Homemade Chipotle Burrito Bowls

One of my favorite "fast food" places to go to is Chipotle.  This follows the theory that I might be part-Mexican (not really, but I really do love Tex-Mex food), or it may just be because Chipotle food is quick and easy, and also somewhat healthy.

My favorite dish there is the Burrito Bowl, with brown rice, black beans, chicken, fresh tomato salsa, and guacamole.  Ideally, I really love it with cheese and sour cream, as well, however I reserve those for special days.  I love their burritos, as well, but I find the burrito bowl a less easier to eat, and a lot less messy.

Last night, for dinner, I decided that I wanted Chipotle for dinner, at home.  We live in Seekonk, MA, and while that is pretty much a central location for just about everything, the closest Chipotles are in Providence (on Thayer St, where you can never get a decent parking spot), Cranston RI (in Garden City, which is an easy enough location, but 25 minutes away and the food will be cold by the time I get home), and Raynham MA (which is right down the street from work, but will once again be cold by the time I get home).  Therefore, I decided to put together my own Chipotle at home!

The Layers of Camille's Chipotle Burrito Bowl:

• Brown Rice (just follow the package directions)
• Black Beans (open a can, dump it into a pan, and heat them up)
• Avocado (I smashed up a couple avocado with some lime juice)
• Tomatoes (I cut up a few plum tomatoes, and dressed them with salt and pepper)
• Chicken and Vegetables
• In a large frying pan, I sautéed 1 medium chopped onion, 1 red bell pepper, and 1 green bell pepper.  I let the vegetables get really soft, but not over-browned.
• From the market, I cleaned a small All-Natural Rotisserie Chicken of all the white breast meat, and as much of the leg and wing meat as possible.  I chopped the meat into cube that only a little bit bigger than the size of the onion and peppers.
• I added the meat to the onion/pepper mixture, then I added 1 cup of water, and 1 package of low sodium taco seasoning, and mixed until it all came together.

Then, get layering!!

A scoop of rice, black beans, chicken and vegetables, tomatoes, and avocado!

Delicious, nutritious, and under 600 calories!

Enjoy!!

Home-made "Burrito Bowl" from Chipotle - Brown Rice, Black Beans, Chicken with Onions & Peppers, Tomatoes, and Avocado

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Back to Blogging

It's been a long time since my last blog post.  An embarrassingly long time.  And I'm sorry about that.

I always enjoyed blogging.  Whether it be about food, or the progress on our house, or my lack of ambition for eating healthy and exercising, I enjoyed writing about it.  And as I look at my blogger account, I see that my last post is from October.  And the post before that is from July.  And I have 6 unfinished entries all in draft mode between those dates.  Shameful.  Absolutely shameful.

So instead of trying to finish up those posts and submit them to the reading world as if nothing happened in between, I decided to write up a post, and eventually get back to those other posts.

So what has happened in the last six-ish months?

On the house front:

• Scott and I went through the MASS Save program and had our house insulated.  We've seen an improvement in the cost of heating, and once we get around to replacing our original 1970's Single Pane Windows, the improvement will be even better.
• We invested in a Snow Blower last year, and it's proved it's weight in gold so far.  I'm so glad we got it. 
• We finally got new garage door openers.  I can't tell you how awesome it is to be able to park in the garage.  Especially when it's snowing!  The fact that I haven't had to clean my car off once this winter season is absolutely awesome!
• My brother in law relocated out to the east coast, and it forced us to finally get some things done around the house....
• In light of his return, and the fact that he would be staying at our house, we figured that having a guest bedroom would be helpful.  And having a bed in that room would be even better.  So we moved our set into that room, and treated ourselves to a new bed.  A king-sized bed.  It's fabulous.  I love everything about it.  Although, I do need to purchase a step stool to adequately climb into it.  
• We finally have light fixtures.  It took long enough, right?!?  We finally have beautiful light fixtures in the hallway, and all bedrooms.  We also purchased fixtures for the bathrooms, but until we actually re-do the twice done work in the bathrooms that still needs to be redone, we won't be installing the new fixtures.  
• I finally picked out, purchased, and hung curtains in the living room and dining room.  Well, I picked them out and purchased them.  I just supervised the actually hanging.  It's safe to say that I love the curtains.  :-)
• We partially cleaned out the "office."  By partially cleaned out, I mean I can see the desk, and the piles of boxes are a little bit more organized.  This is on our list of things to do, and will hopefully get done within the next month.

