What I'm Eating this Week: My gradual re-introduction to the Kitchen

I've been eating out a lot over the last week or so. When I came home on Sunday night and looked around the kitchen all I could do was wince. The fridge was smelly and empty and the pantry was completely devoid of inspiration. I was getting into a rut. I needed an old favorite. Something easy, healthy, and of most of all tasty. But I'm leaving again this weekend, so I don't want to be stocking up on perishables.

At the store last night I remembered a staple dish that I have made a dozen times, a dozen ways, and for a dozen different occasions. It is fast and always a crowd pleaser: individual size pizzas. Here is the version I made last night and some suggestions for other ingredients. I have to thank Blaze cuz she got me started on this.

Whole Wheat Tortilla or Pita
Pizza sauce (I found some in a convenient squirt bottle)
Spinach
Spices - I used truffle salt, Italian spice grinder, and red pepper flakes
Turkey pepperoni
olives
mushrooms
fat free shredded mozzarella
a few shaves Parmesan cheese

Other Options:
chicken sausage, banana peppers, roasted red peppers, fresh basil or herbs, a bbq chicken version with scallions, fresh tomatoes, a turn of olive oil, very adventurous - an egg

Bake on a baking sheet or pizza stone for about 10 min at 300 - 350 degrees - just until the cheese is melted. How simple is that? I made one for dinner, and one for lunch today.

Mountain Momma

People love to make fun of West Virginia. I think even more than people love to make Cleveland the butt of jokes, people love to make fun of the "rednecks" and "white trash" in WV. Not that this isn't completely unfounded, but I wouldn't write off the whole state just yet. My grandfather was born and raised in Parkersburg, WV, and to put it mildly, he was the complete opposite of a redneck. He lived most of his life in Westerville, Ohio, but he always considered himself from WV and we laid him to rest near his family there in November.


My family went down to Parkersburg on Friday night for the internment of my grandmother's ashes on Saturday morning. When I told people I was going to WV for the weekend, most people looked at me like I said I was going to spend the weekend in rolling in mud (that's what I did in Nashville people). We stayed in the beautiful Blennerhassett Hotel pictured above. Though we were there for somber reasons, it turned out to be a really lovely weekend. If you are looking for a romantic get away that is only 3 hours from Cleveland, I would highly recommend Parkersburg.


The restaurant in the hotel, Spats, had excellent food. We started with the Stuffed Button Mushrooms - Button Mushrooms filled with Sundried Tomatoes, Prosciutto, Fontina and topped with Japanese Breadcrumbs. Then I had the iceburg salad (it was ho-hum) and for entree, Filet Mignon - Chargrilled and served with an Applewood Bacon, Wild Mushroom and Bourbon Demi-Glace. I bet that's not what you expected me to eat in WV! And we got sweet deal - the room was $169 a night but it came with $100 gift card to the hotel that we used for dinner. Such a deal!


Sunday morning was the Rite Aid Cleveland Marathon. We went down to watch the full marathoners and half marathoners who split right in front of my building. My sister, the Brown Bean (middle below), ran the half. It was a beautiful day, perfect running weather, and it was great to see Cleveland full of some so many healthy people! Congrats to all the runners!

What I'm Eating this Week

I have done absolutely no cooking this week. I somehow planned a year's worth of dinner and lunch dates all in one week and it has been fantastic! So What I've been Eating this week is out. I have had sushi three of the past four nights, and all half price! Believe it or not, it has been an affordable and healthy week. But I miss my teeny tiny kitchen.

It has been so wonderful catching with friends! Corny alert: They are the best things in life and I am lucky to have so many wonderful ones in my life!!

Steeplechase Weekend

I was so tired after such an amazing weekend in Nashville, that I am just starting to feel back to normal today - on Wednesday! And I had to drink my first latte in a few weeks to get there. Then I looked up the nutritional information for Starbucks, and let me tell you I am NOT happy. A tall (that means the smallest one for any non-Starbucks'ers) non-fat latte, totally plain latte with skim milk is 100 calories! And a grande - what I used to be drinking on a regular basis is 160 calories!! Maybe everyone knows this, but I am just shocked. I am gonna stick with the tea - I never should have doubted the tea.

So speaking of calories, did everyone watch the finale of Biggest Loser?? I have a love hate relationship with this show because every season I watch the contestants start out so big and by the finale, most are in way better shape than me and look so amazing. And then I get a lot jealous and feel ashamed that I cannot lose 15 pounds. But who has 8 hours a day to work out? I can barely manage 2 hours a week (due to laziness, not busy-ness). But congrats to Helen and Jerry - you are both old and now look like you have an eating disorder. But Tara looked damn good. And last season Heba looked damn good. I just hope they can all maintain it. I saw that one former-winner guy on Oprah and he fell off the wagon BIG time.

The weekend in Nashville went by way too fast, but it was so fun to see some of my roommies! Blaze and her family hosted myself, Snickerdoodle, and Monk and they really know how to show us a good time. Saturday we went to the Steeplechase horse race. It had rained for like 10 straight days in the Nash and was storming on Saturday morning, so you can just imagine the mud. All the stores in town were sold out of wellies, so we opted to go au naturale. It was like a Southern, preppy Woodstock - the Nash paper called it Bonnaroo with seersucker. Here is us gals having a tent party!!

Our day was spent drinking, dancing to poker face, playing in the mud, and watching the occasional horse run by. I think this video sums it up pretty well (sorry for my singing):

Our cocktail for the day was an Arnold Palmer. The South rules and they have Sweet Tea flavored vodka. Mixing this with some lemonade is heavenly and dangerous, cuz it don't taste nothin' like alcohol, y'all. If you are flying south this summer, I highly recommend you pick up a bottle of the Firefly Sweet Tea vodka seen below (and be cautious crossing state lines).

