What's for Dinner?: Cheater Edition

A blog about what we had for dinner!

This week Gavin and I cleaned out our pantry, so in the spirit of Other People's Pantries:

Our idea is to make the space more useful and easy to keep clean.  It's a work in progress, maybe I'll post again soon after we've finished.  As a result, we based our menu after cleaning up our pantry/freezer.  Life was busy and hectic, so it was nice to be able to defrost some food we'd made previously and still have homemade food without the work.  As a result, we only really cooked on Monday (and Sunday, but that will get it's own blog late this week)

Monday: Ricotta and spinach stuffed shells, back of shells box recipe.  Very easy and very good.  I also served this on Wednesday for Veggie Wednesday. 

This weekend is cheater edition because the rest of the week we ate leftovers!  We determined that some foods (Upside down pizza for example) defrost wonderfully and are almost as delicious as first time and others not so much. 

We've got some good recipes planned for next week and I'm looking forward to it!

Chalk Art

To Gavin:

Chris and Lisa's Nuptial Celebration

Last week, Gavin and I had the opportunity to attend the party in honor of the wedding of Dr. Lisa and Chris.  A Picture is worth a thousand words, so here is a seventeen thousand word summary:

 

 

  

Congrats guys!

**On a side note, I got to spend some time talking to a photography enthusiast who gave me some awesome tips I'm looking forward to using.  I also am really wanting some new photog toys (equipment), notably some filters, a wide angle lens, a tripod and a remote.  The wide angle lens seems the most fun and I often see shots I'd love to catch, but the idea of switching lenses to get them is a bit daunting.  In the end I suspect the most use will come from either a UV filer or the remote/tripod as I'm pretty intersted in exploring long exposures.  I should probably start learning some better photo software as well.  I'm not very happy with ACDSee for anything other than image catalouging (and even that is so so).

What's for Dinner?

A blog about what we had for dinner!

Monday: Carrot and Orange Soup We've made this soup several times.  It's easy, and delicious.  I highly recommend trying it out.  Gavin prefers when I process it longer so it's smoother (usually about 5 minutes in the food processor)



Tuesday: Meatballs in Red Pepper Sauce, Crate and Barrel Newlywed Cookbook This recipe was a TON of work, but very very good.  We probably used too much onion, but we have a hard time ever thinking there is too much onion in something!  I know it's not a great picture, but it was so so good.



Wednesday:  Vegan Pumpkin Alfredo: Veggie Wednesday with Alyssa! This week was her turn!  It wasn't our favorite, but very fallish! :)

Thursday: Gavin's Famous Mashed Potatoes, After my surgery, Gavin knew the best way to cheer me up! (Also, notice the snuggie in the background. :)

Friday: Easy Bok Choy Soup, Rachel Ray 365: Gavin and I have jumped head first into soup season.  This is one of our favorite soups.  Easy and quick.  Gavin does a better job than I do making it. :)

Saturday: Lisa's Wedding Party. A post will follow! :)


Sunday: Leftovers. Lazy Sunday.

Books Books Books Books

I haven't been blogging about reading much, but I have been reading quite a bit lately.

Most notably, I recently finished the incomplete series A Song of Ice and Fire by R. R Martin.

 

I hated it.

Not really.  But I'm pretty sure I don't like R.R. Martin much.  The series is 7 books long.  Four have been published.  The last one was published in 2005 and he said he planed to release a book 'next year'.  Five years later and all I get is the promise of an HBO series.  Huff.  That said, when the series is complete, read it.  It's a fun series.

Next I read Whispers by Dean Koontz and The Killing Floor by Lee Child.

Gavin really liked Killing Floor but it was a bit violent for me.  Gavin thought this was funny since A Song of Ice and Fire isn't exactly non violent, but I still liked the book.  Whispers was pretty much like all of Dean Koontz' books, but the formula works and I keep reading his books!

Currently I'm reading The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman.

 

 

I admit I was a bit apprehensive and have had the book for months without reading it.  (I'm not sure but I think I might have got it after reading The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss, although I can't imagine I'd have done it if he recommended it).  Living through the invention of the internet and the world wide web was interesting, and history seems more relevant when you can remember how it changed your own life.

I'm always accepting more suggestions!  Thanks to everyone who has sent them in the past!

What's for dinner?

A blog about what we had for dinner!

Monday: Spicy Scallops with vegetable Pilaf from William Sonoma Healthful Cooking Okay, Gavin isn't a fan of scallops, so I made this while he was at work. It was delicious but smelled up the house for almost a full day



Tuesday: Easy Chicken and Biscuits. I was sick on Tuesday so this made an excellent dinner in the cold rainy weather.



Wednesday: Pumpkin Polenta and onion salad: Veggie Wednesday with Alyssa! So sad I didn't get a photo, not sure what happened but it was quite good. Basically polenta is like corn mashed potato.. hard to go wrong with that!

Thursday: Sushi Plantation. I was still not feeling well, so Gavin skipped work and we ate Sushi!

Friday: Which Wich: Gavin and I decided to try this new sandwich shop in Orange. It was delicious and quite fun.

Saturday: Rick's Cafe. We ate at a movie Theater! It was amazing! Likely more on this soon! Before we went I made this delicious and cute snack of cheese and crackers.


Sunday: Gavin's Dad's FireHouse Chili. It was intended to be for a chili cookoff, but rain canceled it. It still won my vote for best chili ever!

What's for Dinner? Camp Edition!

Last weekend Gavin and I took a last minute camping trip to Arroyo Camp Ground in Trabuco Canyon. We are certainly not expert campers, but we did our best to get a few things prepared and did some fun outdoor cooking!

Friday: Open Fire Hobo Soup with S'mores for dessert. So I'll preface by admitting that the hobo soup didn't come out as good as we hoped. We cooked it too long and the meat got a bit... black. The veggies were still excellent. Gavin is an expert fire and s'more maker as well!

Step 1: Fire

Packs Cooking


Dinner!

SMORES!

Saturday: Dinty Moore Beef Stew for Lunch Fail number 2: no can opener.


Chili Cheese Dog and Popcorn for dinner: Amazing dinner. I don't even like hotdogs and I loved these!



Sunday: Breakfast Eggs Delicious.


Overall we had a great time and I expect next time we'll do even better.

Our outdoor kitchen!

What's for Dinner?

A blog about what we had for dinner!

Monday: Sushi from Sushi Plantation Our favorite sushi joint is back in rotation after a short time off the list.


Tuesday: Mini meatloaf and four cheese macaroni by Rachel Ray Gavin loves this recipe so I decided to make it again. I should have cut the onions smaller, but Rachel Ray said chopped! Recipe note says next time FINELY chopped.



Wednesday: .Pasta Salad from Alyssa! We ate in class so I failed to get a picture, but it was a good meal.

Thursday: Upside down Pizza Easy and healthy. Gavin prefers this to cheeseburger pie, although they are very very similar.



This week is a little short, but don't worry, my next post will make up for it!