Cook It Real Good

You know those people who say they “forget” to eat or are “too busy” to eat? I’m not one of them.

"A sandwich? Are you insane? I have to go a meeting, write a 10,000 word paper, and watch at least two hours of cat videos on YouTube today!"

I never forget to eat or put off eating or any of those other crazy things people do. Are you kidding? I don’t have time NOT to eat.

However, after a week of birthday celebrating and vacationing in Savannah, I almost felt like I could be one of those people who doesn’t schedule regular feedings. I needed a break. I was so burnt out on restaurant food and I really felt like I’d be happy with eating nothing but lettuce and boiled fish for a few days.

But instead I bought a Crock Pot.

Directions: Put three heads of lettuce and a pound of raw fish in pot. Cook on low for 8 hours. Wait, that's not right.

What I really wanted more than lettuce and boiled fish (which I didn’t really want at all) was a few home cooked meals. I’m not even a little bit competent in math, but I’d say 90% of the time I eat in restaurants I feel too full and pretty sick afterward and 100% of the time I eat home cooked food I feel awesome. The Crock Pot was on sale at Target for $17. My friend Tiffaney told me she’d stop being my friend if I didn’t go buy it. So I bought it. I love it! I didn’t use it every night, but between that and a sworn affidavit saying I would not eat out for at least a week, I came up with these lovely meals:

Red velvet waffles. They exist, and I made them.

Crock Pot Hawaiian chicken with yellow rice and salad

Crock Pot pot roast on top of mashed potatoes

Baked chicken breast, green beans, baby red potatoes

Crock Pot BBQ meatball topped baked potato with salad

Whole wheat shells with spinach, tomato sauce, and Parmesan

All of these meals were delicious and none of them made me feel like hot garbage. I wish I wasn’t so lazy or I would cook every single night and never ever go out to eat. But who’s kidding who? I can’t do dishes EVERY night.

If only my cats were so useful. Freeloaders.

Jaclyn Gives It Up: XO Greetings Foodie Cards Giveaway!

This is my BFF, Miranda, making it rain:

I photobombed. What can I say?

Miranda is a master crafter.  I can’t even cut a straight line, but Miranda is all about finding ways to put things together to make them pretty.  She’s great at making things fit (that’s what she said) and at visualizing colors and images and turning them into something special.

A few months ago Miranda got on a card-making kick and made a bunch of really adorable Valentine’s Day cards for lonely elderly people.

I’m sorry I couldn’t think of a nicer way to say that.  I’m a monster.

The cards were so cute and so much better than anything you can find at the store, Miranda’s husband and I convinced her to start an Etsy store to sell her cute card creations.  After much deliberation, XO Greetings was born.

Today I’m giving away a set of four XO Greetings cards that were made especially for this blog.  This is the Happy Fruits collection!  They’re perfect for the foodie in your life (even if the foodie in your life is you):

Oh so happy!

How 'bout an apple a day to keep the doctor away? And a banana a day to...give you a boost of potassium! Yeaaaaaah!

When life gives you lemons (and strawberries) make strawberry lemonade!

You Must Have These. You Must Have These. You Must Have These.

The cards are blank inside, so you can use them for whatever you want!  Thank you notes, well wishes, birthday greetings, or even as invitations for dates at the farmer’s market.  Just think of the possibilities.  Bananas.  Strawberries.  You get the idea.

“Wanna make out behind the local organic honey stand at the farmer’s market tomorrow?  I’ll let you check my apples for freshness.”

Each card comes with its own white envelope.

To enter, just leave me a comment telling me your best food-related euphemism OR the best food-related joke you know.  The contest will close at 11:59 PM EST on Tuesday.  A winner will be chosen by random and announced on Wednesday morning.

Be sure to browse the XO Greetings store and order some cute cards while you’re at it.  More will be available soon.  Just look at those little owl cards.  And the songbird note card.  OH!  THE SONGBIRD!  I love it.

Happy entering!

The Best Thing I Ate This Week: Mushroom Extravaganza At Spencer’s

A mushroom walks into a bar. The bartender says, “We don’t serve mushrooms here.” The mushroom says, “C’mon! I’m a ‘fun guy.’”

