I know, I know.

I'm a terrible person.

A blog abandoner.

But... I have good reasons!  They usually involve my 40-hour-work-week, my adventuring off to spend as much time with R. as I can on my two days off, getting injured at work, and eating simply.

I was going to have a post about R.'s birthday cake, but I forgot to take pictures, and a post about cake without pictures isn't a post at all.

Then I was going to post about the Muffins of Greatness I made for him, but... when I woke up in the hotel after the muffins had spent the night there with me (he only got ONE the evening before upon arrival)... they were covered in ants.  Cue R. seeing me completely and utterly enraged for the first time.  It included plunking the container of muffins down on the front desk and saying "I have a PROBLEM." I was so skeezed out by the ants (I mean, I paid more for that stinkin' hotel than I usually would BECAUSE it was clean and nice!) and their presence that I didn't even want the container (a nice plastic cake carrier) back. I told them to keep it, shove it, we were checking out anyway, and they can kiss my future reservations (which there would be plenty of, given I've stayed there 3 times in the past month and a half!) goodbye.  They knocked my rate down for the night, but I'm still skeezed.

I mean, ants. In a hotel.  Ew.

But I'll be posting soon, I promise.  It's fall, so it means it's time for BAKED APPLES.  They deserve the all-caps, I promise.

Eat well!
-A

Not-your-fast-food-burrito.

Have you ever had a craving for something that you know is absolutely horrible for you?

That's me and mexican food.  I have moments where all I want is a giant burrito, filled to bursting with deliciousness and a big serving of tortilla chips on the side.  So good, but so, so bad for you. 

While I could debate the merits of Moe's and Chipotle respectively, and probably get in an argument or two over which is better, I tend to appreciate the Chipotle style of burritos more than Moe's. From either restaurant, I do enjoy the "naked" versions, or the bowls that have everything you would put in a burrito, without the tortilla.

Except, there is not a Moe's in the town I'm living in now. Or a Chipotle.  So today when the burrito-train hit me full force, I was lost.  Until I regained my senses, and remembered that I can cook.  A quick trip to the store, and I had embarked upon my mission to make a healthy, low fat version of a burrito from Chipotle.  Given that my dad ate one in under 5 bites, and approvingly licked his fingers, I think I succeeded.

Here is the recipe (makes like, a million small burritos. And rice-beans-chicken-and-mushroom bowls. I made a lot of the filling to keep and use for quick lunches and such.):

- 4 cups rice, cooked (I added a splash of lemon juice and some cilantro, a la Chipotle)
- 1 can diced chicken, we get the big cans from Sam's Club, Member's Mark brand
- Salsa verde, amount to taste
-1 medium package of pre-sliced mushrooms
- 1 can pinto beans, drained
- Whole wheat tortillas
- low fat shredded cheese, mexican blend

1. Heat the shredded chicken in a pan with seasonings to taste (I used some chili pepper, cilantro, even some creole seasoning) and a bit of salsa verde.  When the chicken is warm, add mushrooms.  Cook until mushrooms are desired tenderness, and chicken is shredded and super tender.
2. Heat the pinto beans to desired temperature (I just nuked 'em.)
3. Layer the burritos!
    - Rice
    - beans
    - Chicken and mushrooms
    - cheese
    - a little more salsa, if desired.

I left out sour cream and guacamole because I'm always tempted to put WAY too much on.  These had a lot of flavor, but weren't too spicy, but easily adjustable if I want spicy later on.  One small one (I used the 'soft taco' size tortillas, and it created a decent size burrito) was enough to fill me up, and I resisted making a second because really, I knew that I could eat it, but I would be uncomfortably full later on.  I didn't even need chips with it, since there was all that fiber from the beans, mushrooms, and the tortilla, with the protein of the chicken.  I'm tempted to put the chicken and mushrooms on eggs for a breakfast tortilla tomorrow.

It's versatile, it's tasty, and it's healthy.  I'd say that one of these burritos clocks in at way under 500 calories, compared to the nearly/over 2,000 that one from Moe's or Chipotle does.  I am content, and my tummy is happily full of good noms.

