Gemelli with Broccoli, Bacon, and Chickpeas

I'm a simple kind of girl. I like simple recipes without a lot of ingredients, but still pack a ton of flavor. This recipe is one them.

I also like to use fancy-sounding pasta to make my simple dishes look fancy.

Here's what you are going to need-

6 slices of thick cut bacon, chopped

8 ounces dried gemelli (penne or rigatoni works if you can't find gemelli)
1 lb broccoli, coarsely chopped
4-5 garlic cloves, sliced
1 can of chickpeas
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
fresh grated parmesan for garnish

Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add pasta. Place broccoli in a steamer basket, steam over pasta for 4 minutes. Remove from heat, set aside. Continue cooking pasta according to package directions. Reserve 3/4 cup of pasta water. Drain pasta and set aside.
2. Cook bacon in a large pan with wide sides over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove from heat with a slotted spoon.
3. Add garlic and chickpeas to bacon drippings in pan. Cook until garlic is golden brown, about 2 minutes.
4. Add broccoli, pasta, bacon, reserved pasta water, salt, and pepper to pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until mixture is heated through.

How easy was that?!

Garnish with fresh grated cheese.

The whole shebang takes about 30 minutes. It's a fast one! Good for weeknights when you don't have a lot of time. This dish serves 4, so I have leftovers for lunch the next day. For leftovers, I eat this cold, like a pasta salad. It's so good that way, I always look forward to this.

I'm thinking about it right now, in fact. Pasta salad for breakfast? That's not weird right?

CocoaNut Cherry Cookies

So, the brother's birthday is less than a month away and I had yet to revamp the cookie I am going to send him. Well, today I got in the kitchen and tweaked that recipe for the Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies.

I'm pretty darned proud of the results!

These cookies turned out mmm-mmm-good! The outside is crisp, while the inside is soft and chewy. This time I made sure to put in plenty of chocolate chips, cherries, and nuts. The only change I might make for when I send these out to Oregon is choosing another nut. The pistachios have a lot of flavor but I'm not sure it's the flavor I am looking for in this cookie. In fact, I'm a little stumped on what nut to use. I may have to do some research on this head-scratcher.

Here's the recipe for this time around the block-

Ingredients (makes approx. 24 cookies):
1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1.4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup pistachios, chopped

Directions:
1. Whisk together flour through salt, set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, mix well.
3. In 3 additions, add flour mix to mixing bowl. Mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips, cherries, and pistachios.
4. Divide dough in half and place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Roll each dough into a 12-inch log and wrap dough-log up. Place dough in the freezer for at least an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
6. Grease cookie sheets with cooking spray. Remove dough from freezer and unwrap. Cut dough into 1-inch slices. Place cookies about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cookies look just baked.
7. Remove cookies from oven, cool on pan for 5 minutes. Remove cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely before storage.

I had my taster cookie while it was still warm with a glass of milk. Soooo good!

And then I went back for another :)

*Chef's Note*
The dough was a little hard to slice, even when completely frozen. It crumbled on quite a few cookies. The dough is easy to mold with your hands however, so it's easy to mold the cookies back into shape. Enjoy!

Update on Mrs Grumpus

www.cartoonchurch.com

Insomnia update!

I had a doctor's appointment on Saturday morning and it went... better than expected. My doctor had finally managed to get her hands on my medical records from Oregon, which show my headache troubles and my insomnia troubles for many, many years. Hence, she treated me like an actual person instead of a pill-popper looking for my next fix.

The hubby went with me to the appointment, so he pointed out she may have been nicer to me due to having some muscle in the room. Ok, dear :)

We actually had a long visit and we came up with a plan to pursue options. She also gave me some sleeping pills without me having to twist her arm and feel like an awful human being in the process. We then decided to try a medication to keep my mind from racing, which is really the trouble I have with falling asleep.

I slept very soundly on Saturday night and I have been sleeping well every night since then. And I feel fantastic! It's amazing how much of a difference a good night's sleep makes. I feel better, my headache is starting to fade, I have some energy back, and another perk... my skin is looking sooooo much better. Important discovery: You really need sleep to have a moisturized, youthful face.

