Hey, Good Lookin'

"Whatchya got cookin'?"

For as long as I can remember, I have always felt the need to be in the kitchen creating things.  When I was younger I would beg my mother and grandmother to let me watch them as they cooked and baked.  In high school I got to do a little bit of the cooking to help Momma with the household duties.  This came in handy in college at the COCSC where several of my comrades told me I was a good cook. Didn't hurt in snagging my man, either, ;)

I follow the idea of great chef Gusteau from the Disney movie Ratatouille, "Anyone can cook." The elaborate, exquiste dishes that can be tasted at high class restaurants may challenging to create for a less talented person, but other than that, I believe that given a recipe and the proper ingredients, tools, and patience, a delicious meal will result.  --Aside on the recipe statement: I don't always measure everything precisely with a spoon, cup, etc. I like to "eye ball it" as Rachael Ray says. Some people I know, ahem husband and old roomie, are so meticulous with measurements it almost drives me crazy, haha! Back to the point... So, if you tell me, 'Oh, this is great! You're a good cook!' I'll most likely reply with, 'Thanks, but it's not hard. You just follow the recipe.'

However, I do enjoy cooking quite a bit, and more than that, EATING. Hence the previous post of the diet. It's been so hard to not eat everything in the cabinets. Pinterest doesn't help either. I've pinned so many scrumptious-looking goodies that I plan on making for family get-togethers and church potlucks. The problem is I want to make them now. So I have. Fortunately, though, I decided to experiment with some recipes that look healthier than most.  The wonderfully talented Chocolate Covered Katie has a blue million recipes but I chose to make one of her baked oatmeal recipes, Cookie Dough Baked Oatmeal Bars! (found here) I mulitplied the recipe by 4 in hopes that I'd like it and to eat them this week for breakfast. Verdict? They're very yummy and only about 200 calories! I hadn't eaten yet today when I tried one, but when I did I wasn't hungry anymore. I see these becoming a regular on the breakfast menu. I plan on widening my tastes and trying the other varieties, as well.

I also decided to go ahead and cook my supper for this week and I found some ways to spruce up chicken. Garlic-brown sugar, BBQ with a little extra flavor, and lemon pepper. I think I'll pair a piece of chicken with rice and veggies or a salad. I'm excited!

Aren't they beautiful? And so good!

Finding Opened Windows

Last night, I finally heard back from the company with which I interviewed.  Apparently it was a "hard decision" but they chose the person they wanted to hire, and it's not me. Bummer. Once again I have found a path that God didn't want me to travel down.  I guess the endeavor of working every weekend for the next who-knows-how-long isn't right for me or my marriage right now. I had planned out all sorts of scenarios in my mind to settle my unease about being away from Brian on his only days off, but it still did not feel right. I would not be able to visit with any of my friends, my family, or go on a trip if I were to be hired in that job position.  On top of all those missed opportunities, I would not be able to attend Sunday morning worship and I guess that's not the best plan for us, either.  Even though this is yet another closed door on my journey to finding my career, there will be a window, somewhere, somehow. I've just got to trust that God will shine some light through that window, even if it's just slightly cracked open, and I'll be able to find it and jump through it. 

"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:28-31, KJV

The Gunters Go on a Diet

Hoorah. Right? Okay, so it's not really a diet diet just us deciding to eat better. We've been married a month (tomorrow) and the whole newlywed-whateverpounds isn't going to get the better of us.  The plan is to enjoy a wonderfully monotonous diet. For Brian a little more monotonous than me, but it goes a little something like this: Breakfast, oats. Lunch, fish and rice (yum!). Supper, meat slop.
WHAT??!? SLOP? What are we, pigs? No, but this stuff is actually okay. The first batch's spices aren't my favorite so I'll let Brian enjoy it all to himself, but I think we'll have to experiment with next week's batch so I can get on this. What is "meat slop" you say? It's a recipe that a friend of ours found on the interwebz. If you want to go to the actual post, I'll provide the link here but if you are offended by some crude language, I'd just keep reading my post :)

What we put in our first batch of meat slop: (and I really need to come up with another name for this!)
2 pounds of lean ground beef (the 93/7 from Wal*Mart)
1 head of red cabbage
1 red onion
2-12 ounce cans of tomato paste
1 can of mushroom pieces (yucky!)
approx. 1 cup water (enough so that it doesn't burn while cooking)
tumeric
red curry
black pepper
Cayenne pepper
garlic
chili seasoning

Finely chop all the veggies, break up the beef, and throw it in a big ole pot.

It looked like this:

Let that cook on low-medium heat for about 30 minutes. It smells really awesome, but I don't like the taste of tumeric or mushrooms. I think it would be awesome with tomatoes and some Italian type seasoning, maybe even get a Mexican vibe with some Ro-tel. This big pot we divided into 7 1-2/3 cups servings that look like this:

The best part about this slop is that it will fill you up due to the bulky cabbage and that it is super cheap! Burger: $5 + Onion: $2 +  Cabbage: $2 + Tomato Paste: $2 + Mushrooms: $1 + Random spices: on hand = $12, or $1.71 per supper meal for the week! This is awesome news! Additional bonus: I don't have to cook! This is SO easy: throw some veggies in a food processor, simmer in a pot for 30 minutes, and BOOM: seven meals. Hoorah!

All of this manly man food made me want something sweet, so I got out my handy dandy strawberries and had a snack. They're even better dipped in melted almond bark :)

Happy eating! :)

Waiting...

...is the hardest part.