Hello there

Hi there- are you still there? It's been almost two weeks since I've posted, which is a shame because I had been so consistent of late. That's okay, though, because I have been pretty busy. So many goals and deadlines, plus holidays and family celebrations have made the month of June absolutely fly by!

One goal I am working on is in regards to our meals. With my work schedule in Lincoln, I never make it home before six. And then of course do I feel like making a meal? Well my goal is to plan ahead better so that we can have well-balanced meals.

It worked for a couple of days in a row, and here is the first meal:


The next day I made crab alfredo, which I had been craving for a very long time.

The third day that week, I was having the girls over for a wedding work night, to assemble invitations. Luckily, Ben had some time that afternoon and prepared chicken enchiladas for us lucky ladies. I came home to final directions. Check out the layout:


Note the pre-drained olives? What a stud!



So here is the finished masterpiece:


Last week was busy as well, and I wasn't home much for supper. Maybe this week will be better again. Wish me luck!

The doting wife of a dental student...

Yesterday was an awful day to be outside. Luckily it was Saturday, I didn't have to be anywhere, and Ben and I stayed holed up all day. He made me caramel buns for breakfast and he also made a delicious dinner. We spent the evening on the couch; he studied while I flipped through magazines and flipped between "White Christmas" and "Cupcake Wars." I don't know how the topic came up, but Ben wanted a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Being the loving wife I am, I hopped right up, found a recipe, and made one for him (and me too of course). What a lucky guy...

Let's try this again

So the last roast I made was a little too dry. This time I used cream of mushroom soup, which made for a nice gravy. Plus, I had the day off, so the meat didn't cook quite as long. I thought we had potatoes at home. Apparently someone threw them out because they had too many eyes growing--so I made Parmesan couscous.

My kitchen helper

Well, Thanksgiving is officially over. We had our fifth, and last, gathering last night. I needed to make the family macaroni and cheese casserole as soon as I got home from work in order to make it on time to Fremont.

Ben had the day off and prepared the kitchen for me so I was all ready to go as soon as I walked in the door:

Time for comfort food

Ugh. It is supposed to snow tonight/tomorrow. Good thing I have new recipes to try out for the crock pot! I took a last minute photo on my lunch break with my purse camera:


Pumpkin bisque--it smelled so delicious when I came home from work! It needs a little bit of a kick, though. A co-worker suggested rotisserie chicken, and I think I might add some chili powder or peppers to give it some more flavor next time.

Because I want dinner ready when I get home

I am adjusting to my new hours. I miss my alternating days in Fremont, where I could have some mornings and some afternoons free during the week. I decided utilizing our crock pot more would be a good way to save time on cooking after getting home from work. Here is the first pot roast:


It was quite delicious. Ben even liked the carrots! I thought the meat was a little dry, but it had to cook longer than required because I had a meeting after work. I used a can of beer, but next time I will make sure to have a can of soup on hand.

Foolproof

Ahhh so satisfying! I love the smell of cinnamon in the house. Also, I have had two dessert fails in a row lately, so it was nice to have a notch in the "win" column.

We eat dinner at a dining table, thank you very much

Okay folks, the last few weeks have been a whirlwind of moving, working, driving and job searching. I have to say the weeks have been busy and productive, but I have not been chronicling anything on this blog. I have been ruminating about what will make good posts in the future, and would like to echo Andrew's idea of "treats" for readers (you know, you 1.5 readers out there).

Please don't chastise me for not having a photo. I feel bad enough.

About a month ago I met a goal of mine: to finish a piece for an exhibition. Out of the 23 candidates, I was not chosen, but I plan on entering again next year. It was a good goal and very satisfying--and accomplishing it makes me more confident and even hungry for more projects. (Plus, I can use the image for greeting cards.)

New subject, relating to the post title:

Last Friday I came home late after a long/busy day at work, and then of course the drive home from Fremont. My in-laws had been in town and they and Ben moved in our new dining table and buffet. I was ecstatic. For the first two years of our marriage, we have eaten over our coffee table. We have a real table now!

