We went to Seattle Center to a couple of craft shows and decided to go see the gingerbread display at the Sheraton hotel afterwards, since we were already Downtown. The displays were amazing, some of them were even rotating, like the globe and the tops of the Russian buildings! Ironically, the proceeds from the "suggested donation" go towards finding a cure for diabetes. We walked over to Pacific Place and got a coffee and then headed to JoAnne's to pick up some craft supplies. Then we came home and had pizza and salad delivered. All in all, it was a pretty nice day. The weather was great, we had fun and saw some cool stuff.
Last night, we made chicken and dumplings from scratch. Leah used a technique she saw on America's Test Kitchen to flatten and brown the whole chicken first, then cooked it with spices, chicken broth and water to make the stock in the dutch oven. This is the second meal we've made in it, and I love it! After she boned the chicken, she put the pieces back into the pot with celery and carrots and let the veggies soften. Then I made dumplings from reduced fat Bisquick and a little milk and dropped them in to cook uncovered for 10 mins, then covered for 10 mins. I love how fluffy they turn out. So yummy!
Then we went to Target in Lynwood to get a small white artificial xmas tree (because they are almost all sold out everywhere already) and headed back to go to The Crest to watch the unrated version of Superbad for $3. It was so funny, I'm really glad we went! It was nice to get out of the house and do something fun for a change, instead of just shopping like we normally do. Today we're going to go the the I Heart Indy Holiday craft show at Seattle Center. I think we'll also stop at K-Mart to get some cute xmas ornaments on the way there. I also got a haircut yesterday and while I was waiting, I stopped at the library next door to browse around and ended up looking at the December issue of Martha Stewart Living. It had a few cute ideas, and I am thinking of making the moss wreath they did. We have a ton of moss in our yard, so it should be pretty easy. Also, they made some cute snowflakes from tree branches. We should also be able to do that pretty easily from stuff in the yard. Maybe tomorrow will be crafty day ;)
I substituted a bit, but it still turned out great! I forgot to get bacon, so just used a little butter (then omitted it at the end), used a whole onion and two large carrots cut into chunks, instead of pearl onions (yuck!) and sugar, and a little apple brandy instead of cognac. Also, I floured the meat cubes before I fried them, instead of adding flour later, and just used regular beef broth instead of low sodium. And I was lazy and got pre-packaged fresh herbs for poultry and just left out the sage. We served it over egg noodles last night and we'll have leftovers with some baby red potatoes tonight.
Also, in trying to figure out what kind of wine to use, we found out that "Burgandy" is basically pinot noir. The first bottle we got was a Bordeaux, which is a Cabernet blend and not really suitable for the recipe. So we used that bottle to make a mulled wine to drink while we waited for this to cook :)
Beef Bourguignon
3 easy hours
Serves 6-12 - makes 3 quarts
Canola oil
4 bacon slices
3 1/2 to 4 pounds beef chuck or round, cut in 2x2 inch cubes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Cognac
1 bottle dry red wine, such as Burgundy
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can low-sodium beef broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Bouquet garni (1 fresh rosemary sprig, 8 fresh thyme sprigs, 2 bay leaves, tied together with a strip of leek)
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 cups pearl onions, blanched and peeled
(2 cups carrots)
1 pound white mushrooms, stems trimmed
Pinch of sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped, for garnish
Place a large Dutch oven over medium heat; drizzle with a 1/2 count of
oil. Fry the bacon until crisp and then remove it to a paper towel;
you'll crumble it at the end and use it for garnish. Add the beef to
the pot in batches. Fry the cubes in the bacon fat until evenly browned
on all side; turn with tongs. Season with salt and pepper. (don't skimp
on this step - it's key)
After the meat is browned, put it all back in the pot. Sprinkle the flour over the meat; then stir to make sure the beef is well coated and there are no flour lumps. Pour in the Cognac and stir to scrape up the flavorful bits in the bottom of the pan. Cook and stir to evaporate the alcohol. Pour in the red wine and beef broth; then add the tomato paste and bouquet garni. Stir everything together and bring the pot up to a simmer. Cook until the liquid starts to thicken and has the consistency of a sauce; this should take about 15 mins. cover the pot, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 1 hour.
Uncover the pot and add the garlic, pearl onions, (carrots) and mushrooms, along
with the pinch of sugar to balance out the acid from the red wine.
Season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat up slightly and simmer for
30-45 mins longer, until the vegetables and meat are tender. Remove the
bouguet garni and then stir in the butter to finish up the sauce.
Shower with chopped parsley and the reserved crumbled bacon before
serving. Deep and rich in flavor.
Today's lunch: "white on wheat" turkey sandwich (with lettuce and provolone instead of mayo), Tuscan chicken, veggie and white bean soup, pumpkin cake
Total: $7.40
And also, I did not get hassled during my order this time, except for him to say "Pumpkin, right? See, I knew it already." BUT did he know I would have gotten chocolate if he'd had it???
Well, we had a pretty full, yet not too busy weekend. On Saturday, we went to the zoo for my company picnic. Except that the picnic was on Sunday.... it was very confusing to me that I could have misread "Sunday" as "Saturday" every single time I looked at the invite to make sure where and what time it was supposed to be. Luckily, the guy at the zoo was equally confused and let us in for free anyways to go check and see if we knew anyone at the BBQ that was going on that day. Since we were there already and the weather was really nice and mild, we made the most of it and walked around for about 5 hours. Then we went to Blue C Sushi (say that 10 times fast!) down in Fremont for dinner. Man, I miss living so close to cool things....
Sunday, we decided to go back out to Leah's work with the dogs and see if the blackberries were ripe yet. Lucky for us, there were quite a few more than last weekend. We ended up picking just over a pound of them. I think tonight we'll try to make some kind of cobbler with them for dessert. This is the route we walked, it seems it is just about 1 mile total. The big "W" shape is Leah's work building and that's a lake/pond next to it.
We've also both lost 15 lbs in the last 4 weeks, so we decided to treat ourselves to some new shoes! Nordstrom has the Mary Jane style crocs, so we each got a pair of black ones to have for simple and easy slip-ons that we can wear anywhere and not get weird looks, unlike when we wear the bright orange and blue regular-style fake crocs we have now that don't match any clothing we own.
I watched an episode of Everyday Food we had saved on Tivo that was all about light and healthy meals. They made a Caesar salad with spicy shrimp that looked really good, so we went to the store and got all the stuff to make it. Except the dressing in the recipe was horrible. We doctored it up with some grated garlic, dijon mustard and citrus vinegar and it actually tasted like a real caesar dressing, nice and spicy, but not very heavy. Plus we made extra shrimps and had them in salads for lunch today.
Show us your first car.
Submitted by The Greenhows.
These are my new favorite treats. Dark chocolate in small portions that are totally satisfying and low in calories. And I love the little tins they come in! I picked them both up at the store as impulse purchases, but I like them so much, I try to have one in my purse for when I get a little craving and don't want to be tempted to get something that will bust my diet too much.
The Hershey's truffles actually say "Serv. Size 1 package" which is 8 pieces. I usually have one and feel fine, two if I am really craving a lot of chocolate. One piece is 36 calories and 2.75 g of fat.
The Chocolate Traveler wedges come with 16 wedges to a tin, and one piece is definitely enough for me. The serving size is 4 pieces, so each wedge is 32 calories and 2.5 g fat.
