ankles were the most sore I guess from running all that uneven surface of the Appalachian Trail.  So, I did 2 runs - one on Tuesday that was only 4 miles and speedwork at a local park, and then the next day on the trails I love at Rocky Ridge I did 6 miles.  Then I took Thursday and Friday off and had a great run at an alumni 5k for my high school.  The cross country course was tough but I broke 30 minutes and I was thrilled.  29:59 is breaking 30, right!?!  I did take first place in my age group too, but it was a pretty small field.  But I got a trophy.  My first one.  Even more special that it was from my high school and my hubby paced me the whole run!

Then, I skipped my long run yesterday.  I just wasn't feeling like running.  WHAT!?!  I hope that by listening to my body I can prevent injuries and hopefully I'll still hit my 1000 miles for running this year.  I am at 816 miles.  SO CLOSE!  So, I really want to keep that momentum going.  Fingers crossed I make it.

Anyway.  Enough rambling.  Time to wrap this up!

Have a fantastic week everyone!!

Sheri

 

 

A Vegan Life...Or not so much :(

Sometimes in life, things just don't work. I know I get frustrated when I want something to happen and I just can't make it work, even when I try - really, really try - hard and so it goes for me and the vegan diet.  Now, I am not saying that I am abandoning the idea completely because I am not.  I want as much of our diet as possible to come from plants, and plants alone and I will keep working on that goal but I will share some of the issues that I have begun to endure after a few months on eating just about 100% vegan.  I will also share how I tried to adjust to deal with these things and I apologize in advance if you came here looking just for a recipe and instead were subjected to my chatter about my body's rejection of being vegan.

First up, mouth sores.  Lots of them.  I had ulcers all the time.  I changed my toothpaste, toothbrush, etc because I couldn't get rid of them.  Then, by chance, I came upon an article about B12 deficiency in vegans and vegetarians leading to mouth ulcers.  I got a B12 supplement and the ulcers were gone in 2 days and haven't returned....problem solved, right?  Well, not exactly because...

My body hates taking vitamins.   I usually just get sick.  But on B12...I became an irritable, grouchy monster with zilch for patience.  It was like the time I couldn't be on estrogen replacement right after my hysterectomy.  Nobody wanted to live with that - I didn't continue to subject my family to that version of me then, and I wasn't interested in doing it now.  And being vegan meant a whole realm of vitamins that needed to be taken to compensate for everything my body wasn't getting via the food. Calcium, iron, and now B12 in addition to my daily estrogen and multivitamin.  I mean, isn't the point of all of this to eat well and let the body work naturally?

The need for processed foods.  Okay, so maybe, just maybe, there is a way to do this without vitamins or processed foods containing the vitamins, but I seriously couldn't find a way to make it work.  I'd love (civil, please) thoughts and ideas on this.  So, if I don't want to take B12, I need to buy soy milk fortified with B12 instead of drinking my homemade almond milk that I love.  Hmm.  Things like that just weren't making sense anymore.  I don't want to use veganaise if I can make my own mayonnaise here and eat something unprocessed.  Or give up a healthy drink like almond milk because I need to get B12 from something that it's been fortified with in a factory.  I think you know what I mean.

So...is there a way to live vegan and eat only whole foods and still be able to keep up a running and biking schedule and have no vitamins or supplements?  For me, at least, the answer is no.  And I have to do what's best for my body.  So I will add an occasional egg or some milk to a recipe and not try to strip everything down to the plant essentials and see how I feel.  Maybe, just maybe I can find that perfect balance. I am still not interested in eating any meat and I've been a vegetarian for so many years that I know my body well enough to know what it needs.

First big step last night...



Quinoa Burgers...and they have egg and cheese in them.

Quinoa Burgers

Makes 6-7 patties

Ingredients

• 2 c cooked quinoa


• 3/4 c bread crumbs


• 2 eggs


• 1/4 c shredded cheddar cheese


• 1/2 t garlic powder


• 1/2 t onion powder


• 1t seasoning salt

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients well until mixture is holding together - it will seem crumbly but will firm up in the pan while cooking


2. Preheat pan lightly coated in oil to medium high and put patties in pan.


3. Cook for about 5 minutes the first side, or until browned, and then flip and cook the other side until browned.


4. Serve alone or on a bun.

These were a nice re-entry into eating non-vegan because they were still whole foods that I made.  I'm looking forward to retaining as much of the vegan recipes as I can but being sure to add in enough sources of iron and b12 to better support my lifestyle.  I am doing this to be healthy, and whatever that means is the direction I'm headed in.  :)

 

Garlic Lemon Rosemary Chicken

Thursday already? I am so behind!  Good thing Alyssa at Cooking from a SAHM is to my rescue with another guest post!

