More Cooking and My Birthday

Honey Mustard Pork Chops and Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes

Trevor loved this meal.  I don't think these two things went together very well, but I wanted to try them both, and they were both delicious .. so why not?  I've never liked pork chops, but these were pretty fantastic.  And EASY.  The potatoes were a bit of work and took a long time to cook (obviously) but if I plan ahead it's not a big deal.  It just means I have to start thinking about dinner at 4pm instead of 5pm.

I also made applesauce muffins this week.  They're so-so, probably because they're healthy.  I'm realizing, however, that while I want to keep trying new recipes, I don't have much to say about it.  I follow the recipe, it tastes good, or it doesn't, and Trevor tells me whether or not I should ever cook it again.  The End.

In other news:  Today is my birthday!  Trevor got me Wii Fit, which I've been wanting for EONS.  I'm so excited!!  I got it all set up only to have the little Wii Fit narrator tell me that I'm obese and then my Mii character proceeded to grow very large hips.  Awesome.  I'm more embarrassed about the fact that my legs are sore from 20 minutes of trying it out.  Yikes, I'm out of shape.  That slalom slope is intense.

To celebrate my birthday (and the fact that according to Wii Fit I need to lose 72 pounds), we got take-out from Chili's and Trevor made Carrot Cupcakes.  I have THE best husband in the world.  YUM.

Maxwell gave me a pretty great present too:  two poops today instead of the usual one!  Good job, little buddy.  Good job. 

Adventures in Cooking: Week 1

I recently decided that it would be a good idea for me to try a new dinner recipe at least once a week; my repertoire consists of tacos, taco salad, chop suey (Chopped Suzy?), macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, any other variety of pasta, frozen fish fillets, hamburgers, scrambled or fried eggs, French toast, and frozen skillet meals.  Parents Magazine makes it sound really easy to cook something clever every night of the work week.  After reading this article, I told Trevor I was going to try an entire week of new dinners.  We both enjoyed a hearty laugh and agreed that one new meal a week would suffice for now.

This week:  Honey-Hoisin Chicken with Rice

I give it 5 stars for being really easy to prepare - especially if you make the sauce and cook the rice ahead of time (which I did during Maxwell's 30-Minute Power Nap).  The sauce is really delicious and different from anything else I ever cook, so it was a nice change.  They recommend serving it with a green salad with "carrot coins"  ...  whatever.  I left out the cash and used grape tomatoes and cucumbers instead.  I also didn't actually use chicken cutlets.  I just cut up chicken breasts into small-ish chunks and called it goodnuff.  Cutlets probably would've been better. 

Trevor gave the meal 4 stars.  I asked him what would earn 5 stars and he said Chicken Tetrazzini.  Well Trevor, Chicken Tetrazzini is a pain in the rear to prepare, so I'll just take my 4 stars thankyouverymuch. Maxwell was unable to partake of this meal, but I believe he fully enjoyed his Squash Puree.

So Week 1 of trying something new was pretty successful.  If anyone has suggestions for EASY and fairly healthy meals for me to try in the upcoming weeks, please let me know!