More Yummy Food!

I must be pretty lame if I'm writing another blog about food. I've gotten pretty lucky this week because everything I've made for dinner has been tasty! I owe it all to my wonderful ward cookbook (thanks Hyde Park 1st ward!). One night I made BBQ Chicken Pizza, and Josh said it tasted better than Pizza Capri (for those who don't know Pizza Capri, it's a local place that makes gourmet pizza). Yay for pleasing and impressing the husband!

Another night I made Cafe Rio Chicken and Rice and Cafe Rio Creamy Cilantro Salad Dressing to go along with it. Ok....so I've heard about this Cafe Rio place that everyone seems to love. I think it was in Utah first and has now made it's way to Ahwatukee and Gilbert?? I think I moved away before they made their way to AZ. So, I've never been to the restaurant before but I want to try it! I have a friend here who was flying back to Chicago from Utah and traveled that whole way with food from Cafe Rio for her husband because he loves it so much! So it must be good! Well, this recipe I made was very very yummy! It made a TON, with lots of leftovers. It required a lot of ingredients, but it was very easy. If anyone want the recipes to either of these meals, just let me know! (I'm too lazy to type it all out on here.)

7 things about me

So I've been tagged by Malinda! Here I go trying to think of 7 things about myself.....

1. I'm pretty frugal. I love it when I can get a good deal on something. Each Sunday I go through the newspaper and clip all the good coupons and I even file them all in my little organizer container. Then I look through the grocery adds and circle all the things we need that are on sale. When I go to the grocery store I carry my coupon box with me to see which ones I can use. I love it when I'm able to save a bundle! I love using all sorts of coupons. Once I got a pair of nice dress shoes from DSW for only $0.01. Yes, one cent! I was so proud of myself. I also found a local website where I can purchase gift certificates for 50% off!

2. I haven't had a dishwasher the entire time I've been married. That = 5+ years! I thought by now I would have been used to washing dishes by hand, but it hasn't happened yet. Since I hate doing dishes I usually wait until the sink is full before I do them (I know that would drive some people crazy!). But it works for me. My husband is pretty good at taking his turn to do them to, which helps a bunch. I just hope the next place we move to has a dishwasher.

3. I am picky with my meat. I eat red meat, but it has to be cooked well done. No pink for me. Grosses me out. I also try to cut off ALL fat/tendons/blood vessels (oh I'm grossing myself just writing this) before I cook my meat. It annoys Josh. I'm very paranoid when it comes to chicken. I'm afraid it will be undercooked. As a result, whenever I cook chicken it's almost always overcooked and way too dry! I also hate eating meat on the bones, it makes me feel like an animal. I'll eat it if it's served to me, but I don't ever eat the skin and I usually try to pull the meat off before I eat it.

4. Another way I'm frugal: I like to get every last drop out of a bottle. Thinks like toothpaste, lotion, shampoo, peanut butter, etc. I'll squeeze, shake, scrape, until I've used as mush as I can possibly get. Once I even cut open a lotion bottle so I could scrape out the rest because it was a big bottle and there was a lot left inside! Hey, it makes things last longer than you think!

5. I have a love-hate relationship with my hair. I LOVE that it's long and thick and shiny and soft. But I HATE that it has a nasty wave to it. This means that I can't ever just let it air dry because otherwise it gets frizzy and way too poofy. So every day I have to blow dry it straight, which makes it straight but it's still poofy, so then I have to smooth it down with a curling or straightening iron. It takes way too long to do my hair.

6. I really don't like to read all that much. I used to read a lot when I was younger, but I think since I had to read so much boring stuff in high school and college, I got tired of reading. I do read (I'm currently reading 'The Memory Keeper's Daughter'), and once I find a good book I can't put it down. It's just the getting started I don't like. Plus, I think I read slow and I usually fall asleep when I'm reading.

7. I've had a variety of jobs. Here's all the jobs I've had: Organ Stop Pizza (I did everything but manage and wash dishes), a temporary position at a Costco grand opening passing out food samples, Motorola (I worked the night shift and wore a bunny suit in a clean room making these disc things), a telemarketing job for like 2 days (I hated it), Jamba Juice, a few temporary positions working as a secretary, a hostess at restaurant Barcelona, a Rehabilitation Facilitator (I worked with a 15 y.o. autistic girl), a legal filer at Holm Wright Hyde and Hayes, Nurse Extern and RN at Chandler Regional Hospital mother/baby, RN at Univ. of Chicago Hospitals L&D.


OK, so now I tag Kim, Amy J., Cassie, Tifani, Allison, Brynn. You must write 7 things about yourselves and post them!

.....yummy recipe......

I'm trying to become a better cook so I love trying new recipes! Half the time the things I try turn out pretty good, but the other times they are horrible. Oh well. Today was a good recipe day though! So I thought I'd share it. I've discovered that I love artichokes-they just have so much flavor! If you do too, then you'll love this recipe.