Enjoy,

Sheri

 

Hello Everyone,

I can not believe Thursday is here already. This Thursday I decided to share with you my Rosemary Garlic Lemon Chicken w/ vegetables. It was my first recipe in my new to me Electric Roaster oven. It is such a handy thing to have. We found it at a yard sale for $5 and it has never been used. :-) It is a Rival 16 quart. It is so nice that I can make a whole chicken or even leg quarters without even having to turn the oven on.  This recipe is really good, fresh tasting, and easy.  Now you can use this same recipe and put it in the oven... Since the weather is getting cooler here slowly, I am excited about having my oven on :-) I really hope that you enjoy this recipe.



 

Garlic, Rosemary Lemon Chicken

3 Leg quarters (you can do this same thing on a whole chicken)

1 sprig of Rosemary

Minced Garlic ( enough to spread on chicken, and stuff in skin)

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/2 Tsp of Lemon juice on each chicken

1 Vadalia Onion chopped

4 stocks of celery chopped

5 Carrots chopped( I'd cut up more)

 

I started by cutting up all your veggies. Then I stripped all the rosemary off the stems. I chopped them small. Put all those in a bowls. Set them aside. Take your chicken and take a knife. Slit the skin open a bit. Take your finger and stick it in the skin and open the skin up a bit. Then stuff it with garlic. Making sure garlic is spread everywhere in the skin. Take more minced garlic and rub it on the top of the chicken. Sprinkle with the chopped rosemary. Put it in a pan. Salt and pepper to taste.  Take your chopped veggies and put them over the chicken. Pour about 3/4 Cup of water. Pour 1/2 tsp of Lemon juice on each chicken. Cover. Bake 350 until done and skin is browned. Make sure veggies are tender.

Mexican Lasagna

I love layered casseroles.  They're so easy to make and they can use up so many of the "this and thats" that tend to accumulate through cooking.  This one used up some homemade salsa, chayote squash, roasted peppers and onions as well as some extra boned turkey meat that I'd frozen after making a roast.  Add to that some corn tortilla shells, cheese and pinto beans that I soaked overnight and there's a healthy lasagna!



Really, any combo of flavors could make for a great lasagna because it all just cooks together to combine something new.  And I got to clean out the freezer in the process!

 

Chard stuffed meatloaf

Okay, so I will preface with this by saying that boy says I ruined meatloaf by putting grass inside of it.  Sigh.  I hope that someday he understands the benefits of eating well and can embrace something a bit healthier than fast food and milkshakes.  Two of his favorite food groups.  I guess at 16 these are the great parts of your life!



Now, off to my meatloaf creation.  True to my usual style, I have a very loose recipe to give you.

Combine 2 pounds of ground meat - I used 2 pounds of ground turkey, but any combo would work well.  I mixed in about 2 cups of bread crumbs, 2 T of italian seasoning, about 1/2 c of fresh shredded romano cheese, 1 egg and 1/2 c of skim milk.  Once I had all of that combined, I spread it out into a rectangle on a baking sheet with a lip to catch runaway juices and then put about 2-3 cups of blanched swiss chard and rolled the ends of the rectangle over it.  Then, I made a mixture of dijon mustard, honey, and a bit of water to make it thinner and used a brush to spread it over the whole meatloaf.  I then baked it for about an hour and 10 minutes at 350 or until the meatloaf juices were running clear.

Let the meatloaf rest for about 10-15 minutes to set and slice and serve!

