Avocado love

I have decided that working and blog maintaining aren't mutually exclusive. However, to maintain this blogs existence it's going to be down and dirty with less punctuation and capitalization. deal with it 3 readers of mine.


First up: the beautiful avocado mango salad that I made last night and ate again for lunch. So. So. Good.

I took a few ideas from recipes online but basically used what I had:
2 ripe avocados
1 mango
1/2 sliced onion
1 roma tomato
1/4 orange juice
1 lime juiced
salt
pepper
EVOO

toss together. eat. brag about your awesome avocado mango salad. don't share.

chicken chicken chicken dinner

A few weeks ago, I took my good friend Dena shopping. We live in DC where it makes no sense to have a car. But I do. (Sense and I are rarely in sync)

Anyhow, me and the fam have been in a particularly tight budget situation lately and I had already done my meal planning on a strict budget based upon what we had in our pantry and freezer. So I had brought no bags, and planned to watch a movie with Dena after taking her grocery shopping. However, when I saw they had whole chickens at .79 a pound I had to recalibrate. So, I bought four. Four whole chickens. I spent $12.

Processed food is scary

Forgive me, but I watched Food, Inc this weekend and it's got me all up in arms.

First- let me say this: I still cook with processed food. I still feed my family sugar. In fact, several nights a week I find myself bribing my two year old with a dessert to get her to eat her vegetables.

But ya'll, the food industry has some really shady practices. First they make us fat, and then they sell us things that are supposed to make us thin.

This was a really interesting article I read in The Guardian this week - Why our food is making us fat.

Processed food is scary.

Peach Cobbler

The good peaches have begun to show up at the stores. I've bought them two or three times this season thus far and have been very lucky. I always look for one with just a little bit of give and I haven't been disappointed. No mealiness has been encountered- only lush, sweet, juicy loveliness.

Spinach bread - or how much I love my bread machine

I love bread, but unfortunately my stomach can't handle too many carbs at the moment and bread tends to upset it. However, if it's a particularly hearty bread I can have a few nibbles.

Although, I can't eat much of the bread myself, I still love baking it. Occasionally, I'll hand make baguettes, but mostly I experiment with my bread machine. I love the anticipation as the smell of bread fills the house, grabbing a nibble here and there, and watching my family enjoy the fresh baked bread.

The neverending couscous salad

This is the story of a rained out BBQ and the couscous salad that survived.

We had planned a cookout last Friday evening and I spent the afternoon making this lovely couscous salad.

I've recently fallen in love with whole wheat couscous. The nutritional profile is pretty fantastic with 1/3 of a cup packing a whopping 7 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein. Most importantly it's delicious, with a fluffy texture and slight nutty taste.

The salad was fantastic, I mixed chicken stock flavored couscous with black beans, corn, fresh cilantro and parsley and some grape tomatoes. I made a quick vinaigrette with lime juice and cumin. The result was divine. However, it was meant to be consumed by 10 people and instead was a side dish for 4. The flash floods had won this round.

Everything is better with garlic

If you've been spending much time around the farmers markets these days, chances are you've seen a pile of these on a table somewhere. Garlic scapes are just about my favorite thing of late spring. I was introduced to them a few years ago by my CSA.

May's Angelfood is ready to order!

(EDITED: Angel Food Ministries is no longer in operation, if I find another service like this I will update!) 
 Don't forget your Angelfood this month! May's menu is open for orders now and my location has a deadline of May 13 for online ordering with a pick-up date of May 22nd. Not all locations have the same dates, but they are generally only a week apart so go to the website and find your location. The full menu is at the link above, but the signature box is below and is pretty exciting. The frozen lasagna is actually incredibly tasty and The Daddy's favorite, country fried steak, is on the list! As usual, I'll be posting a couple recipes a month based on the menu so check back frequently.

**Wondering how Angelfood works? Click here to read my explanation and please remember if you order Angelfood to list me in the referral box as oopsamommy@gmail.com. Working on a free box, which will really help the negative bank balance!

Apple and Onion Pork Tenderloins

 (EDITED: Angel Food Ministries is no longer in operation, if I find another service like this I will update!) 

 Last month’s Angelfood came with a plethora of apples and boneless pork chops.  Well, I thought, apples and pork go together like peas and carrots! In anticipation I put the frozen pork in the fridge and spent all day browsing recipes online and rejecting them. I decided to make up my own based on a few different recipes and an optimistic attitude but while at work on the big day I realized that I had started by forgetting the marinade!

