Pot & Cover

First I must write down a quote from Anthony Bourdain we heard yesterday and we both burst out laughing..."nothing clarifies the mind like beer & failure, except perhaps hunger" quoted from his show No Reservations...very funny and often true. Okay...while I relax and write while smelling the aromas of Scott cooking our pasta & shrimp dinner...I had the silly thought to document our fridge as it is today...just as the guys on "the ticket" radio show did the other day...hilarious and curiously interesting.  Okay, here goes: top shelf: eggs, baby yogurt, cilantro, nonfat plain yogurt, milk,artichoke,peeled & deveined shrimp for tonights dinner (i did those:), lemon, roasted whole almonds...can't see what's in the way back since I'm looking at the pics and not the fridge itself. shelf two:romaine, deli chix, roasted garlic, mousse pudding cups, bell peppers.  shelf three: 100% cran/pom juice, broccoli, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, bacon drip...

oh, the apartment smelled so good tonight.  Scott took over dinner prep...we spent this afternoon store hopping for our weekly groceries. Costco, Kroger, Walmart...each store holding a few favorites...even if we forgot a few things. We tried some other fish earlier this week...and it was yucko...so back to a "cheap" yet dependable fish, Tilapia...breaded with a bit of panko and pan sauteed in olive oil...topped with a squeeze of lemon.  then shoestring cut sweet taters, baked at 425 with olive oil, s&p...a little broil at the end YUM.  sauteed baby bella 'shrooms...and our favorite balsamic dressed salad of cucumber, greens, tomato, parmesean (that Scott realized was a little too close to the rind and we got a giggle over how rubbery they were)...and homemade croutons.  It was as enjoyable to smell while being prepared as it was to eat it.  Now I'm pleasantly full...watching silly bazaar food shows and listening to the rain washed streets being driven ov...

Marriage Chili was calling our name...added a bit of carrot for a little extra sweetness.  This was so delicious...and made for quite a few servings...yummy with a bit of torn toasted bread or crackers added in...also a bit of cheddar and dollop of sourcream, and a bit of cilantro a bit of bacon :)

my bowl of soup, with a few bits of my toast torn in and topped with parmesean been busy and Scott's been doing most of the cooking...my turn to ante up...so while he was napping I made a batch of our easy chix soup, with a few tweeks...added one diced sweet tater...a chunk of pesto...made sure to render down the tomatos a bit...and used two chix breasts we had left over from night before...Delicious!...and a nice surprise for my honey who deserved a break from cooking. Also, we've been eating a toast inspired by Alton Brown: he made a toast topped with mashed avocado and lightly marinated sardines...which Scott enjoys...so I made up a variation...a toast (drizzled with a bit of olive oil and toasted in the oven), and tonight topped with a bit of pesto, then avocado which was dressed with a little balsamic, then thin sliced tomato, drizzled with a bit of my balsamic dressing, then a few shavings of fresh parmesean...oh so devine!  We've been eating this like crazy.

my plate Starting to eat "better" ...inspired by Alton Brown and his 4 lists....list 1: what to eat every day: green leafy vegies, fresh fruit, almonds, green tea, carrots. list 2: to eat at least 3 times per week: broccoli, sweet taters, oily fish (rich in omega 3), avocado, ... list 3: to eat 1 time per week: pasta, dessert, 1 alcoholic drink, red meat. list 4: no dice: processed foods (tv dinners and such), fast food, any "diet" food, canned soups... I've forgotten a few items on the list, but that's the gist. (post the official list at the bottom) So tonight we had salmon & citrus salsa verde inspired by Giada de Laurentis on a recent show...recipes on food network...tried to get them off the website, but it crashed the last time and I'm not taking sandwiches...oops I mean taking any chances...I got distracted watching tv and there were ginormous sandwiches on the tv :) lol. Scott sauteed some baby bella 'srooms and I steamed some broccoli...

Costco shrimp, peeled and deveined in Scott's brillant sauce: 2 cloves garlic, sliced 1/4 stick butter 2 pinches red pepper flakes 1/8 cup olive oil, 1/8 cup canola oil 3 TBS sherry vinegar pinch salt, pinch pepper 1 lb peeled, deveined shrimp. 2 roma tomatoes rice pilaf Heat all seasonings and oils till simmering in a saute pan, add shrimp and sautee till tender, adding diced tomato at end to warm thru, serve over rice pilaf

BBQ Baked Taters Mom ended up in the hospital from 12.19.09 till late Christmas day...so Christmas was all about banding together as a family to "survive the day"...not very festive, but purposeful, if not very exhausting.  We (Scott & I) were also sick during the whole break (me a week before even) with sinus infections...miserable...so I don't really know what we ate...I didn't eat much while sitting in the hospital room with mom...focused more on her eatting well and me surviving the stress.  And I was so ready to have a joyful Christmas...well, there were things to be thankful for, but joy wasn't something I experienced.  I imagine that was mostly due to my lack of perspective, but it is what it is.  you can see the snow flakes in this pic Well, we were blessed with a lot of snow (and Daddy being home for several days!) during Christmas and this night was one of them...we made spiced (paprika, sugar and salt?) baked taters, topped with something yummy th...

Logan's 1st bday was a few days away and Mom's was a few days past, so I made carrot cake cupcakes to celebrate...same recipe as for the carrot cake which is already posted.  variations: a dash of cinnamon in the frosting...also toasted the pecans for the top...love a nutty nut...also did just half a regular recipe for a doz cupcakes...these are so moist. the batter...I could eat this with a spoon so pretty...bake until just done...I keep checking them to make sure i'm reminded that these are so easy to make, so few ingredients, as easy as a box mix, and yummier the frosting, with a hint of cinnamon toasted  pecans..delightful had to take two pics from two views...they are so lovely

Christmas was soon approaching this night...Scott had the idea for chix fried steak, so he went for it and I stayed out of the kitchen.  The menu, chix fried steak, white gravy(which I think I helped with, so i guess i was in the kitchen for a little bit), and Scott's famous (at least in this house) garlic creamy mashed taters...it was great in flavor although the steak coating wasn't as crispy as it's been in the past.  Still a delightful winter meal. yummy cream gravy, lots of fresh black pepper steaks a fryin' creamy garlic mashed taters I also was preparing to make toffee this weekend...didn't happen...but did get the almonds toasted and ground...yummy just realized I'd already blogged this the day of...just cut and pasted it onto what I wrote today 12.18.09:went to see avatar together today...pretty good, beautiful to look at.  still coughing incessantly, or at least it feels like it...can't sleep, can't think straight to get any work done...but i c...