Shortage

I may have to blame Lauren on this one.

The other night, we met up at her place before running with her Team Challenge friends.

Because what good dish doesn’t start with sauteed onions and peppers?

It was after work and before dinner, so I walked into her apartment and almost died (it seems I’ve lately had a flair for drama).

“Oh my God, what is that smell? It smells SO GOOD in here.”

She had made tacos.

The only real seasoning used for the ground beef was Trader Joe’s taco seasoning. That stuff is cheap and amazing.

I instantly needed them in my life. Because I also realized later, while running with the group and hungry for dinner, that my trips for late night mexican after the bars have been at an all-time low. Concerning. And in need of correction.

As soon as possible.

When it comes to Mexican, I’m truthfully more of a loaded nachos/quesadilla/burrito/enchilada kind of gal. Or, in other words, I don’t like taco shells.

Everyone together now! Peppers, onions, black beans, corn and ground beef. My thinking? The more vegetables you throw in, the healther it becomes. So have at it!

They’re too crunch and messy and I’m too OCD for that nonsense.

Plus, I’m already a walking disaster. Who needs mexican food stains all over their shirt on top of that? Not this girl.

And because I sometimes have issues with wrapping burritos like a super star, I took a road less traveled and made a southwestern calzone.

Because sometimes a little mozzarella goes a looooong way. Bake those wrapped up babies just as you would a normal calzone – 350 degrees for 15 minutes. BAM.

Plus, on top of everything else, I just really love braiding the dough to make it look pretty.

Aesthetics are key.

Topped with salsa. Avocado would have been fabulous had I not forgotten to pick one up at the store…

And since wine seems to go well with traditional calzones, why not pair it with a southwestern variation?

Sure. A margarita or a beer may have gone better. But the wine bottle was open.

And I don’t discriminate.

The shortage of mexican (ish) food is no more.

Crisis adverted.

Whew.

TV Night Comfort

May is a wonderful month. In Chicago, it seems to be the time when people start clawing their way out of their caves to participate once again in outdoor activities

We’re happy to have survived the 7-month winter. Happy to dine al fresco with friends. Happy to expose our glow-in-the-dark skin in hopes of absorbing a little vitamin D. Happy to run outside versus inside the funky-smelling gym alongside the meatheads and cardio queens.

We’re so freakin’ happy.

However, with all this activity going on outside of the home, it’s only natural there are consequences.

Like season finales.

This was the first time I’ve ever tried to make zucchini “pasta”. Or ribbons. Whichev. Either way, the vegetable peeler was involved and it slightly terrified me. I don’t do well with bloodshed.

The last two weeks have been devastating. All my shows are slowly drifting away. And I do not like it. What am I supposed to do all summer without Marshall and Lily? Sheldon? Jess and those three crazy kids she lives with?

It also doesn’t help that many of my finales this year have been absolutely heart-wrenching.

There’s no need to show raw chicken cooking. So I didn’t. But then I took the same pan (sans chicken) and sautéed the artichoke hearts. It’s all about the flava’, ya know?

Seriously- what is that about?

Turns out I had more zucchini “ribbons” than originally anticipated. Lucky for me, they shrank down a little in the pan with the artichoke hearts that had already been cooking up for a few minutes.

I’m not even going to get near what happened in Grey’s last night. Heaven forbid I ruin it for anyone. I’m also a bit embarrassed to admit my groupie status on this one. Thankfully, I wasn’t in it alone because my girls Kelly and Laura sat through it with me via text.

A new wine I tried from Trader Joe’s. Broke it out during the cooking process. Because after my horrid commute, there was no way I going without. Had two sips and realized there was a bad cork and the wine was ruined. Sadness. Thank goodness I had plenty of backup!

But I will tell you viewing the episode required this:

Pretty, yes? A combo of whole wheat pasta, zucchini ribbons, chicken, artichokes and black olives. Plus a little too much parsley. That was an accident…

Pasta and alcohol.

Comfort food and drink. They helped soften the blow. Sort of.

Guys. I am so distraught.

This really was good. And not too different from when I normally make pasta- with fewer calories because a lot of the pasta was swapped out with zucchini!
Too bad I had to enjoy it between waves of nausea. Thanks, Grey’s…. ugh!

Thanks ABC. You’ve RUINED MY SUMMER.

Alright, fine. That’s maybe a bit dramatic.

Thanks ABC. You’ve RUINED MY WEEKEND.

That’s better.

Luckily, I saved some of that pasta for lunch today.

I still need it.

