Category: Food - The Bed Rest Book Club

The Skinny Muffin

8/17/2012

I learned about the Skinny Muffin from my dear friend Sandy. As we sat in her kitchen on the last day she lived in Las Vegas, the movers were literally stepping around us as they packed up her house. Sandy, however, was oblivious to the chaos and calmly reached for various ingredients while chatting like it was any other day as she made me my first ever Skinny Muffin. I thought she was mixing chocolate cake batter in a coffee mug. You never know with Sandy.

Oh Sandy. I miss you, friend.

I had one eye on the movers and one eye on what she was doing. And when I got home, I immediately Googled "skinny muffin" to make sure I had all the steps correct. Apparently, this started as a Dr. Oz creation, and Lord knows I love Dr. Oz. He's slowly starting to fill the void left by Oprah in my daytime television watching. I mean, just the other day, he had a whole segment about uterine fibroids. Uterine fibroids? This man is my hero! Because we all remember me and my fibroid...the Fibroid that Launched a Thousand Blog Entries.

Anyways, what I like about this recipe is not only does each ingredient have a specific purpose, but there is virtually no mess. No pans, no bowls, nothin'. The only thing you use is a coffee mug. Really. Again, this would be an excellent time for a photo, but I'm still unable to upload pictures. Weebly, are you reading this?

So here goes: the Skinny Muffin. Enjoy!

1 egg (protein)
1/4 cup of ground flaxseed (soo good for you!)
1/2 tsp baking powder (acts as a leavening agent)
1 tsp cinnamon (regulates blood sugar)
1 Tblsp coconut oil (healthy fat)
1/2 Tblsp of blue agave (or honey; just something to sweeten it. Stevia works too, if you are interested in cutting calories)
Any berries you may have in your kitchen (blueberries work great)

Mix all of the ingredients except the berries in a normal coffee mug. Really stir it up to make sure the baking powder is evenly distributed. Fold in the berries gently. Pop it in the microwave for 65 seconds. It may bubble over - that's okay. You might want to put a paper towel down first so avoid having to scrub your microwave later. The muffin will puff up and then sink back down, but it should be completely cooked when you take it out. Simply turn it over on a plate, slice into pieces, and enjoy! I like to eat mine with a tiny bit of Kerrygold butter (again, love those omega-3s), 4 oz of tart organic cherry juice, and my morning coffee with almond milk. There is so much flavor in the muffin and so many good things going on in it. It's also gluten- and dairy-free, and it keeps you full all morning.

Happy muffin making! Thanks, Sandy!

Broccoli Even a Toddler Will Eat

8/16/2012

I wish I could claim ownership for this fabulous recipe, but I can't. It came to be from my friend Nieva who found it on a food blog who found it in a Barefoot Contessa cookbook. Considering our round-about path to its discovery (despite the fact I have literally logged hundreds of hours of Barefoot Contessa watching and somehow never made this), it is truly amazing. This broccoli recipe tastes a little bit like, well, steak. But it's still broccoli, so it has all of the wonderful health benefits of the green stuff without any of the saturated fat, dead cow-ness of steak. And it's way cheaper than steak, too. Best of all, though? Scotty ate it. He's not a super picky eater but I'm hard pressed to get a green vegetable down his throat these days that's not disguised in an almond-butter smoothie. Imagine my surprise and delight when he picked up a tree and chomped it down in three bites and then went for seconds.

I'm pretty sure angels sang in that moment. At least, to me, they did.

What's the secret, you ask? Well...I'm hesitant to type this, as I don't want anyone to freak out, but...well, you don't wash the broccoli. Okay, I should rephrase that - the broccoli needs to be bone-dry for it to roast up well. So yes, you can wash it but then you will likely need to break out the hair dryer to ensure all of the water comes off. Or, if you happen to be desert dwellers like us, simply wash the broccoli about an hour before dinner and then place it in the roasting pan, in the hot sun, to dry. I took a picture of my tanning broccoli, but the website isn't letting me upload photos these days, so please use your imagination.

Anyways, once that broccoli is dry, follow the recipe below. I omitted some stuff from the original Barefoot recipe just for the sake of ease. I mean, really, who has pine nuts readily available in their kitchen? But most of us have the stuff listed below.

Enjoy! It's deee-lish.

3 lbs DRY broccoli, cut into florets
5 Tbl olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
4 cloves of garlic, thinnly sliced
1 lemon, zested and squeezed
Parmesan cheese

Heat over to 425 degrees.

Put foil over roasting pan; add broccoli. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss with garlic. Roast for 25 minutes. You'll know it's done with tips of the broccoli are slightly brown and crispy. Sprinkle with lemon zest, drizzle with lemon juice, and sprinkle with cheese. If you are really crazy and not watching calories, give the broccoli another pass with the olive oil. Serve and enjoy!

