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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Food and Pug - What More Could I Ask For?

I hate the winter after holidays end.  It sucks.  Just a long, drawn out wait for the brief spring before gross and muggy summer arrives.  And we haven't even gotten any real snow yet!

To continue my grumbling, I have come down with a case of plantar fasciitis in my left foot (and now I think my right).  This has been diagnosed, as usual, by Dr. Funaek (that's me, but powered with knowledge from the internets).  So since I am unable to do any real exercise, I've been trying to concentrate on eating better and cooking more meals of my own.  This has been both exciting and a bit of a pain.  

My lil pug especially hates all this cooking.  She sometimes loiters around the kitchen hoping for scraps but eventually gets fed up and seeks comfort with her "friends."
And polaroid style:
Sometimes I try winging it, like this dish of soba noodles, veggies, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, red pepper flakes, and a fried egg.  This was pretty good except my first egg I overcooked and didn't get the runny yolk I so love.  I was a 1/3 of the way through eating this when I decided I had to have the runny yolk and cooked another egg.
But I decided that I need professional help and started digging around the internet for recipes.  Is it just me or is the portion size in a recipe sooo not enough for one person?

I have a hard time reading recipes correctly.  Why do they have the list of ingredients up top and then not include the specific measurements within the directions themselves.  All that looking back and forth leads to me putting in 2 cups of rice into a soup recipe instead of 1/4 cup (oops!).  This led to my sausage and barley soup (sausage and barley soup recipe here) coming out more like a jambalaya, which is fine by me.  I changed the recipe around a bit and used brown rice instead of barley (since that's what I had handy), and also sauteed some onions, garlic, and mushrooms, with some chicken jalapeno sausage.  Oh and I used broth instead of water for blending the peppers, and added more salt, pepper, and tabasco sauce (I love that stuff).  Suuuuuper filling (with the stupid 2 cups of rice) and pretty good with the extra seasonings.
I really liked this asparagus side dish I made (asparagus with balsamic tomatoes recipe here).  It was super tasty!  Cooking tomatoes in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and garlic?  Genius!  The only change I made was I used feta instead of goat cheese.  Not because I hate cheese of the goat (I love it!), but because feta is what I had handy.  Oh you can see my pug has gotten up from her bed to give me a dirty look for spending so much time cooking and not cuddling with her.
And because I always go gung ho with my new crazes (and usually burn out quickly because I tire myself out), I also made some pasta salads for my lunches during the week.  This was too much I think and I'll stick with just sandwiches for lunch and only cooking dinners.  Otherwise I have to spend all day Sunday cooking! But these were really good!  (mediterranean orzo salad with feta vinaigrette and chicken salad with olive vinaigrette recipe links)  I added chicken to the orzo salad to make it heartier and grape tomatoes to both.  Oh and I added capers to the chicken salad with olive vinaigrette to add an extra kick and because I love those little salty balls of goodness.  Um...

You can see my slippered foot at the top of the photo since walking barefoot is not advised when recuperating from plantar fasciitis according to Dr. Funaek.

Oh and lastly I made a pizza casserole (pizza casserole recipe here).  See I told you I go gung ho and burn out with my latest obsessions!  I made it with whole wheat pasta and added mushrooms (I would've added olives too but my stinkin Trader Joe's was out of a ton of stuff when I went there - argh!).  I added a ton of pepperoni because I love them, but pepperoni in the casserole don't taste as good as on a pizza (they don't have that delicious crispiness at the edges) and instead were soggy.  Since they add a lot of calories to the recipe I think next time I'll skip the pepperoni and just add more veggies.  Oooh or maybe some sort of sausage (I love the Trader Joe's chicken jalapeno ones).
Phew!  Just typing this all out has tired me out again!  Lesson learned.  Next week I'm packing PB&J sandwiches for lunch and choosing simple recipes for dinner!  Just planning out my meals, rewriting recipes so I can read them easier, and putting together my grocery list takes forever.  I'm hoping it'll be easier next week.  I have to say that cooking my own food has helped a lot in getting me out of a food rut and getting rid of my holiday bloat.

Ok, my pug is really mad at the lack of attention I'm giving her and is demanding I finish this already too long post!  See?
I can't say no to that face!

3 comments:

  1. That last picture is so cute how could you not snuggle with her...or feed her some of that yummy food. I brake down everytime and the pugs all get one some taste of what I am eating (if safe).

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  2. It is hard "to cook for one", but you did a great job! My favorite pic out of this post is your lil pug with the asparagus. Too cute!

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  3. Haha I can't resist her lil face either! I don't usually give her my food because I don't want her to get in the habit of begging or trying to steal it from me (like my first pug always did), but I give her lots of baby carrots while cooking!

    Thanks Frankentyna! Cooking for one is the worst! I resisted for so long, but have been trying to be better about it for costs and health benefits. It is getting easier with time though. Haha my lil pug is always hanging around the kitchen when I'm cooking!

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