the giraffe life

Usually my meal planning is fairly laid back. I look over the sale ads, pick out 2-3 meals I feel like making this week, and try to do as much of the cooking as possible on Sunday so we can ride out the work week on leftovers. But this does sometimes lead to dinner ruts or accidentally making two very similar meals super close to each other (tacos and enchiladas a few days apart).  I figured keeping track of what we're eating for longer periods would alleviate the dinner ruts and help us remember some of those recipes we just haven't made for a while.  I saw this idea on pinterest and liked it immediately, but it's taken me seemingly forever to just DO IT. I gave up on making it pretty like the original and that made all the difference.  Completely fictional menu plan to give an idea of how it will look - I don't cook nearly this much, considering there are only two of us to consume all the food. And don't mind Monkey's tail, the turkey sketch, or that I f...

When it's chilly, I crave warm, cheesy dishes. And last week was particularly cold so I made some enchiladas to satisfy my desire for warmth and cheese. They hit the spot.  1° F = -17° C Usually enchiladas are tortillas filled, rolled up, covered in sauce, and baked. But after reading Bread & Wine last summer, I make mine in layers like lasagna because it's quicker. It allows you to be creative with "fillings" too . . liked sliced potatoes.  Sidenote: I borrowed my parents' simple slicer for this job. I would definitely lose a finger doing it the old fashioned way! Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas • 16 ounce can of enchilada sauce • 1/2 cup vegetable broth • 1  can black beans  • 2 potatoes, sliced thin • 6 tortillas • 1/2 medium onion, diced • 1 - 2 cups  Monterey Jack or pepper jack  cheese, shredded  Optional (I've tried all of these and they're delicious - just don't use more than 2 of them at the same time. You...

Last garden update of 2014 - crazy!  The strawberries have completely covered the bottom edge of the left garden bed. I'm hoping that means an even better harvest next year.  Very little still growing, food wise - just the beans and my volunteer tomato. But the flowers continue to fare exceptionally well, the marigolds and zinnias in particular. (This is my first year growing marigolds from seed. I usually just buy plants, and they always do well, maybe doubling or so in size. But this bush blows my mind.)  The black eyed Susans out front are dead and shriveled, though I can't bring myself to cut them down just yet. I'll probably wait another week or two to start the cold weather prep. How's your garden? 

Usually my garden is winding down in September (the cucumbers are certainly finished). We've already had cool nights in the 50s (10-15° C) so I know the end is near. But! I have bean plants and strawberries that aren't ready to call it quits.  The strawberries I planted are some odd variety that produce fruit twice per season (I had no idea they even existed until I started to notice a lot of fruit on my plants and looked it up). They've put out a ton of runners this season so I think the harvest will be even better in 2015! And the bean plants I planted in late July are still growing. No signs of bean pods yet though. I knew I would be cutting it close by planting mid-season, so next year I will definitely plant them in the spring. Check out this volunteer tomato plant - it's growing out the side vent on the compost bin! It has 8 green tomatoes on the vine, ha! Mr. G is pumped. Oh, and while this isn't from my garden, it fits nicely here:  I bought...

Mr. G and I love going out to eat. It's a little break from cooking and cleaning, and we enjoy the chance to talk. (Meals at restaurants last longer than meals at home, so I feel like we talk more.) But since we don't have unlimited funds, we usually skip dessert.  So imagine our surprise when we broke tradition to order a scoop of ice cream and this came to our table . .  I think the official name was French vanilla ice cream with peanut butter swirl. The official taste was YUM. When did desserts get so big?! linking up for wordless Wednesday

I've mentioned before that new foods scare me sometimes . But I took the plunge on another one last week because my hubby was interested in trying it - black eyed peas. We used them in this tasty jambalaya-esque dish and now we both can add another food to our like lists.  Mr. G isn't a fan of anything spicy, but both vegan sausage and chili powder would be good additions, so they're listed as optional ingredients. Vegan Jambalaya Ingredients •  1 tablespoon oil (I used grape seed oil) •  1 medium onion, chopped •  1 chopped pepper/capsicum (I used bell pepper, feel free to also add hot pepper) •  1/2 teaspoon thyme •  2 cloves minced garlic •  3/4 cup basmati rice  •  2 1/2 cups vegetable broth •  2-3 tablespoons tomato paste  •  15 ounce can black eyed peas, rinsed •  1-2 zucchini optional:   •  1/2 cup vegan sausage, crumbled (I like Mexican Chipotle by Field Roast)  •  1/2...

