Hi, everyone! I’m back for this one day from my little blog vacation to share with you an awesome recipe for Secret Recipe Club. I was assigned the blog Cooking in Stilettos and I really think that everyone should go on over and check it out!

Aly’s blog documents her efforts to learn how to cook after being told that she wasn’t good at it. I think that it’s important to emphasize that cooking can be fun, cool, and trendy — it doesn’t have to be about women stuck in the kitchen 24/7, wearing an apron and feeding a hungry husband. Aly is the perfect example of a 21st century lady who loves whipping up tasty meals, but of course, still maintains her healthy enthusiasm for heels and cocktails. Something that we all can relate to

After perusing all of her tasty-looking recipes, I decided to go with her French Toast Bread Pudding. I figured that, since I’ve already made two entrées and a dessert through the Secret Recipe Club, that it was probably time for some breakfast. And it doesn’t hurt that french toast is one of my absolute favorite foods.

Oh man, was this thing good. It took a really long time to make, but it was totally worth it in the end. Just looking at these pictures makes me wish that I had some in front of me right now!

French Toast Bread Pudding

(Recipe by Aly from Cooking in Stilettos)

Ingredients:

1 challah loaf, sliced 3/4 inch thick [I used a loaf of ciabatta]

6 large eggs  

5 cups milk

3 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon grated orange zest [I omitted this — not a fan of citrus flavors]

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Confectioners’ sugar and pure maple syrup, for serving

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a 9 x 13 baking dish, arrange the bread in two layers, making sure that the bread fits the dish.

(Note: I also staggered the bread to allow for more coverage and less gaps when it would bake together).

Whisk together the eggs, milk, honey, orange zest, vanilla, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.

Pour the mixture over the bread and press the bread down.

Allow to soak for 10-15 minutes.

Place the baking dish in a large roasting pan.

Add hot tap water to the roasting pan so that it covers and inch or so of the baking dish, taking care to NOT get water in the bread pudding mixture.

Cover the roasting pan tightly with foil, taking care to not let the foil touch the bread pudding.

Make two slashes in the foil to allow the steam to escape and bake for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, remove the aluminum foil and bake for another 45 minutes or so until the pudding is puffy and golden and the custard is set.

Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for a few minutes.

To serve, lightly dust with confectioner’s sugar and drizzle with maple syrup.

Enjoy!

Even though I told you guys the other day about how I’m taking a break from the blog for a little bit, I still have my commitment with the Secret Recipe Club that I have to keep — so here’s this month’s recipe, Chocolate Banana Bread, which is from Isabelle’s blog Crumb.

While I was really interested in trying out her recipe for Seafood Paella (it’s on my Recipe Bucket List!), I honestly couldn’t resist making the banana bread instead, because it was seriously calling my name. I can’t believe that I never thought to add chocolate to this before! Well, Isabelle’s Chocolate Banana Bread was awesome. It was actually so good, that I’m making it again… two weeks later. It’s going to take some crazy willpower not to eat this whole loaf in one big bite! And I’m going to have to hide it somewhere, or else Brent will steal it all from me

Besides making incredibly delicious food, Isabelle is also really, really cool. I’m 100% convinced that we would be best friends if we met. And, then, because we would be best friends, she would make me amazing food all the time. Because that’s what friends do.

But, until that day, I’ll just have to get by the only way I know how… stalking her blog and making all her recipes. Duh.

Chocolate Banana Bread

(Recipe by Isabelle from Crumb)

Ingredients (makes 1 loaf):

¾ cup sugar

½ cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas (around 2-3 medium bananas)

½ cup sour cream

½ tsp vanilla extract

1½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup good-quality cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking powder

½ cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly butter a 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.

In a medium bowl, beat together sugar and butter until creamy.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.

Add the mashed bananas, sour cream and vanilla extract, and stir until smooth and creamy-looking.

In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and baking powder.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until just barely combined. Fold in chocolate chips, if using.

Bake in preheated oven for about 50-60 minutes.

Bread is done when the top is firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean.

Allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before unmolding and slicing.

Hi, guys.

As you’ve probably noticed, I haven’t been a very good blogger lately. My posting schedule is pretty erratic and I’m hopelessly behind on reading all of your blogs. Blogging has started to feel like a chore… I’ve been struggling to keep up with it because of everything that has been going on since I started my new job and bought a house. There are so many things that need my attention, and it’s become hard to force myself to write a post at the end of a long day, especially when I know that there are a million other things that are on my to-do list.

But this isn’t a goodbye. I love blogging and this community too much to stop forever. This blog has been a huge part of my life for the past 2 1/2 years, and I owe a huge debt to the people that have read and commented.

I will be back, I promise. I just don’t know when. Right now, I want to focus on dealing with this huge, new chapter in my life and enjoying all of its awesomeness. Blogging has almost been taking away from that, in a way, because it sucks up so much of my time and has begun to feel a lot like an obligation.

So I’m going to take a little break, get myself situated, check a few things off my to-do list… and then I’ll be back. I’m excited to be able to start the blog up again when I’m in a place in my life that will allow me to fully commit myself to it. I’m hoping that I’ll be back sometime this summer!

Thank you again to all of my loyal readers. And thanks to all of the bloggers I am loyal to. I’m sorry that I have to take a break from all of this, but don’t worry — I won’t forget about you, and I will definitely be back to say hello when I’m ready.

I’m only a page and a half into the book, and I can already tell that I’m going to like this one. I need to give you an excerpt, because it’s definitely one of the best openings of any book I’ve ever read:

“Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death. Whenever you read a cancer booklet or website or whatever, they always list depression among the side effects of cancer. But, in fact, depression is not a side effect of cancer. Depression is a side effect of dying. (Cancer is also a side effect of dying. Almost everything is, really.) But my mom believed I required treatment, so she took me to see my Regular Doctor Jim, who agreed that I was veritably swimming in a paralyzing and totally clinical depression, and that therefore my meds should be adjusted and also I should attend a weekly Support Group. This Support Group featured a rotating cast of characters is various states of tumor-driven unwellness. Why did the cast rotate? A side effect of dying.”

 

If that doesn’t want to make you read this book… well, we probably wouldn’t get along that well, to be honest There’s not too much that I appreciate more than some shockingly good tongue-in-cheek sarcasm.

Also, any book has the word “cancertastic” in it is obviously the best thing ever.

[a few hours later...]

I seriously cannot even believe that this happened again… I cracked open the book, and basically, I was history. At 2am, I finally closed it after finishing the last page. People need to stop picking such amazing books for their book clubs, because this girl needs some sleep!

The Fault in Our Stars is, without a doubt, now one of my most favorite books. The copy that I read was from the library, but I actually want to go out and buy it for myself. I’m very sentimental about books, and I have a special collection only made up of my all-time favorites. And this one absolutely needs to be a part of it.

Like you can tell from the excerpt I gave you, this book opens up very cute. It’s told from the perspective of a snarky, sarcastic girl who loves to make self-deprecating jokes about the fact that she has cancer. Her personality is awesome… I totally wish that I could be her. Then she meets this gorgeous guy at a support group who is in remission, and they become really good friends and bond over their mutual love of novels and hilariously inappropriate humor.

I was very surprised about where the book went from there. The quirkiness of the characters’ personalities was maintained throughout the book, but there were parts that I read with tears streaming down my face, literally sobbing. While I’m definitely a “cryer” in real life and while watching movies or TV (and, embarrassingly, occasionally commercials), I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I’ve cried while reading a book. For some reason, it just barely ever happens with me. And it’s never happened like this before. I mean, I was crying. The book was sad at points, but mostly I think that it just really resonated with me.

I loved the main character and was able to feel a big connection with her throughout the book. Like her, I also love novels, am an only child, and love sarcasm. I also know what it is like to have a long-lasting condition that is a huge part of your life. When she was describing how it’s like to constantly be in pain… I felt like I was listening to myself. It was exactly how I’ve felt and exactly how I would describe it. I’m not trying to compare myself to a cancer patient at all, but it was just very emotional for me, because it was the first time in a long time (if ever) that I’ve felt like somebody really “got” what I’ve been going through with my disability. I know what it’s like to be looked at weird — her with her oxygen tank and me with my walker/wheelchair/cane. I know what it’s like to be in constant pain for years without any relief. I don’t know what it’s like to be a teenager with a terminal illness or what it’s like to go through cancer treatments, but I still felt like we had some kind of connection. And I hope that nobody thinks that I’m being rude or insensitive in feeling that way.

The only thing that I could slightly criticize about this book was it’s Perks of Being a Wallflower-itis. In that, the teenage characters in this novel were way more mature, smart, and witty than teenagers normally are in real life. While Perks of Being a Wallflower has no excuse (even though I still think it’s an awesome book), I could almost kind of forgive John Green on this one. Maybe the characters were more mature because of their cancertastic-ness? Either way, I don’t think that it took away from the book.

All I have left to say is that I highly recommend reading this book. Five out of five stars, for sure.

Risotto is one of my favorite foods to play around with and make new recipes out of it. Since it’s Brent’s favorite dish, I’ve made risotto countless times over the past year that we’ve been living together. I always make it at least once a month, if not more often. It’s just so delicious!

I think that risotto gets a bad rap for being a dish that’s really hard to make. But it’s really not that difficult, I swear. As long as you’re not Chef Ramsay in Hell’s Kitchen, who’s obviously going to be a stickler for the perfect texture… you’re probably good More than anything, it just takes some patience and some love. You have to watch over it and stir, stir, stir.

Trust me, this stuff is too good to pass up. Give it a try! (It’s not expensive either! Arborio rice is super cheap if you get it from the Whole Foods bulk bins!)

Roasted Sweet Potato Red Wine Risotto

(Recipe by Miranda Mowbray, Biting Life)

Ingredients (serves four):

1 small onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

canola oil

1 1/2 cups uncooked arborio rice

1/2 cup red wine (optional)

2-3 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 extra large sweet potato, peeled and diced

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

cayenne pepper

paprika

1/4 cup fat-free half and half

2 cups spinach, de-stemmed and chopped

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425˚.

Sauté onions and garlic with canola oil in sauté pan over medium-high heat.

Meanwhile, toss sweet potato with olive oil, salt, pepper, a dash of cayenne pepper, and paprika.

Pour sweet potato onto a greased, foil-lined baking sheet and roast in the oven for 25 minutes, or until fully-cooked and crispy on the outside.

Add arborio rice and red wine to the onion mixture; stir to combine (if omitting the wine, add 1/2 cup chicken stock).

When the rice has mostly absorbed the wine, add 2/3 cup chicken stock; stir.

Add more chicken stock once the rice has absorbed the liquid. Keep occasionally adding chicken stock and stirring, until almost fully cooked (will take about 25 minutes).

Meanwhile, once sweet potato is done, remove from oven and put into a blender/food processor.

Combine sweet potato with half and half until a thick sauce is made.

When the rice is almost done cooking, add the sweet potato sauce and let the risotto absorb some of it.

When the rice is fully cooked, turn off heat and stir in the spinach and cheese until the cheese is melted.

Add more spices, if necessary.

Enjoy!

Woohoo, it’s Friday!

I’m actually starting to get a blister on one of my fingers from all of the proof-reading that I’ve been doing lately! I’m almost up to page 700 in the 900-page book that I’m working on right now.

Overall, I’m still really happy with my job, though. I’ve been working at my Dad’s company for three months now, and I love being able to work with him. I get to do a lot of different things and I’m learning so much!

I love that he lets me do important jobs, because he knows that I can handle them. It makes me realize just how lucky I am to have the job that I do, because I know that if I’d gotten an intern position at some big publishing company, I’d be filing paperwork and making people coffee right about now. But instead, I’m learning how to edit photos in Photoshop and, pretty soon, I’m even going to get to create the layout for an entire manuscript all by myself! And I’ve already had two of my own photos published.

Take a look at my Shopping List Friday page to find out how easy it is to participate in my link-up!

#1: Stop & Shop

• Frozen stuffed clams – $3.49
• Chicken breast (1 lb) – $5.14
• Frozen peas – $1.00
• Strawberries (2 packages) – $4.99/each + BOGO
• Deli pepperoni (1/2 lb) – $3.88
• Deli ham (3/4 lb) – $4.67
• Kiwis (3) – $0.75
• Apple – $0.67
• Asparagus (1 lb) – $1.58
• Sandwich rolls (for Brent) – $3.49
• Green bell peppers – $3.40
• Cucumber – $0.99
• Coffee creamer – $1.66/each (I used a $0.55/1 coupon that doubled to $1.10, making the final price $1.11 each)
• Mushrooms – $1.99
• Pepsi 12-packs (3) – 3/$10 (must buy three)

Total Saved by Buying Items on Sale = $18.46

Total Saved by Using Coupons = $1.10

Total Spent at Stop & Shop = $48.98 (YES! $26.02 under budget!)

