SISTER WISDOM : build a better life

...that IS the question.
This week the answer is YES.
I think my family likes it when I cook...

Our menu for the week

Sunday: (as in, yesterday) Joe made us a huge pot of garlicky, warm smoked sausage and potato soup and french bread.
Monday: green salad with baked lemon chicken (it was going to be grilled, but it's raining, so never mind), garlic-butter breadsticks.
Tuesday: cheesy, ultimate comfort food: homemade mac'n'cheese {recipe below} with ham, on the side we'll have stir-fried cabbage and fresh fruit.
Wednesday: we'll have smoothies for dinner (kids will get leftovers), then snacks with our home Bible study group. I'll do a tray of olives, prosciutto, cheese, and crackers and either the oatmeal cookies or these oh-my-goodness chocolate butterfinger cookies from Rach's Blog Bite. Oh my goodness. Chocolate + butterfinger + cookies.
Thursday:So I'm indebted to Rach again for another great recipe: the tortellini salad that sounds amazing. Yum. I'll do some dill-marinated cucumbers on the side.
Friday:Fajitas with green peppers and onions, pineapple salsa and chips, and some fresh guac if avocados aren't outrageously expensive. Mmmm.
Saturday:either homemade pizza or grilled brats, potato salad, and red beans.
Sunday:a big pot of chicken and dumplings sound just right. Salad, a tray of fruit and cheese, and maybe some apple pie for dessert, unless I can talk Joe into making some of his amazing chocolate mousse. I think I'm gaining weight just thinking about this meal.

Let's talk about homemade mac'n'cheese. Actually, let's talk about any luxuriously comforting creamy baked pasta dish. It all comes down to the sauce, my friends. The homemade, creamy, and, yes, easy to make sauce.

Basic White Sauce

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
In a large saucepan or saute pan, melt the butter until it is all liquid; immediately sprinkle the flour on and start whisking until the flour and melted butter are mixed together in a lumpy, doughy looking thing. Yum. Looks promising, doesn't it? Don't panic. Turn the heat down to very low, or pull it off heat for a moment, and get out
4 cups of milk
Pour in about a cup of the milk, more or less, and whisk away until the lumpy-doughy butter/flour mix has made a saucy mixture with the milk. Keep whisking to get the lumps out. Keep the pan over low heat so the milk won't scald. Now pour in another 1 or 2 cups of milk, whisk, and then let it bubble until it starts to thicken. Now pour in the rest of the milk, whisk, and keep it over low heat. Give it a stir every now and then. You want to let it just cook on very low heat so it thickens. This would be a good time to season the sauce, so pull out
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
Stir the salt and pepper into the sauce. Now, if you want to, you can add more seasoning. For example, I might add
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried chervil
1 teaspoon lemon zest
if I want a creamy sauce with some good herby flavor and a little zesty kick. Something a little lighter, good for Spring, to pour over pasta with peas, mushrooms, and Parmesan shavings. But today I'm making mac'n'cheese, so light and springy is not exactly what I'm going for. Instead, I'm going to add
1 tablespoon (okay, I'll probably add 2) minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon dried parsley
Now, once the seasonings are added, you just want to let the sauce simmer a bit so all the flavors meld together and the sauce bubbles away and gets thicker. You'll want to taste it and add more salt and pepper as needed. (If it's a bit too salty, don't worry; you'll be pouring it over pasta, so you want it to have a good, intense flavor. If it's much too salty, add another cup of milk.)
That's it for white sauce. Since I'm turning this into mac'n'cheese, though, we need to add.... cheese. Glorious cheese.

