Pasta Salad With a Kick!

I should have taken a picture of this one too, because it came out really pretty. I really need to get better at taking pictures of my food before I eat it all...

12 oz. box of pasta
1 red bell pepper, minced
8 green onions, green parts only, finely chopped
most of a 7.5 oz. can of sliced olives
4 baby bella mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 cup olive oil*
1/4 cup red wine vinegar*
Chili pepper flakes
Thyme
Oregano
Sage
Salt and Pepper
Optional: Grated parmesan
I've never added sausage before, but I bet it would be a really great addition.
*The olive oil and vinegar will seem like a lot when you first pour it in, but the pasta will absorb a lot of it, so you'll need extra to keep the salad from drying out.

Cook pasta according to box instructions. Combine the pasta and all ingredients in a bowl and stir. Add just a couple shakes of chili flakes, salt, and pepper. Be very generous with your oregano, thyme, and sage. Let sit for about an hour then salt to taste. When serving, top with parmesan.

Beef Noodle Bake

This isn't the best picture, but hopefully it does the trick. Noodle bake was a dish that my step-grandmother used to make all the time and we grandkids went CRAZY for it. I don't know exactly what she put in hers, but from a quick google search it seems like this is a pretty popular recipe. All of a sudden I had a HUGE craving for this dish this weekend, so this is what I threw together with the ingredients I have. I have a feeling this is the kind of dish where any combination of ingredients thrown together in any amount will result in something amazing. I also think this is supposed to have cottage cheese, which I didn't have tonight, but I'm definitely going to try and add it to the recipe some time in the future.

1/2 box pasta, any kind
1 lb. ground meat (usually beef)
1 sweet onion
1 can petite diced tomatoes
7.5 oz. tomato sauce
garlic salt
pepper
1 cup Macaroni blend shredded cheese (or 3 cheese blend shredded cheese)
1 oz. ranch dressing
sour cream
1 or 2 green onions, chopped.
I also seasoned this with some smoked paprika and ancho chili powder, but I don't know if I used enough to really make a difference. I think it's the ranch dressing that really makes it.

Cook pasta according to instructions on the box. While the pasta is cooking, brown meat in a large pan, sprinkling very liberally with pepper and garlic salt. Drain pasta when done, rinse, and let sit.

Finely chop onion. Mix onion, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce into the pan with the beef. Cook until the onion is translucent and most of the liquid as evaporated.

Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, mix together pasta and beef mixture. Add shredded cheese and ranch dressing.

Pour mixture into a 13x9 baking pan. Top with a thin layer of sour cream, and mix into the noodle mixture a little bit (as if you were mixing batters for a swirl cake). Top with green onions.

Toss in the oven and bake until bubbling a little bit, about 10 minutes.

Turkey pot pie

I didn't measure anything, this is just for my reference for next year.

1 box of puff pastry (it should have two sheets in it)
Leftover turkey, chopped
Six mushrooms
1 small onion
frozen peas
flour
fat from the turkey drippings
leftover turkey drippings
chicken broth
heavy whipping cream
salt
pepper


Preheat the oven to the temp recommended on the puff pastry box. For mine that was 450F. Finely chop onions. Saute with the mushrooms in a couple tablespoons of the dripping fat. Once the onion is translucent, take off the heat and mix in the turkey and peas.
In a sauce pot, make a roux using a tablespoon of turkey fat and a heaping tablespoon of flour. Heat and stir until pasty, then mix in at least a cup of turkey drippings. Add in chicken broth and whipping cream until the sauce reaches the right consistency for pot pie. Mix in with the turkey and vegetables.
Butter a pie pan and line with the first pastry sheet. Bake at 450F until the pastry starts to brown but isn't completely cooked. Fill with the turkey and vegetables, then top with the second sheet and do your best to seal the pie. Brush with egg or milk, then bake until the top of the pie turns golden brown. Let cool before serving.

My mom has perfected the pecan pie

3/4 cup white karo
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup pecan pieces or halves
4 eggs
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.
Beat together: eggs, sugar, karo, butter vanilla, and pecans. Pour into pre-made crust (we used store bought and it worked just fine). Bake at least 1 hour. Let sit two hours before slicing.

