We Kinda Ate Glass For Dinner, But What Matters Is We Ate Dinner

I'm juggling a lot these days and a lot of balls get dropped. A lot of stuff just can't get done (like putting away laundry), but a good control freak like me has to pick and choose battles. The battle I seem to have picked is dinner. I can control dinner. So, I make it every day. I try to meal plan each week and rarely order in. It's not easy. I often do it in steps throughout the day, starting with chopping in the morning, then perhaps sauteing around lunch, etc. etc. If I have help with the kids I might throw together soup and leave it on the burner for the rest of the day.

I've also gotten really creative, because sometimes I can't get to the grocery store for a couple of weeks. So, I have to make do with what we have on hand. As an excellent impulse buyer and a total sucker for a deal, we have plenty of goods and a freezer full of stuff. So, I'm always able to get by.

I threw together what I could find the other day... Chick peas, frozen butternut squash, sweet potatoes, fire roasted tomatoes, onions, garlic, celery, carrots, chicken broth... Flavored it with some cinnamon and curry and thyme. It was fast, a five minute stew I threw together while I had some help. It sat on the stove for the afternoon.

Later, during the 4:00 meltdown/introduction of tv time, I decided to quickly unload the dishwasher. While moving too fast, in too many directions, I somehow knocked a Pyrex bowl out of the cabinet. It hit our silestone counter top and shattered into about a million pieces. And when I say shattered I mean SHATTERED. I was covered in little glass pieces. It filled the dishwasher, was all over the ground. I screamed at the barefooted B who was just entering the kitchen asking for crackers. And then I spent 40 minutes cleaning. 40 MINUTES. Baby was crying, brothers were bickering and whining about needing snacks, little pieces of glass were stuck in my hands and feet. And I imagined missed little pieces that would no doubt find their way into little feet. It was hell. Seriously.

Once everything was as glass-free as I could get it, I realized that I had uncovered dinner for a quick taste test. I couldn't imagine that the glass made its way into the dutch oven, but couldn't guarantee it hadn't. I looked through it. I took a few bites. I couldn't bear to throw it away. So, I made the kids mac and cheese or something. They ate and I put a few spoonfuls in a bowl. I figured that if I found glass it would be a sign that Matt and I shouldn't eat it. The first bite... CRUNCH. Glass right away. So, I threw away my bowl, but still left the rest on the stove top. It actually pained me to imagine my time and efforts, not to mention delicious, healthy food just get thrown away. What a waste.

Matt came home, we agreed to throw it away and have cheese and crackers for dinner once the kids were sleeping. It was 8:30 by the time everyone was settled. We were hungry and Matt thought it smelled good, so he might as well take a taste. And then it tasted so good, he might as well eat some of it. And little by little we each carefully, slowly ate a bowl of glass-free stew. The rest went into the garbage.

But, seriously, that was some damn good stew...

No Name Premium Meats: Review and Give Away

I really try to make sure we all sit down and eat together each night. I know that W is only 3 and B is 8 months, but I feel like I'm building our family dinner foundation now. There are all sorts of studies about communication, brains, healthy eating habits, yada, yada, yada that encourage doing this.

But, that's not what makes me want to make family dinners a priority. We both grew up with family dinners and I think it's a very important part of family life. It allows us all to take some time together before bedtime. Our week nights are crazy hectic. I get home at 5:00. Matt doesn't get home until close to 6:30 and B goes to bed at 7:00, so dinner has to be ready when he gets home.

Meal planning and having some reliable standbys make dinner possible each week. I don't like to rely on pre-made, packaged meals. But, that being said, I'm not opposed to using packaged items during busy weeks. They're great for the base of a meal with fresh sides.

Last week was one of those weeks... We were gone over the weekend. I didn't have time to pull my meal plan together. And I had a few No Name Premium Meats in the freezer for this kind of week. So, No Name became our meal plan.

On Monday I made the Original No Name Steaks:

Photo courtesy of my sweet skills with my iPhone. I wish I had a better picture.

I don't cook red meat often. Once a month tops, so I'm not very confident when I do cook red meat. I seasoned this with salt and pepper and followed the exact directions to cook it on the stove top in a pan. And, I have to say, it was awesome. Really, really good. They were tender and there wasn't a trace of fat on them. W and I split one and I think we both would have had more.

