Monday, January 18, 2010

NEW BLOG!!! NEW BLOG!!! NEW BLOG!!!

Hey guys!

It's been fun, but The Joyful Kitchen has now moved to:

Heather's Dish
www.heathersdish.com

Please update your bookmarks, Google Readers, and blog rolls! I'd love to continue to see all of you (and hopefully more of you!) at my new site.

Love,

Heather

The Second-to-Last

Hey guys!

Kind of an exciting/sad day today! This will be my last official post on this blog :(

BUT I'm very excited about debuting my new blog since it will allow so much more room for growth and will allow more people to leave comments (fingers crossed that you will :)

After church yesterday we went to Chipotle with Amy and some new friends, Joe and Amy (yes, 2 Amys total!) I got a chicken burrito bowl with rice, black beans, chicken, pico de gallo, corn salsa, guac, and lettuce. It took all I could to say no cheese, but I did it!

We all stuck around and talked for a while. I mentioned that now that the snow has melted I was going to go pick up the dog stuff in the yard...buuuuuuuuut, when I got home I just looked at it and then went upstairs for a nap. Oh well, it's fertilizer right?

Nate had some work to do, so we hit up the local Starbucks so I could work on the blog and he could catch up on some other stuff. I had one of these guys:

Which, by the way, are one of my absolute favorite snacks EVER. The problem is I just want more and more and more! A little later we each got a cookie; I got the outrageous oatmeal one:

(please excuse the shakey iPhone pic) It was perfect...just the right amount of sweet I needed!

Last night Nate was at a guys leadership thing with the church, so I was on my own for dinner. I had a grilled chicken breast (cubed) mixed with the leftover bbq sauce from the other night. Piled high on a whole wheat bun with pickles:

While the chicken was warming in the sauce, I also made some hummus for the week in the food processor!

Roasted Red Pepper + Garlic Hummus
  • 2 cans chickpeas
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/8 cup lemon juice
  • 1/2 bulb of garlic, roasted (break apart the bulb, but leave the skins on the cloves. drizzle with olive oil, then cover in foil - make a pouch around them. start in a cold oven set to 300 and roast for 30 minutes. take out and let cool before handling with your fingers)
  • 2 jarred roasted red peppers
  • salt to taste
Throw it all in the food processor and process for 2-3 minutes until creamy. If you like yours a little chunkier, Estela had a great point to throw in some whole chickpeas at the end. YUM!

Now, I must admit, I didn't feel well yesterday AT ALL, so I ate the rest of this ice cream (~1/2 cup). So sue me. I know Nate wanted to!

Last night we worked on taking pictures for the new blog head and I finished the rest of the medical notes. We were up pretty darn late, and only got 4 hours of sleep. Yikes! Not healthy, but that doesn't happen often!

This morning I did a larger microwave breakfast cookie a la Tina:

I followed her recipe with the exception of flour instead of protein powder, I added dried cranberries, and did the sliced banana on top with PB. SOOO good! I'm thinking I might use this recipe to make a series on the new blog!

Next time you see this blog it will have the link to the new one! EEEK! I'm so excited, and thank you all so much for your input, suggestions, and kind words. I hope to see more of all of y'all at the new one soon!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Sunday Funday

Good mawnin' :)

Hope y'alls Saturdays were great...I know mine was filled with work (both at the office and here), but still a lot of fun.

When we left the office yesterday we realized we needed to get dog food since both were almost out! I think it's important to feed dogs, right? Anyway, we stopped by Petsmart and got their food and some toys (that, by the way, only lasted 3 minutes tops in the mouths of my ferocious beasts!), and then headed to Costco. Why Costco, you ask? Simple - they usually have better deals on dog biscuits than anywhere else. Oh, and I guess the samples. But obviously we went strictly for the dog biscuits (wink)!

At Costco we found a $$ GREAT DEAL $$ on Bully Sticks! These are dried bull muscle (appetizing), and are normally outrageously expensive, but Costco had a bag of 12 for $10. KILLER DEAL. So we got those for the puppers:


We vowed to only use them for occasions when people come over and our dogs are being outrageously annoying, so they haven't had one yet. But they will...oooooh, they will.

