How to Eat a Persian Cucumber

I bought some more persian cucumbers from Vine Ripe. Have I mentioned how awesome these things are? I really don't like "normal cucumbers," but these little babies are to die for.

The best way to eat them is to cut them length wise twice, and then slice them down the middle. Like so:

Then, place them flesh side up in a bowl or on a plate and squeeze half a lemon over them and sprinkle with fresh ground sea salt. This is how you have to eat them. Take my word on this.

AMAZING!!!

Alongside them, I had some leftover stuffed pepper filling and some kidney beans for protein. This was lunch yesterday. I played Sudoku while I ate. I love that puzzle!

For dinner, I made chicken drumsticks in the crockpot. This was a simple dish. I threw in the drumsticks and added some light ceasar dressing. They cooked on low for 6 hours. I served them with a salad and green beans.

I swear anything coming out of the crockpot looks scary. Is it just me? :)

**Silly Survey**

(Random) Do You Own Survey

Do you own...
   a crockpot?
   a toaster?
   a riding lawn mower?
   a car?
   a house?
   a tea kettle?
   a grill?
   a shower cap?

Tootles!
  

The Thing About Pot Roast Is...

It tastes a whole lot better than it looks.

So, I'm trying to clean out the majority of our food before we move. (We hate moving food.) We move April 10, which might seem like a long way off, but will be here before we know it. So, I threw together this meat and potatoes dish.

Red potatoes in my crockpot.

Pork Roast on Sale!

1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup!

(No water - my crockpot creations are always too watery.)

Tada! We added half of a red onion one hour before serving.

My friend JGago is meeting me at 8am, because we're going to Torrey Pines to hike. It's one of the most beautiful places in San Diego, so I'm looking forward to getting some amazing photos. I will be sure to post them for you guys to enjoy the Cali sunshine.

***Silly Survey***

How many colleges did you attend?

What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now?
If you didn’t have to work, would you volunteer?
What’s your drink?
Favorite 80’s movie?
Do you like these surveys as much as I do?

(my answers below)


Tootles!!!

Pot Roast & A Baby Shower

Meet Baby Lily...

Actually, that's my friend Amanda, but Lily is in her tummy.

I've been meaning to update you guys with pictures from the baby shower I went to this weekend. I took so many pictures, it was a daunting task to go through them.

I arrived a couple hours early to help Autumn in the kitchen and with decorating. She was very frazzled, but it turned out completely awesome.

Autumn

I helped her make cupcakes, iced cookies and cupcakes, and helped set up the table. We also served carrots, crackers, dip, mimosas, and plain OJ.

I brought good old fashioned pigs in a blanket to round out the fare. I used little beef sausages, because I don't eat beef. Otherwise, these would have been a downfall for me.

We also made dirt pudding. The flowers weren't edible, but everything else was. :)

For some reason, we had Mandy serving the dirt pudding. lol...

We played a game where we had to draw a baby's face on a paper plate on top of our heads. I won the contest for Worst Baby Drawing. I'm already a really bad artist.  I think I could have won it even without it being on my head.

It looks like a butt. Butt face baby.

My fabulous friend Kirsten and her plate.

Then, came lots and lots of presents. We gave her mostly clothes, because Amanda actually lives in Fairfax, VA. She moved last summer to join her hubby there for a job. Boo. :( I miss her!

"Love for Life"

I found pink Carebears stuff!!

The whole gang:

It was so much fun! Now, I can't wait to meet little Lily. She's due May 28!

Oh ya, this is a food blog..................................

Tonight, I brought out the crockpot because I found boneless pork ribs on the clearance rack at Vons. Yum-O!

My crockpot roast included:

- boneless pork ribs (clearance!)

- yukon gold potatoes

- red potatoes

- can of cream of mushroom soup

- water

- chopped fresh mushrooms (thrown in for the last 45 minutes)

Tonight, I have bookclub. We'll be discussing Isabelle Allende's Daughter of Fortune. LOVED this book. Going to go chill with hubby before I have to leave. xoxo

Do you enjoy baby showers? Do most of your friends have kids?

Comfort Food: Celery Chicken (Minus the Celery)

This dish is an ode to my Moma...

