The Return of Nomday: Exciting News

Do you remember when I used to do this little thing called Nomday, every Monday? It was this fun little post with a nice simple recipe for the work week. Remember? Yeah, and there were often cute stories about how silly I got when making the dish, or how I discovered something new and exciting in the world of cooking. Yes. And, sometimes I would even post delectable pictures of each dish.

Then, my one year internship really got rolling and I totally failed at blogging. So, to make up for this horrible blogger behavior I bring you; the new and improved Nomdays 2.0!

Starting next week there will be more pictures, more detailed recipes, the history behind some of these crazy foods and even more silly stories of my kitchen mayhem! Don’t worry, I will stick to the simple stuff most of the time and I will even play with a few vegetarian meal ideas like before. I am not promising this part, but I even hope to have a few guest bloggers post some of their favorite recipes.

It is like the surface of the sun here is Arizona, but it is about to get even hotter as I dare to dive back into blogging and especially Nomdays!

As always, I really want to thank everyone who reads, comments and shares my posts. I do take requests too. Maybe there is something you have been wanting to try, or something you think I could make into a more simplistic recipe; let me know about it. Also, if you are a blogger who likes to chatter about recipes, please contact me, I would be thrilled to offer you a guest pass to the madness. And, if you know me personally and you would like to supply the goods for a Nomday experiment, please feel free! The payback will be half of the finished dish and your name in lights (okay, bold and italicized text) on that Nomday post.

I am just a small time writer and mom with very little skill in the realm of cooking, but I do have a love for good food, gatherings with friends, and low budget meals. Until, next week! Happy Nomday!

Namday after Thanksgiving!

It is the Nomday after Thanksgiving! Who still has leftovers? Fortunately, because I attend dinner at places other than my home, we only take as much as we can comfortably eat in a weekend. I do miss some things though, like:

Cold Turkey Sandwich

Halved biscuit

Sliced turkey

Halved olives

Cranberry sauce or Mayonnaise

Hot Turkey Sandwich

Halved biscuit

Sliced turkey

Gravy

Hot Mashed Potato Bowl

Mashed potato base

Corn/ Carrots/ Green beans

Stuffing

Turkey slices

Gravy

*top with hot or cold cranberry sauce

Pie for breakfast every day!

How do you decimate your turkey day leftovers?

Nomday: Egg Muffins, Pork Roast and Sandwiches

Nomdays are changing like the season. Due to job changes and the realization that some of the assumptions I make when creating meal plans do not fit every lifestyle, Nomdays are going to get a bit more diverse as we sail into 2013.

Since the beginning, Nomday recipes have centered primarily, around the ability to reheat pre-made meals. What if this is not possible? I have also focused on meals of the late day variety, lunches or dinners. What if your schedule is such that you would rather a quick and easy to take on the road breakfast meal? Something in place of a donut and more substantial than a breakfast bar would be great, right.

So, beginning this week Nomday is a three part blog entry; break-super-fasts, lunch-overs, and of course the much loved crockpot of plenty. If the single entries become too long and unwieldy I will break them into three consecutive posts, but let’s see how this works first. Thank you so much for reading!

Part 1: Breakfast on the Move!

This week, to start off slow on the breakfast, a favorite found originally by a friend on Google+ and modified to appease the varied appetites.

Breakfast Muffin Cups

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serving Size: 1 – 2

Required Tools:

-          Standard size muffin tin

-          Griddle or large skillet

-          Tongs or fork

Ingredients:

                1 Dozen Eggs

                12 slices of regular cut bacon / 1 lbs. ground breakfast sausage

                8 oz. Cheese of choice (we use shredded sharp cheddar or crumbled feta)

                Veggie of choice (baby spinach, small broccoli florets, and grape tomatoes work well)

                Salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in skillet until brown but not crunchy. Line muffin tin with bacon. Crack one egg in each bacon ‘cup’ top with veggie, cheese, and seasoning. Cook in oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or until eggs are desired texture. If you choose to do this with the sausage: press a thin layer of sausage into each muffin cup and cook in oven at 350 until sausage begins to brown, then follow recipe as if with bacon. *Note: the sausage cups tend to be a bit more greasy.

Lunch/ Dinner:

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 – 2 hours

Serving size: 1 – 2 thin slices

Required Tools:

-          Large roasting pan

Ingredients:

                3 lbs. pork roast

                1 medium onion, sliced

                3 cloves garlic, crushed

                1 lbs. carrots

                1 lbs. potatoes, cubed

                4 ears corn, cut

                Salt and pepper to taste

Cook roast with garlic and onion, salt and pepper in oven at 400 until meat begins to brown, add remaining ingredients and cook until meat is at appropriate temperature. For dinner: serve with veggies as side dishes. For lunch: thin slice remaining roast and serve on bread with cheese. This is great cold or reheated.

I hope this new format is more helpful. It does make for a very busy Nomday cooking day but it is worth it all through the very busy week. Thank you for reading! Enjoy!

