Some people might not know that before I became a Nurse I was a child wrangler. I was a nanny, babysitter, summer camp director, child care provider for years before I jumped on the healthcare bandwagon. So while "Nanna" was still recovering from the stomach bug, I offered to watch Melissa's kiddos for the day so she could go to work. I dug out my rusty kid skills and walked down the hill to the Petry household for a day of fun.

Lucky for me I only had the full crew for an hour before I sent the 2 oldest ones on the school bus. Melissa has 2 tiny dogs who love to hear the sound of their own voice.

Is that the wind? ARF! ARF! ARF! Is today Thursday? ARF! ARF! ARF! Did I just fart? ARF! ARF! ARF! You get the picture. 

Miss Millie is an old lady and acts like one. She just likes to lounge around in her polar fleece mumu. Paco likes to do the same but he also likes to terrorize me. We've been on a pretty good streak. He likes to bark at me and then he begs me to pet him. I assumed the same kind of treatment while I was there. What I didn't anticipate was him turning bat shit crazy on me. He was acting like his normal crazy self until I put jackets on the kids and tried to leave the house. He went ballistic and I was certain he was going to bite me. He became unusually ferocious. I barely made it out of the house with my skin intact. My nerves were frazzled as we all walked to the bus stop. The next door neighbor mistook me for Melissa until we were mere inches from each other. "Oh, you're not Melissa. Are you her older or younger sister?" I was flattered she couldn't tell, I was nice and told her I was the older one but I could have thrown Melissa under the bus and claimed to be younger and she would have never known. I retold the tale of terror to her and she suggested either spraying Paco with water (He's not a cat, lady.... C'MON!) or barricade him in a room.  As the bus arrived, Nora and Henry swarmed me with hugs and gleefully pranced to the bus. That left me and Amelia to fend for ourselves.

Suprisingly when we re-entered the Petry household, Paco was back to his normal self. I was wondering if he was suffering from a bipolar episode. That's when I decided to call my Mom for some doggie advice.  Apparently Paco goes psycho when Melissa and Tyler aren't home and someone tries to take any of the kiddos out of the house. In his own twisted way he's trying to protect the little ones. #sweetnotsweet

Now that I knew the secret to his craziness I wasn't so scared. Next on the agenda, baby bonding. Amelia still gets the whole "stranger danger" vibe with me. I've been working on getting on her good side for almost 3 months! I threw her a party, I shower her with attention and I was born awesome. I'm not sure what else I can do. When Mama or Nanna are around there's no way I can get that girls attention. She's obsessed with them, but when they're not around I became her newest friend. We played and soon Amelia was just kinda flopping on the ground. Then she perked up and crawled all the way upstairs. Then she flopped around on the carpet again. I started to think, "Are you trying to tell me something?" As soon as I picked her up she closed her eyes and became a bit more cuddly.  Plopped her in the crib and she didn't fight it #babyoff

That took up about 3.5 hours of our day together. I knew we were going to eventually have to leave the house and head up the hill to Nanna's because there was NO FOOD TO EAT! I take that back, there were Doritos, clementines and cheese balls for me but no real food for baby. While Amelia slept I devised a plan for our escape. I was like MacGyver. I found a piece of cardboard, a wooden cutting board and a barstool to create my doggie barrier. Since I am writing this blog post you can assume I successfully escaped the house with the baby and my skin intact.  

I made the mistake of going to Nanna's house where I am practically chopped liver to Amelia. She didn't want to leave but I was determined to prove to Melissa that I could take care of her offspring. Amelia seemed to bounce back once we returned home. I looked at the clock realized we had 2 hours to kills. WHAT THE HELL ARE WE GOING TO DO! For about 15 minutes we just stared at each other.  At one point I got the bright idea to change the little ladies under-roos. While she was neked from the waist down I left her unattended for like 1 minute to fetch a dry diaper. In that span of time the baby peed all over the rug. I didn't realize this until I kneeled in a wet patch. I thought she had spilled her water and when I bent down to investigate (and honestly smell my knee) I discovered I was covered in wee. COSTUME CHANGE! Once we were dry I decided to give the little lady a bottle to make sure she was properly hydrated. 5 minutes into our cuddle/feeding sesh I felt a warm sensation come over my belly. It wasn't the longing for children of my own, it was the damn bottle! I had forgotten an integral part of the bottle assembly and we were covered in formula. Thank god it wasn't breast milk. COSTUME CHANGE #2 Now I am exhausted. We played some more and then Tyler came home. Later Amelia, catch you on the flip side!

