Friday, July 18

July 18, 2008 – 2:55 pm

Why is it that whenever there is accident traffic on the interstate, and I have the option of using an alternate route, I always make the wrong choice?

It took me 2 hours to get home yesterday. At 6:30, when my jazzercise class was starting, I was stopped on I-81, still 30 miles from my exit. Bother.

It’s felt like a crazy week this week.  Monday I had to go to Goochland (near Richmond) for a work thing.  Didn’t get home until 7:30. Tuesday, we played golf with a bunch of retirees from the College of Ag all day, so I didn’t feel bad about missing my class that night.  I didn’t play *that* great, but I did win a sleeve of balls because I chipped in a shot at the end! The rest of the week has been work as usual, except for the whole "extended trip home" thing last night.

Also, my FM transmitter died this week.  Agh!  Listening to my mp3 player is the only thing that makes it so my drive is bearable.  I dug out my old battery powered one, but it sucks.  I was debating between the one I had (an iRiver) and a different brand (an iTrip Universal).  I know the iRiver works.  Mine lasted for 3+ years, and I had very few complaints about it.  But you know me, always looking for something new.  So I went to Best Buy last night and they had one of the iTrips, so I bought it.

I knew before I left the parking lot that I was going to be returning it.  The static is *awful*.  I went straight home and ordered an iRiver from amazon, and as soon as it comes in the iTrip is going back.  Piece of junk.

Hopefully, by the time the new iRiver dies, I’ll have a car with a radio that has a line-in jack!

Not a lot of big plans this weekend.  I need to get a haircut.  And I think we’re going to a wine festival thing tomorrow, but I don’t know for sure.  I have Monday off, so I’m planning some "me" time :-)

By jaime | Posted in randomness | Comments (0)

Whip it Up: Week 2

July 17, 2008 – 4:57 pm

This week’s recipe to try was Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Spaghetti.

The ingredients:

2 cups cooked chicken
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely diced green pepper
1/2 cup finely diced onion
4 oz diced pimentos, drained
3 cups dry spaghetti, broken into 2 inch pieces
2 cups reserved chicken broth from pot
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 additional cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

The instructions:

I recommend checking out Pioneer Woman’s original post for the instructions.  There’s a shortened version at the end, but I found that the pictures and detailed explanation really helped.  I’d never boiled a chicken and picked it clean before!  I found it rather satisfying, and it was so easy I may do it more often.  I love a cold chicken sandwich.

My variations:

Because I am on WW and trying to do my best to minimize the damage of a recipe like this, I used 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup and only 1 cup of cheddar cheese in the casserole itself.  I also used 2% mild cheddar — apparently 2% sharp cheddar doesn’t exist.  I left out the pepper, onion, and pimentos because I don’t really care for any of them, and I added some mushrooms from a can I found in my pantry.  I didn’t measure out the cayenne pepper, just shook some on, and it was about right.

My experience:

This was a little time consuming, but really quite easy. I don’t really recommend making it on a work night — I made it on Sunday and cooked it Monday.  Preparing the chicken was so much easier than I expected. I’d put in more than 2 cups of chicken next time, maybe 2 1/2, and I would have tried sneaking some other vegetable in there, like maybe frozen peas, but my husband would have turned his nose up at it. Don’t skip the step of breaking up the spaghetti! I think the shorter pieces make it a lot easier to eat and mix together. I also only needed about 1 cup of the chicken broth in my batch.

The final product:

Quite yummy! That little bit of spice really sells it. Scott even mostly liked it, and he’s notoriously hard to please (the brat!).  He said he’d prefer it with marinara sauce, so I think that next time I try it I’m going to use marinara and mozzarella cheese instead of the cream of mushroom and cheddar.

No pictures this week.  I was lazy!

By jaime | Posted in what I eat | Comments (1)

Whip it up: Week 1

July 11, 2008 – 12:42 pm

Since I scored and was able to find the elusive Tofu Shirataki noodles at Whole Foods last week, I decided my first Whip It Up recipe would be one of Hungry-Girl’s "pasta" recipes. The winner?

Shrimptastic Fettuccine Hungry Girlfredo!

The cast of characters:

5 medium cooked shrimp
1 package Tofu Shirataki Fettuccine Shaped Tofu Noodles
1/3 cup cooked chopped broccoli
1 wedge of The Laughing Cow Light Cheese
1 teaspoon fat free sour cream
2 teaspoons Kraft Reduced Fat Parmesan Cheese
salt & pepper (if desired)

2657411642_d665642d61_m

The instructions:

Rinse fettuccine noodles VERY well.  Microwave them for one minute, then drain them and pat dry. Add cheeses, sour cream and broccoli. Mix thoroughly.  Microwave to help melt cheese further, and mix some more.  Top with cooked shrimp. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy. Serves 1.

My variations:

The recipe only calls for 5 shrimp, which is not nearly enough.  So I used 10.  I bought already cooked ones because I really hate peeling shrimp and couldn’t find raw ones with just the tail for a reasonable price.  And that bag of broccoli?  Appears to have been in my freezer forever and looked really gross, so I ended up throwing it away.  Along with the second bag of broccoli I pulled out of my freezer.  So my final product had no broccoli.  I also used the spaghetti-shaped tofu shirataki noodles because the fettuccine ones looked just a little too slimy for me to brave. I added a full tablespoon of parmesan cheese because I like it. And finally, I used low-fat sour cream instead of fat-free because I can’t find a small container of fat-free at my grocery store anymore.

My experience:

First of all, the only cooking dish I used in this recipe was a small frying pan to warm up my shrimp because I didn’t like the idea of putting them in the microwave.  Everything else was done in the microwave. I started the shrimp cooking in a little spray of olive oil, and probably let them sit there too long because I wasn’t paying attention.

I quickly dumped the noodles into a colander in the sink, being careful not to touch them until I rinsed them because if they were slimy (like I expect everything made of tofu to be) I’d be reluctant to eat them. I rinsed them and then let them drain for a minute before dumping them on a paper towel and patting them as dry as I could.  This was the first time I really touched them, and I was pleasantly surprised by the texture.  I was afraid they would fall apart really easy, but they were actually pretty tough.  I was able to pick them up with my hands to put in my bowl so they wouldn’t be in one big clump.

The final product:

2656585403_ddabe9d599_m

I was really pleased with how this turned out! The sliminess I expected was non-existent.  It was quite cheesy. The noodles were a little on the chewy side, but I didn’t mind that.  It was more filling than I expected for 3 weight watcher points.  I just wish I had the broccoli to make it even more filling! It would be a perfect meal with a salad alongside, and with the small amount of points I could even splurge on a piece of garlic bread.

I have one more package of the tofu shirataki noodles left… I’m torn between trying a different recipe or just making this again! I might have to start mail ordering the stuff.

By jaime | Posted in what I eat | Comments (1)

top | Original design by John Oxton | Illustration by Denis Radenkovic | This design is released under a Creative Commons licence