Caprese Salad {Recipe}

One of the things that D and I are working toward is eating more foods that we know the source of.  Or foods we make from scratch. It is a bit more time consuming but we have found that the results are worth it.    

As we work toward that end, a couple of months ago, I bought a cheese making kit from Amazon.  This is the one - Mozzarella and Ricotta Cheese Making Kit.  $25 and it has enough rennet and salt and citric acid to make many many batches of mozzarella cheese (something like 40 batches).  And you can use the leftover whey to make ricotta cheese.  So it is like a double win.  It takes about 30 minutes, a gallon of milk and the stuff in the kit to make 3/4 of a lb of mozzarella cheese.  The instructions are very easy to follow and our first batch turned out to be amazingly tasty.  The only thing I would do differently is to get some food safe gloves since stretching the cheese when it is so hot is not entirely comfortable. 

The cheese was softer and smoother than the stuff you get in the store.  I added a bit of extra salt since I knew we would be using it for a Caprese Salad appetizer later that night.

Cheese making aside, this is one of the easiest appetizers ever and perfect for a summer evening on the patio.

Caprese Salad
Ingredients

• Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
• Fresh Tomatoes
• Fresh Basil Paste (which is what you use when Meijer is totally sold out of fresh Basil and ends up being so good)
• Olive Oil
• Grey Finishing Sea Salt

Directions

• Slice fresh mozzarella into thin slices about 1/4 inch thick
• Spread a thin layer of basil paste onto each slice
• Slice tomato the same thickness
• Layer on a plate
• Drizzle with olive oil
• Sprinkle with finishing salt

You can serve with a basket of crostini or do as we did and skip those letting the tomato, basil and cheese flavors shine alone.  Don't skip the glass of wine, though.  :)

C25K. Here we come!

Source

Confession time here:  D and I are overweight.  Our BMIs put us in the obese category.  This is not at all a good thing.  So in 2014 we decided to do something about it.  I signed up for My Fitness Pal (MFP*) and started tracking everything I ate (that was an eye-opener and I quickly figured out why I was so heavy).  We got a food scale and started weighing all the foods we are eating. 

Up until now, we have mainly been watching what we eat and doing some exercising, mainly riding the exercise bike and walking.  This has been pretty successful and I am down almost 38 lbs from January. D is down about 30 lbs.  Woo hoo!  Seeing the scale slowly move downward has been a positive thing.

However, now it is time to step it up a notch and really get serious about the exercise thing.  So we have started Couch to 5K or C25K as it is often called.  It claims to get you ready to run a 5K in 9 weeks.  We will see if that actually happens.  I haven't run any real distance in almost 10 years.  So this is the first in a series to let you all know how it goes.

We do have an end goal to our training.  A Zombie Dash at the end of October.  We thought we would celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary by running from zombies.  (we are so romantic!)

I will be updating weekly on our progress.  So far week one has been a success, we have 2 runs under our belt with the third planned for Saturday.  Willow and Cricket join us and seem to love getting out and moving a little faster and further than our usual walks. 

In case you want to start your own C25K program.  I copied it from the Cool Runnings website. 

*If you are on MFP and want to be friends, send me an email.  I know the only way to be successful is to have support from people making the same weight loss journey.

Willow & Cricket Wednesday - 8/20

Fresh Strawberry Pie {Recipe}

Making my Dad a strawberry pie for Father's Day is becoming a regular tradition.  Two years ago, I made him this baked strawberry pie.  Last year it was a strawberry meringue pie.  After getting one baked and one fresh, Dad said he like the fresh kind better.   I have to say, I agree.

So this year, the search was on to find another fresh strawberry pie.  Brown Eyed Baker to the rescue!  I have actually made this pie twice and the recipe below is with my minor modifications.  And since I am not great at making pie crusts, I just went with store bought and it was still delicious.  So if you are like me and have a tough time with pie crusts, don't feel bad about going with store bought.