Our first official meal I cooked in the house, and that we ate at the table, was on the Fourth of July. My grandma and aunt came over and I fixed homemade mashed potatoes, sauteed asparagus and onions, and coffee brownies. KFC supplied the fried chicken, as usual. It was magnificent to eat a real meal at a real table.

This subject matter may not be very exciting; but it does relate to the nature of my posts, in that I like to keep track of progress. Progress in the kitchen is included, and I really enjoyed spending time on the food. Especially after Ben starts school in August, I will need to learn how to balance my time in the kitchen, on the housework, and with my freelance and personal projects.

This evening we enjoyed supper with our neighbors; they hosted a fajita night and Ben took the homemade GUAC and I tried a new recipe for dessert, keeping in the theme. I was thrilled at how the dessert turned out, as quick and simple as it was. It's a keeper!

Getting it right

So I found a recipe on-guess, where, else?- Martha's site for Wasabi Deviled Eggs. And I really, really wanted to try it out. It didn't matter that I had never made deviled eggs. What fun this would be! Turns out it's pretty simple, but you have to get everything just right. I should know, considering I have made the eggs three times in the last week.

Here is what I have learned each time:

Easter Sunday is an ideal time to make the deviled eggs; goes with the theme; but when traveling in the car, make sure you position the dish (especially if it doesn't have the friendly egg-shaped indentations) so the egg whites do not get squished and deformed. I thought they turned out great the first time, but I decided they were a little too salty, and my husband thought there was too much wasabi. What? No such thing.

I prepared the eggs again for a picnic; once again, though, we had to travel. The eggs did not get squished, though. I learned from mistake the first time and placed the eggs in the car myself, instead of letting my husband take care of them. However, letting someone else put them in the fridge, and then that person also placing the bagged filling on top of the eggs--all this resulted in squished eggs again. I omitted the coarse salt. When I tasted the filling, I thought it was great, but later decided it needed the salt. Also, the eggs were considerably harder to peel, and there was a bit of grittiness from a leftover layer.

Finally, two days after the picnic, I provided the eggs at a family potluck. I heard people in line show interest in trying them out, but I didn't actually hear any compliments later.

However, this time I added some coarse salt. And, in attempt to get rid of the grittiness, I allowed the eggs to boil longer than the previous time. This was the first time I shelled the eggs right after they cooled, instead of letting them sit in the fridge for hours, so I don't know if that made a difference or not, but they were very easy to peel.

From hot to cold

Is it weird to see me in the kitchen?

I wanted to try out a new dessert recipe to take to friends' after dinner; but I knew I wouldn't have a lot of time, so I flipped through a book I received at one of my bridal showers, entitled: Half-Baked Gourmet (Partly Homemade Totally Delicious) Desserts by Tamara Holt.

I found several recipes that sounded delicious--but they all required to be baked/prepared, and then served right away. Finally, I found what I needed.

Cranberry-Ginger Oatmeal Cookies sounded the like perfect cookie to try, because it basically is fixing a cookie mix from the store, but adding delicious bits and pieces to make it special: dried cranberries, white chocolate chips, and the kicker: crystallized ginger.

picture found after Google-Image search

This was such an interesting ingredient I had never used before. I found a container of crystallized ginger in the spices, and though it was fairly expensive, I was determined to test the recipe.

The consistency was soft, not hard like rocks, as I had anticipated. I chopped it up easily to add to the cookies. Surprisingly, I used up half of the container to fill the 3 tablespoons needed for the batch of cookies.

Cookies were not going to cut it. Though the recipe seemed exotic enough for my regular dessert tastes (chocolate in any form is usually enough to satisfy me), it was too plain. So I did some searching online to see what could be paired with ginger.

I found this suggestion for serving ginger cookies with pears and champagne gelatto. The blogger said it would be fine to substitute champagne for amaretto. So, we were on the search at a Super Target for amaretto ice cream. Though we could not find any, we did find pear ice cream with caramel swirl and cinnamon.

Combined with pear halves and the ice cream, the cookies (heated up just a touch in the microwave) were a hit. I added a bit more pear syrup than planned, so it was a fairly soupy dessert, but the flavors were great. I definitely will be adding the cookies to a list of favorite non-chocolate desserts.