Stuffed Whole Wheat Pitas

Here's a little something I served the husband when I was on that pita kick a week or so ago. For the record, I think this tasted more like a Tomato Cheese Dream than the pita pizza I made did, but 

So what'd I put in that whole wheat pita, you ask?

Turkey BLT on Rye

Is it humid as all heck where you live? Do you have tomatoes growing out of your ears? Do you live with a man who loves bacon? No? That's just me? Well, you still might like this sandwich. 

Last summer the tomato plants the husband and I bought, which I swore were going to produce regular ol' tomatoes grew cherry tomatoes and that was it. The husband wasn't such a fan and insisted we grow tomatoes this year. 

Fresh Tomato Pizza

Someone had way too much time on her hands Saturday afternoon while her husband played in a golf tournament. That's right: this girl did. 

OK, so I didn't bother to put three loads of laundry away or clean up my craft room, but I swear I was productive.

You-Gotta-Stop-Cooking-With-Basil Potatoes

Mustardy-Lemon Chicken, Basily-Lemon Potatoes and Boring Ol' Green Beans

You'd think, thanks to my clever titling skills, that this post is about the husband whining that I made bad potatoes for dinner - bad potatoes cooked with basil, to be exact. But our potatoes weren't bad at all. They were a little interesting, perhaps, and had a little flavor we aren't really used to with potatoes, but they were good. 

So what's the husband's issue with me using basil all the time? 

Light Basil Mayo

A few weekends ago we grilled turkey burgers and spicy corn, and if you read all about that, you may have wondered what that huge white glob was on my bun. Well, that was a little light basil mayo that I've made a couple of times recently, and the husband and I are just loving it. Plus, it's a really nice way to put our abundance of fresh basil to use. (Absolutely no complaints about that!)

Light Basil Mayo

From Cooking Light

1/4 cup light mayo

2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir with a whisk until fully combined. How simple is that?

Serves 4; makes 1 tablespoon per serving

51 calories, 4.9 g fat, 1.5 g carbs, .1 g fiber, .2 g protein

Meatless Monday: Pita Pizzas

My first red tomato of the season, a little fresh basil and some chives

Five things that made my Monday extremely happy:


1. The husband actually kissed me when I got home today. (He has been avoiding me ever since my body turned his "allergies" into a sinus infection and forced me to be on antibiotics. Ick.)


2. Yesterday the husband told me my (one) almost-red tomato wasn't red enough to pick. Today when I got home from work, I told him it was perfect.


3. I came home to two brown dogs who stayed in their cages all day. (Mr. Pants has developed the ability to escape his new cage no matter how tight the door is shut, no matter where it is in the garage and no matter how small the hole is that he can create between the bars. I think his bones compress.)


4. Dinner was ready in a snap - less than 20 minutes, to be exact. 


5. The husband liked dinner, even though he asked if it was going to be like Tomato Cheese Dreams and told me that it actually tasted like breakfast. He'd eat 'em again.

Nacho Typical Dinner

There was a night years and years ago when my stepmother wasn't going to be home to make dinner and it was up to me to cook for Da. Well, I thought we should eat Chicken Caesar Salads for dinner. Yup, I suggested my meat-loving father eat a big salad for dinner. Surprisingly, my daddy man agreed to the meal. My stepmother was shocked. She couldn't believe that man would eat a salad for dinner and be cool with it. But, lucky for me, he was. 

I couldn't help but think of that night when I told the husband I wanted to make nachos for dinner. I'll admit, even to me, this meal definitely sounded more like happy hour fare than a regular Wednesday night meal, but I really wanted to make it. So I asked the husband pretty, pretty please?

Meatless Monday: Lentil Burgers

I kinda took last week off. I fed the husband a lot of easy stuff: grilled chicken, baked turkey breasts, canned beans, corns. Actually, I fed him all of that easy stuff twice. Almost every meal I made last week resulted in leftovers. And we didn't even get around to going meatless until Friday. Talk about a wash.

So we agreed that I'd make a much better effort this week. I found a recipe for lentil burgers and asked the husband if he'd be willing to try them. The truth is I picked the recipe because it was meatless and I was out of ideas. But I also thought it sounded good. I wasn't really sure the husband would go for it, though.

