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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Broadcast...

So to take a quick break from my food series, I have a big announcement.

Click HERE to find out.

Hopefully more to be added shortly.  I have to decide between adding more items, feeding my baby, and painting my kitchen chairs red.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Eating Fresh Yumminess on a Budget

Good food doesn't have to be expensive and overpriced.  One of our favorite side dishes is hummus with veggies.  If you buy hummus at the store, it is sure to several dollars for a tiny portion.  Aaron loves hummus and could probably eat the whole container on the end of one carrot stick.  And if he doesn't eat all, then I'll be sure and finish it off for him.  In order to allow us the privilege of getting to consume hummus as much as we want, I make our own.  At first, I was cautious: I followed recipes.  Now I just do my own thang.  It is a very forgiving food.  Here is the basic recipe:

1 15oz can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas, juice reserved
1 1/2 T of tahini
2 T lemon juice
1 large clove of garlic
1/2 t salt

Put it all in a food processor and process.  You will probably need to add some of the reserved juice from the beans in order to get the right consistency.

Follow that recipe once or twice and once you get the hang of it, just toss it.  Who needs measurements anyways?  I certainly don't.  We had plans to eat lunch with one of Aaron's cousins, but due to illness, we wound up at home with no food.  So I whipped up a version of alfredo, pulled some pesto out of of the freezer, dumped in some tomatoes and olives, used the sauce to drench some rotini and ta-da: dinner is served! No measuring cups were used in the making of this food.  Of course, my propensity to not measure things means that our food tastes different every time I make.  Sometimes this is for the better and sometimes for the worse.  Variety is the spice of life.
Anyhow, back to the hummus.  It is very versatile.  Just throw in an avocado or a sweet potato.  Or how about some olives? When we had sweet potato hummus it was so sweet that I almost wanted to dip my fruit in it.  The only thing that stopped me was the garlic.  Next time I will skip the garlic and try it on some apple slices.  I know, I'm strange.
If you want to make it even cheaper, just by some dried out beans and re-hydrate them.  You have to think ahead but it is much cheaper.
Warning! Scary ingredient ahead! Don't worry about the tahini.  Tahini is just sesame seed paste.  It seems a little on the expensive side at about $6 a can at Wal-Mart, but don't worry, it lasts for about 20 batches of hummus.  I've never actually taken the time to figure out how much each batch of hummus costs but I would estimate that it only comes to about $1 per batch.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Food, Glorious Food! Part 1

Anybody who has talked to me for more than 5 minutes knows that I have an addiction/obsession: food! Big foods, little foods, natural foods, processed foods, etc.  My family calls me a food snob but I prefer the term "connoisseur." Food is more than just about food.  For instance, I don't cook with hot dogs and american cheese but if you invited me over and fed it to me, I would love it.  Sometimes I feel intimidated to invite people over because of what they don't eat or how they don't cook.  I hope no one is ever afraid to invite me over.
Eating is not just an act of feeding or refueling, it is a time of fellowship.  That is why it is so hard to cook for myself when Aaron is gone.  I theorize that it all has something to do with the Eucharist and the Lamb's High Feast, but I'll save my philosophizing for another day.
When I taste something yummy, I immediately begin to wonder who I can share it with.  If Aaron is having a bad day, I start thinking about what sort of food I can make him.  If someone is sick or hurting, I don't send them encouraging notes or even necessarily call them on the phone, instead I march straight into the kitchen.  I suppose that food is my love language.
What sort of food do I eat?  Well, pretty much anything.  I tend to stay away from casseroles as they usually taste like they are made of cream of mushroom soup and cheddar cheese (not that I really have a problem with either of those ingredients, I just get tired of them).  Instead, I prefer to enjoy the pure creaminess of coconut milk, the tang of chicken marinated in lemon juice, the summer-like flavor of fresh basil, or the dense, rich smell of freshly baked whole wheat bread slathered with butter.  I am a borderline whole foodie.  In my opinion, if you can make it yourself, it will be much cheaper and taste much better than anything store bought.  The only thing I refuse to make are dolmades/grape leaves. I will stick to buying those little bits of heaven from Greek restaurants.
So what is the point of this post?  Good question.  I'll let you know when I figure it out.  Actually, I originally started this blog in conjunction with my thesis which was about food.  Over the next few weeks, I'm going to post a series of recipes and my ideas about cooking.
First up: breakfast!
Aaron loves granola and so do I.  We don't buy generally buy cereals from the store as they are expensive and taste like sugar coated cardboard.  I do enjoy an occasional bowl of cereal when on vacation. Normally, I just make a basic granola recipe, but I found this one just in time for fall.  Check out the recipe here. I thought it sounded too complicated to do in the crock pot so I just baked mine in the oven for about 30 minutes on 350 degrees.  Just be sure to stir it every 10 minutes or so.  In case you're wondering, it tastes great! It would also be cute in a brown paper bag to give as a gift.  Everybody loves homemade granola but for some reason, hardly anybody makes it.  I don't know why.  It is so easy and cost effective to make. It probably takes about 10 minutes or less to mix up.

Friday, October 5, 2012

A Celebratory Post!

It is Friday.  I should be excited cause it is the weekend, but let's face it, because I no longer have a job, I can barely keep up with the days of the week.  I do remember Friday because I teach my Omnibus class.
No, this post is a celebratory because my baby slept for 7 hours straight last night for the first time ever.  I woke up after 6 hours and felt like it was morning.  I started to get worried about Kira because she never sleeps for much more than 6 hours.  Because I'm a first-time mom, I even went into her room to check on her.
We have other big news to share: We caved and gave Kira a pacifier for the first time yesterday.  No, it didn't have anything to do with her sleeping longer because I took it away from her before I put her to bed.  Goodbye, screaming, fussy baby.  Hello, orthodontist.  Though I suppose she was doomed to have bad teeth anyways considering her genetics.
What else is going on in our lives?  Not much.  I just do the dishes, feed the baby, wash diapers, feed the baby, do some more dishes, cook dinner, stuff diapers, do some more dishes and then I feed the baby again.
We are excited to get to have a photoshoot this weekend.  It will be our first family photoshoot and Kira's first real photoshoot excepting the one picture they took of her in the hospital.
So Monday is Columbus day.  Unfortunately, this means nothing to me.  My new favorite "holiday" (besides the real ones like Easter and Christmas) is Veteran's Day.  It means that we get to go out on a cheap date since Aaron gets to eat free at lots of different restaurants.
Enough, enough...time to get back to work.