Freezer Adventures

Every once in a while, I get so overwhelmed with the fullness of our freezers that I declare a moratorium on most food purchases. So we take stock of what's in there and figure out how to make meals out of it.

We've been in the process of a freezer purge over the past few weeks, which has led to some interesting dinners, like venison stew, Sunday gravy, tamales surprise and mini tacos.

We've reached the point where our freezers are getting down to a few random items, like half a bag of raspberries, a quarter pint of ice cream, diced ham, and bags of chicken, turkey and beef bones we saved for making stock.

Along with these randoms, we also have a handful of mystery bags.

After some close inspection and inquisitive whiffs, we hypothesized that we have black bean empanadas filling,

sauerkraut and something still to be determined,

and something that smelled like barbecue.

For the latter, we heated up the mystery contents in the oven and finally determined that we had homemade barbecue sauce. Chris recalled bringing a chicken and barbecue dish to our friends' potluck, before these friends moved back to Italy. Then I remembered that the potluck was on Easter, and that I let on while there that I was pregnant. With Maya. Who is now 3 1/2. Which would make this particular sauce close to 4 years old.

Yeah, we ate it anyway. We combined it with the aforementioned diced ham and enjoyed the classic dish barbecue ham- and-cheddar omelets.

In addition to these culinary adventures, we decided we didn't want to be those people who keep animal bones in their freezer. So we also finally got around to making stock -- both poultry and vegetable varieties. However, making stock doesn't help our over-stuffed freezer situation. We've made stock many times before, and usually we freeze it in Ziploc bags of varying sizes. But since we don't own a microwave, using the frozen stock resulted in a slow thawing process before we can even get the stuff out of the bags. So, in need of a space-conscious way to store stock, preferably without plastic bags, naturally, I turned to Pinterest.

That's where I found the solution that's so often the solution for all kinds of food and space dilemmas: muffin tins. A muffin tin is like Pinterest's duct tape; it can be used for EVERYTHING. Martha Stewart's suggestion to freeze stock in 1-cup muffin tins was frequently pinned. Unfortunately, I don't own any of those massive tins; mine are only 1/3 cup each. Still, the idea worked well.

In addition to muffin tins, a few people also suggested yogurt containers, which also proved successful. We go through tons of Oberweis yogurt, which comes in the 8-oz containers -- a perfect size for stock.

On tap for next weekend: figuring out what's up with that sauerkraut.

The past week; a culinary tour

The last week of the year is always a busy one for us. In addition to all the usual holiday chaos, Chris and I both have our birthdays. This year was no exception in the madness department. Maya even pitched in and got an ear infection last week (on Chris' birthday, in fact) to make the week even crazier than normal.

But rather than give a play-by-play of the past week, I thought I'd steal a post from a fellow blogger (who's on a blogging hiatus at the moment) and just give you all recap of what I ate over the past week or so:

Goat-cheese pizza
Sweet potato fries
Popcorn
Pork tamales
Pecan-crusted salmon
Cheese
Chicken skewers
Falafel
Jalepeno-stuffed green olives
Turkey
Sweet potatoes
Dried fruit
Mixed nuts
Chili dip
Cheese omelet
Broccoli cheddar soup
Mediterranean sandwich
Beet & potato quesadilla
Chili mac
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie
Cookies
Potato chips
Stuffed cabbage
Carnival squash soup
Raisin bran
Steak
Whole-wheat pancakes
Chicken & butternut squash curry
And of course, inordinate amounts of wine and beer.

'Tis the season.

Things 110-118

I think Maya's gearing up for some insane growth spurt because she's been sleeping a ton lately. Every night for the past week, she's barely been able to stay up for an hour after we get home from work. Then, she sleeps between 12-14 hours a night. And this morning, she was ready to go down for her morning nap an hour earlier than normal and has been sleeping for close to two hours.

I'm not gonna lie; it's been awesome. Last night, I was able to make homemade pretzels, and during her nap this morning I cleaned the downstairs bathroom, made the bed, changed the duvet, started a load of laundry, brushed the dog, took out the trash, cleaned up dog poop, washed out Maya's diaper covers, and gathered Thing 110-118:

Check out that made bed and clean duvet.

