Spring Roast

Isn't it funny the way different seasons predetermine distinct meals?
We place specific meals in a specific place in time within our calendar.

Hot Dogs, Cole Slaw, Cold Salads, and Ice cream cones belong in the summer
Casseroles and "Big meat" are reserved for Autumn
Chili and soups keep us warm and packing on excess body fat in the winter
While light grilled chicken salads and fresh fruit bring our bodies back to normalcy in preparation for summer.....

Pot Roast is one of these particular meals for me. Pot Roast makes me think of Christmas dinner at Grandmas, with cooked carrot chunks and noodles with gravy (or naked noodles in my case).
My Grandma, a lovely lady (one of my most favorite people in the world), is without a doubt one of the best Cookers/BAKERS in the universe.

Obviously most of the population would claim the same for their individual grandmothers, but Seriously, my Grandma is the real deal.....

and I've been CRAVING her Pot Roast.

I, on most days, am not a carnivore by any means, so to say I had a strange craving for large slabs of meat (at the brink of Spring) is rare indeed, but alas, it is true and I ventured today to make my very first Pot Roast....

With a little help and guidance from my sweet mother In Law I created a semi masterpiece:

Crockpot Spring Roast:
Place sirloin Tip (large slab of meat) on bottom of crock.
(I removed the nasty strings holding it together)
Add to crock

• Onion quarters (3/4 of onion)
• 1 sweet potato skinned and chunked
• 2 red potatoes skinned and chunked
• 2 carrots skinned and chunked
• feel free to add any other veggies of your choosing (i think brussel sprouts would go nicely but I ran out of room in the pot)
• Pour 1 1/2 cups of waters over contents of pot and cook on high for about 7 hours.
• sprinkle brown sugar twice during cooking on top of contents (my personal brink of genius)
  
• also: salt, pepper, basil, cinnamon
• about 30 mins before serving, add a last dash of brown sugar and ENJOY!!!

Spring Roast hit the spot, and, although it was not my grandma's tender, perfect pot roast, it did break all of the bonds holding pot roast in the chains of seasonal eating tendencies.

Wenesday Leftovers

Leftovers.
The name alone connotates negativity.
abandoned. alone. left. old"er" food.

Leftovers, in my mind, are attributed back even to childhood with distasteful dishes like leftover split pea soup. leftover macaroni and cheese. holiday leftovers....for days.

Not all of these meals were necessarily bad the first time, but if they were really good enough to eat twice on separate occasions, don't you think the term "going back for SECONDS" wouldn't need to exist?
Not only that, but why can't we, as cookers (male or female) learn to make the approximate and needed amount of food the first time for our family so that the dreaded second go around would cease to exist?
I, obviously, am guilty of this. The under consumption of food that I have prepared has left me no choice but to put it out, yet again, for dinner this evening. And at the risk of sounding slightly over dramatic, its shameful.

Leftover night, not only grosses me out, but also makes you feel as a food provider, kind of lazy. Not to mention the fact that my one and only REAL duty in this household is to cook dinner for everyone.

So tonight, I forfeit any built up pride on cooking skills I may have THOUGHT I owned, and I will humbly and unwillingly serve food that has been in our refrigerator for a number of days.

On a separate note:
We (Lawrence and I) made fish, rice, and veggies last night
(with no leftovers to attribute to it.)
Lawrence is the king of grilling pretty much anything and he is adorable in the kitchen.
His fish looks something like this:

• Rub olive oil into each fillet

Cover in the Following Ingredients (and rub into fillet):

• lemon pepper
• onion powder
• salt and pepper (dashes)
• garlic powder
• herbs
• and he tops it with flakes of spinach.

Grill until lightly brown, eat it up, and pray that everyone else eats ALL of theirs as well!

Tuesday night....in march

I would say, as a blanket and generally accepted statement, that life, overall, never quite goes as you would expect.
I am a prime example of such a phenomenon.


I, as a newly wed, doting wife, NEVER expected to end up living with my In-Laws in my husband's refinished high school bedroom.
While some may say this would be your personal last resort, for Lawrence and I, it was a relatively easy decision....
We needed a place temporarily to live....and they agreed.

Before anyone gets nervous about how awkward a situation such as ours can be, let me assure you, we do have our own space (like I said, his old bedroom), and Lawrence's parents are rarely here due to a Crazy work schedule for each of them. And furthermore, they are two of the kindest, most generous people I know.

But I will not deny.....the whole situation is nothing less than unexpected.

Cooking, therefore, has been my little bit of normalcy. Everyday I march myself into that kitchen and decide....what I will make for my little, slightly unconventional family for dinner....and I do it.

Last night was Homemade PIZZA!!!
Is there anything better, really, than homemade pizza? Its warm and the cheese is perfect. AND you have the absolute decision of what to put on that, most likely, fattening, delicious pie.
Not to mention the fact that you don't have to pay some silly teenager money to drop it at your front door for you. Perfection.
(disclosure: this is not to discredit any who have or do work as a delivery person... I am often very thankful for your laborious work.)

So, usually I use homemade dough made straight from my lovely bread maker....which is now in my parents basement in the stack of the rest of our life that is temporarily unnecessary. Yesterday I settled for Pillsbury rolled dough, which for all intensive purposes, worked perfectly.
Basically I rolled out two pizzas on to the pan and let them rise while I got the ingredients ready.