On the cooking and baking front:

• Scott and I started writing a menu on Sundays.  And on the weeks that we write the menu, we always have good dinners.  I try to mix things up, and make things that are easy, but somewhat healthy and quick to make.  We need to make sure that we continue this practice.
• I've made different dishes, like my go-to meals like tacos/burritos, meatloaf, chicken, and shepherds pie.  And then I've tried new things like Beef and Broccoli and Fettuccine Alfredo
• I recently had some work people over for a "team dinner" and successfully made Baked Macaroni.  I had about 20 lbs of macaroni in the pantry (I have an obsession with buying Barilla when it's on sale, and refuse to buy anything else), and thought that would be the perfect dish.  I was extremely happy with the results.
• Scott and I hosted Christmas Even this year, and we had about 17 people here.  We featured an all fish dinner, and it went over really well.  I also made delicious Christmas Cookies, and made the traditional Coffee Cake, which has become tradition for Christmas morning.  I love a good family tradition with family recipes.

On the work front:

• Work has been crazy.  Crazy with a Capitol C.  I've been working on a project for the last year and a half and it just went live on Monday March 3.  It has been very gratifying to see the results of all my hard work play out, and while it's required lots of extra hours, it'll be worth it in the long run.
• I hate talking about work outside of work, so that's all I'll say about that.

On the Personal Front:

• A friend and I have recently become involved (is that the right word?) in reading smutty romance novels.  It's been a very entertaining experience.  I suppose it all started with Fifty Shades of Grey, and just went on from there.  We read the books, compare notes, analyze them, and then find new books and repeat the process.  We try to meet up every couple of weeks for dinner and a movie (or something of the sort) and compare notes.  (We obviously compare notes on the spot while reading via text message, but then also try to meet up in person to compare notes as well).  We met up last night, and since it was the first time in a few weeks that we met, we had a lot to talk about.  And we talked about it all while Scott was in the other room.  At one point, he came out to the dining room where we were eating pizza and comparing notes, and very casually said, "It sounds like you're having a conversation about real people in here, and not characters from smutty novels."  That just about sums it up.  
• I finally took the plunge and bought a MacBook.  I've been looking at trying to buy a MacBook for a long time, and I am so excited that I finally took the plunge.  I decided to buy it for myself with some of the money I earned from my last Performance Bonus at work.  I've heard horror stories about the Apple Store in Providence Place Mall, but was pleasantly surprised with my ability to get helped in a quick amount of time.  Perhaps it was because it was a beautiful day and everyone was outside?  In any case, I'm excited to learn more about the operating system, and the ins and outs of the Mac world.
• Back around Thanksgiving, Scott's niece and nephews came out from California and stayed out here for the week.  It was a great week, and we got to do lots of fun things with them, including cutting down a fresh Christmas tree.  We got a very short, very fat tree that took up an entire corner of our living room.  
• Oh yea.  And in September, I turned 30.

I think that's a pretty good synopsis of my life for the last six-ish months.  I'm excited, and hopeful, that I will be a good little blogger and keep up what I started.  Hopefully you'll join me!

Our beautiful new bed, and the new light fixture, too!

Our super fat tree, which my mom nicknamed, "Wide-bottom"

Christmas Morning Coffee Cake!

Scott dutifully snowplowing out the driveway

The new dining room curtains!!

My organized pantry, with an array of different types of Macaroni.

The finished product of the delicious Baked Macaroni

Sausage Breakfast Burritos

Sometimes, there just nothing quite like breakfast for dinner.

Last week, we were very organized in taking either meats or prepared food out of the freezer and having delicious dinners throughout the week.  One of the dinners we decided on was Breakfast Burritos - to be made with some sausage that we had in the freezer.

The breakfast burrito ended up being a delicious mid-week treat, and I know my husband enjoyed them, since he went back for more!  This meal's "I tried something new" happen to work in our favor!!  My recipe is below, but this is really one of those things where you can make it however you want!

