The Neverending Tupperware Battle

How do you organize your tupperware?  It seems like no matter the system, it always ends up a mess that's shoved into a cabinet.  Boo got me some organizational books that I'm finally trying to put to good use.

Organizing Solutions for People with ADD by Susan C. Pinsky is broken down in such a clear and concise manner that it's been impossible for me to mess up any of her systems (knock on wood).

Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern is the other book I have, but honestly haven't gotten beyond browsing yet.  (I need to learn how to organize my time, first!)  My goal is to read it in the next few months so I can get the whole house in order this summer.




So, back to tupperware.  I decided to get rid of a lot of it and throw away my old system of stacking all of the lids separate from all of the containers.  I don't know why, but I can never end up finding the lid I'm looking for when I do this.

The new system takes up way more space, but so far it's been worth it.  I put all of the lids on the respective container and stacked that way.  It's been quick and easy to pull out tupperware and hasn't become a mess when putting away.

Next project to tackle:  the spices cabinet!

Skinny Margherita Pizza

This pizza was so crispy and super fresh, too!  Here's Pizza Margherita courtesy of my Skinny Italian cookbook by Teresa Giudice.

Start off with making Old World Pizza Dough.  We did this a day ahead of time so it had time to rest.  Makes 6 balls of dough at 415 calories each.

1/4 cup EVOO (plus a little extra for rising)

1 1/4 tsp instant yeast (we used active dry yeast so we used 1 1/2 tsp)

4 1/2 cup bread flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

After preparing the yeast in 1 3/4 cup water, add the oil.

Stir in 1 cup of flour and salt.  Continue to add more flour until the dough is stretchy and cleans your hands off as you work with it.

Knead for about 5 minutes.

Divide into 6 balls of dough.  Cover in oil and individually wrap each ball in saran wrap.  I just used a ziplock bag for each.  This can stay in the fridge for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Now your dough is made and ready to go!

Pizza Margherita
Cornmeal
Bread flour
1 ball of Old World Pizza Dough (see recipe above)
1 large Roma tomato
2 oz fresh mozzarella (we used shredded mozzarella because we already had it in our fridge)
1 tsp EVOO
3 fresh basil leaves, chopped

Set the oven to 475 at least 30 minutes before baking so your pizza stone doesn't crack.  Flatten out a ball of pizza dough and sprinkle some cornmeal on your paddle.

Slice up the tomato and remove the seeds.  Add the cheese and tomato to the dough and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for about 9 minutes until browned.  Add basil and serve!

2 servings, about 360 calories each.  We topped with Parmesan cheese and served with a side salad.

Veggie Stir Fry

Stir fry has got to be one of my favorite, quick and easy meals.

In this stir fry, we just used some frozen veggies that we had on hand.  This made 4 servings at 204 calories/serving.

2 bags of three pepper and onion (4 cups per bag)
1 bag of broccoli cuts (4 cups)
Dash of sesame seeds
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tbsp Kikkoman garlic and onion teriyaki sauce
1 tbsp canola oil
1 "boil a bag" brown rice (2 cups)

Cook the thawed veggies in the oil on the stovetop in a pan (or a wok if you have one).  Add the sesame seeds, salt, and pepper.  Let the veggies soften and add the teriyaki sauce.  I like to cook on high heat until the veggies start to brown and crisp up.  Serve over brown rice.

Chicken and Asparagus Casserole

I'm not even embarrassed to say that we were scraping our plates clean tonight!  After his first bite, Boo said, "This one's a keeper" and I totally agree!  I'd highly recommend trying to find the Three Rivers cookbook series that comes out of Pittsburgh.  Every single recipe I've tried from this series has been wonderful.  I found the 1st and 2nd volumes on Amazon for only a few bucks (still looking for Volume 3!).

This is the original recipe, but I tweaked it, of course.  It calls for two packages of frozen asparagus; I used 3 lbs of fresh (before trimmed).  Fry's had an AMAZING sale and we were able to get it for $1/lb (normally $4/lb)!  We also used 4 tbsp of canola oil instead of 1/2 cup of corn oil and the light/low-fat versions of the mayo and soup.  We kept it at 4 servings, but at 628 calories/serving we'll change it to 6 or 8 servings next time and just have a salad with it, maybe even cut it down to 1/2 cup cheese and 1/3 cup mayo.

