Recipe: cherry tomato vinaigrette

Okay, guys. Stop everything and make this vinaigrette. You won't be sorry. I picked up this month's edition of Bon Appetit while perusing Barnes and Noble last week and this is the first recipe I tried from it's pages. And I will be making this again. Like ASAP. 

1 pint cherry (or grape) tomatoes
3 T olive oil, divided
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 T red wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
2 T (or more) chopped fresh chives

Cut tomatoes in half. Heat 1 T oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add shallot and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4-5 minutes.
Add tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to release juices, 4-6 minutes.
Add vinegar and remaining 2 T oil; season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or room temperature, add chives just before serving.

Now, I added this vinaigrette to a pound of cooked rotini pasta with crumbled feta cheese (it was a little dry, so I used some of the pasta water to moisten it) and added more chives. It was amazing. And SO simple. However, the magazine also suggests serving it with grilled flank steak or mixed in with roasted summer vegetables (zucchini, summer squash, onion, red pepper and eggplant) and I'm sure those are all winning combos as well. 

Now stop reading and go make this!

Mmk bye.

some days

some days you prepare a simple pasta dish and make it far more complex than it needs to be. and you don't eat until after 8pm. and don't finish the dishes until close to 9pm. and then you have 30 minutes before your husband goes to bed and instead of watching the Voice, you watch a beloved episode of Friends and try to relax.

and then other days you make a complex dish with marinating and chopping and grilling and are able to catch up on the Voice from the previous night while cooking and watch the current night when it starts at 7pm.

this may or may not be my last two days. the Voice is the first singing/talent/dancing show I've actually been able to sit through and since we decided to be all "up with the times" here in Tucson, we now have DVR and can record shows (gasp!) I'm cheering for Caroline (and basically all of Adam's team) but Tyler wants Danielle to win on Blake's team (surely because she has such a great name and not because she's an adorable 16-year-old Taylor Swift knock-off)

I got a road bike last night! Tyler and I have been wanting road bikes since we lived in Wichita Falls and never took the plunge. it was sort of hard to suppress that urge once we moved here and saw hundreds of 80-year-old Lance Armstrongs hardly able to walk but were robots on a bicycle. we'd been looking at bike shops and craigslist for the past few weeks and found a good deal on a vintage steel machine. we hope to find one for Ty soon but i'm clearly the one with all the free time. yes, it was the first time I had ever ridden a road bike. but I went for a 6 mile ride this morning and love it already. i can see why the padded shorts are so popular (ahem)

this was our delicious dinner tonight: greek yogurt marinated grilled chicken with tzatzik salad (not pureed like it is usually served)- it was definitely worth the extra effort but it's humorous how cooking either relaxes or frustrates-but the most important thing is making sure the food is always nourishing. 

we're hoping to get another baseball game in this Friday night-the weather has been awesome for a Tucson May, we're told. chilly in the mornings and at night (something we never got in North Texas!) and enough hot sun to get a good dose of vitamin d during the day. i've also been going to the mall enough to make sure i don't miss a good sale (or really any new shipments) hope you have a good rest of your week and a great weekend!

since the move..in pictures.

yes...it's true that I haven't updated my blog in nearly three months. for the record, I did try to update on March 3rd and gave a thorough and insightful post regarding my ending job at the elementary school in Wichita Falls. but my internet went out while typing and didn't save, which I didn't notice until I lost everything. in bitterness I haven't been back since. however, since then, we have moved states and can no longer call Texas home. we love Tucson so far, but everyone's detailed warnings about the rattlesnakes have got me...well...rattled and I pray to God that I will be the miraculous exception and never see one. we moved out of our house on base in Texas and went straight to Fort Myers to visit grandpa and grandma-Tyler had never been to their condo before and his 45 days off between assignments brought the perfect chance for some traveling. we enjoyed (as the pictures indicate) a trip to watch the twins at spring training (it's been a long time but this might be the year I get to see the twins play in both Ft Myers and Minneapolis), a couple beach trips, happy hour and golfing and spending time with my grandparents, who make great tour guides.

After flying back to Dallas, we drove to WF for the night to pick up Ada (who got one final sleepover with Maya) and be on our way West to Tucson. We arrived and spent two days looking at houses until we found one we fell in love with on a Friday. We signed the papers that next Monday, got our keys Tuesday right before the movers came with our belongings and left Thursday for 11 days to Montana and South Dakota. We spent Easter weekend skiing at Big Sky with family and then drove to Rapid City to spend a week there. Finally, we were back in Tucson on April 8th and have been getting to know the city a little better.

I couldn't resist snapping this picture on our drive...it's just perfect!

We shipped our skis up to the lodge in MT to avoid dealing with them at the airport. The guys at UPS were not impressed with Tyler's original pack job, which did not include boxes and was soooo much more ghetto than even this.

It's been great hanging out with Kristin here in Tucson! She is busy finding a job and apartment for their upcoming move back to Norway, as well as planning her wedding but she still makes time to meet me for lunch/shopping/coffee, which I love!

