Busy Weekend

Wow, busy weekend.   Lots of work stuff to do.   Because of a snow day, we only had two days of school with kids this past week, and I spent both of those days in meetings ALL day.    I had a lot of catching up to do.    Next week is a really crazy week for us too.    Monday night is the ONLY night where we don't have something going on.

We only made it to the gym on Monday last week.    Yesterday we took a walk and today we worked out hard at the gym.   Tomorrow the plan is to head there again and then we will go sometime on Friday.    I really miss the time when we don't or can't go.   I'm sitting at 16 pounds lost since January 1.   I'm feeling pretty good about that!

Monday - Gym (gotta get that workout in)
Tuesday - Accountability meeting (work-related) and Choir concert - 6 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Wednesday - Conference night (at work until at least 8 p.m.) and band concert
Thursday - Conference night
Friday  - comp day (but I know I will be busy crazy)

So here are our meals for this week.

Sunday - Migas - from a new cookbook I purchased, Pioneer Woman Cooks (Ok, I know I need another cookbook like I need a hole in the head, but this was from Books are Fun and highly discounted and pretty awesome!
Monday - Cowboy Calzones  - also from Pioneer Woman Cooks.   I'm in the process of making these tonight and cheating a little with store-bought pizza crust
Tuesday - I'm actually going to order a pizza!
Wednesday - YOYO - Your On Your Own
Thursday - YOYO - Your On Your Own
Friday - Slow Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu from here.
Saturday - Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken from here. 

Weekend Cookin'

Wow...I had a busy weekend, but it was relaxing too.    We had the day off today, so it was nice to extend our time away from work.

I went to the gym on Saturday,  Sunday and today. I so did not want to go on Sunday, but forced myself to and was glad of it.   Today I did the aqua class this morning.    It was fun, with a different instructor, and a different workout and it was nice to get my exercise in at the beginning of the day.

My weight has stayed the same this week, but I can definitely tell that I have more energy, more stamina and feel better in general.    Onward and forward!

I have a couple of recipes to share tonight.    One was something I had planned for Friday but didn't get around to making until tonight and the other was a spur of the moment baking decision, and will be in the boys lunches next week.

The first, Crockpot Sausage Soup, adapted from here.

My first disclaimer is that I made it on top of the stove.    I already had a chicken in the crock pot and it was late in the afternoon, so I used my favorite pot (which I bought at the ARC thrift store after encouragement from my mom - thanks Mom!).

The second disclaimer is that I really just used the recipe as an inspiration.   I used a different kind of sausage, LOTS more veggies, including a bit of broccoli and cauliflower that were all by their lonesome in the refrigerator,  some leftover cream cheese, and a mix of quesadilla cheese and cheddar cheese.    It got great reviews from the troops and we have enough left over for dinner tomorrow.   Score!

Sausage and Veggie Soup

Ingredients

I love this pot!   It cost me $10 at the ARC Thrift Store.   




• 1 lb sausage (I used chicken sausage from Sunflower Market - casings removed)
• 4 potatoes, cut in cubes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
•  8 celery ribs, chopped
•  8 large carrots, chopped
• 2 quarts chicken broth
• 1/2 cup skim milk cans 
•  3/4 cup total shredded cheese (I used cheddar and quesadilla cheese, plus about 3 Tbsp of cream cheese that was lurking in the refrigerator.)
• dried parsley, dried oregano, dill - I didn't measure this, just used probably 2 Tbsp each of the parsley and oregano and maybe 1 tsp of dill
• Shake of seasoning salt
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup mashed potato flakes to thicken up the soup.    
• salt and pepper  

Directions

1. Brown sausage and onion in a skillet. Drain well.
2. Place potatoes, celery and carrot in bottom of crock pot  (or add to sauce pan with the sausage and onion mixture.) Add sausage and onion mixture. Pour chicken broth over vegetables and sausage.
3. Turn crock pot to low and cook 4 to 5 hours.  Bring to boil on stove top and then turn down to simmer, uncovered
4. Add spices and herbs at this point.
5. During the last 5 minutes of cooking add  milk and cheddar cheese. Do a taste test for salt and pepper and add, if needed.
6. Note: If a thicker soup is desired, add -- 1 tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons of cold water.
7. Serve and enjoy!

