Cristiano’s Summer Visit

Warning: I may have to rub it in that the entire weekend ended up being pretty perfect.

I woke up bright and early on Sunday morning ready to conquer the world.

That’s a lie. I woke up at 6:30 and couldn’t get back to sleep. This is partially due to my work schedule changing to come into the office early EVERY week vs every other week (notice the lack of early morning workouts?) and partially because of my lovely skylight with the pathetic “shade” on it.

I decided it was time to change a few things.

Or one. I shoved cardboard up in my skylight. Now it’s a pointless skylight. And not as pretty. But I can at least sleep a little longer. Which makes my outlook on life a little more tolerable to those around me. You’re welcome.

After that, I got ready for a day with one of my favorite girls, Annie. Our schedules are pretty opposite, so rarely do we get to spend much more time together than an hour or two here… an hour or two there…

When Sunday was available for both of us, we took it.

And I totally took advantage. Because I made her show me some of the tricks of how to cook meat in a slow cooker.

Confession: I have a slow cooker that I’ve only used to make soup and chili.

Second Confession: I have never made pork loin on my own. It was attempted once with an ex-boyfriend. But to be fair, HE bought the crappiest piece of loin ever and HE took control and screwed it up in the oven. I’m not counting it. So THERE.

I googled a recipe for BBQ pulled pork, pulled out Cristiano (my manly slow cooker) from the depth of my cabinets, and sprayed him down with olive oil as to prep her for the day of cooking.Hey Sexy… what’s cookin’?

Annie texted me to say she was running a little late and to start the pork without her. I panicked a bit, but told myself to suck it up. And read the recipe.

Wow. Not so hard…

At least by the time Annie got to my place, we were ready for play time.

Maybe that was strategic on Annie’s part? Hmmm…

We decided to stroll through the neighborhoods and make our way to Sluggers in Wrigleyville. I had thrown out the idea of going to the batting cages and Annie was awesome enough to go along with it.Doesn’t even look like her first time, does it?

We only stuck around for a few rounds, but we both had some solid hits to brag about by the end. What can I say? Sometimes I just feel like hitting a few balls around.

And, in case you’re wondering why I’m still single (Surely it keeps you up at night. I know this is the cause of my mom’s insomnia.), this is why:Yep. I’m just average. Or “wild”. Not passionate. Not hot stuff. Not even sexy. Just wild. LAME.

Annie and I both agreed this should be considered better than “burning”. And if any of you do register on that level, there’s cream for that…

We got back to discover Cristiano had taken care of the pork loin. So Annie shredded up the pork and I made sure Cristiano had plenty of BBQ sauce.Gotta get him nice and sauced. Make what happens later that much better.

Anyway, as that was finishing up and as Annie took care of homework, I went on to my next project. Paula Deen’s sweet potato biscuits. I didn’t have any hamburger buns or rolls in the house, so a different route was taken. Plus I have sweet potatoes to use up.Annie caught me without a potato peeler. And without a potato masher.  When all you do is roast them with the skin on, you never really realize you’re missing essential kitchen equipment. Oopsie.Turns out I also don’t have a biscuit cutter. And it would be weird to have biscuits in the shape of christmas trees, don’t you agree? Shame…Can you believe this is a Paula Deen recipe that only uses a half stick of butter?

The one thing I changed up in this recipe is substituting some of the flour with corn meal. This was good and bad. The bad was the biscuit didn’t “fluff up” as much as it probably would have. They were kind of flat. But the good thing was the “not fluffing” made the biscuit more like cornbread. And it was delicious. Especially with the flecks of sweet potato throughout- sweetness without being overpowering.

All together now… A solid, old-fashioned meal. Complete with solid, old-fashioned plates. Directly from the 70′s. Notice the colors. I like to think of them as “charming”. Just like something your grandma would have made… Next time I make the pork, there may be a little less salt involved, but that’s not so much a complaint, just an idea. 

The second helping was why we decided to take a second stroll around the nighborhood.

Too bad we noticed the frozen custard place down the street.