(cue laughter)

Okay, okay, you’ve probably heard that one.  But admit it.  You laughed.

If you know me or read my blog, you’ve probably heard me profess my intense love of mushrooms a time or two.  I developed a love of mushrooms back when I was a young vegetarian and we’ve been together ever since.  Our love is true and unadulterated.

"Of course I'll marry you!"

This past weekend my good friend, Chef Holly Kapherr, invited me to be her guest at a cooking class at Spencer’s, a fancy steakhouse located inside of a fancy Hilton in the Walt Disney World area, for a piece she was writing for Orlando Style magazine.  The theme of the class was mushrooms.  I was totally stoked.

We arrived at Spencer’s and were promptly greeted with mimosas!

Mimosa? Don’t mind if I do

"I, too, shall partake."

We were encouraged to eat a lovely fruit and cheese spread while we waited for the class to start.  Holly and I ate our cheese (and plenty of it!) and mingled a bit with the other women attending the course.  They were “ladies who lunch” types—you know, yuppie moms with money who like to kill their Saturday afternoons attending fancy cooking classes.  While we drank and ate, the executive chef came out and introduced himself, along with the head chef in the kitchen, Chef Eric Szymczak.  We were invited to sit at the bar overlooking the kitchen to start the class.  Each seat had a different bowl of mushrooms placed in front.

A lovely spread!

I got buttons. An oldie, but a goodie.

 

King trumpets and Maitake mushrooms!

We were served more mimosas while Chef Szymczak introduced his team to us, then they got to cooking!  The chef talked about different kinds of mushrooms and broke down each bowl of mushrooms for us, explaining where they come from, how they grow, and what they taste like.  In the meantime, his team started preparing little tastings for us to enjoy. You know, things like…

Lobster and Truffle Macaroni and Cheese

A whole pan of the deliciousness.

The best mushroom soup I've ever had in my life.

A darling mushroom slider and portobello fries.

We ate the delicious tastings, drank our mimosas, and laughed with the chef.  Then, when the demonstration was over he said, “And now we’re going to prepare lunch for you.  Feel free to step out on the lanai and have a drink while you wait.”

The lanai. We were pissed that we weren't told to bring our bathing suits.

Lunch?!  We’d just had so many mushroom delights and we were all stuffed!  We couldn’t believe they were making us lunch in addition to everything we had already eaten!

But y’know.  We made room.

Shitake and Goat Cheese PIssaladierre

Porcini Crusted Lamb with Black Trumpet Mushroom Risotto, pearl onions, and peas

This was the special vegetarian entree. The sucker in our group got this. (It was really good though, she gave me a bite).

White Chocolate Truffle Timbale.

I sort of enjoyed it.

Oh, and did I mention that we got a fancy wine with every course?

Ahh, drinking in the middle of the day. Nothing like it.

 

Moscato. My fave!

To wrap things up, Holly interviewed Chef Szymczak.  She’s such a great interviewer.  Totally laid back, she really knows her stuff, and she has fun while keeping it professional.  She brought me along with her when she interviewed Jen and John of CakeWrecks and it was a blast.  The interview with Chef Szymczak was great too.  He’s full of energy and extremely passionate about food.  He was gracious and fun.

Chef Holly Kapherr and Chef Eric Szymczak

The food was delicious and we had a blast.  I was full for the rest of the day.  I fell into a major food coma when I got home and I never ate dinner, just a bit of fruit, and I passed out on my couch, which I NEVER do.

I hope we go to another one soon.  Wink, wink, Holly.

Full. Happy. Minutes away from matching food comas.

If you think you don’t like mushrooms, please give them another try.  They’re magically delicious!

The Best Thing I Ate This Week: Salt & Pepper Shrimp and Spinach

Wednesdays are one of my super heavy workout days—I go spinning and I do Next Level interval training, which is pretty much as hard as it can get in one day.

