A Work at Home Mom’s Blog

When it comes to snacking lately, I’ve been a good girl for the most part. I still don’t have much of a taste for sweets, and when I have craved them I’ve been going for fresh fruits and yogurt (either regular or frozen) most of the time. I’ve been trying to buy stuff that’s not too greasy or salty for Hubby to snack on, so I’ve been covered when I start craving non-sweet stuff, too.

But yesterday I gave in to one of my biggest weaknesses. I went to the store to pick up a few things, and as I was headed for the sliced cheese, a brick of pepper jack caught my eye. I could swear I heard it calling my name, even after I forced myself to look away and keep walking. Finally, I caved and went back and got it. And then I trekked all the way back to the other side of the store to get some Ritz crackers to go with it.

I should have left that stuff at the store. Because now it keeps calling to me from the refrigerator. I know it’s not in my head, either. With my short attention span, surely I would forget about it quickly if I were just imagining it. It looks like I’m going to have to go eat some of it so it will shut up already.

We got a small bit of good news this week. Hubby’s unemployment came through, much to our surprise. I figured the company he worked for would try to fight it, but they went along with his side of the story completely. I thought they would try to weasel out of it some way. Probably the only reason they didn’t is because the fact that he left due to health reasons that would prevent him from doing his job meant that they wouldn’t be responsible for paying for his benefits.

Whatever works, right? Bottom line, we are in desperate need of money, and if he can get unemployment, that’s great. I was happy when I finally deciphered that the cryptic letter they sent us last week meant he would receive benefits. And he was ecstatic when he got his debit card, complete with a few weeks worth of payments on it, in the mail yesterday. He was so excited that he insisted on going out to eat at Prime Sirloin. And in case you haven’t gathered this about Hubby yet, Prime Sirloin is about as sophisticated a restaurant as you’ll ever find him at.

So as soon as Pumpkin got home from school yesterday, we headed out to eat. I hopped in the shower an hour or so before she was due to get here, and spent the rest of the time on the computer. It wasn’t until we were halfway there that I realized that I hadn’t put any makeup on. Oh well. Like I said, it’s not exactly the fanciest establishment around. I could probably walk in there straight from the pool in a terry romper and no one would have a problem with it. But they’ve got good food, including a buffet with lots of stuff to choose from. So everyone was happy.

Now that the celebrating is over, it’s time to figure out how much we’ll have left once we get all the bills squared away. Well, I’ll probably save that for when the weekend is over. I’d like to have a few days of ignorant bliss if that’s possible.

I got my George Foreman G-broil grill last week, and now I’m finally getting around to doing my review. I’ve been cooking up a storm with it, just haven’t had the time to pull a review together until now. Without further ado, here’s my video. But don’t forget to read on afterward for a more thorough analysis.

I’ve wanted a Foreman grill for many years, not only because it makes healthy cooking a breeze, but because I think food just plain tastes better without all that grease. Sure, it needs a little fat in it to give it some flavor, but it shouldn’t be swimming in it! The grill’s sloped design and grease catcher thingie eliminate virtually all excess fat.

And over the past two years, I’ve found two more reasons to want one: Hubby and Pumpkin. Both of them have stomach problems, and if they eat too much grease, they get awful stomachaches. So you could say I was an eager beaver about the opportunity to try a George Foreman grill.

Putting It to the Test

As soon as I opened the box, the first thing that struck me was what a fine-looking little appliance this was. Mine has a nice stainless steel finish, and the design is oh so sleek. But kitchen gadgets are more about function than form, right? So I started cooking with it in short order.

The first thing I cooked on it was frozen hamburgers. That didn’t go so well, but it was my fault. I was so excited to try it out that I didn’t read the directions, which plainly stated that it cooks much more quickly than a standard frying pan. So I kind of burned them. You can be sure that I read the instructions before trying again.

The steaks (shown in the video) turned out much better. I cooked them for around 6 or 7 minutes, and they were scrumptious. Even with the quick cooking and lack of fat, they turned out quite tender. They even had that grilled taste, minus the gas or charcoal flavor.

