Not cooking by the book and a recipe for grilled peaches

I alter recipes right and left. I’m not a careful measurer of certain ingredients. And if I make it a few times, I don’t even bother with digging the recipe out of my box.

In short…. I drive my husband crazy.

When Brad was going to grill steaks at home for Valentine’s Day, he looked up the exact seasoning and temperature to grill at. He did the same thing for pork chops, chicken burgers, brats, corn, etc. I get it. I understand the desire to find the steps for a guaranteed positive outcome. It’s not always the way I work though.

I wanted to grill peaches since a) they’re in season and b) I’ve heard they’re good  but never had them. I looked at several recipes to get ideas of how to season them and get specifics on heat/time. In my opinion, grilled peaches are a side and not a dessert so most of the recipes that included sugar, ice cream and honey got nixed. Here’s how we ended up doing the peaches (Brad is the griller… I just help):

Ingredients

• 2 peaches
• Balsamic vinegar
• Fresh pepper

Dress to Date Night Top

I bought this dress on a super clearance from Target, in all honesty I needed to spend just a few dollars more for free shipping or something and I liked the print.

I wore this once as a dress over the winter with tights, boots and a sweater. I felt a little awkward, it came to a “midi” length on me which isn’t my best length option and felt just a bit too busy. I decided to change it up that day.

Old image via Target

I really liked the soft jersey material and the cowl neck, so I literally just chopped it off a few inches below the belt loops. I’ve now worn it several times to work with dress pants or with jeans. Last Friday, I wore it with jeans and my favorite green flats. After work Brad and I headed out for a date night.

Twitter Tried to Kill Me and Clean Out the Fridge Salads

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed that I occasionally ask some question about dinner around about 4:30 or so.

As my workday is wrapping up, I start thinking about our evening meal. I don’t have the option  of starting dinner at 2:30 in the afternoon (that apparently some of my Facebook friends do)… If it’s not in the crock pot at 7:30am, dinner won’t be started until about 6.

Yesterday I tweeted: Okay Twitter, what’s for dinner tonight?

I was fishing for ideas for that evening’s meal (I often fail at advanced meal planning and continuously try to do better). It’s about that point that Twitter tried to kill me!

Four people tweeted me back. Three people answered with some sort of seafood.

I’m allergic to seafood.

But seriously, the people who responded to me are way together and prepared. Why can’t I be like that?

I’ll try harder.

I already know what’s for dinner tonight at least!

Clean Out the Fridge: Salads

A salad. But not the one I’m talking about.

Our New Spot

I ran across an article on my Twitter feed about a new place close to home called Brewco {This Article} located in Parma. Since we usually go to another suburb for dining out and we like local brews, I filed Brewco in the to-visit part of my brain.

In the middle of a stressful week last week, I had no desire to cook and wanted to just have a break so I went back to the to-visit list and looked Brewco up on Facebook. Come to find out it was burger night so Brad and I headed over there after work with a couple of our friends. We weren’t exactly sure what to expect from a bar that’s next-door neighbors with Dollar General, but the moment we walked in we were pleasantly surprised.

The brick interior and multiple dining areas felt open. Our party of four was seated at a booth, but most of the other patrons were at the enormous bar.  There was an Ohio map at each booth and if memory serves correctly, the breweries for their local brews are marked. The local brews were reasonably priced and we all tried something new, even though they had “familiar” beers available as well. Most of the items on the menu sounded good, but since it was burger night and all four of us ordered burgers.

Birthday Weekend

My birthday was Friday so I got to spend the whole weekend celebrating it!

Friday evening, armed with our Foodie Cleveland cards, we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Lock Keepers in Valley View with our good friends. Afterward we all came back to our house for a movie on the big screen and Main Street Cupcakes (that I had decorated myself at a work event).

A Tasty Lock 39

Aren’t they pretty?

The Auto Show, a Birthday Tradition

My husband is officially older than me for the next week and a half. We had a whirlwind couple of days in celebration.

On Friday, we unexpectedly received tickets to the Cleveland Auto Show preview night. So we got some Mexican food and margaritas (Did you know Friday was National Margarita Day?) with our friends before heading to the IX Center. We had a good time checking out the cars and I got to do the Jeep Experience.

Here’s Brad’s video from the 2012 Jeep Experience (it didn’t change much… just the years of the vehicles)

I also rode the IX Center Ferris wheel for the first (and last) time. The view of the airport at night is pretty cool, but the gondola-style seating freaked me out. We were up very high and there aren’t seat belts!

On Saturday (Brad’s actual birthday) the guys went back to the auto show to do the ride and drive events. They got to drive a Cadillac CTS-V, which was the main event as far as the guys were concerned. That evening we introduced my in-laws to the Great Lakes Brewing Company and their amazing food (and beer, but that’s a given).

We capped off a wonderful evening with birthday cheesecake.

