Inevitably Keely

The cookie pictured is old, but I still considered eating it. Because it's a cookie. I love cookies! What I did instead was look in my fridge and pantry. I decided I was going to choose at least one vegetable and make it yummy without adding too much. I chose mushrooms and sauteed them up. I scrambled up an egg. I mixed them together, added a little bit of cheese and some salsa and added it all to a whole grain tortilla. It was delicious and it took me five minutes. Take THAT, fast food. And then there was the cookie. I decided instead of eating that damn cookie, (because I was full... and it's a cookie. I've broken up with cookies.) that I was going to play with it a bit. I know, I know: Don't play with your food! And I know, "Throw it all awayyyyyyy. bad bad" ;) But it was a little bit therapeutic to take that cookie and do something creative with it. It made me laugh. And I need to keep a sense of humor about all this. And I sort of like testing myself - es...

I'm having a not feeling so good kind of day, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do this Food Meme I found over at Imelda's blog . Right about now, I could totally eat some of my comfort food: Chili Spaghetti. Check out all my answers below and if you decide to participate, let me know in the comments. I love talking food! Type your answer to the questions into Flickr search Using only the first page of results, pick an image Copy and paste each of the URLs in the Mosaic Maker And, of course, the questions: 1. What is your favorite restaurant? El Mirador in San Antonio. It's a shame that my favorite restaurant is so far away! 2. What is your favorite type of cuisine? Sushi. If only I could have some now! 3. What is your favorite comfort food? Chili Spaghetti. I can't get enough of it lately. 4. What is your favorite childhood food? Pizza, of course! 5. What is your favorite dish to prepare for company? Guacamole is always easy and Daniel loves it. ...

With Zoe it was frozen yogurt, drumsticks - of the ice cream variety, Cocoa Pebbles/Krispies and spicy foods in general. In the third trimester, once I started injecting insulin at night - I think I had a chocolate chip cookie everyday just before bed... and it never hurt my numbers. I never sent Daniel on wild goose chases for crazy cravings because I just didn't really have them, although I do admit I did have strong urgings that we eat at specific places. Really, I played the "we can't eat Chinese food because the baby doesn't like it" card whenever needed. With Finn, everything is different. I've had the occasional frozen yogurt, but it's lost it's magic. There's been no drumsticks, I've yet to have a warmed up cookie with a glass of milk and spicy food inevitably gives me painful heartburn. The Cocoa Pebbles I eat almost daily, but lately I've been wanting to do something slightly unorthodox with this sweet cereal. I have an almost unc...

I got this recipe by Sandra Lee out of her slow cooker recipes cookbook (which I'm really looking forward to using more). She lists specific brands to purchase, but I didn't follow that - and it consider this meal a success. California Black Bean Chili : 1-1/4 lbs. ground turkey 2 cans (15 ounces each) black beans, drained 1 can (7-ounce) diced green chiles 1 can (14-ounce) diced fire-roasted tomatoes 1 can (8-ounce) tomato sauce 3 cups diced zucchini (I omitted since Daniel is not a fan.) 1 cup frozen chopped onions (WOW! I loved not having to chop onions.) 1 packet chili seasoning mix (Chose to use a Tex Mex mix, you know since my hubby is from TX.) 1 tbsp. chili powder 1 tsp. crushed garlic (Here I did listen, Christopher Ranch - good stuff.) Salt and pepper Diced avocado or guacamole, for garnish (I did the diced - Don't skip it, it really makes this recipe.) Directions: In a large skillet, brown ground turkey, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper. Drain an...

