Rewinding to Mother's Day 2011

 Pregnancy is an interesting experience.

I spent the entire first trimester saying "it's early."

I think I was trying to prevent myself from connecting with the growing being inside of me...'just in case something happened.'

Still today I consider myself more a Mom-to-Be rather than Mother at this stage...after all making it through 9 months and the birthing process are the actual rite of passage into motherhood right? 

(This pic was our first doc appt to confirm there was in fact something there...you know, in case the 7 at home pregnancy tests I took were wrong haha!)

At just 6 weeks pregnant fell the 2011 Mother's Day. 

My Mother and Sister in Law are both excited about the coming addition and decided to share their day of glory with me, a wide-eyed soon to be.

Now if you have not picked up on it by now, my Sister in Law (aka Mama Sox) is one heck of a cook and party planner.  For this year's celebration we came together for brunch. 

My contribution was something new...

Boston Cream Cupcakes (recipe courtesy of Martha).

My cake was too dense and a bit dry.  The custard was over thickened.  However the chocolate ganache was great (and the same recipe I had used on the Mexican Chocolate Cake.)!

I am not sure I would say these suckers texturally tasted as great as they looked, but the recipe has got some potential and is worth another shot.

Not to mention Boston Cream Pie is my Sister in Law's favorite...so it was the thought that really counted on this Mother's Day :)

The rest of our meal was AMAZING!

Bagels, Smoked Salmon Spread (sadly I had to skip this stuff), Steamed Fiddleheads, Pasta Salad, Quiche, Salad, Soup and an Oatmeal Rhubarb Bread (from my Mother in Law).

Mini Sox was so appropriately decked out in his Stormtrooper costume from the previous Halloween...guess this is what happens when 5 year olds start dressing themselves haha!

 My plate was big and scrumptious! 

Note that delicious bagel was a fennel and salt bagel...first time I'd ever tried it and SO GOSH DARN DELICIOUS!!!

Oh and so was the Carrot Ginger Soup!!
 

Now bringing us back to the present...here is a side by side comparison of the last week. 

Not too much has changed in the bump area, but I am beginning to feel more pregnant and even catch myself touching my own belly from time to time :)

Cleaning out the fridge

Guilt...that's what I feel, pure and simple.

I am responsible for over purchasing, accused of not utilizing and above all, I am that greedy American who over consumes resources, wasting plenty.

How many folks, deep down feel this guilt?!?! Do you grocery shop daily? Weekly? Every two weeks, or monthly?? Regardless, I bet 99% of us are all guilty of the same crime...throwing away food.

For a while I used to grocery shop weekly. I did this, because that is how my parents did it. I would typically go on the weekend, fill up a grocery cart and cringe at check out as to how much this trip cost us. Then for the week, I would have to work with what I had purchased and prepare dinner under constraints.
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At this point in our lives, my Hubs and I encounter unexpected weekly happenings (aka flexibility in our routine).
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It could be a last minute dinner invitation with family/friends, a really long day at work, or the fact that you may just not feel like cooking. No matter the case, by the end of the week you realize that the whole chicken you were going to roast has been sitting there for 5 days now, the beef has turned brown, the veggies are wilting, the cheese you needed to use up by this week is now molded...get the picture?
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So what do you do?? You throw it away. You have to.
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You can't make your family sick by serving this stuff and to honest it's just not salvageable. Into the trash, garbage disposal, compost, whatever...regardless of your methods, you are wasting and wasting a lot!
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In the last year or so, I've realized that weekly shopping just does not work for me/us. This may change as we grow our family to include children, but for now it's just me, Hubs and the dog. With that said - I never know when I'll actually get out of work, we never know when we'll be invited to dinner elsewhere, we never know when the last minute chance for hockey or golf will come up...we just can't be certain where or what will be going on at dinner time.
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So presently, I am a daily shopper. I head to the grocery store each night after work and pick up just what we need right then. It seems to be the right approach for us and I enjoy making the stop 90% of the time, as it is the beginning of my evening therapy. Sure on weekends I'll make a real trip out of it, armed with my list of ingredients needed for my daylong therapy sessions...but that is different.
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Overall we have cut down on what we waste. We still face the challenge of being just two people to feed, so do have that tub of ricotta or mozz leftover from pizza night that might be thrown out later, a few leftover scallions that weren't needed from the bunch, etc.
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So tonight we experiment, pick up only minimal items at the grocery store and clean out the fridge!