Turkey Brine and Recipe

To brine:

any size turkey

a container just big enough to hold the turkey

1 cup salt

1 container juice concentrate

Place the turkey, thawed or unthawed, in the container and fill with water until the turkey is just covered. Mix in the cup of salt and juice concentrate and let sit at least overnight.

To cook:

1 container rosemary

1/2 stick butter

1 small onion

1-2 stalks celery

Melt/soften butter. Pull off the rosemary "leaves" and mix into the butter, reserving the stems. Coat the turkey completely in the butter and rosemary. Sprinkle with pepper. Chop the onion and celery stalks in half, put them and the rosemary stalks into the cavity of the turkey. I foil the wings after about an hour of cooking, and then tent the whole turkey in foil about an hour before it's done cooking. Cook turkey according to this handy guide (this year my turkey reached 180 and was perfectly juicy):

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/seasonal/how-long-to-cook-a-turkey

Pull the turkey out and let sit to cool. Pull the drippings out of the pan; a turkey baster works just fine. 

Gravy:

1 tablespoon butter

1 heaping tablespoon flour

1 cup turkey drippings

low sodium chicken broth (trust me, you'll need low sodium)

Let drippings cool and separate, then skim the fat off the top and discard.

In a small sauce pot, melt one tablespoon of butter and mix in one heaping tablespoon of flour. Cook until brown and like a thick paste. Pour in one cup of drippings, mixing and stirring constantly. Make sure all the roux is dissolved into the drippings and isn't sticking to the bottom of the pan. Cook about five minutes, or until thick (thicker than gravy consistency). Add chicken broth until desired gravy consistency is reached. It's important to cut the drippings down with the chicken broth because the drippings will be very salty from the brining process.

This recipe makes just enough gravy for 4 people. Double for a large group. You will have plenty of drippings to make lots of gravy.

Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

3 sweet potatoes

shredded monterey jack cheese

heavy whipping cream

butter

smoked paprika

salt

Peel sweet potatoes and chop thin. 1/4 inch max. Place potatoes in a pot of boiling water and boil for about 5 minutes. Drain and place in a bowl; mix with 1/4th stick of butter and a couple shakes of salt and smoked paprika. Stir to coat completely.

Arrange sweet potatoes in a 9x9 pan and put in the oven at 350F. Bake for 30 minutes or until fork tender. While the potatoes are baking, lightly heat about a half a cup of heavy cream and melt in a couple handfuls of monterey jack and a couple more shakes of smoked paprika.

When the potatoes are done baking, pull them out and pour the cheese sauce over the potatoes, making sure the sauce gets in between all the slices. Put back in the oven and bake until bubbly.

Shrimp Fried Rice

4 cups cooked rice
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen carrots
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 large sweet onion, chopped (= a little over a cup)
1 bag frozen salad shrimp (= about a cup and a half)
3 eggs
4 green onions
1/4 cup soy sauce
white pepper
black pepper
sesame oil
butter
1 tablespoon mayonnaise


The rice should be cooked the day before, but I always forget. If you can, cook the rice before you're ready to cook the meal then let sit, stirring occasionally to get rid of the moisture.

Heat a large, deep pan. Add a tablespoon of butter and the carrots. While the carrots are cooking chop the onion.

Add the onion to the pan and stir into the carrots. While those are cooking, dump the shrimp into a colander and run under cold water to thaw. When the onion starts to turn translucent add the peas, corn, and a dash of sesame oil to the pan and stir.

Once the peas and corn are cooked (it takes just a couple minutes), add the shrimp to the pan. Cook until the shrimp starts to curl (again, just a couple of minutes).

Add the rice, soy sauce, mayo, a couple shakes of white pepper and a generous helping of black pepper. Stir constantly or the rice will burn to the bottom of the pan. Once the rice is heated through turn off the heat.

In a small pan, scramble the eggs and cut into tiny pieces. Stir into the rice. Taste test and add extra soy sauce and pepper as desired. Chop the green parts of the green onions and stir into the rice.