Surprisingly he said yes - without hesitation! OK, maybe he just looked at me and said "sure." But, still. He didn't shoot the idea down. Although I think he regretted agreeing to dinner when he saw me mixing it all up.

Spicy Grilled Corn

After spending our morning kayaking on a little river, the husband and headed home for a typical Sunday. We enjoyed time with the doggies, did some boring chores around the house and then grilled a little something for dinner. We're easy to please, wouldn't you say?

We have a ton of chile peppers growing in the gardens right now. Every single time I go outside I find more peppers ready to be picked. It's amazing; the excitement never gets old. The only trouble I'm having is coming up with new ways to put those peppers to use. We planned to have turkey burgers and corn for dinner. Chile peppers didn't really seem to fit into that menu, but I was determined to come up with something. Spicy corn? Why not?

Meat-Free Friday: Fridge Leftovers = Pizza

Vegetarian Pizza

During our engagement the then-fiance often told me I had until we got married to work on my cooking. (Did the man starve? No. But he liked to pick and tell me that once we were married there'd be no excuses for burnt lasagna or undercooked baked potatoes.) Now that we're married, my deadline has been extended and I have until the one-year mark. Oh, you know the Kenny Chesney lyrics, "Eatin' burnt suppers the whole first year and askin' for seconds, to keep her from tearin' up ... "

Well, our anniversary is quickly approaching and I'm starting to realize I don't really need to step it up in the kitchen, but I may need to work on my grocery shopping skills. This is the second Friday in a row that we've planned to eat pizza but failed to go shopping beforehand to actually make sure we had ingredients for pizza. Oy. 

Here's to You and Me

One view we enjoyed last weekend

"Day eighteen thousand two hundred and fifty-three
Well, honey, that's fifty years
Yeah, here's to you and me"

- Chris Cagle

Fourth of July weekend means always one thing for me and the husband: it's time to celebrate. We celebrate beautiful weather. We celebrate a long weekend to enjoy together. We celebrate us. 

Sweet, Sweet Salad

"Are you putting grapes on my salad?!"

Those were the first words out of the husband's mouth as he saw me putting dinner together tonight. I thought he might not be that open to the idea, so I must admit I was trying to slip the grapes by him when he caught me.

As we started eating dinner tonight, I asked the husband if he kind of didn't like me at the moment. He shook his head. "No," he said. "I still like you. But I kind of don't like my salad."

So, the husband wasn't a huge fan of this starter, but I liked it. It was a nice change from our usual dressing and light Italian dressing. The husband thought it was too sweet; it was sweet and probably could have used a little more lettuce to cut the dressing. But I still liked it. And I'll definitely make this again when the husband isn't around. I like the guy too much to serve him stuff I know he won't enjoy. When I'm just wondering whether he'll like it, well, that's another story.

Greens With Honey-Dijon Vinaigrette

From Fresh Food Fast

Serves 2

2 cups lettuce

1/4 cup sliced grapes

2 tablespoons (or so) sliced cucumber

Vinaigrette:

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon honey

1/8-1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

a dash of freshly ground black pepper (or more, to taste)

Whisk together all of the vinaigrette ingredients in a large bowl. Add in the lettuce and toss. 

Plate the greens and sprinkle with cucumbers and grapes.

Amount per serving, sans cucumbers: 66 calories, 3.7 g fat, 8.2 g carbs, 1.4 g fiber, 1.1 g protein

Mushroom-Stuffed Mushrooms

Homemade Stuffed Mushrooms

I really wanted stuffed mushrooms at our wedding. But I'm always really scared to order them because I hate sausage and fear they'll be stuffed with sausage. So when it came to planning the wedding menu, I asked our caterer what he put in his stuffed mushrooms. He looked at me like that was the silliest question he'd ever heard. "Mushrooms," he said. (He also told me this wasn't his first rodeo and I had nothing to worry about, but that's another story.)  

I was sold on the mushrooms. And I was happy to find out the morning after the wedding that I'm not the only one who contemplates the stuffing in stuffed mushrooms.