Gon' Get My Learn On

Tonight marks the beginning of a new era.  I'm officially becoming a woman. 

 

Just kidding, I'm starting a class to get my real estate license.

 

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Part of me is excited because academia was literally the only thing I was good at in school.  Sports, not so much.  I love taking notes, taking tests, kicking ass and taking names. 

 

The other part of me is clinically depressed because the class is every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday from 6pm-9:45pm for just over a month and a half.  That's a lot of weeknights spent in a classroom.  Which translates to a lot of nights I will not be spending on my couch with a glass of red wine.

 

While I'm not sure if my brain is even still capable of classroom education, there is one thing I'm sure of.  That during this period my husband is either going to live off of a steady diet of frozen pizza, or that he will starve to death.

 

I'll be the first to admit that I've spoiled him a little by making all of his meals for the week, but I do it because I like to.  Now, with what is going to essentially be a total loss of free time, I'll be damned if I'm going to spend my precious 15 free minutes on the weekdays making turkey sandwiches or serving up a nice chicken picata. 

 

So we will have to see how this plays out.  The three possibilities I see are that he either A) Survives off of Pizza and Hardee's, B) He re-learns how to cook even the simpliest of cuisine, or C) He loses 20 pounds in a month and a half because he either forgets to eat or refuses to go to the grocery store.

 

I, on the other hand, who has never forgotten to eat a meal in her whole life, am very curious if I'm going to manage to eat dinner during this time.  It looks like unless I choose the early bird special or go straight-Euro and eat at midnight, I'm going to be knawing on some mid-evening almonds for the rest of 2012 and calling it din din. 

 

I've got my notepad ready, a cool pen, and a fresh pack of highlighters.  (NERD ALERT!)  Real Estate Class, here I come! 

Happy Halloween, or whatever

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Garden Eats

Guess what?  We grew this in our garden:

 

Napa Cabbage

 

I still can't believe the amazing things that novice gardeners can grow with a little TLC. 

 

And guess what else?  We grew these green beans below!  I didn't even know how green beans grew until my husband planted them.  You learn something new everyday!

 

All vegetables in this dinner, courtesy of our backyard!

 

This is an upclose of the prepared cabbage.  I went rogue on this one and it turned out AMAZING.  I just cooked 4 pieces of prosciutto in a little olive oil until they were crisp.  Then I added a leek and sauteed that for a few minutes.  Finally I added the thinly sliced cabbage and a beer and let that simmer for about 10-15 minutes. 

 



The colors might look dark and burnt, but the taste and the subsequent Ooh's and Aah's I got from Grant were enthusiastic and fantastic!  
(Note to self: Work on pictures to make your food look less like dog food)



 

This is another meal that I made using the homegrown green beans and the rest of the prosciutto.  Chicken Marsala by Tyler Florence.  Something about sliced and quartered mushrooms are so meaty and delicious.  I love a good 'shroom!  Especially when I find them in a decadent, salty, crispy, Marsala wine sauce.

 

Prosciutto makes everything yummy!

I guess there really is no point to this post.  I just thought I'd share the beauty that is gardening.  And cooking.  And eating.  Food.

Creative Cousin

Boo!  Did I scare you?  I just wanted to get your attention to share these super creative Halloween treats.

 

Look at these amazing Halloween dinner ideas that my cousin made when I was in DC last weekend:

 

Jack O' Lantern Peppers stuffed with turkey, cheese, onions, seasonings, etc.

 

Green Beans Casserole with Ritz Cracker Tombstones.  Scary delicious!

 

It's not too late to make them for tomorrow night's dinner.  Spook and delicious - the perfect All Hallows Eve combination! 

Missing Cookie

Recently my sister brought up a very good point after repinning a recipe for "Skinny Oreo Cookies and Cream Milkshake".

 

You can find the recipe here.  In that recipe you will notice that it calls for 2 1/2 Reduced Fat Oreo Cookies...Houston, we have a problem.  What is going to happen with the other 22 cookies in that pack?

 

People who look for "skinny" milkshake recipes aren't exactly the same people that can refrain from devouring the entire remainder of the cookie source.

 

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That's the problem with Pinterest.  It's so inspiring but so unrealistic.  That's why I recently changed my Pinterest "about me" description to read:

 

Pinterest is a virtual interpretation of Skee-Lo's "I Wish". But in this case I wish I was a little bit richer, I wish I was craftier, I wish I had a stylist, if I did I would call her.

 

Ice Cream Sundays - Peanut Butter World

 

I never thought I'd say this about anything, ever.  But this flavor was too chocolately and too peanut buttery.  The label says it has Peanut Buttery Swirls.  It's really more like huge chunks of peanut butter.  It sounds like it'd be a good thing, but it was actually too much, even for a peanut butter fanatic like me.  With the milk chocolate ice cream and additional chocolate cookie swirls, it was decadence overload.   Not surprisingly, it is also one of the most fattening flavors I've tasted to date.

 

The good news is that the richness of this flavor prevented me from taking more than a couple of bites per sitting.  The funny news is that I had about 5 bites total over a few days, then went back last night to have some more, only to discover that it had been stolen.   After a little research, however, I was able to uncover the fact that my husband had in fact devoured the whole pint essentially.  I was kind of happy about that.

 

Clearly, unlike Secret deodorant, this was strong enough for a man, but not made for a woman.

 

This flavor, in all its decadence, is part of an Exclusive Flavor series that Ben and Jerry's teamed up with Target to sell in order to promote volunteerism.  It sure is nice to feel that your ice cream eating is doing some good in the world.

 

Yay!  I helped!

 

 

Summary:

 

Flavors Tried - 31

 

Favorite Flavor - Mint Chocolate Cookie