I've been in the Green Mountain state on my recent travel assignment and started to miss my Romeo in North Carolina. I decided to surprise him and fly home for a quick trip thus winning Fiancé of the year, second year running. I have a sneaking suspicion this might be my last year on this lucky winning streak.... CAUSE NEXT YEAR I WILL WIN WIFE OF THE YEAR!!!!!!!

Before I left for the colder climate of VT I stocked the freezer with easy meals, filled the pantry with Nate's favorite meal staples (raisins, cereal, soup, etc.) I was excited to hear that Nate had gone grocery shopping a few days before my surprise arrival. Imagine my horror and shock when I opened up the fridge. THERE'S NO FRICKEN FOOD IN HERE!!!! I might have exaggerated a little bit. There was food but it was limited to condiments, milk, half a bag of spinach  and bologna. I asked Nate what his meal plans were with this food and his response "There's some frozen chicken that I was going to grill up..." I'm still not understanding the future meal plan. It appears that Nate has been surviving on cereal, oatmeal, sandwiches and when he feels fancy, Man tacos which consists of whatever meat is on sale. He  throws it on the grill in a cast iron skillet with onions and potatoes and then  fills a tortilla with grilled contents, salsa and cheese (which isn't a terrible meal but it's the only meal in his wheelhouse right now)

Luckily for Nate my body was wired for night shift, so while he caught up on his beauty sleep I whipped up a surprising amount of food with random scraps I found in our freezer and pantry in the wee hours of the morning. 

One of Nathan's favorite soup's is French Onion Soup. When we first moved in together and I was cooking out of my tiny apartment kitchen, the inspiration for this blog, we lived in the cute town of Media, PA. We would get wild and crazy and hike up a steep hill into town where there were some bars, eateries, Trader Joes and 8 banks (why so many? I still have no idea.) We frequented an Irish brewpub called Sligo. We loved to get Snakebites (a beer cocktail, not the actual reptile love kiss) split a bowl of French onion soup and wings. They had a good thing going on there and as soon as we started to frequent this establishment things started to go downhill, maybe we're cursed? First the service started to crap out, then they changed the menu a million times, taking off most of our favorite treats with the exception of the French onion soup. I think they were trying to be more upscale but they failed horribly. After enough poor service and the discontinuation of the onion soup we declared "Never Again!" We still went there a few more times in hopes that we were wrong, we weren't. The service was the pits. And so I started to make onion soup from scratch for my favorite guy.

I use a recipe out of a Hannaford's grocery store magazine. The reason why I enjoy this recipe so much is all the hard work is done in the oven. I have never been successful at caramelizing onions. It's time consuming, you have to tend the pot and after seeing slow results I usually crank up the heat and burn all the onions. I have given up on caramelizing pretty much anything.

I hope Nathan appreciates the hard work I pour into this soup. The only hard work is slicing up the onions. I have tender eyes and practically cry onion tears the entire time. To make process go faster I use a mandolin.


Four Onion Soup

2 Leeks
2 Yellow Onions
2 Red Onions
4 garlic cloves sliced
Thyme
EVOO

Slice all your onions, toss with s+p, thyme and EVOO and dump on a cookie sheet. Roast for 45mins at 450.

Mix 1/2c red wine with onions and roast another 15 minutes.

Add your roasted onions to a pot, use 1/2 c. beef broth to deglaze your cookie sheet. Add remaining 3.5 c. beef broth. Simmer for 30 minutes and enjoy.

If I'm feeling fancy I will make cheese toasts in the broiler and top the soup with these. This soup makes a BIG batch. I often freeze half of it for later.