"Better than going out" Chicken Critter Salad

It was a long week filled with stress, sickness and just trying desperately to get back into some kind of a routine.  Friday afternoon came, I got done work a little early and hubby and I hit the trails at our favorite local park for the first run all week.  It was a shorter run than normal so we hadn't made any plans for snacks, etc to take along and when we finished, we were starving!  On the ride home we tried to decide what we wanted for dinner.  One of the places we still like to head out to every now and then is Texas Roadhouse.  I love the deep fried pickles and hubby loves the rolls and we both agree our favorite thing on the menu is the Chicken Critter Salad.  We thought of heading home, cleaning up and going out, but quickly decided that Friday night is not the night to head there, or anywhere in our town, for dinner and decided to make it at home.  I'm so glad we did!

Of course we started off with some fried pickles - easy and simple.  I drained some dill chips while I heated some oil in a saucepan and then tossed the pickles in a flour, cayenne, seasoned salt mix and fried them until crispy.  For a dip I blended ketchup, horseradish mayo, Italian seasoning blend, hot shot pepper blend and paprika.  We nibbled on these while we made the ingredients for the salad.

First, I tossed some cubed leftover bread with a blend of butter, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper and then put it in the oven at 400 degrees.  Then I made a batter of flour, milk, and seasonings for the chicken tenderloins that I'd thawed out.  I dredged the chicken in the batter and hubby fried them in the same oil we'd used for the pickles.  While he did that, I cubed 2 hard boiled eggs and washed the salad lettuce.  Once the chicken was cooked, we sliced it and put it over the egg, greens and tomatoes and put warm croutons on top.  And added just a bit of honey mustard dressing on top.  Perfection!!  We enjoyed our favorite meal without calling ahead, dealing with crowds or forking over any $.  What a great date night!  Only thing missing was the rolls, so next time I will be sure to have some dough ready to go.

One thing we don't get out very often is dessert so it was extra-special to enjoy a dessert after our meal.  I wanted to try a new recipe and I have seen Black Magic Cake on more than a few blogs, so I decided that would be perfect.  I used this recipe from Allrecipes Black Magic Cake and was excited with all of the wonderful reviews.  We weren't disappointed. Of course, it had to have a peanut butter icing because it wouldn't be a chocolate cake in our house any other way.  :)  Nothing fancy, just a Peanut Butter Buttercream essentially.  So creamy it melted in your mouth.  I wish I had a recipe, but it was more of a clean out the odds and ends to concoct a frosting sort of event - in the most delicious way possible.



I think we were so spoiled with our evening in we might have to replicate it the next time we've got a craving for our favorite salad.  Being home, enjoying working together and then having a relaxing dinner was more than worth it!

 

Scampi Scallops...Yum!

Well, now that the household has finally been cleared of the "great stomach virus of 2012," I finally feel like I can cook again.  And eat again.  And, to top it off, I had a helper in the kitchen tonight!  My almost-17 year old has always been interested in the kitchen and now that he's learning at home, we're adding cooking to his list of subjects.   Just before we got sick, we went grocery shopping and got the most beautiful sea scallops.  It was so sad opening the refrigerator and seeing the package, just knowing that there was no way my stomach was accepting that.  But, tonight was our Valentine's.  I know, I know, late.  Germ-stricken households do that sort of thing.  I gave the boy an assignment - look up some scallop recipes and make a plan.  When he first said Scampi Scallops, my mind instantly went to a post by Warren on Table for Two Cookbooks about how scampi meant shrimp so wouldn't Scampi Scallops be Shrimp Scallops.  Oh, I'm so confused!  But I listened and thought that would play great with a nice sear in pan in the scampi butter and then popped in the oven with a nice parmesan and panko topping to brown.  So, the boy and I combined our thoughts and set to work.  It was a fun collaboration and I tried to remember to give him real jobs to do.  I'm so used to spending my days with the little ones that I sometimes forget a whole preteen separates his age from theirs and it has to be a conscious effort on my part to treat him differently.

And our creation was beautiful and delicious!

It was just fun being in the kitchen again, busy at work and enjoying having him there with me - hubby was in the adjoining room looking at Valentine's gifts and just commenting back and forth with us and we were a family.  I've missed that!  If only the girl had been home a bit earlier life would have been perfection, even if only for that moment.  I love those times when food and family come together to make life better.

Enjoy both your food and your family tonight everyone.  Much love to you all!

Chicken Spinach Phyllo Lasagna

Well, that's a mouthful and you haven't even tried it yet!  Sometimes, inspiration can strike in so many ways and this was just one of those ideas that just took hold in my brain and I finally had to make it.  It really was so very simple but completely delicious!

