For my heart...

For today's post, I wanted to stick to the Feb. theme for NaBloPoMo, which is Love & Sex.  But, I couldn't really pull a post together that was worth reading.  Or, at least Rated PG. ;-)

So, I thought instead I would completely bore the hell out of you.  Well, I can kinda make it fit the theme, as it has to do with my heart.  My heart's health, actually.

I took a little trip to Sam's Club this afternoon, with a very short list in mind.  Basically, my list was "produce, cream, lunchmeat."  Easy peasy, right?

Well, somehow, I managed to fill a cart, as always!  But, I DID stick to my list.

I love the prepackaged lunchmeat at Sam's.  I believe the brand is Castlewood.  There are always containers of it in our fridge.  It's really convenient for us, now that we're all on a no/low carb kick.  I always get angus roast beef, as that's Stud's favorite.  I also always get angus corned beef, as it's Monkey's favorite.  As a matter of fact, here's a cute picture of her from last week, stuffing it in her face with both hands!!

The plate has tomatoes (her favorite!!) and chicken sausage on it.  She wasn't diggin' the sausage very much, which is why I had to go with the sure thing - corned beef!

Anyway, back to our lunchmeat.  (Hey, I WARNED you this was a boring post!)  I usually get some black forest ham, cuz that's what Magnum and I like.  Then I usually get one more container, whatever looks good that day.  Well today, it was oven-roasted turkey AND buffalo chicken.  Oh, YUM!  I tried the buffalo chicken about 6 months ago, when it first came out.  It was some kind of seasonal special or something.  At the time, I also bought giant burrito-sized tortillas, and then made wraps with the chicken.  I put down lettuce and tomato, then the chicken, which I then smothered in Frank's hot sauce.  I then added some crumbled bleu cheese, and rolled the whole thing up.  OMG, my mouth is watering just thinking about that!!

I've been DYING for that chicken ever since, but they never had it again.  Well, that is until about 2 weeks ago.  The package says "specialty flavor," so I hope that doesn't mean it'll be going away again.  Now, instead of using tortillas, I've been making lettuce wraps, and man, they're just as awesome.  It's my favorite lunch lately.

Ok, what else was on that list?  Oh, yeah, cream.  I actually remembered the half&half for my coffee, as well as a gallon of milk.  I also grabbed a log of goat cheese, some fresh mozzarella and some baby swiss. That just leaves the produce.  Here's where I went a little overboard.  Take a peek.

These are the two kinds of grape tomatoes we like around here.  Last Saturday, I bought one of each, and by Wednesday, they were gone.  Stud likes to eat them like candy, which is fine by me!  I got an extra package this week, which naturally means he won't eat ANY, and I'll be throwing them away by next weekend.

 I picked up a package of avocados, which, let's face it, you can never have enough of, right?  Magnum and I put them in our salad, in our soup, and in our wraps.  I've been known to just split them and eat them with a spoon.

 Last week, I bought a big bag of Anjou pears, since I LOVE pears!  My breakfast almost everyday this week was a pear, diced up, with crumbled goat cheese over it.  YUM!!!  Anyway, turns out, Stud likes pears now, too.  Who knew?!  He worked his way through the bowl all week.  However, every time he would be peeling his pear, he would remark that he wished I had bought apples.  SO, this weekend, I bought both.

 

All three of us have become a bit obsessed with Cuties.  I always buy them at Sam's, but some weeks we run out before I can get back there, so we also pick them up at Aldi.  This week, I bought two bags.  Again, that probably means I'll be throwing some out. >:(

 

Something else I always make sure to have in the house for my Monkey is (duh!) bananas.  Yeah, Stud and Magnum like 'em, too, but I make sure they're here for her.  Don't tell them that.

 

Take a look at my VERY overcrowded island, where all these things are kept.  I should take another picture in about 3 days, so you can see what a dent Stud puts in this spread.

 Now, that's the stuff that doesn't have to go in the fridge.  There's more that DOES have to be kept in the fridge though.  (I TOLD you I went overboard!)

