Slim Pickins

By ellen on September 27, 2009

I had a wonderful rainy Sunday here. We are slowly but surely packing up the rest of our things for the long-awaited move. Along with packing up our things, our food supply is dwindling big-time. I’m trying to use up all the odds and ends in the fridge/pantry so we won’t have to waste any food. The result is often nutritionally unbalanced and/or relatively small meals. Today highlights that point perfectly.

Lunch was a can of Amy’s split pea soup that I found in the back of the cupboard. We didn’t have any bread/crackers to go with it… no fruit left either (sad face). AND I even split the can with husbo. Yes, I know.

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Even with the brunch of champions today, we were both still really hungry after our measly bowls of soup. I still had a little homemade granola mixed with peanut butter left, so we each had a little bowl of that too.

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Our dinner was also a mix of ‘found’ items around the kitchen that turned out to be very tasty. The fridge contributed some ground turkey breast, half a brick of cheddar cheese, and salsa. In the cupboard I had half a box of penne. I browned the turkey while the water boiled, and grated the cheddar while the pasta cooked. I mixed everything together, then added some breadcrumbs on top as a finishing top. For a fifteen minute meal that was pretty much thrown together with kitchen scraps, it was pretty darn tasty.

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The rest of my evening is pretty much a countdown until Mad Men comes on at 10, haha. In the meantime, I’ll probably pack more clothes, do some school work, and schedule my week. Luckily I have tomorrow off so I will probably be able to finish all the packing (finally!).

Good Night!

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September Lovin

By ellen on September 1, 2009

If today is any indication, this is going to be a spectacular month. I’m completely certain of it.

I hung around school until about 12:30ish. While there, I had a little snack of a Pink Lady apple (my fave), a few almonds, and some Japanese white tea. I was so busy running around that I forgot to take a pic (lo siento!).

Then, I walked up to Target for some school/home shopping. Mind you, I love all things Target. It’s hard for me to leave with fewer than three shopping bags. As if the day couldn’t get any better, I stopped at Starby’s in Target and saw that today is the official first day back for the pumpkin spice latte! It was lip-smackin’ delishy. I know, this is like the day that dreams are made of.

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I walked back home with my bags (which included 30, yes 30, composition notebooks among other things). I don’t normally count a walk as part of my workout, but this walk was quite a workout, I must say.

I worked up an appetite on the way home, and had some pesto w/ whole wheat pasta while watching the US Open again.

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Yum! I was still kinda hungry after the pasta and had some of the granola that I made on Sunday.

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I should tell you that this granola deserves a disclaimer. A year or two ago I overcame a major addiction to Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal. I couldn’t keep the box in my house for more than a 24-36 hour period. I would inhale it as if I’d never seen food before. Small children and pets would need to keep their distances lest they be mistaken for the Kashi. I quit cold turkey and haven’t looked back. If you, like me, cannot keep sweet crunchy delicious health cereals in her house for fear of overdose, tread lightly around this granola. I think the next batch I’ll have to send with husby to his office.

The rest of my afternoon/evening includes a little school work, and then meeting some friends at the Boat Basin for dinner and drinks.

Enjoy the weather!

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Super Weekend and Singing the Praises of Olive Oil

By ellen on August 30, 2009

Ahh! What a wonderful weekend. I was in Philly for a family tailgate at the Phillies game, which included some hot dogs, lots of beer, and lots more rain. There were about 30 of us total and it was funny to look at the three rows in front of me at the game and realize that I knew everyone sitting in them, haha. We had such a great time!

Once we got back in the late afternoon, we had an early dinner of the black bean enchilada bake and corn salad that I made on Friday. The corn salad was possibly even better after soaking up flavors for a few days in the fridge.

