TV Time

Reason number 742 why I am a good wife:

I am pro watching-football-on-Sundays.  Between the hyper-masculine commercials for trucks, I saw this:

Queen-o!

Dietitian-approved humor.  Love it.

Garden Humor

Here's a sampling of some carrots pulled from my garden.

Mother Nature is a total freak. 

Domestic Sundays

I looooooove Sundays in the fall.

FOOTBALL.

Ok but not 'cause I'm glued to the TV watching the Vikings (lose).  More 'cause 3 hours of TV sets the tone of the day.  You can wear sweatpants.  You can loaf on the couch.  You don't feel obligated to go out and do anything 'cause everyone else is at home too.

So I find that Sunday afternoons are a prime time to get a head start on cooking for the week.  Bonus if the recipe uses a crock pot.

Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
Makes 8 servings

3 pounds beef stew meat, visible fat pieces trimmed and cut into 3" chunks
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large yellow onion, sliced in cross sections (onion-ring style)
20 oz can cream of mushroom soup (bonus if you get low sodium)
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons dried chives
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup red cooking wine
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
8 oz lowfat sour cream
1 bag whole wheat egg noodles

In the bottom of a large crockpot, arrange the beef.  Sprinkle pepper on top.  Layer onion slices.  Pour cream of mushroom soup over it.  Add water and seasonings, including Worcestershire sauce.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour with cooking wine.  Pour over the mixture.  Put a lid on it and cook 4 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low.  Make sure you test the internal meat temp (160+) to make sure it's done.  Stir in sour cream 30 minutes before serving.  Boil egg noodles according to package directions.

Am I claiming this is super fancy and super healthy?

Um, no.

But my policy as of late seems to be along the lines of "weeeeeeell, it could be worse."

And also, the only joke that I ever remember happens to be about beef stroganoff.  Only it's rated R so I probably shouldn't share it here.  Thanks to my college friend Kaia for telling it to me 9 years ago.  It's a keeper. 

Just like this recipe.


Per serving: 410 calories, 29 g carbs, 15 g fat, 40 g protein

Squash up the you-know-what

You know how a few weeks back I was bragging about how successful my garden has been?

And that I had an abundance of zucchini?

And how I was feeling super creative with making roasted zucchini, zucchini corn cakes, and zucchini cookies?

Well here we are now.  Who wants these leftover behemoths?

I.

am.

sick.

of.

zucchini.

But as much as I whine, I anticipate.  There will come a time this winter when I wish I would've done something with those zucchini in order to enjoy later.

Enter zucchini bread.  Nothing terribly special, I know, but quick breads freeze really well and it's an easy way to use up a zucchini.  Or 4.

Zucchini Bread
Makes 2 regular loaves or 4 mini loaves
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or 2 cups whole wheat/1 cup all purpose)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 3/4 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups grated zucchini (press the moisture out once or twice using a paper towel)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  Spray your loaf pan(s) with nonstick baking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients (up to eggs).  In a larger bowl, combine eggs, oil, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla.  Beat for 60 seconds with an electric mixer.  Or get your upper body cardio in and whirl away by hand. 

Add half the dry mixture to the egg mixture.  Stir until partially combined.  Add the rest of the dry ingredients.  The batter will seem dry.  Stir in grated zucchini (this is where the moisture returns) and walnuts.  Pour into the pans and bake 40-60 minutes, depending on size.  Use the knife test to determine if they're done- insert a knife into the center.  If it comes out with batter, it needs more time.

Cool for a few minutes, then invert on a paper towel to fully cool.  To freeze, wrap room temperature loaves in a paper towel before placing in a ziploc bag or foil.

Or you could try a few slices just to make sure it turned out ok.

Yeah, I recommend that.

Bon Anniversaire

Ok actually that translates to "happy birthday."  I've lost what little French skillz I ever had.

This past Labor Day weekend my husband and I celebrated our second anniversary.  Tip to those who haven't yet gotten married- set the date for a holiday weekend.  Then instead of having one measly dinner on a Wednesday, you can worm your way into celebrating a looooooong weekend.

We took an overnight trip down to Lanesboro, a small town in southeastern Minnesota.  I used to go there as a kid and I thought the husband would enjoy it.

Pit stop in my hometown for some delicious hole-in-the-wall barbecue:

Pretend that the couple at the order window is us in 30 years.  I will want that stylin' straw hat.

