This week's Menu

Thought I'd share some recipes I used this week! We had some pretty tasty, healthy dinners...

Sunday: FISH TACOS

We used barramundi, but I also like to use tilapia. I make a spice rub for the fish with 1 T olive oil, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, and usually a few dashes of garlic salt. I let the fish marinate in the rub while I sliced up a little yellow pepper, red pepper, and red onion. While the fish cooked, I boiled black beans with some diced onion, bell pepper, a clove of pressed garlic, and some spices. And I sauteed the veggies. Used uncooked tortillas from Costco. Served it with guacamole and some Fage greek yogurt. 

Monday: PASTA WITH SAUSAGE AND TOMATOES

Found this recipe in Real Simple magazine. It was super easy and we loved it, so I'll share.

Ingredients:

- 2 28-ounce cans whole peeled tomatoes, broken up with your hands (would have been better with garden tomatoes)

- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed (What is smashed...? I just pressed it)

- 2 T olive oil

- Salt and pepper

- 3/4 lb sweet or hot italian sausage link (we used a spicy roma sausauge - yum!)

- 12 ounces cavatappi or some other short pasta (we used orechiette)

- 2 cups baby spinach (2 1/2 ounces)

- Grated parmesan

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 450 F. Mix the tomatoes (with their juices!) and garlic with oil, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Roast on a rimmed baking sheet until juices have thickened, 40 to 45 minutes. 

2. After the tomatoes have roasted for 20 minutes, place the sausage on second baking sheet. Roast, turning occasionally, until browned and cooked through, 15 - 17 minutes (I thought our sausage was a little dried out after 15 minutes, so watch it). Thinly slice. 

3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta. Reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water; drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Add the tomatoes, sausage, spinach, and a little pasta water as needed and toss to combine. 

4. Serve (in cute pasta bowls if you have them!) with grated parmesan cheese (we used a peccorino romano...tasty)

We had a slice of toasted sourdough bread with this and I didn't regret it. More advice -  watch the tomatoes because our sauce thickened by 30 minutes. So maybe put the sausage in after the tomatoes have been in for 20 minutes. Check the sausage after 10 minutes because they're likely done, along with the tomatoes. Also, I used my Silpat to roast the tomatoes, and now it smells like spaghetti sauce. But it was easy to clean my pan afterwards.

Tuesday: CHICKEN with BROCCOLI and QUINOA CASSEROLE

The casserole was delicious. I found it on Pinterest - NOT a waste of time! Find the recipe here.

Wednesday: VEGGIE PANINIS

Remember that crusty sourdough bread we had with our pasta? It came in handy here. Layered muenster cheese, sauteed zucchini, sliced bell pepper and onion (the other halves from the fish tacos), and used a yummy basil spread. For the spread, I put a clove of garlic, a little greek yogurt, a little miracle whip, salt, pepper, and fresh basil leaves in my magic bullet. A few pulses and voila! I've done these before with eggplant (on top of all the other veggies) and it was tasty! I'll try it with a portobello mushroom next time.

Thursday: PULLED PORK, Corn on the Cob, and a fresh spinach salad

For the pulled pork, we used a sirloin from Costco. It's Kirkland brand and comes in a 4-pack in the fresh meat section. I love this stuff. Like I said, it's a 4 pack of about 2 lb sirloins, which are very low in fat, and super versatile. I put it in the Crockpot on low all day or high for 5 hours with a can of coke (the real stuff). Sometimes I sprinkle it with garlic powder before I pour in the coke. When it's falling apart, drain the liquid, shred, and add your favorite BBQ sauce. We use Sweet Baby Ray's. 

