Posts by Nat

Real Simple Easy Dinners: Roundup!

Posted by Nat on Dec 5, 2011 | Comments Off on Real Simple Easy Dinners: Roundup!

If you’re new to this series, start here, then go here, here, and here, and then here.  Or just get yourself a copy of the magazine. 🙂

So, my brain has had plenty of time to process all of the cooking I did.  I’m rather proud of myself that I made every single meal except one.  That’s 19 new dinners in just 5 weeks (should have been 4 but we lost steam at the end).  Yowzas.  There were meals we will make continually for a long time to come, and then there were meals that we will never make ever again.  But the important thing is that we tried something new and have lots of recipes in our back pocket to refer to.  Hooray!

Our top 5 favorite meals from this experience would be:

#1:  Steak with Cognac Sauce and Salad (from week 2)

#2:  Chipotle Beef & Beer Chili (from week 4)

#3:  Chickpea Spinach Curry with Cucumber-Yogurt Sauce (from week 3)

#4: Lemony Tuna and Olive Oil Pasta (from week 3)

#5: Tomato Soup with Roast Beef & Cheddar Panini (from week 1)

A few of my least favorites, which I will not visit again:

Chicken with Potatoes, Bacon and Cabbage

Pork Loin with Sauteed Cauliflower and Capers

Lime and Soy-Glazed Chicken with Cabbage Slaw

One thing that I love about this whole experience: it has me really thinking about food.  I’m making some changes in our day-to-day diet that I’ll be exploring with you soon.

What about you?  Could you try this many new recipes all at once?  Are you looking for new recipes to try or to make a change in your diet?  What’s holding you back?  For me, it’s the fear of change and trying something and failing.  But I learned through this that one bad meal isn’t the end of the world (though it is a pain in the tushie).

MIA…

Posted by Nat on Nov 30, 2011 | 2 comments

Things have been quiet here for a bit.  I’m totally behind.  Here’s why:

– Closet organization:  this has been taken to the next level. We jumped into redoing our master walk-in closet in addition to the front hall closet.  It’s awesome and it’s awful all at the same time because now I have to reorganize everything (awesome and awful), throw things away (awesome), and reassess how our house functions (Awful?  No.  Awesome because it will work a lot better for us).  Everything is getting shifted.  As I said to Michael, “It has to get worse before it can get better.”

– I have no desire to cook.  Not sure why.

–  Emily, my sweet baby girl, is throwing me for a loop with her feeding.  She went from sleeping through the night from 11:00 to 6:00 to waking up twice.  Not cool for mommy.

I’m taking this week to organize and hope to be back up next week.  With pictures.  And words.  And love.  And more.

Mwah.

Real Simple Easy Dinners: Week 4

Posted by Nat on Nov 22, 2011 | Comments Off on Real Simple Easy Dinners: Week 4

Finally!  We finished!  If you’re new to this series, start here, then go here, here, and here.

I was horrible about taking pictures this week, AND we skipped a meal.  Just didn’t make it because it didn’t sound good to me (red peppers are not my thing).  BUT, to make up for it, I did make another RS meal from the magazine, and will share about that later- it was a HUGE success and part of a new thing I’ll be trying for our family.

We didn’t make the meals in order, but I’m labeling the way they appear in the magazine in case you’re following along.

Monday :  Pan-Roasted Cod and Fennel with Spinach Couscous

(No picture- sorry!) This one was really, really yummy.  I’m not a white fish person (right, Mom?).  BUT- this was good.  I wasn’t sure about the fennel- I tend to shy away from anything that reminds me of black licorice.  But I was pleasantly surprised.  What I was most pleased with was the couscous- I usually HATE couscous, but Michael bought some Israeli couscous from Trader Joe’s, and it turns out that I don’t hate couscous, I just hate the way it’s usually prepared.  This way, with spinach, was really good, and I’d totally make it again.

