21

Feb

Simply Fabulous Lunch!!

 How about one more entry, shall we?


Sundays are such wonderful days for relaxing, my weekend right now. Growing up, Sundays used to be fun but a bit stressful…WAKE UP, LAUREL! CHURCH!! (Oh, Mom, I’m 15…almost an ADULT…I can just sleep in a little more and–someday–drive myself to church.) LAUREL! I made chocolate chip pancakes!! And bacon and eggs! (Dad, that’s my favorite! But I also love sleep…and I hung out with my girl friends too late last night at Kendra’s house. Man, I wish we lived closer to church…but that’s a sketchy neighborhood. Well, I wish church would move closer to us, you know, the 90-year old building. Could they just pick it up on a big truck and move it to our neighborhood out here in the ‘burbs?? I just need 5 more minutes of sleeeep…) Lau-RUHL! We need to go! (Fine! I’m getting up! But not for you guys who are nagging me, but for God. Yep, God. And my friends. What should I wear? I HAVE TO look cute for church! Hmmm….) *45 minutes later and definitely late for Sunday school* (Finally, I look cute enough. Mom, Dad, could you guys drive? I need to put on my makeup.)


And so the saga continued…and school days were pretty similar, too, since we commuted to my school as well. Heh, needless to say, this Sunday was relaxing. I woke up at noon (yes, I know…) and definitely missed church (sad). I saw God today, just not inside two big wooden double doors and through beautiful stained glass and joyful singing. That’s okay for today. Next Sunday.

Here is one of those unexpectedly tasty lunches. I love soup and sammies more than many, and Matt and I whipped up BLTs (me=BL with extra L) and Pacific Foods Ginger Carrot soup. Yum!

Soup and sammies are great for dinner, too!

Applewood smoked bacon…

 If I’m going to eat a fatty meat like bacon, I’m going to do it up…thick slices of salty/sweet applewood smoked bacon, crisp green spinach leaves and a spicy mayo added to the tastiness. Oh, yes, and always toast the bread! (whole wheat, of course)

A favorite quick dressing for quite a few years…no soupy puddle at the bottom of your salad bowl.

 I added a salad and had just a bit of soup…what a filling, healthy meal! Fresh blackberries and blueberries completed my fruit quota for the day!!

 When you regularly buy produce (some standards, like a bag of spinach, some apples, carrots, potatoes, broccoli, etc., it’s easier to just throw them into your regular meals. It’s a great way to incorporate those new FDA standards…half produce!!

~Laurel~

15 years ago Short URL

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07

Sep

Mailmen, Donuts, and Be Careful what you wish for…

HAPPY LABOR DAY!


For some reason, my lengthy private school education in Houston never educated me on the history of Labor Day. Perhaps Wikipedia will fill in that goal in my otherwise acceptable education…all about reconciliation with the labor unions and movement of the 1800s. Perhaps President Cleveland would be upset to know that the middle school across the street from us HAD SCHOOL TODAY! Poor teachers. It was weird to know that the parents were off from work when the kids were in school…backwards or something.

Anyhoo, Matt & I had a great Labor Day holiday! We worked all weekend, but both had today off. (YAY! This doesn’t happen every week!) So we started making plans. Half Price Books in Austin, gourmet cheese & wine picnic in the park, road trip…eh, we wanted to relax.

I’ve been craving donuts (I know, terrible…), and it reminded me of Voodoo Donuts in Portland. I mean, vegan happiness in a round pastry topped with Fruit Loops!

Matt braved the grocery store on his day off (what a great guy!) and bought some treats. He came home with a surprise main course (2 salmon wheels, one stuffed with spinach and feta and the other with lobster)! We began to cook. Our watering mouths cause the dinner hour to suddenly be bumped up to 4:00.

Now let me preface…Matt mentioned that we are supposed to get thunderstorms for the majority of the week, and checked out weather.com, one of my favorite places. I have to admit that I love the eeriness of knowing that a storm could come. It’s one of those moments that gives you chills and reminds you that this world is a whole lot bigger than yourself, and I think it makes us human and helpless but also know God’s way bigger than us. So Matt saw the “lineup” of the next tropical storms. Now, if you live in the northeast, you might not know what I’m talking about. The “noreasters” they have are treacherous storms, no doubt, but my yankee friends don’t get the joy from NAMING STORMS like those of us in the south take on. I know, it’s stupid and strange, but naming storms just makes it seem a little more temporary and a little less scary, I suppose. SO Matt saw a very special name for a storm…Tropical Storm Matthew.

I learned something new about my husband…he has been hoping his whole life that there would be a hurricane named Matthew. Is that sick or cute? I don’t know. I DO KNOW that I gave up on them naming one Hurricane Laurel back in Kindergarten…it just wasn’t going to happen with a name like that. But Matt got one!