Luckily, The Daddy gets home much earlier than I do on nights he isn’t working his 2^nd job so I called home to give him explicit instructions:

“Umm… can I get you to start the pork chop marinade?”

“I don’t know how.”

“Well, I can tell you how! That’s why I’m calling.”

Sigh “I guess so. What do you need me to do?”

“Grab the pork chops in the plastic bag in the fridge.”

“Ok.”

“Now I want you to mix up a marinade with a couple tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and some water.”

“Wait, where is the brown sugar?”

“Behind the macaroni and cheese” He lives on mac and cheese when I don’t cook.

“and the balsamic vinegar?”

“In the bottom cabinet on the right of the stove, now mix all that up and put it all in the bag with the pork and put it back in the fridge!”

“Hold on, I need to write this down. Now what do I need to do?”

…

An hour and a half later, after a delayed train ride and a late bus, which resulted in me asking The Daddy to pick me up at the train station I arrived home, ravenous and ready to cook. I handed off Lola to the care of The Daddy and good friend Heather who came along for the food.

I preheated the oven to 350 while Lola screeched. So Heather and The Daddy alternated bouncing her in the doorway of the kitchen so she could see me work. I chopped up some onions and got them ready for a long caramelization in the skillet with some olive oil and a tiny sliver of butter.

While the onions were working I got the apples ready. I washed them, sliced them, cut out the cores and tossed them in with the onions, the rest of the marinade and a little bit of chicken broth. I let the apples simmer for a minute or two and tossed them on top of the pork chops in a casserole dish and let it bake for 50 minutes. When the pork chops were done, I let them rest and poured out some of the juice from the dish back into the skillet. I warmed it to simmering and added a big pinch of corn starch and stirred till it was well blended and thickened up a bit. I poured most of the sauce into a serving cup and the rest back onto the chops and it was ready to serve. I set out a bowl of mixed greens, with some croutons and a quickly made dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The result: Mouth watering, yummy yummyness. The apples still had some of their shape with just a touch of firmness left, the onions were sweet and savory and the pork was perfectly done. Can’t wait to make it again!

Apple and Pork Tenderloins
serves 4

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 cup water
4 pork tenderloins
1 large onion, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp butter
4 crisp apples, cored, sliced
1/2 cup stock
big pinch of cornstarch

Prepare the marinade in advance! Must soak at least 1 hour to overnight. Pour the balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, salt, pepper and water in a gallon freezer bag. Close and shake till mixed. Open and place the pork in the bag. Carefully squeeze the air out of the bag and close. Put in the fridge on a plate to marinate.

Preheat the oven to 350. Put a pan on med heat. Pour in the olive oil and butter. Toss in the onions. You want them to caramelize so make sure the heat is not too high and leave them sit stirring every couple minutes. Once the onions have begun to brown toss in the apples, the remaining marinade and 1/2 cup of stock. Let the apples simmer for 2-3 minutes while you salt and pepper the pork and place in a casserole dish. Pour the apples and sauce over the pork and place in the oven. Bake for 50 minutes.

When pork chops are done strain the sauce back into the saucepan. Warm to a simmer and add cornstarch. Stir till thickened. Pour the sauce over the chops and apples and reserve some in a serving dish.



 

Turkey Filet Mignon?

(EDITED: Angel Food Ministries is no longer in operation, if I find another service like this I will update!) 
 This month Angelfood featured Turkey Filet Mignon...what? So for all you steak purists, lets put the name aside and we'll call them bacon wrapped turkey medallions. I pulled them out to thaw last night- they seemed fancy enough for a small, Easter dinner (I couldn't bring myself to spend the money to get a ham at the grocery store when my freezer was stuffed to the brim.)

So, I pulled out the trusty grill pan (love this pan!) and put some hand cut fries in the oven (sprinkled with Old Bay of course.) I rubbed a little olive oil on the grill pan while it heated and salt, peppered, and garlic powdered the turkey medallions, always remember the garlic! Gave them a nice sear on both sides (about 8 minutes) and then poured in a little water and a bouillon cube, a little red wine vinegar, mustard and red pepper flake. Transfered the pan to the oven (I use a meat thermometer because I'm anal like that.) and brought it to an internal temperature of 170. The oven was on 400 for the fries so it only took about another 8 minutes.