Yummy delicious dinner!

 

The surprise tonight was that I saw this posting from what is becoming one of my favorite blogs and decided to make them.    

I didn't make any changes at all.   I know.   I ALWAYS change something.   Not this time.    Just as written.   I did double the recipe and didn't have pecans so substituted walnuts.   Wait...that's what I changed!    This filled a VERY LARGE cookie sheet.     My children are not so patiently waiting for them to cool so that they can sample them.  

Congo Bars Recipe:

2 3/4 c. all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2/3 c. butter, softened
2 c. brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 package milk chocolate chips
1 c. chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside. Combine butter and sugar using a mixer until blended. Add eggs, one at a time to sugar mixture, mixing on low in between each addition. Add vanilla and mix. Add flour and mix until combined. Stir in chips and then pecans.

Coat a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.

cookies and milk anyone?

Meal Planning Feb 19 - 26

So what's on tap for this week?

I've done a lot of cooking today, which always helps later on in the week.

I've got a chicken in the crockpot that I skinned before cooking.    I'll make something with that or we will eat it for dinner with salad one night this week.    I'm making the sausage soup from last week tonight as I did not get it made.     We also have a lot of overlefts in the refrigerator:

chili, chicken caccitore (going into the freezer), a bit of Mexican Lasagne - (which was wonderful!), and of course we will have some of the sausage soup left too.

Monday - Crockpot Sausage Soup from here - hit the gym this morning
Tuesday -  Leftovers - chili, soup, salad - Parent meeting for theater production and college night meeting
Wednesday - Roasted chicken, steamed veggies  Grocery Store Tour - Wednesday at 7 p.m. at KS - Union and Briargate
Thursday - Gym night - aqua zumba maybe - Eggs and turkey bacon
Friday -     History Day competition at CC - Leftovers
Saturday - not sure, but will have all day to think about it.

So for a long time, I have been buying ground turkey as opposed to ground beef.   However, last time I was at Sunflower Market, I bought some of their ground beef.   When I cooked it for the Mexican Casserole this weekend, I could barely stand the smell of it.    I think that I will only be buying ground turkey and chicken from here on out.    I can only tell a difference if it's in a burger.   If it's in tacos or a casserole, I can't tell the difference, and I don't think that the boys can either.

Have a great week, everyone!

Apple Cake!

So what does one do when one has a lot of apples that have already been sliced and cored?    One makes Apple Cake!   Now I'm not talking about 10 sliced apples - I'm talking about a gallon-sized zipper bag full of apples.    So I searched and looked and found this recipe, claiming to be the best apple cake in the world.     That's a pretty big claim - but the recipe did look good and looked like it would be an easy way to use all of those apples.    So I got busy.....

Please don't laugh at my ugly green bowl.   It's actually a Halloween bowl, but it's the only one big enough for ALL that batter.   It came to the top!

Three times the recipe equals 5 pans!

Pretty pretty!

Those apple chunks are really good!

Apple Spice Cake (from here)

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil 
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 to 4 Granny Smith apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (3 cups)
• 1 cup chopped assorted nuts, such as pecans and walnuts (optional)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; set aside.
2. Working over a large sheet of parchment paper, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; gather sifted ingredients into center of sheet; set aside.(I sift everything in a large bowl)
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine vegetable oil, sugar, and eggs; mix on high speed until lemon yellow.
4. Fold reserved parchment in half lengthwise; with mixer on medium speed, gradually shake in dry ingredients until just incorporated.
5. Add apples and, if desired, nuts, to batter; mix to combine. Add vanilla, mixing until incorporated.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 75 to 90 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, and cool slightly on a wire rack.
8. Invert cake onto rack; turn cake right-side up to cool completely on rack 

My Notes:     I tripled the recipe and used 1/2 oil and 1/2 applesauce.    I think I could have used even less oil and more applesauce.     I mixed the dry ingredients in a bowl, not on parchment paper.    I used walnuts in the bread.  I probably only cooked this for a total of 55 minutes - check it at 45 minutes.   I also had a really hard time getting this bread out of the pans.    I either need a)  new pans or b) to flour the sides of the pans or maybe use parchment paper in the loaf pans.      Be aware that the batter is very thick, and not like a typical cake batter.   The apples release moisture as they cook, and the end result is quite nice.      I had a small piece last night and again this morning.   It's definitely better this morning.    I think that the people I am serving it to on Tuesday or Wednesday will really enjoy it!