Little did he know what else he would get….


Matt, shielding the salmon from rain’s destruction

…A CRAZY, RANDOM DOWNPOUR!
We were prepping dinner, looked out the window and saw sunny skies turn into a monsoon within a matter of seconds. So weird, Texas skies. So Matt protected the fire from sizzling out and the salmon from swimming away. (sorry, so corny) And everything turned out really well! It was one of my favorite dinners!

The Menu:
*Spinach dip with veggies and chips
*Salmon (one with spinach & feta and one with lobster)
*Bacon-wrapped shrimp stuffed with Mozzarella & Jalapenos (seeds OUT)
*Grilled Green Peppers, Zucchini, and Garlic
*Giant corn muffins
*Blackberry pie

Tasty Dinner

Ole! Our tastebuds were happy and stomachs were full, but not too full for dessert (3 hours later)!

PAULA AND LAUREL’S BLACKBERRY PIE
(Southerners pronounce it “paw”)

So I watched Paula Deen the other day while cleaning up. She and her son made a 5-minute blackberry pie. I’ll vouch for that, except mine took 6 minutes because I added a little citrus for flava! I bet you didn’t know Paula and I cook together…

THE PIE

1 carton blackberries (or 2 for a larger pie)
4 TB blackberry jam
1 orange and/or lemon
1-2 small tubs of Cool Whip (fat free or sugar free are good!)
1 t vanilla extract
graham cracker crust (homemade or store-brought)

Easy, easy, easy!
1) Put blackberries and jam in a bowl, using fork to crush berries a bit. Mix together.
2)With grater or microplane (I broke my new one in today!), sprinkle orange/lemon zest. I used about 1 teaspoon of lemon and 1 teaspoon of orange for a large pie.
3) Pour blackberry mixture into cooled graham cracker crust.
4) Mix vanilla into cool whip (one tub for “regular” sized pie, two tubs for large pie) for added flavor. Then spread cool whip on top of blackberry mixture.
5) Add extra berries and mint leaves on top for decoration. Eat!

See, it’s too easy! And I ate two slices, I will not lie.

While we cooked and cleaned, Sam worked hard, too.
Sam’s favorites: Peanut butter Mailmen/women and Cats! Organic and fun!

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

~Laurel~

16 years ago Short URL

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11

Apr

Pizza and Scones

Tonight involved a couple of fun recipes. Matt & I made a homemade pizza (how have I never made a crust from scratch before?)…the crust wasn’t super pretty, but the pizza was DELICIOUS! I give Matt the credit. We made it up as we went (including the crust), and it turned out well. Who needs a cookbook, anyway? (Haha, I DO!!!! And I inherited the love of cookbooks from my mom and grandmother, so it only comes naturally, right?)

Here are the ingredients:

Mattycake, mattycake, baker’s man…whole wheat crust,

Gigantor pepperoni, shredded mozz/asiago/parm, and Red/Green/Yellow bell peppers…Ole!,

Black olives,

FRESH rosemary,

Some garlic,

A little more mozz,

and BAM! Pizza! (425 in the oven for 15 min.)

If we left off that second layer of cheese, this would’ve been low fat. But with the whole wheat crust (made only with water, yeast, salt and olive oil–no butter), the fresh veggies and herbs, it turned out to be a pretty healthy meal.
(Of course, I forgot to make the salad…maybe tomorrow night.)

NOW ON TO THE SCONES…

I am a self-proclaimed lover of all things baked and sweet. I can’t help it, my sweet tooth has progressed to my head, limbs, and is quickly reaching my pinky toes. I try to contain it, but sometimes the only way to express my love for buttery, sugary confections is to bake it out.

These One-Eyed Blackberry Scones were based on Tyler Florence’s Orange Glazed Blueberry Scones, but I completely changed it up! So, while I give Tyler thanks for the inspiration, I received a grade of an “F” for following his recipe and an “A” for creativity and making my own up. (Ha, well, I tried at least.)

1 1/2 cups of wheat flour
1/2 cup of all-purpose white flour
1/2 t. salt
1 T baking powder
1/3 c sugar
1 t cinnamon
1 t almond extract
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 c unsalted butter (1 stick, cut with pastry blender)
3/4 cup half and half (or coffee creamer)
1 egg
1 carton blackberries

Combine dry ingredients and extract in bowl, while combining butter and egg in 2nd bowl. Combine wet ingredients into dry ingredients, but not overmixing the dough.
Roll the blackberries in additional 2 T of flour; this keeps them from sinking to the bottom of the scone when baking. Roll into 2 T-increments and bake for 20 minutes at 425 degrees.
Enjoy!



~Laurel~

16 years ago Short URL

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