069. Better than Kraft Mac N Cheese

Partially inspired by the grilled cheese with apple Caitlin made for her husband, and partially inspired by the fact I really wanted some mac n cheese (but not some lame out of the box mac n cheese), tonight I decided to make Better than Kraft Mac n Cheese. I made this one all on my own (no recipe) and it was AWESOME!

It's rotelle pasta, Dubliner cheese, reduced fat cheddar cheese, and some chopped up apples. It was so delicious and savory.


The cheesy deliciousness of dinner brings my to The Great Cheese Debate which will be coming tomorrow.

054. Adventures in Baking

I decided I should bring something with me to Kristin's house. I've been wanting to make this Cranberry Apple Bread for a few days now so I went ahead and whipped it up to take with me.

While making this, I ran into a slight issue that required me to employ some of my newly found kitchen experimentation skills. Here's the ingredient list.

Ingredients

1 1/2 c. flour (I substituted whole wheat flour)

1 1/2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. basking soda

1 t. ground cinnamon

2 c. chopped, peeled apples (I used pink lady apples that I had in my fridge)

3/4 c. sugar

2 T. melted butter

1 large egg

1 c. fresh cranberries

Does anyone else see the problem here? This recipe calls for virtually no liquids! I mixed all of the ingredient together per the instructions (below) and wound up with just slightly moistened flour. There was no way it was going to bake into bread though! I started by adding about 1/4 c. of water and then it was Musselman's to the rescue! I poured in some applesauce and stirred until the batter reach the consistency I was looking for. I think it probably amounted to about 1/2 c. of applesauce that I ended up adding.

Directions

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon; set aside. Mix apples, sugar and butter. Add egg; mix well. Add flour mixture; stir just until moistened. (Batter will be thick.) gently stir in the cranberries

Spread the batter into greased loaf pan

Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let stand in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

The bread turned out really great. It was very moist and had an awesome flavor. I really liked the tart cranberry flavor against the sweetness of the apples. I didn't snap a picture because I was running late so I wrapped it up and headed out the door; however, I plan on making another loaf tomorrow or Sunday (I still have half a bag of cranberries left) so I'll be sure to get a picture then.

050. Flexing the Kitchen Creativity Muscle (& my 50th post milestone!)

This morning I faithfully got up to Whittle My Middle.

I also discovered I forgot to put my soy milk back in the fridge after making my oatmeal yesterday. :( It was almost a full carton too - what a bummer.

Since I usually use soy milk to make my oatmeal, I decided to flex my kitchen creativity muscles. As you probably remember, I currently have an abundance of applesauce after winning Shannon's Musselman's Gift Basket Give-Away. I decided to put some of that applesauce to work this morning, and so I present to you...

Apple-Pomegranate Oats

• 1/2c. oats
• 1/2c. Musselman's natural, unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 c. pomegranate juice.

Cooked on the stove-top for about 5 minutes, stirring occassionally.

I topped the oats off with a pinch of shredded coconut and some goji berries.

So what's the verdict on my Apple-Pomegranate Oats?

Well, the smell was a little funky (not sure if it was the cooking applesauce or pomegranate juice) and the texture left something to be desired (It was again sticky, but that could be the oats I bought as I discussed in my post yesterday). The flavor, however, was to die for! It was the balance of apple and pomegranate. There was a bit of tartness that was offset really well by the sweetened coconut.

Overall, this was an awesome breakfast. I'll definitely be making these oats again sometime soon!

044. Everything but the...Quiche

So, I ended up making a quiche for dinner. Some of my veggies were starting to look a little sad so I decided to make the quiche tonight before stuff started going rotten. So I started tossing things together and came out with my Everything but the...Quiche

In my quiche was spinach, red pepper, broccoli, Canadian bacon, and mild and sharp cheddar cheese.

While I was making dinner I snacked on some Goldfish crackers.

I've been really hungry all day today. I think my blood sugar is a bit out of control from all of my holiday indulgences. I need to get that back under control, and then I think my constant hunger will subside some.

Also, I apologize for the poor photo quality today. My camera battery was dead so I've been relying on my iPhone for photos today.

030. Gingerbread Fest 2009

Saturday was Gingerbread Fest 2009. I talked a little bit about Gingerbread Fest in this post which included some of the pictures from the prep work my mom and I did Wednesday night. We started around 10am Saturday morning.

Bring on the photos!

We fueled up for Gingerbread Fest on homemade Belgian waffles. Mine was whole wheat, blueberry.

Nicki enjoying her waffle.

Alex not looking too happy about being awake or photographed.

