What's For Dinner?

Lift the Fog

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My grandma loved eggplant.

When I say “loved eggplant” I mean that she loved to eat it, cook it, collect tchotchkes that either were or featured eggplants. In fact, I have one of her eggplants, a beautiful covered dish

Anyone who claimed to not like eggplant would get one line, and one line only: You THINK you don’t like eggplant. But, have you tried MY eggplant? Many times, people who thought they didn’t like eggplant, did indeed like hers. She had this amazing recipe for chopped eggplant that I still need to get, or try to recreate.

What’s my point? Well, I think I’ve inherited her love for eggplant. I like it curried. I like it baked, broiled, grilled, chopped and stir-fried, or roasted on a sandwich. I’m really grateful for this love of eggplant because it enabled me to create tonight’s amazing dish.

Something else you should know: I don’t think I knew what a casserole was until I was about 12 and my mom made (for the first time that I vividly remember) the Neapolitan Casserole that I love. I don’t know that I had a tuna casserole until I made it, and I hadn’t even thought to make one until I really started cooking a few years ago. Now though, I adore casseroles. I love using ONE pan and having a delicious meal come out of the oven about an hour later. They don’t photograph well, but most of the time they taste absolutely amazing.

This whole not eating flour thing has made me really miss pasta, and my love for eggplant (and a couple of friends suggestions) reminded me that I could make a lasagna with sliced eggplant instead of noodles. Originally I was going to do a roll-up kind of thing, but I was too hungry and impatient for all that prep. This prep was simple.

I sliced 3/4 of a medium eggplant into thin-ish slices. They were then quickly baked in a 400* oven (about 10 minutes) until softer and lightly browned, and more importantly, I could see the seeds.

In a bowl, while this was baking, I mixed a 15 oz. container of 2% ricotta cheese with 1 egg and 1/4 c. of mozzarella cheese. A sprinkle of garlic powder (about a tsp) and a sprinkle of oregano (about 1/2 tsp) went in and I stirred it well. Then I started with the layering.

The order was this: eggplant, cheese, leftover sauce from the other night, eggplant, cheese, sauce, plain shredded mozzarella. It baked for about 30 minutes at 400 until it was bubbly, the cheese was melted, and the house smelled good. The final result?

Ok, that doesn’t look all that appetizing. To be honest I couldn’t get a decent picture of one piece of it because it was kind of monochromatic, but I assure you, the flavors of the eggplant, the peppers in the sauce, the garlic in the cheese, and the salty mozzarella melded together for a lasagna-type party!

I was in a lovely mood this afternoon even though my school day was exhausting because it was almost 60 degrees and sunny, and the grass is green, and the sun has that warmth to it that only happens in the spring…

Little remnants of winter still remain, the mounds of snow will likely cause fog in the morning, but the fog in my head seems to be lifting. I’m happier more than I’m sad, and wide awake more than I’m tired which is a sure sign of good things to come!

Technorati Tags: cheese, dinner, eggplant, food, Italian, sauce, simple recipe, vegetarian

13 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, March 10th 2010 | Tags: cheese, dinner, eggplant, food, Italian, sauce, simple recipe, vegetarian
Posted in Italian, simple recipe, vegetarian

One, Two, Three, No Tradebacks!

On Friday night, I had the pleasure of attending Lizz’s birthday party which, as usual, had a fun and interesting theme. Last year, she held a “dirty shirty” party where everyone’s shirts were inappropriate, to say the least. This year, for her 30th (Ok, her 7 and a half because she’s a leap year baby), she opted for a more “grown up” theme and had a wine and beer exchange party.

The rules were simple: come to the party with either two bottles of wine or two 6-packs of beer. One bottle or 6 pack would be opened for everyone to taste, and the other stayed on the table. Everyone’s names got put in a bucket and drawn randomly, and we got to choose a bottle of wine (or beer if thats what the guest brought) to bring home!

One of the many reasons I love Lizz is that she held off on putting any of the food out until I got there, and asked that I take some good pictures, and she didn’t want anything to be eaten or ugly when I got to take the pictures! We talked before about what a good blog post the party would be…

First and foremost, there was this incredible garlicky cheese dip that Lizz baked in a loaf of bread. I’m working on getting the recipe from her, but let me tell you, in all honesty, it was the BEST dip I’ve ever had. AND it looked good!

Most of the other food is self-explanitory, and the one picture that looks like a bunch of jam in the middle of a plate of crackers? That’s some slightly spicy jam atop cream cheese… also quite delicious!

Soon, all the guests had arrived and there were two tables of liquor set out, one of wine and one of beer. I brought the wine all the way on the left hand side of the wine table. It’s a 2008 Szoke Matyas & Zoltan Matra Irsai Oliver. I have no idea what that means, but I know that it’s a DELICIOUS Hungarian wine that smells a bit like roses, yet tastes like butterscotch.