to make the mac'n'cheese

I generally just use whatever I have in the refrigerator. This week I have cheddar and monterey jack, so I'll grate enough to make about 2 cups of cheese total and then dump that into the sauce, stirring so the cheese doesn't stick on the bottom. Once the cheese is melted, the sauce is finished. Now, set the sauce aside and continue on:
Cook 1 pound of pasta (shells, macaroni, mostaccioli, whatever you like) according to package directions. Drain and pour into a 13x9 baking dish or a 3 quart casserole dish or whatever else you have handy that is oven-safe and will hold 1 pound of pasta plus sauce.
Fry up 1 pound of bacon or a couple of big slices of ham, or saute 1 pound of chicken breast, or cook 1 pound of ground beef, or any combination you like, or just leave out the meat altogether. It's superfluous, as far as I'm concerned, because I'm really just interested in the cheesy pasta, but my husband really likes his homemade mac'n'cheese with chicken and bacon.
Once the meat is cooked, drain it if needed to get off the excess grease, then let it cool enough to handle. Chop it up into bite-sized pieces, then dump it in with the pasta.
Get your sauce and pour it over the cooked pasta.
Now you have options. You can cook it right away, or you can cover and refrigerate it until just before dinner time. Whenever you're ready to cook, uncover the pasta and stick it in a 350-degree (F) oven. Cook it for 20 minutes, then sprinkle about 1 cup of grated cheese on top (any kind) and let it melt.
Serve. Eat. Don't count calories for this one.

This post is linked up with OrgJunkie's Menu Plan Monday.

Sometimes I complain about living on a budget, but really, I like* the challenge of coming up with good meals for my family without spending a fortune. I find that the limits actually help me to be a little more creative in the kitchen.

We do a lot more meatless meals, which is healthier anyway. I've resurrected some old Southern favorites that I kind of forgot about, and they are so good. And I've found that the more I make myself the more money I save, plus it all tastes better. Read the rest of this entry »

Hey, you can even have a better salad for breakfast during your better morning.

I refuse to believe that trading recipes is silly.  Tunafish casserole is at least as real as corporate stock. ~Barbara Grizzuti Harrison

Smart Moves for Morning

1. Get into a breakfast routine. It's okay to eat the same thing every day for breakfast, and it will help you be prepared and be sure you're eating something. Switch out week to week if you get bored.
2. Do some prep the night before: get the coffee ready to go, put out breakfast plates, go ahead and unload the dishwasher so it's not waiting for you.
3. Come in to a clean kitchen. At the minimum: put away food, wipe down counters, and put dirty dishes into hot, soapy water to soak. A step above: wash the dishes or load in the dishwasher. Leave only the dirtiest pots/pans soaking overnight. Read the rest of this entry »

I'm linked up with OrgJunkie's Menu Plan Monday.

A few food thoughts for today...

- Be wary of any miracle food. Olive oil, fish, leafy greens, apples, whatever. Doesn't mean the food isn't good and good for you, but no one food is the miracle cure or diet key.

- All things in moderation.

- There is no perfect "diet."

- Think about food on a "real food scale" according to the processing/prep needed to make something edible. On this scale, the "most real" food would be fruits and vegetables (requiring the least preparation) and then fresh milk, dairy products, and meats and grains kind of on an even keel. You could get really technical by breaking down cooking time etc., but that's not the point. The point is just think of how fresh and "natural" a thing is when you eat it, and go for those on the fresher end most often.

- There is more to life than what you eat.

- Be simple.

- Be fresh.

- Enjoy your food.

- Stay close to the earth and close to home.

- Consider nutrients, genetics, and a changed environment. A tomato today isn't the same as a tomato 50 years ago.

- Consider your cooking style, region, background, budget, time, and energy when planning your food and menu and eating lifestyle.

- I hate diets.

- I love food.

- Routines help when you're short on time and/or willpower. Same thing for breakfast, same thing for snack...

- Drink more water.

- Emotional, mental, spiritual state and lifestyle are part of your "diet." They affect you physically.

- Nobody in the past had it perfect, either. We can learn from our ancestors, but we shouldn't just copy them blindly.

- Any diet requiring elaborate preparation, special tools, or expensive ingredients is not going to happen in my life.

- I refuse to feel guilty about food.

- Availability does not mean a food is worthwhile.

(I'm no food or nutrition or diet expert. I just love food and I love being healthy.)

Here's my menu for this week:

• chicken stir fry (boneless, skinless chicken breasts, loads of fresh broccoli, onion, green pepper, and homemade sweet & sour sauce with fresh chopped pineapple. All over white rice.)
• broccoli cheese soup a la bread co (carry over) (if I get it right, I'll post the recipe!)
• beef fajitas (thin sliced lean beef sauteed with green pepper and onion, served with shredded lettuce, homemade mango salsa, and roasted garlic)
• winter squash curry and rice (I've been craving curry. Can't wait for this: chunks of acorn squash in a rich coconut-milk curry sauce with lots of garlic and onion, topped with raisins and peanuts and fresh diced cilantro.)
• roasted tomato soup and whole-wheat gnocchi (still deciding if I'm going to put the gnocchi in the soup or serve it, buttered, on the side.)
• garlic-citrus tilapia filets, sauteed mushrooms, and kale. (i have no idea what to do with the kale...)