From 365 things

These Things include:

• An issue of Working Mother a co-worker gave me (a childless co-worker who never subscribed to this magazine but for reason randomly started receiving it at work.)
• The swim cap from the Chicago Tri. (Normally, I'd hold on to this to use when training, but this one's full of Lake Michigan filth. Ew.)
• Offer letter to become a member of the Lincoln Park Zoo that I totally meant to send in. The offer expired in December. 
• Old Christmas cards.
• Empty shoe box.
• Gift bag the shoe box came in. (Again, normally I'd save and reuse such a Thing, but it sat on the shelf for so long and got all crinkled and torn.)
• Race bag from the Shamrock Shuffle. 

And with that, I've not only caught up to myself, but actually surpassed my Thing count by two. So, from now until I get woefully behind again, it's back to one Thing a day.

Green in the city

Chris and I recently joined a farmer' cooperative food share program. Every two weeks, we get a box filled with organic produce from southern Wisconsin farms. We got our first allotment on June 17, and we're finally using up the rest of the bounty. We got:

• Asparagus
• Rhubarb
• Strawberries
• Mushrooms
• Mint
• Green Onions
• and three types of leafy greens, which we think are romaine, lettuce and arugula, but we could be wrong. For a while, I argued that one of these greens was actually swiss chard. So yeah, we have no idea what we're eating.
  

Having this stuff around the house has given us an excuse to try out all kinds of new recipes, like this cake I just made yesterday, and this potato salad I'm planning to make tonight, as well as old standbys, like the strawberry asparagus salad I insisted* Chris bring for Father's Day dinner at my parents' house.

We get our next allotment tomorrow. I can't wait to find out what's in there. The program also offers a cheese share, but most of their cheese is raw, which sadly, I'm not supposed to have while pregnant. But next summer? That cheese share will be mine.

In other veggie news, we also recently planted our first garden in our backyard. It features tomatoes, three types of peppers, cucumbers, basil, oregano, cilantro and thyme. Chris' ultimate goal was to grow everything necessary to make Greek salad. Now we just need to buy a goat.

* as you might recall, I hate asparagus, to the point that I can't even handle the smell of it cooking in our house. I know. I'm weird.

9 Links, April 2

1. Hazardous hairballs. No matter where we are, Rosie has an amazing ability to figure out the exact spot in her immediate surroundings that will draw the most foot traffic, and then lie there. At home, for example, it's the spot between the living room and the hallway leading to the kitchen. If you're watching TV, and you might like a beverage, you'll have to step over Rosie twice to get it. I've yet to have a serious Rosie-related fall, but my mom tripped over her once while dog-sitting, and her shoulder was messed up for more than a year. Whoops.

2. One more reason I want my own sheep farm. Like most videos I see online these days, I'm never really sure what's real and what's not. But it's entertaining nonetheless.

3. Their fries suck. But I do love Steak 'n Shake's burgers. Although until I read this, I had no idea there weren't any in the city.

4. The Wallflowers? Chris and I recently heard a Wallflowers song on the radio and asked, "What ever happened to that band? They weren't so bad, but they just disappeared." Or so we thought. Looks like they're playing the Taste this year.

5. We're #1! Speaking of the Taste, and live music, and the all-around awesomeness of Chicago in general, according to some male-centered Web site, Chicago's the #1 city for men due to its abundance of good food, sports and cultural attractions. Because, apparently, only men like those things.

6. Plant a tree. Our yard has zero trees. (Although you'd never know it from the the 40 pounds of leaves I raked up a few weeks ago.) We do have a tree ring in our parkway that's currently home to a bunch of ugly branches that may have at one time been a bush. I'm not sure. Anyway, the master plan is to plant a tree there this year. But which type of tree to plant is still unknown. Chris wants a good climbing tree or a fruit tree. I'm fine with anything that'll fit in a city parkway, other than evergreens. (Although I had apple trees growing up, and they were really messy and attracted lots of bees that liked to attack my dog, so I don't know how I feel about a fruit trees.) I've been searching through this handy Web site lately for trees that grow in Zone 5 or 6—Chicago's right on the cusp of those zones. Did you know we could grow pear trees here? I had no idea.

7. Tamale Guy. I love this guy. I hope he starts Tweeting so I can follow him and ask him to come to my new 'hood more often.

8. No fooling. Some of these newspaper pranks were kinda funny. Some were just meh. I did enjoy the Twitter recap of Lindburgh's first flight from New York to Paris.

9. My love-hate relationship with Emeril. I really don't want to like Emeril. I find his shows really annoying, and he's very Flay-like in that he adds the same ingredient—Essence of Emeril, which sounds like it's his own personal musk. Ew.—to every dish. (For Bobby Flay, it's chipotle pepper. Seriously, every time I watch Throwdown, Bobby Flay just makes the other person's dish, but adds chipotle. Real creative, dude.) But as much as I don't want to like Emeril, for some reason, his Mexican recipes rock. For the past two Cinco de Mayo parties, I ended up using his recipes for fish tacos, salsa fresca, ancho chile flourless-chocolate cake and tres leches cake. Yesterday I found this poblano-cilantro rice recipe online that I might have to try out this weekend. So, maybe Emeril's not all that bad. Especially because using his recipes only involves reading them online and never having to hear him yell, "Bam!"

9 Links, March 13

1. Yum. Just try to read this without craving black beans by the end. It's impossible, unless you don't like beans for some reason. And if that's the case, what's wrong with you? Weirdo.

2. If you're not a weirdo, then you probably think this recipe looks amazing. I have to try this out. If it's as good as it looks, it just might be this year's vegetarian enchilada dish at Cinco de Mayo.

3. The Phoenix forecast. In 8 days, I'll be on vacation Arizona. I tend not to rely on long-range forecasts like this, but I can't help checking it at least once a day.

4. Speaking of Arizona, I'm going to Spring Training! I am so, so ready for baseball season to start again. Bring on the hot dogs, peanuts and...water. No frosty beers for me :( I gave up alcohol for Lent.

5. Fearing change. My dad worked in the Sears Tower when I was a kid. It was pretty much the coolest thing ever to a 10-year-old. "My dad works in the Sears Tower!" Then, in 1992, Sears sold their space and moved out to suburbs, which was kind of a let down. "My dad works in Hoffman Estates!" didn't pack quite the same punch. I'm still mad that Sears left the tower 15 years ago, but I'm also a little sad to see the tower's name change. Willis Tower? I dunno about that.

6. Dance machine. My nephew, at a recent wedding, tearing it up.

7. He takes after his father. My brother-in-law, at a wedding this summer, tearing it up with his "faux-hawk."

8. Our Lady of the Underpass. I used to live a few blocks from this Mary, who always had tons of flowers and candles by her side, while 90/94 roared overhead. I just might have to go see this play.

9. Loo with a View. Hilarious.

Kitchen adventures

Last night, I managed to cut my finger while sifting flour. Yeah, I don't understand either.

In other kitchen news, we still don't own a microwave. But, I find that I don't really miss it. There are really only two times when I long for one: when I make popcorn, and when I want to reheat leftover tamales.

For the former, I've solved that by making it on the stove top. But it's kinda messy, so I'm thinking about getting a popper. My parents had one when I was growing up, and I remember it being a lot of fun. Plus, it's probably a lot healthier than the microwave option.

For the latter, microwaving tamales is nice because it sort of re-steams them. I could reheat them in the oven, but they dry out a bit. And I could steam them on the stove top, but that's a big pain, especially considering tamales and late-night drunkenness kind of go hand-in-hand. Pots of boiling water and intoxicated Sarah, however, do not go hand-in-hand. (Ahem, see the aforementioned sifting accident, which occurred while I was completely sober. Had I been drinking at the time, who knows? Maybe I would have lost a finger.)

Anyway, got any ideas for reheating tamales sans a microwave and hot water?