Another benefit? My house is back to sparkling clean!

Last night was the first night however that I noticed a decrease in the racing thoughts. Yay! I feel like we are on the right track. Pretty soon, hopefully I will be sleeping like this:

http://thesuiteworld.com/

or maybe like a puppy...

Love that little Gizzard.

Cheers to a good night's sleep! Sleeping well also means Mrs Grumpus is going on hiatus for the time being. I can't say I am going to miss her :)

Sausage, Pepper, and Mushroom Pizza

Takeout? We don't need no stinkin' takeout!

I wanted to be bad yesterday. I was craving pizza. Rather than ordering out to Papa John's or getting some local Giovanni's, I remembered I had made an extra pizza dough and tossed it in the freezer a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday was the day to pull it out and use it.

I love making my own pizza because not only does it taste fresh, but it's not dripping in grease a la most takeout pizzas. Plus, I think the hubby always gets excited when he walks in the door and smells pizza cooking. What husband wouldn't?

Ingredients:
Pizza Dough
Smidge of olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
4 ounces hot sausage
1 red pepper, thinly sliced (Again, I used a green pepper- not paying $2 for one pepper!)
8 ounces mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup pizza sauce (I use Ragu- cheap, fast, effective)
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
Thinly sliced fresh basil- for garnish

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees (if using a pizza stone, heat pizza stone in oven for 30 minutes at 450 degrees).
2. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium high heat (use just enough to cook your onions because you will be adding sausage to the skillet later which will provide plenty of traction for your saute).
3. Add onions, saute 3-4 minutes. Add sausage to pan, stir to crumble. Cook until sausage is browned and cooked through.
4. Add red pepper, mushrooms, and garlic to pan. Cook until tender, another 3-4 minutes. Set mixture aside.
5. On a floured cutting board, roll out your pizza dough into a 10-inch circle. Spread pizza sauce onto dough. Spread the sausage mixture over the dough. Top pizza with cheese.
6. Cook in oven until dough is golden brown and cheese is melted, 8-12 minutes.
7. Garnish pizza with thinly sliced basil (we really like fresh basil in our house! Use more or less for your taste).

Your takeout dinner at home is served!

I rounded out the meal with a nice Italian salad.

By the end of the night, I had a well-fed, happy hubby as well as leftover pizza for the hubby's lunch, so he didn't have to take a boring, plain ol' turkey sandwich for lunch. Pizza night was a success!

Hoisin Chicken with Spicy Cucumber Salad

It had been awhile since I did some Asian cooking, so yesterday I decided I was going to seize the day!

The chicken is simply marinated in a flavorful hoisin mix for a couple of hours and then tossed on the grill.

This spicy cucumber salad is one my of favorite side dishes but somehow I always seem to forget it's in my repertoire. This recipe was given to me almost 5 years ago, back when the hubby and I had just started dating and we were renting an apartment in Beaverton, OR. We used to have "Family Dinner Night" every Tuesday with a group of friends to watch "Nip/Tuck", back when that show was still on. Each week, it would be a different person's turn to cook dinner and the hubby's friends, Sean and Scott (brothers), brought this salad one week. I knew I had to have the recipe at first taste! Here's the recipe for both:

Chicken (serves 2):
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 tbsp soy sauce
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1 lime
2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
8 garlic cloves minced
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Cucumber Salad (serves 6- lots of yummy leftovers!):
7 ounces rice sticks
1 cucumber diced
4-5 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup salted peanuts, chopped
1 red pepper (I used a green pepper this time because red peppers were almost $2 each at the grocery store. I couldn't bring myself to pay that price!)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons ground ginger
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp chili oil
2 tbsp rice-wine vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Make the chicken marinade: Combine hoisin through garlic in a large Ziploc bag. Place chicken in marinade and allow to marinate for at least 1 hour.
2. Cook rice sticks according to package directions. Drain and transfer to a large mixing bowl (I usually toss with a smidge of sesame oil at this point, just to make sure the rice sticks don't get too sticky).
3. Add cucumber through peanuts to mixing bowl.
4. Saute red pepper in a small pan coated with cooking spray. Cook until tender, 3-4 minutes. Add red peppers to mixing bowl.
5. Combine soy sauce through salt in a small bowl, stir vigorously with a whisk.
6. Add dressing to salad, toss well to coat, and set aside.
7. Remove chicken from marinade, discard marinade. Grill chicken until cooked through, 12-15 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes after removing from grill, slice, and serve with salad.
8. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