Now I'm back to enjoying my day off, watching my lettuce pot garden (more on that in another post!) grow, and reading my library books.  I get to see R. tomorrow, so I'm very happy today.

-A

Well, hi.

It's been a while.  Over a month, actually.

I didn't mean to take that long of a hiatus, but my life has been kind of moving along at a pace faster than I can keep up with, so I let the non-essential activities slide by the wayside in order to continue to be able to handle the important things.  You know, work, eating, paying bills, sleeping.  That kind of thing.

The move back home as officially been completed, and R. is safely off to his internship.  It's going to be a very long six months of only being able to see each other on occasion when our schedules line up (if it ever happens.  I'm crossing my fingers!), if the two months where he was back in California were any indication.  I miss him. He did, however, leave me the pancake mix and chocolate chips.  He did this while knowing full well how terrible I am at making them.  I'm going to take this as a sign that he'll be back for them.

Most days, I work.  Which means breakfast in the morning, a packed lunch of whatever I can grab while rushing in the morning, and dinner of some kind.  My job doesn't allow me the ability to snack at all, which means I've had to adjust my eating habits since snacking was one of the main ways I was able to keep hunger at bay, and continue to make smart eating choices.  That is, when the snacks were smart to begin with.  But now I've learned to adjust to three meals a day, not overloading one or the other, and keeping things healthy.  A sandwich for lunch, or leftovers, possibly some rice with chicken and salsa verde and a few Babybel cheese wheels melted in.  Breakfast is oatmeal mixed with greek yogurt for protein, and dinner is usually a protein and carb, and a vegetable if I can get my hands on it.  All well and good.

I admit that there are downfalls.  Like the fact that even though I know I get lunch, I never really know when I'm going to lunch -- so it could be earlier or later than I expected.  If it's earlier, I'm starving by the time I get off work, and stopping by Chick-fil-A or Great Wraps is a much more appealing option for dinner than coming home and wasting time cooking.  Take time to cook while hungry, or have instant gratification of waffle fries in mouth?  It's a difficult conundrum.  There are days when I eat late and I'm still starving.  I have managed to keep the worst of those at bay with an emergency Luna protein bar in my lunch box for desperate times, but there are only so many protein bars you can eat in your life before you hate them. Even tasty ones like Luna bars.

I haven't been very creative with cooking lately, so I don't have any good recipes to share with you.  But I promise that I will, very soon.  I'm working on writing up some of my old standbys that I usually just make from memory.  Some of them I don't think I ever wrote down, I just created.  It's about time I wrote those down.

Life is good, even if the future seems lonely right now.  I'll try not to get sappy on you guys, but I will say that I feel like Bonnie without her Clyde right now.

-A

P.S. R. managed to get my Grandma to allow him to cook in her kitchen.  She refused to sit down or "not help" the entire time, but it's still a pretty amazing feat.  It's things like this that make me love him!

A debate on food culture.

Earlier today, I indulged in an awesome meal: Shrimp and grits from a small resteraunt in town.  It was absolutely delicious.  There is a certain art to the food culture of the south, based in strong flavors, large chunks of vegetables, meat, a good strong sauce, and a solid starch to pair it with.  It's something that I've always loved about the way that Southern cooking is -- it's home.  The best kind is when you can tell that a person actually prepared the meal instead of cutting open a package and putting it in a pan to warm.

Ignore my foot, I was eating sitting down.

But my love of grits sparked a moment between R. and I -- he being a good California boy who swears that the California border is covered with checks to keep people from bringing in contraband grits.  Obviously, he's not a fan.  I believe his words to describe grits is that they are "just like undercooked oatmeal sans any flavor, necessitating smothering with butter and cheese. The butter and cheese are what people like."  (Personally, my favorite grits dish is simply cooked plain with a swirl of good maple syrup.) 

Shrimp and grits vary from place to place in the south, with the versions as wide ranging as the land mass you cover seeking out the variations.  I love seafood, but I admit to being a snob and not really willing to eat it unless I know it comes fresh.  Having grown up watching seafood walk off the boats and into resteraunts, it's difficult for me to accept frozen seafood that has been trucked in.  The shrimp I had tonight were HUGE, and being as I see shrimping boats heading out each morning as I go to work, I know they're fresh and local.  The vegetables were chunky, and there was even a gratuitous chunk of andouille sausage floating in the sauce.  Mixing the thick gravy with the cheesy grits made it perfect for eating with a spoon.

