I feel like I always talk about food.

Okay, another meal plan post. I was good this week and made my plan before going to the store. Some of my ideas can easily morph into something else, so I feel like I did pretty well.

Monday - was going to be pot pie, but our houseguest is cooking instead.
Tuesday - mushroom, spinach, caramelized onions white lasagna, a la http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/10/mushroom-lasagna/). I just add in the extra stuff.
Wednesday- enchiladas
Thursday - either chicken with forty cloves, or chicken cacciatore. I have the ingredients for both, just depends on my mood.
Friday - veggie stir fry. My leftovers might become soup the next day, if there are any.
Saturday - chicken pot pie. Leftovers from Thursday might end up in here as well, depending on which way I go.


This is all kind of in flux, per usual. I plan on freezing a few of the pot pies anyway, so they might all get made and put in the freezer/fridge Thursday, then baked off as needed. Tomorrow I think I will go ahead and make the enchilada filling and sauce, so then all I need to do Wednesday when I get home from work is assemble them. Depending on how ambitious I am, I might attempt to freeze some of this as well.

Meal Planning

So in an effort to help myself stay on top of food budgeting/meal planning, as well as sharing recipes, I am going to try and start posting my weekly meal plans.  This week is already half over, but I'll include the past couple of nights too, just for the hell of it.  I believe most of these I have already posted the recipe for (other than the pizza, but that's a gimme), so I don't think I'll post them. If you want them though, let me know.
Monday: Thai Fried Rice (a la Sean)
Tuesday: Chili. I put a fair amount of this in the freezer for another meal in the future.
Wednesday: Sausage Lentil Casserole
Thursday: Barbeque Chicken pizza
Friday: Baked potato soup
Saturday: I think I will do a sort of asian soup with bok choy, bamboo shoots, carrots, and chicken. Although soup two nights in a row might be a bit redundant. But this is my kitchen, and I do what I want. So there.
Sunday: Chicken pot pie. Again, I think I'll make extra to freeze. The recipe I like using (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-pot-pie-recipe/index.html) makes a TON, and I have frozen it successfully in the past. I easily got 7-8 big individual pot pies out of my last batch, so I figure it's at least 2-3 meals, even factoring in our off and on house guests.

Some of what I'm experimenting with right now is trying to find things that either freeze and reheat well, or that can be cooked one portion at a time. Sean's schedule and mine are often at odds - joy of the restaurant industry - and having a hot meal when he gets home is nice. He certainly doesn't expect it, but I know he appreciates it. And thinking in terms of needing to feed him as well often gets me to cook a real meal as opposed to eating hummus and calling it dinner. So things like pizza and pot pie are great, since he can just cook his when he gets home, and I can eat whenever I am hungry.

Moroccan Chicken

A lot of you in facebook land were asking for this recipe, so I am delivering. I did what I always do when cooking, is get an idea in my head then read a bunch of different recipes, picking and choosing which elements I like.  Here is what I did this time.

2 chicken boobs, cut into smallish pieces
1 onion, chunked up
squash cut up
3 cloves of garlic, minced
can of chopped tomatoes, drained (this would be a great use for all those you have from the garden. Or your friends garden.)
2 tbps honey
1 can chickpeas
olive oil
butter
salt to taste
chicken broth
Moroccan spice mix (see below)

In a big heavy pan, put a few tablespoons of olive oil, and some butter, chicken, onion, spices, and whatever veggies (not the maters yet though). Cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes.  Add tomatoes, and continue cooking another 20. Stir every now and then, just to keep things from burning.  Add chickpeas and honey, along with enough broth to cover the chickpeas. Cook another 10 or so minutes, until chicken is cooked. I served it with some plain whole wheat couscous, and it was pretty damn good.