Greatest Chili Ever

Yesterday, Chris and I made the best veggie chili ever. Except, by "Chris and I," I mean, Chris did all the work while I watched, waved around an immersion blender, and ate handfuls of Life cereal in the background.

Anyway, here's the recipe, in Chris' words:

Sautee one white onion and two gloves of garlic and hearty helpings of chili seasoning, cayenne, and emeril mix in a little oil until the onion and garlic soften and the seasoning really smells. Put onion, garlic, and scrape seasoning into crockpot. Add very little water (a tsp) to pan to get up rest of seasoning left in pan and add to crock pot. Add five small cans of drained stewed tomatoes with the mexican spices already in them. Add a big can of drained and washed kidney beans, two big cans of drained and washed chickpeas, and a big ass can of drained and washed black beans. Mix up. Add more chili seasoning, emeril mix, and cayenne to top and put lid on and leave on low for 8 or 9 hours.

Ooh, ooh! Here's the part where I come in:

Next, remove about 3-4 cups of the chili and puree with an immersion blender (which Chris says I use just because I like using the term "immersion blender." I'm not exactly disagreeing with that statement.) Then, put the pureed chili back in the crock pot and stir. Put some in a bowl, melt some cheese on top, and add hot sauce to your likin'. Eat. Repeat.

Cream of Poblano Soup

About a year ago or so, my sister and I tried cream of poblano soup at El Tapatio, a little Mexican restaurant located near our hair dresser. It’s was one of those food experiences that you think about over and over again — spicy, warm, comforting, creamy, cheesy, crunchy soup. Basically, a foodgasm.



Since then, I’ve searched the Internet far and wide searching for a recipe that resembles the restaurant’s. After trying out a few I found and tested on my then-pregnant friends, I finally landed on one that’s pretty darn close. It’s spicy and creamy and cheesy, and the tortilla chip adds a nice crunch. I feel like, compared to the restaurant version, it’s still missing a little something-something I can’t put my finger on. Or maybe I just enjoyed it more in the restaurant because, unlike the home version, it followed a large margarita and didn’t come with all that related-dishwashing baggage.



Cream of Poblano Soup with Cheese Crust
Adapted from Soup Song

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon butter
3 medium poblano peppers, seeded and chopped
2 onions, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 large potato, chopped
1/2 cup whipping cream (or yogurt)
1 Tablespoon cilantro, chopped
8 large tortilla chips
1 cup of Monterrey Jack cheese, grated

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan. Add peppers, onions and carrots and sauté slowly for 5 minutes. Stir in the stock, add the diced potatoes, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Remove from heat and puree in a blender (I used an immersion blender. Greatest. Invention. Ever.), solids first to get a smooth texture. Return to the pot. Add the cream and season with salt to taste.

When ready to serve, bring to simmer and stir in the cilantro. Ladle into oven-proof bowls, top with 2 tortilla chips, sprinkle with cheese and run under the broiler. Top each bowl with a cilantro leaf and take to the table.

Delusions of a Food Blog

I apologize for my recent absenteeism. Since I last posted, I got a promotion (yay!), and then I got a nasty cold (boo). In any case, it’s time to get back to the blog, and now I sorta have something to blog about:

It’s Lent.

I’m not Catholic, nor am I particularly religious. I am, however, a big fan of testing my willpower and forcing loved ones to play along. So this year for Lent, Chris and I decided to give up all meat except fish. Basically, this was the result of many conversations we’ve had about our favorite foods that have ended in, “You know, I could totally give up everything except seafood.” So far, I’ve barely even noticed the change, except that I eat a lot less soup now. But luckily, Trader Joe’s came along and filled that void with so many wonderful different bean dishes. I used to hate beans, but now, I’m obsessed. Like lentils? More like delicious-tils! But my new bean obsession is another post for another day.

Anyway, the decision to become a pescetarian for Lent also happened to coincide with another new obsession: food blogs. Smitten Kitchen, for example, has become a new daily must-read (along with this site, which has absolutely nothing to do with food blogs...).

