Why Can't I Sleep???

Ever since we got married, I've noticed that Ryan sleeps like a baby the majority of the time. In the time it takes me to brush my teeth, he can already be dead asleep. How is this possible, I wonder? Is it just the wonder of man genes that allow them to sleep through thunder storms, marching bands, and possibly even a train derailment. My brother was the same way, which supports my theory. I, on the other hand, take about an hour and a half to finally get to sleep, and I can never stay asleep. Last night it was very windy, and that, combined with Oliver trying to bury something in his crate, gave me about 2.5 hours of sleep total. In grad school, I was able to fall asleep relatively quickly. This was mainly due to the fact that I would read my class material in bed. And with such riveting selections such as Herder and Herotodus it was pretty easy to fall asleep after about 3 paragraphs. A real page turner, that Herotodus. Now though, Ryan can't fall asleep with the light on, nor can he fall asleep with the television on. So instead, I stay awake and my mind races with the thoughts of "is the stove turned off?" "I wonder how much money is in my bank account," "is 30 too old to have a baby," and "its raining. Are my windows rolled up?"  Yes, I know I haven't rolled them down since October. I still think there is a possibility my car will be filled with 6 inches of water in the morning. I'm aware this may be indicative of a more deeper psychological problem.  

On to our dinners for the week. Friday I spent most of the day at my parents house while I waited for Ryan's car do be finished at the shop, and i also had an eye doctors appointment. So on Friday, we went out with my parents. I had a fish fry which was pretty good. Saturday Ryan's parents had a gift certificate to use so we went out again (womp womp). I had chicken, spinach and cheese ravioli. So our cooking didn't start until Sunday. I picked up some steaks at the butcher and we just used the grill pan to cook them. I guess I was hoping for something steakhouse quality, so I was a little disappointed. 

Monday I made risotto. I always assumed risotto was a side, so I was very surprised when Ryan told me it is traditionally served as an entire meal. This one had leeks, peas, and bacon in it. It was very good and surprisingly filling. 

Tuesday we had pomegranate pork tenderloin. We decided to repeat since we already had all the ingredients, and it would save money on our grocery bill. I am currently looking for suggestions on how to reduce our weekly bill as it is generally between 60 and 100 dollars. It seems quite a bit for two people but I do understand we spend quite a bit on fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Wednesday I was alone for dinner but I made enough for two and Ryan had it for lunch today. It was a chicken breast stuffed with deli ham and cubed sandwich bread. I was slightly concerned because every tie I try to stuff a breast it goes poorly. This started off bad because the breast wasn't super plump and some of the filling poked through and the chicken tore. i was not optimistic, especially since it all cooked on the stove and did not bake. It turned out really good though. The bread inside was mushy and really made the dish, in my opinion. I sauteed some broccoli to go with it, but I used fresh broccoli when the recipe called for frozen. 

 Here's an up close of the stuffing. It was 1 piece of bread, 1 slice of ham, sage, and olive oil. 

 Thursday Ryan was in charge of dinner and he made pan seared sea bass. I had never had bass before and I can honestly say I am not a fan. It was really oily and fairly flavorless. After Ryan told me it "goes right through ya," I wasn't too keen on eating any more. I politely had a couple bites then asked Ryan if he would take it for lunch tomorrow. 

Since I started working late on Tuesday I really want to try some crock pot recipes, but I always tend to burn crock pot recipes if I leave them in the entire time. One of the doctors I work with says it is because my crock pot is too big, so I may try to look for a smaller one. That way we won't be eating dinner at 8:30 on Tuesdays. 

Hockey is back!

This was a pretty boring week in the Henesey household. The only real exciting thing is that hockey started again. The Sabres are 2-0 and are playing as I type, so we're hoping for good things this season, even if it isn't a full one. Ryan and I are convinced that Buffalo will burn to the ground if they ever win the Stanley cup or a Super Bowl. Maybe this is the year. As I am typing this, the Sabres are getting scored on.

Back to meals. On Wendesday, we had something called herbed chicken. Basically it was chicken in a wine and butter sauce. It doesn't sound healthy, but we swear, it did come from a healthy eating cookbook, about 350 calories per chicken.

Thursday we had a complicated shuffling of the cars that involved Ryan driving 20 minutes to drop his car off, then having his parents drive him all the way back here. Since his parents were here, and it was 8:30 by the time all was said and done, we ordered a pizza. I had chicken and broccoli. Then, we had the leftovers Friday. 