Routine Meals:

• breakfast (for me) - grape nuts, a banana, and milk. oh, yes, and let's not forget the coffee.
• breakfast (for the kids) -  granola/cereal bar or a mini bagel, banana, and milk. Zeke gets mushed banana, a bottle of raw milk, and a mini bagel. He eats a lot.
• breakfast (for Joe) - raisin bran
• (yes we have exciting breakfast around here!)
• lunch (for me and Joe) - salad with grilled chicken or a boiled egg, leftovers
• lunch (for the kids) - almost always a combo of fruit or veg (apple, baby carrots), a few carbs (crackers), and protein (cheese, peanut butter, leftover meat). It's enough for them and is easy for me. Zeke eats the pureed version of veg, fruit and/or protein and a few crackers.

Happy Cooking, Happy Eating

I'm linked up with OrgJunkie's Menu Plan Monday. You should be,too.

Sometimes, when it comes to food, the simplest is the best.

Let's talk about soup.

I love soup. Soup is my friend, except in summer when I'm in a state of perpetual sweatiness. Then the only soup I'm into is gazpacho, ice-cold, but during the other three blessed seasons of the year, me and soup, we're tight. We're buds. We're close.

I could happily eat soup every night, but I don't because 1) sometimes I'm lazy and I like just throwing chicken breasts in the baking dish and voila! dinner; and 2) my husband likes soup, but not quite as much as I do, so I try to be nice and make stuff besides soup too; and 3) a 3 1/2 year old and a 2 year old eating soup every night is too hard on my kitchen, and the cleanliness thereof. I don't like wiping soup off the floor every evening. (Did you catch that "sometimes I'm lazy" bit, above? That comes into play again here.) Read the rest of this entry »

It's been a month since I planned a menu. The last one was a two-week planning fest designed to carry us through Christmas without leaving a bunch of excess food in the fridge when we went out of town over New Year's. It worked pretty well, and then we were out of town, and then we were home and sick. We were supposed to start our diet the first week in January, and we did. That stomach bug really gave us a kickstart. Woohoo. The things some people will do to lose weight... But the tummy bug was not voluntary so I really shouldn't praise my own dedication to weight loss. In fact, if I'd had a choice I definitely would have declined. I despise being sick and I'm really bad at it, as in, whiny and unpleasant and grouchy.

Here I am, anyway, trying to keep us semi-aligned to our diet aspirations and on track for losing the rest of the weight. I actually lost 15 pounds over the holidays and the following two weeks of sickness, so I guess that's good however unpleasant it was for me and the rest of the family. Heh heh.

One thing I've learned about my menu planning is that detailed menu planning kind of throws me off. I work better when I plan 6 or 7 dinners and then just choose the night before what we'll have the next day. If I forget to think about it and  thus forget to pull meat out of the freezer, all the fish thaws in minutes so I can throw one of those meals together quickly if needed. I like having dinner prepped earlier in the day but it just doesn't always work that way.

Our diet criteria are also influencing how I plan menus these days. I'm trying to think more, eat better, and not just grab what is quick and easy. ( Read inspiration here.) We've never eaten a lot of red meat because it's expensive, but we used to eat a lot of pasta and good ole down-home Southern stuff: chicken and dumplings, homemade mac & cheese, meatloaf & mashed potatoes. I'm drooling. Stop, Annie, for the love of all that's thin and healthy!

So now we're doing a, um, very modified version of the Rosedale Diet. Basically lots of fish and lean poultry, salads and fresh vegetables, and not so much sugar and carb-laden food. I'm allowing us one pasta night per week & one beef night per week, and I'm aiming for eating fish at least twice a week and meatless twice a week.

I'm linked up with OrgJunkie's Menu Plan Monday.