Each beer and wine were opened and poured for each person to taste. The wine bringers got wine, and the beer bringers got beer. Lizz had fun playing sommelier

That was Fünf Riesling, which was one of my favorites, but alas, I didn’t get to bring it home… but I’ll get to that in a minute. Skylar was on hand doing her job being cute and eating Almond Roca

Soon, a few people needed to start leaving, and the executive decision was made by Lizz’s mom that we needed to light birthday candles ASAP. This amazing cake is called the Queen Elizabeth cake, and it featured ladyfingers, pound cake, strawberries, bananas, and buttercream icing from Deerfield’s Bakery:

The candles were lit

And huge slices were enjoyed by all. It was literally impossible to have a small piece, so I’m blaming the sugar for making me not take a picture of the sliced cake… once we all had a nice sugar and wine buzz, Lizz started drawing names from her basket of wine labels. My name was drawn next-to-last, which meant I had only two options of wine left to choose: the one I brought or a red that I didn’t like. Lucky me got to bring home a bottle of wine I KNEW I liked! There was a no tradeback rule (well, an unspoken one) so I was “stuck” with it!

I’m most definitely having a party like this sometime soon… it was a lot of fun trying wines that I’d never think to try, and it gave a common thread of conversation for people who didn’t know each other that well.

So Happy Birthday Lizz!! I’m thankful every day that you are my heterosexual life mate, and love you dearly!!

A little blog news:

* Make sure you check out the Cute Food Cutiversary Contest and vote for your favorite reader-submitted cute food using the poll on the right. Comment votes won’t count!

* I’ll be working to organize my recipes in the coming week. Expect to see more links in the Recipes tab!

* Fun stuff from my OpenSky Shop is coming on Tuesday!

I have a great chili recipe coming tomorrow, as well as my first foray into Indian cooking on Wednesday! Also, a HUGE thank you goes out to Ashley from Edible Perspective and Alice from Eat A Duck I Must for the heads up about the amazing photo-editing program that is Lightroom. I’m obsessed… as if I needed something else to occupy my time on the computer!

Have a great Monday!

Technorati Tags: birthday, cheese, dessert, Drinks, friends, fun, poll, wine

13 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 28th 2010 | Tags: birthday, cheese, dessert, Drinks, friends, fun, poll, wine
Posted in friends

Small and Stuffed (Giveaway Post)

Today, or rather, this afternoon, has been one of those that just needs to end. If I drop one more thing in the kitchen, I swear… ok, no more of that.

DINNER!

I got the idea for dinner tonight while looking over my post from the other day. I remembered that I had these micro-kabochas to cook up, and wanted to do something fun with them. Normally, kabochas are about the size of a small pumpkin. Mine are just larger than an apple

I cut the tops off of them and scooped out the seeds. There was a huge ratio of seeds to edible squash in them, but whatever…I had tiny kabocha bowls at this point. I made a filling of 3 de-cased Italian sausages, 1 egg, 5 chopped mushrooms, and 1/2 c. sharp white cheddar cheese. This isn’t really a recipe, I guess, but a process. I filled the kabocha bowls to the top with the sausage mixture, and baked them at 325 for about an hour, until the squash was soft and the meat was done. The result? See for yourself:

The squash was soft and sweet, the filling rich and spicy, and the combo together was downright dreamy. Just what I needed after an afternoon like today. Well, that and a super hot shower.

A question for today:

Do you buy organic anything? Have you seen the movie Food Inc.? I always feel like questions like these are so loaded. Yes, I saw Food, Inc. In all honesty, and call me heartless, it didn’t teach me anything I didn’t already know, nor did it change the way I look at food or what I buy. I knew about factory farms, and I know about GMOs, but I did think that how some of the companies treat their farmers was atrocious. I do buy organic when I can, but usually just beef when it’s available, and I plan on buying organic milk once Adam and I start thinking about having a family. And, even more honestly, I don’t have a problem not buying organic. Sure, if we had unlimited funds and a nearby Whole Foods, I’d probably buy organic a lot more. Right now though, it’s just not in our budget to buy organic most of the time. I buy what’s cheap. I buy what I like. I know a lot of people may judge me for this, but at least we’re living within our means.

ANNNNND the giveaway! The lovely folks at Tropical Traditions (who are dead set on making sure I never go without coconut anything) sent me a jar of their organic coconut peanut butter to try. Something about coconut peanut butter seemed a bit odd, yet a bit intriguing, so I agreed… man was I surprised! This stuff is absolutely to DIE FOR! It’s creamy and dense, with a light coconut flavor that’s just screaming to be used in oatmeal. I would recommend it to any of you… but only ONE of you can win a jar!

It’s simple to enter!

First and foremost, leave a comment on this post. Any comment at all, and you’ll be entered!

For additional entries:

Subscribe to the Tropical Traditions Newsletter and leave another comment letting me know you did.
Become a fan of What’s For Dinner? on Facebook and leave another comment that you did.
Tweet the giveaway! “I entered to win @troptraditions coconut peanut butter with @imadedinner and you can too! http://bit.ly/9Fqg8l” and leave a comment that you did

Easy as pie peanut butter!

Good luck, and winners will be announced on Friday, February 19.

