Baked sweet potato fries

You know that moment when you open your car door after it has been parked in the sun for an hour?  You know what I’m talking about, when you feel like getting in your oven would be better than getting in your driver’s seat.  Or what about how you start sweating buckets the moment you make it out your front door and realize that deodorant should have left home with you today.  Maybe I’m the only one.

Fun in the sun

In any case, summer is here for real, folks.  The upside is that we are now able to enjoy days by the pool, fruity drinks with umbrellas (right, like we waited for summer), and vacations to the beach.  Additionally, I am officially DONE with grad school and can now say I earned a Master’s degree in mental health clinical counseling.  I am still job hunting but have not come across the right position for me yet.  In the meantime, I continue evaluating my skills (counseling skills, cooking skills, nun-chuck skills) and remain open minded about my career path.  Things have taken an interesting turn recently.

Mom and Stuffed Husband

Yesterday I interviewed for and was offered a position as a personal fitness trainer at a local New Orleans gym.  This is outside my experience area but I also find myself quite passionate about this career move.  For the next day or so I’ll be mulling it over, praying, and weighing my options.

baked sweet potato fries

Job chatter aside, let’s cook some yummy grub!  One of my all-time favorite foods are French fries.  I LOVE them. I love them alone. I love them with ketchup. I love them with CHEESE. I love them with MORE CHEESE.  And, I love them with CHEESE and Jalapeños.  Who doesn’t?  OFF WITH YOUR HEAD.

Baked sweet potato fries are a doable substitute when you are craving a yummy fry but trying to make up for your late-night sins of beer and pizza.  It happens.  Baking the fries saves a number of calories and makes clean up a little easier.  Here’s what you’ll need:

• two large sweet potatoes (one potato per person usually makes more than enough)
• 1 tsp of olive oil per potato
• salt, pepper, or seasonings of your liking
• aluminum foil to line your baking sheet for easier clean up

First, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Wash your potatoes and slice them up into 1/2 to 3/4 inch slices.

Toss them in olive oil and seasonings in a bowl.  Then lay out on your baking sheet so they are not touching.

Pop them in the oven for 20 minutes.  Do not open the stove during this time.  It ensures a better fry, I promise.  After 20 minutes, remove the fries from the oven and turn each over so we can cook the other side evenly.

Follow by putting them back in the oven for 10 more minutes.  NO opening the oven.  Don’t do it.  You’ll ruin everything. Ok, not everything but I promise it will be worth it when you bite into the perfect fry.

Then just serve them up with a yummy burger, some grilled chicken, or just all by themselves.  Hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Dig in!

I will keep you all posted on my career decision as things move along.  Thanks for all your support!

Peace, love, and big girl decisions,

~The Hungry Wife

Black Bean Soup. Arriba!

Something about bean soup just makes sense.  It’s a comfort food for me.  After watching the horrible news unfold about the Tornados that hit Moore, Oklahoma, I knew I needed soup.

This soup is both easy to make and VERY tasty.  It’s great for a meat-free Monday menu but you can absolutely add some bacon for added kick.  I top mine with homemade Pico De Gallo, shredded cheddar, light sour cream, and toasted corn tortilla.  You can’t go wrong. 

Here is what you’ll need:

• 3 cans of creamed black beans (16 oz. each)
• 1 cup of fresh salsa (I use the store bought kind in the refrigerator)
• half  yellow onion (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 2 cups of water or chicken stock
• Toppings of your choice (tortilla chips, pico de gallo, shredded cheddar, sour cream, avocado)

To start, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Toss in onion and salsa, let simmer about three minutes.  

Add in all three cans of black beans and 1 cup of water.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce head and let simmer for 10 minutes, pouring in the rest of the water gradually and stirring.  You can use more water for a thinner consistency or less water for a thicker soup.  It’s a matter of preference.  If you can not find creamed black beans, you can mash regular beans once heated to make the creamy soup.

That’s it!  Peace o’ cake.  Then just pour and top.  Enjoy!

I certainly enjoyed this soup today, as did Stuffed Husband.  However, our hearts are still heavy for those affected by Monday’s tornados. While we do not always understand why things happen, we can pray for those in their hour of need.  Our hearts are with you Oklahoma.

 

Peace, love, and praying for Oklahoma,

The Hungry Wife

 

 

Pacing with pals and roasted veggie penance.

Some days I have great ideas for a post, I gather and edit pictures, and then sit  at the computer with coffee and a purpose.  Two hours later I completed nothing…except for three games of Murder, She Wrote (yes, this actually exists).  God help me if it isn’t one of the most addicting games for the computer.  In any case, I am well intended but easily distracted thus I haven’t posted here in far too long.

Last month Stuffed Husband and I participated in the Crescent City Classic 10K for our first time ever!  This race is one of  the biggest races (possibly THE largest) in New Orleans.  This year was the 35th anniversary in fact.  We really enjoyed sharing this race with two of our favorite running buddies.

Scooter and JenJen

One of the most wonderful parts of racing is building a community of running pals.  Stuffed Husband and I are lucky enough to have friends like this.  Scooter and JenJen are two of our favorite friends to celebrate holidays and milestones with so it makes sense that we would enjoy racing and post-race celebrating with them.

Pacing buddies.

Often we splurge after races.  When I say splurge I’m not talking an extra serving of a light meal or just indulging in dessert.  Nope.  We go all the way.  I’m talking cheesy tater tots, fried catfish, beers, and MORE beers.

Matt double-fisting it!

Naturally, I have to work on balancing out my post-race gorge fests with lighter fair as the weekend goes on.  Next time you need to lighten things up to pay for your dietary sins, try tossing veggies in olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Pop them in the oven for 20 minutes at 450 degrees.  Divine, I tell you!  

Roasted Veggies

Roasted vegetables are great as a side, with whole wheat pasta, in a wrap, or on a salad.  So much flavor and SO little guilt.  Here’s how I topped off a salad with mine.

Salad with roasted veggies, Tempeh, and roasted tomato.

Do you have a quick recipe you use when you need to lighten up your next meal? I would love to hear about it!  Maybe you have a pacing buddy who you love to indulge with?  Tell me your favorite part of having a friend to put away miles with or why you prefer to run alone.

Peace, love, and pacing pals,

~The Hungry Wife

Fuel for the distance: Three Bean Chili

Lately I’ve been really enjoying my outdoor runs.  Some mornings it is still pretty chilly out around these parts.  In fact I’ve had to go as far as wearing a hat and gloves on the mornings we have had a “hard” freeze.  Whatever that means.  Luckily Stuffed Husband is quite the motivator and was willing to take the run with me.  He’s just selfless like that.  Well, selfless and competitive.

Saturday Speedwork

Anyway, I’ve found that refueling after these bitter cold runs can be tricky.  My body wants something hearty and warm.  Naturally, I turned to chili.  Interesting, I wanted chili when I was feeling chilly.  hah.  Oh no, I’m developing my father’s sense of humor…AKA cheesy. This three bean chili was ridiculous easy and made SO MUCH friggin’ chili that I had to freeze half of it.  I suggest halving the recipe if your family is small like ours.  The recipe can be found here.

3 bean chili

I forgot to take a picture of the chili after I added the corn.  In the future, I would probably leave the corn out anyway.  It seemed unnecessary given that I made cornbread to eat with it.  Too much corn is well…too much.  The recipe is easy as pie to follow.  Just buy a bunch of cans of stuff and a packet of chili mix.

Cans O’ Stuff

Chop up some onions and garlic.  Try not to cry uncontrollably.  I did.

chop chop chop

Dump it all in your slow cooker and set it on high for 3 hours, then go for a run.  The running part is an essential part of the recipe.  If you don’t run, you’ll just never get that homemade chili taste just right.  No really!  Would I ever lie to you? 😉

Slow cookers are awesome.

Serve up a bowl after a nice long run.  Maybe top it with a little cheese and/or corn chips.  I served mine with cheese and a side of cornbread.  Definitely hit the spot!  Not only is this recipe crazy easy, but the health benefits are undeniable.  Plenty of protein and fiber from the beans and a serving of vegetables in the diced tomato, corn, onion, and garlic.  Good stuff!  Stuffed husband even used the chili later in the week to make tacos with!  Brain and brawn with that guy.

Stuffed Husband

Do you have a go-to recipe you rely on for recovery after a long hard work out?  I’d love to hear about it.  Share your recipe with me in the comment section below or post a link I can follow.

