Meatless Monday Recap

OK, I'm so incredibly slow on this. But what's a day or two when I'm already weeks late?

Monday was my first Meatless Monday. I registered to participate a few weeks ago, but then life got in the way. I ate meatless other days of the week, just not Monday (and "Meatless Thursday" just doesn't sound quate as good).

But I finally remembered and planned it correctly so that Monday there was no meat for dinner. And that meant noodles (what my oldest son calls pasta) which is really popular in the house, especially with Bubby. For dinner, I made a new version of ziti. I'd always made it the way everyone does: ziti, sauce, ricotta, shredded mozzarella and grated parmesan. But then I read this recipe from Ari at Baking and Books. The ricotta is replaced with sour cream for a moister, more flavorful dish. And it uses sharp provolone, which is a fantastic cheese. The original recipe calls for fresh mozzarella on top, which would be great, but I didn't have any on hand, so I just used the regular mozzarella.

So here's my approximation of what I made the other night:

16 oz. pasta
6 fl oz of pasta sauce (I would recommend using a little more)
1/2 cup sour cream (again, I'd used more, but this is what I had in the fridge)
5 slices sharp provolone
1 cup shredded mozzarella

1. Boil the pasta according to the package instructions, aiming for a more al dente pasta, rather than a softer pasta. Drain when cooked. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spread a couple tablespoons of sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Toss the cooked, drained pasta with the rest of the sauce.
3. Dump half of the sauce-covered pasta in the baking dish. Drop the sour cream in dollops over the pasta. Add a layer of the sliced provolone and then a layer of 1/2 cup of the shredded mozzarella.
4. Pour the rest of the pasta on top of the cheese and sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella over the top.
5. Bake in the oven until warm and cheese melts, about 30 minutes.

Overall, I think this was a great success and I'll try it again, only with more sour cream and sauce and with the fresh mozzarella.

Conincidentally, I finished a Meatless Monday related book this week too. "The Face on Your Plate: The Truth about Food" by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson is a 200 page argument for veganism (or at least, vegetarianism). I didn't really think I was going to life this book when I began it because I thought it was going to intolerantly preachy. And while the author is pretty black and white about food choices, he is more openminded than I expected. The book makes the three basic arguments for veganism: human health, animal rights and environmental health. There are some internal logic issues, for example, the author spends a significant portion of the book telling us that animals are living beings that do not want to be killed, but then he dismisses the position of a person that advocates eating meat because it is impossible ofr use to know what an animal wants.

Out of the three arguments for not eating meat, the impact of animal products on the environment is the most persuasive to me personally. I understand the animal rights arguments and my purchases of meat in the future will change to reflect animals that have had lives and deaths that are as humane as possible. And with my background in nutrition, I know the health arguments for and against the consumption of meat. But it's hard to argue against the information that raising animals take more of the earth's resources. I spent years as a vegetarian, but the meat eater that lives in my house would never go for that on a full-time basis. But I'll definitely be planning more meatless meals (not just Mondays) and I'll be working to make sure that the meat we do eat is as humane as possible.

October To Do List

I'm a big fan of lists. It helps me get everything down where I can see it and especially so that all of those thoughts, ideas, reminders, etc stop running through my head. I function better when I have a good to do list. So, with that in mind, here are some of the things I need to accomplish during the month of October:



Make Halloween costumes for Bubby and Bruiser (this is a big one)

Make treats for day care holiday party

Store summer clothes

Find winter clothes

Clean ceiling fans

Submit application form for contest

Start to think about Christmas presents: what to make, what to buy and how to space out the expenses

This list looks pretty short now, but I think I'll be adding to it through the month!

Eating Down the Fridge

This coming week I'm going to do my own version of "Eating Down the Fridge." Kim O'Donnel, who used to write for washingtonpost.com, has run this in the past and I haven't had anywhere to write about it before. But I haven't officially signed up with her because at this point I'm not sure where I was to draw the line between my real identity and this blog. Not like there are a million people out there reading this, but with the boys I don't want to put anything out there that I could regret later.

Anyway, Kim is hosting her semi-annual Eat Down the Fridge Challenge week, starting October 3. So I'll play along here, focusing on meals that involve little to no "new" ingredients. I'll still buy milk and produce for the week so that we have fresh and I'm still going to buy things as "stock ups" if there are really good sales, but other than those exceptions, most of our meals will come from our current stockpiles in the pantry, freezer or fridge.

I know one thing I'm planning for next week-- it's big and it's something I've never done before. So it should be interesting!

Fall is Here!

In honor of my favorite month, I'm finally going to post a photo. I'd known since I started that I needed to add pictures, but I'm just not a good photographer. But I'll only get better with practice (and luck) so here is a seasonally appropriate photo. It's the first leaf in our yard to change color, and I was lucky to get the picture because the next day, the red leaf was on the ground. (I have got to figure this picture thing out because of course, this leaf did not grow sideways! Oh well-- someday when I'm a rich and famous blogger, this will be a funny story to tell about my humble beginnings...)