True story: Matt and I went out for my birthday dinner two nights before I made this and Matt thought this steak was better than the $42 steak he had when we were out. True story.

I made a quick chopped salad to go with this and it was a very nice dinner. This was probably more labor intensive than I would usually do on a weeknight, though. On a stressful, hectic night I would opt to bake these in the oven.

On Tuesday night I made the No Name Superb & Simple Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breasts:

The color of this meal is freaking me out. It looked much prettier on the plate. Trust me.

I'm a fan of just about anything parmesan, let's just get that straight. As far as flavor and tenderness, these chicken breasts were great. I also followed the directions specifically and they baked perfectly.

These are not something that I would normally use, because we don't usually eat chicken with breading. But, this was good chicken and went really well with fresh handmade Mushroom Pasta from Pasta Puttana and peas.

This was the easiest meal by far.

On Wednesday I made No Name Original Salmon Fillets:

Don't judge based on this sad picture. Seriously, I need photo lessons.

I thought the salmon itself had good flavor and I liked the pop-up timer indicator (see them in the photo?). Of the three meals, I enjoyed the salmon the least. I found it to be over seasoned and needed more time to bake than the directions indicated. Matt really liked it, he is easy to please and loves salmon.

I served the salmon with sauteed cabbage, which was not my original plan, but I had an entire head of cabbage (which I purchased to stuff my bra to bring down the awful engorgement from laying off the nursing). I hate to see a whole cabbage go to waste, so I used it and it was pretty good.

My favorite product by far were the steaks. I would absolutely cook them again. I like to know what is going into our food and I felt these steaks really allowed me to control the flavor and seasoning level. It's only fair to mention that eating these products on a regular basis doesn't fit in my goal for 80% of our meals to be organic, but leaves room for them. All the meals were easy and pretty healthy and I would eat them again.

Did all this meat talk make you hungry? Well, here is your chance to try out some No Name Premium Meats yourself. I'm giving away a package that will give you coupons for free steaks and chicken, as well as an additional $5 off coupon. That's a $45 value!

Here's how to enter:

1. Comment on this post about which No Name Premium Meats product you'd like the most. Be sure to include an email address if it doesn't connect back to your blog. (You must comment to be entered!)

2. Follow Hannemaniacs. (Look on the right side bar to follow.) Click on the "Join this Site" button.

3. Like the Hannemaniacs Facebook page.

4. Follow Hannemaniacs on Twitter.

5. Mention this giveaway to your network on Facebook and/or Twitter (one entry for each) by pasting this in your status: Enter to win free No Name meats at www.hannemaniacs.com. 

Please let me know which of the above actions you have done to be counted.

So, that's SIX possible entries per person. Contest ends at 9 am Friday, February 24th. Enter now!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! The winner was chosen by using RANDOM.ORG: Nicki from What Others Dream, Dreamers Do! I'll contact you for addresses and the meat will be sent to you!

Thanks for everyone for participating!

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned No Name Premium Meats complimentary for review, as well as a prize package to give away. All opinions are my own.

Meal MacGyver: Smoked Salmon and Peas Pasta

I love a good challenge. One of my favorites is when it seems like we have nothing in the house for dinner and I manage to pull together a good meal with no real plan other than to use what I have on hand. I've mentioned some of my hits and misses with these meals here and there, but I'm going to try to make this a regular update on the blog.  Just the other day I inspired my sister to pull together a meal like this, maybe this will inspire you, as well.

It's all too easy to turn to take out when a little creativity could lead you to a nice meal and save you some serious dough. And you learn a lot about cooking when you play with food.

Tonight I pulled these items from the fridge/pantry/freezer:

See that Smoked Salmon in the back? Heaven.

I found the lovely smoked salmon that we bought for our Michigan vacation that wasn't, a little cream left from the pie I made last week, ricotta that I impulse bought with a coupon, and the frozen peas and whole grain pasta that are staples in our house. Not too shabby, right?

