Avobroc Dip

3/4 c chopped broccoli

1 avocado

1 tbsp ranch dressing

Throw everything in a food processor and blend til smooth.

Good with chips or your favorite crackers.

Pesto Avocado Pasta

Slather some chicken thighs with mustard and pesto.  Make sure to get some underneath the skin too!  

Bake at 425 for 50 minutes. 

Mix up some olive oil, pesto, and half an avocado.

Toss it with some angel hair pasta.

Saute some garlic in olive oil, then add bok choy and steam til done.

Eat up. 

Pot Roast Sandwich

For the Pot Roast:

Sprinkle whole wheat flour and brown sugar across the bottom of a crockpot.  Roll a 2.5 lb roast around in the flour and sugar.  Mix together 1/2 c pumpkin, 1/2 c orange juice, and 1 c cranberry juice, then pour the mixture over the roast.  Cook on high for 6 hours, then shred the roast.  

For the Sandwich:

Toast a whole wheat bun.  Put a handful of arugula on the bottom half of the bun.  Cover with pot roast.  Add some tomato slices and avocado. Add the top bun.  

Eat. Devour.

Artichoke-Avocado Dip

This could also be called "Leftovers Dip."  I basically through a bunch of things together in a bowl.  I put half an avocado on my burger and wanted to make some sort of chip-dip with the other half.  I also had a little bit of tomato left, so I chopped it up and added it to the avocado.  Then I chopped up an artichoke heart and added that.  And then, I squirted some ranch on top.  And mixed it all up.  It was awesomely delicious with multi-grain tortilla chips.

Pot Roast Lo Mein

Chicken lo mein happens to be one of my comfort foods.  I don't eat it very often, for various reasons.  Like, I'm too lazy to call in the take-out order and go pick it up.  Also, it has got to be ridiculously unhealthy and loaded with a year's worth of sodium.  This evening, I found myself craving lo mein, but I didn't get home until almost 6:00 and there was no way I was going back out.  At some point in the last year, I came across a recipe for lo mein, which I added to my favorites bar and then more-or-less forgot about.  Granted, at that time I had never made anything remotely Asian and had never bought ginger or soy sauce.  Now my kitchen is stocked with both.

I didn't have any chicken.  But I did have a whole bunch of leftover pot roast.  And pot roast shreds really easily so it's perfect for lo mein.  

1 1/2 c cabbage

1 carrot

2 stalks of celery

1/8 c onion

1+ tsp fresh chopped ginger

1+ tsp fresh chopped garlic

1-2 c shredded pot roast

olive oil

soy sauce

rice vinegar

angel hair pasta

Cook the pasta. Chop the veggies.  Brown the garlic, ginger, and onion in some olive oil, then add the veggies and stir fry them.  When the veggies are done, add the meat.  If the meat was cold like mine was, stir until it is warm.  Add the pasta, sprinkle with rice vinegar, and add enough soy sauce to coat the whole mixture.  

If you're addicted to avocados like I am, you can chop one up and add it to your bowl as well.  

I've cooked so much in the past week, I've had to put quite a few things in the freezer because I just can't eat that much food before it would go bad.  I hope we don't lose power any time soon...I haven't managed to post everything I've made, but the soup I made a few nights ago will make it on here eventually.  Maybe tomorrow...maybe later in the weekend.  By the time I get around to posting it I may or may not remember exactly what I put in it...

Guinness Marinade

Ingredients

I didn't measure any of them...but used roughly half the can of Guinness.

Not pictured: 3 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped.

olive oil and rice vinegar

add the guinness

whisk it up

admire the work of art

add some seasonings

I discovered that the back of a spoon is very useful for garlic-crushing

whisk some more

put in some meat: I used catfish this evening

I think I'm going to try pork chops in the leftover marinade tomorrow

let sit for awhile...I think I only let the fish sit for about half an hour, I was too hungry to wait longer

pan fry the meat

I fished the garlic out of the marinade and added it to the pan as well

dinner is served

fish with bacon and onions

gouda mac n cheese

avocado

Cucumber Salad

a cool and refreshing summer salad

1/8 c chopped onion

3/4 large cucumber, chopped

1/2 avocado, chopped

enough yogurt-avocado dressing to coat veggies

delicious next to a burger

Cucumber-Avocado Dip

Wow.  This was yummy.  I was just playing around and wasn't sure if it would be good at all.  But I tasted it, and wow. 

Cucumber-Avocado Dip

a little bit of onion, chopped

6-7 slices of cucumber, chopped

1 avocado

3 spoonfuls of sour cream

1/2 vine tomato, chopped

dash of salt

dig in!

Yogurt-Avocado Dressing

INGREDIENTS

plain yogurt

sour cream

cider vinegar

avocado

garlic powder

rosemary

 yogurt

sour cream

vinegar

avocado

garlic and rosemary

more yogurt

blend it up

put it in a bottle for the fridge

have some on a salad

this dressing was pretty good

the arugula was a lil spicier than usual, the yogurt in the dressing helped make the salad milder