Living Design: January 2016

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Weekly Meal Plan 1.10.16

We are on to our second week of Whole 30. Sean is getting into helping me with the meal planning (the Bacon Wrapped Guacamole Stuffed Chicken Breasts for this Saturday's dinner were one of the first things he pinned onto his Whole 30 Pinterest board). Here's what we're eating this week:

Sunday breakfast: Egg Foo Young-ish
Sunday dinner: Boneless Pork Ribs and Garlic Spinach (Paleo Slow Cooking)

Monday breakfast: leftover egg foo young-ish
Monday dinner: leftovers

Tuesday breakfast: Italian sausage, egg and spinach bowl
Tuesday dinner: Asian meatballs and Black Sesame Green Beans

Wednesday breakfast: banana chia pudding
Wednesday dinner: leftovers

Thursday breakfast: bacon butternut squash quiche
Thursday dinner: Carrot Ginger soup & salad

Friday breakfast: leftover bacon butternut squash quiche
Friday dinner: Grilled Steak with Garlic-Shallot Purée and Avocado, with leftover green beans

Saturday breakfast: Smoked Salmon Frittata
Saturday dinner: Bacon Wrapped Guacamole Stuffed Chicken Breasts and roasted vegetables

Friday, January 8, 2016

Recipe Review: Creme Bruleed Pumpkin Pie

On Christmas, we made this creme bruleed pumpkin pie. What started out as a plan for the perfect dessert turned into a series of experiments, and a discovery that it is in fact worth buying real pie weights. (Spoiler, we now own real pie weights. Sean is thrilled to bake all the pies.)

First, I think the internet version of this recipe is simpler to read than the printed version in the magazine, which is what we were going off of. I put Sean in charge of the pie, since he's a better baker than I am. He's better at the precision stuff, I'm good at the cooking that involves a bit of this and a bit of that. So I was in charge of the rest of our menu (duck, cranberry jelly, stuffing, carrots) and Sean did dessert. Well, because of the way the magazine split the crust and the pie filling onto different pages, the timing for getting the pie started was off. Right from the beginning we knew we wouldn't actually be eating pie for dessert that night.

The pie crust. No pictures exist of it. It was delicious. But it didn't really stay...pie-shaped during the blind bake. We tried dried beans on the parchment paper, which is supposed to be an acceptable substitute for pie weights. It was not enough. It slumped, it rose, it was a weird misshapen mess in a pie dish. But it was a really tasty misshapen mess, and we did enjoy eating it. I just would have liked to eat it with the filling.

The filling. It was phenomenal. Just the right amount of pumpkin, the right amount of cream. Not too rich, not too many spices. Really good!

What we ended up doing (since we couldn't put the filling in the crust that we made) was picking up a store-bought refrigerated crust. They're not the best, but we knew it would let us eat our pie. A side effect is that the store-bought crust was not quite big enough for all of the filling. Which leads us to...

...mini pumpkin creme brulees! The extra filling just filled our four mini ramekins.

Sean is very excited about his new culinary torch that we had to pick up for this recipe:

So, while the pie wasn't a technical success for Christmas dinner, every aspect of it was delicious enough that we will absolutely be trying it again. I think with some more practice, and the proper pie weights, we can make this a true success. We grew some awesome sugar pie pumpkins this year, so I plan to grow more next summer, which means more pumpkin pie, right?

Sunday, January 3, 2016

Weekly Meal Plan 1.3.16

Sean and I will be doing what we call a modified Whole 30 for the month of January. It's modified because we like flexibility. We'll stick to the real rules as much as possible, but we do give ourselves passes if, for example, I need my little sugar and milk in my coffee during rehearsals. But since doing a Whole 30 requires more meal planning than regular life, I will be sharing a more in-depth meal plan this month. Lunches will be leftovers from the previous night.

So, here's what we're planning to eat this week:

Sunday: finish off the leftovers in preparation to start the Whole 30 tomorrow!

Monday breakfast: scrambled eggs & fruit
Monday dinner: Whole 30 Chicken Korma (except for us it will be lamb korma)

Tuesday breakfast: Jalapeno Sausage Hash (Paleo Slow Cooking)
Tuesday dinner: Fiesta Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa (Paleo Slow Cooking)

Wednesday breakfast: Paleo Breakfast Muffins
Wednesday dinner: Creamy Tomato Soup and Spinach Salad (Paleo Slow Cooking)

Thursday breakfast: leftover Jalapeno Sausage Hash
Thursday dinner: leftovers

Friday breakfast: leftover breakfast muffins
Friday dinner: Chicken in Cashew Nut Sauce (5 Spices, 50 Dishes) with veggies

Saturday breakfast: scrambled eggs & fruit
Saturday dinner: Italian Sausage & Broccoli Rabe (Cooking from the Farmer's Market)

Friday, January 1, 2016

2016 Home To-Do List Update

I didn't do an update of our giant to-do list when we hit our one year house anniversary in October, but with the new year I thought it was a good time to go over the list again.

Exterior

reseal driveway
repaint exterior -- planning this for next spring

Yard & Back Deck

~~remove old satellite dish to give access to electrical panel~~
~~door mat by sliding door~~
repair/replace back deck steps
~~weed front yard~~
~~planters on back deck~~
get bird feeders
~~plan & plant veggie garden~~ -- we had a decent veggie garden last summer, though I have some improvements in mind for this year
plant fruit trees
~~install compost bin~~
build chicken coop & run

Front Porch

~~new welcome mat~~
~~potted plants on either side of entry~~

Entryway

paint
update light fixture
~~turn coat closet back into coat closet (it currently has wire shelves, but we would like to hang coats in there)~~
~~figure out some shoe storage near door~~
get runner
~~get coat rack/hat stand for corner in stairs -- something that is functional, but also provides visual interest~~