Too bad the wine bottle didn’t also fit in my lunch bag.

What tv shows are you sad to see go for the summer?
Also, if you do watch Grey’s, PLEASE don’t give away too many details. I know a few people who are saving it for the weekend and I don’t want to ruin it for them!!

The Full Target Experience

So Tuesday was a break from my normal routine because I had errands to run in the suburbs I no longer live in.

Funny how half my life still seems to happen out there instead of “in here” (the actual city).

Not the point of my story.

One thing I was able to squeeze in between a haircut and dinner with my friend Mon was a trip to Target.

Along with running, Target is a sick addiction of mine.

Still not the point of my story.

So I was walking through the parking lot. Minding my own business. A car is pulling one of those “instead of going all the way down the lane I’m just going to cut through the parking spaces to get another lane over” moves. The lady was being super careful as to not hit cars while merging into the lane because her neck was all the way craned one way.

However, she was NOT being careful as to not hit the things in front of her. Like me.

Neither she or her 5 kids would have noticed me had I not screamed for dear life while jumping as hard as I can out of the way. Which is quite an accomplishment, being as how my heart stopped when I realized I was possibly getting hit.

She barely flinched or acknowledged my existence. I would have been left for dead. In the Target parking lot. My claim to fame would have been my 30-second spot on the news that night.

“In tonight’s news, a female Chicago resident found dead in Target parking lot. Reports show she seems to have been hit by an idiot driver who fled the scene. Girl was discovered by Target worker after the store closed. She was surrounded by shopping bags and approximately 6 boxes of cereal that were flung up and exploded open. Cheerios are still being found and picked up on the scene. Such a tragic incident- such a waste of food.”

Stupid Tuesdays.

And, for the record, one box of cereal was for the roommate.

We won’t discuss the other five. I hoard cereal. We’ve accepted this as a quirk.

Ok maybe we can mention it just a little. Because I’m obsessed with this stuff:It’s called “krave” for a reason, folks.

And it’s my new snack for after-dinner tv time. Only to be consumed after a well-balanced day, of course. That includes a solid 4.5-mile run at an 8:18 pace (which seems to be a trend these days). And a healthy dinner in attempts to not wreck my workout (with the exception of the cereal made of crack I just displayed above).Lookit! I made salmon all on my own!!! My salmon sensei will be so proud. And I can officially cross that one off the ol’ 2012 bucket list.

Sure… it wasn’t my favorite cut (it was a thin sockeye smoked salmon prepackaged at Trader Joe’s) and I may have overdone it. But let’s not be picky. It was edible, maybe even tasty, and I didn’t give myself food poisoning. We’re counting it as a win!

Speaking of the resolutions list, still working on that whole “marry a prince” thing. It’s proving to be harder than I originally thought. Darn.

It’s MY Kitchen

Hola kids!

How’s the lazy Sunday going?

Mine is fab. As usual.Any day that starts with alphabet pancakes is fab in my book. (And yes- I heart Sheldon)

Hannah was the friend who usually crashed at our house in college and would break out her breakfast-making skills amongst the beer bottles and cocktail glasses from the night before.

Turns out she’s still got it.

In this instance, I mixed the pancakes and turned over the batter to her. She makes a pretty awesome mickey mouse pancake, too…

This is really saying something about her skillz. My roommate hardly cooks, so it’s pretty much considered MY kitchen. Letting other people mess around and use it takes a lot for me. It’s mine. Don’t touch.

Like on Friday night- I had complete control of the kitchen and made chicken artichoke calzones!I’m not overly exciting when it comes to cooking (since I’m more of a baker). So when I break this out, you know it’s a big deal.

Or actually, I guess it was more “assembling”. Because really, it’s all the ingredients I put on a pizza. Just instead, I put it IN the dough.And made it all pretty. The braiding thing was learned from my obsessive browsing of Pinterest. I like it because it’s super easy but looks way impressive.

When boys come a callin’ again, guess what I’m serving? 

Check out that cheeeeese…. yeah buddy.

Hannah also had really good timing with  her trip up to see me. She was my fill-in date for a Second City comedy show.

Yes. I had bought the tickets. And not all the people they were intended for were going to be able to use them.

I also haven’t made mention of the man friend.

I’ll let you piece together that puzzle.

But no worries! We had a fantastic time watching one of my friends perform in a skit for the Second City Training Center. Who knew my friends were so talented???

After a few good laughs at the show and a nice cocktail or two, I can say, without any hesitation, it was a successful weekend.Now if only I could get more people to relocate to Chicago…

Mom Weekend

My mom came to visit! Weeeee!