Favorite Thanksgiving Dishes

Savories:

Turkey with rosemary
Ham
Gravy
Stuffing with sage, apples, and pecans
Croissants
Mashed potatoes
Scalloped sweet potatoes
Green bean casserole
Cranberry relish
Mac 'n Cheese
Creamed onions and peas
Sweet potato casserole
Spinach souffle
Fluff salad
Corn pudding
Maple craisin carrots
Wine soaked mushrooms
Sauteed apples
Creamed corn
Asparagus with blue cheese, bacon, and onions
Mushroom soup
Creamy onion bake

Desserts:

Chocolate pie
Pumpkin pie
Cherry pudding
Grandma's sugar cookies
Peanut butter scotcheroos

Creamy vegan mushroom soup

This was the best recipe to come out of last night. It's so good I would make it even if I wasn't serving vegetarians with cream and gluten allergies. I would make it just to eat it myself. I wish I'd taken a picture...

Ingredients:

1 head cauliflower
2 box containers of veggie broth (I prefer Nature's Own)
1 small sweet onion
minced garlic
1 package mushroom mix (baby bellas, crimini, oyster, shiitakes)
1 cup frozen peas
olive oil
salt
black pepper

Special equipment:
Immersion blender (a regular blender would work fine too, it just takes longer and makes more of a mess).

Finely dice the onion. In a soup pot, add 1/2 of the diced onion, two teaspoons of minced garlic, and a tablespoon of olive oil.
Sautee until the onion gets brown, then add one of the containers of veggie broth.
While you bring the broth to a boil, pull the cauliflower into golf-ball sized chunks. Add the cauliflower to the broth and let boil until the cauliflower is very soft (15 minutes?).
Add salt and pepper liberally. Once the cauliflower is soft, use a wooden spoon or potato masher to break the cauliflower into small pieces.
Take the soup off the heat and let cool for a couple minutes, just so you don't burn yourself when the blending makes a mess (I make a mess EVERY time).
Add some of the second box of veggie broth a little at a time to make blending easier. Add no more than half the box though. Blend the soup until very fine and creamy looking. **It's worth noting at this point that what you have now would make a really excellent vegan gravy. It can be boiled down easily enough if you want it thicker
Once blended put the soup back on low heat, add more pepper and the second half of the diced onion and bring to a simmer.
While the soup simmers, coarsely chop your mixed mushrooms until they're about bite sized pieces. Add them and the frozen peas to the soup.
Let boil on low until all the vegetables are soft.

I didn't add parsley this time around, but I think it would make a really good addition. This soup would be phenomenal in a bread bowl, if you have the time and energy.

The plan for Halloween

Serving:

Ploughman's platter- Cheese, crackers, fruit, salami, candied nuts
Chips and dip (awesome sauce)
Cookies
Ham sliders
Pumpkin potato soup
Vegan mushroom soup
Bread
Brownie Trifle


Pumpkin Potato Soup:

Chicken broth
1-2 cans pumpkin
2-3 potatoes
Onion
Garlic
Smoked Gouda
Bacon

Vegan Mushroom Soup

Veggie broth
Celery
Cauliflower
Avocado
Carrots
Baby bella mushrooms
Shiitake mushrooms
Onions
Peas
Parsley

Brownie Trifle

Fudgey Brownies
Kahlua
Whipped Cream
Pudding

Rainbow Stew (Hobo Stew, but I hate that name)

Ingredients:

optional- broth of any kind
3/4 lb beef (732)
1/2 -1 cup frozen peas (60-120)
2 carrots (80)
1 small onion (44)
2 ribs celery
corn (133)
1 can petit diced tomatoes 105
2 cans tomato sauce 220
1 russet potato (170)
optional- 1/2 - 1 cup shredded cheese
garlic salt
black pepper
smoked paprika
optional- chili flakes

Pre-note: You want all the vegetables to be about the same size. So chop the carrots, celery, onion, and potato to about the size of corn kernels.

1) If you're using broth, set in a soup pot to boil. Water works just fine though, and if you're using that, add 3ish cups to the pot to boil and add a couple shakes of garlic salt.

