Posted by M on Jul 19, 2011 in
Mommy Skills Don’t worry, I’m not actually suggesting you serve booze to your kids on Tuesdays, although I suspect that I will indulge in a glass of white wine throughout my adult life, simply because just the idea of working 8 to 5 makes me need a drink. Today’s recipe is for Asian Pineapple Chicken. The yummy taste comes from the pineapple juice and using a variety of bell peppers makes it so pretty!
I like my food like I like my shoes: pretty
So why is this for Tuesday? Well, I don’t really eat red meat, so chicken is the basis of my meals in general. Still this is for Tuesday because it’s still pretty quick, but it also allows you to cut up your chicken the day before and use of it for your crockpot and put the other half way until you need it today. Am I smart or what? My MSU degree says “Yes, with honors.”
Ingredients:
-chicken tenderloins, tenderolin painstainkly cut out and cut into bite sized pieces (1-2 lbs is fine)
-peppers in a vareity of colors (3 will probably do the trick)
-fish saunce (soy sauce works too!)
-pineapple (1-2 cups, cut into bite sized chunks)
-1 tablespoon EVOO
-1 teaspoon ginger
-2 garlic cloves, finely minced
Directions:
-In a saucepan, heat 1/2 tablespoon oil. While it warms up, put the chicken into a bowl and pour fish oil over it. Then, toss with cornstarch.
-Add chicken to pan. Let it cook. If your pan is like mine, it’ll get a little sticky with the chicken. That’s okay, that’s why we have more than one pan to work with. No problem.
-Chop the vegetables while your chicken is heating. I’d recoomend watching some food network at this point, just to get your tummy turning.
-When chicken is done, remove it from heat and place a new pan onto heat. I usually use a sauce pan at this point. Add 1/2 tablespoon oil, ginger, and garlic to heat.
-Add vegetables and pineapple, stirfrying until vegetables are crispy. Add chicken and stirfry an additional few minutes, coating the chicken with the pineapple juice.
Depending on how much chicken you use, this recipie carries around 175/calorie per 1.25 cup serving. If you have kids, you can serve it over rice to make it a more balanced and carb-rif
Dessert: Leftovers from yesterday! Now your kids are getting fruit and you don’t have to exert an extra effort. Cheers to you, Super Mom.
Posted by M on Jul 18, 2011 in
Mommy Skills As I’ve referenced earlier, I’ve been spending this summer working on some of my lifelong goals. One of those finicky little bastards was cooking. Baking has never been an issue for me, but cooking isn’t something I’ve ever really taken too. For a long time, I thought it was like softball: I didn’t like it because I sucked at it. But, it turns out I’m not actually shitty at it. In fact, in an surprise twist, I’m actually good enough to not kill anyone. And I like it, which is even better, because it calms me down and it’s relaxing, which is wesome because I’m really high strung. It’s also productive, which is good. I hate hobbies that you put all of this work into it, and what do you have to show for it? Kind of like golf.
The only thing golf gives me is a headache and a sunburn.
Anyways, I can make a lot of stuff, because anyone that can read can make a lot of stuff. But, I’ve noticed that mothers always seem to have a schedule, like they make this dish on this day for whatever reason. So I’ve made sure I can make five dishes that I reallllllly love and that are also kid friendly, so someday when I have kids, I can feed them. I hear that’s key. I guess some people would claim that you shouldn’t feed your kids the same five meals a week, but I don’t have kids, so I’m not going to argue with them. EXCEPT to say that my parents did it and my brother goes to Harvard. So, we win. Here’s to you, Pizza Thursday!
I’ll publish a receipe each day this week, as well as some of my favorite disserts and explanations as to why I chose that day. Even if you don’t have kids, learning how to make super duper easy and yummy meals is important so that you can eat. Eating makes me happy anyways. But I’m also secretly an obese person just dying to make an apperance.
Fiesta Monday: Black Bean Chicken Salsa
I decided to make Monday a fiesta! because everyone hates Monday. This way, at least you can come home from work, have a shot of tequila, and not have to work about operating a hot oven. Crockpots are king, yo. In fact, in my singledom, I would happily make this on Monday and eat it all week. But, I plan on, in the long future, making it on Monday and then taking the leftovers for work the next day. Yummy and delicious!
