Where have I been?

I was surprised to learn that a few people actually read my blog. And those few people are wondering where I've been. Mostly, I've been busy being a mom and wife... but I've also been spending my free time reading actual books instead of the internet (crazy, I know!) and being crafty with my sewing machine. Oh yeah, and one other thing I've been doing: packing up our house to move.

Moving is by no means fun but I anticipate that I will like our new place much more than our current SFH. So, I am excited. The ONE thing I will miss (other than the neighborhood) is my gas stove. (Do you know how difficult it is to find a gas stove in a townhouse? ) This is funny because the first week we moved in the pilot light went out on this old stove and we awoke one morning to dog vomit and gas fumes that had been leaking all night. Needless to say, as a highly emotional pregnant woman, I raised hell with our landlord and debated on re-packing our boxes and moving out because of this stove. In the end, the old gas stove has made many a wonderful meal.

Now that our move is right around the corner, we've taken on the task of eating everything in the house so that we don't have to move it 4 miles down the road. The premise sounds fun: don't go grocery shopping for weeks for anything but milk, fruit and vegetables, and use what's in the not one but two refrigerator/freezers and on the cupboard shelves. But what meals come of this method are interesting, to say the least. One of those meals actually turned out decent. I'm calling it "mock lasagna".

Mock Lasagna or Ravioli Casserole

(*Note, there are no measurements because I used whatever I had)

Frozen cheese/spinach ravioli (I used whatever was left in the bag of costco ravioli)

Provolone cheese slices

Fat-free sour cream

Shredded mozarella

Spaghetti sauce

meatballs

broccoli

Hubby bought a bag of chopped broccoli from Costco so I steamed several cups, chopped it up, and threw it back into the saucepan with the spaghetti sauce. Then I added some frozen meatballs (homemade from the Sneaky Chef cookbook-which means more broccoli and spinach-but Trader Joe's has great meatballs) and heated through until I could break up the meatballs to resemble ground beef.

I poured some sauce in the bottom of a 9X13 casserole dish and topped it with a single layer of ravioli. I then added a single layer of the provolone, spread on some sour cream and topped that with the broccoli/meat/spaghetti sauce mix. I only had enough ravioli to do one layer, but if you have more (or no-cook lasagna noodles) you can repeat. I topped it all off with mozzarella cheese and baked at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

The best part about this meal is that it took less than 20 minutes to throw together. I won't show you pictures because it's not real pretty, but it helped me clean out the fridge, tasted pretty good and was nutrient-packed - all in all, a success!

Cooking with Mayo

Yes, I tried something new last night on a whim: I used mayonnaise like I've never used it before. It was late and after a day of yard work, my husband and I were hungry - and I hadn't even thought about what to fix for dinner. Looking in the fridge, I discovered I had a drawer full of veggies but no protein to speak of... what to do, what to do? Determined to use only what I had available to me, I threw some frozen cheese tortellini (easy protein and starch in one) in a pot of boiling water and started chopping asparagus and yellow squash. But how would I tie these things together with no sauce to speak of? With mayo? Yes, with mayo!

In my experience, mayonnaise is only used in cold summer salads, sandwiches, and maybe to coat some chicken before dredging it in something. However recently my husband and I tried a Food and Wine Magazine recipe for smoky glazed asparagus - asparagus, in a mayonnaise-based marinade, grilled to perfection. The marinade consisted of mayo, smoked paprika, lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, garlic and some kosher salt and I had just enough leftover to taunt me. After some contemplation and another look through the fridge for something (anything) else I could use, I grabbed the marinade and a lemon from the veggie drawer and decided to go for it. After all, I figured, the mayo is just an emulsified form of most ingredients I would use in a saute - oil, vinegar, seasoning, egg...? Okay, maybe not but it's worth a shot.

The marinade itself was a little thick so I added the juice of one lemon and whisked it together, which gave it a zesty, smoky flavor that was great on a hot day like yesterday. After sauteing the vegetables in a little olive oil, I added the pasta to the skillet to brown it a little before adding my sauce. Once browned, I incorporated the sauce and cooked it down for a couple of minutes before tossing it with some fresh Parmesan. A quick taste told me this was something different but good. But the real verdict wouldn't come in until my skeptical (but hungry) husband tried my experiment.

We paired the pasta with a Pirovano pinot grigio and dug in. The smoky lemon flavor complemented the cheesy richness of the tortellini, and the sauce itself coated the tender vegetables with flavor. The tanginess of the mayonnaise and added lemon made it a true summer meal. The official verdict: a tasty dinner that left us wanting more! Next time, I won't be so hard on the mayo and maybe, just maybe, I'll use it in something other than tuna salad.