2) Finely chop the carrots and celery. Add them, the can of petit diced tomatoes, and the 2 cans of tomato sauce and bring to a boil.

3) While the soup is boiling, brown the meat in a separate pan. Sprinkle liberally with pepper and garlic salt. Set aside once cooked.

4) Finely chop the onion and add to the soup. Let boil for five-ish minutes.

5) Chop the potato and add to the soup. Add the peas and corn.

6) Once the soup comes back to a boil, add about 6 good shakes of the smoked paprika, and add lots of black pepper. Let boil until the potatoes are soft (you can easily cut them with your soup spoon).

7) Once the potatoes are done cooking, add the meat and cheese. Add the chili flakes if you want it spicier. Let boil for a couple more minutes to allow everything to cook together.

8) Taste test! This soup should be smokey and spicy. If you want more of either of those, add the paprika, pepper, or chili a couple shakes at a time. Add garlic salt to taste.

Staying focused while dieting

1. Find some new coping techniques. Seriously.
2. Don't let yourself get hungry.
3. Don't buy junk food. Not even snack sized junk food.
4. Make exercise obligatory. "I'll visit the gym" or "I'll go running" is too amorphous and won't cut it. Sign up for a weekly dance class. If you have to pay for the classes, even better.
5. Seriously, make your meals ahead of time; don't leave your diet up to fate.
6. Make yourself 100 calorie snacks. Good ideas: cheese stick, banana, apple, yogurt, 100 calories of nuts, 100 calories of those little flavored rice cakes. Let yourself indulge in multiple of these snacks if you get hungry.
7. Focus on the stuff you did right. "Yeah I ate too much dinner, but I didn't eat dessert." "Yeah I had more carbs than veggies today, but I did my exercises that I really, really, really didn't want to do."
8. Planned candy. I let myself have a couple pieces of chocolate per day. This takes care of my sugar cravings while keeping the chaos at bay. This way I don't get so deprived that I binge, and I also don't feel guilty for eating candy because it's *planned*.

easy pot roast dinner, plus calories

Ingredients:
Hormel beef roast au jus (630)
1 Onion (45)
4 mushrooms (it could use more mushrooms) (30)
Most of a bag of baby spinach (it could use a whole bag of baby spinach) (20)
At least three tablespoons of sour cream (75)

I love Hormel beef entrees. It's really quality beef and it tastes delicious, and you can mix it with literally anything. I use it in my beef stroganov and it makes fucking fantastic stroganov in like 10 minutes. Last night I wanted something a little different, so here we are:

Heat the pot roast in a deep pan according to the package instructions. While that's heating, thinly slice the onion. Add the onion to the pan. Slice the mushrooms, and a couple minutes before the beef should be done, add it and the spinach to the pan and stir. Once the meat finishes its cooking time, turn off the heat and add the sour cream. Stir everything together and let cool for a couple minutes.

I like to eat it over a baked potato. 1/3rd of the meat dish is a serving, and funnily enough it goes perfectly over 1/3rd a baked potato. Bake the potato in the microwave. Once it's done cut it into three pieces, then roughly chop the piece you're going to eat. Top with 1/3 of the roast and veggie dish.

Calories
Meat and Veggies - 800 / 3 =  267
1/3 potato = 57
Per meal = 324

Breakfast in a muffin

Ingredients:

Hash browns- 1/4 cup per muffin (30)
Fresh Spinach- 3-4 leaves per muffin (virtually 0)
Egg - 1 per muffin (80)
Salt and Pepper
Giant muffin tin
Optional: Grated cheese (virtually 0)

The type of hash browns that you want are the plain grated potatoes, found in the frozen section. Make sure to take them out to thaw before you start this recipe!
Grease the muffin tin and fill each with a layer of hash browns (1/4th cup) and add salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes at 375. Pull out of the oven and sprinkle on a little bit of cheese if you want it, just enough to give it some flavor. Then layer with a couple leaves of spinach, break an egg over the spinach, and then sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes.

Calorie per muffin- 120

While I wait for my sleepy meds to kick in...

