Summer Tartar Sauce and vegetarian fish sandwiches

My husband and I both came home from work exhausted so we made Gardein Fishless filets into sandwiches on Archer Farms take-and-bake baguettes with lettuce, cucumbers and homemade tartar sauce. I also added harissa to mine.

And I updated my tartar sauce recipe to be a tad lower fat, but just as tasty:

Mix, chill & serve...

• almost 3 tablespoons Hellman's light mayo

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• almost 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

• 2 tablespoons Bolthouse Farms cilantro avocado yogurt dressing

• a teaspoon and a half fresh chives

• 2 dill pickle spears, diced very fine

Chicken and Brussel sprout sandwich

I made a dozen or so chicken breasts I bought on clearance yesterday at Target. I baked them in the oven in homemade chicken stock and water.

So for lunch I sliced up two hunks of chicken and sautéed them quickly in extra virgin olive oil and ras el hanout. I sliced about 20 leftover Brussel sprouts in half and tossed them in too.

I made mine into a sandwich with jalapeño mozzarella cheese.

Steak and pepper egg sandwich

My husband suggested cheese steaks for dinner except we didn't have rolls or much cheese...

So we brainstormed and came up with chip steak and three colors of peppers made into an omelette and served on half a bagel with salsa.

We were low on bagels too. 

Disappointment cheesesteaks

We had a snow storm last night that meant schools closed and my husband and I shoveled wet snow for 30 minutes at six a.m. this morning so I could report to duty at Target.

I am cursed-- every time we have a snow storm it is on a day I am scheduled to do cash office. 

Today turned out to be an interesting day. My female issues for this month have hopefully ended, but it was a wild ride that really left me feeling emotionally and physically drained despite constant monitoring of my iron intake.

My passport returned from getting extr pages. Nancy Scott, the blind poet I assist with submitting her work, called to schedule our next date.

At the same time, I received a rejection from the prestigious Ph.D. program I had applied to. That stung. But hey, I'm sure they had stunning candidates from which to chose.

All of this added up to one thing.

CHEESESTEAKS.

I asked hubby to stop in the middle of the snow storm and flash icing to buy me steak meat. He did. Because he's awesome.

I made the steak meat plain so everyone could build their own sandwich.

I fried some tri color peppers and prepared some Archer Farms take-and-bake baguettes. These would be our rolls.

We pulled out various cheeses, sauces, lettuce, and bacon.

And we made a mix of sweet potato fries, steak fries and onion rings. My husband spiked some Yuengling with ginger brandy. 

My daughter made a steak sandwich with cheddar, ranch, bacon and lettuce. Mine featured A1 spicy AND Frank's fiery buffalo wing sauce and spicy gouda.

Evening snack: Hummus Brussel Sprout Wrap

I promised myself I'd eat clean today. I worked hard at the store, did a mild work out and ended up with 800 calories left if I intended to break even. Because I can't lose any more weight.

Yesterday I didn't reach my protein goal so I started today with a spirulina protein shake. Then at 9 a.m. I had breakfast/lunch: a small piece of zaatar bread heaped with very generous amounts of romaine and spring mix, some hummus, a touch of Bulgarian feta, and a little baba ghanouj. 

I punched out of work at 3 pm and got a nonfat unsweetened green tea latte (matcha in skim milk) for a snack/afternoon pick me up. I received a venti, so that means my calcium is in good shape today and the milk adds to my protein count.

Dinner was one serving ham, about a 1/4 cup tropical fruit (see previous blog entry) and about 3/4 cup boxed mac and cheese.

So for my snack I made Brussel sprouts. Put 12 of them in a six inch wrap with 1 ounce spicy gouda, less than 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan and-- get this-- 2 tablespoons hummus. 

It was so good. And I washed it down with a green apple Angry Orchard hard cider.

Turkey spinach meatball

We made a batch of turkey spinach meatballs tonight to serve open-faced on white Italian sliced bread.

I made chicken gravy from my homemade chicken stock to get that soggy white bread comfort food sensation. I made the gravy in the pan I baked the meatballs in. So the dried turkey drippings and chicken stock mixed with some Italian seasoning and a pinch of flour equaled my gravy.

The meatballs were one pack of Jennie-O lean ground turkey, too much garlic powder, about 2 cups raw spinach, parsley, one tablespoon fresh ground pepper, and about three tablespoons ras el hanout.

I wanted 20 meatballs but only got 12. And they were small. And yummy.

Must make double batch next time.

Fall flavors chicken salad

Yesterday, I used my Target pharmacy rewards and did a huge shopping order-- household items, Christmas shopping, clothing and groceries. My fridge and freezer are so full I had to toss a whole chicken in the crockpot yesterday. 

