I have been sick for way too long! I feel like as soon as I get over one illness, I get another. I have now been well for only 10 days during the past month. That is not a good ratio. To combat my seemingly sickly constitution, I have decided to make a conscious effort to eat better and to make time to get more excercise. I am also going to be meeting with a nutritionist next week to help me figure out what else I can do to boost my immune system.
My first step as I am finally feeling better from my recent Flu, was to menu plan for the following week and create my shopping list. I do have a number of healthy cooking cookbooks, as I love to cook and I do try to cook healthy meals. I just had gotten off track of late so need to refocus on this. I pulled out my Heart Smart cookbook by Bonnie Stern and started leafing through the recipes. I decided on the following recipes for this week (as we had a lot of the ingredients already in our freezer):
1. Sweet Chili Chicken
2. Moroccan Meatballs
3. Cod Baked in Tomato Sauce with Onions
4. Penne with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Bocconcini
Most of these recipes are fairly easy so are a good choice. I also want to introduce new flavours for the girls to expand their palate.
Wish me luck on my first week towards eating better. Next step: Join a Gym!!!
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Sunday, December 19, 2010
My (not so) Secret Cheese Dip Recipe: What I'm Makin Monday
I'm not a cook by any means, but I'm learning ok?
So when I offered to help out with some snacks for a friend's baby shower I was reluctant to choose anything I'd have to make.
I read off the list of my options to a friend at work.
"Fruit or veggie platter, chips and queso, cake..."
My friend suggested I take the the chips and queso because it's not hard to make, and it's inexpensive.
At first I was intimidated by the idea of making something myself, but she told me a secret recipe with only two ingredients: Velveeta cheese and two cans of Rotel.
GENIUS. I thought. I'd make this yummy dip and everyone would think I spent an hour slaving by hand to make it so tasty *evil laugh*.
Little did I know my secret recipe wasn't so secret after all. In fact, the husband of the mama-to-be made that very same cheese dip when we visited them days before the shower.
Then at the shower, when I was running late and resorted to making the cheese dip at the party, all the ladies oohed and aahhed about it being their favorite way to make a sauce for chips.
So, it may not be top secret, in fact, I believe I saw the very recipe on the side of the Rotel can. But I still got to feel like a cook for 30 seconds, nonetheless.
I'm going to work on cooking more next year. I say this every year but I'm REALLY going to work on it this time! I have a game plan. I'll decide what I'm making, give my husband a grocery list, and he'll buy the stuff I need while I'm at work. Then I'll cook when I get home. Finding the ingredients at the store is half my battle. So maybe if I make him do that part I can conquer the kitchen.
Another challenge for me is finding recipes I like and can understand. I'm going to resubscribe to E-Mealz and pull your submitted recipes from here (link also now in my sidebar). If When I make it, I'll link to your shared recipe. It's my effort to be more domestic, and to eat better. Thanks for your help!
What did you make? Link up!
So when I offered to help out with some snacks for a friend's baby shower I was reluctant to choose anything I'd have to make.
I read off the list of my options to a friend at work.
"Fruit or veggie platter, chips and queso, cake..."
My friend suggested I take the the chips and queso because it's not hard to make, and it's inexpensive.
At first I was intimidated by the idea of making something myself, but she told me a secret recipe with only two ingredients: Velveeta cheese and two cans of Rotel.
Little did I know my secret recipe wasn't so secret after all. In fact, the husband of the mama-to-be made that very same cheese dip when we visited them days before the shower.
Then at the shower, when I was running late and resorted to making the cheese dip at the party, all the ladies oohed and aahhed about it being their favorite way to make a sauce for chips.
 |
| My beautiful friend and mama-to-be! |
Another challenge for me is finding recipes I like and can understand. I'm going to resubscribe to E-Mealz and pull your submitted recipes from here (link also now in my sidebar).
What did you make? Link up!
Friday, January 8, 2010
HELP! I Need Your Recipes!
If you know me, you know I'm NOT a cook. But as my appetite grows bigger and bigger the more I'm realizing I need to find more things to cook and fast, or I'm going to turn Spawnie into a double cheeseburger meal! I'm not a big chef... Not in the least. Usually the thought of cooking a new recipe sends me into a mild panic attack to be followed by a migraine as I try to decipher the steps to make it.
Last year I took a stab at making more foods. I joined a frozen meal making group with my church, and made 3 frozen meals to store... Two of them are still in my freezer. At least when I'm ready to make them the directions are on the bag as there's no way I'd remember how to cook what's in them.
My friend gave me a recipe for stomboli, and it's become one of my favorites to make. The first couple of times I made it, it took me several hours to translate the ingredient: "A clove of garlic"? what the heck is that? "Genova Salami," as opposed to regular?.. I had no idea there were so many kinds of a simple meat. I bought my first bottle of olive oil to make that recipe, and it came out really good!
About my third time making it for us I got a little cocky and rushed it. I accidentally turned the oven up an extra 100 degrees and sadly, this was the result:
Luckily I have such a sweet husband cause although it was burnt black, he ate it anyway and told me the inside was good.
I've gotten a little more confidence since then and started making things that I was craving from scratch. Like beignets and peach cobbler for example. And I was beginning to stock up on what are basic cooking and baking essentials for many.
While I haven't personally felt like I've succeeded in accomplishing my goal of "learning how to cook" I have crossed off the Baby Bucket List the desire to "feel more comfortable in the kitchen." Now that I'm more comfortable, I need to know what else to make.
