Where’s-the-Pasta Salad

I’m being bombarded by the upcoming mentions of outdoor birthdays, graduations, and general get-togethers. With many of these, there is the add that a covered dish is to be brought. Yeah, chips or cookies would be good. I know there will be a few people who will bring veggie trays or fruit platters. But, I like having a few more options than the chips and cut items. Plus, I keep wanting new options to take. My favorite option is pasta salad. There are so many wsys to make it. For crying out loud, it’s a good bit of cold pasta.

Normally, when I make pasta salad, I have issues with what vegetables to add. But, it is so time consuming because they all were fresh and needed a bunch of prep before blanching at the end of cooking the pasta. Lately, I have been having cravings for pasta salad and yet no desire to do much prep work. This pasta will be the perfect impromptu dish to toss together for a party. It has some good sources of protein and the green makes you look twice.

Where’s the Pasta

Where’s-the-Pasta Salad

1 serving

1/4 C Red lentil pasta

1/4 C Black bean pasta

1/4 C Whole Wheat pasta

1/4 C Trader Joe’s Kale, Cashew, and Basil Pesto

8 sprigs Asparagus, cut in 1-2 inch pieces

1/2 C rinsed and drained canned green peas (frozen will work, just remember to thaw)

1/2 C frozen Carrots

1 Sweet yellow pepper, diced

1 Tbs Nutritional yeast

Boil water for pasta per instructions to desired doneness. Two minutes before the time is up, toss in the frozen veggies and asparagus. Drain. Rinse. Place in bowl. Add canned peas, if using instead of frozen, nutritional yeast, and pesto. Mix. Let chill until ready to eat. Enjoy.

Peanut Butter Jelly Day

So, we are in the transitional period which means we go from white ground to sun in the same day. This will end up bringing about many viruses because of the changing temperatures. But, it also makes it closer to get done of wearing sweaters. I am looking forward to packing those away until winter.

Today is Peanut Butter and Jelly day. With this transitional weather, it feels like an appropriate day to come up. Normally, when people think of Peanut Butter and Jelly, they think sandwich. Yes, I am making one. But, there are so many options. I posted recently a recipe of overnight oats which is pictured below. Also, there is the option of a grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwich. My favorite option that I can think of is a peanut butter and jelly pizza. I have other ideas, but I am hoping that by next year I can provide a good recipe for the pizza.

Overnight Oats

C’mon Spring

So, I have decided today to update on the diet front. In the past month, I have lost another 3.2 lbs. This means I am back down to the normal for my height according to BMI. Yet, I do not feel light enough and so will continue down until it feels right. A basic part is that I am 148.8 this morning. It was close to where I was the entire time I was in Toledo. I find myself happily eating much closer to how I did there and slowly reducing stress with school gone. I am planning on taking a little longer to recover sleep and may add a part time job into get some more money to save. This could reduce more stress, though add back to the sleep debt. But, if I do it, I will enforce the max hours at said part time job. I have learned my limits in that regard.

So, back to diet. I have been taking care of what I eat on all days. On two days, the calories really are resrticted. Yet, I am attempting to hot as properly as possible a steady ratio between carbs, protein and fat. I am eating more vegetables again, which seems to keep me full. Also, after a long mental battle from the one diet I did that said they were too sugary, I have been adding in fruits. My loss has steadily fallen eating like this and I actually feel stable when eating like this. Something I have also noticed is that I can’t always eat all the food I had planned to eat just because I am stuffed! It makes me smile because the app I’m running it all on has me going down 10 calories every week as I lose weight.

Fruit bowl

A light snack or a premeal, if I am late getting up for work and miss my new habit of smoothie is a fruit bowl. The one above is a mix of blueberries, kumquats, and blood orange. With everything able to be grabbed while working, it makes it much easier to grab a piece while I work. It also is healthier than grabbing something from the vending machines to eat on the go. And by controlling how much of the fruits I add in, I also control how many calories I eat from the fruit. That bowl ended up being around 100 total.

Does anyone else have ideas on grab and go snacks they like to eat? Would you like to see more of these? I plan on having a simple recipe this week for National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day.

