Kale and BBQ

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Andrea

I had a Super Bowl snacks post all ready to be published and then the server hosting my blog crashed.

It apparently crashed hard because it was down for a couple of days. My website and my email was out of commission. If you emailed me and it bounced, I apologize. Please resend it!

Clearly my blog is back up at this point and by now I don’t want to talk Super Bowl snacks because pizza is more important.

Scott fixed my oven this week and replaced the heating coil. Looking at the old coil, the coating just didn’t burn off, the coil burnt right in half.

Yikes! Check it out.

It seemed fitting that since this coil gave up the ghost as I was reheating pizza, that the new coil got broken in heating up pizza.

I have to say that this new coil is amazing. It heated up my oven with the pizza stone to 425 in about 15 minutes. Possibly shorter time frame as I was working on our half bath at the time. It’s super hot and works so well!

Run January: Week 4

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Andrea

You can read about Week 1, Week 2, and Week 3.

Sunday, January 22nd:

It was super windy when I got up and instead of putting on my shoes, I changed into my painting clothes. I got the first coat of primer up before I even had my morning coffee!

Two rooms and two coats of primer for each. That took all day and completely wiped me out! I might not have run but I did get a lot accomplished and painting is most definitely an upper body workout!

Monday, January 23rd:

It was windy again and I turned on the coffee pot. I couldn’t sit idle for long though and at lunch I headed out for a quick run. It started raining and the wind was still blowing strong. Ugh!

I completely hate running in the wind AND rain. However you gotta burn it to earn it, right? I was already dressed and already outside, so I might as well run. I did 2.5 miles.

Burnt Out

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Andrea

Last Friday, as I was heating up some leftover pizza, I noticed some sizzling and then a bright spot in my oven.

Um.

I opened the door to find smoke and a small fire taking place in the left front corner. Crap! I gave it a sec to see if it would burn out (In case it was food related) but it kept getting worse so I shut the oven off and pulled out the pizza (Save the food!).

After the heating coil cooled for a bit I realized what had happened and not only was I flummoxed but also annoyed. It seems that the coating on the heating coil decided to just melt off leaving a section of the coil exposed. The exposed coil reacted with the remaining coating causing it to spark and then catch fire.

Ugh.

So my oven is out of commission. Thankfully I have a double oven, the bottom half being a smaller oven drawer. It’s not large enough to roast a chicken or anything, but I can roast veggies in it just fine. Or, you know, heat up pizza.

2011-2012 Favorite Winter Ales

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Andrea

Scott and I have been sampling a bunch of seasonal brews this winter because you know it’s beer season!

It would be nice to be able to purchase more variety of bottles in singles for sampling. Sometimes you don’t want to invest in a six pack (or four pack) of something you haven’t tried yet.

We try to be good sports about it though and my thinking is, if I don’t care for it all that much I know I can still cook with it. That’s something at least.

Alright so let’s talk winter seasonals!

21st Amendment’s Fireside Chat: 21st is one of Scott’s favorite breweries and when he saw this pop up earlier this winter, he snagged it right away. It turned out to be a great beer. Very dark in color with a creamy head. It’s brewed with spices which come out strong in the flavor. You can pick up the heat of cinnamon right away in this beer. It’s mellowed out and not overpowering. Nor is it in any way similiar to that of say, the cinnamon you find in a pumpkin ale.

Beer Affair

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Andrea

Starting this fall and picking up steam this winter, I’ve rediscovered my inner beer lover.

Now those that know me or have been reading this blog for any length of time will know that I have always enjoyed a great beer. However, the past few years I’ve been picking wine over beer.

I would have beer on occasion but mostly preferred opening a bottle of wine. A nice red to go with pizza or maybe a crisp white to go with some salmon. All sounded good to me!

But this fall and then more heavily this winter, I’ve been reaching for a cold brew.

I’m at a point now where I would rather have a very tasty beer than a glass of wine. I still have wine on occasion and almost always when we go out to dinner. But I don’t have it nearly as much as I used to.

And since Scott and I have a favorite hangout, I love going out to get a pint and shoot the shit. It’s one of my favorite things and something I look forward to very much.

Run January: Week 3

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Andrea

You can read recaps of Week 1 and Week 2.

Sunday, January 15th:

Rest day! There are two reasons why I took this as a rest day:

Body was tired.

Work needed done around the house.

