Thursday, February 3, 2011

snow angel

snowangel

Even us big kids like snow. While we don't get to go out and play in it as much as we may like, it is still fun. (For awhile until you have to shovel it, scrap it off your car and get stuck in it.)

This big blizzard made me remember all the fun I used to have in the wintertime outside as a kid. [A luxury that pm was never able to enjoy being from the pseudo-tropics.] I remember coming home from school when I was in elementary school only to drop off my book bag and then build forts and have snowball fights with my brothers until dinner.

On the weekends we'd be outside all day. We'd come inside for hot cocoa breaks and to dry out our boots. We lived close enough to a sledding hill, so sometimes we'd walk to it. Other times we'd pretend like the small hill in the front yard was enough for us. Regardless, there was always something to do in the snow. Not to mention there were always friends and neighborhood kids around to join in on the fun.

Oh those were the good old days.

In a tribute to those days, I decided (as noted above) to make some snow angels. It was way harder than I remember. To my defense, I don't ever remember making a snow angel in 22 inches of snow. It was fun nonetheless. If only I would have had more time to work on that fort (or a backyard to make it in.)

Stay warm & get out and enjoy it. We spend so much time complaining about the cold and the winter. I have decided I am going to (try to) be positive about it and relish in its beauty.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

seafood gnocci***

Seafood gnocci

It's cold, windy and snowy out. Dinner needs to be warm, hearty and healthy. Cue in seafood gnocci.

It is my goal within the next couple of weeks to empty out our freezer, cupboards and fridge. I want to start over fresh with all new foods. I feel like we stock pile things and then never end of using them. I mentioned that one of my resolutions this year is to eat more healthy foods. This will have to start in the kitchen, and has to start with a clean slate.

One a first glance in our freezer this evening I was already overwhelmed. Mostly overwhelmed by the amount of frozen fruit that is in there from past trips to the Maxwell Street Market. I am well aware that emptying our the freezer will involve a ton of baking in the next few weeks. I am up for it.

Although, I'll save the baking for another day, another post. I wanted a filling dinner tonight to beat out the winter blues (and what they are saying will be the worst snow storm of the century...). I'm calling this a Trader Joe's dinner because almost all the major ingredients (***) came from there.

I did not write down the recipe (I never do when I cook). Here is my best guess at ingredients:
-whole wheat gnocci***
- frozen seafood mixture (shrimp, calamari, etc.)***
- onion***
- garlic***
- fresh tomato & tomato paste
- butter
- splash on Vino Verde*** (one for the sauce, one for me)
- fresh parmesan cheese***
- herbs & seasonings

Do have any foods that you prefer to eat when the weather is cold & blistery?