Growing up, my mom made this AMAZING dish I called Celery Chicken. She doesn't really "name" things or use recipes. I guess that's where I get my "throw a bunch of stuff in a pot" mentality towards cooking. :)

Yes, you've seen this picture a million times, but I don't see her very often, so you take

what you can get. :)

I'm going to include her recipe for Celery Chicken here because it's FANTASTIC. It isn't, unfortunately, a light recipe. I've lightened it up alot for my version.

Moma Flagg's Celery Chicken

- 1 Whole Cut-up Chicken

- 2 Cups flour

- 2 Eggs

- 6-8 Idaho potatoes, quartered

- 1 bag baby carrots

- 3 cans Cream of Celery Soup

- 2 Cups Milk

- 1 (Soup) Can of Water

- Salt and Pepper to taste

- Vegetable oil for cooking.

Directions

Beat two eggs in a medium sized bowl, and add in 1 cup of milk. On wax paper, pour 2 cups flour (salt and pepper the flour if desired). Dip raw chicken into egg-milk mixture and coat with flour. Fry chicken in hot oil until done.

In a (large) crockpot, put in cut-up potatoes, fried chicken pieces, soup, remaining milk, and a can of water into the crockpot. Cook on high for 2-3 hours, add in baby carrots and cook for 1-2 more hours. You will know it's done when the vegetables are tender. 

*Note, she sometimes used celery pieces in there too. Add with carrots.

This dish was ALWAYS served with cornbread. (My family is from Kentucky. It's what we do.)

Serves: An Entire Family for a Couple Days!!! :D

My version is healthier and simpler, but definitely nowhere near as tasty.

Adapted Celery Chicken

- 6-8 Chicken Tenderloins (frozen)

- 6 Small potatoes, halved

- 2 Cans Cream of Celery (although I used Cream o' Chicken tonight, thus No Celery)

- 2 Cans water

- Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Throw it all in a crockpot on high for 5 hours. (See me do this here.) 

Done! :)

The most important thing is to put the corn muffin on the bottom of your bowl to soak up all the juicy goodness.

Like so...

This is Comfort Food with a capital C. Even though my "healthy" version doesn't taste the same, the smells and flavors take me back to her kitchen, and I love it.

Okay... entirely off the topic of food, but guess what? So, I'm making the corn muffins and I get this call. This lady says she's from a market research company, and our electric company has commissioned a round table to get opinions from users. My name came up on their list, and she wanted to see if I'd be interested. The first thing that comes to my lips is a BIG FAT NO, but then she says, we'll pay you $100 and it will only take two hours. I'm sorry, what? You'll pay me $50/hour to give you my opinion on my usage of electricity? Um... YES.

And, it was totally legit. Who knew? Have you ever heard of that before? Why am I not a professional opinion-giver?!?

Ha! It's on March 4. I'll be sure to tell you all about my professional opinion-giving experience. :D

Okay, done for the night. Off to work on some editing and then go night night. All that flopping around like a fish today wore me out.

Is there a traditional family dish you've re-tooled to fit into your healthy lifestyle?  

Leftover Walnut Gorgonzola: The Best Lunch EVER

I have a love affair with leftovers if you haven't noticed...

Today was an extremely productive day. I kicked it off with a typical PB&J Ezekiel.

Yes, I had breakfast in bed again. I didn't really have much down time this weekend, so I spent the morning snuggled under the covers while I worked. Sometimes, that can be just as productive.

I had a snack around 10:30. Pretzels, a cheesestick, and yogurt.

This really stuck with me. I didn't end up eating lunch until 1pm. I had the leftovers from Alexander's.

I added some parmesan after this picture, and it was so pretty, I snapped another one for you.

I really wish I had leftovers from last night's Tempeh Shepherd's Pie. That was the stuff that foodie dreams are made of.

I had intended to made a crockpot dinner for tonight because I have class until 6:45, but it's 4pm. I'm fairly certain nothing is going to be able to cook in like 3 hours. So... dinner is up in the air. Stay tuned!

What is your favorite crockpot recipe? Post it here. I'm sure all the readers will be very grateful! I'll use the crockpot this week, and I'll post one then.