Cookbooks intimidate me. I usually judge a recipe by:
1. How pretty the picture looks
2. How many ingredients I understand.
3. How many ingredients there are (more than 5-8 breaks me into a nervous sweat reading it).
4. How long it takes to make.
Usually flipping through books I only spot a select few that fit my immediate qualifications. I was getting good at eating healthy when I had the goal of getting pregnant, now I've been slacking a little. As a part of my "Future Mama" journey on Modern Mom, they hooked me up with nutritionist, Julie Hammerstein, and she was able to give me A LOT of good tips on what types of meals are good, and what to make sure I'm eating, so now I'm more inspired to MAKE stuff.
So I've decided to turn to you... My fellow blog friends! Please please please leave your recipe ideas! I've started using allrecipes.com which is great, but it's sometimes hard to use if I'm not sure what I'm looking to cook, and daunting when people leave all of those extra comments about what to add/take out.
So if you know something that would be easy for a culinary talent-deprived mom-to-be please share! I'm hoping to get quite a few recipes down pat before Spawnie gets here! If you have some already written on your blog I've put up a linky for you to add it. just put the name of the recipe in the title and link to that post!
Also please let me know book ideas and anything else you think would be helpful!
Last year I took a stab at making more foods. I joined a frozen meal making group with my church, and made 3 frozen meals to store... Two of them are still in my freezer. At least when I'm ready to make them the directions are on the bag as there's no way I'd remember how to cook what's in them.
My friend gave me a recipe for stomboli, and it's become one of my favorites to make. The first couple of times I made it, it took me several hours to translate the ingredient: "A clove of garlic"? what the heck is that? "Genova Salami," as opposed to regular?.. I had no idea there were so many kinds of a simple meat. I bought my first bottle of olive oil to make that recipe, and it came out really good!
About my third time making it for us I got a little cocky and rushed it. I accidentally turned the oven up an extra 100 degrees and sadly, this was the result:
Luckily I have such a sweet husband cause although it was burnt black, he ate it anyway and told me the inside was good.I've gotten a little more confidence since then and started making things that I was craving from scratch. Like beignets and peach cobbler for example. And I was beginning to stock up on what are basic cooking and baking essentials for many.
While I haven't personally felt like I've succeeded in accomplishing my goal of "learning how to cook" I have crossed off the Baby Bucket List the desire to "feel more comfortable in the kitchen." Now that I'm more comfortable, I need to know what else to make.Cookbooks intimidate me. I usually judge a recipe by:
1. How pretty the picture looks
2. How many ingredients I understand.
3. How many ingredients there are (more than 5-8 breaks me into a nervous sweat reading it).
4. How long it takes to make.
Usually flipping through books I only spot a select few that fit my immediate qualifications. I was getting good at eating healthy when I had the goal of getting pregnant, now I've been slacking a little. As a part of my "Future Mama" journey on Modern Mom, they hooked me up with nutritionist, Julie Hammerstein, and she was able to give me A LOT of good tips on what types of meals are good, and what to make sure I'm eating, so now I'm more inspired to MAKE stuff.
So I've decided to turn to you... My fellow blog friends! Please please please leave your recipe ideas! I've started using allrecipes.com which is great, but it's sometimes hard to use if I'm not sure what I'm looking to cook, and daunting when people leave all of those extra comments about what to add/take out.
So if you know something that would be easy for a culinary talent-deprived mom-to-be please share! I'm hoping to get quite a few recipes down pat before Spawnie gets here! If you have some already written on your blog I've put up a linky for you to add it. just put the name of the recipe in the title and link to that post!
Also please let me know book ideas and anything else you think would be helpful!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
The Update Part 1
Here's an update on my previous challenges (cooking and jogging):
I suck.... I ran once this last week and haven't cooked yet. Cooking is just REALLY hard for me. I printed out all of these yummy recipes that seemed like they'd be easy to cook, but I got SO overwhelmed and got a headache just trying to figure out what was what at the store. Basically anything that needs more than five ingredients is out of the picture for me right now. I bought a couple of boxed dinners that have the stuff you need... Chicken, parmesan sauce, and all that extra stuff separated into different baggies. Then on the box it takes me through step by step how to make it. I know it's pathetic, but seriously that's all I can do... And I haven't even done THAT yet!! I'm making the chicken parmesan tonight though. I'll let you know how it goes.
Meanwhile, please let me know your favorite EASY (key word there) recipes. I'm seriously going to take baby steps with this cooking thing.
PS: Everyone keeps telling me about allrecipes.com but I can't seem to find the easy section... where's that?
I suck.... I ran once this last week and haven't cooked yet. Cooking is just REALLY hard for me. I printed out all of these yummy recipes that seemed like they'd be easy to cook, but I got SO overwhelmed and got a headache just trying to figure out what was what at the store. Basically anything that needs more than five ingredients is out of the picture for me right now. I bought a couple of boxed dinners that have the stuff you need... Chicken, parmesan sauce, and all that extra stuff separated into different baggies. Then on the box it takes me through step by step how to make it. I know it's pathetic, but seriously that's all I can do... And I haven't even done THAT yet!! I'm making the chicken parmesan tonight though. I'll let you know how it goes.
Meanwhile, please let me know your favorite EASY (key word there) recipes. I'm seriously going to take baby steps with this cooking thing.
PS: Everyone keeps telling me about allrecipes.com but I can't seem to find the easy section... where's that?
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