Exceedingly Mundane

Tim is still working from home all weekend – basically working around the clock on his project. Which, as I blogged about yesterday, makes for an odd weekend for us – one spent around the house. I took the time and opportunity to do something I don’t get to do nearly as much of as I would like. Bake.

I love to bake. I think it’s the mathematical/computer side (is that Left Brain or Right Brain?) that I tend to like recipes that are exact, with exact measurements. Plus, I just always like the outcome more – sweet and sugary and fattening.

This afternoon, I made an old favorite, Black Bottom Banana Bars. To use up some old ripe bananas and to make something with a tiny bit of chocolate taste to satisfy my craving. The recipe is both on the extended page (click the Read more button) and also here on our main site, Hambones.org. As are all of the recipes that are in my “tried and true” files. Feel free to check them out if you’d like.

The result:

More pictures and full recipe on the extended page…

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I ran across Org Junkie’s blog and post last week and saw that there was a new meme starting up revolving around menu planning. Yippee! I have been doing menu plans for quite a while now, and have been posting them over in the forums on our main website, Hambones.org. I have been a bit lax with posting them lately, mostly because I don’t think anyone looks at them. They help me tremendously though, both for grocery shopping, reducing stress, knowing what meat I need to take out to thaw, etc, on a daily basis.

So, this week, I’m going to start participating in this meme on Mondays. I’ll post my menu, some items with links to the recipes on our main site, and some will have “TBD” – to be determined. We tend to eat out on the weekends a lot. We like to have date night!

Anyhoo, here we go, first time to do Menu Planning Monday:

Monday – Grilled Chicken Salad, with Maple-Mustard dressing

Tuesday – Toss up. The hubby is going to try to play golf with a friend. If he does, I’ll make Maple BBQ Chicken Sandwiches, veggie, probably chips or fries. If he doesn’t play golf, he’s going to get to grill out. 😆 Chicken for him, salmon for me, baked sweet potatoes, veggie or salad.

Wednesday – breakfast food (probably eggs, oatmeal, toast)

Thursday – something new – Annie’s Organic cheeseburger macaroni, corn, homemade bread

Friday – Date Night (eat out) or Frozen Pizza

Saturday – Frozen Pizza or Date Night 🙂

Sunday – TBD

P.S. I’m also on the hunt for a homemade spaghetti sauce, preferably a crockpot one. If anyone has a recipe they’ve used and liked, I’d love to see it. I have been using a jarred Prego sauce, which we like, but I’d like to try a homemade one.

I have blogged in the past, briefly, how years ago I thought the idea of bagged lettuce was a silly fad that would pass. After all, I’d seen lettuce for sale in the grocery store all my life, and for a lot cheaper, and more of it, than the price that they wanted for bagged lettuce. Then, as I realized that I was willing to pay more for the convenience of it, I started to think it a lot less silly idea. Now, I often buy bagged lettuce, although I still do buy the heads of lettuce (romaine or spinach, I try to stay away from iceberg since it has no nutritional value) and wash them for us to have. But, if I’m pressed for time or feeling particularly lazy, I go for the bagged stuff.

Same explanation applies to the concept of tuna, chicken, and salmon in those round aluminum tin cans vs the ones that are sold now in foil packs. I resisted even buying them for the longest time. After all, tuna is tuna right, and the foil packs cost a lot more. You’re paying for the convenience of not draining them, or whatever, right? Well, I finally caved a couple of years ago, and now I almost always buy the foil pack. Yes, I pay more, I know. But, I honestly think some of it tastes a lot better coming out of the foil pack than that old rusty tin can :mrgreen:, especially the tuna. I really like the new flavored tuna fillets that Starkist sells in the foil packs. I’ve tried the lemon pepper one and teriyaki ones and I like both of those a lot.

I’d love to hear if you still buy the cans exclusively, you now get foil packs exclusively, some of both, or you could basically care less – so be sure to leave me a comment. No, never mind, don’t comment if you could care less 🙄

Here’s a sample of what’s in my pantry today:

I’m sorry, but it’s just not right that this thing is labeled “lowfat”! Look at the very bottom, it says, really small “a lowfat creamy blend of Starbucks coffee and milk”. Yeah, lowfat, right. Now, don’t get me wrong – it is really good. The problem is that this bottle is small, and I can drink it in the blink of an eye. It has 200 calories for this one itsy bitsy teenie weenie bottle:

It’s just not right. That’s all I’m saying. 🙄

P.S. This blog entry reminds me of a segment I saw last week on “The View”. They had a nutritionist on, who was talking about how many summer drinks were making women add extra, hidden calories to their diet. I was shocked at how many calories some of these drinks have. Check out the extended page for a section I’ve cut and pasted from their website.

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I got a few comments in my Monday Madness post below that basically said “what are soy nuts?” Here’s what they look like:

Don and Gail had some at their house and I tasted them, and they are really good. Crunchy and salty. I found them in Walmart, in a display on the edge of my produce section. This display has several kinds of “healthy” snacks like trail mix, dried fruit, yogurt covered raisins, etc, and they also have 2 kinds of these soy nuts. I’m trying to be good and only get a small handful at a time. They are sort of addictive though, because of the salt, I think. They’re very small, smaller even than English peas, tiny little things.

