What I COOKED Wednesday!

Whaaaaaat?!?!

Heather’s posting a What I Ate Wednesday?? Quick, somebody alert the presses! I know. I was shocked myself when I noticed something about my Instagram feed last week…it was full…of FOOD! 😯

I’ll admit, I’ve been on a bit of a roller coaster ride with cooking over the last year, but I think I’m finally finding some balance. And would you believe all it takes is a little planning? That was sarcasm in case you missed it. But since I know I’m not the best at sticking to the whole “food prep” thing so for now, I’m just trying to take it a few days at a time. Anywho…

It’s time to show you guys some grub!

First off, I had big dinnah plans for Monday last week. I had chicken thawing in the fridge. I was gonna bake the shit out of those titties and serve them up alongside some cheesy potatoes. Oh yeah, I was gonna do it up riiiight. And then? Well then, Heather got hangry and this happened.

This would be a Kroger-brand pizza (sundried tomato and roasted garlic to be exact) which I “beefed” up a bit quite literally by adding some leftover cooked ground beef that I’d cooked over the weekend for some tacos. Oh and bacon was also invited to the party because well, bacon. DEEEElish!

Then there was an impromptu lunch date with my sister at Which Wich where I finally got to try remembered to order one of their salads. I went with a Greek-themed salad with spinach, turkey, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, banana peppers, mushrooms, hummus, and feta cheese. Now I know I was just going on and on about planning meals and such, but ya know, sometimes your sis calls you up when you’re sweating your ass at the gym and a quick cold salad is just what you needed. Plus it fed me TWICE! Best seven bucks ever spent! And we ALL know I know my way around a salad. 😉

And speaking of going to the gym.  I’ve gotten back into the habit of hitting the gym when I first wake up in the morning afternoon. So, since I usually grab a bar on the way, it helps give me just enough so I don’t feel like I’m gonna chew my arm off by the time I’m done. Which meeeeeans…I have time to actually MAKE something instead of just cramming the first thing I see in my mouth. #twss

This was from my little buckwheat kick from two weekends ago. I haven’t made any of this stuff since well, here? But once I found it hiding out in the back of the fridge, my love was reignited. I stirred in a handful of spinach, topped it with some sautéed mushrooms and a fried egg annnnnnnd devoured it in less time than it took to cook. Yeah, about that not wanting to chew my arm off thing…

Sometimes it’s just easier to fry up some eggs, slap some butter and pepper and garlic honey on toasted bread, and call it done. Though I will say this breakfast only lasted Jason and I about two hours before we were hungry again. Ha!

Having Jason around used to make me nervous when it came to cooking. In the beginning of our relationship, I tried a few times to make him meals that I was used to eating. Only thing was…he could probably count on one hand the number of vegetables he’d eaten in a WEEK! I could tell he suffered his way through a couple of them so I got a little discouraged. BUT NOW I finally know what I’m doing!

The trick is to get him manning the grill. It totally counts as cooking even though you don’t actually touch the grill because you pat out some big ass juicy burgers and then…? BAM! You slide in some green stuff as he takes a sip of beer and he never even notices! 😉

I’m kidding! Believe it or not, my picky man LOVES asparagus (?!), but the thing is they have to be suuuuuuper soft. So, I just spritz ’em with a bit of EVOO and give ’em a sprinkle of salt and pepper and then he grills ’em till they’re nice and tender (I’m still too afraid of losing my arm hair/eyebrows to man the grill). And I know I already talked about these burgers, but DAMN, they were seriously of smack-yo-mama quality! We’ve GOT to make them again!

As you can see, asparagus (or aspara-gwuy as we like to call it) tends to make an appearance to a lot of our grill outs. Yep, they played nice with this grilled chicken (yep, the titties from earlier in the week finally got some TLC…oh get your mind out of the gutter), some cheesy damn-I’m-good mashed potatoes where I didn’t measure anything, and a slice of toasty garlic bread.

Another good way to “sneak” in some veggies? SOUP! Jason is a big soup lover so I surprised him this past Monday morning afternoon with some beef and barley soup that I’d thrown in the crock pot before going to bed after work. The recipe was from this cookbook (though I added a random assortment of veggies and not just what it called for) and was amazing!

And just so you know, it is now Wednesday and we’ve barely made a dent in this thing. Please, send haaaaaalp!

I have wine! Hey, what else do you think fuels all these cooking endeavors? 😉

Be sure to hop on over to Peas & Crayons and check out all the deeeeeelicious link ups, get your drool on, and don’t forget to leave some love for Jenn, our dear hostess with the mostest creative ways for serving up some veggies! 😀

Do you cook for any picky eaters? How do you compromise?

What is your favorite grilled vegetable?