Little Avery is such a sweetheart and we're so glad we get to see her often until they move to Japan in July.

Here's the front of our house! We were really drawn to a particular neighborhood East of Tucson with unique yet classic southwestern style adobe houses and have loved how quiet it is.

seeing this picture again stresses me out but I am proud to say we were 90% unpacked before Wednesday night. whew!

our fun ski trip!

the weather was just perfect and after day one of skiing in my new boots and skis, I was warmed up enough to actually enjoy it!

it was so fun for Tim to show us around-we're so glad we finally got to ski Big Sky!

the sunrise service on Easter Sunday was incredible

our trip to Rapid City included much golfing for the men and a fun trip to get pedicures for us!

out of order, but this is the whole group at supper during the ski trip

the ice cream guys at the shop

Mike introduced me to my new favorite thing-a salted caramel malt. I proceeded to have one a day for five days without getting sick of it.

our killer craigslist find-I was a little stressed out by the kitchen at the new house being half the size of our former but this solves all those problems. plus it's adorable.

I snuck this picture while I was cooking to show off the beautiful fireplace and our great new rug but also so you can see what a great husband I have. :)

Our first hike in Tucson was a toughie-we only made it about a mile uphill but it was brutal with the rocks and incline. The view was quite spectacular, though.

It was so fun having Amy, Roman and Maya visit us for a few days from Phoenix! This handsome little guy is almost a year!

And then I fell in love with a Mexican restaurant with Amy. and went there twice in one week. this is a picture of the best Mexican chopped salad you will ever lay eyes on.

our cactus out front is blooming! it's just beautiful and amazing to see the desert flora bloom at springtime.

This is Drew-a good friend from my time at the Focus on the Family Institute. I haven't seen him since then (4.5 years ago) but he and his wife live about 4 hours from Tucson and were in town for a conference so we got together for dinner and had to play the classics, Settlers and speed scrabble! It was the best mini-reunion and really fun for Tyler to meet them.

This is the trusty Corolla getting a new battery and four new tires. I went on base last week for a doctor appointment. I was in and out in less than 20 minutes but stayed in the exact same spot for 4 hours. I went back to the car at 11am to leave and found that it wouldn't start. I tried my darling husband but he didn't answer his phone. So I called USAA and they were on it to send a tow truck immediately. The tow company called me at 11:28 and said they were on their way but wouldn't be able to get on base unless there was someone at the gate to meet them and sponsor them. I said I had no way of getting to the gate, since my car wouldn't start. So I called insurance back and explained the situation. They tried a few more companies but all said they weren't allowed to get on base either. At this point in time, the internet on my phone stopped working, right after it had been so useful to connect me to USAA. I decided to call a cab so I can at least go home. Since I was no longer connected to the internet and the pharmacy I was sitting outside of didn't have a phone book, I texted Amy and asked if she could look up a number for a cab company, which she did immediately. Unfortunately the cab companies also need a sponsor to get on base, which makes no sense to me because if someone is calling for a cab that means they have no way of getting around, thus unable to meet the cab at the gate. So I couldn't get picked up by a cab, couldn't get a tow truck and the only two people able to rescue me (Tyler and Kristin) both were not answering their phones. Amy suggested I call the military police/security forces to see what they would suggest and they were very helpful in telling me the name of the tow company they use, which does not need to be sponsored to get on base. So I called USAA to ask if I could recommend they send Gary's Towing to come get me and of course, they are unable to take requests for specific companies. Now it's about 1:00 and while I'd been going inside to the pharmacy to get a quick dose of air conditioning or use the bathroom, I am hungry, thirsty and rather frustrated. I decide to call Gary's Towing anyways and just deal with the fact that we will have to pay for the tow out-of-pocket. However, the lady who answered at Gary's Towing said they'd be happy to come get me on base but it would be about a 3 hour wait. I declined and right after hanging up, Kristin texted me back and said she could come pick me up. While I was writing back, "yes please!" Tyler finally called me back and said he could leave work to come pick me up but since he drove his motorcycle to work that day would have to drive past the base to our house and go get the 4runner and come back to pick me up, which took about 50 minutes. there were very specific reasons I thought there was something more severely wrong with the car than a simple dead battery, which I would have easily asked someone for a jump, but I will not get into that. the saga ended after two hours at walmart waiting for new tires and a new battery. sigh.

Finally, we decided to check out Tucson's minor league team The Padres last Saturday night and it was a blast! the night was perfect and the Padres even walked away with a victory, which is a rare occurrence, apparently.

Thanks for checking in, especially after my long hiatus. And if you feel like visiting us in Tucson, we have a brand new queen-sized guest bed with your name on it!

veggie pizza: recipe

I guess it's about time I shared a new favorite recipe of mine. Since Tyler has be gone since the beginning of November (with the exception of a few days at the beginning of December), I have been fending for myself in the kitchen (which was usually the case, but now it's just up to me to eat whatever I've cooked). I've found a few recipes that I've made more than once, and this pizza is one of those. I've probably made this once a week since I found it sometime in Nov. It's delicious.  Foodbabe.com is where I got the recipe from, so go ahead and check out her version but I've changed it a little and I love it! I even had the ingredients for this when we came home from Christmas in Colorado and had one night before going to Mississippi and Tyler really liked it.