When I first started this blog I was cooking out of the smallest kitchen I'd ever known. Nathan and I could barely cook in there together. Maybe that was his secret agenda "Oh honey there's just not enough room for the two of us, I'll let you take over." It worked because I became queen of my tiny kitchen.

Fast forward 5 years later, now I OWN the tiniest kitchen ever. If it wasn't for the rest of the house being dreamy and retro I would have left this building in the dust and in fact I think that's why most people passed on this house. For starters all the cabinets are crap brown. My biggest beef is that there is NO DISHWASHER! **sigh...** And the obvious pitfall is that my kitchen is the size of a closet. Apparently the original owner of the house used it as a vacation home so no need for anything glamorous. As she aged and finally settled into the house as her permanent residence she wasn't really cooking meals for anyone but herself. Maybe that explains the 12 bottles of chilled ensure nutritional shakes left in the fridge as a housewarming present, LUCKY US!

It has been an adjustment cooking in such a small space. The only thing that helps is dreaming of my future kitchen renovation. Do I really need that new outfit? That could pay for a tile upgrade or contribute to my dream appliance fund. Surprisingly the first week of moving in I was canning up a storm. It was more out of necessity rather than desire. We started the long process of moving all of our worldly possessions in the middle of August (it was so fricken HOT!) which is prime time for seasonal produce. Fruits and veggies wait for no one. One the plus side we have a huge basement with a semi-kitchen set up down there. Pretty much anything that isn't used on a daily basis lives down there much to Nathan's disappointment "I have to walk all the way down there? Uggggh!" One of the best jams that came out of this whole move was partially fueled by my need to use up odds and ends in our apartment freezer. I had been hoarding frozen cranberries from fall 2016 that needed to be used ASAP. I made a mixed berry jam from my favorite canning blogger Marisa McClellan at foodinjars.com along with some additional strawberry jam and ginger plum.

What I love about the mixed berry jam is that it's so EASY to make. I mostly used frozen berries that I had in my freezer and supplemented with some extra berries kicking around my fridge. It's a really pretty color and would ideally make some great future gifts.

Holiday Berry Jam from Food in Jars
Ingredients

• 24 ounces frozen raspberries
• 12 ounces frozen strawberries
• 12 ounces frozen blueberries
• 8 ounces fresh cranberries
• 3 cups sugar

Instructions

1. Prepare a boiling water bath canner and enough jars to hold six half pints of product.
2. Combine the berries and sugar in a large, non-reactive pot. Stir to combine. Let sit for 30 minutes or so, until the berries are mostly defrosted.
3. Place the pot on the stove over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring regularly, until the jam thickens. This should take between 20 and 25 minutes. Because of the presence of the cranberries, this jam will pass the sheet test on a spatula.
4. When the jam is finished, remove the pot from the heat.
5. Funnel the jam into the prepared jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
6. Wipe the rims, apply the lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.
7. When the time is up, remove the jars and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool. When the jars have cooled enough that you can comfortable handle them, check the seals. Sealed jars can be stored at room temperature for up to a year. Any unsealed jars should be refrigerated and used promptly.

A little know trivia fact about Nathan that I only learned in the last year is that Chicken Parm is his all time favorite dish. Imagine my shock and horror when I realize I have NEVER made this for him or even myself. I mostly think of it as a heavy dish laden with pasta and deep fried chicken. To win some brownie points I decided to embark of a journey for a healthy version of chicken parm to satisfy his food craving and appease my healthy habits in the kitchen. Luckily I didn't have to try too many recipes. The first one worked and I haven't looked back since. 

I joined the craze, I got one of those zoodle makers where you transform veggies into pasta. I feel like I should utilize it more but so far I have one zoodle dish I make over and over again that Nathan will gladly eat which can be a challenge some days. I stole this recipe from Pinterest and it honestly is so quick, is perfect for cast iron skillets and is low carb if that's your thing. If you read my earlier post I made pasta sauce specifically for this dish but you can use jarred sauce, I'm not trying to sound like Ina Garten I swear! (Google Ina Garten Memes and you'll get the reference.) I choose not to cook the zoodles in any way. I let the heat of the chicken and hot sauce "steam" them but feel free to zap them in the microwave. DON"T BOIL THEM like pasta or you will have mush. They don't act like pasta. You can saute them a little bit but remember they are a water packed veggie and must be treated accordingly. 