Hubby and I were on our own for dinner and I decided that it would be a great meal since it had many components that our kids aren't fond of.  Namely spinach and mushrooms, both of which we love and the boy hates.

There really isn't a recipe as much as a game plan.

That out phyllo dough, and using a 9' X 13' pan, start layering.  I set down a layer of about 3 thin sheets of phyllo for each layer.  First phyllo, then a layer of spinach, then a layer of phyllo, then a layer of chicken, phyllo again and a layer of mushrooms and Gruyere cheese, phyllo again and another layer of spinach and so on and on until it was all used up.  I topped it off with a fondue mix with Gruyere and swiss melted with milk to soak all of the layers and melt it all together and it worked perfectly!

Bake at 350 for about 35 minutes or until everything is golden brown and bubbly.  It may need longer depending on the temperature of your ingredients and the amount of layers you created.

It was a great evening in dinner, but it still felt a little decadent, even though it was very healthy.  I can't wait to make it again and see what new combinations I can come up with!

Apple Gouda & Smoked Ham Galette - courtesy of Anne @ From My Sweet Heart

Have you ever read a recipe and just wished it could appear right before you because you wanted it that badly?  Yes?  Well, that was my experience when I read Anne's post about an Apple, Gouda & Smoked Ham Galette.  It was an amazing, amazing, amazing sounding recipe and I knew I couldn't wait long to make it.  And I didn't.  I made it last night for dinner - to rave reviews from the family.  Thank you, Anne!!  If you have never visited her blog before, please do, because she is a wonderful resource of recipes and the pictures look good enough to eat off the screen!

I will mention that as I started to make the recipe I, a) didn't give myself enough time for everything to chill as prescribed between steps, and b) I had no clear jellies of any kind on hand.  So I used a berry jelly that I think worked out just as well, but it wasn't as pretty to look at as Anne's was. 

I will say that today's lunch was phenomenal because there was leftovers!!  And look what I did, just for good measure...



Yep.  I grated smoked gouda cheese all over that slice.  Heaven!!

Now, go on over to From My Sweet Heart to check it out.  I'm not going to post the recipe here...I think I'm headed out for a bit more of that leftover cheese....yummy!

Whole Wheat Stromboli

As far as dinners go at my house, pizza is usually the number one pick.  Hubby and the boy both love it, and it's something that's usually easy to customize to suit everyone's taste.  Especially now that I've got the awesome breadmaker that makes it super easy to have fresh dough at the press of a button.  Well, it's a little more complicated than that, but it doesn't seem like it.  As long as I give it an hour and a half head start, it's ready to go.  Now, something that we don't have as frequently is stromboli - which is interesting because isn't it really just like an inside out pizza?  I don't know why but we don't have it as often.  I was in the mood for it something awful and just had to have it.  I wanted something a bit healthier than the greasy kind from the local pizza place - I mean, sometimes, that will do and it tastes awesome - but for an every day dinner, healthier is better.  So, I decided to go with a whole wheat version of the dough to start...here's my "Z" breadmaker recipe:

 

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

adapted from Zojirushi cookbook

1 1/4 c water

1 1/2 T olive oil

2 c bread flour

1 1/4 c whole wheat flour

1 1/2 T sugar

1 1/2 t salt

1 1/2 t active dry yeast

I put all of that in the breadmaker and set it to the dough cycle.  An hour and a half later...awesomeness.  It really is a wonderful thing.

This recipe will yield enough for 2 large thick crust pizzas or 4 thin crust.  I usually make it, freeze half and use the other half right away.  Then, when I need a pizza dough, there's one only a thaw away.  :) I would imagine this could be adapted to make by hand pretty easily - just let it rise about an hour.  Once I was ready to assemble the stromboli, I rolled the dough out into a large rectangle.  Be sure to oil the dough with a little vegetable oil or it will make a gooey mess!

For this recipe, I used the whole dough for one stromboli because it goes fast around here.  And I like a little leftovers for lunch the next day!

