Pleasant surprises

Snack

Today was a day for experimenting and the experiments going pleasantly well. First, I found a snack size cup of Sabra Roasted Red Pepper hummus with pretzel chips. I was a little hesitant to try this because I am not the biggest fan of chickpeas. However, I really liked it! It tasted sort of like bean dip!

There was actually a lot of hummus for the portion of pretzels. At least I thought so. Luckily, the two cups fit together tightly so I could save it. I have some snap peas that I might take tomorrow. Exciting! I wanted something I could eat with some veggies!

Dinner

The second experiment was spaghetti squash! I considered it a success since everyone ate it, including the kids. Of course, I did bribe them with ice cream. hehe

The fiance and I decided to have a beer before dinner as I was cooking and he relaxed playing a video game. Here was my Jack's Pumpkin Spice Ale:

Here is the "spaghetti" in a casserole bowl. I personally thought the spaghetti squash was really good and a delicious change from pasta. I could have stopped eating about 2/3 of the way through my bowl, but it was so good I managed to finish it. Here is my bowl with spaghetti squash, meat sauce and shredded parmesan cheese with bread "crackers" as Kath says:

I didn't drink the beer with my dinner, btw. It just happened to be next to it. I threw the rest out and drank a La Croix lime sparkling water with dinner.

Spaghetti Squash "Spaghetti"

1 spaghetti squash

1 lb. ground beef

1 jar prepared pasta sauce

1 can roasted diced tomatoes

1. Cook the spaghetti squash in the oven. I think I cut mine the wrong way. I cut it length wise but the spaghetti was short and not long like I've seen in other pictures and demonstrations. It was still good. I put it cut side down in a baking pan with about 1/2 inch water. I baked at 400* for 30 minutes, then dumped the water turned over the two halves andbaked for another 15 minutes. It seemed to work out well. Let it cool and then use a fork to scrape the spaghetti strings out of the squash.

2. Season ground beef to taste, cook and drain. Return to pan and add pasta sauce and simmer adding fresh or dried herbs. I used fresh basil and oregano. Add the can of diced tomatoes.

3. Once everything is ready, portion some "spaghetti" in a bowl and a couple of spoonfuls of the meat/tomato sauce. Top with parmesan cheese.

Simple as 1-2-3!

Chicken Pot Pie

It was supposed to get really cold yesterday and it did! So, I felt like making some comfort food and something that would make us nice and toasty but that I could hide veggies in for the kids as well. I looked up some recipes for chicken pot pie and came up with this one:


Chicken Pot Pie

Filling:
1 can Healthy Request Cream of Chicken
1 can Cream of Potato
1 cup skim milk
1 bag frozen mixed veggies
5 chicken thighs, deboned and shredded (about 2 1/2 - 3 cups worth I guess)
1 potato

Crust
1 cup Heart Smart Bisquick
1/2 cup skim milk
dried herbs
1 egg

1. Cook your chicken and debone and shred with two forks. I used thighs because we have a lot of them since they were on sale a couple of weeks ago. Typically I would have used boneless breasts.
2.Peel the potato and boil for about 20 minutes or until soft through out but not mushy.
3.Meanwhile, mix the veggies, soups and milk. Add shredd chicken.
4. Dice the cooked potato into desired size chunks and add to the filling mixture.
5. In another bowl mix Bisquick, milk, egg and dried or fresh herbs to liking. Note: A whole egg made it very moist. Next time I might try just using the egg white and perhaps 1/3 cup of milk instead. I want more of a flaky crust. The herbs did give it a plesant twist IMO.
6. Pour filling into a rectangular casserole and pour the crust over it. Another note: I would also double the crust recipe if you use a rectangular casserole. I didn't quite have enough to cover the top of the filling as its supposed to.
7. Bake at 350* for 45 minutes or at 400* for 30 minutes. Note: I baked mine for 30 mins. at 400* and the filling was nice and bubbly and the crust was nice and brown.

I sprinkled some sea salt and pepper on the filling before adding the crust mixture and I thought it was enough. The fiance, however, added his own salt. All in all, I'd say it was good even though my potato didn't cook all the way, which is why I suggest 20 mins. instead of 15 mins. I think 5 minutes in boiling water should do the trick. My youngest son really liked it and asked me to make it again and the oldest said it wasn't the best but it was ok. He didn't like the veggies so much, but I think in time he will get used to it. I will definitely make this again!

Good time with good friends

I didn't picture a whole lot yesterday. We were pretty busy! I got up and decided to take a drive to the farmer's market and then to pick up some breakfast. Here was my bounty from the farmer's market. I found some fun things!

From left to right:

chili

tomato

carrots

yellow onion

oranges

sweet potatoes

poblano pepper

lemons

limes

green grapes

green bell pepper

pumpkin butter

apple jelly

I am most excited about the non-produce foods. I planned on making chili for dinner so I figured I'd try this chili mix. I've ready about the pumkin butter of Kath's (http://www.katheats.com/) blog and was curious about it. I'll be opening this soon! I LOVE apple jelly! So, even though I don't normally buy jelly (I usually buy spreadable fruit), I couldn't resist.