You can't tell from this picture, but I loathe rolling out dough (of any kind). It find it incredibly frustrating, and it makes me want to cry. One time I almost through my rolling pin across the dining room while rolling out pizza dough.

Clearly, Nicki doesn't mind as much.

Nicki had to cut out her pieces. Look at that focus.

In case you're curious, this is what approximately $50 worth of Christmas themed candy looks like.

Various pieces in their stages of decoration/ construction.

The gingerbread chaos!

Nicki and Alex working on getting his house standing. Judging from the look on her face, I think Nicki has eaten too much of the candy and the sugar mania is starting to set in.

Building gingerbread houses is hard work so mom made us wraps to refuel.
Here's mine - turkey, cheddar jack shredded cheese, spinach and bacon bits. It was delish!


My mom is the gingerbread queen. She actually does this as a project with the students in her Culinary Arts (advanced foods) classes.

Shortly after the above photo was taken, the disposable pastry bag exploded in Nicki's hands. See the picture below for the end results of that.
This is the small, individual house I made to bring home with me. It's currently residing on my coffee table.
My house.

My mom's house.

Nicki's house. She did a Chicago Bears themed house. It's angry because the Bears suck this season.
Alex's house. Every year Alex makes it a point to build the ghetto/ white trash house. This year he went for the redneck theme.

The completed village.

This is about half the photos from the day; the rest of the pictures can be found in my Google Picasa album. Gingerbread Fest 2009.

Gingerbread Fest was kind of a mess this year. We had several broken pieces. My mom and Nicki's houses both broke, but those were able to be "glued" back together with frosting. I was not as lucky. I had to re-cut and bake the front of my house for the village as well as the front of the small house I made to take home with me. We also ran out of merguine powder so we couldn't make enough frosting to finish on Saturday afternoon. I ended up going back Sunday afternoon to finish things up with my mom.

I definitely consumed more sugar than necessary on Saturday, but I know it was less than in years past so kudos to me!

Despite all the trouble we had this year, we came out with a very nice village to display in my parent's living room.

I'm going to post the recipes for the dough and the Royal Icing as well as the template for the pieces when I get home tonight. I think it's a great tradition to start with kids or cousins or siblings! - I'm going to have to post this later. Apparently my mom didn't actually give me these recipes in the binder she put together for me like 5 years ago. I'll have to get them from her.

As a side note: After posting all these pictures, I am convinced I need blogging software. Anyone have any suggestions? The freer the better. I'm kinda broke right now.

027. It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

This is the first year in a long time I'm actually in the Christmas spirit and enjoying winter. Yesterday/ today is the first snow of the year. It's actually pretty disgusting outside right now. It was raining/ sleeting last night, and tomorrow the high is about 9 so it's going to be good and icy in the morning.

My Christmas tree is all decorated and lookin good. There's even presents underneath it.
Today started Gingerbread Fest 2009. Every year my mom, my brother, my other brother's girlfriend, and I get together and build gingerbread house. It's basically become an all day event. We each build our own house and then put them together on a ceiling tile to make a gingerbread village.

Tonight my mom and I went on our mission for candy. $50 later, we had everything we could need/ want. We also started baking the pieces. Oh yes, we do the whole project from scratch. Make the dough, cut and bake the pieces, make the Royal Icing - all of it. It really is a great time, and it's definitely a tradition I hope to carry on when I have my own kids.

Patterns for the various pieces. We're doing slightly larger houses this year because my mom left her usual templates at work.

Pieces laid out on the dough being cut out. Rolling out the dough is my least favorite part. I find it so frustrating. This year I just made my mom do it.

It's quite difficult to take a picture of yourself while operating a pizza wheel to cut out gingerbread house pieces. Trust me.

On the cookie sheet ready for the oven.

Finished product ready to be assembled into houses.

Saturday we're getting together to build the houses, and I will be taking lots of pictures!

021. Totally Random Smattering

So, first of all, I've got a few photos of random eats photos that never got posted. These are from the last two weeks or so.

Broccoli, onion, canadian bacon, and sharp cheddar cheese omelet.

Homemade whole wheat toaster waffles with pomegranite arils and a pumpkin sauce.

French toast stuffed with cream cheese frosting.

Lightened up Chicken Parm - there was also a heaping pile of spaghetti squash that was eaten later due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e. Chris bought a squash too big to fit in the microwave so I had to bake it.)


Alright, now on to today's eats.
Breakfast was an Arnold Sandwich Thin with Trader Joe's Almond Butter and Sorell Ridge Black Raspbery 100% Fruit spread.