Saturday we had oven "fried" chicken. The concept of frying in the oven saves tons of calories and fat when you compare it to traditional frying in oil. Basically, you marinate the chicken in buttermilk, bread it (we use Pankow), cook it in a frying pan for about 2 minutes in a small amount of oil, then finish cooking it in the oven. Below are the results. 

Sunday was a busy day for us. We had a mass said for a family member, and after, we hosted a breakfast for my parents and grandparents. It was simple, just french toast, pancakes, bacon, sausage, and fruit, but it was very nice, and it felt good to be cooking so early in the morning. That is, until about 3pm, which is when I really wanted a nap. After breakfast, we whipped up some snacks and went to our friends house to watch the hockey game. We got home and both crashed and took a short nap. We tried something new for dinner: a calzone. I think I overcooked it though. We sometimes buy a dough ball for pizza and such, but I'm not one of those who goes to the grocery store multiple times a week, especially since it's ALWAYS busy and it literally takes 20 minutes to get one thing. So, i bought a Puillsbury artisan wheat pizza dough. Maybe it was because of the dough, but probably because I cooked it too long, but I burnt the 'zone. It tasted okay, but the dough certainly needs work. 

A cross section of a calzone

Monday my mom must have been bored and decided to cook an amazing dinner of turkey and stuffing, her signature potatoes, and "all the fixin's" as our former roommate would have called it. She keeps trying to convince me that I need to cook a whole turkey in preparation for my own Thanksgiving, but we can barely fit six people in our apartment, so I feel confident that I have plenty of time to learn. Turkey is always pretty dry to me, so I'm hoping our thanksgiving traditions can involve steak or something else. 

Tuesday we had salmon with a new glaze made with mustard and it was really good. 

Wednesday we did a homemade pizza with the leftover ingredients of the calzone. I took a before baking picture, and an after. 

Wednesday we did a homemade pizza with the leftover ingredients of the calzone. I took a before baking picture, and an after. My apologies for not rotating the before picture. But it's a pizza, and therefore round, so mathematically speaking, there really isn't a "top side" of a circle. Right?

Today we I had chicken parmesan. Ryan was late at work and had dinner there. It was simply ok. We've tried a few chicken parm recipes. It may be one of those dishes that just tastes nasty as a healthy meal. I had it with some fettuccine and a salad. 

I will try to post more frequently, although once a week doesn't seem like an incredibly long post. I've been reading another blog, jasongood.net and it is absolutely hilarious. He has two young children, and as a humorist and writer, reading about his life is absolutely hilarious. It also convinces me that I am in no way ready for children. 

The Flu has struck the Henesey's

My last post promised great things. Wonderful things. Incredible things. I didn't deliver. Why, you may ask? Well, it's because I got the flu. Yep, I'm one of the 22,000 New Yorker's who came down with the bug last week. I started feeling bad on Friday, and by Sunday it was a full-blown mess: fever, aches, runny nose, coughing so bad I had a headache and felt like I was going to vomit. And to top it off, I had no appetite, which makes keeping the blog pretty difficult. And after all that, I only lost two pounds! What the fridge. Here's a recap of our week:

Wednesday I still felt good so I made pork with pomegranate sauce. We had it with couscous and a salad. The recipe calls for straight pomegranate juice, which is outrageously expensive. I just used pom-grape juice made by Ocean spray (price difference: $4.50). I thought the sauce was wonderfully delicious. I was afraid it would be too sweet since I didn't buy the juice the recipe called for, but we both loved it.

 The pork up close...so yummy

Our full meal, salad included. This is the Autumn toss salad. 

Thursday we went to our knife class. I am certain this is where I got sick, although my family insists it's just airborne illness. I had a small slice of lasagna at my mom's before I went to the class. We actually made a small dinner of soup and a salad at the class-they used what we cut to put in both. 

As far as the class goes, it was very informative. I finally learned how to properly hold and use a knife without slicing my fingers off. My only complaint was that we only learned how to cut vegetables-specifically celery, peppers, carrots, onions, and parsley. I would have really liked to learn how to cut fruits properly-stuff like mangoes, pineapples, etc. I also would have liked to learn how to properly cut meat. I am still fearful of buying a whole chicken because I a. don't know how to clean it, and b. have no idea how to cut it up to serve without it looking like a caveman prepared the meal. And obviously my last complaint was that no one wore gloves, and the food everyone in the class cut (about 15 total people) went in to the entire salad and soup we all shared. Seems kinda gross, right? Oh, well, you live and learn. And I learned I'm getting a flu shot next year. 