Sausage Breakfast Burritos
1 lb Sausage, taken out of the casings (I use Perri Sausage, 1/2 lb hot and 1/2 lb sweet)
5 eggs
Chopped onion
Chopped green bell pepper
Chopped red bell pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste
Soft Shell Tacos, or burritos
Shredded Mild Cheddar
Sour Cream
Chopped Tomatoes
Chopped Avocado

The Method

• Saute the onion and peppers in some olive oil on the stove, until translucent.
• Take the sausage out of the casings, and add the sausage into the onion and pepper mixture.  Break up the sausage as much as you want (I don't like huge chunks. so I tried to grind it up on the small side) and cook until everything is browned
• Drain the mixture of any excess fat
• Season with salt and pepper, not too much is needed as there are lots of seasonings in the sausage
• Add the beaten eggs and cook well
• Warm the burrito shells or taco shells in the oven so they are warm and pliable.

When the sausage and egg mixture is fully cooked, spoon the mixture into the shells, and top with whatever toppings you prefer!

I used a leftover package of soft shell tacos that came in a taco kit.  This only contains 6 shells, but there is plenty of stuffing for at least 10!  If you don't have enough shells, it's delicious on toasted bread, or even eaten plain!!

Enjoy!!

I am the Queen of Carbs

I've been trying to eat a higher protein diet, with less carbohydrates.  As the self-appointed "Queen of Carbs," this is SUPER difficult.  But I'm determined to continue...carbs are my downfall.  And it's time I take matters into my own hands.

I'm making this very difficult for myself.  Not only am I continuing to track in Weight Watchers (I want to ensure that I'm staying within the set guidelines for my weight), I'm also tracking in My Fitness Pal.  Why, you ask?  Well, WW calculates points, but I can set up MFP to help me track how much protien, carbs, and fat I'm actually consuming.  If WW has a way of doing this, I don't know how to set it up.

I attempted to liken the number of points to number of calories, in order to make things as equivalent as possible.  I figured about 50 calories per point (this is difficult since points are calculated on fat, fiber, carbohydrates, and protein) and I was able to put a "calorie goal" into MFP.  Then, I was able to determine how many grams of Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat I wanted on a daily basis by logging in a percentage for each one.  I am currently following the P90X fitness and nutrition regimen, so the "Phase 1" part of P90X states that you eat 50% Protein, 30% Carbohydrates, 20% Fat.

THIS IS REALLY HARD!!

I'm finding it really difficult to find low fat high protein food that actually tastes good.  

Here is Tuesday's final food log:

So you can see my problem.  I still don't get enough protein, but go over in fat.  I understand that it's a very rigorous plan (50% protein is a lot), but I'm hoping to improve

I picked up a few things at the market which will hopefully help:
0% Fage Plain Yogurt instead of 2%
1% Lowfat Cottage Cheese
Ingredients to make homemade Hummus
Almonds and Pistachios (which may not work out - they're high in fat)

I need to find a better (good tasting) salad dressing that doesn't have so much fat.  I also need to start making breakfast with egg whites instead of whole eggs.  I know that will help with reducing the fat.  I also need to look for protein bars/shakes that are relatively low in fat/carbs, but can help with protein consumption.

However!  I'm happy with how my body feels, and will update soon!

Hello from New Jersey!!

Hi All!  Greetings from New Jersey!  I've been here since Sunday evening for a work conference.  It's been really great!  A bit overwhelming because of all the info, but very informative.  I've been able to contribute a lot, and make a lot of new contacts.  Overall, a successful trip!

Tonight I drove up from where I'm staying (The Morris Plains area) up to my sister's house (Westchester County, NY) to have dinner with her and her husband.  It was a little bit of a drive, but we had a lot of laughs and a delicious dinner!

Steph made a sausage and feta cheese quiche, and it was so delicious!

Steph had a log of Jimmy Dean sausage, so we browned up half of it in a pan.  She used half a tube of Pillsbury rolls as the crust of the quiche.  She mixed together the cooked sausage, crumbled feta, onion and olives, and put that evenly over the un-cooked crust.  Then she added 4 eggs mixed with milk over the top.  Baked for about 20-30 minutes, and it was delicious!!!

My awesome sister, posing with her delicious quiche!!

A Masterpiece!!

Monday Matters

1. So I had a jam packed week last week/weekend.  Not lying.  


1. I worked about 50 hours in 4 1/2 days trying to catch up after vacation.  It wasn't pretty.  I was working on a project that was put to me by someone who understood nothing about the scope of the project he needed me to do.  So yea, that was fun.