Have a wonderful night. I’ll leave you with another cute Ozzy picture

Technorati Tags: ask me, beef, cheese, dinner, food, giveaway, Italian, pork, Tropical Traditions

91 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 17th 2010 | Tags: ask me, beef, cheese, dinner, food, giveaway, Italian, pork, Tropical Traditions
Posted in Italian, beef, contest/giveaway, giveaway, pork

Do You Fondue?

Happy Valentine’s Day! I hope you all had a wonderful day, whether attached or not… After being surprised with a mani/pedi from one of my favorite spas, Adam and I spent a relaxing day at the public library and doing our taxes, and then got going on tonight’s special romantic meal.

It’s such a stereotype: the newlywed couple spends their first Valentine’s Day as husband and wife over a lovely slow meal of fondue… and it’s a stereotype Adam and I were thrilled to indulge in!

When we were first together (Winter 2004-2005), I used to make us pots of cheese fondue for dinner. We’d go through a good 2 loaves of French bread, and probably 2 lbs. of cheese over the course of a night. Things have certainly changed, though my fondue recipe hasn’t! We so rarely indulge in food such as cheese fondue, so we figured Valentine’s Day was the perfect opportunity.

Adam cut up some fluffy French bread:

and a crisp Fuji apple:

as I stood at the stove and made my favorite cheddar-beer fondue. I asked around about what I should make, Cheddar or Swiss fondue, and while the response was overwhelming towards Swiss cheese, I just couldn’t do it. The intent of staying in on V-Day was to save money… and spending $30 on enough cheese and liquor for white cheese fondue defeated that purpose! Instead, I went with Cheddar. For those of you without a fondue pot, never fear! A small sauce pot and hot plate work just fine. In fact, this is the first fondue set I’ve ever had!

The process and recipe is easy, as taught to me by my mom:

Ingredients

14 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese

1 12 oz. bottle dark beer (I used Negro Modelo)

1 Tbsp. dijon mustard

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 Tbsp. olive oil

flour for dusting

Directions

Grate 14 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese. Dust lightly with flour. Set aside. Heat the olive oil and garlic in your fondue pot (or other pot). Add mustard and stir well until lightly browned. Add the bottle of beer and cook until reduced by about 1/4. Whisk in handfuls of the floured cheese, stirring until fully melted. Add handful by handful until all the cheese is added and the fondue is thick. Simmer on low heat a few minutes. Transfer to your fondue burner (or hot plate) and enjoy!

Originally, this was going to be a two-course fondue meal with a meat/seafood cooked in broth course… but we got too full! (Don’t forget to SpringPad the fondue recipe!)

We finished off the carbo-loading meal with decadent chocolate lava cakes from Jenn! She was kind enough to get us a kit with ramekins and the mix as a wedding gift, and we’ve been saving it since! I had every intent of doing the double dessert thing I spoke of yesterday in Cute Food Saturday, but we both wanted chocolate… so chocolate we had!

These were supposed to be inverted onto a plate and served out of the ramekin… but this is what happened when I did one of them:

Big gooey chocolatey mess… with a curved divot in it from where the ramekin fell. It was still amazingly decadent and delicious, and I now feel like I have a brick in my stomach. I think I’m going to have some tea while we watch a movie… there’s cool stuff coming to our house this week that I’m SUPER excited for, but I’ll save the surprises. You may have noticed the OpenSky picture in my sidebar…that picture will bring you RIGHT to my shop, where you can buy all sorts of amazing kitchen goodies. Check them out!

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Technorati Tags: Baking, cheese, dessert, family recipe, fondue, holiday, simple, simple recipe, vegetarian

17 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 14th 2010 | Tags: Baking, cheese, dessert, family recipe, fondue, holiday, simple, simple recipe, vegetarian
Posted in Baking, family recipe, simple recipe, vegetarian

Locavore

It has been quite a long week, and I’m beyond thrilled that tomorrow is Friday! We have a no-students-present institute day, which are always fun. Not that I don’t love my students, but sometimes it’s nice to hang out with adults.

Sometimes, I’ll spend some time up in the main office at work and chat with our assistant principals about various issues with students, or sometimes we chat about nothing. And sometimes, we find out that we have a lot more in common than we originally thought! Yesterday, one assistant principal was in her office eating the most delicious-looking salad out of a recyclable paper box, much like the ones used at Whole Foods. I got very excited and asked her where exactly near school she’d gotten such a fantastic-looking salad. She informed me, quite giddily, that an old restaurant/bar had been bought out and converted from a typical pub into a local/sustainable and mostly organic restaurant! We then talked food and restaurants for quite some time, and she insisted that I try Duke’s Alehouse and Kitchen ASAP.

Luckily tonight, I had quite some time to kill! After school and a meeting, I had about 4 hours of free time before I got to be a judge at the regional spelling bee. I went to the DMV to get my name changed on my license, did the same at the bank, and then headed to Duke’s for an early dinner.

I was greeted by a friendly bartender who was more than happy to tell me about their menu, specials, and seemed very knowledgeable about why their menu was different than other places.