Healthy Chicken Parm from Pinch of Yum

 
INGREDIENTS

• ¼ cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
• ¼ cup panko bread crumbs
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs
• salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons oil
   Coupons
• 4 chicken breasts (about 1 pound)
• 1½ cups DeLallo Creamy Vodka tomato sauce (or any tomato sauce - but that vodka sauce is YUMMY)
• 4 slices fresh mozzarella cheese
• 2 zucchinis

1. Prep: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Toss the breadcrumbs, panko, and Parmesan in a shallow dish with the Italian herbs, salt, and pepper. Heat the oil in a medium ovenproof skillet over medium heat.
2. Fry: Cut the chicken breasts into a total of four pieces (for example, if there are two breasts, cut each in half - pound them a little thinner and wider if you want) and dredge the chicken in the breadcrumbs so that they stick all over the surface of the chicken. Add the chicken to the hot skillet and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side. You want the outside to be golden brown - the inside can finish cooking in the oven.
3. Bake: Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked. Add the sauce and place a slice of mozzarella cheese on top of each piece of chicken. Return to the oven for a few more minutes or until the cheese is bubbling and lightly browned.
4. Finish: While the chicken finishes, cut the zucchini into thin shreds or use a spiralizer to create zucchini noodles. Serve the chicken and sauce over the raw zucchini noodles and sprinkle with Parmesan and parsley.

NOTES
Before baking, if you have a lot of stray crumbs in the pan, I would suggest removing the chicken, draining out the excess oil and breadcrumbs, and then returning the chicken to the clean pan to avoid a burnt breadcrumb situation in the oven.

Also, if you really want the chicken to stay crispy, heat the sauce separately and add it over everything at the end. The chicken loses a little crispy exterior as it bakes in the sauce - I didn't mind it, but just something to think about if you want the crispy chicken.

Finally, I leave the zucchini noodles raw because otherwise I felt like they got too soggy and watery. When you add the warm chicken and sauce, the noodles will soften but keep just enough crunch to still be appetizing.

Sugar is in EVERYTHING, no wonder I am addicted to it. Since moving to the South I have started to realize that I eat a lot more sugar. When I try turning my life around and eating more wholesome my body and mind sabotage my quest for healthy eating by craving sugar laced treats. I haven't dabbled in the world of sweet tea, that's too dangerous for me, I hear you drink it once and you're hooked.(Similar to rumors I have heard regarding cocaine) Working as a nurse doesn't help either. Managers are bringing in cupcakes for staff meetings, hospital big wigs are sending cookies to congratulate us on our patient survey scores, families are bringing in treats for being such good care takers of their loved ones. I'm SURROUNDED by sugar. I wish I didn't like it but I'm starting to really enjoy the taste of it, I feel so dirty. 

I've been trying to trick my body a little bit by eating more fruit but somedays that just doesn't cut it. I found this recipe for healthier cookies that seem to satisfy my sweet tooth and I feel slightly less guilty for being such a dextrose addict. It's only got 3 ingredients and it takes less than 15 minutes to whip up a batch. I will be the first to say I don't like bananas but these cookies cleverly disguise them and make sure of the brown speckled ones that I hate the most. Bananas are truly a versatile fruit that I should maybe reconsider incorporating into my life. 

Healthy Cookies

1 C. Oatmeal
2 smashed bananas
1/4 c. dark chocolate chips

​Mix, scoop and bake at 375 for 10 minutes

I was food shopping and I try to stick with whole foods(not to be confused with the swanky food store). Things that are in their simplest state which meals most processed and convenience foods aren't allowed access into my exclusive kitchen. I was going to make 2 different meals this week that required salsa and tomato pasta sauce. I had the jars of sauce in my hands, reading their ingredients, trying to find the best but cheapest choice when a nagging voice in my head said "Girrrlllll, you can make these for less money than you can buy them, PUT THOSE DOWN!" That voice was right, I was being lazy. Technically I can make a tastier product, more of it for less money than the prepared stuff but I was feeling tired. Being cheap won out this time as I only needed to buy 1 can of plum tomatoes since I had all the other ingredients at home. I was already going to be in the kitchen cooking other things, what's 2 more items?

