the goose loves new recipes

Happy Thursday, Friends!

I think it's time for me to change things up a bit - instead of boring you with ten things on a Tuesday (or Wednesday, since I'm a procrastinator), I'll update you on what we've been cooking/eating recently. That's fun, right? It's really that I didn't want to waste my ten Tuesady things on food items, so I'm sticking them all in the same post. You can drool on your keyboard along with me.

We're trying to be very economical with our shopping and cooking, so we're meal planning every few weeks and then buying the appropriate groceries that will lend themselves to several meals. We're also working through our pantry items and being creative with what's on hand. Of which there's plenty. The idea is that the less we go to the grocery store, the less we spend on groceries. Clever, right?

Probably 10 days ago, we took these things...

added them to these things:

poured this stuff on top:

and came out with this! Salmon mac n cheese. Yes please.

 We use the non-seasoned frozen salmon filets from Costco, and let me just tell you, for a moment, how much those things rock.

They thaw super fast, so if you're one of those people that gets home at 6pm starving, with "nothing" to eat in the house, you can just grab an individually wrapped (sorry environment) piece of salmon from the freezer, stick it in a bowl of warm water while you rip your work clothes off, and then grill it in a pan for about 3 minutes on each side.

Not that I have personal experience here - I always plan ahead for dinner and I'm never that excited to get into sweats and comfy t-shirts immediately when I get home. Right. If only they weren't $25/bag.

The weekend before Easter, I whipped up some mini quiches for breakfast. These are super easy - you basically take whatever meat (optional) and veggies and cheese you have in the fridge and throw them together with some eggs. I like putting them in the mini cupcake tin for bite-size perfection.

Just don't forget to spray your pan with a little PAM action first, lest you pour all your uncooked-quiche-batter-stuff back into the bowl before baking because you forgot to grease the pan, only because you know that if you bake them ungreased, those suckers will never come out of the pan.

Again, not that I have much experience there.

After daydreaming about them for days, I finally made the Pesto Parmesan Scones from How Sweet Eats. And they were as divine as in my dreams. I'm sorry the picture does not do them justice.

They basically taste like buttery pesto clouds from heaven in your mouth. Never knew you wanted that, huh. But now you do.

We ate them with over-medium eggs over fried tomatoes. Two eggs for Billy, one for Lucy.

And finally, we are walking away from our comfort zone to tackle a few of the recipes in the free cookbook we got from UP awhile back. We've already made two of the curries in the book, so we only have about 598 left to choose from. Oh my, so few choices.

Most recently, we made a version of Chicken Vindaloo, which was mostly chicken, vinegar, coconut milk, and spices. We added some craisins for fun. And boy were they fun.

Currently on our food plan, we're targeting a potato-spinach curry, along with a white bean & ham soup to use some of our Easter bounty (yeah, the Easter post is coming soon, I promise) and pasta puttanesca.

Fun fact for you - Wikipedia (the ultimate source of accurate information) points out that literally translated, pasta puttanesca means "whore's style spaghetti", which makes it sound very fun to try. It uses capers, anchovies, olives, garlic, and tomatoes, among other things, which oddly enough, we have on hand. And it actually sounds kind of tasty. So we'll update you on that.

Anybody else making any whore food recently? (Sorry about all the whore-talk, Mom!)

the goose loves adventures

Well there's no hiding with this post. It's clearly over a month old. But since this blog is part-diary, and since I'd like to be sure to remember this day, up it goes. In all its overdue glory.

Over a month ago, I had already been working on numerous craft projects for several weeks, leaving Billy to do much of the cleaning, cooking, and dishes. And as good of a housewife he is, I know that he doesn't love all the responsibility all the time. So I decided to separate myself from the sewing machine for a day and take him out for a day of fun things -all of which would be a surprise.

I started the day early.

But so did Bentley. In front of his cozy fire, of course. Yes, he's sitting on his giant used-to-be-stuffed elephant.

This is the reason I was able to stay awake that early on  Saturday. Mmmm.

I wanted to make breakfast before our adventure commenced, so I put together some quiche.

Vegetables, cheese, eggs, milk, and a little bisquick.

I had some deli ham that I laid down in my le creuset au gratin pans.

I then ladled my quiche mixture on top. It's green because I added pesto, not because I use moldy ingredients.

Bake for 20 minutes, or so, and you get beautiful little personalized quiches.

After enjoying our quiche and coffee, we headed to the yellow MAX lightrail line, right outside our house. Bundled up, of course. It was dry, but cold!

The first surprise of the day was a trip to the zoo! We hadn't been to the zoo since our good ole college days, so it was fun to walk around. It was also pretty quiet, which was nice!

Can you find the jaguar tail below? (P.S. Not really sure if that's a jaguar. Or what.)

Lions, and tigers, and bears... Bears that sit like Bentley do! I knew he was part bear.

Oh and the penguins were fun. They're little penguins, but they swim fast!!

Crazy Penguin.

Awww the polar bears were sweet. And sleepy. Zoo animals really sleep in on the weekends, I guess. It was already 10am or something, and they were all lounging still.

Billy=baby bear size

I think the measurements on the right were a little off. I swear I'm taller than 5 feet...

Polar bear butt. Look at those big furry paws!

The monkeys were pretty sweet too.

I liked this one because it had a purple butt.

I think this gorilla is praying. Right, mom?

The elephants were up there with my favorites. They're so wrinkly!

Elephant Family. Mommy, Baby, & Daddy. And Grandma's butt sticking out.

See? Even the lions were still sleeping.

Billy wanted to get in there with the rhino, but I suggested he stay on this side of the moat.

It's Gloria! (Madagascar, anyone?)

And Marty...

And Melman!

Yep, an alligator at the zoo. Could have been a crocodile, though. Not really sure.

Okay, the otter is my favorite. Must be my Montery, CA upbringing. Love these things!

After we were done freezing our fingers at the zoo, we hopped back on the MAX and headed home. Lunch was roasted red pepper soup and grilled cheese.

Oh yeah. Grilled cheese with tomatoes!

Yeah, I'd eat that again.

Bentley, who had been sleeping all morning (they don't let dogs at the zoo...probably a good idea for the animals, since Bentley would have barked at each and every one of them). Look at that wrinkled brow!

Lovey moment.

Please mom, help me.

Our after-lunch trip included some adventuring to Oregon City, OR - about 40 minutes southeast of the city. It's the end of the Oregon Trail (the real one, not the game we all love), and has a bunch of historic homes.

Our main adventure in Oregon City was the Highland Stillhouse, though. It's scottish-pub style food, which would make Billy happy any day, but it's true value is in the form of its whisky menu. That's right. Not its drink menu, which includes whisky, but its Whisky Menu. That's right. About 12 pages devoted entirely to the "water of life." A bound book. Just of whiskies. Luckily, you can't see the drool escaping the side of Billy's mouth in this photo.

Their food menu? Like two dinky pages. Only about 10 pages shorter than its whisky menu.

I ordered a nice dark stout. Delish.

Billy's first three beer choices weren't able to be located - yeah, he picked the rare ones that are buried in the back. Three times. Finally, he was able to get his hands on his fourth choice - the Old Stock Ale. A barley wine, something like 12% alcohol. Therefore, he did not get whisky as well.

I got the steak and mushroom pie, with a beautiful flaky crust on top.

Billy enjoyed the fish n chips. And wow, that was good fish.

It was a great day of adventure, and overall, very economical. We had a Groupon to the zoo, made two meals at home, and splurged only a little on dinner. And so worth it. We just might have to do this again. If I can pull myself away from the sewing machine again, that is.