I pulled the pan out of the oven and transferred the turkey medallions to a plate. Tasted the sauce, adjusted seasoning and added a little cornstarch to thicken it up. Then I brought it to a boil while stirring. I drizzled the sauce over the turkey medallions, put the rest aside in a gravy dish, and made a mixed green salad to round out the meal. Topped with a quick dressing made of oil and red wine vinegar it complemented the tang in the sauce.

Hard to calculate the cost of this meal as the turkey medallions came in the angelfood box, but I'd estimate the four of them at most might account for about $5.00, add another $5.00 for both the greens which I got on sale at the local grocery and the hand cut fries, also compliments of Angelfood, and we had a lovely, low-key Easter dinner.

Hope you enjoy!

Bacon-Wrapped Turkey Medallions

4 bacon wrapped turkey medallions.
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 cup water & bouillon cube (or stock)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp red pepper flake
1/2 of water

1 tsp cornstarch

Preheat oven to 400. Heat an oven safe pan with the olive oil.  Sprinkle salt, pepper, and garlic powder on both sides of turkey. When hot place the turkey in the pan and do not move for at least 4 minutes while searing. Flip to the other side about an additional 4 minutes. Whisk the the water and bouillon, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard and red pepper flake and pour over the turkey medallions. Insert a meat thermometer into one of the medallions. Put it in the oven for another 8 minutes or until the meat thermometer reads 170.

Remove turkey to serving platter. Taste sauce, adjust seasoning, add remaining 1/3 cup of water and cornstarch. Bring to boil while whisking. Pour half of the sauce over the turkey before serving and the other half in a gravy boat. (Do people still have gravy boats?)

March Angelfood

(EDITED: Angel Food Ministries is no longer in operation, if I find another service like this I will update!) 

Yum! Stay tuned for recipes featuring March's standard box.

Misadventures with Broccoli

So, as previously posted Lola has begun eating food. I have/had big plans for making all of her baby food from scratch. Unfortunately, I have not had the time/equipment to make it quite successfully.

We started with rice cereal which is not easily replicated at home, so I bought that and procured a fancy (affordable) food mill in anticipation of starting her on vegetables. I chose a non-electric one because 1- it's cheap and 2 - I have a food processor, a blender, and a hand blender so I figured I was covered in the electric arena and didn't need to spend money to get one labeled "Baby."

Anyhow, when it came time to try a new food I decided on green beans because I had them in the freezer! Thanks angelfood! I quickly discovered that you need a formidable amount of beans in the grinder to make it work as the sheer mass of food being pushed by the metal disc is what helps push it through the sieve. So I had to make a lot more than I bargained for and the skins were too tough and just collected in the bottom while i pushed them around. After about 20 minutes I collected about 2 tablespoons of baby green beans that had made it through the sieve (and a cup of mushed and mangled ones in the mill) and fed them to Lola. It was very anticlimactic she took it all in stride and didn't seem to notice the difference from rice cereal.

So, I decided I would buy pre-baby-fied green beans and move on to other vegetables with the food mill. I rummaged through the freezer and faced with lima beans or broccoli I decided broccoli had to be easy to grind! Maybe it was, don't really remember...what I do remember is Lola turning red and choking and me panicking and wishing I had taken that course on baby Heimlich and CPR.

After the trauma I realized that I have never seen broccoli in the baby food aisle, and the fibrousness of the broccoli keeps it gritty no matter how small you grind it so the grit was most likely the problem.

Back to baby cereal and liquified green beans for the time being. I'm not giving up but I will be getting the blender out because for now at least I think I need some motorized, electric, pulverizing help. I wonder if I could get one of these...

Just Add Tuna

Working and taking care of a baby simultaneously is strenuous. I finally arrived home at about 8pm with no energy and nothing easily available to fix a quick dinner except for some leftover pesto in the fridge. I put some water on the stove to boil while I started feeding Lola. Good friend Heather, who came along for the ride this evening, took over the preparations, but kept poking around in my cupboards for something additional on the plate. The only thing I could think of was tuna... so, I can report that pesto tuna pasta is not altogether unpleasant- though I can't say I would want to make it again.

Still, I'd rather eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow than expend the energy to make a sandwich tonight.

