Tuesday, May 21, 2013

What's Cookin': May 20 - 26

Other than a couple rearranged days (and one night where we skipped dinner altogether), last week's menu plan was followed pretty closely - this is what we ate:

Monday, May 13
 Take out from Chipotle

Tuesday, May 14
Pork Tenderloin
Roast Parsnips and Sweet Potatoes

Wednesday, May 15
 Skipped dinner

Thursday, May 16

Friday, May 17
 Chili
Saturday, May 18
 Leftovers

Sunday, May 19
 Habenero Chicken Sausages
Sweet Potato Fries


This is this week's plan:

Monday, May 20
Eating out with friends

Tuesday, May 21
Grain-Free Bread

Wednesday, May 22
Leftovers
Grain-Free Brownies

Thursday, May 23
Grain-Free Waffles
Fruit

Friday, May 24
Homemade Pizza
Salad

Saturday, May 25
Mushroom Spinach Quiche
Salad

Sunday, May 26
Vegetable Beef Soup
Grain-Free Crackers


Saturday, May 18, 2013

Zucchini-Tomato Italian Chicken

The Farmer's Markets in our area are pretty much all opened up for the season, but sadly, we've not made it to any of them yet.  The only days we can really get to one is Saturdays, and lately our Saturdays have been packed to the gills busy.  Except today - such a rare occurance of non-scheduled time that se slept without the alarm and wound up sleeping late and spending the day happily doing nothing.

But, even though we aren't getting out to the Markets, it is nice to see spring produce hitting the stores. We picked up some zucchini the other day, and I used it along with some lovely chicken thighs the farm where we get our meat had (that was a nice change of pace - I mostly buy whole chickens from them, but they hard parts packaged up, so we took advantage of the opportunity to get some).

I really love chicken thighs - they are so much more moist and flavorful than breasts. It shocks me that in some parts of  the country, it's hard to even find thighs because people are so disdainful of 'dirty meat'.  Crazy people!

This was delicious and heated up very well for lunch the next day - I look forward to lots more zucchini in my future the next few months!


Italian Chicken Thighs with Zucchini and Tomatoes

4-6 chicken  thighs (bone-in)
2 T. coconut oil, tallow, lard or ghee
herbs, salt and pepper to taste (I used oregano, sage and fennel pollen)
 1/4 cup chicken broth
3-4 zucchini, cut into matchsticks
2-3 tomatoes diced (or 1 can diced tomatoes)
1/2 cup diced black olives (kalamata if you've got 'em - green olives would be good, too)
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Sear chicken in oil to brown, turn and brown other side.  Sprinkle with herbs, salt and pepper.  Add broth and let simmer, covered, 25 minutes.  Add vegetables and olives and simmer, covered, until zucchini is tender and cooked through, about 15 minutes more.

Sprinkle with Parmesan to serve, if desired.

Shared with:
A Favorite Thing, Finding the Pretty & Delicious Linky Party, Get Schooled Saturday, Saturday SHOW-licious Link Party, Say G'Day Saturday Link Party, Serenity Saturday, Show & Tell Saturday, Simply Natural Saturday, Super Saturday Show & Tell, Weekend Potluck, Weekend Re-Treat, Weekend Show Off Party, Your Great Idea.  
Creative HomeAcre Blog Hop, Sunday School Blog Hop, Sunday Show Off, Think Pink Sunday.
Busy Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop, Homestead Barn Hop, Made By You Monday, Make It Yourself Monday, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Make Your Own Monday, Manic Monday, Marvelous Monday, Mealtime Monday, Melt In Your Mouth Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Monday Funday, Mop It Up Monday, Mostly Homemade Monday, Motivate Me Monday, Motivated Monday, Natural Living Monday.
Anti-Procrastination Tuesday, Backyard Farming Connection, Family Table Tuesday, Fat TuesdayLiving Green Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tutorial Tuesday, Time to Sparkle, Totally Tasty Tuesday, Traditional Tuesday, Tuesday Greens, You're Gonna Love It Tuesday.                            


Wednesday, May 15, 2013

May Theme-alicious Progress Report and a Late TUSAL

 I managed to take my TUSAL photo only one day late - but now here I am, several days late in getting it posted.  I'm taking advantage of the photo op to show off getting my floss organized (finally):


This old and very large plastic organizer bin (I think it's for hardware?) is one that Michael has had - unused - for a few years now, and somehow it wound up in a corner of the porch, neglected, forgotten, and rained on.  We washed it - unfortunately, the paper that was attached to it on  top had never been removed and at this point, it's flat out welded on.  So, it ain't pretty - but it holds all my DMC floss with drawers left over for other brands, and that excites me a whole lot!

