Pages

Sunday, February 27, 2011

what's cooking

I did a better job of taking pictures of our meals this go-round, hopefully I inspire to make something  this week.

Butter Lettuce Salad with Egg:
I love butter lettuce.  This salad has butter lettuce, pears, shaved Parmesan, toasted pecans, balsamic vinaigrette and is topped with a fried egg.  The egg makes it creamy, adds protein and tastes really good.

Salad with Honey Goat Cheese:
 Butter lettuce, honey goat cheese (from Trader Joe's), pear, pomegranate seeds and lemon balsamic vinaigrette.

Butternut Squash Ravioli:
This was better then it looks (photo people I would love your suggestions on how to improve).  I made a quick brown butter and sage sauce then added nutmeg.  I topped it with kosher salt and Parmesan, some toasted walnuts would have been good as well. The best part of this meal was my "creamed" spinach.  I put a bunch of spinach in a pan with a little garlic, add milk, cream cheese, nutmeg and salt. It is good and an easy way to get in a lot of spinach.


Turkey Sliders and oven cheese fries:
Sliders are the perfect size for my small people so I make them instead of regular sized burgers.  I mix grated onion, add BBQ sauce, frozen chopped spinach, Worcestershire sauce, egg and oatmeal (instead of bread crumbs) into the meat.  I had little buns for the kids, but I skipped it so I could have the oven chile fries, that I made with New Mexico green chile, so good.




Hummus and Greek Chicken Pitas:
Hummus is so easy to make, this time I started with dry garbanzo beans instead of canned.  I soaked the beans over night and cooked them for 40 minutes. I topped the hummus with smoked paprika and it added good flavor.  Let me know if you want the recipe and will write it up.

For the pitas:
For the Greek chicken I put oregano, lemon, salt, and garlic on chicken breast and baked it. I served it with red onions  and cucumber marinated in balsamic vinegar, feta, fresh spinach, hummus and some creamed spinach.  This was the best thing I made all week.


Pasta with clam sauce:
Not so exciting but easy and good.  I cook a bunch of garlic in olive oil, add canned clams, a little butter and salt.  Then I toss in the pasta and a little pasta water, I add lemon zest, Parmesan and parsley. 


Pasta with Spinach Sauce:
Clearly I am on a spinach kick and I fell off the not white flour train.  I made this with frozen chopped spinach, garlic, milk, nutmeg, salt and parmesan. 


Another Salad:
 Butter lettuce, strawberries, honey goat cheese, pomegranate seeds, and balsamic vinaigrette.  If you have not put strawberries on salad you should try it, and you should try the the honey goat cheese on just about anything.


Bonus Meal:
My husband is gone a lot, we eat dinner with out him at least half the week often more.  Most of the time I eat with my kids but on occasion I eat veggies with them but skip the rest of the meal and then I have this for dinner.  Yes, that is cereal and a glass of wine, it makes me happy.

What are you making this week?

Happy Cooking,

Elena
 

Friday, February 25, 2011

day 6

Today is day six that I have sick small people.  

My house is a mess because my kids are feeling needy, "Mom where are you?" and "Mom you sound far away" all day long.  I am spent.  

I have not been running all week.  Not once.  None of us have been sleeping, Rob has been working, and I am feeling like a lump. 

What I should be doing is Insanity, these crazy workout videos that have me dripping in sweat.  I may be a little extra curvy but I am in great cardio shape.  My heart is strong but  those workouts kill me.

I should be doing crazy workout videos but I am not, when the small people are sleeping I am done.  I sit in a dark room lit by the the glow of my computer and the TV, until I zen down enough to sleep.

Did I mention that Rob is gone until Monday.

Enough. 

I am actually in a fairly good mood and here is why:

I have wonderful friends who offer to help, and go out of their way to keep me sane.

I snuggled Taylor and Jaxson a lot.

I will not be sitting in the glow of my computer tonight.  The babysitter is coming and I am going out with friends.

The marathon is just over a week away.  I did not run this week but I already got all my long runs in.  I am just taking tapering to an extreme.

By next week we will be healthy, Rob will be home, and I get to run.

Happy Friday,

Elena

Thursday, February 24, 2011

its Thursday...

What does that mean?  Absoutly nothing.

Today is day five that I am at home with sick kids.  And yes, I know that I am fortunate to have generally healthy children, they suffer from no long term ailments and for this I am endlessly grateful.

I am aware of my blessing but this is day five.

I am over being a snot-rag every time I pick up my baby and he rubs his constant flow of snot on me, and I am over the endless neediness, I am over trying, at no avail, to keep them both happy and humored.

Do I sound callous and unkind? I really am a warm and fuzzy mom, but my contact with the outside work has been minumual for the past week and to remain calm and helpful I am going to complain to you so I can turn around and smile at my kids.

One minute I am feeling so  bad for them and the next I am feeling sorry for myself because I am spending yet another day in my house with whining kids. 

I love, love, love my kids but I really enjoy the outside world.

In this moment my small people are distracted I am reaching out to the outside world on my computer, picture me in dark room with the shades drawn, toys, books, water cups and tissue everywhere hoping I can have a few uninterrupted minutes.  My friend Kim posted this link on her blog it made me laugh, and then I read this on the same blog and I was crying laughing, I also highly reccomend taking the time to read about and about #2, I may be going a little stir crazy but this is some funny sh*t.

Ok.  That's it.  I am done.  My small people are requesting me again, warm and fuzzy here I come.

Happy Thursday,

Elena


One more thing, do you have any good online reads for me?

Monday, February 21, 2011