Sam's sells these chopped salad "kits" that Magnum just adores. 

One is an Asian salad, with green cabbage, savoy cabbage, carrots, green onion, cilantro (which is why I don't eat it!) wonton noodles & sliced toasted almonds, along with a sesame ginger slaw dressing.  The dressing is awesome!  I REALLY wish they didn't put cilantro in this mix, because all the rest is awesome!

The other kit is a garden vegetable salad.  It has broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, carrots & crumbled bacon, with a slaw dressing.  I freakin' LOVE this one!!

Another thing I always get is big pack of mixed spring greens.  Magnum basically lives on salad, so this goes pretty quickly.  It's too big of a pack to get two, though, so I usually have to make an Aldi run by the end of the week.  I also grabbed a bag of mini cukes for Stud. 

 I can't wait to use this!  I picked up some peeled, cubed butternut squash. 

 My sister made some last week, and I've been craving it ever since.  She bought a regular squash, though, instead of this conveniently prepared stuff.  One of these is actually for her.  I'm going to toss it with olive oil, fresh cracked pepper and sea salt, then I'm going to roast it in the oven.  I'd REALLY like to make soup, but I'm not sure.  I'm afraid I'll end up making it a little too rich, with butter and cream.  Mmmmm....

Another standard weekly purchase is strawberries.  I took a gamble on these, too, this week and picked up two packs.  These will NOT get thrown out, I guarantee.  Magnum loves strawberries, even more than I do, and we usually bring a bowl of them into the bedroom when we're ready to relax and settle in for the night.  The red grapes next to them are also a weekly purchase.  They're a bit expensive, though, so I stuck to one box for the week.  Between Stud and me, we can eat the whole box in one sitting.  We're gluttons.

I somehow missed taking a picture of the mushrooms I bought.  Every week, I bring home two big boxes of sliced white mushrooms.  Stud LOVES mushrooms.  The other night, I made both boxes, sauteed in olive oil and garlic, then covered in a yummy layer of melted Havarti cheese.  How many times can I type YUM today?!  Stud ate about 90% of it.  I'm lucky I got to taste them.

And there you go!  If you're still here, you really are a glutton for punishment.  Speaking of gluttons, I think I'm ready to go wash some grapes and strawberries, and retire to my warm and cozy bed. 

Night, night, my bloggy buddies!!

Random Crap

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I just made a major "camera dump" on my 'puter, so I'm warning you now, there are several random, and quite frankly, stupid, posts coming. Thanks to dear 8lb 6oz, newborn infant Jesus, we have a three-day weekend this weekend. Monday is Casimir Pulaski Day here in Chitown. So, that means I'll have lots of time to ramble on and on about crap you really don't care about. Aren't you excited!?

I guess I'll ramble in reverse order. Tuesday night, my Aunt Lu (my mom's one remaining sister) was rushed to the hospital. Long story short, she had another heart attack. They did an angioplasty yesterday afternoon. She'll need to go back in 2 weeks to have several more stents put in, but for now, she'll be released tomorrow. If you're the praying kind, please send one her way.

My aunt had her first major heart attack 22 years ago. She hadn't been feeling well, so her doctor scheduled a stress test. About 10 seconds into it, she collapsed and coded. She literally dropped dead on the treadmill. Thankfully, she was already in the hospital, and they were able to instantly shock her back to life. She ended up having a triple by-pass that night. She's had a few stents put in since then, as well. I really wish she would take better care of herself. But, I don't want to digress into a rant about the subject, so I'm moving on...