Hope that helps!

I don’t know about anyone else, but normally I actually usually love to cook and bake. But, this summer, I’ve really been avoiding it like the plague! Maybe it’s the weather, maybe it’s the so-called summer doldrums, maybe I’m just reacting to our busy lives and the fact that we’re eating out more and eating much later at night, which I really hate. Whatever it is, I really haven’t been cooking much lately. And when I do cook, I make something easy, like taco salad or spaghetti or fish with veggies. Nothing fancy and certainly nothing new lately. I haven’t made a new recipe in ages – until last night.

I made a new recipe for banana-blueberry muffins and they were really good! We decided to just have breakfast food last night for supper, and we cooked some of Tim’s deer sausage. We’re nearly out of most of the meat from hunting season last year, but we do have a little bit of sausage left. So we had eggs and sausage, and instead of biscuits or toast, I made muffins instead. They are fairly healthy, as far as muffins go, and they were pretty tasty too.

Here’s the batter:

And the muffins after they came out of the oven:

And the recipe is entered here on Hambones. And OOPS!, I must apologize – I just realized when I went to enter the recipe that I have made these once before, last summer. I didn’t remember making them, so technically they are not a new recipe for me. Oh well! They were still really good!:mrgreen:

Well, I blogged a bit more this weekend than I normally do, but there was a lot on my mind, and we were fairly busy 🙂 Thought I would jot the rest of it down… Saturday, I already blogged about (twice), and then Sunday afternoon, Tim went to play golf. He had gone to the driving range late Friday, but he just couldn’t stand not playing on the weekend. He wanted me to go with him, but it was just too hot for me in the middle of the day. So, he had to go by himself, poor thing. After he got home, we decided to go see “The Devil Wears Prada” at the theater. It was good, not excellent, but good. I probably could have waited and rented it, but it was nice that Tim offered to go see a girl movie with me. I have not read the book yet, so I didn’t know the whole plot and I must admit it was more drama than comedy, which surprised me a little. I enjoyed it though, and was glad that Tim agreed to go.

For a splurge, I made us some homemade ice cream Sunday night in my little Cuisinart ice cream maker that I got two summers ago and just love. It makes just the right amount for the two of us. We still have a big one that is up in the attic somewhere, for when we have a big group over. You know, the old kind where you have to add ice and rock salt. I love this one because I can just freeze the container, pop it out and have ice cream in under 30 minutes. Believe it or not, I’ve only ever made one kind of ice cream – plain jane vanilla. That would be because of Tim, when it comes to homemade ice cream, he’s a total purist and only EVER wants vanilla. I added crushed Butterfingers and chocolate coating to mine, so it was much better. Click on the extended page for a couple of ice cream pictures, if you want 🙂

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Coffee is still a relatively new thing for me. Tim has drunk coffee all of his adult life. His parents are big coffee drinkers; they always have a pot going at their house, or if people come over to visit, that’s the first thing they do – go put on a pot of coffee. A very social thing, I think. 😆

For the first 8 years we were married, Tim drank coffee all by himself. Then, two summers ago, I made a herculean effort to learn to drink coffee. I have to add lots of splenda and creamer, but I can drink it now, and I actually enjoy it. Of course, it has tons of calories and is very sweet (think light brown, really light!), but I do like it. I love going to Starbucks or Cups and trying new coffee concoctions in the summer and winter alike. But, not my Tim. He just drinks plain coffee, black. We’ll go to Starbucks and he gets lots of quizzical looks by just ordering plain coffee. But, he goes with me, and that always makes me happy.

We’ve made coffee at the house since we were married, but we have always bought and used ground coffee. Community brand, to be specific. I buy really small sizes of flavored coffees for me, but for Tim, we buy Community ground coffee, dark roast. And he’s been perfectly happy with that. I’ve been trying to talk him into trying whole beans for a while, and finally, on Sunday afternoon while shopping in Sam’s, he agreed. We bought a bag of whole beans:

Now, we’re trying to figure out the proportions of how much whole beans to grind to make a big pot of coffee for us. The first one was a disaster – too watered down. We’re slowly getting there, but I honestly think it takes more whole beans to make coffee like he likes it than it will of ground coffee. Which, in turn, makes me think it will be more expensive to buy whole beans and grind them. But, we’re going to experiment and give it a try. He wanted to try some Hawaiian coffee first. I’m not sure if we’ll stick with this, try another kind of whole bean, or just chuck it and go back to ground. 🙄

Please leave me a comment if you have any sage advice about grinding whole beans, how much to use, what kind to buy, etc. We’d really appreciate it!

