eating around these parts

buying just one avocado is really hard for me!

Mark and I have been making a concerted effort of late to cook more at home and eat out less.  It's always something we feel we should do but we definitely adhere to the idea more at certain times than others.  These last few weeks we have been good!  We've also been working on not over-buying at the grocery store (which is something I didn't even realize we were doing).

I was really impressed with Skinnytaste's Quick Black Beans.  I know we'll be making these again- they are vegan, too!

This week, we've made several things at home that I've been proud of.  We've been using our crock pot a lot as a way to get a hot dinner without heating up the apartment-- and in temperatures like these, it's not just ideal, it's absolutely necessary!

 

 

This half crock pot, half stove top chicken ropa vieja utilized chicken from our freezer and canned tomato sauce from our pantry.

Last night I managed to snap some photos before we sat down to eat.  It was a complete skinnytaste meal, all around!  At lunch, I started the crockpot so that the Chicken Ropa Vieja would be ready for me to complete when I got home from work, and it smelled fantastic when I walked in the door.  I made Gina's Quick Black Beans and used her recipe for Cilantro Lime Rice as a basis for making red quinoa with lime.  We topped our bowls with a little 2% shredded cheese, avocado and pickled jalapenos for a fully satisfying meal.  I'm kicking myself for not photographing the quinoa, but it was the last dish of the meal to finish cooking and when it was done, we just had to eat!

I also decided to give Nutmeg Nanny's Cinnamon Buttermlk pie a go, since I had leftover buttermilk from making biscuits.  I haven't tasted it yet, but it sure looks pretty!

 

I'm in love with these plates.  Sadly, you can't buy them in the store anymore.

Mark and I have concert tickets tonight, and I've made up some of the pie (which features a graham cracker crust) in individual ramekins.  We're going to pack a picnic and enjoy it during the concert.  Can't wait til dessert!
 

cinnamon buttermilk pie: tonight's dessert!

a fresh start for spring

starts are acquired and ready to be planted!

The interspersed cooler weather and rain remind me that while my Texas roots make me think it should be summer already, in the land of four seasons, we are still experiencing spring.  And a good thing, too, because Spring is all about new life and fresh starts after the death of winter.

african blue basil

regular reliable sweet basil

purple ruffles basil

Although it now feels like late spring, it's never too late for a fresh start, so I'm going to be giving myself a month-long fresh start through the fruits of my kitchen!  I am participating in Heather Brueggeman's 30 Day Vegan workshop which begins today.  While I can't claim to be adhering to a vegan diet perfectly, I am trying!  And, I fully anticipate that I will not only learn a lot about redesigning our dinner plate through this workshop, but also that the emphasis on whole foods and plants will help me reset my palate.  The sweets have been a little much for me these past few weeks (although I am happy to report that while I have not made any further progress on my weight loss, I have also maintained the weight I had already lost)!

Today's diet consisted of homemade granola and fresh fruit/veggie juice from the juicer for breakfast, Italian Pane bread from Trader Joe's with some mashed avocado and homemade pesto for lunch, snacks of pistachios and pear sauce, and an awesome version of skinny Thai eggplant curry with jasmine rice.  My vegan slips include honey in the granola (although the next time I make it I will substitute agave nectar), a little parmesan in the pesto, and fish sauce in the curry.  It's not perfect, but it's a much modified diet for a regular meat-eater!  The granola and the pesto were made before the workshop and so we are finishing those up (the pesto was homemade and frozen late last summer- this is the last of it).  The fish sauce was a choice, because I really feel like it makes this curry what it is.

we made this over the weekend from this recipe.  we modified the recipe - no chicken, and a few other things. we did leave in the parmesan :)

I suppose I have high hopes for these 30 days, particularly because I am also still counting my WW points.  Heather's blog has been a delight to follow over the past several years, and I have long admired and been curious about her way of life.  I'm excited to insert a little introspection and further consideration not only in what we eat but how we live our days.  This pairs well with the start of our summer garden-- we've got so many good things going in the ground it deserves it's own post.  We are planting at least three types of basil (so far. I'm still looking for Thai basil).  Here's to the vegan challenge and focusing on sustenance from the ground!

vegan lunch: avocado on bread, sauteed mushrooms, broiled tomatoes and roasted green beans with garlic tahini dressing.

do you know the value of avocado on toast with kosher salt and fresh black pepper? yum. yum.

mark's stir fry

This is Mark's stir fry.

yum.

 Mark has recently been crowned "King of the Wok" because of his variations of this dish, and it's second-day brother, fried rice. But that's another post. Stir Fry doesn't like to share.

