Box Lunch

Today I was tired of the cooking-from-scratch in the hotel routine. Sooooo...I took a shortcut! Yes, I wandered into the frozen foods section of a local market. Braced for the impact of more chemicals and preservatives than an average human being has in their system - I was filled with trepidation, to say the least.  I happened to find a box called Tai Pei General Tso's chicken..AND it was under 2.50 for a box! I was skeptical, but I love the spicy flavor of the real dish, so I bought it.

A reasonable portion, for lunch at least. Well, I must say that I was completely unprepared to be smacked in the face with how delicious this product was! The sauce was actually spicy! The chicken was actually recognizable! Importantly as well - they did not stint on the expensive ingredients, such as red bell pepper and sugar snap peas. Incidentally, those vegetables retained their crispy crunchy texture...even after microwaving! I am in awe. Also, you know when you get a frozen supper of any sort, and the "broccoli florets" are actually the cheaper, stalk sections of the plant? No such stinginess here....the broccoli florets, were ACTUALLY florets! This will be my go-to brand of "Chinese take-out" without the wait, or the take-out prices. A close up, once I had microwaved it, and was ready to devour....

As I said, I am really impressed! Kudos to Tai Pei for a job very, very well done indeed. Well, as an afternoon snack (without falling into the chip n' dip, cheese n' crackers & other weighty stuff) trap, I decided to purchase a healthy snack. Just guess what I found, yet again...in an unexpected place...

That's right....more frozen soybeans - without all the shelling necessary! That means instead of a bag filled with the pods as well as the actual soy beans, I got all beans....and for under 2.50 a bag! I promptly steam-cooked them in the tiny hotel microwave, and put them into a coffee cup for my afternoon snack...

Once again, I feel compelled to declare that eating healthy, even in a temporary living situation, is easy! If you try, or care. Also, I spent under six dollars for this healthy lunch, and snack. I know it is cheaper when you bring your lunch from home...but I do not have that option yet.

How do you stay strong and resist the evil snack fairy with healthy choices?

Tonight? Another adventure in microwave "cooking" (I know, right?). I will attempt to make, in my tiny "kitchen" (I will post a picture of my current cooking environment)...Swiss steak, baked potato, and salad. All with the tools at hand...which include; a dorm-size fridge, a small microwave, some spices and seasonings, and of course, my indispensable, sharp, wonderful Shun knife. Big shout out to R and Northern Knives in Anchorage, Alaska, for showing me a better way.

Eat well, my friends...and wish me luck in tonights' "hotel havoc fun" micro-cooking adventure! Love to all,

                                                                        Pixie

HO-HO-Hotel?

One month and two weeks into our journey out of Alaska. Travel, and trying to "cook" on the road is becoming less-than-charming. The bloom is most definitely off the rose. I am so looking forward to finally being in our own home, that my fear is Dear Husband will not be able to forcibly pry me out of the kitchen....to perform such non-essential tasks as, oh I don't know....unpacking? Having said that, the other night I was determined to make something, from scratch...utilizing only what I had on hand in the mini fridge and cupboard here in our hotel room.  I had a bunch of vegetables that needed to be used, a box of pasta, and a half a bag of baby spinach. The solution? Minestrone!  I began by micro-sauteing some red onion and garlic with salt, pepper, olive oil and butter in a microwave-safe container.

I then added carrots, red and green bell pepper, and celery. I nuked until softened and ready for the next step...

I then added vegetable broth, cut up cherry tomatoes, Italian seasonings and micro-cooked for another seven minutes, until the vegetables were tender.

The final step was to add some pasta shells I had micro-cooked before I started on the soup, and the rest of the bag of baby spinach. Home-made minestrone anyone?

Just goes to show you that you cannot keep a cook from cooking! Although circumstances are certainly trying to prevent me from flexing my culinary muscles, I will not be deterred.

What did you have to overcome to enjoy your hobby, even while out of your normal living circumstances? How did you do it?

Eat well, my friends, and stay tuned for what I will create tonight with a microwave, and a mini-fridge, and what I lucked into in a tiny market in the beautiful hills of West Virginia! Love to all,

Pixie

Turkeys and Football and Food...Oh My!

