July 19, 2011- Marinated Flank Steak

Katie and I went to Jen, Andy, and Jackson's house for our PEPS gathering tonight.  Since we hosted last time, we didn't have to take anything for the meal this time.  Jen marinated and grilled flank steak that was tender and full of flavor.  She mentioned that the marinade recipe included soy sauce, garlic, cumin, and several other ingredients I don't remember now.  We also had a caesar salad, a couscous salad, and peach cobbler with ice cream along with the meal.  Yum!  

June 8, 2011- Mesquite Pork Chops

Ben worked later than normal tonight, so I fed Katie before he got home.  She had a slice of left-over pizza for her meal.  Ben and I ate broiled pork chops that I marinated in Grill Mates Mesquite Marinade.  I usually overcook meat.  So, it was high praise when Ben said they couldn't have been cooked better:)  We had a side caesar without croutons to go with the pork chops. 

The best part of the meal was when Katie, who was watching "The Voice" in the den, came running in and said she needed a microphone.  I jumped up, pulled my mic from the closet, told her not to drop it or hit it on anything, and let her go.  She held it up to her mouth, humming and dancing along with the singers.  When each song ended, she would run into the dining room shouting "I did it!"  How awesome!  I love that little girl:)

By the way, "The Voice" is a fantastic new singing competition on NBC.  Far better than American Idol in my opinion. 

Monday, 5/2/2011

Katie and I did our weekly grocery shopping this morning, including a trip to Costco.  Later in the month we will be hosting a potluck at our house, and are going to be grilling hotdogs and hamburgers.  I don't want to have to make the hamburger patties myself, so I bought a package of pre-made, frozen burgers.  Knowing that we won't need 25 for the potluck, I decided to grill up a couple for our dinner tonight.  Well, they are not as good as our burgers.  They were pretty bland in fact.  Next time, we will definitely have to add some salt and pepper to the burgers while they cook.  I'm sure they can taste better than they did tonight.  We had a caesar salad on the side. 

Tuesday, 4/26/2011

Katie and I drove home this morning.  She did remarkably well on the drive.  Between her books and toys, she was calm for the first three hours.  She started to get restless when we had about 100 miles left in the trip.  I gave her my iPod and let her watch Toy Story for the rest of the trip.  Ben called from Europe the last ten minutes of our trip.  How nice to end our trip talking with him:)

I didn't want to go to the grocery store and then make dinner tonight.  Katie and I went to Endolyne Joe's for dinner instead.  I had a chicken caesar salad and ordered mini corn dogs and a fruit bowl for Katie.  She quickly got to the hot dogs inside the corn and proceeded to put too much in her mouth.  After that first bite, I deconstructed each corn dog, separating the dogs from the corn.  She gobbled down the hot dogs and pretty much left the corn alone.  Too bad I'm not eating many carbs these days.  The corn part looked delicious!

Friday, 4/22/2011

Tonight we drove to Spokane to spend Easter with my family.  Katie and I met Ben downtown for dinner before starting our drive.  In the past we have headed straight out only to have to stop for a meal an hour down the road.  It seemed, since we were not able to leave before 5pm, that having dinner first would be better for traffic and our stomachs.  We went to a Red Robin just a block away from Ben's office. 

Katie had chicken strips and fries with ranch dressing and chocolate milk.  Ben had buffalo wings and a side caesar salad.  I had a bacon cheese burger without the bun and a side salad.  I ordered the burger in a lettuce wrap.  Well, that was just way too much lettuce.  Yikes!  I ended up pulling the burger out and eating it on it's own.  I sure did miss having ketchup on it.  It is amazing how much sugar is in a tablespoon of ketchup.  Too much for maintaining a low-carb diet right now.  

Our dining and travel plans worked perfectly.  We only had one minor slow down on our way to Spokane and didn't have to stop.  We are looking forward to a lovely weekend with our family:)

Thursday, 4/14/2011

I browned a pound of ground beef tonight and seasoned it with taco seasoning.  Ben and I each had a good serving of the beef and then melted cheddar over the top.  We added a caesar salad to round out the meal.  I definitely would have enjoyed the meal more if the meat and cheese were over tortilla chips, but this wasn't bad for a low-carb meal. 

