The Planning Process

So this week in our house we instituted a new way of preparing for dinner every night. I am the worst at grocery shopping, and as such eat out often. Much too often. So, in an effort to save some money, we now have to decide on 5 meals we are going to have for the week, and go get the things that we need for the week in order to eat those things. So far this week has worked out pretty well. Our meals for the week:

1. Chili and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

2. Pineapple Bell Pasta

3. Balsamic Sausage, Zucchini, and Polenta

4. Pork Chops and Rice-a-Roni

5. Chicken Tortilla Casserole

So I was able to actually have a productive trip to the grocery store. I just hope that I can keep up with it in the weeks to come. Do you have a great method for planning your grocery list? Any suggestions on how to avoid eating the same thing every week?

All the micro-planning on the groceries wasn't too difficult, but it does remind me about how difficult it is going to be to plan my wedding.

Wedding planning is SO stressful. I've been engaged for 2 months as of today, and I still haven't even decided on the season I want my wedding to be in, let alone the date. Do I want a spring wedding? Do I want a fall wedding? Should we have it in the middle of summer? Should it be indoors or outdoors or both? There is so much overwhelming decisions to be made about what exactly we want for the wedding.

And the stupid wedding industry really isn't very helpful. I'm inundated with tons of emails every week, my facebook page knows that I'm engaged so all my adds on the side are wedding photographers and cakes. There is too much information being given to me, and I'm not in a place where I even know exactly what I want.... well, except for my dress. I already bought my dress and veil and headpiece and corset and poofy slip. I love my dress. I cried and shook when I put it on, so it was definitely the dress that I wanted. But still....

How do you make all these dang decisions?

Parrilladas

Hello to anyone out there who actually reads this thing. 

So sad for my friend Zach who is now living in Beijing, which means no blogging for him... very sad indeed. He can't even read this, so I'll be sending it to him via email. 

Okay so here we go.

This last Friday my dad called me to see if we wanted to come and meet him for dinner at this mexican restaurant called El Paraiso. It is on the other side of the lake from Lakeside on Harlan St., a block south of I-70. This gem has captured my taste buds and I will definitely be returning for the Parrilladas that we enjoyed. These Parrilladas were similar to fajita meals, and we ordered 4 different plates. They served up different meats on the plates and our group of five had more than enough food to go around. 

These pictures, taken with my new camera should entice you to take a trip down to I-70 and Harlan... 

This one had pork chops and chicken and ribs and some delicious pork in the taco shell. All of the parrilladas are served over onions and peppers.
This one was filled with delicious things. You can see pork rinds on the right side of the dish. This was a treat for my dad, he loved them. There is also potatoes and really delicious meats on this dish, including chicken and beef with cinnamon, and some other mixed meats. 
This was the Oceanica and oh-so-delicious. It had oysters (cooked), shrimp, calamari, and scallops. 
This one was also delicious with crab, shrimp, white fish, and octopus. 

Overall, this place had amazing food, great margaritas, and a truly diving menu. I can't wait to go back and try something different off the menu! 

Prices were also reasonable if you are planning on sharing them, the parrilladas averaged at 17 dollars per plate. 

I hope you take the chance to try it out! 

My Blogger is Broken

Okay... so I think my Blogger stuff is broken or they changed the site up somehow.... but I can't seem to read anyone elses posts anymore. It says that I need to be invited... so Zach and Meg, if you read this... please invite me back.... I miss reading your posts. It wont let me have any fun with reading them. I'm sad.

Also, I'm currently living at my boyfriend's parent's house... which is kind of sucky, so there probably wont be any posting until I get on here in July to complain about the lack of space in my new kitchen at my new apartment, which I'm sure will be a slight adjustment. (The new one is half the size of the old one.) Although we do have a much bigger apartment this time around, so that should make up for it in other places. I get my own walk-in closet!! Hooray! And it is bigger than my boy's closet!! Hooray! So, I'll catch everyone up later.

-H

Strawberry Shortcake

Summer is quickly approaching us. And we all know that means that our cooking and eating habits change. I'm a big fan of mexican and spicy foods in the summer time. As well, I absolutely love to grill, but since I live in an apartment, that means that I hit up the George Foreman grill instead. Well... we all know that delicious fruity desserts are the best thing in summer. Make a switch to something great....