After the grueling hour and a half of exercise (which totally ruined my awesome hair that I got cut and colored today), I came home and cleaned my apartment.  My apartment is fairly small, but cleaning it usually takes a good hour, what with the vacuuming, Swiffering, Swiffer Wet Jetting, dusting, wiping, and rug-beating.

No?

By the time I was done with all that noise I was an extra smelly and disgusting mess, so I cleaned myself up and then had to face the task of making dinner.  I had shrimp I knew I needed to use, but I also needed something green.  And I needed it fast.  This had to be a get-protein-and-greens-in-your-mouth-immediately-so-you-can-settle-down-and-watch-Big-Love-and-eat-dessert kind of meal. I browsed the fridge.  I had some organic baby spinach, which was perfect, and I was looking to use my new tub of Kerrygold Irish Butter.  I added salt, pepper, olive oil, and fresh lemon to the mix and The Best Thing I Ate This Week was unexpectedly born.

This is the half of the bowl I hadn't plowed through yet when I remembered to take a picture.

The whole thing took about 10 minutes (not counting deveining time—ugh) and was a perfectly satisfying combination of protein, greens, and healthy fats.  I highly recommend this, as I tend to do with my own creations.

For one serving you’ll need:

1/2 lb medium white shrimp, peeled and deveined

A big handful of baby spinach (or more if you’re feeling spinachy)

About 1-2 tsp of butter (I recommend Kerrygold Irish Butter—amazing!)

About 1 1/2 tsp of olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 lemon

Minced garlic if you want some spice

Make it!

In a large pan melt the butter on medium high heat and add the olive oil.  Swirl ‘em around.  Generously salt and pepper the bottom of the pan.  Place the shrimp around the pan one by one, working your way around the pan from the outside in—the shrimp that make it to the middle of the pan probably won’t need as much cook time since they’ll be on direct heat.  Salt and pepper the tops of the shrimp, then flip after a minute or two.  The shrimp will curl and turn pinkish opaque—-you know!  Remove the shrimp from the pan onto a plate and throw the spinach in the leftover butter and oil.  Add a bit of minced garlic if you’d like some spice—I did!  When the spinach has wilted, remove it from the heat into a bowl, top with the shrimp, and squeeze half a lemon over the whole thing.

Yes.

What’s the best thing you ate this week?

The Best Thing I Ate This Week: Lobster Tacos

Fact: I’m 27 years old and today I ate lobster for the first time in my life.

Wowowowowowowowwweeeee.

My first lobster has prompted me to start a new series on my blog called The Best Thing I Ate This Week.  It’s pretty self-explanatory.  At least I hope it is.  If you’re confused, we need to talk.

So, a friend invited me to eat at The Ravenous Pig, a gastropub here in Orlando.  The Ravenous Pig is a pretty popular place with the bourgeois elite in Winter Park and Thornton Park and it always gets great reviews.  I’d been to the Pig (as the bougie folks call it) twice, but both times I only had drinks and dessert because, as the name implies, The Ravenous Pig is NOT vegetarian friendly.

Of course, now that I’m eating meat again, I happily agreed to check out the food at the Pig and I looked at the menu several times trying to decide what I’d get.  There were a lot of choices, including the Pub Burger, which I have on good authority is the best burger in town.  I was undecided right up until the waitress came back a second time to take our order and I went with the lobster tacos, even though I’d never had lobster in my life.

I made the right choice.

I was expecting strips of lobster sauteed in some kind of butter or wine sauce, served with traditional taco toppings in crunchy shells, but what I got were tender chunks of lobster lightly fried in a tempura batter with a crunchy seasoned coleslaw and avocado cream in soft corn tortillas.  I took my first bite and I was sold on lobster.

Photo Source

Full disclosure—-I did not take this photo. I didn’t have my camera on me at lunch, or I would have taken a much shittier version of this photo because my photography skills leave something to be desired, as you probably know if you read the blog.

These lobster tacos melted in my mouth.  The best thing about them is that, though they were fried, I could really taste the lobster–the fry batter didn’t overtake the whole thing.  I ignored the pickled jalapenos on the side, but really enjoyed the crunchy coleslaw and the avocado cream that complemented the lobster.  The only bad thing about these lobster tacos is now I will have to live the rest of my days knowing how delicious lobster is and not being able to afford it on a regular basis.