Dinners

Cranberry Chicken Melts on Low-Carb Buns
Beef Fajitas
Parmesan Crusted Tilapia, Salad, Sauteed Veggies
Broiled Salmon, Buttery Cauliflower, Salad
Crock Pot Chili Lime Chicken-Tostada-Salad (probably skip the tostada and just make it a salad)
Broccoli Cheese Soup, Homemade Crackers
Artichoke Pasta with Alfredo Sauce

Lunches

Tuna Salad
French Onion Soup
Salad with Grilled Turkey or Chicken
Leftovers

Breakfasts (which I'm trying to save, still)

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins (a friend's recipe I can't wait to try, these will be our breakfast "luxury" for the week)
Raisin Bran
Whole Wheat Bagels
Omelet & Turkey Sausage (if I get really industrious, or if I whine enough and get Joe to cook...heehee)

Images courtesy of mugley and floodllama.

I really don't like cooking breakfast. I really don't like eating breakfast. I love food, but the only thing I really want to eat in the morning is some sort of sweet, starchy item (think pastry) that goes with my coffee. Before 8, that's the only thing that sounds appetizing and, alas, it is extremely bad about expanding the love handles.

My usual morning breakfast routine is something gourmet and exciting like Raisin Bran. I am in awe of these Moms who offer all these morning food choices to their kids. Eggs? Omelet? Egg white omelet with shaved asparagus and prosciutto curls? Cheese toast? Scone with marmalade? No problem, I'll just whip up a batch. French toast? Bacon? Oatmeal?

That doesn't really happen in our house, like, ever. I keep going on kicks where I try to cook us up a nice hot breakfast before my husband leaves for work, and I usually do a nice job for one morning. Or two, on a good stretch. Then it's back to bowls of cold cereal or a granola bar and a banana. (That's my other morning standby. )

I usually make myself eat something just because I know it's important for my metabolism and all that, but I don't really like it. I'd actually like to change this and really, I want to get better at preparing an appetizing morning breakfast option for us all. The problem is, I have too many criteria and since I can't find something that meets them all, I just give up and we go back to default.

My Perfect Breakfast Critera:

1. Something low carb. Sugary sweet baked goods really don't seem like a healthy way to start the day, even though muffins do go great with coffee.
2. Something not uber high fat, like delicious bacon or sausage or cheesy omelets. Again, since the point is to start your day on a healthy note, this seems kind of like shooting yourself in the foot. Or the stomach, so to speak. I'm not opposed to eggs, as in plain ole scrambled, so maybe there's something there...
3. Something quick. Did I mention I have 3 kids? Every moment counts in the morning. Every moment is worth its weight in gold. I do not have time for stirring pots of bubbling breakfasty foods.
4. Something easy to eat, so that my 2 kids who are sitting at the bar feeding themselves won't end up wearing most of their breakfast. It also needs to be
5. Something they'll like, because I just am not ready for an "Oh Yes You WILL Eat Your Food" showdown in the morning.  They're not very picky but, you know, they're kids.

So far, like I said, the best options seem to be a semi-healthy cold cereal (like Whole Grain Cheerios or Raisin Bran) or a banana with a granola bar or piece of whole wheat toast.

But that's all so, so boring and blech and frankly I'm just tired of it. I'd like to serve my family something a little more warm and comforting on these cold winter mornings, but I'm at a loss. So I'm polling the crowd. I am desperate for ideas, recipes, make-ahead breakfast ideas, or anything that comes close to meeting my criteria.

Or, alternately, if any of ya'll want to show up around 7:30 or so with a batch of fresh-baked anything, I'll drop critera #1 in an instant and pour you a cup of coffee.

Help? Please? Share? I'm dying here...and we're almost out of Raisin Bran.

Images courtesy of D Sharon Pruitt.

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I ♥ Resolutions

Okay, I love New Year's. It's my favorite holiday. (I just realized that this year so I'm broadcasting it in hopes that the people I love will recognize and support me in my favoritism by buying me gifts for New Year's, too. I mean, it's the least they could do, really.)

I love making resolutions. I come up with a long list every year. Some years I decide not to go overboard, and I limit myself to something reasonable: 10 or, okay, 11 if I just can't help it.

And yeah, I don't keep them all. At all. Hardly ever. I goof, I fail, I mess up, I quit, I weaken, I have no willpower.

Except for this year. This is the year.
Right?

Making Progress? Really? (Or Is That Heartburn?)