Anyway, I gotta get moving. Work has proven to get increasingly busy over the last few weeks. And I’ve got to get my stuff done before heading out to a 5k race tonight.

Yes, a 5k race. I don’t think I’ve ever thought less about signing up for one. But my friend, who I run with during lunch sometimes, wanted to do one and I said I’d go along with it.

Sure, it’ll be hot and humid and slow and maybe even miserable. And it’s Tuesday.

OMG… WHAT HAVE I DONE???

How To Deal With Tuesday Rage

I won’t lie- the first day back from having 5 days off was rough.

How is it that I was super busy, which should make time fly, but it was the slowest day ever?

I blame Tuesdays. They suck.

Add another 25 minutes to my normal commute time?

This girl was NOT a happy camper. Straight-up hateful, if we’re being honest.

The roomie had asked if I was interested in going for a walk later on because it was relatively nice and I told her I’d be down for it as I got some weight training out of the way. I mostly wanted to do strength training first because it had been ages. But it was also very important that I got at least a half hour of alone time to cool off from my Tuesday rage.

It was in her best interest. My poor friend Annie, who called me on the way home, was not so lucky. I still feel bad (and will apologize again!). Pretty sure I really brought her down. Such a Debbie Downer. Whoomp whoomp…

Anyway, I dusted off my copy of No More Trouble Zones by Jillian Michaels and gave it a go. Cautiously- only doing 5 of the 8 circuits. I haven’t broken that one out for a few months (ahem), and even my other Jillian dvds hadn’t been in use since I moved 2 weeks ago.

Who am I???

After sweating it out a little bit, and killing my quads, I was ready for a walk around the neighborhood.

We checked out a new street (new to us) of bars and restaurants. And then my roomie got pooped on by a bird. Again. This time on the leg. 

Nature really does hate her.

Once we got back (and some of us showered off- gross!), I figured the only way to end the craptastic (literally) day was to fall back on a comfort food.

Mama needed pasta. Badly.Finally found a way to use those artichokes while I was at it. They’ve been sitting around for a while. Plans to make a chicken artichoke dip fell through. Oopsies.

Because I’m a girl who participates in monotonous eating during most of the week, my refrigerator wasn’t quite prepared for the random surge of the desire to cook.

As in, I found an awesome recipe for lemon, artichoke, and pasta, but didn’t have the “fresh” ingredients they asked for. Like none of them. Unfortunately, the thrifty girl in me doesn’t roll that way. I keep my staples consistently handy and that’s about it. Even the lemon was from a bottle. Don’t judge.

The recipe was not followed exactly. When it comes to cooking, eyeballing it all is more my style (ahem- definitely used more black olives than the original recipe). Makes me feel more legit. Like I belong on the Food Network or something. Especially since I lack the fresh ingredients.

Did it turn out? Thankfully, yes. Yes it did. Thank goodness I had that lemon flavoring around (leftover from a night involving vodka cocktails, I believe). It was a real burst of flavor. Which is sometimes not the case when olive oil is the main base of the “sauce”. Or at least that’s my opinion.

Parmesan really topped it off- another very important ingredient that I wouldn’t make the dish without. Again, something fresh I didn’t have on hand- but luckily there was a backup in the refrigerator. Thanks Kraft.

This will be made again. Fresh ingredients or no- it made my tummy happy. My rage became a little less severe.

And it saved my Tuesday from being a complete disaster.

So you know it’s a big deal. Word.

Semi-Normal

Well I don’t know about you, but I’m in a much better mood today than I was 24 hours ago.

My AC is fixed (for now- let’s not hold our breath) and my makeup didn’t sweat off before I walked out the door. Instead, I made it all the way to my car before that happened.  Holla’!

Sorry that I’m super perky today because of that and also maybe a lil’ of this:Yesterday, because the idea of brewing coffee at home in my sauna apartment made me cry, I stopped by Panera on the way to work because showing up to work uncaffeinaited would have been a horrifying experience for everyone involved.

