Tuna Salad Stuffed Tomatoes and Couscous Salad

First of all, I apologize for the hiatus.  There has been some stress in my life that has made time for blogging scarce.  That is hardly an excuse, I know, because well... when isn't there stress in one's life?  But I have to say, the past couple weeks have certainly taken the cake for this year so far.  I won't get into the details, but my job was at stake, and there was a brief period where I was sure I would have to look for another one.  All is resolved and I do not have to look for another job, thank goodness, but I found it hard to be productive when all that was going on as well.

How do you deal with stress?  I find that I do any one of a number of things, which are both productive and counterproductive.

1. I get irritable.  Now I am normally a pretty easygoing person, but when I feel overwhelmed, the people living with me know it.  I try not to take things out on people, but it's hard not to let a little spilt milk bother you when you already have so many pots boiling over on the back burners.

2. I take baths.  Even without the bubbles, sometimes it's very therapeutic to allow your muscles to relax while they soak in hot water.

3. I drink.  I'm not proud of this, but occasionally I do find solace in a bottle of 2/$10 Flip Flop Chardonnay and a bag of Doritos.

4. I cry.  This may seem counterproductive, but it's one of the easiest and most cathartic ways to let out your emotions.  Holding it in is never the answer.

5. I treat myself to things.  Like food.  And... well, mostly food.  But I don't overdo it.  Usually, it's small amounts of chocolate, or sushi, or a nice meal out.  Fast food does not bring me joy like it used to.  It's gotta be good food.

I probably did all five of these things during the past two weeks.  Another thing I did was let myself not be productive.  I knew I was too distracted to get much done, so I allowed myself to relax and have a week where I mostly watched movies and ate.  It really helped to decide to slack off for a little while, without the pressure of a to-do list looming overhead.

So for the next time I get stressed out (and I'm sure there will be a next time eventually), what are your best recommendations for de-stressing?  What works for you?

Cilantro Pesto Pizza Bread

Can we talk about birthdays for a moment?  Mine was this weekend, and it was good, but strange.  I guess when we talk about birthdays, for a lot of us, that means talking about expectations.  I know I'm guilty of having a lot of expectations for what that day will be like.  I expect cake, I expect cards, I expect presents, and now that I'm older I expect some booze...  But I try my hardest to be flexible so that if things aren't perfect, I'm not disappointed.  It's hard, though, when a birthday is celebrated without your family, without most of your friends.

I will say that my coworkers really helped make that day special with all the decorations, gifts, and sweets they presented me with - I was really touched by all their efforts.  And all the cards and gifts I received in the mail, all the calls, texts, and Facebook posts reminded me that there are people all over the country (and the world!) who love me and who were thinking about me that day.  For all of you I am deeply and humbly thankful.  And, of course, my wonderful and doting boyfriend wanted to make my day as special as he could, and we did have a fun, special night out eating my favorite food, pad thai noodles.

It's hard to reconcile your expectations with reality sometimes.  And not just on birthdays either.  That's actually one of my biggest flaws - inflexibility.  Wanting things to be just so.  But I have been working on this for years, and I've gotten much, much better than I was when I was young.  It always helps to remind myself how things DID go my way, and to relive the moments when I felt on top of the world.  Like when you come in to work to find presents, cake, and a card waiting on your desk... or when you come home to find two packages waiting on your doorstep for you to open.  Even though you're 24 and not a kid anymore, these are the moments when the magic is still alive.

Brown Sugar Turkey Burgers

I cannot claim credit for this recipe.  This was all the idea of my new and dear friend Rose, who is among one of my favorite people I've met while living here in Georgia.  A little background, in case you do not know me personally (rare at this nascent stage of my blogging exposure, but hey you never know), or in case you do know me personally, but not as well as all that.

I was born in Maine.  Yup, like land of the lobster, and of saying "wicked," and of Whoopie Pies.  Oh God, Whoopie Pies... I'm thinking of trying to make those, just as a heads-up, guys.  Anyway, I am a proud native Mainer.  Ayuh.

I was raised in New Jersey, from age 3 to 22.  I lived about 45 minutes outside NYC, just close enough that a day trip into the city is easy, but just far enough away that I could get to nature and greenery very easily.  I was actually one of the few in my town who was fortunate enough to live across from woods.