At some point (soon, I hope), I'm going to re-cover it, maybe by decoupage, so that it looks as happy as it make me feel to get my floss organized and easy to access.

As for my TUSAL jar - these are the things that have been feeding it this month: 

More progress on The Stitcherhood's "Midnight Dip" - because of the blocks of color and small number of color changes, this is a good one to keep tucked into my purse, for times when I'm waiting or listening without doing anything else (I find I pay attention much better if I keep my hands busy).  I've now run out of  the lighter blue, with just a tiny bit left to do in her tail - so this won't be fully complete til I get myself to a craft store (awww.....).

The Theme-alicious challenge for May is:
Pick a color, any color, then stitch only on projects that contain that color for the month!


I chose purple, picked out a few WIPs and then promptly ignored them in favor of some new starts - but I did pull in some purple!

A new start and a finish, all in one month - gasp!
Basket of Spells
Blackbird Designs
stitched on purple overdyed 28ct linen
DMC variegated floss

Folk Doves
Ginger & Spice
(from Just Cross Stitch, Nov/Dec 1987)
also stitched on the same purple fabric
DMC 4215
Not finished yet, but this will be my monochrome ornament for this month.

Lastly, I joined Ink Circles "Roll Your Own 2013" SAL - we're each working our own choice of colors on the mandala Tracy designed for the occasion.  I'm really loving how mine is coming out so far!

I may be doing one more new start, for a fundraiser coming up mid-June.  I'll decide that sometime before the end of this week.

That's it for me - happy stitching!





Monday, May 13, 2013

What's Cookin' May 13 - 19

I have been feeling really scattered this week, although I couldn't tell you with what.  Dinners seemed to be haphazard and eaten without a lot of thought.  Spring fever? Could be...

This is what we ate:

Monday, May 6
Taco Salad

Tuesday, May 7
Leftovers

Wednesday, May 8
Ate out with friends

Thursday, May 9 (Michael cooked)
Spinach and Swiss Quiche
Canadian Bacon
Strawberries and Kiwi with Whipped Cream

Friday, May 10
 Cauliflower "Mac n Cheese" with Ground Beef and Corn
(recipe below)

Saturday, May 11
Apple Chicken Sausages
Fried Potatoes

Sunday, May 12
Main Dish Salad with Tuna

Here's what's planned for this week:

Monday, May 13
Burrito Bowls 
(Chipotle take out)

Tuesday, May 14
Pork Tenderloin
Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Parsnips

Wednesday, May 15
Chicken Thighs
Zucchini "Noodles"

Thursday, May 16
Leftovers

Friday, May 17
Chili
Grain-Free "Corn"bread

Saturday, May 18
Leftover Chili

Sunday, May 19
Jalepeno Sausages
Chopped Salad
Avocado Slices

So... one of the things I made last week was an experiment I'd been wanting to try for awhile.  One of my childhood comfort foods (which became one of my kids' comfort foods in turn, which they are also passing on to their own) is Macaroni and Cheese - specifically the Kraft blue box - with cooked ground beef and corn stirred in.

I am not eating Kraft dinner anymore - or, for that matter, pasta noodles - so I wasn't sure if this was something even vaguely possible to still enjoy occasionally without just flat out grabbing the blue box.  I'd say this recipe got about 75% of the way there - it's not the stuff of my comfort food memories, but it did hit comfort food territory, we both enjoyed it, and were happy to note  that it reheated very well the next day for lunch.  I was a little short on cheddar cheese, and I think next time, I'd ramp up my cheddar to try to hit that crazy orange Kraft cheesy taste a bit closer (without turning to chemicals to do it).  But other than that - if you're avoiding pasta, cauliflower makes for a good carrier for a good cheesy sauce.

Cauliflower "Mac" & Cheese with Ground Beef and Corn

1 head cauliflower, cut into bite sized florets
1 lb. ground beef
salt, pepper
dash Worchestershire Sauce
2 cups organic frozen corn
1 can coconut milk
1/2 cup shredded Swiss Cheese
1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 t. tumeric
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
2 T. almond flour

 Brown ground beef and season to taste with salt, pepper, and Worchestershire Sauce.  Add corn and mix.

In a saucepan, heat coconut milk (don't boil) and add shredded cheeses, nutmeg and turmeric until cheese is melted and sauce is smooth.  Add cauliflower, stirring to coat completely.  Add beef and corn mixture, and blend well.