Yeah, so, anyway, I had this great idea in my head that I would start blogging about my fantastic fish/vegetarian creations and prove to the world that I am some sort of domestic goddess, despite the fact that my husband does most of the delicious cooking in our house, while I am merely the baker. However, it turns out that food blogging is a lot more difficult than I first thought. For starters, most nights I get home from work and have a bowl of cereal for dinner. This has nothing to do with Lent; it’s just my dinner of choice — and obviously not food-blog worthy. And second, assuming I’ve actually gone to the trouble of creating something to blog about, once I’ve finished cooking, instead of getting to enjoy my tasty delights right away, I have to whip out the camera and document my work. This simple, yet oh-so-important step, is often skipped.

For example, Chris and I had a little dinner party this weekend. Well first, let me back up a bit. Remember our friends Barkley and his urine-obsessed buddy Popcorn? Turns out even though the humans in our house weren’t too keen on sharing our digs with three dogs, Rosie thought it was coolest shit ever. So, when Barks and Pops went home, Rosie went into a bit of doggie-withdrawal depression.

So, to lift her spirits, we decided to have a dinner party and invite over some of our friends and their pet dogs. The result was a rottweilier, wheaten terrier and shih-tzu joyously running around and around our kitchen table:


Later in the evening, after the puppies were spent from all the table rounding and backyard snow diving, and after their owners had polished off a few bottles of wine, Rosie decided that it was bedtime, and that she should invite her new friends to our her bed:



The doggie party definitely lifted Rosie’s spirits. Although the next day, she was pretty tuckered out:


(It’s because of moments like these that Chris and I have so willingly turned over our bed, couch, carpets, freedom and any hope of a clean house to Rosie.)

But anyway, back to the food. For our little dinner party, Chris made an amazing Greek shrimp dish, which we devoured long before I remembered to take out the camera for documentation. The same goes for the mini spanakopitas I made as a side dish. In fact, the only proof I have of our efforts is this sad, leftover piece of flourless chocolate cake topped with whipped cream and raspberries:


Keep in mind that I made the cake on Saturday, but took this pic on Tuesday. In the meantime, the raspberry sauce has soaked into the chocolate. So I swear, it looked better three days ago. The recipes for both the cake and spanakopita, along with a few notes, are below. Enjoy!

Flourless Chocolate Cake
Adapted from a Wolfgang Puck recipe found at the Food Network

4 ounces unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces (I didn’t have any bittersweet in the house, so I used a combo of unsweetened and semi-sweet. I used 6 ounces semi-sweet and 2 ounces unsweetened. Personally, I’m a fan of super dark chocolate, so in the future, I may up the unsweetened percentage.)
5 eggs, separated
Pinch salt
2/3 cup sugar
Powdered sugar, for garnish
Unsweetened whipped cream, for garnish (I just used the canned variety)
Half package frozen raspberries, thawed (I added this last ingredient because I love the combination of chocolate and raspberries. Fresh raspberries would probably be better, however, they’re not in season, and the frozen raspberries are more soupy, which makes them easier to spread out on top of the cake.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour a 10-inch round cake pan.

Combine the butter and chocolate and melt in a double boiler over barely simmering water. Whisk together the egg yolks, salt, and all but 3 tablespoons of the sugar. Stir the melted chocolate into the egg yolks until thoroughly combined.

With an electric mixer, on medium speed, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining sugar and continue to whip until the egg whites are stiff, but not dry,

Carefully fold the chocolate mixture into the egg whites. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn out onto a rack immediately. As the cake cools, the center will sink and crack - do not worry.

Dust the cake with powdered sugar or decorate the top with melted chocolate and serve with unsweetened whipped cream and raspberries.


Spanakopita (Spinach Pie)
Adapted from a Williams-Sonoma recipe (This site has tons of great recipes.)