Since I used fresh asparagus, I cut it up into chunks, seasoned it with salt, and sauteed it in 2 tbsp of canola oil for about 17 minutes, until browned.

Transfer the asparagus to an 11x7-inch casserole dish.

Cut up 2 breasts of chicken into chunks, season with pepper, and sautee in 2 tbsp of canola oil for about 10 minutes, until cooked.

While the chicken is cooking, mix up your sauce with the cream of chicken soup, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and curry powder.

Once the chicken is done, layer that on top of the asparagus, followed by the sauce, and then the cheddar cheese (we used shredded).

Bake at 375F for 30 minutes.  Best part of casseroles- SET IT & FORGET IT! :)

Baked Rigatoni with Meatballs

Boo's pick for this week did not disappoint!  He searched for meatballs on bigoven.com because I told him they were my favorite (sweet, huh?).  The recipe says it makes 4 servings- WAAAY too much food.  We figured for 8 servings.  Ends up being 432 calories per serving.  Served with a side salad and you've got a complete meal!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion; chopped
2 garlic cloves; minced
3 cup mushrooms; sliced
1 green bell pepper; chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon basil; dried
1 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
28 ounce tomatoes; chopped (we used 1 can diced and 3 Romas chopped)
2 tablespoon tomato paste
3 1/2 cup rigatoni
1 1/3 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese; shredded
1/4 cup parmesan cheese; freshly grated

Meatballs:
1 egg
1/3 cup onions; finely chopped
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 garlic cloves; minced
3 tablespoon parmesan cheese; freshly grated
1 teaspoon oregano; dried
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 pound ground beef


Meatballs:
In bowl, beat egg lightly; mix in onion, crumbs, garlic, Parmesan, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix in ground beef. Shape heaping tablespoonfuls into balls.

In large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook meatballs, in batches if necessary, for 8-10 minutes or until browned on all sides. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate.

Add onion, garlic, mushrooms, green pepper, basil, sugar, oregano, salt, pepper and 2 tb water to skillet; cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until vegetables are softened.

Stir in tomatoes and tomato paste; bring to boil.

Add meatballs; reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Meanwhile, in large pot of boiling salted water, cook rigatoni for about 8 minutes or until pasta is tender but firm. Drain and return to pot; add tomato sauce, stirring to coat rigatoni.

Transfer to 9x13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle part-skim mozzarella, then Parmesan evenly over top.  (The recipe called for an 11x7 dish, but it was a bit too small so we had some spillage.)

Bake in 400F oven for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and top is golden.  (Next time, we'll probably go 15-17 minutes in the oven.  20 minutes left the cheese too crispy this time.)

The recipe says it takes an hour and 20 minutes; it took us about 2 hours...granted, we were drinking and dancing and taking breaks for the pups to play in the yard!  Lots of fun and easy to cook together, too.  Boo worked meatballs while I took care of the sauce.  This is definitely a recipe that we'll make again.

Planning for the Garden

I'm so excited to get our garden going again this year!  I've been checking out all these great ideas so we can hopefully eliminate the cat and worms problems we had last year.

Could do a garden on the balcony with these.

I need to find some wine boxes, maybe Bevmo has some that they'd get rid of?  Other thoughts are to work vertically, since our in-ground-garden space is fairly limited.

Perfect for an herb garden.

For now, we need to plan out what we're going to plant and where.  First things first, getting rid of all of the soil that our neighbor's cat ruined!!!

Second Best Reuben Sandwiches

Boo requested reubens for Wednesday dinner and this is what he got!  Not the best (best ever are from the bar at Valley Ho in Scottsdale), but pretty close.  Served with a side salad and it was more than enough for a good meal.

Ingredients
2 slices marble rye bread
2 slices swiss cheese
3 oz corned beef
4 tbsp sauerkraut
1 tbsp dressing (Russian or thousand island)
Pam cooking spray

Warm up the corned beef in a skillet.  Meanwhile, put a slice of cheese on each slice of bread.  Stack the corned beef on top of one of the slices.  Put the drained sauerkraut in the skillet to crisp it up and then add that to the stack.  Top with dressing and close up the sandwich.  Toast up the reuben on both sides in the skillet with cooking spray.

657 calories for one sandwich, but it's definitely filling enough to only eat one half.