Oh my, oh my...

...happy fourth-of-July. In spite of me wanting to wring the necks of everyone on our block who thought it was cool be setting off fireworks at 10:30, it was a great weekend.

WHAT. 10:30 is super late for me now.

We spent part of Saturday and all day Sunday boating and beaching with friends and family. I might have gotten a 7^th degree sunburn on my entire back. Spray sunscreen is such a tease. It’s all like “oh just use me- I’m soooo easy! I’ll do a decent job protecting you” and then no, every time I get a horrible sunburn.

Raided my dad’s garden for some pea pods and lettuce and onions.

Busy weekend means that mama don’t feel like cooking much. Slow cooker chicken tacos to the rescue. This is a recipe that I’ve probably posted before, but it’s something I haven’t made in awhile, so why not repeat.

-1 package boneless skinless chicken breasts (~1-1.5 lbs)

-2 large (10+ oz) jars of your favorite salsa. I used basic medium spicy tomato salsa

-1/4 teaspoon chili powder

-1/4 teaspoon salt

-1/4 teaspoon pepper

-1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

Place chicken in the bottom of a slow cooker. Add seasonings on top of chicken. Pour salsa over chicken. Cook on low for 7-8 hours. Shred when ready to serve. This makes enough shredded chicken for about 8 good-size tacos.

I chose to serve fresh corn, chopped (garden) onion, chopped (garden) cilantro, and chopped (garden) lettuce, along with crumbled queso fresco cheese. Feel free to add whatever salsas or toppings you like.

You could easily use this meat for quesadillas, enchiladas, sandwiches- so many possibilities. This meat freezes & thaws really well too.

Patriotic Popsicles

Holy shamoley I can hardly believe it’s already time for the 4^th of July weekend. I woke up this morning to see this gal in our backyard. It was all sweet and serene, 'til she took a giant dump. Argh.

In honor of summer, and the 4th, let's have some flag popsicles, mmk?

All you need are three ingredients.

Flag Popsicles

-1/2 cup blueberries, rinsed and dried

~5 strawberries, rinsed and dried

-6 oz vanilla or coconut nonfat Greek yogurt

-1 sealable sandwich bag with a seriously teeny hole snipped at the bottom corner

-4 pack popsicle mold (though you could just make these in a Dixie cup and add a wooden popsicle stick, or even just a metal spoon)

Using a fork, mash the blueberries until pureed. It is ok if there are some chunks. Spoon ~1/2” worth into the bottoms of each popsicle mold. Freeze for an hour.

Pour yogurt into sandwich bag, while holding the snipped end closed. I found it easiest to “pipe” in the yogurt because spooning it in left me with yogurt all on the sides of the mold, and you want a nice smear-free mold. Pipe ~1/2” yogurt into the mold.

Mash strawberries until fairly pureed. It is still ok if there are some chunks. Spoon a thin (~1/4”) layer of mashed strawberry on top of yogurt. Freeze for an hour. Repeat as many times as needed until you’ve either run out of strawberry mash or yogurt or your molds are full.

To dislodge popsicles, run under hot tap water for a few seconds.

Per popsicle: approximately 60 calories, 4 grams protein.

Can you count to 3?

How’s about you cookin’ up a 3 ingredient dinner? Sound like the right amount of work for a Wednesday night? All you need is chicken, provolone cheese, and pesto.

Juuuuust in case you’re not up to speed with pesto, it’s pretty much just ground up herb, usually basil. But you could take any herb and make a pesto- just process with some olive oil, toasted pine nuts, garlic, and Parmesan. Or be like me and buy a jar of the premade pesto. You’ll find it on the top shelf in the Italian aisle. I promised a 3 ingredient recipe, after all.

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 24 oz total chicken), either pounded or cut into ½” thick pieces

1 4-6 oz jar pesto

6-7 round slices provolone cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat the bottom of a glass baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Arrange chicken in pan, and spoon pesto over each piece. Spread as evenly as you can. Top each breast with a  slice of cheese. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until internal temp registers at least 165 degrees and cheese is slightly browned and bubbling.

That’s it. Makes 6 servings. Per serving: 390 calories, 34 g protein, 2 grams carbs, 25 g fat (mostly heart healthy)

I served this with some fancy Farmer's Market whole grain pasta, cherry tomatoes, and more basil.