People often ask me how hard is it, when you are travelling, and are unable to cook. "Awful" is my usual reply. The average person could probably compare it to going for three days without a shower or bath. And, it gets worse as time progresses (similar to the lack o' shower scenario). We left Anchorage a month ago yesterday. As difficult as being in transition is...there are some bright and shiny moments. Like the big game (Ohio State vs. Michigan) IN Ohio, WITH actual Buckeye fans. Dear Husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the annual "kicking Michigans' can" game in style...

But, as usual, I'm getting ahead of myself. As a foodie in transit, my extended family in Ohio are well aware of my all-consuming desire to cook. Luckily, we made it here before Thanksgiving, a food-aholics most enjoyable holiday. Be careful (again) what you wish for, however, because before I could say "giblets", dear sister-in-law D asked me to cook the actual Thanksgiving turkey! What to do? I risked being labelled a shirker if I turned them down ~ a "fake foodie" if you will. I risked ridicule if I did not perform up to snuff as well. Well, as it turned out, I brined the bird overnight in a water/salt/sugar/spices solution, and made stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, sweet potato casserole, and apple walnut galettes to boot! The verdict?

This was the best turkey I've ever made! Other than deep-frying, I have never had a more delicious turkey. I will never roast one again without brining. When Dear Brother-in-law sliced the breast, I could see juices running out of it.....it was that moist! The other dishes came out wonderfully as well. Do click on those recipes if you care to duplicate...fantastic! AND....I must say, that was my first time making both the sweet potato casserole, and the apple-walnut galettes. They were both amazing and delicious.

Another shot of the birdy....and yes, since I did not have my usual accoutrement's, that IS parsley sticking out of the cavity...

Now, as a road-weary person who really enjoys eating healthy, you may wonder what I do during the work week. There are ways to get around the fast-food, or dining out rut, and I'm here to tell you, they are easier than you think. For instance, within walking distance of our hotel, there are no less than SIX fast-food establishments. Do I fall into that trap? No. There is also a supermarket! So I just bundle my little self up, and start walking, cloth grocery bags in hand. To my surprise and delight, just look at what I found in a wee little grocery store, in West Virginia, no less!

That's right, good ole' Indian food...healthy, tasty and in a pouch which is easy to dump into a microwave-safe container and heat. The aforementioned grocer had, of all things, produce! So, with plastic snap-shut containers as my new best friend, I made this!

My portion is the one on the left, liberally sprinkled with lovely Gorgonzola crumbled blue cheese. And then there was this...

Can I overstate the obvious here? It is not hard to eat healthy, even while you are in transition. It's cheaper, keeps you from getting "travel tummy". and makes you feel a little bit like you are cooking.

What do you do to stay feeling well and satisfied when you travel? Do you succumb to the convenience or restaurant scenes? How do you snap out of that trap?

Eat well, my friends, and stayed tuned....we may have finally landed a new pixie-land (house) for the next round of culinary fun.  Love and kindness to all,

Pixie

A Journey of a Thousand Miles....

They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. How about a journey of four thousand, two hundred or so miles? We recently drove, yes, DROVE from Anchorage, Alaska to the beautiful rolling hills of West Virginia, where we plan on settling down, and enjoying our new beginning.  Some pictures of the crazy, scary, and ultimately joyous trip....

At first, throughout the Northernmost part of Alaska, and on into the Yukon Territory, this is how scary cold and icy the drive was.

It would take an entire day sometimes, to see another car passing us on the road. Our cell phones did not work either. You cannot even get an AM radio station on the car radio. We bought flares in case we got in trouble, and needed to attempt to flag someone down for help. You truly understand the meaning of "wilderness" once you have driven the Alaska - Canada Highway, called the AL-CAN. More stark and cold roads were to come....

And if you care to know, no, I'm NOT the serene passenger reading books, dreaming up recipes, or listening to an I-pod....I am the terror-stricken, nails embedded into the vinyl, bug-eyed nervous wreck, awaiting terror, spin-outs, and untimely death at every moment. I'm sure I was a total comfort to Dear Husband, who probably could have cheerfully strangled me those first three or four days....onward...

