Easy Freezer Lunch: Bean Burritos (Magazine Challenge)

So.
This is a recipe that is good on a whole lot of fronts:  it's meatless, easy to pull out of the freezer and reheat, and delicious.  What's not to love?  They're also very versatile, seeing as you can change things to suit your preferences in terms of vegetables and whatnot.  I also find them very filling.  I can put one in my lunch bag in the morning, and it's defrosted by the time I'm ready for lunch. 
The one thing that I'm not very good at is burrito rolling, but my technique is improving. This video from Martha Stewart will take you through the steps.  It's actually the same recipe (more or less) that you'll find here.  Please come back and see what I did too!
I present to you now from the November 2005 issue of Everyday Food Bean Burritos:

Magazine Challenge? Steakhouse Spinach Salad

So.
This started out as a Magazine Challenge recipe that took on a life of its own.  While the bones are the same, I added a couple of things that I think improved the salad.
I like serving dinner salads.  J enjoys a variety of vegetables, and I like the one plate complete meal idea.  I also am more prone to eat more vegetables when they are presented in dinner form like this.  While many of the salads that I find recipes for use different lettuces as a base, I almost always reach for baby spinach.  There's more fiber, more colour, and a sturdier leaf with baby spinach.  It also holds up well to a dressing with lots of flavour.
That's what we're about around here.  Lots of flavour.
This was originally in the December 2005 Everyday Food Cooking for One section as the Chili-Rubbed Steak and Salad.  I present to you now the Steakhouse Spinach Salad:

Planning: January 5 - 10, 2014

So.
It's a little crazy that it's 2014.  I was reading a Buzzfeed thing the other day that was something along the lines of "20 Things that will Make You Feel Ancient", and many of them did; but the most telling was the one that announced that children born in the year 2000 are graduating out of Grade 8 this Spring.  Yikes.  I had been teaching a couple of years when they started school.  That's crazy too.
What's not crazy is the fact that J and I are back trying to eat at home and making a classic along with a couple of new things this week.
Here's what's up for dinner this week:

Sunday:  It's soup weather, and J has requested Italian Wedding soup, which I haven't made in forever.  So that's what we're having.  That will make lunches for this week too.
Monday:  I have a parent council meeting, assuming there's school (Snowmageddon is supposed to arrive Sunday night - fingers crossed...fingers crossed) so we're grilling burgers for something easy.
Tuesday:  It's been forever since I made anything from the Looneyspoons Collection so I cracked it open this weekend for meal planning. I've come up with 2 for this week.  The first is Chicken Pot Pie.  J says he doesn't like chicken pot pie, so we'll see what happens.
Wednesday:  Leftovers
Thursday:  Another Looneyspoons recipe, an Asian-inspired dinner salad with leftovers for Friday lunch. 

Looks like a good week!  Full steam ahead!

New Year, New Revolution

So.
I said that I was going to write my resolutions and directions today, and I will.  I'm not great on the keeping the resolution thing but I think that making them is important - keeping yourself on track and all that.  Last year, my big resolution here was to make 6 recipes per month from the year 2005's issues of Everyday Food.  While I didn't make it, I did make a pile of new things that were yummy.  I have more years of EDF that are wildly under used.  Likewise, there are a couple of things that I'd like to do for me that fall into the food vein, and one things that has a lot to do with my house, but little to do with food.
To that end, I present this year's resolutions:

1. 6 Recipes per issue of Everyday Food from 2006.  I've already marked the recipes from Jan/Feb.  Beyond that with the blog, I'd like to post new content Monday, Wednesday and Friday plus weekend planning.  I also intend to continue with Pintertest Kitchen.
2. Stop drinking pop.  2 years ago, I started down this road.  I lost weight.  Fast.  It was shocking.  Then I backslid and started again.  Maybe it was the bubbles, maybe it was my genuine love of gingerale, but I started drinking it again.  Pop is liquid candy.  I need to stop.
3. Eat breakfast.  I don't do this daily, usually because I stay in bed too long.  But with a job that doesn't allow me to eat regularly, I need a better start to the day.  I've been looking at baked oatmeal.  We'll see what happens.
4. Finally, I've signed up to do 365 Spring Cleaning.  I'm sucky about cleaning and thankfully have a spouse who can't see the dust as well as I can.  I'm hoping to at least do some of my scary clutter areas in a way that makes sense.  The first project:  Organizing my office by January 31.  

I think that's enough.  Hopefully writing things down will help them come to fruition.