Tuesday, 4/12/2011

Today Ben and I officially cut caffeine and most carbohydrates from our diet.  We are avoiding artificial sweeteners other than Splenda, sucralose.  According to the Atkins diet plan, aspertame can increase hunger.  We also have to give up alcohol for a while.  The absence of caffeine and chocolate in my diet may be difficult to deal with.  

I made us a chicken caesar salad for dinner.  I sprinkled chicken tenderloins with a little seasoning salt and then pan fried them.  The salad consisted of romaine lettuce with black pepper and caesar dressing on it.  Parmesan cheese isn't allowed at the stage of the diet and croutons are definitely a no-no.  While not mentally satisfied with our food for the day, we survived our first day without any major temptation issues.  Fixing Katie's food without sampling it is going to be my biggest challenge.  

Tuesday, 4/5/2011

I had a meeting tonight which conflicted with our regularly scheduled PEPS potluck.  Since I couldn't eat at the potluck, I finished off the mahi mahi and rice left over from last night's meal.  Our family was in charge of taking a salad to the potluck.  I dropped Ben and Katie off for the potluck with a wonderful caesar salad.  The garlic croutons and caesar dressing from MetropolitanMarket took the salad way beyond our usual Fresh Express, bagged caesar. 

Monday, 3/28/2011

I got a Lemon Pepper flavored rotisserie chicken from Fred Meyer this morning. I shredded the dark meat to use later this week and chopped the white meat to use in a caesar salad tonight. I really wanted to have fancy croutons and dressing from a higher end grocery store, like MetropolitanMarket, but couldn't justify the extra cost and gas.  So, I stuck with a Fresh Express caesar salad kit. I added freshly grated parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper to make it a bit more zesty.  It was pretty good.  

Katie had chicken and rice left over from last night.  While she didn't eat much, we didn't have to trick her into eating it today:)

Tuesday, 1/18/2011

We met with our PEPS group at Sara, Aaron, and Ari's house tonight.  At our last gathering, we decided to move forward with the potluck format with a few adjustments.  We are no longer going to have someone bring snacks for the kids.  Each family will be on their own for feeding their kid. The last family to host doesn't have to bring anything the next time.  And, the non-hosting families will be on a rotation for who brings what.  That way we remove the race to pick a dish off of the Facebook event.  Anyway, it should remove some of the stress for the group.  

Tonight we brought a loaf of bread to go along with the gourmet mac and cheese with chicken Sara prepared.  Barb and Tadd brought a caesar salad that was fantastic.  The dressing and croutons came from Metropolitan Market and really made the salad.  Jen brought outstanding chocolate brownies.  Ben and I each had a small bite of Katie's brownie.  I definitely wanted more.  

Everyone stayed until after 8:30 tonight.  The kids were having a great time.  Ronan had fish crackers and was very nicely sharing them with Katie.  They definitely have a connection over food sharing:)  Jackson pushed Ari around on a toy, back and forth across the house, over and over again.  They giggled and squealed and had so much fun!  Oliver got in the mix a bit when his dad brought out a book to look at. 

Wednesday, 1/12/2011

Katie and I met Ben downtown tonight for dinner at Ivar's.  We had a great meal there last week and decided some chowder would hit the spot tonight.  Ben and I shared a caesar salad and then each had a bowl of smoked salmon chowder.  Katie did a pretty good job eating her chicken strips and fruit.  She gobbled down the grapes, slurped on the pineapple chunk, and turned her nose up at the melon offering. 

The kids menu is printed on the back of a paper diver's mask with the eyes and nose cut out.  There are rubber bands on the sides that can be slipped over your ears to hold it in place.  Katie enjoyed wearing it, but really liked to make "momma wear" it. 

Wednesday, 1/5/2011

I marinated three large, bone-in pork chops for our dinner tonight.  I used Grill Mates Peppercorn Garlic marinade packet.  This may have been the first time we used this flavor on pork.  It turned out REALLY good:)  I broiled the chops on high for 8 minutes on the first side and 7 minutes on the other.  I think we agreed that they were done perfectly:)  We had a caesar salad for our side dish. 

When I look back at my previous posts, I see that I frequently marinate the meats we eat.  I don't think I ever marinated or broiled before I met Ben.  So, thanks Ben for introducing me to that method of preparation. 