I'll tell you about how I domestic goddessed ALL over the fuckin' place this weekend. I made:

1. Yogurt, from SCRATCH. Complete with:
2. A banana and mixed berry compote to mix with it.
3. Farmer's cheese seasoned with minced basil
4. 100% whole wheat bread. FROM SCRATCH.
5. Breakfast muffins of egg, hashbrowns, and spinach.

- The yogurt came out fantastic. I didn't have any cheese cloth, so I strained it as much as possible through coffee filters and my mesh strainer. It took all day to strain and tasted kinda like sour cream when I was done, but once I mixed in the berry compote, it tasted fantastic. I'm so excited about it. I think I'll make more this weekend. 

- The compote (it might be more jam, than compote) was a bag of frozen mixed berries, with like a cup? of orange juice, boiled till it couldn't boil no more. I had to stir constantly once it started to thicken to keep it from burning, and eventually i cooked it down to the consistency of runny jam. Then I took one of the overripe bananas we keep in the freezer, thawed it, and then blended it into the compote. This all in itself was delicious. I saved some to put on toast.

- The farmer's cheese was fun. Made from milk and lemon juice (way more lemon juice than the recipe called for. like twice as much). Then strained through an old clean shirt because again with the no cheese cloth. It's fun but messy work, and it's amazing how little cheese you get from a quart of milk. The only thing that makes the tiny yield worth it is how easy it is to make. Also when you're done you have cheese! When it was made I mixed with with salt, pepper, minced basil, and a little more lemon juice.

- The bread process was a mess from beginning to end. More on that tomorrow, as the sleepy pills have kicked in.

Spices to always have on hand

Garlic Salt
Ground Sage
Cumin
Frozen Thyme
Frozen Basil
White Pepper
Curry
Garam Masala
Lemon juice
Smoked Paprika
Dill
Chili Flakes

I like to call this dish "What I had left in my fridge"

1 Hillshire farm sausage, any type
At least 1/2 very large bag of hashbrowns
1 and 1/2 onion, sliced
1 whole bag of baby spinach
Optional: grated cheese

DO NOT ADD SALT OR BUTTER

- Coarsely chop the sausage. Throw half of it in the pan to brown (you'll need the grease).

- Remove, keeping the grease in the pan. Throw in the hashbrowns and press down into the pan. Pepper liberally. After 4-5 minutes (per package instructions) flip them over and cook another 4-5 minutes. Remove from pan.

- Throw the rest of the sausage and the onions in the pan to brown. Just before the onions turn translucent, add the spinach and the previously cooked sausage. Pepper liberally and cook until the spinach is wilted. Serve sausage and veggies over hashbrowns, and sprinkle with a bit of cheese.

Soup idea- to try when I'm back on my feet

Tiny turkey meatballs with a little bit of mint in them. Chicken broth base with parsley, onion, celery. Maybe a beef bone or two for depth. Large pearl couscous. Maybe a squirt of lemon? And of course mushrooms.

Corn Salad

Ingredients:

1 bag frozen sweet corn
1 bell pepper (orange or red)
1/4th  purple onion
fresh cilantro
1/2 lime ( or 3-4 squeezes from a plastic lime)
Sriracha
Basil (I use the kind that's already minced and in a tube)
salt and pepper


1) Throw the whole bag of corn in a large frying pan (frozen or thawed, it doesn't matter). I also used a pat of butter, but I really don't think it needs it.

2) Salt and pepper the corn liberally. Cook until the corn starts to brown. Stir and let the corn brown again. Remove from heat and put the corn in a mixing bowl.

3) Finely chop the bell pepper and the 1/4th of the onion (you want the pieces to be about the size of the corn kernels). Mince about 1/4th to 1/3rd cup of cilantro, depending on how much cilantro you like (this is an estimate. I used two handfuls of minced cilantro). Add all this to the mixing bowl.

4) Add the juice of 1/2 lime (or three squirts of a plastic lime), two squirts of Sriracha, and two squirts of the basil. Stir and taste test. Add more of the ingredients to taste, but I wouldn't recommend adding any more basil.

You should let the salad sit for a while to let the flavors blend. I let the salad sit in the fridge for about an hour before eating.