I brought my camera in anticipation to take all these cool pictures...and forgot. I suck. 

Friday, as I mentioned, was the beginning of my "I feel like death" week. By dinnertime, I had no appetite at all. Ryan got me a can of nice, chunky chicken noodle soup, but I wasn't even hungry for that. I went to bed without eating, and Ryan got himself a $6 meal from Wegmans. I think he got meatloaf, sweet potato fries, and spaghetti. Luckily, he did not eat all of this in one sitting.

Saturday I had to work, and again not feeling well, we decided to go out to eat. Mainly because Ryan was hungry and was probably sick of being stuck inside with me. We got a gift certificate for Applebee's so we headed there around 5pm. There was still a half hour wait! We are definitely NOT chain restaurant people, and to this day we can't understand why so many people like these places. Buffalo has so many wonderful locally owned restaurants that there is absolutely no need to eat mediocre food  at a place that has more knick knacks than a jockey lot. I had a sandwich, which I managed to eat half of, and Ryan had shrimp fettuccine, and he brought half of his home as well. 

Sunday I think I was delirious. I don't remember cooking this. I am told it was a chicken salad BLT. I do not remember what it tasted like. Ryan later reminded me I confused a teaspoon with a tablespoon, so I imagine it probably wasn't my best meal, but Ryan lovingly choked it down. I had the leftover chicken for lunch today and it was good, but I doubt that testament has anything to do with the rest of the recipe. 

Sunday night I was unable to lay down without coughing to the point of being unable to breathe. I did manage to enjoy the Golden Globes however. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were absolutely hilarious, poking fun at almost everyone in their introduction. I love watching these things on TV, mainly to see what these glamorous people wear, who's dating/married to/pregnant with who's child. And to see how outrageously skinny some celebs (ahem...Anne Hathaway) are and make me want to binge eat. My college friends are bigger movie fanatics than I am (their new blog here,) but they developed an "awards season game." This entails choosing who you think will win for all categories for all three awards (Globes, SAG's, Oscars.) At the end, whoever has the most right wins bragging rights for the year. And in Ryan and my case, dinner at Eastern Pearl. I currently lead with 18/25 correct. Ryan has 8. He thinks I'm cheating. (I'm not). More on that later. 

Monday I made BBQ pulled pork sandwiches. I was skeptical because in the past, bulled pork has taken hours to cook over a slow heat. Raw meat to table ready in an hour seemed unreal. But it ended up being pretty decent. The BBQ sauce was mainly water and tomato paste. Cut a pork tenderloin into 4 pieces and cook in a saucepan with the BBQ sauce for 20 minutes, remove pork and cook 20 more minutes, and ta-da! Pork sammies! I still wasn't all that hungry so I had a couple small bites, mainly in order to take my cough medicine, Benadryl and Hydrocodone (aka flu-cocktail). 

Just look at that pork up close

Ryan had a salad with his. 

Today I knew I had to work late so I planned sandwiches again. Ryan managed to swindle dinner out of his work, so I was on my own. I made a turkey, apple, and swiss melt. Super easy, and no cooking required. I just toasted it on my panini maker. 

Those are sweet potato fries. I probably should have had a salad with it too. I didn't. So shoot me. This is the first food I've tasted in three days. 

I'm really hoping the next week delivers better meals than last. This being sick thing sucks the big one. 

A partial week of meals

As promised, this post will be strictly about food. Here goes:

Friday I went to lunch with my friends I've known from middle school. For dinner we had something called Mai Fun. It was a take on Thai and Vietnamese food. The recipe called for chicken and shrimp, but we omitted the chicken. Basically it was noodles (we saved money and used spaghetti noodles instead of the specialty Chinese ones the recipe called for), an egg, red pepper, and a soy sauce and spice combo. We thought it was pretty good. 

Saturday we went to my work party. There were snacks there so we had that for dinner. Veggies, meatballs, chips and some chicken tenders. And martinis. Lots of martinis. And shots. I had a few too many. Ryan wanted to go to Applebees to use our gift certificate we got for Christmas and expires soon, but I was much too tipsy to sit down for dinner. We went home and my brother and his girlfriend came over and we watched Jurassic Park (my favorite movie ever-we even played the music at our wedding ceremony-in a church!). Sunday morning was rough. 

