Stop the Arguing

Our first week without cable has been fine but watching Hulu and Netflix is a pain. It's hard to sift through everything to find something to watch so I just ended up not really watching anything until something major happened this week.

Netflix is trying to help couples everywhere who share a Netflix account to "Stop the Arguing"! I would say in our case, it's stop the negotiating, compromising, your turn/my turn with the dvd's and instant stream. They sent an email to subscribers this week saying they wanted to make sharing an account easier so the separate profiles is something new they rolled out. Wahooooooo! This means that we each make a profile under Netflix, pick our own preferences, and rate your own movies. This way, we can each watch what we like!

After this, we watched about four things and I love that Netflix now shows me things I actually want to watch that just might be better than those damn Housewives. I also found Tia & Tamera online for FREE so now things are good!

End of Watch

This movie was a little too violent for me but I stayed awake through the whole thing so you know that it was good enough to keep my attention! Erik really liked it, too. 

Playing for Keeps

Erik went surfing on Sat AM so I watched this while he was gone. Not very good but jam packed with pretty people. If you want a predictable, romantic comedy then go for this one. 

One Last Thing

We both watched this documentary on Steve Jobs and enjoyed it. Good, behind the scenes look at his life, the beginning of Apple, and insight from friends and coworkers. 

Backwards

Another one I watched while Erik was surfing on Sunday morning. Do you see the pattern of how I watch these fluffy movies when he is not around? :-) This was pretty good and had a different spin to it because it was about rowing. An ex-Olympian comes back to town to coach her HS team. 

Saving money with no cable AND having Netflix show me things that I will really want to watch is a pretty good deal!

2.5 mile walk and Hawaiian Chocolate

Yesterday after work, Evie and I went on a long walk. This week, we've been trying to take longer walks because we've both been sitting around all day. After her surgery, 1 mile seems to be her limit but yesterday we went 2.5 miles. I noticed at 1 mile, she needed a break. We headed home and had to pass through a park that she loves. When she saw the park, she started running and rolling around. I guess she didn't need that much of a break!

For dinner, we whipped up some easy turkey burgers with carmelized onions and mushrooms on top. Our neighbors were away for over a week in HI so we brought their mail in for them. They brought us this chocolate bar as a thank you. I am not a chocolate fan but I tried it and it was good -coconut and caramel, yum!

TGIF! We have a weekend of errands and catching up to do around town since we were away last weekend and we're having visitors next weekend!

Sundried Tomato Chicken & Homegrown Mushrooms

See these things? They are mushrooms that Erik grew. Oyster mushrooms to be exact. They look weird and they smell funky but we are going to eat them!

For dinner, I edited a recipe that I found and it was pretty good!

chicken breasts stuffed w/ goat cheese & sundried tomatoes 

(used mozzarella)

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 35 min

This is a DELICIOUS chicken dish and not as hard as it might seem. One of our household favorites.

Ingredients:

CHICKEN:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup goat cheese - Used Mozzarella
4 Tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil - Used tomatoes NOT in oil
2 Tablespoons pine nuts - Did not use. Did you know pine nuts are like $8 for 8oz!?
2 green onions, thinly sliced Did not use.
3 basil leaves, cut into thin strips Did not use.
salt & pepper, to taste
1 large egg, beaten
1/2 cup dried breadcrumbs
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

SAUCE:
3 Tablespoons butter
1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup dry white wine
2/3 cup chicken broth
4 Tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 4 piecesDid not use.
salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pound chicken between sheets of waxed paper using a flat meat mallet- you want to even out the thickness and thin them out a bit. Pat chicken dry.

2. Combine cheese, tomatoes, pine nuts, onions and basil in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Spread cheese mixture lengthwise over half of each chicken breast. Tuck ends in. Roll chicken up tightly. Secure with toothpicks. Dip chicken in egg, and then roll in breadcrumbs.

3. Place chicken in 8-inch square baking dish. Pour 2 Tablespoons melted butter over the breasts. Bake until cooked through, about 20 minutes.

4. While chicken is baking, melt 3 Tablespoons butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until tender (about 6 minutes). Add wine and boil for 3 minutes. Add chicken broth and boil until liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and swirl in 4 Tablespoons of butter 1 piece at a time. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Remove toothpicks from chicken. Cut chicken rolls into 1/2-inch thick rounds and serve immediately with sauce drizzled on top.

Here's Evie after snacking on a marrow bone. She passes out after eating them. We buy the bones at the meat counter at the grocery store and freeze them. We give them to her when she needs to chill out at night. It keeps her occupied and allows her to get some energy out. She is so tired afterwards -- It's like it was so much work to get the marrow out that she is done for the night. 

Eggplant Pannini's and No more cable

First up, we did something big today - cancelled cable. We've been tossing around the idea for over a year now and finally, we cancelled it. I called the other day to hear our options to downgrade and cancel. Today, I called and cancelled it completely. I was a little bit shocked when the guy I was speaking to said he would cancel the cable and it would be "...shut off in 20 minutes." Whattttt? I thought we'd have like the rest of August or something to wean ourselves off of it. Nope. Band aid ripped. Goodbye Housewives, Kardashians, and HGTV until I find you online instead.



This will be good - we don't need cable especially with Netflix and everything online these days. Plus, it will save us some money every month!

Anywayyyyyyy. For dinner, we had these yummy sandwiches - Eggplant Paninis. We do not have a pannini maker so we just used the grill pan and it worked out fine. Ours did also not look as neat and tidy as those in the photo but they were really good!

SKINNYTASTE Photo

Eggplant Panini with Pesto
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 4  Serving Size: 1 panini • Old Points: 7 pts • Points+: 9 pts
Calories: 336 • Fat: 8.5 g • Protein: 11.4 g • Carb: 50 g • Fiber: 3.8 g • Sugar: 2.7 g
Sodium: 394 mg (without salt)  

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant, about 12-14 oz
• kosher salt to taste
• olive oil 
• 12 oz french bread (or baguette), cut into 4 pieces
• 4 slices part skim mozzarella cheese 
• 2 tbsp skinny pesto 
• 8 thin sliced tomato

Directions:

Slice the eggplant into 1/4-inch thick slices. Place the eggplant slices on a paper towel and season with salt; set asideabout 30 minutes. This will help draw some of the moisture out of the eggplant. Pat the eggplant dry with paper towels.

Preheat panini grill. Lightly spritz eggplant with olive oil, season with salt and pepper. When the grill is hot, grill eggplant about 7-8 minutes, turning once half way through. Set aside.

Slice the bread open and place 3 slices of grilled eggplant, 1 slice of mozzarella, 1/2 tablespoon of pesto, and 2 slices of tomatoes on each sandwich.

Close and lightly spray the top of the bread with oil. Place on a panini press and close until the cheese melts and the bread is toasted. Cut in half diagonally and eat immediately.

Cajun Chicken Pasta

We had a delicious dinner last night when, as I was making it, I realized that I think I've made this in the past. It was Cajun Chicken Pasta. It was so good and of course, I made extra so we had lunch today. I absolutely love bringing leftovers to lunch because it's something good to eat that's not salad or sandwich.

This dish was so good. There is something about adding cream cheese to dishes that make it taste amazing.

SKINNYTASTE.COM PHOTO

Cajun Chicken Pasta on the Lighter Side
Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 5 • Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups • Old Points: 6 pts • Points+: 8 pts
Calories: 323.8 • Fat: 6.2 g • Protein: 25.9 g • Carb: 44.1 g • Fiber: 6.3 g • Sugar:3.2 g
Sodium: 126.5 mg (without salt)  


Ingredients:

• 8 ounces uncooked linguine (I used Fettucini)
• 1 pound chicken breast strips
• 1-2 tsp Cajun seasoning (or to taste)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced (I used a bag of pre-cut, frozen peppers)
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 red onion, sliced (used white onion)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup fat free low sodium chicken broth
• 1/3 cup skim milk (used almond milk)
• 1 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp light cream cheese
• fresh cracked pepper
• 2 scallions, chopped
• salt to taste

Directions:

Prep all your vegetables. In a small blender make a slurry by combining milk, flour and cream cheese. Set aside. Season chicken generously with Cajun seasoning, garlic powder and salt.

Prepare pasta in salted water according to package directions.

Heat a large heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; spray with cooking spray and add half of the chicken. Sauté 5 to 6 minutes or until done, set aside on a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken. Set aside.

Add olive oil to the skillet and reduce to medium; add bell peppers, onions, and garlic to skillet, sauté 3-4 minutes. 

Add mushrooms and tomatoes and sauté 3-4 more minutes or until vegetables are tender. Season with 1/4 tsp salt, garlic powder and fresh cracked pepper to taste.