The filling can be adapted to meet whatever you're looking for.  This stromboli had a combo of about a pound of browned and seasoned (salt and pepper) ground turkey breast, sauteed with a small chopped onion, about a cup of pepper strips (I used frozen), about a cup of fresh sliced mushrooms, a small jar of bruschetta topping and then it was topped off with slices of provolone once the filling was spread down the middle of the dough rectangle.  I let all of the cook together and then cool because if your stromboli filling is too hot, it will heat through the dough before a crust can form, or even as you're rolling it all up.  I then lined a cookie sheet with parchment paper and moved the stromboli on over!

I cooked it for about 30 minutes @ 375- checking to be sure it wasn't burning, but wanting a nice crust.

When it came out of the oven, it was gorgeous!  And pretty yummy to boot!  Enjoy!

 

 

White Pizza with a Twist

It was a rare Friday night.  Both kids were home and eating dinner with us, so it had to be something special but ordinary all at the same time.  My kids aren't big fans of some of my more complicated endeavors, so I tried to keep it low key.  I had planned on making two simple pizzas - pepperoni and white - but then I stopped in at the grocery store.  Pancetta was on sale. Hmmm...do I dare disturb their version of what a white pizza should be?  Yep.  So I bought it, as well as a few other things and headed out toward home.

I decided that the White pizza should have spinach and pancetta on it as well as the usual white pizza toppings, so first I pan fried the pancetta until crispy and set it aside.  I spread out my pizza crust (that had just finished up in the bread maker - love that yeasty smell!) fairly thin on the pizza sheet and then spread minced garlic over the crust and spread ricotta cheese over the whole crust..  After that, I grated fresh Parmesan over the garlic, and then added a layer of mozzarella.  I used frozen chopped spinach (that I had thawed in the microwave) and sprinkled it over the cheeses.  Then I topped it all off with some pancetta.  It all smelled heavenly!  I put it in a preheated oven at 375 for about 12 minutes.  It came out bubbly and golden and we couldn't wait to grab a slice!

The pepperoni and mushroom pizza was also pretty good, but the white pizza went really, really quickly.  I think we could have eaten another one.  It is definitely a make again pizza.  But to top the whole meal off, I included a dessert of Panna Cotta made with Almond milk. I have been really wanting to try it and finally just had to give it a go.  Worst that could happen was it would fail, right?  And I made a homemade caramel sauce to go with it.  I was excited because my daughter didn't get a chance to try the panna cotta last time I made it so it was her first try.  She said it tasted like ice cream - and I guess it does.  It has about the same components of ice cream so that makes sense.  So the almond milk was not an epic fail as I'd feared.  It was not as creamy as using milk and cream but it had the same basic taste, but not as heavy.  It was a nice everyday dessert, but not the special, once in a blue moon dessert I'd previously made.  Looks pretty yummy though, right?

All in all, it was a great Friday night pizzafest.  And hubby and I needed the carb load before we headed out to run our long run of 16+ miles the next day, so it was a win-win for all.  I love having meals with my kids.  Makes my world complete, even if just for a few minutes.  :)

Carne Asada Cheese Tacos with Chayote Stirfry

Watching Food Network together is something that the hubby and I both enjoy.  It gives us new ideas for the menu and I enjoy seeing what types of new foods I can incorporate into our household.  This morning, we were watching Mexican Made Easy and she made the most amazing creation - tacos out of cheese.  No tortilla, no shell of any kind - just fried, folded over cheese.  Oh my gosh.  Seriously, I did not know that possible.  But it looked like something we would love.  And we loved the idea so much that I scrapped the Cuban Paninis off of the dinner menu and made these instead. 

I'm sure that fried cheese with strips of marinated beef at the core is not super healthy, so I did decide to boil some chayote squash, slice them thin and stirfry them with some peppers, onions, and fajita seasonings.  They could have also replaced the beef on the taco for a vegetarian entree.  As a side dish, they were the perfect balance for the heaviness of the taco. 

The recipe I followed is from Food Network and I really didn't change anything.  I did use a different cut of meat but I don't think that affected the outcome.  Frying the cheese was the most intimidating part but how can this be wrong?

 

Also, on the same episode, she made a Chia Limeade.  Just for fun, we decided to make that as well to go with our dinner...very refreshing! 

It was a fun meal to prepare and was pretty easy too.  We were so glad we tuned into the show this morning because it made for a pretty tasty dinner!