               

               

Nomday: Bountiful Baskets

This Nomday is more about obtaining foods than making. The household has opted to experiment with the Bountiful Baskets program. This is a very cool little co-op market deal. Check out their website for the full spiel but basically it is a community grocery store in a public parking lot. Volunteers use cute little plastic laundry baskets to organize the foods, but you have you bring your own bags to cart it away. The cost is low because there is so little overhead and it is all volunteer run. The best part is if you volunteer your time, there might be some extra goodies in your basket.

Our locations are primarily in school lots and I was happily surprised to find that I knew many of the people shopping and working. The price was worth the amount of fresh fruits and veggies obtained and there was a nice friendly community feel to the whole ordeal. 

I am super excited to try this again next week!

A few caveats; most items still need to ripen, which is great, unless you want to use it right away. Bring bags and boxes and a cart or a friend to help carry; there is way more than you would expect! 

Bountiful Baskets

http://bountifulbaskets.org/

Breadz: Basic

I do not care that it is still 115 degrees outside here in Arizona, I need to make bread! It only has to bake for about an hour anyway, so as long it is done in the later hours of the day, or early AM, it is all good. I started out with something simple since it has been a while since making bread from scratch.

Prep Time: 3 hours

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Approximate Cost: Please, bread is pennies!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast

1 tsp salt

1-1/2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp vegetable shortening

1/2 cup milk

3 cups all-purpose flour (approximately)

Preparation:

Stir yeast in warm water until all the little grains dissolve.

Add salt, sugar, shortening, and milk to bowl. Stir.

Begin adding flour, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough chases the spoon around the bowl.

You may not need all the flour called for in the recipe, or you may need more; amounts vary depending on many factors, including weather. (Thank you monsoon Arizona)

Turn dough out onto floured board and knead, adding small spoonfuls of flour until the dough is soft and smooth, not sticky. Good Gods was it sticky at the onset. It looked like my fingers were melting into the dough.

Put dough in buttered bowl, turn dough over so that the top of dough is greased. Cover and let rise in warm spot for one hour.

Punch the dough! Turn out onto floured board and knead the crap out of it! This is the fun part of bread. All frustrations of the day pounded out in the kneading process.

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Form dough into loaf and set in buttered bread pan. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes.

Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Turn out bread and let cool on a rack or clean dishtowel.

Eat Breadz!

Health and Food: Walking Week Two, Plus Recipes

At the start of 2012, I am taking a very big step back from many of the performance activities that I am currently part of to focus on writing. Stepping away from performance work means much less physical movement. To avoid any possible spreading of the derrière while I spend more time sitting on it, I have devised a plan!

About a week ago, Jess and I began a walking routine that put us on a six-mile circuit through town. I am excited to say that despite the early morning hours (6:00AM typically) and the enormous blisters on my feet because I am not used to wearing anything more than sandals, it is pretty easy going. Once it becomes too easy we will have to increase something, speed would be the simple answer. On the days that Jess cannot walk due to her school schedule, Frank has offered. Just as with Jess, we meet at half way. The route in his direction happens to bring us directly to a nice park with a racquetball court. A half hour game sounds like a plan to me!

I have been trying to work on my diet choices as well. I am not going to say that any of the food I am eating is the healthiest but it does keep me away from fast food, sweets and most things that come in a bag or box. This week:

Breakfast: Virgin Bloody Mary

V8 Juice (or tomato juice)

Dash of Tabasco

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. Worcestershire

Pepper to taste

Lunch: Tuna Sandwich with Homemade Potato Chips

Tuna Salad

(makes 6 servings)

3 cans tuna

½ block of cream cheese

1 tblsp. lemon juice

Mayonnaise to taste

2 cloves garlic crushed

Salt & pepper to taste

Soften cream cheese and mix all ingredients until smooth.

Homemade Potato Chips

Thin sliced red potatoes

Olive oil

2 tblsp. White truffle oil

Parsley (to taste)

Parmesan cheese (to taste)

Thinly slice red potatoes, he thinner they are the better this works, too thick and they may as well be home fries. Bring olive oil to temperature (about 300 degrees). Toss in potatoes and cook until they begin to turn brown and curl up. Some may bubble, it happens. Allow potatoes to cool on paper towels. Toss with truffle oil, parsley flakes and parmesan.

Dinner: Pork Chops with Broccoli in Cream Sauce

This is a crockpot recipe. I am not a fan of cooking so if I can manage it only once a week I am very, very happy!

1 – 2 lbs. thin sliced pork chops (I use the ones without the bone)

3 large heads of broccoli or one bag frozen, cut florets

1 large can cream of chicken soup

1 large red onion

3 cloves garlic

Salt & pepper to taste

Brown pork chops. Cut broccoli or thaw if frozen. Add chopped onion, crushed garlic, salt & pepper to cream of chicken soup (do not add water) in the crockpot. Stir in broccoli and browned chops. Cook on low heat 4 – 5 hours.

I did not add any desserts or snacks this time, but I admit that I love Lorna Doone cookies!