Tuesday, 12/28/2010

Jennifer and Spencer were kind enough to watch Katie tonight while Ben and I went out on a date!  It was so nice to talk with each other over dinner without constant interruptions. We talked about our goals and hopes for 2011.  How nice to do that before the year is half way over:)  We went to the Macaroni Grill for dinner and then saw the latest Harry Potter movie.  

We started dinner with a couple drinks, and then we shared a caesar salad and an order of Penne Rustica, without shrimp and double chicken.  Ben loves shrimp, but he was okay with adding more chicken in order to share with me.  We definitely didn't need our own meals--sharing left us both full.  We had great wine with dinner too.  I wish I could remember what kind it was.

Sunday, 12/12/2010

We had a caesar salad and made Buffalo Chicken "Fries" for dinner tonight.  We followed a new recipe that I found in a Cuisine at Home magazine.  Here's the recipe followed by a couple notes.

BUFFALO CHICKEN "FRIES"

Makes 4 servings (1 lb.)
Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
1/3 cup hot sauce (such as Frank's)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp. honey
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, sliced lengthwise into 1/2-inch-wide-strips, seasoned with salt and black pepper
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided

Directions:
1.  Whisk together hot sauce, butter, and honey in a large bowl.
2.  Toss chicken strips with flour in a large resealable plastic bag until coated; shake off excess flour.
3.  Heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a large saute pan over medium-high; add half the chicken strips, saute until browned, about 2 minutes per side, then transfer to hot sauce mixture and toss to coat.  Repeat with remaining oil and chicken strips.

Notes:

1.  I used chicken tenders instead of chicken breasts.  They truly seem to be more tender and it took less time to cut up the pound of chicken.

2.  I didn't let the chicken brown quite enough.  I was worried about overcooking the chicken since the recipe said it would probably take only 2 minutes per side to brown.  

3.  The sauce was tasty, but not nearly hot enough to be called "buffalo".  I used the regular Frank's hot sauce.  Next time, I'll try the really hot variety to see if that makes a difference.  Ben thought the sauce tasted too much like honey and wanted more punch from the hot sauce.  

4.  I ended up eating the leftovers for lunch one day and dipped them into McDonald's buffalo sauce...yum!  Now, that's the flavor we were hoping for with the recipe. 

Wednesday, 11/24/2010

Ben's mom and brother will be spending Thanksgiving weekend with us.  This has been the plan for months.  The menu for the weekend has been planned, and the food has been purchased.  I am not sure why it took me until 3pm today to realize they would both be with us for dinner tonight too.  Ack!  Ok, what's in the freezer?  Thankfully, I found the big container of spaghetti sauce that I froze after the comfort food throwdown.  Oh, but we didn't have any noodles to go with it.  Spencer came to my rescue.  He kindly added spaghetti to the list of ingredients he needed to pick up at the store for tomorrow's cornbread.  For a side dish, I just happened to have a caesar salad in the fridge that was still good.  Phew!  Dinner was saved!!!

Katie must have been hungry, because she ate a lot of spaghetti. 

Tuesday, 11/2/2010

Tonight we had dinner with our PEPS friends.  Sara, Aaron, and Ari hosted.  We had lasagna, caesar salad, and garlic bread with ice cream sundaes and chocolate cupcakes for dessert.  As usual, the food was great!  Sara also put out bowls of crackers for the kids to munch on and a cheese plate for the adults.

Since we weren't able to get together at a pumpkin patch two weekends ago, we decided to take our group Halloween costume photo tonight instead.  And by group, I mean the kids.  It is always entertaining trying to get them to sit still long enough for a group photo.  The easiest one was definitely when they were all still 5-6 months old:)  Here are the kids in all of their Halloween finest. 


Jackson as Thomas the Train.
Ronan as a frog.
Katie as a kitty.
Ari as a giraffe.
Oliver as a vampire.



Saturday, 10/30/2010

My parents, our friend Gail, and Ben's brother stayed at our house last night following my concert.  Ben's mom drove up from Portland, Oregon, this morning to spend the weekend with us too.  After she arrived and we had lunch, we drove up to The Farm at Swan's Train in Snohomish, Washington, to check out a pumpkin patch.  It was raining, but we didn't have many other options since Halloween is tomorrow:)  We had a great time despite the rain.  Katie tromped in the field, tried to pick up large pumpkins, and looked adorable in her raincoat and mittens.  Here are a few of my favorite photos from our pumpkin patch outing.