Typically I NEVER make tomato pasta sauce, I always buy it. How hard can it be to make? I cracked open my JOY of Cooking and found a recipe that looked easy enough. I will tell you right now it did not turn out the way I imagined. For starters I didn't measure anything. I ended up going heavy of the chopped veggies and in end I didn't have enough tomato product to balance it out. Nevertheless I did not freak out. I sacrificed one of my jars of HOMEMADE canned tomatoes (they're practically worth their weight in gold because they taste so delish) and attacked the pot with my immersion blender. You can leave it as smooth or chunky as you like. I needed to pulverize it because I used celery in my veggie base which is on the forbidden list of foods that Nate will not eat. I am hoping that by blending it with other stuff it will disguise it's true nature and I will have successfully tricked Nate into eating celery. MWAHAHAHAHA (Bad Girlfriend of the Year nominee)

It's a hearty tomato and veggie sauce that will work fine on my chicken parm, other pasta dishes and there is leftover for a possible pizza in the near future or I can stick it in the freezer for a rainy day. In the end I spent $1.50 on the canned tomatoes and ended up with way more than what a jar would have given me. It's almost like that children's story "Rock Soup". 

Mom please don't kill me. I needed to make salsa and your recipe is SO DAMN GOOD! I have made this salsa for work functions, Superbowl parties, etc. It's popular and easy to make. One time someone asked for the recipe but I said I couldn't share it because my Mom would be mad. Well I'm sharing it now because people deserve to have this magical Mexican sauce in their own homes. It's like having C.Diff, I can't just keep it in any longer (gross nurse humor) Again I had all the ingredients in my pantry and it makes a whole quart which is way cheaper than the $2.00 I was about to pay for 1/2 c of pico de gallo at the pre-made produce section. It also freezes well. This may be my last post for a bit because I will surely need to join the Witness Protection Program once Mom gets wind of this. I hope I get to choose my new name. I kinda like the ring of Yolanda, very exotic. Am I a stripper or a store clerk, maybe neither. HAHAHAHAHAHA. 

Mom's Garden Salsa

28 oz can of whole tomatoes, drained
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp chopped red onion
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cilantro
1 garlic clove
1 small jalapeno
4 oz chopped green chilis
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin

Throw everything into a food processor and pulse until you like the consistancy. 
Note: I don't measure the cilantro or red onion, it's more like a big chunk of onion and a few handfuls of cilantro. It's whatever you like. Mom sometimes adds spicier peppers for increase the heat of the salsa for Dad or omit the jalapeno for kiddos eating the salsa.


Joy of Cooking Tomato Sauce

2 Tbsp EVOO
1 small onion chopped
1 small carrot chopped
1 celery rib chopped 
2 Tbsp parsley chopped

Add all of this to a pot with EVOO over medium heat. Cook until veggies are soft (15mins) over lowish heat. 

Add 2 cloves garlic chopped
1 Tbsp chopped rosemary, basil, sage or thyme

Stir in 
1.75 lbs ripe tomatoes peeled, seeded and chopped or 28oz canned tomatoes
2 tsp tomato paste
s&p

Simmer for 20 mins and then pulverize.

