New Feature: Weeknight Kitchen and weekend recap

I listen to The Splendid Table on NPR.  I also get their weekly newsletter "Weeknight Kitchen."  link here Each week I get a new recipe or two.  The recipes are supposed to be easy and quick.  I've decided that every week I will make the recipe I am sent and talk about it here.  I made one of the recipes for this week tonight and the other one yesterday.  They were both excellent, and I will be making them again.  Both the the recipes were extremely easy as well.  This was even more impressive because of the fact that I didn't make these recipes in my kitchen.  The kitchen I was cooking in is very poorly stocked.  In fact, the only knife is a big serrated one.  

The first recipe was "Spicy Black Bean Sandwiches with Chipolte Mayonnaise" (if you want the recipe, you will have to go to the Splendid Table website. These were very easy to put together and didn't require any actual cooking.  I think these sandwiches would be great for lunch.  I went really light on the spice because my husband doesn't like it, and they were still slightly spicy.  

Here is the sandwich filling (sorry about the shadows).

Here's all the food ready to be assembled into the pitas 

Important note: Do not rub your eyes after slicing up the chipolte peppers.  I did this twice, and it was not pleasant.  

The next recipe I made was the "French-Style Yogurt Cake with Lemon."  It was fantastic.  I will be making this again, and I'd really like to try using limes instead of lemons, or maybe grapefruit.  Unfortunately, the only picture I got was before putting the cake in the oven.  When I took it out of the pan the cake fell apart because it stuck to the pan.  It was very ugly, but still wonderful.

Cake ready to go into the oven.

This week both recipes were a success.  I encourage anyone reading this to sign up for the weekly newsletter; you won't be disappointed.

What I ate: Saturday

10:00 am: 4 slices bacon, 2 over-easy eggs, toast, espresso with almond milk and sugar.

4:00 pm: 1 slice leftover deep-dish pizza

7:00 pm: "Spicy Black Bean Sandwiches with Chipolte Mayonnaise," rice with cheese and broccoli, mixed veggies (corn, peas, carrots, green beans).

What I ate: Sunday

10:30 pm: scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon in pita pockets.  I had two, and I think I'm in love with pita bread right now.

5:00 pm: 3 beef tacos with lettuce, tomato, and guacamole, and Chipolte Mayonnaise.  1 slice lemon cake.

School lunch and pizza

I woke up really late yesterday, and I mean really late.  I'm supposed to be at work by 7:55 and I woke up at 7:56.  My alarm clock had been going off since 6:30; I'm not sure why I didn't hear it.  Honestly, the only reason I even woke up when I did was because my dog came to the bed and whined a little bit.  I jumped out of bed, threw on clothes, grabbed my bag and ran out the door.  I was at school by 8:05.  (Good thing I live so close to work.)  As a result, I did not have time to pack a lunch.  I ended up eating school lunch which was biscuits and gravy.  This was fortunate because I love breakfast, but I felt well, I guess gross is the best way to describe it.  I never feel good when eating school lunch, and I feel really sorry for the students who get this as their only meal of the day.  This is what it looked like:



The empty space is for milk, but I didn't take any.  I'm out of town for the night, so I also got pizza!  I went to Sullivan, Illinois, and there is an amazing local pizza place called TNT http://tntpizzeria.com/.  My husband and I order it almost every time we come here.  We got a deep dish pizza with green and black olives, so cheesy and delicious!  The only complaint I have is that every time we order the deep dish pizza we get a different amount of sauce on top.  Last night it was covered, and sometimes it barely has any.  Still, it's amazing, and if you're ever in the area you should definitely check it out.



















What I ate: Friday


9:15 am: 16 oz black coffee and 1 package of Skittles

12:30: School lunch

5:00 pm: Granny Smith apple and water during the drive

7:30 pm to 10:30 pm: 2 pieces deep dish pizza, 2 bread sticks with cheese sauce, 4 Jack and Cokes

Yikes!  I've been eating terribly since starting this blog.  I need to re-plan and reorganize.

