Valentine's Day

I dig my blog, obviously or I'd never sit down to write it. I love looking back to see what was happening last year- or even almost 2 years ago. Recently reading last years post of Valentine's Day, made me realize (again) somethings never change. I'm still the same Valentine's Day Scrooge! Not that I don't want to share romantic evenings with my hubby, I just don't want the preset version of when, where, and how. Hallmark standard is buy me things, take me out, do this on February 14th. I'd rather have my version- build me something beautiful, cook with me, do so whenever the mood strikes you. We did spend the 14th in the kitchen. We did create something special, but for no other reason than it's been a hell of a busy past 6 weeks and we wanted to hang out. After spending 6 weeks searching for a replacement vehicle for my "purchased at 21, driven all over God's creation, buttons popping off daily" Jetta, we brought home our newest mountain chasing, beach cruiser. Major life todo for 2012- checked off (stress slowly lowering)! Work life went all cra-zay for a minute there, as it does every mid year- and that too slowly settled. So after a pretty long work meeting on a no different that any other Tuesday night we cooked.

Honey Sriracha Glazed Salmon over Israeli Cous Cous

Over medium high grill, place salmon. In last few minutes of grilling glaze with equal parts honey-sriracha.  Season with salt and pepper.  Top with olive oil lemon sauteed calamari.  Serve over Israeli cous cous with sauteed fennel and spinach- and loads of fresh garlic and onions!

Now pour some wine, light some candles, turn on some music- and pass me the Russel Stovers!

Knee Deep

After 7  sweet days on the beaches of Hatteras Island with my hubby's family and friends we returned home today with clear minds, full hearts, and a yearning to get back in the sand again!   The week was full of adventures with the pitties, grilling out, and craft beers!  Both pups enjoyed what we believe to be their first romp in the sand- in true pit bull fashion they attacked the crabs with a vengeance, kicked sand until their hearts content, and made their presence known in attempts to communicate with the waves. Our four legged fur babies had a blast! 



Predawn beach patrol- waiting for the sun!



setting up for the day

Whiskey contemplating what we are doing up so early...

pit bulls in the sand

waiting to chase people around the pool....

 So after a week of no guilt beach eating, flat morning runs, and mass consumption of hoppy brews we came home craving a light- grilled no doubt- dinner!  I'm passing on beers for water- blasphemy I know. My insatiable craving for seafood led us to munch on grilled oysters (WSL style) while working on rockfish- lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, and dusted with Austin's Awesome Seafood Seasoning.... A.A.S.S. blend from Austin's in Rodanthe.  Asparagus and roasted rutabaga "fries" held the veggie ground!  Rutabaga fries are a tasty alternative their potato counterparts- we roasted them for 35 minutes in a 400 degree oven (before setting the stove to a low broil for 3 minutes).

Oysters



Bay Rockfish and asparagus

We are off to enjoy grilled peaches with banana soft serve- aka vegan fro yo! So long double scoops of real ice cream!

"Vacation, all I ever wanted..."

For the past 4 1/2 days I have been on vacation- mentally! I LOVE my job, yet there is something about a holiday that helps wash away stress that builds up in the daily routine. We- see my better half here , went on not 1, but 2 trail runs, cooked amazing meals, and shared in some excellent down time... all in all this Fall break has me pumped for the 3 working weeks until Christmas Break... I digress....

Let me rewind this little recap to last night's dinner. We are lucky, very lucky, to have family that will share one of the fruits of the Bay... the Chesapeake Bay...Rockfish!

We grilled up some PRETTY filets, laid it over Quinoa, and made a 'cream' sauce to go on top... by cream I mean fat free milk sauce. Thinner than a cream sauce, but worth it to me!

For the cream sauce I kind of went my own direction.... with no direction...




Serve over Rockfish and Enjoy!



1 Tbsp flour mixed into 1 cup skim milk

make the slurry and put over medium heat- add 1/2 cup white wine

bring to a boil and simmer for roughly 10 minutes- add Crayfish bodies (minus the tails which have been peeled and reserved for later)

Add a dash of Old Bay to sauce

Allow to thicken, strain out Crayfish, careful not to leave any parts... that wouldn't be fun to find!

Add a pinch of Parmesan cheese, crayfish tails and fresh shrimp

This was a figure it out as you go along kind of dinner! It ended up turning out very tasty, and hopefully we will get some more Rockfish Handouts, so we can dish it up again.

So this morning we woke up exhilarated and ready to tackle another run- sans any issues getting out of the driveway. It was too easy to get moving, we figured something was forgotten- but unlike yesterday's pre-run shenanigans today was just easy. We put in 4.3 miles on the trails, the rock and root laden down hills are hell on knees and ankles, so a slower pace was needed to forgo any mishaps... that and I'm still trying to regain my running strength and stamina- lazy bones!

  

Someone is ready for bed!





Dinner was created using.... leftover Turkey... is anyone else over turkey?

I like changing my dinners up, often using different flavors and cultural inspirations, so having SO much turkey to use can get a bit old.... well challenging.

In comes Turkey and White Bean Chili.

It was truly simple to make 1 can of cannelini beans, rinsed and drained, sauteed onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, carrots (strange yes but it worked), turkey, and canned tomatoes with green chilis.  

Topped with a tiny bit of cheese, and healthy scoop of Greek Yogurt- this bowl satisfied  the post run hunger that creeped up on us!  Now it's off to read the new Fitness magazine, and crash out before getting back into the grind!