Meal Planning, February 13 - 19

Last week was a huge success as far as meal planning and I'm definitely doing it again this week. 

So here it is:

Sunday:   Tacos with Buffalo meat - OMG they were wonderful!  

Monday:  Crock PotChicken Cacciatore – use leftover marinara sauce

Tuesday:   Gym night – leftover tacos, whatever is in fridge

Wednesday:  Gym night - Chili - made on Sunday

Thursday: Board dinner – leftovers for kids

Friday: - Work day – home early - gym - Crock pot sausage soup

Saturday:  Use up what's in fridge

Sunday:  Slow Cooker Mexican Lasagne

How about something sweet?

So before I talk about food, I should talk about where I am today.    Just this week, I have noticed a huge change in my energy levels and what I am able to do at the gym.    In our workout with our trainer, Moses, this weekend, there were substantial changes from where I was on January 1.   I was able to hold the planks a lot longer and was able to do some things I didn't think I could do - box jumps, while a bit scary, felt really good once I managed to do them.    I noticed too, that it's much easier to get up off of the floor and today on the elliptical, I was able to go harder for longer.     I'm down 16 pounds and I am feeling great!  

My kids have been bugging me to make something sweet.     Something that I love but never make is a pumpkin roll.  It just looks too time intensive for me.    So when I found this recipe, I knew I had to try it and did today.  

Pumpkin Roll Bars
from here: 

Ingredients:

Cake
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin 
1/4 cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Filling
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until smooth. Beat in 2 eggs, pumpkin, 1 teaspoon of vanilla and water until well blended.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin/butter mixture and combine until well blended. Spread about 2/3 of the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

In a bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 cup sugar, and ½ teaspoon of vanilla until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over the pumpkin batter. Dollop the remaining pumpkin batter over the cream cheese batter and spread out as evenly as possible.  Use a table knife to swirl together the cream cheese and top layer of pumpkin batter.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the center of the pumpkin batter springs back when touched. Cool completely in pan, then cut into bars.

My notes:     I did this just as written.    The sugar and butter did not get "creamy" but I just added the other ingredients and it came out really good.   

Easy Chicken Curry

So last week I created a plan for the whole week.    I found it very helpful and for the most part, we followed it.    One of the recipes that I tried was this one:


from:  http://weelicious.com/2011/11/07/easy-chicken-curry/

Easy Chicken Curry

Easy Chicken Curry (Serves 4)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Small Onion, diced
1 Garlic Clove, minced
1 Red Bell Pepper, seeded and cubed into 1 inch pieces
1 lb Chicken Breasts, boneless, skinless and cubed
2 Tsp Curry Powder
1 1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt
2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
2 Medium Carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
1 Large Russet Potato, peeled and cubed into 1 inch pieces
1-14 oz Can Light Coconut Milk
1/2 Cup Frozen Peas

Accompaniments: white or brown rice
1. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat and sauté the onions for 4 minutes. Add the minced garlic and bell peppers, sauté an additional minute.
2. Add the cubed chicken, sauté for 2 minutes, stir in the curry powder, salt, tomato paste, carrots and potatoes until they are all coated.
3. Pour in the coconut milk and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Remove lid, add the frozen peas and simmer an additional 15 minutes.
5. Serve over rice.

My notes:    I pretty much followed this recipe as written except that I substituted edamame for the peas, I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, I added twice as much curry powder and I added about a tablespoon of siracha because I believe that curry should have a kick to it.  

There were four of us eating dinner and we had probably enough for two more servings left.    I'd had rice in the freezer, so I took it out to thaw with the chicken and then reheated it in the microwave.  We had a delicious salad with this too.