Zucchini Boats - Oh My YES!!

Ok, so I have been looking for some good, quick recipes to use up some excess stuff without buying a lot of extra ingredients.  Just simple, 1-2 servings, something I can bring with my on quick trips back to Harrisburg to stop into work and visit my horse.

I found this wonderful recipe for zucchini (I believe it was paleo) but now - I'm so sorry author! - I lost it.  If I do find it again I will make sure to link to it here.  I did adapt it for what I had, so here's my version of the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 zucchini
1/2 cup leftover ground turkey
small chunk of leftover cream cheese
hefty teaspoon of minced garlic
large handful of chopped kale
coconut oil
cayenne pepper

Directions: Scoop out the meat of the zucchini, set aside the shell to use for "boat".  Chop up meat, saute with kale in small amount of coconut oil.  Add ground turkey, cayenne pepper, cream cheese and maybe a little salt to taste.  DO NOT taste test at this point. Trust me... it'll be hard to stop.  Fill your zucchini boats with the mixture.  NOW you can eat the rest of the filling ;)

Place these in the freezer to flash freeze, then move into a container for long term freezing and when you're ready to eat, pop into the microwave.  If you wanted to eat right away, I would suggest baking at 350 for about 15-20 min.  Here is my finished product:

Enjoy yours!!

It's Time For The Ball

Another year, another ball on my wonderful husband's arm.  And can I just say that the wives of Truck Co rocked it with classy, stylish gowns this year?

Joel and I weren't planning to go this year because he was supposed to be at school.  But with the government shutdown, his school got canceled and we were free!  So I got a last minute rental with Rent The Runway and off we went.  Last night we were on a boat, and it was a good time!

I do have to say, as I do every year, that I am just shocked at the quality of "ball gowns" out there.  If you are at a ball on the arm of a Marine, then I'm really not understanding why the total loss of dignity takes place.  Why showcase every possible part of your body?  Why not highlight your natural beauty and enjoy the evening with the one you're with?  Don't get me wrong, I know everyone wants to look great, but leave a little to the imagination ladies!  Colors should complement the uniform, not draw attention to you.  You are an accessory to a US Marine who is there as part of his JOB.  (Sorry, I know there are women in the Marines, but usually your date isn't flashing everyone while dancing so this doesn't really apply!)  Sit politely, make conversation, eat your food, and dance in such a way that you wouldn't be embarrassed to see the video the next day!

Ok, rant is over.

Testing.... Testing.... 1 2 3

Update on being a test cook for Once A Month Meals!

Hubby and I got it all done in about 7 hours, in our tiny little kitchen, with the baby and Izzy!  Woo hoo!  If you've never tried this, you should!  For your sanity I suggest enlisting help wherever possible.  Whether it's an extra set of hands actually in the kitchen or wrangling the kiddos outside the kitchen, it definitely helps!
Que photo of my handy husband... now:

 And here I am all aproned out, staging for prep.  FYI, kids bowls work great for once a month cooking!

 We had a lot going on, and I definitely should have taken the "night before" prep advice.  7 hours straight trying to cook with 2 kids leads to this:

And after a few hours of this, you start searching for other options.  I really needed to do a back carry, but the only wrap we have is a stretchy moby.  So, necessity is the mother of invention, and I came up with this quickie wrap using a sheet!  You might also notice my strategically placed ipad on a stand to my left and waste bag attached to the cabinet on the right.

And here is the outcome of all that prep work, ready to start assembly and cooking:

I wish I could share with you the recipes I'm in charge of, but that is locked down for now!  How about this preview pic of the bags going down to the freezer?

And after all that hard work, taste testing and lining up the menu, this is what we were left with - YIKES!

It was totally worth it!  Every recipe was delicious, and we always save tons of money when we do this!  Check it out, feel free to ask questions!  I'm happy to answer!

Me! They picked me!

