Author Archives: Wendy Lee

“No one who coo…

“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.”
― Laurie Colwin

Wow, is that true or what??!!  Funny, in my “about me” section, I never once mentioned that I love to cook and that it is a passion of mine.  I think it’s just such a part of me that it’s the same as me not saying that I breathe air or that I have arms.  But, anyone who knows me…or is a facebook friend of mine…knows I LOVE food and I LOVE to cook.  (Yes, and I love to take pictures of it almost as much as I love to eat it!  Don’t hate.)

There are many different reasons for my love of cooking and many different ways I like to cook.  Some days it’s experimenting skinnying up a traditional dish and others it’s cooking for comfort with savory, rich sauces.  No matter what, though, the way I feel when slipping off my shoes, throwing my hair up, having a great soundtrack in the background and a glass of wine going while mixing it up in the kitchen is completely at peace…no matter what life is throwing at me.

…Someone toss me an apron, would ya?

Easy and Fast (and cheap!) Bean and Cheese Quesadillas

Super filling, I couldn’t even finish my portion!   DJ also loved them!  A take off of the deep fried version of taquitos.  One serving works out to be 350 calories, 40 carbs, 11g fat, 16g calcium, 16g protein and 1247 sodium.

At less than $2 a serving, less than 30 minutes from beginning to end and less than 350 calories…this is a favorite of mine!!

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1Tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 small green pepper, chopped

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed, slightly mashed

2 Tbsp real bacon bits (packaged or home made)

1 cup low sodium salsa

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 package (10 count) whole wheat tortillas

8 ounces reduced fat shredded cheddar or Monterrey jack (or a combination)

1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

Extra Salsa and sour cream for serving (2 Tbsp of each were figured for nutrition information)

1.  Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and green pepper and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add bacon and cook for another minute, stirring occasionally.  Stir in beans, salsa and chili powder.  Cook for another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Spray a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray and place over medium high heat.  Prepare one tortilla by spreading 1/5 of the bean mixture over tortilla, about 1/3 cup of the cheese and sprinkle some of the cilantro on top.  Place in skillet and cover with another tortilla.  Cook for about one minute, press with spatula to secure ingredients and flip.  Cook for about another minute until browned.

3.  Place quesadilla on baking sheet and keep warm in a 200F oven (or just start feeding the kids, that’s what I do!!).  Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make 4 additional quesadillas.  Allow skillet to cool if it becomes too heated.  Spay with cooking spray between each quesadilla.

4.  To serve, cut each quesadilla into quarters.  Serve 3 quarters and pass with additional sour cream and salsa.

Enjoy!!

Tears, Beers and Fears…

 

 

That’s how I am getting through.  How WE are getting through.  She is likely to be drinking the beer and me a glass of wine, but we share the same tears and a lot of the same fears as we clink our glasses.

 

“She” is my sister Robin.  “She” just lost her husband. “She” is now a widow.

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I don’t get that title…as I wasn’t married.  And I also was separated at the time.  “I lost my kids’ father”, I am not a widow.  What I do get is what she is and will be going through.  Our living situations were different, our relationships were different, the family dynamic different.  I believe our pain will be the same. 

 

It just breaks me to know what’s in store for her.  I am planning on blogging much more on this…but that’s it for now.  I’m raising my glass while wiping our tears.

 

 

 

Powerhouse Skinnied Up Cobb Salad

Powerhouse Skinnied up Cobb Salad

This was very filling and DELISH! About 350 calories as opposed to about 750 from a restaurant. Using baked chicken breast and home made balsamic dressing make all the difference. I was at work so yes, it’s on a paper plate!

1 Cup Romaine
1 Cup Baby Spinach
2 oz Skinless Cooked Chicken Breast
1/4 Ripe Avocado – Chopped
1/2 Roma Tomato – Chopped
1/2 oz Shredded Cheddar
1 Tbsp Bacon Bits
1/2 Hard Boiled Egg
1 Tbsp Home Made Balsamic Dressing (Just Oil and Vinegar and spiced to your liking!)

Enjoy!

Cookie Cutter Magic…again!

Cookie Cutter Magic...again!

Asparagus Witch, Sweet Potato Ghost and Grilled Steak Moon (Which I originally thought was a bat until two year old Bray corrected me!! He was right!) “Eat your Moon” or “Eat your ghost” got a much more positive reaction than just “Eat up”.

Halloween 2013…Rated R Style

Halloween 2013...Rated R Style

My “One Night Stand” creation…You can’t see all the items on the night stand from this photo…but it got a lot of positive response!

Grief

Miek Bray

Grief. Something I thought I understood.  I thought wrong.   Until about a year ago.

I write about it now, because it’s front and center at this moment.  For whatever reason I fell deep into it last night…did the whole photo book scanning with a box of Kleenex.  I never know when those random times are coming or why, but I embrace them when they do and move on.

It’s true what they say, there are definitely phases of grief.  And it’s not just moving forward from one phase to the next…it’s going from one to another, and then you get to go back and visit them…fun, huh? Yea, I don’t think so either.  It’s also true what I’ve been told, that after that magical year it gets easier.  It truly does.  However, at any given moment, without any warning, you can be zapped right back to grief, despair and pain.  Raw pain.  Brokenness. Thankfully, those times are getting further apart and they don’t last as long.  Sometimes it’s a few days of being blue…but usually it’s just for the length of the song that brings you there, or for as long as you look at that picture, or…well sometimes is just because and just for a moment.  But for anyone just newly suffering a great loss…trust me, it does get better.

When I first lost Mike, I was already in counseling to…well, cope with the loss of Mike.  We were separated and I was having a terrible time with it, so I sought therapy to help me cope and be strong with my decision.  Little did I know how much harder it was to become.  I kept asking when the pain would lessen and when I would feel normal again.  That’s when I was told there was no magic amount of time, but after about a year, most people seem to agree that’s when acceptance usually settles in. A year??!!! When you tell that to a person days, weeks and even months into it, it sounds like a life sentence.  A year??!!  I can remember panicking.  I couldn’t wait that long to be ME again.  The unbroken me. Thankfully, I have enough kids and chaos in my life that kept a healthy amount of distraction for me to eventually make that year go by…and I even was able to enjoy a good portion of it.

Now what I also didn’t realize was after that year and things are getting easier…it’s not that I was getting back to being myself. That old ME is gone and will never be again.  And that’s okay.  There’s a part of me that’s broken now. Like when someone loses a leg…it doesn’t grow back and they miraculously are healed. Most times they eventually do learn to walk again, but not quite the same.  They walk with a limp.  Sometimes I don’t even notice the “limp” in my heart…and other times it’s so heavy it feels like my heart weighs 200 lbs in my chest.

My heart has a limp.  But it still works. That’s good enough for me.

Chicken and Avacado Wrap with Roasted Acorn Squash

Chicken and Avacado Wrap with Roasted Acorn Squash

Healthy, very filling AND tastes good!!
330 Calories, 28g carbs, 13g fat, 28g protein, 13g calcium

Joseph’s Honey Wheat Flat Bread
3oz Chicken Breast (leftover from last night’s crockpot chicken)
1/4 Sliced Avacado
1/2 Sliced Roma Tomato
1 tsp Honey Mustard
Wrap it up!

Served with:
1/2 cup Roasted Acorn Squash w. 1 tsp whipped salted butter
1/4 of a Naval Orange, sliced

My Picky Eater Solution

My Picky Eater Solution

Brayden has decided, unless it’s pasta or PB&J, he’s not interested. (Besides fruit and crackers…those are always a go). Cookie cutters + american cheese = a clean plate!