Stock Pile

I'm sorta awful with coupons. I really wish I could get organized and  get super serious. I might just do that some day but for now I'll just jump on a sale when I see it. The Fred Myer sale ad this week has  deodorant and toothpaste on sale for $1.79 and in store coupons for $1.00 off. so .79 cents plus tax. I headed over and grabbed enough deodorant for me to use for the next year(you'd be suprised how quick it goes) and some toothpaste for BJ and I. Along the way as I browsed around I picked up some other great deals. Greek yogurt marked down from $1.29 to $1.00 and a coupon for a dollar off three, Powerade for .50 cents some dinner necessities and a pair of $65 new balance shoes for 24$. I had to suffer through 8 separate transactions to get the coupons to work properly but it was worth the wait. My total spent on the entire haul here was only $49.60. I know the super extreme coupon types out there could have done better but I'm feeling pretty dang good about my scores today!

Crock Pot Carnitas

I got a 2 lb pork roast on sale for $2.50 and needed a plan...Sara to the rescue! She sent me this link crockpot365.blogspot.com/2010/02/slow-cooker-carnitas-recipe.html and I modified the recipe by adding half a jar of little hot peppers and half the juice from the jar. I only had bottled lemon juice and orange juice and added a tiny bit of paprika to the cumin and salt rub. I topped it all off with some fresh pico de gallo and corn and black bean salsa I had made a big batch of last week and froze.

 Corn and Black Bean Salsa

1 can sweet corn drained
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
1/2 of a small red onion diced
Chopped fresh cilantro
Lemon juice
A couple shakes of chili powder
Salt to taste
Teeny tiny pinch of white sugar

This makes a lot so I usually separate it into a few ziploc baggies and freeze. This can be served on tacos like I did tonight, in burritos or quesadilla or just served as a side dish with a little avocado to garnish. My kiddos even like this! Well, sort of. One kid picks out the beans and the other pick out the corn but between the two of them it all gets eaten..ha!

like a car crash

 I am usually good at looking away. today I failed. This not one of my usual cheerful posts but this is my blog and I'll write whatever I want damn it.

Confession- I searched the name of somebody who betrayed me to the core and a page for her birthday party showed up. I looked at it and despite knowing better couldn't help but think the list of people attending is  a whole bunch of people who hate me...I am well aware of how ugly and stupid this is..I know I know...
This is NOT a cry for help but rather just a real, honest moment of slipping into the pitfalls of betrayal.
Life is good. I have no reason to do this but still, every once in awhile I feel compelled to pop in and look. It's so easy. I shouldn't, but I do. It's reality, It's me being imperfect and vulnerable.

Lemon Pepper Chicken makes us happy, a.k.a. 'fake fancy food'

This is a staple here at the Scott house. In regular rotation it ends up being made 2 sometimes 3 times a month. Its fairly simple to make, super tasty, and mostly nutritionally sound. We've had a whirlwind week so far and it's only Wednesday. BJ is back on a submarine duty and working long hard days. I'm picking up odd jobs here and there and trying to keep up with my fitness goals, keep the house in order, and things running smoothly in general. We needed a real deal sit down family dinner complete with vegetable eating races so,  Voila`...

Lemon Pepper Chicken with Asparagus and Rice

1 lb of chicken (use about 8-10 pieces of chicken from frozen bags of chicken tenderloins, they are easy as pie, no thawing required)
1/2 of a small red onion thinly sliced
Garlic ( I use a jar of chopped garlic and add about 1/2 a teaspoon or so but you could use fresh or even sprinkle on some powdered garlic)
Olive Oil
Lemon juice
Lemon pepper seasoning(I really like McCormick the best, the one with the red lid)
Oregano (I used ground oregano)

2 cups White(or brown) Rice

1 bunch of fresh asparagus
1 tablespoon butter
1 table spoon soy sauce

Prepare  about 2 cups of white(or brown) rice and start it cooking while you work on the chicken and asparagus

Coat the bottom of a large frying pan with olive oil and add about the same amount of lemon juice to the pan.I never really measure anything so I'm totally not sure how much..I guess it depends on the size of your pan. You can't screw this up , trust me.
Sprinkle a generous amount of lemon pepper seasoning, at least a table spoon, over the lemon juice and olive oil. Now add a couple taps of oregano around the pan..about 1/2 a teaspoon or so. Turn the heat on and warn up the pan for a few seconds and then add onions and frozen chicken. Let chicken cook turning a few times until the excess juices start to cook off. Now add garlic and cook on medium heat until onions begin to caramelize and chicken is lightly browned on both sides. If its still soupy looking keep cooking it...

