Happy almost Halloween. Last year I was lazy and I did not do pumpkin seeds. Not the case this year. And what a winner they are this year. Doused in olive oil and sprinkled liberally with garlic salt and shredded parmesan cheese.
Bon apetit!
Despite not having a husband home for dinner I decided to go ahead and cook an actual meal. I did however make one meal for me (us, Isaac will eat leftovers, he’s good at that) and another for Ella. Ella doesn’t do Mexican all that well and so I planned on making her a cheese quesadilla. Unfortunately there were no tortillas left. Instead she got a grilled cheese sandwich (not at all burned this time. It’s one of those things you really should pay attention to when it’s on the stove), cheese stick (special request), peas (she loves peas!), and mixed berries with some granola. That last bit looked so good I made some for myself but added vanilla flavored creamer to mine. It was heavenly!
Chicken Tamale Casserole was easy to make. I’m just now remembering (3 hours after eating it) that I was supposed to top it with sour cream (individually, and to the individual’s liking). That would have made the dish more interesting. More interesting to photograph even. Well boo.
Another first for me, I shredded chicken. It’s not hard, I had just never done it before. I prefer my chicken cubed. The recipe called for lots of corn products: canned cream corn and corn meal (well, technically, Jiffy corn muffin mix). Rounding out the ingredients were chiles, enchilada sauce, and cheese. It was pretty good, I think I would add olives next time. And maybe yellow onion.
Maybe you’ve noticed in photos a wine glass. It has water in it. Because of my GERD wine is out of the question and I thought it would be nice to class up my water by using a wine glass and my karaf. It’s fun and fancy. Makes me feel kind of fancy and less house wifey, any way.
I found some cool blogs today related to food photography. I’ll pour over more of them — I could spend hours doing that. And I’ve added books to my Amazon wish list (regarding cooking and/or photography — Martha Stewart came out with a cooking lessons book, sign me up!).
The house got cleaned today. Some people might wonder why I can’t manage to clean my own small home. I wonder why people spend so much money on digital cable and movies on demand. A cleaning service is how I choose to spend my money. Ooh, I so badly wanted to be Kathy Griffin and type “suck it”, but I’m just not that harsh.
I roasted today for the first time. The journey began with a Cooking Light magazine that got erroneously delivered to Isaac’s PO box. He brought it home to me because he had noticed I had bought a couple of issues (I’m hoping some one will get me a subscription for Christmas). The November issue was full of holiday food goodness and the “cooking 101″ type section was on roasting. I’ve bought the roasted chicken from the grocery store many a time and it is so good and the article made it sound really easy, though it does require planning as cooking times are long.
So I tore out several articles from the magazine, went through my Weight Watchers cookbook, took some recipes out, and magnetized the lot to the fridge.
Next step, get the goods. I did not have a roasting pan so that was first off. Fred Meyer’s meat department doesn’t carry much that’s exotic, and I’m not really taking exotic. I’m just talking about pork loin here. So after Fred Meyer I headed to B&E Meats and got the pork loin and pork tenderloin (lots of healthy “the other” white meat). The next day I was at the mall and stopped in a kitchen shop for butcher’s twine. I should have also gotten an instant read meat thermometer, but I didn’t think of it.
So this evening I roasted for the first time. The meat cooked for 1.5 hours and I still ended up nuking it in the microwave because it was just too pink for my tastes. Sliced garlic cloves were embedded in the meat and then the meat was rubbed with olive oil, rosemary (smells heavenly while it cooks), salt, and pepper. Very easy.
Carving, however, not so easy. Isaac thinks our generation simply doesn’t know how to carve meat. I hosted Easter 2 years ago and did a ham (didn’t like how it turned out, but I digress) and had no idea how to carve it. We’re doing Thanksgiving this year so Isaac and/or I will have to figure out how to carve the turkey.
I have to say now before I forget that I’m so excited about the holiday season. This is my favorite time of year. I’m super excited because this year we’re going to see Dan Zanes and Friends Holiday House Party AND the Northwest Boys Choir and Vocalpoint! Seattle Choirs along with the Seattle Symphony for “A Festival of Lessons & Carols” 2 days before Christmas. It’s going to be awesome. yea!
Sorry it’s been awhile me (”me”, because no one but me is reading this! ha!). I’m sorry I haven’t taken the time to blog. I did cook this week but a couple of meals I forgot to photograph and another one was a repeat (pork picatta, see below).
This last Thursday I made Linguine Carbonara, though mostly it was fettucini carbonara because I didn’t have enough linguine noodles in the house. I’ve got tons of pasta, just not always the kind I need. I also messed up by getting prosciutto instead of pancetta (or vice versa, I can’t remember). It still tasted good. Maybe wasn’t the healthiest meal, though it should be because it came from Cooking Light magazine. It had heavy cream and an egg in it. Neither of which I would put in the “healthy” pantry. Egg whites, yes, whole egg, no.
