We have groceries again!

It's been five days since my last post and normally, I'm not this tardy. I actually worked four out of five days this week so I haven't gotten around to blogging. Randy and I got groceries on Thursday so early this week was pretty slim pickin's in the recipe and meal department.

Sunday I decided to make some salmon as I had some leftover in the freezer. I didn't have a recipe on hand so I figured I'd just jazz it up with some spices. After googling a few things, I settled on a mixture of paprika, salt and pepper, and thyme. I baked it for about twenty-five minutes and served it with some chicken country rice (Sidekicks) and some sliced carrots.

This meal was gross. The carrots and rice were fine, but the seasoning, despite how thick it was, did nothing to add any flavour to the salmon and the salmon dried out very easily. It just tasted too dry and too fishy and I only ate about half my salmon before throwing it in the garbage.

We had some leftover moose sausages in the freezer that a student of Randy's sold him back in the fall. So on Monday for supper, we decided to do an oldie but a goodie: breakfast for supper. Randy fried up the sausages with some onion and a lot of Frank's Red Hot Sauce. I made some scrambled eggs and we had some toast with a loaf of whole wheat bread from Wanda's Bake Shop. Wanda's Bake Shop is this cute little bakery at the end of our street in Grand Falls that sells all kinds of bread and rolls, pies, and cookies. The owners are the most delightful people and they're always super friendly whenever I go in. We try and buy our whole wheat bread there when we can because it always tastes deliciously fresh and additive-free.

Notice how I globbed on the cheese whiz? Cheez whiz is my love. The only thing that could have made this meal better is if I had had some bacon and toutons as well. But then I might have exploded in a fit of culinary fullness glee so I was more than happy to settle for this.

On Tuesday, I made chicken spaghetti and homemade garlic bread. I had a jar of marinara sauce in the fridge so I fried some sliced chicken in a little olive oil and salt and pepper, combined it with the marinara sauce and some mushrooms to make my sauce. I piled this on top of some whole-wheat spaghetti and got to work on some homemade garlic bread. I buttered two slices of bread, sprinkled a little garlic powder on them, then covered them in bacon and shredded marble cheese.

Considering our pantry and fridge were pretty bare at this point, this meal was actually pretty delicious! Especially the garlic bread. Yum! I could have easily eaten two or three more slices of this.

Wednesday was the first game of the playoffs for Randy so he was in the mood to order a pizza. There are three real places to order take-out pizza here: Greco, Doninni's, and Lefty's. I have never really enjoyed Greco; it's too expensive and too doughy. Doninni's is half decent but I always find it to be really greasy. Lefty's is the perfect mix of take-out pizza: cheap, tasty, and not too greasy. We swung by Lefty's and picked up a medium pizza with cheese, bacon, green peppers, onions, and mushrooms.

Since this is Randy's new wardrobe until the Penguins get knocked out of the playoffs:

we settled in with our pizza and a beer and watched the first game. Well, that's sort of a lie. I started watching some of it and then snuck off to the other TV to catch America's Next Top Model (don't hate).

Thursday was a rush meal - I had to sub and when I got home, we went out and got groceries (yay, groceries!) and at 6:30, I had to meet a friend for a jewelry party. There was a slice of leftover pizza left so I had that along with some bacon carbonara pasta.

Yes, I know it's bland, but forgive me, I had no time and no groceries! Today, I got back into the recipe groove and made a cheeseburger casserole. The recipe comes from a cookbook my mom gave me when I went to university entitled "Where's Mom When I Need Here?". Most of the recipes are pretty simple and include a lot of easily accesible ingredients (no panda bamboo shoots or other ridiculous items). I fried up 1/2 pound of ground beef with a diced onion in a frying pan until the meat was brown and the onion semi-transluscent. I then added a can of tomato sauce and some salt and pepper, frying uncovered for about five minutes. When that was done, I set it aside, boiled about two cups of macaroni (possibly a bit more) and mixed together in a bowl: one tbsp dried parsley, 1 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, and 1/2 cup cooked, diced carrots. I then folded in the cooked macaroni. In a greased casserole dish, I combined one layer of meat mixture, one layer of sour cream mixture, and then repeated the layers. I added about 3/4 of a cup of shredded cheese on top and baked at 350 for 30 minutes. It came out looking like this:

And a better shot of the inside:

I served mine with a homemade dinner roll and washed it down with some diet A&W root beer:

Yum! This is pretty tasty. It looks kinda like slop but on a Friday when you are in the mood for something slightly junky (that isn't fast food), this is a great meal to make. Easy, tasty, and quick. Perfect!

Not sure what I am making tomorrow yet, however I did make a crab dip for Randy and I to enjoy with some drinks and hockey tonight. Go Pittsburgh!

Shoutouts from the past few days go to: mini quiches, peanut butter balls, homemade ice cream sandwiches, and carrot cake.

Here's Sebastian loving his Christmas outfit: