Pinterest Salmon + Brownies

I got home from work last night and had no idea what to eat. I knew I didn't want to go out and I knew I had a million different things I could cook in the freezer. Soo, what's a girl to do but open the Pinterest app in the elevator of her building? And then I found this pin. GAME CHANGER.

I keep a running top 5 recipes list. This one easily makes it. I followed the recipe exactly (except for subbing Greek yogurt for mayo, but only because I had no mayo and had Greek yogurt) as it was and I had to stop myself from running back to the kitchen to stuff my face with more salmon.

A food blogger I am not but seriously – this salmon was INCREDIBLE. I did things mildly backwards – I cooked the salmon in the whole marinade sauce rather than marinating it but otherwise… ya’ll. I’m just disappointed that I don’t have more salmon. I will most certainly be cooking this again.
If you don’t want 18 lbs of sriracha cream sauce, you might want to cut the recipe in… 10th’s. Or, you could make it as is and smear it on every single thing you put in your mouth over the next 5 days. To each their own.

So then, because I felt that my luck had not run out, I attempted another Pinterest recipe. Brownies. It’s pretty much impossible to go wrong  with 2 1/4 cups of sugar and 2 sticks of butter. And instead of Nutella, I used Trader Joe’s cookie butter because I just happened to have it in my kitchen. (Sometimes my annoying food hoarder tendencies drive me nuts, but today they served me well. I didn’t go to the grocery store for a single ingredient in either recipe.)

I forced EV to eat a brownie with vanilla ice cream and then got a text that said “that brownie was so amazing i feel mildly ill.” She’s a tough judge so I consider this a major success. I pretty much inhaled my brownie. They were moist, hot, chocolatey, and pretty much perfect. Delicious brownies, you’ll be entering my rotation immediately.

And really, I also have to give a special shout out to my kitchen sidekick, Mr. Bubbly. Thanks for keeping me company!

My favorite kitchen appliance

I’ve lived with EV for 18 months now, and when she moved in, she brought a lot of kitchen stuff that we already had. She had also basically fully furnished a kitchen in her last apartment, so between the 2 of us we now have what one might call an excess of dishes and kitchen appliances.

BUT.

She came with one thing that has easily been her greatest contribution to the condo to-date (aside from her fantastic roommate skills and friendship!)  A Cuisinart Griddler.

Seriously, if you don’t have one of these, run thee to Costco immediately and purchase. Or wait until you get another 20% off Bed, Bath & Beyond coupon and then purchase. Either way, purchasing is the key outcome.

I cook 3-4 nights a week, and we probably use this at least 2/3 of the time. Steaks, sandwiches, fish, chicken, quesadillas, bacon, sausage, hamburgers, hot dogs, basically you name it and I’ve probably prepared some portion of a meal on the Griddler. It sits on our countertop, that’s how much we use it.
My favorite part is that the plates are reversible, so you have flat plates or grill plates. Plus, they go in the dishwasher. This is really less of a plus for EV since unloading the dishwasher ends up being her chore more times than not but still, it’s convenient.

When my parents were visiting, my mom fell in love with it, so guess what she got for Christmas last year? Yup – now she has one in Florida AND at the lake because she loved it so much. I was talking about it at work the other day, too (standard professional conversation, you know) and 3 (THREE!) other people heard me raving about it and chimed in that they too love their Griddler.

Seriously, this thing has a reputation that can’t be beat. Totally worth the $100 – you’ll love it. It’s also now my standard wedding gift. Registry shmegistry, in typical Katie fashion, I clearly know better than you what you want, friends.

Happy faux-grilling!

PS – this might seem like a paid advertisement, and believe you me I wish it was, but it ain’t. Just a really rockin’ kitchen appliance.

Party Eats

It's no secret - I love to host a party.

New Years Eve 2011

New Years Eve 2010

Jersey Shore 2010

Engagement Brunch 2010

Tacky Sweaters Christmas Party 2010

Game Night 2010

You get the idea.

I also love to prep food for parties. I'd probably guess that I already have 9 out of 10 ingredients on hand. I tried some new recipses for a Super Bowl Party with a few friends, and thought I'd share them (and what I thought of them) with you.