You gotta try this! This is the best thing ever. Strawberry Shortcake. Please stop wasting your money on those crappy dessert shells at the grocery store. You know what I'm talking about. Those crappy sponge cake things that are absolutely flavorless. 

I must tell you that you have to switch to Bisquick. On the back of the Bisquick box you will find the best recipe for shortcakes! So delicious. I only have one recommendation! In addition to adding sugar to your strawberries (to draw out the juices and sweeten the strawberries), add some Orange Liqueur to the strawberries. (Triple Sec works fine). Enjoy! 

I know I'm never buying those nasty sponge cakes again!

Yum Yum! Thank you Bisquick for making this delicious recipe!

An open question

What is the weirdest thing you have ever eaten?

I've had lots of strange foods through the years... so what I want to know is, what is the strangest thing you have ever eaten? Where were you? Did you like it? Would you recommend other's to try it?

The strangest thing I have eaten in recent memory was Conch meat in the Bahamas... it isn't really that strange, but it is the only thing I really remember. I have tried Indonesian, Thai, and many other strange foods... but this is all I remember right now. I like it and would recommend it... grilled not fried. If you get it fried, then it is just like any other fried seafood. I like my seafood grilled.

Now it is your turn!

Sorry about the lack of blog posts. We now have 0 computers at home. Both mine and Raph's computers died within about 2 weeks of each other... which really blows.

I have a corrupted hard drive which means that it wont even turn on.

Raph can at least get into Safe Mode. I think I can fix his, but he wont really let me do the work I need to get it done successfully. Oh well. We are going to buy a new computer anyways... and a camera for our upcoming trip... which is what I will post about in my next update. Having a newer faster computer will rock, especially when the new Sims 3 game comes out!!!

More later.

San Remo....Penne San Remo

Okay, I'm going to try and get back into writing for this lovely blog of mine... So I have to admit that I absolutely hate most chain Italian restaurants. My least favorite by far is the Olive Garden. My father-in-law loves eating there and so I make the concession to consume their filth that they flaunt around as "traditional" Italian food for his birthday, but other than that, I refuse to eat at that disgusting excuse for an Italian restaurant. I watched their little videos on the website once before about their managers who go on a trip to Italy to learn how to make real Italian food. But I'm not fooled. The book they were using is one that I keep in my own kitchen cabinets....and that I don't rely on because the recipes are very basic. It is a starting point for me before I change it up for my own tastes. That silly little culinary school in Italy is such a farce... they don't experience the real Italy. They didn't have to the market to pick out their ingredients. Uggh.

So anyways... there is one thing that I must admit. I love eating at Buca di Beppo. I love the atmosphere on the inside... Buca di Beppo litterally means Joey's Hole, but it is meant to be translated as Beppo's Basement. And there are no windows in there and low ceilings so you really feel like you are in a basement. In fact the first Buca that I ate at in downtown Denver was literally in a basement. Near the end of 2008 they were bought out by food giant mecca Planet Hollywood. I got really worried that the food quality would go downhill, but so far I have been pleasantly surprised by the new offerings on the menu. The only thing that really needs some work is the wine list which is flooded with cheap, sulfuric wines from California. I'm such a snob. Anyways... my new favorite dish there is the Penne San Remo.

San Remo is a town on the Italian Riviera that is famous for it's music competitions which are well known for propelling musicians into stardom, similar to the phenomenon of American Idol here in the U.S. All Italians look forward to the start of San Remo every year, and many make trips to see the numerous acts that perform there in hopes of making it mainstream.

The new dish Penne San Remo is delicious and contains chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and peas all tossed in a delicious white cream sauce and put over penne pasta. It is absolutely divine and is only lacking in one area... people in the Italian Riviera dont actually eat that much chicken. That is for the "landies" or the "paesani" as they call them. Chicken is simply not eaten on the coasts of Italy because it is considered a food for people inland. On the Riviera, seafood is cheap and easy to find. In fact, chicken, beef, and pork are much more difficult to locate there than shrimp or langostino or squid, which can all be found in abundance. So I think that if I were to try and create this dish at home, I might try and skew it more towards the Riviera tastes and add teeny shrimp instead of chicken which would enhance the white wine cream sauce and the artichokes. The chicken tends to be lacking in flavor, so it doesn't add anything dynamic to the dish. But hey, sometimes plain food is good food.

Stay tuned for my next exciting rant about Italian food!