The Father's Day Pie was a huge hit and according to my mother, he only let her have one piece.  Upon that news we made him another one for his birthday and he was so excited to see the candles in his birthday pie.

Fresh Strawberry Pie
Source:  Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:
1 frozen pie crust

For Filling:
4 pints (about 4 pounds) fresh strawberries, gently rinsed and dried, hulled
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 teaspoons pectin for low-sugar recipes(make sure it says for low/no sugar on the container or box)
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

• Prepare pie crust according to package instructions

To make the Filling

• Select 6-7 ounces misshapen, underripe, or otherwise unattractive berries, halving those that are large.
• In a food processor, puree the berries.
• Whisk the sugar, cornstarch, Sure-Jell, and salt in a medium saucepan.
• Stir in the berry puree, making sure to scrape the corners of the pan.
• Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a heatproof rubber spatula, and bring to a full boil.
• Boil, stirring consistently to prevent scorching, for 2 minutes to ensure that the cornstarch is fully cooked (mixture will appear light and frothy when it first reaches a boil, then will darken and thicken as it cooks).
• Remove from heat.
• Stir in lemon juice.
• Let cool to room temperature.
• Check the remaining berries and measure out 3 pounds of the reddest and prettiest ones; halving only extra-large berries.
• Add the berries to the pot wit the the glaze and fold gently with a rubber spatula until the berries are evenly coated.
• Pour the berries into the pie shell, piling into a mound.
• Turn any cut sides face face down so all you see is the outsides of the berries.
• Arrange the berries so that holes are filled and the mound looks attractive. 
• Refrigerate pie until chilled, about 2 hours. 
• Serve within 5 hours of chilling.

Menu Plan - Week of August 17

This week's menu plan is a boring one.

A is leaving to go back to his mother's house.  We did lots of entertaining at the end of the week and over the weekend so will be subsisting on leftovers for most of the week.  But it will clean out the fridge and freezer!

Sunday:  Pool Party at my Aunt and Uncle's house

Monday:  Forage in the Fridge

Tuesday:  Forage in the Fridge

Wednesday:  Forage in the Fridge

Thursday:  BBQ Chicken, salad, quinoa/rice medley

Friday:  Pork Milanese, brown rice, salad

Saturday:  Forage in the Fridge

Our Backyard Update - New Entertaining Spaces {Before and After}

Last summer we decided that we needed a better back yard.  Not because it is small but because it wasn't very good for entertaining.  We had a patio and a deck but not space for both seating and dining and a grill.  After brainstorming for a bit, we came up with a plan.  The first part of the plan was to add more and better entertaining space.

First up, remove the rickety railing on the existing deck and replace it with something that was up to code (and wouldn't collapse if someone leaned on it).  Then, add a step up deck, or patio deck as I call it, to the other side of the patio.

Here are some old photos from when we moved in.  The railing on the deck is less than 3 feet high and moved when you leaned on it.  Not exactly conducive to feeling safe.  

Here is another view of the rickety railing.

And that little deck to the right of the photo was off our master bedroom.  It was only about 4 feet by 6 feet.  Not exactly a spot for doing anything but standing there.

Since these are pretty big projects and not something we wanted to tackle ourselves, we hired this out. I asked around at work and got a great recommendation from one of my colleagues.  Dave the Fireman.  He is a full time fireman who does work like this on the side.  We were so happy with the result.  We have referred him to several other people, who are also very happy with his work. I am so happy we found him!

First up, our new "step up deck" off our bedroom.  It is glorious! So much space! 

It runs right into our patio.  So nice!

 

Here is the new railing on the existing deck.

Here is a view of the the whole back of the house.

 

We have almost 65 feet x 12 feet of entertaining space.  When it was all done we weren't quite sure how we were going to fill it all up.  

But don't worry, we have managed to make some progress on that front.  I will be sharing some patio lights, a fountain, patio furniture and a dining space.

Willow & Cricket Wednesday - 8/13

I was playing around with my "Nifty Fifty" lens and got some good shots of our dynamic duo.