Last month's issue of Ladies Home Journal featured an article about a woman who decided to cook breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks from scratch for a week as an experiment. For example, she made pasta, bread, and sauce by hand for spaghetti night. There were some days she spent 5-6 hours in the kitchen! By the end of the week, she noted that she had enjoyed the experience for the most part (especially since she shared some great moments with her kids in the kitchen) but it wasn't sustainable forever.  It got me thinking about how much processed or pre-made food I normally eat. Unless I was forced to, I doubt I could cook homemade 100% of the time. It's not that I seek out Froot Loops and frozen dinners for every meal, but I get busy and have cravings just like everyone else.  So here's my processed/pre-made food tally for Friday: Breakfast : milk and cereal Same old, same old. I eat this for breakfast every day. On extra hungry days, I'll add a banan...

After Legoland, we drove up the coast to San Clemente. The view from our hotel was the best.  The next day we took surfing lessons (a first for both of us). It was awesome! Our instructor had us practice on the beach for a while to start (Mr. G picked it up right away, but it was super tough for me) and then move out into the ocean. (Sidenote:  I LOVED wearing a wetsuit. It was so nice to be warm in the water and not have to worry about a big wave taking off part of my bikini!) Mr. G heading out for a wave: We both stood up on several waves and even rode in together on a couple. (And I was worried beforehand that I wouldn't even be able to stand up!) What surprised me the most was how physically demanding surfing is! We were exhausted after our 2 hour lesson and spent the rest of the day relaxing and recuperating. I was sore the next day too, haha.  Thankfully we were still able to walk around town to enjoy all the exotic (to us) plants in everyone's gardens...

Sometimes I shy away from recipes with unfamiliar ingredients because I don't want to waste time or money on something gross. But this Hello Fresh recipe tempted me because the new ingredient was just a type of cheese. Grilling cheese to be exact. I'm so glad I took a chance on this one because it's delicious.  You cube the cheese and pan fry it, so it has a slight crust on the outside and remains gooey on the inside. Mmm!  It also calls for sprinkling pumpkin seeds over the top (which I never would've thought to add to a pasta dish), and I loved it. Adds a nice crunch :) Hello Fresh says the recipe serves 2, but we each ate this for dinner, plus I got a lunch out of it. If you try it, let me know what you think! :) Do you like to cook with new foods? linking up here and here

One of the top questions people ask when they find out I'm vegetarian is how I get enough protein ( among other things ). It's not really something I worry about or track, but I am conscious of it, and try to eat something high in protein at least once a day.  Hannah recently recorded everything she ate to see how she fares, and I'm copying. :) So here for the curious, are a typical day's worth of eats. A woman my age is supposed to get at least 45 grams ( as stated here ). Do you think I'll get enough? I used  Calorie Count  to determine my protein numbers. :) Breakfast:  Dark chocolate almond granola with milk = 12 grams Morning Snack: Salad + 1/4 cup pistachios = 6 grams Lunch:  Vegetable stir fry = 22 grams Dinner: Vegetable wrap with cheese and french fries = 19 grams Evening Snack: 2 squares of chocolate + popcorn =  7 grams Total: 66 grams protein   I'm honestly surprised by how far over the recommended...

Dar recently posted a photo of her weekly shopping trip  and Laura does the same every week. I think it's pretty interesting to see what others buy and how much they pay so I figured I'd share a shopping trip too.  Normally, I make 1-2 shopping trips per week. On the weeks I make two trips, it's one to the farmers' market and one to the grocery store (they're in opposite directions from my house, so I can't hit both in one drive). Our farmers' market sells the produce they grow behind the shop and food from local farmers when it's available. In January, most of the food is brought in from other parts of the country. But I still like to shop there to support a small business and products grown in North America. For $41.34, I bought . .  2 pounds of butter, $8.29 pound of organic ricotta cheese, $4.95 head of cauliflower, $3.99 unsweetened ketchup, $3.45 3/4 pound of shelled edamame, $2.89 onion, $.50 bell pepper, $.98 zucchini, $.91 ...

I love popcorn. It's easily my favorite snack. I'll eat it plain or topped with salt, butter, or cheese (anything but kettle corn, really). But pre-made popcorn is expensive around here - 3 or 4 dollars for a bag of 10-12 cups of popcorn. Microwavable popcorn is cheaper, but I felt awful throwing those plastic-lined bags in the microwave since I'd given up cooking leftovers in plastic. And unfortunately, microwave popcorn has a lot of added preservatives/chemicals. (Some boxes even have warnings not to breath in the fumes when opening the bag!) Then I noticed my farmer's market sold popcorn kernels and the bag even had instructions on making it at home on the stove. I followed the instructions with disappointing results - the oil splattered in my face when I added the kernels, the popcorn launching itself out of the pot, unpopped kernels, burned kernels. Ugh. I tried this process about 5 times before giving up and looking for other options. Nothing jumped out at m...

