More eggs for super

I decided on eggs for supper again, but I knew I needed to make an entire meal tonight to avoid last night's grazing fiasco.  I boiled a few red potatoes.  Then I diced them and cooked them until brown and crispy in my cast iron skillet.  I really do love cast iron, and I think it's the best way to get a brown crust on food.  After the potatoes were crispy I added in a few eggs.

I also cooked up some corned beef hash, which I remembered also has potatoes in it after I opened the can.  Canned corned beef hash is one of my guilty pleasures.  I buy a can once or twice a year.  I didn't take a picture of my entire plate because canned corned beef hash does not photograph well.  I enjoyed all this with an English muffin.

What I ate today:


8:00 am: 12oz coffee with cream and sugar.  Kashi peanut butter chewy granola bar.

12:00 pm: White chicken chili.  I made this several weeks ago from "The Weeknight Kitchen" newsletter.  You can read my blog about it here.  I froze the leftovers and had them for lunch today.  I plan on making another big batch to freeze because this was a great lunch.  I ate this with a grapefruit.  This was also a great lunch since I was still feeling a little heavy from all the crackers and grazing yesterday.  I plan on finishing the soup with a salad for lunch tomorrow.

6:00 pm: 3 dark chocolate truffles, eggs, potatoes, corned beef hash, an English muffin with reduced sugar apricot jam.

Grazing is a bad idea and Artichoke Dip

Artichoke dip with crackers

Whenever I decide that I don't want to make a "real" meal, and I'm just going to sit down and eat something quick, it bites me in the butt.  I end up eating way too many crackers and feeling full, but not in a happy warm kind of way.  This happened to me tonight.  I had thought about making mushroom fajitas, but decided against it because I was too tired.  This was a big mistake.  I ended up eating two eggs, opened faced on toast.  Then I still wasn't full, so I ate 3 chocolate truffles.  I still wanted more, so I ate the leftover black olives in the fridge.  All of this culminated with me heating up the leftover artichoke dip (recipe follows) and eating it with crackers.

While the artichoke dip is delicious, I had some for lunch.  I would've felt a lot better had I just made the fajitas.  It doesn't seem to matter how much I eat when I graze; I'm never satisfied.  I know it's all in my head, but I just need to sit down to an actual meal for my brain to register that I've eaten something.  I hope I've learned my lesson: Grazing = eating way too much and feeling uncomfortable and still unsatisfied.

Hot Artichoke Dip


15oz can of Artichoke hearts, drained and torn in to small pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup cream cheese
1 to 2 tsp. garlic powder (optional)

1. Mash all ingredients together.

2. Heat until everything melts together.  (I thrown everything in a crockpot and let it set on "warm")

3. Serve warm

Really, that's it.  I have a bad habit of telling people that everything I make is "super easy," but really this is!

What I ate today and yesterday:


I've had 2 days of grazing and leftovers.  This explains why my stomach hates me right now.

Salad Confessional

I have a few weird confession to make about salads: I crave them in the winter and I crave them when I want something creamy and fatty.  It was the first day back to work in almost two weeks, so I think that's why I was wanting something comforting.  Trust me, I am under absolutely no delusions that the salads I make are healthy.  I made some ranch dressing with ranch seasoning, mayonnaise, and almond milk.  I slathered this on top of romaine lettuce, carrots, celery, cucumbers, hard-boiled eggs, and a Boca Chik'n patty.  I wanted to top this with olives, cheese, and avocado, but I didn't think it would fit on my plate.  This salad was fantastic and really hit the spot.

What I ate today:


8:00 am: 16oz coffee with cream and sugar.  I really need to get up early enough to make breakfast. I was starving by the time lunch came around.

12:00 pm: Leftover pork loin with mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans

6:00 pm: lovely, comforting, fatty salad.

I win nuts!

This is a little late, but at the beginning of December I entered a contest on the blog Cook. Vegan. Lover.  I enter a lot of blog contests, but I never win, so I was super excited and suprised when I found out I won the Nuts + Nuts giveaway.  I received a sampler pack of cashews which included one each of the lightly salted, spicy, sweet and salt, and honey sesame.  So far I've had the spicy and the sweet and salty cashews, they were both delicious.  I love the combination of lime leaves and chili peppers in the spicy cashers.  The little packs they come in are great for sticking in a purse or bag when on the go.  They are a little pricey, but I might spring for them when going on a trip as a special treat.  You can find the nuts here.

What I ate today:


10:00 am: 1/2 package of spicy cashews from nuts + nuts

11:30 am: spicy buffalo chicken sandwich from Cutter's.

6:00 pm: 12 oz prime rib with loaded baked potato and mixed veggies.  Yikes!  I've been out to eat twice in one day, and I was out last night.  I blame the end of Christmas break craziness with a lot of catching up and not much cooking.  Look for lots of leftovers and a few cooked dishes next week, but definitely, a lot of eating at home.

