Mandy and Jace

I just realized this is my 201st blog post. I had big plans to do a sweet, meaningful 200th blog post filled with loving comments that will make even the hardest person cry, but no. I had to post about burritos. Oh well, maybe I’ll pay more attention later and make 300 a big one. Or not.

Anyway, this weeks going to be crazy. First, the best friend and co-worker had to get all loving youth pastor’s wife on me and take a bunch of teenagers to Detroit to follow their dreams, and leave me at work. Second, my youth pastor father-in-law decided to drive all the way here from Florida to come to Rock the Desert. Yup, they are coming here to the desert to a Christian music festival when they could probably see all the same bands there in Florida, possibly on the beach. Makes sense huh? Love ya Joe! So, the meal plan will probably be a little wonky this week due to all of the crazy youth pastors in our life.

Here’s the plan.
Tonight: chicken pasta in a veal cream sauce
Tuesday: Steak and lemon rice
Wednesday: not a clue
Thursday: don’t know that either
Friday: who knows

Happy eating!
Hopefully you all will be more organized than me this week.

I was reading my Family Chef cookbook (a must have in the kitchen) the other day that gave me the best idea. She keeps a small bowl with a lid in her refrigerator for small pieces of leftovers that weren’t big enough to make another meal out of. Then at the end of the week or on a busy night she pulls them out and makes something out of them. I read this and a huge light bulb came on for me. We are always throwing little bits and pieces of food away because there isn’t enough to keep, and I always felt really bad doing it. So, this week I saved our leftover pork chops from Tuesday night and made burritos on Wednesday night out of them. They were delicious and I didn’t waste any food. I did these because I knew we would be on a strict time schedule between work, hair cuts and church, and I didn’t want fast food. So, I had plans to make these and wrap them in foil for easy travel but it turns out we had time at home to sit down and eat them.
You don’t have to stop at burritos though, I found out there are tons of ways to use your leftovers. Stir fry, fried rice, fajitas, salads, stew, open faced sandwiches (yum!). The ideas are endless. I’m going to give you the recipe for the burritos I made but feel free to run with this. Be as creative as you can be.

On-the-go burritos
adapted from the Family Chef Cookbook

leftover meat (pork, beef, chicken…)
1 tbs canola oil (or whatever oil you have)
1 bell pepper
1/2 onion
1 tomato
1 cup chicken broth
fajita seasoning, salt and pepper, to taste
tortillas

This recipe depends on the amount of leftovers you have so feel free to give and take.
In a pot or dutch oven, heat the oil. When hot throw in the onions and a little salt. When they are starting to get soft, put in the bell peppers. Cook until soft.
Add the tomato, leftover meat, chicken broth and seasonings and cook until hot or if you have time let it cook down until the liquid gets thick.
Roll the meat mixture into burritos and eat, wrap up and take with you, or put in the fridge for later.

Last Saturday was my 25th birthday and it was a great day. I’ve realized that I really don’t feel older but I feel more grown up. It hit me like a load of bricks on Saturday that I’m 25, a home owner and married. Wow! I’m an official grown up. When did that happen???? It seems like just yesterday I was in high school getting my first car.
My birthday actually started Friday night when my sweet hubby took me to dinner at Italian Village (I couldn’t find a website to link to, sorry). They had to have the best marinara sauce I have ever tasted. I could have just eaten a bowl of that and been happy but I couldn’t. So I dipped amazing fresh fried mozzarella in the amazing sauce and then died and went to heaven. It was that good! Saturday, I woke up and had birthday cake in bed and it was as great as it sounds. That evening we went out with friends and family to Shoguns where the cook insisted on seeing how much food would fit on my plate. Seriously I ate it then, the next night both Jace and I ate on it, then we had enough left for one more lunch. I feel very blessed to have the best husband ever, great friends and a loving family. I couldn’t ask for more!

Here are some of the candids from my 25th birthday.

We had a fantastic weekend. Saturday was my birthday so I threw the diet out the window and had a weekend full of cupcakes and AMAZING food. We went to Shoguns Saturday night, and they gave us so much food that we can make another meal out of it. So tonight we are throwing all the leftovers in the wok with some extra chicken.
This week I have to be extra good since I ate so much over the weekend. I know you are going to take one look at my meal plan and go, “that’s not healthy!” but I’ll be having very small portions with mostly salad. That way I will still get to taste the good food but I’m not going to eat a lot of it. There is nothing like a bikini in the near future to motivate you to eat well!

Here’s the plan:
Tonight: Leftover Shoguns with some extra chicken
Tuesday: mini meatball sandwiches with baked beans and salad
Wednesday: Chili dogs and chips
Thursday: take out after practice
Friday: date night

Happy eating!

Last week was Jace’s grandparent’s 60th wedding anniversary. 60 years, I can barely imagine past next week much less where we will be in 60 years. I can tell you that I will still probably be annoyingly OCD about organizing things and every piece of artwork in our house will be hung incredibly straight, thanks to my husband who is outrageously picky about things being straight and center on the wall (more on that later).

We decided to make them a nice meal and take it to them in Andrews. We made grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cobb and the most amazing banana pudding ever. I’m not sure why I wanted to make banana pudding in the first place seeing as I have never liked it, but for some reason it sounded really good. So, I found a recipe online and got to work. The problem was the recipe was very vague, and I don’t work well when you use words like dash and stir until something happens. So, thankfully despite the weird recipe it worked beautifully and it was amazing. I don’t normally lick the spoon after I make something but this custard was so good I cleaned that pot up. Healthy it is not, amazingly tasty it is.

Banana Pudding

1 box Nilla Wafers, 12 Ounce Box
4 whole bananas
4 egg yolks
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons flour
1½ cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, cubed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a bowl or casserole dish, cover the bottom with the Nilla wafers and banana’s and set aside.
Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl.
In a large pot combine the egg yolks and milk (don’t turn on the heat yet). Slowly add the dry ingredients and the butter and combine with a whisk. Turn on the heat to medium and whisk until the custard gets thick. Mine took about 6 minutes. Mix in the vanilla.
Let the custard cool completely then pour the custard over the banana and cookie mixture.
If you’re not serving immediately store in the refrigerator.