I’d perused the menu online, and had made up my mind that I would be getting a tallgrass beef burger, without the bun, for my dinner. To say that it delighted me when Robert (I think that was his name?) the bartender informed me that their cheese choices were: 4-year aged cheddar, blue, gouda, mozzarella, feta, oh…and goat. Yes, goat cheese. Amazing fresh and soft local goat cheese. Oh, and organic broccolini (not local, as its a frozen tundra here right now.) Apparently, up in the county where my school is, there are dozens of small farms… some are more famous (Kinnickinnick and Saluté) but most I’d never heard of.

The bottom of the menu reads “I want my farmer to be paid well, for the same reason I want my airline pilot to be.” I love it! I read that menu while I waited for my food, and loved the pride the place has in supporting local and organic farmers. So many restaurants like this are out of reach for Adam and I, as they’re downtown Chicago and price-prohibitive. This however, is the opposite! It’s relatively inexpensive (my burger was $10.50) and in the lovely suburb where my school is.

My food arrived quickly, and to say it was beautiful is an understatement:

I think you need a closer up shot of this stuff… the beautiful baby broccoli was topped with some flavorful real butter:

And the burger, on its soft pretzel bun with bibb lettuce, roma tomatoes, and soft fresh goat cheese… notice how that patty is uneven and not round. That means a PERSON actually made that patty, and stood there while it cooked:

To say that it pained me to take that burger off that beautiful bun is an understatement as well. I can only imagine how phenomenal it tasted… it sure smelled good. I looked like a freak, sitting by myself at a bar table, sniffing a pretzel roll and tweeting about how excited I was to eat this burger. Oh, and taking pictures of everything while the locals were sitting there wondering why their kids’ Spanish teacher was photographing her food.

You know what this burger tasted like? It tasted like meat. It tasted the way, when you want a good burger, that a good burger should taste. So much of the ground beef that I buy is fairly tasteless on its own and needs loads of seasoning. I’m willing to bet that this burger had a sprinkle of salt and pepper and that’s it. Next time I go, I’m certainly trying the organic steak, as well as making sure that I have someone else to order a dessert so I can have a bite. Something about a “trio of artisanal brownies” and “build your own cupcake” are quite intriguing.

Duke’s Alehouse and Kitchen

110 N. Main St.

Crystal Lake, IL 60014

With a pleasantly full belly, I went to judge the spelling bee, and then headed home. I was greeted with a bubble-pack envelope with a Canadian customs label on it. I immediately knew what it was and tore right in! The amazing Marianne from the blog From French Fries To Flax Seeds had sent me an Olympic care package!! There was a pair of the official red Olympic mittens, and a pin that says “Eh!” from Lululemon! (please excuse the ratty nails and tired face).

I love them!! Thank you SO much Marianne! You’ll be getting your Chicago care package as soon as I get off my butt and remember to send it…

AND an anonymous question:

What are you and Adam doing for V-Day? I think we’re staying in, drinking some wine, and I’m making cheese fondue… with bread. V-day is one holiday that I feel it necessary to splurge no matter what. And you know? That’s ok! ONE day of splurging and eating bread will not make me lose all the progress I’ve made!

Tomorrow evening, we are off to O’Hare to pick up my mom and stepdad from their trip to Mexico. We’ve been watching this adorable face all week… Stella the Goldendoodle!

Have a wonderful Friday, and happy Olympic Day!!! I can’t WAIT to watch the opening ceremonies! What’s your favorite winter Olympic sport? Mine’s gotta be curling…

Technorati Tags: ask me, beef, burger, chavrie, cheese, dinner out, local, restaurant, twitter, vegetables

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Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 11th 2010 | Tags: ask me, beef, burger, chavrie, cheese, dinner out, local, restaurant, twitter, vegetables
Posted in beef, dinner out

Just Call Me Granny!

Yep, its 5 p.m. here.

And I’ve already eaten dinner.

You know those days when there’s something to look forward to the next day, and you just can’t sleep? Maybe Christmas, or the day before your birthday? Well, when a teacher is anticipating a snow day, every little noise sounds like it could be a phone call… and then when the call never comes, it makes for a very sleepy day! When it started snowing harder late this morning, our district administration canceled all after school activities for both teachers and students and we got to all leave at 2:15. Rather than making a trip to the grocery store for dinner in the increasing snow, and deal with people who think its going to be the Snowpocalypse 2010 of the Midwest, we opted for something more epic.

I picked us up sandwiches from Baloneys with every intention of eating it later. Much later. But 4:30 rolled around and my stomach was rumbling, so I opted to eat dinner right then, and will probably have a snack later. I dissected this gorgeous reuben into a sauerkraut, corned beef, and swiss cheese salad… luckily I took a picture before I made it a disgusting-looking yet delicious-tasting mess:

It’s kind of nice being done with dinner this early… I feel like I can now just relax, maybe work on perfecting my chocolate almond cookie recipe, and definitely watch Biggest Loser. But, before I go, I got a few more anonymous questions that I’d like to take a minute to answer. These are SO much fun!