2. Friday night, we went to Wrights Farm Restaurant (which I like to call Wrights Chicken Farm) for dinner.  Scott's brother had been in town and we went there with a few people from the family.  It was delicious.  All you can eat Salad, Chicken, Macaroni, and French Fries?  Thank you!


3. Saturday morning, I went to the house and FINALLY mowed the lawn.  Seriously.  I say finally because I hadn't done it since SEPTEMBER.  Like, early September.  Like 6 weeks ago.  It took me about a good 3 hours and I had to do everything twice.  No lie.  The grass kept clogging the chute and I had to stop a million times.  So frustrating.  Never again will I wait that long!  The plan this weekend is to mow again (and pick up the clippings I left behind this weekend), and fertilize.



That's 10 lawn bags.  Completely full.  

4. Once I finished mowing, Scott's brother, mom, and aunt came over and we walked them through the house - Scott's brother hadn't seen the inside yet and it had been months since his mom had seen it.  They were pleasantly surprised with all of the updates, thus far.


5. We then jetted back to Cranston (I had to make a pit-stop at the storage unit to pick up some shoes) and got showered and changed for a wedding.  We went casual to the wedding, and then came back home and changed up for the reception.  It was a beautiful night at the Squantum Association in East Providence.


6. Yesterday was the only non-busy day.  And it was glorious.  I seriously sat at home ALL day in my pajamas and read a book.  I did run out to the market (in said pajamas) and I also baked some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins.  But other than that, I woke up and went to bed without every changing my clothes.  AWE-SOME!!


2. Speaking of Macaroni (see point 2 above)...My husband and I have been having a friendly debate forever now, and I found out that my mom sides with ME:  When I make macaroni, I like to mix all of the sauce/gravy into the macaroni so that everything is deliciously covered.  My husband prefers that you just put macaroni in a bowl and put a scoop of sauce on top.  His way is how they do it at Wrights Farm.  I find it frustrating because it allows people to take all the macaroni with the sauce and leave the last person to get gluey macaroni with no sauce.  No.  My way is the right way.  :o)


3. Those Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins I made yesterday??  Delicious.  Although I have to admit that the first batch of muffins came a bit flat.  I think it's because I put some chocolate chips on top.  So I don't know.  But they were still delicious.  And check out the recipe....I wrote it out in 2nd grade!  :o) The funniest part?  My sister texted me today and said she made the same thing yesterday.  How weird is that??





Check out that recipe.  Wrote it in 2nd grade!!!  I love the note about how all my papers should be that neat.  






Deliciousness!

4. So at the wedding we went to on Saturday I discovered that my camera is even more amazing than I originally though.  I can change pictures to black and white and sepia and it saves a copy!  How cool is that???
 


5. This weekend, I spent most of the weekend reading the third book in the Game of Thrones series.  I don't think I need to tell you that I"m obsessed.  I am.  I have found that I enjoy certain people's stories much more than others (I honestly can't stand Daenerys - she annoys the crap out of me), but I'm really enjoying it.  I'm going to have to go back and re-read all of the books once I finish, though.  I know there's a lot of stuff I'm missing.


6. And my final point for today's Monday Matters....Someone recently tried to put me on a huge guilt trip and spelled "loose" instead of "lose."  The spelling error was nothing, but it infuriated me on accounts of the attempted guilt trip.  So I leave you today with a list of my biggest pet-peeves...It's a short list.  But it'll do for now :o)


1. Loose - If your pants are too loose, then you should buy a belt.
2. Lose - If you don't buy a belt, you're probably going to lose your pants.


3. There - Go over there and get me a cookie.
4. Their - Go pick up their dirty plates.  They just had cookies.
5. They're - Go to the kitchen.  They're hungry for cookies.


6. Your - What is your telephone number?  
7. You're - What do you mean you don't know?  You're so forgetful!

Monday Matters

1. My mom put on an awesome (very last minute) party on Saturday for my birthday (which is tomorrow)!!!  She made my favorite foods for dinner, and even made TWO cakes!



Birthday Bunt Cakes!!!  Yellow Cake with Chocolate Creamcheese frosting and Coconut Cake!!!  

1. Dinner consisted of Chicken Marsala (it's not really chicken marsala....Because we don't use Marsala wine....So it's really just chicken marinated and cooked in wine with onions and mushrooms - my very best favorite meal as a kid), Spanish Rice, and Salad


2. Cake?  How about TWO cakes!  I asked my mom if I could request yellow cake with chocolate frosting....Her reply?  That Nonni (my grandmother) had requested Coconut Cake....But since it was my birthday, she insisted on making what I wanted!  So I got two cakes!  SO YUMMY!!!


2. We did a TON of work at the house this weekend.  We starting trimming down the front bed which has 15 years worth of untrimmed Juniper Bushes (yes, seriously, the neighbor told us of the non-ambitious previous owner, and how he never trimmed the bushes down).  I'm pretty sure all of the neighbors are excited that they'll soon be able to see around the corner without bushes being in the way.  The only problem?  There is too much yard waste to bring to the landfill ourselves.  I called public works - they won't make a special trip to pick it up....So we're on to devising a Plan B....



It's hard to see in the picture, but there is a totally overgrown area in the corner (with a dead tree, as well)....It's cleanup time!!!

3. In more house news, my Aunt Regina (who is selling her amazing house) is selling us her dining room set.  This set is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my entire life.  Dining room table with two leafs and covers, eight chairs, full hutch (with a light inside!), and a butler station.  It's amazing.  I can't wait until my house is DONE!


4. The new contractor came over to my house on Friday with his plumber.  They're starting to finish everything this week (hopefully).  Everything that the previous plumber did is wrong, and they have to redo almost everything.  Oh lovely.


5. My friend Victoria at Mission-Food made a Mexican Fiesta yesterday and it looks A-MAZING and I can't wait to try the Gronk-Amole.  That's right.  You heard what you heard.  GRONK!!!!!


6. I made Chili for dinner on Friday and it was really good.  However, I'm starting to think that there were just too many beans (it was fine on Friday at dinner....Leftovers for lunch - not so much).  Don't get me wrong, I love anything with beans, but I feel like it's too much beany texture.  I might need to revise.


7. I've read a lot about the Will and Kate photo scandals on Perezhilton lately.  I feel really bad for them.  Talk about an invasion of privacy.  I don't understand how people can think it's okay to stalk people while they're on a PRIVATE estate and then publish pictures of their private rendezvous.  I hope those people get in some serious trouble.


8. So speaking of Perezhilton.....I love reading celebrity gossip and wondering WHAT ON EARTH is going on in their heads when they make decisions, and then have to live with the results.  Maybe it's the fame that makes people think that they're invincible....and able to get away with anything (like stealing jewelry, hit and run accidents, or smoking pot while driving).  At the same time, I feel bad for these people when they are so heavily publicly scrutinized for every single one of their actions (see point 7), even stupid people like Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart....For goodness sake - let them sort out their relationship problems in PRIVATE!!!


9. I made waffles for breakfast yesterday.  Nothing fancy, just plain waffles.  Flour, Baking Powder, Milk, Egg, Oil, and a little vanilla.  Scrumptious.


10. I think I have a problem with stealing napkins and plastic-ware at work...



Need a napkin?  I have a few to spare....And some spoons....

11. Wouldn't seeing Gronk on your way to work make you happy, too???



GRONK!!!

Mac and cheese

Macaroni and Cheese.  I know some people hear that and they just see a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese. When my family hears Mac and Cheese - they see a huge pan hot out of the oven.  That's right.  It may be made with the plainest of all the cheeses, but it makes the most decadent of all Mac and Cheese.

My mom and aunt found a recipe for Macaroni and Cheese years ago in a Betty Crocker Book.  If I remember correctly, the recipe had a number of steps, including layering the cheese sauce with the macaroni.  Instead, they decided that mixing the the sauce and the macaroni was sufficient.  And trust me, it really is sufficient.

So this is not a Mac and Cheese that you'll want to make for dinner.  This is a party mac and cheese and two lbs goes a LONG way (I mentioned in Monday Matters that we made it this weekend for a little Labor Day get together and it made so much that we sent everyone home with leftovers)....So here goes!

The Ingredients

2 lbs Cellentani or Cavatappi macaroni

1 stick butter

1/2 cup onions, finely chopped

1/2 cup flour

1/2 gallon milk (I usually use 2%)

2 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

3 pounds Land o Lakes American Cheese, shredded (Yes - 3 lbs.  And it HAS to be Land o Lakes...We've tried it with other cheeses, and it just isn't the same)

For the topping:
3-4 Tbsp melted butter
1 sleeve ritz crackers, crushed

 

All of the shredded cheese - you can use either a box grater or the attachments on the food processor - and the ritz and macaroni

The Method

• Set a big pot of water to boil for the macaroni.  While the water is heating up, do the following:


• Melt the butter in a large pot and add in the onions to saute

• When the onion is softened, add in the flour and stir continuously.