Eat it in butter lettuce tacos with this pork recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/chinese-slow-cooked-pork-shoulder-recipe.html

Garlic Lemon Shrimp. Only to be downed with Bourbonade

Garlic Lemon Shrimp

1/2 lb. raw peeled shrimp
minced garlic
butter
lemon juice (one of those plastic lemons)
salt
pepper

1) Heat pan thoroughly. Throw in 2-3 tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of garlic. Cook until butter is browned.

2) Add shrimp to the pan. Give one generous squeeze of lemon juice over the shrimp. Pepper liberally and salt just a little bit. Cook until shrimp turn pink on the first side (it won't be pink halfway through, like chicken). Flip and cook until just barely cooked through. Remove from heat and let the shrimp cool in the pan for a couple minutes.



Bourbonade!

Mason jar glass (or something of similar size)
At least four ice cubes
3 seconds of a generous pour of Bourbon (I used Evan Williams). I guess that's about a shot and a half
Fill to the top with lemonade
One generous squeeze of lime juice.

Black Bean Sauce Stirfry

Lee Kum Kee Black Bean Sauce
1 block extra firm tofu
1 small sweet onion
1 bell pepper
at least 5 baby bella mushrooms
soy sauce
minced garlic
coconut oil

1) Mix two heaping tablespoons of Lee Kum Kee sauce with one tsp of minced garlic (about a clove), a dash of soy sauce, and a tablespoon or two of water. Chop the tofu into one inch cubes and coat in the sauce (use all the sauce). Let marinate for about 30 minutes.

2) Heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a large pan and throw in the tofu. Cook until crispy on all sides.

3) Add pepper, onion, mushrooms, and another two heaping tablespoons of Lee Kum Kee sauce. Heat until cooked through.

Fairy Tales for Grownups

A List

1) Stardust
2) Princess Bride
3) Ever After
4) Pan's Labyrinth
5) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
6) Hook
7) The Secret Garden
8) Ondine
9) Lord of the Rings
10) The Hobbit
11) Jack the Giant Slayer
12) The Neverending Story
13) Merlin
14) The Mists of Avalon
15) Practical Magic
16) A Midsummer Night's Dream
17) Adam's Family
18) Baron Munchausen
19) The later Harry Potters
20) Ladyhawke

I'm obsessed with this BBQ crockpot chicken

I've made this recipe, no joke, every week for the past month. I'm not even that big of a chicken fan, but I can't get enough of it. It goes well on a potato bun, in a lettuce wrap, or just mixed in with white rice and sliced peppers. It's all just freaking delicious. I cook it in the crockpot and then boil the liquid down into a spicy vinegar drip

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts (can be boneless or bone in. both work great, but bone in makes more broth)
TJ's coffee garlic dry rup
Salt
Smoked Paprika or Chipotle pepper powder
Apple cider vinegar
Ketchup
Chili flakes
Brown sugar


1) Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with salt. Sprinkle VERY LIBERALLY with smoked paprika and then the TJ's dry rub. You want all sides of the chicken to be completely covered, and you can't overdo the seasoning, so don't be shy with it. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes.

2) Pour 1/8th a cup of apple cider vinegar in your crockpot and lay the chicken breasts flat on top. Cook on low for 3 hours, turning once halfway through so both sides get the spices cooked in.

3) When done, pull the chicken breasts out (reserve the liquid! this will make your drip) and shred the chicken in a mixing bowl while it's still hot. If you've got quality boneless chicken, you should be able to just take a fork and smash and mix about the breasts until it's all shredded. If you've got bone in, shred by hand.

4) Pour the reserved liquid in a medium size sauce pan and put on medium heat and bring it to a large simmer (not quite boiling).

5) Add:
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons more apple cider vinegar
3 good squirts of ketchup
2 shakes of salt
5 good shakes of smoked paprika
3 good shakes of chili pepper flakes

I also sometimes throw in a couple drops of liquid smoke, or maybe also some Tabasco or Frank's red hot.

6) Boil the drip until it starts to get thick. It will be thicker than water; you'll notice when it gets there.

