Eons ago, when I was in school, we learned the 3 Rs: Reading, wRiting and ‘Rithmetic (which annoyed me to no end, as only one of them is TRULY an R). One thing no one ever taught me?
The Art & Science of Dumpster Diving!
Plan to become a freecycler? This might come in handy!
Thinking of dropping out of school? You may have to learn this skill!
And never forget- one man’s trash is another man’s treasure!
Pick this book up in the library today and *ahem* DIVE right in 
Looking for a quick and easy side dish that’s a great (and healthier) stand-in for mashed potatoes? Look no further than this awesome Epicurious recipe:
Ingredients:
Chop cauliflower into small florets. Place in steamer and steam for 17 minutes. Transfer half of the florets to a food processor; add 1/4 c hot water and puree. Transfer rest of florets to food processor; add the remaining 1/4 c hot water and puree. While cauliflower is processing, pour in garlic. Serve with parmesan and pepper to taste (or with any other spice you’re craving- this is a VERY versatile dish).
Original recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cauliflower-Puree-236315
Looking for kid-friendly fare that isn’t fried or bland? Fear not, foodies! You don’t have to sacrifice flavor to feed the family. Here’s an easy, tasty recipe that’s sure to please adults and kids alike…
Ingredients:
Place chicken breasts into a gallon plastic bag. Combine honey, oil, lemon juice, and garlic and mix thoroughly. Pour over breasts and marinate in freezer for at least two hours. Crush Cheerios™ and almonds in another gallon bag. Remove chicken breasts and toss with cheerios to coat. Cook at 350* for 35 minutes.
Serves: 4; Time: 10 minutes prep (plus 2 hours marinade); 35 minutes to cook
Craft beer pairing: Avery Brewing- Joe’s Premium American Pilsner
No link – this one is all mine
I’ve been under the weather this week, and I am in desperate need of some comfort food! But, given that I spent the last two months chowing down on ‘comfort food’ (i.e. anything I could get my hands on that looked edible), I thought I should aim for something a *bit* more healthy. Today’s compromise? Italian stuffed green peppers. The part-skim mozzarella lightens it up a bit, while still providing melty, cheesy goodness.
Ingredients:
Preheat oven to 350*. In a large skillet, brown turkey. Stir onions and garlic together in olive oil over medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes. Turn the heat down to low and let caramelize, stirring occasionally. Cut mozzarella in two; finely chop half of the block, and slice the remainder into 4 one-ounce pieces. In a stainless steel bowl, combine browned turkey, breadcrumbs, pine nuts, catsup, Worcestershire, Tuscan seasoning and chopped mozzarella; stir well. Take onion/garlic mixture off heat and put to side. Cut 1/4 top off of each pepper and gut it, discarding innards and seeds. Wash thoroughly with cold water. Mix cooled onion/garlic mixture into meat. Pack each pepper evenly with meat. Once filled, top with 1 ounce slice of mozzarella. Arrange peppers in a shallow baking dish, topping with any extra meat mixture. Bake at 350* for 45 minutes.
Serves: 4; Time: 30 minutes for prep; 45 to bake.
Wine pairing: Wild Horse Pinot Noir
Wine Guy is out of the house tonight and that means a handful of things:
But I started to feel antsy somewhere between shows and decided I was in a cookie mood. Now, this is unusual for two reasons. First, I love to cook, but baking doesn’t do it for me. It’s way more technical and there is much less room for experimentation than with cooking. Second, I was apparently born without a sweet tooth. Put a plate of chips and guac in front of me and it’ll be gone in seconds. But I can walk by pastries and donuts and cupcakes (oh my!) without a second sniff. The walnuts in this recipe, however, add a bit of salt to a sweet cookie cake.
Ingredients:
Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a four sided cookie sheet. Combine the butter and both sugars. Stir in one egg at a time and then add vanilla and baking soda. Add flour, chips and walnuts and stir till blended. Pour mixture on baking sheet. Using wax paper, manipulate cookie dough till it’s flat and evenly distributed throughout the pan. Bake for 12 minutes for gooey cookies; 15 for slightly crispier edges. Let cool for 10 minutes, then serve. Preferably topped with vanilla ice cream. If I had vanilla ice cream, this cake would be GONE by now.
Serves: Technically? 24. Realistically? 6-8, tops.
Original recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Well, the pork chops I had defrosted for tonight’s dinner turned out to be spoiled- and not in the ‘My Super Sweet Sixteen’ kind of way. Have you ever smelled rancid pork? If not, be grateful, because it’s not a memory that’s easily erased. This led to a frantic search for Mexican takeout (harder than it sounded, especially given the area in which we live), and, three hypothetical restaurants later, it should be arriving with Wine Guy in the next 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, I give you the first installment of (wait for it)… Weeding Wednesday!!! (In which we poke fun at books I’ve actually found in one of my libraries)
For your consideration… A thrilling 1991 tome…
that answers such questions as…
So, what say you, female athletes? Do your muscles make you too masculine? Has competition squelched your feminine wiles? Can you beat up the boys? And do you regularly get hit on by your same-sex teammates?
If so, this book may be for you! Or it just may be for the recycle bin 
It’s football Sunday (Go Pack Go!), and you know what that means… Beer and comfort food!! In order to soak up some of the suds I’ll be sipping, I needed to have a hearty meal on-hand. What better than baked potato soup in the slow cooker with some crusty French bread for dipping purposes?
Ingredients:
Chop red potatoes into 1″ pieces and place in slow cooker. Pour in soup & water, then stir. Fry or microwave bacon. Chop onion and bacon finely and add to mixture. Stir in spices. Cook on low for 7 hours or high for 4 hours. Once cooked, stir in evaporated milk and sour cream till blended. Add more spice to taste and top with shredded cheese and chopped chives. Serve with crusty French bread.