1. Stacy's Healthier Buffalo Wings



 Rating: 4 out of 5

Tips: I did everything except bake in the oven the night before and stored them in the fridge overnight.

2. Closet Cooking Hot Corn Dip (found via Pinterest)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tips: I used frozen corn and a frozen green pepper, red pepper, onion mix. I subbed greek yogurt for the mayonaise and didn't include any jalapeno, so I just added a whole lot more cayenne.

3. AllRecipes Spinach Artichoke Dip

Rating: 5 out of 5

Tips: This is totally not the first time I have made this recipe but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the addition of alfredo sauce. I also like to add a package of no-fat cream cheese. So creamy, so delicious.

4. MY guacamole

Recipe: 3 avocados, 2 pits

juice of 2 limes

1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tbsp garlic powder

1/2 large onion (yellow or red) finely chopped

Red pepper flakes if I'm feeling feisty

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Tips: Get the avocado all nice and creamy, dice up the onion into tiny little chunks and enjoy. I LOATHE tomatoes, so you won't find any of that around here.

5. Chili's Knockoff Skillet Queso (courtesy of Pinterest)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Tips: I didn't even end up cooking this!! Way too much food and not enough peopl.e.

So there you have it. Those are some of my delicious recipes. Do you have any that you would absolutely add to the list? Normally I would have buffalo chicken dip, but I felt like that plus the wings would have been a little overkill. I also had a couple of other things out that I just didn't make myself so didn't feel like sharing.  

Domesticated.

I spent my Sunday afternoon and evening in the kitchen and doing crafts and it. was. awesome.

Project 1: Cutting up wedding invitation, shower invitations, save the date, and a picture of my newlywed friends and putting them inside a clear ornament. I first saw the idea on Pinterest, and now I can't find the pin, but here's a link to something very similar.

Project 2: Rice Krispie treat cupcakes. I'm trying to put together Christmas gifts for all 100 people in my office, and this was a great place to start! 20 gift bags down, 80 to go...



Project 3: Cookies 'n cream holiday bark! Also for my coworkers, also incredibly easy and DELISH. I used white chocolate, and oreos with red filling. I sprinkled holiday sprinkles and top and voila!

Project 4: Not really a project, but I am seriously still eating Thanksgiving leftovers. I'm down to turkey and mashed potatoes, but seriously. I'm over it. I saw a recipe for chicken salad on -- guess where?? -- and figured I'd make it work with what I had.

A couple of months ago we had a catered lunch that included 'kicked up chicken salad', which was just chicken salad with a drizzle of sriracha. Done and done.

2c turkey

1/2 c mayo

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 c grapes, chopped

salt

lemon pepper from Trader Joe's

1 tsp sriracha, to taste

Mix it all together and eat with a fork. I like my chicken salad not very mayo-y and with a crunch, hence the extra celery and less mayo. The recipe also called for some apple but it tasted pretty damn good to me without. I'll probably eat all of this by tomorrow, because I think it is that delicious.

Project 5: One of my best friends is on an exchange program here in the states. He's originally from Italy, and unfortunately the time has come for him to return home. We had a surprise going away party for him on Saturday night and we wanted to get something that would commemorate his year here, but wouldn't be difficult to pack.

Enter IKEA picture frame with a collage of pictures. Success! Everyone signed around the edges of the frame and wrote notes to our sweet friend. It was an easy, cheap project that I know he'll enjoy forever. In fact, rumor has it he'll be carrying it on the plane and sharing his seat with the frame on his way back to Italy...he loves us that much!

What have you been crafting and cooking lately?

 

Calendaring My Life

I'm back! You can expect some Argentina recaps, complete with approximately 500 pictures, but for now I'm still sorting through my thoughts and catching up on life. I've been back for a week and I still feel behind at work and in life.

One way that I'm catching up? Scheduling my life. Between playing on 3 tennis teams, working 60+ hour weeks, football games, acupuncture & massage appointments, and everything else in between, I feel like I am being pulled in 8000 directions. I finally sat down today and updated my calendar to include everything I want to do and when I expect to do it.