Another variation (and another way to cut calories) is to replace the cheese with red pepper flakes. It gives it a nice kick of heat with no guilt. :-)

Tomorrow: my FAVORITE new muffin recipe (gluten, dairy, and sugar-free) courtesy of my friend Sandy. And it only takes 60 seconds to bake!

Beef's Italian Beef

11/18/2011

The Chicken Tomato Crapshoot was...well, okay. I can't tell if it was too tomato-y or what, but I would give it a solid 6 out of 10. It was just kind of "meh." And as we all know, "meh" falls squarely between "hmm" and "blech."

It should be noted, however, that I was on my last ounce of patience with the small child yesterday, and that may have contributed to my annoyance and overall feeling of blah. Thursday was not a good day for me or the Bear. Lots of butting heads and whining. Fun stuff.

Today's recipe comes to us all the way from Hobbs, New Mexico. A very, very, very nice person by the name of Kori Z sent this to me yesterday, and it was just in time, too. We tend to not cook on Friday, so I wasn't sure what I was going to do today. But Kori was prepared and very thoughtfully sent me this recipe for Italian Beef in the crock-pot. It's from her friend Beth, and apparently, Beth's nickname is "Beef." And so, the actual name of this is "Beef's Italian Beef." Very clever. :-)

Personally, I don't care what it's called - it just sounds delicious.

I'll definitely have to try this one next week, but while it makes me happy, it makes me sad, too. See, Kori was supposed to take over next year as President of Junior League. She had been waiting in the wings for several years, and but in October, her husband accepted a new job in New Mexico. I didn't know Kori very well before she left, but I had a feeling she and I would have probably been good friends. That bums me out. But here's hoping she starts a chapter of Junior League in Hobbs!

Best wishes, Kori, and thanks for sending the recipe!

Beef's Italian Beef

1 packet au jus gravy mix
1 packet Good Seasonings italian dressing
1 beef rib roast (2-3lb)
2 cups water
12-15 pepporchini peppers, plus more for garnish

Mix au jus and dressing mix with water and pour over roast in crock pot. Add peppers. Cook on low for 8 hours. Remove cooked pepporchinis & shred beef. Serve on toasted ciabatta rolls. Garnish with chopped pepporchini and a slice of provolone.

Chicken Tomato Crapshoot

11/17/2011

...and on Day 4 of my crock-pot challenge, I invented this strange dish.

You'll have to tune in tomorrow to find out if it was any good, since I have no idea if it's delicious or a disaster. It came to me this morning, as I stood in the kitchen, sipping coffee and trying to ignore my bossy, screaming child. (He was devastated there were no hot air balloons in the sky, a common sight on our side of town. We've been spoiled with lots of 'hot balloons!' all week, but there were none today. It crushed him, and in typical toddler form, he took it out on me. Angry, angry Bear, indeed.)

Anyways...back to the food. The chicken smells good...I just hope it tastes good, too. Here's hoping.

Chicken Tomato Crapshoot

2 breasts of chicken
2 cups (or a jar) of marinara sauce (I used my own)
1 can of diced tomatoes
8 oz of cream cheese (I used the whipped kind, since it was in our fridge and about to expire at the end of this month)
1 Tbl. Italian seasoning
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp garlic salt

Once again...dump everything in the crock-pot. Set on high, and cook for 6 hours.

On a different note, yet another dishwasher repair man was over this afternoon. He was the same guy from this past Monday, and Scotty really took a shine to him. He arrived the same time we did, as we came home from music lessons, and Scotty put on quite the show for him during lunch. Aside from going all Romanian orphan on him and thrashing about as I attempted to put food in front of him (while wailing "nooooo!" of course), Scotty also let loose these choice phrases:

"Loooove dishwasher man! Hi dishwasher man!" (okay, more endearing than annoying, I'll give him that. There was lots of waving and shy glances, too. Cute.)

"Mmm....tasty! Boogies are tasty!" (the consistency of his oatmeal was questionable, but at least he liked that portion of the meal).

and my personal favorite...

"Dishwasher man...making poo-poos! Dishwasher man making poo-poos!? Ewwww!" (complete with finger pointed and hand waving.)

Good time. I just hope our dishwasher is finally, finally, fixed. So my child can stop harassed the repair men that have to come to our house.

Chicken Soup for the (Heart and) Soul

11/16/2011

Mmm...this recipe comes courtesy of my friend Deana, the one with twin boys. She's guest blogged a few times for me, and always has a funny thing to say. Her twins keep her on her feet, but she manages to make time to cook - and share recipes with me - despite her busy schedule.

