Bust…

That’s what happened to my planned out post… it just went bust. I saved last night’s post for today because I thought that I was going to have something totally awesome to share, and it just didn’t turn out that great.:( Oh well.  On the bright side, I got to go to a closed to the public food store today, which was kinda cool. It was all food service sized stuff, which meant really nothing I could feasibly buy. I did, however, drool all of the cases of fresh produce that were there. If only I could eat that much before it went bad!

Dinners for the last two nights have been pretty low key since J hasn’t been around much lately. He’s been working like a mad man on his car lately, meaning I don’t see him. It’s odd having to cook for just one person, I haven’t done it in years.

If you guys have been following awhile, I love to mix rice and veggies and make some mixed bowls. That’s exactly what this is. I made a ton of extra rice (here’s my tip for brown rice: boil it like pasta, it cooks so much faster!) and just layered it with veggies, topped with salsa and cheese. Totally yummy.

Tonight was just a meal thrown together, just a egg scramble that I threw veggies and some errant pepperoni in it. I forgot that it was super spicy, but it was pretty good. Definitely more veggies than egg, which isn’t a bad thing!

Here’s a question to all of you: I’m hitting a wall on what to pack for lunches and getting super bored lately. Any good suggestions?

MIA No More…

I have to admit that I’s pretty bummed that the weekend is over… I had a lot of fun, although I wish that I got my Friday off, but that’s okay, I get it later on in the month. I’m just relieved that last week is over, because work calms down for a little while. Let’s just say Thursday and Friday were really LONG, and involved eating out or no dinner due to sleeping. Oh well…

J and I had a blast this weekend though, we hung out with a new group of people, who like to blow things up and were fully stocked with fireworks. It was an entertaining night to  say the least. The food, however, was nothing to write home about.

But this meal was…

I planned this meal out in my head last week when I was at the grocery store and saw that coleslaw mix was on sale. I love cabbage in my stir fry so it was a no brainer for me. Plus it was super filling and made leftovers! I’m still full from lunch and that was almost five hours ago. Totally worth it…

Well…

It seems as if Manic Monday has followed all the way through to Wednesday, and the rest of the week deson’t look any better. Work is absolutely insane, I love my 3 am calls (not!) and just trying to make people happy. That’s okay, I totally love my job and wouldn’t have it any other way.

You can totally tell that dinner has been super slacker-ish. The funny thing is that I did go grocery shopping Tuesday nigh, but you wouldn’t know from looking at dinner. Oh well… It was tasty to me!

The infamous broccoli grilled cheese… with a side of baby carrots that didn’t make the picture

Turkey sausage on a whole grain bun, with fresh sweet corn and roasted red potatoes. J loves this (but then again, it is food! ) but for whatever reason, he loves these turkey sausages.  At 110 calories, I suppose I can indulge his love a little bit. I do have to agree, they are pretty tasty!

Hopefully things calm down Thrusday and Friday… I wish I working a short week like everyone else, but at least I get a floating day out of it. I know that one will help down the road!

Manic Monday…

I think that best describes today… I managed to bum around all day yesterday, since I was still exhausted from Saturday’s 3 am wake up call. That’s okay, I got most of the stuff I wanted to get done around the house done. Yay!

But the most productive thing I did yesterday was to make tonight’s meal! I took this trick from my mom, who used to make all her soups on Sunday and let them sit in the fridge overnight to make Monday’s meal quick but also for the flavor.  She was also the inspiration for the meal, since she told all about it on Saturday. I just made a quick chicken stew, basically thickened chicken soup and eventually made parsley dumplings (recipe on the recipe page!). I didn’t manage to get a pic of J’s dumplings, but I have to say they were mighty good looking! I just stuck to the stew tonight, I had had my fill of bread today.

I’m off to do some baking… I’ve got three super ripe bananas calling my name! I think I’m going to play around with my banana bread recipe tonight!

Getting There…

I think that J and I are finally getting there with unpacking and getting settled. All but his huge TV is here now, and the last of my stuff is here now (Thanks J!). It’s nice to finally have that stuff off my plate! Next up is getting a Sam’s Club membership. Thanks for your opinions guys, they really helped us to decide to go for it. J’s happy because he gets to fed his cereal love!

