Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Roll ups in the Park

Over the weekend we had the opportunity to hang out at Laurelhurst Park in Portland and watch some improv Shakespeare. It was a fun mix of traditional Shakespeare and silliness as they interacted with the audience, including a referee with a whistle. 


  

  

The plan was to pack a picnic and eat while we were at the park, but once we got there we found ourselves packed into a small area, four adults, one dog and a toddler, which proved to not be overly accommodating to fixing a meal. This led to a round of snacking on random items we had  brought along but never getting around to fixing the roll ups I packed as our main entree. With a restless toddler, we found ourselves abandoning the play, walking around the lake and moving to the playground, but all it all it was still a nice afternoon away from the house and the stress we have been dealing with over the last month or so.

Hanging around the house later in evening we decided to pull out the roll up makings that traveled to the park and back and have some dinner. So check out this simple idea that would have been a great picnic fare under different conditions.


Roll ups in the Park (or the living room)
The thought process behind the roll ups came from playing with my food as usual. I took the crepe recipe I posted a while back for pigs in a blanket    
http://coralsgrocerybag.blogspot.com/2014/06/pigs-n-blanket.html and omitted the sweetener and cinnamon and replaced it with a dried herb mix for a dill dip/dressing, you can use any fresh or dried herb mix that fits your fillings.  

I packed leaf lettuce leaves and a herb roasted chicken breast lunch meat I picked up at small local market in our area. 

Layer a crepe with lettuce and chicken, and simply roll up carefully as to not tear the crepes. You could spread your crepes with flavored cream cheese or a spicy mustard,  layer your favorite cheese with the meat of our choice. it's totally up to you, use the savory crepe as you base and have some fun. Who says you always need bread for a picnic!




Friday, July 18, 2014

Creamy Tomato Beef Stroganoff

Around 15 years ago I did a stent as a bookkeeper for the Old Spaghetti Factory corporate offices. I did the books for five of the locations here in the Northwest. I had the three Oregon locations and two in Washington which allowed me a closer contact with my location general managers and the opportunity to visit the locations regularly than the other staff bookkeepers in the office. Needless to say I also had the opportunity to eat plenty of the food as well. My office was upstairs from the main restaurant on the river in downtown Portland and in the many visit to the main dinning room I got hooked on one of their dishes that is still a favorite on the menu even today. 

My downfall was their Factory Favorites Chicken Fettuccine, but it was always with a twist. I would order the Chicken Fet with half alfredo sauce and half their chunky tomato marinara. When it arrived at the table I would mix the two sauces together into a rich creamy sauce the coated the pasta with a rich silkiness that I still love, but the carbs in the pasta and the flour in the sauce doesn't love me.

So with my love for this combination, I got to thinking about how I would create a sauce that was just as enjoyable but healthier and in the guidelines of my eating plan that I try to follow, and this what I came up with. 

Creamy Tomato Beef Stroganoff
1 lb ground beef
1 32oz jar of sugar free marinara sauce
1 8oz package full fat cream cheese
1/2 Large head of cabbage, thin sliced into ribbons
1 lg onion, thin sliced
salt & Pepper
Grated Parmesan Cheese for garnishment

Brown ground beef in large skillet or roasting pan. In a separate pan sweat the cabbage and onions in olive oil, with a good pinch of salt and pepper until translucent. 

Once meat is browned add cream cheese and stir around until softened and starting to coat the meat, add jar of sauce and continue to stir until heated through and cream cheese in incorporated into the thickened sauce. Pour over cabbage mix and toss. Serve up with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese and enjoy.

 

 

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Bacon, Spinach & Mushroom Egg Cups and Greek Chicken Salad

Well as usual, as I've been whizzing along at warp speed, life has thrown me another curve ball. On Sunday June 22nd we got the call that my husband's mom had been taken to the hospital and was dehydrated and quit ill. On Monday we were told that it was cancer and they thought six months, with in the next 24  hours that time line was reduced to a month, so Bob hopped a train on Wednesday the 25th and headed for Seattle. He was there to assist with transferring mom back to her home and the set up of hospice to assist with her care.

I made a one day round trip on Saturday the 28th with our two sons to basically get some time with her, not knowing how things were going to play out and have the chance to say our goodbyes. When I headed up I wasn't sure if Bob was coming home with us or if he was going to continue to say up there to assist with her care. As it turned out, his younger sister from Florida arrived and would be staying to help his older sister so he took his leave to come home for a few days.

That turned out to be very few, while he was at work on Monday June 30th he got a call saying that mom was going down hill fast, so he left work early and headed back up, after arriving at her house at 11pm she ended up passing away at the age of 91 at 2am Tuesday morning July 1st. He spent the week there with his sisters making all the arrangement for her services that were held on Saturday July 5th before his sister had to return to Florida. I drove up on Friday the forth and returned on Sunday. Our boys made one day round trips for the service and Bob finally came home on Monday the 7th after helping with some final details.

Friday the 11th we took care of some issues here at home and headed back to Seattle again to begin the process of cleaning out the house.  We put in an aggressive day and a half of work on the house before crawling back into our truck and made our way home.

Needless to say, during that three weeks of craziness I threw all eating standards to the wind. We ate on the fly, we ate random meals while home alone, in Seattle and on the road.  I ate odds and ends alone at home and while putting in allot of extra hours trying to stay on track at the office while taking extra days off for travel I ate at the restaurant frequently too, it was just plain hard on my system. 

With everyone home for the next few weeks its time to detox the system and find some balance in our eating and life. So with that in mind, here are a couple of my meal items for the week.

Bacon, Spinach & Mushroom Egg Cups
1 dozen Eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 c. Shape cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 lb bacon
1/2 to 1 c frozen spinach, thaw and squeeze the liquid out in a towel
1 lb sliced mushrooms

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (is should still be warm from baking the bacon)
While the spinach is thawing in  the sink, I lay all the bacon out on a baking sheet (with tall sides to catch the grease), place in a 400 degree oven  and bake until crispy, about 20 min depending on the thickness of your slices. Remove from baking pan to paper towels to drain. I save my grease drippings for other cooking. Once the bacon is cool, it should crumble easily.
With the bacon in the oven I brown the mushrooms in butter in a big fry pan, they must be browned in small batches, not crowding them in the pan or they will steam (this tip comes from Julia). With everything cooked off or prepped, mix together in a large bowl. Whisk up the eggs and milk (I use a stick blender, it will breakdown the whites) and pour over the other ingredients and stir together. Ladle into silicone muffin pans (I use a Jumbo muffin) and bake for 30-35 minutes. They will be fluffy and over the top, but as they cool they will shrink back. They store easily in an air tight container in the frig and can be warmed in the microwave or toaster oven. We take one of the jumbo or two of the standard muffins for a simple quick breakfast on the go.


Greek Chicken Salad
1 lg English Cucumber, quartered lengthwise, cut sticks in 1/4" slices
2 lg Tomatoes (4 Roma's will do too), rough chopped 
1 c. Feta Cheese, crumbled
1 sm can sliced Black Olives (or what ever olive you prefer)
1 Bell Pepper, diced small
1/2 lb diced cooked chicken meat or turkey breast
Greek Dressing (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/greek-salad-recipe.print.html)
(I played around with the dressing, made a double batch, used mayo in place the oil to make a creamy dressing and I think maybe next time I will try it with cream cheese to make it thicker)

Now comes the best part, toss it all in a large bowl and mix it up. Eat now or store it up for later.
 

 

So there you have it, my breakfasts and lunches for the week, 
and here's to getting back on track!