Then I spent an hour figuring out how many dinners I wanted to cook this week (because spending a week in Argentina isn't exactly budget-friendly) and then going through my Google Reader and figuring out what I wanted to eat. Guys, easier said than done, but here's what I ended up with:

Sunday: Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken -- found via Pinterest (to be eaten on salads or in a quesadilla w/ blue cheese)

Monday: Saturday night hibachi leftovers for lunch; Ground beef tacos for dinner (1/2 lb beef)

Tuesday: leftover tacos for lunch; Falafel pita for dinner

Wednesday: leftover buffalo chicken for lunch; Slow Cooker lasagna for dinner with the other 1/2 lb of beef that cooks while I play a tennis match!

Thursday: leftovers (lasagna, falafel, tacos, who knows?) for lunch; more leftovers for dinner, I have a 7pm tennis match

My parents are going to be in and out of Atlanta this week as they finalize the details on our almost-finished lakehouse, so this may all change as soon as they figure out what their plans are...or maybe I'll just pass the menu on to my mom and they can help me eat up some leftovers! I'll probably share quite a bit of this with my roommate, too, so maybe the leftovers won't be quite so plentiful. That's always the problem with cooking for 1 -- so many leftovers, and I get tired of the food!

So, that's part of the way I'm getting my life back under control. The other part includes calling my beloved housekeepers and running so many errands.

I've talked before about how I prep to leave for vacation, but how do you re-focus mentally when you return? 

I Love Stuffed Peppers

For the last few weeks I have been focusing on cooking something on Sunday that I can eat for at least 2 more days. Since earlier this week I've had my eye on these stuffed peppers. I don't like basil, so I eliminated that from the recipe almost entirely, but it was still SO good.

The directions are easy (althhough I never really follow a recipe...just add ingredients as I feel like it). Chop onion, saute, add garlic, add 1 lb ground chicken. Heat 1 package Trader Joe's frozen brown rice. Mix in. Add 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. Mix and heat 1/2 jar pasta sauce and 1/2 cup cream. Add 1/2 of the pasta sauce mix to chicken/onion/rice. Stuff peppers with mixture. Use 1/2 of remaining sauce to cover each pepper and in the bottom of the pan. Cook uncovered for 20 minutes at 400*. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for another 30 minutes. 20 if you are impatient. Dig in. YUM! And as you can see, I made 2 peppers. Guess what I'll be having as leftovers one night this week?

Roasting a Chicken

Yep, I'm about to write ~300 words about roasting a chicken.

You start out with this:



You unwrap it. You wash your hands of chicken juice 9843920 times. Gross.

You pull all the really really gross stuff out and put it down the drain as quickly as humanly possible.

Confession: I bought a chicken and then froze it, and it was about 95% defrosted when I wanted to put it in the oven, and the innards were the part still frozen. Let me tell you - frozen innards are SO MUCH MORE PLEASANT than slimy, thick, thawed innards. Gross.

After the innards have been removed, place the chicken on a plate. (I'm kicking myself for not photographing this entire process, but at the time I was consumed with the thought of chicken juices getting on my brand freaking new, hasn't even left my house camera).

I haven't tried this method yet, but I basically have become obsessed with How Sweet It Is, so I took all of her chicken roasting recipes and combined them into one and went to town. Here's to hoping it turns out.

So first you cut up an onion and put it on the bottom of a pan. Then you shove a lemon & a head of garlic up where the chicken's sun don't shine. I didn't have a lemon & I peeled my garlic and put a bunch of individual cloves in. I also didn't have a whole onion, so I cut my onions a little...thin. Again, we'll see what happens.

Then, I returned to the chicken on a plate and drenched the chicken in olive oil on one side. Then sea salt, then black pepper. Then I flipped the chicken over and repeated.

Place chicken on top of onions. Wash hands. Then wash hands again. Place chicken, on top of onions, in pan, in the oven which was preheating to 425 degrees this whole time.

Leave it there for 90 minutes or so and don't mess with it unless you are in the middle of writing a blog post and decide it's absolutely vital that you take pictures of the dang  bird. Then and only then may you open the oven.

The end. The chicken turned out fantastically. My absolute favorite part about roasting a chicken is all the leftovers - you can do anything with them! Chicken Tortilla soup, chicken & egg burritos, chicken tacos, chicken salad...the options are endless!

So don't be afraid of roasting a chicken - just do it! It's a piece of cake!