She and my aunt made the 8-hour road trip Friday.My cousin and I both received regular texts of where they were throughout the day.

Pretty sure a bag of Almond Joys was consumed entirely on the way up. They were giddy upon arrival.

Now you know where I get it from.

My sweet tooth… definitely not the “giddy” trait.

Definitely not.

Anyway, at one point, we had a conversation like this:

Mom: Just getting onto 55

Me: Drive safe. Have (the aunt) drive once you get close to the city.

Mom: You don’t trust my driving?

Me: In the city? Definitely not. Do YOU trust your driving?

When you come from a small town that doesn’t have anything other than stop signs and you’re coming upon one of the larger metropolitan areas in the country, I think it’s best you turn over the reigns. Figuratively, not literally- we haven’t used a horse and buggy system in my home town for at LEAST 20 years or so…

But anyway, the short but sweet visit went well. I mean, mother/daughter quality time on Michigan Avenue for some serious shopping? Can’t beat it.

Although, you CAN beat having to wait a half hour for the train because of delays. And you CAN beat smashing into the train car with the crowd that built up over that half hour. And you CAN beat spending the entire time smashed against strangers in an awkward position that leaves you praying your bag of new Vicky underwear doesn’t spill out or fly across the train.

At least my mom got a solid public transit experience over her stay…

This delay rushed us a little, but we were still able to get everything done before retiring in front of the television for Game 3 of the World Series.

Well. She retired. I made an attempt at being a good hostess and made a poor girl’s version of some thai chicken with a spicy peanut sauce.

It took a little longer for me to get it all together than expected. So my mom shouted updates from the living room.

Team work. It’s important.Ok, so the peanut sauce totally looks gross (baby poop anyone?), but when you mix it all in, it’s not so bad.

And if you distract your guest with a glass of wine, they’ll barely notice…Chill. Good food. Wine. Conversation with my mom.

All I needed for a nice relaxing weekend.

Even if the Sunday morning wakeup call was an early one. My aunt is not a fan of driving in the dark. So they decided to leave at 7:00 am. 7:00 am!

I made the most of it by giving my mom a hug goodbye and heading to the gym to officially start the day. 7 miles at an 8:40 pace. Taking a few days off of running was definitely good for me. I was hitting a wall and feeling too achy to get myself to hit more than 4 miles.

But 7 miles happened. No issues. Happy Amy.

Good stuff.

Breakfast with a cookie from the sweet swap at the end is also good stuff.

I’m out of control…

Burgers and Brussels

Monday night.

It’s the first night back from the weekend. A night that’s usually more relaxed than most because you are either playing catchup around the house, exhausted, or just really love chillin’ out with Monday night tv.

In our case, we used it as a good time to squeeze in a family dinner.

Jersey Shore does family dinner on Sundays. We do it on Mondays.

So at 7:30 on the dot, my roommate Bailey and I showed up at Megan‘s door, once again with food a’ plenty.

Megan, as she is the bigger cook out of the three of us, had decided on a spicy green chili burger with white cheddar. I helped out by bringing the ground beef (thanks to my parents and our humble lil’ farm in Mid-MO!) and shaping the burgers.

Every little bit counts, right?As I spent 5 whole minutes doing this, Megan prepared brussel sprouts and potatoes. The brussels were my request- I’ve been wanting to cook them on my own, but have no real point of reference of how it should be done and what the final result should be like.

What? I never had brussel sprouts as a kid!

Which is understandable. As children (and even as adults) we’re wired to hate them. It’s like a rule or something.

But since when do I ever follow the rules?Megan did a really simple seasoning on the brussel sprouts- just olive oil, salt, pepper, and a wee bit of garlic powder (or I’m pretty sure that’s close enough to what she said).

Now… the real question is… when do I work up the nerve to try them myself?

I know they’re simple. Hush. It’s like cooking fish. I’m just unnaturally terrified of it.

Also, even though the general rule is nothing goes better with a burger than beer, there were no adult beverages for us this time around. Straight water- I’m sitting pretty in the middle of two very long/busy weekends. Hydration is a priority.After heavy contemplation over gchat yeseterday morning (we’re not the best at planning ahead), Megan decided to top the burgers with green chiles and white cheddar.

It’s like she can read my mind. White cheddar takes me to my happy place. Possibly one of my favorite kinds of cheese.

And the dinner went just as expected. No phonecalls. No tv distractions (except to occasionally check the score of the football game). Discussion about how school work went that day. You know… the norm.