The photo is actually from dinner last night, but lunch today was leftover Pasta e Fagioli.

Dinner was just some scrambled eggs. My stomach has been bothering me most of the afternoon so I opted for something pretty bland.

I believe I also promised pictures of my Christmas decorations thus far.

From the inside...(I apologize, it's a pretty poor picture)

and from the outside...


Obviously, I'm the top left unit.

I need to get going. I was supposed to be on the road to Chris' dad's about an hour ago, but since I overslept this morning and was late for work, I ended up staying a late. Time to pack up and head out for more Christmas decorating tomorrow!

I've got the camera packed!

012. It's all about Pizza and Fro-Yo

I don't know what it is, but I've been on a huge pizza and fro-yo kick recently. Seriously. I could probably eat it 3 times a day! At least I'm making it work for me though.

Well start off with the rest of yesterday's eats. Lunch was the left over BBQ chicken pizza from Uno's.
After I ate lunch, I went with some co-worker's who were grabbing lunch, and I got some Freshii fro-yo with shredded coconut and organic granola. Once again, the staff could not grasp my trying to order half the usual serving. Once again, I threw half of it in the garbage.

My afternoon snack today was a 1/4c. of Trader Joe's ABC Trek Mix. I love it because it's a mix of almonds (my most favorite nut ever!) and dried blueberries and cranberries and some golden raisins for good measure. Yummy yummy! I actually wrote a blog via email about this, but it never posted. I'm going to have to work on that because what's the point of having a super sweet iPhone if you can't even blog from it right?

Dinner was a "burrito bowl" with brown rice, black beans, corn, ground Boca "meat" and some sharp cheddar. Sadly, I didn't have any avocado in the house. :( I took a picture but this meal is seriously lacking in the visual appeal department. Actually, it looks kind of gross. It was yummy though (and at least I have cute plates!)

The base was a mix of minute brown rice, organic black beans, organic frozen corn, and about a quarter cup V-8 because I didn't have any tomato sauce. then I added 1/2c. Boca crumbles and 1/4c. reduced fat.sharp cheddar.

After dinner I had some of the Trader Joe's fro-yo. I said I was on a kick didn't I?

• 1/2 c. TJ's non-fat Plain Frozen Yogurt
• 1/4 c. pomegranate arils
• 2 T. shredded coconut
• 1/4c. oats.
  

Unfortunately yesterday took a turn for the worst. They were predicting gorgeous weather today so I decided to blow off my 6 mile run at the indoor track in favor of heading out this morning for 6 miles outside. Chris and I ended up laying on the couch watching Season 1 of How I Met Your Mother on DVD and noshing on the Halloween candy his mom sent home with us. Too much eating definitely occurred.

However, as promised, I got up at 7:45 and went for my 6 mile run. I really wish I'd had my camera, or at least my phone with me, because it was absolutely gorgeous, but since I run with as little stuff on me as possible, I didn't. Maybe tomorrow I'll ride my bike on the route I rant today and take some pics.

The run itself was really well. Previously the furthest I've run outside was 4.75 miles, but I figured 6 wouldn't be a problem since I had run 7 on the indoor track without much problem. I've always struggled more outside than anywhere else. I started off pretty slow, but I finished the whole run (including a short warm-up and cool-down) in 65 minutes so I managed to maintain about a 10:30 minute/ mile pace. I'll totally take that. I also wasn't hurting too much. I was definitely feeling it in that last mile, but it was a good push.

After my run, I toasted a homemade toaster waffle and topped it with the pumpkin filling Caitlin used in her Sweet Breakfast Burritos. I was too lazy to make pancakes and too hungry to take pictures, but it was delicious. After breakfast I did some serious shopping. I ended up getting 3 pairs of dress pants (size 10!), 3 camis (M!), a cardigan sweater, and a pair of jeans (size 8!) from Penny's and 5 Old Nave Fleece scarves (Hey it was $1 scarf day, and my BFF works at Old Navy!) Check it out!
Post shopping lunch was mini BBQ Chicken pizzas! Seriously, I think I've developed an addiction or something! I'm going to need pizza rehab soon.

• Arnold Sandwich thin
• 2 T. Culinary Circle, Sweet Applewood BBQ sauce
  
• 1.5 oz grilled chicken breast (It was left over in my fridge)
• red onion
• 1/4 c. reduced fat sharp cheddar
• 1/4c. part-skim mozzarella

Put it all together and popped it in the toaster oven for about 7 minutes at 425.

I've got a birthday party for a friend tonight in Indiana. I'll try to take some picture for you all to enjoy. Right now I need to pull together some dinner and get myself ready.