And with that- I will retire to my chamber. I have 6 glorious hours of sleep ahead of me. Hopefully, there will be only one crying baby intermission.

On trying to make something exciting for dinner in between crying fits of your separation anxiety ridden baby after coming home from a long day

(EDITED: Angel Food Ministries is no longer in operation, if I find another service like this I will update!) 
 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are my old stand by. I buy them when they're on sale and throw them in the freezer (a stand alone freezer is a mom's best friend.) So when I need to put together an exciting dinner for a guest, or I just want something a little on the fancy side and I don't have a lot of cash or extra help I pull out the chicken to thaw.

My favorite recipe to make is Chicken with Basil and Goat Cheese. It has a huge wow factor is simple, fast, and cheap! I modified this Barefoot Contessa recipe for use with boneless skinless chicken breasts because I always have them and I find them a lot easier to deal with- especially when you're eating with an infant on your lap.

Chicken with Basil and Goat Cheese - modified from Ina Garten's recipe at foodnetwork.com

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 oz pkg of Goat Cheese (make sure to get the type sold in a log shape and not crumbled)
4 large basil leaves (more if desired)
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil
Parmesan Cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Cut a little pocket into each chicken breast. Insert a slice of the goat cheese with one basil leaf into each pocket. Salt and pepper the chicken. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with Parmesan if desired.
Pop into the oven for 35 minutes or until cooked through.

Pull it out, let it rest for a few minutes and your guests will never know you spent 10 minutes prepping it and 10 bucks on the ingredients.

Generally, I serve this with pasta, and if I want to add a green vegetable I serve it with marinara sauce. If you pop open a jar of of the store bought stuff this entire meal takes a minimal investment of time and effort.

BUT if basil is on sale I'll make a pesto* with whatever nuts I happen to have around (I get freezer bags full of pecans from my grandfather every time I visit, and seem to attract gifts of walnuts and almonds for some reason.) If I serve it with pesto I like to change up the vegetable for something a little more colorful. I've tried both steamed carrots and red peppers and green beans.

In my case the hands down best thing is that it requires minimal actual prep time so you can take screaming baby from daddy as soon as you get the salmonella off your hands. Put him in charge of getting it out of the oven.

*Try making a huge batch of pesto and freezing the leftovers in an ice cube tray. Once the cubes set, wrap in plastic and put in a freezer bag. They keep indefinitely. I generally do this in the summer months when it is on sale so I can enjoy pesto in the winter. The cube will melt in the hot pasta. Reserve a tiny amount of the starchy pasta water to help mix.

You gotta eat

(EDITED: Angel Food Ministries is no longer in operation, if I find another service like this I will update!)


So food is expensive. Not only do you have to eat but you should be eating healthy, which doesn't really translate to cheap...especially if you don't have a lot of time to make everything from scratch. When you're breastfeeding or making your own baby food (which is muy cheaper and better for the environment besides) it's time to put away the dollar a meal frozen dinners. The only way I've been able to survive on my meager budget is with the aid of Angel Food, well that and WIC but you can't survive on milk and peanut butter.

Angel Food Ministries is this pretty fantastic nationwide program... yeah yeah its religious but most of the churches that facilitate it don't shove anything down your throat. They're just there to help their neighbor...not proselytize. Local churches all over apply to be distributors so you're pretty much guaranteed to find a place to pick it up within a 30 minute drive no matter where you are.

It works like so: they have a basic box of food for 30 dollars. It's meant to feed one person for a month or a family of 4 for a week. You can buy as many boxes as you want but you only pick up once per month. They also have specials every month on a veggie box, meat box, seafood box etc. There are no income requirements, but if you are hard up for money they actually take food stamps which can really help stretch them out. The food is always pretty high quality, especially the meat, and of a good variety.

In February they had this:

For tonight's dinner I threw the pork roast in the slow cooker with a few potatoes, carrots and an onion and tossed in some thyme, salt, pepper, garlic powder and chicken stock. We got home at 7pm, popped some green beans in the microwave to steam and sat down to the most melt-in-your mouth pork roast I've ever had. The potatoes were a bit mush but not much you can do when you have to put it all in at once. Simple and easy.

I'm going to be blogging the recipes and meal plans I put together using angel food each month so check back for March!

And check out Angel Food- you can order online in most places. If you do please put my email in the referral box. I get a free box after 10 referrals! oopsamommy[at]gmail[dot]com