Friday: OMELETS

I cook eggs for dinner once a week - they have the highest quality of protein of any food, and they're dirty cheap. What a combination. I pile them with veggies and a yummy cheese, and serve with fresh salsa and a piece of toasted sourdough. Luckily, we still had some left. I would have also served it with some slices of avocado, but I already ate all of our avocado for lunch. Guacamole is my favorite lunch. :)

On Saturday I went to a wedding in Ballinger, TX with 4 of my fellow Presby interns. Another intern was the one getting married. Ballinger is 4 hours from Dallas - fun day trip! I forgot my camera, so I'll try to get some pics and blog about it later. 

Hope you try some of these recipes (Keri) and like them! Happy, healthy cooking!

Stop Hatin'

Saw this car in the Tom Thumb parking lot yesterday. I was nervous the owner of the car was going to see me, so I had to take the picture as fast as I could so I'm sorry if you can't read it. In case you can't, this is what it reads:

$  STOP HATIN'  $

ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME

I'M
GETTIN
$  MONEY

(Calvin is peeing on "Haters" on both sides)

I love this so much. SO funny.

What is my life?

You might be asking yourself, "what does Amber do all day without a job?" The answer is: nobody knows. Not even me. But this is what I think I do:
1. Job Hunt - I love writing hundreds of Cover Letters and filling out online applications for various RD jobs that I'm usually unqualified for.
2. Spend money - isn't it ironic? Yes, but it makes sense. While I lack a paycheck, I have plenty of time. This time often leads to checking Groupon regularly and stalking designer sales online. Can you spell "GILT?" Also, I have to plan "errands" during my day to feel productive. Sometimes that errand is Pottery Barn. Oh well.
3. Cub Scouts - I recently planned the calendar until the end of the year, which was no easy task since our Pack is made up of three boys that are all supposed to be in different dens and therefore have different requirements to do. Last night we tried to have Cub Scouts early (6:30 PM instead of 7) because we wanted to take a hike before dark. By the time we corralled two of our boys, it was already almost dark (7:30), but we took a 15 minute walk around White Rock lake anyway. I had purchased ingredients for a yummy soup for Jesse and I to eat for dinner afterwards, which we didn't have time to make since we got done dropping the boys off at 8:30, so we went to Chic-fil-A instead. In our uniforms. No big deal. We would have gone to In-n-Out, but we've already been once this week. Don't judge - cooking is not on this list.

4. Babysit - Jesse and I babysit a lot right now for extra money since I don't have a job and he only adds debt to our net worth. Sometimes we get bored/crazy after we put babies to bed at 7:30 and then have to stay put while our friends party into the night. One night while we were babysitting and stir crazy, we wondered what Jesse would look like if he grew his hair out. The result was a better looking version of J. Biebs - we call it "J. 'Baugh".

5. Long walks - my knees hate running recently, so I often take walks to the library or around the Village Lakes a few times, or I go to the Katy Trail. Tens of people (who are often much older or heftier than me) pass me while they jog. Am I pathetic? Maybe. Is it better than sitting on my couch? Yes.
6. Read - just finished These is my Words by Nancy Turner. Great book. Loved it. Starting Born to Run. Already love it.
7. Become obsessed with stupid TV shows - right now my favorites are Top Chef: Just Desserts and Project Runway. I was somewhat excited for Biggest Loser to start again, but the first episode was pretty disappointing. Without Jillian, there's only the obese people to make fun of, and that's just mean.

That's an idea of my life right now. I need a job, I know, I know.

Really?

This morning I woke up feeling a little discouraged. I still haven't found a job. I've only had a couple of interviews and no offers. I'm waiting to hear from a hospital I interviewed at last week, but that's my last chance. I keep applying for positions, but my application seems to be automatically rejected sometimes because I don't have my Texas State Dietitian License yet. "Why don't you just get your dietitian license then?" you might ask. I only wish it were that simple. Last month after I passed the RD (Registered Dietitian) exam, I sent in my licensure application and fee, and took the Texas Jurisprudence exam (which was an additional fee), and ordered my official transcripts online from Weber State and BYU. A couple hundred dollars and two weeks later, I called on the status of my application. Some guy told me it would be processed by mid-September. I asked if everything had been received. He said, "yes." I said, "okay, bye."

