Friday Funday

Because it's Friday, thank gawd we finally made it, and because I love fast food, let's have a little dialogue here...I was having  happy hour on Wednesday when my friend Katie posed a very interesting question, "If you could have a create your own value meal from any and all fast food joints, what would your combo be?"  I have to admit I sat quietly, pounding my BudLite Lime for a solid 3 minutes before I opened my french fry loving mouth.  "appetizer: cheese sticks from Arby's, entree: Baconator from Wendy's, fries from McDonald's and for dessert a fried apple pie from The Varsity."  Bam - in my opinion that would be the best value meal of all time.  I know all this food is bad for you and processed and most likely contains a week's worth of sodium, but its not like I am actually ever going to do this, it's just for fun.  We are speaking in hypotheticals here.  I eat salads and veggies and lean protein most of the time, I am just talking about a little splurge of the imagination.  What would your dream combo please?  Come on play along and make me feel like a little less of a piggie...
Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

Garden Progress: The Lowes Down

I think one of the biggest hurdles of having a beautifully landscaped lawn is the cost.  Plants are expensive!  However, with a little TLC and a good bit of water you can get the expensive look for an inexpensive price.  The secret is the clearance "aisle" at your neighborhood Lowe's; sometimes its multiple aisles and sometimes just one or two plants.  I'm sure Home Depot has a clearance spot too, but Lowe's happens to be right around the corner from me so that is what I know about.  For example take a look at this:

This is Camelot Rose Foxglove and see that price tag - $14.98, are you kidding me $15?  But notice the brown crunchy leaves on the side?  Because of those this sucker was marked down to $2!  That's right, about 14% of the original price - 86% off sign me up!  Whenever I go to Lowe's I walk over to the clearance department and check it out.  I look for plants that still have a little bit of green on them; if the plant is all brown and crunchy there isn't much hope.  I also look for $3 or under, there is no real reason for that, it's just my breaking point.  Once I get home I trim off the brown parts, leaving only the green and set the container down in a bucket with about 2 inches of water for at least 3 hours; I prefer to have it soak over night but in a pinch 3 hours is my minimum.  After that I plant the little guy in a hole twice as big as the pot (obviously take the plant out of the pot, just use it as a guide) and back fill it with miracle grow garden soil or something like that, soak the ground around the plant and make sure to water once a day for at least the next 5 days.  Usually by then the plant has bounced back and you will start to see it perk up and look a little "greener" at that point you can reduce watering to 2 or 3 times a week, depending on the plant.  Check the tag that comes with the plant, the backside of it says how much sun, water, etc that specific species needs. 

Don't get me wrong, some will grow and some will die, but that is true whether you spend $2 or $14.95.  But, when you rescue you plant I think it is all the more worth it.  See here's what that Foxglove looks like just 2 weeks later, all the leaves are perky and green and there is even a pink bloom - success!

Sincerely Loving the Garden,
Lainey

Stolen Recipe Success: For 2: Steak Salad

Our house is all about compromise.  We watch Chelsea Lately while we are falling asleep because we watch some stupid ESPN crap Mike and Mike in the morning getting ready for work; we buy 2% milk to settle the whole vs. skim debate, he cleans the toilets and I clean the counter tops.  It works for us.  Same thing happens with a salad for dinner...I like salad for dinner, the way to make it acceptable to a man - top it with a steak.  Specifically The Pioneer Woman's Marinated Flank Steak.  Holy Moly - this was honestly the best home made steak I have ever had, which is saying a lot considering it is about a $5 cut of meat.  The flavors in the marinade all made the meat taste so meaty...sorry I really can't think of a better way to describe it and when cooked on the grill the outside got a crispy char on it...just perfect!  I adapted her recipe just a little, to be able to chop less and watch more TV, and served the steak sliced over a salad with mixed greens and romaine, chopped red bell pepper, green onions, and a few broccoli florets tossed in ranch.  Oh and topped with Feta cheese because cheese makes everything better!  DELICIOUS!!!

Sincerely Loving Food,
Lainey

For 2: Turkey Gyros

This was a very exciting week night dinner, especially considering it included ground turkey.  So many times ground turkey is tasteless, boring and well boring, but not this way!

 

And the picture doesn't even begin to do it justice, note to self next time get the meat in the middle of the frame not the sauce...anyway.  I had gotten some ground turkey on super sale at the market and was bound and determined to do something different with it, not that there is anything wrong with our favorite Mini Turkey Meatloaves, but we have them all the time.  I had driven past a Great Wraps earlier in the day, which really tempted inspired me, so I thought a Gyro was the way to go.  I formed the turkey onto skewers in a flatted oval type shape to make them easier to grill and fit well in the pita, which I highly recommend, but you could just as easily make patties and cook them on the stove top.  For the side dish I made a box of couscous and threw in some cut up olives, half a diced red bell pepper, about 3 chopped green onions, and lemon zest and juice which was delicious.  Along with the pita bread I put some feta cheese, sliced red onion, and "greek sauce" (greek yogurt+greek salad dressing+lemon juice+mint+thyme) on the table for use to each top our Gyro with.  If you like cucumbers you could go the traditional way with tzatziki sauce, but I hate cucumbers, so I made my own sauce.  So have fun with the basic turkey recipe, use your favorite pita and toppings you enjoy but make the turkey, you won't be sorry!

Sincerely Loving Food,

Lainey