Quick post from yesterday

After I went to bed last night I realized I hadn't posted for the day.  The end of semester craziness is definitely affecting me.  I had planned on making more mushroom fajitas, but just didn't have the desire after a very long, draining phone call and grading session.  Fortunately, I had stuck a potato in the oven, so that made the perfect supper.  I try to keep baked potatoes around at all times.  They are super quick to use for potato salad or fried potatoes.

I've been saying this for the last few days, but soon I will reveal a new feature.  It just comes down to me making the items for it, which I will be doing Saturday.  Oh, and I'm hoping for a new camera for Christmas because I would like to include more pictures.  For now, my cell phone pictures will have to suffice, and I'll try to add more so there won't be any more posts without photos after today.

What I ate: Thursday

8:00 am: 16 oz coffee

9:15 am: I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I had 2 glazed donuts.  I packed a bagel, but the donuts were calling to me.  I wanted to eat three, but stopped myself.  

12:00 pm:  I packed more of the leftover from the week, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat them, so I ate my everything bagel with cream cheese instead.  I also had one more donut (sigh) and a winesap apple.

7:00 pm: Baked potato with sour cream, butter, salt and pepper

8:30 pm: 5 Oreo cookies and a glass of milk

Yikes!  looking at yesterday's post makes me realize that other than the potato and apple I had no produce.  I need to plan ahead better, so this doesn't happen again.  It was a terrible day for eating, which frankly matches my mood.  I can't wait for the weekend.

Long day

I was planning on introducing a new feature to the blog, but it will need to wait until tomorrow.  I'm feeling a little silly right now because I'm sad over my T.V.  I had some problems with the power on Sunday, and apparently my T.V. got zapped because of it.  I don't watch much T.V., in fact I only noticed it was dead today because today is the first time I've tried to use it.  This is why I feel silly.  It's not like I have to replace the T.V. anytime soon, but it wasn't very old (only 5 years), so I just feel like it's a waste.  Oh well, I have better things to do than mope over a T.V.

What I ate today:


8:00 am: 16 oz black coffee

9:15 am: Everything bagel with cream cheese

12:15 pm: Leftover sausage with peppers, onions, and couscous.  Maple glazed nuts recipe here.  I'm getting so tired of these leftovers. I have enough for one more lunch, but I really don't want to eat them.  I'll wait and see how I feel tomorrow.  (I just realized that I seem very down in the tone of this post, and I am)

6:00 pm:  No work tonight, so I got to make a proper supper: Mushroom fajitas with guacamole (I'll post a recipe for this soon, no pictures tonight).  I would like to start making my own tortillas because I'm just not happy with the quality I've been getting from the store.  I've tried making tortillas before and I roll them with a rolling pin.  This results in very thick tortillas.  Does anyone have any hints or do I need to buy a tortilla press?

I have been drinking more water today.  At least 4 large glasses.

Monday and Today: It's about time I got caught up

Lots of leftovers in the last few days.  You will notice that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday lunch will be very heavy on the leftovers.  I work an extra job on those nights and don't have time to cook, so I make sure I have lots of leftovers.  My husband lives on the other side of the state for most of the week, fortunately, I have never had a problem eating leftovers like many people I know.  I cook a big meal just for myself and pack away the rest.  If there is too much I freeze individually portioned meals.  This way when I'm running late I have quick meals.

I realized today that I've been drinking very little water during the day.  I'm not really drinking anything else like soda or juice, but I just have my coffee in the morning and quit drinking.  This is very unusual for me, so tomorrow I'm going to start really watching my water intake.   My skin is doing weird stuff (being dry and blotchy).  I know this is partially due to winter's approach, but also because my water intake is low.

What I ate: Monday


8:00 am: Asiago bagel and cream cheese

9:00 am: 16 oz black coffee

12:00 pm: Leftover sausage with peppers, onions, and tomatoes served over Israeli couscous.  A small winesap apple.  The couscous got some strange/interested looks.  I actually packed too much food, so I ate half.  Usually I feel like I have to eat everything.