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Let me tell you the following 2 facts about myself:

1. I hate beans. Black beans, pinto beans, blech. It doesn't deter me from eating Willy's, but I really really hate beans.
2. I love dips. I love buffalo dip, artichoke dip, crab dip... if it has ingredients such as 1 bag shredded cheese, 2 blocks cream cheese, and 1 jar ranch dressing, consider me in love.

I passed around my buffalo chicken dip recipe a few weeks ago for Super Bowl parties, and I got a ton of feedback telling me how great it was. But I didn't make it for myself, because, well, again... recipes that include 2 blocks of cream cheese and 1 bag of shredded cheese are not exactly healthy.

A while ago, Angela inspired me to substitute food processed beans for cheesy things. First I added pureed navy beans to a crockpot soup fail. It failed, so I never got to determine if the beans were a good or a bad thing. Then, I started thinking that I really wanted a healthier version of buffalo chicken dip. It is a staple at parties and meetings and honestly, I've yet to find someone who makes it better than I do (although that's because when I make it, I can include exactly what I want!)

Sunday morning, I woke up bright and early. I got to work sewing my sunglasses case. Then, I decided it was late enough in the morning (10am) to start boiling chicken and mixing together beans and ranch and Frank's hot sauce. Yep.

I had already soaked & cooked the beans per the instructions on the bag and they were just waiting in my fridge. I scooped out 1.5 cups of pureed beans and dumped those in the food processor. Then I added 3/4 cup of fat free ranch dressing. I started the food processor, and slowly added the last 1/3 of a bottle of Frank's red hot sauce. I have no idea what the actual measurement was, and you're lucky I bothered to measure the other 2 ingredients.

With that mixture sitting nicely in my food processor, I started to boil 2 chicken breasts. Some people would use canned chicken in buffalo chicken dip, and to that I say, I am not a cat and I do not eat things that smell like canned chicken smells. Yuck. I boil chicken breasts, wait for them to cool (or not) and shred them. It's the way real buffalo chicken dip is made, I'm telling you.

Mix the chicken and the saucy beany goodness. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Bake in oven for 20 minutes at 350.

Amazing.

I came, I saw, I ate.

A few nights ago I conquered all things apple, and last night I attempted all things Asian. Or, all things Asian that I crave on a regular basis.

My mom has a ridiculously easy and delicious Beef with Broccoli recipe that we have been eating for years. It was that special birthday meal, the meal that we had when my dad came home from being out of town, the one that she couldn't keep us out of the kitchen while she was cooking. Yeah, you can tell she really liked cooking that meal... and after I made it once a week for 6 months, I'd had enough of it too.

Because I was feeling sickly, and because my mom was here so I knew I couldn't screw the recipe up too badly, I decided to make my first attempt at Hot & Sour soup. I was worried because I didn't want to be missing any crucial ingredients that the restaurants include. You know, like lard and copious amounts of MSG. Priorities, people. I didn't want to completely ruin something I love so much.

Well, let me just tell you... I conquered that bad boy. It was SO GOOD. I didn't take any pictures of the process because that really ain't my thang, but I'll just tell you what... YUM. I inhaled. My mom inhaled. My dad said, "Ew gross. You can really cook?" He doesn't like hot & sour soup, and he thinks we should be the exact same in every aspect, apparently including his inability to cook. Sorry pops, apparently my genes aren't entirely Hamilton and there's a little bit of mom in there. Who knew?

I used this recipe -- BAM! -- but I basically halved it. And then I eyeballed most of the ingredients because I'm lazy & my dishwasher was full.



Image from Food Network

 Ingredients

2 ounces dried shiitake mushrooms  (I hate mushrooms & my grocery store had no shiitakes, so we bought regular ones and I did the same thing and then gave all the mushroom bits to my mom. Worked fine.)
10 cups chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/3 cup chopped fresh ginger (TOO MUCH GINGER.)
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (To taste... depends on how spicy you really want to go!)
1/2 pound chicken or tofu, cut into small bite-size strips or chunks  (I had every intention of adding chicken but then I just didn't... and I probably wouldn't.)
1/4 cup lime juice
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons mushroom flavored soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Hot chile oil, for drizzling
2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallions (Unnecessary condiments that I likely won't use again. And scallions just suck.)
Bean sprouts (I added these because I love them.)