He makes this probably once every two weeks, using different vegetables to keep things fresh. Here, he's used orange bell pepper and asparagus (one of our favorite combinations). He's also done broccoli, mushroom, onion...honestly, whatever YOU like, this stir fry can be about.

two kitchen appliances we couldn't live without: our rice cooker, and our kitchen scale

 This is a waistline-friendly recipe. We count this as 6 Weight Watchers points plus, and served with a cup of rice, this is a hearty 11 ppv meal.

proper portion sizes

Have I mentioned we like to weigh our rice? It helps us to be more accurate/honest with our portion sizes (I don't know if you know, but you can pack a lot more than 175g of rice into a one-cup measure...). Then we portion 1/4 of this stir fry on, add some sri racha and are good to go.

Hope you give it a try!


Mark's Chicken & Asparagus Stir Fry
serves 4
Weight Watchers: 6ppv per serving

Ingredients
3/4 cups fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth   
3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce   
1 Tbsp cornstarch   
4 tsp olive oil   
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into either strips or chunks, whichever you prefer
2 cloves garlic, minced   
1 Tbsp ground ginger (we like the jarred ginger from Ginger People)
1 pound uncooked asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1" pieces (we use Trader Joe's frozen asparagus)
2 medium uncooked scallions, finely cut
2 bell peppers, red, yellow or orange, cut into 1" strips

Directions
1. Whisk together the chicken broth, soy sauce and corn starch in a small bowl until no lumps remain.
2. Heat a large heavy skillet or wok over medium high heat until a drop of water sizzles in the pan. Add chicken and stir-fry until browned and cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer chicken to plate.
3. Heat remaining 2 teaspoons of oil in the same pan. Add the garlic and ginger and stir fry until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add asparagus, bell pepper and scallions; stir fry until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 2 minutes.
4. Return chicken to pan. Re-whisk broth mixture (mixture will have settled) and add to pan. Cook, stirring constantly until mixture bubbles and thickens, about 1 minute.
5. Remove from heat and serve over 1 cup of steamed jasmine or basmati rice and sri racha.

the things we eat

Mark and I have recently come to a realization. That is, we have been over-shopping when it comes to groceries! We started to put more effort into grocery shopping, meal planning and meal preparation when we came home from Texas after Christmas (upset with the weight we had gained and tired of eating out after four days on the road). Initially, it was easy to justify an inflated grocery bill because we weren't eating out! But somehow, now, we know it's time to cut back.

our freezer isn't huge. but, we're blessed it's full (and well-organized).

To do this, we've been doing our best to eat out of our freezer and pantry. To take a source of protein (like a whole chicken on sale at $.99/lb) and make it stretch for several meals (like roasted chicken one night, spinach salads with chicken for several lunches, and chicken enchiladas). But as we have been increasing our fruit and vegetable intake, we have not been able to make a dent in our grocery bill. Has anyone else noticed, maybe, how expensive it is to eat well? And maybe, the cost of food is rising?

that mango sorbet from Trader Joe's? DIVINE.

We try not to eat a diet full of processed foods, but Mark does like his cereal, and I will occasionally buy Weight Watchers mini bars or ice cream on sale. Even still, I think it may be time to start making more of our own. With our juicer, we use even more produce (and after a week, I am convinced that there is something we should be doing with our fruit pulp besides composting).

 This will be a challenge for awhile, but in the meantime, here are some of the things we've been doing with our freezer foods.

roasted chicken thighs with carrots (cooked only!) and lemon

we thawed out some rhubarb...

and added a little of this and that for a small rhubarb crisp

we used some frozen hash browns (the crust) and a serving of breakfast sausage and made a breakfast quiche!

We thawed out some sweet Italian sausage and Mark put together a baked penne dish

and of course, we LOVE our roasted frozen vegetables- broccoli and asparagus are our favorites.

say hello... to my little friend.

not a baby.

That is a Scarface reference, people. I hope you know it. If you do not, well, I just hope you didn't think that we were having a baby or getting a new puppy or something.

It arrived today in this enormous box!  Which contained another box, and inside of it was another box!  Normally I would be complaining about the packaging, but we know lots of people who are moving, so the boxes will definitely be used.

my little friend came in this not so little box!

We have already used it twice, in just about 24 hours. We L-O-V-E it. I don't think an electric juicer is an kitchen appliance I would have been interested in if not for Sick, Fat, and Nearly Dead (you can stream it on Netflix). While the title of that documentary is honestly enough to turn me off, it was recommended by someone at my Weight Watchers meeting who called it 'motivational'. I was in need of some motivation several weeks ago, and so Mark and I watched it-- and it was motivational!

