Little Shrimpies

This was Jordan's special project this weekend.   Sometimes he finds recipes on the Internet he just has to try.  Most of the time they involve food I do not like - bacon, butter, lots of FAT.  Most recently he found a recipe for Goat cheese stuffed shrimp wrapped in bacon.  I am a big fan of shrimp and goat cheese.  Not so much of bacon. I am also not a fan of highly intensive recipes.  Jordan does not have good judgement for how long some of the preparation work his recipes will require.  I was willing to let him try though.

1 LB shrimp.  I got large.  According to Jordan we should have gotten bigger ones.  These were hard to stuff.

 The time consuming part is getting the shrimp ready for the stuffing.  You must devein the shrimp, remove the shell, and then butterfly the shrimp.

 The stuffing requires sauteing the shrimp in butter.  I think Jordan used about 4 cloves of garlic and 2 TBSP of butter. 

 About 1/4 C of goat cheese mixed with 1tsp of assorted spices.  We use herbes de Provence.

Once the garlic mixture cools add to cheese and mix.

 Fill each of the shrimp with a small about of cheese.

Wrap in bacon and add to saute pan.  We didn't have toothpicks but the shrimp held up in the pan. 

Cook till shrimp turn pink.

This was a pretty rich meal  appetizer.  Jordan deemed the whole thing as a success.  The whole process took about 1 hour, a bit too long for me.  The shrimps were good but settled heavy in the tummy.  I do think this could be a winner at a fancy Super Bowl party.  So if you are having guests over this could be just the thing to serve.

Online Bake sale

I have a couple of things to tell you about today.  This is our big weekend day; Jordan and I want to have some fun.  First things first...Breakfast

Mix

Pour

Flip

EAT!

Normally, we don't go all out for breakfast but I was straving this morning and decided pancakes would hit the spot.  All of this was done before Jordan crawled out of bed at 7am.  I think the smell got to him.  I topped my with nutella, bananas, and some coconut butter.  It was SOOOO GOOD!

Announcement: My friend Kari from Jogging with Fiction is running this year for charity.  Each month she also intends to do a little some thing special to help with the fundraising efforts.  February is fast approaching and the fundraiser is a BAKE SALE!  This being right up my alley, I wanted to give you the heads up.  On February 5th, Kari will post all of the items up for bid.  The minimum bid will be $10.  For this you can choose 2 dozen cookies, breads, granola, bars, and all sorts of other baked treats.  For a sampling look here.  At the end of the day if you have the highest bid you will have 24 hours to pay via PayPal.  The bakers will then be notified and will send off the treats within 3 days.  How sweet is that?  And right before Valentine's Day.  I am still debating what I will make.  At first I was going to do 1 dozen oatmeal butterscotch cookies, and 1 dozen double chocolate cherry cookies.  Then I found a recipe for Momofuko's milk bar compost cookies.   These things are divine. They mix normal sweet cookie fillings with salty pretzel and potato chip combos.  Yes, potato chips in cookies.   I might just have to try out this recipe this weekend and then switch out my submission.

I am hoping to take a trip to Trader Joe's today to stock up on my stables of nuts, coffee, and nut butters that I so love at Trader Joe's.  I also really want to go to Whole Foods.  I got a gift card from my parents and cannot wait to go splurge on yummy food.  Can anyone say cheese, please?


Workout wrap-up:
Sunday - long run walk 2 minutes/ run 5 minutes for 40 minutes
Monday - 60 minutes elliptical
Tuesday - walk 10 minutes then run 2 minutes / walk 2 minutes for 20 minutes, walk 10 minutes
Wednesday - DVD at home Biggest Losers cardio blast 35 minutes
Thursday - walk 10 minutes, run 10 minutes, walk 1 minute, run 10 minutes, walk 10 minutes
Friday - REST
Saturday - 60 minutes elliptical, 10 minutes weights, 10 minutes abs

Date Night!

 Yummy, gooey cheese!

I don't know about you but this week seemed to last forever.  It was cold and snowy.  I feel like I could write the same post every week.  This winter has been something and I am ready for spring. 

Jordan and I decided we definitely needed a date night.  It is somewhat of a challenge to get us to agree to go out on a week night.  Yes, we are an old couple at heart.  We like to go to bed by 9pm, going out really stretches our limits. 

I had a short run planned so I left work right away and got in my 40 minute workout - walk 10 minutes, run 10 minutes, walk 1 minutes, run 10 minutes and then cool down/stretch. I was home by 6pm to shower up.

We went to Maritime Grille.  It is literally 1 minute down the road.  We had a restaurant.com coupon, it was close, and they tout themselves as being fine purveyors of meat.  Jordan was sold.

I got some French Onion soup to share with Jordan. It was delicious and hit the spot.  I think my comment was I could have two of these and be good to go.  I forgot to take any pictures after the soup.  They feed you lots though.  Bread basket on the table and all entrees come with a big salad, potato/rice and veggie.  We both got steaks.  The food was good and the portions huge - yea for lunch leftovers.  The veggies were a bit soaked with butter - I wasn't a fan.  Overall it was fun to get out and try something new.



Here we go again...

I think my car kind of looks like a prius.  Another foot of snow, and lots of drifts!

My husband

What my husband eats without me?

Jordan went to Pittsburgh earlier this week.  He ventured out for dinner to find Primanti Brothers Restaurant, a Pittsburgh sandwich establishment.  You can visit their website here.

They have been seen on various TV programs on the Food Network and the Travel Channel.  Basically the idea behind there sandwiches is to get a full meal within the sandwich.  This includes adding French fries and coleslaw as sandwich toppings.  Jordan decided that even with the extra French fries and cole slaw he needed a double meat portion - Corn beef and Pastrami to be exact.