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Sitting in our refrigerator and cabinets were:

Ricotta, Mozzarella, Scallions, Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder.
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So I mixed up them all together to serve as our filling.

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A filling for what you ask?!?!
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Stuffed chicken breast.

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I picked up a 3 pack at the grocery store on the way home.
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Usually I halve the breasts, pound them out and roll them up filled with whatever. Tonight I tried something different. I instead made a pocket. I simply sliced into the breasts, stuffed them and closed with a skewer.
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Since I did over stuff, I decided they could use a protective coating to contain the goods...
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so I pulled out some seasoned breadcrumbs from in the cupboard and did a basic egg/breadcrumb coating.
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They were browned on the stove top in a non-stick pan with just a bit of olive oil and then sent to the oven for about 20 minutes.

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The result was an overflowing example of cheesy goodness!

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Over dinner the Hubs and I both agreed the chicken tasted pretty good, but was still missing something...perhaps next time I'll pour on some tomato sauce to make it more complete.

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This one rated a 7 on the Hubs' Food Scale.

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Purchased at Store: Chicken Breast

Perishable items saved: Ricotta, Mozz, Scallion, Green Beans

From the cupboard: Seasonings, Breadcrumbs, Olive Oil, Skewers

Trial #1 of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

The Bread Challenge ensues...

One of my first blog posts addressed my recent wonderment on the topic of homemade bread. The question at hand was whether or not the greatest thing since sliced bread was actually homemade bread (Sunday Therapy)?

The answer is YES! Since my initial Focaccia experiment in Sunday Therapy Part 1, Session 1, I have slowly expanded the types of breads attempted to include...

• Cheddar Jalapeno Bread
• Lavash Cracker Bread
• Seeded Challah
• Cheddar-Thyme Rolls

My groovy parents are the best Santas out there...among the overly generous bounty of gifts, were a few more cookbooks to fuel the blog and baking challenges:

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg MD and Zoe Francois

Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, The second book by Jeff & Zoe

Baking by James Peterson

At my husband's request I began with Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day.

In case you have not heard of these books, they are based on the notion that with only 5 minutes of active prep time a day you can make fresh bread. How does this work you ask? Well the authors provide a no-knead dough recipe that can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. The idea is you just grab some of your pre-mixed dough from the icebox, shape, rise briefly and bake.

Now think about this...fresh bread in 5 minutes a day! SUPER Homemaker would be more like it. How could I resist the temptation to not only conquer my bread quest, but also be that person who can whip up a fresh loaf for last minute dinner parties!?!

OK, now let's slow down here...it is part of my expressive nature to get a little carried away at the onset of a new challenge/idea. In order to get a feel for things, I wanted to first try some of the actual recipes out.

The risen dough for Cheddar Bread from the book. There is enough here to make 4 x 1lb loaves!

An interesting side note - Author Zoe at one point mentions she grew up in the NEK (Northeast Kingdom) of VT. For this cheddar bread recipe she mentions she grew up near Shelburne Farms...since the two are no where near one another I'll have to assume either 1) she moved around the state quite a bit or 2) she's full of you know what and wrote that to endorse her book/recipe.

OK, now back to our regularly scheduled program...

Since I was planning to give these to friends that very day as gifts, I shaped up half the dough into two loaves and allowed them to rise again. The remaining dough went into the fridge (and is still there...test #2 of the book!).


Once time has passed, the surface is floured in preparation for...

Cutting!

Yup, Ms. Fancy Pants here is learning to make bread that is visually appealing as well as tasty!!

Experienced bread folks might say at this point: jeez, those look awful! In my own defense, I also received a super nice (and sharp) bread knife from my in-laws this year. It was soooo smooth slicing the dough that I accidentally cut a little too deep, which you'll see in the finished product.

Ready for the oven (btw all this bread is cooked on the baking/pizza stone)!

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While making the Cheddar Bread dough, I also made the one for French Boule. The Boule is the holy grail for the book and termed The Master Recipe. As the basic model for all breads in the book, I assume learning to make this comfortably will enable me to pursue other types.

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Not the prettiest looking loaves.

First time for everything right?!?!

Now, are you ready to see the finished products???