Notes:
I used a blend of spices I used to make roasted chickpeas once, since I liked to combo. I used about half of what this mix yielded, but feel free to adjust. I just have the leftovers in some tupperware to be used at a later date. Some recipes also included saffron, parsley, and cilantro which I didn't have on hand, but feel free. I would have used them if they were in my fridge. Here's the spice mix:

1/2 tsp each of curry powder, allspice, ground cloves, cayenne, and pumpkin pie spice. I have this last one on hand to make pumpkin lattes with, but I doubt you would know if it got left out. It's pretty much all the other stuff anyway.
2 tsps cinnamon, salt and ground ginger, but fresh would be awesome

I also threw in some cardamom for shits and giggles. But if you have a blend you like, go for it. This was just what struck my fancy at the time.

Also, I would use two cans of chickpeas if I made it again, but that's because I love them. Any veggies you have around would work too, I just used what I had. Hope you all enjoy it as much as we did!

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Sometimes I throw random foods in a bowl and call it dinner.

Thanks to the bounty that is other peoples gardens (hi friends, hi pseudoMIL!), I have veggies coming out of my ears. Zucchini the size of whiffle ball bats, and tomatoes the size of the coordinating whiffle balls (side note, wtf is a whiffle?). Over achieving basil plants. So I concocted this dish to use up some of them. It’s really not terribly exciting, but it tasted good, and it used up some of these veggies, and it tasted good.

Orzo with Assorted Delicious Things

Roasted veggies (this time I used tomatoes, squash and zucchini)

Orzo, about a cup or so

Shrimp; 10ish small ones. I keep a bag of the frozen kind in my freezer. Yes, fresh would be better, but these work fine.

Feta (those little baby mozzarella balls would be tasty as well. I just have a mild feta addiction)

Roast whatever veggies you want to be using. I just tossed mine with some olive oil and salt, then stuck them in the oven at 400 until they were soft. My tomatoes got squishy, but I just used them as a kind of sauce, so it worked out.  Saute your shrimp until done and delightfully pink. Toss veggies, shrimp, and orzo together. Stir in some feta, oregano, and some fresh basil if you have some kicking around, or whatever spices make you say whee. I made a TON of roasted veggies, and what I don’t use tonight I’m going to throw on pizza, and then probably put the rest in some tomato sauce to use later. There may be attempts to can. Depends on how adventurous I feel this weekend.

The Towel Bar Dilemma

As I think I have mentioned before, I have a tendency to get a bug up my ass about something totally random, and just dive in without thinking it through all the way, like the aforementioned closet reorganization.  So occasionally, poor Sean will come home to me either exultantly wanting to show off what I did, or with the “Ummm, baby?”, which he has come to know precedes me telling him something that is probably going to be something I fucked up or that he needs to fix. Well. This leads me to the towel bars, which luckily was not an "Don't kill me, but.." moment. 

Partly because the linen closet is full of other stuff, and partly because it’s halfway across the house, we don’t keep any of our towels there. Meaning they are all in our bathroom. The same brain impulse that compels us to have our clothes in plain sight (I like to claim it’s being right brained, not sheer laziness), also means we rarely, if ever, have neatly folded towels artfully hanging on bars. We are hook people. So in our fairly small (very small by master bath standards) bathroom, the two towel bars just seemed superfluous. Every time I sat down to pee, I would stare at the consistently empty towel bar and think to myself, ‘Hey Eleanor. Just take that fucker down. You’re not using it, and it makes it look like you’re some sort of weird non-bathing slob’.  Which I assure you, we are not. So a couple of weeks ago, I busted out the screwdriver and took one of them down. No, I didn’t totally think this plan through. But it worked out okay. Plus, ignoring the fact that there are now holes in the wall from the dry wall anchors (don’t worry Mom, they’re going to be patched), I think it looks much better. The original plan was to buy trusty sticky hooks, but I was wandering through the dollar store and found an over the door hook thingie. These have worked well for us in the past, and it was some staggeringly large total, like $2 or something. So far, this new arrangement is working. We’re no longer hanging towels on doors, and I’m not taunted by a towel bar any longer.  The one near the sink is soon going to fall prey to my trusty pink screwdriver as well, but I think I am going to replace that one with one of those ring things. Replacing the medicine cabinet with something less crooked is on the docket as well, but that one requires some repainting. Baby steps seems to be the theme of our house projects.

