In a funk

I feel like I'm in a cooking funk. Lately, I just feel wholly uninspired to create a nice big meal, sit down as a family and enjoy it like I usually do. I have no idea what it is - maybe it was the end of daylight savings time which makes it dark before 5? Or perhaps it's the fact that Luke's hitting that picky stage where he either refuses to eat it altogether, or he chews it up and then spits it out (which has subsequently given Linds the idea that she can refuse the food, too)? Or it could be because the boy hasn't come home from work until 7:00 every night for the past two or three weeks? This means the kids eat at 5:30 and I snack throughout the afternoon so I can wait until 7:30 to have dinner with him (and let me tell you - that hasn't been kind to my whole "getting in shape/losing the last 5 lbs of pregnancy weight" endeavor - grrrrrr). Who knows? It could be sheer laziness, too! All I know is that we're living off of take-out, prepared foods (chicken nuggets, those Barber's stuffed chicken breasts, Kraft mac-n-cheese, pastas, etc.), and PB&Js (well, AB&Js for Luke!). Hopefully this funk ends soon because I do miss eating good, homemade food...I guess I just want someone else to make it for me?!?

June 29/30 - Junk!

The kids and I went to Dutch Wonderland on Tuesday, and by the time we finished there and got home, it was almost 7:00! I was hoping the boy would be home normal time to get dinner started, but unfortunately he had to work late. I ended up swinging through Burger King on the way home and doing a fast food dinner.

On Wednesday I had Zumba and like to eat early, so the kids and I just ate leftovers - they had hot dogs, I had a burger, and the boy just snacked all night.

June 26

It was deep cleaning day in the Risser household and we had a TON of cleaning to do! We also had a visit from Memma, who so kindly brought us A&M hoagies...our favorite central PA treat. After all of the cleaning, the hoagie at the end was definitely a treat!

June 18-20 - Weekend Eats

We had yet another jam-packed weekend! It started on Friday with an evening with Critter (my friend, Sarah's son). Since I was on my own with three kids over dinnertime (just until the boy got home), I ordered some Domino's and figured the cooking wouldn't get done anyways.

On Saturday, Linds had her dance recital in the morning - she did such a fantastic job! I am so proud! After the recital, my parents, the boy's parents, and the four of us all went to the Winner's Circle for lunch. I got a gigantic burger and fries, and my god, did it taste good. Here's a photo of the four of us after the recital:

And of course I have to show off Lindsay by herself!

We just snacked for dinner since we ate a later lunch, so no cooking Saturday either.

For Father's Day, we did absolutely nothing! I kept after the boy and he honestly just wanted to have a lazy day at home with no frills or fancy stuff. I decided to make a stromboli for dinner since the boy enjoys that and I don't frequently repeat my dishes - LOL. I've posted it before, but here's the recipe again - simple and delicious!

Stromboli
Ingredients
1 can Pillsbury refrigerated pizza dough
Ham
Salami
Sandwich pepperoni
Heidi Ann swiss cheese
Dijon mustard
Cheddar cheese
Marinara sauce (for dipping)

Directions

1. Unroll the pizza dough and lay flat.
2. Layer meats and cheeses alternately, adding mustard in between a layer.
3. Roll length-wise, pinching the seam and ends closed.
4. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.
5. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

June 11 - Triple Fresh

Saturday was one of those days from hell with the kiddos (I mean, you name it, we dealt with it!). No one was going to cook after the day we had, so it was Triple Fresh subs for lunch and dinner (we just ordered big ones and pigged out all day).

May 25 - Birthday Pizza!

Today is Luke's birthday, so we let him pick dinner...okay, okay - we don't have any food, the kid digs pizza, and we haven't had it in a couple of weeks, so it was a no-brainer. We ordered from Domino's and Linds and I made a cake for Luke. I'm definitely not good at making cakes...no matter how hard I try, they always look like a HUGE disaster! Luckily, Linds helped me with this, so I can lay partial blame on her ;-) Here's our creation:

Now, when we gave him the cake, he poked it a few times and then just screamed - no tears...just piercing shrieks. I don't think he liked it?! He refused to even touch it. Oh, well, we'll see what happens during his party on Sunday! Today, we spent the afternoon at Chick-fil-A with Luke's buddies, took long naps, and went to the "slides and swings" (East Fallowfield Park) behind our house. It was such a fun day! Here are a few photos of the birthday boy.

Vacation Update!

I have so much catching up to do! We've been in Atlantic City for the past four days and have been enjoying lazy days, filled with food, booze, gambling and quality family time. We arrived on Sunday afternoon to the Lucky Beach House and by the time we got there, no one was up for cooking or even going out, so we ordered some pizza from Tony Boloneys - it was some of the best damn pizza I've had! If you check out the site, make sure to look at the "erotic pizza" if you dare...we all looked at them and it gave us a good giggle.