Sweet potato chips/crisps

It is spring here. I seem to not quite trust the weather since it still says winter morning temperatures. Yet, I currently sit outside in a long sleeve shirt and am not cold. The weather is a less bold blue but not the blue grey of winter. I now can see that the outside of the house is a cream and not simply white. It confirms to me that white flowers will be best, especially since the door and frames are white with the rest a deep brown. I chuckle over keeping out the Halloween not so welcome mat. It definitely has our sense of us, so it stays permanently.

So, with the weather begins my checking of food supplies. I have been slacking apparently on sweet potatoes, so I have a small stash that needs made. Since I am the only one here who eats them, I will be mixing them more in upcoming for me meals. I think I may try a mini pot pie with crescent rolls using a couple, along with making baked chips or crisps. This will go great with sandwiches this week. Even better is that I control the seasonings and sodium content.

Sweet Potato Chips

Serves 1

1 sweet potato

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp brown sugar

4 cranks sea salt

Peel sweet potato if desired. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Slice sweet potatoes 1/4 inch thick or to desired thickness. Lay on baking rack. Mix together remaining ingredients in small container. Sprinkle over potatoes. Flip to knock some seasoning off. Flip back over leftover seasoning. Bake in oven approximately 50 minutes or until dried out. If remembered, flip after 30 minutes. Remove and let cool. Place in air tight container. Enjoy.

 

Sandwiches

So, lately it seems with this crazy weather, I am craving sandwiches so very much. All last week, I was discovering different ways to make them outside of the normal peanut butter. Of course, the weather went from cool to warm days and now back to not quite sweatshirt season. This is the season where nothing is warm enough or cool enough. It is a state of transition. This time of year seems to make me want sandwiches. Why? It is because they can be hot or cold. They can go with so many different options, from soup to salad or chips (of either kind). See? They work like a transition food.

All week, I kept on forgetting to photograph my sandwiches, but they ended up the same play on the same one. When I went to Panera, I would always end up getting the same sandwich: the veggie one. But, it always got soggy from the dressing. I couldn’t keep it for a while, so I wanted to figure out my own how to make one that I could build and take that would hold up.  This seems to be the best.

Lunch sandwich that tasted good.

The normal bread I had been buying is not easy to buy. I ended up finally breaking down and paying for Dave’s Killer Bread. I may have gotten a messed up loaf, but I don’t like it as much. Big reason: I keep getting pieces with air holes in it. This makes it harder to spread on and smaller ingredients fall out quite easily. I may try one more, but if it does that a second consecutive time, I don’t see myself buying again.  I did that with other brands, so I am still a little picky.

Veggie Sandwich

2 slices bread

6 slices cucumber

1/4 Cup spinach

1/4 Cup alfalfa sprouts

3 cherry tomatoes

1 slice vegan cheddar cheese

2 Tbs Here Beet Garlic White bean dip

Instructions:

 

Place one piece of bread on the plate. Spread half of dip on top of bread. Top with remaining ingredients. Spread remaining dip on other slice of bread. Place on top of samdwich, dip side down. Cut if desired. Enjoy.

Overnight oats for stress days

I have a bad habit during the week of trying to sleep as long as I can .Mainly, this is because I get both automated calls and then either schools calling about kids or friends of mine, both forgetting I sleep during the day. So, I usually get fitful sleep even with my phone is on vibrate. This, in turn, makes me less likely to eat breakfast. So, I try to make sure that I have some overnight oats for at least one or two days. For that, I do try to prep them over the weekend. But, sometimes I find out the morning of and can throw a batch together with rolled oats. My big fallback with it is to use chocolate almond milk and then do peanut butter and jelly. Yes, my current obsession about them is comfort foods. It really does remind me of a sandwich with a glass of chocolate milk. Oatmeal has been a bit of warmth for a start on cold days. As it warms up, I have a feeling that I will be eating it less. So, I’m making today’s recipe my favorite of oatmeals and how I make it.