Panera had alerted me of a “free coffee” on my Panera Rewards card (which surprised me- I rarely ever go) literally the day before. It was fate. Then, the lovely girl informed me I also had a free espresso drink on my card from God knows how long ago that would expire TODAY of all days. So heck yes I went back for it.

Because I believe in fate. And I hate letting free things like a skinny caramel latte go to waste. Especially when they havve a little whipped cream on top.

Plus, a sugar rush at 7:30 in the morning is kind of fun. A crash at around noon is expected. You’ve been warned.

Anyway.

It’s no secret that I’m MOVING this weekend, but with all the packing and moving random stuff (the furniture is all going on Saturday) from one place to the other, it was nice to have last night as a semi-normal night. I even made it to the gym- something I wasn’t sure would happen this week!

Nothing crazy- 21 minutes on the elliptical (I like odd numbers) and 10 on the stairmill (I shall miss you when I move). Then I did a little walkity walk on the treadmill while complaining to other crazies in the gym about the heat and moving and yada yada yada.

The actual gym time was short because I am scheduled to move carload #2 today after work and needed to finish packing boxes and making the 15ish trips up and down three flights of stairs to pack my car like it was tetris.

Randoms kept asking me if I needed help and I said “NO! This is my strength workout for the day! I’ve got it!”

By the end of this move, I’ll be kicking myself for saying that.

Another semi-normal thing I did while home was cook…

This week has been “Operation Slim Down the Freezer”. My new roomie is a big fan of frozen pizza and the sorts, so I’m trying to make sure we won’t have issues combining the two households. Defrosted chicken it is!Also, Kraft Foods First Taste sent a coupon to try this cooking creme from Kraft brands. And the container of Santa Fe blend was just sort of staring at me every time the refrigerator door was opened.

Because rarely do I make a huge performance for dinner during the week, I skimmed the recipes that came with the container and just did my own thing by throwing a couple spoonfuls on top of the chicken I had cooked on the stovetop. And added cheese. Only because the recipes all said to… It all combined together nicely. I didn’t really want to drown it in the cooking creme, so I used much less than what the label suggested. Plus, it still is “cream”, so the calories are a little higher than how I normally prepare chicken. Checkin’ myself before I wreck myself…

At the end I threw in some jalapenos. Then put it all on a little bed of spinach.Gotta get the greens in. At second glance, I notice how many jalapenos were consumed during my dinner. Daaaaang girl…

Pretty sure I’m in love with this stuff. It coats the chicken in a ridiculously good sauce that has flavor but isn’t overpowering. And as of this morning, I’m happy to report you can also whisk it into your scrambled eggs and get a fab outcome. An ex-boyfriend’s mom was the first to introduce me to cream cheese in your eggs to get a more fluffy outcome. Her wisdom is spot on- because I surely gained 10 pounds while in that relationship. After we parted ways, I dropped the excess baggage (referring specifically to the extra inches in the middle, not the boy) and switched to fat-free milk on most occasions.

Either way, I’m wondering how good this cooking creme would be in pasta? Actually I know how good it would be. Pasta needs to be put back on the grocery list.

Stay cool, kids!

Fidgety

That’s how I was all day on Monday.

I mentioned going home sick from work. And yes, I napped for around 2 hours. Like any person who’s sick probably should. 

But then what? This was my first “sick day” in 3 years and I had absolutely no idea what to do with myself. Sure, I felt crappy. But was I really expected to lay down ALL day?

Even when I’m feeling low, I’m not completely down with that.

But I tried. Really really hard…

Multiple people instructed me to go pick up soup somewhere. I considered it. Some even offered to get it for me (thanks Mon!). I considered that. 

Who doesn’t love Panera? But geez… I had the time… why not make my own?

Even in my fever-ridden head, cost efficiency is a priority.

It’s a problem. I’d have it looked into, but that would probably cost money, too. No bueno.

I took it as an opportunity to use up some things collecting dust in my pantry.After that, it was just a matter of throwing in what I had around the apartment. In this case, it was sweet potatoes, mushrooms, half an onion, peas, broccoli, corn and carrots. Also known as half the garden.I love having a slow cooker. My only problem is timing. I’m awful at timing it out perfectly. After 2 hours (traditionally I make stuff that should be done more in 3-4 hours), I was hungry and the sweet potatoes still weren’t as “done” as I like them.

