Thursday Thoughts - I can cut the lawn, cut my hair, cut out my cholesterol

Scored a dresser for the shore house on Freecycle. Freecycle is king at the shore as we ramp up to rental season. I probably will not paint it (this year at least), but may change the hardware. I'm pumped, this was one of my few remaining want to dos before the season.

Forgotten annoyance. It's been a while, since 2019 or 2018, that I had someone cancel a week at the shore for no reason after they booked. I have one house and an 11 week season. If you sit on one of my weeks as claimed for six months and cancel, it is absolutely not the same as cancelling at a hotel. It re-booked but come on, dudes. 

Put lipstick on a pig bathroom almost finished. We just need a bar for the back wall that I'll put baskets on. This is how it looked when we bought the house and as we were taking down the top wall covering in 2020:

In 2021 MFD changed the top half of the walls.

This year we had the wall tiles and ceiling painted, I painted the floor, and we replaced the toilet and the light fixture. I just need to find a replacement bar that I can hang baskets from for TP, etc

Bay walks are back. I usually avoid them in the winter, for no reason.

Radishes in the air fryer. Olive oil, garlic powder, onion salt, salt. Preheat for 5, cook for 15. Radishes are too much for me raw but I love them like this. It changes the taste completely.

Flex time on nice days. Good times with Melissa and her crew this week, I grabbed a few hours out with them in the afternoon Tuesday before they left and worked at night since I was solo. I appreciate having the ability to work when it is best for me if there are no meetings. 

Unexpected work by the water company. I was out front at 7 yesterday on no coffee pushing down my White Ladies Wilding Out as the workers are not the ones responsible for not telling me this was happening. They will have to come back at some point and restore curbs and cement so we're not finished. 

New coworker. Billy is into my shore setup now.

Cute Easter bag from Carol. Cracked into her homemade candy eggs too - coconut creme for MFD, buttercream for me, PB for both. 

Mom and Rich arrive today, family weekend down this way. Hope you enjoy yours! Happy Passover and Happy Easter and if neither applies, happy weekend!

What appears beyond the hyphen in Thursday Thoughts titles is what I'm listening to when I'm starting this - this week is Enid by Bare Naked Ladies

5 easy tips to help with healthier eating

Planning healthy meals for your family allows you to get creative but can also be challenging, especially when you have a busy schedule and don’t know where to start or are extremely bored with all of your typical options like I am after the past year and a half of eating mostly at home. As America shifts again through the pandemic and the pace picks up for many, other options such as fast food and grab and go have become even more popular and convenient. It takes a conscious effort to make time to ensure your family eats well. Research reveals that about only 30% of families often have dinner together, and we are typically not in that percentage. Whether you’re able to eat together every day or a few times during the week, here are some ways to ensure that you and your family have some healthy, enjoyable meals. 

Get creative with some new recipes

I know, is "new recipes" a joke at this point in the year of our lord 2021? Trying to eat healthily can get boring sometimes, but one great way to make things more interesting is to try out some new healthy recipes together. Thankfully, there are many videos and recipes online to help you prepare various healthy and tasty meals. I love Budget Bytes - which speak to a smaller budget and can be healthified (that is a technical term, look it up) if they are not already. This year I've also started following Dwardcooks (that's his site, his Instagram is good as well) who does healthy comfort food (and models on WW for those of you into that). I found him through That's What She Eats for grill stuff and general prep ideas, then realized Ed is local and comes to OCNJ a lot so that's fun. And I found That's What She Eats through Audrey. So if you follow someone you get food inspo from, hook me up.

Also remember healthier doesn't mean never eating treats. If you’re getting into the holiday mood or want to try something fun during the week, this crustless pumpkin pie recipe doesn't require much time. I am always down for crustless because I dislike making them, not because I do low carb. I don't believe in that.

Prep your meals in advance

A lot of my food woes this past year can be laid at the feet of me abandoning weekly food prep on Sundays when the world changed. Meal prep is an excellent way to consciously plan your meals and incorporate healthier options such as fruits and veggies. It also helps save costs as it enables you to avoid impulse buying and know what you want when you go grocery shopping. It takes the daily what are we eating out of the equation too. I've returned to bulk prepping breakfasts and cutting up veggies for lunches and that has made a huge difference.

