A day late...

I didn't have a chance to get on the computer last night so I couldn't post yesterday's lunch and dinner.

Lunch

I had leftovers for lunch. It was the rest of the spaghetti squash with half the leftover meat sauce with some parmesan cheese.

Yesterday was the last day of physical inventory in the building where my department works. We are the only ones that have nothing to do with what they do. haha We are quality and they are all distribution, but it is helpful because we do sort of work hand in hand. Anyway, they've been catering food for breakfast and lunch for it and yesterday was fried catfish. OMG, it smelled delicious! Then, I got the call that there was a lot leftover - I could not resist! I got a little even though they encouraged me to get more. I had to explain I had actually already eaten. Here's my little plate. The piece of catfish was actually smaller than it looks I think. This was on one of those really small styrofoam plates.

Dinner

Tonight was shuffleboard night so we had "fend for yourself" night. The boys opted for mac and cheese so I made some enchiladas out of leftover chili. I could not decide if I wanted queso cotija or colby cheese, so I sprinkled both and make it very tasty! I also made some kale chips on the side. Amazingly I made 3 enchiladas and ate them ALL! Probably should have only had 2...

As I waiting for the fiance to get home from shuffleboard, I decided to make some homemade vanilla cupcakes:

I'm not sure why the picture came out so dark. I was going to make a lemon icing to go on top, but I decided they tasted delicious just like that!

Successes and failures

Half of dinner was a success. The other half - er, not so much. I made an albondiga type soup tonight. It wasn't exactly like my mom used to make as I don't remember her putting a lot of veggies or potatoes. But I used to love it when she made albondigas! So, I made my own version.

This was my portion.

When I put my spoon in, I noticed it elevated the ingredients a little.

The pictures don't do it justice. My oldest son is the pickiest eater, so I usually gauge how "friendly" recipes are by him. He loved it! My youngest wanted more salt...

Albondigas

1 lb. lean ground beef

1/2 c. brown rice

2-3 carrots, chopped

2 potatoes chopped into 1-1 1/2 inch cubes

1 cup of fresh green beans

4 mushrooms sliced

1 can beef broth

1 can vegetable broth

4-5 cups water

1. Mix ground beef and rice with your favorite seasonings. I used cumin, garlic powder, onion power, pepper and a little sea salt. Make little meatballs.

2. Meanwhile, heat a dutch oven. Coat with a little cooking spray and start cooking the meatballs. until browned all around. Depending on how lean your meat is, drain any fat.

3. Add your two cans of broth and water. I don't like the rich flavor of using only beef broth so thats why I only used a can of beef and a can of vegetable broth. I usually just put enough water to cover or make enough soup. My family loves the liquidy part of the soup.

4. Chop carrots and potatoes if necessary and add to the soup and let come to a boil. I let it boil for about 10 minutes. Then add the green beans.

5. Lower heat and simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Add the mushroms. Season with your favorite spices again. I used cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, dried cilantro, dried Mexican oregano and a little salt. I don't use a lot of salt and figure it is better to let people add it according to their own taste in my house. Once the mushroom look cooked and the rice looks cooked ( a few loose grains will rise to the top), its ready!

All in all it takes about 30- 45 minutes to cook. The one thing I had planned on adding that I didn't was a can of corn. Its a good thing I didn't because that was enough carbs and starch with the rice and potatoes. I will probably interchanged the potatoes and corn in this recipe. I really liked this. It had a healthier twist to a down home favorite from my childhood. Next time I might even try it with turkey instead of beef!

Another Fiasco!

Now for the failure. Dum dum dum dum! I attemped to make kales chips. All was well until I got side tracked with taking the pics of my soup. Then, they burned!

I tried to use Kath's Kale Chips ( http://www.katheats.com/?page_id=2544 ) but it didn't work. I'll have to try again. All I could taste was the burned taste. I was looking forward to them too!

Well, FH wants to use the pc so laters!