House Hunting in Kentucky

Perhaps I should rephrase that to "House hunting in Southern Ohio".

It's true. The hubby and I are defecting from Kentucky to Ohio. Granted, as you can see from the above map, Ashland sits right on the Kentucky/Ohio border. Where we live in Ashland right now is 5 minutes from the bridge to cross into Ohio. The hubby's new job is  in Wheelersburg, OH which is about 30 minutes from Ashland and after working a 12 hour night shift, that 30 minutes might as well be 30 hours.

So off we go to Southern Ohio!

The Wheelersburg area is expensive. We haven't seen anything we LOVE yet. We did just start the hunt but we already have the impression we will be compromising on house to get a property we want. The hubby compares this hunt to a fat horse vs an ugly horse. A fat horse can always lose weight while an ugly horse will always be an ugly horse i.e. an ugly house on a great property can always be improved while a cute house in an awful location... well, you are just SOL at that point. I made the point that all horses are cute. Maybe he should use a mule in this analogy.

Baaaaack to the point.

On Thursday, we had an appointment to look at a house in the area. We left our house early to check out the locations on a couple of other properties for sale. At one point, we got lost on a hill and ran into a pack of wild animals!

All right, so the wily beasts were a herd of deer.

The house hunt has not been successful so far. There have been a couple of houses that we thought were cute (2 to be exact) but we drove past the locations and they are both located on a 55 mph road. Dislike.

The house we had the appointment for is located on a GORGEOUS property. It's 2 1/2 acres with a serene pond out front. Here is the view from the front door:

The house is less than stellar. Yes, it is need of cosmetic work i.e. new paint and new flooring throughout. The fork in this pot roast is that the layout is awful. We can deal with some cosmetic work but when you are talking about knocking down interior walls and maybe doing an addition, on top of the fact that this property is in the upper echelon of our price range... The hubby and I left feeling deflated.

It appears the house hunt may be a long process.

Pulled Pork Tacos

I. Love. Pulled. Pork. Tacos.

If I weren't married already, I would marry pulled pork tacos (sorry, honey!). I love the way they make the house smell when they are cooking, I love the way they melt in your mouth with their exquisite flavor, and I love that they make the best leftovers. They just get better with each day after they are made.

They might sound complicated to make, but they are one of the easiest things to make in the world, so there is really no excuse for you not to try them.

First, you need a pork shoulder. It's one of the cheapest pieces of meat you can by and you can find it at most grocery stores (I know this because I can still find it here in Kentucky). Since I am feeding 2 people most of the time, I usually buy a 3 lb pork shoulder, cut it in half, freeze 1 half and use it for another meal.

Place your roast in your slow cooker and salt it to your liking (I use kosher).

You will then need your weapons to dismantle that piece of meat. I use only 4:

2 cups fresh salsa
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa (yes, you read that right! It's my secret weapon... well, crud)
2 tbsp oregano

Mix up all the weapons!

And drench thy enemy before thy enemy knows what hath hit him!

But in all seriousness, just put the lid on the slow cooker and put it on low for 6 1/2 to 7 hours. Once the meat is tender, shred it with 2 forks, set the cooker on warm, and your meat is done!

I like to serve mine with extra salsa, sour cream, and fresh cilantro. The hubby likes to add fresh grated cheese and Tapatio to the mix.

Sooooo good! I was going to sprinkle cilantro on mine, which would've looked a lot prettier but in my sleep-deprived state this week I bought two bundles of Italian parsley instead of 1 parsley and 1 cilantro. Kroger-1, Mrs Grumpus-0.