Peace, Love, and Foodie Fuel~

The Hungry Wife

Tasty Chickpea and Avocado Tacos

Almost 10 months ago I made the personal decision to stop eating meat.  Stuffed Husband was supportive of my decision, as he always is, but made the personal decision for himself to not give up meat  He has a thing for bacon…and ribs…and pulled pork…and flank stank.  I completely respect his decision to continue to eat meat as I still go weak in the knees at the smell of bacon.  For me, choosing not to eat meat had to do with my sensitivity to seeing animals mistreated and total shock when I learned about the types of hormones and genetic engineering used by major producers of meat in the United States.  But enough of that, I’ll get down from this soapbox now.

Chickpea and Avocado Tacos

Often I try new recipes in hopes of finding foods that can satisfy my flavorful cravings.  I stumbled across this recipe while reading Redbook magazine in my dentist’s waiting room.  I also stumbled upon a brilliant workout plan from Gwyneth Paltrow in that same catalogue.  Naturally I only retained the recipe.  For the full recipe, click here!

This recipe was ridiculously quick, easy, and pretty healthy to boot.  When I wasn’t looking, Stuffed Husband stole a bite and then gave himself away when he told me it was surprisingly tasty.  Now let me be clear, chickpeas will NEVER be flavorful in the way meat is.  Just isn’t going to happen.  However, these chickpeas do have delicious flavor and are full of fiber and protein, so that’s pretty exciting.  To take the yum factor to the next level I baked several corn tortillas in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 1o minutes.  This way you avoid the fat gained when frying them AND you still get that satisfying crunch.

In my last post I offered a challenge to get active.  While I am addicted to running, I am also trying to integrate other activities to give my body a break from the wear and tear running can do to my body.  My goal is to fit in at least one or two body pump classes or a bootcamp or two.  I would love to get some inspiration from your active life.  Let me know how you are getting physical this week by commenting on this post.  

It looks like that guy I married could use a little motivation to move as well.  We’re all a work in progress.

Peace, love, and lazy sundays,

The Hungry Wife

Spaghetti with meatballs

Sometimes Dinner in our house looks like this

Hot Cheese Steak Sandwich

Sometimes it looks like this.

Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce

Then there are days it looks a little more like this.  Mhmm, that’s right.

Molten Chocolate Chip with Whip

 

A few nights back I had a pound of ground beef in my fridge and a taste for Italian fare in my heart.  Here’s what dinner looked like on that particular night.

It'sa pasta with a' meatballah. (Read like Luigi)

 

Meatballs are a fun and easy way to make boring ground beef a little more exciting.  It also effectively covers all bases for the hubs: Meat=beef, carb=pasta, and veggie=tomatos in red sauce.  Ok, so I’m stretching it a little with the vegetable but hey, who’s going to stop me?!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 package angel hair pasta, cooked al dente
• 1 20 oz jar of your favorite red sauce
• 1/4 cup of red wine
• 1 small yellow or white onion
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 egg
• 1 cup of breadcrumbs
• salt
• pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• Shredded parmesan, mozzarella, or provolone to top.

Instructions:

1. Start by dicing up your onions into 1/4 inch pieces.  Next, finely dice the cloves of garlic. 
2. Place half the onions and half the garlic into a large mixing bowl.  Add the ground beef, egg, breadcrumbs, and seasoning.  Mix together using your hands.
3. Place a large skillet on the stove over low heat.  Add olive oil and remaining onions and garlic.  Cook for 3-5 minutes or until translucent.
4. While onions and garlic cook down, divide beef mixture into 6 equal pieces and roll into balls using both hands. 
5. Once onions and garlic have cooked down, add meatballs to the skillet and allow to brown for 3 minutes.  Turn meatballs over to allow for even browning.
6. Next, pour red sauce and red wine over meatballs in skillet and increase heat to medium high.  Once sauce begins to boil, lower to a simmer and cover with a lid.  Let cook covered for 20 minutes.
7. Serve meatballs and red sauce over warm pasta.  While still hot, top with cheese.
8. Enjoy!

Peace, love, and piping hot meatballs~

The Hungry Wife

 

Playing hookie…sort of.

I have a midterm exam today.  Let me repeat, I have a midterm exam TODAY.  This is my way of convincing myself to stay focused and study, study, study.  But in the meantime, why not blog about my latest means of procrastination, reading food blogs?!  Also, did I tell you I am now a “Featured Foodie” on RecipeLion???  Check it out.  It’s like, totally awesome.