(Please excuse the crappy iphone photos...)

Start with the fresh veggies you'd like to use. This time I made it with red onion (just a handful), sauteed mushrooms (it's important to saute these before you put them on the pizza to get all the water out) Green peppers are always delicious-you'll probably just use a 1/2 for one pizza. I also just use regular chopped tomatoes (the Pomi brand, which doesn't come in a can and therefore has no BPA, wahoo!) there is no salt added so I usually like to sprinkle on a little salt before I put the toppings on. 

Put the Food for Life sprouted tortilla (found in the freezer section!) in a 450 degree oven for 3:30 minutes, just long enough to dry it out. Next, add your toppings! Tomatoes, salt, minced garlic, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and finally the broccoli. 

Wow, that's blurry. But you get the idea. This is fresh WHOLE MILK mozzarella (trust me, the skim version is totally not worth it and they add junk when they take away the fat so you're better off with the whole milk version anyways). Try not to cut the slices too thick.

Bake for 10 minutes, and voila!

My favorite things about this pizza:
*I don't have to make the crust
*Since I've gotten the hang of making it, I can be eating this within 30 minutes start to finish
**The vegetables don't get too cooked or soggy, since you're just baking it long enough to melt the cheese (crunchy pizza? yum!)
*Customizable based on what I have on hand/what I'm in the mood for

Ready for the recipe?

Ingredients
1 Food for Life tortilla
4 tablespoons tomato/marinara/pizza sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
4-5 medium sized portabella mushrooms, sliced and sauteed
1/4 chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1-1/2 cup broccoli florets, cut small
sliced fresh mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees
dry out tortilla by placing it in oven for 3:30 minutes
wash/chop all ingredients
add 4 tablespoons of tomato sauce to tortilla
lightly salt (two pinches) tomato sauce. Mince garlic and spread out on pizza
add ingredients, being careful not to add too many, thus weighing the tortilla down. finish with broccoli.
cover pizza with sliced mozzarella
bake for 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
let sit for a minute or two before cutting with pizza slicer. enjoy!

In other news, while I've been writing this post I had my iphone hooked up the computer and installing a new update. It told me I needed to "restore" to original settings (huh??) so I clicked continue. Now my phone is empty. Blank. No record I've even owned it for the last year and a half. It's weird. But feels sort of refreshing and not as panicky as I thought. Maybe this is a good start to my spring cleaning day...?

I hope you try this pizza, let me know how you like it!

not so apologetic

Have you ever found yourself apologizing for what you eat? People take food personally, which is not all that puzzling since food truly is personal. Your well being and quality of life is directly affected by how you take care of your body, and by no surprising fact, by the food you eat. In an ideal-world scenario, someone eating a microwavable meal chock full of chemical preservatives and a day's worth of sodium or a meal from a drive-through fast food joint would apologize and be defensive. However, it was awkward and disconcerting when I found myself apologizing for what I was eating this past week. And no, I didn't have a heated up "Lean Cuisine" meal. I was happily munching on brown rice, green pepper slices, cheddar cheese and Mary's Gone pretzels. And yet, I was backtracking. And explaining myself. The two ladies I usually eat with made jokes and said they needed to hide their lunches from me (one, a frozen spaghetti meal and the other, a frozen microwavable pizza) so I don't judge them. No, I was not judging them. Did I think they should be laughing and joking about how unhealthy they admit to eating in comparison to how "healthy" I was eating? No. But it was weird. In my pathetic, unnecessary defense, I ended up saying something along the lines of, "I don't have any dietary restrictions that I know of, but I know what food makes feel good and full of energy after I eat it and I know the food that doesn't make me feel good." Really, danielle? I felt like a teenage version of myself trying to talk to a stranger about Jesus. "I...uh...because Jesus said so..." And it's not the first time I've been given a hard time for eating food that is good for me. (I will not say "healthy" because apparently it has a negative connotation) No, I do not care what you eat. If you are close to me and I cook for you, (ahem...husband...) yes, I WILL make delicious food that will also positively nourish your body. (so beware, house guests) But because I/we choose to live this way does not mean I will pounce on you and tell you what you're doing wrong with your diet. Which is what I felt like saying to my lunch ladies: "Yes. I did come to take my 20-minute lunch break in the uncomfortable teacher's lounge to talk to you about what you're eating and why it's not healthy for you."

Point said? I don't like to vent on my blog, but I felt like it had to be said. (Thanks, Maria)

Realfood Tip:
try planning your meals out when you're hungry. No, don't go grocery shopping when you're hungry. Plan a couple days, or a week's worth of meals, while you're semi-hungry so you know what you'll be interested in while you're hungry and ready to eat a meal. We know we should only eat while we're hungry, so chances are we'll be more willing to try something with brussels sprouts or beets while we're hungry, and what better way to plan for that than while we're craving a little good nutrition during meal planning?