vegetable stir fry

summertime food. crunchy corn on the cob and sweet carrots from the garden. travis and i rarely eat dinner together these days, due to our wild work schedules, but tonight we were both off and felt like fresh veggies. so we whipped up a delicious stir fry.

cooking in our new kitchen is wonderful. we don't bump into each other anymore and the giant island allows us to watch the olympics while chopping. travis gets pretty into it, yelling and much waving of arms. i just laugh and smile adoringly in a sick way. at him, not the uber muscly USA gymnastics team.

anyway, here's what we came up with.

first, gather your fresh ingredients of choice. we used carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, mushroom, corn on the cob, garlic, and onion. oh and that lemon. we totally forgot about that guy and didn't use him at all. whoops!

next, wash and chop your ingredients.

if you're into eating meat like us, fry up some chicken in olive oil. season with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, and a spoonful of sugar.

after cooking your chicken until no longer pink in the middle, remove from the pan and replace with onion, garlic, and carrots. saute those three in olive oil (or butter!) and then add some vegetable stock. cover and simmer until almost as soft as you desire.

then add the veggies that take less time to cook. add more oil (or butter!) and more of the same seasonings used in your chicken. (this is not an asian stir fry, so you won't see any soy sauce or ginger fyi.)

next, saute mushrooms in butter and add. boil your ears of corn and cut the kernels off the cob. add both of these to the mix. let the veggies simmer together for ten minutes or so.

serve over rice. use the veggie "drippings" as a sauce if you desire.

fresh and healthy meal. especially if you use brown rice, which we did not use.
because we used butter smothered white rice.
easy peasy.

whelp, travis is currently shouting at the men's gymnastic team about how much they are sucking it up. i better go comfort him.

happy summer eating!

xo

lunch for two

first off, check out the beautiful flowers travis brought me today. 

 between the cold, the period, and all around stress, these flowers were a cheery pick-me-up. 

of course the flowers had to go on the table for our lunch for two. 

travis and i have been spoiled this four off. 

i've skipped two classes and he hasn't had to work his other jobs. 
so we have spent almost two whole days together. 

then last night, travis decreed that today would be a "day of dates" 

kicked off by us going to the belgian waffle to use our coupon,

then watching how i met your mother all morning long, 

then having our "lunch for two,"

and tonight we are going to the red iguana 2 and to a movie.

tomato basil gnocchi lunch for two 

1 1/2 cups gnocchi 

two roma tomatoes 

olive oil 

basil, parley, salt, pepper

garlic

asparagus 

butter 

boil the gnocchi for 3-4 minutes, or until they are floating to the top of the pot. then drain. slice up tomatoes, saving the juices. saute garlic in olive oil, then add tomatoes, basil, parsley, s&p, and gnocchi. let simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently. steam asparagus, add butter, s&p. all the simmering gives the tomatoes a "stewed" feel.

(asparagus is 97 cents at the Sunflower Market right now!! it's pretty much the only vegetable i eat this time of year because it's so fresh and cheap.)

quick and easy lunch, vegetarian, and healthy.

foods and christmas lovin'

remember that time i said i would be telling an epic love story once a week? and then i fell off the blogging wagon? (does that metaphor even make sense here? no.) luckily, i had a good excuse: i was out living the love story. also, i was busy shopping, sleeping in, not doing homework, cooking, baking, spending time with family, decorating our house, and keeping christmas secrets.

here are a couple of pictures of my life in the last few weeks.
if it seems like food is dominating my life in pictures, don't worry. it's like that in real life too.

this chicken is my new favorite thing to cook.
just season chicken thighs, yes the fatty thighs,
with salt, pepper, garlic, onion, thyme, and rosemary
and slather with olive oil. bake until they're done.

these pictures are out of order. this is my family
on christmas eve, about to play our rendition of
santa claus is coming to town, rock and roll version.
my dad is wearing a wig.

here i am singing have yourself a merry little christmas.
if i can get the videos to upload, i will upload them.

this is the stuffed manacotti i made for the dinner party.
jeremy and liana came over and we ate and drank ALOT.
i had never made manacotti before, but it was pretty easy.
just combine about ten cheeses, including ricotta mhmmm,
and spinach and spices, and pipe it into the uncooked shells.
easy peasy.

these are the stockings hung by the chimney with care. also,

the christmas village my mom, grandmother,
and great grandmother painted.

here is the table all set for the dinner party.

i'm secretly a desperate housewife.

this is another delicious meal i cooked.
the best part? the green beans!
sunflower market has them on sale right now.
you stick them in a pan with butter, garlic, onion
salt, pepper, let them saute a bit, and then
throw in a cup of chicken stock.
then just let them hang out an cook
for half an hour.
judas priest, they were amazing!

