Hi friends.
First off, I want to thank you for all of your support with this blog.
I love you all for it.
but now I’m moving. Follow me to my new blog, Quiet & Colorful.
http://quietandcolorful.blogspot.com/
I’m sad to see Newlywed Cooks go, but I need more from my blog than just writing about cooking.
I have a lot more interests in my life that are nearer and dearer than being in the kitchen.
I’m excited to share this side of me with you! :)
The hubs made dinner the other night. He is such a sweet guy… he barely even complains. ;)
I wasn’t as impressed with this meal because I am not a fan of tough meat and I feel like I was constantly chewing and chewing and chewing. He, of course, ate it like candy. But it was good and I really liked the balsamic sauce.
I steamed some cauliflower and had a piece of a whole wheat baguette. It looks big, but it wasn’t… I use small plates now so that I don’t overeat. But I could treat myself to some bread because the entire sirloin&sauce recipe was 4 grams of carbs total. And I can eat 60 carbs at each meal! I think I did good. :)
I got this recipe out of my new cookbook I got from Borders before it went out of business. (I ended up paying like $4.50 for it! That is a STEAL and I am so happy.) The title is 15-Minute Diabetic Meals. Check it out!
SEARED SIRLOIN WITH SWEET BALSAMIC SAUCE
1 lb boneless sirloin steak, about 1 inch thick, trimmed of fat
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1. Place a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add beef and cook 4 minutes. Turn and cook 4 minutes longer or until beef is done to your liking.
2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Stir to blend and set aside.
3. When beef is done, place on cutting board and let stand. Add sauce mixture to pan residue in skillet. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook 1-2 minutes, scraping bottom and sides of skillet.
4. Thinly slice beef and spoon sauce over all.
The Birthday Thing was a success!
We had friends, food, games and a little booze. Sounds like the perfect equation!
Our poor little one bedroom apartment was practically bursting at the seams, but it was worth it. I love my friends and I love to cook fun little appetizers!
The beverage/dessert table. The milk jugs I actually bought from my sister at a garage sale… I’ve been waiting to use them and decided this would be the perfect time!
The Rolo/M&M Pretzels…. my absolute favorite dish of the night. I may have overindulged. Whoops! Sorry diabetes.
Mini Cheesecake Bites. These were a hit and I’m making them again soon.. an easy alternative to a cheesecake for sure!
Pigs in a Blanket are always a huge success at our parties, mostly because of our friend Brian. I’m pretty sure he walked through the front door and went straight for the bowl.
This is the infamous football crock pot! The hubs loved it and it really did work incredibly well for a thrift store find. We brought the leftover dip to my brother’s house for football and the pot reheated nicely.
Pizza on a Stick. I used all store-made products (opted not to make my own dough and grate my own cheese), so it could probably have been better, but I liked them a lot for what they were!
I’m too old to say that my husband is having a birthday party.
But I’m too uncool to say I’m throwing a party.
So we’ll just call tomorrow night The Birthday Thing.
I have some yummy appetizers and desserts on the menu, so I thought I’d share!
The actual recipe says for you to leave them in ‘roll’ form, but I am thinking about cutting them into pinwheels because that would be MEGA ADORABLE.
Pigs in a Blanket
I am making at least 3 batches of these because they go immediately. Even if just my husband was around to eat them, 3 batches would be barely enough.
This is fun because it’s pizza. On a stick. Pizza on a stick. That just sounds awesome.
This is the hubs’ favorite appetizer. I’ve made it for tons of different events/parties and he digs it so hard.
Um, these are just adorable. He doesn’t like bananas, and I’m diabetic. But LOOK at them!! Ugh.
Ignore the Christmas wrapper on these. His favorite cake is cheesecake and this is way easier than making an entire cake. And cuter.
These were a huge hit at the Superbowl party, so I am making them again. And they are cheap!
Okay, so I have to also share with you this awesome present I bought for him at a thrift store.
By awesome, I mean completely, downright, absolutely 100% cheesy.
But perfect.
Easily the best $10 I’ve ever spent.
Come back soon and see how The Birthday Thing turned out :)
Love!
Tonight for dinner we made Tex-Mex Pork Chops.
I am always a little hesitant before making the pork, because it’s really touch and go on whether or not I’ll like it. I’m always that way with pork… but I continue to find recipes that feature the meat as the main ingredient.
Will I ever learn?
In this dish, the pork was sauteed in some EVOO and I sprinkled them with salt and pepper before putting them in the pan. After about 3 minutes on each side, I added them to the salsa mixture and simmered it all for about 10 minutes.
