Our days off and a recipe for black bean and corn salad

Matt and I finally had two days off together for the first time in quite a while.  My boss is really good about trying to make my schedule work with Matt's but, with work being busy, sometimes things just don't work out. 

On our weekend off together, we went to yard sales, the farmers market, stopped in town for ice cream, soaked up some sun on the beach and just sat on our porch, watched the ocean and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  Needless to say, blogging didn't really cross my mind.

I was also able to get through a good chunk of a book that I'm reading, titled Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.).  It was sent to me a while ago by Matt's mom and I finally had some time to really dive into it.  If you have ever considered starting a garden or buying your produce locally, read this book and I believe that you will, at the very least, give some serious thought about the items you are placing in your grocery cart.  I know that I will.  My goal this summer is to try and purchase most of my produce from local growers at the farmer's market.  Maybe by the time I'm finished with the book I will be so inspired that I'll stop tripping over myself because I'm sprinting out the door to get to the store to grab a box of corn flakes for $0.50 (side note... industrialized corn and soy beans are major players in our nation's problem with obesity and a huge reason why we've lost so many small farms in the past few decades).

And, because I'm not much of a believer in being an extremist...  Here is a recipe for black bean and corn salad that we made on one of our days off (I bought a frozen bag of corn for $0.15 at Publix the other day).
One of these days I would like to live off the land a little more and rely less on coupons.  One of these days...  But not yet.

I once bought a black bean and corn salad from Starbucks for about $4 and, although really tasty, it was waaaay overpriced.  I made a similar salad for less than $0.50/serving.

Black Bean and Corn Salad

In a bowl, mix together:

Black beans (I use canned)
Corn kernels (Canned, frozen or fresh)
Chopped Cilantro
Diced tomato (I used canned because I had some leftover but, of course, you can use fresh)
Diced jalapeno (if you like a little heat)
Clove of garlic
Chopped onion or green onion
Squeeze of lime juice
Pinch of cumin
Pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper

Let us be thankful

Three days ago I woke up to a text message from my sister saying that there was an 8.9 magnitude earthquake in Japan.  She followed by telling me that my family was okay but had to evacuate to higher ground because of a tsunami warning.  I was still a little confused as I turned on the tv and...  There it was on the news.  Even at the time I did not realize the magnitude of what had just happened.  All I knew was that my family was safe.

Over the next couple of days, I followed the news and came to understand just how devastating this earthquake was.  Every day the death toll rises and hundreds of thousands are left without a home.  It hits you hard knowing that your family could have easily fallen victim to this disaster.

In an instant your life can be turned upside down, and tomorrow you can be without everything you have today.

So let us be thankful.

I am thankful for everyday that my world is left undisturbed and peaceful.  I am thankful that I have a roof over my head and food to eat.  I am thankful that my loved ones are alive and safe. 

There are a lot of people, right now, who don't have much to be thankful for.  If you have something to be thankful for, please consider helping those who are less fortunate.

Thank you for reading.

If you would like to help the earthquake victims of Japan, the American Red Cross is accepting donations.

Shredded Chicken Burritos

Here's something else I made on my freezer cooking day - Shredded chicken burritos.  I finally got the chance to test out the crock pot that Matt and I received from my mom for Christmas.  This thing is incredible.  Not only is it a slow cooker (and huge - Do you see that it fits an entire chicken?) it is also a pressure cooker AND rice cooker ANNND it has browning capabilities (Meaning you can sear your meat and saute your vegetables in the crock pot).

I've used my new toy to make rice a couple of times but this was the first time I used the slow cooker capability.  Since I was busy trying to get so much stuff done, it was really convenient for me to throw a bunch a ingredients in a pot, close the lid and let it do it's thing for eight hours.

The burritos turned out nice and they freeze really well.  I was able to make ten large burritos with one whole chicken.  After the chicken was done cooking, I was left with some really nice stock (which I also froze) and that will probably be used to make chicken chili later on.

Like always, I tried to use what was in my kitchen.

How do I get my groceries for so cheap?  Go here to see how I shop.

