"This is better than jam on toast!"

Sesame Noodles with Scallions & Roasted Broccoli

That's what B said about tonight's dinner.  Sorry for the bad phone pic with a few bites already gone, but I had to do something to preserve the memory of this historic dinner.  It came about as a series of happy accidents and odd substitutions. Friday I made Chicken Satay or Chicken on a Stick as B likes to call it.  I used this recipe because it seemed simple.  I made some liberal changes.  I'm not so sure it can even be called "satay" since I really just grilled the chicken without marinating it (I wanted to make some avocado chicken salad for myself).  I also discovered that I didn't have any soy sauce, so I substituted Worcester sauce (dark brown, salty, anyone?) but stayed true to the other spices.  I haven't been keeping any sugar in the house, so I used honey, and they say not to use natural peanut butter (?) but I ignored that and it seemed to work just fine.  However, this recipe made a LOT of sauce!

B liked the chicken all right (and I liked the salad okay, not great, no crunch, next time I am trying Martha's version) but when I tried to pawn off the same meal on him the next day for lunch he said the sauce was way too sweet (which it really was after sitting in the fridge overnight) but I had all this sauce to get rid of!  I froze half of it and then picked up some soba noodles today and made another batch of the marinade (still with the Worcester), and added it to the left-over peanut sauce with a little water to thin it out.  I also tossed some broccoli that was starting to look a little wilt-y in the marinade and then roasted it while I cooked the noodles.  I chopped up some green onions, which B likes ever since the kids from his old school discovered them growing wild in the park.  The kids all munch on them like candy....not sure what is in the soil of that park, but it really can't be worse than what's in the pipes at the house......I digress, back to the meal.  B loved it, he said "Yum!" a few times, he asked for seconds (I don't remember when the last time that happened!), he ate all of the broccoli, and the ultimate compliment, I already mentioned.  What's more I loved it!  I think this is the first time in B's lifetime (or at least since he quit nursing) that we both enjoyed a meal equally.

We are definitely making this again....in fact I still have some sauce left over so another night this week.  I am still planning on the creamy avocado pasta for tomorrow though.

New Blog Crush (es)

Creamy Avocado Pasta by Tina Jeffers

Have I mentioned how much I love Pinterest?  I am sure there are copyright issues, and I hope I am not putting up anyone's pictures who doesn't want them used this way (please tell me if I have! and what I can do to fix it) but all of that aside.......this site inspires me.  B and I have been cooking all weekend (as I type this I am dehydrating sweet potato chips) I am cooking because there are only like a gazillion things I want to eat on pinterest or on blogs I discover through pins, and 99% of them are really pretty healthy.  I have a few new total blog crushes, the above picture is from Tina Jeffers at Scaling Back and I seriously want to make just about everyone of her recipes.  I pinned the link for this creamy avocado pasta and within hours it had been repinned over 70 times, and it is still getting repinned.  I mean CREAMY AVOCADO PASTA!  We are having it for dinner tomorrow (with quinoa pasta, my new favorite thing, since B and I are trying to go gluten free)  Can't wait to see if B goes for it.

Tina also posts at Blissful Blog, which is another new discovery for me. I love, Love, LOVE Mrs. French's style picks (her I heart Monday posts are the best)  I also found Fig & Sage, which makes me want to try out about a gazillion products, and I love that they all look safe.  (I am a bit of a product junkie, though lately I have toned it down a lot.....broke and trying to only use natural products)  I want to try everything from Vapour, but especially their skin perfector (only question does it have any SPF?

Anyhoo...these are all the things wasting time on Pinterest has led me to this weekend.....I'll keep you updated on that pasta!

Pesto Madness

At the end of every week I open my fridge to find unconsumed leafy greens.  I have been turning it all into pesto, or at least some version thereof.  Last week it was almonds and cilantro, the week before I had tons of parsley left, and this week I had cashews and arugula.  Throw it in with some garlic and olive oil and it makes everything good for the week:  eggs, love 'em (especially how I had them this morning over a baked sweet potato left over from last night); veggie burger, devoured; quinoa & roasted veggies, went back for seconds.  Seriously, it all tastes better with pesto!

(Of course B hates it.  Oh well, you can't make everyone happy)

What I did today:

Do you think mid-February is to early to take down our Christmas tree?  I know this is so sad, but I just stopped noticing it was there.  I think this is earlier than I got it down last year.

B was sick all day.  I don't think he got out of his bed except to go to the bathroom, poor guy.  He seems to be feeling better, but I just read him books and tucked him in.  I had intended to do laundry, go to the grocery, clean house, but instead I sat around in bed with B and played on Pinterest. I did make these cookies.  Delicious, not too sweet.  They were inspired both by my sweet tooth and lack of butter (or just about any other groceries in the house).  This is one of the reasons I love the internet, anything you want, any question, any recipe, any ingredient, any product.....a well-worded google search and you have your answer!  This method of research suits my lazy, home-body ass perfectly.  Also, due to our lack of groceries, I made a very bland veggie soup with everything that was about to go bad, including some bib lettuce (probably part of why it was bland).  I'm going to freeze the rest to use for stock, but I served it over some quinoa, with a little bit of grated Romano and the last of some parsley pesto I made last week and it wasn't half bad.  On the other hand I am truly out of food, if we were for some reason trapped in our house for any long period of time, we would starve after the vegetable stock runs out.

