Cremes

My goodness. Ever since Wednesday things have been in total chaos. I’m sure if anyone has been watching the news at all or not completely under a rock (that means you, Sarah) you probably have figured out that I’m either in hiding or I’ve been Hurricane’d. Today is my first day of unfettered internet access although I seem to have lost any semblance of cellular reception in the process. I’ve spent most of the past week either crying, panicking, or travelling somewhere to get away from the hurricane. We stayed Thursday through Monday at our friends’ place in Troup, TX (about 2.5 hours southwest from Dallas) and although we had no power Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon, it was a pretty good time. We got to visit with them and relax. I actually felt pretty good about things until we got closer to Houston. The damage is really scary to see. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like to be here when that storm hit.

I spent most of today trying to get my schoolwork under control but it’s difficult considering I can’t hook my own laptop up to the internet and have to use someone else’s computer. So my notes are on mine and I have to look things up on this one - very inefficient. I’d go somewhere to hook up to the internet but at this point I just don’t know where to go. I don’t even know if I have an appointment tomorrow with a doctor since I have no way to get ahold of anyone. Very frustrating.

I mostly just wish that Mike and I had our own place to go to since we’re staying with his grandmother and I just feel weird about the whole thing. It would be nice to have our own private space to be in. Of course this storm has probably made our house even farther from its completion date. We’ll be lucky to be in there by Christmas. I know I sound discouraged and mopey and I kind of am, although I do feel relieved and happy that the damage wasn’t worse and everyone I know made it through safely. Some more breathing room would be nice though.

Since we are moving out of this apartment to who-knows-where in less than three weeks, I’ve had to be a little creative with dinner. I decided on Sunday that I would not do a traditional grocery shop (including for lunches) until after we were settled into our new digs, whether that be at the in-laws’ or the new house (I’m praying we’ll have a place to settle before mid-October). So that meant taking all of my frozen meat out of the freezer and searching for recipes by ingredient on Allrecipes.com. I searched for about 30 minutes and came up wanting (found some things I definitely want to try, though!), so I headed to the kitchen and started throwing things into a pan. Here’s what came out of it:

Meags’ Fly-by-the-Seat-of-My-Jeans Goulash

• 1/2 lb ground beef (freezer burnt optional)
• 1 tsp minced garlic (about 1-2 cloves)
• 3/4 cup diced onion (or a handful)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced sweet green and red pepper
• all the elbow macaroni you have (about 3 cups)
• 2 14.5oz cans diced tomatoes (don’t drain)
• 6oz can tomato paste
• 5oz can mushrooms (drained)
• dash salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese (grated by husband - trust me, it tastes better this way)

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Brown the beef in the oil at about medium-high heat, tossing in the garlic and onions at first, then add the sweet peppers when the meat is almost browned. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions. Once the beef is browned and the veggies sauteed, add the tomatoes and the paste. Stir around so that it becomes a thick sauce. Add the mushroom and the seasonings, then simmer for a few minutes, until heated through.

After the pasta is nice and al dente, drain it and put it in a casserole dish. I used my 2-1/2 quart corningware dish and it was brimming over - so maybe a lasagna pan. Then pour the sauce over top and stir it in so that noodles are all covered in the sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese and bake until the cheese melts (about 10 minutes). Serve!

I was actually quite surprised by how good it was considering how few ingredients I used (not to mention, I’m not really a recipe inventin’ kinda gal). I think in the future, I would add some oregano and basil to the recipe, and maybe some marjoram. Spinach would also taste pretty good in the sauce. We’ll see if I start inventing more recipes as the last few weeks here at Apt 7302 come along.

I just took this quiz thing on The Living to 100 website, and apparently I’ll go when I’m 97 as long as my lifestyle persists. You answer 40 questions on your lifestyle, genetics, and medical history. The neat part is that you can ask for feedback on what would add longevity to your life. Things they recommended for me was better stress management, working fewer hours (amen to that), cutting out coffee (gasp!), taking aspirin once a day, flossing more, exercising more, and getting my blood sugar, blood pressure, and regular check-ups regularly. So, I can definitely work towards some of those things. But nixing the coffee? Forget it!

Source: Better Homes and Gardens, August 2008, p. 170

Browsing my Google reader this morning I came across this:

20. Coffee
The old cup-o-joe has been thrown on the stands for many a corporeal crime—heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis—but exonerated on all counts. In fact, coffee, which is derived from a bean, contains beneficial antioxidants that protect against free radicals and may actually help thwart heart disease and cancer. While it’s not going to fill you up like the other items on this list, it might make you a lot perkier. When made at home, coffee runs less than 50¢ cents a cup. Source

Huzzah! It’s always nice to have something that you enjoy every day to be actually healthful. Of course, caffeine isn’t always a good choice but it’s better in coffee than it is in soda.

We got some good news on Thursday afternoon - the permit for our lot is in so they are going to start building our house before the end of the month. I still can’t believe this is all happening. It’s very exciting! We’re going to have a meeting with the builder before they start and we’ll hammer our all the fine details then. So it should be this coming Thursday or Friday and then pretty quickly they’ll start the house! We’re hoping it will be completed in November so we can move in before Thanksgiving and get the holidays going. We’re still waiting for some of the paperwork to be finalized but it’s pretty much just a formality at this point. Yay! I’m hoping to have pictures up on Flickr sometime soon, so keep an eye out for that on the sidebar.

So you’ve tried the meal planning, the shopping ahead of time, and may have even forayed into using the calendar for weekly meal planning. But there’s still a problem. You get home from work and find yourself too tired to cook one of the dinners that you carefully planned. Welcome to the advanced class! (more…)

Home organization and food are topics that I enjoy reading about and putting into action. Last week I had a stroke of genius in implementing the two together to solve a major problem that I face every weeknight when I arrive from work: What’s for dinner? As progressive as my husband and I are, the kitchen is still the woman’s castle in our place, so this means I’m generally saddled with the bulk of this problem. I’m also a person with a tight biological schedule, and my body needs food preferably before 7pm. So, to battle this problem, I came up with a plan that, on its second week of implementation, seems to function well and keep my tired body sated.

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