Ingredients:
-1 jar black bean and corn organic salsa
-1 jar organic mild salsa
-1 can black beans
-2 lbs chicken breast, cut up, fat trimmed
Directions:
In the morning: Open jars, dump into crock pot. Dump in chicken. Stir once. Put on low.
In the evening: Come home and eat.
fiesta in my mouth!
I reckon (apparently I’m Southern today) the calories to be around 150/cup, after comparing online recipes, but I also don’t use tortillas for myself. With kids, I’d use the lower calorie tortillas (you can get 50 calories/whole grain tortilla in the Asian section of grocery stores) since they can use the extra carbs to go outside, play tag, and let me drink my Skinnygirl Margarita in peace.
For Dessert:
I think I’m going to be one of those moms who don’t give their kids dessert until way after dinner, which is what my mommy did for me. She gave us “bedtime snacks” and at 22, I still ask my boyfriend to take me to QD at midnight because I need a bedtime snack. I’m sure a lot of peole argue that eating at night is bad, but since none of the people who make that argument have degrees in nutrition, I’m going to ignore them and say make it! Eat at night! And on Mondays, make this:
I am delicious, why yes I am
This is a recipe adapted from Skinnytaste.com, one of my favorite healthy and low-cal websites. I’d totally recommend you waste some time on her site. Everything is easy, healthy, and the pictures are this foodie’s version of porn. I chose this particular treat for Monday because I’m a weekend shopper and I didn’t want my berries to go bad before I got to impress everyone with this easy and yummerific treat!
Ingredients:
For the filling:
-4.5 cups of your favorite berries. Divide evenly (1.5 each) or play favorites. This isn’t Playgroup, no one’s judging you if you like a berry more than another. Frozen works too. Whateve.
-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
-1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
-2 teaspoons cornstarch
-1/4 cup sugar
For the topping:
-1 cup natural oats. I used Meijer. You can use whatever is cheap.
-1/2 cup whoe wheat flour
-3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
-half a stick of butter
Directions:
-preheat oven to 375
-Combine all filling ingredients except cornstarch in bowl. Mix them up and then toss with cornstarch. Put in pie bowl.
-Mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over pie.
-Bake for 35-40 minutes.
The original recipie, including calorie and weigh watchers info, can be found here:
http://www.skinnytaste.com/search/label/Dessert%20Recipes
If you have kids, I’ll probably serve this with ice cream, since not all kids (including this 22 year old kid) love berries.
Posted by M on Jul 18, 2011 in
Mommy Skills With the exception of a few months here and there, my freezer through college mostly looked like this:
See, when your diet consists of mostly Lean Cuisines and tequila shots, you learn how to exisit on sodium fumes and overly processed chicken. But my parents are organic health wackos and I have aspirations of giving birth to healthy children someday–and I don’t think setting the table with Smart Ones Angel Hair Pasta is really something the Mom from Leave It to Beaver would do.
Anywho, I have the summer off work (I’m moving to LA in August), so I figured I might as well learn how to cook. My boyfriend’s mom is an amazing Italian cook and my own mother is one of the best bakers around, so I was a little (read:majorly) intimated to walk into a kitchen when I didn’t even know the difference between convection oven and a regular oven. But in a weirdo swing of events, it turns out I’m not too shitty at it. Much to the surprise of just about everyone, I might add. As the frequently mentioned boyfriend told me, “You were never bad…you’re just a lot better than I thought you’d be.”
Anywho, this week I’ll be sharing a few recipies I’ve picked up along the way. Enjoy!
Posted by M on Jul 18, 2011 in
No One Cares,
Random A recent email advertisement I received:
Posted by M on Jul 15, 2011 in
My Daily Show,
No One Cares I went to see Horrible Bosses last night. On the way over, I say to my boyfriend, “Oh no! Harry Potter comes out tonight!” He knows I have issues with Pottermania. I guess I just can’t wrap my head around the notion of waiting for 12 plus hours to see Daniel Radcliff use his wand. And wand isn’t a sexual inuendo there, he’s using a magical wand, and not his dick, which, ironically, can be seen on broadway. I don’t understand why these kids don’t just wait until the next day to see the movie? And also, you’re all pretty young, most of of you under 16, seeing as the parking lot is mostly empty, meaning your parents dropped you off. So now we have a group of unsupervised, cape-wearing pre-teens? And many are girls. With their high pitched voices. Kill me.
