Surprise! Taste Changes

I've been saying it for years:  I like seafood.  But I despise seafood salad.  Lobster, crab....love it.  But when you mix it with mayo and put it on a roll, well, YUCK! 

Then I found myself at work the other day, putting out food for their food program.  Lunch was seafood salad on whole wheat, three-bean salad and fruit.  Having had a very quick bowl of cereal for breakfast, I was starving!  Like black-hole-FEED ME kind of starving!  I eyed the seafood salad cautiously, and said "What the hell." 

I was surprised!  While I didn't love it, I didn't hate it either.  I think the difference is that this seafood salad was chopped very fine and wasn't saturated with mayo.  And the wheat bread made a difference, too.  It's not something I'd order on my own, but good to know that if it's the only thing available I won't go home hungry.  :)

Giving it Another Go

I've said this before:  I used to be a big fan of Cooking Light magazine.  I used to bring my copy to work and on my lunch break, I'd circle and star recipes that I was interested in making.  And I'd actually make some of them.  Then, as time went on, the love affair went stale.  Ingredient lists got really long, with expensive things that I would never use again.  I became disenchanted, and declined when it came time to renew.  However, I've held on to my Annual compilations from 2001, 2002 and 2004, and I've cooked the hell out of 'em! 

I got a wake-up call at the doctor this year after my second pregnancy.  I started blood pressure meds and upon getting the prescription filled, I promised myself that I'd start taking better care of myself.  One of those ways is to eat better.  Two things I'm doing to achieve that:  not eat from stress or boredom, and cook healthier meals.  The not-eating-unless-I'm-hungry thing is a bit tricky sometimes but it seems to be getting replaced by a new habit:  knitting!  Nothing soothes a stressful mind than banging out a few rows on your latest creation.  (and I've got the pictures on my Ravelry account to prove it!) Then, I was flipping through a Cooking Light mag at a checkout and discovered something:  the food in the magazine is looking good!  So I took a chance and resubscribed.  I got my first issue a few weeks ago and I've only made one recipe so far.  But the pen is back, with circles and stars intact.  :)

Cooking up a Storm....In a Storm!

Lots of thunderstorms this weekend.  It's been a very busy one, with something going on for pretty much all of it!  And most of it was food-related.  We went to a wedding on Saturday, and it was a very simple affair, including a potluck reception.  I kind of like this idea!  However, with work, two kids and going out the night before, I just didn't have time to make something for it.  So we picked up some chips and pineapple salsa on the way.  Luckily, no one else thought of this and it went nicely with the other things on the table.  One of my knitty friends baked a cake that was out of this world!  It was a spongy roll cake, with a sweet cream and fresh berry filling.  Awesome!  Congrats and Best Wishes to Danielle and Dave!  :)

Tonight's dinner is grilled chicken breast with melon salsa.  Brian made the salsa this morning from honeydew melon, canteloupe, red onion, cilantro, jalapeno and simple syrup.  The recipe called for agave nectar but I'll be honest, I don't know what that is.  And since I was short on time, we made a substitution.  We hit a snafu when Brian went out to light the grill.  I think I forgot to mention this....our grill caught fire a few weeks ago.  Yes, a grill is "supposed" to catch fire, however this was on the outside.  We'd lost one burner but could still cook.  Today we lost a second one so the chicken's grilling on our George Forman grill.  It's not looking good for the season as far as grilling is concerned.  And gas grills are so damn expensive.  I'm hoping that we can hold off until the big summer clearance, when they start bringing in the grills at the hardware store and putting out the snowblowers!!

I'm also bringing a meal to my friend Shelly tomorrow.  Shelly had her baby boy "Tadpole" (not his real name) two weeks ago and I'm bringing her family a vegetarian meal tomorrow night after work.  I'll stay long enough to visit and meet the baby, and also help her out with some cleaning or whatever.  Naturally, I left the cookbook that I picked a recipe from at work, because that's just how I roll.  :)

I am sorry to report that Crafty Mama is seriously lacking in the gardening department.  Every time that I have time to work on it, it's raining!  This afternoon has been simply ridiculous.  I'm afraid all I'll get to this year is maybe a couple of tomato plants.  Oh well, there's always next year.

Lastly, my pup Joey is not feeling well.  He was sick this morning and I pulled his food.  After making sure he wasn't throwing up for the rest of the day, Mama made him a big bowl of white rice and boiled hamburger.  He was really appreciative, let me tell you!  This is a great thing to make when your dog's not feeling good.  If you don't have any hamburger on hand, chicken's a good substitute. 

So that's it for now.  Whew!  What a whirlwind weekend!

Latest and Greatest

Sometimes a blog post needs to be about more than one food.  Though these two are worthwhile for their own post, it would be rather short!

Know how some foods just go together like a perfect marriage?  Like, chocolate and peanut butter for example.  Or chocolate and marshmallow.  Or chocolate and banana.  Mmmm....oops I got distracted for a minute.  Two things that were just meant for each other:  spinach and feta.  For Mother's Day Brian said that he would make anything I wanted, so I chose Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breasts.  On Mother's Day we were at my parent's house for dinner so we grilled and had the chicken breasts the next night.  These things rocked!  Not only were the chicken breasts stuffed with just the right amount of spinach, feta and garlic, they were coated in bread crumbs, browned on the stovetop and then baked.  Heaven....I think that the Greeks were onto something when they put those two together.

At least one night a week, we have an "easy night."  Usually this is something like Spaghetti and Meatballs, which I'm kind of sick of having.  Same thing with tacos.  So this week for something different, I put turkey club sandwiches on the menu.  Turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo and three pieces of bread.  Oh!  And three pieces of the thickest, prettiest bacon I have seen outside of  a Cracker Barrel.  Different, and delicious!

In the Garden

Hooray, it's May!  That can only mean that it's almost time to plant our vegetable garden.

My first year planting, I had a great year with a bumper crop of tomatoes and zucchinis.  Last year, high of the previous year's successes, I got cocky and tried to expand way too quickly.  It was a ridiculously wet summer, and it took out most of my plants.  I got like six zucchini (which Brian says is more than plenty for him!)   and the plant just shriveled and died, turning to mush in the rain.  Zucchini likes wet summer weather, but this was just too much.  The peppers I had planted never came to fruition, the cucumbers and carrots were too small to be edible, and the sugarmelon?  Sprouted then withered. 

So, as they say in sports, this is a rebuilding year.  After the soil is turned over, I am only planting zucchini, tomatoes and green beans.  I plan on a  lot of green beans, as they are the only veggie that Will eats willlingly.   One plant for regular tomatoes, and one for cherry tomatoes.  I don't care if I ever see a grape tomato again!  That's the only thing that grew really well last year, and we had bushels of them.  And there's only so much you can do with them, after you put them in salads and saute them in pasta a couple of times, you're sick of them.

I am also hoping that now that Will is three, he'll take a bit of an interest in helping take care of the plants.  Maybe if he gets to help water them he'll be more apt to eat them?

How can you Hate S'Mores??

I was home alone with the kiddos last night while Hubby was at his last class of the semester.  Will was watching "Max and Ruby" while I was feeding the baby.  The episode featured the bunnies going on a "campout" and making s'mores.  Will adores campouts (which consist of setting up the sofa bed and having a breakfast "campout" in our house)  and someday would probably love to sleep in a tent.  Tonight, he asked if we could make s'mores.  So, being a s'mores lover myself, I decided to indulge him.  Normally he has a rainbow cookie before bed, tonight I would make him a special little treat of a s'more. 

Since I've mentioned that I'm alone with the boys, there obviously won't be a fire involved.  Roasted marshmallows for s'mores are infinitely better than microwaved ones, but it's just not gonna work tonight.  I've perfected the microwaved s'more over the year, the trick is to walk that fine line between squishy melted marshmallow and tire rubber.  S'mores made, I poured us each some milk and we had a seat at the kitchen table, anticipating divine goodness. 

Will chooses one, picks it up and squishes the two graham crackers together.  Marshmallow oozes between the layers, and he gives the concoction a look of disdain.  "Ugh....that's sticky.  Ewwww."  I encourage him to take a bite, and hegives the cracker the tiniest nibble I've ever seen.  Then he drops the entire s'more onto the paper plate and declares that he'd rather have a rainbow cookie instead.  Huh???

Sometimes, if I hadn't been there to witness his birth, I'd wonder if he was my kid.  :)

Grill Woes

Uh-oh......

Saturday night was the opening of Grill Season in our house.  It was to be just a simple meal of grilled kielbasa and potato packets.  Brian lit the grill and went inside to get the food. 

When he came back, flames were licking the OUTSIDE of the grill, near the control panel.  He quickly turned off the fuel supply and the flames died down.  Luckily there was no need for an emergency pizza, as the food was still inside the house.  So the kielbasa was grilled on the George Forman Grill, and the potatoes were adapted to a skillet. 

After some examination, Brian determined that there was an issue with the fuel line and fixed it for the time being.  However, one of the burners got taken out in the fracas, leaving us with two.  Last night was WAY TOO HOT in the house to cook, so he grilled hamburgers.  But it appears that our grill is on its last legs of it's  short, eight-year life. 

How come this kind of thing doesn't happen at the END of grilling season, when the gas grills are deeply discounted??  :(