FML

Come back for next week’s edition of The Best Thing I Ate This Week, which unfortunately will probably not include lobster.

I Took A Little Trip To The Oldest City In the USA And It Was DELICIOUS!

This past weekend I visited St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States.  I’ve lived in Florida my whole life, and somehow I’d never been, so I made a plan with some friends and we headed out on Sunday for a much needed girls’ weekend.  As could be expected, we ate a lot, drank a lot, and luckily, we walked a lot.

I love walkable beach towns.  I need one for my very own.

We stayed in at The Pirate Haus, a pirate-themed hostel (my first time!), in The Jungle Room, which is exactly what you think it is.  Check it out:

Stairway to Pirate Heaven

They weren't kidding when they said it was The Jungle Room

Chi Chi in the jungle

Yes, bunk beds. Hostels are fun.

In addition to being the oldest and most historical town in Florida, St. Augustine has some bang-up food.  Get ready to get hungry.  Here’s a sampling of the delicious eats we enjoyed:

Voodoo Shrimp at Harry's, a haunted Cajun-style restaurant. Yesplz.

I made sure to get some vegetables. And some tequila.

Shrimp and Scallops over grit cakes with red beans and rice

Gourmet Popsicles! YESSSSS!

Marisa had Pineapple Cilantro, I had Coconut (yummm!), Chiara had Mango Habenero, and Stephanie had some Diablo Strawberry

I'll never be able to eat a shitty non-gourmet popsicle again.

Pirate pancakes at the hostel!

My Dirty Girl Scout martini at the Tini Martini Bar on our St. Augustine Ghost Pub Crawl. It was one of many adult beverages I enjoyed on the trip.

A traditional Cuban sandwich washed down with sangria at Colombia Restaurant

Chocolate Hazelnut Coconut Gelato--yesplz!

As you can see, we certainly enjoyed the tastings that St. Augustine had to offer, as I’m wont to do on vacations.  I love eating what I want on vacations without feeling the least bit guilty.  It reminds me of how far I’ve come in my thinking about weight and body issues.  We walked a lot, ate a lot, and enjoyed every minute.  It’s just too bad I don’t have pictures of the pepperoni, mushroom, and onion pizza and buffalo wings we inhaled at 2 am on Sunday night because everything closes at 9 pm on Sundays in St. Augustine and we were on a ghost tour with plans to eat dinner afterward and no one told us we wouldn’t be able to get food anywhere.  That was not a pretty sight.

Best quote of the trip: “Isn’t it great to eat in a way you’d never eat in front of a guy!”-Marisa, while sucking a chicken wing clean.

As an added bonus, Chiara managed to take a photo of me in a bathing suit that I don’t hate.  Proof that working out (and someone with decent camera skills) does make a difference.

If you’re looking for a good eating-drinking-window shopping-ghost touring-beaching weekend, check out old St. Augustine.  It was a good time.

Eat It Up: Spicy Orange Garlic Shrimp

Upon becoming an omnivore a few weeks ago, I discovered a few things:

1.  Salami is delicious

2. Salami is delicious

3.  Salami is delicious

Oh yeah. Give it to me.

However, it’s been suggested by some presumably very inept doctors, dietitians, and nutrition experts that salami isn’t the healthiest possible protein out there, so I’ve also been trying other allegedly healthier proteins and I’ve discovered that I really really like shrimp.

Best good friends

I didn’t eat shrimp, or any seafood really, when I was a kid.  I think my parents were just too cheap to feed us seafood, so they got it for themselves and we got chicken nuggets.  I welcomed salami back into my life with open and loving arms, but shrimp is really something new and exciting for me and I’m totally into it. The first time I tried shrimp I was turned off by the texture, but I think that was just a mental block, because now I like it more and more every time I have it.

I found this recipe for Spicy Orange Garlic Shrimp from the Pioneer Woman’s guest-blogger, Pastor Ryan, and praaaaaaaaaise Jesus, I was in love.