This one is a good one...it made my whole house smell warm and cozy. If I could, I would have bottled the smell up and put it in candle-form. There's nothing better than a house perfumed with the smell of a great soup. And an easy one, too.

Chicken Soup by Deana

3 carrots, peeled and diced
3 ribs of celery, diced
1 onion, diced
1 32 oz box of chicken stock
2 chicken breasts, cubed
OR
1 rotisserie chicken with the meat removed and then shredded
1 package of Mrs. Grass's Hearty Homestyle Chicken Soup mix

Once the veggies have been diced and the chicken is cut/shredded, you literally just dump everything into the crock-pot for 4-5 hours, set to high.

And that's it. Dinner is ready.

Brian, the ultimate dinner critic, actually LOVED this soup. It warmed my heart to see him like something I made. I plan to serve it to him for the rest of his life (or until he's sick of it, which will likely be in a few months). Yay for good soup!

Awesome Chicken Chili

11/15/2011

Our week-long crock-pot bonanza continues...

This is quite possibly the best crock-pot chili I've ever had. I'm not sure if I was just starving when I ate it, or it really is awesome, but it's fabulous.

The seasoning was purchased at a craft fair that I attended several months ago with my friend Sonnya. She bought nice things, like jewelry, and I bought food. Whoops.

I do credit this chili's awesomeness to the seasoning, and it can be purchased online at soupnchili.com. I highly, highly recommend it.

And best of all...this is the easiest recipe in the world.

4 cans (16 oz) of beans, any variety, rinsed and drained
1 15 oz of whole kernel corn, drained
2 chicken breasts, cubed
2 cups of water
1/2 packet of Carol's White Chili Seasoning

Dump everything in the pot and set on high for 4 hours.

Serve with cheese, sour cream, crackers, and hell, some Fritos if you are really crazy. :-) Enjoy!

Monday Night Football Soup

11/14/2011

As promised, this week will be full of crock-pot recipes...one each day. I know, I know, those Crock Pots Girls or whatever have already capitalized on America's love for crock-pot cooking. Well, I don't have the time to dedicate an entire sight to the crock-pot, I just will give you my top 5 recipes.

This one comes from my dear friend Jen, mom to Henry. Henry is 11 days older than Scotty and they are buddies. It's so cute to watch them play together - lots of cars, "chase," and the occasional round of Grecco-Toddler wrestling. They keep themselves occupied while Jen and I swap recipes.

So without further adeiu...Monday Night Football Soup. It's healthier than you think, but is hearty enough for the big game.

Monday Night Football Soup
1 onion, diced
olive oil
5 links of Italian sausage
2 cloves of garlic, minced
large bunch of kale, rinsed and coarsely chopped
1 28oz can of stewed tomatoes
1 32 oz box of chicken broth
1 can of cannelli beans, rinsed
Italian seasoning
touch of parsley
2 cups whole wheat macaroni noodles, uncooked

Saute onions with olive oil in a large pan until translucent. Remove the casing off of the sausage (trust me, it's much easier this way) and crumble with onions. Add garlic when it's almost completely cooked (garlic burns easily, and no one like burnt garlic). Drain fat. Add kale leaves and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until the kale is bright green. (it will be very pretty). Dump entire mixture into your crock-pot, along with the tomatoes, chicken broth, and beans. Toss in spices and give it a quick stir. Cook it on low for 8 hours, and throw the macaroni noodles (or whatever pasta you prefer - I'm a fan of mini ditali, but we were out) in the last hour of cooking. Serve with bread or crackers, and enjoy!

Go Packers!

Exciting Blog News

11/10/2011

I am very happy to announce two exciting developments on the blog -- as of tomorrow, the dining reviews will be updated with a whole slew of new restaurants, and next week, each weekly entry will be dedicated to one crock pot dish that I use and love. Because lord knows that when this cold weather hits, we're all too tired to make dinner but relish a warm meal. Crock pot recipes = awesome.

As for the dining reviews, which have not been updated since May, I'm consistently shocked to see that they are in the top three page views on my blog stats. People gotta eat, I guess. And just in case you are curious, search terms that might lead you to the blog include "Junior League is a sorority" (giggle) and "tapas: hate sharing food."

Yup, this is my blog.

So anyways, tune in tomorrow for more dining options in Vegas (including my favorite bakery!). And next week, drag those crock pots out and grab your can opener, because nothin' says dinner like dumping stuff in a large, heated bowl. Bon appetite, indeed!