What’s your top 5 favorite foods? If we’re talking generically, that’s easy: sushi, cheese, roast chicken, peanut butter, and chocolate. If we’re talking specifically, it’s a bit harder, but I can do it: harumaki roll from Daruma (spicy tuna w/2 kinds of sauce, scallions, and more spicy sauce), burrata cheese, my mom’s (or grandma’s) roast chicken, PB & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams PB, and any chocolate by Vosges.

Do you ever go through long periods of success with your weight loss and then fall off the wagon (rhetorical question)? I just did… What do you do to re-motivate yourself ? I was successful on Weight Watchers for a very long time. I quickly lost 50 lbs and then had a terrible year, and suddenly, losing weight lost priority. I lost most of my motivation to lose weight, and instead maintained for a LONG time (3-ish years). I’ve recently gained back 20 or so lbs, and honestly, the ONE thing that helped me get my motivation back was hearing about others’ success. A couple close friends are following a similar eating plan that I’ve recently started, and having great success…which has helped me keep going! My advice: find yourself a support system!!

I know you were on Weight Watchers, what plan are you following now or is just one you have come up with yourself? I loved your wedding photos…so beautiful! First of all, THANK YOU!!! I can’t believe the wedding was almost 3 months ago! I’m following, essentially, the Paleo Diet, as outlined on this site. I didn’t make it up, and as I mentioned here and above, having friends following it too have really helped!

What was your first date (ever) like? Let’s see… I didn’t even realize this WAS a date until years later. It was 6th grade, and this boy from my Hebrew school class liked me. His name was Micah and he wore Hypercolor shirts, and I thought he was SO COOL. He bought me a pen with roses on it for Hanukkah, and then one with my name engraved on it for Valentine’s day. At this point, he invited me to have dinner with his family. I accepted, got dressed up, and his mom made (mind you, this was 1991) veggie burgers and salads with alfalfa sprouts, and offered to teach me Sanskrit in exchange for some Hebrew we were learning. His dad ate his salad with his mouth open and sprouts were hanging out of his mouth like hair… and that’s all I remember!

Do you like turtles? YES! I like turtles I think they’re very cool animals, and have quite an affinity for Crush, the turtle from Finding Nemo, dude.

I’m off to be a granny and relax from now until I fall asleep… so probably about 7 p.m.

Keep those questions coming!

Technorati Tags: ask me, beef, cheese, dinner out, food, red meat, sandwich, weight loss

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Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 9th 2010 | Tags: ask me, beef, cheese, dinner out, food, red meat, sandwich, weight loss
Posted in beef, dinner out, weight loss

Simply Random

I had a big event after school today. I got to do something I haven’t done in a very long time… I went to Trader Joe’s! I got a pretty decent haul for a small amount of money, and proceeded to make a simple and random TJ’s dinner. After, of course, I spent some time packing up my secret bloggie Valentine gift! I just hope it doesn’t snow so much tomorrow that I can’t get to the post office!

Back to the random dinner:

First, on the left, were some simply sauteed mushrooms and green peppers. Then, to the right of that were some TJ’s tomato basil chicken sausages (quite good I might add!) and above that, the star of the plate, some simple creamed spinach. My mom used to make this creamed spinach ALL the time, and it always surprised me because well, we didn’t eat creamed anything. When we went out for dinner on Saturday, she told me how to make it, and I had to try.

The process is simple: steam and drain a bunch of spinach. Stir in 1 Tbsp. cream cheese, 1 Tbsp. sour cream, and I added a sprinkle of garlic powder. You have to try it!!! It works with fat free dairy, or regular… I might have to make a second batch for when Adam gets home, as I might need to finish this batch!

I had a couple of questions over the weekend, some anonymous and some not… so I’ll get to it!

Lauren from Say What You Need To Say asked: IF you could have anyone in the world over to dinner, who would it be and what would you make? That’s a really tough question… it depends on the day, honestly! There are people I’d like to have over just so I could look at them, but somehow I doubt they’d eat much. If we’re talking living or dead, I’d say Julia Child and/or Eddie Izzard. I know, random! Julia Child would get a simple and standard Jewish meal of brisket, kugel, matzoh ball soup, and kishke. Eddie Izzard though, he’s a bit more difficult. I’d be tempted to cook something very “executive” (Eddie fans will get that) or something with Jam.

Annabel from Feed Me, I’m Cranky asked: I would like to know how you met your hubby! Adam and I actually met in college… but the story isn’t that simple! We met probably multiple times at multiple parties, but neither of us particularly remember, for various reasons. Then, in 2004, sick and tired of dating the “wrong” people, I signed up on JDate. I paid for 3 months, went on COUNTLESS bad dates (seriously, go read that guest post from Jessie’s blog, whose blogiversary is today!) and upon getting the “renew now!” email, I decided to cancel. I had 2 weeks left on my subscription when I got this message from this adorable guy saying “Hey, you went to Bradley and look really familiar. Here’s my IM, let’s chat sometime.” Turned out that this adorable guy was Adam, we had DOZENS of people and stories in common, and figured out quite a few times we’d met before.

