one

Believe it or not, I actually had to put my thinking cap on to figure out that in order for this post to be titled "one" without being "three", since it's the first post, I had to titel all three backwards. Just a tidbit of information before I continue on with my third and final post of the day. Just the day, not the week. It's only Monday people and I'm back and cooking up a healthy storm.
(And, that could not have sounded more nerdy)

Anyway...

So, Saturday we slept in and completely skipped the breakfast time-slot. I'm proud to say that lunch was our first meal of the day!
Let me just say that Matt has been a grilling machine lately. Almost every meal he says "do you want me to grill that?" No joke. He's THAT into grilling. FINE BY ME! It tastes so good and it's less clean-up! No complaints here. Just a thankful wife to her husband for helping clean and cook, and doing it very well, might I say!

Saturday was one of those "hey, I'll grill that if you want" days. SCORE.
What did we have?

Grilled Chicken & Cheesy Three Pepper and Onion Flatbread Roll-Ups with Garlic Hummus and Tortilla Wedges

I kid you not, it tasted like a million bucks, but only cost about $8 to make!
You be the judge.

INGREDIENTS:

~6 boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins, grilled with Kroger Chicken Grill Seasoning

~1 Package whole weat flatbread/naan
~1 Tbs. olive oil
~1/4 Tbs. salt
~1/4 Tbs. pepper
~Water, to sprinkle on flatbread
~1 Package frozen Kroger Meal Ready 3 Pepper & Onion Blend, sauteed
~1/4 Cup shredded mozzerella

DIRECTIONS:

~Place flatbread onto baking sheet and drizzle a few drops of water. Brush olive oil, salt & pepper onto bread. Bake @ 400* for 3-4 minutes
~Place grilled chicken, veggie mix & cheese onto one side of the flatbread, fold over & enjoy!

*Please refer to the Valentine's Day post for the hummus & tortilla wedges recipes.

I like to think of this little meal as "Medditeranean in Minutes"
(And that's the second nerdy comment for this post)

Matt said "This is ridiculous...this needs to be a regular thing"
I am in 100% agreement.

two

Indeed, this is my second time to post today!
I love cooking. Have I said that before?
So, I make lunch for Matt everday (well, almost, but you get the point)! It's usually turkey sandwich with an apple...yada yada. Well, needless to say, he's sick of it, and so am I. So, yesterday, after church, we headed to the store.

Mission: to get something for Matt to have all this week that didn't involve 1 lb. of peppered turkey breast & provolone cheese.

Solution: Chicken salad. Yes, Matt is a huge fan of chicken salad. Namely his grandmothers recipe, which always reminds me of the lakehouse, so of course I was game to make it. Since I didn't have the recipe on-hand or memorized, and my sources reached me after we had bought groceries, I improvised. That's something that's usually a no-no in recreating a classic. No-no, no-schmo!
I did it. And thankfully it wasn't too far off from the original, thanks to Michele who reached me after the groceries, but before the assembly!

Here's how to make Low-fat Chicken Salad

INGREDIENTS:

~6 Large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, boiled
~3 Stalks celery, chopped
~3 Green onions, chopped
~2 Tsp. black pepper
~Salt to taste
~1 Small can sliced green olives
~1 Tsp. dill weed
~1 1/4 Cup Lite Mayo Dressing (it's different than lite mayo. It has the consistency of yogurt and only 15 calories per serving!!!!)

DIRECTIONS:

~In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients until creamy
~Refrigerate and enjoy!

LUNCH CRISIS AVOIDED & MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

"Oh my gosh, this is so good" Matt said. "like really, really good..." as he's eating out of the bowl. "Matt, stop it! You wanted this for lunch during the week, right?"

Yeah. It's THAT good.
Eat up.

three

Meaning I will post three times today...that's about three times as much as I've posted in the last week.
The number three, for this post at least, also signifies the prep-time for this meal. No lie. It basically takes three minutes, which is crazy.

