52 New Recipes | Welp, I flew to Florida this week.
(Alternately: Why I Did Not Try A New Recipe This Week)
So, Mr. FG's birthday is this month.
And since he hates winter with a passion, I thought he'd like a birthday gift in the form of a quick little trip down to Florida. I managed to find him some super cheap tickets to Naples (I used Southwest points to pay for them too!) and got him all set up.
The only thing was, he was a little bit sad that I wasn't coming along. And he said it would be 200% more fun if I went with him.
(Cue the heart-eyes emoji. It's an awfully big compliment to hear that from your husband of nearly 20 years. He is the sweetest. And I'm glad he's not tired of me!)
The problem was that I booked this rather last-minute, and it's a little more difficult for me to get four days off than it is for him to get four days off (he has vacation time at work, but my life/work doesn't exactly come with vacation time!)
BUT.
I realized I could join him halfway thru the trip, so I found places for my kids to stay, sneakily booked a set of Southwest tickets on my own Southwest account and tucked a note into his suitcase with directions to open it on Sunday morning (I was flying in Sunday night.)
And off I went!
(Remember what I wrote about how I changed in the last year? There were all sorts of rational, responsible reasons to not go on this spur-of-the-moment trip (I had to find people to take care of/ferry my kids, I had just come down with a cold, it would use up more airline points, I had appointments scheduled, I wouldn't be able to stay long, etc., etc.), and Kristen 1.0 probably wouldn't have gone. But Kristen 2.0 was like, "Hmm. In the grand scheme of things, this is totally gonna be worth it. I'm gonna make it happen!" And she booked the tickets.)
We spent my first day there (Monday) on Sanibel Island, where we rented bikes ($12 for four hours) and took a 16 mile ride around the island.
Sanibel Island is covered in bike trails, and they're a great way to see the island without having to drive.
On Tuesday, we visited downtown Naples and the Naples pier, and then we visited several beaches where we took long walks.
We didn't choose this because it was cheap, but it did end up being pretty inexpensive. We just paid some small parking fees for the various places we stopped and that was that.
It was great to wear shorts in February and to see so much green too! It was a lovely break from the brown/gray that we currently have here at home.
(My shorts are not actually long denim shorts. And my legs are not 6 feet long. My phone just makes them look that way!)
And of course, it was fun to have my favorite person all to myself.
We flew back home on Tuesday night, and Joshua picked us up from the airport. It's so handy to have a kid who drives!
So, it was a brief trip but Mr. FG and I had fun adventures together and he said this trip was his best birthday gift ever (yay!).
Anyhoo!
I'd planned to make my new recipe last night, but yesterday morning, I discovered that squirrels had chewed thru some essential wiring in my van, rendering my steering and braking systems useless. In fact, my van had to be towed to the shop.
!!
That meant I couldn't go grocery shopping for the Arroz con Pollo ingredients, so instead we had a meal I scrounged up from pantry/freezer ingredients.
All of that is a very long way of saying: I didn't try a new recipe this week!
Maybe if next week goes more smoothly, I'll double up and do two new recipes. But I will at least plan on making Arroz con Pollo one night.
(You know, if I don't fly out of state and if my van doesn't need to be towed. 😉 )
How about you? Did your new-recipe-trying go better than mine? 😉
I'm not sure trying a new recipe beats a trip to Florida, but I convinced my husband to bake me a cake. I needed to use some applesauce I'd made that I hated (ugh, red delicious are not delicious), and the bonus is that this cake recipe called for unusual spices like cardamom and black pepper. It is very tasty! 🙂
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/applesauce-chocolate-chip-bundt-cake
Red delicious apples are the opposite of delicious. They're pretty much only good for looking at!
My brother calls red delicious apples 50/50 apples because they are mealy and disgusting about half the time!
I would call them 100 apples because that's been about how often they're disgusting for me! Heh.
You made the right choice! How fun to have time with your hubs in a warmer climate. I love the note idea you stuck into his bag. 🙂
Ha! Sounds like it was an adventurous week to say the least! I have a Steak and Potato soup on the menu for Sunday. I put it together yesterday and its in the freezer. All I will do is plop it into the crock pot Sunday morning, frozen. As for tonight...there probably will be some scrounging involved as I somehow managed to get off track on the menus and I don't want to re-visit HEB!
That's where we go in winter time. I'm always surprised by the lovely tropical plants! I â¤south Florida!
I made Chinese pork buns from The Woks of Life blog. Yummy, but time-consuming. Next time I'll make just the dough for milk bread.
Well, greetings from Florida! I'm glad you enjoyed it. We have had more pleasant weather lately than we usually have in North Florida (of course, you weren't in N. Fla.), but, as the saying goes, wait 15 minutes and the weather will change. We had warm weather, a rainstorm and a tornado Tuesday night -- the 30's are predicted tonight.