** I added a spash of wine while cooking the veggies and in addition to basil I added 1/2 tsp of crushed red peppers**

I love to food shop. I wish it was a legit job. I would be like the CEO of food shopping. Typically I would shop for 7 days worth of meals but have started shopping for 3-4 days at a time. I think i'm wasting less and being more efficient in the kitchen and saving money. I have not done any data analysis of this statement, just go with my flow and follow me. I shop at a variety of stores in my town. We have like 3 Food Lions, 2 Ingles, 1 BiLo, Walmart and Aldi. There are a ton of options and that's only in this town, 30 minutes down the road I also have access to a Publix AND Target. I like to mix things up and depending on what I am buying I will shop at more than one store. This week I was feeling tired and decided to go to the big store where they have everything because there was a sale on eggs and chicken sausage. It's been a few weeks since I've been there but it's pretty popular. Lots of High School students have their first jobs there as cashiers and it's the ONLY place within 25 miles of a real Starbucks (Not that I get anything there, I'm not that fancy) Last time I went there I grumbled a little bit because the bagger put my milk, all my canned goods and a 12 pack of seltzer in the same bag. IT WAS SO HEAVY. If you bring your own grocery bags to the store it's like a challenge to see how much they can cram into one bag. If you don't bring your own bag they will put 2-3 items in each bag and you leave with like 500 plastic bags for 10 items. WAY OVERKILL. I have to wonder what kind of training these baggers are getting, it's obvious they don't have any common sense. So I went out and bought stuff for 3-4 days of meals. Delicate things like bananas, eggs and an apple fritter (which surprisingly contains NO APPLE, so confused) and sturdy things like canned goods, liter of seltzer and then random treats. I brought 3 reuseable bags which I thought might be overkill but whatever doesn't get used will be fine. Imagine my shock and horror when I finish cashing out and see that ALL OF MY FOOD IS IN ONE BAG! What the hell?!? I brought THREE bags! When I put my food on the conveyor belt I like to group my food by species. Produce, dairy, meats, canned goods, random. THANK GOODNESS I put all the canned goods and heavy stuff on the belt first and the eggs and bananas on last or else I would have scrambled eggs in my car right now. I was fuming as I walked up the stairs to my apartment because I had to use 2 hands to carry the behemouth bag upstairs. I actually weighed it at a whopping 28.3 lbs (minus the fritter I scarfed on the way home) I don't know if I will return to this store again. I won't say which shop it was but it rhymes with Pringles. 

After spending the past 5 days in the City of Brotherly Love we returned from our lover's trip to an empty fridge and the looming doom of reality less than 24 hours away. I needed to prepare to work the next 3 days in a row and detox from all the Philly treats we had. Luckily I had pre-made a grocery shopping list and game plan, sometimes that's the part that takes the longest. Often I get people who are amazed at my meal prepping skills (I am kind of a big deal) But it is really very manageable if you are motivated and organized. I was able to make 3 days worth of food for myself, do some meal prep for Nate and cook dinner in 2 hours. #AMAZING

So what the heck fuels a nurse for 3 days of hard labor? I'll tell you it isn't coffee or cigarettes. 

-breakfast salads
-tortellini salad
-cottage cheese and chopped veggies
-latkes, tinned fish and asparagus
-berries and yogurt
-potstickers and steamed veggies

Some of these don't need explanation or recipes but let me say that some of the time savers I rely on are frozen foods. I'm not talking about Pizza Bites and Hungry Man* tv dinners. I keep my freezer stocked with frozen veggies (they're frozen at the peak of freshness and pretty tasty) frozen berries, chicken, fish, TJ potstickers, broth, tater tots and onion rings (you have to have fun sometimes and Nathan can't live without them) It takes 2 minutes to throw frozen broccoli and potstickers in a container and throw a splash of asian sauce on it. Healthy dinner, Voila! 
* How come they don't make Hungry Woman TV dinners? Maybe because they would consist of wine, ice cream, french fries and some whoop @ss. Or worse, veggies and steamed brown rice. HAHAHAHA

What I will divulge is the top secret recipes for breakfast salads and the tortellini salad I ate this week. I think I have talked about breakfast salads before. Heather got me started on them after she started making them. People don't associate vegetables or salads with breakfast but you can eat savory treats for breakfast or pancakes for dinner, duh! I love salads for any meal but for the breakfast variety I enjoy a soft boiled egg a top my greens. This week my breakfast salads consisted of chopped ham, scallions, sprouts, sliced up a cheese stick and chopped bell peppers on top of arugula with a delicious soft boiled egg. To be honest I don't even put dressing on it. I bathe the greens in hot sauce and use the goopy egg yolk as my make do dressing.