There is an austere beauty to travelling in these conditions, and the sight of a lone farmhouse, or gas station was comforting - there are PEOPLE out there!

And sometimes, during the most breath-taking points of the drive, there was ACTUALLY a guard rail!!! Oh unbridled joy!

But most of the time, it was hair-raisingly scary...i.e., high, icy mountain passes, without the benefit of any such protection...like this..

Ever so gradually, the conditions began to look less foreboding. I really thought I might actually live! But then, I was completely unprepared for....THIS...

And THESE!..........

As you can see, though...smacking into a two-thousand pound wild animal was a far more relaxing thought to me than skidding sideways....on ice, head-on into a tree. So relaxing, in fact...that I remembered having a camera. But then, I forgot....we still had to make it over the Canadian Rockies!  YAY!!! I could have BOTH of my favorite road-trip experiences...ice...WITH wild animals!!!

Oh, yes, that's Rudolph and all his Caribou buddies barely getting out of the way of our "less than in total control" vehicle...

We also narrowly avoided were privileged to see arctic fox and ptarmigan. But then, just when I wished I believed in serious drugs anti-anxiety medication, a beautiful thing began to happen.....

The roads, they were not quite so snowy! The sky! It was not quite so grey!

And then the drive began to be beautiful...

Then, before I could say "anxiety attack" it REALLY got pretty...

And just look at that whole LACK O' SNOW and ICE going on up in here!  Sidebar, in the Canadian province of Manitoba, we went to a lovely, and quite inexpensive (for Canada) restaurant called Montanas Cookhouse, (which was delish) -  and pictured below, in Hudson, Wisconsin The Green Mill,. I had the Thai chicken salad...which was yum-tastic, after all, freaked-out foodies need to dine well, too.

Well, one bright and wonderful day (about six days into the trip), a miracle happened...

WE WERE BACK! Back in the good old, U. S. of A! After a modicum of semi-dignified behavior at the US/Canada border, Dear Husband had to pull over so that I could kiss American soil, flop around on the earth like a gasping goldfish, and generally make a fool out of myself. Plus, my brain could stop calculating things in metric vs. imperial.....what were they thinking? Litres? Kilometers? Off with their heads!  Before I knew it, we'd flown through Minnesota and Wisconsin, and passed a monument of baseball in Chicago...

That's right...Wrigley Field. I apologize for the traffic in the picture, but when your tush has been glued to a seated position in a car for seven days, stopping to sight see (especially in Chicago traffic) was not an option....then, we zoomed past the last barrier state to reaching our goal state......

We passed Notre Dame!  I hummed the fighting Irish song in tribute, but we had to press on.  Finally, late at night, after all the trials and tribulations, hair-raising roads, and comfortable hotel rooms...we'd made it...Dear Husbands' home state...

Yes, the beautiful, patriotic state of Ohio! After a few days of much-needed rest and recuperation, we arrived at our final destination...

We are filled with gratitude to finally be here, we are tired from the long journey, we already miss our friends in Anchorage, but a new life beckons.  Eat well and travel safely my friends...and stay tuned for the next post about the perils of nominating yourself to cook the Thanksgiving bird for your in-laws, and Buckeye madness! Thank you for all your well-wishes during our upheaval and I look forward to my culinary pursuits in this beautiful state.

Pixie

Far and Away...

The big announcement, put simply, is that we have moved! I got my wish, and by some miracle, we were able to return to the continental U.S. from Alaska. The sad part is, I had to say goodbye to some amazing friends that I will cherish and remember forever. Thank you to all of you who kept me sane, welcomed us into your homes, shared great dishes and memories, and made it all worthwhile.  Also, farewell to the best work buddies in the world....

To Benita and "Dan" and Aly and R, Maria and Julie, Randy and Tim, (and all those I'm forgetting to mention) and everyone we met along the way, thank you for your friendship. So to DB, two-hands, Karina and the waves, Mushie, Bam-Bam (Princess), AC, Flat-line, and all of you, I miss you all already, and never forget "That was Easy", and our favorite.. "GOOD FOR YOU" I will post pictures of our incredible journey, and describe what a frustrated chef on the road does in captivity this week.