So, I melted some butter and a little flour to create a roux. Then I added the cream, followed by a couple spoons full of the ricotta over very low heat and whisked until I had a nice cream sauce. I added a ton of parmesan, seasoned it a bit, and then threw in a few cups of frozen peas. I flaked up about half of the salmon, which I stirred in and let sit for a couple minutes. Finally, I added the pasta. It sat on the stove top while I threw together a salad. All in all, it was extremely fast and really tasty (the only thing it could have used was a bit of nutmeg, but I was out). I would actually make this again and the best part: left overs for lunch tomorrow, saving us even more money!

What's the last meal you created from nothing?

I Want to be an Earthbound Cook

For the From Left to Write Book Club, we read "The Earthbound Cook" by Myra Goodman, a cook book promising 250 Recipes for Delicious Food and A Healthy Planet. This post is inspired by that book.

It's been quiet around here these days, I know. Personally, I'm shocked I'm even getting this post together. A ton of time in the office and some other things seem to be sapping me of all energy and brain cells these days. Not only has this poor blog been terribly neglected, but so has our kitchen and nutrition. One night I ate a bowl of olives and then cereal for dinner. The next night I made macaroni and cheese (the blue box kind bought on sale for $1, waiting for a rainy day...). Indeed most nights William has eaten the best of what our freezer has to offer, I've been content with cereal, and Matt scrounges for left overs. His ability to eat just about anything comes in handy in times like these.

So, when I received this cook book I put it away and figured I'd find a time to get to it. And then I put it off and off and off. When I finally picked it up and started reading through it, looked at the gorgeous pictures, skimmed through the recipes, it was like a slap in the face. The vision of the mac and cheese blue box against the photos of the author's organic farm was torture.

I made a deal with myself then. I would make two recipes from the cook book in that week. I didn't have time to go to the grocery store until Saturday, so I chose two recipes (Orechiette with Broccolette and Mushroom Barley Soup) and took Willliam to Whole Foods to get some organic ingredients. That night I tried to convince myself to order in, take it easy, but instead I threw together the Orechiette with Broccolette. It was great and maybe the fifth time I'd cooked in the last 12 weeks. (It's been that bleak in our kitchen these days.)

I had to go to the office on Sunday, so my plan was to get the soup ready and then catch the train downtown. In stepped Matt, insisting that he could do it. I was skeptical. He knows how to cook, but doesn't do it all that much anymore. Can I tell you how great it was to come home on a Sunday night after a long day of work to a warm bowl of soup that all three of us seemed to equally enjoy?

I want to be an Earthbound Cook. I want to cook delicious, fresh, organic meals. However, with two working parents (one working overtime these days) it's too easy to take the simple way out. And I do. Last year I pulled out the crock pot during this busy time, but this year I'm just too tired. Come January I'll refocus and try more of these recipes, until then, pass the olives.

This post was inspired by the book "The Earthbound Cook" by Myra Goodman, which I received complimentary as a part of From Left to Write Book Club. See how other bloggers were inspired by this book here.

Will I Ever Master Timing in the Kitchen?

For the first book of the newly formed Bloggers' Book Club, we read "Too Many Cooks" by Emily Franklin, a book about "Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids, and 102 Recipes." This post is inspired by that book.

I remember the first time I had friends over for dinner after I had William. I was making Greek chicken, salad, rice, and pumpkin spice cupcakes (an embellished recipe from the box). I was on maternity leave and Matt was catching a ride home from the city with our friends, Kari and Anthony. All week Kari encouraged me to order pizza, to not worry about cooking something, but I was determined to prove that I could still host friends for dinner with a newborn.

When they showed up I was quite possibly on the verge of tears, had no make-up on, a crying kid sat in his bouncy chair on the kitchen floor, and dinner wasn't ready yet. But, I was almost done. They shuffled in, played with William, and I was able to focus and finish it up. And I learned I could do it. It took me longer than I imagined, I got a ton more frazzled. But, I did it.

I've never been great at planning ahead when it comes to cooking. I underestimate how long it takes to chop things and think I can make three dishes at once without a real plan for how it will go down. But, somehow I *almost* always pull it off.