Set regular and consistent mealtimes

I like being an adult and eating whenever the F I want but in reality having regular eating times helps me be more conscious about what I take in and reduces excessive snacking which is good because guess what I'M BORED WITH ALL MY SNACKS TOO. I also need to know I'm getting in the right amount of veggies and protein and set plans and times helps.

Reduce screen time during meals

Never a bad idea to reduce screen time and encourage actual conversation.

Reduce sugary drinks and snacks

I rode the Sugar Dragon through 2020 Corona Land and needed to way back off on the sugary stuff. I am huge into Aldi frozen mixed berries and Hershey's kisses or a few peanut M&Ms when I get the itch. I am not into cutting out anything, I think it's unrealistic and ridiculous, but I know when I need to cut back.

Any healthy-ish and good recipes or snack ideas to share?

Happy birthday to my cousin and Straight Outta today!

How to Bring your Best-Loved Recipes from Travel Home With You

Baia in at Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town

Sun, sea, and some of the best food you ever tasted. It’s the vacation dream, isn’t it? Travel food experiences are so good that they’re a big part of the reason a lot of us travel in the first place. The lure of local dishes is huge for me. Yet, when our trips draw to a close, I typically kiss my favorite dishes I've encountered goodbye and return to the home-cooked favorites we already know so well and eat over and over and over and, you get it.

There’s nothing wrong with the familiar but if a part of your soul stays with that Spanish paella when you head back home, it’s time to figure out how to bring those recipes home with you. Tucked alongside your duty-free, this could be one of the best travel gifts you give yourself. It’s undoubtedly a fantastic way to keep the exotic love alive. 

No one wants to fail at the re-creation of a beloved vacation meal because it sort of ruins the memory of it. It happens to the best of us, but there are some ways to avoid it. 

Ask the experts

No one does pasta dishes as well as the Italians, or octopus like the Greeks. As such, your first port of call should be to chat to the experts while you’re away if you can. Pay your complements to the chef when you enjoy their food. While they aren't likely to tell you their secrets or give you a step by step of their process, they will probably drop a golden ticket of information, like the ideal time to marinate that sauce or the fact that good calamari only takes 15 minutes. It's insights like those that can give you an understanding of the food that moors you to it and proves to be your key to unlocking those recipes at last. 

via

Focus on flavor

It also pays to focus on flavor. Too often, home-based recreations will contain the same basic ingredients without ever quite capturing the right taste combinations. People stress over getting the exact right ingredients and forget to think about flavor. And, given that flavor is the heart of any dish, that alone can ruin the entire experience. As such, breaking down those flavors and thinking about how you can recreate them is what will really elevate your dishes. In fact, it could see you recreating dishes that put you right back on that sunny beach at any time of year!

Don’t beat yourself up if it isn’t exactly the same

Anyone who’s tried to create a dish from their favorite restaurant will know that it’s near impossible to get everything exactly right. And, that challenge becomes even harder when oceans limit you. It may be that you can’t get the same ingredients, for instance, or that everything’s a little less fresh than it would be if you were there in person. This is inevitable, but it doesn’t mean you can’t still create a pretty decent replica. Don’t beat yourself up if your dish isn’t 100% like the one you had in Cape Town that time. As long as it tastes halfway decent and takes you back to that happy trip, this could still become a dish you cherish and a creature comfort to turn to whenever you next get itchy travel feet with no fat travel budget to back that up.

via GIPHY

Are you a re-creater of vacation food?

Happy birthday to my cousin Tiffany today!

Chicken pot pie soup

I like when people share recipes in Instagram stories so I can just screenshot them, but then I have to keep finding that when I want the recipe so I end up transcribing it here. This recipe is adapted from one Just Ingredients (blog here) shared and I like following her because she talks about alternatives to all the crap in food/household/personal care products that is terrible for us. And she does it in a way that's not annoying. When available, I used organic of all ingredients as is my typical MO. 