Mac Attack

This is one of those days ~ one of those gloriously lazy relaxed days, during which you want nothing more than to sit back, put your feet into something fuzzy, yourself under a blanket, and watch movies that make you laugh, cry, wet your pants. You get the drift! You know you want comforting pasta in a rich, decadent cheese sauce, and you will do anything to get that taste. Having to utilize several cheeses before they went wonky, I devised the following recipe, and it hits all the right notes. Here's how you do it. First assemble all the winning cheeses on your work surface. Ok, you can throw them all in a bowl, I just thought this looked better...

From left to right we have Vermont sharp white cheddar, regular sharp cheddar, Parmesan, goat cheese and crumbled Danish blue cheese. Be still, my heart.  Then, you take about a half an onion and a clove of garlic, and mince very finely...saute' until completely soft, you do not want to feel the onion bits in the final dish, but you want the flavor. Here is my onion garlic mixture at the end of their saute' time...

Then, add two tablespoons flour, and two tablespoons butter, cook until the roux has lost it's floury taste, and is slightly browned, like so...

Then, gradually whisk in two cups liquid such as; chicken stock, milk, water or a combination. Bring slowly up to a simmer whisking quite frequently, until thickened. Do not jack your heat up, or walk away, milk has a tendency to go postal, breach the rim of your saucepan, and pretty much ruin your day stove top! Remove from the heat, and stir in all those glorious cheeses, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, some salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and perhaps some paprika for color, like so...

When all the cheeses have melted into your sauce, pour over your cooked pasta, and don't forget to lick the spatula or saucepan, that sauce is amazing!! Here is mine, ready for the breadcrumb topping...

I added a little more cayenne (I'm spicy like that, remember?), some salt & pepper and some paprika..just look at that velvety sauce! I then mix panko Japanese breadcrumbs, chopped fresh flat-leaved parsley, dried tarragon and salt & pepper in a small bowl to go over the casserole, and sprinkle on evenly.

Dot with butter, and place in a 350 degree oven for forty minutes. Here's my precious cargo, ready for the oven...

Bake until the casserole is bubbling, and the crumb topping has turned a nice light golden brown.

Let cool for 10 minutes or so, enough so that the cheeses begin to firm up a little, which holds the casserole together a little better. Here is a view of the luscious final product.....

I have always followed tried-and true macaroni and cheese recipes before, and this was one of my first ventures without the benefit of a recipe. The verdict? The combination of cheeses was unbelievable! Every now and again, I'd hit a little pocket of goat cheese, and the slightly tangy flavor exploded on my tongue, the panko breadcrumb and herb mixture retained it's crunch, and the whole dish was a resounding success!

What cheese dish can you not live without? What makes it so good?

In case, loyal readers, you think I have forgotten about THE QUEST (for healthy work breakfasts and lunches), here is a recent example. 

Let me tell you, that a mutant (HUGE) Fuji apple, and some natural crunchy peanut butter can fill you up, and quickly, too. Strangely enough, I was blessed with a huge amount of energy that day. Hmmmmm, wonder why?

Eat well, and cozy up to some real macaroni and cheese, my friends....see you next post, with the big announcement!

Brunette or Blonde?

I admit it freely and without guilt. I. CANNOT. MAKE. BROWNIES. Boxed or scratch, fudgy or regular...the brownie Gods have never smiled upon me, ever. Hey, don't laugh, although a self-taught cook for the last thirty years, I can, in fact bake. I know someone who can't make rice, ok? Ok, self-defense moment over. They are always sodden in the middle, and a little too crispy on the edges. And yes, before you pixie-helpers chime in, I've paid attention to weather conditions, oven temperatures and the like, I'm a cook, remember? Anyway, I simply had to post this photo, because I had success in a related realm.

BLONDIES!!! That worked! That were cut into actual bars....that stayed being bars! First of all, I could not believe it, secondly, my co-workers were certainly happy, and thirdly....I...MADE....SOMETHING...RESEMBLING...BROWNIES...THAT...WORKED!!

What one dish did you finally conquer?

Next; really and truly conquering brownie land. Will I get brownie points? Pixie Points...oooooh, there's a concept!  Eat well, my friends.