Before you ask, the point of the documentary is NOT to make people go out and buy juicers. And if you've seen the documentary, then don't worry-- Mark and I don't harbor any illusions of 30 day juice fasts resulting in 60 pound weight losses. BUT, we do think that the juicer will help us meet our good health guidelines of eating at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables in a day, which is something that I have been struggling with.

After we saw the documentary, we got thinking about how juicing could benefit us. The documentary mentions micronutrients, and faster absorption as a benefit of juicing. We plan to have some juice with our regular breakfast in the morning and it will give us an edge (and for me, take the pressure off checking those boxes) throughout the day. Day one: so far so good!

We cashed in our credit card bonus to pay for this thing.  It's the Breville Juice Fountain Compact (I know I've mentioned kitchen space is at a premium over here). So far, we think it's easy to use, easy to clean and does an awesome job of juicing, which we can tell from both the pulp, which is fully juiced and left behind- no big chunks- and the juice (no pulp).

green juice from kale!

Our first run had two apples, a bunch of grapes, a pear and several handfuls of kale. We love that the juice was green but tasted like apple cider. No added sugar necessary!

frothy! orange from all the citrus.

Our second run was a combination of grapefruit, clementines, a nectarine, apple and some grapes.  We are loving the juices (although we have to count points for them because they are all fruit).  I can't wait to try a bunch of other combinations and see what we come up with!

a story about cauliflower

So, as I mentioned before, Mark and I follow the Weight Watchers points plus program (when we are being good).  If you are not aware, potatoes are relatively high in points plus value, yet highly desirable in American culinary society (ie, my tastebuds.)  As a substitute, cauliflower often does the trick.

We experienced this awhile ago when we tried a cauliflower puree with butter and cream cheese instead of mashed potatoes.  Yes, we could tell the difference.  But despite this difference, we felt satisfied with the cauliflower puree.  It was tasty and it filled the space of mashed potatoes and it was a vegetable, meaning we could tick off more boxes (shout out to daily health guidelines).

So I was eager, if anything, to try another recipe using cauliflower to substitute a high point food.  In this case, the high point food was pizza crust!

I originally came across this idea on pinterest, and ultimately used the recipe found here.  Although I did think it was tasty, I wasn't completely satisfied with the substitution this time.  I would try  the recipe again, but I would bake the crust on foil on top of a wire rack, instead of a jelly roll pan to keep the cheese from burning (or at least, an attempt to keep it from burning).  Then, I would adjust the oven temp to make sure the crust got really brown without burning before it was topped.  I would also make the crust thinner.  I think that would help a lot!

a big bowl of 'riced' cauliflower.

Shaped like a pizza crust!

it almost looks like pizza crust... I think this is a little too thick, though.

Looks like real pizza, doesn't it?

we've been cooking

...aka hand making in the kitchen.  As far as I am concerned, if it's not pre-packaged, doesn't come with microwave instructions, or isn't from Whole Food's global cuisine hot bar, it's handmade.  We've been doing an excellent job of constructing recipes at home lately, many from our favorite light recipes blog, skinnytaste.com. 

mincing red onions for skinnytaste's potato salad

Pollo in Potacchio

Strawberries-- in winter.  I know, I know.

Trader Joe's Teeny Tiny Potatoes for Skinnytaste's potato salad

This was a modified Skinnytaste recipe that went from veggie side dish to pasta dish!

I think it's fairly common for families to struggle to prepare nourishing meals throughout a week when it's also filled with work, school, social activities, exercise and down time.  Mark and I are no different, although we are lucky that between us there is just one full time job and this semester just two classes. We are taking the opportunity to re-set our habits of eating and getting our food to the table (so to speak. Currently, the table is covered with sewing!).

For about six weeks now, we have been meal-planning on Saturdays, together.  Mark will cook one or two meals a week and help with recipes I select for the other nights of the week.  We have been really good about eating out only once a week (with maybe an additional coffee or sandwich added to that). After we decide on our menu for the week, taking into account sale items at our local grocery stores, we make our list of groceries, adding household supplies and pet supplies.  Then we go out and get all the shopping DONE!  We usually try to include a combination of meals that can be made fast (like broccoli rotel soup, stay tuned) and some recipes that require the slow cooker (Mark's favorite).  We have also been trying to tip the scales in the direction of fresh produce instead of processed foods.