I really am looking forward to spring and summer. But, our outdoor area is nonexistant. As in, all we have is the concrete slab. I’m planning on doing a bunch of white annuals in containers. I want to find a small table with a couple of chairs to have a conversation or just relax at. The boy has planned on getting a grill, so we will need space for that. I’m looking into getting a couple shepherd’s hooks and making a couple hanging backets to go with the container annuals. Plants I want are snapdragons, alyssum, and petunias. I may consider some ivy to fall over the sides, but may want that more for hanging baskets. I figure that doing the white will be easier against the brown of the underside of the house. We shall see as spring progresses.

Recipe PB&J Overnight Oats

Serves 1

1/4 C steel cut oats

1/4 C chocolate non-dairy milk (could use dairy also)

1 Tbs peanut butter (creamy blends easier but crunchy adds chew)

1 Tbs jelly (my main ones are either Ikea’s lignonberry or a black currant jam)

1 Tbs chia seeds

1 tsp maple syrup (optional)

Three days before you plan on eating it, prepare the oatmeal and chia seeds in the container you are going to use. In a liquid mixing glass, measure out the milk. Next, add the peanut butter and the jelly. Mix until blended. Add to dry ingredients. Add maple syrup if desired. Cover. Place in refrigerator. Do not forget it though.

When you are ready to eat it, place in microwave if you want it warm for 2 to 3 minutes. It depends on your manufacturer and the wattage. If you decide that it is too thick, add more milk. Enjoy.

Is this thing even on?

Yeah, hitting the reset button while keeping old posts on. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Perfect, since this is how all of us can be at times. I have dropped out of college after going for a year, due to finally getting constantly sick and not getting sleep, yet am working full time and then some at work. The kids and I are now renting a house around where they have been growing up. I miss Toledo a lot; plan on moving back when I can after the youngest finishes high school.

We recently had our pipes freeze for the first time. It lasted a few days and no ill effects. We were lucky that time. But, it made me look at the fact that I have quickly gotten used to having easy access to cleaning dishes and pots and pans. That almost week, we ended up doing all eating out. But, I have been cooking quite a few recipes. I have now discovered some new favorites. I have a few more in the works.

I’m doing a diet, so I have been tracking my calories. This goes along with the week of the frozen pipes in that I didn’t have the dishes to clean at home to do normal prep, so I ate more than I would have over the past few months. Not in bulk, but in calorie did I eat too much. In fact, many times I kept eating more because I couldn’t fill up on the higher calorie foods. I may talk about the diet later, but for now, I am on a forum about the diet and will be there also. I do find that I want to talk about certain things there, yet do not want to sound down so much. Until last week, I was down 17 pounds eating pretty much normally but following this. This week, I shot up 6 pounds, which I lost almost all of in the past two days.

This week is St Patrick’s Day. My big plan is to make a soda bread and stew. I also plan on roasting cabbage for everyone this year and buying them some bangers for banfers and mash. I just cannot see them eating a proper Jiggs dinner ever. I will bring a stew recipe soon.

Today, though, I bring forth my version of different brunch. Over the next few weeks, I will add recipes on how the items are made, but will start with the full meal and a simple way to make a couple items. Yes, the recipes are simple, but we don’t always need elaborate when making meals.

Sunday brunch

Serves 1

2 slices multigrain or whole wheat toast

1 serving Tempeh Bacon

1 serving Scrambled Tofu

8 Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

2 oz. Sliced Mushrooms

 

Recipe Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

1 sheet pan with parchment paper

Cherry Tomatoes (as many as desired)

Preheat oven to 350F. Spread cherry tomatoes on pan without touching. Once oven is ready, place tomatoes in oven, making sure they do not touch. Set timer for 10 minutes. Flip tomatoes so opposite side is up. Continue in oven until all tomatoes are wrinkly. Some tomatoes may be burst already, but they will still taste good. Pull from oven and let sit until slightly cooled. Enjoy.

Recipe Toast

Serves 1

2 slices of whole wheat or multigrain bread

1 Tbs butter of choice

Place bread in either toaster or toaster oven. Alternatively, preheat fry pan on medium or setting 5 to place bread in. Choose proper setting for desired toasting. Start. If heating on stovetop, place bread in and stay near. Check bread occasionally for desired color. Flip bread and repeat process. Remove bread from device. Add butter to one side of bread. Place on plate. Top second piece of bread over first. Cut either diagonally or down middle if desired. Enjoy.

