What did you cook today?

The breakfast casserole turned out great.

I didn't get to eat any until about an hour ago.

It made tons.

 

Haha! Now that's a plan!

 

So last week, I got mega-bored just eating off of that jambalaya pot all week, so this week, I went a little crazy... In my fridge, I currently have:

-meatloaf (beef/pork)
-chili (also beef/pork)
-shake n bake chicken drums
-potato bacon soup
-creamed spinach
-glazed carrots and peppers

I was cooking from 11:30AM till 6:00 at night, doing dishes and laundry along the way. I totally killed it yesterday. I feel so secure knowing I have a fridge full of pre-made meals for myself this week so I can free myself up to do other things and not worry about having to spend money on lunches and breakfast at work. AND I got the house cleaned up and chores mostly done. Bonus!

I don't mind eating leftovers for breakfast, but if I do feel like cooking, I have eggs, potatoes, spinach and cheese that I can use to make an omelet. I also have lettuce, cucumbers and frozen edamame that I could mix with that spinach to make a salad if I want an extra dose of veggies. I have a tomato, but I'd rather save that for meatloaf sandwiches than salad.

There's a lot of meat in my menu this week. I like to do more veggie meals when I'm able, but I'm trying to ease into a more protein and veggie thing while making simple starches a sometimes food (especially after I basically lived on rice last week). Sometimes it's hard to do that when most proteins in a veggie meal consist of starchy beans and meat replacements. I'm going to do some more research into it, though. I know it can be done and I'm just uneducated...

 

See we are not just home cooks!

I love to cook in batches as it saves time when I am pushed for it and we still eat a healthy diet.

 

Last night I made cajun spaghetti and vegetable jambalaya

For the spaghetti, I cook the noodles and then put on a good amount of cajun pasta sauce, add in a handful of cajun seasoning, a touch of lemon, and plenty of pepper.
For the jambalaya, I cook the rice and peppers with cajun seasoning, and then I add in corn, mushrooms, pineapple slices, lime juice, beans, finely chopped tomatos, and whatever other vegetables I want to add.

My companion loved it

 

That's why I did it. I'm sick of spending money at the cafeteria at work for what is essentially sub-par fast food when I have food at home that I either forgot to pack or didn't have time to make in the first place.

I'm trying to get a handle on my calorie intake as well, and I'm happy to say that even though that stuff I made seems heavy and rich, I put it through my calorie counter and I should be able to stay well under my calorie goal if I stick to normal portion sizes. I'm happy about that. Sick of choking down "health food" (read: barley, wheat grass and brown rice) and feeling unsatisfied. It also should be easier eating two meals at work where I only pack what I need and can't go back for seconds.

 

I'm getting ready to put chicken breasts, onions, sweet potatoes, brown sugar, and a little orange juice in the the crock-pot.

 

How long will you cook that?

 

It gets a little cayenne pepper on top of all that and cooks for 5 hours on high, supposedly.

http://fittobetied.blogspot.com/2012/06/chicken-and-sweet-potato-crock-pot.html

 

Sounds yummy!

 

It's starting to smell a little yummy but it's only been in for an hour, twenty.

 

That sounds really good. I've never had anything slow-cooked with sweet potatoes.

 

It seems like it's going to be awesome.

My crock-pot is a hot one so I've done 2 1/2 hours on high and I'll do the other 2 1/2 hours on low. It's boiling and I know I don't want that for the rest of the time.

 

Here, there are lots of recipes with sweet potatoes in the slow-cooker. https://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=crock-pot%20sweet%20potatoes&term_meta%5B%5D=crock-pot%7Ctyped&term_meta%5B%5D=sweet%7Ctyped&term_meta%5B%5D=potatoes%7Ctyped

 

I made nachos and my boyfriend made some guacamole. Dinner was yummy!

 

Crock-pot Chicken and Sweet Potatoes is a success. It's very good.

I added more orange juice than the recipe called for and cut the cooking time back by an hour.

 

That looks so good. I am going to save that recipe.

 

I bought twice as many sweet potatoes as I used. Actually, I bought twice as much chicken too but decided I didn't want to cook that much.

Anyway, the extra raw chicken went in the freezer but the extra sweet potatoes went into the crock-pot after I'd taken the meal out to refrigerate the leftovers.

I just put them in with the liquid that was still in the pot, sliced some more onion, and seasoned them like I did the first ones.

 

chinese pork dumplings

cooked by boiling in non stick fry pan then adding some oil when the water was almost done

then at the end adding some shrimp ...black pepper and salt

yum

 

It's been a while since I've had an omelette. I made a dill and tarragon Classic French omelette for breakfast this morning. And buttered ciabatta toast with black olives, one of my favourite breads.