What did we have?
Well, since you asked, we had Roasted Leg of Chicken with Baby Carrots, Kalamatta Olives.
Yummmmm. It's from the magazine Real Simple. And it's just that. REAL SIMPLE. Just the way we like it. Real simple and really stinking good.
Here's how:

INGREDIENTS:

~1 whole chicken, cut into 10 pieces OR 4 chicken legs, cut into 8 pieces (that's what we did)

~Tsp. paprika
~Tsp. salt
~Tsp black pepper
~3/4 Cup pitted kalamatta olives
~16 oz. Bag baby carrots
~4 Bay leaves
~2 Tbs. olive oil
~1 lemon, wedged into fourths

DIRECTIONS:

~In a large mixing bowl, place all ingredients and toss to coat chicken
~Place on large, rimmed baking sheet and arrange veggies in a single layer
~Bake @ 425* for 1 hour.

TADA! It's so yummy. Delicious, in fact.
Matt said "Meg, this is 'legit'..." and I said "Yeah, I know. We've had it before!"

Never a dull moment in the Hargrove casa.

Until next time!

pizza, pizza...finally

GOSH!!!!!! It took forever to make this post. Busy bees we have been!
Here's the "master" pizza doigh recipe. It's not one we've used before until tonight. And oh man did it live up to its name. If "master" means THE BEST PIZZA DOUGH YOU'LL EVER PUT IN YOUR MOUTH, then it's correct. Holy cow. SO GOOD.

Here it is:

In a large bowl, combing 2 cups all-purpose flour, 3/4 Tsp. salt, 1 pkg. Fliechman's RapidRise yeast. Mix together. Slowly add 1 cup warm-to-hot water and 2 Tbs. olive oil. (I added dried oregano, too..makes it more "Italian-y" feeling, er, uh, tasting)Mix together until a soft dough is formed. Add up to 1/2 cup more flour if needed. Cover and let rise for 10-15 mins. Meanwhile, preheat that old oven of yours to 400*. Grease a baking sheet or pizza stone and then sprinkle with a little bit of corn meal. Roll out the dough to fit the pan. Place desired toppings on and bake for 20 mins, or until done.

Our toppings? Well, we made three seperate pizzas (hey, we had 5 people eating!!!)
pepperoni, mozzerella cheese, black olive, green bell pepper, mushrooms, red onion, jalapenos. YUMMMMMM

Don't have pizza sauce on hand? (who does? And if you do, well, you're awesome)

Mix one 8 oz. can no-salt-added tomatoe sauce & 1/3 small can Italian style tomato paste.

Yeah, it's THAT easy.

Get to making that pizza...it's a piece of, you guessed it, PIZZA.

piece of cake, or, uh, pie...and by pie i mean pizza

Yep. Tonight is pizza night. We're going over to a friend's house and making pizza tonight...and I'm really stinkin' excited. Pizza is so good, and really fun to make!
So, even though we haven't made it yet, which means I have nothing to report, I'm still pumped. Getting together we people we love, cooking, good food and knowing I'll have somehting to post. YES.
Stay tuned!

it's been a while.

13 days to be exact. Not since we've cooked, though. You see, we've been pretty stinkin' busy the past couple of weeks. It's been good, though. My best friend, Jessica, bought a house a couple of weeks ago and we've been helping her move, paint, lending our mower, you name it. We're so happy we're able to help her! SO HAPPY SHE WAS ABLE TO BUY A HOUSE! That's a pretty huge dea if you ask us. We just bought our's 8 months ago. We love fixing it up!!! It's so fun to "nest". We've also had to make some un-planned trips here and there, thus resulting in less eating at home, and, when we have eaten at home in these past 13 days, it's been things we have already posted on the blog. I know, I know...it's still not an excuse! All this goes to say that, weve been busy. We've been eating at other people's houses (which we love doing), and we've been eating repeat dinners. No biggie. It happens. So, with that being said, we're back to posting. Hopefully we'll have something yummy to post for tomorrow. As for tonight, I'm still unsure. Ha! Just wanted to let everyone know that we haven't dropped off the face of the blogging-planet! We're still very much here, and very much cooking!

meat loaf, meat loaf, double beat loaf. i hate meat loaf.