Tonight I decided to make The Best Split-Pea Soup Recipe Ever from Too Many Cooks. I, of course, realized that I was short a half pound of split peas and a pot large enough to hold all the soup the recipe would make, so when the soup should have been simmering on the stovetop, we were out tracking down these small necessities. The recipe calls for putting the soup in the oven for two hours. I gave it an hour and 15 minutes before I had to take it out to keep us from eating too late. I figured it would be fine. And it was. We enjoyed some awesome, complex split pea soup. (See, somehow it always works out.)

So, I guess nothing has really changed. In my head I can chop two leeks, two onions, six carrots, five celery stalks, and eight cloves of garlic in ten minutes and then saute all of it in about two minutes. Clearly, this is not possible. I drastically underestimate stuff like this. I'll for sure make this soup again, as it was a huge hit. But, I promised Matt that next time I would leave enough time for it to spend the recommended two hours in the oven to see what it's really supposed to taste like.

This post was inspired by the book "Too Many Chefs" by Emily Franklin, which I received complimentary as a part of The Bloggers' Book Club. See how other bloggers connected to this book here.

Five Years Later...

It was a beautiful, sunny, crisp, hot September day (just like today) that we were married. It's easy to say that it's flown by, but in a way it hasn't. We've started a new job, went to Lake Tahoe, bought a condo, went to Italy, adopted a dog, got pregnant, sold the condo, went to New York, had a baby, bought a house, started a blog, renovated a house, went to Portland, and still both make it to work every day and manage to keep our kid fed (with lots of help). When I put it that way, it really doesn't seem all that fast or we've just done a bang up job of packing it in.

We always swore that we'd keep our relationship first, have "dates" once a week. In this regard we've totally failed. We both admit it, don't worry, we're OK with it... Because it makes simple celebrations like this so much sweeter.

A lot of people have been asking what we're doing for such a milestone. Five years is a big deal, I get it. But, I gotta admit, I don't really like jewelry, travel is simply not in the budget, and we spent whatever extra money we would have blown on theater tickets on an unexpected visit from a plumber earlier this week. (Awesome!)

Today I went to boot camp while Matt and William played in our old hood, then we had pizza at our favorite old place Piece. Tonight we will enjoy dinner at Quince in Evanston, which looks totally amazing. Then we'll find some live music, stroll around, chat, drink too much wine... Sounds pretty damn good to me.

So, the moral of my story is... The celebration is what you make of it. Tonight we'll get all dressed up, go to a really nice restaurant, enjoy live music and drink wine, maybe grab a coffee... And when we wake up tomorrow we'll be married five years and one day and love each other.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Guess what I threw together last night? I have a husband who really likes roasted chicken, which I'm really not very good at, but I winged it anyway. Plus, fall is my busy season at work and, since summer seems to be on its way out, I'm trying to get myself back into the swing of things.

Here we have a rub I threw together, an organic chicken that's been taking up too much room in the freezer, and every vegetable I could squeeze in here. Feel free to come over to our house this evening for a free smell.

I'm expecting my Wife of the Year award to come in any minute.

P90X = Marriage Counseling

Day 2 and I've convinced Matt to join me on the P90X journey. At first he didn't think that all of my awesomely hilarious jokes were funny, but he came around. I mean, come on, we were doing plyometrics, which includes a ton of jumping... And let's just say that no amount of kegels will keep a mom from wetting her pants whilst performing plyometrics. Sorry to all of you who don't have kids, but consider this your warning: Jumping jacks will never be the same.

Anyway, it was pretty hard. The last time either of use did plyometrics was in high school, so let's just say it's been a long time... Even longer for Matt. (Kidding (but so true)).

What with his asthma and limited exercise time lately, Matt was kinda struggling at one point. In his defense, we had just gotten home from brunch where he enjoyed a delicious chorizo scramble. We could have waited to embark on our ass kicking work out, but agreed that nap meant go time. It was now or never -- Even with stomachs still full of breakfast.

Dialogue during said break:

Lisa: "Maybe you should lower your exertion level."

Matt: "Maybe I should lower my chorizo and eggs level."

And with that I explain why marriage counseling and P90X are pretty much the same thing. Both encourage communication and force us to consider and be responsible for our daily choices.