Directions
Combine shiitake mushrooms and 3 cups of the chicken stock in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and let stand until mushrooms are tender and broth is flavorful, about 30 minutes. Remove mushrooms and discard stems. Thinly slice caps and reserve. Strain broth through a fine mesh sieve, combine with the remaining chicken stock and set aside. (If you buy regular mushrooms already cut up, you can eliminate most of these steps. At least the annoying ones like straining and chopping gross mushrooms!)

In a medium saucepan heat the vegetable oil and, when hot, add the ginger, garlic (BUT DON'T LET IT BURN!) and crushed red pepper; cook for 2 minutes, or until fragrant. Add the chicken stock and reserved shiitakes and bring to a simmer. Add bean sprouts. Cook for 30 minutes. Add the chicken or tofu and stir to combine. In a small bowl or cup, combine the lime juice and cornstarch and stir until smooth. Whisk the cornstarch mixture into the hot soup and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil and serve the soup, drizzled with hot chile oil to taste, and garnished with some of the sliced scallions.


In conclusion, thank you Emeril for allowing me to feel the exhiliration of culinary success. And thank you, also, for allowing me to surpass my parents expectations of me. After my mom devoured her bowl of soup she turned to me and said, "Wow, you really can cook. What do you know!"

Thanks for the vote of confidence, madre.

Maybe now I'll go bake an apple pie, I have a few apples to spare. Do you think I should add mushrooms to that?

To Freeze or Not To Freeze, That is The Question!

I've fallen into the bad habit of not eating things before I presume they are going to expire. Or, buying things in excess with the idea that "oh, I'll just freeze it." I'm here to tell you about things that freeze well, and things that don't. More likely, things that don't.

Things that don't freeze well
1. Cream cheese. This may seem genius when cream cheese is on sale for $.25/package, but my suggestion would be to resist. It gets a weird texture when unfrozen. It's not the worst if you are using it to cook, but I don't recommend freezing and then thawing to spread on bagels.

2. Lettuce. Once, in a past life, I got the hare-brained idea that freezing an already dressed salad would prevent the lettuce from getting soggy. My apparently wiser, smarter, boyfriend of the moment suggested that it wouldn't work that well, and I INSISTED that the salad was worth saving and this was just the way to do it, and wouldn't it be a perfect lunch for him tomorrow. I was correct in that while frozen, the lettuce was not one bit soggy, but upon thawing, the lettuce was a lump of icky, green, stuff, less than ideal for lunch. Katie - 0, Boyfriend - 1.

3. Sour Cream. When I made tortilla soup, I had sour cream that was about to expire, so I dropped a dollop into each of the tupperwares of soup I was planning to freeze. Look at me, so smart, so savvy, so proud. Not the worst decision, but similar to the cream cheese... the sour cream just gets a little funny, in a weird texturous kind of way. Not recommended for freezing.

4. Cheese slices. Because once frozen, they don't separate like they are supposed to and you end up with little chunks everywhere. Maybe only annoying if you are extremely Type A, which I'm clearly not.


Things that freeze remarkably well
1. Shredded cheese. It thaws fantastically, it freezes great, and when you find those puppies on sale for $.42/bag, buy the whole lot of 'em. You'll have cheese for a year!

2. Fresh fruit. I make lots of smoothies, and sometimes I forget about my fruit. I've only attempted this with blackberries and mango, but just before they were going to go bad, I stuck the extras in the freezer and use them in my smoothies in the AM. PERFECT way to not waste fruit!

3. Buffalo Chicken Dip (and other dips, but not 7-Layer dip). Make some extra? Just throw it in the freezer and reheat later. Easy peasy. And still delicious!

4. Fresh lemon/lime juice. I learned this one courtesy of my mother. If you have lemons or limes that are on the brink of rotten, squeeze them into a plastic baggy or small tupperware and freeze it. It creates a neverending supply of fresh juice to use in cooking or cleaning or whatever else you need that kind of stuff for.