The tortellini salad is a recent recipe from Cooking Light. It has all elements of a salad that holds up as a meal of it's own: veggies, carb, and protein. 

Tortellini, Chicken and Arugula Salad- Cooking Light

• 1 (9-oz.) pkg. refrigerated cheese tortellini (such as Buitoni), cooked according to pkg. directions. I used dried and it worked fine
• 8 ounces skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast, shredded (about 2 cups)
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cups baby arugula
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced shallot; I substituted scallions
• 3/4 ounce Parmesan cheese, shaved (about 1/4 cup)
• Frozen artichoke hearts (optional, I added them and loved it)

​

1. Place tortellini and chicken in a large bowl.
2. Combine garlic and salt on a cutting board. Mash with the side of a knife to form a paste. Place in a small bowl. Add oil, rind, juice, sugar, and pepper; stir with a whisk.
3. Add 2 tablespoons dressing to tortellini and chicken; toss to coat. Gently fold in arugula, shallot, and remaining dressing. Sprinkle with shaved Parmesan cheese.

While Katrina and I were on our road trip we ate a lot of food but our best meal was on our last night. I was so fried from vacation and decision making that I told Katrina that she could pick whatever she wanted to for dinner, just direct me there and we will eat. While she was searching the internet for a spot to eat  in Phoenix (she was searching while we were enjoying the pool deck of our hotel) she accidentally selected "Fine dining" when I think she was trying to omit that from her food search.

We almost didn't eat at El Fuego. When we got there I was honestly a little hangry. I spent the greater part of  7 hours out at the pool, my Budlight Chelada buzz had worn off , I had changed into my evening flight clothes in a public restroom and was just a few hours away from solo girl time (We spent a little too much one on one time together for 7 days) When we arrived we went to the host stand to request a table. We didn't realize the establishment was slight upscale and they must have looked at us like we didn't belong. It was like when you're on vacay in some place like New York City and you feel the urge to walk into a Louis Vuitton or Coach store because it looks cool but then you see the security guards and your second thought is "They probably know I can't afford any of this stuff, it's practically a museum in there". That is a tiny bit of what I felt. It wasn't the Russian Tea Room but it wasn't KFC either. There were plenty of empty table and the lack luster  host guy told me it would be a 15 minute wait. I said fine and gave him my name while we walked to an out of the way area. THERE WERE PLENTY OF EMPTY TABLES! While we were waiting we saw 2 other couples go to the hostess stand, ask for tables and get seated immediately. I started to get steamed. I thought I was going to have a Betty Hunt moment. After 20 mins I marched over to the hostess stand and said slightly heatedly, "Any chance our table is ready" and we were seated immediately.

​My only regret is when they asked if we had a seat preference I said "surprise us" and so they sat us right at a table directly in front of the stage where the local jazz band was about to start. We were so close to the band I could see the lead guys nose hairs (okay, maybe not that close). We couldn't talk for most of the meal because it was so loud. Luckily the food made up for everything. One of my favorite side dishes we had were chipotle cheddar mashed sweet potatoes. I rarely make sweet potatoes at home but was inspired to make these when I got home. I altered them slightly, left out the cheddar and added a bit of maple syrup. I love to buy chipotle peppers in adobe sauce but I don't like chopping up the peppers, it's messy and time consuming. Instead when I open a can I immediately stick it in a mason jar and pulverize it with my stick blender. I use that paste in EVERYTHING. It's smoky and spicy and goes great on tacos, marinades, mixed with ranch dressing, added to jam chicken (that's another post) and so many more things I haven't even tried yet. Mexican flavor power house. 


Chipotle maple smashed taters

2 sweet taters
1 tbsp chipotle pepper paste
1 tbsp VT gold aka Maple syrup
1 tbsp butter
s&p

I'm lazy sometimes and just stab the taters to death with a fork and zap them in the microwave for 7 minutes. Cook then however you like, roasted, boiled, steamed, etc. Mash and add the rest of ingredients. Gobble up. Would probably be a great side for Thanksgiving too!