We don't have many fall changes yet, but they're coming. And, for me, those changes are welcome. Fall is my favorite month. I love the rich colors of the leaves and the way we reflect those deep colors in our homes and clothes. I love the smell of a neighbor using their fireplace for the first time. I love the cooler temperatures that demand a warm sweater or a cozy blanket on the couch. And I love the food-- the slow-cooked, rich, substantial comfort food that I want to cook as the weather cools. I'm especially looking forward to brisket, beef and barley soup, chicken and biscuits, lasagna. Just waiting for a time to get these all in the meal rotation....

Little Holly Homemaker

Why is it that I feel so proud of myself for doing something I should be doing all the time anyway? Is it validation that this is what I should be doing? Is the good feeling actually a lack of guilt (from when I don't do something I should do)?

Maybe someday I'll actually figure that out, but for now I'll just bask in the glory that was last night's dinner. I took some chicken breasts (skin on, bone in) from the freezer and decided that I was going to try a new recipe. We usually do the skinless/boneless chicken, so I needed something else that would work better with this variety.

Luckily, I'd starred a recipe I wanted to try out that would work very nicely, I thought: Aunt Sandy's Oven Crispy Chicken from Sugar Creek Farm. And, yes, it did work very nicely. Easy to do, smelled great while it was cooking (BigMan asked what smelled so good when all I had done was melt the butter) and looked gorgeous, but the cooking time (about 50 minutes for the breasts, no dark meat) is probably too long to make this a weeknight meal for us.

It was a beautiful meal with mashed potatoes (from real potatoes, not a box) and corn on the cob (of which I was skeptical since it's the end of September, but turned out OK). Bubby ate an entire chicken breast and three ears of corn-- if he eats like this as a 2-1/2 year old, I'm completely petrified about what happens when he's a teenager! I actually made a real meal from actual ingredients and I was darn proud of myself!

The oven crispy chicken is going into the weekend rotation for fall and winter (the oven heating for an hour is too long for the spring and summer). Plus, I have leftovers for lunch and I'm looking forward to making my office jealous.

What's for Dinner?

Another week, another set of meals....

When I was growing up, I never understood why my mother was constantly asking what we wanted to eat the next week. But it's hard to come up with meals that everyone likes without repeating things constantly. As with so many things, you only appreciate your parents' efforts as you get older and try to do it yourself!

Saturday:
Crispy Baked Chicken (leftover from last week that never got made)
Mashed potatoes
vegetable

Sunday: Church picnic
Southern Baked Beans (from Pioneer Woman)

Monday:
Pierogis/onions
vegetable

Tuesday:
Cheeseburger cups--these were popular two weeks ago and I still have enough ingredients to make another batch. The recipe is from Simple & Delicious, sister publication to Taste of Home, but you have to be a subscriber to get to the recipe online.
carrot and celery sticks

Wednesday:
Fish
French fries

Thursday:
spaghetti and meatballs
salad

Friday:
Grilled cheese/pizza (something easy)

Weekend with the in-laws

Our big weekend plans are hosting the in-laws. They haven't been down in a number of weeks (can't tell you exactly when-- might have been in early August), so it's been a while since they've seen the boys. I know right now that we'll hear the following statement over and over again: "what a big change!" They often say this, even when I don't see it, but even I see the changes now, especially in Bruiser. Over the last couple of weeks, he's become a proficient sitter and crawler.

This is when babies become a lot of fun, because they will interact with everyone and everything and you can really see their thought processes: "hmmmm, that looks interesting, I wonder if I can go over there and pick that up? OK, now I've gotten it, I wonder if it fits in my mouth? All right, now that it's in my mouth, how long before my brother yells 'my toy!' and snatches it out of my hands?"

It'll be nice to have an extra set of hands (or two) to play with the boys while I can hopefully get some laundry, house cleaning and sorting of too-small clothes done.

The best bonus of the weekend? Free babysitting while the Big Man and I go out to dinner for an early anniversary celebration on Saturday night!

What's for dinner?

A whole week of "what's for dinner?"

I usually do my meal planning between Wednesday (when the store flyers come in the paper) and Saturday (when I go shopping for the week). We have an extremely tight budget, so I try to keep the weekly total under $70. This is pretty difficult, and some weeks I do better than others!