After our delicious dinner, Bailey and I headed home and stayed up a wee bit late to sneak in the new episode of Two and a Half Men. DVR is a wonderful thing.

As is the addition of Ashton Kutcher. I’ll say it. I liked the season opener a lot. I was totally sucked into the hype for it- because it was a show that had fallen by the wayside for me. Don’t lie- things had gotten weird.

They could have found a more graceful way to rid themselves of good ol’ Charlie. But whaddayagonnado?

Anyway, time to hunker down and get through this Tuesday. Luckily, I’ve got a few more Monday shows on dvr as to keep me distracted from the suckiness of how Tuesday normally goes. Oh how I love premiere week…

Angry Lipstick

That’s the latest of the greatest of google searches used to find my blog.

I sort of loved it. Hence the reason I decided to make it the title. Really, there’s no other reason. I also don’t know how someone found my blog my searching it. I don’t wear lipstick (more of a gloss girl) and I’m not angry… THAT often…

Whatev.

Also, in regards to yesterday’s post, my mom did confirm it- I was just not a big marshmallow fan back in the day.

It’s a really good thing tastes change.

Because if they didn’t, I still wouldn’t like olives, mushrooms, artichokes….

Oh and zucchini. Can’t forget the zucchini!

It’s one of those things I wasn’t introduced to until college. The first time I had it was when Mary (one of my BFF’s) and I lived together for the first time. We grilled practically every other night and she made it with butter and greek seasoning.

Since then, I’ve started substituting olive oil for the butter with not so heavy of a hand. Still quite delicious. I just don’t go into butter coma.

However, if you choose to use butter when preparing the zuch for me, I will not stop you.

Anyway, they’re quite delicious when paired with leftovers you find in the kitchen because you haven’t gone to the store in a while.I’m really lucky cauliflower doesn’t go bad quickly. Because it takes me FOREVER to get through one. Yet I always buy it when I’m completely out.

Sometimes I just don’t learn.

Assumably, I’ll be rushing to get through a new head of cauliflower again next week.

We can talk about something else now.

Like the fact that it’s Friday. Because at the beginning of the week, I wasn’t quite sure we’d make it this far. Work has been busier than usual. Along with my social calendar.

And somewhere in there I was supposed to clean for Laura (my other BFF from St. Louis), who is coming to visit this weekend.

I hope she’s not offended not *everything* was cleaned. I’ll let her do the guessing of what was and wasn’t. :p

Not that we’ll be spending a lot of time in the house anyway.

It’s going to be another busy weekend, folks. Time to buckle the seatbelt and get this show on the road.

Laters!

Just Add Cheese

I have been crazy busy.

So when a night at home presents itself? I jump ON IT.

And do all those boring things people do when at home with no plans.

Cleaning. Dishes. Laundry. Reality tv.

Ok, so maybe reality tv is slightly entertaining. But you know what I’m saying. Sometimes the need to be antisocial takes over.

After a lackluster solo run (2.6 humid miles and a bunch of walking), something had to be done about dinner. And obviously, with everything else of my night being super uneventful, why not break out the ultimate boring food?Cauliflower.

Yeah, I’m looking at you, cauliflower. You are ridiculously dull. And you know it.

And now I’m talking sternly to my food. Good thing these antisocial phases never last long…

The cauliflower was initially bought for salad. However, I either forget it was in the crisper or had random last-minute schedule changes, so I’m in dire need to use it before it ends up in my trash can.

Nothing bugs me more than wasting food when on a budget. So I browsed. And decided maybe the Barefoot Contessa and I could work together on some eats with this recipe for cauliflower gratin.She required me to make a cheese sauce. This was unnerving because homemade sauce like this is something I’ve yet to master.  

I know, it’s supposedly SO easy. I’m just more of a baker, mmmmk?

And it was supposed to be made with Gruyère cheese.

Sadly, this kitchen doesn’t normally roll like that. So… uh… shredded cheddar from the grocery store it is!

I also switched out the nutmeg for garlic powder.

And added broccoli (to make up for the shortage of cauliflower the recipe called for).How healthy. How boring. 

Now wait for it.Yeaaaaaah buddy.

Top it with breadcrumbs you find on your roommate’s shelf (don’t worry- I told her) and throw it in the oven. Then realize throwing peas in last minute could make it really over the top.Honestly, I didn’t really expect it to turn out. I’m not a cook. I don’t do well with trying new things like this. Vegetables may be boring on their own. I’ll admit it. But this cheesy cauliflower and broccoli creation thingie (She calls it “gratin” but I prefer my terminology) was ridiculously good. Even after my modifications! Check me out!