4:00 pm: Macaroni and cheese with spinach

10:00 pm: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich

What I ate: Tuesday (Looks just like yesterday)


8:00 am: Everything bagel with cream cheese

9:00 am: 16oz coffee

12:00 pm: Leftover sausage with peppers, onions, and tomatoes served over Israeli couscous.  Leftover brussel sprouts with red wine vinegar.  1 large Granny Smith Apple.  I was super full after the brussel sprouts, but I ate the apple anyway.  This was not a good idea.  The sour apple was great, but after I had just finished with the vinegary brussel sprouts, it was just too much of the same taste.

4:30 pm: Leftover macaroni and cheese with spinach

Tomorrow I will have more leftovers for lunch, but I will also have try a new recipe for supper, and I will be talking about a new feature.

Sunday

I meant to post another entry last night about what I had eaten on Sunday, but my electricity was going crazy.  I had lights flickering on and off, and it was creepy.  My husband and I ended up packing up the dog and going to my parents until we could get the issue fixed.  By the time we got back home it was late and time for bed, so no post.

What I ate Sunday:


12:00 pm: Lunch at church.  I didn't wake up in time to get breakfast, and I was afraid my stomach would start rumbling through the service, but I was fine.  I piled my plate high with salad, turkey tetrazzini, corn, cheesy potatoes, cranberries, and a brownie.

6:30 pm: Sauteed chicken sausages with onions, peppers, and tomatoes, served over Israeli couscous.  Balsamic baked brussel sprouts on the side.  I could tell that my body was craving vegetables after all the damage I have managed to do lately.  This supper hit the spot.

9:30 pm: dark chocolate gelato

What I'm eating: Weekend recap

Before my weekend recap a recipe.  These are great on salads, on top of desserts, or just eating out of the bowl!

Maple glazed nuts


2 cups unsalted nuts of your choice (I used pecans and peanuts)
4 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1. In a heavy bottomed pan cook nuts for a few minutes.  They will start to smell "nutty," and will begin to brown.  Let them get brown, but be careful not to burn them.  Stir constantly.

2. Add oil and salt and cook for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Add maple syrup (this will sizzle).  Stir for 3 minutes or until the syrup starts to get a little sticky.

4. Remove nuts and place on either a large plate or baking pan lined with waxed paper or a sil pad.  Place nuts in the refrigerator and let cool for an hour.

5. Break apart and enjoy!

The Weekend

The weekend has been a little hectic with the holidays, so I didn't get a chance to post each day as I have been.  I'll talk about both Friday and Saturday in this post, and then post for Sunday later tonight.  I have been eating with my parents all weekend, and this has affected the way I eat greatly.  They eat a lot more meat and less grains and vegetables than I do at my house.  I can really tell that my body is suffering.  I feel sluggish and tired.  I need to be very conscientious this week about what I'm eating, so I can feel more alert.  I have a lot to do in the next few weeks: finishing the semester with both my high school and college students, studying for the GRE, and baking for Christmas.  I'll need my energy, so I'm really going to try to pay attention to what I eat.  My husband looked at my blog and commented that people are going to think I was a liar in my first post.  I knew that if I made statements about how I thought I ate they would quickly be proven wrong, but I went ahead and did it anything.  This has been informative so far, and I think using all the information will help me put better food in my body.

What I ate, Friday:

9:30 am: Breakfast burritos and coffee.  I didn't have potatoes, so I used kidney beans.  We also had eggs scrambled with onions and peppers.  The burritos were topped with cheese, salsa, and Tabasco.

2:30pm: After Christmas shopping we stopped at Qdoba for lunch.  Yikes, fast food 3 days in a row, but really I love Qdoba.  I have the craft two with a chicken quesadilla and naked veggie burrito.

7:00 pm: Leftovers from Thanksgiving.  I really overdid it tonight.  I ate turkey, potatoes, gravy, and dessert.  I was so stuffed I could barely move when we left my parent's house at 10:00.  It all just tasted so good, and I just kept eating and eating.  Bleh.

What I ate, Saturday:


10:00 am: Biscuits and sausage gravy (I'll post my recipe sometime) with 2 over easy eggs and coffee.  Once again, this meal with with my parents.

4:00 pm: snack/lunch of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich

7:00 pm: supper with parents again.  Hamburger with mustard and pickles, salad with apples and maple pecans and peanuts, baked beans and potato chips.  I really wanted a second hamburger, but I remembered last night, so I stopped myself.