I went to college in New York state.  Not to be confused with New York City, this area (called the Southern Tier of New York) is highly rural, sometimes isolated, definitely different from any New York you'd think of if you're not from there.  But beautiful.  Even in the cold-ass winter.

I moved to Georgia, about 1 1/2 years ago.  Why, you ask?  Partially because my boyfriend's family was here, and they let us live with them in my transitional period between college and grad school, and partially because I was ready to try someplace new for a while.  It's lovely, marshy, and palmy here, even through all the humidity.

Who knows if I would've gotten so into cooking, food blogs, and food in general if it hadn't been for Kyle's talented mother getting me started with her repertoire of recipes.  So that's my journey so far, in a nutshell.  I'm sure you'll hear about parts of it at a later date, but for now, enjoy these burgers that Rose whipped up one night and made me drool over when she told me about them the next day.

Shrimp Nacho Bites

Have you ever noticed how some people are unhappy no matter where they go or what they're doing?  Some people always have something to complain about.  Some people find fault with any new place they move, or even visit.  Some people find fault with every new person they encounter, and every person they live and work with, perhaps even smiling in their faces while behind their backs they tear them down.

Some people, on the other hand, are adaptable, and can be relatively happy anywhere.  They move to a completely new place, totally unfamiliar, and end up thoroughly enjoying it, while even most natives say they can't stand the area.  Some people see the best in other people, and try their best to like and get along with everyone.  It is rare for this type of person to hate or even actively dislike someone.  It is rare for them to complain about their lot in life, for they are thankful for everyone who cares about them, and for the resources to be able to live and have fun with those people who care about them.

I don't mean to be a downer, but I've been thinking a lot about human nature, and how some people do fit the first description above.  I personally try to be more like the second person.  While no one can be perfect all the time, and exactly fit the description of Person B, I do try my hardest.  Every day.  Even when I am sometimes surrounded by Person A's, and it's tempting to just complain about everything all the time.

But I have so much NOT to complain about!  I have an amazingly loyal and loving family, great friends here and all over the country, a boyfriend who is thoughtful, respectful, reliable, affectionate, and hilarious, a good steady job, and the ability to buy, make, and eat great food.

What do you have to be thankful for?  I know it's not Thanksgiving or anything, but give it a try.  Go ahead, actually make a list.  It will make you feel great to look at a quantified representation of all that is good in your life.  You might be surprised at how much good there is.

Tuna Salad Sliders

This tuna salad is an old friend to me.  It was made entirely with things I already had in my kitchen, at hand, and I have definitely made it before.  Except before I put it on bread instead of dinner rolls.  But you know, I think the tininess gives them character.  As it does with so many people we know and love: the Munchkins of The Wizard of Oz, Peter Dinklage, Snooki...   OK maybe not Snooki so much.  Now I'm mad that I even know how to spell Snooki, gah!

I recently read a post written by a blogger named Helen Jane (whose link I found through Joy the Baker, my food blogging girl crush).  This post was about blogging, which is something I started doing nearly ten years ago on Xanga (wow), but it's also something that I feel like I'm only just getting into, since all my previous blogs were only for me and my friends (and e-friends) to see.  This type of blogging, I thought after reading food blogs like Joy the Baker, 30 Pounds of Apples, The Pioneer Woman, and others that have become hugely popular, isn't nearly as much about your own musings and inner thoughts and emotions as it is about marketing to an audience, fitting into a niche, or having this upbeat, witty, slightly self-deprecating style that many of these women seem to echo.

But I read Helen Jane's post, her lament that the internet and, more specifically, the blogging world, is being increasingly monopolized by people who are doing it for money, for fame, for recognition, for something other than themselves.  And I thought maybe I had only been seeing that side of it so far, and maybe I didn't have to make my blog fit a template that I've seen repeated a dozen times or more at this point.  Don't get me wrong, I love the blogs I've mentioned above, and more like them.

But though I might be entertained by them, their style may not be one that I want to copy exactly.  I have my own voice.

