Husband + dinner duty = Delicious :-0

Working late tonight, Husband was assigned dinner duty. It was perfect for "night grilling" so we decided on burgers. Maybe it's my hormonal bloodlust for red meat, but they were tasty!

We didn't have buns so I grilled some rye bread I found in the freezer from bread day.

Husband mixed them with diced jalepenos plus the seeds, red onions, soy sauce and lime juice. I'm proud because I think my lessons in knife skills are paying off :-D.

I whipped up an aioli using:

1/4 cup olive oil mayo
Juice of 1 lime
Diced cilantro
3 cloves chopped garlic
Dash of salt and pepper

Being an expert bacon maker, he mad some of that and our collaborative burgers were born!

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.... Seriously!

The book "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" has changed my life! (dramatic? I think not!)

Put 1.5 tbsp yeast and salt in 3 cups 100 degree water, mix in 6.5 cups flour. Let rise for 2 hours and BREAD!

The prep work takes less than 5 minutes, you don't even have to knead it.
This makes 4 lbs loaves and the dough after rising can chill in the fridge up to 2 weeks.

Bread to follow! My excitement over the simplicity of the dough is a bit absurd.

Bread Day!

It sounds like a JFG library folk tale... But Bread Day is true!

An awesome coworker of mine noticed that her church was getting leftovers from the local grocery store bakery, so many that the church had far too much bread products to give out.

Being poor government employees, this is very exciting (Who I sending this to Rick Scott?)

So Bread Day was born!

I love the sense of community and outreach It builds and it's a really neat thing to see a coworker thinking of all of us and our love of free food :-)

Last nights hamburger buns? Delicious!

Thank you Bread Day!

We sing, we grill, we burn things

I must admit I am not a huge turkey burger person. I eat them because I feel obligated to. They are much healthier than burgers, and with the proper dose of seasoning, hard to distinguish.

Still...

I am a rare to medium rare person. And I take this seriously.
I have given up at restaurants and just ask for beef medium rare.... And have even gotten a problem with that a few times.
What can I say I like to live dangerously!

So the turkey burger. The dry, over cooked cousin to the hamburger.

These were pretty good though.

Mixed with:

Worsteshire (to give that meaty flavor)
And too much Montreal Steak Seasoning. Yes there is such a thing.

Topped them with muenster cheese, a chipotle mayo, and sliced avocado.

Oh yeah, served with a cucumber tomato salad and some grilled peaches drizzled with honey.

Eat your heart out Chipotle

Marinated angus chuck steaks purchased for on sale. I'm not a chuck steak kinda gal, but no meat sales, a blood lust for red meat and limited grocery money can make a woman do some crazy things.

So I sliced them into strips and marinated them for about 12 hours with:

Soy sauce
Worsteshire sauce
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Fresh garlic
Diced pepper
Onions

Honestly, in the burritos I couldn't tell the difference from the skirt steak I typically do.

Success!!!

Additional fillings include:

Avocado
Poblano pepper strips
Diced tomato
A little cheddar cheese
Salsa
Diced cilantro

You say frittata, I say potatoes take too long to cook

Blogging about every food happening that occurs in my kitchen seemed like a natural step for me. I love taking photos of food and trying new recipes.

But at the same time, I found myself thinking this morning "Gee, these scrambled eggs with cheese, potabellas and garlic have no color, I should add some poblano peppers!"

The same reason for last nights addition of tomatoes to the pasta. I always try to follow the "Eat a rainbow" philosophy on fruits and veggies, so if the voyeuristic aspect of blogging makes me eat better so be eat.

Perhaps I will start a new diet fad.

Ok, so the dozen bottles of wine are not included in breakfast. I work this afternoon!

We line up any unique bottles of wine we have tried across the back of the counter. Perhaps another post...

Attempts at a simplified pasta...

I have a habit of overcomplicating pasta. Tonight I tried to keep things simple with butter, tons of fresh garlic and diced tomatoes with a little salt.
Pretty good!

Seeing as we are on a tight food budget at the moment, I'm really trying hard to keep us eating healthy.
Aldi makes a mean frozen salmon filet!
I topped it with a Dijon lemon sauce, some garlic and onions and it was pretty good!

We go through a huge amount of veggies a week. 1 full big reusable grocery bag worth for 2 people.
Shopping at the grocery store this would be way out of our grocery budget. Thankfully we have an awesome farm stand about 15 minutes away.

$25 for this amount of organic produce!

Shout out to Bearss Groves :-)

My other 192 square feet of bliss...

When I am not in my kitchen, I can probably be found on my patio. Admiring the veggie plants (waking up husband at 6:30am with screams of "The squash have flowers!!!"), reading on the hammock, or grilling.

Plus I get to sit out here and dream about having actual land to plant things on....

My tomato plants are bearing fruit and I am a proud parent! Next time when planting herbs... Plant 3x as many. The basil can't keep up with my consumption and one weekend of mojitos nearly wiped out the mint,

Around here, crops are not measured by the height of elephants... But gnomes. Come on little sunflowers!

And because when you live in an apartment, you work with the space you have. Damn AC unit ruining the aesthetic of my patio!

Product placement? I have to feel like I am justifying the extra $40 a month to have a first floor unit, come on!

Swiss oatmeal

I love Corner Bakery. It's like Panera, only amazing. run by Maggiano's, and men aren't afraid to be seen there on lunch.They don't exist in Florida and this make me very sad.
So I give you my Corner Bakery Swiss oatmeal.

Quick oats
Diced apple
Slivered almonds
Dried cranberries
Greek yogurt (my change to the recipe)

All mixed in a bowl with a drizzle of honey.

Yum!

When you work late tomorrow and are craving veggies....

Caramelized balsamic onions with farm stand tomatoes on crusty bread.
Syrupy sweet with a tangy crunch!

Mini Italian sausage meatballs with apple, kale and toasted fennel seeds.
Side of roasted squash with Romano cheese.

Our 24.5 square feet of happiness

The official quote of this text was "Gah! This cheese won't leave this sponge!"

Standing on one end of the kitchen, and a picture taken from the other. Although the bakers rack could be considered cheating.