Patience is not my strong suit.

I waited a bit longer (ahem… 30 minutes), and was happy with the end result!However, I could have laid back just a wee bit on the taco seasoning thrown in for kicks…

You live and you learn…

On other notes:

Thanks to everyone with your comments about my half marathon. I’m still happy to have finished. Especially in the given circumstances- it is true (for those of you who followed) that it got hot enough for them to cut the marathon short. Those who hadn’t gotten to the 9-mile mark by a certain time were diverted to finish only the half instead of the full marathon. I totally understand this. I was only running the half, but saw so many people down on the course or off to the sides with medical volunteers. One guy was in the middle of the road not responding (around mile 7?). I blocked it out as best as I could and since I haven’t heard of anything serious other than overheating and dehydration, I’m going to assume he was ok.

Seriously guys… I know I push myself sometimes, but be CAREFUL. Please know your limits. And keep drinking the H20. It’s good for you.

I’m done with the seriousness now.

Unless you want to discuss the pain of chaffing. The shirt I wore was new (I know, I know- rookie mistake). But I’ve never had issues with chaffing before, so I didn’t think that much of wearing a new top I had bought “just in case it’s warm”. Oops. The reality of my mistake was brought to my attention after the excitement of finishing wore off. And as the sweat started to sting on my side where the arm hole was. Owwwww…

One lovely commenter asked where my boy Cecil has been.

Remember Cecil?

Well- he hasn’t been brought up for a reason. Cecil and I had a long discussion and he really wanted to spend some of his golden years traveling. We agreed about a month ago that maybe he needed some warm weather in his life and so he was off to visit Tiffany in Charlotte!

He had a great time and Tiffany mentioned his next destination is Boston! That old man gets around. 

That’s about all I’ve got for now. Enjoy the hump day!

Just So Wild

G’Morning!

I could not be more well-rested.  After several crazy weekends of running around and road trips, I took this last weekend off to stay put and have a couple low key nights with friends.  Each night ended up with me falling asleep easily by midnight.  Only to wake up around 3:00 on my couch (groggy and confused) and having to drag myself to a more proper place for sleep.

I’m just so wild.

I was efficient with my downtime, no worries.  Caught up on emails, cleaned, ran errands… you know- responsible stuff. 

And I made stew.

Yes.  Wild.Last time I was home, my mom sent up more goods from the garden (remember- I lived on a farm). This included canned tomato juice. It’s usually used for some crazy good chili, but I’m low on ground beef and have plenty of other things around- it was time to switch it up.

Oh and I also make more honey oatmeal bread.  It’s officially an obsession.Into my massive crock pot went one freakishly large sweet potato, 2 cans of black beans, approximately a cup of corn (I just poured it until satisfied), 2ish cups of mushrooms (dumped until satisfied) and half of a yellow onion. I also threw in some jalapeno chicken sausage from Trader Joe’s on a whim. Best decision ever.

Interesting fact- red onions do not make me cry. I barely cut into a yellow onion and tears are streaming down my face during a “my eyyyyyeeeessss!!!” moment.  How irritating.

Also thrown in was garlic salt, red chili pepper flakes, pepper, a little paprika and parsley. All should be tossed in according to your taste. Because I like spicy, you can be assured I used a heavy hand with each one…

Clearly I don’t follow recipes when cooking.I just sat with my feet propped up on the couch as it cooked away for 4 hours.  Ahhhh…. gotta love the crock pot.

I think my crock pot needs a manly man’s name. That way, when someone calls and asks what I’m up to, I can just say, “oh you know, I’m just resting after such a long day of work. And Hank is being a dear by cooking dinner…”

Or maybe I could make him sexy and exotic?  Cristiano possibly?  Such difficult decisions… 

Actually, it’s not.  I choose Cristiano.

