Monday, October 18, 2010

Random Thoughts

1.  I just discovered the perfect breakfast - oatmeal with mashed banana, peanut butter, and a drizzle of maple syrup.  I usually don't enjoy oatmeal, but I'm looking for a way to keep myself feel full for longer - I'll keep you posted if it works.


2.  I got sucked into Sister Wives on TLC last night.  For those of you not familiar with the convoluted system of American reality TV, this show follows a plural family.  Kody Brown has four wives and thirteen biological children.  This will be the first and last time I watch this nonsense - but I couldn't help watching, it was like a train wreck.  I remarked to Rob, "can you imagine having to deal with the emotions and hormones of four wives instead of just one"?  What is this guy thinking?



3.  Note to self: don't drink a beer before making dinner.  We were supposed to have: grilled flank steak, mashed potatoes, steamed green beans, fresh lima beans in cream, and caramel apples for dessert.

 The limas were pretty delish - how can you mess up something that's simmered in cream? 
 The flank steak was so tough, I swear we had to chew it for 20 minutes.  We actually joked that it was not caloric because we burned so many calories chewing it.  I guess it wasn't really my fault - but we sure laughed a lot throughout our dinner!
 And, the mashed potatoes:  My hand-held mixer is broken and I thought I could make mashed potatoes with my immersion blender.  Um, not so much.  What we ended up eating was "cream of potato soup". 




4.  I love, love, love a clean house.  I find myself with a naturally better outlook on life when I can walk through my house and feel like it's clean and well-organized.  The corner of our bedroom has been the "staging" area for our master bathroom for a few years and it has been clutter-free for a whole week!



5.  We are officially  "out" of butter - does anyone else go through food as fast as we do?



6.  I helped feed our elementary school teachers last week - several moms worked together to pull off a great meal for the 25 teachers -
beef tenderloin with mushrooms and madeira wine sauce
pork tenderloin
mixed greens with butternut squash, cranberries, goat cheese, and maple vinaigrette
caesar salad
beef veggie soup
crab and corn chowder
cream of mushroom soup - I'll be making this soon and posted a recipe - to.die.for.
zucchini quiche
roasted carrots and parsnips
rice pilaf
paper goods
        total cost = $245 (I love BJ's Wholesale Club)
(we had desserts and drinks that were donated by other moms)



7.  I totally lost 3/4 lb of sliced sweet bologna.  I am very upset about this - I have craved this stupid bologna time and time again this weekend.  Rob thought maybe it fell behind our veggie crisper drawer in our upstairs refrigerator.  This was a bad thing - he removed the drawers in our refrigerator.  It was ugly We found: two containers of yogurt(a year old), flax seed oil (at least a year old), a fork, and a tupperware container of hot fudge or balsamic bbq sauce (not sure which).  Rob was quite disappointed that he didn't find any of his missing socks back there.  Seriously.  :)



8.  I'm making cheesesteak  sandwiches for dinner tonight - can't wait.  Maybe I'll make the cream of mushroom soup to go with it!

4 comments:

  1. I laughed out loud when I saw the picture of your mashed potatoes. At least you have saved the rest of us from ever trying to make mashed potatoes with an immersion blender. I tried using my food processor once to make mashed potatoes... NO!!! Don't do it! It was like eating glue.

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  2. We have amazing "science" experiments that happen in our refrigerator, but we don't generally lose things in there. That happens in the pantry where I find things that are 3 or 4 yrs old. How they slip through the regular clean out is beyond me.
    Thanks for the tip on not using an immersion blender for mashed potato, that will save me a disaster in the future.
    I sometimes have oatmeal with some small pieces of dried apple and cinnamon, and if I have it, I use some apple juice when cooking it.

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  3. good ideas for the oatmeal, Marg. I guess it kinda kept me full, but I ate two full bowls.

    Rob wouldn't let me take a picture of the area behind the crisper drawer :) thank goodness he has some self-preservation! He gagged when I tasted the hot fudge sauce - I smelled it, I knew it was still good :)

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  4. Oh yuck, no way. I think I would have been with Rob, gagging. lol.

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