A heaping pile o' barbecue for the husband and a cheeseburger and pink lemonade shaved ice for me.  In my youth, I ate about 237 of these.

Onto Lanesboro- the cutest li'l town that ever was.

I say that because you need to picture it yourself- I failed to take a single picture of the main street.

First order of business was to hop on the bike trail and head east to the next town over, "famous" for its...

pies.  You can't tell, but the building actually says "WORLD FAMOUS PIES."

Never heard of Whalan, MN?  Yep.

The line for pie was out the door.  I'm not even a pie person really, but hey, I had just biked a whopping four miles (heh), and the place is "famous," so yeah.

A slice of triple berry, please.  Upside down shot.  It was really really good.  Too bad we got the second to late slice.  All those people in the above picture probably got stuck with banana cream.

Some river fishing along the way back.  The guy on the right may have the fishing outfit & gear of a champion, but the guy on the left has the heart of a champion.  He even caught a li'l trout.  Me = eat pie, him = catch fish.  We understand each other.

We ate dinner at a restaurant that was literally on the river.

This might be the one and only time when I out-eat my husband.  One giant walleye filet?  Yes please.  

 We stayed at "The Historic Scanlan House" bed & breakfast, which I'm pretty sure makes us bona fide adults.

We had the Victorian suite.  It was pretty cool.  Even though all 10 of the guests had to sit at the same dining table for breakfast, we did pretty well with the whole small-talk-with-strangers-while-we-eat-quiche thing.  I can hang with the 50+ crowd.

Great weekend overall.  Happy to have reached year #2 and looking forward to what adventures the next twelve months will bring.

A Fungus Among Us

I don't like mushrooms.

They're just...no. 

The smell, the texture- all wrong.

So for a girl who really isn't into mushrooms, I still find myself eating them.  The secret is chopping them really tiny and adding a billion other ingredients.  Like with these meatballs.

Turkey Wild Rice Meatballs
1 lb lean ground turkey
1 can cooked wild rice
1 cup finely chopped baby portabello mushrooms
1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1 egg
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper, each

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Coat a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine all of your ingredients.  Stir with a stiff spoon, or else just use your hands to mush it all together. 
3. Form into 1.5 inch balls and place in the baking dish.
4. Bake 25-30 minutes, or until internal temp reaches 165 degrees.

Recipe makes 24 meatballs.  Serving size = 4 meatballs.  I don't know why I was so stingy with my plate.  I definitely went back for more.

Per serving: 208 calories, 17 g carbs, 6 g fat, 18 g protein.

You could get more creative here- make them into patties to bake in the oven for a burger, make into a meatloaf, try grilling it, etc. I just like making meatballs because they're easy to freeze and portion out for future lunches. 

The mushroom acts as a filler (and some would say "flavor enhancer") to provide substance with minimal calories.  That whole cup of mushrooms is only 40 calories! 

If you got excited by this mushroom recipe, don't get your hopes up.  Unlike zucchini, which I happily turned into cookies, I will not be getting funky with fungus anytime soon.

The Trap

Cruise the aisles of the grocery store and you can find a whole lot of seemingly healthy foods.  Well, maybe not healthy, but "less offensive" foods- like sugar free cookies, or baked potato chips.

But are those things really any better?

Nope.

And neither are these cookies.  Let's be real- adding zucchini does not make them something you should be eating morning, noon, and night, but you might as well add a li'l extra nutrition to your sugar & fat.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 stick butter, softened 

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 smallish zucchini, finely grated (you want it to measure approximately 1 cup of grated zucchini)
2 cups dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  

3. In a medium bowl, combine flour with soda and salt.  Gradually stir in to the butter mixture.

4. Soak up excess moisture from grated zucchini with a few paper towels.  Stir in zucchini to dough.  Lastly stir in chocolate chips.

5. Plop on a cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.  They stay puffy and don't really spread as much as a regular cookie.  

The recipe should make about a dozen and a half cookies.  I got a little overzealous with the plopping and ended up with some ginormous cookies.  Fortunately I am manly enough to handle a ginormous cookie.

Nice and puffy when baked.

You can't see or taste the zucchini.  Tasty as these are, I think I'd better find healthier ways to use up the never-ending zucchini from my garden.