The Asparagus is easy...
First of all get good fresh not too skinny not to fat stalks.
Rinse them well under cool water and then chop off about 1/2 an inch from the bottom of the stalks to be sure you are getting rid of any woody hard fibrous pars and leaving only the yummy green tender stuff.
Be sure the tops are fresh and not slimy, nobody want to eat slimy veggies right?
Prepare a pan frying pan with a fitted lid that is large enough to accommodate the full length of the stalks.
Add about 1 tablespoon of butter (we use smart balance,..yum!)and let in melt a little then add asparagus. Drizzle some soy sauce over top, cover tightly and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes or until you've reached desired tenderness(I like mine a with a little firmness left in em)

You can dish it up all fancy like me or better yet just dump the rice in a casserole dish dump the pan of chicken on top and dump in the asparagus and bring it to the dinner table and serve it up!

Tip 1-I used a measuring cup rinsed in cold water as a rice mold. Looks fancy huh. It's not.

Tip 2-we lucked out and don't have picky eaters...per say...but we do have to get tricky with the veggies sometimes. Veggie races seem to do the trick. We all grab one piece and see who can munch it down the quickest. A little unsafe maybe but it works for us. Lilly and Logan each ate 3 whole stalks of asparagus at dinner tonight. Not to shabby eh?

Tip 3-WINE(with everything)---nuff said.

Oh and YES. I make the dinner, plate it up and then take a bazillion pictures before I allow my family to eat. They are used to it...just wait till I start really bloggin about food and taking pics of the whole process..ha!

Freebird.

clickmetoseebetter

no words...just a pretty picture.
this seems profound for some reason...no?

Crowd Pleaser

When I say 'crowd' I'm referring to a 4 yr/o, 5yr/o , two 6 yr/olds and 1 super helpful sweet husband. I had the pleasure of hanging with my friend Sara's two kiddos while she jetted off to California for a few days. Luckily they are all super awesome, mostly get along, and no picky eaters. On the last morning they were at my house I treated everyone to  banana parfaits for breakfast. It TOTALLY looks like dessert...in fact you could totally serve it as desert but it is a perfectly acceptable Sunday morning treat..right?..and super duper easy to whip up for a gaggle of hungry kiddos(and one hungry husband)!

Crowd Pleaser Parfait

Low fat Vanilla Yogurt
Granola(I just haaaaapened to have granola with banana chips in it)
Banana sliced super duper thin(for some reason the thinner the better, the kids told me so)
A Teeeeny tiny drizzle of chocolate syrup (or, you know...a lot)
And a quick spritz of low fat whipped cream

oh oh oh... and throw it all together in some sort of non breakfast cereal bowl looking thing.

not a genius idea for sure but the crowd went wild.

Crab Ravioli with Tomato Cream Sauce

*I never really measure anything so I’m sort of guessing here but it’s easy and you can’t really screw it up. This recipe made A LOT of food, plenty for the 4 of us and leftovers for the neighbors

1 package wonton wrappers (use whatever size or shape you like)
1 container low fat ricotta
½ cup shredded parmesan
Large Handful of fresh baby spinach leaves finely chopped(we always keep a bag of this and throw it in everything from pasta to breakfast smoothies)
1 tablespoon garlic(more or less to suit your taste, I used a jar of crushed garlic but fresh would be better probably)
½ of a small onion finely diced
Small handful baby carrots finely diced or shredded (I used my slap chop, you could eliminate this all together but I just like to cram as many veggies into dinner as possible soo..)
1 cup crab meat (I used imitation crab since I wasn’t sure if the kids would eat it and didn’t want to spring for the more expensive stuff, but they loved it and next time I'm going the real deal)
2 tablespoons real butter
Salt, pepper ,Italian seasoning(I have a little grinder and it works great...go get yourself one its good for pizza crust and meatballs and basically everything)
Sauce-
1 can tomato paste (Italian seasoned or garlic and basil if you can find them)
¼ cup sour cream (or fresh cream works too, I just happened to have sour cream on hand)
1 tablespoon butter
1 splash white wine (or not..totally up to you)
First chop and dice all the veggies. In a small pan add 1 table spoon butter, onions, carrots, and garlic and cook until onions are transparent but not brown.
While that is cooking mix together cheeses spinach crab and spices. Add cooked veggie mix to the cheese mixture and stir until evenly distributed.
Assemble Raviolis by laying out about 4 wonton wrappers at a time and add about a tablespoon of mix in each wrapper and wet the edges and press together tightly leaving no holes or air pockets. I used a paint brush to ‘paint’ water on the edges of the wonton wrappers. I laid them all out on a piece of parchment paper . Add them in small batches to a pot of salted boiling water and cook for just about 2 minutes or so.
For the sauce melt butter in a small pan, add cream and tomato sauce and stir until all ingredients are combined. Add a splash of white wine to thin it out a little and serve over ravioli. Yum!
you could also add fresh tomatoes to the sauce

Soooo...do me a favor. If you actually make this post a comment here and let me know how it turned out and if you added or adjusted anything that made it better.