Anyone who's been reading this blog for a while (or has gone through my archives) knows that prior to Daniel and I finding each other I was married to an Assface. I know just about everyone considers their ex to be somewhat of an ass, that is why they become exes after all... but he really, really was an ass. For the most part I don't really think about him anymore but occasionally something will spur a bad memory. For instance, despite being a great movie franchise - I abhor 'The Godfather' trilogy. It could have something to do with me having watched each installment at least ten times a year for six years. It could also have something to do with him choosing what our bridal party wore based on what “Connie's" bridal party wore - I had to really fight for them to not wear those big hats. And our first dance? The theme from Godfather. So, yes... Godfather brings back some horrible memories. Don't even get me started on all the other gangster movies and hi...

I'm telling you, I was not looking forward to cooking this weekend. I woke up today feeling tired and not in the mood to go to the grocery store let alone do even the slightest bit of prep work. Well, there was no getting out of going to the grocery store - we needed stuff! But I did manage to find this little recipe on the internet. I'd actually picked out something even more simple, but this one sounded good to Daniel so I decided to make it. Sooooo SIMPLE! Combine the following in your Crockpot: 1 can black beans, drained 1 can corn 1/2 cup of your favorite salsa (I used a cup here) After stirring, add: 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1/2 cup more salsa Cook on low for 3 hours. Add 1 block of cream cheese & cook for one more hour. Serve over rice with flour tortillas. I had my doubts about this one since it was not looking so appetizing when I checked on it. I was so worried I thought we might have to repeat our Valentines dinner: But it turned out pretty darn good....

Ingredients: 1.5 lbs Sirloin steak 2 Medium potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces 2 Cups frozen cut green beans ( I omitted because Daniel is not a fan .) 1 Small onion sliced and separated into rings 1 16 oz. jar thick and chunky salsa* 1 14 oz. can beef broth 1 Tspn. dried basil 2 cloves garlic, minced Shredded Monterey Jack or Mexican blend cheese I also added a dash of some cooking wine and a few shakes of some garlic salt... and about 8 oz. of another salsa I love that has fire roasted chilies in it. I'm going to keep the name under wraps and call it my "secret ingredient". Prep: Cut meat into 1-inch pieces. In a slow cooker place potatoes, green beans, and onion. Add meat. In a medium bowl stir together salsa, beef broth, basil, and garlic. Pour mixture over items in cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours (or on high for 4-5 hours). Sprinkle each serving with cheese. This has got to be the best damn soup I have ever had and the fact that I made it makes it even mo...

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes 1/2 pound andouille sausage, diced (I chose to slice instead of dice) 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes 1 medium onion, chopped 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped 1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth 1/4 cup white wine 1 tsp chopped garlic 2 teaspoons dried oregano 2 teaspoons Cajun or Creole seasoning 1 teaspoon hot sauce 2 bay leaves 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1 pound cooked shrimp 2 cups cooked rice - Combine chicken, sausage, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, chicken broth and white wine. - Stir in oregano, Cajun seasoning, hot sauce, bay leaves, thyme and garlic. - Cover, and cook on LOW for 7 hours or on HIGH for 3 hours. - 30 to 45 minutes prior to serving, stir in the shrimp. - Discard bay leaves. - Spoon mixture over cooked rice- or stir in the cooked rice 15 minutes prior to serving so the flavor is absorbed. I've got to tell you, I was freaking out with this one. I just could not believe that I wasn't supp...

It's interesting how just one week of new eating habits changes you. Last night I decided I wanted to splurge on something ridiculous to eat. I'd used only 13.5 of my daily 31 points and hadn't used any of my points allowance for the week (35) so I went online to check what the points were for some Carl's Jr. One $6 Jalapeno Burger and medium fries = 36 points! Maybe it was the mood I was in, or that I'd been bad and not had a midday snack like I've been doing, but I thought my hunger deserved those 36 points. Screw the nice salmon and salad or the whole wheat pasta we'd purchased! Forget the red bell peppers and hummus! I wanted a greasy, fattening cheeseburger with "Santa Fe" sauce and jalapenos, dammit! Fast forward to thirty anti-climactic minutes later and I was regretting my choice. My meal left me feeling weighted down and lethargic. I felt like I had a lump in my stomach. I did not feel satisfied, I felt overly full and sloppy - like I was...