Did I miss anything? Is there something you would like me to add here? Yes, I will be adding oatmeal recipes again, too. Along with my plants and maybe some bouquets.

National Grilled Cheese Day!

Very recently, as in this past month, I went to my local Biggby’s coffee shop downtown and saw they had listed today’s date as National Grilled Cheese Day. First, I told the monsters that they HAD to have a grilled cheese planned out to eat today. Their pick, today’s recipe. Grilled cheese with tomato soup. And yes, this really is how I normally make it for them. This was the only way it was made for me at home when I was growing up. I knew nothing about adding mayonnaise to bread. All I knew of was the soft squishy bread with not quite melted completely cheese. This is NOT the restaurant recipe. This is not my cheeses now. This is Kid-centric happy grilled cheese.

So, my other big growing up memory of grilled cheese was at school. I’m pretty sure they didn’t do the mayonnaise on the bread trick either, but theirs was always crisp and melted. I have an idea on how they did it and it isn’t microwave. Back then, it was much more a vessel of gooeyness to transport that richer than home tomato soup. And we always had mixed vegetables at lunch on those days. I wonder if they really did watch and approve of us finding a way to “get the veggies off our plates” yet magically ended up in us. Side note, maybe schools should do more soups so kids can enjoy more varieties of veggies by returning to those old tricks from growing up. But, yeah, I would dump my serving of mixed veggies into my soup and stir it up. It made everything a little more palatable for my pickiness. But, it was also on white bread. It was the ONLY thing I would eat with white bread on it. I was the kid who was more than happy to trade your wheat peanut butter sandwich for a wheat bread one. I still will. But that sandwich was so simple and yet tasted so good. I miss the elementary lunch ladies. OK, tell your kids to tell their lunchlady or lunchguy thanks if they enjoyed their food. The good ones need reminided from time to time.

So, yes, the soup is condensed. Campbell’s is the kids’ favorite and I’m not allowed to buy even the completely prepared because it “doesn’t taste right” otherwise. And the cheese I listed is the one that I have found melts the best. Use whichever you like more if you want it meltier or whatever else. No, I don’t recommend Kraft personally because it never melts right. And the directions are for an electric stove. Gas heats different and I still haven’t gotten that right because I make it for the kids too infrequently to do it right.

 

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Serves 2

4 slices of whole wheat bread

4 slices of Helluva Good processed American Cheese

one piece of bread. Using one piece of plastic

Butter flavored cooking spray

1 Can Campbell’s Tomato Soup

1 can water

1 can milk

 

Heat flat pan on medium heat. Dump soup, water and milk in medium pot on medium low heat. Whisk until no lumps of soup can be seen. Butter one side of each piece of bread. Peel the plastic off of the cheese, saving one piece. Shingle two pieces of cheese together to make it the length of a slice of bread. Put the saved piece of plastic between the two sets of shingles. Lightly spray the pan with the cooking spray. Place two slices of bread, butter side down, on the flat pan. Top with the cheese shingles. Place the remaining two slices of bread on top with butter sides up. Heat until buttom is golden brown. Check the soup and stir to keep it from sticking to bottom of pan. Flip, using spatula. If soup starts bubbling, turn heat down to low or warm, dependng on which is lowest setting for your stove. Heat bread until golden brown again. Remove. Plate both items and enjoy.

 

Blown modem

Today’s post is brought to you by the iphone5c. Ouch. Love hating typing on this. But, on the upside: Spring is arriving. It has been warm enough I have considered wearing just my sweatshirt to work. But, that also brings rain.

Mine thing I love doing wen I need a pick up is to buy some flowers.

This is carnations and baby’s breath bouquets bought from the grocery store

This bouquet I made myself. I bought two different bouquets for $5 each. Not cheap, but I wanted a white bouquet this time. I like to use baby’s breath on its own normally, but decided to do a play on normal ones. This time, I made the carnations the filler for the focus of lacy baby’s breath. I do like this very much, though know I need a smaller vase for smaller bouquets. I’m not meaning shorter; smaller diameter. The case I bought was the least expensive and I didn’t feel like making another store trip just for a vase.