• sauce ( i used leftover alfredo and canned tomato)
• Pizza #1: alfredo, artichoke hearts, olives, tomatoes, spinach, garlic, onion, green pepper
• Pizza #2: tomato sauce, turkey sausage, onions, green pepper, garlic
• garlic powder for both
• and olive oil brushed on the crust after about 20 mins in the oven (cooked until lightly brown
  

the pizzas turned out beautifully and to the delightful pleasure of all tastebuds involved.

...and after clean up, refrigeration of leftovers, a little tv, and sharing the company of my husband, the animals of the house, and my In-Laws, the night, surprisingly and unexpectedly turned out to be a relatively great one.....

Tuesday (a morning in February)

Tuesday Morning.

Tuesday Morning.

Tuesday Morning.

Another week is underway; today began with my usual 9:00 am alarm loudly bringing me from, what I like to think, was a deep, sweet, refreshing sleep. I, also as usual, turned off the alarm in an attempt to quickly go back to the dream that I now, unfortunately, can’t recall. Just as quickly as I drifted back into my oh so longed for slumber, I feel the breath and light kisses of my husband reminding me that it is, indeed, time to start the day. As I “adorably” fight not to get out of bed, Lawrence opens the blinds to a snowy, beautiful Tuesday morning.

And so, our morning routine begins.

After I soak up my husband for only a couple more moments in our room, we go down stairs to quickly and affectionately greet our waiting puppy at the living room stairs. He howls his morning greeting and I go straight to making this morning’s breakfast smoothie.

I like to think of myself as a self-proclaimed, smoothie semi-expert of sorts. I worked at a Planet Smoothie my senior year of high school. While I smelled like expired fruits and got tired of saying “Hey Welcome to the Planet” every couple of minutes as someone entered the building, it remains my favorite job to date. So, as a result of my year at “The Planet” I picked up some skills and the recipes to make great smoothies. It should be added here that my senior year I put on at least 15 pounds probably due to the excess amounts of smoothie consumption.

Worth it? Yes.

Regret eating excess PB&J smoothies after making them for the customer……a little. With this being said, however, I have made some adjustments to my smoothie habits to maintain a personally adequate weight and a delicate smoothie figure.

So today’s smoothie went a little something like this:

• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Fat free PLAIN yogurt (I actually prefer vanilla)
• Orange juice
• Honey
• Ice

While not measuring my ingredients breaks relatively every rule of “The Planet” I like to think that it helps preserve a level of inconsistency of flavors that makes each of my smoothies a little bit of a surprise. Breakfast is a meal that I just cannot seem to live without, so in my case, change is good…even down to every last drop of my morning smoothie.

As the day progresses I set out for the tasks at hand.

• Shower:(a relatively important/relaxing morning custom)

This is one of my favorite times of the day. After Breakfast and an occasional Regis and Kelly I love to take a steaming hot shower….while sitting down.

I find it to be the most relaxing, sleep inducing, lovely way to start a peaceful and perfect day. Of course I stand to wash, and so on and so forth, but only after I have sat in the Hot water as long as possible and I know the miserable, cold water is inevitably on it’s way to my faucet.

• Dress: Nearly Everyday this means a Tshirt and Jeans

• Go over all of my email, bank account, fb….: about 10 minutes worth

I have the luxury from now (probably about 11am by now) until 5pm to do just about anything that my heart desires. Today happens to be a “go into town” day. We try to run all of our errands, etc. in one big swoop once or twice a week so as not to waste gas or spend tons of money that we do not have. Therefore, today we just stop at the hardware store, a car place, and the always exciting Hobby Lobby.

(If you haven’t guessed by now, I have no place to be, usually, and am in no rush to do any amount of errands or bullet points on a to-do list.)

On the car ride home I am unusually quiet, contemplating the rest of my day.

I have no job.

I am, thankfully, done with school.

I get to spend everyday with my Best Friend.

Life is sweet, relaxing, and fresh.

Then the thought occurs. You know the one. The question you know someone in your family is bound to ask at any unscheduled point of the day. The one that sneaks up on you when you actually think of something you would much rather be doing or undertaking. This is, undoubtedly, a thought that comes to nearly every woman’s mind at mid afternoon, right as she is thinking of the delightful luxury of her home and family, if not before….

What will I make for dinner?

Today I easily decide on a bean and chicken chilli after having soaked and boiled black beans earlier this morning. I go straight to work on my crock pot meal, all the while thinking on how simple crock pot cooking is made out to be, but really it takes the same amount of effort and time consumption, just simply at a different and I suppose more convenient time of day.

As I finish off my chilli prep:

• Black beans
• Corn
• Carrots
• lima beans (I have only recently been introduced to such a vegetable)
• chilli ready tomatoes
• green pepper
• onion
• garlic cloves
• red kidney beans
• chilli powder
• herbs
• elbow noodles
• and a little Cajun seasoning

….I’m already anticipating the taste as I can foresee it’s delightfulness at the aroma now filling my kitchen.

Now I wait.

Wait to taste my delicious, warm, wonderful chilli on what has become a more slushy snow day.

Wait for…my laundry to dry, the dishes to be done, and the opportune time to vacuum the living room.

Wait for 5 o’clock….

For the day to come to a close, for dinner and my Crockpot chilli to come to its flavorsome fruition and for THEM to come home.

I am waiting on, staying with, and cooking for…my in-laws.