Tuesday:  Chipotle Beef and Beer Chili

Let’s get one thing straight:  I’m snooty about my chili.  I did not think I could possibly like a chili that you whip up in an hour.  I was set in my ways- this chili would not be good, and I even told Michael that I was prepared for it to taste like crap.  And guess what?  I was wrong.  It was awesome.  Michael loved it, too.  I didn’t do the chipotles because neither of us “need” them in our chili- we are savory chili people.  And the corn muffins….oh, who doesn’t love a good corn muffin.  I think the next time I make it I will used crushed tomatoes instead of whole peeled tomatoes, but otherwise it will stay as is.  YUM.

Wednesday:  Lime and Soy-Glazed Chicken with Cabbage Slaw

(no picture- again!)  Fail.  This one was not great.  Maybe it’s because we have an old, OLD oven and it just didn’t do well, but it didn’t taste the way I was hoping it would.  It also ruined a baking dish because the glaze scorched itself on, and no amount of elbow grease was going to get it out.  Oh well.  I think of all the recipes in all the weeks, this might be the least favorite for us.  They can’t all be amazing, eh?

Thursday:  Salami & Brussel Sprouts Pizza

This was awesome.  We actually made it for lunch over the weekend, and it was neat to have a fresh pizza for lunch on a chilly day.   I think the key thing I learned from this recipe:  leave your pizza dough out until it’s room temp!  I’ve tried soooo many pizza doughs, and have never liked the way they turn out- but I’ve also never let them come to room temp before, and this pizza dough (Trader Joe’s) was amazing.

Friday:  Skillet-Poached Eggs with Braised Peppers and Onions

Skipped it.  I hate peppers.  I’ve tried, really, I have.  And I still hate them.  Michael even looked at this one in the magazine and said, “Honey, there’s no way you’d want to eat that.”  And so, we’re done!

Coming up after Thanksgiving:  a RS Easy Dinners Roundup, and lots of other fun posts!  I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.  I get to make mashed potatoes and corn muffins- woo hoo!

Operation Organization: Front Hall Closet, part 1

Posted by Nat on Nov 17, 2011 | 1 comment

*Note:  I’ve decided to make this a series since I have lots of organizing to do.  I’m a bit type A in this area, so I will hopefully have some good stuff to share with you as I strive towards knowing where all of my crap is .

A long time ago I posted about our hallway closet.  I love that closet.  The rest of our closets, however, have been on the back burner.  Back at the beginning of this year my husband and I bought Elfa shelving from The Container Store during their huge Elfa sale.  If you live near a Container Store you should check out that sale- it’s rad.  The shelving we bought, however, has been sitting, waiting to be installed.  Now that things have calmed down on the baby front we are ready to dive back into some house projects, and this is one of them.  We also did not paint this closet upon move-in at this house, mainly because we had nearly 2,000 square feet of house to paint, and this closet was low on the totem pole of paint.

It’s in a tricky spot, right by our front door, and it doesn’t have a light inside it, so these shots will not be the best photos.

I emptied it out, and here’s what it looks like empty.

I can’t believe I’m showing you this, but here’s a corner up close, so you can see all the cobwebs, dust and faded paint.

When I demoed (sp?) the existing shelving it was really more difficult than I thought it would be.  I had to pry the shelf supports off and they had the longest nails I’ve ever seen.  And the dividing board that separated the hanging garments from the rest- it was like moving a mountain.  Okay, not a mountain.  But it was hard. What I was left with was lots of holes in the drywall.  Lots.  That top “oops” and left-pointing arrow are pointing to a hole I didn’t get on my camera, but my husband had to patch it by sawing out some of the existing dry wall and replacing it with new stuff.  Neat.  Oops.

And here’s where we are today:  ready for installation.  I’m waiting for Emily to go to sleep so I can put in the shelving.

The only challenge we have once finished is what to do with this crack in the flooring and baseboard where the previous closet set up was.  I’m thinking a rug?  Not sure…  This flooring will get replaced eventually, so we’re not patching it up.

Wordless Wednesday #5

Posted by Nat on Nov 16, 2011 | Comments Off on Wordless Wednesday #5

I know I’m not supposed to say anything, but how did she get so big?  This is a minutes-old shot of Emily.  She’s huge now!