I hope my wee son is all better tomorrow, but it was a rather nice day of cuddling with him in bed :-)

Pea & Basil Soup and Thunderstorms

I had the most delicious (and healthy) dinner tonight.  Pea & Basil Soup over some quinoa, with a swirl of basil pesto....mmmmmm...I want more just thinking of it.  It was actually very simple to make...some onion and garlic in olive oil for about a minute, added the peas (I used frozen ones that I wanted to get rid of, but would be even better if they were fresh...) cooked for a few minutes, until the peas were bright green, added about 2 cups of water and some salt and pepper then covered and let it simmer for about 5 or 6 minutes.  Blended in a handful of fresh basil with the immersion blender, poured it over the quinoa and added a spoonful of some delicious pesto I made this weekend (also very easy to do, something I did not realize until very recently) 

I would have taken a picture of it, but the charger for my camera has been missing for about a week now, instead here is another picture from our vacation.  My Mom and Baby Boy were watching a thunderstorm out the window of her house.  There was actually a tornado warning in the city this week!, but I didn't even realize it until the next day. Obviously we are all okay! In Kentucky, where I grew up, tornados are common, and every spring you have to watch the weather carefully.  I used to love the storms, the sky would go from bright to dark in minutes and then the rain would start coming down in sheets.  Our whole family would sit on the front porch, watching the rain, ready with blankets and food to dash down to the basement should the storm get dangerous... it was nice in the basement too, we would play card games and wait for the storm to blow over.  I'm glad B got to watch a storm with his Grandma.

PS  Happy Birthday Grampa!  I was going to post a picture of you and B from our visit, but you seemed to avoid my camera all week.  Love you though!

What we had for dinner last night

Pizza Toast. This is another left-over/quickie dinner that B really likes, definitely not a new idea (god knows I remember eating this quite a bit when I was a kid!) I started with the photo of the final product, but here is what I had to start with:

A yellow pepper(that I meant to use for a tex-mex take on red beans and cornbread, but haven't gotten around to making this week)
Some baby spinach (from my own salad making ingredients that I never seem to make it through)
3 different kinds of cheese, Romano, sharp cheddar, and jack, with just a tiny bit left of each.
Health Nut Bread from Arnold (My dad always got this for us as kids and both my sister and I love it and crave it. It is yummy and nutty, and full of whole grains, though it does have some sugar in it.)
Newman's Own Organic Pasta Sauce, Tomato and Basil
Frozen Peas (I only buy the Cascadian Farm Organic ones. I thought it was my imagination that they tasted better than the regular ones, but B refuses to eat the regular kind. These really are rounder, brighter, and they hold their "crispness" and "vegginess" when they are prepared.)


Assembling the ingredients is the hardest part of this dinner. I popped the peas and the sauce into a pot and let them heat up for a few minutes over a low flame, just to warm up the sauce and defrost the veggies. While I was doing that I pre-toasted the bread. This is important because if you don't do this it will come out of the toaster oven soggy. I also chopped up about 1 quarter of the pepper and washed the spinach. After the bread was toasted I set my toaster oven to broil, and B and I assembled our pizzas. The real question here, at least in my mind, is whether to put the veggies over or under the cheese...matter of personal preference I guess. For the record I put the veggies on top, except for the peas which were mixed in with the sauce.
I decided to throw some sunflower seeds on the top at the last minute because they were sitting out on the counter and looked good, but they were really too much with the health nut bread. They probably would be good with just a plain whole wheat (or almonds...)
Popped it in the toaster oven, and let it stay in until the cheese started to melt and brown....about 3 or 4 minutes I think.

Simple dinner and easy way to get my B to eat some veggies. Quick too. In fact I think writing this post took me longer than cooking this dinner!

What we had for dinner last night

I have been embracing soup this winter, and one of the easiest things I do is make what I call my left-over vegetable soup.
Just saute about half an onion and a few cloves of garlic in a little bit of olive oil. Add a pinch of salt. I don't know exactly how long I saute for, but usually while I cut up veggies. For this soup I had carrots (about 4, medium sized)and broccoli (a little more than one head), since carrots take a little longer to get soft I threw them in the pan while I chopped up the broccoli. Tossed the broccoli and carrots about until the broccoli was bright green, about two minutes, then added two cups of veggie broth (this makes a thick soup, and you could add as much as 4 cups) Bring to a boil, turn heat down to low, cover and simmer for about 5 min. (I always just test the veggies by taking some out with a fork and tasting to make sure they are tender, but not overcooked) My son will only eat soup if it is pureed so I keep an immersion blender about, which is perfect for this task. Salt and pepper to taste.

I added some sharp cheddar and a piece of whole-grain toast. Probably could have added a little more protein, white-beans maybe? but B and I enjoyed our warm dinner.