• When the flour mixture starts to bubble, slowly stir in the milk, salt, and pepper

• Stir continuously on medium-high heat, and once the milk has warmed up a bit (it should be warm to the touch but not anywhere close to boiling), add in the shredded American Cheese


• Stir until creamy.  You shouldn't see any strings of cheese left in the mixture.  Lower the heat and continue stirring until the water has come to a boil, and the macaroni has been cooked until al dente (You need to stir the mixture the entire time, otherwise it will stick to the bottom of the pan.  Also, you do NOT want the macaroni cooked all the way here, because it needs to bake and it will be too mushy if overcooked).   When you're ready to strain the macaroni, just take the cheese mixture completely off the heat.

Add the drained macaroni to a baking pan (I use the throw-away foil pans) and pour the cheese mixture on top.  Mix everything together  (You can put the drained macaroni back in the pot, and add all of the cheese sauce there, and then transfer everything into the foil pan....Do whatever is easiest for you!!)

Top the Mac and Cheese with crushed ritz cracker crumbs (about 1 sleeve) that have been mixed with melted butter (about 3-4 Tablespoons)

Bake covered for 45 minutes at 375*.  Unover, then bake an additional 15 minutes until the crumb topping is golden brown.

Let the Mac and Cheese set for at least 15-30 minutes before serving.

A delicious serving of Macaroni and Cheese, just waiting to be eaten!!!

Note:  Assuming 20 servings (which is a VERY generous portion):

Per Serving:  500Calories * 44 Carbs * 28 Fat * 21 Protein * 2 Fiber * 1133 Sodium

 

ENJOY!!!

Now that's what I call a cookout!!!

Spanish Rice

Last night I decided to make Spicy Turkey Burgers for dinner.  I needed something to go with it, but didn't want the boring standard rice...So I made "Spanish Rice."  Spanish Rice is something of my childhood.  My mom made it every so often and I really love it.  However, I've never attempted it on my own.  My mom wasn't home yet when I decided to make it, so I called Nonni (my grandmother) to figure out what to do..

"Hi Nonni!"
"Hi!  How was your first day??"
"Oh, this is Camille"
"Oh, haha! You sounded just like Stephanie."
"Haha.  I think today was her first day...Anyway, how do I make Spanish Rice?"
"Oh, it's easy, here's what to do:"

I took her instructions, and adapted them a little bit (I think I did a mix of what she does and what my mom does....)

PS - before you make this recipe, please note that I made WAYYYY too much rice.  Why I made this much for 3 people is completely beyond me....So tread with caution....And make at least half this amount.

Spanish Rice
Brown Together (until the rice is browned and the onions are translucent):
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cups rice (I used brown rice to be healthy, but white rice is even better!)

Rice, Onion, and Pepper browning up in oil

Add:
4 cups water
1 large chopped tomato and the juices (or 1 can diced tomato)
2 tsp salt

 Everything in the pot!

Bring everything to a boil and then reduce to simmer, cover, and cook for 30 mins

And Voila!  You've got Spanish Rice!!

Enjoy!!

Monday Matters

1. My husband and I own a condo in Providence, RI over near Brown University.  We just recently (like at the beginning of August) started renting it out.  We had to go over there Sunday Morning because "the dishwasher wouldn't work" and "the light and fan in the bedroom stopped working".  Somehow the tenants broke the dishwasher so I have Sears coming to fix it today (thank goodness it's still under warranty).  There was nothing wrong with the light and fan except that they pulled the chain enough times so that they shut the fan off and the bulbs blew out.  I'm already not a fan of being a landlord...


2. Friday night, my mom and I made the most amazing dinner.  I mean, seriously.  Amazing.  She bought ground beef to make burgers but we ended up making meatloaf burgers (it was a compromise since we couldn't decide if we wanted burgers or meatloaf).  And we ate them on bagels.  I forgot to take a picture of them - so that must mean that I will have to make them again so I can blog about them and have a picture to show for it.


