Holy Mole!

So, one of the things that Dave has mixed feelings about is the fact that when I've had a rough day, I like to cook elaborate things for dinner to make myself feel better.  He says that he hates to hear that I've had a rotten day but at the same time, he really enjoys when I cook elaborate dinners.

A few weeks ago when I had not that great day, I made homemade chicken cordon bleu with rapini in a balsamic vinegar glaze and a bulgar wheat salad.  This week I had a frustrating day and came home and made a pretty damn good mole poblano with red chile rice and really garlicky black beans.

Mole Poblano is one of my favorite dishes from Senora's Authentic Mexican in West Chester.  Because it's delicious and not something that I get very often and, you know, chocolate for dinner.  I looked up a few different recipes, spent a few minutes horrified that they ranged from 6 ingredients to something like 37, and decided to call Lisa for a sanity check for I just made it up as I went.

I had some Mexican chocolate and added garlic, cinnamon, salt, pepper, cocoa powder, part of a stale fausnaut, and honestly, I'm not sure what all else, but it was delicious once it cooked with the chicken, and I'm going to call it a total victory!  Sometime I'll have to do it again and actually pay attention to what I'm adding.  :-)

Apple Cranberry Stuffing

On second thought, have a recipe anyway.

1/2 lb Apple Sausage (I think any sweet sausage, like Maple Sage would work)
1 Granny Smith Apple (or other tart apple)
A generous Handful of Dried Cranberries
3/4 cup of chicken stock
8 Slices of hearty Multigrain Bread (we like Arnold's Whole Grain Health Nut Bread)
Vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees/

Remove casing (if any) from the sausage, crumble and brown in just a bit of oil - the sugar in the apples tends to make the sausage stick.  Save the drippings.

While sausage is browning, cut bread slices into 3/4 inch squares and apple into 1/2 inch cubes.

When sausage is done, mix all ingredients, including drippings in a baking dish or over safe mixing bowl (I love my PYREX!)  Use more or less stock as needed, just make sure most of the bread is moist.  Bake for about 25 minutes or until apples are tender.

Chaos!

So, no recipe this week, even though I had hoped to have another.  It's total chaos here and I'm actually really ok with it.  Dave moved in the rest of his furniture and took the ex's stuff to Lisa to replace her old sofa and arm chair.

Plus sides, Lisa really needed newer stuff, I'm not stuck with a sofa I never really wanted anymore, and Dave feels much more at ease having the rest of his stuff out of his old apartment.  Also, new gas grill just as mine started to need repairs.

Downsides, we never really got a chance to get everything settled and we both got sick.  At least it's not a horrible cold, but it really lingers.  All we've gotten put together is comfy place to curl up with the cats and watch TV.  But we'll get there.

Greek Yogurt Salad

So, a while back on the Daily Health Challenge, there was a recipe for a Greek Dip.  I made it as a salad and I LOVE IT!  Today I made some for Dave.  Can't wait till he gets home to try it, if there's any left.  :-)

16 oz. Goat's Milk Yogurt
4 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
6 Cloves Fresh Garlic
Salt, Pepper, Dill to taste

Combine all in food processor or blender, blend until combined.

Add the following and stir gently.

1 cup Sun-Dried Tomatoes
1 Medium Cucumber, chopped
8 oz Crumbled Feta Cheese
1 cup Chopped, Assorted Greek Olives

I usually buy the Pitted Greek Olive mix at Wegman's and serve this with Mini Whole Wheat Pitas.

Did I mention I LOVE IT!?!?!

Maple Bacon Oatmeal Cupcakes.

5 cups Rolled Oats
2 1/2 cups Applesauce
1/3 cup, plus a little extra Maple Syrup
2 1/3 cups Water
4 slices of Bacon
Brown Sugar

Cook the bacon to your preference. Save fat.  (I didn't promise these would be healthy.)  Chop/crumble bacon in to small pieces.  Preheat oven to 325 or so while the bacon cooks.

Combine all ingredients except brown sugar in a large bowl.  Add the bacon fat.

Place liners in cupcake pans.  Divide mixture evenly between cups, top with a sprinkle of brown sugar.

Bake for 20-22 minutes.  Lean toward the lower end for smaller cupcakes, the higher end for larger ones.

Once baked, allow to cool for a bit so they can set up before you remove them from the muffin pans.

Freeze or refrigerate any that aren't devoured immediately.  We've found that the Ziploc XS Round disposable containers are the perfect size to tote these in, so we put them directly into the container once they're cool for grab and go breakfast.


 Recipe yields 24 regular cupcakes, 12 jumbo.

EDIT!  If you're going to eat them as a cupcake, rather than with a fork or spoon, we've found that adding 1 large egg to the mixture helps solidify them without changing them dramatically.

Reboot! New Year, New Blog, New Happy!

Ok, well, February is not exactly the beginning of the year, but there's been a hell of a lot going on and this hippy needs to get back on track.

So, we're starting over.  I will ask that you all (there's probably only like 5 of you anyway) forgive me for the lack of posting and let me get a new start.

Here's what's new.  New start, new reasons to be happy, new health concerns, new friends, new motivation, new opportunities.

Dave and I are trying to learn to eat healthier and be healthier.  What makes me think it'll work this time?  Because Dave is in it with me.  I won't have to work around him or fight against him.  He wants to eat better too, and while it's for slightly different reasons than me, we have a lot of the same goals and plans.

Step 1:  Breakfast.  We both suck at breakfast.  I'm perfectly happy to call a cup of coffee and a donut from Wawa a good breakfast.  Dave doesn't eat breakfast.  Or if he does, he doesn't eat enough.

So we're starting with baked oatmeal, done as cupcakes.  I got this great recipe from my friend Kate, who found it, who knows how she found it.  It doesn't matter.  It's awesome.  And super easy to alter.  We made it a few weeks ago as Apple Cinnamon Raisin, and I made a "no unnecessary sugar" Pumpkin Pie version for a friend.

This morning, I made Maple BACON!  And, yes, it's not like bacon is particularly healthy, but if it gets us actually eating breakfast, for now at least, I'm ok with that.

Step 2: Blog and Blog a lot!  I'm going to use the blog for accountability for myself and for both of us.  I'm going to start sharing recipes again.  And the first recipe I'm sharing, is the Maple Bacon Oatmeal Cupcake Hack!

Step 3:  Baby Steps.  I've said this before and I'll keep saying it, diets sucks.  Lifestyle changes are what sticks, but you have to break it down into chunks you can commit to.  I'll have bacon cupcakes for breakfast this week, that's totally something I can stick to.

Cooking cooking

I'm on an eggplant kick this week.  Too bad I know about 2 ways to prepare it.  No matter.  Fried it is!

Seriously, though, I have really hard time motivating to cook for one.  It's not that I don't still enjoy cooking, I just like cooking for someone, better than I like cooking.

I had Dave over for dinner Monday, and maybe went a little nuts.  But that's ok, it was appreciated.  :-)

Last night I cooked dinner with Michael at his place, and that was fun, if somewhat of a comedy of errors in the way that only Michael and I know how to do!  And, in theory at least, Michael knows how to make fried eggplant now too.

Cooking for myself, I have a tendency to do large batches, and eat the same thing for a week at a time.  Which is easy, but I'm not convinced that I'm eating enough of a variety to actually be as healthy as I'd like my eating to be.

Anybody who's on their own have any ideas for me?