Good eats - January

It seems a bit shameful to post an entry titled "Good eats - January" on the 7th day of February, but that's a clue as to the insane pace of life I have been experiencing in the Wilson household lately. Combine my teaching a challenging new graduate-level course for the first time this semester, with commuting 80+ miles to work 2X a week, with being a solo parent 90% of the time because it is Scott's busy season, with John playing several sports, with Amelia's ballet and her DI team practices and all of the work that comes from maintaining a household with active kids in the mix and the days just fly by. I know I try hard and I try to be as productive and efficient as I know how to be, but sometimes it's just really hard to manage it all. And then I get behind and wonder where the month went.

A great thing - John turned 7 yesterday! I am happy to say that we celebrated properly and with lots of love. Photos and details of John's birthday event to come.

But to pick up where I started off over a week ago with this draft post, let me tell you about some of the fabulous meals we cooked in our household during January. Scott and I both express our (modest amounts of) creativity through cooking. Our professions are relatively square and straight-laced so cooking is where the love and fun is for us. For Scott it's the grill. Boy, can Scott grill like no other! Anyone who has been a guest in our house for a meal knows this. Scott specializes in grilled meat, and ever since he acquired his beloved Green Egg Scott has been in grilling heaven. I am more of a savory side dish and sometimes baker type of girl. I love to read cooking blogs and I regularly peruse my beloved Cooking Light magazine and blogs to tag ideas for side dishes to accompany Scott's grilled items. Because of our crazy during the week schedules, we tend to cook primarily on weekends and use leftovers and crock-pot soups and stews cooked on the weekends as supplements for meals during the week.

Here are some of our favorites from January. I neglected to take photos of our creations and instead am using links to each recipe source below.

We loved this amazing Asian slaw salad: "Lawn Mower Salad" from allrecipes.com (link: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lawn-mower-salad/detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=asian%20slaw&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e13=A%3aSearch%20Results-List%28control%29&e7=Recipe))

The salad was made with steamed broccoli, sautéed Asian vegetables such as carrots, onion, broccoli slaw and ginger, marinated with a rice vinegar, olive oil, garlic and ginger dressing. We served it with grilled shrimp that had been marinated in a ginger/lime marinade and teriyaki grilled salmon. Perfect! I enjoyed the salad leftovers with leftover grilled chicken from a different meal and this was a perfect take to work lunch.

Other amazing side dishes included: "Braised Broccoli with Orange and Parmesan" from 101cookbooks.com (link:http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/braised-broccoli-with-orange-and-parmesan-recipe.html). I know it sounds strange to combine these ingredients, but let me tell you this was just fantastic. We both loved the sweet citrus flavor and aroma with the broccoli veggie flavor combined with the salty but subtle parmesan. We served this with orange/jalapeño marinated grilled chicken. Wonderful! Try it - you will be amazed.

From Southern Living magazine: "Roasted Sweet Potato and Onion Tart"
(link: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/sweet-potato-onion-tart-50400000123967/).

So amazing and lovely. The recipe calls for melted gruyere cheese baked in the tart! What more is there to say? I think this was served originally alongside grilled steak, though I can attest that the leftover tart was eaten alone for my (solo) dinner several times later that week. Yummy!

Besides the exploration into new side dishes to accompany Scott's grilled items, I have been enjoying trying out new breakfast foods as well. Breakfast has traditionally been a packaged cereal meal for me (I love the 'boring' cereals such as Rice Krispies, Wheaties, Grape Nuts, Rice Chex), though due to a new fitness regimen I have been trying during January I have been experimenting with non-cereal breakfasts as well. Incorporating non-cereal options this month has been surprisingly fun and a big success for me!

The recipe stand-outs from my experiment? I have two.

First up: Morning Glory muffins from Cooking Light. (link: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/morning-glory-muffins-10000001634764/)  Isn't that muffin in the photo below just gorgeous?

I followed the recipe closely but substituted dried apricots for the dates. I LOVE these muffins and plan on making them a regular part of my diet. I ate half during the first week and have the other half stashed in the freezer for take-to-work breakfast items. I eat a muffin with a large bowl of fresh citrus fruit that I prep on the weekends: grapefruit (love the Texas grapefruit this winter!), fresh Navel orange segments, and blueberries or blackberries (depending on what our market allows).

Last but not least: Peanut butter no bake bars. Oh. WOW! These are a great breakfast item or late afternoon snack. I absolutely cannot believe I made my own granola bars (from scratch!), and I almost cannot believe I even wanted to try them. I didn't know how to find some of the seeds on the recipe list, nor could I understand that they would even be tasty. It was all foreign to me, but I gave it a try and am glad I did. I am loving eating these bars this week as an afternoon snack! They help to make the 40+ mile commute home @ 4:00 p.m. more tolerable. :-) (Link: http://www.fannetasticfood.com/recipes/no-bake-peanut-butter-granola-bars/).

Please give me more side dish and breakfast recipe ideas! I love to experiment in the kitchen. Bring it on!