We’ve been really hauling butt this past week to get wallpaper removed and two rooms painted. Saturday, we didn’t get nearly as much accomplished as I was hoping which meant that unfortunately I had to make up time on Sunday, pushing my run aside.

Bummed out? Yes. But at this point it’s necessary. Since I would be scraping walls all day long, I’m considering that as “something”. Because it leaves me dog tired at the end of the day and sore the next day!

Monday, January 16th:

It was slow going and a little rough but I made it happen, 2.5 on the books. I’m beginning to like starting the week off with a run.

Tuesday, January 17th:

Rainy and gross outside. I was orginally going to workout at the end of the day, however, I started painting our laundry room and got sucked into that completely. I’m not calling it a rest day but it wasn’t as active as I would have liked. Let’s go with that!

Beer ‘N Eggs

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Andrea

This week has seen a lot of progress! Most importantly we have completed one of two of the wallpaper rooms. Hooray! Our laundry room is now finished and my washer and dryer no longer reside in my entryway.

For someone who likes organization, that’s the one part of home renos that drive me bonkers. The disarray!

The half bath will get completed this weekend, oh yes, yes it will. Because I am over wallpaper.

I decided to experiment a little with pizza this week. Remember last week when I used a bit of beer in the dough? This week I used all beer in the dough and I’m pretty pleased with the results.

Unfortunately the beer I used was cold and I had to warm it up so that I could add yeast to it. I think this most definitely effected the rise action and stunted it a little bit. The dough still rose and acted beautifully, it just didn’t rise as much as I would have liked.

Keep It Simple: Sauteed Chard with Rice

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Andrea

The other day I was craving something warm for lunch. I enjoy having big salads and fresh fruit at lunch but sometimes I want something warm. Especially in the colder months! It’s hard to cozy up to a nice big salad when it’s 17 degrees outside.

We had some leftover rice from the previous night’s dinner and I had some chard that needed used up. Combine the two and you’ve got a great lunch!

It was super quick to put together. I sauteed up:

1/4 Onion, sliced
1/4 Green Pepper, sliced
Once large bunch of chard, chopped
Shredded carrots
A few broccoli florets

Sauteed in some olive oil with a pinch of salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, chili powder, and garlic powder.

Added in the leftover rice at the end and cooked just long enough for it to heat through.

Spooned in bowls, topped with a bit of shredded cheddar and a few dashes of hot sauce.

Bamboo Rice

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Andrea

Bamboo rice is one of my favorite style of rices. I first discovered it at Whole Foods and picked some up because I couldn’t resist the green color of it.

It’s a short grain rice and I was curious to see whether the green color stayed once the rice was cooked or it if faded away.

I typically cook all my rice in chicken stock and this was no exception. When I first made it, not only was I excited by the gorgeous green color but the flavor is really unique.

It has almost a floral and yet earth quality to it. It also sticks together making it perfect for dishes where you want clumpy sticky rice.

Bamboo rice is green in color because it is infused with bamboo juice. It is a short grain white rice and takes on the color of bamboo from the juice.

Here is a description from Wisegeek.com

Bamboo rice is not a specific varietal of rice, but is rather a short-grained white rice which has been treated with the juice of young bamboo plants. While milling the rice, the chlorophyll from the bamboo is added. This process causes the rice to be high in vitamin B, and gives it a flavor and aroma much like that of a jasmine green tea.

It does have a very unique flavor to it and I do encourage you to try it if you see some out. Yes it can be expensive but for a little change up to rice, it’s worth the splurge.

Run January: Week 2

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Andrea

Read about why this is Run January.

Here’s a recap of Week 1.

Sunday, January 8th:

4 miles this morning! Whooo! I was going into this run hoping to get 4 miles in but also realizing that maybe my legs wouldn’t be into it, so I would have to go with the flow.

My legs were a bit tired but not enough that I couldn’t complete 4 miles. I felt strong during the run and like my legs are starting to get used to running again. I was able to get through the 4 miles without issue.

Since my legs have been feeling a little tired and achey, I busted out my leg sleeves after this run. Just to help ease with the achy feeling. I haven’t seen them in ages either so it was nice to pull out my little purple lovelies.

Monday, January 9th:

Quick 2.5 run to start the week off right. It was on the warmish side, pushing 30F to start. I felt really strong during this run. I kept the mileage short because I was coming off a longer run.