1 lb. spinach, tough stems removed, coarsely chopped
1 1/4 cups crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup grated kefalotiri, Parmigiano-Reggiano or pecorino cheese (I ended up using fresh parmesan because I couldn’t find affordable Parmigiano-Reggiano.)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 Tbs. chopped fresh mint
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/2 lb. phyllo dough (20 sheets), thawed if frozen (The phyllo I buy is sold in a 1 lb. package with 18 sheets. So, I cut the sheets in half lengthwise, which worked well because I wanted the pies to be more bite-size than the typical spinach pie.)
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Heat a large fry pan over medium-high heat. Add the spinach with only the rinsing water clinging to the leaves, cover and cook until wilted, about 1 minute. Drain well on paper towels, then squeeze out as much of the remaining liquid as possible. Place in a large bowl and add the feta cheese, kefalotiri cheese, eggs, mint, and nutmeg. Stir well to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat an oven to 375°F.

Lightly butter a baking sheet. Cut the stack of phyllo sheets lengthwise into 3 equal strips (Because I already cut the sheets in half once, I just halved them again for this step, so you’ll end up with 2 equal strips.) Remove 1 strip and cover the remaining phyllo with a slightly dampened kitchen towel to prevent it from drying out. Place the strip on a work surface and brush lightly with melted butter. Place another strip on top. Brush the second strip lightly with melted butter. Place a heaping teaspoonful of the filling about 1 inch in from the bottom of the strip. Fold the uncovered end over the filling on the diagonal to form a triangular shape. Bring the bottom of the triangle up against the straight edge. (Essentially, fold like a flag.) Continue folding in this manner until the tip of the strip is reached, forming a triangular pastry. Brush lightly with melted butter. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining phyllo and filling.

Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. (I’d suggest flipping them halfway through. We ended up with pies that were perfectly golden on the bottom, but only slightly golden on top.)

Remove from the oven and transfer to a platter. Serve immediately (Um, not a good idea. My friend totally burnt her tongue on the filling even though the phyllo had cooled to the touch. On the plus side, she kept going even though they were too hot, risking injury just because they were so tasty. Or at least, that’s what I choose to believe. Regardless, I’d suggest letting these sit out for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving.)

Love Bavarian Style

Chris and I went to Munich on our honeymoon. Aside from the fact that Oktoberfest was originally a post-wedding celebration, I insisted we go to Bavaria for our honeymoon because I knew Chris would fall in love with it. He’s German and his love for encased meats is only slightly superceded by his love for beer.

So, when I decided recently that I needed to do something really nice for Chris simply because he’s so freaking awesome, I decided that the best way to say “I love you” was “sauerkraut, spatzle and dunkel weiss.”

So last night, we went here. I found the place after a quick Google search for German restaurants in Chicago. From the outside, it totally looks like a hole in the wall, which in our view, is one of the best compliments we can bestow upon a restaurant. In general, unassuming exterior = amazing interior. This assumption is even more pronounced in bars. The more it looks like a dive, the better the bar. In fact, our favorite bar fits this profile. It’s within stumbling distance of our apartment (which is a major plus), and it’s connected to and owned by the liquor store next door. So, when the bar runs out of Red Stripe, they just go next door and grab a new case out of the cooler. But the best part is, just about everything they serve is $2. On more than one occasion, we’ve spent a few hours at this bar, gotten fairly blitz, and left paying less than 20 bucks.

Anyway, back to Bavaria. The restaurant’s hole-in-the-wall exterior did not disappoint. Inside we found great food, great décor and great beer. I entered with a serious craving for German food that only an unpronounceable pork dish could satisfy. I found it in their Jaegerpfandl. Yum.

While at dinner, Chris and I realized that neither of us grew up eating German food. In fact, I can’t think of one kid I knew growing up that ever had “German night.” Like, there was always “Italian night” or “Mexican night” and definitely “pizza night.” But no “German night.” So, in the spirit of planning my children’s futures before they’ve even been conceived, I’ve decided that I need to learn how to cook German food. The schnitzles, the sauerbratens, the strudels. If any of you out there have some good German recipes, please pass them along. Future generations will thank you, or, Künftig Generationen Wille danke.