A couple tips if you are making your own bouquets. First: Check your grocery stores and gas stations along with florists. You can sometimes make multiple bouquets from one bunch sold. Or, if you just need one or so more flowers, they can sometimes be less expensive. Second: Don’t pass up on a bunch because you don’t like all of the flowers together. You can easily get rid of a couple if that’s the case for a bouquet you’d enjoy. Third: Remember to cut the ends of your flowers at a slight angle when you put them in your vase. This allows the flowers to drink the water you put them in much better. In turn, it lets them stay alive longer. Fourth: Make sure there are no leaves or flowers below your water. That will cause rot, which will make the flowers die faster.

What flowers do you like in your bouquets? Do you have to need a reason to buy or receive flowers?

Caramel Chocolate Coffee

I’m looking for ways to get around all these soup recipes that call for blending. In some cases, like bean soups, I already figured a hack. Take some refried beans and remove some of the whole beans from the recipe. That adds the thickness of the beans along with keeping the amount of beans whole. Other times, I just take a potato masher and mash them that way. The choice depends on both how much energy I want to expend and what other ingredients are in there.  Delicate vegetables that just don’t lose shape when in the masher mostly (I’m looking at you spinach and kale), down goes the masher. Carrots and peas that are falling apart and I’m going to freeze most of it? Masher. Green beans, sweet potato, squashes? Throw some refried beans in. Adding some tofu or the italian sausage? Another case for the wonderful refried beans. Just bean soup? Oh, that ends up a mix of both. Just to throw everyone off.

It’s sad that my reasoning is not that I’m afraid of a blender. I’m not. I have a huge I think it’s a kitchenaid or else a cuisinart food processor packed up in a box from my old apartments.  I just never had either a regular blender or an immersion blender. I’m planning on changing that, but I’m certain I’m not the only person in the world who wants to not have most soups to say blend this after most recipes. One less thing to wash after each meal is always good along with an option for those who just don’t have the extra money to get one or the room to store it. That has me falling on canned purees. I know most people look down on them for the fact that hey aren’t fresh and homemade, but they are a good alternative. And there isn’t just pumpkin anymore. I found some canned sweet potato puree and another type of squash  in one store. I’m hoping to find more as people realise that not every creamy soup has to be blended to be creamy. But, there is another type of puree. And that’s what I’m currently experimenting with. Baby food. I actually got the idea when I was walking down the aisle looking for something else. The one store actually had baby purees by the household supplies, which held the dish soap I wanted. But, it made me look at them and realise that would make a good base for soup. They are constantly on sale and there are coupons for them everywhere. In fact, I am starting to find the purees in squeeze packs, so they can be in larger sizes. Need a cup of broccoli to make a soup? Grab a few jars. Just make sure to pay attention to the ingredients on the packaging. Some still have added sugars or other ingredients. But, it’s a reasonable option in exchange for the effort or losing out on making the recipe because you just don’t have the appliance to make it.

Like I said, I’m figuring out substitutions. Another thing I really love is my fancy coffees. I still haven’t completely figured out how to get them as frothy without a milk frother, but I find that the froth dies fast enough I would rather just have the flavor and full texture instead. That doesn’t need the frother. If my family is reading this, I still want that espresso machine with the frother though! Plus, doing nondairy nilk takes a different temperature and so more tools. Because we all know (at least some know) that I have seperate tools for coffee than cooking. I picked this recipe up between going to the Thai restaurant and getting their iced coffee and when I was doing that low carb diet a while ago and hated the tiny options available in sugar free. Seriously, coffee places, they do offer more out there than just vanilla, caramel, and hazelnut! And I’m not calling it mocha only because it’s not using espresso.

Caramel Chocolate Coffee

Serves 1

1/4 C Condensed Milk (either dairy or non-dairy will work)

1 Tbs. Chocolate syrup (there are low carb chocolate syrups or even no carb if that’s what you are watching)

1 Tbs. Caramel syrup (Same here or go to the ice cream area and grab a container of caramel syrup)

12 oz water

Coffee grinds to brew

So, get your coffee ready with the coffee and water. In your cup, first place the condensed milk on the bottom. Then, add your syrups. Mix them together until it is the same color. Pour your brewed coffee slowly in, stirring as you do. Sip.