On Monday, we took a stroll along the boardwalk and played a game of mini-golf. We drew names earlier in the day and the winners were allowed to order the losers around the following day - ironically, we all drew our spouses/partners?! Scott and I ruled the course and won by a good 6 strokes. That came in quite handy for Tuesday when I needed some recovery time ;-) After golf, we had a "lupper" at the Rainforest Cafe - I got the guacamole burger (burger, guac, pepperjack cheese and an onion ring) and we all ordered tropical drinks in their cool flashy cups. Totally touristy, but fun!

Yesterday, was a recovery day for me...I was kind of hurtin from Monday's boozey adventure post-Rainforest Cafe, so I just nibbled during the day. That evening we decided to order Chinese and go to town on some lo mein, shrimp with broccoli, General Tso's, beef with broccoli, and egg rolls. After a late-night trip to the Claridge, Zach and Rachel beat us to all of the leftovers...but the boy and I needed to win back our money (which we did!).

Today we're planning to hit the Atlantic City Outlets and maybe do an appetizer feast at Applebee's (they have a super cheap special) and then come home for tropical island drink night. I <3 vacation!!

May 12 - Pizza

I'm really in vacation mode already! I don't feel like cooking, cleaning, or doing anything that requires effort. By the time dinner rolled around tonight, I had zero interest in putting something together, so we ordered pizza and a salad from Venice Pizza. It's pretty good pizza and one of two pizza places that delivers around here (Dominos is the only other one we can get...that I know of?). So, that was it - pizza and a salad for dinner. Nothing fancy, but damn, it was great to be able to dish out the food and not even have to clean it up (thank you, boy!).

Playing catch-up...busy weekend!

WOW! Let me just say it was a SUPER busy weekend! We were gone all day Friday (MOMS Club activity and happy hour play-date at Julia's house), all day Saturday (sunning while the kiddos played at Christy's and then a visit from Lynzy and Conor who we haven't seen since New Year's!), and then the boy helped install cabinets at casa de Kurzeja on Sunday, so Sarah and Critter spent the day with us. By the time Monday rolled around, I was wiped out!

As for dinners...let's see. On Friday we did some quick pasta with jarred sauce (I used Bertolli's Four Cheese Rosa sauce - alfredo sauce mixed with tomatoes...pretty good!).

On Saturday we ordered out since we had company. Scott had stained part of the deck and we didn't know if it would be dry or not, so I didn't defrost anything. We got some Venice pizza and wraps...always a good meal and they deliver, which is nice (and a rarity for us out here!).

On Sunday, we dined at the Kurzeja's and let me tell you, they never disappoint in the food department! Sarah grilled skewers of chicken satay and fillets of salmon, put together a salad with some incredible homemade dressing, and I braised a bag of baby carrots. Topped off with wine and Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches, it was an incredible dinner! I still need to get her satay recipe, but here's the braised carrrot recipe:

Braised Carrots
Ingredients
1 lb. bag of baby carrots
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water (or chicken broth)
Parsley

Directions

1. Place carrots, butter, brown sugar, salt and water (or chicken broth) in pan over medium-high heat. 
2. Bring to boil. 
3. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until carrots are tender and liquid evaporates. 
4. Sear slightly for color and top with parsley.

I don't have any pictures, but suffice it to say - FANTASTIC!!

Apr. 18 - Pizza & Gardening

We started our garden! One of the veggies I wanted to try was lettuce, and since it loves the cold weather, we planted early. We just tossed seeds in the ground (nothing pre-planted indoors), so we'll see if this works out?! When Scott started preparing the area, he claimed there were a million spiders throughout the mulch and dirt that was already there, but by the time I got out there, I saw nothing. A few "experts" told me that the bugs were okay, and since we're trying to go organic in there, I didn't want to put anything into the ground that was harmful. I took a photo of Scott raking the soil - it's my first picture of the garden!

When we were done, I was going to make shrimp stir-fry, but the boy was in the mood for pizza, so pizza it was! We got Dominos, which we are totally diggin since they redid their recipe. I got my usual - spinach and feta with the white sauce on thin crust; the boy got sausage and extra cheese on his hand-tossed crust. We also got an order of their buffalo chicken kickers - not too bad...nothing extraordinary, but it tasted good!

Tax Day Free Food!