Progress Report

Last October, I made an early New-Year’s-Resolutions list. Now that it's December, I thought I’d assess how I did. Overall, pretty bad on the important stuff, OK elsewhere. Let’s take a look.

To Do in 2007:

1. Start freelancing.
Totally didn’t happen. Not even remotely. This resolution did push me toward setting up my own Web site though, which ultimately helped me land a new job, so let’s just say I broke even.

2. Keep working out. (Number of times I’ve been to the gym since saying “I Do” – zero.)
This area tends to come and go. I’ll get all gung-ho and work out a ton. Then I’ll take six weeks off.

3. Eat more vegetables. Except asparagus, because no matter how many different ways Chris prepares it, even served cold in an awesome strawberry salad, asparagus is still gross. Sorry.
I’m still having trouble seeing beyond carrots, broccoli, green peppers, lettuce and veggies not covered in cheese. Does hummus count?

4. Speaking of eating, try to go out to some new restaurants other the same two every month.
Done and done. Some of my favorites from the past year include Coco Pazzo, Carnivale, Think, Spring, Le Lan, Ras Dashen and Nobu (Las Vegas). Unfortunately, I didn’t pay much attention to item No. 5

5. However, don’t blow a bunch of cash on dining out, either. Save money and put it into…
I didn’t save squat or….

6. A condo fund. Start one so you can buy one someday.
Start squat.

7. Do something musical. Take out your trumpet and join a municipal band, or buy an electronic piano. Music used to be your one constant in life. So don’t forget your roots.
My new apartment came with a piano. However, I don’t play nearly enough.

8. Speaking of your roots, try to go to church more often. Yeah, the Protestants might not totally jive with your current lifestyle, but it’s nice to believe in something, even if you don’t agree with everything.
Didn’t happen. Motivating myself to try new things on Sunday mornings is difficult, apparently even when my eternal salvation in on the line.

9. Spend more time with the baby.
I sort of did this one. Rosie went on vacation with us to Michigan (which, for Rosie, included three sun-filled days swimming in Lake Michigan, running up and down the beach, and attempting to chase kayaks and speedboats) Missouri and North Carolina (which included a stop at a national park in Kentucky just to take her hiking), and we took her to the dog beach a few times. But overall, our quality Rosie time has taken a major hit since we moved to a place featuring a back yard. She used to get two to three walks a day. Now we just let her out the back door intermittently throughout the morning and night. So, although she gets some exercise patrolling the back yard, we now spend less time with her. Before we moved, I used to think that she got so excited when we came home because she needed to go out. But now I’ve realized that she also was excited to see us. The first few times we let her out in the new backyard, she would just stand at the door looking at us, all “Hey, aren’t you coming with?” If there was such as a thing as doggie DCFS, they would totally be knocking on our door.

10. Start baking bread because it makes the husband happy.
Totally did this one. But I’ve cut back because the ingredients are more expensive than a loaf.

11. Be more social. Make new friends but keep the old, and all that.
This one also falls into the “sorta” category. By getting a new job, my former co-workers are now friends. But outside of work, I still really struggle to be social.

12. Lose weight.
Since the beginning of 2007, I’ve gained two pounds. See No. 4.

13. Pay off credit card debt.
I’ve paid off 40 percent of my debt. But considering my salary has increased by 60 percent over the past year, that’s not so good. See No. 4.

According to last year's list, I posted the resolutions here so you all could kick my ass in case I slacked off. Seeing as how I haven't had a good ass kicking in a while ... this is all your fault. Geez, no wonder I quit blogging for a few months: you people suck.

*** um, totally kidding. I love you all. Especially You, sitting at your computer, thinking about how much time you've just wasted at work by reading my blog. And You, dude who accidentally found my blog by Googling "doggie DCFS." I totally love you, too. In fact, I'm adding "expressing my love for random weirdos online" to my 2008 resolution list.

Sarah Pot Pie

Saturday was my three-month anniversary, and yesterday was the first time I have worked out since the big day. It was pathetic, but it felt great. Attempting to run for any length of time was a joke, but I still managed to at least stay on the treadmill for 20 minutes, even though I walked for most of that and barely broke a sweat. And despite the fact that this workout featured very little “work,” I am super sore today. That’s a good sign, I suppose.

