My Week in Food

        Yesterday was a very productive day for me.  I had decided earlier in the week that I was changing up some of my weekend routines so that I could get more done.  We've started to look at houses which means we don't get home until 7 or later.  These are the nights you don't want to chop veggies for supper.  For the past month, we'd usually end up eating frozen pizza or something just as easy and not at all nutritious.  To remedy this, I decided to do all of the veggie chopping on Saturday.  I had done this last weekend and it worked really well.  I've moved laundry day to Friday night (I lead a very exciting life.).  Saturday morning I made myself a pumpkin spice latte.  This is a recipe that I got from a vegan blog called Peas and Thank You.  Don't worry I'm not going vegan, I just enjoy her writing style and some of the healthy ideas from her recipes.  I unveganized it by using cow's milk.  It's still good.  I don't have the garam masala the recipe calls for so I added a dash of chili powder.  Same basic concept.  Side note, a couple days after we tried this recipe without the garam masala or chili powder I found an article in the Sioux City journal about garam masala with a recipe.  Thank you to the food gods!  I didn't try to make it yesterday.  I figured I already have enough planned for the day.  So after enjoying my pumpkin spice latte (my weekend treat!), I did the two loads of laundry left over from Friday night.  After that I raided the refrigerator for all of the veggies that needed to be chopped.  These included: 3 green peppers, 1 red pepper, 1 orange pepper, broccoli and a bag of carrots.  Crank up the radio and I'm in business.  In case you're wondering what all of that looks like, here's a pic:

I don't feel like the picture is an accurate depiction of all of the chopping I did but I hope you get the point.  On Saturday I also made a batch of rice and chicken noodle soup.  We frequently have stir-fry during the week but I always forget to make rice.  Ta-da!  Problem solved!  The chicken noodle soup is for today.  I like to have Sundays be very relaxing and being able to reheat a pot of soup will add to that.

Earlier in the week, we made pumpkin pie smoothies.  I got the recipe from the same site as the pumpkin spice latte.  We had already used the food processor so I had to use my blender.  I'm not that huge of a fan of blender and I was considering getting rid of mine due to the lack of use it gets.  I dragged out our blender and put the ingredients in.  The pitcher of the blender didn't appear to be sitting right but I wiggled it around and got the same result.  I turned it on and none of the ingredients moved.  This is not normal.  I adjusted it and tried a few more times... same result.  I took the pitcher off and looked at the bottom.  It was broken!  I've used this blender maybe 3 times since I got it!  What a piece of crap!  It was a Black and Decker Crush Master.  Don't buy it.  Another side note, I had registered for this as a wedding gift and someone gave it to us.  I'm not criticizing the gift.  I'm criticizing my ability to pick out a decent blender.  I stood there looking at my pumpkin pie smoothie ingredients in a busted blender wondering what to do.  Steve reminded me that I have an old blender from my grandma.  Grandma had given me this blender when I was going to college.  It was extremely old and she was going to get rid of it anyway.  We poured all of the ingredients into Grandma's blender.  Well, almost all of them.  An ice cube fell on my foot in the process.  I have a bruise.  Cooking/baking/smoothie making is dangerous work.  Grandma's 40-year old blender worked perfectly and our smoothies came out great.  So to recap: New blenders are junk.  40-year old blenders are great.  Here's a pic of both:

Ironic, right?  Please ignore my messy kitchen.  That's my week in food.  I hope you enjoyed it!

Winning the Battle... Maybe the War

   Today I will be spending the day in my kitchen chopping vegetables and fruit, browning hamburger and cooking chicken for next week's meals.  I'm taking solace in my kitchen.  This last month has been particularly stressful for me.  I'm trying to do all of the prep work today so we can have tasty and nutritious meals this week. I've over-scheduled myself until January and the perfectionist in me in rearing her ugly head.  The perfectionist in me questions everything I do at work, in my church activities, my participation in holiday traditions, how I play music, how I complete my crafts and so on.  Many people appreciate the perfectionist in me.  They know if I'm assigned a task or take on a task, it will be done correctly.  But I don't appreciate her.  The perfectionist in me questions everything except my presence in the kitchen.  Cooking and baking are the one thing that comes naturally to me.  Being in the kitchen is the one place the perfectionist won't follow me to.  The one place were she won't nag me and tell me I'm doing something wrong or not good enough.  It's the one place where I can tell her to take a flying leap and she actually listens.  I've done battle many times with the perfectionist in me.  She's easing up a little bit but when I get stressed especially around the holiday season, she rears her ugly head.  Quite frequently I lose my battle with the perfectionist but not in the kitchen.  In the kitchen I always win.

Food Glorious Food!

         I took today off work so I can go home for my brother's football game and the Spencer fair.  Steve works until 2:30 so we plan to leave after he gets home.  My plan for today was to make our menu plan and grocery list and then go grocery shopping.  Good plan, right?  It is when your car is not in the shop.  The only place I can actually go to is the mall because it's a block away and I can walk there.  This will not help me.  But on the plus side, the menu and grocery list are done and ready for when we return on Sunday.  I am looking forward to all of the delicious food we'll have when home.  We're staying at Grandma's and her food is always good.  I'm excited to have concession snacks at Jerry's game.  I don't remember all of the concession food but I do remember the giant pickles which I only bought once.  I'm not a huge fan of pickles.  I wonder if they still have those...  I am excited for the fair food!  It's going to be very difficult choosing what to eat.  There are always so many options: pizza, nachos, gyro on a stick, fried butter (I'm not kidding or trying it.), taffy, pastries...  A couple years ago I had a bucket of nachos and it was delicious in a very disgusting way.

      I actually couldn't eat all of it.  I don't remember what Steve had but I do remember that he liked it.  He wouldn't let me take a picture of it. :(  I'm very excited for Tom Thumb donuts.  They are a legend at the Spencer fair and you must stand in line for the freshly fried mini donuts covered in sugar.  What's your favorite concession or fair food?

Breakfast: The Most Important Meal of the Day

          Breakfast is truly the most important meal of the day.  We've all read it in magazines but I've learned it the hard way.  In the past couple of months, I've skipped breakfast a few times and almost passed out.  I'm not kidding.  I have a fast metabolism and in the past had to eat every 3 hours.  Before you slap me, keep reading to find out why it's not always the greatest thing in the world.  In July I skipped breakfast before hosting coffee and rolls at church.  All I had to eat was 2 large glazed donuts at this event.  Afterwards Steve and I took the left-over donuts to a local women's and children's shelter.  I have no idea how I drove all the way across town to the shelter without causing an accident.  I had Steve drive us directly to a restaurant for lunch.  By the time we got there it was 2 o'clock and I wanted to lay down on the restaurant floor.  I'm not exaggerating.  Sitting up in a chair felt like work.  I ate my burger and fries and instantly felt better and could sit up straight.  This past Friday I skipped breakfast before going to work.  Friday was the last grill-out at work so I needed to pick up some grill-out items: buns, BBQ sauce, pickles.  I started to shake just by carrying those items inside.  I also had a headache.  I grabbed a Snickers and a Pepsi from the vending machine because I knew it would pop my blood sugar back up but still felt crappy until lunch when I ate real food.  I know better than to skip breakfast but I was too lazy both of those days to fix my simple breakfasts.  Not anymore.  I have to take better care of myself.

I have two go-to breakfasts: yogurt with homemade granola and fruit and toast with homemade apple butter and peanut butter.  I prefer the yogurt because it lasts longer but the toast is really tasty.  Both of these breakfasts take a couple minutes to assemble.  Both breakfasts last because they contain multiple food groups.  For your benefit, I'm posting the original recipes and I'll list the few tweaks I've made.  First the granola.  My older sister Kat found this recipe online and shared it with me.

Homemade Granola
Mix well:
3C oats
1/2C sunflower seeds
1/2C nuts
1/2C coconut

Mix well:
1/4C oil
1/4C honey
1/6C water
1tsp vanilla

Combine the mixed wet and dry ingredients together and stir well.  Pour into a 9x13 pan or a cookie sheet.  Toast in a 350 degree oven.  Stir after 10 minutes, then more frequently until browned (every 5 minutes).  Store in an airtight container.