Do you ever get scared that you’ll never get to where you want to be? I sometimes feel like I am on a hamster wheel and sometimes I feel like my life, my weight, everything is GREAT and then another week I feel like it is horrible. I wish sometimes I could just be….do you ever have those same fears? This is such a loaded question! There is part of me that wants to say “yes, I get terrified that I’m not really that good at my job, that I’ll be overweight forever, and really don’t want to stay ‘here’ for much longer.” Then, there’s another part of me saying that this, right now, is really the most wonderful things have ever been for me… While yes, sometimes things just suck, and sometimes I get scared, when I get that “hamster wheel” feeling, I make a conscious effort to just get off of it. Change something. Do something I’m scared of.

I’ve been on and off of Weight Watchers for years- and it works really well for me, when I’m that point-counting mode- which is hard to do every single day! How’s your new style of eating going? See any results yet? Can you tell us what you typically eat throughout the day? Thanks! UGH POINT COUNTING MODE!! I know that all too well! I get on the whole Point thing fairly easily, and fall off easily too! I just hate having to overanalyze everything that goes in my mouth. My new eating style is going very very well! According to my bathroom scale (which I get on maybe 2-3 times a week, but really only “take” my Saturday morning weight) I lost 4.5 lbs in my first week eating the way I do. A typical day for me on this plan is:

Breakfast: 2 eggs and 1 egg white scrambled with about 1 c. cooked spinach and 1/2 c. sliced mushrooms, 2 pieces bacon, coffee with half-and-half

Lunch: Usually leftovers from dinner, including additional vegetables. Today was about 2 sliced green peppers and some leftover Italian beef

Snack: Today was a handful of raw almonds. Some days its beef jerky (DYING to try those PrimeSnax that MizFit loves!), some days its avocado or vegetables.

Dinner: Most of you know my dinners already!

As a kid, what was your favorite family meal ? Mine was spag with meat sauce That’s easy. My absolute favorite family meal that was a never-fail, smile on my face meal was when my mom roasted chicken, made garlic roasted potatoes, asparagus, and fillets. My grandma made a very similar meal too, and no matter who made it, I always loved it!

WOW I’m long-winded today… thanks for sticking with me, and don’t forget to Ask Me Anything! I’m LOVING answering all this stuff!

Have a fantastic evening! We’re supposed to get about 8 inches of snow… nothing like you East Coasters, but it still might be enough for a snow day. Keep your fingers crossed!

Technorati Tags: ask me, cheese, dinner, friends, fun, simple recipe, vegetables, weight loss

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Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 8th 2010 | Tags: ask me, cheese, dinner, friends, fun, simple recipe, vegetables, weight loss
Posted in chicken/turkey, friends, simple recipe, weight loss

A Classic, Deconstructed

Just going to be honest with you here… I have the Super Bowl on right now, but only to listen for commercial breaks! The commercials are all that my students will talk about tomorrow, and I have to be up on what was shown! Apparently, I already missed a couple…

Since we’re not having a Super Bowl party, or going to one, I wanted to use today to make something I can use throughout the week in lunches or various dinners, so I polled on Facebook and Twitter about what to make. I had it narrowed down to two possibilities: slow-cooker BBQ pork or slow-cooker Italian beef. The response was overwhelmingly in favor of the Italian beef, but my decision was made up for me by the recipes. The key to good BBQ flavor is a touch of sweetness…brought by brown sugar. This eating plan I’m following leaves little wiggle room for extra sugar, and since I’m doing so well so far, I didn’t want to risk it!

Italian Beef is a Chicago staple, slightly different from the more well-known French Dip sandwich. The beef has a very spiced broth it’s slow-cooked in, and the sandwiches are, to the purists, served “wet” with sweet green peppers and sometimes mozzarella cheese. It’s been a long time since I’ve had good Italian beef, even though we live down the street from one of the best: Portillo’s.

I perused AllRecipes.comand myrecipes.com for various Italian beef recipes, and they ranged from super simple to quite complicated. I went with a variation on one of the simpler ones. Now, first is a picture of Adam’s Italian Beef, served more classically with no peppers, but plenty of juice, a crusty roll, and some mozzarella:

And then, what I ate. I had a bed of cooked green peppers topped with the Italian beef, then a bit of cheese. Ok, more than a bit of cheese… I like cheese.

It had all the classic flavor of the sandwich I wanted without any of the bread… Italian beef was a good choice! The recipe is simple:

Italian Beef

Ingredients

5 lb. beef roast, I used top round

3 c. water

1 packet Italian dressing mix

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. ground mustard

1 tsp. red pepper

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground black pepper

Directions

Add the beef to a large crock pot. Add water and remaining ingredients to a pot and bring to a boil. Pour over the beef, then cook on low 8-10 hours or on high 4-6 hours. Shred with two forks and serve.

I thoroughly enjoyed my deconstructed non-sandwich, and Adam loved his actual sandwich. I’m thinking this recipe is a keeper. That is, unless I get so sick of eating shredded Italian beef this week that I never want to see it again.

Don’t forget to click the “Save It” button above to save this recipe on your SpringPad! (You all have accounts now, right?)