So, in my own voice, I will tell you that this tuna salad is something I've made quite a few times, and is enjoyed by me and my boyfriend Kyle and whoever else happens to be there at the time.  The addition of the relish was an interesting idea that I got from my friend Dawn, who apparently got the idea from her mom, who got it from her mom, etc.  This tuna salad is nothing fancy, it's not gourmet, but it's what I like.  And that's what this is all about, yes?  I want to share what I like with you, in the hopes that you'll like it too, and share it with someone else in your kitchen, someday, maybe.  That'd be really cool.

Chicken Asparagus Casserole

Sometimes recipes are very well-thought-out, meticulously planned beforehand.  Usually, I plan at least a few days beforehand just because I always go grocery shopping on Mondays.  But this one?  This was a spontaneous event, a result of a sudden and unexplainable craving for chicken casserole.  Well, that and I was trying to figure out what I could make with the canned chicken and spinach I had sitting in my kitchen that needed to be eaten.  And I didn't even end up using the spinach.  But I digress.

I was actually inspired by something my boyfriend's brother/my good friend Clayton made: a delicious chicken and broccoli casserole with a cracker crumb crust on top.  I ended up using asparagus and breadcrumbs instead, purely based on my mood at the moment I picked them out at the store.

Sometimes you need a little spontaneity.  When things are getting to be routine, when you find yourself doing the same thing every weekend (can anybody say, Chinese takeout and Stargate: SG-1 on Netflix?), you need to say, "I am craving a casserole.  So I'm gonna make a casserole.  Not someday, but today, right now in fact!"  It helps spice things up.  No pun intended...

The Grocery Chronicles Continues...

And so, our saga resumes with me wandering around the grocery store searching for sun-dried tomatoes that come in a jar bigger than a thimble - an essential ingredient for Sun-Dried Tomato and Artichoke Pasta Salad.  You would think they'd be with the canned vegetables perhaps?  Not there.  Maybe with the pasta sauce?  That's where I spotted the pitifully tiny jar of sun-drieds that cost $5.  Of course, what I needed ended up being in the produce section, next to the fresh tomatoes (duh!), which was where I started in the first place.

Anyway!  I believe I actually might have done better this time with my savings, since a lot of what I got was on sale (I swear they were having a frozen pizza extravaganza), aaaand I had more coupons, which I found through Southern Savers...  Let's see, shall we?

Sun-Dried Tomato and Artichoke Pasta Salad

I brought this in to my work to contribute to our monthly pot-luck-cookout-feast-extravaganza (which is definitely competing for the spot as my most favorite thing about my job)... and. it. was. so. good.  It mayyy be because I'm partial to sun-dried tomatoes.  And fresh mozzarella.  And basil.  Or any combination thereof.  But I have to say, I did get rave reviews from all the ladies at work, many of whom are phenomenal cooks, so it was high praise indeed.  And the combination of flavors and textures was lovely, especially after it sat overnight in the fridge and the sun-dried tomato oil got to coat all the pasta and other ingredients.  I will definitely definitely absolutely make this again, for anyone who will try it.

Successes and Failures, in a Basket

So I had a recipe fail this week.  I wanted to recreate Joy the Baker's Simple Roasted Apricots with Honey Mascarpone, but instead of looking like this,

...it came out looking like this.

OK, so some of the ugly appearance may be due to the fact that I'm using my phone's camera rather than a nice one.  I'm still in the market for a new camera to replace my Olympus Stylus that now refuses to turn on, so any suggestions are welcome, especially if you have firsthand experience with a P&S/DSLR hybrid.

A lot of it may be the fact that I did not wait until the apricots were cool to put on the mascarpone, hence the liquidy, blobby mess you see above.  That can easily be avoided next time.  But I think the real problem is that her recipe calls for "a quick blast under the broiler," but I don't really know how to use a broiler!  I thought a quick look on Wikipedia would give me enough information, but when it came time to actually work the oven, I was confused as to why my apricots were getting limp and squishy instead of firm and slightly blackened on top.

So, needless to say, I said, "fork this one."  Both literally and figuratively.  I had this whole entry planned about how Joy the Baker has come into my life and helped to inspire me to write this blog, along with other food blog mavens... but that entry will have to wait until another time, when I can try another of Joy's decadent recipes, hopefully with a little more broiling prowess.