Anyway, it was definitely a spicy dish (probably just Cristiano trying to get me all hot and bothered). I loved it. And now there is a massive amount of stew leftover. 

I’m definitely one to freeze almost anything, so I’ll probably keep a serving or two for this week and throw the rest in the freezer.

Thanks for dinner, Cristiano.

I really did appreciate all his hard work after a long day. After Saturday’s 7-mile run, I wasn’t sure how long my “strength training” would be.

But after all my “wild” nights of falling asleep early, there was plenty of energy to go around.  Level 2 of The Shred, 20 minutes on the stairmill, and even a quick mile run was thrown in because I felt like it.

Sure, technically there was more cardio than strength, but it’s the weekend and I do what I want.

This week’s weather is looking GOOD.  I really wanted to take my long run outside on Saturday, but there’s still a massive amount of snow sticking around. And that’s not cool.  Cross your fingers that the climb to a 50-degree day over the week will take care of a lot of it so I can hit the trails over the weekend. The treadmill and I need to spend some time apart.

Have a good day, everyone!

(Oh and PS- if you want to know where I got “Cristiano” from, do yourself a favor and google search the soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo. There ya go. Happy Valentine’s Day from me.)

Spicy Peanut Butter and “Oops”

Hey kids!

So you liked the honey oatmeal bread, too? Seriously- it was easy. And didn’t take any time at all! Do it. Like now.

Anyway, I feel the need to make up for my always being such a hater on Tuesdays.  Yes it’s true- I don’t like Tuesday. But that doesn’t mean I should force everyone else to hate them, too, right?

Actually it does and I think everyone should dislike Tuesdays just as much as I do. But to make up for it, here are a few things that are all “happy” and “fun” for Wednesday.

1. I caught my boss doing kickboxing moves in the hallway while waiting for the elevator. The sight didn’t even make me blink. He’s sort of a goofball and this would not be out of character. But it did make me giggle on the inside.

2. Is anyone else excited about Matthew Perry making another stab at prime time?  I heart him and can’t wait for his show to premiere tonight!  (Although, knowing me, I’ll probably somehow miss it and have to watch it online later this week…)

3. The cashier at Trader Joe’s asked how much I paid my older sister to use her id when he carded me for wine.  I know you’re joking, sir. And it’s actually kind of creepy because I think you’re approximately 65. But I’ll play along and smile/giggle anyways.

4. Before my TJ’s trip last night, I had no food (hence the need to go shopping). This meant I had to dive far into the depths of my freezer for a frozen dinner. It was gross. And kept me full for all of 45 minutes (I have no idea how this happened- I mean, they put almost a whole stalk of asparagus in there!). Not the happy part, though. The happy part came when our office supply reps dropped off cookies for us again.  Just what I needed!

*I do, sadly, have to mention I was at lunch when the office reps showed up. This means I missed getting to see Hottie McHotterson. I pouted a little. It’d be a lie if I didn’t mention how I was actually making an effort of looking nice at work for the last week because I knew he’d be coming by. Geez. What a waste of mascara.

But back to the happy…

5. My dinner was new.The sauce looks a little weird. True. But it’s actually quite good and the easiest spicy honey peanut sauce I could find.

There are 5 ingredients. But I didn’t have cilantro. So I just used 4.Friends!

The recipe calls to use a 2:1 ratio of honey to peanut butter. But I evened it out to use the same amount of each. Too much honey (sugar) would have had me bouncing off the walls at a later hour where I’d rather not be doing so.

As much as I heart peanut butter and honey, it’s the soy sauce that totally killed it. I’m not above licking the pot I made the sauce in. 

The veggies used were a random collection. Shredded carrots sautéed in soy sauce and every other veggie in my freezer (peas, edamame, and a minimal amount of broccoli because you’re practically out).For those of you keeping track, I have 2 days before expiration of my whole wheat angel hair pasta. And have maybe one serving left to go. 