• Whole chicken $2.80 (Harris Teeter still has them on sale for $0.59/lb!)
• Bag of shredded cheese: $0.25
• Can of tomatoes: $0.50
• Can of black beans: $0.50
• Tortillas: $2.50
• Sour cream: $.10
• Pace Picante Salsa Verde, 1/2 jar: $0.70
• Onion scraps, cilantro stems, garlic

The total cost of one dinner-sized burrito is about $0.75 (with great stock leftover!). 

Chicken, onion scraps, garlic, cilantro stems, canned tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper all go into the crock pot.

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Set the timer for 8 hours and go about my business.

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When eight hours have passed, remove the pot from the cooker and cool.  Refrigerate overnight and the next day it will look like this.  Scrape the fat off the top and remove the chicken from the jelly-like broth.  Shred the chicken.

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 Put the broth into a pot, heat and strain.  Reserve some liquid for the chicken, freeze the rest for later use.

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Put shredded chicken into a pot and add salsa verde, cumin and a little stock.  Add sour cream (or cream cheese, like we used to do at my old culinary school) for a little richness.  Add black beans, salt and pepper.  Finish with chopped cilantro. 

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Set tortillas on parchment paper (not to be confused with wax paper) and spread a thin layer of sour cream.  Top with chicken and cheese.

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First, roll burritos.

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Then, roll in parchment.

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Last, if you are like me and don't own a microwave, roll in foil.  Otherwise, roll in plastic.  Store in airtight bags and freeze.

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Being A Kid Again - Mac and Cheese and Hot Dogs

Before I begin this post, I am excited to announce that I was featured in a blog created by my friend Stacy.  I have known Stacy for quite a few years now and she is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.  We were in the Air Force together, a few years back, and the last time I saw her she was the mother of one little baby boy.  Now she is the proud parent of three beautiful children.  Stacy is the author of Kids Stuff World and writes about being a mother, taking care of the home and life in general.  Read about her adventures here and the really nice blog post about me here. 

Sometimes Matt and I do things that remind us of being young again...  Riding our bikes to the ice cream shop, bringing our mattress into the living room (I used to love sleeping in the living room as a kid) and eating mac and cheese and octopus-shaped bbq hot dogs for dinner.

The mac and cheese is homemade with bechamel, sauteed onions, cheddar and a little gorgonzola (recipe and method coming soon) and I usually get the Hebrew National All Beef Franks when they are BOGO at Publix.  Hebrew National hot dogs contain no by-products, artificial flavors or colors and are really tasty, in my opinion.

It is common, in Japan, to put octopus-shaped hot dogs in children's lunch boxes.  They call it taco weinna- which means octopus wiener.  And by wiener, I mean hot dog.  I think they're really cute and something that children will enjoy.

To make taco weinna-

• First cut the hot dogs into thirds.
• Cut a cross into one end of the hot dog pieces, the cuts should go up 1/3 of the way (Fancy graphic below).
• Heat frying pan on medium-high heat with a little oil.  Add hot dogs. 
• Add a little water to steam the wieners and the legs should start to curl out.
• When all the water has evaporated and the hot dogs are heated through, add BBQ sauce. Serve.

Pizza Pockets

Growing up my mom would make these things called pizza pockets.  She would smoosh two pieces of biscuit dough (Pillsbury Grands) together and flatten it.  Then, she would top with cheddar cheese and meat sauce (sometimes there would be little smokies sausages in the sauce), fold it over to look like a little pocket, and bake them in the oven. 

I know most people don't think cheddar cheese and meat sauce when it comes to pizza, but in my parents' house that's the way it was.  The pizza pockets and homemade pizza usually had ground beef and cheddar cheese as the toppings. 

My siblings and I looked forward to the days my mom made pizza pockets (especially my sister), not only because they were delicious but because it meant we weren't having something like...  Cabbage and Spam stir fry (Hi mama!).  I have changed some things, like using pizza dough instead of biscuits, but the original way is really great too - Especially if you already have biscuit dough in your fridge.

After baking and freezing, I tested these suckers out in the microwave to see how they'd taste after being nuked.  Because bread gets chewy after being heated in the microwave, I wouldn't recommend doing so...  Although, they weren't bad.  I think it would be better to heat in the oven (Matt and I don't have a microwave anyway so we heat everything in the oven, I used the microwave at work for test purposes).