I haven't made anything new in the last few days, but I plan to make a quinoa dish for the first time tonight. I expect, as usual, that my husband will dislike it. I'm cooking broth in the crock pot right now to cook the quinoa in tonight. I like to let it cook all night and most of the day - it gets really rich. The recipe calls for quinoa cooked in broth with veggies added to it -- really pretty simple, but I don't ever cook with quinoa, so this is how I'm getting my feet wet.
The dogs will be thrilled to get the overcooked bits of meat and skin from the broth, so they'll enjoy my cooking a new recipe tonight, whether my husband does or not. 🙂
I've never eaten quinoa before too. I should probably pick a quinoa recipe for at least one of my new recipes!
I hear tell that even if your quinoa says it's pre-rinsed, rinsing more and rinsing again will help ensure that the bitter saponin covering the grain is NOT cooked into your dish. I mention it because it's often the fine line between people liking and not liking quinoa. And it's the type of step I'd be likely to blow off as too fussy.
Also, rinsing Quinoa is a PAIN, it is tiny, so I like to rinse it in a measuring cup, then drain it through a fine-sieve. A colander will cause most of the Quinoa to run down the drain. As much as a pain as rinsing is, it is really necessary.
I didn't rinse recently and it was pretty bitter, however, everyone ate it. I will definitely rinse next time.
We're getting around 6 inches of snow today and they expect 8-12 more on Sunday. So to say that I should enroll in Jelly School is an understatement. 😛
That said, I have a house of sick people so no new recipes this week. I did treat myself to some fried haddock from the grocery store, at least.
Shorts in February!! that is great. Nice that you decided to join him. Sorry about your van though.
Experiences trump practicality almost always. Glad you took the time for a quick trip. I don't think I have ever regretted a trip, although sometimes I dread the planning.
Yay!!! Florida looks freakin' gorgeous! I'm glad you took the leap and went. 🙂 It's all about having fun little adventures. It's funny because here in Texas we're still wearing shorts in February. It was 88 degrees here yesterday, which is actually unusual for this time of year. I hate winter, though, so I didn't mind in the least.
Ugh, sorry to hear about the van. My dad's truck was chewed to bits by rats and had to get a new engine. Blah!
Looking forward to the arroz con pollo and happy you lived it up this week!
I'm so glad you had a wonderful time here in Florida! And I've never been to Sanibel Island, but have heard wonderful things. I'm in North Florida so we're not quite in shorts, yet, but since I'm originally from Pennsylvania, I do not complain about our winters. 😉
I am, however, bummed that squirrels had a special surprise waiting for you when you got back. What a bummer.
I made a new tofu stir-fry recipe this week, Sweet & Sour Tofu. It was pretty good, but I wish I had had the pineapple chunks the recipe called for to add to the recipe. I think it would have been excellent with their addition.
Yay! Yay! Yay! EXACTLY the right 'recipe' for your week! Glad you enjoyed your time together.
Good for you! I like Kristen 2.0! Of course I obviously like Kirsten 1.0 too. I have been reading you blog since Zoe was a baby!
I did try a new recipe this week - honey balsamic steak bites. I usually do a dry rub for steaks so I though I would try a marinade. It tasted fine but overpowered the meat a bit so I probably won't make it again (or else marinate it the meat for a much shorter time) but it was a good experiment. And I was able to use up some fresh rosemary I bought several weeks ago for a chicken dish. So it was a food waste win!
Oh yes! Give quinoa a try! It cooks up so easy. I make a cold salad with quinoa, diced vegys like tomato, cucumber, bell peppers, sliced olives, feta cheese, dried cranberries and dressing of choice. You can add chicken too. So delicious!
In the middle of our second snowstorm this week with another slated for this weekend. Sigh. Those Florida pics look mighty nice right now...
My new recipe was Ranch Fried Chicken--a Cook's Country recipe I saw on TV and had to try myself. (That's my one complaint about cooking shows. I want to TASTE it when they're done, and of course, that isn't how it works!) It was yummy, but fried chicken is a lot of work, and not extremely high on the healthy scale, so though I may make it again someday, it won't be a regular menu item.
That's how I feel about most fried foods...they are just too much work to make very often!
It's 34 here right now with some flurries blowing, so the Florida pictures are looking good to me too.
If I was given the choice between trying a new recipe, or going to Florida, I think I would choose Florida.
Good for you for joining Mr. FG on the trip! I know I fall into the trap of what I "should" do, rather than assessing what I want to do.
Good for you for going! It's important to recognize the difference between being spontaneous and being irresponsible.
So true! The line has been fuzzy for me for a lot of my life, but it's getting clearer as I get older.
Kristen, you inspire me to reinvent myself as well! I am glad you are sharing your process -- it encourages me! And when you look back years from now it'll be "remember when we took that spur-of-the-moment trip to Sanibel Island?", not "remember when I went to those appointments".
I am single and would typically say to myself "someday" when dreaming about travel. Then several people in my world got cancer and I got over it and booked a lovely trip overseas. I went by myself, stayed safe, and had a fabulous time.
Yes, that is exactly it! When I considered how I'd feel in the future, looking back, that made my decision pretty obvious.
