Week Five - Day One: Happy Monday!

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? I'm not going to bore you with the details of mine, as you have probably already read about it!

Looking back over the last four weeks I realize I talk a lot about recipes I want to try, but I've been very sporadic about actually making them. Now my eclectic pantry has been depleted and I'm going to work on being more focused with my groceries. I don't want to just buy things because I can eat them on my plan, but I want to actually plan one meal a day. I also want to try to stick to just eating 2-3 meals a day and not graze my way through my day. Make sense?

I have a nifty app on my phone (Oh Samsung Galaxy, how I love you!) called inkpad, and you can actually use the same program on your laptop and sync it to your phone. I turned the sync off on my phone so it only syncs when I want it to, not whenever it wants to, because you only get 3 free syncs a day - unless you upgrade and pay a premium for not having ads and unlimited sync. I don't need premium that badly. ;) On my laptop I find a recipe that I want to try, I copy and paste it into inkpad. Then when I go to the grocery store I sync my phone, check my recipe, and I have my "grocery list" of what I need to make it. 

This is what my list of notes looks like!

This is what the recipe ingredients looks like when I copy and paste it.
See the little icon on the top right?
This is the list format. 

This is the check list format so I can check them off as I shop.
See the little check icon on the top right? 

And as I check them off I can see what I still need!
Isn't it an awesome app?

So that is what I did with the Layered Mexican Casserole Recipe today. I checked off what I had at home and that left me with what I needed to get at the grocery store. And now, I am ready to make the casserole!

This was no easy, quick task, I can tell you that! I think part of the problem is her list and prep steps felt disjointed to me. There were 4 different things. Prepping the onions and bell pepper, reducing the sauce, grating the cheese, and shredding the chicken. I sautéd my onions and bell pepper, then stirred in the beans. At this point she says that if you want the bean layer to stick together better then you could lightly mash the beans as they heat up. Really? Why didn't I just add one can of refried beans and one can of pinto beans? Whatever... The green sauce needs to reduce to almost half, then you have to let it cool a bit, add the sour cream, and finally the shredded chicken. 

Whew! Prep is done and NOW I get to build my casserole. Layer of beans, layer of chicken sauce, layer of cheese. Repeat. I have to admit, it does look good. 

Thirty minutes later and the timer goes off. How does it look? Another 10 minutes to brown up the top.

(Disregard the oven that needs to be cleaned.)

Oh... my... goodness... Hot and bubbly out of the oven, and that glorious slightly browned top. Now I have to wait 15 minutes to eat it.

Be sure to let it sit, otherwise you will scald yourself!

I have to say, mine didn't turn out layered, it turned out really sloppy. But it sure does taste good!

Mine...

Hers...

You win some, you lose some. I probably won't make it again. Too beany, not chickeny and cheesy enough. If you make it, let me know how yours turns out!

On a happy note, today is Captain's birthday! Too bad I'm sick. The cold that everyone else has had finally caught up with me. When this first started two days ago I thought my throat was irritated because my next door neighbor smokes outside and I could smell it. Nope, just a cold. So we will celebrate in a couple of days when I'm better.

Happy Birthday, Captain! I love you!

And those are my adventures for the day. I am going to bid you all good night and be off to bed. I certainly hope I feel better tomorrow. 

Lin...