I got to work on the medical notes I do on the side, and Nate ended up re-watching Duplicity. I worked on those for about 2 hours, and then Nate let me know that he was making dinner. He kept is simple with a pita pizza with chicken and fresh mozzarella:

He put a little flour on them so they'd resemble "real" pizzeria pizza - apparently that's something he really like about those! Guess you still learn things about one another even after 3 years of marriage, eh? :)

We went and saw Sherlock Holmes at the theater (where we shared some popcorn...don't judge) and it was AWESOME!!! Truly a great movie...not too violent for me, but more than enough action for him. Plus, it has Robert Downey, Jr and Jude Law. I mean come on, it's good for girls too! :)

When we got home I finished my notes and we promptly jumped in bed! This morning I did NOT want to get up, but was able to lure myself to a standing position with the promise of one of these guys:

It's the hazelnut candy my pen pal, Jackie, in France sent me! SOOOOOOO terrific, and it totally hit the spot. I also made a bowl of pumpkin oats with peanut buttah:

In the mix: 1/3 cup oats, 1 cup water, 1 Tbsp cranberries, 1 banana, 1 Tbsp flax, 1 packet Truvia, 1/3 cup pumpkin, 1 Tbsp peanut butter. SO GOOD. I really think I love peanut butter way more than almond butter; however, if left alone I would eat a whole thing of PB, so I stick with AB as a means of portion control. Weird?

Today I'll be collaborating with my husband the photographer and one of our friends on (hopefully!!!) getting the new blog up and running. It won't be perfected (I'll still have to sort through the restaurants and blogroll), but the sooner I can start posting on it, the better.

If you've switched your blog (i.e. Blogger to Wordpress), do you have any tips to throw my way? And if not, any tricks you've learned from your own blogging format?

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Sherlock Holmes

Yes, that's right...we are about to head to the theater to see Sherlock Holmes. I'm looking forward to it, but my sweet Nate is VERY excited!


Hope y'all are all having a fabulous Saturday, and I'll be back a la manana (tomorrow for you non-Spanish speakers) with my eats for today and brefix in the A.M.!

Homemade BBQ Take 1

Oh Saturdays, how I love you!

Friday nights are seriously our laziest nights of the week. We usually get home and then realize we don't have the food, so we go to the store. At said store, we usually buy just about anything that looks good, and my dinner plans promptly fly out the window. Last night was, by that definition, a typical Friday night :)

After the store visit we made margarita-daquiri things:

And while we waited for the bbq sauce finish, we made another round of bruschetta. I loved the recipe so much last time, and we had a ton of leftover tomatoes!

I used the two ends of the bread loaf to make little bruschetta pockets for myself...so cute, and I loved biting into the pocket-o-goodness!

Nate went out and fired up the grill to cook some turkey smoked sausage. Once that was done, we cut the links in half and used them on our sandwiches with the homemade bbq sauce:

BBQ Sauce Take 1 recipe (based on Neely's BBQ Sauce):
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 Tbsp white sugar
  • 1/2 Tbsp ground black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp ground mustard
  • 1 Tbsp dried minced onions
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
Just mix it all together, bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes (or until desired thickness is achieved). It's SO GOOD, and I'm very excited about making variations of this in the future!

You might now be asking yourself (if you read my post from yesterday afternoon), "What happened to the oven fries and the spaghetti squash salad?" Yeah, well, after our long visit to the store that just didn't happen. Oh well! I did end up baking the squash to be used for lunch today though!

We decided at the store (because that's where all truly enlightened decisions are made) to get some ice cream for dessert. The winner? This Haagen-Dazs 5 Ingredient Coffee delight!

I mean, the ingredient list is 5 ingredients long!! It's not like I even had a choice, you know? PLUS, the milk that was used was skim - even better! I served them up in our miniature Anthropologie bowls, and it was the creamiest, most amazing ice cream!

While we were out we rented Duplicity, but as soon as we put it in the DVD player and sat on the couch, we fell asleep and missed the entire thing. OOPS. So, there will be another Duplicity viewing at our house later today...hehe :)

Fast forward to this morning, I threw together a huge dish of the spaghetti squash (which I mixed with a packet of Italian dressing seasoning) and marinara for lunch today:

It's likely I'll eat this entire thing for lunch by myself. I mean, it's squash and marinara! That's healthy, right?

And Nate made us breakfast smoothies (~16 oz or so) with frozen strawberries, a sliced banana, 1/2 cup vanilla nonfat yogurt, and 1/3 cup nonfat milk. SO GOOD! It tasted like ice cream :)

Since we were working this morning, we brought some cinnamon rolls to share. I might have eaten 2.75 of these. I mean, it's Saturday! I thought it would be slightly appropriate :)

So, turns out we're not working as long as I thought, but it also turns out that we likely won't go hiking as I had hoped. The snow's been melting all week, and hiking in mud isn't as fun as hiking on dry ground. So sad :( I love that Colorado has definitive seasons, but winter isn't nearly as short as I'd like! I'm definitely a spring + fall kinda gal :)

What's your favorite season? Why?

Friday, January 15, 2010

So Cliche, but TGIF!!!

I know, I know...I was at a ski resort for 2 days during this work week...but that was actually really hard work! I'm just about shot I think...that is, until tomorrow at 10 when I'm back in the office! :)

So, mid-morning I had to at least try a piece of the banana bread I made last night. Honestly, I like mine a little more moist than the way this turned out, but the flavor was spot on!