Today I have chicken bone stock brewing and I made some of the chicken into chicken salad.

I used about 32 ounces (?) chicken.

My other dry ingredients were:

- the biggest organic carrot I've ever seen, which, once my daughter peeled and grated it, yielded about 1 1/2 cups

- a small local apple, also grated

- and two tablespoons of the cranberry-clementine-almond relish I made last fall.

And the dressing:

- about two teaspoons mayo

- about one teaspoon organic peppercorn ranch dressing

- about two tablespoons plain nonfat yogurt

Spiru-tein and tuna sandwiches

No exercise. Crappy diet. That's me today. Tried to make up for eating croissants and brownies and pizza earlier by having a tuna sandwich (with only one slice of bread) topped with alfalfa sprouts and a side of raw cauliflower.

Had bad need regarding a friend's health today and spent three hours at the vet's office. Our youngest cat has a chronic urinary tract disease and he developed a blockage. I had made the very difficult decision to have him put down because I don't know if we can afford the ongoing maintenance of his condition. Today's bill would have been $1,500 to relieve the blockage but not correct the condition.

This is Oz, after I made the decision to euthanize him.

But at the last minute the vet found another solution! The animal hospital would subsidize his corrective surgery if we allowed a student surgeon to perform it as a teaching case. $1500 reduced to $600, all inclusive, and he gets his surgery not just treatment.

I'm still waiting to hear how he did. I obviously said yes.

So that's why I'm carbohydrate queen today. 

Figured I'd go ahead and try today's protein powder with dinner, Spiru-tein cookies and cream flavor. 

Only 14 grams of protein, lots of nutrients and a reasonable price point. ($1.99 for the sample.) My daughter loved it, but it left me ambivalent. Drinkable, not too sweet, but more like a thick flavored milk. 

Baked French Toast with Blueberries

I won't be home for dinner tonight and I saw some odds and ends around the kitchen that needed to be consumed. Eggs. Bread. Yogurt. We have fresh berries and those need eatin' quick.

So I prepped baked French toast. This will sit in the fridge and be baked uncovered at 350 for 40 minutes. This is a small portion. Serves 3 but the portions are not large.

I hope my family saves me some. I'm not sure how the yogurt will work out.

In a bread loaf pan, that I heartily greased with butter, I layered two slices of cinnamon raisin bread and then blueberries and a bit of brown sugar. Maybe two tablespoons. I had three layers of bread and two layers of blueberries.

Now the "sauce" I added to every layer as well. It went something like this:

- four eggs

- nutmeg

- ground cloves

- an ounce or two of half and half 

- about a cup very vanilla soy milk

- about 1/3 cup plain yogurt

Whisk. The yogurt may be a mistake. We'll see.

My husband baked it for 40 minutes at 350 and it turned out delightful. Though the child did not care for it. But she ate hers.

A little bit of everything thing

Last night I walked to the neighborhood "corner store," a place full of candy and oddities.

I got a soursop smoothie that child and I split as part of our massive but healthy breakfast before she heads out to the amusement park with her grandparents.

This coupled with big glasses of water and the following constituted our "this might be all the fruits and veggies you get for the day" breakfast:

- medjool dates 

- half a banana, sliced in banana split fashion to serve as bread for peanut butter and imported Turkish "crushing nuts" with honey (crushed nuts = pistachio, hazelnut, apricot kernel and peanuts)

- salad tacos, both with one six inch flour tortilla and about 1/2 cup of iceberg garden salad mix and 1/2 cup green and crisp salad mix and about 3/4 ounce Bulgarian feta. Hers had Annie's Goddess dressing. Mine had hummus.

Egg and pepper sandwiches

I'm not a big fan of green peppers. I neither like nor dislike them, but every once in a while I get really hungry for egg and pepper sandwiches.

It's far from a culinary triumph but it hit the spot and fulfilled the craving.

It started as one large green pepper, four eggs, and some buns. We had a mismatch of buns. Two kaiser and a potato hot dog bun. Child requested the hot dog bun.

We sliced the peppers into long slivers and fried them over low heat in olive oil & butter. I sprinkled them generously with garlic pepper.

Once the peppers changed to a more mellow color and softened, I jacked up the heat and added the scrambled four egg mixture (I had added about 1/4 cup water to it). 

And that is it. 

So good I want another.

Crazy mexi steaks

I created this crazy Mexican inspired steak sandwich to use up some leftover steak sandwich meat from my mother in law. The meat came with some fried peppers and hot peppers.

There wasn't enough left for three full sandwiches so I fried some corn tortillas in butter and put some sliced smoked Gouda inside each pair.

I piled some various lettuce on top of that, then the reheated steak meat, then Parmesan and then salsa.

Good stuff.