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease tell me you've seen that movie! You know,"Christmas Story"??
Oh man, if you haven't seen it (which would still blow my mind), go rent it today. You know what? You'd better buy it...you'll want to make watching it on Christmas Eve a tradition like it's been for my family and Matt's family for, well, as long as we can remember. In fact, it was such a "must" for Matt, that once we got our house, and we didn't have our own copy of the legend that is this movie, he bought it for me (well, us really) for Christmas. Yep. It's THAT legendary.
Anyway, I'm off my must-see-classic-movie soap box for now. Onto the meal.
Yep, you guessed it, we had meat loaf.
Slow-cooker meat loaf, broccoli & sweet potato mash, to be exact!

I must say, I am all about using a crock pot, but meat loaf? Really?
It's true. And it was delicious. I had to make some adjustments, because I didn't have some things, however, for the simplicity of the blog, I'm going to give you the recipe straight out of the magazine. Oh, by the way, it's from Healthy Cooking.

Here's how to make the meat loaf:

INGREDIENTS
1 C. soft bread crumbs
1 1/2 C. spaghetti sauce
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbs. dried, minced onion (this is something I didn't have, so I didn't use it)
1 Tsp. salt
1/2 Tsp. garlic powder
1/2 Tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 Tsp. black pepper
2 lbs. lean (90%) ground beef (I only had 1.25 lbs.)

DIRECTIONS
~ Cut four 20 in. x 3 in. strips of heavy-duty foil; crisscross them over each other so that they look like spokes of a wheel. Place them in the bottom and up the sides of your slow-cooker and spray each strip with cooking spray.

~ In a large bowl, place the bread crumbs, 1 cup spaghetti sauce, egg, onion and all the seasonings and stir. Crumble all the beef into the mixture and mix together, forming a loaf...thus the term "meat loaf"...it's literally a loaf of meat, people!
Place the loaf in the middle of the strips of foil. Spoon/brush the remaining spaghetti sauce onto the top of the loaf.

~ Cook on low, covered, for 3-4 hours. I did ours a little longer than four!
~ When the meat loaf is done, use the strips as handles to get the loaf out of the cooker and onto a plate. I know, it sounds like craziness, but it actually worked...really well.

Now, for the sweet potato mash! (my recipe)

INGREDIENTS
1 sweet potato, boiled with or without skin (Feeds two people)
1 Tbs. heavy whipping cream
1 Tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tsp. butter/SmartBalance

DIRECTIONS
In a medium mixing bowl, place potato (after it's been boiled) & remaining ingredients and beat with an electric mixer until you have the consistency of mashed potatoes.

I kept the skins on. I love potato skins! Matt, no so much. Oh well, he still loved the taste, the texture just threw him off.
Funny story about the potato, actually. I put the potato on to boil. Then I proceeded to step outside to make a call. I was talking to my friends mom, Paula, about wedding showers and this and that. I was so involved in the conversation that Matt finished mowing the back yard, came inside, noticed that the water was about to boil over. So, he then flew threw the front door, tries to get my attention, and finally comes up to me on the phone and mouths "the water was boiling over...I turned it down". Of course, I couldn't read his lips. So, he actually voiced it this time. First I said "what water?" That's right, I had 99% forgotten about the potatoes! Not good. So, I then proceeded to tell Paula who then said "I better see this on the blog, Meg!" And here it is :-)
Moral of the story? Don't put something on to boil and go outside to make a call!


All in all, a great meal. Matt loved it so much he took the rest for lunch today!
Ah, the joys of cooking.