Retrospective: 2013 in Review

So.
I can't believe that we're already here at the beginning of a new year, looking ahead to what is to come and looking back at what we did.  I've been watching the news this week with their little retrospectives of things that happened, and there are things that I would tell you were longer ago - or that I completely forgot about.  Frankly, I can't believe that we've finally arrived here.
Personally, 2013 has been a good year, but it had its challenges.  I changed schools, which I think is all for the good.  I turned 40.  We went to NYC for a week, which was amazing.  We renovated the kitchen and the pool and while neither of those things qualify as amazing the results do.  I love my new kitchen and the space and counters.
Speaking of the kitchen, I spent a great deal of cooking this year.  I'd like to spend even more time in 2014 doing the same.  According to the stats on my blog, I made 63 new recipes this year.  That's not completely true.  I have 9 recipes that I haven't blogged, and a few more that didn't make the cut.  The exciting thing about this is that even with the kitchen hiatus I made more than 1 new recipe per week.  I participated in 7 Pintertest Kitchens, and discovered a new favourite website, Budget Bytes.  I also blogged in the Pintester Movement once and saw a spike to over 1000 views that month with my Buffalo Chicken Lasagna. 
I also made 32 recipes in the Magazine Challenge.  With 10 issues, that's less than 6 per magazine but it's not too bad.  I made nothing out of one issue and 8 out of another.  I'm so glad I went back and visited these issues.  I'd only made 1 thing, Cornmeal Blueberry Muffins, out of 2005 up until now.  I can't say that anymore.  For the amount of money that was sunk into a subscription back in the day I'm glad I finally got around to using these magazines. 
Tomorrow, I'll give you some ideas of where we're headed in the coming year.  But I present to you now the Best and Worst of 2013 after the jump:

Weeknight Dinner: Greek Marinated Chicken

So.
I know I spend too much time on the computer.  Right now, I'm sitting on the couch, feet up, TV on, blogging.  It's not really multitasking, seeing as I don't really care who wins the football game that's on in the background.  But still.  When I watch TV, I also have a lap top in my lap.
One of the good things about all this computer time is the amount of time that I spend perusing recipes.  There are so many interesting things to look at.
As I've said in the past, one of my favourite places to look for recipes is Pinterest, which almost invariably leads me back to one of my favourite food blogs, BudgetBytes.  Once again, Beth's recipe proved to be easy, filling and darn tasty.  I have marinated in yogurt before, but it always seems like a revelation when I do so.
This meal was nicely economical because I went to the store and there was an in-store special of packages of 8 drumsticks for $5.  I know! That's 2 meals around here. 
What I would say is that you need to use chicken pieces with the skin still on.  It holds the marinade and crisps nicely.  But beyond that, this is all up to you.
I present to you now Budget Bytes' Greek Marinated Chicken:

Yikes

So.
I just made a list of the recipes I haven't blogged this year.  There are 9.
That means if I post one per day for the rest of the year, and don't make anything else, we're all good.  But that's not going to happen.  I mean, it will be close, but there are some other things I want to do too.
So, over the next week or so, expect at least a post a day.  Perhaps more...seeing as I'd like to post this year's Christmas dessert in all it's glory too.
Here's what to look forward to over the next little bit:

1. 45 Minute Dinner Rolls
2. Bolognese Sauce
3. Stuffed Crown Roast and Gravy
4. Chicken Taco Bowl
5. Taco Filling
6. Greek Marinated Chicken
7. Bean Burritos
8. Chicken Tortilla Soup
9. Chili Rubbed Steak Salad with Goat Cheese

Lot

Magazine Challenge: Chicken Fettuccine with Pesto Cream Sauce

So.
One of the restaurants that I enjoy in Toronto is called Il Fornello.  They have lovely wood-fired ovens for pizza, and it was the first place that I ate a dish like this one.  Il Fornello's has toasted pine nuts and chopped plum tomato.  They are a nice addition, but this was good too.
This recipe said in Everyday Food that it took 30 minutes.  I agree.  It doesn't take long.  Fast and yummy.  That's what we're about here on weeknights.
I present to you now from the September 2005 issue of Everyday Food, Chicken Fettuccine with Pesto Cream Sauce:

Cold Weather Meal: Chili Tortellini

So.
I seem to spend a lot of time on the computer.  Most nights, I sit on the couch, watching TV, with the laptop in my lap.  Mainly I play Candy Crush and browse Pinterest.
For the most part, I look at food on Pinterest.  I have about 250 pins of things that I think look delicious and makeable.  This is one of those pins.
I want to say that I got this from jesser, but I'm not really sure.  I mentioned it to J, and he thought I needed to make this sooner rather than later.  With packages of tortellini in the freezer, why not.
I present to you now Picky Palate's Chili Tortellini:

Magazine Challenge: December

So.
It's amazing in some ways that I've managed to make as many recipes as I have from Everyday Food.  It's going to be interesting during the Retrospective at the end of this month to see what I've made, what I've liked, and what I'll never make again.  I'm also interested to know exactly how many magazine recipes I've made.  I know it's not 6 per month, but I'd like to know.
I'm currently toying if I want to continue into 2006 next year.  There have been some winners in what I've made.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.
December is full of rich food, and things to freeze for later.  I've tried to strike a balance of the two, and not too many desserts.  There's also the challenge of puff pastry, something I've always wanted to try making.  Cream puffs give that chance.  Here's what I'd like to make from the 2005 issue of Everyday Food:

1. Chili-rubbed Steak and Salad
2. Salmon Cakes with Lemon Herb Sauce
3. Pastitsio
4. Cream Puffs with Ice Cream and Hot Fudge Sauce
5. Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots
6. Mini Cherry-Pecan Streusel Loaves
7. Black Bottom Coconut Bars
8. Mulled Wine

Quite the list.  We obviously need to have people in.  Let's see what happens.