Thanks everyone, I couldn’t have done it without you…

6. I woke up this morning before my alarm went off and made that crucial decison- do I have to go to the bathroom or can I wait an hour until the alarm? I couldn’t wait. I didn’t turn on the light. I also didn’t remember that I closed my bedroom door (for some reason, sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t). Have a visual of what happened?  Good- because it’s most likely spot on.

We haven’t done this in a while… so have you had any good “oops” moments lately?

A Distinguished Look

My vacation day from work yesterday was just fantastic.

It included a two-hour nap on my couch in the middle of the afternoon.  What more can you ask for?

The nap was very important.  There was a big night with the girls in the works and I needed to be ready.

Since this was the first outting for the four of us in quite some time, we decided to make it a special outting.Because who doesn’t love a good mustache?

I went with “the sheriff”.  Good look, yes?

I don’t know what guy wouldn’t want a piece of this?

By the end of the night, our ‘staches were gone. But they served their purpose well. Hilarious. 

They weren’t the star of the night, though.  These kids were:Rod Tuffcurls and the Bench Press was playing at Durty Nellie’s!

I’m not quite sure how many times we’ve seen them play at this point.  But I’m so happy we stumbled across them one random night at Durty Nellie’s.  Us girls were a little unsure of what to do with ourselves being as how we walked into a concert with pantless boys rocking out. But the crazy works. Even if they all have better legs than I do. Fail.

They suck you in, man. (The band as a whole- not just their legs.)

And soon, you’ll find yourself rocking and flailing about to one of your favorite songs (because they most likely know it).

Mine happens to still be “500 Miles” by The Proclaimers.  So when it comes on, make sure to take a step back. It’s for your own safety.

We left the concert at what you would have thought would be a reasonable time to get food (2:00 AM). There may have been a mini episode because not one pizza place in the area was still open. Lame.

So this must be the reason why people always keep frozen pizza on hand.  Noted.

Woke up still miffed about pizza.  But I imagine just as they’re not open late, they’re also not open at 8:00 in the morning. I just can’t win.

Pancakes will just have to do.  Oh darn…

I went old school and broke out the cookbook because I was too lazy to google and search a million recipes. This cook book is ancient and was actually my g’ma’s back in the day. She has quite a few recipes bookmarked. Looks like she recommends the French Pancakes.  I looked that one up- there’s powdered sugar in the batter.

Oh grandma. My heart skipped a beat when I saw that. Great minds think alike.

We know what kind I’m making next time, huh?

I went with the cornmeal pancakes this time, though. They were highly anticipated because last time I attempted to make them, plans were put to an abrupt halt due to a mouse attack.I don’t mess around.

This was a beautiful thing. And I totally dominated the entire stack. Because that’s how I roll.

Happy Saturday!

Time Wasted With a Sweet Potato

Thanks for helping me welcome Cecil in my life.  I don’t think he realizes all the adventures he has ahead of him. 

On the training front, everything is still running smoothly (like my pun?!?!  ahahahaa). I made it to the gym in the AM for a 3-mile run and was not bothered with the overcrowded nonsense I dealt with on Monday morning.  Thank goodness.

So “yay me!” for going in the morning, but the first mile was ROUGH.  I may have still been half asleep.  Turns out maybe a warm-up on the elliptical may be a good idea versus the  usual walking I do. At least when it comes to the morning running.

After that initial mile, everything was fine.  Maybe even great if you don’t mind my bragging. 3 miles at 8:20 pace. It was the last mile that did that- I started it at 8:07 and worked my way down to 7:47. Truckin’.

Wednesdays are a running and strength combo, so I did The Shred later after work to make sure I took care of business for the day.  Nothing new to report there.

After all that, I did one of the most stupid things ever on a night when I worked later and also exercised before eating.  I made a new dinner. That took longer than average (i.e. 10 minutes). What was I thinking???

Sweet potato bites.  Because I don’t want to use the term “balls” for fear that my readers really will think I’m obsessed with making balls jokes.

Trying to keep it classy up in this joint for once…

It was already decided sweet potatoes would be on the menu. Because I wanted them. And wanted to try something new for some reason.  Being as how I’m not the most gourmet gal in the kitchen, most things that sparked my interest required a trip to the grocery store.  And that was not happening.