Ingredients
4 TBS butter
1/2 onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/3C flour (she uses alternative flour, I use regular)

4 garlic cloves
1 small container baby bella mushrooms, sliced
4 medium yukon gold potatoes, chopped
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen peas
1 quart chicken bone broth
2 cups milk or heavy whipping cream (I used one of each)
3 cups shredded chicken (I made chicken breasts in the air fryer then shredded them)
salt & pepper to taste
1 tbs Italian seasoning

Directions
Put all ingredients from garlic cloves on down into a pot and get that going.

Separately, saute onion, carrots, celery in butter about seven to eight minutes. Add flour to veggies and cook another two minutes.

Then add this to the other ingredient pot. Cook on medium-low until carrots and potatoes are soft.

Happy birthday to my friend AEB today! 

Salami Roll Ups

I love appetizers that are easy, especially in the summer months. I've made these twice so far. It doesn't seem like it would be a good combination, but it is.

Ingredients:
1 lb salami (if you're making a lot, get 2 lb)
whipped cream cheese
A jar of pepperoncini or banana peppers or both (you'll need two jars for 2 lbs)

Directions:
Drain pepperonicini/banana peppers of liquid. Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on salami. Add pepperonicini or banana peppers and roll up. Use toothpicks to secure or lay carefully with seam side down.

Brocaulitato soup

I made that word up. Consider it my covfefe. Also file under: ugly food that tastes good.

I hate food waste, like, loathe. I had some potatoes that were on the downside so I thought I'd make soup this weekend. Creamy potato soup. Except I'm in the doughy AF part of winter right now and I don't need the creamy. A good way to get the creamy without the calories is an immersion blender. I decided to add cauliflower and then said fuck it, I'll healthy this up even more and add broccoli too. If you don't like the green color, don't add it.

Ingredients
1 half of a red onion, chopped (any kind of onion works)
1 tbs garlic, chopped
1 TBS olive oil
1 stalk of celery, chopped (cleaning out fridge, you don't need this if you don't have it)
4 cups stock, any kind you have
2 cups water
8 small to medium golden potatoes, washed and chopped (leave skin on )
salt to taste
pepper to taste
Penzey's fox point seasoning if you have it, if not garlic salt or anything else you'd flavor steamed veggies with, about 1/2 tsp
1 bag steamable cauliflower
1 bag steamable broccoli

Directions
Heat pot, add oil, add onion and celery and saute over medium for about 4 minutes. Add garlic and saute another minute. Add stock, water, potatoes and salt the water like you would if you were making mashed potatoes. Boil for about 10 minutes.

Steam both cauliflower and broccoli. Add to the potatoes and cool on low another 10 minutes. Taste broth to see if you need to add salt or pepper.

Remove from heat. Use immersion blender to smooth it out but be sure to leave some chunks.

Serve topped with cheese if you want a little extra something something.

Happy birthday to my cousin Tiffany today!

Chocolate cupcakes with vanilla pudding cool whip icing

Do they look pretty? No. How do they taste? Pretty fucking good.

I wanted to bake something last Saturday. Baking is not my natural habitat, cooking is. All of these recipes I was looking at seemed complicated and I was like I'm going to go back out and get a box mix or something pre-made. Hold the phone, I came upon these cupcakes from Sugar Spun Run. One bowl? SOLD. I mostly followed the directions, then rooted through my pantry to find things I could assemble icing from and honestly these turned out fucking amazing. The cupcakes were moist and rich and the icing was not too over the top sweet. I'll never use a box mix again, and that's why they're appearing here, so I don't have to hunt down the original recipe and try to remember how I made the frosting.

Cupcakes
 2 cups sugar
1.75 cups + 2 TBS flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa powder (unsweetened)
2 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup 2% milk
2 eggs lightly beaten (they were supposed to be room temp, mine were not quite there)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup hot coffee (this deepens the flavor, I seriously suggest you use this. If you don't have it, use hot water)

Preheat oven to 350. Line two 12 each cupcake pans with liners.

Add all dry ingredients to bowl (if you have a bowl with a spout to pour, use that) and whisk together well. Add oil and milk, stirring until combined. Add eggs, stirring until combined. Stir in vanilla extract. Add the coffee and stir well - batter will separate at first and is very thin (hence the bowl with a spout to pour).