I had to show y'all my ghetto-rigged water cup:

I got a cup for water from the kitchen because I forgot my bottle at home, and it leaked! I put it in my tea cup to keep it from getting all over my desk - and that, kids, is what we call ghetto. Or smart...one of the two anyway!

Lunch was a bowl of the bean + turkey soup I made last night, with a toasted sandwich thin on the side:

This is the most colorful part of my day today :)

And, well, I had a little bit of the banana bread, but no pumpkin...it was feeling left out...I HAD to try it too! I swear!

Pretty good for being from a box mix! I have a good recipe for homemade pumpkin bread using whole wheat flour, which makes is SUPER dense and moist...YUM! Speaking of pumpkin, I also snacked on a little thing of pumpkin yogurt:

1/3 cup yogurt, 1/3 cup pumpkin, 1 Truvia, lots o'cinnamon! I love the texture the pumpkin gives it...I feel healthier just eating it!

Today I walked for an hour at a 4.5 mph pace. I continue to go back and forth on running vs. walking. I used to LOVE running (before it became this big, evil, only-to-burn-calories activity), but since I did it incorrectly for so long, I totally screwed up my body. I do truly enjoy walking, though, and it doesn't hurt. I think that's what I'll stick with for now.

Upon getting back to the office, I made my 3-minute oatmeal cookie:


It was great! Definitely didn't have the crunchiness that I like from baking and fat, but it was soft, warm, and sweet...just want I needed right then! I spread about 1/2 Tbsp of almond butter on top and devoured. I love how Tina's recipes rarely call for random, expensive, hard-to-find ingredients. It makes her blog and her recipes so much more accessible!

We're about to peace out from work for the official workweek, and I couldn't be happier. Dinner tonight is going to be BBQ Sausage Sandwiches (w/ homemade bbq sauce), oven-fries, and spaghetti squash salad (gonna make that up as I go!) Wish me luck!

What's your favorite (hypothetical) Friday happy-hour drink? (Mine's a Cape Cod or a marg, hands down!)

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Eat at Lime

Good morning!

Last time I blogged I was sick and light-headed. Good news my friends! We are now only 1 mile high instead of 2, so I feel much better now. Before we left Winter Park, we ate at Lime.

Lime calls itself an American cantina - not really sure what that means - but it was very good! I maintain that you can always tell a good Mexican/cantina by the salsa:

I wasn't the biggest fan of the chips; they were flour tortilla chips rather than corn chips. The salsa was very good though!

The great thing is that on Thursdays they have $5 mojitos and $5 burritos...lucky day! I didn't venture to get a mojito since I was kind of sick all day, but Nate got one and I had a sip. It wasn't the best I've ever had, but for $5 I'll take it!

The burrito was pretty basic:

We both had shredded chicken, rice, beans, smothered in green chili with melted cheese on top. Not sure healthy, but since it's the $5 special one it wasn't that big. I would have liked some garlic or salt (or both), but otherwise 'twas delish!

We said goodbye to all of our new-found friends and business partners with NAASF, then promptly climbed in the Jeep to head home. On the way to I-70 the road was really windy and made me a tad bit sick to my stomach, but once we got on I-70 it was much better! We got the puppers from Amy (such a great friend!) and came home so that Nate could get to work!

I decided to make this soup that I picked up in Lubbock:

But I made it with ground turkey instead of chicken:

Once I got that simmering away, I made myself a yummy chicken sandwich with leftovers from the other night - whole wheat bun, grilled chicken breast, tomato, lettuce, Mango-Ginger-Habanero sauce, and some gorgonzola!

I also made some pumpkin bread from a Pillsbury quick bread mix:
And banana bread (sorry, it wasn't ready for it's photo op) using this recipe. The only difference is that I didn't use nuts (not everyone at the office likes them) and sprinkled the top with raw sugar. That's a fair trade, right?


Shortly after the soup was done cooking (it had to simmer for 3 hours), we were climbing in bed. After all, we did have to come back to work today!

This morning I made some oats:


In the mix: 1/3 cup oats, 2/3 cup water, 1 banana, 1/3 cup each of yogurt + pumpkin (stirred in at the end), and vanilla + cinnamon (stirred in at the end)

While that was all cooking together, I assembled the ingredients for Tina's 3-Minute Oatmeal Cookie (egg whites + vanilla not pictured). I'm planning on having that bad boy for a snack after my run today:


After breakfast + getting lunch together, I charged out of the house with puppies in hand and hauled it to work! It's Friday, but definitely going to be a multiple-green tea day!


This weekend I'm working 5 hours (order entry season at the company), and then hopefully going hiking! I'm not sure what the weather will look like, and it will likely be freezing, but I've been craving a good hike for so long!

What are you most looking forward to for this weekend?