Easy, right?  I don't usually add the sunflower seeds or coconut.  The sunflower seeds are left out because we usually don't have any in our apartment.  I have added them a few times and it's good with them.  I leave out the coconut because I hate it and it's never in the apartment.  I know I'm taking away some of the nutrition by leaving these out but I'll actually eat it this way.  I usually use vegetable oil or olive oil.  The recipe suggests melted coconut oil or butter but I don't have coconut oil and I don't want to use all of my butter making granola.  I store my granola in the fridge.  For breakfast I put a couple tablespoons of granola in a bowl, grab an individual vanilla yogurt and mix in some fruit.  For the fruit, I use frozen fruit that's thawed in the fridge.  Easy and nutritious.  And also delicious.

Now for the apple butter.  I've blogged about it before but I feel it's worth mentioning again.  Another recipe my older sister found online and shared with me.  It would take too long to share the original and list my changes so you're getting my version of the recipe.

Apple Butter
14 apples
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 C white sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Core and quarter the apples.  I cut the slices into smaller sections.  Put all of the apples into the crock pot.  Add in the sugars, vanilla, cloves and cinnamon.  Cook on low for 8 hours.  When done, stir and let cool.  Put in smaller containers and refrigerate.  I usually put all of the containers in the freezer except one.  This recipe makes a lot and it lasts for a really long time.  I made the recipe a few times and have never made it the same way.  I've previously blogged about adding cranberry sauce to it.  I have also added peaches to it and eliminated the white sugar.  I realize that it still has quite a bit of brown sugar in it but I'm still working on that part.  I'm thinking about subbing molasses or sorghum for the brown sugar.  I'll have to wait until apples go on sale again before I start making it this fall.  The original recipe suggests picking out the apples skins and uses a hand mixer to make the apple butter smooth.  I didn't do this because a) I'm lazy and b) I like the chunkiness of it.

Happy breakfast to all of you!  I hope these recipes make your mornings a little easier.

Old Faithful

            No, I'm not talking about the geyser at Yellowstone National Park.  I'm talking about my chocolate chip butterscotch chip cookies.  We made these cookies last night for Steve's employees because they won quality for the week again.  (Yay!)  I'm bribing them with cookies for the second time. I wonder if they'll figure it out this time...
           The cookies are Old Faithful because I've been making a version of this recipe since I was 13.  Every time I make these cookies, old memories come flooding back.  The memories flood back in bits and pieces.  Asking my mom what we should do since we're one stick short of butter.  Going to my neighbors to borrow some flour because we're out and I didn't realize until after the eggs and sugar were in the mixing bowl.  Dad asking how long it would be before the cookies would be done after I put the first pan in the oven.  Kat and I accidentally tripling the salt and having to triple the rest of the recipe to fix it.  Counting all of the cookies from the triple batch even as people ate them.  (There were over 100 cookies.  The original recipe is a double batch already.)  Dad coming inside and saying "I smell cookies" and walking to the kitchen to swipe a few.  The last pan of cookies always burning because I would forget to set the timer or let them brown on the pan too long.  Using a small cookie scoop to get the perfect cookie.  Using Mom's Pampered Chef cookie spatula.  Dad suggesting taking the cookies out of the oven a minute sooner and letting them brown on the pan to get soft cookies.  Making a mess in the kitchen because I'm 13.  Leaving a ton of dirty dishes because I'd use a different measuring cup or spoon for each ingredient.  Adding butterscotch chips to my cookies because I saw my cousin Liz do it.  Adding in white chocolate chips just for fun.  Mom showing me how to level off the flour and sugar with a knife to get the right amount.  Kat doing laundry while I'm baking.  Mom explaining that brown sugar needs to be packed into the measuring cup always.  Dad saying "I better taste test a few to make sure they're ok" and me playing along with it.  Maureen's horror at finding out that we dumped all of the ingredients in and mixed them that way.  Discovering that baking when I'm upset makes me feel better.  Making Steve the cookies for his birthday two months into our relationship because I had no idea what else to get him.  Making cookies the first time away from home and discovering that mixing them by hand is a lot harder than using Mom's KitchenAid mixer.
            All of these memories from a single cookie recipe.  I cherish this recipe for what it has given me and what it will give me in years to come because as you can see it's not your average cookie recipe.  It's the key to memories.