7) Take a piece of chicken and dip it into the drip to taste test. To modify the drip to your preference, add these ingredients one at a time for the desired effect:

For more sour: 1 teaspoon vinegar
For sweeter: 1 large three-finger pinch of brown sugar (I really wouldn't do more than three or four of these, otherwise it gets super sweet)
For spicier: Either two shakes of the paprika or one shake of the chili flakes.

8) Boil a couple minutes longer to incorporate your flavor changes, then remove from heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Once cool, pour it all over the chicken and mix well.

The best ribs and potatoes you will ever have IN YOUR LIFE

The other day my roommate bought me Trader Joe's BBQ dry rub with coffee and garlic. It's pretty pungent when you smell it in the can, but it is absolute HEAVEN on pork ribs. I made some ribs over Memorial day weekend with corn on the cob, sugar snap peas, and herbed potatoes. It was literally one of the best meals I've ever had in my life and I can't stop thinking about making it again!
I used this recipe as a guide. I tweaked that a bit, and the instructions below are exactly how I cooked them. I might tweak this in the future to use only the oven or only the crocpot, but this recipe cooked them perfectly:

• Thick country cut pork ribs (not the rack ribs, the kind that are individually cut)
• TJ's dry rub (I didn't measure the amount I used)
• 4-5 red potatoes, sliced max 1/4 inch thick
• Melted butter
• Oregano
• Dill
• Black Pepper
• Sweet white corn on the cob
• Sugar snap peas

1) Coat the ribs VERY GENEROUSLY in the TJ's dry rub. You'll want to make sure each side of each rib is completely covered in rub. You won't need to salt. Let sit for about 30 minutes. While they're sitting, preheat your oven to 275 degrees F. (As a note, the oven that I cooked mine in doesn't heat well, so I did 300 degrees for 2.5 hours, but I don't recommend that).
2) Line a baking sheet with  foil and set a cookie cooling rack on top. Place the ribs on the cookie rack and pop it all in the oven.
3) Cook at 275 for 2 hours.
4) Once the 2 hours are up, put the ribs in the crockpot on LOW for 3 hours max. This mix of oven and crockpot will ensure that the ribs have a nice crust but also are nice and moist.

While the ribs are in the crockpot, you can start on your potatoes. I sliced them not super thin, but not super thick either. You should aim for less than a quarter of an inch, and try to keep it as uniform as possible.
Line a baking sheet with foil and brush with melted butter. Use lots of butter. Lay out the potatoes flat on the sheet. Sprinkle with just a little bit of salt and pepper. Then sprinkle with LOTS of dill and oregano. Seriously, go wild. Pop in the oven at 375 F for 30 minutes, flipping the potatoes halfway through. Some of the potatoes should be getting golden brown before you pull them out. If they haven't reached that stage, cook them 5-10 minutes longer.

Cook the sugar snaps according to directions on their bag, and cook the corn per usual (simmer until the cobs are bright yellow).
And there you have it, an amazingly delicious summer meal! Feeds 3-4 people.

10:30 Soup

This is more for my reference since I haven't measured out ingredients yet:

• 2 packets chicken flavor ramen (seafood flavor would probably even work better). Use both flavor packets.
• At least 3 cups of water
• Soy sauce
• Sriracha
• 2-3 capfulls of Fish sauce
• Small dash of sesame oil
• Minced Ginger
• Lime juice (used lemon juice once and it worked fine)
• Soft tofu, cubed
• Mushrooms, thinly sliced
• Green onions (4 or 5)
• Optional: thinly sliced bell pepper, oyster sauce, little bit of minced basil

Boil everything together, add ingredients to taste, cook until noodles get really big.

More meal planning!

Day 1:

Eggs
Coffee
Soup
Banana
Apple
Yogurt
Twice baked potato

Day 2:

Eggs
Coffee
Soup
Banana
Apple
Yogurt
Twice baked potato

Day 3:

Eggs and bacon
Coffee
Soup
Banana
Apple
Yogurt
Smoothie

TBD for Thursday and Friday dinners.