One thing I did manage to make successfully this week was this wonderful creation, made famous by V in "V for Vendetta":

It's an Eggy in a Basket!  I got some quick directions one morning from this recipe on Food.com - extremely simple and quick - and it turned out to be delicious, and not too bad-looking.  I really do need to get a new camera, though.

The Grocery Chronicles

As I stated in my first entry, I am going to make a valiant effort to record my grocery spending, saving, and coupon using in an attempt to see how much I can save, what spending I can cut, and how many coupons I can use in one trip.

I also want to share what resources I use for coupons and sales.  Right now, my favorite site to use (which only applies to you if you live in the south, I apologize) is SouthernSavers.com.  I nearly always shop at Winn Dixie because it's on my way home, and so what I do is go to the Winn Dixie page on Southern Savers, and look at the listing for what's advertised on sale for that week, and right underneath each item, they list where you can find coupons for that item.  So you combine these deals and coupons together, and you can get stuff for very low prices, or even occasionally for free!

I go shopping every other Monday, so that's probably how often these posts will happen.  In the end, I'm trying to raise the PERCENTAGE of my grocery bill that I save (since the total amount saved will inevitably vary from week to week).  An ideal percentage, according to many coupon gurus, is 50% or more.  You want to save more than you spend.  I'm not there yet, but I'm learning.

So here's how I did this week...

Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins (Times Two!)

Of course I had to make my first recipe post about muffins.  The title of this blog is not just an attempt at formulating a clever phrase that may be catchy one day (although that is certainly part of it); it is also an expression of my love for muffins, particularly chocolate chip ones.  Ever since I was young, I have had an affinity for these lovely baked goods.  I ate a muffin nearly every single morning for about a decade.  I never tire of them.  There's something so satisfying about the big kind especially, with the large, mushroomy top that you can pop off with little effort, revealing a soft, moist cylinder of cake underneath.

So, for these reasons, I knew I had to incorporate muffins into my first real post somehow.  I have actually never made muffins myself before.  I have always bought them from my local deli, bakery, and/or grocery store.  But recently, I acquired quite a lot of muffin mix from my local Winn Dixie.  (I say "acquired" rather than "bought," because Winn Dixie had a deal going on through which I got 6 packages of muffin mix fo' free when I bought 3 boxes of General Mills cereal, which we needed anyway.  Love when that happens!)  So I thought I'd take advantage of all the muffin makings I had (and still have) stashed away in my pantry.  But a blog post about adding milk to muffin mix is not very interesting.  So I thought I'd do a wee experiment: I'd make one batch of muffins with the mix, and I'd make one batch from scratch, both the same kind of muffin, and I'd see which tasted better and why.

An Introductionary Tale

Hello!  I'm Laura, and this is the first time I've ever written a blog that is actually about something - other than my own emotions and teenage angst, and I had a surprising amount of that back in my heavy LiveJournaling days.  I'm very excited to start this blog, because during the last year or two, I've begun to think more and more about food, what to eat, how much to eat, where to get it, how to cook it, and last but certainly not least, how to get it cheaply.

So I am planning to have a few categories for my posts:

1. Recipes - I want to try new recipes and expand my cooking repertoire out from where it currently resides, which is in the neighborhood of "very limited."  I did not grow up cooking, I was not taught a whole lot by my mother or my grandmother or my aunt, so I am largely self-taught and am learning as I go.

2. Grocery Diary - I would like to catalogue how much money I spend on food per week, and how much I save.  I want to get more into couponing and bargain shopping and sale hunting, because people who do this save crazy amounts of money, and I know I can do that too, with a little research and guidance.

3. Healthy Food Tips - These posts will be just as much for me as they will be for any readers I may have (if not more so), since I have been trying to educate myself more and more on what is good for me, and what is not good for me, and in what quantities, etc. etc.  Just talking to people I know has made me realize how much confusion there is just surrounding the question of what is healthy and what is awful for you.

Other things like food and drink recommendations may slip in; we'll have to see how things play out.  But for now, these are the things I really want to explore, because if I can get educated in these areas, I believe I will feel at least a little bit better both physically and mentally.  And maybe you will, too, if you join me in my quest for delicious, cheap, healthy food :)