Reduce heat to medium-low; add chicken broth and pour in slurry stirring about 2 minutes.

Return chicken to skillet; adjust salt and Cajun seasoning to taste, cook another minute or two until hot, then addlinguine; toss well to coat. Top with chopped scallions and enjoy!

Garden Update

Erik's garden is flourishing! We have So many tomatoes! It's fun to go out to the garden and pluck a tomato off whenever we want. 

Big, green, tomatoes

A squash....

New succulent garden that Erik planted

Hops! Erik planted hops to use in his beer later this year...

 They are starting to cover the trellis and are growing really well!

Goodbye Tahoe

On Sunday morning, we packed up the house to head back to Berkeley. We drove past more pretty views as we headed out of town. 

Evie loved riding with her head out the window...

Her preferred way of riding in the car is paws on the center console, back legs on the backseat. It is SO annoying because the driver cannot see that well to their right and she leans on both of us. So, I made her stay in the back. I used this bag to block her and look how pathetic she is...

Mommy PLEASE let me up front!

Evie had a fun time in Tahoe. Last year, she had just had her surgery so she couldn't do much .This time, she was able to go to the lake and run around in the yard of the house. 

This was Evie after we got home, unpacked, did some laundry, changed the sheets, and went to the grocery store. She was just begging me to sit on the couch so she could climb up next to me and take a nap. 

Such a fun weekend! Lucky we have Tahoe a few hours away to do a quick getaway. 

An awesome breakfast and Mini Golf

On Saturday, we went out to a delicious breakfast at the Log Cabin. It was SO good!

I had this amazing french toast that was: cinnamon raisin bread encrusted in cornflakes and steel cut oats. It was topped with home made whip cream and fresh berries. Yummmmmm. I could only eat half of this and gave Erik the other half. Might try to recreate at home!

While we were waiting for our table at breakfast, we went next door to this little gift shop where this dog of the owner was hanging out at the door. Look at his face when I tried to take his pic!

After breakfast, we went across the street to play mini golf. We haven't played mini golf in forever so we had a lot of fun!

After mini golf, we went back to the beach for a little while. We decided that when we come next year, we are going to leave the beach chairs at home and bring inner tubes instead. That way, we can just lounge in the water!

Here's a shot of me and Evie when we got home. She wanted to lay ON me, of course. haha

For dinner, we drove over to Truckee to the Fifty Fifty Brewery. We are officially brewery rats. We seem to find them everywhere and go check them out!

Erik tried the beer here but I didn't because they didn't have anything on the menu that I would like to try. Dinner was pretty good but we both said we liked the Tahoe Mt Brewery better!

After dinner, we went to the same ice cream spot as last year. 

Of course, the ice cream was delish! 

More great shots of Tahoe...

When we got home, we took Evie back to the lake to run around. She loved it and we saw a great view of the lake at night. 

Such a fun day!

Lake Tahoe 2013

We just got home from a long weekend in Tahoe and it was so much fun!

We left on Thursday after work and got to Tahoe around midnight. Thank God for Erik driving because I would've fallen asleep at the wheel! Now that we live in the East Bay, we did not have to deal with crossing the Bay Bridge out of SF before getting on 80. That took 10 miles off the trip and who knows how long. Can take 15 min or an hour to cross the bridge sometimes! 

We went to the same house we went to last Labor Day. It's awesome because you can walk to the lake! We can also bring Evie which is perfect!

On Friday, we grabbed breakfast at the Java Hut - a quick place to get bagels and coffee. Then, went over to the lake to lounge on the beach. It is so beautiful there. It was nice to just sit on the beach and relax. 

After the beach, I really wanted to drive to the NV/CA state line. I thought it would be fun to "stand in two states at once." We drove up to the line which was literally a mile from the beach. All that was there was this sign so it wasn't THAT exciting. haha. 

For dinner, we went to the Tahoe Mountain Brewing Co for dinner. 

Ahi nachos - yum!

We tried some of their beers and they were good. Our server was also super nice so we liked him a lot. 

There were some great views at the beach across the street from the brewery so we snapped some shots. 

So pretty!

When we got home, we went to get Evie so we could take her to the lake. 

We brought her down to the lake when we knew no one would be there so she could run around (on her long leash). She loved running in the water and the sand. She literally romps and frolicks in the water - it's hilarious. 

Great day in Tahoe!