Cheddar Bread, Loaf 1 - Full Frontal

Loaf 1 - Ariel View

Loaf 1 - Side Profile

Loaf 2 - It's good side.

Loaf 2 - It's other good side.

Ahhh, the happy couple...of Cheddar Bread Loaves.

The WHOLE FAMILY of bread from the day.

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While not the best looking, the baguettes tasted wonderful. A of B&A mentioned she really liked their crust (this was my New Year's Eve Bread). I also took a loaf of each to JCx2's party that night as well. They too seemed to enjoy them and put some of each out with their cheese selections (it is possible they could have just been making a friendly gesture).

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My only comments on the Cheddar Bread are 1) not enough cheese, 2) it was a little denser then I had expected and 3) easy with the knife!

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For the baguettes, I need to work on forming the loaves and a more even cooking in our oven.

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Overall I was happy with the outcome and will continue to pursue the idea that I can have fresh bread in 5 minutes a day.
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Onto the next one!

My Holiday Failure

This is what I get for being too greedy during the holidays...

Not only have we steadily increased the number of holiday goodies bags we give out, but I've been trying to add new items each year.

After my weekend of candy making and cookie baking, I attempted to push the envelope just a tad further and go for Peppermint Meringues [on a weeknight].

My base recipes were one from fellow blogger Anne's Food and something I scanned on Food Network's website. The result was tragic...

Good thing I had just worked all day, cause the energy to pulverize these sweet little candies was in full supply...

A powder form...peppermint sugar.

My beautiful egg whites.

The assumed culprit for my failure...all natural Peppermint Extract.

At the time we were smack dab in the middle of the holidays, in fact just days before Christmas. My grocery store was clean out of Peppermint Extract and I knew Mint Extract wouldn't be the same...so I headed to the small natural food store just down the street and picked up this stuff. What I initially thought would be a happy substitution, proved to be severely wrong...I added the all natural, organic extract and poof!

My egg whites deflated....

I still went through the coloring and thought I'd try just baking the flattened mixture to see how it would come out.

Awful is all I have to say.

Straight into the rubbish...better luck next year!

Twas the day after Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving was over and with our pants a little snugger, we welcomed the holiday season with guilt and mutter...

This was our first Thanksgiving as husband and wife. We did what was expected and ran around to our various family dinners. As luck would have it, we managed to sneak away without too many leftovers and the typical task of trying to live off creative turkey menus for the next week.

If you're like us on Thanksgiving, you indulge. The dizzying options before you are too much to resist. On this faithful day after thanksgiving, I entered the grocery store with excitement, for I was going to attempt something lite and refreshing!

Mixing things up a bit I started with the protein options. Working my way down the meat cooler, I passed the butcher counter, until I found myself staring at the seafood.

I occasionally purchase shellfish, but rarely do I go the straight fish route. You can probably count on one hand the number of attempts I have with fish.

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Having such a delicate texture, my marinating, cooking methods and so forth have produced mostly crap. It doesn't taste good, nor does it look appetizing. Don't get me wrong, I do like fish...just not when I cook it. Feeling bold and confident I go for the Tilapia fillets that are on sale.

Finding no arugula in our produce section, I decide I want something crunchy so I grab everything I can think of...

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endive, fennel and jicama. Then add some limes, oranges, starfruit and cilantro to the basket.

We're good to go!

Jicama resembles a turnip and is described by the helpful Hannaford's sign as having a potato texture and pineapple banana flavor.

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The first and only time I have had jicama was on a family vacation a couple of years ago with my now in-laws to Amelia Island, Fl.

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The creation of a crunchy slaw using this then strange ingredient was created by my loved Seattle Cuz and Uncle (in-laws & fellow foodies!). It was crunchy and delicious!!

The tilapia is seasoned and left to marinate in lime and olive oil.

The jicama peeled...

and sliced...

The CRUNCHIES mixed.

Now for the final plates!

Yes, the whitish grilled pile is my fish. While the flavor was great, the cooking method proved too much....Fish 1, Little Ms. Homemaker 0!

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The salad was a beautiful sight! Colorful, citrusy, lite....and CRUNCHY! I'd likely make this again and do advise any readers to go bold and give it a try!!!

...suggestions for improvement are of course always welcome :O)

Overall a 6 on the Hubby's Food Scale.

Not to bad, we're making progress!!