Then, I ran across about a million different varieties of this sweet potato “ball” thing.  Again, I didn’t have the exact ingredients for any one of the recipes, but the idea stuck.  So I just sort of read a few and decided to wing it.

This must be how to live dangerously on a Wednesday night. 

Firstly, let’s just say I need to invest in a potato masher. And peeler.

Actually, nix the peeler.  I have a feeling that would only end in bloodshed.

The mashing was the hardest part. Mixing in the pecans and a little brown sugar was easy.I didn’t overdo it on the brown sugar. My reasoning was that I didn’t have regular corn flakes and had to use Special K. So there was plenty of sweet going on already.

I didn’t know if they would keep their shape, so after I rolled the sweet potato mix in the Special K, I used my mini cupcake tin to bake them. (350 degrees at 15 minutes)Cute, yes? One semi-large sweet potato worked almost perfectly for this.

And here’s what I really learned…It was a lot of work for something that would most likely have been just as good as mashed sweet potatoes.

However, I would assume it would be more fun for kids to eat this way? And it looks pretty. So if that’s something you find important or if you’re planning a party, it could probably be worth it. And I say to go for it (and also to try them rolled in coconut).

But I probably won’t do it again. Don’t get me wrong- they were delicious, they just took too long! I like my 10-15 minute meals during the week. Rachel Ray can eat my dust.

Finding Comfort in Cheese

Since I knew Tuesday was coming, a little comfort food for last night’s dinner was necessary to fight off the onset of the Tuesday Blues.  Or at least that’s my excuse/reasoning for making a dinner with the main component being mac and cheese.

I think it’s also important to note here that I grew up making Kraft mac out of the box. After that, I went to college where my boyfriend was absolutely appalled that I would eat such an awful thing. And I upgraded to Velveeta… also in a box. (My friends were very passionate about the difference between the two.)

Did I care either way?  Not really… other that Velveeta was more expensive and left me annoyed my boyfriend wasn’t chipping in for the difference. Say what you want, but 50 cents is a big deal when you’re in college without a job. And your boyfriend likes mac and cheese.

I’m going to say I’m kidding.  And let you decide if I really am or not.

Anyway, you can imagine my surprise when I find out later on in life that it really isn’t that much more expensive or difficult to make it on my own.  With real cheese. Who woulda thunk it?

I would have no issues eating Kraft or Velveeta everyday if you were to put it in front of me.  And get why people use it- easy… cheap… kids will actually eat it…. perfect. But in a quest to keep the majority of my meals well-balanced and also continue the race to use my pasta before it goes bad (I’ve got another couple of weeks), I decided to try making my own version from scratch.

When in doubt, I often turn to Andrea for the basic recipe for cheese sauce.

What can I say? She knows her stuff. And I often don’t.

But that was the only similarity.

I went with chicken sausage and jalapenos as my mix-in. Because it can’t be said enough- the spicier the better. The red chili pepper flakes are optional- but I would obviously recommend them.Clearly, there also needs to be a little green with your dinner. Do it. Your mom will be proud. 

Your mom may not be proud of you going back to fork out more mac straight from the pot after finishing your plate.  But do it anyways- I won’t tell.

Even after my morning run yesterday, I had a little time after work to fit in some of Jillian Michael’s No More Trouble Zones. The reason it snuck into my evening was because my “strength training Sunday” was spent watching football.  And last time I checked, lifting bottles of Bud Light does not count. However, if you were lifting kegs of Bud Light, it might- you’ll have to check with Jillian on that one. I am not the expert on such things.

There wasn’t enough time for the whole workout, but I got a solid 30 minutes in (I believe it was 5 circuits). People who have done NMTZ before will know that is a pretty solid effort as an end-of-the-day activity.

All in all, a busy Monday. Let’s hope Tuesday is just as busy (and quick!).

*Before I go- an update on Hottie McHotterson. Not married. They’re “swinging by” again next week.