 Once you've had a newborn, you'll never view pesto in the same way...

Someone figured out the doggy door...

...happy Thursday!

Go ahead and call me Juliana Margulies...

...'cause I am the good wife.

I am feeling pretty high on my horse today, fresh off a most excellent weekend.

For Father’s Day I pulled out most of the stops for a fun ‘n’ food filled weekend for hubs and I.

First up was the Twins/Cubs game. My husband is originally from Chicago and the Cubs were totally his team for forever. It was fun to see him at the game and catch a glimpse of the 8-year old boy inside of him who still loves the Cubbies.

Next up we headed down to the Millennium Hotel, within walking distance of the ballpark. Checked in, went up to our room, opened the door….aaaaaaand OH MY GOSH THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE IN THIS ROOM.

Fortunately they weren’t home. Got a new (vacant) room and opened up the bottle of wiiiiiiine.

We walked over to dinner at Butcher and the Boar, where neither of us had been. The wait for an inside table was hours, but we could seat ourselves in their cool back patio area. Done deal. I ordered a cheddarwurst sandwich and my husband got some kind of spicy sausage on a bun loaded with peppers and melty cheese. Maybe it was in part because I was super hungry, but this meal was totally delish, and the skyline views and beautiful weather just made it all-around perfect.

Don’t worry about all the cholesterol that I downed. The red wine’ll fix it.

After dinner, my husband was a good sport and took a picture of my lame-o self trying to look cute and artsy in front of a brick wall.

We headed over to Lunds & Byerly’s to get some take-home desserts, and play with pop. At least one of us found our name.

Don’t worry about me buying the calorie bomb “Killer Brownie.” The red wine’ll fix it.

Like true adults, we vegged out and watched golf on cable.

If it helps me justify that, we don’t get cable at home.

You’re still judging.

In the morning we got super awesome room service, compliments of the hotel after the room mix up.

Here’s me trying to look cute & fresh despite having a roasted baby potato crammed in my pie hole.

We then went for a jog over to the sculpture garden, then showered and headed just 2 miles away to the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market.

All the cheeses. All the oils. All the produce. All the lemonade and limeade.

Don’t worry about all the sugar in that lemonade. The red wine’ll…um…forget it.

And fresh picked strawberries. Look at those bright gems..

We picked up Baby Guy and headed over to my in-laws’ lake home where we capped the day off with swimming and floating.

Perfect weekend, perfect Father's Day.

Stay tuned ‘cause this week I’m going to do some actual cooking and do more than just post pics of me thinking I’m being interesting. How’s that for a draw?

Friday Favorites

So the story goes I was going to post this on Friday, but then on Friday, I started dying. Finally last night I did die, of a cold, that is, and now I am a zombie. Finally posting this three days after the fact. 

UGHedyughedyughedyugh.

It wasn’t so bad being at work this morning, as it was gray and gloomy. Now it’s 4:30, sunny and gorgeons, and goodness gracious let’s get out of here.

Because I like to do fluff posts from time to time, here goes a Fri Faves, and no I am not in any way copying Lauren Conrad.

Except I totally am.

These shoes.

Bought them on eBay used (though they had ZERO signs of wear) for a great price, and they’re pretty much my every day at-work shoes. The wedge is only 2.5” high and they are super comfy. Love.

Sidenote: It is impossible to take selfies of one's ankles without making it look like they are giant bloaty cankles. This is the least bad angle that I could get.

Glass water bottle.

I had requested one of these as my birthday present last year, and my husband got that hint loud and clear, but then I lost it! Eek! I recently picked up this bright yellow one from J. Crew’s website for only $6. Whole Foods also sells these, but you’re going to spend more than $20 on their version. Maybe I fall victim to the hype, but I swear the water really does taste better coming from a glass bottle than a plastic.

Clinique Freebies

I might be too Minnesotan here, but I usually feel guilty when I’m at the makeup counter and I don’t actually buy anything. My fave new person is Jasmine, at the Northtown Mall Clinique counter, gave me a generous sample of their CC cream. This might look small, but just a dab gives great coverage, and so far I’ve been using this for two weeks and there’s barely a dent in it. Go get some free stuff.