My Kid Eats Anything... Finger Food or Not

As I've mentioned time and again, William eats just about anything. He is incredibly easy and, yes, I am very thankful. (I know this can change at any moment.) So, since I have an easy eater, I tend to keep it simple and throw together things we have in the house.

Top 100 Finger Foods by Annabel Karmel is a very pretty book, but tough for people like me... I don't have to hide vegetables in muffins. I can throw anything on my kid's high chair tray. But, here's the biggest reason it was tough: I don't have the time, kitchen utensils, or the oven features that some of these recipes demanded.

When we bought this old house we knew that the state-of-the-art Magic Chef oven was missing its broiler feature and the stove top was missing the use of the back two burners. We'll replace it, we thought. A year and a half later and we're still short a broiler and two burners. It's not that big of a deal, except when you're trying to make your kid some kid-specific treats.

The recipes in this book were more complicated than I would have liked and demanded more ingredients than I would consider simple. There were also a lot of calls for skewers, which I don't think I trust William to deal with right now and didn't feel like pulling meat off of, so skipped. And when I flipped through to find the easiest recipes possible, two of them demanded the use of a broiler. (I rolled with it and just turned my oven up really high.) None of that works for a full-time working mom.

The highlight of our recipe book testing were curry chicken tenders that we all loved. (Seriously, they were AWESOME and I will absolutely make them again for all of us.) The low point was the corn and cheese muffin situation. Maybe it was because I made them in a large muffin tin, rather than a small tin... Which leads me to another item I didn't have: Small bite-size muffin tin.

So, when I stock up out kitchen, get a new oven, and somehow find more time, I'm ready to give some more recipes a whirl... However, I'll triple the recipes to make enough for the whole family. I'm not going to that much trouble to feed one little person. And the food all looks like it would satisfy the pickiest of our eaters (me) and the easiest palates in our household (Matt).

This post was inspired by Top 100 Finger Foods by Annabel Karmel, which I received complimentary as a part of Chicago Moms Blog (Silicon Valley Moms Group) Book Club.

When Crock Pots Let You Down

I've been embracing my crock pot. I use it at least once a week, sometimes a couple of times a week. It's the best way to make a meal when you're a full time working mom. I have to embrace the crock pot, I don't have a choice.

So, I realize most blogs share photos to show what a great meal looks like. Since this isn't most blogs, I'm sharing what an unhappy crock pot looks like:


I had a great idea... Chicken breasts, white wine, lemon, rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper. Set the crock for low and let it cook for seven or eight hours. Sounds good, right? Well, it was, if you consider bland, dry chicken good. Which you don't. No one does. Neither do we. Matt eve admited it was bad, which means it was REALLY, REALLY bad. And, I have to say, one of the biggest disappointments is a terrible crock pot meal that you smelled cooking all day and built up in your head to be the delicious, comforting meal you expected.

What did I do wrong? I tried, I really tried to wing it. I thought I was ready, but alas... BAD crock pot meal. If anyone has tips, please share them.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We're not big Valentine's Day people. No gifts. Rarely do we do cards. We do share a bottle of Veuve each year (cuz I love it). This picture was actually taken on Super Bowl when Matt and I worked together to create the spiciest damn chili I've ever had. Can't think of a better photo to share on this special day.

My Domain

Matt doesn't cook that often. He claims it's because I'm always looking over his shoulder and drive him crazy. Or I'm too picky and tell him what he should have done to make the meal better.

"I like to have my domain," I said.

"Yeah, and your domain is the world."

I meant the kitchen, but.... I'll take it.

This Morning's Breakfast

I made oatmeal for the males this morning and totally underestimated how much it would take to feed one toddler and one man.

Me: "You'll probably want some toast or something with your oatmeal. There isn't much."
Matt: "We don't have any bread."
Me: "Well, then I don't know.... Maybe have some cereal afterward."

Minutes pass.

Matt: "I wonder how Peanut Butter Puffins would be in oatmeal."
Me: "Seriously? I don't think you should."
Matt: "Oh, I am and I'm going to crush them."
Me: "Okay....."
Matt: "Atleast I'm not putting hot sauce on it."

Well played.