Yesterday (another two weeks later) I called twice. Never got through.

This morning I called. On the third time I got through. A woman told me that my application had been received, but my transcripts had not been. I told her I was previously told they were. She put me on hold. Four minutes later she said that she checked every place they would be but they were not there. So I called BYU and Weber State to see if they never got sent. Both universities had sent them weeks ago. So I called back and told the woman I was sending more transcripts and asked if she could contact me when the transcripts arrived. She said no and that it takes at least ten days so I should call back then.

I called BYU and they sent another transcript (for free - thanks, BYU), but I had to send in another request form to Weber. So I printed the form, filled it out, and headed to FedEx Office to fax it. As I'm sending the fax at the fax counter without assistance from any FedEx employees, a male customer at the same counter asks the employee, "Has Shorty been helped?" I said, "I may be short, but I can work a fax machine, thank you." The employee told him, "Stop meddlin' in dat girl's bidness." Das right. Then he asked, "Is you a student at SMU?" I told him that I was no longer a student and was looking for a job as a dietitian. He then informed me that it would be a good idea to look at around at the hospitals, because they have lots of dietitians. REALLY? I wasn't aware. I said thanks and thought, "he may be dumb, but he's trying to be nice and helpful, even if he does say the 's word' every other word." (e.g. them hospitals have lots of dietitians, shoot. but not shoot. you get it). So I said, "I will, thanks." Then he said, "Or you know, you should look into the athletic department at SMU." I thanked him again for the idea and asked him if he went to SMU. He said, "$#!^ no, I'm an aggie. Dat jun-ya high's a piece of s..." Strange. But whatever, I think he's trying to be nice. Then he asked where I went to school and I told him Brigham Young University. He responded, "You just need to start havin' babies if you tryin' to catch up to Brennem Young, s...." Luckily my fax had finished so I smiled and walked away, understanding why SO MANY people have one of those gaudy gold A&M rings: if A&M will graduate that guy (with a very limited and often unintelligible vocabulary), they'll graduate anyone.

It's been one of those days where you just want to ask "Really?" to every person you see or talk to, and it's only noon.  I'm having ice cream for lunch. Really.

Peanut Butter Middles

I've been meaning to post this yummy cookie recipe since Christmas time. I found it in a Betty Crocker magazine called 100 Best Cookies. It's gooey peanut butter inside of a chocolate cookie, dusted with powdered sugar. Yum!


Ingredients:

Chocolate Cookie

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2   cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2   teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened 
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1   egg
1   tablespoon milk
1   teaspoon vanilla

Peanut Butter Middle

3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter


Instructions:
1. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda; set aside.
2. In a large bowl (or Kitchen Aide) combine butter and 1/4 cup peanut butter. Beat on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the white and brown sugar. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla until combined. Beat in the flour mixture (if using a hand mixer, add as much as you can with mixer and finish with a wooden spoon). Shape into 32 balls.
**If you have a food scale, weight the balls. The chocolate balls weigh about 21-22 grams, and the peanut butter balls weight about 7-8 grams. I start by weighing the entire ball of dough and dividing in halves until I have 32 balls. 

3. In a small bowl combine powdered sugar and the 1/2 cup peanut butter. Beat until smooth, kneading by hand if necessary. Shape into 32 balls.**


4. For each cookie, flatten a chocolate dough ball; top with a peanut butter ball. Shape dough around peanut butter ball to enclose.

Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I use a Silpat). Flatten with spatula or a glass.

5. Bake at 350 F for 8 minutes or just until set and surfaces are slightly cracked. Cool for 1-2 minutes on cookie sheet and remove.


6. Dust with powdered sugar.

7. ENJOY!

Lake Powell...ROCKS

Last week I got toasted (by the sun) in Lake Powell with the Mattsons and the Watkins. 