Thank you Rochford Family and my favorite dog Happy! You showed us some true Southern Hospitality!

What I'm Drinking this Week

This picture pretty much sums up this post, but in my effort to cut back on coffee (haven't even had a cup in 2 weeks - crazy!) I have been drinking citrus oolong tea this week. It is loose leaf, hence the need for that tea ball (not the official name for whatever that thing is). It is available at Whole Foods and I love it!

Spring Cleaning

Something about spring just makes me want to improve everything in my life. This is turning out to be a pretty expensive season for me between dieting (kombucha is pricey), teeth whitening, and new computer purchase, but it just feels right. On Sunday I bought my first computer since the enormous desktop I got my freshman year of college and I am now a Mac! (suck it PC) It is so cute, I feel so Carrie Bradshaw. Unfortunately, this post does not come from the new Mac since I am chained to my work computer about 80% of my life (damn still on PC).

CC has been house hunting and I think I caught the bug cuz last night I decided to go car shopping. I love my mustang, but it is two doors and not practical in the winter, so I convinced myself I was ready to make the hybrid switch. I test drove the new Honda Insight and then drove the Prius to compare. Both are adorable and wonderful for the earth! But then I talked to my dad who said it is probably better for the earth to keep driving the car I have that has already been manufactured and since I hardly drive (I fill up about once a month) it doesn't make much sense for me to buy now. He said he hated to be a "Debby Downer", haha, but he was right.

Maybe its the diet and maybe its the weather, but I have just been in a great mood! I'm really loving spring.

On Saturday, I headed to my hometown for the Maple Festival with CC and Rae Rae. There are a few things I have to do every year at the festival: 1. Get a maple stir (I wish I had made mine a double) 2. Drink some maple cocktails 3. Eat carnie food (I made turkey burgers beforehand to resist the temptation of steak on a stick and elephant ears) 4. Eat maple cotton candy 5. Do some serious people watching - crazy characters come out for this thing.

Rae Rae has the in's at the festival, so we were handed maple cocktails at every stop - they are divine! Here is the recipe, I highly recommend you buy some REAL maple syrup (preferably from Geauga County) and mix yourself up 1 or 10:

Maple Cocktail

Recipe for individual servings
3/4 oz. pure maple syrup
3/4 oz. dry gin
1 oz. lemon juice
1 oz. bourbon
Shake over ice and splash with 50/50, sprite or lemonade.

Sunday night CC and I went to the House of Blues to see James Morrison perform. He is amazing live! His opening act, Diane Birch, was also amazing. House of Blues was the perfect venue for their show because their music and band styles have so much southern, blues, gospel influence. Oooh, I just love it! I took some videos to share, but the sound didn't come out well, sorry.

Friday night I had another musical encounter. I was at Corner Alley for a Junior Achievement Bowl-A-Thon with work. We got there around 4:30 and the only people bowling were four guys who were clearly not from Cleveland. It turns out it was Ryan Cabrera and Josh Kelley! They were in town to also play at House of Blues that night, but wanted to do some bowling beforehand. Josh (aka Mr. Katherine Heigel) was so friendly and kept inviting us to the show. Ryan didn't say much - maybe his purple skinny jeans were too constricting.

I was lovin the Cleve after such a great weekend with celebrity sightings and all until I got a warning on Monday morning about jay walking in front of my building. I think the cop was actually having a hard time keeping a straight face when telling me to go up a block to use the crosswalk. Which I guess is good, but maybe they should be a little more concerned with the crime wave of car break-ins we have had in our parking lot, you think???

Road Trip!

I’m taking the blog on the road! Over the next month I have some exciting travels planned, and hopefully lots of good (and healthy) eats along the way.

First stop – 40 minutes east of Cleveland to my hometown, Chardon, Ohio. Ok, so this doesn’t really count as much of a trip, but go with me on this. This weekend is the Chardon Maple Festival! The trees have been tapped, the sap has been boiled, and there are carnies and muzzies to behold on Chardon Square. I highly recommend you make the trip and head to the sugar shack to get a maple stir. Check out the website for the full festival schedule - highlights include the karaoke, bath tub races, two parades, and Ham Ham Ham!

My next stop is Nashville, TN for a reunion weekend with some of our college roomies! Our hostess Blaze is taking us to the Steeplechase horserace which is always an amazing day of drinking in pretty dresses and big hats (and seeing an occasional horse run by). Anytime I am with the roomies there is always plenty of eating involved, so hopefully I will have a few recipes to share. One thing I know for sure, my stomach will hurt from laughing so much after a weekend with them!

The third weekend in May I am headed down to Parkersburg, WV for the interment of my grandmother’s ashes. She passed away in November and we have waited for the ground to thaw a bit so we can lay her to rest next to grandpa. It will be nice to see out of town family again and we are staying at the beautiful Blennerhassett Hotel. As grandpa would say, “Three cheers for West Virginia!”

The last stop in my travels is over Memorial Day weekend in Washington DC. My cousin Joelle had a baby girl named Audrey Meredith on March 19 and my other cousin Jason is graduating from the Corcoran College of Art and Design! We have much to celebrate in the DC area and only a few short days to do it.

P.S I forgot to mention in my last post that I have also really been enjoying the Kashi TLC bars that Giuliani recommended. Pumpkin Spice Flax is my favorite!