In a small bowl, combine Parmesan cheese and almond flour. Set aside.

Turn cheese mixture into a casserole dish.  Sprinkle almond flour mixture on top.  Bake at 400F for 30-40 minutes.

Note: To keep this grain-free, you'd want to leave off the corn - since I was re-creating a childhood comfort food for myself, I had to add it or it just would not have been right!  But substituting other veggies for the corn would also work just fine for folks without my taste-memories. :)

Shared with: 
Gluten Free Weekly Menu Plan, Menu Plan Monday, On  the Menu Monday, SusieQTPie's Menu Plan Monday
Busy Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop, Gathering Spot, Homemade Monday, Homestead Monday, In and Out of the Kitchen Monday, Made By You Monday, Make It Yourself Monday, Make Your Home Sing Monday, Make Your Own MondayMealtime Monday, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Monday Funday, Mop It Up Monday, Mostly Homemade Monday, Motivate Me Monday, Natural Living Monday, Thank Goodness Its Monday.
. Anti-Procrastination Tuesday, Backyard Farming Connection Hop, Eco-Kids Tuesday, Family Table Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Hearth & Soul Hop, How-To Tuesday, Living Green TuesdaySlightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tasty Traditions Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Time to Sparkle, Totally Tasty Tuesday, Traditional Tuesday, Tuesday Greens, Tutorial Tuesday, You're Gonna Love It.
Allergy-Free Wednesday, Creative Spark, Down Home Blog Hop, Fluster's Creative Muster, Frugal Days - Sustainable Ways, Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Healthy 2Day Wednesday, Make - Bake - Create Party, Party Wave Wednesday, Penny Pinching Party, Real Food Wednesdays, Show & Tell Wednesday, Two Girls & a Party, Waste Not Want Not WednesdayWednesday Fresh Foods Link Up, Well Fed Wednesday, What's Cooking Wednesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Whimsy Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Wonderful Food Wednesday, Works For Me Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday.
DIY Accomplished, Fabulously Frugal Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Home & Garden Party, HomeAcre Hop, Hookin' Up With HoH, Open House Party, Showcase Your Talent Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Thank Your Body Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things, Thursdays Treasures, Transformation Thursday, Weekly Homemaking Party.
Allergy-Friendly Lunchbox Love, Be Inspired Friday, Feathered Nest Friday Foodie Friday, Foodtastic Friday, Freedom Friday, Fresh Bites Friday, Friday Favorites, From the Farm Blog Hop, Frugal Friday, Gluten-Free Friday, Old-Fashioned Friday, Pin Me Linky Party, Pity Party, Rattlebridge Farm Foodie Friday, Shine On Fridays, Show & Tell Friday, Simple Meals Friday, Thrifty Things Friday, What I Am Eating.
A Favorite Thing, Finding the Pretty & Delicious Linky Party, Get Schooled Saturday, Saturday SHOW-licious Link Party, Say G'Day Saturday Link Party, Serenity Saturday, Show & Tell Saturday, Simply Natural Saturday, Super Saturday Show & Tell, Weekend Potluck, Weekend Re-Treat, Weekend Show Off Party, Your Great Idea.
Creative HomeAcre Blog Hop, Sunday School Blog Hop, Sunday Show Off, Think Pink Sunday.    

                                 


Monday, May 6, 2013

What's Cookin' - May 6 - 12

I think I must be developing some Spring Fever - all my planning efforts are becoming increasingly scattered and a little useless, because in the time between making a plan and carrying it out, I've gotten myself in neck deep in some sort of new spontaneous idea instead.  So I'm doing a lot of thinking on my feet and just putting together meals as ingredients and energy allow.

I think that's pretty much ok, too, as long as I've got a good stock of good, fresh ingredients to pull from.

Here's what we ate last week:

Monday, Apr 29
Main Dish Salad topped with Sauteed Lamb Cubes

Tuesday, Apr 30
(from leftover Lamb Roast)

Wednesday, May 1
Leftover Curry
Cream Cheese Crepes with Lemon Curd

Thursday, May 2
Slow Cooker Lemon-Garlic Roast Chicken
Fermented Ginger-Carrots
Sliced Avocado

Friday, May 3
Main Dish Salad with Leftover Chicken

Saturday, May 4
 (Beltaine Pot Luck)
our dish was Gulaschsuppe

Sunday, May 5
Went to see Iron Man III, and ate out at an Afghan restaurant for a late lunch. Skipped dinner.

And here's  the plan for this week - I bet it'll change!