Fill muffin tins 2/3 of the way full (I always overfill and fuck this up but I scrape them off and they're fine) and bake for 18-23 minutes depending on your oven. Mine is a little on the fritz and again, I overfilled, so 23 minutes. Allow to cool fully and remove from pan.

Icing
1 tub cool whip, thawed
1 package instant vanilla pudding
1 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup powdered sugar

While the cupcakes are going, combine pudding mix, powdered sugar, and milk and whisk for two minutes. Fold in Cool Whip and refrigerate until ready to use. Do not ice those cupcakes or anything baked until it's fully cooled, you got it? Unless the recipe indicates otherwise, of course, and calls for melty shit. Because that's what it'll do, it'll melt in and look disgusting. Ask me how I know this. Never mind, don't.

Knick knack paddy whack give a dog a bone broth

Bone broth is great for everyone. I make it for the dogs because their health is more attended to than ours.

There are a lot of powders out on the market right now but honestly? Make it yourself. It's super easy and MUCH cheaper. It's a great immune system booster and helps with allergies and food sensitivities. It's a superior joint supplement so help your dogs age more easily and feed them some bone broth with their food. Note: this is not in any way a food replacement.

Ingredients 
Marrow bones - I keep some in the freezer, which is what you see below.
2 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar - I prefer Bragg's
Water

Directions
Put bones in a crockpot. Cover them with water plus an inch or so. Cook on low for at least 24 hours. I usually start them at night around 7 pm and let them go for 24 hours plus that overnight.

Remove bones (throw out, do not give to dogs) and allow liquid to cool. When refrigerated it should be a jelly-like consistency. There may be a skin of fat on the top that you can remove. Store in airtight jars. Bone broth doesn't last long like that so I keep one out and freeze the rest - leave plenty of space in jars when you freeze so they don't burst.

Warm a few tablespoons for about 10 seconds and put over dog food. Humans can eat this as well, and it's just as good for you.

And today...D-Day. When fascism was recognized and we recoiled and sent our bravest to fight like hell against it.

Dogs need summer refreshment too

Humans aren't the only beings that like frozen treats. Dogs do too.

Ingredients
1C organic pumpkin
1C greek yogurt
1C peanut butter
(make sure  none of those things have xylitol, it is deadly for dogs).

Directions
Mix well - I used an immersion blender but you can do it by hand. Put in ice cube trays, about a quarter of the way full in each. Freeze for 24 hours.

My dogs go nuts for these.

But now, back to people. Happy birthday to my sister-in-law Sarah today!

Corn Dip redux

Hello and happy Friday, you guys. Happy Royal Wedding II Eve. Alas, I am not having a Royal Wedding Party like I did the last time - have you seen that post? It was definitely one of the best parties ever. I considered trying to throw one together but ran out of time.

Last week I pulled up the ol' blog recipe page and clicked on the corn dip entry. There was no page found. Same for hoagie dip and some other ones. Who the hell knows what happened to them, but when I don't keep recipes on here, I have to find old word docs and I don't like doing that.

So, corn dip. Again, for those of you who've seen it before. Likely a similarly shitty photo to the first time, because it doesn't photograph well. It's always the way that the ugly things taste the best. Either way, maybe you need a dip for the weekend. Maybe this is it.

Ingredients
2 cans mexi-corn or fiesta corn, drained well
1C sour cream
1C mayo
2C finely shredded cheddar
5 chopped green onions
1 can chopped green chiles
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin

Directions
Mix all together and chill for a few hours. Serve with fritos, tortilla chips, or wheat thins.

Carrot Pineapple Muffins

You know what's not been good out of this entire working from home more thing? Baking on my lunch hour. Fatassery like nobody's business.

I had a can of crushed pineapple in the pantry and needed to use it. I used half for this and half as a chicken marinade the next week. Boom.

Original recipe here.

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup apple sauce
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup drained crushed pineapple

Directions
Preheat oven to 375.

Sitr together sugar, apple sauce, eggs, vanilla until well combined. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

Stir dry ingredients into wet until just combined.

Add carrots and pineapple, stir well.

Place paper in muffin tin or grease muffin tin. Spoon mixture in, filling to top.

Bake in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until done. I got 15 muffins out of this.

Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, then remove to rack to finish cooling. I let them sit in the pan then flash froze them. I take them out in the morning and they're thawed by the time I get to work.

Pasta fazooooool

Yes, I know that's not how you spell it. Almost as cringe-worthy as seeing someone type wah-lah or viola! for voila!, right?

Anyway. Soup. On April 18. Not that there's anything wrong with soup year round, but I'm usually moving on to grilling things and fresh things now but it's still winter feeling so today, soup.

I like to say the name of pasta e fagioli  more than I like to eat it. Quick, cheap, and painless to make; and filling to eat without meat. I made 678 gallons of it last night to get rid of some ditalini and beef stock as I continue cleaning out my pantry.

Ingredients
2 tbs olive oil
1 medium sweet onion, chopped

3 stalks of celery, chopped

4 carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced (or 2 tsp already jarred minced garlic)

Crushed red pepper - to your taste, mine is a few shakes. Some is required!

Oregano - 1/2 tsp

Kosher salt

15 oz can of kidney beans, rinsed

15 oz can of pinto beans, rinsed
Half bag frozen cut green beans

15 oz can of petite diced tomatoes with liquid

15 oz can of tomato sauce

3 cups beef stock (you can use chicken or vegetable or water for that matter, but you'll need a little boost if you just use the water)

Half a box of ditalini

Directions
Heat oil in a large pot. Add onion, celery, carrot, and garlic and saute about six minutes or until onion is soft and translucent.

Add beans, tomatoes, sauce, stock, and spices. A word about this - I do not like crushed red pepper and even I add a few shakes to this soup. It requires it. If you have bay leaves, sprinkle a few of those in there too. I couldn't lay my hands on mine quickly enough and shit was burning.

Stir well and bring up to a low boil. Add ditalini and cook over medium until pasta is done, about 10 minutes. I personally turn it down to low and leave it on longer so the liquid goes down to almost nothing and everything soaks in the flavor.  I don't like a lot of broth in my soups. MFD does so he adds more on the back end when heating up. 

To Freeze
I gave you the measurements for a single pot which will feed four. I doubled it and it made enough for at least two more dinners for two or more than a week of lunches for me. If it's just you and you don't want to eat it more than twice, freeze half of one pot. Remember not to fill your containers to the very top - what you're freezing needs room to expand and breathe.

I spent all last night thinking it was Wednesday night so today actually being Wednesday is a low blow.

When I dip you dip we dip french dip

Can anyone say french without mimicking the mom from Better Off Dead? First, I have frawnch fries. And frawnch dressing. And frawnch bread.

ANYWAY...
Once upon a time I used to share recipes. Then I got in a rut and stopped doing that. I didn't feel like cooking so I did the minimal. I woke up one day and was like hey...I feel like cooking again. With my older recipes too. And fuck it, they're not always going to be healthy because I am not always a healthy eater and the season of the comfort food is upon us.

Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes, is it not? Let us say hello to cooking again.

This recipe is originally from Simply Scratch. The original calls for red wine and beer and makes five pounds. I do not keep alcohol in my house and I do not need five pounds at a time, so here is my version.

Ingredients
3 lb beef chuck roast
1 large onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
2 tbs olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 cup of this: 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar with water added up to the half cup line
4 cups beef broth for crock
3 tsp beef bouillon granules
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs worcestershire

Directions
Pull meat out of the fridge a half hour before you are going to work on it.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season both sides of the roast with salt and pepper. When the pan is hot, sear each side for 3-4 minutes. For those of you out there like me who like to skip the searing step because it'll be fine without it trust me you want to do the sear here.

Add a smidge more olive oil and throw the onions in for 3-5 minutes or until soft. Remove. Deglaze the pan with the red wine vinegar concoction, scraping up all the brown bits.

Add to a large crock: roast, onion, garlic, red wine vinegar situation, soy sauce, Worcestershire, bouillon granules, and pour the beef stock over all of it.

I cooked it on high for four hours, but you can certainly do low for eight.

Remove meat and shred with forks, add back to liquid. Serve on crusty rolls.

Despite the title, I do not dip the sandwich in au jus because I hate soggy bread but by all means, have at it.

Haikuesday

At a loss name-wise. 

when i dip you dip we dip

seems appropriate