But our movie was early, boyfriend reminded me. An 8:45-er. We’re saved, right? WRONG. The view as we pull in:
And inside:
and on our way out:
Note the news truck. Apparently, this is news. Clearly, Rupert Murdoch really did need to voicemail hack in order to compete with this.
As we paid for our movie, I asked the ticket-seller how his night was going. He looked around and muttered “I hate these fucking people.”
My thoughts exactly.
Posted by M on Jul 15, 2011 in
How to Be a Grown Up,
My Daily Show I recently told a friend that I was feeling very stressed out. So stressed, in fact, that I was losing sleep. To counteract my bout of insomnia, I’ve taken to watching TV as late as possible, turning it off only when my eyes are about to close. Otherwise, my brain pulls into overdrive and I have to eat ice cream to slow it down, which would be fine except that I am allergic.
Anywho, his response to my struggles with the night?
“Have you considered buying a noise CD, like with noises of the ocean and stuff?”
“No, I have not,” I replied, in bewilderment. I thought maybe he would want to talk about my stress, but okay…noise CD. That’s going to be his approach. You know, I, being female, probably would have gone somewhere else, but it’s a creative approach, I’ll give him that. I decided to see how far we could go with it.
“You know,” I said, “I just don’t think I could fall asleep to a noise CD. It just sounds like static to my untrained ear.”
“Haven’t you ever fallen asleep on a beach?” he responds, not to be thrown off.
“Well, yes,” I recede. “But it’s just so loud on a recording. Not very soothing. It sounds so automated.”
He’s silent for a moment, as he considers this. Then, he comes out with his big winner:
“Jungle CDs! They make jungle CDs too!”
Thank you. That’s very…thoughtful. I’m sure listening to monkeys yelp their mating call will really lure me into a soft and nurturing nap.
Later, I texted my friends, one of which runs a website called ShitMyBoyfriendSays. The other, my best friend from college, recently single after a year and a half relationship, texts me back instantly. I can almost here her sighing from her cubicle as she types into her iphone:
Of course, I would never really beat him. 1. Because I just got my nails done and 2. Because being like Chris Brown is soooo 2005. And also because I love him. But I love her response too.
Talking to a male friend later, I recount the same troubles.
“I can’t sleep!” I cry. “My brain is like Fox News whenever there’s an election: overanlyazing incorrect facts for hours!”
I see him typing on facebook chat for a few moments before his response comes:
“Have you tried like, a wave CD? Or white noise?”
Eff it.
Posted by M on Jul 14, 2011 in
No One Cares,
Random Ladies and Gentlement, I present to you…the hard reporting of American Journalism:
Look, not all of us can save the world, you know? Some of us are born merely to report the fashion repeat choices of royalty.
I read somewhere that the British aren’t nearly as obsessed with royalty as Americans. Which makes sense, as Americans tend to want what they don’t have. Of course, we were at one point owned by the British royalty, so we kind of effed up our chances of having royalty by giving them the heave-ho with the whole American Revolution. Of course, the British could really criticize our journalism technqiues since their newspaper, News of the World, is you know, hacking voicemails and medical records illegally.
I’d write more, but I need to go for a run. I read the article below on CNN this morning and I’m hoping to audition! Not.
Le sigh.
Posted by M on Jul 13, 2011 in
Big Annoucements Okie dokie, my little pickled lovers.
As a stay at home daughter, I’ve had a lot of time on my hands this summer. I have become QUITE the cook, as exhibited by my awesomeness below:
Lean Cusines, no more!
However, I’ve also read a lot of blogs. Which has put me on a pretty giant guilt trip, considering I am a negligent blogger myself. However, I promise to be a good girl and blog almost regularly, however, I’m not going to do it the same way as before, where I picked a topic and just rambled on until I felt my mother would be appeased. Instead, I’m going to write what I feel like, post pictures, give you some fabulous links, and generally make you giggle. And I might offend you. Because I have a potty mouth like a sailor binge drinking Trader Joe’s Two Buck Chuck and in addition, I tend to find myself hilarious and the more offensive something is, the more hilarious it is to me.
I leave you with this link. If you do not giggle at this, you might just want to delete my blog from your google reader because we just are not on the same level:
http://thebloggess.com/2011/06/and-thats-why-you-should-learn-to-pick-your-battles/
Okiethat’sit.