There are plenty more fish in the sea

I've gotten into this thing where we go to Costco and I feel the need to buy things in bulk b/c it will "eventually save me money."  I'm not sure how true this is b/c our freezer is full of things we bought at Costco but I figure we'll eat it eventually.  This is where our dinner the other night came from.

I really like making and eating whole fish so when I saw the option to buy lots of them in one package, I thought "why not?" So I bought a package of 4 whole trout.  I've never made trout and I'm not even really sure that I've had it before but it's fish and I like fish so whatever.

To make the fish, I used:

lemon

dill

butter

white wine

LOTS of garlic

salt and pepper

I sliced the lemon and slivered the garlic.  Then I stuffed the fish and added the remaining ingredients on top. 

 So this dish went into the oven covered with foil for about 25 minutes.  I took it it, convinced it would be done, but it wasn't =/  I put it back in the oven for another 20 minutes and it came out perfectly! I'm always worried about overcooking fish more than undercooking so I always feel like it should be done quickly.  Apparently this is never the case b/c it's never done when I check it the first time.

With the fish, I made mashed potatoes.  Didn't see the need to post about the potato process since I've done it more than once I'm sure and most people can boil and mash a potato.  :)

So there's dinner! A whole trout, head included and mashed potatoes.  The potatoes were super.  Loads of butter and creamy and yummy.  The fish....was ok.  I think the first fish I made was better and had more flavor.  It was a little bland and needed a lot more salt for sure.  Overall though, the dinner was good and when the fish was eaten with the potatoes it was a lot better.  Note to self though: next time, "oversalt" the fish!! 

The Juice is Loose!

I have taken on the habit of juicing at least once a week.  I just started last week so it's not like I've really been dying of hunger or can really say it's a habit yet but it's definitely something I'd like to add to my diet more often.  For those who aren't aware of juicing yet, it's basically taking a lot of veggies and fruit and sticking it through a juicer and replacing meals/snacks with juice.  Some people do it as a cleanse where the point is that your system isn't actually digesting anything so it's supposed to cleanse your body of toxins or something...I'm not a nutritionist, doctor, or any other profession that fully understands how this all works but either way, for a couple of days you drink nothing but this juice.  I haven't made it past a day, but I also haven't really tried.

To start, I went to the store and purchased a bunch of fruit and veggies, preferably organic.  My purchase consisted of:

kale

spinach

mangos

pineapple

apples

pears

cucumbers

kiwi

lemons

carrots

cellery

blueberries

Our friend was nice enough to give us her juicer so we were finally able to put this to use.  The process is so easy.  Just put whatever you want in the juicer.  The only things I peeled were lemons, kiwis, mangos, and pineapple.  I cut the ends off of the cucumber and carrots and cored the pears and apples.  I didn't use everything but made enough for about 8 juices (around 160 ounces).  I mixed and matched the combos making sure to use spinach, kale, blueberries, celery, and carrots to each batch.  A lot of people add ginger but I chose to leave it out.  Lucky for me, we buy pickles in huge jars from Costco.  We had recently finished one jar and had been wondering what we could use it for and now I know.  It holds all the extra juice perfectly.

I know it doesn't look delicious, but it's surprisingly not bad.  Of all the reviews I have read and people I've talked to, everyone seems to really enjoy this juicing process.  I choose to juice once a week during the weekdays because it's the day I don't go to the gym.  For me, that's Monday.  People always say they feel they have more energy and aren't hungry.  This was NOT true for me at all.  I was STARVING all day! I don't know how people do this for multiple days.

Update: I start week 2 of my weekly juice today.  Last week, I ended up juicing for 3 days, but with the 2nd and 3rd day only during the day and then eating dinner.  I was still hungry the entire time.  I left out the kiwis for today's juice because I feel like something about them made my throat hurt so we'll see if it makes a difference.  I decided to eat what felt like 5000 calories yesterday so we'll see how starving I am today =/

On top of spaghetti......pie

The posting has slowed obviously, partly due to my lack of cooking and partly due to my lack of cooking anything new.  It's become so easy to just remake things.  Monday and Tuesday, I get home too late from work so I don't wanna cook and then I don't cook on the weekends...this really doesn't leave a lot of days for blog-worthy dinners =/

However! Last week I wanted to make something with ground beef but didn't want to make the same things I always go to with ground beef.  Eric had mentioned meatballs which sounded good but then that turned into spaghetti.  After doing some searching, I decided to make spaghetti pie.  To make, you'll need:

noodles

ground beef

parmesan cheese

egg

butter

pasta sauce

mozzarella cheese

bell pepper

I already had pasta sauce that I made and froze so I just defrosted it.  

To start, I cooked the noodles.  Once they were cooked al dente, I added them into a bowl that I had put the parmesan cheese, 2 eggs, and butter into and mixed.  I did it in parts so the noodles didn't cook the egg, slowly tempering them instead. 

While the noodles were cooking, I started cooking the ground beef.  I added the beef and the pepper into a pan and began cooking.  I used 93/7 beef so there wasn't much fat.  Once it was close to cooked through, I added the pasta sauce and gave it a good mix. 

Once all of the noodles were mixed in with the cheese mixture, I sprayed a pie pan and placed the noodles in the dish to form the "crust"

The meat mixture was placed on top of the noodles and then baked in the oven for 25 minutes.  At that time, I took the pie out and added mozzarella cheese.  Then it was put back into the oven and allowed to cook for about 5 more minutes just for the cheese to melt. 

I was worried that it would fall apart when serving but somehow or another, it sticks together and you can actually cut it into pie pieces! 

It was a little loose the first night when it was hot but the next day it was stuck together like pie! It made for great leftovers, even cold.  This was a really interesting take on spaghetti just b/c you really get the perfect amount of sauce to noodles in every bite.  I think we both decided that we really like whole wheat noodles more than regular just for the flavor it gives to pasta.  This was a really easy dish to make and takes really no time at all.  I definitely suggest it!