cameodolli's ramblings

Meal Plan for September 21 - 27
Monday
Honey bourbon glazed pork chops & peaches
Green beans

Tuesday
Honey Mustard Pork Chops
Broccoli w/ cheese sauce

Wednesday
Pepper steak
Sesame fried rice

Thursday
Cheese Enchilada Casserole

Friday
MM Steak Sammies on sourdough bread
Ranch style beans

Saturday
Cowgirl Chicken Sammies on sourdough bread
Oven taters

Sunday
Cheese & chicken enchiladas
Mexican rice

One night a week I try to make something new. Tonight was that night. I am stuffed and happy. Let me tell you how it happened. Saturday I bought The Best of Cooking Light: Everyday Favorites while we were browsing Barnes & Noble.While watching the Longhorns beat the Red Raiders I bookmarked way too many recipes with pink post-its.There will be several recipes coming from this book!

I substituted Johnnie Walker Black because I didn't have any bourbon. Close enough for me!




I also don't own a grill pan (or even a grill) so I used a plain jane cast iron skillet. Never forget - Necessity is the mother of invention!





And then I ate it all up! *burp*

I halved the original recipe and made a couple of substitutions. Since I'm not completely sure if I can or cannot post the verbatim recipe, I'll just tell you what I did in my own words.

For the marinade you'll need:
1.5 tablespoons Johnnie Walker Black or other bourbon/whiskey of your choice
2 tablespoons clover honey
1.5 tablespoons lite soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon black pepper (fresh ground if ya got it)

Mix all of that together and add your two 4 ounce pork chops (about 1/2 to 3/4" thick) and one halved and pitted peach; shake it all around to coat everything. Use a little cooking spray on a cast iron skillet and cook the chops and peaches (turning chops only once) until pork is done. If you want you can microwave the remaining marinade (to kill anything icky, after all it did have raw meat in it) and pour over the meat when you serve it up. According to my calculations over at SparkPeople.com my entire dinner (including the green beans and reserved marinade) was about 375 calories.

So, I know that it's already Wednesday, but I want to share my meal plan for the week. ProjectGirl has an awesome site if you love organization and/or scrapbooking. There I found Free Printable Meal Planners and they are helping so so much. One side for meals and the other for the groceries needed to make them. It's seriously genius. I'd love to post pictures of the upcoming foodstuffs if anyone's interested!

Meal Plan for September 14-20
Monday
Spaghetti & garlic cheese drop biscuits (I tweaked this recipe)

Tuesday
Broiled pork chops w/ spice rub
Oven roasted corn-on-the-cob
Spinach

Wednesday
Soft tacos were on the menu but I had a flatout pizza (bbq sauce, chicken & red onion) and Pookie had Whataburger

Thursday
Breakfast for Dinner
Smoked sausage and scrambled eggs

Friday
Hungry Girl's Exploding Chicken Taquitos with cheese sauce

Saturday
Pookie Helps Cook!
Meatless Manicotti

Sunday
Meatloaf, green beans & cornbread


I think that this meal planning thing will help alleviate some of the stress I deal with in trying to make both Pookie and myself happy come dinnertime. In the past I've said that he's picky, but that's really not true. There are tons of things he likes to eat but his favorites are completely different than my favorites. For instance I love chicken, colorful vegetables and noodles. He prefers red meat, rice and starchy vegetables. I like chinese and italian; he prefers mexican and cajun. If we have a plan that serves each of our favorites equally then maybe we won't complain as much.

Sometimes it only takes a post-it to make my day wonderful :)

This has been such a shitty year. I try to find the happy times and “accentuate the positive” but some days it’s nearly impossible. More often I find myself detailing the year’s tragedies. It’s in my nature to throw pity parties for myself, I suppose. When I started this blog, I wanted to detail my cooking adventures and even some of the inevitable failures those adventures would bring. But it doesn’t seem to be working out that way. I’ve used it as a tribute to two amazing friends, Chris & Candy. And I’ve wanted to talk about losing my Daddy but after nearly seven months that wound is still too tender.

In February, the same week we buried Daddy, my doctor (endocrinologist) recommended weight loss surgery. Emotional wreck doesn’t even begin to describe the state I was in even before that conversation. I’ve always struggled with my weight. And by struggled, I mean I ate what I wanted and watched my ass expand whilst complaining about it periodically. Okay, I wasn’t a completely sedentary creature. Marching band in high school, rugby in college and regular workouts in college too but I was never at a healthy weight. I was in better shape sure, but always overweight. After the appointment, I sat in the parking lot and cried. Tears for Dad or for my fat ass, did it really matter which one? Twenty-five is too young for weight loss surgery, right? I kept thinking, “am I really THAT fat?” I knew even then that I didn’t want the surgery but it hurt to have it RECOMMENDED to me.

It took some time before I finally made a conscious / consistent / determined effort to change my habits, my lifestyle. Since the beginning of August, I’ve documented every single thing I’ve eaten. SparkPeople is an amazing resource for weight loss and general health; I use it every day. I’m making, at the moment, a less-than-diligent effort to exercise but that will improve as I get into the swing of this semester. So now I think it’s time for this blog to change too. Do I need a new name? Does “Semi Domestic Goddess” still fit?

I had been planning on a long emotional entry detailing some seriously funny stories about my Daddy but I'm feeling rather greedy with my warm and fuzzy thoughts. He's my Daddy and I don't want to share him too much right now. But, I'm not completely cold-hearted! I'll share the very first picture of Daddy and me:

I Love You Daddy !!! I miss you and your blunt (but wise) advice but most of all I miss your voice telling me you love me too.