Cheesecake Rangoons...Raviolis

          Two weekends ago my little sister Darcy visited.  Darcy is leaving for college and needed to get supplies for her dorm room.  Friday evening we went to HuHot at Darcy's request.  At HuHot, there was a table tent featuring their desserts.  One of the desserts was cheesecake rangoons.  It looked so delicious but none of us had room for dessert after our meal.  We never get dessert at HuHot because the buffet is so filling and this time we ordered egg rolls too.  I told Darce that we could probably make those.  How hard could it be?  Our last stop shopping was Fareway to pick up the cheesecake ingredients.  I got the Jell-o no bake cheesecake dessert.  I wasn't sure how the traditional cream cheese recipe would hold up in a fryer.  I was going to use some pastry wrappers that Steve had bought practically a year ago but they don't puff up.  We decided against them and Steve ran to Hy-Vee to get new pastry wraps.  The first couple cheesecake rangoons were too big.  Darcy started making them and magically they were better.  She used a smaller section of the pastry sheet and the same amount of cheesecake filling.  

Steve was in charge of the fryer and I went back and forth.  We sprinkled sugar on them fresh from the fryer.... it was so yummy.  The smaller rangoons looked more like cheesecake ravioli so we switched between Asian and Italian desserts!  The cheesecake raviolis tasted great with cherry pie filling (is there anything else to eat cheesecake with?!).  They do taste the best fresh from the fryer rather than the next day.

Food for the Children

             As most of you know, I'm somewhat of a sap.  Not a make-a-huge-scene-in-public kind of sap but a cry-at-weddings-movies-commercials kind of sap.  Our local food bank has a program called The Backpack Program: Food for Kids.  There are backpack programs all over the nation but each is run a little differently according to the parent organization.  In Sioux City, volunteers make up the bags of food.  The Sioux City school district notifies the food bank of the number of children in need at each school served.  This program serves 6, soon to be 5, schools in the Sioux City area.  (Soon to be 5 because 2 schools are combining not because of lack of need.)  Each bag contains nutritionally sound items such as a fruit cup, granola bar, pudding, peanut butter crackers, etc.  The program does not focus on calorie content because the focus is about the children's hunger and providing shelf-stable child-friendly food.  The food bank does send an extra bag home if there is a younger sibling not attending school.  The logic is "If the 6-year old is hungry, the 4-year old is probably hungry too."  Every Friday bags of food are delivered to the schools for needy children.  These are children that normally qualify for free or reduced lunches at school and the school has identified as in need.  The food bank does dictate that the program be carried out to respect the dignity of the child.  This means that the bags are handed out very discreetly.  The bags are not handed out in front of the class.  It is up to the school how this will happen.  One of the schools has a backpack club.  An announcement is made over the intercom that the Backpack Club is meeting and the needy children go to the designated area.  There they receive their food bags.

            This amazing program does need help with funding.  The director of the food bank projected that $122,000 was needed for last school year and more will be needed for this school year due to rising food costs.  Roughly 50% to 90% of the children in the Sioux City school system use this program.  The percentage varies based on each specific school.  I'm proud to say that my employer is helping a little.  Our employee committee is holding a fund-raiser and the director spoke at our All-Staff meeting.  At three stations in the building are 2 jars.  One jar is empty; one jar has wrapped candy.  The premise is simple: Put a donation in the empty jar and take a piece of candy from the candy jar.  One of the jars is at my desk so I've contributed a little already.  We started yesterday and the jar at my desk already has over $12.  The program is running for 2 weeks so I'm really hoping we can help with the costs.  The director stressed that while food donations are nice, monetary donations are better.  The program needs pallets of food at a time for this program.  It's much easier for the food bank to meet the children's need with monetary donations than with food donations.  (But please keep donating food so the needy in general will have something to eat!)  The food bank director said that when the program started she spoke to the principals of the local elementary schools.  One of the principals said to her "If you start this program, you will have to keep it going because the kids will count on it.  Don't let them down."  So I'm asking all of you to take a look at the website for The Backpack Program: Food for Kids and consider donating to this program.  This program is not a touchy-subject program.  There are no moral lines being crossed.  It's about feeding kids simple as that.