3. My mom is a teacher and she is going back to teaching art (she taught art for 14 years, then did elementary ed for 6 years, and now she's back to art).  While she was going through her samples Sunday night, she found projects that my sister and I did back in 1st or 2nd grade.  It was a list of facts with a self portrait and at the bottom it said, "Who Am I?"  The most amusing part of mine was the part that said, "I want to be a Bus Driver."  


4. After being at my mom's for 3 weeks, Scott and I finally put our clothes into drawers Sunday.  We can actually walk around the room!!  Woot!!


5. I'm starting to get the itch to bake.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy.  I'm thinking either brownies or cookies.  Either way, I'll take pictures.  And blog.  And probably give most of them to my dad so that I don't eat them.


6. I'm trying to gather up ideas for quick breakfasts on the go and quick, easy to fix dinners.  I've so far decided on making lots of waffles and freezing them so that I can have my own form of Eggo Waffles. For dinners, I've been getting a lot of ideas from being at mom's house.


7. The past few years, we've attempted to go apple picking and we've always gone too late in the season.  I'm determined to go early this year so that I can pick yummy apples and make yummy apple things.  Like Apple Pie.  And Apple Crisp.  I have an AMAZING recipe for Apple Crisp.


8. The cafeteria at work states that it's open until 2:30 every day.  But every day they start packing up the food at 1:30 (and it seems to be getting earlier than that!) and they get snippy when you ask them to make a simple sandwich.  Work, you fail.  The only good part of this is that I'm forced to bring a lunch (and therefore don't spend as much money).


9. Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE ice cream?  And it doesn't even have to be good ice cream.  I don't discriminate...I love it all.  My favorite?  Soft Serve Vanilla with Rainbow Jimmies (yes, they're jimmies, not sprinkles, so don't even try arguing with me about it).  My current favorite place to get it?  Riverside Creamery.  There may be better places out there with fancier kinds of ice cream, but I like the simple stuff.  Delicious.


10. Laundry really isn't so bad when you don't have to go down 3 flights of stairs to do it.  I actually don't even mind it.  But don't tell my husband that ;-)


11. Just got back from the gym - another Tae Bo / Core class.  38 minutes and burned 408 calories.  Not bad!!  Only downside - everyone can plainly see that I went to the gym....My face is like a tomato!

Everyone will know that I worked hard at the gym today....For at least the next hour!  Look at the color in my face!  Can you say TOMATO???  PS - the angle of the picture makes me look like a bobble head!  

The REAL Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg

I recently posted that while I really didn't know how to make the perfect hard boiled egg, I was going to try some methods to get there.

Those methods went out the window this morning.  All it took was 1 simple change.  This morning, I made hard boiled eggs for Scott to eat when he got home from his workout (I also made a couple for me and my mom).  I decided that instead of letting the water come to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 12 minutes (I got that method from watching the Barefoot Contessa on TV), I would just let them boil for 10 minutes.  As I mentioned before, cooking the the BC's way makes perfectly cooked yolks....But I lost most of the whites when I tried to get the shells off!

SO...The result of this morning's experiment??  Perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs....And the shells came off with no problem!!!

It's the little things that make me happy :o)

Perfectly cooked yolks

Beautiful hard boiled eggs!

Scott's breakfast this morning - hard boiled eggs, a toasted English Muffin and Strawberries

The Perfect Hard-Boiled Egg

I have to warn you.  I don't know how to make the perfect hard-boiled egg.  I feel like I've seen a million different ways to do it, each one claiming to be the best way.  

My husband works out with a friend in the mornings (the do cross-fit together), and I've been trying to have eggs waiting for him when he gets home - he needs the protein as soon as possible after exercising.  So far, I've hard-boiled the eggs twice, and I've tried two different (but similar) methods and the result has been the same.  Eggs, cooked well (and by well, I mean that the yolk is not overcooked, and there is no yucky green line separating the yolk from the white).

My hard boiled egg, cooked to perfection!

It's safe to say that I've mastered the method to get eggs cooked properly.  What I HAVEN'T mastered is the method to get the shells off easily without getting the egg white caught on the shell (see picture below).

Hard Boiled Eggs.  While the center may be cooked to perfection, I haven't mastered the art of peeling the shells off.