So that's it. I don't claim to be a whiz in the kitchen, but I've learned a thing or two about what to freeze and what not to freeze. Today I will attempt to freeze cooked and prepared pasta and a half-eaten egg roll, because it's what I brought for lunch but I'm going to take my parents up on going out for lunch instead. They only come into town once every few months, I take advantage while I can.

Stay tuned next week for who knows what. Adios and Happy Friday!

Food Bloggers!

I woke up this morning, and after a few other things, I thought about the massive number of food blogs that I read (listed below) and thought to myself, "katie...these people have mastered the art of eatingwhatsleftinthepantry so why can't you?" Granted, I keep my pantry pretty well stocked. I did go 6 weeks without going to the grocery store, after all. But I find myself buying more of the same and not eating that new food I thought I wanted 2 weeks ago. Dangit.

So today I challenged myself to eat up everything I have in my pantry and in my fridge, and try to make exciting new stuff. Like today, I had some avocados... so I made guacamole. And I ate it with some spinach thats probably going to go bad soon, and some potentially moldy goat cheese (I used it up, and just figured a little dirt got in there, NBD), and some sunflower seeds, and some dried cranberries (leftover from making my own granola). And a grapefruit (leftover from the beach). And that was lunch today. Lunch tomorrow will probably be more of the same, as long as I am alive tomorrow after eating moldy goat cheese today.

But anyway, I challenge you, too, to eatwhatsleftinthepantry week/month/year. That will probably turn into eatwhatsleftinthepantry,fridge,andfreezer for me, but it will be done!

And now, for my favorite food bloggers! (in the order that they appear in my Google Reader)

oh she glows! - lots of running/biking inspiration!
the fitnessista - she's funny and fun and a GA girl!
kath eats real food - very outdoorsy, i dig it!
whole foods story - i just love all the tips and recipes
gourmet mom on the go - great ideas for stuff to do while babysitting!
bakerella - um yum.
choosing raw - i'm not a raw foodist nor do i strive to be, but still very interesting and informative information about food!
eat live run - one of my faves; southern girl transplanted to california and really trying to live her dream. plus she gets to drink great wine and eat great food!
just cook already - a collaborative blog started by a former volleyball teammate. i've gotten some GREAT! recipes from these ladies :)
pioneerwoman - duh.
real simple daily recipe - some are good, some are great, some suck. just depends.
smittenkitchen - really yummy recipes, and her little boy is maybe the cutest little dude i've ever seen. that hair, and those dimples!
the garlic goddess - great recipes, and they are all veggie-friendly!

Like I said.. I'm a little bit obsessed. This doesn't include any of the design, fashion, or local blogs I read, and definitely doesn't include all my other friends who blog! But... they are the food blogs that I am most dedicated to.

Any suggestions? Did I miss someone? I'm always interested in adding new reading material (clearly I don't have enough) so drop me a line if you think there is another blog out there that I am meant to unite with!

Happy Monday!

Lenten Sacrifices & A Yummy Recipe

So for Lent, I decided to give up grocery shopping. This may seem silly, but I have somewhat of a grocery store addiction. I wish I could show you my pantry... it's STILL slightly out of control, and Lent is now halfway over. You should have seen it before Lent started. And don't even get me started on my freezer. But, as Lent has progressed and I have attempted to a) eat healthier and b) eat up the things I have in my kitchen, I have had to do some improvising. I am a creature of habit, so changing up what I eat with what and how I prepare things has been tricky.

A few nights ago, I was rummaging through my freezer trying to figure out what I could come up with for dinner and I came across a lone pork chop. Oh yeah! I remembered those pork chops. They came in a pack of 2, so I know there's another one in there somewhere just waiting for me to find it and eat it. That will be a good day. In the mean time, I cooked up this pork chop on the stove. It was about an inch thick (woah baby!) so it took a little longer, but was worth the wait. I also made some rice pilaf & steamed broccoli to go with it.

How I cooked my pork chop:
1. Defrost in a bucket of hot water in my sink because I forgot to take it out of the freezer before I left for work.
2. Sprinkle some celery salt, garlic powder, and some other mix that I had on each side. Generously, people.
3. Heat a skillet with some oil in it and 2 tbsp. BUTTER - this is a crucial ingredient! Get the skillet reallllllly hot.
4. Cook on side 1 for about 7 minutes
5. Cook on side 2 for about 7 minutes.
6. If you're me, get impatient and cut into pork chop only to see that it isn't done and you can't eat yet.
7. Cook on side 1 for about 3 more minutes.
8. Cook on side 2 for about 4 more minutes.
9. Cut into it some more because you are paranoid about eating pork after this whole swine flu outbreak.
10. Realize you are crazy and just take it off the heat and eat your freakin' food.

