Day Seventy-two--Couscous salad of sorts

Hello all. Sorry for the brief non-posting. It was just too much to keep up with between camp with the kids, keeping the house clean, the laundry done and everything. We did eat real food in the meantime. Wednesday we had eggs in the basket. Local bread with local eggs. A nice quick and easy dinner. Thursday we had smoothies. Yup. That was it. Everyone was so hot and tired that we didn't really want to eat all that much. Another easy meal. Friday was our normal pizza night. I was smart enough to make my pizza dough first thing in the morning so that I didn't have to worry about making it when we got home just after 4. I didn't photo any of these meals. I just didn't feel like it.

Things are pretty much back to normal now. Last night I made one of the recipes we were supposed to have on Wednesday night. I haven't had a chance to think about menus or shopping lists this week so I am happy to have a couple of meals that are easy "go-to" recipes for this weekend. Last night's recipe was tasty. It was easy and quick to put together. It's another recipe from the recent Everyday Food magazine.

Couscous, Black Bean, Corn and Mushroom salad

This recipe used Israeli couscous, which I had in the cupboard. Sadly, I used the rest of it in this dish and I didn't see it at Wegmans when I went last time. I'm hoping I can find it again because I really like the texture of it. I browned the couscous first and then added water and brought it to a boil and then it simmered while I finished getting rest of the things ready. I cooked the mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil. I pulled the mushrooms out of the pan and then cooked some corn with some green onions. Then this went in the bowl with the mushrooms. By this time the couscous was done and it went in the bowl too. Then I just squeezed two limes on top of it all and fluffed it all up.

Tim and I loved it. Connor liked it after he pulled all of the mushrooms out of it. Aidan had one bite and decided that he didn't like it. I think I'll make it again just to leave in the fridge for a quick lunch.

That is all I have for now. I suppose I'm going to go make up a menu for next week. We're supposed to be in the mid-90s all week. No baking around here, well except for Friday pizza, but I'm hoping the temps will normalize by then.

Day Forty-four---a couple of days later

Sorry I've missed posting the last couple of days. I'm picking back up today as day forty-four because it's my blog and I can do what I want. =) Friday we spent the day at Hershey Park. It was a long day. It was a fun day. Food-wise we did alright. We didn't get home until close to 8:30 and we decided to order a pizza from a "new" place. It was new to us. It's actually within walking distance of our house and the pizza was delicious. The only excuse I have for Saturday is that I didn't have any food in the house and I didn't have my menu made out. It took me a long time to get those darn menus done too. Have I mentioned that I don't really like making menus out. I don't. Part of my problem is that I feel like I have to keep things new and fun for the blogs sake. In the past we had a few meals that we just rotated through each week. It's been fun trying new things, but it's not fun trying to figure out what to do. I did get my menu done, but not in time for dinner on Saturday night. I had a plan though. I wanted to go out to the farm and see if they had the meat that I needed before I went to the grocery store on Sunday. We have our freezer full of beef, but I needed chicken and sausage this week. I am getting it at the farm now because they are selling meat from another local farm and it's pasture raised and near organic meat. So, we went out to the farm and I got all the meat that I need for this week. Then we went to Wegmans and ended up just getting subs for dinner. We had two nights of eating dinner at like 9 pm. Oh well.

We are back on track today. We had a back yard bbq for the neighborhood. Everyone pretty much brought their own protein to grill and they also brought a dish to share. I made couscous salad again. I also tried a new recipe for green beans that rocked! They will be back again later this week. Well, here's the picture:

Cheeseburgers with chipolte steak fries, green beans and couscous salad

The burgers were very good. I mixed some chopped onions and garlic in the beef. I also added some HP sauce and Worcestershire sauce, an egg and a handful of breadcrumbs. Tim grilled them up and he melted some amazing cheddar cheese on the top. I made the sesame seed buns and these buns were better than my last batch. I need to keep that recipe.

It was a little hectic this afternoon. Thankfully, I was organized. I went out did errands and did the rest of the grocery shopping this morning. I got home at noon and immediately had to start the dough for the rolls. Once that was done and rising, I made the couscous salad. When that was done and chilling in the fridge, I made 2 dozen cupcakes. While those were baking, I separated the dough into 12 buns and let them rest for a bit. Then I made buttercream frosting for the cupcakes. Tim frosted the cupcakes for me while I egg washed the buns and sprinkled seeds on them. They baked and I got potatoes ready to boil lightly before they got dressed with olive oil and a chipolte rub. When those were done, I mixed the beef mixture to get ready for Tim to make them into patties. Finally I got the green beans ready and cooked. It all came together by 4 pm and our neighbors started showing up and I was ready to crack open the Magic Hat summer brew.

A nice evening was had by all. I am tired and ready for bed. Until tomorrow, happy cooking!