Well, today is the first installment of The Crock pot Challenge! I made Chili! I got up at 9 this morning (have I mentioned how awesome Zoe is with her late mornings?) and got going. Of course, I had to actually take the crock pot out of the box first. Therein I found a lovely wedding card... for someone else: apparently, the bride and groom got multiple crock pots! Either that, or they were as afraid to use it as I had been. Too bad they weren't notified of our little challenge group - it would have offered them recipes and support from like minded people. Too bad, so sad. Well, not really. Any who... After Daniel washed the new pot for me, I got to work chopping onions and browning meat. Onion chopping took less than a minute (oh, food processor how I love thee). Meat browning took ten minutes. I threw both in the pot, added the other ingredients, set it and then had a nice chat with my Dad on the phone. I decided I wanted to add some beer even though the recipe I used doesn'...

So Supa and I got to talking the other day about how we need help with our Crockpot/Slow-cooker recipes. I'm scared to death of my crockpot because of all the tales of recipes gone bad and she's had lots of recipes go bad. Very, very bad. So the Challenge was created. And Supa made us a badge!!!! HERE'S THE SKINNY (BA HA HA!): One recipe per week Take a picture Share the recipe on your blog (provide a link) or under pic Discuss. Post on Sundays... if you can Go on. Join . Invite your friends who are dynamo's* (or not) in the kitchen. Help some mutha's out. Please. * It has been brought to my attention that some people don't like Crockpot's. If you've got other means to do some slow-cookin', then by all means join the challenge! I'm all about the easy right now and if you can show us other ways to do it, then PLEASE** join. I know I could use all the help I can get. ** But no pressure! Seriously and honestly! It's supposed to be fun AND save ...

We've been slowly starting to introduce various foods to Zoe. We started off with some organic canned stuff but really, the idea of my baby going from breast milk, to formula and breast milk, to stuff in a jar with a shelf life of two years sort of grossed me out. I know there are good foods out there, and Zoe doesn't seem to have any issue with eating these foods. If you offer my kid food, she'll take it and quite possibly bite your index finger off with it. Our little monkey likes the food and is not what I would call a picky eater. BUT! I like the idea of her trying new tasty food that her dad and I make for her. I like the idea of fresh ingredients. I'm liking the color of fresh fruits and veggies versus the canned stuff. So we bought a book. And then we bought a steamer. And we're going to make our baby fresh food. Daniel's mom did it for him. Lots of mom's out there do it. I'm excited to do it for Zoe. According to the cookbook, we may even decide ...

Last night we introduced Zoe to bananas: And the entire time we were feeding her I kept singing (in my head) : This sh*T is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!* But she liked it! I swear! She kept reaching her little hands out for more and when we gave her more she made that face. And stuck her tongue out. But she liked it! I think she was just confused by the newness of the texture and the taste. Bananas were everywhere. It was fun for the whole family! So much fun, that I'm sort of looking forward to more feedings. Peas are going to be awesome! * Oh, Gwen Stefani... you do sing catchy tunes.

After having a wonderful birthday last Thursday, Daniel and I got to help celebrate a very special birthday for our good friends daughter, Ellie. She turned two and I had the fun task of documenting it all on film. She's such a precious little one and I had a blast taking photographs at the "Princess Tea Party" and later that evening while she swam around like the bathing beauty that she is. I'll have to talk to her Dad about me posting a couple on here to share. In the meantime I'll share the photo I'm thinking of putting on my Mac as a screensaver : Oven roasted cherry tomatoes & ricotta cheese on top of garlic & oil brushed baguette slices. Our friends' mom made these Sunday night and I ate about half of the tray. SO good, I think I could eat these daily. My mouth is watering just thinking about them! Anyway...Besides getting to give my photography as a gift, the experience made me think that I really could do this. There is a lot for me to lea...