here i am showing off my outfit on christmas morning.
no, it's not new, but i like it. we were headed to church!

standing in front of the very bright window
next to the tree on christmas morning.

so our christmas was EXCELLENT! travis was at the fire station on christmas eve, which sucked because we didn't get to make santa traps together, but on the bright side, we didn't have to argue about which side of the family to go spend the evening with. call me selfish, but i never like to budge on christmas eve family time, because i only get to see my entire charles side twice a year, one of which is christmas eve. this year, my mom's parents were also in town, so it was a family bonanza!

christmas eve also included my family singing "santa claus is coming to town" with guitars, drums, pianos solos, and me singing at the top of my lungs and doing sweet dance kick moves. (no one ever gets my dance kicks, but i still went for it.) for my whole life, christmas eve has included everyone in the family getting up and doing some kind of singing or instrument playing. music just makes it, you know?

christmas was a little rough this year because my grandpa, or as we call him, papa, was recently diagnosed with non-hodgkins lymphoma. he has lost an enormous amount of weight, and is on steroids, which make him a little hyper. this man is my hero and a world without him seems pretty impossible. to be honest, i was terrified to see him because i didn't want his cancer to be real. i stuck by him most of the night and he has a great attitude. for those of you who are the praying kind, please add him to your long lists?

ok, so on a happier note, christmas day was excellent. travis came home and we opened presents and had my grandma's cinnamon rolls. poor travis had only gotten five hours of sleep during his entire 48 hour shift, so he took a nice nap before church. church was excellent and a nice way to remember what, for me, christmas is all about. after church we spent time with our families, stuffed ourselves with food, talked to my missionary brother on the phone, and ended up watching home alone.

now for the promised love story.

a few days before christmas, travis had been acting strange.

let me back up. for the past six months, i have been looking into buying a camera. a nice, DSLR camera. i had some money saved up from selling charlie, another very sad story, and i had decided on one. travis kept teasing me about how he was just going to give me $300 bucks in a card for christmas, but we all knew he was going to buy me that camera. it has been a running joke for the past month.

well there is a flood in thailand right now where they make the filters and so production has slowed down. travis bought the camera with plenty of time to spare and was promised it would make it in time for christmas. but alas, there wasn't one to be found west of the mississippi. travis spent a lot of time "cleaning the garage" and talking to the store on the phone about my camera.

a few days before christmas, we were driving home from the temple and he got tears in his eyes. he told me that he had ruined my christmas and how sorry he was. he explained about the camera and how he had planned to give me a card with a picture of where the camera was hidden to make me search for it, and how it was all ruined. and it was "all his fault."

that he would stress over my christmas to that extent was the best part of christmas this year for me. i still don't have the camera. it won't be in until mid january at the earliest. but that doesn't matter! this is the reason i married travis. sometimes i still can't believe a person could love me so much.

ahhhh love.

sorry for the terribly long post. the once a week is back on. hope all your christmases were merry and bright!

mighty fine cookin' and the mouse in the house

last night travis and i cooked

the easiest, most delicious dinner.
and because i am (provo girl voice) "super nice"
and mostly a showoff
i thought i would share it with you!

yukon gold potatoes, or yellow potatoes, are delicious. they are the common potato in europe and south america and have a very sweet taste. so you cut those bad boys up, throw em in a pot with olive oil and of course a bit 'o' butter, salt and pepper, parsley and other country spices, and a bit of paprika. then you stir them up, put the lid on top, and wait.

pork roast in the crock pot. probably the easiest thing in the entire world, yes? so in the morning, put the entire frozen slab 'o' meat in the crockpot. add lipton onion soup mix, some garlic cloves, onion, thyme, fennel, (again some red pepper for a little kick) and then a cup and a half to two cups of water on top of it all. don't forget to turn the crockpot on :)

asparagus is so cheap right now and we have been loving it. not much beats fresh asparagus. you can steam or do what we did here with a pan. add some water and let it cook with the lid on. then drain the water, and over the heat add butter (my feeling on veggies is that if at least you're eating them it's just fine to slather on the butter.) salt, pepper.

then! you have a home cooked feast!
so glad travis talked me into the white dishes.
after the saleslady told us they were bone china
travis took the bowl and stood on top of it
to see if she was right about them being strong.

and this may or may not have been right before i screamed to travis that there was a mouse in the front room. (there wasn't a mouse, but now i know exactly how terrified of mice he really is.) he started saying "where?! i am not sleeping here tonight! where did he go?!" and i felt so bad that i started laughing hysterically and told him the truth, at which point he may or may not have called me an ass.

sometimes he's right. :)

happy cooking!