Monday, after school, Stud and I made a Sam's Club run. I really went because I needed, ok, wanted, to get a new TV for my kitchen. I'll tell you about that later. What I wanted to tell you about right now is the BIG find I made. As I was strolling down the appliance aisle, trying to figure out where I could put a THIRD kitchen in my house so I could fill it with several of the beautiful items I was looking at, I came upon the crockpot section. Last week I looked at crockpots at Walmart, but they were out of the one I wanted. It's not like I NEED another crockpot, so I figured I check again on my next trip. Well, here they were at Sam's, calling my name. As I was looking at the really pretty, new model on the shelf, I spied this little cutie:
It was just sitting there, all by it's lonesome, the only one of it's kind. It's actually the one I wanted at Walmart! The 'new' model has a rectangular base, and actually has a smaller pot. (6 qt vs. 6 1/2 qt)

Anyway, when I went to take a closer look, I saw this:Ok, big deal, the box is ripped a little. I can deal with that. What I was actually thinking was, "Score! It must be marked down!" It didn't have a price tag on it, so I figured I'd just take it to the register and have them scan it.

Well, I gotta tell ya, I nearly wet myself when the cashier scanned this little puppy! You ready? It was.........................................$7.01!!! Oh, hell YEAH it was! SEVEN DOLLARS?! Hell, I could use it once and throw it away! Ok, I would never do that, but you know what I mean. The whole time I was shopping, I was telling myself all the reasons I did NOT need another crockpot. The main reason being - I already have 7 of them!!!

No, that's NOT a typo. I have my 'main' crockpot that I use all the time. It's almost exactly like this one, except the base matches the decor of my kitchen (basically a Tuscan/olive theme), and the crock is green. However, because I use it so much, the pot has developed hairline cracks all over the place. So far, it hasn't really been an issue, and it doesn't leak or anything, but I figure it's only a matter of time before I can't use it anymore, right?

I have two VERY old crockpot. One was my mom's, and one my ex-brother-in-law gave me when I got married. It had been his from his first marriage. The two are exactly the same. Like I said, they're old. They have non-removable pots, that are tall and narrow, instead of the newer, oval-shaped, wide, squat removable, dishwasher-safe pots.

Pots 4 & 5 are probably technically one item, as they're in my double crockpot. Pot 6 is a Little Dipper, which is more for dips, but still. Crockpot #7 is a small 2 qt. pot that I acquired around the holidays, for $7.99 at Aldi. (another deal I could NOT pass up!)

So, now I've made it abundantly clear that I'm a big, crockpot-addicted loser, huh? Oh well, I don't care. I seriously use all 7 of them, so nah-nee nah-nee, boo boo! I can't wait to use my new one! Oh, and the best part is, it matches all my other 'new toys' in my kitchen that are black and stainless. tee hee!

This yumminess is what I made for dinner tonight. Ok, the photo doesn't look all that yummy, does it? Trust me, it was the bomb!It was a little something I came up with during my Sam's trip. I love their tri-colored 3-cheese tortellini. The real inspiration for this dish was the package of freshly-shelled English peas I picked up. I immediately wanted to put the two of them together, in a delicious, creamy sauce. I was NOT disappointed!

I sauteed some finely diced onions in butter until they were soft and translucent. I seasoned them well with salt and pepper. I added about a cup of half-and-half (I really wanted to use heavy cream, but I was trying to keep the fat down a bit) and an 8oz brick of lite cream cheese that I diced up. I whisked that until the cheese melted. I added a little of the boiling pasta water to thin things out a bit, and stirred in about 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. I turned it down to a low simmer while the tortellini was cooking. During the last 3 minutes of cooking time on the pasta, I tossed the peas into the water. I used a slotted spoon to remove the pasta and peas from the water, and put them into the saucepan. I added a bit more black pepper (the more the better, as far as I'm concerned!) and another sprinkling of Parmesan, and mixed everything together. I ended up adding about another cup of the hot pasta water, about 1/4 cup at a time, to the saucepan because it was a bit too thick.

I realize this is far from gourmet cooking, but oh my hell, it was good!! I'm already thinking about what I'm going to add/change the next time I make it. Luckily, both the peas and the pasta are sold in 2-packs. Woo hoo! I think I'm going to fry up a little diced bacon or pancetta with the onions next time. I also thought about throwing in some sliced mushrooms. Anyone wanna come over next week for dinner?