I got one more anonymous question, as well as an un-needed apology. The girl who asked me the question I answered Friday about the pressure to look a certain way for my wedding thought that SHE was the one I was referring to when I mentioned the fat bride question. That wasn’t the case at all! I got a SEPARATE question asking “What was it like to be a fat bride?” and not the thoughtful one you asked. So, whoever you are, I’m not mad!! Your apology was very sweet, and definitely made me smile.

Hi! Do you want to have kids some day? Any timeline?

My mom will be very happy to read that YES we want to have kids some day! We’re thinking about maybe starting to try in about 2 years when Adam is done with grad school and has a steady job, and (knock on wood) I’m tenured at my current job. It’s definitely in the cards, just not right now.

Feel free to ask me anything!

I’m off to watch The Who perform at half time… I love that these guys are still performing!

Technorati Tags: ask me, beef, cheese, Chicago dining, crockpot, dinner, sandwich, simple, simple recipe

11 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, February 7th 2010 | Tags: ask me, beef, cheese, Chicago dining, crockpot, dinner, sandwich, simple, simple recipe
Posted in beef, simple recipe

Butternut In An OpenSky

*Have you entered to win a $50 shopping spree from iHerb.com yet? What are you waiting for? The lovely folks at iHerb have offered $5 your first purchase when you use the code SIF006*

When I started cooking a few years ago, there were quite a few things that I never thought I’d be able to make. Among those things are: homemade black molé, tamales, tortillas, pasta, and gnocchi. See, I love all those things, and I’m a complete snob when it comes to those things, they have to be fantastic. I just never thought I’d have the skill necessary to make any of them!

I made tortillas last year at one point, and while they were ok, they were definitely not anything to be proud of. I’ve yet to conquer the other dishes, that is, until tonight. Yesterday at the grocery store, butternut squashes were inexpensive, so I got a nice big one (TWSS?) I had every intent of roasting it and using the flesh for something, but I didn’t know what yet. Then, Adam showed me a new game he got on his Nintendo DSi called Personal Trainer: Cooking. It’s not a new game, but new to us.

Anyway, we looked up squash recipes, and low and behold, since the game is from Japan, all the squash recipes featured kabocha (so I thought of a few of you). Since kabocha is sweeter than a butternut squash, I figured that any of those recipes would work for the big butternut sitting on our counter. One in particular caught my eye: squash gnocchi. I had my mind made up. That’s what I’d make tonight.

Of course, I couldn’t leave well enough alone and cook the recipe as dictated by the nice little chef guy in the game, I had to muck with it. What I did end up with though were sweet, garlicky, peppery, doughy little dumplings which I tossed with sauteed spinach and mushrooms and topped with some parmesan cheese.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash (about 2.5 lbs)

3 c. whole wheat flour

1 egg

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

fresh ground pepper

salt

Heat oven to 375*. Cut the squash vertically, clean out seeds and fibers, and roast on a baking pan for about 45 minutes to an hour. When done, allow to cool slightly and scoop the flesh into a large bowl (I used my KA Mixer with the dough hook to do this). Allow to cool 15 minutes. Mix in garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Rub the thyme between your fingers to break apart, then add to the mixture, stirring gently. Gradually add in the whole wheat flour until the dough comes together and is no longer sticky. At this point, bring a large pot of water to boil. Take handfuls of the dough in lightly floured hands and roll into a log on a lightly floured surface. Cut into bite sized pieces, then drop them into the boiling water. When they float, remove them with a slotted spoon to a colander.

Now, to be completely honest, I think I overworked the dough. It was a bit chewy for my taste, but the flavor was fantastic! I do realize that it’s not that daunting to make gnocchi! I’m totally trying regular potato ones soon.

Now, for the big news. I alluded to this on Twitter earlier, and being the newlywed that I am, everyone assumed my “big news” was that I’m pregnant. MOST DEFINITELY NOT! I do however have an exciting announcement!

Last week, you may have noticed that I focused on many of the gadgets, appliances, and cool things I have going on in our kitchen…heck, I even called it “gadget week”! There was a reason behind this besides just showing off the cool stuff we have. I have decided that, along with many of my blogger friends, I’m opening an OpenSky shop! See, I was always one of those people who said “I wish I could make that but I’m missing (insert gadget or ingredient here)”. I’m hoping that my shop can be the place where you find the elusive gadgets, ingredients, and fun stuff to make your kitchen complete! Right now, I only have 11 items up, but I’ll be adding as I find new ones. I’m looking forward to working with OpenSky…they seem to be the COOLEST company! You can find my shop under What’s For Dinner on OpenSky. I hope to “see” you all there. Feel free to let me know if there are items you’d like to see, and I’ll do my best to get them on there. Happy shopping!

