Hooray for Hot Dogs!

Strangest thing happened to me last week...I was driving home from a half day of work and was contemplating what to have for lunch.  Unfortunately, and oddly out of character for me, the first thing that came to mind was hot dogs.  I wanted a hot dog for lunch.  How bizarre.  I never really eat hot dogs.  Even when I'm at a barbecue, I choose chicken or burgers over franks.  It's not because I don't like them, they're OK as far as food goes, but I'm not overly obsessed with them, nor have I ever once had a craving for them.  But, lo and behold, there I was, driving home, figuring out where to go to purchase some dogs.

I decided to be economical and go to the grocery store to purchase a package of hot dogs rather than find a take out place with the same, hoping to somehow control the number of calories I would be inhaling for lunch.

I ended up getting two kinds of hot dogs - one Applegate Farms "The Super Natural Beef Hotdogs", and one Oscar Mayer "Selects Turkey Hotdogs".  Both met my criteria for "Healthier" hot dogs in that they had less than 200 calories per dog, and they were free of nitrates -- as a bonus both were under 10 grams of fat per dog!  All of the other hot dog products I considered purchasing that day were full of calories - most were over 200 per frank, all had no less than 15 grams of total fat, and they were all packed full of nitrates to keep them preserved.

As usual, when I purchase more healthy options for a food I'm craving, I expected to be a bit disappointed, but satisified enough to get past my craving and move on with life.  Well...these dogs were way better than I anticipated they would be.  Seriously.  The Applegate Farms hotdog, in particular, was delicious, without having to be such a huge sacrifice calorie and fat-wise.

In fact, the hot dogs were so good that I had them for lunch on Friday then again for lunch on Saturday...and I'm even freezing the ones I haven't cooked yet to have at a later time.

So...if you find yourself in a mood for hotdogs, I fully suggest you try out either one of the hotdogs I mentioned above.  I'm not being paid for this post nor do I have any interest in either Oscar Mayer or Applegate Farms - I just love food, especially when it feels like it's such an unhealthy choice that turns out to be not so terrible after all.

I slapped some mustard, ketchup and coleslaw on top (I know, strange combo -- thanks to the preferences of my Canadian husband I'm now actually keen on coleslaw as a hotdog topping...don't judge me until you try it yourself) and had myself an awesome lunch.

Renovation Nation

Since we bought our house in 2009, the front has looked kind of like the picture below.  OK, so we re-did the roof, and it's a bit darker now.  We've also gotten rid of most of the small bushes around the front, and the large tree limb hanging down across the front yard was cut down to let in some sunshine.

Even with these minor changes, the front of our house leaves a lot to be desired.  Honestly, I have never been a fan of our screened in porch.  Some people (ie. my in-laws and my grandmother) seemed pretty fond of it - and tried convincing me more than once to consider keeping it intact.  But the awkwardly large roman-esque columns seemed very out of place for our small, relatively simple bungalow-style house, and if I was taking those down, I was definitely NOT going to keep the screen.  Yes, it can be argued that screens are good for deterring critters, but really, all it did for me the past three years was make hanging Christmas lights on the house a challenge (which I won by simply cutting an access hole in the screen, therefore rendering the critter shield pretty much useless).  But I digress (as usual).

Ever since we moved in I've been telling Greg that we need to renovate the front completely, open up the porch, and give our home a little bit of curb appeal.

No Bad Days For You!

Today I had a training class geared toward defining your leadership style, motivating others, and keeping momentum in a not so positive environment.  One of my classmates, who I have nothing but the utmost respect for, revealed that one of her strategies for dealing with frustrations of her staff includes hanging positive statements on her office walls that help her to remember that she needs to maintain a positive outlook on her work and our organization if she wants to be a positive influence.  Specifically, she said she has one statement typed in bold, large print hanging on her wall that reads:

"Managers CANNOT Have Bad Days."  

Her basic managing principal is that she does not let her frustration, stress, aggravation, or unhappiness show to her staff.  She was quick to clarify that she does, in fact, have bad days, but she makes a conscious decision NOT to let her staff know when she is having one such day.

Simple Dinner Deliciousness

On a whim last night, I put together a simple dinner that ended up being quite tasty.  Greg was out of town for work, and I was on my own.  Typically, when he's away, I will just eat through whatever we have in our cabinets/fridge, and usually I end up eating things that are (to normal people) considered breakfast fare - cereal, oatmeal, egg sandwiches, etc.  However, yesterday I HAD to go to the grocery store because we had no milk left, and I absolutely need milk in the house at all times - so that I can munch on cereal whenever my little heart desires to do so.