I even did something that I never do: I cooked something other than a grilled cheese or microwave meal for my lunch. I put a frozen chicken breast in the fridge to thaw the night before, doused it with barbeque sauce, and slapped it on the grill. Add some bagged salad, and you have a delicious home-cooked meal for one in minutes.

Features

The G-broil is a newer model, and it comes with lots of awesome features. Including:

• An on/off switch. It sounds simple enough, but the older Foreman grills didn’t have them. They just came on when you plugged them up. As a person who is jumpy about little electrical sparks, I greatly appreciate this.
• A timer. I still haven’t gotten brave enough to put the food in, set the timer and walk away until it beeps, but this is a great feature. It comes in handy for the five-minute warm-up time, if nothing else. And once I get more accustomed to how long it takes to cook things, I’m sure I’ll get plenty of mileage out of it.
• Removable non-stick grilling plates. This is probably my favorite feature. The plates come off easily, and they’re even easier to get clean. They are dishwasher safe (for those of you who have a dishwasher that works, unlike me), and you can wash them off by hand in no time flat.
• Hinge-lock lid. This is wonderful for cooking large foods, or for melting the cheese on your burger without scorching it. And if you want to make a dainty little grilled cheese on sandwich bread, this will keep it from getting flattened. Just remember that you’ll have to turn it over, because it won’t be in contact with the top plate to cook on both sides like everything else.

Darn Near Perfect

There’s not much I would change about the G-broil. It cooks food quickly and deliciously, and it is wonderful for those who are into healthy living (or those of us who just hate grease). The only thing I can think of that I would change would be to add temperature control, since I’m so accustomed to it. But with a little practice, I think I’ll manage just fine without it.

If you need to lose weight or watch your fat intake, I highly recommend this beauty. It makes eating the foods you love a possibility even if you are on a strict diet. And did I mention that everything I’ve tried on it (except maybe the burnt burgers) tasted great?

Pumpkin is a huge fan of bacon. If I would let her, she would eat it for breakfast, lunch and supper. Every time I fix it, no matter how many pieces I give her, she wants more.

I’ve told her a few times that I was going to get her a bacon of the month club membership for Christmas. Little did I know that such a thing really does exist! I don’t think I’ll be getting her one, because the grease hurts her stomach if she eats much of it, but it would be a great gift for most bacon lovers.

Must make sure she and Hubby (who is a bacon lover too) do not find out about this. Shh, don’t tell them!

I’ve been struggling with finding ways to feed Hubby and Pumpkin without upsetting their delicate stomachs. Pumpkin has had mysterious stomach problems for about a year now. Hubby’s stomach started giving him serious trouble about a year and a half ago. He was diagnosed with acid reflux and gall bladder disease, and had the gall bladder removed. Anyway, both of them have trouble with anything that contains a lot of grease or fat. But they’re such picky eaters, it’s hard to find anything that will agree with both their stomachs and their tastes.

That’s why I was so ecstatic when I was asked to do a review of a George Foreman grill on my blog. Yes, that’s right, a George Foreman Grill! I’ve wanted one for years now, but never got around to getting one when I had the money. Lots of people have told me how great they are, how well they get the grease out and make the food so much healthier and it still tastes great, and now I finally get to find out firsthand. Awesome!

Not only will I be posting about how the grill works and how the food turns out, I’ll be documenting the whole thing on video. So if you’ve ever considered a Foreman grill but haven’t experienced the joys of owning one, stay tuned.

The subject of cookie recipes came up in a forum I visit today. I love me some cookies! So I thought I would share one of my favorite recipes with everyone. This one’s a little different, but it’s really awesome! Here you go:

Russian Tea Cakes

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
• more powdered sugar (to roll the cookies in)

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In large mixing bowl, combine butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla and almond extracts. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add flour and salt. Beat at low speed until soft dough forms. Stir in pecans.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. Immediately roll cookies in powdered sugar. Cool completely. Reroll cookies in powdered sugar before storing.

Enjoy!