The result was tender pork, spicy salsa and a touch of cheddar cheese on the plate for some added texture.
I paired this with a HUGE salad because I was kind of bad with my carbs today.
I tried to make up by having a leafy salad with a lot of veggies and then opted for water over diet Coke.
I definitely recommend this! It’s fast, easy and healthy… what’s not to love!?
I made Stuffed Peppers for dinner last night. It was my first time making them and I thought they turned out really good!
I was so excited because this was one of my favorite meals as a kid. My mom made the absolute BEST stuffed peppers and I wish I knew what recipe she based them off of, so that I could try.
I used to just eat the rice mixture by the spoonful.
(and I wonder why I’m diabetic…. sigh)
My mom never used recipes. Everytime she would cook something, she would guesstimate a tablespoon by a pinch, or assume a plop of that was a cup. We technically never had the same meal twice. Remembering how she used to cook and thinking about how I cook makes me laugh out loud. I am SO strict with my recipes. I would rather dirty every possible measuring device in my kitchen before guessing at anything. I’m sure once I’ve cooked for a family for 20 years, I might change my habits, but for now… my mom and I could not be any less alike. I just wish she was here to see me cook… I think she’d be proud of me.
Seriously, before getting married the extent of my cooking was making a grilled cheese sandwich.
I also thought it was “girlled cheese” until I was about 8. Like boys couldn’t eat it. I was very feminist back then.
But these stuffed peppers were good in their own way. Simple ingredients made it easy, healthy ingredients made it…. healthy! The recipe doesn’t call for cheese, but I was so low on my carb count for the day that I added a pinch (gasp!) of shredded cheddar cheese to each pepper. Yum!
I finished the plate off with a spoonful of mashed potatoes and a crescent roll. Gosh, I love crescent rolls…. I wanted nothing more than to eat the entire tin of them.
I DIDN’T.
Well, I didn’t think it would happen again, but I made another really disgusting meal.
I’m just going to be blunt about it.
It was terrible.
No flavor.
No…. oomph.
It was a bowl of watery vegetables with bits of chicken.
The recipe doesn’t even call for broccoli or corn but I added some to make it more colorful.
This was just supposed to be chicken, carrots, potatoes, stewed tomatoes, onions and chicken broth.
I mean….. what was I thinking?!!?
The hubs added heaps of cheese, which he said helped. But I am not as free to do that. So hrmph.
But at least I ate the whole bowl, and I loaded myself of veggies and basically no carbs.
Yay?
So you know that feeling when you are about to take pictures of tonight’s meal and you suddenly remember that you didn’t upload a picture of a meal you cooked LAST WEEK?
No?
Oh, it’s just me then.
;)
The hubs and I made Sweet Spice Rubbed Chicken last week. It was pretty good! Some of the spices got burned off, which I think is a little strange because the recipe even says that the Canola Oil helps the spices not burn off.
Maybe we had the burner too hot. Any thoughts?
The chicken was super juicy and the rub had just the right amount of kick. I think if we can master the whole “not burning dinner” concept, this will be a winner.
And coming in at only 4 grams of carbs for a serving, I was able to indulge on a little more than a typical serving of meat and made a 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes.
All in all, it was a very filling and satisfying dinner and way more flavorful than I thought it would be.
I recommend trying this… you probably have all the ingredients lying around!
(note, I did omit the coriander in the recipe. Ground coriander and cumin are substitutes for each other, and I didn’t have any coriander, so I just said ‘meh!’)
(This is a terrible picture.)
The hubs and I didn’t eat until about 7 pm, so all I could allot for in terms of time was to take a quick picture with my phone before I shoved the food in my mouth.
The pork chops were so tender and moist, I loved them. We marinated them for about, oh, 2 days…?.. so they were pretty mustard-y. But I thought they were good regardless.
I also had some steamed broccoli with pepper and garlic lemon seasoning. And grapes – my new favorite dessert. Yum!
WEIGHT WATCHERS HONEY MUSTARD PORK CHOPS
4 tsp honey
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 (5-ounce) bone-in pork chops, about 1 inch thick
1. To make marinade , stir together all ingredients except pork in a bowl.
2. Transfer marinade to a gallon ziploc bag; add pork. Squeeze out air and seal bag. Toss to coat the meat. Refrigerate for up to 4 hours or overnight.
3. Spray boiler rack with nonstick spray. Preheat boiler.
4. Remove chops from bag; discard marinade. Place chops on prepared broiler rack and broil 5 inches from heat until cooked through, about 6 minutes per side.
Newlywed Cooks 