Back in the Closet

When we moved into this house, one of the things we really liked about it was the spacious master closet. All the closets in the house were pretty good, but this one, thanks to it being a 1990’s addition, qualifies as a small walk in, and came with a pretty good ClosetMaid system already installed.  I was super drawn to the shoe rack along the bottom edge.  It was big enough that we didn’t need to use a dresser, which is good, because neither of us are really dresser people anyway. It’s nice to have all your clothes out where you can see them. Hell, we barely even close the closet door, partly due to a certain cats propensity for sleeping on the top shelves.  Well, after a few months of living with it, I figured out that it wasn’t quite suiting our purposes. What was mainly bugging me was this odd little narrow shelf right in the middle. And that lovely shoe rack? Well, it was a little low to the ground, and wasn’t big enough.  So. Little shelf came down off of my side, and shoe rack was flipped upside down and re-hung as a normal shelf.  This works MUCH better for us.  I later bought two shelf thingies from Target to hold shoes, which I like, and work.  The only issue with them is that there isn’t a good place in them to put my boots, but that’s why the organization gods gave us plastic bins.  I’d been coveting another piece in the same line with a door, and a shelf that I could use for socks, bras, underwear and other small little things that liked to run away into corners and fornicate with the dust bunnies. Well, last weekend while browsing through a certain big box store with a red theme, I found a unit that has drawers. They’re a bit on the small side, but true to my relatively new found policy of ‘if you don’t have enough room, it means you have too much shit’, I used it as an opportunity to get rid of all those bras that don’t fit, underwear that’s too small, and socks with holes. Now, our closet looks like this (yes, that is part of my RennFair costume hanging on the left. I'm a nerd. I don't deny this):

Unfortunately, the process turned our bed into this: . And of course, this was done right around bedtime. Because that is the optimal time to reorganize your closet doncha know.

And just a little explanation, in case anyone is looking at the second photo and panicking, most of that either went in the Goodwill/garage sale pile, or was put back away in the closet. That black and white bin contains all my purses, which are going to get a weeding soon I think. All in all, I'm making some progress. And we've managed to keep it that tidy (almost) for a week now.And those nightstands were tidied a bit after this picture too. I just wanted to prove to the internet what I slob I am I guess?

Spring Fever

Well, it's looking like winter is finally departing from the mountains, thank god. Now we're just rewarded with warm days, cold nights, and some EPIC storms (including the one three nights ago that knocked out our power!).  And of course, the ubiquitous spring cleaning bug.

This whole ''spring cleaning bug" has bitten me on the ass pretty hard. It's also being fueled by reading far too many DIY/design minded blogs, YoungHouseLove being my current favorite. I've never been totally thrilled with how our living room is put together, and the addition of one of a new Ikea shelf is making things more complicated. One of the inevitable perils of having roommates is that you end up with furniture that doesn't always fit the space, and will eventually move out with their owners, leaving me reticent to get rid of anything, lest I want it at a later date, yet equally reticent to buy anything to fit the current configuration since it will change in the future. In our case, we are lucky enough to have a pretty massive (306 sq ft to be exact!) space, so we don't feel TOO crowded, and even then I think it's just me. But I'm discovering that big isn't always better. We have room for more seating than in the old place, but I'm left feeling like the old tiny living room felt cozier. It doesn't help that I feel like we've just got pieces in here that aren't necessary, so it just feels cluttered to me, yet we still have odd areas of dead space.

There's also this huge expanse of wall with nothing on it. I keep saying that I am going to print photos from some of my trips and frame them, but then I start doing the math of buying enough frames, and my bank account starts crying, and the idea is abandoned.