–  –  –

When given my Pinterest board of recipes last year, Brad decided that he’d like the Bailey’s Irish Cream Cheesecake. This year he requested it again and I’ve gotten the recipe tweaked to where I like it finally!

Rachel’s Coffee Bailey’s Cheesecake (adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients:

Thursday’s Menu

I shared our Valentine’s Day menu with you last week before we even got a chance to taste what we were going to make.

I’d give us a C in presentation…

Grilled Filet

Brad marinated our filet in an herbed balsamic vinegar before grilling it to perfection. Sorry no recipe for that!

Red Potatoes

The red potato bite recipe that I used was definitely a keeper! I replaced the garlic salt with just plain garlic and added only one twist on the salt grinder instead of a whole teaspoon. No one had bad breath though!

Roasted Asparagus

Despite what Brad said on the questionnaire, roasted asparagus might be his favorite thing that I make. It’s incredibly easy… so I’ll share the recipe.

Clean out the fridge: Turkey Toast

Although I’m 100% sure there’s a better name for this side dish…. I can’t think of one at the moment. The other evening Brad and I were going to have tomato soup for dinner and instead of going with old standbys of crackers or grilled cheese, I decided to use up some fridge food with expiration dates approaching. (approaching, not arrived. I don’t recommend eating expired food, even if you are cleaning out your fridge… I digress.)

We had a tasty loaf of artisan bread that was down to the small-ish pieces and some deli turkey that wasn’t used up during work-week lunches.

What I used up:

Clean Out the Fridge: Mac and Cheese Cups

When we knew we’d be replacing the fridge Brad and I decided to forgo regular grocery shopping and reduce the amount of food needing shuffled.

We packed frozen leftovers for lunches each day and using up random ingredients. Last weekend we had our friends over for crockpot beef stroganoff and I was able to use up our green beans to accompany the meal (that’s a recipe for another day).

Leftover macaroni and cheese turned into a dinner of bacon, chive mac and cheese cups that used up the last egg and we ate it with salads (emptying out a bottle of dressing). That’s the one I want to share with you. When it comes to clean out the fridge food, and my cooking in general, there isn’t an exact science.

What I used up:

• About 2 cups of leftover macaroni and cheese
• About 1/4 cup of crumbled bacon
• 1 egg

Other ingredients I added:

• Shredded cheese
• Ground pepper
• 2 table spoons of dried chives

What I did:

1. Preheated the oven to 375 degrees.

2. Put everything in my mixing bowl and stirred it all up.

3. Sprayed the cups in my muffin pan with olive oil, then filled them with the macaroni mixture.

4. Baked for 20 minutes.

The cups tasted way better than just reheating the pasta, but they stuck like mad so I’ll work on that next time.

Do you have anything that you make with leftovers?

Related Posts:

Leftovers

Meal Ideas

Free Lunch!

Holidays, Food and Diabetes

I had absolutely no idea that my diabetes would be considered the only appropriate topic for a greeting or a dinner conversation with me.

I work very hard to keep sarcastic and rude responses at bay in these situation, which sometimes turns into a blog post to let it out  vent. Some people have gotten the thought in their heads that since I’m type 1 it’s okay to ask me my blood sugar, but they don’t ask the type 2s around me (they’re half-way to politeness). As we head deeper into the holidays, here are some things to keep in mind if you’ll be spending time with a person who has diabetes (of any type!):

• How are you feeling? How’s you insulin pump working? and similar questions are NOT greetings. “How are you?” is a greeting.
• People with diabetes test their blood sugar, it doesn’t need to be acknowledged or questioned. People with diabetes also use the bathroom, please stop asking me how my blood sugar is after I return from using the facilities. Sometimes I just have to pee and it has nothing to do with a busted pancreas.
• My last a1c or whether I’m not eating something because of diabetes aren’t appropriate topics of conversation. Jobs, families, current events, etc are appropriate topics of conversation. If you’re really curious about how my insulin pump or CGM work (or where they’re placed), please ask me one-on-one. Half the time my Dexcom sensor is stuck in my glutes and I don’t enjoy talking about my butt at the dinner table.
• I can’t always control what my face does. I make faces at my meter, I make faces when I do math. Don’t assume there’s a problem, unless my face looks like I’m choking.
• Offer all food/beverages to all people (except when age-restricted). If they accept, don’t judge them. If they turn it down, don’t question. Some people (even those without diabetes) would prefer to pass on unhealthy foods or things they don’t like while others take the many holiday goodies as an opportunity to have a treat.
• It’s nice and extremely thoughtful to offer low-carb options and diet beverages. Thank you!

Also, if fruit is the dessert for everyone, cool. If chocolate cake is the dessert for everyone but me and you give me fruit, it’s not cool.

If you have 6ish minutes… watch this awesome video that Mike Lawson made on the subject.

What tips do you have for dining with a person who happens to have diabetes?

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