Busy, Busy Busy!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while!  I have been so busy with work, other work, family stuff, and wedding stuff that I haven't had a spare moment to breathe!  I went cooking craaaaazy on Friday, but other than that, I haven't been cooking much.  In fact, John was sweet enough to surprise me with a wonderful dinner last night, AND he agreed to write a guest post about it!  Stay Tuned!

Friday.

On Friday I didn't have to be at work until 5, so I dedicated the day to cooking.  I started it off with an apple cinnamon smoothie.

I added in oats to give it more depth, and let me tell YOU, that was an awesome addition.  I didn't cook the oats or anything, just threw them in with the soy milk, flax seeds, apple butter, apple and cinnamon. 

Yeah, it is that good.  

After breakfast I got working on almond milk.  Normally when I make it, it is waaaay too grainy for me.  Some google-ing led to me believe that I needed to skin the almonds first, blanching them.  I had already been soaking the almonds and the skin was kind of wrinkly, so I figured, why bother putting them in boiling water when they are already wrinkly?  I just peeled them like that. 

THREE HOURS LATER:

Yeah, it took three hours.  AND I had red, sore thumbs for two days.  I should have just blanched them.  In any event, I blended them,

added water to the blender,

and strained it into creamy (slightly less gritty) almond milk.

 Was it worth it? No.  Not at all.  Was it delish?  YES!

While the almonds were soaking and I was peeling, I was also prepping dinner.  We had purchased a chicken on sale the other day, and I was ready to make it.  Normally I roast it in a roasting pan, and it is good, BUT Gayle at the Grocery Cart Challenge opened my eyes to using my much-loved slow cooker. 

I took out the gizzards, and added LOTS of lemon, some whole garlic pieces, and kosher salt, and parsley.

No water or anything!  I just cooks itself over the day and ends up like this:

Swimming in it's own juices!  It was so moist, and easier to cut since I wasn't concerned about scratching my non-stick roasting pan.  We just ate the legs and theighs, and I saved the breasts for another meal and the rest for chicken broth.  Added bonus?  I don't have to dirty a pan AND a slow cooker to make broth or mess with switching stuff from one to the other.  Once you make the chicken, the broth ingredients are already in there!

We also had roasted potatoes as a side. 

On Saturday we went to this restaurant called Oceanos to celebrate a birthday.  I had the MOST AMAZING salmon dish ever.  I tried to take a picture, but the lighting was so bad this is all I could get.

Just believe me when I say it was devine.

They also had lemon wraped in these cute little things that I had to take home and photograph.

AWWWwwwwWwww!

The last thing I need to share was a farmers market purchase... COLORFUL CAULIS!

How cool!

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Smoothies and Shopping, with a side of Green Beans!

Before I talk about today, I MUST mention last night's dinner. John took me out to eat and I had this incredible BUTTERNUT SQUASH ravioli. It was in a VERY light basil Parmesan sauce. Normally I like to sop up a ton of sauce, but this was only a touch and it was prrrrr-fect.


Back to today. Smoothie= peach pie.
Actually, it is 2 peaches, cinnamon, soy milk, swiss chard, some dried coconut, and some ground flax seeds. But it TASTED like Peach Pie.

Lunchtime was a green bean concoction that I have been making since I first moved out of my parents' house. Orange-Balsamic Green Beans.

Boil Water

While the water boils, peel some garlic...

And smash it up!

When the water boils, throw in the green beans

As soon as the green beans change in color and float, scoop them out and plunge them in ice water.
Mix the green beans with the smashed garlic, balsamic vinegar, oil, and a few splashes of orange juice and let it sit in the fridge for a while (the longer the better, within reason).
ENJOY!

As for the shopping, we went to Christmas Tree Shop and saw Jackfruit Chips. The last time I saw anything Jackfruit was when we were in Disney World, so I was so excited. The only ingredients were Jackfruit and Palm Oil. Not bad! The price? $1.99. The taste? So cool!

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Birthday! Again!

See? I promised I would show you something from the multitude of birthday dinners I was having!

This is from Greenhouse 36 in NYC
It is the cutest place on the bottom floor of the Wyndham Hotel and it was empty when we went. We shared fried calamari and bruschetta to start...
For my dinner I had a wrap! A Grilled Vegetable and Hummus Wrap. It was filled with Grilled Organic Zucchini, Eggplant, Roasted Red Peppers, Roasted Garlic Hummus, on a Cheddar Jalapeño Wrap... but I had it on a Spinach Tortilla and the peppers on the side for John to share (roasted peppers don't always like me)

I couldn't get enough!

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Birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday!

Happy birthday to me!

I am eating out this entire weekend (with John, my parents, his parents, and John again!) and I thought I would give you a preview:


I took my cousin to California Pizza Kitchen after school the other day. As I mentioned here, I always get the same pizza. When I went most recently, I decided to change it up. I ordered the Vegetarian without cheese on honey wheat dough.
It was so good! I probably won't be taking photos of any of the other restaurant meals, but let me ASSURE you that they will be delicious. Take my word for it!

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Pizza Friday!

Every Friday John and I have homemade pizza. We buy and freeze whole-wheat dough when it is on sale at Shoprite and go to town with whatever toppings we have! While John typically opts for either a white pizza or a regular pizza, I tend to use this as an opportunity for..... LEFTOVER COOKING!! ::cue applause::

This week I saw that I had lots of spring mix leftover from the Farmer's Market. I thought back to this AMAZING pizza that I ALWAYS get at California Pizza Kitchen. It is Tricolore Salad Pizza and it is my favorite. I decided to try and recreate it, only better!

• Phase 1- The Dough and such: I mixed olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and garlic and spread it on the dough. Then, I spread part-skim Ricotta cheese over the dough. That went into the oven (350) and baked for 15 minutes
• Phase 2- The Topping/Dressing: I sauteed some chopped onions and garlic in olive oil. When the oil was gone, I added balsamic vinegar. In a small bowl I combined the rest of the garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and LOTS of Parmesan cheese. When the onion/garlic bit was sufficiently sauteed, I added the dressing.
• Phase 3- Dress the Salad: Self-explanatory. I dressed the salad.

• Phase 4- Make it a Pizza: Took it out of the oven, sliced it, and added the salad/onion dressing mix.

I have to say, I thought it was even better than the CPK one... and DEFINITELY cheaper!

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