I will throw it out there that if the Barefoot Contessa would like to invite me to visit her humble home in the Hamptons to try her version (by the book), I’d have no issues with it. I’ve seen her show and would be delighted to try a delicious spread of dishes that surely sends her grocery bill skyrocketing. I’d spend the rest of my trip drinking expensive wine and sunbathing along the coastline waiting for the man of my dreams (ahem- doctor) to walk by.

But until that happens, I’ll continue to buy my cheap cheese and take my bowl of chedda’ and veggies and post up on my couch for some bad reality tv.

Because it’s not going to watch itself.

Not Normal

Hey there! How’s it hangin’?

I’m doing pretty well. Probably has something to do with the whole only working 4 days this week thing…

Whatever gets me through, right?

Right.

Also, it helped that Sunday was relatively quiet.

Brunch was had with a few awesome blogger ladies. But there’s no real evidence of it other than a fuzzy picture taken by Paige. Not normal behavior for me. I’m usually somewhat camera happy at such events. Guess I was too busy talking and inhaling food from the brunch buffet.

Weirdly enough, I didn’t prep a meal for myself at all yesterday. My roommate has gone a little stir crazy over the last week or so due to her current job seeking status. So she’s taken on a few new hobbies. One of them would be trying out the gym by our place with me.

Another would happen to be cooking.

If you knew my roommate, you would know this is not normal behavior.

I’m starting to wonder if she’s possessed.

However, I only benefit from her new habits, so there shall be no complaints from the peanut gallery.

Only nods of approval as I stick a fork in my face.Tex Mex Chicken Casserole.

First it was biscuits and gravy at brunch and now this.

I was clearly in the mood for serious comfort food. Not normal. But welcomed.

We had our little family dinner in front of the tv. Aladdin was on.

Abc Family really came through for me this last weekend. Boy Meets World on Saturday morning. Disney classics Sunday evening. Good stuff.

Bailey said Aladdin was one of the first movies she remembers seeing in the theaters. According to my mom, mine was Milo and Otis. However, I actually remember going to see The Little Mermaid much better.

Now it would be your turn to tell me the first movie you remember going to.

Aaaaaannnnnddddd GO.

Cooking With Friends

From time to time, I find myself living in excess.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Usually it’s in the form of credit card receipts. Shoes. Chocolate. Wine…

However, this week it’s more of the garden fresh variety.

Thanks to the generosity of my parents, along with my roomie’s mom, we’re accidentally running a farmer’s market out of our kitchen.

So before business zoning becomes an issue, along with the overabundance of food all going bad, B and I decided to do something about it.

Have Megan cook for us!Just kidding. Sort of.

The roomie doesn’t cook often, and I’m a much better baker than cook (let’s be honest), so I told Megan about our hoarding of fresh food and asked if she could help out.

Plus, I offered to bring wine. I think that could be why she agreed.

And that’s how we had a little dinner party on our hands!

Megan showed us a few tricks in the kitchen when it comes to breaded eggplant.For the record, I’ve attempted eggplant on two different occasions. Neither of them were overly spectacular. It must be because I didn’t have the 8-lb weights at the time…

As Megan slaved away in the kitchen, Bailey and I took to the outdoors to shuck some corn.When I was a wee little lass, we used to shuck corn from the family garden on my grandma’s front porch steps. It overlooked the pasture (remember that whole thing where I told you I grew up on a cattle farm?).

Things have clearly changed. I now shuck corn on a balcony overlooking downtown Chicago. With a delicious cabernet sauvignon sitting beside me. Weird.

And for the record, I totally made my wine selection on what would be paired well with eggplant. This made me feel very adult-like.

Because usually I just ask the question, “white or red?”

Ok fine, it’s usually “well let’s see what I’ve got in the cabinet.”

Anyway, earlier in the day while chatting about a second side (yes, this is interesting conversation to us), I told Megan we also had a ridiculous amount of green beans and potatoes.

But she stopped me right there and said maybe we should consider a non-veggie side.

Oh yeah… balanced eating… that’s smart.She may not admit it, but I’m pretty sure Megan just wanted to make a cheese sauce.

Cheeeeeessseeeee…..

All in all, everything turned out amazing. And Bailey and I made our way home with full tummies and leftovers. Success!

And now our attentions turn to the massive bag of green beans and overflowing grocery bags of potatoes….