I purchased pizza dough from the Publix  bakery (A lot of grocery stores carry pizza dough) and had leftover meatsauce from making freezer lasagna.  I have a pretty large stock of spaghetti sauce and cheese that I purchased for really cheap (Go here to see how I shop).  To keep my food cost low, I use coupons, buy what's on sale and use what I already have in my kitchen.

Here's what I used:

Pizza dough (1 lb. cut into 6 pieces)
Lean ground beef
Ground pork sausage
Onions
Garlic
Pasta sauce
Cheddar cheese
Mozzerella cheese

 Cut pizza dough into six pieces and flatten with hands or rolling pin...  Or in my case the water bottle pictured in the background.  After you roll out all the dough the first time, it will most likely shrink.  Give it a couple of minutes to rest and roll out one more time.

If you want to use biscuit dough, smoosh two pieces of bisuit together and flatten (you will probably need flour).



Make a meatsauce with whatever you like.  Like I said earlier, my mom added little smokie sausages to her sauce.  I used garlic, onion, ground sausage, ground beef and mushrooms.  Cook it for a little while on low heat so that the sauce isn't too watery.  Too much liquid will prevent the pizza dough from sealing.  Make sure the sauce has cooled down before using it.

 Place, on top of the dough, your toppings.  I used meatsauce, mozzerella, cheddar and more mushrooms.

Fold the dough over itslef to create a little pocket.  Pinch closed.  Try your best to make sure it is sealed tightly.  Use a little water if need be. 

Bake between 375- 400 degrees (Biscuits may be different, check the temperature on the can) until they look like this.

Wrap tightly, and freeze.

My Days Off

Well, it's been five days since my last post and I was able to get a lot of things done since then.  Besides trying to get our home together, another reason why I haven't been blogging as frequently is because it's been so beautiful the past few days that Matt and I have been spending more time outside (we are steps from the beach).

Organizing my coupons and taking care of my container garden will always be a work-in-progress, but I crossed them off for now because I did what I had intended.  All in all, I am happy with what I was able to accomplish on my days off.

•  Clean freezer/fridge
• Put away clothesGo shopping
• Organize coupons
• Organize towel closet
• Purchase soil, start working on my container garden
• Make granola
• Do some cooking to stock up freezer - So far I will be making burritos, lasagna and mac and cheese
• Get some paperwork done that I should have done months ago
• Oh, and clean the house in general

 As far as cooking goes, I was able to make:

• 10 Chicken burritos
• 3 Pans of lasagna
• 12 Pizza Pockets
• Granola

The burritos, lasagna and pizza pockets are wrapped and stored in the freezer.  I also have really good chicken broth that came from cooking a whole chicken (for the burritos) in the slow cooker that my mom bought us for Christmas.  I am really excited about how everything turned out and hope to post about my freezer cooking day soon (maybe tomorrow). 

Now, I'm off to my job to work with chocolate.

Goals For This Week

It feels like it's been a busy week.  There's been quite a bit of work to do in the pastry kitchen and it leaves me with very little energy at home to do anything except a small amount of cooking and cleaning.  But tomorrow I have the day off and, now that the warm weather has finally shown it's face in these parts, I am itching to do some serious spring cleaning, gardening and a little freezer cooking. 

It overwhelms me to think of all the chores that lay ahead, so I wrote out a list.  I am generally not a list writer, that's Matt's forte, but tomorrow is one of those days where I will need to stay focused in order to get everything accomplished. 

Here is the plan for the next two days...

• Clean freezer/fridge
• Put away clothes
• Go shopping
• Organize coupons
• Organize towel closet
• Purchase soil, start working on my container garden
• Make granola
• Do some cooking to stock up freezer - So far I will be making burritos, lasagna and mac and cheese
• Get some paperwork done that I should have done months ago
• Oh, and clean the house in general

Hopefully I will get some blogging time in too.  I am excited to share the results of my freezer burritos and lasagna once they're finished!

Today I am going to leave you with some photos of desserts, that were produced by myself and the rest of the pastry team, for a Valentine's Day buffet.  Enjoy!