Today I got to celebrate my birthday for a second time. Lucky me!  We went with an Italian meal for our dinner.  I made bucatini pasta with my KitchenAid pasta attachment.  Bucatini is a thick spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through it.  Ben was in charge of making the roasted red pepper and bacon sauce.  We had a caesar salad and soft breadsticks on the side. 

For dessert, my dad brought his blue ribbon winning whole wheat chocolate cake.  It was delicious and definitely deserving of a blue ribbon.  We had mint chocolate ice cream to go with the cake.  Katie wasn't very interested in cake, but she could have eaten twice as much "hih-cream" as we let her have. 

Monday, 10/18/2010

Happy Birthday to ME!   

What a fantastic day I had!  It started with a trip to Downtown Seattle on the West Seattle Water Taxi.  Ben went in to work a little late this morning so that the three of us could eat breakfast at a Starbucks near his office.  Katie really enjoyed the boat rides:)  Here are a couple photos of us this morning.

Katie and me waiting for the water taxi.

Katie and me on the water taxi.

Katie and Ben after breakfast at Starbucks.

Our friend Sydney and Ben's brother Spencer joined us for a birthday dinner at Porterhouse.  This was our first time eating at this restaurant.  We were really pleased with it.  We shared the house fries as an appetizer.  We thought one plate was going to be enough, but they were so fantastic, we had to order more:)

House Fries w/ Parmesan-Truffle Salt and Curry Ketchup

Me & Sydney

Katie and I each ordered fish and chips, although, I substituted a caesar salad since I already had fries for an appetizer.  And, Katie substituted apple slices for her fries.  Ben and Spencer each had a steak sandwich with a side caesar.  Sydney had the tuna melt.  It was the first time I had seen a tuna melt with asparagus on it.  She said it was great! 

Steak Sandwich w/ Caesar Salad

For dessert, Ben and Spencer both had Porter Floats.  Ben said it was good and that he was glad he tried it.  But, it wasn't something he will order again.  I wonder if Ben ordered the float knowing that he wouldn't be forced to share it with Katie:)  I would definitely order my chocolate lava cake with chocolate ice cream again.  It was divine--just as a birthday cake should be.  Katie chanted "cake" in such a cute way, that I couldn't resist sharing with her.  

Chocolate Lava Cake w/ Chocolate Ice Cream

Wow, it was a truly wonderful day.  Thanks family & friends!!!

Monday, 10/11/2010

Today I defrosted the whole chicken legs I got from the butcher shop a couple weeks ago.  For a two pound package, I expected five to six whole legs.  When the package finally defrosted, I found three very large legs.  Great!  That just meant fewer legs to have to turn during grilling:)  I rubbed the legs with our standard bbq rub, and Ben grilled them on indirect medium heat for 50 minutes.  I went a little lighter on the rub than I usually do.  Perhaps that was a good thing--they were outstanding!  Katie even ate chicken like a trooper tonight.  She kept asking for more:)

We made a Caesar salad to go with dinner tonight, but I just didn't like it.  I purchased the Fresh Express Supreme Caesear Salad Mix this week because the romaine lettuce didn't look good in the Classic Mix. So, it would seem that I really don't care for the flavor of the dressing or croutons that come with the supreme variety. 

Monday, 9/27/2010

I love it when Ben tells me what he wants for dinner.  It saves me the time of trying to come up with something to make.  This morning he said that he was in the mood for pork chops.  I purchased three, pre-packaged, thick-cut chops at Fred Meyer.  Let me pause and say how annoying I find this.  Why do I have to go to a meat counter in order to buy an even number of pork chops?  I want to purchase two or four pork chops at a time, pre-packaged.  To resolve today's odd quantity purchase, I sliced each chop in half.  Ta-da...six chops.  Unfortunately, this means we will be having pork three times this week, instead of two times.  Ugh.  That's a lot of pork.  

I marinated two of the chops in Stubb's Pork Marinade and four of the chops in Grill Mates Zesty Herb Marinade.  Ben had a zesty herb chop, and I had a Stubb's chop.  Katie had an apple cinnamon breakfast bar and raisins for dinner.  She is usually a fan of pork, but tonight she wouldn't touch it.  Katie watched me cut the chops this afternoon and called them bacon.  That's pretty close for a 21-month-old.  Ben and I had a caesar salad on the side.