Afterwards, I went to the meat market and picked up:

barbacoa (Mexican bbq)

corn and flour tortillas

Cotija cheese

guacamole

red salsa (even though I had some, I love the meat market's)

I didn't get a pic, but that was breakfast - barbacoa tacos.

Later, we spent the next two hours or so cleaning the house as we had some friends coming over and spending the night. Our friends from Killeen were in town and we were happy to have them stay with us! So, afterwards we made a trip to the store so I could double or err triple the chili recipe and buy some entertaining spirits. hehe

I didn't picture the chili, but this is what my girlfriend and I drank last night:

We started out this, but we didn't feel it not one bit after finishing two bottles of raspeberry beer and one small one of black cherry. Honestly, I don't even want to think of the calories I consumed!

So, then we moved on to this organic wine I had in my wine stash. It was good. It didn't have that bitter bite at the end like some Merlots do.

The men had a beer fest, literally. There was miscellaneous beer from last weekend and from the last time they stayed with us which was about 2 months ago! We also bought a few more six packs and ours friends brought a 6 pack of Blue Moon pumpkin ale. I have been craving it and they looked for it last weekend but never found. We didn't find the Blue Moon pumpkin ale yesterday, but we found another pumpkin spice ale that I thought was pretty good. Very nice of them to think of me! I have to admit he was the one that turned me and the fiance on to Blue Moon. I had one of the BM pumpkin ale's before the real fruity drinks. Here was the variety available:

We spent the night playing Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour (the fiance and I are junkies), talking and just having a good time. I'm really glad they came!

Lazy Day

Today, I made some breakfast consisting of pork sausage with green onion and eggs, hashbrowns, toasts and fruit. Again I didn't take a pic. We played more Guitar Hero WT before our friends had to venture back home. Now I think I am going to lay in bed next to the fiance (he's napping) and read. Lazy Sundays are the best.

Cool days = Barbeque time!

At least in the Houston area it does. Our cool fronts aren't normally so "cool" but this was pleasant and didn't need the air conditioner for a few days. Always a nice thing! So, the fiance and I decided to grill some t-bone steaks we got on sale a couple of weeks ago. We decided to use an A-1 Marinade, I think it was "New York Steakhouse". It was actually pretty good! We used it on the steaks and also marinaded some squash too. Here's on the grill:

We also had some chiles from our plants that were very ripe so we decided to roast them along with a tomato to make roasted salsa. It was very tasty!

Our his and hers plates. The steaks were actually HUGE, so the boys and I split one in 3! It was more than enough meat!

My plate up close:

We also had some orzo on the side made with olive oil, red bell pepper and some fresh basil with lemon juice.

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!

Divine Reserve No. 7!

The FH has a beer he likes from St. Arnold's brewery. Every 6 mos or so they come out with a new beer. It doesn't stay the same and they don't continue to reproduce it. They make a certain amount of cases and once its gone its gone. And yes, this one is gone. It usually sells out within a day or so. Every time a new one comes out it goes up a number. So far, he has liked 5, 6 & now 7. This one is a hefeweizen (sp?) bock. Here is the description from their website:


http://www.saintarnold.com/beers/divine.html


Description:
This is a dark, slightly chocolatey weizenbock with an undercurrent of bananas and cloves. There is a slight spiciness from the hops and a balanced malt that hides the strength of the beer. It was brewed with Dark Wheat, Light Wheat, Chocolate Wheat, Pilsner, Munich, Special B and Chocolate malts and Northern Brewer hops. We used a traditional Bavarian hefeweizen yeast which gives the beer its distinctive clove and banana character. It is unfiltered. Enjoy at 45°F or warmer. We are curious to see how this beer will age.


A friend at FH's work has some extras that he sold to him. This is what it looks like:




This was my taste. You can't really tell but it is thick and kind of cloudy. It reminds me a little of the consistency of Guiness just not as thick. It was a little stout for my taste so I only had this little bit.


Well, I'm off to read a little and then go to bed. It looks like we are going out of town tomorrow and are supposed to get an early start!

Acorn Squash experiment

I bought an acorn squash on Wednesday at Whole Foods and could not wait to try it! So I baked it for dinner and filled it with a chicken, rice & bean bake I made for the family. I knew the kids would not like the squash so I didn't make them eat it. I simply baked this at 350 degrees for about 45-50 minutes. I first brushed some EVOO on it and them sprinkled it with light salt and some pepper.

I think it could have used a little more flavor. Maybe some garlic and onion powder. I am going to buy it again and perhaps try it with butter and maple syrup as I saw Martha Stewart do. I did take her suggestion of cutting off a little sliver of the bottom so that it stood perfectly without moving around. Worked like a charm! I'll try to picture it next time. Sorry, didn't get a pic of the whole entree, I was too eager to eat that I forgot to take pics. hehe