Thursday, March 27, 2008
Breakfast in bed?
Ordinarily, this blog references what we eat for dinner. Today, the focus will shift a bit. I recently bought a new cookbook (Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave) and it's inspired me. This is a great thing, as I love feeling inspired. It's so....what's the word....inspiring!
Some of you may know that Travis usually brings me coffee to my bedside. Awwww. Yes, it's a sweet gesture of love. And occasionally, I get the whole shebang - breakfast in bed. However, when there's not time for a full breakfast, the norm is to grab a granola bar and maybe a piece of fruit, my coffee in a to-go mug, and head out the door at a rapid clip. Therefore, when we saw the recipe to make our own energy bars, there was natural appeal.
Ok, I wish I had taken a picture of all the ingredients out on the countertop. As my friend pointed out, we may have ended up with $40 energy bars. After an extensive trip to the grocery store, we had all the many delicious ingredients to make these. Chock full of dried fruits, nuts, wheat flour and wheat germ (stay tuned for wheat germ-covered, oven-fried chicken!), here is the finished product.
A pyrex full of delicious energy. That's what that is... However, as with most energy bars, one should not just sit down with the entire pan. They should be cut and doled out in appropriate portions. Which is precisely what we did. Oh, I am a bit required to point out Otto's cameo appearance here. Apologies to those whom this bothers. What can I say - he, too, enjoys breakfast in bed!
Some of you may know that Travis usually brings me coffee to my bedside. Awwww. Yes, it's a sweet gesture of love. And occasionally, I get the whole shebang - breakfast in bed. However, when there's not time for a full breakfast, the norm is to grab a granola bar and maybe a piece of fruit, my coffee in a to-go mug, and head out the door at a rapid clip. Therefore, when we saw the recipe to make our own energy bars, there was natural appeal.
Ok, I wish I had taken a picture of all the ingredients out on the countertop. As my friend pointed out, we may have ended up with $40 energy bars. After an extensive trip to the grocery store, we had all the many delicious ingredients to make these. Chock full of dried fruits, nuts, wheat flour and wheat germ (stay tuned for wheat germ-covered, oven-fried chicken!), here is the finished product.
A pyrex full of delicious energy. That's what that is... However, as with most energy bars, one should not just sit down with the entire pan. They should be cut and doled out in appropriate portions. Which is precisely what we did. Oh, I am a bit required to point out Otto's cameo appearance here. Apologies to those whom this bothers. What can I say - he, too, enjoys breakfast in bed!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
I meant it!
So several of you have pestered me, though none more fabulously than Laura, to post additional blog entries. If you're one of these people, you know that my standard response is something to the effect of having several pictures stored up, but haven't gotten around to downloading them, etc. Well, I meant it. And tonight I just downloaded sixteen photos - all were of food. Now, I will admit that some are repeats, or shots of different parts of the meal, but there you have it - I meant it. There really were pictures I'd saved up to share with you.
With sixteen different pictures to choose from, representing eight different meals, it was hard to know which one to start with. I wanted to show you what we had tonight, primarily because it turned out so deliciously, but I chose this one for the lighting:
If you read this blog, you'll know that part of it is me enjoying new recipes, and that part is about eating a bit more healthfully (is that a word?). I struggle with fish. I don't much recall eating it when I was little, and not only because I plugged my nose and yelled, "Eww!" I don't really remember Mom cooking much seafood. It is a major food area that I missed in growing up and learning food preparation and cooking. This is an entirely new thing for me. That said, I am determined to like fish and to learn how to prepare it a minimum of seven ways that I enjoy.
This picture shows a successful attempt at that. This was orange roughy baked in the oven with a bit of white wine (Ok, it called for an amount I poured in, and I swear the fish could have swum again in it; perhaps more poached than baked), some chicken broth, spices and tomatoes. It was quite lovely, and the beans accompanied it so well - lending both beauty to the plate, as well as a source of vitamins and fiber. (Back to the health bit, see?) Also, that bread was multi-grained and had flax seed in it. They're shiny. Did you know that? Eating shiny things is weird to me.
Ah, but I digress. It is time for me to tell on my wonderful husband. I like to impress people, I know that comes as a shock to you. So when I'm not touting my own abilities in the kitchen, I'm asking him to do so, or at least to reassure me that there is cause to do so. So here it is, my favorite part of this meal. I asked Travis how he liked it. His response? "Well, it's not steak. But for eating healthy, it's good." I find hope in this statement. Healthy is looking plausible. I anticipate many more healthy forays into the world of swimming food - and not swimming in butter.
With sixteen different pictures to choose from, representing eight different meals, it was hard to know which one to start with. I wanted to show you what we had tonight, primarily because it turned out so deliciously, but I chose this one for the lighting:
If you read this blog, you'll know that part of it is me enjoying new recipes, and that part is about eating a bit more healthfully (is that a word?). I struggle with fish. I don't much recall eating it when I was little, and not only because I plugged my nose and yelled, "Eww!" I don't really remember Mom cooking much seafood. It is a major food area that I missed in growing up and learning food preparation and cooking. This is an entirely new thing for me. That said, I am determined to like fish and to learn how to prepare it a minimum of seven ways that I enjoy.This picture shows a successful attempt at that. This was orange roughy baked in the oven with a bit of white wine (Ok, it called for an amount I poured in, and I swear the fish could have swum again in it; perhaps more poached than baked), some chicken broth, spices and tomatoes. It was quite lovely, and the beans accompanied it so well - lending both beauty to the plate, as well as a source of vitamins and fiber. (Back to the health bit, see?) Also, that bread was multi-grained and had flax seed in it. They're shiny. Did you know that? Eating shiny things is weird to me.
Ah, but I digress. It is time for me to tell on my wonderful husband. I like to impress people, I know that comes as a shock to you. So when I'm not touting my own abilities in the kitchen, I'm asking him to do so, or at least to reassure me that there is cause to do so. So here it is, my favorite part of this meal. I asked Travis how he liked it. His response? "Well, it's not steak. But for eating healthy, it's good." I find hope in this statement. Healthy is looking plausible. I anticipate many more healthy forays into the world of swimming food - and not swimming in butter.
