March 26, 2012

Food

(I apologize in advance for the super lengthy post, but it turns out I have more to say about cooking than I thought! Guess that's what happens when I write it over a period of two weeks!)

I've discovered something about myself over the past few months...I really enjoy cooking and baking (breads especially).

I don't know if I'd call it a passion, but more of a hobby.  Yes.  A fun hobby, which happens to be convenient for eating dinner.  I didn't cook a ton before marriage and figured, for whatever reason, that I wasn't very good at it.  But turns out, I have a decent hand in the kitchen.  I wouldn't say I'm a fabulous cook, or that I LOOVVE cooking, but I can follow a recipe like no other.  I might venture to use the "L" word if it didn't always result in so many dirty dishes.  (Or maybe once we get a dishwasher that doesn't consist of my two hands).

A year ago, exactly, I posted the following: "See, that's when I'll consider myself a master homemaker. When I've perfected grocery shopping enough to "have things on hand".

Well I'm not there yet, but I'm much closer than I used to be, due to a bit of menu planning and a year of good ol fashion practice.  The more I cooked, the more familiar I became with "common" ingredients, as well as some of our own favorite and most-often-used ingredients.

I am starting to substitute things here and there (usually because I don't have an ingredient, not because I think something else would taste better).  I don't think I'll ever be a scratch recipe creator.  I've always been a great mimic-er... not so much an "originator".  But that's fine by me, because there are already a million and one amazing recipes out there, perfected and ready to go!

Anyway, that's my longer-than-expected schpill about cooking.  Thought I'd share some of the recent stuff popping up in our kitchen.  I'll link back to where I found each recipe (and skip any tweaks I may have made).  I'm not out to be a food blogger here.  I've started taking pictures, though, so we can compile our own "Tried & True" collection of recipes.  Gotta keep track of the good stuff!  If you're going to try anything, make it the Spinach & Goat Cheese Pizza, or the Thai Chicken Pizza! (Recipes below) Those our our current favorites!

Breads:  

Whole Wheat Bagels. {Recipe Here}
I used 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 all purpose flour. Boiled, then Baked!
Bread Bowls {Recipe Here}

Chocolate Banana Bread.  This actually didn't turn out very well.  Not sure where I went wrong, but it burnt on top and wasn't quite cooked all the way through.  Tasted fine with milk, though! {Recipe Here}

English Muffins {Recipe Here} I felt very accomplished baking these! 

Naan {Recipe Here}. Breads are just fun to make!
Naan Stack!


Random Breakfasts:

Usually consist of some sort of bread topped with eggs and whatever veggies I have in my freezer.

Eggs, tomatoes, olives, and mushrooms on english muffins
Mushrooms and eggs on toast
(Another thing I've learned about myself.  I actually do like mushrooms. I like the white ones better raw, and the brown ones better sauteed, and I like the white raw better than the brown sauteed. Phew. Make sense?  Not that you need to know that.  But it's the little discoveries, right?  I feel like I know myself better.  And now, so do you.) 

Dinner/Lunch Stuff:


Spinach & Goat Cheese Pizza. One of our recent Faves! SOOO good! {Recipe Here}
I like to make pizza dough and freeze it, makes pizza nights easy!
This {Pizza Dough Recipe} is the one I've been using lately. I double the recipe, then split it into 3 balls, for 3 pizzas.
Thai Grilled Chicken Pizza (On Naan).  Dan's favorite. {Recipe Here}
Potato Soup in the Bread Bowls.  Pretty good for an easy crockpot recipe! {Recipe Here}

Grilled Cheese & Creamy Basil Tomato Soup.  {Soup Recipe Here} (This isn't like Campbell's tomato!)
Grilled Pesto Chicken with Lemony Spaghetti {Recipe Here}
An easy favorite: Costco Gnocchi with red sauce, parmesan, and  basil. Ready to go in 5 min!

Poached Eggs  & Grits {Recipe Here}. I thought I could substitute Malt'O Meal for grits (pic above). Not so much.  The left-overs over rice were much better :)
Spinach Salad with Apples, Goat Cheese, and Balsamic Honey dressing

Spinach Salad with Mushrooms, Feta and Balsamic Dressing
Honey Goat Cheese: Buy cheap goat cheese from costco and mix in my own honey! Cheaper than Trader Joes :)
Slow Cooker Red Sauce - Easy, though don't know how cost effective it is. {Recipe Here}
Bought meat cheap at Costco, but it meant buying 6 lbs. So I measured into 1 lb logs  on my new birthday kitchen scale!

*You'll notice most of these recipes come from a blog I found that I LOVE: www.BudgetBytes.blogspot.com.  This girl cooks simple, healthy recipes on a budget.  And her healthy equals my kind of healthy...moderation. (Not vegan/vegetarian/no-good-stuff healthy).  Every recipe is broken down by price per recipe, servings, and ingredient. Love it!

And one last note: This is over a period of, well, a long time. I definitely don't cook everyday. In fact, far from. My "menu planning" consists of 4 or 5 dinners for two to three weeks.  And that's just so Dan has left overs for work.  He's not home for that many.  A good chunk of my meals consist of cereal, pasta, and off brand mac and cheese.  But I decided you probably have your own favorite brands, so I didn't bother with pictures ;)


March 18, 2012

Promised Pictures

Guess I promised some pictures awhile back, didn't I?  Here's a smattering of our life over the past few months.  Captions precede the pictures.

Ice-skating at Rockefeller Center before Christmas.

The star we got for Christmas from Dan's Parents. So cool!
 

Just me, fighting Darth Maul.  (I won). 
 

Evening date walk on The High line, an elevated subway line turned park (but more like a walkway).
 
 
 
 

Stumbled upon the Chelsea market, where we enjoyed some gelato.
 
 

My Birthday! Dan painted my toes and Kristy made chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes!
 

A walk through central park, one of our favorite pastimes.  
 

The park trees, pretty sweet in the twilight evening.
 
 

Using my birthday present to measure out 1lb logs of Costco meat to freeze.
 

Valentines...An AMAZING dinner and a fun evening.

Dan's valentines gift to me: an unlimited 30-day metro card. Sweet Freedom. 

Just my little bird friend, chillin' by my window as I worked.
 

Living room sleep-over. Just for fun.

Little pizza-cookin' and finger lickin'! (I can't resist the goat cheese!)
 
 

Bread Bowls before Dan's test. They must have worked... He passed!
 

Some of my favorite Facetime screen shots with Leevster. 
 

New ice cube tray and bucket.  A perfect fit.  It's the little things. 
 

Decided to straighten my hair... it's getting looonngg!
 

Working in the New York Public Library.  SUCH a cool building.  And neat views at night.  (Yes, I avoided the basement!)
 
 

Tested out a hairstyle I found on Pinterest.  Dan was a fan. 


And just for good measure... a sampling of the texts Dan and I tend to send to each other.