f u l f i l l m e

My mom made this for dinner so I took some home. She and my dad have moved back to town. Yay! ^_^

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The water bottle I normally use has started to leak, so I ended up buying a Sigg bottle. I don't really like the mouth piece, though. I usually like wide mouth water bottles and this one just has one of those sports spigot things. Maybe I'll get used to it. The bottle was expensive, so I'm gonna keep using it for a while before I decide I don't like it.

The weather was stormy -- perfect soup weather. I overcooked the noodles so they were a little mushy, but it was still tasty. Some of the carrots and most of the onions weren't soft enough after the 8 hours, so next time I will probably cook it longer and add the noodles later. I liked the onions with a little crunch, but I like my carrots really soft. Also, I normally detest celery, but I didn't use as much as directed, and they were soft, so I didn't mind them as much.

( Slow Cooker Vegetable Minestrone )

( Less biscuit, more bisque )


This turned out really delicious, though I was afraid it wouldn't turn out right because of the Silk substitution. I'm sure it's not the same as having real cream or half and half, but for my lactose intolerant household, it was tasty!

( Healthier Corn and Crab Bisque )

Alterations:
- Silk Plain Creamer instead of half and half
- Cayenne pepper instead of crab boil
- After Step 6, baked for 8 minutes topped with Pillsbury instant biscuit dough
- Omitted celery
- Yellow bell pepper instead of red; ♥ my hand blender ^_^

Notes:
Next time I'll use less broth and more Silk Creamer.

Breakfast Chocolate Silk, green grapes, strawberries, peach yogurt, a banana, a bear claw
Lunch Homemade chimichanga with Taco Bell hot sauce
Dinner Italian style slow cooker chicken, recipe below, over pasta

( Italian Style Slow Cooker Chicken )

Notes:
I ended up doubling this recipe because it was too small for my 6-quart pot. I thought it would be fine since the recipe said it is for a 3.5 to 5 quarter cooker, but even after doubling the recipe, it was still barely half full.

The chicken was a little dry. I'm not an experienced slow cooker cooker by any means, but I think that was due to the length of time it was cooking (8+ hours). Since my week day slow cooker meals will always be cooked this long, I doubt I will cook chicken in the slow cooker very often.

I put this together really quick cause I didn't feel like eating what I cooked tonight (picture to be posted). I just mixed Frank's Red Hot with plain yogurt to make the dressing, put chicken on some lettuce in a tortilla and sprinkled more (leftover) minced red onions. After I took the picture, I ended up adding provolone cheese.

Top is philly cheese steak from dinner (cheese is tucked into the bread), for him. Bottom is chili (from a can) my craving satisfaction.

I'm so obnoxious for posting twice today >_<

Usually I don't put anything on philly cheese steaks except meat and cheese, but I felt like lettuce today, and we already had the red onions cut up from last night.

Click here for the recipe.

I also made tomato sauce this morning before we left for the party. The picture is of the early stages. This time, I didn't bother to cut anything up because I was going to blend everything later. I haven't had the sauce with food yet, but I'm concerned that the taste suffered since the herbs weren't cut first.

Also, this time I added a big handful of oregano and 3 tablespoons of white sugar.

Click here for the recipe.

Believe it or not, I've actually been cooking without taking pictures. I just have to get back in the swing of things after such a long break.

Click here for the recipe.

This time I used a 9oz box of lasagna, and it was just the right amount. I also added some hot sauce in with the tomato mixture.

Finally got around to trying the pocket pie I saw on a Good Eats episode ("A Pie in Every Pocket"). I filled them with home made pizza/tomato sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni.

( Tomato Sauce )

Alterations:
- Used about 6lb of heirloom tomatoes
- Smoothed out with hand mixer instead of blender
- Dumped in a whole bottle of wine
- Added Frank's Red Hot

( Pocket Pie )

My sister gave me this recipe for skillet lasagna -- it's cooked on the stovetop in one pan -- that's really tasty. I think a coworker gave it to her, so I have to ask if it's okay to post online before I do so.

It's really easy and it allowed me to use the new hand blender I bought today. For once, it was the same price at Bed, Bath and Beyond, so I bought local and saved myself a wait.

My bf and I both packed some for bento tomorrow.

( Skillet Lasagna )

Alterations:
Omitted pork, used 1 lb ground beef instead
Used mozzarella cheese instead of ricotta

Box chili with sharp cheddar and red onions. We ate out for dinner today; I didn't feel like cooking cause I didn't know when he'd be coming home from his first day at work.

No recipe; I just winged it. Garlic and jalapeños in the ground beef, salsa as a topping.

So I haven't been posting, but I HAVE been cooking. I don't like the way this messes with the accuracy of my calendar, but here are some things that I've made or have been made for me. I may or may not separate these into different posts later. I'll post recipes if anyone is interested, but with them all grouped together like this I thought it would be a little much.




( so much food )

I just had this, but it was so delicious I had to cook some more.

( Salsa )

You can seed the jalapeños before you add them, but I like to seed them into the salsa. ~_^ To make the nachos, I just put cheese and taco seasoned meat on chips and microwave (I would toaster oven, but mine is broken), then when it's done I top it all with salsa. It's better if you drain the salsa a little before putting it on the nachos because they will get soggy.