Day Thirty-eight--Friends over for dinner

What an amazing dinner we had last night. I'm sorry I'm posting later than usual but I'm slow moving today. Our good friends came over yesterday to spend the day. We spent a couple of hours wandering around looking at various artistic endeavors on display out our Fine Arts Fiesta. We had fun explaining to our boys the point behind "punch bug" punching...it's NOT just picking a color of a car and then punching, but when you see a VW. We came back to the house and I got a couple of loaves of bread rising so that we could have fresh bread with dinner.

Around 4 pm we started getting things ready to roll. I had made a big batch of couscous salad earlier and the bread was baking. Tim got the steaks all ready and then he and the boys head out to the grill. Carrie and I set the patio table and I got the asparagus all dressed with olive oil, salt, pepper and minced garlic. For once, everything was done all at the same time. It couldn't have worked out any easier.

Steak, Couscous salad and roasted asparagus

We ate outside and enjoyed a beautiful bottle of wine. Then we enjoyed an amazing port wine. Then we enjoyed some of Tim's favorite whiskey. Then we enjoyed some tequila. Yes, it was one of those nights. The kids entertained themselves and let us adults have some "play" time. We stayed out until it was dark the mosquitoes were swarming. It really was a perfect evening shared between good friends and we all enjoyed some great food. Who needs anything more than that?

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. It's time for me to now figure out what will be on next week's menu and figure out when I want to get out of my pajamas and go to Wegmans. That might be tomorrow. Until later, happy cooking!

Day Twenty-six--Hot Dogs

It's Mother's Day today. Tim asked me if I wanted to go out anywhere special for dinner and I said No. I'm happy with cooking at home these days. We went with simple for dinner tonight. I've been fighting a head cold or a sinus infection for a couple of days and haven't had as much energy or ambition so easy was good for me.

Hot dogs and Couscous salad

We love the all beef hot dogs from our friends. They are so good. I had pretty much given up on eating hot dogs because I hated the nitrate flavor of them. I hated how I would burp them for two to three hours afterwards. These hot dogs don't do any of that. I made a big batch of coleslaw to have with it. Connor and I love slaw dogs. I also got creative tonight. I have a container of Israeli couscous in the cupboard. I made a quick little salad with it. I basically dug in the fridge to see what I had for leftovers in veg. I used a red onion, some tomato, some roasted red pepper, and some kalamata olives. I chopped that all up and then mixed it in the cooked couscous and then made a simple dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar and a bit of English mustard. It was delicious!!

Yesterday I had decided that we were going to try and live off what was in our cupboards and freezer this week. I did go to the dairy yesterday to get our fresh milk and eggs and then went to Wegmans today for what few things I needed. Two things I noticed while shopping. First of all, Wegmans had ears of corn on the cob already set out and selling four for a dollar. Where is corn in season right now? Last year I had made the mistake of getting corn early because we all love corn on the cob, but it had no flavor. I will not make that mistake this year. Corn is a summer food and I will wait until it's ready and I know it will taste so much better. The second thing I noticed was that when I shop in season and only have to get a few basic things, my grocery bill goes from 220 dollars to 36 dollars. What a treat. I did get bananas because Tim was begging me for some. He said that he knew that they weren't local but he was craving some. Normally, Tim is not a huge fan of bananas so I knew he needed them. I only bought a couple of them though because no one else really likes them.

Yesterday at the library I picked up Real Food, What to Eat and Why. Wow. I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around it. The author is going along the same line of Michael Pollan in that we need to be eating real food. We need to be eating what our grandparents ate. We should not be eating anything that is processed. I get that. I'm working on getting most processed foods out of our house. She also talks about eating meat, dairy, and other things that I've had beaten into my head since I was young that are bad for me. I'm only a couple of chapters into the book and I know I'm going to have to do more research based on what she says about cholesterol and cancer. It basically goes against everything I learned when I read The China Study. It all boils down to eating as close to nature as possible. Meats should be from grass fed, free roaming animals. Butter is better for us than margarine. Yay. I love butter.

It's hard to know what is right. I think back to my grandmother though who lived on a farm. My dad was raised on the farm. We used to spend many a day roaming around on all of acreage. She lived to 94. She ate beef that was raised on her land. She ate pork and chickens that she raised on her land. She had huge gardens that she ate from and preserved to feed her family through the winter. I can remember her in the kitchen making fried chicken for us. I can remember going out and picking corn and then shucking the corn and feeding the greens to the cows. Those were the days. I really do see us in the next few years trying to find a little piece of land to farm. I know that I want to have some chickens for fresh eggs and who knows, I might even want a cow for fresh milk. It's funny what getting older does to your desires.

Well, that is enough rambling for now. I have boys waiting for me to play a game with them. Until tomorrow, happy cooking!