So what's the big deal?  I want to be able to peel the shells off, without pulling off half of the whites.  That's the deal.  Let's start at the beginning:

I put 4 hard boiled eggs in a small pan and filled the pan with water (can covered the eggs with about 1 inch of water).  I put them on the stove, and set the stove to high heat.  As soon as the eggs came to a boil (almost a boil - I didn't want the water to boil too much and crack the eggs), I lowered the heat to low, and set the kitchen timer to 12 minutes.

Now here's where the variation comes into place.  The first time I made the eggs, I put the pot in the sink, and let luke-warm water flow from the tap into the pot, and eventually all of the water cooled down.  Then, I just put the eggs on the counter for Scott to eat when he got home.  The result was that the peels came off in tiny little pieces, and a lot of the whites came off with it.  They basically looked just like the picture above.  This morning when I made the eggs, I did the same thing, but then actually peeled the eggs right away.  I thought that maybe by peeling the eggs while they were still wet it would help.  Not so much.  I got the same result.

So after much online research on how to boil eggs and get the shells off easily, I've found some tips:

• Use old eggs.
• This struck me as weird as first, but I think I understand what she's saying.  If the eggs were just put on the shelf in the supermarket, they're really fresh....And apparently fresh eggs don't peel easily.  hmm.  seems weird.  But then I remembered.  How many times did our parents buy white eggs for coloring at Easter time?  How often did they sit in the fridge for a week before we colored them?  And then after we boiled them it was another week before we ate them?  And then I thought.....All those eggs were easy to peel.  So ok.  Maybe I should boil a bunch of eggs on Sunday.  Then Scott can eat them gradually throughout the week (within 5 days of boiling them), and they'll be easier to peel after sitting in the fridge.....OK.  It's an idea.
• Let the eggs sit in cold water (cold water filled with ice) for 10 minutes before peeling and then peel the eggs under running water.  
• This sounded pretty decent.  While they're in the cold water, steam will form between the egg and the shell.  When going to crack the eggs, do it under running water and grab a whole of the membrane when pulling off the shell. This is something I'm probably going to try the next time I make eggs for Scott.
• Add salt to the pot when boiling
• There was no reason.  They just said it helps to not pull whites off with the shells.  I could try this.

So that's only 3 things.... But they all have valid points.  I think the main thing is not to try all of these suggestions at one time.  If I get eggs that are easy to peel, I won't know which method was the best method (oooo the Six-Sigma-Black-Belt-Certified-Engineer is coming out in me.  Maybe I should set up a DOE??? haha).  I also don't want to try to fix the problem of difficult-to-peel eggs and then have yucky yolks, since my eggs are so well cooked already.  In any case, I will definitely try some of these methods and report back!

Let's hope to some good results!!!

Make Way for the Red, White, & Blue!!

It's been almost a week since Independence Day, but I've been a very busy girl.  However, I couldn't NOT share this cake!!

My first attempt at a Flag Cake!

I got the idea from Pinterest, and knew that the 4th of July would be the perfect time to make it!  For a first attempt, I think it came out pretty good!  Here's what I did:


The Cake:
I took a shortcut and used white cake mix.  Yep.  I bought whatever kind was on sale (I think it was Pillsbury with pudding in the mix and I made it will whole eggs).  I used 2 cake mixes, and split it between 3 cakes, one of which was died red, another blue.

Red, White, and Blue cakes - ready to be baked!

Cool the cakes, and then slice the red and the white cakes in half.  Take 1 half of the red, and 1 half of the white, and cut a circle out of the middle (I used a cleaned empty tomato can).  Also cut out a circle from the blue cake (1 to 2 rounds, depending on the thickness).

  

Next, start layering.  I used a "Fine White Frosting" recipe.


Stack a Red Cake, Frosting, White Cake, and then a Red cake with the hole and the white cake with the hole.  Frost the whole thing (yes, it will be awkward).

One layer of Red and One layer of White, both with  frosting!

The Red and White layers on top, both wit the holes!  Frosted and ready to go!

Next, take the blue circle, and fit it into the hole!

The blue cake, fitted into the hole!  Ready for frosting!

Next, completely frost the entire cake, and get ready to decorate!!  I decorated with strawberries and blueberries.  I wanted to pipe in a fun design, but unfortunately all my tips are packed away and my jimmy-rigged disposable tip in a sandwich baggie failed me!  But here is the finished product!

Happy 4th of July!!!

Enjoy!!