I'm so glad you took a trip without waiting for "someday", whenever that is!
So glad you decided to be spontaneous. I am terrible at it and when you do it, it inspires me. Thanks. And glad you opted for some time with your sweety.
And given the blizzards it seems everywhere, glad you got some sun.
I have always been pretty bad at being spontaneous too. But I'm getting so much better!
My new recipe for the week is Broccoli cauliflower cheese Soup, which I plan to make for this evening.
This has turned out to be an adventurous week for me as far as cooking goes since I am up to 3 new recipes although this isn't crazy unusual for me. I made a modified version of Sheet Pan Chicken with Sweet Potatoes, Apples, and Brussels Sprouts, except I used butternut squash instead of sweet potatoes. Then I made some Creamy Shrimp and Mushroom Pasta. And I have some Copycat Chipotle Style Chicken marinating in my fridge for tonight. So far everything has been really good
We try to go to Las Vegas in February - either coast is too far away for a weekend. It seems when we plan to go to LV, it warms up at home. February and 57 degrees! Very unusual for northern Utah. But we did go this last weekend and we had a wonderful time. My husband would never even consider going without me - we got married to play together. The rest of life is . . . well, life.
I'm going to try Lemon Chicken Spaghetti Squash. Sounded good and I've never cooked a spaghetti squash before. Fun to try new things.
Aww, that's sweet that he always wants you along. 🙂
Joan, are you up in Cache county? It was 66 here in SLC on the 9th and just a bit cooler yesterday. Well...before the temps plunged and it started snowing! I think Thursday's high was a record. Crazy weather!
Squirrels ate your car? SQUIRRELS ate your car?! That is not something that happens to me in London!
Right now I'd like warmth and shorts or snow, just not depressing, dank cold, which is what we get here.
Yeah, it's a persistent problem recently because car manufacturers started to use soy-based wire coverings and it turns out that the soy attracts rodents.
Hopefully they're going to stop making wire covers this way!
Ha -- I knew it! I had a Volvo that I was always embarrassed to take into the dealer because of the revolving mess of mice hotels in the engine compartment. At one point, the mechanic told me it was because mice liked Volvos in particular. I thought he was just making fun of me, but if the wires were coated in soy, that totally makes sense. Yikes!
Time on the beach is definitely worth not trying a new recipe. This week I made peach jalapeno jam. Here is the link to my post: http://ahomeinthecountry.blogspot.com/2017/02/52-new-recipes-week-5-peach-jalapeno-jam.html
I decided to be spontaneous a couple of months ago (that's about as spontaneous as I can be with so many little kids) and bought tickets for my entire family--three boys under 7, plus me and my husband--to fly from waaay upstate New York (we're so far upstate, we're actually flying out of Canada) to Arizona to visit multiple family members. I'll probably regret it somewhere around the second layover in Florida, but I know I'll be glad we went in the end.
I made my mother-in-law's family recipe for chocolate cake today for the very first time. There were many things that were not ideal about living with my MiL, but the fact that I went this long without having to bake birthday cakes for my kids or my husband was nice. (I am not an enthusiastic baker.) I quadrupled the recipe to make cupcakes for school and an ice cream cake for home, so I really jumped right in there with that gallon of batter. 🙂 It really is the perfect chocolate cake, though. I ate one of the cupcakes for quality control purposes. Ahem.
Cooked nothing new this week but -- just have to say Yay you!! Happy for Kristen 2.0 and your lovely, impetuous trip -- sounds like a fabulous start to 2017.
This week's new recipe was a BLT chicken caesar salad out if the ATK Quick Family cookbook. It was delicious! I cut way back on the amount of bacon used, and subbed in chickpeas for the chicken because I forgot to defrost a breast in time (!), and still it tasted terrific.
Yay for spontaneity!!! And for traveling with your husband, just the two of you. I always hesitate about the costs of traveling, but the memories made are priceless, and it's great to have stories together to share and remind each other of.
A few years ago my husband and I took a plunge and made a big solo trip without kids, with money that would have been much more sensibly spent elsewhere, and went to the wedding of a very old and dear friend in Brittany, France (our friend is American, her wife is French). It was amazing to be a part of that two-day celebration in a little village. We also stopped in England and spend three days with another old, dear American friend who lives there now, and meet her three adorable British children for the first time. I will never regret that trip--for the rekindling and cementing of friendships and the wonderful memories shared with my husband!
Exactly. After I thought about it, I decided that I would not regret going, and I don't. 🙂
Your trip sounds wonderful!
Wow- great job on the trip, Kristen 2.0! That is so cool! Glad you both were able to go and enjoy it.
Aaaah, squirrels. Not even going to start...
We tried a honey mustard chicken recipe with pineapple juice that was very good.
Way to go on taking the trip!
Wow! So jealous! My birthday was a couple weeks ago and I would have loved a gift like that. I'd give just about anything for a couple days in Florida (away from my current situation of 12 degrees and 6 inches of snow on the ground) with my husband. But I have no one to beg my kids off on so that won't be happening anytime soon.