Friday, February 15, 2013

7 Quick Takes: The I Was Hungry This Week Edition


1) 
Before Lent started I whipped up a chicken, broccoli and ziti dinner one night, and much to my surprise the kids LOVED it!  They will eat all these ingredients separately  but usually when I combine them and add a (gulp) buttery wine sauce, they resist with the will of an ox.
Bye bye pasta, I miss you already!

2) 
Ash Wednesday means Lent and Lent means trying this diet for the legals in this house.  I have a confession to make: I read diet/health/fitness books like desperate housewives read romance novels.  I just love them.  Anyways, I made this meatless fried rice and it was yummy.
Pre soy sauce
Post soy sauce
 3) 
Maggie came in from the snow with remnants stuck to her hair:

She's so cool, she's icy.

4) 
I tried to come up with a gluten free treat for dessert last night, and I think I found a winner.  I chopped up some macadamia nuts and flaked coconut and toasted then in some coconut oil:
This stuff is expensive!
Toasted Hawaii

Then I melted 2 bars of 85% dark chocolate: 
My handy dandy make-shift double boiler.
a.k.a. a bowl on top of a pot of boiling water.

And I poured the chocolate over the toasted goodness and let it cool to make bark:
This is before it hardened, I was too lazy to take a picture of the final product.
 5) 
Phil's Valentine's gift to me was to take the kids with him to babysit our niece and nephew - so I had 3 hours all to my self!  How sweet was that?  I went to the gym and came home and cooked and cleaned without tripping over anybody underfoot.  Heavenly.

6)
I guess I'm a food blogger now, I can't seem to stop talking about it!  Or eating it!  Anyways, this is the Valentine's dinner I made Phil.  Roasted cauliflower with paprika for a reddish color, red bliss potatoes, and paprika chicken.  All diet friendly! 
I put those saucy splashes there to look fancy.  Or my spoon just dripped.  You'll never know.

7)
Other than that we had a nice low key valentine's Day.  It was the 13th year in a row Phil asked me to be his Valentine, and I'm just so happy that we ended up together.

Have a lovely weekend everybody!  

24 comments:

  1. Yum... Those dishes look yummo! Never tried the coconut oil... I can imagine if it as trendy as it seems it must be, just like Chia seeds...

    Happy Friday!

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  2. This was really a mean post. To do to me, a pregnant woman at this time. Can you please send all of those things over my way pronto? ESPECIALLY the first thing. I think I need to eat it right now (she says while eating instant mac and cheese at 8:35 am)

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  3. AND, lil' Aaron just looked at your Valentine dinner and said, 'WOW num num'

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  4. Come cook for me.
    That is all.

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  5. Meatless fried rice. My life is complete. You are awesome.

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  6. Wow it all looks great and very yummy!

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  7. We're doing the perfect health diet too. We actually started it before Christmas. I LOVE it. It's actually really do-able and allows chocolate..so what is not to love? It has actually helped me to have less food cravings and I'm having better success at losing this baby's weight faster than I have in the past. Your dessert looks awesome, too!

    The fried rice looks great. I actually have shrimp and most of those ingredients, so I think that's going to be our dinner tonight. Yay!

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  8. We're doing the perfect health diet too. We actually started it before Christmas. I LOVE it. It's actually really do-able and allows chocolate..so what is not to love? It has actually helped me to have less food cravings and I'm having better success at losing this baby's weight faster than I have in the past. Your dessert looks awesome, too!

    The fried rice looks great. I actually have shrimp and most of those ingredients, so I think that's going to be our dinner tonight. Yay!

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  9. Coconut oil is a staple in our house! And, I will tell you, going gluten free and dairy free has been the best thing for me! The days I have any wheat or dairy, I totally feel it.

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  10. The rice dish looks so good. I think I might have most of it here....and I need supper ideas!

    The chocolate sensation looks awesome and so does Valentine's dinner. You have become a foodie blogger. :)

    Love the last photo!

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  11. All the food looks great to me....especially the Hawaii dessert. :)
    That last ecard was so funny!!! Happy belated VD to you and yours.

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  12. Hmmmm...a diet that allows lots of rice! I might be able to get into that. The husband not so much though. He's a good Irish boy - he likes potatoes with his potatoes! :)

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  13. Wait! I just clicked on the recipe and then started reading the foods you are allowed...am I reading it correctly? Does it say 1 pound of rice or potatoes a day??? Surely I didn't read that correctly!?

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  14. That pasta looks so yummy! Love #7 :)

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  15. Girl, you gotta order your coconut oil online....Vitacost.com is a great resource, you can get a tub like a giant tub of crisco, for around 20 or 25 dollars....plus when you sign up for their website I think you get a new customer credit or discount.....I think that jar you have pictured is around 14 bucks at our grocery stores!

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  16. I agree with Billie Jo...your meatless fried rice looks awesome! Happy Weekend! (Oh and love girlfriends "icy" hairdo!

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  17. #4 Yum! Gluten free coconut manna is a staple for me.
    #7 LOL It is so true! :)

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  18. Aaaaaand now I'm hungry.
    Isn't coconut oil the best!!

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  19. Yum yum! LOVE all the pics of the food! I feel like I want to take pics of food all the time too. Maybe I'll write something for "Tasteful Tuesdays" and we could post a meal a week or something!
    I am envious that you are so good about dieting - I can't imagine haha.

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    1. Love your idea about tasteful tuesdays, I would try to join in! That is with the clarification that i am no cook.

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  20. trying that dessert!

    The best gift for me is when matt takes the kids and gives me a break for an extended period of time, so I can totally relate!

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  21. I'm looking forward to trying the fried rice! Your Valentine's Day gift sounds heavenly:)

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  22. Your dishes look great! Thanks so much for linking up!

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