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.
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 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!
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