Motivational Mondays

I love this because the statement is so encouraging and because there's giraffes in the pictures. I have a slight obsession with giraffes. :)

Ginger and T Cook: Crispy Quinoa Sliders with Avocado and Chipotle Mayo

  I'm so happy that tonight T and I were able to cook our weekly meal together. We had planned to cook it earlier this week, but Tuesday night I was struck down with a mystery illness and spent the rest of the week on the couch and was having nothing to do with food! I'm finally beginning to feel a little better and with my appetite returning was ready for some real food!

  T selected our recipe this week and surprise, another vegetarian dish! I actually made us some yummy egg salad sandwiches for lunch today and during dinner asked T if he was feeling okay. He gave me a strange look and said yes, of course. I told him I was just checking since he hadn't eaten any meat all day. I then proclaimed, "See, it'd be easy for us to be vegetarians!" He laughed and loudly said, "No!"

  Anywho! Tonight we made Crispy Quinoa Sliders served with avocado slices and chipotle mayo. Here's a link to the recipe that we slightly modified and used. http://www.howsweeteats.com/2012/09/crispy-quinoa-sliders/. 

  T and I love this site for recipes. She's very creative and fun and I want to be a blogger like her when I grow up.

  We didn't have green onions, so I just diced up some yellow onion and used cheddar slices on top of our patties, instead of shredded provolone. We made our chipotle mayo by mixing some sweet chipotle sauce into mayo.

  Here's all the ingredients mixed together.

  You definitely have to pat the mixture together really well to get everything to stick together in the skillet. Next time I might add one extra egg to help hold it together a little bit more.

  This recipe was delicious and will definitely be something we try again in the future.

Motivational Monday

Stay positive, optimistic and determined!

Ginger and T Cook: Double Bean Quesadillas with Yummy Sauce

  This week for our cooking adventure T and I chose a new vegetarian recipe to try. I've always contemplated becoming a vegetarian and I've really had it on my mind lately, so I love trying new meat-less recipes.

  For this recipe you'll need:

• 2 cans of beans (we used black and navy)
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Whole wheat tortillas
• 1 avocado
• 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt
• 2 tbsp. parsley
• 1 tsp. worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and pepper

  Start by combining the avocado, greek yogurt and all other sauces and spices into the food processor. I was using fresh garlic and with my mighty strength actually managed to break my garlic press. This lead to me having to use jarred garlic that I had in the fridge and buying a new garlic press the next day. Here's the before and after pics of the yummy sauce.

  While I mixed up the sauce T rinsed the beans and then mashed them with a potato masher.

  Once your beans are mashed, melt a little butter on a hot griddle or skillet. Throw down a tortilla and layer it with cheese, the bean mixture and then some more cheese. Top it off with another tortilla. Flip it every minute or so. You'll want to make sure your tortillas are getting nice and crispy on the outside and that all the yummy goodness on the inside is getting melty. When it's done, slice it up and serve with the yummy green sauce.

Mmmmm.....goodness!

Friday Funnies

Don't know that this is classified as "Funny," but it's too stinking cute not to share! Happy Friday!

Ginger and T Cook: The Glorified BLT

Let me start by saying that eggs are not my favorite food. After a very nasty experience on a mission trip to Romania about 13 years ago (wow, that makes me feel old) I didn't eat eggs for a long time. When I do eat eggs it is usually only scrambled, and occasionally boiled. That's it! I don't do the runny, yolkie (yes I just made that word up) eggs. Nasty!

  So, our new recipe for this week was definitely a stretch for me, but I did it, and I'm proud! T and I cooked what I'll call "The Glorified BLT." It was an idea of T's, probably mainly because it involved bacon, and he's one of those people that likes runny, yolkie eggs.

  We started out with some sourdough bread fresh from our grocer's bakery, tomato slices, lettuce, avocado, pepper bacon, eggs and spicy mayo. We made the mayo by mixing some spicy chili sauce into regular mayo.

 

 

  I fried the bacon, while T made the eggs. Now let me tell y'all that T was super excited about this recipe because I got good bacon. He told me, "now we can't do this with that turkey bacon stuff that you usually buy. It's gotta be the good stuff." So, I got the good bacon. You know, the kind that actually comes from a pig. 

  T cooked the eggs by cracking them on the skillet and letting them cook on the lowest setting. Nice and slow and no flipping. When he said they were ready, but I'd noticed he hadn't flipped them and he said he wasn't going to I made a scrunchy face and moved on with my life. We then assembled the sandwiches. And.....I knew it was coming, but I was still slightly terrified. Very quickly after putting everything together the yellow gooey stuff started running everywhere. 

  Now I know you may be thinking.....I thought she said this was a BLT. Yeah....I took the pictures, but forgot to put in the "L." Oops, please forgive me. 

  I did very well with the runny, yolkie stuff and the sandwich was absolutely delicious. The combined flavors of the egg, bacon and avocado were fabulous. Give it a try!

The secret to more money and less stress

   Today I want to share with you the secret to my millions. Ok, so maybe not millions, but this little trick has definitely helped our household budget. And not only that, it has majorly cut down on a daily stressor. Can I get an amen to that?!

  Meal planning people! That's where it's at! Several months ago T and I made a vow to start having a better plan when it came to our daily dinners. I had heard a little talk about meal planning and thought I'd give it a shot. It has been a lifesaver. I no longer walk into the house after a long day, exhausted, and tell T that we're on our own for dinner. This translates into, T is having eggs and I'm having a salad. 

  We also have dramatically cut back on our trips to the grocery store. Hallelujah! Sorry to sound so excited if battling hundreds of other shoppers on a Wednesday at 5pm, when you're tired and hungry, just happens to be your absolute favorite thing to do. 

  So, here's how it goes down. T and I have perfected the 2 week meal planning. Every other week, usually on a Friday, I sit down and make up our meal plans for the next 2 weeks. I have this cute little paper that I write everything on and then hang it on the fridge. 

 

 

  As I plan every meal I look through the pantry and deep freezer to figure out what ingredients I have and what needs to be purchased. I write out a very detailed shopping list, organized by the way my grocery store is laid out. It's a shining example of my OCD at it's best. Please tell me that I'm not the only one who does this.

  

  I'll never forget one time when T and I were at the store together and we went in the door opposite of the section where I usually start and he asked, "can't we just do the list backwards?" I then looked at him like he was completely nuts and he proceeded to push the empty shopping cart all the way across the store so that we could start everything in the proper order. 

  Ok....where was I? Oh yes, meal planning.....not talking about how crazy Ginger is. 

  I only add things to the list that we need, and we're usually pretty good about sticking to it. I would say we might buy one or two things that are not on the list. They are usually chocolate chip cookies. 

  I cannot say enough good things about meal planning. It cuts back on the daily question of, "what's for dinner?" We've also noticed that we're now eating better, healthier meals. Meal planning can really help eliminate your trips to the grocery store. Because let's be honest, how many times do you go in and just get that one ingredient that you're needing for dinner?! Since we've been meal planning we only go to the store twice a month, usually on Saturday mornings before it gets insane and I start threatening to hit people with my shopping cart because they've been staring at the 15 different types of tomato sauce for 3 minutes. I would highly recommend that you give meal planning a try. If there was a company that marketed meal planning I totally just rocked the selling of their product.