Christmas sandwich

While driving home from work last night, I dreamed up this sandwich. I love salad but I love it a lot more when I don't have to eat it with a fork. 

- one pita

- greens, stuffing that pita full (I used arugula, spinach and spring mix leftover from Christmas dinner)

- my homemade berry vinaigrette dressing 

- my home canned cranberry orange relish

- turkey 

Icy morning egg sandwich

My daughter has a two hour delay this morning so I made us a fried egg and roasted red pepper sandwich on a toasted jalapeño bagel. I sliced that puppy in half and we shared... I had fried up two eggs so we got plenty of good stuff to start our cold day.

She also got a side of tropical fruit (various papaya and pineapple) and pears.

Peanut butter, honey and cashew

Today I made a rather funky sandwich that I anticipate will taste great with th Pacific Foods soup (carrot cashew ginger bisque) that I'm making for lunch.

I started out with graham crackers as the bread and smeared them with peanut butter. I topped the peanut butter with ground roasted, unsalted cashews and drizzled with local raw honey before putting a graham cracker lid on.

Chicken salad variations

To use up the cucumber salad, my husband and I opted to make chicken salad. We had some skinless, boneless chicken in the freezer that he cooked.

We mixed the cucumber salad with the chicken once we chopped it. Then we added spices: Italian seasoning, garlic pepper. I also added golden raisins.

I split the chicken into two bowls, one heavy on the cucumber and the other heavy on the meat. The meaty bowl got mayo while the other got serious amounts of buffalo sauce. I added soft goat cheese crumbles to both.

Served on apple fritter bread with heaps of fresh spinach.

Beverage was a strawberry yogurt smoothie. (Serves three.)

- two cups strawberries

- one container strawberry rhubarb noosa yogurt

- one carnation instant breakfast packet in French vanilla

- about four ounces very vanilla soy milk

Hearty food day

No real time for cooking so far today so when daughter requested leftover vegetarian baked beans and Morningstar breakfast patties for breakfast, I thought that would be a hearty, warm meal.

Then for lunch we had sandwiches: commercial peanut butter, homemade peanut butter and strawberry rhubarb jam we bought at the farmers' market. Sandwiches were on hot dog rolls.

Mediterranean veggie burgers

In my quest to get myself moving more, we met our friend Ally at the park for a one mile plus walk. Since the walk occurred at one of our favorite local parks, child and I stopped at Wawa and bought apples with peanut butter and cut watermelon for a picnic breakfast.

Lunch today is Morningstar Mediterranean style veggie burger with lots of lettuce, salsa and Goddess dressing in a wrap. I also put srirancha sauce on mine. Washed down with home brewed unsweetened sun tea.

Breakfast after bloodwork

As some may know, I have a past history of stress-induced severe anemia. This is what ended my almost decade of a vegetarian lifestyle. This also ended my relationship with my former doctor, and led my to a new team of medical professionals who make me feel like they care whether I live or die.

That's a good thing in a doctor. 

So, today I pledged I would take care of my annual bloodwork. Fasting. And of course, my child, the early riser, sleeps until 9. 

But I manage not to eat and we walk to the lab about a half-mile from the house. It's about 9:30 and I'm sweaty already. 

We get home at 10:10 (walking home I'm mentally calculating the distance to the nearest diner). I am completely inept at making coffee. No matter what I do, my coffee turns out double strength. This made me very popular in the Lehigh Valley News Group newsroom. Reporters like caffeine.

To make a decent cup of coffee, I have to use my little espresso machine. Which I did. I took advantage of the fact that I had the espresso brewer out to warm and steam some almond milk to give my daughter a hot cup of chai with local raw honey. I drank what didn't fit in her cup and it was good!

Breakfast was scrambled egg wraps, with a pinch of garlic pepper and a drizzle of Annie's Organic Cowgirl Ranch and a few sprinkles of parmesan cheese.

The Ultimate After Work Sandwich

I got home from work at 10 pm today and I didn't think I was hungry (having not eaten dinner) but at 10:30 it became clear that I was.

One thing led to another and before you know it I had made this truly, truly beautiful sandwich.

INGREDIENTS (per sandwich):

- one Morningstar chickpea pattie

- chopped raw kale (a double to triple layer) 

- a hot dog bun

- a couple tablespoons of grated Parmesan

- a couple heaping tablespoons Archer Farms fire roasted habanero salsa

I toasted the hot dog bun under a high broiler, added the cheese to both sides and returned it to the oven.

Then I heated the chick pea pattie in the microwave.

I took the hot dog bun out of the oven. Cutting the chick pea pattie into strips, I arranged them on one side of the bun and the kale layered on the other. On top of the kale I plopped the salsa and then I plopped the two halves together.

This will be repeated for dinner for the family sometime soon.

Heaven.