I’m not really one to stick to the world’s healthiest diet, but I at least try to make good choices when it comes to microwave meals. If I’m going to go for something quick, I figure the least I can do is make it sensible. Go ahead, call me crazy, I don’t care.

Anyway, I usually pick up a few diet meals when I’m at the grocery store for when I’m dining alone. Most of them are adequate, but either don’t taste quite as good as the stuff that’s bad for you or don’t fill you up. But I recently tried some of Lean Cuisine’s microwave panini sandwiches, and was pleasantly surprised.

When I first saw them, I was puzzled as to why someone would want to buy something like that. After all, I can slap a sandwich together quickly on my own, and even grill it in just a few minutes. But I decided to try the Southwest-Style Chicken variety, and now I’m glad I did.

They come with a little round metallic thingy that you put on top of the empty box and place the open sandwich on top of to cook. I was rather skeptical as to how a grilled sandwich would turn out in the microwave, but it worked out quite nicely. It didn’t really brown the bread much, but it was nice and crispy. And the flavor was awesome! The chicken, cheese, tomatoes, onions and green peppers made a great combination.

I liked that one so well, I decided to try the Chicken Tuscan Panini. It has peppers, olives, and tomatoes with a margherita-style sauce on herbed bread. It was fantastic as well. Both varieties were surprisingly filling, although as great as they tasted, I must admit that I probably would have eaten two if I had them. Guess it’s a good thing I only bought one at a time.

If you’re looking for a nice, quick lunch, these are ideal. I’m looking forward to trying the other varieties, as I’m sure they will be awesome as well!

I’m not usually a big fan of cooking blogs, because most of them are nothing but recipes. Don’t get me wrong, I love recipes, but they’re just not much use to me due to my very picky family. But I finally found a cooking blog that I can really sink my teeth into. (Pardon the pun!)

Lisa Cooking has some scrumptious recipes with pictures that make me very hungry! And I found several simple recipes that I think even my picky eaters would enjoy. But the blog also features lots of useful cooking tips, and some general culinary talk. I particularly enjoyed the post about how to dye Easter eggs naturally. I just might give that a try this year.

It’s not often that I find one site or blog that speaks to my inner cook and gives me information I can actually use at home. But I’ve found just that at Lisa Cooking. It’s the newest addition to my feed reader. If you like that one, here are a few more you might enjoy by the same author:

• My Thoughts, Ideas and Ramblings
• Lisa Reviews
• My Road Less Traveled By

I know it’s been forever since I did a Favorite Things post. Guess it’s not going to be a daily thing after all, huh?

Anyhoo, we got Pumpkin’s Girl Scout nut order in today. We bought four things. Wouldn’t have gotten that many, but she needed to sell that many more to get a badge. You know how it goes.

One of the things I ordered is some Cranberry Nut Mix. I opened it up about three hours ago, and as of right now it’s almost half gone. And I’m the only one who’s touched it.

I’ve always loved trail mix, but this stuff is freaking awesome. I’m thinking about telling Hubby to hide it from me. But then I’d probably bust into the pecan clusters. I guess the Cranberry Nut Mix is the lesser of the two evils.

I love sour candy. Love it, love it, love it! I can’t find them anywhere any more, but my all-time favorite is Sour Dudes. They’re these gummies with that sour sugary stuff on them. Kind of like Sour Patch Kids, only much better.

There was a grocery store in the town I went to high school in that carried them, and that was the only place I ever saw them. I used to buy at least one bag every week, and sometimes two or three. I was happy to share them with my friends, but only a couple of them were brave enough to eat them. One of them loved them as much as I did, and the other ate several of them and claimed that they made her tongue peel. Is that possible?

That store went out of business, and I have been Sour Dudeless every since. Now I have to settle for SweeTarts and things like that. They’re great and all, but I miss my Sour Dudes.

Yesterday we went to the store down the road that sells overstocks and surplus kinds of stuff. Pumpkin decided that she wanted a pack of candy. She picked out a box of SweeTarts, Nerds, and other related stuff. There were 24 items in it, and it was only $3. So I obliged, and you’d better believe I’m getting all of the stuff she doesn’t like.