Monday:

black bean tostadas

salad, some sort of vegetable



Tuesday: just me and the boys

Waffles (from the freezer stash, but homemade)

applesauce



Wednesday:

Oven Crispy Chicken (this is a new recipe I'm trying-- I have a bunch of chicken breasts on the bone, instead of my usual boneless skinless, so I hope this works!)
Baked potatoes


Thursday:

spaghetti and meatballs

garlic bread

green beans



Friday:

grilled cheese


Budget update from Saturday's grocery store run:
Safeway: $27.69 (saved $7.49)
Superfresh: $35.04 (saved $36.84-- more than 50%!)
Total: $62.73

Library Trip

I went to the library yesterday. I'd run out of books I was in the right mood to read, so I needed something else. I did pretty good, finding some new things and some older things that had been on my "to be read" list.



Sleeping Naked is Green, Vanessa Farquharson

The Experts' Guide to 100 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do, Samantha Ettus-- this is the kind of book my husband loves and he's already flipped through it.

The Geography of Bliss, Eric Weiner

Prospect Park West, Amy Sohn

An Edible History of Humanity, Tom Standage

The Art of Simple Food, Alice Waters



And, after I'd checked these books out and was on the way out of the library, I saw Farm City by Novella Carpenter and had to turn around to get back in line.



There seems to be a definite food/green theme to my selections this week. I'm already partway through Farm City.

Not a good start...

Well, nothing like declaring that you're going to do better this time with posting on your blog and then posting exactly nothing for more than a week! This is not a good sign for the future...

Anyway, I've been very busy reading other people's blogs to see how I'd like mine to look. And I've decided that instead of copying their blogs, I'd like to actually hijack their lives (or more accurately, have them come live mine because I think they'd do a better/neater/funner job of it...)

For example, Jennifer at Prep School 101. I already have a complex about preppy people (I wasn't one in high school, I'm not one now-- shocking, I know!) And she just seems so put together, (French lesson podcasts, really?) I'm envious.

And, then if I wasn't already feeling incapable of living my own life (or decorating my children's rooms appropriately), I read this beautiful entry on the Lovely List from Meg at Sew Liberated. Look at that fantastic room she put together for her son. I can't show that to my boys-- they'll be standing on the side of the road, with their little thumbs out, waiting for a ride to Meg's house. Well, Bubby's thumb will be out, Bruiser's thumb will still be planted firmly in his mouth.

Of course, maybe I could move into Ree's lodge. And maybe she'd make me some of those baked beans that I wanted to try, bought all the ingredients for, and didn't make because I ran out of time on Labor Day. And, as a bonus, I'd get to watch all those gorgeous horses.

While I'm waiting for those ladies to come to my house and show me how to live as beautifully as they do, I guess I could start with these dishes. Everything Kate Spade designs is absolutely gorgeous-- if I had these, then my dining room table at least would be beautiful. Well, after I clear off the old magazines and day care papers and random handtools and maybe put a clean tablecloth on..... I'm a work in progress!

Fear of Commitment

Here's one of the many things I would do if I was willing to really commit myself to something: Too Many Cooks? No Such Thing

I love reading the posts from all the participants in Daring Bakers and Tuesdays with Dorie, but I know that the way my life works right now, there is no way I could commit to making a specific thing on a specific day. Maybe sometime in the future, but for now, I love reading the recipes, admiring the photography and starring the recipes I want to try myself.

Third Time's a Charm?

Well, here it goes-- this is the third time I've tried to start a blog and we'll see if I manage to keep up with this one. (Also the second time I've tried to post this, hopefully I won't require a third time for that!) The second of September seems as good a time to start something as any other day.

I probably should have planned this better. After all, the blogs I most enjoy are well thought out and have a clear focus: SouleMama (raising a family, beautifully), Three Beautiful Things (finding beauty in everyday things), and OatmealCookie Blog (for the obvious).

But why be well thought out and focused when you can be disorganized and fly by the seat of your pants? After all, this is my life and my life is pretty messy, just like my house.

So I'll write about all sorts of random things:

Nutrition: This is my job, but I'm really passionate about encouraging nutrient rich foods and helping people make the most healthy choices for their life. Yes, this may include a processed food or two, but you know, it's all about overall balance.

Family: I'm a wife and a mom, so the husband and kiddos will probably pop up from time to time. I would prefer to be home with my boys, so there could be some mommy guilt going on.

Food: I try to make a decent meal every night. Sometimes I succeed better than others (see above: processed food, mommy guilt). But I'm planning on posting interesting recipes that I find, with an emphasis on quick, inexpensive and healthy.

Books: I love to read. One of the benefits of my job is a long train ride where I have some quiet time to myself with a book. Anything particularly good, I'll write a review.

Dreams: Of course, there are never enough hours in a day to do everything I'd like to do. So if someday I manage to bake or knit something, I'll have to write about such an accomplishment!

With all that's going on in my life right now, I need a place to focus my thoughts. Hopefully this space can help me with that. And if anyone else actually ever reads this, that'll be an extra bonus!