So I know that I’ve only be posting dinners lately, and that’s because I’ve seriously taken to eating the same things for breakfast, and usually I’m so busy at work, it’s find a minute to heat something up and eat it quick. Not the best I know, but usually it’s something tasty like leftovers. I figured I’d save you guys some repetitiveness, although I do have to say I’m loving WW english muffins or waffles with PB and banana. So good!

Anyway…

The best part of this new apartment is definitely the proximity of it to the nearest grocery store. It’s 8 blocks (albeit 8 long blocks) down the road, which means when it’s nice out and I need something I’m taking a walk! That was the inspiration for dinner on Thursday. I didn’t want to make anything in the freezer and wanted something with veggies in it. So off I went, picked up a sweet potato and some eggs and made some yummy hash!  For some reason, this is one of my favorite meals and so simple. I just roast the sweet potato, saute some veggies and cook an egg or two. Thirty minutes and dinner is done. Even J likes this, but doesn’t mix it together like I do.

I can see the walks  to the grocery store becoming a problem in the future.

I’m off to clean and vaccum some… It’ll be a good workout, since the place is huge. Just a teaser for an upcoming video post…

Hot and Humid…

That’s is definitely what’s going on here in good ol’ Wisconsin… When I came home today, the temp gauge in my car was reading 101*. Wowza… but I’m totally ready for this to break, I’m content with mid-70’s.

The best part about today was simply that it is Wednesday, which means it’s an easy day at work for us, since our staff doesn’t work Wednesdays! There was some productivity, and a bit of goofing off. Plus we went out to lunch, at Taco Bell (definitely not my choice!) but it wasn’t too bad since  I sneaked a peak at the nutritionals ahead of time!

Getting off earlier does have it perks, like the ability to get everything done before dinner, including picking up more groceries! This meal was something that I adapted from a magazine (Women’s World or something like that). It was a five ingredient meal, which I jazzed up with some more veggies. I was looking back at my entries and cannot believe that I hadn’t made this recently. Before I met J, I literally made it once a week because it made great leftovers!

It’s super easy. Just turkey italian sausage (acutally this is just ground turkey that is seasoned), garlic, onion, broccoli, corn, carrots, pasta, chicken broth and a little cayenne pepper topped with some parm. It’s super easy and everyone I’ve made it for loves it… The best part, I only used 1/2 a pound of meat and less than half a box of pasta, which fed J and I and made a ton of leftovers for lunch!

So here’s a question for you guys… J and I were thinking of getting a membership to somewhere like Sam’s Club or Costco. Do you guys have one? Why or why not?

Simple Meals…

When J and I went to the store this weekend for groceries, I thought that I had purchased enough to get through the week. I guess that I misjudged how much I had run down my supplies before moving.   I’m trying to wait to go back to the store until tomorrow, so J and I have been improvising meals. It’s been interesting because I did not buy any meat this week, so all that’s in the freezer is J’s fish sticks and chicken nuggets, which aren’t my favorite!

Last night was a definitely a yellow kind of night… I have to say that the pineapple was amazing and was only $2! I did add some other color to this dish after the pics, in the form of some yummy salsa on the eggs! I also had some sweet corn that I had cooked for later… ahh, the joys of nibbling during cooking but it means no pics!

Tonight was definitely a night where I did not want to cook. It hit 100 degrees here today! Such a contrast to the cool weather we had a week ago! All I wanted was ice cream and was in no mood for something hot. In compromise, I made a yogurt bowl with Chobani, strawberries and a little honey. Definitely satisfied that craving and was super filling! There might have also been a bite or two of pineapple afterwards.

I hope this weather breaks soon, don’t get me wrong, I love summer but this is crazy! Plus I want to be able to cook some yummy meals that I’ve been planning!

Interesting…

As you guys may know, I work in the food industry and get a ton of emails about the business… I saw this and thought you guys might find that interesting…

Nutritious meals struggle for traction on menus

 CHICAGO — The difference between the types of meals consumers say they want from restaurants and what they actually order is at the heart of a new survey by Mintel Menu Insights, a division of the market research firm Mintel International. Only one in five consumers rank health attributes as an important factor when ordering dinner.