Someday, I'll get R. to understand.  Grits are an acquired taste, and are only really good when they're made from scratch, not instant.  It's the same thing with oatmeal -- if it comes out of a little paper package, it's not going to be good.  My favorite breakfast these days is to make a half cup of oatmeal, then mix it with a cup of greek yogurt for protein.  I love how creamy it makes the oatmeal, and I get a great dose of fiber and protein which keeps me full until my lunch break.  The same thing works with grits -- I've been known to mix my grits with scrambled eggs in the mornings and eat them all together.  I don't think cream of wheat really works the same way, since it tends to be a bit thinner, but I do love the creamier texture some days.  It works really well with sweet toppings like strawberry jam, or Grandma Jelly.

That reminds me to do a post later this week on Grandma Jelly.  I went over to my Grandma's house earlier today and found a big bucket of ripe juicy figs from the tree in her back yard ready to be made into jelly, and a few new jars already sitting on the counter.

I missed summers at home. I'm glad I get to spend some time here, with the food and family that I love.
-A

A busy week.

I feel bad for not posting anything last week, especially since it was a pretty busy and wonderful week food-wise for me. R. and I were packing up to leave and head back to my hometown for a few days before he left to go back to the golden coast of California to visit his family, and I'm preparing to move back home for the foreseeable future.  It was busy, hectic, but we finally made it, and now I can sit and recount the meals we shared that were memorable.

The week started out with our monthaversary, and R. decided he wanted to do something "special" for dinner, and that "special" turned out to be something that fit our personalities and relationship really well -- homemade BLT sandwiches and a Star Trek movie marathon.  The BLTs were made with Publix bakery italian bread (Thick, delicious, squishy slices of heaven), crispy oven baked bacon and nice in-season tomatoes sliced thick.  I put a little spicy mustard on mine, and R. ate his plain.  With a pasta salad, we had our meal that we enjoyed curled up on the couch, watching Picard and Kirk, debating the strengths and weaknesses of our favorite Captains.

A real challenge for us that week was eating everything we had in our fridge, and to cook without really making leftovers. Our solution was chicken sandwiches one night, with a side of the leftover pasta salad, and to make another pizza the next.  Between that and omelets galore, some pancakes and biscuits with chili, we managed to pretty much clear out both of our freezers and the perishables from our pantries.

My favorite way of making chicken breasts is a pretty simple one.  I hate, hate, hate, hate dry chicken breasts.  Even grilled chicken breasts lose their appeal to me when they're dry and chewy.  That's saying a lot, because chicken is one of my favorite proteins, serving as a lean source of protein that can be low in calories, and perfect served complexly or simply.  I love chicken (remember the Never Fail Chicken Chili?) and I've gotten pretty good at cooking it.

Here's what you need to make great moist chicken breasts (or strips, or tenderloins.  I haven't tried it with anything with the bone in, but consulting your handy-dandy cookbook like the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook for cooking times, you can use this technique as well):

• 1 deep baking dish, either metal or glass, line with aluminum foil for easier cleanup.
• 1 can (or more, depending on how much chicken you have) low sodium chicken broth
• Chicken!
• Spices such as salt, garlic, pepper, chili powder.  Whatever floats your chicken flavoring boat.

I place the chicken in the foil lined pan, and season well.  I rub the seasoning thickly on the chicken, because it's going to come off with the broth poured in, but still seasoned.  The seasoned broth leftover from this is pretty wonderful for uses in sauce as well.  I cover the chicken with another layer of foil, creating a type of packet that will keep the steam from the broth in.  Into the oven it goes, at about 450 degrees.  The time depends on how much chicken you have, but for three or four chicken breasts I have found that 35 minutes or so works well enough to cook the chicken through.