After dinner, I settled in to make a few things for the week. On my list of things to do: pesto, granola, and muffins. The common thread, I decided, between the three would be olive oil. Pesto was easy – I used basil (obviously), parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic, ad olive oil. I toss them in the Magic Bullet and play it by ear adding more olive oil as needed. I’ll post a pic when I mix it with some pasta. I love pesto and can’t wait to eat it all week!

Next up was the olive oil granola from the New York Times that I’ve been dying to try. I made many substitutions, only using the recipe as a loose outline. For example, I used almonds and sunflower seeds instead of pistachios and pumpkin seeds. Also, I omit the coconut chips, and I switched the cardamom for ginger and omit the dried fruit. It’s been out of the oven only about 45 minutes and husbo and I have already noshed so much our bellies ache – it is so easy and really really really tasty.

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Caution: It may look innocent enough, but it’s dangerously addictive.

Next up? Olive oil muffins. I really just googled “olive oil” muffins and used the recipe that called for 2 eggs (that’s all I had!). So I found this one. Once again, I hijacked the recipe and made many substitutions. I ran out of white flour, so I wound up using only a little more than 1c and using cornmeal for the rest. Besides, I kind of like the texture of cormeal. Also, I added loads of lemon zest – there’s something delicious about olive oil and lemon zest. They baked up perfectly, and I doused them with a bit of confectioner’s sugar.

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They are really yummy and the lemon added a really nice vibrance to the muffins. They will be great for breakfast in the morning.

I’m gearing up for the week. I’ll be heading into school tomorrow to set up my classroom and attempt to mentally prepare myself for another school year! I’m not ready for the summer to end yet!

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Menu Planning Morning

By ellen on August 28, 2009

Thursday evening is my CSA pick-up time. I usually come home, prep all the veggies and plan out some meals for the next week. Last night I had a dinner obligation so I couldn’t do the normal routine. So, this morning, I planned out some meals over breakfast.

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Perusing How to Cook Everything Vegetarian for ideas over breakfast:

  • Berry smoothie: frozen berries, vanilla soymilk, splash of pomegranate juice
  • Mug of mint green tea and a glass of water
  • Handful of almonds (not pictured). I eat a scant handful… about 12 almonds

This week’s CSA bounty included:

  • 6 ears of corn
  • bowl full of carrots
  • small head of broccoli
  • 2 purple peppers
  • bunch of basil
  • kale
  • head of lettuce

Since today’s a rainy day, I’m going to stay in and cook/bake a bunch of meals for the upcoming week so I can fridge/freeze them. Meal-planning is a really great thing: it saves money, time, and can often ensure you are eating more healthy, complete meals. Once I’ve chosen a few meals, I start a grocery list. I check the cabinets to see what I already have and create a list of only the things I need. Then, I create a chart for the next week and, taking serving sizes into account, space them out over the week. Once that’s done, I’ll “fill-in-the-blanks.” I cook and menu plan for my husband and I. Since we have different tastes and nutritional needs, I generally plan separate breakfasts/lunches/snacks for us.

This is what my process may look like…

Here are the items I picked for the next week (note: since my CSA pick-up is on Thursday, I plan my weeks from Thursday to Thursday).

  • Black Beans and Corn, enchilada style (How to Cook Everything Vegetarian)
  • Cabbage and Carrot Slaw, Mexican-style (How to Cook Everything Vegetarian)
  • Pesto
  • Olive Oil Granola (New York Times)
  • Aloo Palak (Vegetarian Times)

Here’s my map of the week. I’ll plug in our meals, taking into account our social schedule. For example, we’ll be at my parents’ house on Saturday and Sunday, so I don’t need to include any Saturday meals or breakfast on Sunday.

Menu Map

Next, I go back and fill in all the blanks. This is where I’ll include any fruits/veggies, snacks that I’ll pick up, yogurt, etc… As I add them to my chart, I’ll add them to my grocery list. Here’s the finished map:

Menu Map Complete

So I’m off with my grocery list, and I’ll post on al of the recipes later today. Happy Friday!

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