Nate and I often watch PBS for 2 reasons: One, it's got great programming and two, we don't have cable. It's more of a lifestyle choice, you wouldn't understand unless you experienced it yourself. #hipsterwannabe. Just kidding, we don't have cable because it's much cheaper to suppliment with netflix/hulu/amazonprime and free antenna TV. We honestly don't even watch that much with the exception of hangover days in bed, in the evening with dinner and football games. On nights that we're home together (when I'm not saving lives as a nurse) We watch Cooks' Country/America's Test kitchen (They both seem like the same show, I don't know the difference.) and before it comes on there is usually a rotation of other cooking shows. One of our growing favorites is Lidia's Italian.  She makes appealing meals and get's us warmed up for Chris Kimball. She's like an opening act/pre-game/fluffer for America's Test Kitchen. At the end of each show she says something that sounds like "Tutti Fruitti A majari!" With a lot of gusto. My one semester of Italian is failing me now but I think she's saying something like "Let's all eat!" It makes us giggle and we reference it when we are out, like a weird inside joke. 

I don't cook a lot of Italian food, it doesn't really appeal to me because all I can think of is spaghetti and meatballs. I've been trying to broaden my horizens and get over my carbohydrate fears. It's the 90's version of fat, don't eat it or you will get fat. Stay away from butter and eat only processed non-fat food to stay slim. What a crock of horse poo. Healthy fats in moderation are part of a balanced diet. Notice the key word "balanced". You can still eat butter. Just don't eat an entire stick of it as a snack (even if it is low carb) You need fat in your diet to feed your brain. The same goes with carbs, healthy whole grains in moderation are part of a balanced diet (it's what I keep telling myself). 

When I was home last fall I was feeling inspired by Paleo recipes when my bestie Sarah showed me the Paleo cook book Nom Nom Paleo. It's a beautiful cookbook. There are pictures of nearly all the recipes and some funny comic strips related to Paleo eating. I hate cookbooks that are all words and no pictures. The pictures are usually what inspire me to make the recipe. One of Sarah's favorite recipes is Eggs in Purgatory. It's one of the main reasons I bought the book. I have made it multiple times and Nate even eats it too (SCORE!)

It's jam packed with veggies and flavor. It's is basically a meaty Italian tomato based sauce that you crack some eggs into at the end, stick in the oven till the whites are cooked and then chow time! I like to cook just enough so that my egg yolks are still goopy. You can dunk slices of hearty bread in it, mix with pasta, serve over zoodles or my favorite is to eat it with parmesan grits. It's a savory breakfast or hearty lunch/brunch/dinner. You can eat it anytime. 

Nate and I are preparing to leave in a few days for the City of Brotherly Love (where our love first blossomed) and I am trying to not buy any groceries and eat whatever I can make with random stuff in the fridge. My freezer is a little stuffed as well as my pantry, so I have been motivated to eat through some of our staples to save money for future cheese steaks, korean fried chicken and beer. That's when I realized I could make some of this incredible meat sauce based on what I found kicking around. This is a loose recipe where you can add or omit any of the items to your liking. I did a bit of a deconstructed version. I made soft boiled eggs separately and used up some leftover multi grain oatmeal from last week as my hearty base. I did all of this while rocking out to ABBA, a favorite group that Sarah and I also enjoy. 

Eggs in Purgatory Inspired by Nom Nom Paleo

1/2 lbs ground pork/sausage/beef/turkey (I used pork)
Jar of pasta sauce or a can of pureed tomatoes (I used 1/2 a jar of homemade tomato soup)
Chopped veggies such as
-onion
-garlic
-zucchini
-finely diced carrot
-bell peppers
-mushrooms
sprinkle of crushed red peppers
Eggs in some form


I browned my meat in a pan over medium heat. I then "bloomed" some crushed red pepper in the rendered pork fat. Add your diced veggies and cook for a few minutes until things become a little soft (not cooked to death or mushy, think AL DENTE). Pour your tomato product of choice over veggie and meat mixture. Simmer for 10-20 minutes and enjoy!