Spinach Souffle

Adapted from this recipe, with assistance from this recipe. This recipe is kind of time consuming, so I only make it for special occasions, but boy, is it worth it! I'm a fairly picky eater and even I scarf it down. If this is a dish you'd want on a regular basis, I'm fairly confident you could make a batch sans egg, and freeze it. That way all you have to do is thaw, mix in the egg, and throw it in the oven. The recipe calls for five eggs, which is difficult to split, but I bet you could split the recipe in half, and use three eggs per half. Haha, you could even split and freeze it five ways and just make yourself an individual serving if you're having a craving!

Ingredients:

10 oz. fresh spinach

Cream
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch nutmeg
4 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1 dash cayenne
1 dash pepper
1 dash worcestershire sauce
5 eggs, separated and chilled
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Optional: 3 tablespoons finely shredded swiss or parmesan cheese

1) Grease a 2-quart baking dish and preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2) Take a handful of spinach and role into a log. Slice finely. Do this handful by handful until all the spinach is sliced. Don't worry about discarding stems.

3) Fit as much of the spinach as you can into a blender. Add a couple dashes of cream to aid blending, and blend until spinach is very fine. As you blend, the spinach will pack down and make room to add more spinach. Add spinach until all 10 ounces are blended; if blending becomes difficult, add a couple more dashes of cream. You should end up with a sauce-like consistency.

4) Melt butter in a medium size frying pan.

5) Sprinkle flour into butter and blend with a spoon. Cook until bubbly.

6) Slowly blend in the milk, stirring constantly, until smooth. (I subbed some of the milk with cream, just for fun).

7) Add seasonings and cheese, and cook on low for about 10 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let cool. (Note: You've just basically made a super simple alfredo/white sauce)

8) Separate the eggs and store the whites in your fridge to keep chilled. Beat egg yolks in a large, sturdy bowl.

9) Add spinach mixture into the egg yolks and beat until well blended.

10) SLOWLY pour the the white sauce into the yolk and spinach mixture, while stirring/beating constantly. Warning!: Make sure the white sauce has cooled a bit and that you stir constantly, or your yolks will cook and become lumpy.

11) Take your egg whites out of the fridge and beat with the 1/4 tsp cream of tartar. Beat with an electric mixer on high until whites are "stiff but not dry"; basically until they start to peak.

12) VERY GENTLY fold egg whites into the spinach mixture. Don't mix, don't beat. Fold. You mixture also doesn't have to be streak-less; you can have a couple streaks, but what's most important is that you don't stir the souffle so much that it starts to fall.

13) Bake 45 mins to an hour.

So turns out I *DO* have new year's resolutions

Which I never, ever have, and generally don't cotton to, but these are things that really need to be done. So here are the things that I really need to do:

1) Stop making work a priority. Go home on time. Go to the gym. Go out with friends. Take your lunch break. Stop thinking about work all the time.

2) Have a nighttime routine. This routine should include:
     -Neti potting
     - Brushing my teeth
     - Steaming and washing my face
     - Melatonin, vitamins, and Claritin
     - Stretching


So there that is.

Meal Plans!

Day 1:
Eggs
coffee
Diet soup
apple
banana
yogurt
chicken and zoodles

Day 2:
Eggs
coffee
Diet soup
apple
banana
yogurt
chicken and zoodles

Day 3:
Eggs & bacon
coffee
Diet soup
apple & pb
banana
yogurt
tuna melt

Day 4:
Eggs & bacon
coffee
diet soup
apple
banana
yogurt
smoothie

Day 5:
Eggs
coffee
smoothie + protein
apple
banana
yogurt
TBD dinner

Grain Free Recipes

Vegetarian:
Batatas Mujadaras
Veggie Soup
Stuffed Peppers
Potato Crust Quiche
Twice-baked Potatos
Saifun Noodles
Stir Fry
Smoothies


Meaty:
Hot and Sour Soup
Chicken and Zoodles
Tuna melts on Oopsie bread
Chicken Salad Wraps
Tuna Wraps
Chili
Spaghetti Sauce
Greek Chicken
Kabobs
Meatloaf
No Tortilla Chicken Enchiladas
Pan Fried Chicken
Teryaki Salmon and Saifun