Sunday we did a crock pot recipe for Orange Hoisin chicken. I've found that all chicken crock pot recipes that about half the time in my pot than the recipe says, even if we don't cut the recipe in half. This one only took a couple hours to cook, instead of the 5-6 the recipe directed. 

We went to our friends new house to watch the football game and left the chicken on warm while we were gone. Add some glazed carrots and brown rice and it turned out pretty good. The chicken was just slightly overcooked but that was most certainly a user error. 

Monday I was superrrr late from work. We got not one, but two, last minute emergencies. Try lifting that on to the x-ray table by yourself. Turns out, the owner declined surgery, so instead of being 3 hours late, I was only 1.5. Side note, the dog survived, but only one of her four unborn puppies made it through, for a total of 7 surviving pups. 

Ryan did most of the cooking Monday. It was maple glazed salmon. First, the fish was rubbed with a spice concoction and brushed with maple syrup right before it comes out of the oven. I was going to just use the leftover rice from the night before, but I accidentally poured the hoisin sauce over it. So I cooked up some pasta instead. Instead of tossing it with butter, I used butter spray, which is zero calories. Ryan wanted his was pasta sauce though. Our broccoli was just about to go bad but I made it anyway, and it tasted just fine. 

Tonight, Ryan is working late, but his work ordered dinner for him. I made myself a salad from one my my new cookbooks I got for Christmas. It is supposed to be a healthy version of a Waldorf salad. I was skeptical at first because there is no "salad," rather just celery, apples, toasted pecans, and dressing consisting of sugar, vinegar, and sour cream. It sounded disgusting but wasn't too bad. I added crumbled bacon to mine because the entire salad was only 98 calories. I decided to splurge a bit, and, I was also able to eat the leftover apples with peanut butter for a snack later in the night. One of my favorite things though, was how many dishes it took to make this. The second picture is all I had to wash. It took less than 2 minutes to do the dishes!

Stay tuned, the rest of the week includes sandwiches, pork, another salad, and "fried" chicken. Plus, we're going to a knife class, which will hopefully improve my kitchen skills. 

One final resolution

Our first two dinners as bloggers have sucked big time. Wednesday night, we had marinated pork on the menu. I should have known marinated meant it needs to sit for a few hours, but I clearly wasn't thinking that far in advance. So after I opened the cookbook and realized the pork needed to marinate 2 hours, or overnight, and since we had nothing else thawed, we decided to have leftovers. Ryan ate steak from New Year's eve dinner (we went to Amaretto with Ryan's parents), and I had steak from New Year's day dinner at Ryan's parents. Stuffing and broccoli rounded out the rest of the meal, and I prepared the marinade that night. 

Since I'm not sure of the legalities behind mentioning sources for recipes, I will be leaving them out of posts, but if you're really interested, just email me and I will be glad to provide the source. Anyway, this recipe was for pork blade steaks, which are essentially thin sliced pork chops, according to the lady who works in the meat department. The recipe said to bake at 350 for 50 minutes, which seems like a really long time to me. So I set the timer for 20 minutes, and of course they were way overdone. I didn't even bother taking a picture. The marinade made them so insanely salty too. If we ever try this again, we probably won't marinade overnight, or omit the salt (it consisted of soy sauce, honey, salt, sugar, and ginger.) We paired our salt-chops with leftover stuffing and an amazing salad( recipe at the end of this post).

I had a meatless lunch today. Salad, yogurt and granola, strawberries, and some Ritz Bitz rounded out the lunch menu. I get an hour lunch, which I've never had at a job, so I really need to start learning how to eat slower. I was also thinking of walking during lunch too, but I work in the ghetto, and it was 25 degrees and super windy and snowy today, so that plan may have to wait until it gets warm here. So maybe by May I can venture outside. 

A couple things I forgot to mention in the last post that pertain to our lives, but have nothing to do with food. Clemson won their bowl game! We could not be more excited, especially since they did it in such stunning fashion. Ryan was wearing his lucky Clemson socks, which he wore for our wedding. They played on New Year's Eve, and it was great because at the time we were at my friend's house, who are LSU fans, so we got to do a little celebrating at their expense. We really hope Clemson has a big run next year. Their QB should have a shot at the Heisman, and with Sammy as running back and an all around awesome offense, they should be a top 10 team. We both love Dabo too, he's got such personality and is always so excited, as evidenced by him picking up the ESPN reporter in the post game interview. 