So...in addition to milk, I bought a bevy of produce including fresh basil...which is absolutely divine when added to anything...and decided I would make SOMETHING that had fresh basil included.  When I got home, I decided to make a salad and a panini for dinner.  Having no thawed meat on hand (yes, all of our chicken, sausage, and random steaks are currently frozen, just waiting for the day they get to sit in the fridge for thawing and eventual grilling if the weather would just cooperate!) and having a desire to add some protein to the mix, I pulled out a can of white cannelleni beans and then began creating things.

First, I chopped up some lettuce, celery, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, and red onion for my salad.  I added some shredded carrot also, and was done with that part of my meal.  For the main event (i.e. the part with carbs, hence my favorite part of the meal), I sliced a whole wheat ciabbata roll to use as the outter most part of my panini.  For the filling, I chopped up some fresh basil, sliced a tomato, and shredded some mozzarella cheese.  Then, I chopped some red onions and sauteed them in a tiny bit of olive oil to bring out the sweet flavor.  I set that aside, then put some minced garlic into my frying pan with some olive oil, sauteed just a short bit, then added a handful of the beans (rinsed and drained, of course!).  While it was warming up, I smooshed the beans into the garlic, making a kind of bean paste.  I added some extra virgin olive oil to this to get the mix a bit smoother, but it was still pretty chunky, which I was OK with.  I ground some black pepper into the whole thing then took it off the heat.

To build my panini, I spread the white bean mix on the bottom of my sliced roll.  On top of that I put my sauteed onion.  Then I placed my tomato slices down, followed by a LOT of chopped basil, and then the mozzarella cheese.  I topped this with my second half of the ciabbata, then put the whole thing into my George Forman grill for about 5 minutes.  The cheese got all melty, and the outside of the roll was crisp while the inside remained a bit soft.  And the flavors of all came together to make an all over awesome simple dinner.

I was going to take a pic of my creation, but couldn't wait to just dig in and eat.  The panini idea is simple though, you really can use whatever ingredients you like - I've made them with pesto, chicken, and sundried tomatoes before - and that's a totally awesome combo.  One of these days I plan to incorporate black beans and salsa into one of these bad boys and see how that goes.

The best thing about paninis is that you are able to really get creative with fillings - even with the bread you choose to use.

*If you don't have a George Forman (or similar) grill, you can use a non-stick frying pan with something heavy placed on top of the sandwich to "press" the panini - you'll have to flip it midway to get the crispiness on both sides of your sandwich, but trust me, it will be sooo worth it!

For Love of Family...

It's been a long time since I've blogged...but I have a good excuse for my naughtiness.  I was studying for the Professional Engineer's Exam - an 8-hour, 100-question all engineering test that required all my time, energy, concentration, and will power to prepare for.  So, forgive me for not having the ability to think about anything other than chemical formulas, Bernouli's equation, or proper sizing of wastewater treatment systems for the last few weeks.  Yeah, my life was pretty darn exciting for the entire month of March.

BUT...like all things, good and bad, that day has passed, and now I am able to go back to my normal, witty, charming self.  I know you were all missing me so much!

Seriously Japan???

While reading through a blog I read regularly - The Everywhereist - who actually does post articles almost religiously without becoming boorish or annoying - I found a link to a BBC article.  A VERY disturbing article in my opinion.  From the brilliant minds of some Japanese farmer-scientists, it is with great trepidation and fear for the natural order of the world that I share with you....

wait for it...

wait for it...

wait for it...

Weekend in Review

Because I'm currently studying for the Professional Engineering exam, my weekends for the past 5 weeks have consisted of me sitting at my kitchen table, in front of a laptop, listening to professors and engineering professionals lecture about all topics covered in the Environmental PE Exam, which I'm taking on Friday, April 13.  The review course is given online, and literally consists of 7 hours of exam prep every Saturday and Sunday for the entire month of March.  It was a brutal experience.  My last class was yesterday...and I'm glad I took the course, because I'm pretty sure I need a refresher on all things engineering before sitting for this exam...but I'm not sure the class prep is going to be enough to get me through the grueling 8 hour, 100 question, multiple choice exam I'll be sitting through next week.  Plus it was hard to stay focused on stuff like this:

For 7 straight hours 2 days in a row, with lecturers whose native language definitely wasn't English.  By the end of each class, but especially on Sundays,