I finally have a completely free weekend, so there's going to be a lot of cleaning/re-organizing going on. I'm on a quest for new bedroom lamps, frames, and eventually a rug for the living room. We've (okay mainly me) got some ideas kicking around on things we want to do in the kitchen and master bath as well, hopefully some of those can come to fruition soon.  I really want to do something like this in the awkward corners in our bedroom:


And on the knitting front, I cranked this blankie out for our new nephew, Captain Flynn. Sucker came out enormous (blanket, not baby), but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

The Great Sock Caper

Every now and then I decide that I am going to knit/sew/cook/build something without totally thinking it through. Sometimes it works out okay, and sometimes it ends with me sitting in a mound of flour on the kitchen floor crying. Well, this time it worked out. Sort of. In a vain effort to stop my boyfriend from wearing socks with his flip flops I jokingly said I would make him some toe socks. This backfired (of course!) and immediately resulted in him asking for a pair of tabi socks. "Sure honey!".  Well. There were several problems with this.

1. I've never knit socks before.
2. Tabi socks wouldn't really be your cut and dried socks
3. fidshgfiuaeghauehgouhrgourREALLYELEANOR!?

Well, after a couple of failed attempts, I finally got one sock done. The first pattern I used had to be modified, because Sean has monkey toes or something. So that was fun. Get the whole thing made, tralalala, look! A sock!  Well, I decided I didn't like that pattern, because clearly changing patterns halfway through a pair of socks makes perfect sense. So on to the second pattern! This one had more flexibility with numbers, etc so less modding. Well, I cast off the second sock last night, have him try them on. The fucking co edge was too tight on the first one, so I had to frog the BO edge and redo it. The upside? I learned how to work this magic: Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off.

Patterns I used and my synopsis of their sock viability:
Nice and Easy - This was the second sock. As I am new to knitting socks, I can't decide if I like short row heels or sl1k1 heels better. It's up for debate. I actually think this sock was a little too big for the size 11 foot. Kind of baggy, and the cuff is poofy. This could all be chalked up to user error though.

Mr. Tabi First sock. I don't know what size 11 man foot the author was using, but I was knitting to gauge and there was no way the toes were going to fit. Not even close. Hence all the fiddling with numbers. Fits better through the foot section though, and cuff is much tighter. 

All in all, he likes them. He's wearing them as I type. He wants more. We'll see. But here's a picture:

P.S. They're not as wonky as they look in the picture. He was doing weird things with his ankles.

Soup and Wool

 I made this black bean soup the other night and it was SO GOOD. I've been on a quest for a good black been soup for awhile now and have been disappointed. This one was perfect though. It's a Dave Lieberman recipe, and I honestly did absolutely no tweaking, and don't think there is anything I would change.

10 slices bacon, finely chopped
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, pressed
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can reduced-sodium chicken broth (if you want more broth, up this, it's very little)
1 1/2 cups canned chopped tomatoes (I used the kind with chilies)
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
4 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black beans, drained but not rinsed (I've mentioned this before, but I cook and freeze my own, and therefore I think I used about four cups cooked dried beans)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch cilantro (okay I left this out cause I didn't have any)
juice of 1/2 lime
Thinly sliced scallions, for garnish
Sour cream, for garnish
Grated cheddar, for garnish

Put the bacon into a large heavy pot and place it over medium heat. Cook until it starts to give up its fat, about 4 minutes (I lied. One thing I would change? Cook the bacon longer. I don't like chewy fat, so I ended up picking out some. Sean thought it was fine though). Stir in the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until you can smell it, about 1 minute. Add the broth, tomatoes, ketchup, Worcestershire, and chili powder. Stir in the beans, turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the soup is bubbling gently and cook 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, pick off all the thick stems from the cilantro. Wash it and shake dry. Chop the cilantro coarsely and stir it into the soup when it has been simmering 10 minutes. Cook until the soup is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice. Serve with the garnishes.

On the knitting front, I've been cranking. The Christmas gift list ended up at: 3 scarves, 2 shawl/wraps, and a bag. All in about a month. I think I slept somewhere in there. Maybe. I just posted a bunch of knitting pictures on facebook, so I won't bore you with that redundancy. Currently I'm working on a Clapotis for my pseudo-SIL's birthday. Just using some Simply Soft, but it's coming out quite pretty. Definitely on the list of things to make for myself soon. I'm thinking of making mine in some Noro Silk Garden, because I love what the colors do.  My LYS is having a sale right now, I'm thinking it might be a good time.