Florida also lost last night. It. Was. Awesome. Our roommate last year was a huge Florida fan and Tebow worshipper, so our favorite thing to do was to rip on Florida and their saint #15. And as much as I don't miss living with him, I would have given about a million bucks to be sitting next to him last night, writhing in agony with Florida's poor performance. Over/Under on how many F-bombs Muschamp dropped? Was there a line on that in Vegas? Anyway, it was great. Thanks, Louisville. 

The Bills coach also got fired a couple days ago. There are a ton of coaches in consideration. Since there is no hockey this year, we both (and all of Buffalo) would like to see the Bills finally make the playoffs next year. Superbowl? How great would that be. If it ever happened, I'm certain Buffalo would burn to the ground. 

We also saw the Les Mis movie last Friday. It was absolutely amazing. Did I cry? Yes. Would I see it again? Definitely. And I don't think I've ever seen a movie in theaters twice.  I personally thought Russell Crowe as Javert was the best. My movie friend thinks Anne Hathaway has an Oscar with her name on it. The music was amazing as well. I would think it would win for best original score, but then I was wondering if the score could be "original" if all the songs existed before. 

My grad school friends used to have a contest during award season in which we would pick who we would think would win for every category. We did it for SAG's and Oscars. I will do a post on that when the time comes. 

More on new Years. New Year's was fairly uneventful. We went to a couple friends parties, and New Years Day we did some errands. But New Year's night was a different story. Someone, who shall remain nameless, but also sleeps in the same bed as I do, seemed to have some extra air that needed to be expelled from his body. Just as I am falling asleep, he cracks one off and starts giggling uncontrollably, as all men do when they fart. He then proceeds to roll over and aim the cannon straight at me. After a lengthy conversation, he has resolved to try to stop farting in bed any more. We'll see how long that resolution lasts. I give it until next taco night. 

Below are the pictures of my jewelry project. 

Here is the finished product of the necklace hanger. It was super easy. I took a dowel, painted it white, and hung it with two small hooks. 

 Here is the finished product of the earring hanger. This was slightly more difficult to make. I have a ton more earrings to hang on it, I just didn't have time to put them all up when I took the picture.

Here is the earring hanger in the making. I bought a screen at Home Depot and cut it to the size I wanted. Then, I glued wide ribbon to the outside border, like a picture frame. I added a decorative ribbon on top of that one. For hanging it on the wall, I just added a small ribbon which I glued to both top corners. 

And finally, here is the recipe for the salad and dressing. I got this from my mom.
We do all of our grocery shopping at Wegmans. As a former employee, I can definitely say they train employees very well. They always know where everything is, they stock a ton of food that isn't widely available in all grocery stores, and their prices are low.

Autumn Toss Salad

Salad:
1/2lb lettuce (we use a combo of Wegmans bulk spinach and spring mix)
1c. shredded swiss cheese
1 apple, chopped
1 pear, chopped
1/4 c. dried cranberries
Ryan also likes to add caramelized peacans, which we also get at Wegs.

Dressing:
Combine the following in a blender
1/2c. lemon juice
1/2c. sugar
2tsp finely chopped onions (you can omit these if you don't feel like cutting up an entire onion for this small of an amount, or if cutting onions makes your eyes feel like you've rubbed chili powder in them. Even while wearing these).
1tsp. Dijon mustard

Gradually add 2/3c. vegetable oil to blender in a steady stream. Stir in 1tbsp. poppy seeds. Refrigerate until chilled.

This is one of my favorite salads. The cranberries give it a meaty substance, and the cheese adds protein. Highly recommended.

Until next time!

Our First Post

Well hello there. We're the Henesey's, and we started this blog as part of our New Year's resolution. We're hoping it will be mostly about our food choices and quest to get in shape and eat better. 

Ryan wants to: 1. get in shape, 2-be more organized, and thats all he can think of for now. 

My resolution is to: 1-lose weight, 2- keep this blog, and 3-learn to knit. Last year my resolutions included losing weight, learning to drive a stick shift, and marrying my best friend. I was 1 for 3. I'll give you one guess on what one I actually accomplished. On a different note, I did stop biting my nails completely, and that was not one of my resolutions. Someone explain that logic to me. 

Of course on the first day of our blog, we're going to Ryan's parents for dinner to celebrate his brother's Birthday, so no cooking today. We promise to post tons of pictures of our dinner creations, as well as our other life adventures. Right now, I'm trying to make a jewelry organizer. Pics to come!