The hubby was very proud of his plating of tacos as well. I think they look fantastic!

I highly recommend this dish. It will make your house smell so good and even picky Mexican eaters *cough (my hubby) cough* like this dish!

Chocolate Chip Cherry Muffins

Back at it again! I spent most of yesterday seriously on edge, glued to the TV, thanks to hours of tornado warnings from the local news. I was spellbound all afternoon by my weather.com app for the iPhone, tracking a huge storm all the way from Jasper, IN as it made its way through Louisville, KY to Lexington, KY to Portsmouth, OH... and on to us. It took from 2 pm to 5:30 pm to track this storm and I spent my nervous energy making muffins. Hey, at least I was productive!

I chose Chocolate Chip Cherry Muffins yesterday.

I assembled all my ingredients on the counter, checked my iPhone, and then nervously paced over to the window.

I mixed all my dry ingredients, mixed all my wet, and then measured out my chocolate chips and my dried cherries. I again checked my iPhone and nervously paced over to the window to take a peek at the ominous sky.

I was finally able to finish mixing the batter, fill the muffin cups, and pop them in the oven for 20 minutes. They had been out of the oven and on the cooling rack for about 30 minutes when the storm hit Ashland.

This was my first real tornado scare. For an hour or so, there was complete chaos here. We had the local news on and tornado warnings were flying in for our county and counties around us. People were calling into the news and reporting seeing funnel clouds all around us. The tornado siren went off in downtown Ashland. The sky outside was a color I've never seen in my entire life! The hubby, his mother, her dog, our dogs, and I hightailed it to the basement and hid for what felt like forever, until the warning expired. There didn't end up being a touch down in Ashland but it was an insanely scary experience. I'm extremely thankful our area wasn't one that was hard hit, but horribly saddened that some nearby communities were affected by storms that touched down.

Here's my Tornado Muffins Chocolate Chip Cherry Muffins recipe-

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried cherries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl (flour-sugar).
3. Mix wet ingredients in a medium bowl (egg-vanilla).
4. Add wet ingredients to dry, mix until just combined. Don't over mix.
5. Fold in chocolate chips and cherries.
6. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill cups 3/4 full. Bake in oven 15-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
7. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove to baking rack, cool completely.

Good Luck! May these muffins not bring a tornado to your house! I am, of course, kidding :)

Insomnia + Jessica= Mrs Grumpus

www.cartoonstock.com

It's been a pretty tough week. I haven't gotten much sleep since last Saturday. I have been going through spurts of insomnia since July. I'll sleep good for a couple of weeks, and then have a couple where I sleep for 1-2 hours a night.

I have chronic tension headaches that are acerbated by lack of sleep, so the weeks that I don't sleep I am left with a dull, throbbing pain across my forehead that doesn't go away. The headache doesn't respond to OTC meds and if the insomnia lasts long enough, it heads straight into a migraine.

I loathe these periods of insomnia. I don't feel like myself and my whole schedule is thrown off. I don't have enough energy to work out, which makes me feel guilty. I hate feeling guilty. I also don't have enough energy to keep my house at the sparkling clean standard that I normally hold myself to, which also makes me feel guilty. Did I mention I hate feeling guilty?

I try to sleep, I really do. The thing is, I am exhausted. I want to sleep. I just can't. I found this cartoon that perfectly sums up me trying to fall asleep at night.

(You'll have to click to read, I can't make it bigger)
www.lolpups.com

And yes, I do count sheep at night.

I have a doctors appointment on Saturday morning so I will try to arm-wrestle some sleeping pills out of my doctor. Trying to get narcotics in Kentucky is comparable to trying to win the lottery- in other words, almost freakin' impossible. You basically have to sign away your life, your unborn children, and your unborn children's children to get a prescription. I am, of course, exaggerating. But just barely. And that is just to get sleeping pills. Forget trying to get something for the headache.

All right, I will groggily climb down off my ranting soap box and go find something else to do.

Mrs Grumpus is signing out.