Vitale's

After a change in evening plans, I went out for supper tonight because I had to run to Macomb to pick up a Christmas present that was delivered there.  I decided to go to Vitale's, which is one of my favorite places to eat in Macomb.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera and get a picture of my food, and Vitale's does not have a website, so no pictures today. 

I had the bowtie pasta with Arrabiata.  Arrabiata is a spicy, creamy tomato sauce.  When I lived in Macomb I had this delivered to my apartment about every other week, and it's something I still crave and look forward to.  I really need to try and make the recipe here.  I think I could figure out my own version and get it pretty close.

What I ate today:


Because of a very last minute change in plans, the food today was a little strange.  I didn't really have a meal until supper, I just grazed most of the day.


11:30 am: veggies, black olives, dill dip, crackers and cheese leftover from last night.

5:30 pm: house salad, garlic bread, and bowtie with arrabiata

10:30 pm: veggies, dill dip, crackers and cheese.

New Year's Eve

Our original plans for New Year's Eve were rearranged, so my husband and I decided to make the best of our night in.  I was a little bummed at first because we would have made plans to go out of town if we had known we would have been free, but it turned out to be a great night in.  We invited my parents over for a supper of pork loin, steamed green beans, and mashed potatoes and gravy.  I also made a great cocktail of Wildberry vodka, triple sec, and orange juice all shaken and served up in a martini glass.

The spread right before my dad knocked over my mom's cocktail.

My plate, I'm so glad I made enough to have leftovers.

After my parents left, my husband and I decided to watch some movies and put together some snacks.  In my family we always want to make sure there is enough food for everyone to take as much as they want.  In fact, even though I know I'm usually only cooking for one or two people, I always make enough food for six.  I am always worried about running out of food.  With these disclaimers in mind, this is the food on which we snacked:

 We have Triscuits, Wheat Thins, The two dips are hot artichoke on the ends and dill dip in the middle.  The veggie/cheese tray includes radishes, carrots, celery, green pepper, cucumbers, Colby Jack cheese, goat cheese with cranberries and oranges, and Montery Jack cheese. 

Close-up of tray.  We actually finished most of this off in about 3 hours and drank 2 bottles of champagne.

Overall, it was a great New Year's Eve.  Oh, and my resolution; it's not food related, but I'll share it anyway.  I want to read 50 books this year.  I'll keep track of them and do a post at the end of the year listing all the books I've read.  I hope the start of your year is fantastic!

What I ate on New Year's Eve:

Other than the food listed above I had countless Lindor dark chocolate truffles, 2 hard boiled eggs, and an white chocolate coated oreo ball.

food pictures and ranch potatoes: I will get my husband to eat mushrooms someday

What follows are some food pictures from Wednesday that I didn't have a chance to post.  After the pictures I'll post a recipe for Ranch Potatoes.  They are super easy, and it's almost embarrassing posting it as a "recipe," but they are delicious.

 Lunch Wednesday.  Ranch potatoes and portabella mushroom sandwich.

My husband taking his first bite of mushroom sandwich.  He was unimpressed and said he should have put more mustard on the sandwich to hide the taste of the mushroom.  I did take a reaction shot, but he wouldn't let me post it.  I'll keep working on these mushrooms.  I've fixed brussel sprouts in a way that he likes, and I will not give up on the mushrooms.

Breakfast: 10 grain cereal with peanut butter and raisins.

Ingredients for Ranch Potatoes: 3 red potatoes, olive oil, and one packet of Ranch seasoning.

Ranch potatoes mixed and ready to go into the oven.

Ranch potato closeup #2

Cooked and crispy potatoes.

Ranch Potatoes

3 large or 6 small red potatoes, washed and diced leaving the skin on

1 packet Ranch seasoning

Olive oil

1.Preheat oven to 400 F.

2.  In a small bowl drizzle olive oil over Ranch seasoning while whisking.  Add enough oil to make a runny paste.  This should be the consistency of a thick milkshake.

3. Mix seasoning paste with diced potatoes.  Mix until all potatoes are evenly covered with the paste.

4. Place potatoes on baking pan, spreading out so that potatoes are in a single layer.

5. Bake for about 40 minutes, stirring potatoes about halfway through, so all sides get nice and crispy.  You will know the potatoes are finished with they are brown and crispy.  

What I ate Thursday:

5:30 am: 2 hardboiled eggs in the car on the way to Springfield

11:25 am: Wisconsin Horseshoe from D'arcy's pint.  (See yesterday's post for details)

6:00 pm: Taco pizza from Gem City Pizzeria http://www.gemcitypizza.com/