So, you could probably cook it in approx. 5 steps, but it took me 10. It's fine, I like to do things my way.

Then, I was on a roll so I kept cooking. I really wanted some chicken tortilla soup, and I didn't really like the recipes I was finding on the internet (and I didn't really have ALL the ingredients...) so I improvised.

Katie's Chicken Tortilla Soup
about 2 chicken breasts worth of meat (more or less is ok just use whatcha got)
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1 can of chicken broth
1 can of rotel
1 can of corn
1 can of mexican corn (but only if you like it spicy!)
1.5 packets of taco seasoning (you can use just 1 or you can use 2, I use it out of a large canister so I don't know how much it actually was.. enough to taste right!)
1/2 c. rice

Sour cream to put on top later
Shredded cheese to put on top later

Dump it all in a crock pot. If you don't have 2 cans of cream of chicken soup, use 1. If you don't have cheddar cheese soup, don't use it. It'll be fine, I promise.It might even be better, who knows! I know my soup was a little thicker than I would have preferred, so I tried to add in more chicken broth at the end but it's still kinda thick. Oh well, it tastes AWESOME. And I didn't even eat any when it was done, just put it all in individual soup containers, froze half and refrigerated half and called it a night. Who knows when I'll eat 9 containers of soup, but eventually they will get gone.

So now I have zero plain frozen chicken, I am down 3 cans of soup and a couple cans of corn, and I used up a half-used container of chicken broth that was in the fridge. Oh yeah and I only have like 2c. of rice left. So, I'd say that was a pretty successful day of sticking with my Lenten sacrifice. But... I really miss the grocery store.

The Dinner That Made Me Think I Died and Went to Heaven

I have been miserable sick for the last 4 days, as in not eating, sleeping more than I ever have, and sharp shooting pains through my abdomen sick. I have been in and out of doctor's offices and had too many blood samples taken. YUCK.

But, today, I sucked it up, went for my (hopefully) last doctor's appointment, and went back to work. I also decided I was going to eat whatever the heck I wanted because DAMNIT I'M HUNGRY!!!

So I decided on a hamburger. After starving for 4 days, I figured I could use the calories. Doesn't a hamburger just scream filling, satisfying, and utterly awesome?

I stopped at the grocery store, picked up some cheese, ground beef, and (accidentally) some cabbage. I left the cabbage out, I clearly meant to get a head of lettuce. Oh well, it was better without the lettuce anyway - who needs nutrients?!

I got home, put the 1 lb of ground beef in a bowl, added 1/3 of a packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix, 2 tbsp. of Worcestshire sauce, and mixed. Then I divided into 1/4ths, smushed into hamburger likeness, and put 2 on the stove to cook. I let them cook on medium low for about 6 minutes on each side, plus an extra 2 after (sickness = not taking any chances with raw meat). I also mixed a DELICIOUS sauce: equal parts ranch, honey mustard, and BBQ sauce.

I toasted some Pepperidge Farms Sourdough bread, put a piece of provolone cheese on top of 1 of the burgers, lathered the sauce on one of the pieces of bread, and inhaled.

And dear God, was it good. If I was a food blogger, I wouldn't have been able to pause long enough to take pictures because I couldn't. stop. eating. I refuse to chalk this up to my starvation and instead give you the most delicious cheeseburger ever. YUM.

Best Hamburger EVER:

1 lb ground beef

1/3 packet Lipton Onion Soup Mix

2 tbsp Worcestshire

Divide in fourths, making each fourth into a small hamburger shaped patty. Cook on stove on medium low for approximately 6 minutes on each side. While cooking, mix equal parts ranch dressing, BBQ sauce, and honey mustard. Set cooked hamburgers on paper towels to de-grease. Toast bread/bun. Put cheese on toasted bread, put burger on top, slather sauce on other side of bread, devour. The end.