Does this mean I actually have to take the time to keep my makeup looking fresh all next week?!?!  Yikes…

Kraft or Velveeta?  Which did you grow up with? And who didn’t love the sweet shapes the Kraft Mac came in???

Like A Man

Yesterday was a good day. (Go Bears!)

A Sunday Funday is already in the plans for next week’s game. And, believe it or not, I’m going to be watching it with a Green Bay fan. We may or may not start a ruckus.

After a super late Saturday night out and a 4-hour span of time dedicated to NFL playoffs, I needed a day to unplug and chillax.

But I’m back, and you would not believe what I did over the weekend.

I made steaks for the first time!

Don’t make fun of my excitement.  This is huge.  Steak is one thing I never make due to pure intimidation. And now I’m feeling pretty damn good about it.  Maybe next time I’ll finally work up the nerve to make salmon?

Anyhoo, another reason this is a big deal is that when cooking for myself, I generally don’t eat a lot of meat.  There are a few reasons for this.

1. I like quick meals.  Meat often requires more attention than I’m willing to give it. Sounds selfish. But I call it efficient.

2. There’s this thing called a “strict food budget” that I’m on.  Meat is not the cheapest thing to eat. So most of my protein come from other sources (like beans, eggs, peanut butter- all cheap things).

3. I don’t crave it often. My particular food cravings are often saved for far more exciting things.  Like brownies or loaded nachos (but not at the same time).

4. When I go out to eat, it’s that much more exciting to order things I don’t have often.

Let me give you a quick background recap.

I grew up on a farm. More specifically, a cattle farm in Missouri.

See?  Quick recap.

Anyway, this works out really well for me.  My parents are pretty awesome and don’t mind sending me home with tons of food.  Vegetables from the garden and meat from the farm are often sitting in a cooler in the back of my car as I drive back to Chicago.  Not that long ago, my dad gave me steak. Rib eye if you want to be specific.

I’m sure when my dad asked, he was surprised I actually said “sure, steak sounds good”.  I can probably count on one hand how many times I’ve had steak in the last 5 years. But surely there’s something that could be done with it, yes?

After putting it off long enough, I finally started looking around for recipes. When cooking, I don’t often use recipes. But since I’m a steak novice, it couldn’t hurt to have a little guidance. Finally, I settled on balsamic-dijon marinade from Fitness Magazine.

It seemed simple enough. I even bit the bullet and bought dijon mustard for the occasion.  That’s yet another thing not consumed often.  Clearly, I’m really outside of my comfort zone on this one.I wasn’t able to secure everything the recipe called for. Garlic powder was used vs real garlic. Lemon juice out of a bottle vs fresh lemon. Parsley instead of fresh rosemary (I know what a difference this is- I swore I owned dried rosemary but was completely wrong yet still felt the need for green).Drowwwwwnnnnnning…. probably didn’t need to double the recipe. But the regular just didn’t seem like quite enough.

Obviously I was wrong.

Out comes the grill.It was for the best that my fire alarm is still in need of batteries.  I should really get on that.

The steak cooked a little faster than originally anticipated. If we’re being completely honest, I like my steak “well done”, and that’s what this was.  BUT, I would have been fine if it had spent maybe a minute less grilling.

But since this was my first time, I consider it a serious win.Since there was a “straight from the farm” theme going, I busted out some green beans from my canned goods collection.  Beautiful.  I would have cooked this for a friend, but was horribly terrified of screwing it up. So there are leftovers for sure which will be used in wraps and salads and such at some point this week.  Maybe next time I’ll share my awesomeness.

Because I was loaded up on protein and football, the next obvious thing I needed to do was lift weights.

Enter No More Trouble Zones by Jillian Michaels. Got pumped up.  The only thing missing was a manly grunt. I figure using 5 and 8-lb weights wouldn’t require it, though. So I didn’t.

So to summarize, my Sunday was filled with steak, football and pumping iron.

Such a lady I am.

Anyone else working today? We’ll see how productive I actually am- sleeplessness has hit me pretty hard. Not sure how anyone is expected to function on less than 4.5 hours?  Good stuff.