Sunday, August 22, 2010

Spicy!

As planned, I used my vegetable puree from yesterday in an easy chana masala recipe I found here. I think I just googled "chana masala" to find this site, but it looks like there's a bunch of other tasty things to try out.

I didn't have turmeric or cumin seeds and I threw in some red pepper for some heat (maybe not the best idea in retrospect), but I think it turned out pretty tasty. I served mine over a bed of baby spinach and topped it with a dollop of Greek yogurt.

It's highly unlikely that the hubs would even be interested in trying this, especially after the food fest this morning. He's always skeptical of new things that I make, plus the smell of cumin/coriander/curry prolly makes him uneasy, LOL. In any case, that just means more for me! I can't wait to enjoy it for lunch tomorrow.

(I must apologize for my crappy iPhone 3G photos. And my dirty stove. Eventually I'll upgrade to a real camera or try breaking out the Sony camera/camcorder machine.)

27+

One of my favorite things to do on Sunday mornings lately is to get up SUPER (before 7AM) early to go ride one of the local bike trails with my parents and husband. Today was ride number three and it was somewhere over 27 miles. Afterwards, we went to Le Chatelaine for brunch where I enjoyed an omelette filled with locally grown corn, squash, and zucchini. It was SO good after that long trek! The hubs went all out, ordering eggs, bacon, potatoes, french toast, and a fruit tart. I've never seen him eat so much!

My ride is the Electra Townie Original 7D that I sold my soul bought from roll:. I know absolutely nothing about bikes, but it's cute, comfortable, and most importantly - ORANGE. I think my husband was bummed because his didn't come in our favorite color, so he settled for basic black with orange rims. These bikes are awesome, but not suited for the long rides that we've been doing with the parents. Supposedly they're only comfortable for 15-20 miles...and that seems about right to us. Often I find myself wondering if I should have gotten a hardcore bike, but I love this thing. I'm looking forward to attaching a basket to it so that I can ride to the library or Kroger. Unfortunately, we don't live within a safe riding distance of any "cool" places.

Usually after a long ride I'm basically useless for the rest of the day, so I haven't done too much. I did run out to Target to see if a pair of jeans I'd been eyeing were part of their denim sale (they were!) so I scooped them up for only $17 (had a Target coupon!). They look better in person than on the web. They're my first pair of "skinny" jeans! I would have preferred the darker wash, but for some reason they thought they needed to take the distressed look to the max with spots that would quickly become holes. :(

I also scored these cute wedges that have been around since they rolled out their spring items. These came in black, lavender (shown), and camel. I scored a camel pair that had been marked down to $6.74...plus I had another Target coupon for shoes that made them even cheaper! I had to buy them!

Since then, I've been half-watching some awful movie on SyFy (btw, that name change is SO dumb) because for some reason I couldn't take a nap like everyone else is doing.

So what did I do? I woke up one of the kitties! Ben then proceeded to come lay on me, yawn, and breathe cat-food breath all over me. Yum!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Fantastically relaxing Saturday

For once I didn't spend my Saturday running around doing errands, working out, and shopping. Or, maybe I just didn't spend ALL day shopping? While I did head to the farmer's market, picked up some cute shoes from Lands' End at the Sears Outlet, and went to the gym, I didn't feel stressed out by all the other things that need done around the house. I just let it all go. WIN!
 
Since I went to the farmer's market this morning and bought more vegetables than two people can reasonably eat in a week, AND I already had a bunch of leftover veggies from the previous week, I decided to try making vegetable stock. The recipe I used is loosely based/inspired by this recipe I found on Yum Universe.

I threw in two red bell peppers, a tired-looking leek, two small potatoes, a mini yellow squash and mini zucchini, okra, a handful of parsley, and a few green beans. I let it simmer for two whole hours and actually ended up with something that tasted good and looked like it was supposed to! I once tried to make chicken stock and it was kind of a fail.

I took the recipe suggestion of pureeing the boiled leftovers and was rewarded with a lovely end result. I was planning on making chana masala this weekend (another first), and instead of using tomatoes, I'm going to spice up this puree with various Indian spices to mix with my chickpeas. 
Other food-related activities today included trying out my new corn stripper on some unsuspecting corn cobs. I need some more practice, but eventually I'll get the whole kernel in one swipe instead of just half...or 1/4 or it. I blanched 3 ears worth and froze it. I also blanched a bunch of green beans and froze those, too.

I also made some walnut-basil pesto, chopped up various veggies for easy consumption/usage, and just roasted and simmered a vat of green zebra tomatoes (my favorite!) to make tomato soup. Yes, it's after 9PM, but if I don't do it now, it won't get done tomorrow.

I know I've been MIA for a LOOOOONG time. I don't know how other bloggers have lives, read other blogs, AND are still able to maintain their own sites. I think about blogging often, but then I get sidetracked living vicariously through other bloggers. I'm going to try and be better about it this time around, but I make no promises! My posts will be about food, exercise, life, cats, and of course...SHOPPING!