"And later we can have some salami, if you know what I mean."

Since shrimp cooks so quickly, it’s really an ideal weeknight dinner.  This Spicy Orange Garlic Shrimp is amazing and super easy to make.

Just add shrimp (and a little butter and garlic--whoops) and you've got a meal!

For 30-40 shrimp, combine 3/4 cup of orange juice, 1 tsp of Old Bay (delicious!), 1/2 tsp of ground red pepper or cayenne pepper, a few dashes of crushed red pepper if you want extra heat, and 3 cloves of thinly sliced garlic.  Melt 1-1 1/2 tbsps of butter in a pan and cook the shrimp thoroughly, about 2-3 minutes on each side.  Remove the shrimp from the heat and pour the orange juice mixture into the buttery shrimpy pan.  Let the flavors mingle and bubble around and after a few minutes, add another tbsp of butter (don’t worry, it’s cool) and then stir occasionally until the sauce thickens, then add the shrimp back in and toss them around in the incredible sauce.  Serve with a side of vegetables and die of happiness.

Your dinner tonight. You're welcome.

Enjoy!

A Christmas Note to Self

Dear Jaclyn,

This is not “All You Can Eat Week.”  Or is it?

Love,

Jaclyn

I have to admit that I stole that from a friend on Twitter and added the “Or is it” for a Jaclyn-twist.  But seriously, the holidays, man.  You know?

This time of year every website, blog, magazine, fuckingwhatever is giving advice on how to not overeat over the holidays.

“Only have the one thing you REALLY love that’s REALLY special, like your Aunt Trudy’s homemade pumpkin chocolate butterfly unicorn rainbow pie.”

“Have one half-portion of everything, then stop.”

“Eat a sensible meal before you go to a party, then nibble on the crudites.”

Ha.  Okay.  Really?

"Fuck off, I'm eating."

Look, let’s call a spade a spade.  I’m not going to bullshit you.  For the past week I’ve been eating things I normally don’t fit into my every day diet.  I’m fully aware. I think the awareness is important.  I’m cranking up my normal workouts, adding extra cardio (while being mindful of my increasingly deteriorating trick knee), and I’m drinking metric buttloads of water.  I’m also enjoying the cookies, the snacks, the booze, and whatever else is finding its way into my open and welcoming mouth.

"Can I have some more, sir?"

What the fuck, it’s Christmas.  What would Jesus do?

I think he’d eat that oreo truffle cup with a raspberry center.

"OM NOM NOM"--Christ

Christmas is Saturday, then it’s over.  Then you stop. I know that come December 26th, I’ll be journaling everything I eat for at least a month, I’ll be cutting out sugar, and I’ll be chugging water more than I’ll be attending to the job I get paid to do.  My ass will be in every spin and Body Pump class that I can go to without actually being fired at my job for not showing up.

If you really can’t control yourself and need to say no to everything that’s offered to you, say no and move on.  Last year I didn’t have one single Christmas treat.  I stuck to my very strict regimen and I didn’t stray.  I wasn’t in a place where I could make allowances and then get back on track, so I didn’t.  This year I can, so I am.

It’ll all work out in the end.

Until then, pardon me while I inhale this plate of magical sparkle fashion unicorn cakes with powdered sugar and golden crystals.

PWND by the PNW

My trip to the Pacific Northwest was great.  I got to spend five full days with my awesome friend Nicole, who I miss terribly since she moved to Los Angeles, I got to eat lots of good food, I got to see some other delightful friends, and I got to see snow for the first time!

Stoked.

It actually ended up snowing a lot more than in that picture.  It was a winter wonderland, according to Nicole. We were thrilled.

Here’s what happened: Nicole flew in from LA, I flew in from Orlando, we spent two days in Seattle visiting the Seattle Science Center to see the Harry Potter exhibit, seeing the new Harry Potter (!!!) movie at midnight, and hanging out with our friends Leigh and Matt, then we drove to Portland and spent two days there visiting the Japanese Gardens and kind of driving aimlessly around the city, then spent the last day driving from Portland to Seattle mountainside and we saw a shit ton of snow.  It was glorious.