Technorati Tags: cheese, dinner, giveaway, gourmet, Italian, pasta, recipe, simple recipe, vegetables, vegetarian

10 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, January 25th 2010 | Tags: cheese, dinner, giveaway, gourmet, Italian, pasta, recipe, simple recipe, vegetables, vegetarian
Posted in Italian, contest/giveaway, giveaway, simple recipe, vegetarian

Holy Moly Stromboli! (Giveaway Post)

Last week, I decided that it was a great time to start exploring all the fun gadgets and small appliances that Adam and I were lucky enough to receive for our wedding. I coined it “gadget week” and started with the mandoline, then the rice cooker, the fancy schmancy blender, the immersion blender, and tonight…the piece de recistance: The Kitchen Aid stand mixer. We registered for the standard enamel 5 qt. stand mixer with the top that lifts up to allow access to the bowl and paddle. Much to my surprise, my mom was generous enough to get us the KitchenAid Professional 5 qt. deluxe super duper mixer with the lever that raises the bowl to the paddle. Just look how pretty it is:

I never in a million years thought we’d get the smaller mixer we’d registered for, let alone this one… so mom, again, THANK YOU!

I went a little mixer-crazy yesterday and today in preparation for this post, and you’ll see partially why when you get to the dessert at the bottom of this post, but trust me, you’ll want to see dinner too. One of the cool things about KitchenAid mixers is their ability to make dough. Now, I’ll probably still use the old school method for making challah, but the dough hook made tonight’s dinner that much easier.

Stromboli are kind of like calzones, but also kind of like a thin-crust pizza rolled up into an Italian-style burrito. I made this wonderful whole wheat pizza dough from AllRecipes.com, except I did the kneading in the KitchenAid. It was so much easier!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.
Stir the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. Then, drape it over both of your fists, and gently pull the edges outward, while rotating the crust. When the circle has reached the desired size, place on a well oiled pizza pan. Top pizza with your favorite toppings, such as sauce, cheese, meats, or vegetables.
Bake for 16 to 20 minutes (depending on thickness) in the preheated oven, until the crust is crisp and golden at the edges, and cheese is melted on the top.

Then, after I allowed it to do all its rising, Adam and I rolled them out and put our choice of toppings inside. I chose Canadian bacon, mozzarella, red peppers, mushrooms, and spinach. Adam chose the same but left out the “fungus and peppers” as he called it. They got rolled up, sealed, and scored on the top and baked at 425* until they were done on the outside. They looked fairly boring at first (Adam’s on the left, mine on the right):

DSCN5532 DSCN5538

But upon slicing into them, we found some spiraled treasure:

We topped them with some pizza sauce and dug in. They were delicious! It was like eating pizza with significantly more toppings and less cheese, and the dough was nutty and delicious!

Now, on to the dessert I made yesterday. There was something special about it… it had ingredients in it that I wouldn’t have normally bought: almond flour, organic cocoa, and sunflower seed butter. Why did I have these ingredients? Well, the lovely people at iHerb.com offered me a $50 shopping spree to test out their website and sample some of their products and I happily obliged! I got an opportunity to sample some things that I haven’t tried before due to cost or availability, and their website is fantastic. Some things I knew I wanted to try, so I just typed them into the search interface. Some things though, I found through a category search, or an alphabetical search. They have over 18,000 natural products, so it was a bit overwhelming! I ended up with:

1 case PB&J Larabars
agave nectar
organic cocoa powder
Bob’s Red Mill almond flour
Bob’s Red Mill high fiber oat bran
SunButter

I had something in mind when I picked these items, besides the fact that I wanted to taste them. I wanted to use this (from Adam’s mom):

to make some brownies! I found a recipe to adapt, and ended up with this result:

The recipe for SunButter Cocoa Brownies:

Ingredients

2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2/3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. almond flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 c. milk
2 heaping Tbsp. SunButter
1/4 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Beat eggs until slightly frothy, then add oil and mix well. Add sugar and cocoa and mix well, then add flours. Once the batter has come together, add milk and SunButter and mix well. Pour into pan and bake 22-26 minutes. Enjoy!

These were great, and it was so much fun trying out new ingredients! Do you want to try new ingredients from iHerb.com? This is your chance! For the low low cost of a comment below, you can be entered to win your very own $50 shopping spree from iHerb.com! To get extra entries, you can:

Post about the contest on your blog and link back to this post. (http://www.imadedinner.net/2010/01/24/holy-moly-stromboli-giveaway-post) Then, leave another comment telling me you’ve done so.
Tweet about this contest by saying “I want to go shopping @iherb with @imadedinner! http://tinyurl.com/iherb” then leave me another comment telling me you’ve done so.
Visit iHerb.com and tell me the ONE item you’re dying to try! Then (you guessed it) leave another comment to let me know you’ve done so.

Only comments will be counted as entries, so if you just comment, that’s one entry. You will need to comment that you’ve posted, tweeted, or visited as well. Good luck! Winner will be announced next Sunday, January 31! You may have noticed that it looks a little different around here… what do you think? Can you read the posts ok? Let me know if you’re having trouble…

Have a great Sunday night, and a pleasant Monday!

Technorati Tags: Baking, cheese, dinner, gadgets, giveaway, Italian, pizza, simple recipe

184 Comments

Mara @ What's For Dinner?, January 24th 2010 | Tags: Baking, cheese, dinner, gadgets, giveaway, Italian, pizza, simple recipe
Posted in Baking, Italian, contest/giveaway, giveaway, simple recipe

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