I guess he thought that wouldn't be enough because he also got an additional side of French fries with chili, bacon, sour cream and cheese.  Doesn't that sound healthy?

All of this for only $13.  I bet they throw in a heart attack for free.  Due to the Pitt vs. Notre Dame game the street was packed with cars and my dear husband decided it was worth parking illegal for this quick grab and go sandwich call. 

Cold wintery night

When I came home last night from the gym I was so cold.  I was also a bit sweaty from my run so the first thing I wanted to do was to take a nice HOT shower.  Now, I got the water all warmed up and I jumped in.  And what did I feel?  PAIN!  Cold skin and hot water do not mix.  Instead you get an intense burning sensation.  This was not what I had in mind.  

I was satisfied later with a nice warm meal.  A crockpot creation that is one of the perfect throw it all in recipes. 

Beef and Button Mushroom Stroganoff

Ingredients:

1 1/2LB beef round steak, cut into strips

1/2 cup flour

2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground pepper

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

20 button mushrooms, sliced

1 1/2C beef broth

1/4 C white wine

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 C sour cream

1/4 C flour

4C egg noodles, cooked and drained

2 TBSP parsley

This was the first time I used the Reynolds plastic liners for the crockpot.  It was amazing.  When the meal is done you just throw out the bag. No cleaning required!

1. Dredge the beef strips in the flour, salt, and pepper.  Place the beef strips in the Crockpot.

2.  Add the mushrooms, onions, beef broth, wine, and Worcestershire sauce.

3.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

4.  Before serving, combine the sour cream and flour thoroughly, and add to the beef mixture.  Mix well and let cook for 10 more minutes.

5. Serve with egg noddles and garnish with parsley.

Missing summer: Maple blueberry muffins

When I think of Maine, I think of summer.  I also think of blueberries and maple syrup.  This weekend I wanted a little of all three.  Sadly, there was no way to capture summer short of going tanning.  This thought crossed my mind a couple times but I did not partake.  I was able to get a better handle of the blueberries and maple syrup with these muffins.

Maple Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients:
1 C white flour
1/2C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 C milk
1/4 C plain yogurt
1 egg
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 cup blueberries
1/2 C sugar
1/4C maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 375 degree.

2. Sift dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.

3. In another bowl combine egg, milk, maple syrup and melted butter.  Add sugar and combine.

4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.  Stir until just combined.

5.  Fold in blueberries.

6. Scoop into a lined muffin pan.  Cook for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

A tardy weekend update

Its freezing out. I think I am allergic to cold weather.  When I go outside and breathe in the bitterly cold air, I start to cough.  Thus, this cold weather is no good. 

Last week was very tiring, with lots of long days.  When Saturday finally rolled around I had little ambition to do anything.  Jordan and I basically sat around and did nothing.  We actually did quite a bit with the spare bedroom -getting a new bedroom set meant moving the old bed to the other room.  Jordan was sick last weekend so basically lots of bed pieces and random mattresses were all over the apartment.  It was very difficult to get around so I put my foot down as this is the one thing we must accomplish.

I made a new friend though...

This book was picked up from the local library Saturday morning and was finished by Sunday morning. 

I also started a new running training program to help with the "amp up running" resolution.

This is a somewhat simple 8 week program that by the end will let me run a 10K.  Unfortunately I was off to a bad start last week. Is it bad that I did Tuesday's run on Monday and then didn't do anything else till Saturday and Sunday?  Hopefully this week will align a bit more with the actual schedule. 

Finally, I might have fallen in love.  I think it is OK though cause Jordan introduced us.

A little garlic, butter, and fresh Italian bread.

 Then some cheese...

 Yum, Yum, Yum!

Here's to Monday!

Burger Bash

We haven't had burgers in a really long time.  This week was the annual winter company meeting.  That means really long intense days.  Not much time for cooking...or cleaning for that matter but I am not going to think about that till the weekend. 

Anyway, burgers with a bit of onion flavoring seemed like a nice, easy dinner.  And lots of kale chips.

Once there was a bread...

Once there was a girl who wanted to make some bread.  She got a bit lazy and decided to use a mix.

FAIL: Where was the kneading?  Now you know the need to make some cookies.

The cookie monster strikes again

What is a girl to do when it is cold, snowy, windy, and has a sick husband?  Well rule number one is to stay away from the sicky, but next up is to bake.  I am still in a mood for chocolate chip cookies and I have a grand recipe for you from the new cookbook.  I also whipped up some bread.  The cookies came  about because the bread was not nearly as therapeutic as I had hoped.  I will post about that soon but...

Tada, here are the cookies!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Shortened from Good to the Grain
By Kim Boyce
Awesome cookbook you must go BUY!

Ingredients:
3 C whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
8 oz cold unsalted butter
1 C dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.

2. Sift dry ingredients into large bowl.

3.  Add butter and sugars to standing mixer bowl.  Mix with paddle attachment until blended.  Scrape down the sizes and then add eggs one at a time.  Add vanilla.  Scrape down the bowl again.
 

4.  Add flour mixture to bowl.  Turn on low and combined, about 30 seconds.  Scrape down bowl.

5.  Add chocolate pieces and mix on low until evenly combined..

6.  Scoop cookie dough into balls about 3 Tbsp in size.  Leave about 3 inches apart on cookie sheet, about 6 cookies per cookie sheet pan.

7.  Bake about 16-20 minutes in the middle of the oven.  Transfer to rank to cool.

Cookies are best eaten warm from the oven or day of baking.  They will stay up to 3 days in airtight container.  It took a mighty effort to not eat the six cookies I baked off right away.  These are seriously the best cookies I have eaten in a long time.  I ate one today though - 3 days out and it was super delicious still.