It’s amazing how quickly I fell out of all the good habits I formed pre-wedding. A lot of that is due to my job. I feel like I am just now beginning to catch up from the two weeks I took off for my honeymoon. Granted, since the wedding we’ve increased our department by two people, which I had to interview and hire, and we’ve had two people leave — one which I had to replace and one that was my boss. So, it’s been a bit crazy ’round here, and I’ve struggled to leave early enough everyday to get home and walk the dog, let alone have time to workout.

Still, I could have gone to the gym on the weekends. And a heavy workload does not excuse my all pasta-cheese-and-fried-food diet of late. That I blame on the weather. During the summer, I had no problem eating a salad for lunch or dinner. But now, with the wind and the snow and the air, all I want is a heaping bowl of warm gooey fried cheese comfort food.

For example, after Thanksgiving we froze most of our turkey leftovers, and on Sunday I finally turned those leftovers into a meal. I made this lovely Paula Deen turkey pot pie recipe that has been busy clogging my arteries for the past two days. For those of you unfamiliar with Paula Deen, all of her recipes follow a similar theme: cook some fat, add some more fat, cover it all with sugar.

Her turkey pot pie recipe was no exception: cook some cheddar cheese soup and cream of celery soup, add some turkey and stuffing, cover it all with pie crust.

And it’s amazing. And comforting. And about 800 calories per serving. I had three.

So it’s back to the gym I go — that familiar place that’s comforting in its own way .. even though one of the four TVs is always, without fail, tuned to the Food Network. Ever try working out while watching Unwrapped? I don’t recommend it.

Not-Quite-New-Year’s Resolutions

In the rush of the holiday season and both mine and Chris’ birthdays falling between Christmas and New Year’s, I rarely have time to compose a list of resolutions at the end of the year more comprehensive than “1. Lose weight. 2. Pay off credit card debt.”

So, in this lull between the wedding/honeymoon and the beginning of the holiday season, I thought I’d take some time to put together a meaningful New Year’s Resolution list. And so I have some sort of motivation to actually accomplish these things, I’m posting it here so all of you can kick me in the ass if I don’t.

To Do in 2007:

1. Start freelancing.

2. Keep working out. (Number of times I’ve been to the gym since saying “I Do” – zero.)

3. Eat more vegetables. Except asparagus, because no matter how many different ways Chris prepares it, even served cold in an awesome strawberry salad, asparagus is still gross. Sorry.

4. Speaking of eating, try to go out to some new restaurants other the same two every month.

5. However, don’t blow a bunch of cash on dining out, either. Save money and put it into…

6. A condo fund. Start one so you can buy one someday.

7. Do something musical. Take out your trumpet and join a municipal band, or buy an electronic piano. Music used to be your one constant in life. So don’t forget your roots.

8. Speaking of your roots, try to go to church more often. Yeah, the Protestants might not totally jive with your current lifestyle, but it’s nice to believe in something, even if you don’t agree with everything.

9. Spend more time with the baby.

10. Start baking bread because it makes the husband happy.

11. Be more social. Make new friends but keep the old, and all that.

12. Lose weight.

13. Pay off credit card debt.

foodgasm

Oh man. I finally got around to making our appointment with our baker for our wedding cake. The cake is included in our reception package. However, they actually outsource the cake to a shop called House of Fine Chocolates, which, lucky for us, is only a couple blocks away from our apartment. We've sampled their creations before, and let me tell you, it's good.

Today, I took a little stroll through their Web site, and...Oh.My.God....you'll just have to see for yourself:

Obviously, you can see I've decided to go with chocolate topped with more chocolate. None of that innocence and wholesomeness white buttercream. Hell no. I want sinfully delicious, insanely rich, should-be-illegal dark chocolate.

And that last cake...that's a skyline. Amazing. (I thought it was the Chicago skyline at first, but now I'm thinking it's not.)

So...hungry...

See more cake designs here.