I'm not big on presentation. By that I mean - I can appreciate a gorgeous plate of food, but I have a tough time making food look that tempting at home. As long as it tastes good, I don't spend much energy on how it goes on the plate. And usually when I make something from a recipe book or website, my creation only has a slight resemblance to the original. (That might have something to do with how often I make substitutions while cooking, hmm.) So, when we bought a doughnut mix to make as a special breakfast on Christmas Eve and they turned out almost exactly like the picture on the box - we were both surprised. In this house, that never happens! And, I even found a recipe online so I can make them without a mix next time. Score!  Have you ever cooked something that looked like the picture? Is food presentation a strength for you?

Yesterday was Thanksgiving here in the US, and I thought I'd share what I ate. (I usually get a lot of comments from meat eaters about what I can actually eat at Thanksgiving.) As an appetizer, we had tortilla chips with salsa and corn dip . I was little worried making the dip because it looked nothing like the recipe picture, but it turned out just fine. Everyone ate it so fast I didn't even think to take a picture. For dinner, I had carrots, vegetarian stuffing , basmati rice, mashed potatoes, corn, vegetable soup (not pictured - but it had vegetable broth, peas, lentils, carrots, and barley), a roll with butter, and cookie dough truffles . My truffles also turned out nothing like the pictures, haha. At least they tasted good :) Yum! I definitely didn't feel deprived by not eating turkey. I had plenty! And probably too much starch now that I look back over the pictures . .  How was your Thanksgiving? Anyone going out today for Black Friday shopping? My husban...

Happy Friday! I'm so ready to sleep in tomorrow :) Have anything fun planned? Mr. Giraffe and I recently had a date night and went out to dinner. My appetizer was nothing to write home about, but my salad? Amazing! Houlihan's bills it as the Asian Chicken Chop Chop Salad, so I used one of my vegetarian eating-out tricks and asked for the chicken on a separate plate. (Mr. G gave the chicken two thumbs up.) Unfortunately, at $15, it wasn't the most affordable meal, but I plan to make it at home for much cheaper.  It's lettuce, cabbage, carrots, snow peas, bell pepper, jicama, peanuts, sesame seeds, and wonton strips or tortilla strips. All fairly normal (except the jicama - this was my first time trying it, tastes like a raw potato), but I never would've thought to combine them myself. (The asparagus was part of my husband's meal that he kindly gifted to me.)  I didn't sample the salad dressing - see more of my weird food aversions  here  - but it was s...

This'll be my last garden update for 2013! Can you believe we only have two months left in the year?  We had a few overnight frosts last week, so everything was looking cool when I took this photo around 6:30 in the morning. (Pretty soon it'll be time for  hot chocolate for breakfast !) Mr. G and I trimmed all the Black-Eyed Susan stems right before Halloween (they grow into the path and we didn't want any issues with trick-or-treaters) so they're resting in the garden now until the spring. Then we'll put some in the compost and some out in the woods house to decompose.  And the 30x30 update. Just to refresh your memory, this was a challenge I'd read about on RA's blog back in October, and I decided to join in. The basic premise is to pick 30 things to wear (clothing and shoes) for an entire month. You can read her thoughts for October  here . Here's what I decided to wear: This challenge turned out to be extremely difficult for me - and I...

Finding gum in recyclable packaging is tough - I've been looking at my local stores with no luck. But on a recent out-of-the-way trip, I stopped at Whole Foods for some other things and stumbled upon this gum. It's packed loosely in cardboard, contains only vegetarian ingredients, costs $1 for 16 (albeit tiny) pieces and is nearly 100% natural (there are some synthetics in the gum base). Since I chew gum sparingly, I'll count it as a win. Do you know of any completely natural gums? linking up for Wordless Wednesday

This series, wherein I feature recipes from other blogs that I've made and enjoyed, is an idea that I completely ripped off from Kiersten at ohmyveggies .  She does one every Friday. I originally saw this over at cleaneatingveggiegirl . I didn't have bell pepper, so I used celery; I didn't have chili powder or cumin, so I used cayenne (whew - and I paid for that choice with a burning tongue!); I didn't have vegan sausage, so I added an egg at the very end and it turned out kinda like vegetable fried rice. All those changes - and it was still delicious! (Oh, and when I ate my second helping, I poured tomato sauce over the top, and that took the heat down a notch.) Uhh, tomato sauce and some vegetables? Okay, you caught me - this isn't really a recipe. But it was yummy and I figured this is as good as place as any to include it. These were leftovers - pasta, corn, carrots, green beans, and tomato sauce - but so good, and a great way to use up all those rand...