Friday, May 10, 2013

Remember That One Time I Quit Writing for Two Years?


Ok, so I owe you an apology.  It’s not you...it’s me.  You see, things have gotten a little busy.  First, we’re riding high in our New York City lifestyle - me: cooking (duh) and attempting to forge my way through my new culinary career; Steve: doing...work...at...work...(??).  Then all of a sudden, we have a few glasses of vino, “The Notebook” comes on TCM and before I knew it I was elbow deep in miniature clothes and saying things like, “Honey, is that poop or sweet potato ground into our brand new couch?”  So yeah, a lot of things have changed for the two of us, including but not limited to:

-We no longer have cable because my husband (who shall remain nameless) decided that he’d rather be a technology weirdo and wait for some dumb internet service to come to our city to provide television.  I have to watch “Teen Mom 2” online, and that makes me angry.  Also, the original “Teen Mom” ended.  I paced the house for a full week wondering if Maci and Ryan were going to work out their issues and raise Bentley with or without the help of lovable yet redheaded Kyle.

-My mom gave me her awesome old sewing machine.  Since then, I am constantly looking for things to repair and/or alter with a little wool felt, a carefully cut applique and polyester thread.  On a related note, I am not the one who keeps sewing purple hearts and ribbon to everything in our apartment.  That was someone else...  

-I have two new nieces since I last wrote about the idle dribblings of my life.  Nieces and nephews are the best!  Adorable little humans who kind of look like you (or your husband), yet you don’t have to worry constantly about whether or not they’re going to write an essay in college about the time you took a toy away from them when they were six months old, unintentionally creating a deep-festering sense of abandonment that can only be quelled with the compulsive hoarding of Coney Island memorabilia.  But hey, kids are great.  

-We travelled to Italy!  I can honestly say they were two of the best weeks of my life.  We went with my parents, my brother and my sister-in-law (pre-children).  I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to do those two weeks of complete heaven justice by attempting to discuss it here.  I’ll just say this: whenever I see a picture from our trip, or just Italy in general, I get misty eyed.  My previous experience with Italy was at famed NYC market Eataly (which you can read about here), but the real country is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.  The food, the people, the rolling hills and orange sunsets.  Ah.  Maybe some day I’ll make it back...God willing. 

-And finally, I gave birth to a baby girl, moved to Chicago, bought a car, got a washing machine, dryer, dish washer and central air, I became a stay-at-home mom (or if we’re being PC, a “homemaker”), I cut my hair, started a weight-loss program and got a new mug that says “I love you”.  Obviously you’re shocked to hear about the new mug, so I’ll let that one marinate for now.  But it’s important to note that my life, and my chosen place in this ever-changing world around us, is completely, COMPLETELY, different than it was even a year ago.  

So my dear friends, old and new, I hope you will join me on this next chapter of the “Getting Cooked” saga.  Some of you are excited, and were beginning to wonder if I’d given up writing, or worse, lost all my finger tips in a freak Bagel Bite incident (highly likely).  Alternatively, some of you are wondering why you visited this page, and are contemplating ways that you can ask me to compensate you for the five minutes you just wasted staring at incoherent black scribblings on your computer screen.  If that last one describes you: relax, those black scribblings are called words.  You should probably get out more.  J/K love you all! Smooches.  

Happy early Mother’s Day!


EASY BARBECUE TURKEY MEATLOAF    

Meatloaf is one of those things that I consider a “kitchen sink” meal - you gather all the leftovers in your fridge, throw them into some ground meat and voila!  You have a gross pile of raw meat and old vegetables.  But after it’s cooked - a delicious and nutritious weeknight meal.

Serves 4

You will need:

-1/2 bell pepper, 2 carrots, 1/2 red onion or any other remaining veggie in your crisper drawer, all chopped finely or shredded

-2 garlic cloves, minced

-1 egg

-a handful of chopped parsley, or about a tbsp of dried parsley

-1 lb of ground turkey

-salt and pepper to taste

-1/2 cup (or a bunch of squirts) of barbecue sauce, preferably Sweet Baby Ray’s


Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine the vegetables, garlic, egg and parsley in a large bowl by hand.  Mix in the turkey, salt, pepper and barbecue sauce, making sure all ingredients are well distributed and mashed together. 

Pile into a small, greased loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes, or until an internal thermometer reaches 165-170 F.

Serve with additional barbecue sauce on the side.  

Enjoy!  

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