Serves: 6; Time: 15 minutes prep; 4-7 hours cooking time.
Craft beer pairing: Bourbon County Stout or Stone Ruination Imperial IPA
No outside link- this one is all mine
I have a *slightly* (okay, VERY) co-dependent relationship with my slow cooker. So enamored of the slow cooker am I, that I actually own two of them- a smaller one for dips and appetizers, and a larger one for soups, stews, and roasts. Over the years I’ve come across some amazing recipes that are healthy, filling, and SO easy to make. This Chicken Tortilla Soup is on heavy rotation in my household, no matter what the season. Best of all, it calls for ingredients that you likely have in your pantry, so it’s easy to throw together when you’re pressed for time.
Ingredients:
Combine all ingredients (reserving 1/8 c. cilantro for topping) in slow cooker and sprinkle in spices. Stir. Cook 6-8 hours on low, stirring occasionally if possible. Top with rest of cilantro when ready to serve.
Serves: 6; Time: 10 minutes prep; 6-8 hours to slow cook
Craft beer pairing: Sam Adams Lager or Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold
Original recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-chicken-tortilla-soup/detail.aspx
Two days before our wedding, my now ex-husband informed me that he had invited his brother and sister-in-law to stay with us for the next couple of nights in our teeny, tiny apartment (which was now filled with gifts and strewn with the remains of all of the last-minute crap that comes with getting married). Oh, and could I tidy up a bit before they got in?
Prior to this day, I’d only had one real bridezilla moment in the 14 months we’d been engaged. It had happened when the ex insisted that we pay $7 apiece to rent red silk napkins that matched our table runners. Apparently, the provided white cloth ones were “too plain” and the red cloth ones (only $1 extra apiece) didn’t match. Now, up till this point, I’d acquiesced on most of the decisions regarding the venue, décor, date, music, etc., because he had “a very detailed vision” as to how his wedding should be. My vision was less specific and really only included a top-shelf martini bar, reusable bridesmaid dresses, carrot cake, and tons of dancing. Oh, and I wanted “Pour Some Sugar on Me” as the cake-cutting song.
I calmly informed him that I wasn’t about to shell out $1400 for silk napkins when they DON’T EVEN WORK (hello, absorbency?). I’d pony up $200 for the red cloth ones, if it made him happy. But, honestly, anyone who was going to judge us because the red cloth didn’t exactly match the red silk a) needed to get a life and b) shouldn’t have been invited anyway. He responded by telling me I was “ruining his wedding.“ I responded by launching into an expletive-filled tirade that left me without a voice. We didn’t speak for two days, then settled on red cloth napkins.
Fast forward three weeks… I was determined to hold it together, though the thought of playing hostess while finalizing all of the last minute crap and getting the house in order before our honeymoon made me want to mainline Xanax. Thursday passed uneventfully, as did Friday morning. Two hours before the rehearsal dinner, though, I got a text informing me that the ex and the in-laws would be home soon and they all still needed to take showers. This is when I became unhinged.
I jumped in the shower and turned the water to somewhere past scalding, determined to passive-aggressively use up all of the hot water. As I thought about the situation I grew angrier and angrier. I was hurriedly swiping my razor down my right leg when I felt a sharp stinging pain. I glanced at my ankle and saw nothing unusual. So I looked at the razor and saw… skin. A HUGE chunk of it. I looked back down at the tub and saw copious amounts of blood pouring out of my Achilles. I immediately jumped out of the tub to assess the damage, and my leg gave out. I hit the floor, hard.
I screamed for the ex to no avail; though he was home, he’d shut the bedroom door and was vacuuming. So I wrapped a towel around the wound and crawled, naked, out of the bathroom and through the bedroom, leaving behind a trail of carnage on the white carpet (goodbye, security deposit!). When I got to the door, I opened it a crack and came face to face with the brother-in-law (or technically face-to-shin). His utter shock at seeing me bare-ass, dripping wet and on all fours would have been hilarious had I not been in so much pain.
It took superglue, athletic tape, and half a roll of gauze to finally staunch the bleeding. Luckily, the wound was high enough on my heel that my wedding shoes didn’t irritate it, though the saltwater in Hawaii stung like hell. Five months later the marriage was over, but one lesson WILL stick with me forever…
NEVER shave your legs while angry.
Am I the only person out there who feels like she hasn’t eaten a vegetable in weeks? In an effort to remedy the guilt and the bloat that have been haunting me since Thanksgiving, I decided to make my favorite Grilled Eggplant Parmigiana. This recipe is much lighter than the traditional Italian dish, yet still as tasty.
Ingredients:
Preheat oven to 375*. Cut tops and bottoms off of eggplants. Slice eggplants into 3 equal pieces. Spray a cookie sheet or a grill pan with non-stick cooking oil. Lay eggplants flat. Cook for 12 minutes on one side, flip, then cook for 12 minutes on other side. In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil. Add garlic and shallots and cook for 5 minutes. Pour in tomatoes, Tuscan seasoning, red pepper and Zin, and stir. Let the sauce simmer as the eggplant cooks. After the eggplant is baked, pull it out of the oven and increase heat to 400. Cover eggplants with sauce; reserve leftover sauce for finished product. Slice the mozzarella ball into 9 even slices. Top eggplants with bread crumbs and mozzarella. Bake for 10 more minutes, till cheese is brown and bubbly.
Serves: 4-6; Time: 40ish minutes
Wine pairing: Zinfandel (I’m a fan of Ravenswood)
Original recipe (which involves an actual grill): http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Grilled-Eggplant-Parmigiana-238668
