Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Camping

I've been a bad girl I know. I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks after getting so excited about starting one. I obviously have some catching up to do. I will start with last week's adventures.

We went camping for a few days at Lake Murry in Oklahoma. It as wasn't nice as I had hoped but still quite acceptable. The park was huge and we were camping light, so we had to rent an RV site to get water and electricity. The tent only sites had one or the other but not both. I am completely baffled why. It was fine though. My sister and her two little girls came with us. Our tent is appropriately huge and has two rooms. My husband has been camping lots of times before, but I am still relatively a novice with only one real attempt under my belt. He asked me to prepare a menu for the weekend, so I got online and researched so rather inventive options (aka code for some of them don't work). James was rather skeptical but willing to let me go for it. I found some things that work great and one that wasn't so fantastic. One thing I will be sure to think about next though is when I plan my menu to be sure if adequate fuel sources are available. I had hoped to roast hot dogs over the fire for lunch one day, but we didn't have enough wood (who burns a fire in hot weather anyway). It's still early enough in the Spring though for mornings and evenings to be nice and chilly. Perfect campfire weather. Next time I will adjust accordingly.

Losers:

Crescent Rolls roasted on a stick

(This may have be sabotaged by the fact that our fire was too hot. We didn't properly let it burn down to coals before tempting it. My husband thinks that it have worked accordingly, especially if we tried biscuits instead. I'm not so sure. We'll probably end up trying it one morning for breakfast eventually [with a cheap can no doubt, lol]. It was a cool idea though.)

Up for debate:

Pan fried frozen Pizza

(It had defrosted and cooked up okay. I think I was turned off by the fact it had gotten cold by the time we were ready to eat it. It was also a bit "crisp" on the bottom. My husband and niece had no problem finishing it off though)

Winners:

Eggs in a Bag

(Strange I know but it sounds exactly as it is. I should have used freezer bags but I didn't want to waste more expensive bags. Instead I used regular zip lock bags. They were fine, but you have to be careful. Half of mine ended up of the ground. Eggs are quite slippery :-)

Quesidillas

(The little one loved making them and they're just as easy as at home. We froze cut up rotisserie chicken, shredded Mexican blend Cheese, Sauteed Mushrooms, and chopped spinach for a filling. By the second day, they had defrosted in the cooler and were ready to use.)

All in all, our meals were not too bad. I'm excited about trying other options next time and I will be sure to plan more thoroughly. My nieces and sister had a great time and that's the most important thing :-).

Friday, March 7, 2008

Making Up (Chicken Marsala and Asparagus Risotto)

This past weekend James and I struggled to find appropriate ways to communicate with each other. By Monday, we were both especially miserable after such a rough weekend. Thankfully, we were able to make up over email during work that day. Expecting a snow storm in DFW (yes I know ???), we made a grocery store run before heading home.



I decided to go all out and make a recipes for Chicken Marsala and Asparagus Risotto I found. Asparagus was on sale for 1.28 a lb. Practically irresistible. You can't say no to that price :-). It caused for white wine though. I am not a wine drinker at all. It just doesn't appeal to me, but I like to cook with it. Once the alcohol flavor evaps off, it can really enhance certain dishes. With only 20 dollars in our pockets to expend on groceries for the week, we opted to buy just one bottle. I figured the chicken would be fine with white wine but red would overwhelm the asparagus, so we splurged on the cheapest (5.98) bottle of Chardonnay they had.



At home, we started cooking our beautiful meal loaded with things I love like aparagus and mushrooms. In the end, we ended up with a delicious meal in just an hour.


A great thing too, b/c when James went to check the car it was covered in snow. A perfect night to snuggle after a very enjoyable meal.