After my trip to the International Food Bloggers Conference this past August, I was approached by a fellow blogger about the possibility of publishing with RecipeLion.  100 emails and 5 brownies later, I’m a published wanna-be cook!  Miracles still happen!  Do me a favor???  Take a look at my page.  Tell me what you think. Bake me a brownie.  Ok, I’ll settle for your two cents on my page but if you have extra oreo that would be great too.  Yes, I have chocolate on my mind at 7:52 in the morning.  Lay off.

And just because I love you more than marshmallow puff in a jar at midnight, here’s a list of a few dishes that caught my eye this week.

1. chocolate chip toffee bars.  because as you know, chocolate is my weekness.

chocolate chip toffee bars

2. Cajun chicken pasta.  Noodles and spicy chicken. I mean, duh!

Cajun Chicken Pasta

 3. Slow cooker apple butter. An absolute must for fall.

Apple Butter

 4. Texas Chili.  A meal to warm your bones.  I love one pot meals!

texas-chili

5. Biscuits and Sausage Gravy.  A perfect morning demands sausage gravy.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

And just because I am so willing to put off studying to spend time with you (aka procrastination)…here’s another picture of those rotten little pups I love to cuddle with.

Peace, Love, and Publishing like a big girl~

The Hungry Wife

Cabin fever may cause weight gain…

A few weekends back the Gulf Coast area had a little visitor named Lee.  He was slated to visit for a few days but turned out to be more of a passer-by.  That’s a good thing considering HE was an IT, a tropical storm IT.

The impending bad weather had me stuck in doors sucking my thumb and praying for the thunder to pass.  I am not made for storm-like weather.  In fact, Chloe-girl and Bella-Bug deal better with bad weather than this puppy momma.  Honest to God.

Bella-bug bothered during a nap.

Chloe-girl begging to fetch...again, and again, and...

Once I realized the storm wasn’t going to rip the roof off of our little home or cause waters to rise up to the second-story, I decided to do what I do best…EAT.  In the mood for something sweet, I decided to bake up some Peanut Butter cookies.  I already had everything I needed and the will/craving to make something worth the calories of consumption.

Here’s what you will need:

• 1/3 cup of butter
• 1 heaping tablespoon of peanut butter
• 1/2 cup of brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup of all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup of cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F.  In a mixer, if you have one because your husband loves you, you won one, or you inherited one from your Aunt Sally, cream the softened butter, peanut butter and sugars.  Make it fluffy.  Why? Because I said so.  Hey, it worked for my mom.

P.S. if you’re not a peanut butter person, replace the p.b. with regular old heaven-sent buttah.  God would allow it, I’m sure.

Once mixed, add in the egg and vanilla extract.  MIX MIX MIX. Do it now!  I’m feeling very drill sergeant today.  It must be a case of the Mondays.

In a separate bowl your husband cleaned for you because he’s a saint, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  If you are too lazy to sift, much like myself, just mix it together well with a wooden spoon.  Baking is a place where skipping silly steps like sifting should be allowed.  Why? Because I said so darn it.  Sheesh.

Next, add the dry ingredients to your mixer in intervals until both are completely combined.

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.  WHY?  Because I…oh you know.  Plus this makes cleaning up as easy as asking your husband to clean up the kitchen, ahem, I mean as easy as one, two, three.  Grease the aluminum foil and drop 1 inch scoops onto your tray with adequate space to bake.

Pop your sheet into the over for 8-10 minutes.  Anything longer will make the cookies crisp instead of chewy.  Trust me, you want chewy.  You need chewy. MUST. HAVE. CHEEWWWYYY.

This was the perfect treat to keep my mind off the impending doom lurking outside my window.  It also made stuffed husband very happy.  Very, very happy.  When he’s happy, we’re all happy.

I apologize for the lack of pics in the recipe.  The weather outside made lighting an issue.  I think you can handle this one without the pictures anyway.  You’ve come such a long way.  We both have.

Thanks for stopping in today.  I’ve got a Tandoori chicken recipe in the works that will make you sing Hallelujah.  Coming soon!

Happy Monday Ya’ll!

Peace, love, and peanut butter goodness-

The Hungry Wife

Spicy Corn Chowder makes it alright…

Sometimes the stars align, the planets take their marks, and all is right in my kitchen.  It is rare I can admit, just like the urge to do laundry is rare (meaning basically NEVER).  This past Saturday evening was one of those rare moments in history in which I had every necessary ingredient for that recipe that kept popping up in my mind.  Does that ever happen to you?  Is it just me?  I get horribly tacky 80’s pop songs and recipes stuck in my head.  The only cure?  A little more cowbell.

This recipe is basically as simple as pulling lint from your belly button.  That’s pretty dern easy.  Here’s what you’ll need:

• 4 slices Bacon, Cut Into 1/2-inch Pieces (or Smaller)
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Yellow Onion, Diced
• 4 cups corn (frozen, canned, whatever you like)
• 2 whole Chipotle Peppers In Adobo Sauce, Finely Diced
• 1 whole 4-ounce Can Diced Green Chilies
• 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 1-1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt (more To Taste)
• 3 Tablespoons Corn Meal OR Masa
• 1/4 cup Water

Heat a large pot (I used a dutch oven because it was a. clean and b. pretty) to medium high heat.  Throw some chopped bacon in for a few minutes.  Breathe in the beauty that is bacon.  I’d wear it as a fragrance if I didn’t think stuffed husband might bite me.  Follow this with your onion.

The smell will make you swoon.  Let the onions cook down for about three to four minutes.  You want them slightly translucent.  Add your buttah, let it melt.

Stir in your corn.

Let this cook for a minute or so.  Then drop in your chilis.  Mmmm.  HEAT

Give it a stir.

Pour in chicken broth.

Then add your cream (I used half and half.  I had ALMOST everything I needed).

Stir it up, little darlin, stir it up.  Add salt to taste here. Turn up the heat and bring this to a rolling boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer. 

Next, mix some corn meal with water in a separate dish.

Dump and mix this into your beautiful bowl of blissful soup.

Finally, cover and cook over low heat for fifteen to twenty minutes.

No peeking!  I had to keep stuffed Husband away by beating him with a plastic spoon.  No wonder mothers use these to threaten their children to behave.

Serve this up with a sprinkling of cheese on top.  Enjoy!

Absolutely to-die-for.  The best part was that I had enough left over to take care of Sunday dinner.  Brilliant.

Give this soup a try.  If you like heat, and I sure do, you will LOVE this soup.

Peace, love, and pipin’ hot soup ~

The Hungry Wife

I can feel it in the air

There’s so much I need to tell you.  Let’s keep this simple:

1.  I know this post comes late.  My life is a revolving door of deadlines, dogs, and drama, minus the drama.  Unless you count puppy puke as drama.

2. My best friend is coming into town.  Did I just segway from puppy puke to bff?  I’m sorry K, Uncle Kaitlin, aka Floorlander, more commonly known as my bff 4 eva.  We’ve got some brilliant plans ahead of us.  I’ll be sure to keep you posted.  Trouble? I think so.  Feel free to suggest recipes/activities to keep us busy over her visit in the comment section.  Thanks! You’re a real doll.

3. Chloegirl is rotten.  I mean, duh.  She pooped on stuffed husband’s side of the bed this week.  Seriously?? I thought we were beyond this.  At least he wasn’t in the bed at the time.

4.  I am so grateful to all of you who take the time to read my sometimes interesting, often self-indulgent posts.  You complete me.  Extra thanks to those who continually motivate me to try new things and new recipes.  My stomach and my husband’s stomach thank you sincerely from the bottom of our…stomachs??

Best day of my life...so far.

5.  You know me by now.  I am the poster-child for procrastination.  If it can be put off…it will be.  In any case, I promised to announce a winner of the scentsy (aka best smelling stuff on earth) contest by this Friday.  After much deliberation and conversations with myself via inner monologue I chose…insert drumroll here…

LONNA CROW:   “Well I am a sucker for cinnamon…but hubby likes vanilla so that usually wins at our house…so far my very favorite is Yankee Candles Home Sweet Home…delish!  makes me feel all warm and cozy just thinking about it…and a little weepy…its been a long time since I have bought a $30 anything with 2 babies under 2 (except boxes of diapers) 🙂 much less a candle…oh well”

Lonna, email your address to melodyb08@gmail.com and I’ll get it out to you as soon as I can!!  CONGRATS and ENJOY!!!  I sure love mine!

I know you take the time to stop and read my posts.  Thanks for that.  It cuts back on the amount of time I spend talking solely to myself or running Stuffed Husband’s ears.  He’s a Saint but even Saints need a break every beer or so.  Yes, you read beer.   I measure my breaks in beer on Friday nights.  It’s been that kind of week.

Peace, love, and past-my-bedtimes-posts~

The Hungry Wife