When the chicken is done, it's great for eating plain with a side of vegetables or starch, or using in sandwiches like R. and I did, or in chicken salads, on top of salads, etc.  Whatever your favorite use for chicken, this gives you good moist chicken to use.  R. and I topped the pizza we made with the leftover chicken, some mushrooms, and other vegetables and meats we had leftover, smothered it in cheese and called it good.  It went through basically the same process as our previous pizza adventure.

Now I have to come to terms with the fact that R. is three thousand miles away, and relearn how to cook for one person, and adapt my parents' style of eating to one that will help me stay on the healthy eating train.  Here's to steam pack vegetables and chicken breasts!

... putting that in writing just makes it seem worse, after all the culinary fun I've been having for the past few weeks. Sigh.

Still cookin',
-A

An adventure/experiment in pizza making

I feel the need to preface this post by saying one mushy thing: my boyfriend is pretty amazing.  We have a habit of watching Food Network in the evenings when we're vegging out in front of the T.V. (mostly because its the channel that I miss during my lack of cable due to College poverty), and R. gets to listen to my rambling commentary on food inspiration that the shows provoke.  Every time we go to Publix to grocery shop, I have a moment where I stand in front of the section in the bakery where they stock pizza dough and the makings of pizza and say something along the lines of "You know, we should really make our own pizza one night." To which R. realistically replies "But it takes forever, and there's no guarantee it will taste good."

The other night we were watching Iron Chef: America, Battle Tomato and I made a comment about how much I loved a good BLT and hadn't had one in a while.  The next day, R. shows up at my house to pick me up to make dinner at his place as per our tradition since graduation, and he says we have two options: make BLTs, or homemade pizza. He had gotten the ingredients to do both from the store.  Like I said, my boyfriend is pretty amazing.

So here follows our pizza adventure, which is ongoing as I'm writing this while the pizza bakes.

Ingredients used:
1 lb Pre-prepared pizza dough from Publix
1 package Boboli pizza sauce
1 tsp olive oil, mixed with dried basil and oregano to put on the crust
Canadian bacon slices
Bacon slices (I like regular bacon. My poor arteries)
Pineapple
Cheese (we hodge-podged the cheese, from mozerella, cheddar, and a mexican mix of shredded cheeses that we had available)
Black olives (only for R.'s part of the pizza. Ew.)

Procedure with commentary:

• First we let the dough rest outside of the refrigerator for the required time of an hour, then I had an interesting experience getting it to stretch out to a decent size.  I hope it worked, since it seemed like the bottom was extremely thin in places, while the crust looks overly thick.
• Then we piled the toppings on - a layer of cheese, then the Canadian bacon, the regular bacon, more cheese, then the pineapple and olives (only on R.'s half. Let me reiterate how much I dislike black olives.)
• We put the pizza in to bake for 20-30 minutes, and prayed.

Currently, we just checked the pizza at the 20 minute mark, and it looks like it's baking up well.  I figured I'd give it 5 more minutes because of the doughiness of the crust, which is puffing up nicely and the house smells like delicious pizza baking.  My stomach is currently reminding me that lunch was heading on 6 hours ago.  I'm looking forward to this pizza more and more.  We're going to pair it with a wedge salad (also hodge podged and I just realized that I didn't save any bacon for the salad.  Boo. My bad. Sorry again, R.) since we had the ingredients on hand.

Post consumption judgement: Pretty darn good.  The pizza turned out just doughy enough in the crust, and my worries about the bottom being thin were for naught.  We weren't so crazy about the cheddar cheese taste, but we were improvising with the cheese.  That didn't stop us both from devouring it, and declaring it good.

R. says that I should be sure to state that he did a knock-up job with the eggs for the salad (the salads were iceberg lettuce, apple dices, hard-boiled eggs, olives for R., Canadian bacon, and ranch dressing).

In the end, it was a wonderful dinner that we put together, and I love R. for listening and for getting the ingredients to surprise me with.  Now, I'm going to curl up on the couch with him and watch the terrible movie that is Jurassic Park III (the original was on during the cooking process).

Here is a blurry picture of the final product, with R.'s loot on the right, mine on the left:

Here's to the memories you can make while making food with those you love,
-A