Of course, the food wasn’t bad either.

Chocolatey delight from an awesome Swedish bakery

We were not actually impressed by these cupcakes. They were no Blue Bird Bake Shop cupcakes, that's for sure.

Best freaking breakfast, EVER!

Vegetarian Black Eyed Pea Fritters. I love fritters!

$10 mac n' cheese. Worth it.

Uh, don't worry, we shared.

We had a great time together, then got on our own separate planes to go home on Monday, but my connecting flight could not connect due to bad weather in St. Louis, so I got re-routed to Nashville and was put in a hotel for the night.  I didn’t make it home until yesterday afternoon and during the trip I came down with a nasty sinus infection that has just gotten worse since I got home.

I’ve spent the day in bed drinking Gatorade and eating Amy’s vegetable soup with Ritz crackers.  My head is pounding. I was supposed to drive down to South Florida for Thanksgiving tonight, but I’m going to stay home and head out tomorrow.  Gotta eat my Thanksgiving dinner.

I had a great time in the PNW, even though the weather totally pwnd me, and I’m looking forward to the holiday, but I kind of can’t wait to get back to my regular workouts and regular eating.  It can’t be a coincidence that my health went to shit when I took a short break from being so consistently awesome.

Hanging around in the snow probably didn't help either, huh?

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Working It Out: Repositioning After a Vacation

I like Atlanta in November.

I like the city, I like the culture, I like the changing leaves on the trees,  and I like the music scene.  I like it all. But I mostly like the food.

From Ria's Blue Bird

And I ate those pancakes.

From the Atlanta Cupcake Factory

There’s a lot of delicious food to be eaten in Atlanta and those photos are just a sampling.  In the three days we spent in Atlanta, we ate all kinds of goodies, including fresh pasta, pumpkin pancakes, big ol’ burritos, midnight diner grub, and those lovely cupcakes.  There may have also been a Cracker Barrel stop on the drive up and a (ugh) Chili’s stop on the drive back down.

By the time I got home last night, I felt weiiiiiiiiiiiggggghhhhhed down.  I am NOT used to eating so heavy for so many days in a row.  I was a bit nervous when I got on the scale this morning to check the effects of the weekend, and luckily it wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d braced myself for, but I definitely feel like I need a break from all of the hardcore fooding I did this weekend.  Since one of my November goals was to cut back on sugar, I’m starting my Atlanta-food detox by doing a one week sugar ban, inspired by Your Nutritionista’s recent sugar-eschewing challenge.

I’m going to Seattle and Portland next week, then I’m going to eat the fuck out of Thanksgiving dinner, so I’m not going to pretend like I’m going to pull off the full 21-day sugar ban that YN and Body-FM are challenging.  A week-long sugar ban will be a good start for me to reposition myself after my recent trip and to prepare for the upcoming fooding that’s going to happen; I figure if I can cut back a bit on sugar now, I’ll be a lot more careful in the coming weeks.   One week is completely do-able.  It’s on.

This is Day One of the sugar ban.  I had a well-done egg and a whole wheat English muffin for breakfast and for lunch I’m sipping on my very first Green Monster:

Grrrr.

The verdict on the Green Monster: not bad.  Not bad at all.  I can’t say I LOVE it, but I definitely don’t hate it.  I’m going to try to make these for breakfast all week and see if I reap the energy and skin-clearing benefits that other bloggers brag about.  My GM contained:

2 big handfuls of baby spinach

1 tbsp flaxseed

1/2 tbsp wheat germ

5 frozen strawberries

1 banana

1 cup of organic fat free milk.

I did like how it bubbled after being blended, as promised. I love interactive food.  I think I might try to make the next one with an overripe frozen banana for some more (natural) sweetness.  I have a freezer full of them!

I’m also back to the gym after two days off.  I went spinning on Friday morning before we drove out to Atlanta, but Saturday and Sunday were pretty void of movement, since we were too busy eating.  Body Pump and Next Level, here I come!

I’m back on the wagon!