So excited to take on something pretty new and be a part of Once A Month Meals.  I've been chosen to be a test cook!  Very cool!  Shortly before I had Olivia and once in a while thereafter, I'd do once a month freezer cooking.  Sometimes I don't have the time to do a whole month's worth of shopping and cooking, so I'll spend an hour or so getting together meals for the week.  And now that I'm working from home and cramming in a busy home and volunteer schedule, it's becoming harder and harder to keep homemade meals a priority.  I constantly chicken out and wind up going out to eat instead.  And of course the family has no problem with that! Not against my cooking, just that they'd rather have pizza and other goodies I don't often make at home.  But, I need to watch my calorie intake, spend less money, and have more time with family (think about the last time you went out to eat, when did you leave and get home?  I bet it didn't "save" you any time at all!) - so, I'm happy to be testing this menu out and get back into it!

I'll let you know how it goes!

Rosemary Bread

I'm starting this one while the bread's baking, and man - if it tastes as good as it smells right now.....

Here's the recipe as I made it:

Romanos Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

1 packet yeast (1 tbsp)
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tbsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 cups flour (plus more)

Water, sugar and yeast went into mixer bowl, let sit for 5 minutes until bubbly.  Added rest of ingredients, except flour, and mixed with dough hook attachment.  Added flour in 1/2 cup increments until I reached 2 cups, then, because dough was so wet, put mixer on low and added by the tbsp until dough pulled from the edges.  Dough was still pretty wet, so I probably added 3 more tbsp after that.

Put dough into oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for an hour on top of oven after I made dinner.  Then punched dough down, split in half, oiled cookie sheet and rounded the loaves.  Let rise again, uncovered, for 45 minutes.

Cook in oven 15-20 minutes at 375.  A lot of reviews said to brush butter over top, egg wash, etc.  but for this run I'm not putting anything on top to see how it comes out.

Verdict is - delicious!  Did not need wash in any form.  Was light and fluffy and have to go because now I am officially designated "bread cutter" by the family as they beg for more!

Christina

First Try Cooking with Pinterest!

This entry marks another journey - not that of working or nursing mother - but chef!  Using Pinterest, I'll try some recipes and - down to the littlest of substitutions (I almost always make one or skip a step) - record what I found.  You can see the original pinned recipes I try under Cooking with Pinterest (Mostly) Board on my Pinterest account.  Please note that these recipes are "Christina Style" which means they aren't always exactly measured.  Also, I add what type of pan or whatever I used to cook it in since usually I don't have what the recipe calls for.  Today I actually tried 5 recipes - but I've only got pictures of one - so here goes:

Upside Down Potato & Onion Tart  - Mostly

Ingredients:
2 T salted butter
"sprinkle" of italian seasoning
1/2 a giant Costco onion, fairly thinly sliced
3 russet potatoes, thinly sliced
1.5 cups Kirkland shredded mexican cheese
a "swirl" of veggi oil
Pie plate

Turn oven on to 400.  Melt butter, "sprinkle" with italian seasoning, layer slivers of onion over that.  Mix remaining ingredients in bowl while onion and italian seasoning cooks until you start to smell onion cooking :) - that's about 5 minutes.  Take the bowl ingredients and put on top of onions, put in oven for 45 minutes (suggest 1 hr after this trial run if using harder potatoes like russet).

Here it is:

Do your best to flip:

Ok, so it's not as pretty, and russet potatoes definitely need an extra 15 minutes to soften all the way.  45 minutes had them soft but still a bit starchy.  Still were great with the steaks - see you next time!

Funny thing I named this blog "Please Don't Puke On Me".....

I actually narrowly avoiding getting puke IN MY MOUTH.  So yes, I was puked on - my daughter doesn't read this blog, obviously.  I sat there for a good minute going "MMM, MMM!!!! MMMMMMM!!!" to my husband who had no clue what happened.  So here's a note to nursing mothers - don't play airplane with your baby after you feed her.  I would give yourself a good hour before doing it.  Will you listen to this advice?  No.  Because our babies are so cute and loveable and squeezable and we want to play with them all the time, conveniently forgetting that we just fed them.  So don't come crying to me when they puke on you.  Just know we're all laughing at you.  I mean, WITH YOU.  By the way, husband was definitely laughing at me, while wandering around "trying" to find something to wipe the puke off my face.  Awesome.   PS - I'm "Cooking with Pinterest" where I try all these pinterest recipes, complete with not following them to the T because I'm not Suzie Homemaker who has every spice, meat, and pan available to make them with but who is still very hungry when roaming through the food section of pinterest and wants to make it all.  Lots of love! - C