Holy crap, there is a TON of free and/or cheap food out there on Tax Day (that's tomorrow)!! Check out these deals:

• Cinnabon: 2 free cupcake bites from 6 - 8 p.m.
• Starbucks: free brewed coffee if you bring in your own reusable mug (all day)
• Maggie Moos: free ice cream pizza (at select locations - click link to see if yours is on there; unfortunately, the closest for us is in Lancaster)
• Chick-fil-A: there are a variety of offers, depending on which restaurant you go to (in my area, from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. the Downingtown location is offering a free chicken sandwich; in Lionville, they are giving away free sandwiches from 3 p.m. - 8 p.m.)
• McDonald's: this is restaurant-specific, and I'm not sure what our local McD's is offering, but some are doing a B1G1 Quarter-Pounder or Big Mac for 1 penny
• P.F. Chang's: 15% off your bill
• Subway: free cookie for all customers

Enjoy all this awesome FREE food!

Apr. 10 - Pizza

I needed to run some errands yesterday and was feeling particularly lazy after I finished up, so we ordered pizza. We got two mediums from Joey's in Thorndale (one half-cheese/half-sausage and a white with broccoli). I always make this mistake there, going for two mediums, but for some reason their pizza is one of those kinds that just doesn't fill you up. I swear I ate 3/4 of the thing and still had room. It sure tasted good, though!

Mar. 20 - Good & Plenty/Venice Pizza

Today we had Scott's grandfather's 85th birthday party at Good & Plenty in Lancaster...it was a good ol' traditional Pennsylvania Dutch meal, complete with a few types of meats, starch, more starch and even more starch! Haha - in reality, we had meatloaf, ham and fried chicken (quite possibly the best piece of fried chicken I've ever had - not greasy, but moist and very tasty), and then there were sides of bread, mashed potatoes, buttered noodles, corn and green beans. For dessert, they had homemade shoofly and apple pies, homemade chocolate and vanilla ice cream, rice pudding and jello. It was a great meal, and a blast to catch up with extended family (the boy's aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, etc.). We usually only get to see all of them a couple times a year, despite everyone being geographically close, so I'm always stoked when we have an excuse.

Despite having a huge meal, we were pretty hungry by 6:30. I was planning to do grilled chicken salads, but the boy mentioned pizza and it was all downhill from there. We ordered a cheese pizza and a buffalo chicken pizza and literally had enough to feed three families. We can add all of that to the piles of leftovers sitting in the fridge! At least we'll have food enough for days - perhaps I can postpone grocery shopping another few days?!

Feb. 28 - Domino's

I was ready to cook, but the boy requested some Domino's, and laziness won out. I used to HATE Domino's with a passion - like, honestly, blech, yuck, hate. But since they've redone their recipe - oh my gosh, it's fantastic! The hand-crossed crust is like a garlic bread and I've always enjoyed their thin-crust style. They're running a deal for 2 mediums for $5.99 each, so the boy's pizza was the hand-tossed crust with extra cheese and sliced Italian sausage, while I got a thin crust with the white sauce (it's not alfredo...it's more like a lighter Parmesan-garlic sauce) with spinach and feta cheese. I feel infinitely less guilty when I eat the thin-crust pizza, and now that they have spinach as a topping, it *really* feels like I'm not binging on a ton of calories and fat.

Feb. 7 - Super Bowl Junk

It's Super Bowl day! All thoughts of a home-cooked, healthy meal are STRAIGHT out the window. We ordered 2 dozen hot wings, a dozen mozzarella sticks, half  a dozen jalapeño poppers, and half a dozen chicken cordon bleu poppers from Triple Fresh and gorged on fried goodness. YUMMM! Go Saints!

Jan. 22 - Pizza Night

In honor of Hoover tradition, we had a "Pizza Friday" (we used to do this when we were kids every week - always loved it!). The boy and I are really diggin Domino's new crust (the garlic makes it SO much more delicious), and they're pretty much the only place that delivers, so we got that. We got a large hand-tossed with sausage and a medium half-mushroom thin crust. Can't beat not having to cook or clean up a big mess!

Jan. 12 - Coppa 82

An impromptu gathering with our friends, the Kurzejas, edged into mealtime, so we ordered some AMAZING pizza from Coppa 82 in Downingtown. It is easily the best pizza in this area! No recipe to add to today's post, but I highly recommend trying their stuff if you are in the Chester County area.

January 2 - Takeout Saturday

Impromptu drinks at Kildare's with my good friend Katie derailed any possibility of a home-cooked meal today, so we got some Bella Rosa take-out. Bella Rosa is an Italian restaurant/pizza joint near our place that we've deduced has the best local pizza/stromboli/calzone stuff. Scott and Linds split a chicken cheese steak stromboli and I ate a buffalo chicken salad with blue cheese dressing. Tomorrow we're heading to the boy's parents' house for a get-together with his mom's side of the family (and, just as importantly, for the Eagles-Cowboys game), so it'll be an hors d'oeuvres lunch and pizza for dinner. I think after this weekend the official 2010 diet will have to begin?!?