Monday, May 6
Taco Salad

Tuesday, May 7
Cauliflower "Mac" and Cheese Casserole

Wednesday, May 8
DINNER OUT WITH FRIENDS

Thursday, May 9
Leftover "Mac" and Cheese
Salad

Friday, May 10
Crustless Quiche with Canadian Bacon
Zucchini

Saturday, May 11
Brats
German Potato Salad

Sunday, May 12
Main Dish Salad with Tuna

Friday, May 3, 2013

Lamb Curry with Spinach and Chickpeas

I was talking online with a friend that lives in Florida about how we'd splurged and bought a boneless leg of lamb, but that I was ok with it because we'd get at least three meals out of it.  He gasped in horror and informed me  that the last time he'd priced that cut, it'd cost over $20 a pound and would have cost about $60 to buy the roast.  And then I gasped in horror right back!  Here in the DC area, I was able to buy my splurgy roast (just short of 3 pounds of boneless leg of lamb) for $21 total.  Which still is a splurge - but it's not insane.

So, if I am talking about lamb and prices in your area are as ridiculous as they are where my friend lives, please know I have not utterly taken leave of my senses!  For us, that roast actually added up to four meals, with zero waste - that's just about $2.50 in meat per person per meal. Not the most frugal, but not terrible either, especially as we are actively working on confining our eating out days to planned social activities and not just because we feel like treating ourselves or don't get around to making dinner.

Sadly, I was bad about taking pictures of all the lamby goodness.  On the first night, I simply roasted it following this recipe for Roasted Leg of Lamb.  It was incredibly good - rather like a good prime rib, actually. Tender, medium rare, and delicious with roasted red potatoes and roasted asparagus.

The next night was one of those 'too busy to cook' days, and we just put together a huge dinner salad, hacked off a portion of the roast and cubed it, scooping up some of the flavorful jelled sauce in the bottom of the dish, and quickly sauted those - the sauce glazed around the cubes, and we used them to top off our salads.

The last two meals involved this curry recipe - it made enough to feed us well for two days and because curry is one of  those things that tastes even better after an overnight in the refrigerator, not one bit of this felt like we were tolerating leftovers. If you don't used canned products, this isn't the recipe for you, but you probably have methods for adjusting recipes, right?  This makes a spicy curry - adjust seasonings as you need to! There is no one right way with curry.



Lamb, Spinach and Chickpea Curry

1 lb lamb, cut in 1/2" cubs (we used leftover leg of lamb)
1 T. fat (I used tallow - ghee, lard, or olive oil would also be fine)
1 onion, diced
2 cans chickpeas (or equivalent dried chickpeas, cooked)
1 can organic diced tomatoes
1 small can diced green chiles
1 small can organic tomato paste
1 bag baby spinach
1 T. cumin
1 t. coriander seed
3 T. curry powder (I used 1 T each of three Spice House curry blends I had on hand: Garam Masala, Vindaloo, and Rogan Josh)
1 t. cayenne
1 can coconut milk (or 1 cup thick yogurt)

Saute lamb cubes and onion until browned and tender.  Add chickpeas, diced tomatoes, and green chiles, and seasonings.  If too dry, add a little water or broth, and let simmer for at least 30 minutes (longer is fine), stirring occasionally.  Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Stir in tomato paste, add spinach (as it wilts, stir it into the curry), and simmer for another 15 minutes or so.  Stir in coconut milk or yogurt, let curry heat, but be careful not to scorch, and serve.

====

On an entirely different subject, I wanted to give a big shout out and thank you.  Last month, the lovely Margaly Guerrero of Pagan Culture sponsored the Witches in Fiction 2013 ... To the Bone creative blog hop.  So many creative artisans contributed prizes to the hop, and I was blessed to win a beautiful hand polished cedar wand from Familiar Creations by Mina.

I love that the organic shape is retained (and it actually fits perfectly in my somewhat mangled paw) - it feels very light, almost bouyant, and warm to the touch.  Mina packed it very carefully and tucked in a bit of lavender and rosemary, so even opening the tube to see it was a sensory delight.