My GERD has been bothering me this week. I have been off Prilosec for some time, concentrating on what I’m eating (and how much). That alone doesn’t seem to be working so as of yesterday I’m back on Prilosec. I think I’m on the verge of going to the doctor but I want as much information to give them as possible. I’m not in agony, just uncomfortable, so it can wait. I don’t like the idea of being on medicine long term any way so I’m hoping lifestyle changes will help.
I should really start exercising again as well. I quit my gym membership because a) I wasn’t going and b) to save the $$. We do have an eliptical here at home and I have Wii fit, which I realize won’t provide much of a rigorous workout but it’s better than nothing.
The otherday Isaac and I accompanied Ella on her first “school fieldtrip”. The pre-school headed out to a pumpkin patch. The kids ran around in the mud looking at pumpkins, then we all made our way through the corn maze. Lastly, the kids got cookies and juice (at 11am, much too close to lunch if you ask me, but I’m no party pooper).
After that Isaac, Ella, and I headed to Trotters in Auburn for lunch. I had a club sandwich, which I survived. Ella barely touched a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and Isaac had the “Blue Burger”. I was full but tempted to have a sunday. Trotters is known for their sundays.
Today Ella and I will go watch her cousin Owen play in his last football game of the season. I’m stoked because the game is at Stadium High School, where “10 Things I Hate About You” was filmed. I’ll take loads of pictures and post.
I don’t really have much to write about. I didn’t cook again last night so there is no dinner art. Ella and I went to Southcenter Mall to the Borders bookstore to get some books for a friend and then went to Johnny Rockets for dinner. I had a tame chicken club (grilled chicken, of course) and Ella had a hot dog. Johnny Rockets is a fun place to eat.
I haven’t talked much about my battle with GERD and I don’t want to get in to it right now, except to say that I have a very restricted diet 
and as a result should be losing weight, which I did the first 2 weeks, then this last week I gained .75 pounds. GRRR!!
Pictures today are from Ella’s bathtime. Tonight we had bubbles. And later we used the squirt gun, and it was a night for washing and conditioning her hair. An event-filled bath!
Can I just say how hard it is to take pictures of a kid? Saying “stay still” has zero results. ZERO
Sorry folks. The last 2 times I’ve had dinner I neglected to take photos. Yesterday all I had was the tofu phad thai I didn’t finish during lunch. So, not very exciting. Today I plain forgot and I did cook. Trout Amandine to be exact. It was all right. With Cesar salad (light) and wheat rolls.
And my Propel water. Last one. Time for *some one* to go to Costco.
That same some one is the person that posted the lovely photo below, not myself. Well, that’s myself in the photo, I just am not the person that put it up on this blog. So there you go. Me, viking hat, no makeup. Beautiful!
This picture was on a roll of film I just got developed. It’s from March of ‘07. Ella and I played hooky to go to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. We didn’t go this year because I heard that our cold winter worked against the tulips. Not worth the trip this year. I hope we get to go this coming March.
I should just rename this blog to “Noodle’s Dinner Art” or something.
Last night I made a meal from the cookbook “Minute Meals“. All meals take about 30 minutes, few ingredients, and are for the most part healthy. “Piccata” is one of my favorite things to eat. Who doesn’t like breaded meat, for one thing, though Picatta is “lightly breaded”. Isaac and I both just LOVE capers which Picatta always has. I added artichoke hearts to the recipe, and lemon juice is always a Picatta staple.
Cheesecake Factory has a great chicken piccata And the Grazie Ristorante restaurants (I’ve been to the Southcenter one) has a great calamari piccata. Yum!
We tried brussels sprouts for the first time. For those that know me, you’ll know that I don’t usually do vegetables. There are very few that I like, and for the most part those I do like I only like raw (carrots, broccoli, for instance). Brussels sprouts to me tasted much like cooked broccoli. Isaac said they tasted like cabbage and referred to them as “baby cabbage”. I wouldn’t know, I haven’t eaten cabbage before.
Ella loved the pork piccata but we had to force her to try the brussels sprouts. This was my second try at polenta. The last variety I made included a good amount of 
blue cheese, which I’ve determined I don’t care for much and so last time I did polenta I didn’t care for it much. This time around it was simply polenta with a bit of chicken broth added for taste. Pour on the salt and pepper and it’s good to go. Much better than last time.
And the best news is there is a bit of leftover piccata. I’m nots ure how it’ll fair warmed up. I think the pork may get too tough.
I had to share
Through his bull-whip hobby he met this guy that makes squirrel armor (no joke - http://www.pitbullarmory.com/Squirrel-armor.html). I guess this guy either also makes whips or sells them.
Isaac traded this guy a whip (skip down to “Louies Kangaroo Bullwhips” if you want to see: http://www.pitbullarmory.com/Bullwhips.html) for a Viking helmet. Apparently he has wanted one since he was a kid.
No joke, he has been wearing it nearly around the clock since he came home with it yesterday.
And FYI, period-correct Viking helmets did not have horns on them.