4.05.2012

A confession

Alright.
Obviously you can tell by the title that I have something to confess.
You ready?
Here it is...
I have fallen in love.
With the television.

This is a painful truth to admit to my soul since I have spent years of my life swearing that the big black box was of the devil and refusing to "waste my time" with such nonsense... 
but ever since the husband and I got hitched,
 I've slowly been converted to the dark side.
(Or is it the bright side? Hmm...)

My current tally of obsessions includes but is not limited to:

  • New Girl (which took a while for me to like, but I now wait for Tuesdays like a child on Christmas Eve)
  • Glee (it's a love/hate relationship with this one)
  • Wipeout (ha ha! Embarrassing? I admit this one loud and proud!)
  • Master Chef (Yes, I am my mother's daughter.)
  • The Biggest Loser (Except I'm getting sick of this season....)
  • Breaking Bad (Though I feel guilty watching too many of these in a row, due to all of the drug content and I would never suggest this to anyone...but you should watch it... just not because of me...)
  • How I Met Your Mother (I never caught on to the "Friends" trend, so I decided to jump on the train this time around)
  • The Office (but they haven't aired a new episode in over a month!)
  • Modern Family (though admittedly, only when I'm really in the mood...I know, it's a sin that I don't LOVE this show, but the Brazilian(?) mom drives me nuts!)

Any suggestions for a new show to add to the line-up?
(We recently joined Hulu Plus. Best decision this year.)


Now to clear things up, though it's true that as of late I have come to love the tele, I still can't just sit in front of it for hours...
I am a multi-tasker through and through.
Which means that thanks to my new-found pastime, I accomplish a lot of cooking and laundry folding while I'm busy getting caught up on all the lastest drama in the televised world.
It's great.

For example, tonight....

Not only did I get my Gleek on,
I also made a tasty meal for the husband and me.

Here's what went down:

For weeks I have been wanting to try these




because the first time I tried to incorporate Kale into our diet,
it was a total bust.

I am happy to report that the chips were dubbed DELICIOUS, 
with a unanimous vote! 
I realize that my picture does not give them justice,
so you're just going to have to trust that even if you're not into health food, these were really good, and you should give them a try.

Next on the menu was this Cheesy Quinoa.

If you like quinoa, here is a new recipe to add to your collection.
If you don't like quinoa (or have never tried it), after trying this, you will!

It was so flavorful and proved to be a healthy alternative to 
the Queen of Comfort--Mac 'n Cheese.

I sort of switched up the original recipe a little, 
and here's how I made it my own:

  • Spinach (any amount will work, I used about 3 big handfuls)
  • 1 small box of pre-sliced white mushrooms
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 C. fat-free milk
  • 2 C grated cheddar cheese
  • Crushed red pepper (opt)
  • Panko crumbs (opt)
  • Salt and pepper
  • Seasoning salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2.  Rinse and cook quinoa, about 15 min. 
3. While quinoa is cooking, lightly saute spinach and mushrooms until spinach is wilty, 3-5 minutes. (I used a small amount of butter, but it would be perfectly fine without) Drain excess moisture and set aside.
4. Coat 9x13 dish with cooking spray.
5. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.
6. Once Quinoa is done cooking, mix in a good dash of salt and pepper, 1-2 tsp of seasoning salt and the minced garlic.
7. Fold the quinoa mixture and cheese into the egg mixture and stir well.
8. Transfer to prepared 9x13 and lightly sprinkle top with crushed red pepper and panko crumbs (bread crumbs would work too if you don't have panko on hand).
9. Bake 30-35 min, until crumbs are browned

Here's what the finished product looked like:


As you can see by the unbrowned crumbs, we got a little impatient...
but it tasted cheesy and flavorful nonetheless.
And for the record, it obviously wasn't quite the same as this baby


but when it comes to straight up mac 'n cheese,
nothing can truly compare...




6 comments:

meg said...

Totally know what you mean about the getting married=becoming obsessed with TV. We figure we're already paying for it so why not use it! (ha or rationalizing?)

We love love love new girl. HIlarious. We've also been watching Friday Night Lights. It's not currently on anymore so we watch it on netflix. We're also obsessed with anything Food Network (chopped and restaurant impossible are the favs). Oh and big bang theory! Love that one.

We obviously watch too much TV. But surprisingly we never watch movies. We're weird like that.

Beth McNeil said...

wow that's a lot of shows. I'm like you and get lots of stuff when I have the tv on for background noise. Or now Isobail loves VeggieTales, so I sit and talk with her and sing along with the songs while she's in her swing.

We do have a tv (obviously) but we haven't had cable in over 10 years. We've had Netflix for 3 years and have watched all the seasons of Bones and Numbers (that was mostly because of me - I really like that they use actual math to figure 'real world' problems out and Bones I like, because I want to be a Body Farmer)
But now that we're mostly just watching VeggieTales we don't like that Netflix "drops" out some of the shows depending on the month. :( So what we were thinking about doing was quitting Netflix all together and just saving up the money we were paying for it and buying the VeggieTales Dvd's once a month instead. So we'd have them all the time.

Those kale chips look awesome! We need a lot more vitamin K in our diet and kale is one of the better ways to get it. So I will have to try that recipe out.
And I've never had quinoa... is it like couscous?

Unknown said...

Hi Steph, this is heather, She's Colombian you silly-- and i'm in love with her.

MulfHerd said...

Beth, quinoa is somewhat similar to couscous, but as far as I know, it's more healthy for you, because it isn't a pasta. It's delicious though and you can pretty much use it in place of any rice or pastas. Also, I'm sure the McNeil's have plenty of Veggie Tales shows you can borrow...they were obsessed with that show for a vast majority of my childhood years. ha ha

Stina said...

Psych is our favorite. We watched all the seasons on netflix at night after we put hazel to bed and now that we are finished we hardly know what to do with ourselves. Watch it. It's hilarious.

Callister said...

I love all your recipes! Try watching Downton Abbey next time. SO. GOOD.