Far more essential are taste and hunger satisfaction, selected by 77% and 44% of those surveyed, respectively. And even though over three-quarters of those surveyed said they would like to see more healthy items on the menu, only half said they usually order them.

“There’s definitely a dichotomy between what people say they want and what they actually do when it comes to healthy restaurant eating,” said Maria Caranfa, a registered dietitian and director of Mintel Menu Insights. “Over 8 in 10 adults told us it’s very or somewhat important to them to eat healthy, but when it comes to dining out, most people are really looking for taste, texture and experience. So healthy menu items need to perfect the balance between nutrition and flavor.”

Over half of the adults surveyed said eating healthy at restaurants is more expensive than not eating healthy. Additionally, even though restaurant operators are offering more nutritious food and beverage options, they are still vastly outnumbered by menu items that are not as nutritious.

During the first quarter of 2009, only 5% of new menu items carried a nutrition claim, according to Menu Insights data. On the other hand, nearly one in five new menu items were fried.

Despite the differences, Menu Insights said restaurant operators are under pressure to add more nutritious options. The government is trying to increase nutrition labeling on menus and the Mintel survey showed that more than three-quarters of respondents want more menu transparency when it comes to nutrition.

“Restaurants need to make ‘healthy’ food appeal on flavor, freshness and satiety benefits, not just on calorie and fat information,” Ms. Caranfa said. “People seek fresh ingredients and more vegetables in healthy food, both of which can be promoted in a positive way. Healthy dining should be as satisfying as ordering from the regular menu.”

Finally Getting Settled…

Finally, it feels like J and I getting settled in the new apartment.  I still cannot believe that we are living here, it’s just so nice and big. Even my parents were amazed at how huge it is for the rent. It took me 30 minutes to vaccum and I still didn’t get all of the carpeting yet…

I’m planning on doing a video sometime soon, once everything is settled since J still hasn’t moved some of his furniture over (most of the big stuff was mine). But the best part is that I finally have a kitchen and a full fridge again! Well, kinda, we still have more stuff to get. I ran the food down to absolutely nothing so it’s super nice to get a home cooked meal! We’ve been eating out for almost a week (I’ve been travelling for work too) and I can totally tell, I feel icky and my skin is icky and all I want to eat are veggies.I do have to say that Panera does make some yummy salads (even without the dressing!)

The best meal to christen our new apartment… Mac and Cheese! I made J his favorite, but with whole wheat shells and veggies. The bad thing, the oven runs hot and burned the bottom of the pan. Guess the oven runs hot and I need a new thermometer. Just imagine this but with shells…

There will more frequent posting now. It’s nice to be settled and I know that I’m not travelling until mid-July, so I’ll be able to cook more! I’ve already started meal planning for this week, and I’m looking forward to blogging regularly again!

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there! I’m a lucky girl to have mine!

Odds and Ends…

That’s about how I feel about the meals I’ve had this week… We are trying to use up the ends of bags and boxes before we move, as well as trying to get the level of the freezer down too. Add on top that I’m travelling four days for work next week, it’s been interesting. But I’m SUPER excited to move, I’m really ready to be done with this place. Let’s just say that the landlord and I do not see eye to eye on anything, and that he has questioned my housekeeping skills. It makes me really mad, since there really is nothing to question, except the boxes and bags that are strewn about. Oh well…

I have to say that I have made some pretty tasty meals out of odds and ends…

I used strawberry preserves in my oats instead of brown sugar, and I have to say this is the best combo yet!

I made sloppy joes from some frozen ground turkey. Country Bob’s sauce makes all the difference. Plus it was a great opportunity to slip in some odds and ends of veggies too!

The ends of my fresh veggies made it to the top of a baked potato with salsa. So good, J even requested something like this again soon.

Next week will be an interesting experience, as I’m interested to see what J is eating when I come back. I have a feeling it will be bagels and PB, fish sticks and cereal. I know that boy way too well. But I think the most exciting part of next week will be the big stock up I get to do after the move! I’ll be super glad to have a full kitchen again!