So, thank you so much, Mina! I love it.  And thank you, too, Margaly, for bringing us together. :)

Shared with: 
Farm Girl Blog Fest, Feathered Nest Friday, Foodie Friday, Foodtastic Friday, Freedom Fridays, Friday Favorites, Frugal Friday, Gluten-Free Friday, LHITS DIY Friday, Old Fashioned Friday, Pin Me Linky Party, Rattlebridge Farm Foodie Friday, Shine On Friday, Show and Tell Friday.      
A Favorite Thing, Get Schooled Saturday, Saturday SHOW-licious Showcase, Show & Tell Saturday, Sweet Saturday, Weekend Potluck, Your Great Idea.
Creative Bloggers Party & Hop, Creative HomeAcre Hop, Sunday School Blog Carnival, Sunday Show Off Linky Party, Think Pink Sunday   
Busy Monday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Craft-O-Maniac Monday, Frugal Crafty Home Blog Hop, Gluten-Free Weekly Menu Plan, Homemade Mondays, Homestead Barn Hop, Made By You Monday, Make It Yourself MondayMaking Your Home Sing Monday, Manic Monday, Marvelous Monday, Mealtime Monday, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Monday Funday, Mop It Up MondayOn the Menu Monday, SusieQTPie's Recipe Link Up, Thank Goodness It's Monday.
Anti-Procrastination Tuesday, Family Table TuesdayHow-To Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Time to Sparkle, Totally Tasty Tuesday, Tutorial Tuesday, You're Gonna Love It Tuesday.
Allergy Free Wednesday, Creative Spark Down Home Blog Hop, Flusters Creative Muster, Frugal Days - Sustainable Ways, Gluten-Free Wednesday, Party Wave Wednesday, Penny Pinching Party, Show & Tell Wednesday, Two Girls & A Party, Waste Not Want Not Wednesday, Weekly Homemaking Party, What's Cooking Wednesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Wheat-Free Wednesday, Whimsy Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Wicked Awesome Wednesday, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Wonderful Food Wednesday, Works For Me Wednesday, Wow Me Wednesday.          


  

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

April's Theme-a-licious Stitcher Wrap Up

April's Theme-a-licious Theme was Amazon April: Dip your needle into the vast swath of fabric dedicated to your BIGGEST projects!  I'd identified four of my bigger WIP projects to work on, and confidently started out - but wound up only touching one of those four this month.

But I am still going to count this month a success, because I FINISHED that WIP after two years, and also made good progress on another piece and finished two (count 'em, two) ornaments.

Here is my big finish:

Quaker Sampler
(freebie - source unknown)
blue 28ct linen
variegated flosses (mostly DMC)

I came very close to not being able to finish it until I hiked back to a store to hunt for that last yellow/pink medallion's floss.  It became obvious I wasn't going to have enough to finish it as graphed - but it occurred to me  that I hadn't left a space to sign it, and I was pretty sure I had enough to do that. I was right, but barely - that snippet of floss is all that was left:

Whew! That was close!

The other project that occupied my attention was my mermaid project - this is titled "Midnight Dip" and was meant to be on black or navy fabric, and the fish are graphed as negative space (not filled in) - I am working it on sky blue Monaco, and decided to make the fish orange - it's different enough from the original intent that I'm tempted to do it again at some point as a matching nighttime motif (perhaps mirror imaged).  I have really enjoyed working on this:


Lastly, I completed two ornament sized bits of stitchery.  One was my seasonal ornament for the Ornament SAL:

Beltaine Fire
by Anne Orr & Lesley Clarke
18ct Aida, DMC floss
34 x 35 
 And the other is for the Theme-a-licious Ornament Challenge - to stich something with Santa or Elves:

Santa
Prairie Schooler 
(Book 172: Christmas Favorites)
Oatmeal Aida, 14ct
DMC floss


So, now it's time to turn to next month's plans!  I'm not fully planned out yet, but here's what I'm looking at doing:

In seasonal ornaments, I will be stitching something with a peacock - June is Juno's month, and the peacock is her bird.

The Theme-a-licious ornament challenge is to do something monochrome. It will be for Yule, but I haven't decide what I'll do yet - there are a few good possibilities!

The Theme-a-licious main challenge for May is:

"Monochrome May:  
Pick a color, any color, then stitch only on projects that contain that color for the month!"

My first thought was PURRRPLE, so I'm going to go with that, although I may cheat with the mermaid, too.

The WIPacalypse themes for May are:

Designer – Blackbird Designs, 
Style – Humor, 
Colors – Purple and Brown
Since I managed a WIP finish, I'm giving myself permission to start a monochrome PURPLE piece if I find one that appeals to me - so yay, new starts!  Maybe I'll look and see what Blackbird Designs has.

Looking through my stash, I can also work on these:

 Tree of Life
The Stitcherhood
(browns and purples)

Peacock
Theresa Wentzler
(browns and purples)

Hare Biscornu
(brown and purple)

ABCs
Lizzie Kate
(browns and purples)

As ever, we will see how this goes!