With the exception of Better'n Peanut Butter and Mark's two-box per week habit of Special K (or Trader Joe's semi-equivalent anything with the clusters), we've been really enjoying our peaches, bananas, strawberries, pineapple and apples.  Mark and Moses, especially the apples.  Me, especially the peaches.

So, that's it. It's really helping us both to keep track of our Weight Watchers points and be successful in becoming more healthy and losing weight.

time for something handmade in the kitchen!

Mark and I follow the Weight Watchers Program.  Like most people, our dedication has strengthened with the New Year.  We've found that we have the most success when we cook our meals at home, in advance of meal time, or at the very least, preparing elements of the meal prior to meal time.  We plan our meals for the week on Saturday, carefully selecting recipes based on their preparation, ingredients (we like for our protein to be lean and on sale), and points plus value (a Weight Watchers number calculated based on fat, carbohydrate, fiber and protein content).  We've done this enough weeks in a row now that I can say with confidence that it's how we eat.

We both cook, but Mark is better at fitting his cooking in during the week, and I like to do my cooking on Saturday or Sunday.  Because of this, I find myself oftentimes preparing a big batch of something that we can eat throughout the week.  Soups are a favorite because they are typically much lower in points plus value, keep well through the week, and when you put more time into it there is often a greater reward.

We get our recipes from modified versions of our mothers' home-cooking, our Weight Watchers cookbooks, Everyday Food, and online.  One of our favorite online resources is Skinny Taste.  We've made more than a dozen of Gina's recipes and we have yet to be disappointed.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup is one of our recent favorites.  We followed Gina's recipe exactly in terms of ingredients, but we didn't have cooked chicken breast on hand, so we tossed raw chicken into the milk-water mixture as it came to a boil.  Then we took the chicken out with a slotted spoon and continued as the recipe was written.

Even though this recipe wasn't created by me, it was handmade by me!  And it definitely fit the bill for tasty.  We will be putting this into our favorite recipes folder... you should give it a try!

We topped our chicken pot pie soup with croutons made from dried whole wheat baguette from Panera Bread. Yum yum!

about

photograph taken by Brooke Bready

Welcome, welcome! I'd like to offer you the hospitality of a cookie and a cup of tea, coffee, lemonade or just iced water-- but the internet does have its limits, so you'll have to settle for some photos and good intentions. Honestly, if you're reading this page I'm extremely grateful you're here. I've been doing the blogging thing for a few years now, sporadically, quietly, and blogging publicly is a big change for me. I've been reading blogs for a long time and never quite grasped how they supplement online community because I never gathered enough courage to introduce myself as a reader-- but if you're here, please say hello.  Your encouragement will help keep me writing!  If it takes you awhile, well... that's okay, too.  You're still welcome in this place!

My name is Amelia, I live in Washington, DC, and I like handmade things. Whether I make them or someone else makes them matters not. I'm a fan of doing things myself, and trying really hard even when it feels like I never quite get there.  My husband Mark and I live with our 6 year old cairn terrier, Moses, in a teeny tiny apartment. I'm a grad school survivor and Mark's just starting his grad school journey.

I've always made things and spent a lot of time thinking about how to make things.  These days, my making pursuits seem to be focused on healthy, tasty food and things I can make with my sewing machine. I am a quilter, but our apartment size has made quilting a challenge (and grad school before that)!  I'm dabbling in garment making, but my favorite things are usually functional instead of wearable.  I also have big dreams of reupholstering our couch, but like I said, small place!

When it comes to food, I am actively trying to lose weight and a member of Weight Watchers. I am always on the hunt for a good, light recipe. I am also exploring alternative diets to what I know.  I have been a member of a CSA for several years and I love getting my produce (and eggs!) from Randy and Chris-- or growing things myself in summer months.  One day, I have dreams of keeping chickens and bees!  'Alternative diets' sounds scary-- I'm really just trying to eat things that grow in the ground, preferably local ground, instead of being cooked up in a lab (and made out of corn).  Fruits and vegetables, yes!

I work full time and maintain this blog in my spare time, so sometimes posts will not be on time.  Sometimes, they will even be back-dated (because I am like that).  I try to post Monday through Thursday with a 'This Moment' photo post on Fridays.  If you like what you read, I'd love it if you'd add me to your reader or follow me.

I am also on Pinterest (where you will find very many ideas for things that might one day make it to this blog), and Etsy (where I am struggling to make things to sell instead of buy).  You can also email me at amelia (dot) masdin @ gmail (dot) com.