I’ve eaten out quite a bit the last couple of days. Well, I’ve just plain eaten a lot the last few days. Ouch! And yes, the scales show that 😳

Thursday night, Tim offered to take me out to dinner, even though I had food out to cook. We had our date night a day early this week, I guess. 🙂 We went to the new Italian place near our house that recently opened (we’ve been once), called Alexander’s. It’s owned by the same people that own Panino’s, which is one of my favorite restaurants. Anyway, it was delicious. We had the homemade bread with dipping oil, and Tim had his regular (fettucine alfredo, but he added shrimp) and I have the raviolini of the day, which was seafood raviolini. I should have taken a picture of mine, it was beautiful – the pasta was a pretty green spinach pasta, and the filling was divine, with crab and shrimp and other good stuff. It was really delicious.

Friday for lunch, I went out to eat with my friend Wendy, and we also went shopping. We tried a new place out Lakeland that Wendy had been to before, but graciously agreed to go back again with me. It’s called Oby’s and it reminds me of a McAlisters, a deli type place. I had a shrimp po-boy and Wendy had a chicken salad wrap that looked really good. Again, I should have taken pictures, but didn’t. I did, however, grab a menu to scan, and so I scanned it in for you guys. You can check it out here if you’d like.

After a busy afternoon of shopping, I headed home. On the way, I decided to stop at Sonic and surprise Tim with another Hot Fudge Brownie Blast (one each, of course!):

And, even though I was tired from shopping, I made us some homemade soup for supper Friday night. One of my favorites, potato soup:

Yup, I’ve gained a couple of pounds in the last couple of days 😆

I made another new recipe yesterday, just a simple thing for a homemade salad dressing. We ate light last night, a grilled chicken salad. We’re trying to eat healthier and lighter, and it’s easier in the summer. In the winter, I tend to want to bake a lot, make heavier dishes, casseroles, chili, soup, stews, etc. So, it’s easier in the summer to justify having just a big salad for supper.

I found this recipe at my favorite foodie blog, Sweetnicks. Cate always posts really good recipes. Everything I have tried from there has been delicious. Thanks Cate!

I think this recipe is now my new favorite. I still really like the Honey Mustard salad dressing I’ve been making for years, but this one is really good too. Hard to pick!

Here’s the recipe, and it can also be found here on Hambones.org. Along with all of my other favorite recipes!

Maple-Mustard Salad Dressing

1/3 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Yield: about 3/4 cup

Stacy’s Notes – Made June 2006. Didn’t have shallots, so I substituted 1 T finely diced red onion. Served this on a grilled chicken salad – yum, a definite keeper!

Have you ever heard the old saying “never go to the grocery store hungry”? Well, that definitely applies to me. I tend to buy a LOT more food, especially junk food, if I go when I’m remotely hungry.

The problem is, when I went today, I was not hungry! But, I still bought some junk to snack on. Here’s the snack of the day… yum, so good

P.S. Yes – my breath smells wonderful now!

I made a new recipe last night, one that I found on Sweetnicks food blog. Cate has some great recipes, and this one was no exception. I’m always looking for recipes that make small amounts, and this one fit the bill – it’s just a small cake in a single layer, baked in an 8″ square pan. A very good size for the two of us.

I had found a container of “brown sugar cinnamon” Philadelphia cream cheese in the very back of the refrigerator the other day, and saw that it was about at its expiration date. So, I needed to use it, and this recipe fit perfectly. It’s very moist and flavorful and the icing is to die for – I could honestly just eat it with a spoon. 🙂

I posted the recipe on our family website here, and it’s also at Cate’s site – Sweetnicks. Here’s a picture I took this morning, after we semi-demolished it last night 😆

I have blogged a couple of times lately about food products that we have bought, tried and liked. Among them, the Wheat Thins Veggie Chips, the Skinny Cow Vanilla Ice Cream Cones and the Lipton Green Tea Citrus tea drinks. We really like all those, and I will buy them again and again.

However, my streak has come to an end. This is one product I will not make the mistake of buying again:

This looked really good – I like rice, especially the flavored ones, you microwave it for only 90 seconds, right in the package, so it’s quick, easy and no clean-up. Well, it is also awful. Gooey and clumpy and not much flavor and just generally bad. I won’t be buying this again. I’ll go back to doing rice in a pan on the top of the stove.

Just my .02 🙂

I have blogged some lately about new food stuff that we’ve tried at the store. Both the Skinny Cow Ice Cream Cones and the Veggie Chips are stuff we really like, and now I have another one to add to that list. Based on a recommendation from Julie, I bought us a pack of these:

Yum, these things are good! They don’t really taste like tea to me, but I really like the taste of them, especially this time of year. They’re really light and refreshing. They won’t completely take the place of my peach tea I’ve been hooked on a for a while, but they are good. (Pricey, but good – this 12 pack was nearly 6 bucks at Walmart!).

I normally cook during the week and sometimes on the weekends, but we often splurge and eat out on either Friday or Saturday night. Sometimes on Sunday night, we will go and pick up Chinese food from a little place close to our house.

However – we hardly ever eat out during the week, or pick up food. Tonight, though, was an exception to that rule. I had stuff on the menu to cook, but I just didn’t feel like cooking. Tim had a rough day at work and had to work late, so I talked him into picking up Chinese food. Anyone who knows me in person, knows that I LOVE Chinese food.

Click on the extended entry if you’d like to see what we got!

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