How to Make Dinner Without Actually Making Dinner

10/18/2011

I don't know about you, but I am exhausted by the Dinner Argument. You know, that discussion you have every morning and every evening, the one with no resolution and no end in sight? I've totaled up the number of hours Brian and I spend talking about what to have for dinner, and it breaks down to approximately 37.2 hours per week. That's a lot time to spending talking about food.

This is usually how is goes:

K: What do you want to do about dinner?
B: I dunno.
K: Okay...how about chicken?
B: Um...okay.
K: Great! I'll make [insert type of chicken dish here].
B: Oh wait, I had chicken yesterday!
K: ::head desk::

This conversation loops around for approximately 6.3 more hours, before we pop a bag of popcorn.

So, in honor of all of you who may have similar situations, let me offer the following recipe. It makes it appear as though you have thoughtfully prepared something for your spouse, when in fact, all you've done is dump stuff in pots. I can handle this.

Apricot Crock Pot Chicken with Brown Rice and Broccoli:

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 jar of apricot jelly (we like Smuckers)
1 pkg of Lipton onion soup mix
some chicken broth

Dump all ingredients into your crock pot. For the chicken broth, I pour it into the now-empty jelly jar, shake to get the rest of the jam, and then pour it in the pot.

Cook for 5 hours on high.

I pair it with the Costco "microwave-in-the-container" brown rice (90 seconds! Word!) and with some steamed broccoli. This involved boiling water in your steam pot, dumping (that word again...) some fresh broccoli in the basket, and steaming it until it's bright green.

Enjoy! See, your spouse will think you spent all day in the kitchen. That is, unless you write about it in your blog, and then the cat's out of the bag...

(meow!)

Happy dinner, everyone!

My Three Birthdays

9/17/2010

The week is ::almost:: over and I'm exhausted.

Celebrating one's birthday can really take it out of you.

The party started on Tuesday and involved dinner with Brian and the Bear. We debated all day where to go ("Bear-friendly," if you will) and finally decided on the BBQ place that we always go to. It's safe, it's good, and best of all, we might be able to sit outside and allow our child to not bother other dining patrons while he rubs food in his hair and flings things indiscriminately around the restaurant. Ah, toddlers.

The only problem is that when we arrived, they seated us in the kid section. I know, I know, we have a kid. But our kid is like, a good kid. (forget I just wrote the entire preceding paragraph). Seriously - he's not super mobile yet, and he really can sit still for about 45 minutes, unlike the shrieking, hyperactive monsters at the surrounding tables. It was like dining at a preschool.

Then the service was terrible, the food was bad (and wrong - I had to send mine back twice) and dinner dragged on for almost an hour and fifteen minutes. Well into Scotty's bedtime. It was so irritating that we skipped the free birthday dessert and just tried to get out of there as soon as possible.

I think Scotty knew it was my birthday, as he kept a look-out for the singing wait staff and a flaming pastry. Check out his expressions during dinner -- you can tell he was worried.

Are they coming, Momb?

All clear over here

Watchful Bear

And then, just to add insult to injury, we were charged an additional $1.50 for my extra mustard.

Whatever.

On the way home, I was almost run off the road by a crazy driver. In what I can only describe as a few of the scariest seconds of my life, a driver merged into my lane - pinning me directly between his car and a large white van - while going about 70 miles an hour. I have no idea how we didn't end up in a wreck, since I absolutely cut the van off in an attempt to miss being side-swiped by the other guy, but we didn't. Thankfully. But I arrived home (just as Brian got there - we had driven separately since he came straight from work) crying and shaking and went straight to bed.

Fun.

On Wednesday, Part Deux of the Birthday Celebration, Brian and I had plans to go to a nice restaurant. Again, the night started out rather poorly because we had one stop before dinner and it ended up being a total disaster. I'm not going to elaborate on that, since I'm not sure who reads this, but let's just say Brian and I were both extremely unhappy with the way some things turned out, and it left a really bad taste in our mouths.

So by the time we reached dinner, we were ready for a great meal. And it was great - except they forgot the birthday cake. Brian had planned ahead for a nice dessert - and it was nice - but no cake. It was like a frou-frou fancy petit-four creation that I loved, but Brian was a little bummed. I mean, it had my name on it. What more could you ask for?

teeny-tiny birthday morsels

So yesterday turned into Birthday Celebration, Part III as Brian brought home cupcakes from our favorite bakery in Vegas. I certainly didn't expect this but it was a great surprise AND it completed the final aspect of any good birthday party - the cake.

As to be expected, I am really tired of being feted. I mean, a girl can only take so much. After three celebrations, I now feel like I am 35 instead of 32. Here's hoping next year we can get it right in one shot.

Off to eat my maple-bacon cupcake.