FARFALLE WITH BABY ARTICHOKES AND MUSHROOMS
-1 (14-oz) can small artichoke hearts, cut into quarters
-1 pound farfalle (bowtie) or orechhiette pasta
-2 Tbs. olive oil
-1 package (10 oz) fresh sliced mushrooms
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/4 tsp. black pepper
-2 cloves garlic, crushed
-1 cup chicken broth
-1/2 cup dry white wine**
-1 Tbs. chopped fresh thyme leaves (I used about 1/2 Tbs of dried)
-2 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley leaves (again I used a smaller amount of dried)
-freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook pasta according to directions. Make sure you reserve 1/4 cup pasta cooking water. While pasta is cooking, add oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat until hot. Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper, and cook about 3 minutes or until mushrooms begin to soften, sirring occasionally. Add artichokes and garlic, and cook about 5 minutes longer or until mushrooms are lightly browned and artichokes are very tender. Sir in chicken broth, wine, and thyme into skillet, and heat to boiling; boil 1 minute. Stir in parsley. Drain pasta (but reserve some water) and add to skillet. Cook 1 minute to blend flavors, tossing to combine. Stir in reserved cooking water if pasta is dry. Serve with grated Parmesan if you like. (I did!)

**I know it calls for wine, and I never before had cooked with wine until this recipe. I found some white cooking wine in the vinegar aisle and I thought I'd give it a try. I just made sure it boiled a lot first and I think it added good flavor! You don't have to use wine though. Just substitute something else, such as white grape juice or reserved pasta water, but it needs something so that it has enough liquid and isn't too dry.

not anything to smile about

I went to the dentist today to get a routine cleaning, since it's been almost a year since my last. I saw a new dentist this time because I didn't like my last one (I've found it's hard to find good dentists here in Chicago, or else I'm just picky!). Anyway, I've been pretty good at getting my routine cleanings every 6-12 months, and I always brush my teeth twice a day and floss every day without fail, and as a result I haven't been told I have cavities in years. Until today!! My dentist was really nice, but she started out by asking if I always brush and floss (yes), if it's been a while since I've been to the dentist (no), if I drink lots of carbonated beverages (hardly EVER). At this point I knew something was up, and she said I have 3 cavities. Not just one, but 3! on 4 teeth!! And I have two spots that could turn into cavities if I don't start using a daily flouride rinse. Yikes! I was very surprised. I've heard of dentists making up cavities just to get money, but even I could see these on the xrays. I also have a crown that's been needing to be replaced. (yes, I've already had a good share of dental work done when I was young including two root canals.). I guess I'm just cursed with bad teeth. :( Well, I decided that since I'll be getting a good amount of dental work done in the next few weeks (thank goodness for insurance!) I should just go all out and have all my silver fillings changed to tooth-colored as well. So, pretty soon my smile will be good as new!

Love the Mediterranean...

...food that is! So for the last week I guess I have been on a Mediterranean food kick. It all started last Thursday when I made Greek chicken pita's for dinner, oh they were so yummy! Then the following night we went to a local restaurant called Cedar's Mediterranean Kitchen. We had been planning for a long time to go to this place, it just so happened to be the night after I made the pitas. We tried some of their hummus, lentil soup, kabobs, and basmati rice. Delicious! We'll definitely make a return visit sometime. Then, today I went to pick Josh up from his clinicals (he's at a hospital up north for a few weeks) and realized we were just down the street from this place a friend of mine at work told me about, Andie's. She says she orders food from here once a week and the hummus is "soo good!" Since we're not in this area very often, we decided we had better take advantage of the situation and check out the place. And we weren't even tired of Mediterranean food yet! We tried the hummus (I thought it was alright), lemon chicken rice soup, dill rice, kabobs, chicken kefta, and falafel. Yum! I hadn't really ever had much mediterranean food before, but it's pretty dang good! I think the only thing that would make it better is if I were eating it in Greece.

Do you ever feel this tired?

This is how I sometimes feel after a long, hard day at work....

I took this picture at the Lincoln Park Zoo. I thought this bear was hilarious!!

Whew, What A Week!

This past week we had my family visiting with us. My mom and 2 of my sisters Amy and Cassie came for their first visit to Chicago, a.k.a. chi-town, the windy city, the second city, chicagoland. You can't help but love this city! There's so much to see and do! I of course had a blast taking them around to see all the big sites, and it was a great excuse to be off work for a whole week! They got here on the 4th and we had a very American evening-- we went to a White Sox game, ate hot dogs, and watched fireworks. All we needed to top off the evening was some apple pie! The fireworks there were actually REALLY good, and since we were in the stadium the music playing sounded great! I'd even do it again next year. The next day we did all the downtown stuff-- Sears Tower, the "el", Chicago River, Michigan Ave, Millenium Park, the "bean," we saw Wicked, and even had time to squeeze in the Taste of Chicago and the Art Museum! It was an exhausting day! Friday and Saturday we went to Nauvoo and Carthage. We saw the opening night of the Nauvoo pageant, it was great! It was quite hot there though, and the intense humidity is kinda hard to handle for folks from dry AZ! The rest of the time they were here we went to lake and the beach, the Lincoln Park Zoo, the Nature Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, and ate Chicago-style stuffed crust pizza and Chicago-style hot dogs. We tried to pack in as much as we could and had so much fun!! There are still so many things we didn't have a chance to do and see, so my mom is already planning what she wants to do during her next trip here! Perhaps we can schedule time to see Oprah. :) This was a great trip for my family becasue they don't travel too much. They loved Chicago, and I think it was an eye-opening experience for them! I still couldn't convince them to move here. :) So come visit Chicago so you too can see just what a great and beautiful city it is! It's even fun in the winter. ;)