Essie “Sunday Funday” nail polish + B. Dazzling Ring

I’ve been wanting a pave rose gold (faux) ring for months now, but my Mr. Burns-like fingers are too small for most rings. I found this one on Macys.com and it came in a size 5. And it was only $23 on sale. The polish is a perfect color for summer, and though you can’t tell in the picture, it has the teeniest of teeny hint of metallic to it.

So yeah. Fun stuff. Other fun not-so-materialistic things?

A baby in Pampers and tube socks.

So back to present day- Monday. I had 3 unripe bananas on Saturday and I halted the dying process for an hour just to make some banana bread. I added a new twist by dumping in some PB. Call me crazy but I kinda dig the PB-nanner combo. 

"Oh, come look at this tidy 2 foot section of my kitchen."

It's not like a hard rule or anything, but you need to be buying this peanut butter.

Like Tina said, it's simply the best...better than all the rest. At least I think that's how those lyrics go? Anyway, not only does it legit taste better than any other PB out there, but when they say "natural" they are not exaggerating.

You see that ingredient list? Peanuts. As it should be. And yeah it's got that layer of oil on top, but once you give it a good stir, it stays combined. 

PB Banana Bread

3 super ripe bananas (the more brown spots, the better), mashed (about 2 cups worth)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup creamy PB

6 oz unsweetened applesauce

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups whole wheat flour (I had whole wheat pastry flour on hand and used that- worked fine)

1 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

Mmk preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9x5 loaf pan with nonstick baking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, sugar, PB, applesauce, and vanilla. Set aside. In another medium bowl, stir flour, baking soda, and salt. Add dry mixture to wet mixture. Stir in bananas. Stir just until combined- you do not want to beat the heck out of this.

Pour in your loaf pan and bake for 60-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes, then invert onto a baking rack to fully cool.

I found that this tasted best the next day. It's the perfect combo of bananas and peanut butter. And probably my deadly cold germs too. Eat up!

Per serving (1/10th of loaf): 146 calories, 40 grams carbohydrates, 8 grams fat, 8 grams protein, 70 mg sodium

The Varying Value of a Dollar

How is that I can spend money so easily in some ways, but then in other ways, I am the Queen Stingy.

Like, Target dollars? Don’t count.

Haircut dollars? I clip the Fantastic Sam’s coupons from the receipts at the grocery store.

J. Crew dollars? Super cute stuff demands to be bought.

Car care dollars? I clip the mechanic coupons from the receipts at the grocery store.

Cute workout gear? Well if I intend to wear it a hundred times I can justify the hundred dollars.

Our energy bill? I clip the coupons from the….wait. Why aren’t there any coupons for the energy company?

I do not like using the air conditioner for a few reasons, jacked up energy bill being just one. I tend to be cold 99% of the time, so a warm house is just my thing. The warmer weather we’ve been having lately is awesome. Grilling? Yes please. Have you ever grilled chickpeas? Cah-razy. Obviously you’re gonna need some sort of grill pan that does not have huge holes to it. We’ve had this bad boy for a few years and even though it’s looking a little worse for the wear, it does the trick just fine.

Greek Chickpea Pitas with Cucumber Slaw

2 cucumbers, washed and coarsely grated

1 red onion, thinly sliced

½ cup plain Greek yogurt

¼ teaspoon minced garlic

1 small can black olives, rinsed and drained (optional)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 lemons

1 sprig fresh dill, chopped (about 1 tablespoon)

Salt and pepper

2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained

8 whole wheat pitas

Using a few paper towels, soak up excess moisture from grated cucumbers. Combine cucumbers, red onion, Greek yogurt, minced garlic, olives, dill, and pinch of salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Add juice of one lemon. Stir until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to eat.

Heat up grill to medium heat. In a separate bowl, combine chickpeas, olive oil, juice of the other lemon, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir until chickpeas are well coated. Set grill pan on burner, pour chickpeas into pan. Close the grill lid and cook for ~10 minutes. Stir chickpeas, continue cooking until golden browned and starting to char. Remove from grill.

Serve one scoop of grilled chickpeas with one scoop of cucumber slaw in a pita.