The Mattsons - Carly, Rand, Cynthia, and Whitney

The Watkins - Camden, Lori, and Brooklyn 

Seriously...my skin sun had not seen sun since my last vacations with the Mattsons in May 2010 to Hawaii. Texas is SO hot - it actually deters me from getting sun in the summer. This is likely good skin cancer prevention, but unfortunately it also prevents me from doing fun, outdoor activities. I find my favorite Texas summertime activities include watching mind-numbingly stupid reality TV (SYTYCD, Project Runway, and Bachelor Pad...shamefully) and eating gelato or Blue Bell. Kind of sad, I know. But the good news is there are still some places in the USA that are comfortable (and beautiful) during the summer. 
LAKE POWELL may be the winner. I'm not extremely well-traveled, but who needs Martha's Vineyard or West Coast beaches when Lake Powell has cleaner water, no sharks, and fewer tools? Not me. 


A HUGE thanks to the Mattsons for inviting me this year. I tried to make myself useful be killing as many flies and spiders as I could reach. Truthfully, I was grateful that I was too short to get the ones on the ceiling. I found this beauty one morning and deferred to Rand (aka MAN) to kill it. So gross. His legs are striped.

Cam woke up one night shouting and writhing because he thought spiders were crawling on him. I don't blame him. I was also paranoid most nights. I think I just felt one on my leg right now, actually. Haha. Good thing we played hard enough during the days to crash pretty quickly at night.

The day usually went like this: wake up, eat breakfast, play on the boat (wakeboard, waterski, kneeboard, etc), head back to the houseboat for lunch, relax for a little while/play games/read magazines, books, kindles, etc, then back out on the boat or swim before dinner. We also cliff-jumped, did yoga on the top of the house boat, got root beer floats at Dangling Rope, oogled over the houseboats at Antelope Point, and tubed. The tube was going really flat. I tried to do a back flip off it, but the real challenge was actually standing up on it. Thank you, Whitney for capturing this flattering display of my skills.

Wednesday (August 17th) was the best day of the trip...it was Whitney's BIRTHDAY! Woot woot. This is how excited she was...

The Watkins added to the fly paper decor with some lovely blue and red crepe paper and Cam and Brooke sprinkled confetti on various surfaces - house boat tables, counters, and Whitney while she was still asleep. Whit opened gifts in the morning. I got her a gold, oval locket with her initials engraved on the front and pictures of us in the middle. I think she liked it...who wouldn't? :) She also got an apron sewed by Grandma Katee, a biking outfit, and Jeep mats (they obviously didn't make it to LP). So fun. Cynthia made a delicious Waldorf Astoria cake...

Camden wanted a ding dong instead of cake so he put a candle in one...too funny. 

Later, Whitney failed to make good on her promise to jump off a cliff, but she did show everyone up on the wakeboard. And by everyone, I mean me. All of the Watkins are really good too. I guess I just hate admitting to being the only unskilled rookie wakeboarder there. Sigh. I do think I improved as the week progressed though. I figured out fairly early on how to get up and get out of the wake, but getting back in was the problem. I kept getting to the wake and then I'd either eat it or chicken out and back off. I made it back in once, somehow, but couldn't figure it out again. Darn.

This is me, chickening out

But who cares...because Lake Powell is SOOOO fun and so pretty and makes me want to jump in the air multiple times and make Brooke try to capture it. Kudos to Brooke. And too bad for High School Musical for not casting Whitney and I :)

Unemployment...

Today was the first day of my "non-vacation" unemployment. This morning I volunteered at the LDS Employment Resource Center. 


Then I did two things that I've been wanting to do for a long time. 
1. I bought pasta/soup bowls. The ones with big rims. They were on sale at the Tom Thumb. I made a delicious pasta dish that looked even better in the pasta bowls. Regrettably, I didn't take a picture. 
Here's the link for the recipe: http://danideejkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/05/lemon-zucchini-fettuccine.html 
2. I signed up for the Dallas Flash Mob.