I've noticed a disturbing trend, lately, despite my habitual resolution making and breaking: I'm actually making progress. I guess the endless repetition is finally getting to me. My resolutions are generally far bigger than can be accomplished in one year, anyway. (For example, #11 from 2005, "Prove global warming is a myth" and #6 from 2007, "If not a myth, figure out how to solve global warming." That just takes some time, I don't care who you are.)

I'm making progress. Don't ask me how, exactly. I still do a lot of the same stupid stuff in the same stupid way (i.e., get mad at Joe for not reading my mind, expect my kids to get along with each other, stay up too late, eat too much, forget to work out, forget to call, forget to write, forget my name, find myself on the Amtrak headed to Toronto in early spring... oh wait, sorry, I just lapsed into a Mommy-escape fantasy there. Back to what I was saying.)

I still do the same stupid stuff, but I don't do it quite as often. I still do the same stupid stuff, but I get over it quicker. And I'm happier. And maybe this has nothing to do with New Year's and making resolutions at all. Maybe this is just me and where I am in life, and I just happen to be reflecting on it all as 2009 goes out and 2010 comes in.

The last 5 years have been a rollercoaster. More ups than downs, and crazy fun, but intense.

A Recap

2004:
January - Joe and I start courting. (And yes, I said courting not dating and I'll go into that some other time but not here, goshdarnit, so just keep reading and don't get bogged down in those little details.)
May - Joe and I get engaged.
September - Joe and I get married. I move to St. Louis, since, being married and all, we kind of want to be together.
2005:
Jan - September - We adjust to married life, we work together in the family business, we have fun, I miss my family a lot, I want to have a baby, I start worrying that I can't get pregnant (no birth control! Hello!), I start writing more.
October - We're pregnant!
December - We buy a house and move in!
2006:
Jan - June - Pregnancy and home ownership.
July - Mara is born on July 11. We have a wonderful home birth. She is beautiful. She is an easy baby.
2007:
Feb - We decide that Mara is so easy, we should have another. We're pregnant!
May - I spend the entire month in MS to be with my Mom, who is not going to get better. It is the strangest experience I have ever had. Our emotions are as strung out as possible. I miss my husband.
June - My mom dies. I go back home. I am numb.
November - Robbie is born. Our son. I start getting unnumb.
December - We spend Christmas in Colorado. I think I was supposed to be born there, and live there, and we start plotting how we will move there.

2008:
April - My Dad gets married and my sister gets married, within a week of each other.
August - We haven't figured out what causes this. We're pregnant! My dad says, "You've got to be kidding me!" I alternate between "YAY" and fits of "ohmygoodness-howcouldyoudothistome-whydidwethinkthiswasagoodidea-wearegoingtobeinsane-weareinsane-ican'tdothis-aaaaaaaaaah."
2009:
April - Zeke is born. I think, "Third birth at home, nooo problem. It'll be easy." Haha, Andrea, haha. But he is beautiful, our little Ezekiel.
May - July - Our house, when did it start shrinking?
August - From out of nowhere  comes a new place to live. We move into "the parsonage." It's big. It has a huge stone fireplace and a sunroom and is on the 10 acres of church property, woods and fields and flowers and deer. I am in heaven. We rent out our house.

End Recap.

And here we are.
2010.
I think this is what I'm defining as progress, this feeling that I finally know who I am and am comfortable in that.

But don't think for a minute I'll stop making resolutions.  I've gotten way too good at it to quit.

Image courtesy of Sara. Nel.

My sister makes the absolute best cheesecakes in the world. Creamy, sweet but not too sweet, and beautiful. She adds all sorts of good stuff to her cheesecakes (she has a Caramel Apple version and a Reese's version), but this is the basic recipe. Amazing.

Mileah's Cheesecake

24 ounces cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Topping
1/4 cup sugar
16 ounces sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

Graham Cracker Crust
1 to 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 350.
Make pie crust: Combine graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and melted butter. Pat into bottom of a springform pan.
Make cheesecake: Combine first four ingredients in mixing bowl and mix until smooth. Pour cream cheese into crust. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, then remove from oven.
Make topping: Mix the 1/4 cug sugar, sour cream, and 2 teaspoons vanilla together until blended. Gently spread the sour cream mixture over the cheesecake after it has baked for 18 to 20 minutes, then return it to the oven for 5 minutes or until cake only slightly jiggles in the center.

Let cool. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Image courtesy of bloggyboulga.