#2: Target

• Black tights (I had to go to like three different Walmarts and three different Targets to finally find one that carried black non-footless tights. I don’t get it!! Do people not wear tights anymore? How else are you supposed to wear a dress when it’s cold out?) – $8.00
• Annie’s Mac & Cheese (I obviously could not pass up getting these on such a great sale!) – $1.25/each (I used one $0.50/2 Target coupon)
• Maybelline eye shadow (I’ve been looking for this exact color recently, too) – $2.94 (I used a $1.50/1 coupon)
• Playtex feminine product - $6.29 (I used a $5/1 coupon)
• Method natural all-purpose cleaner (I’ve never tried this stuff before, but how could grapefruit-scented cleaner not be amazing?) – $2.69 (I used a $1/1 coupon + $1/1 Target coupon)

Total Saved by Using Coupons = $9.00

Total Spent at Target = $21.82

#3: CVS

• Listerine (1 L) – $3.99/each + $1ECB/each (I used two $1/1 coupons)
• Halls cough drops (these are my favorite Halls variety! I hate menthol, and you can barely taste it in these) – $1.50/each + $1ECB (I used one $1/2 coupon)
• Book of stamps – $9.20

Total Saved by Using Coupons = $8.49 in Extra Care Bucks + $3.00 in coupons

Total Spent at CVS = $9.46 + $3ECB

Whenever somebody asks me what my favorite food is… I always have such a hard time answering. How is it possible to choose only ONE food, out of all of ones that I love so much, to be my favorite? It’s not!

So I decided to switch things up a little bit and do a post about my 10 absolutely favorite foods (not in any particular order). I was racking my brain for so long trying to pick and choose which foods to put on this list — and I’m sure that I forgot a few good ones, too!

I’m curious to hear what everybody else’s favorite foods are… Let me know in the comments!

#1: Sushi

My mom and I have literally been out to sushi once a week, every week for the past three months. We are huge sushi fans. Actually, I only started loving sushi pretty recently, when Brent finally forced me to try it a couple years ago. I never thought that I would like it — and I was super scared to eat it at first, haha — but now I can’t get enough!

#2: Macaroni and cheese

Duh  . I have like eight mac ‘n’ cheese recipes on here!

#3: Ben & Jerry’s Chubby Hubby ice cream

You guys are probably sick of hearing me talk about my undying love for this ice cream… but, seriously, it’s literally the best thing ever.

#4: Corn on the cob with butter and salt

Mmmmmm. I can’t wait for the summer when corn starts going on sale again. Nothing tastes better than a delicious ear of perfectly ripe corn. Can you believe that Brent doesn’t like corn on the cob? He’ll only eat the kernels off the cob. Something’s wrong with him!

#5: Cinnamon rolls

Cinnamon rolls are definitely my favorite baked good. I almost never let myself have one, though, because they’re just too tasty. I’d eat five if I could! I only ever tried making them once… and they were freaking amazing. But it’s going to be a long time before I ever allow myself to make them again, haha.

#6: Sweet potatoes

Sweet potatoes are probably the most delicious vegetables ever. Sometimes I can’t even believe that they’re really vegetables, because they’re just that good. My favorite way to prepare them is my signature mashed sweet potato recipe.

#7: Mushrooms

Although they’re don’t exactly taste as much like dessert as sweet potatoes, mushrooms are another favorite vegetable of mine. I love to roast them with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

#8: Crab rangoons

I debated on whether or not I should include another Asian food in my list, but just thinking of that creamy crab filling in its crispy shell dipped in a drool-worthy duck sauce makes me crave crab rangoons so hard that I couldn’t not include them.

#9: Peanut butter

Peanut butter is probably on everybody’s favorite foods list… why wouldn’t it be?? I got the PB Crave Cookie Nookie peanut butter for my birthday and it’s definitely one of the best I’ve ever tried — although nothing will ever beat my own homemade maple peanut butter.

#10: Crepes with powdered sugar and maple syrup

Check out my favorite crepé recipe. My mom use to make these for me a lot when I was kid, so crepes have a lot of memories attached to them for me. They’re not exactly easy to me, but after making them a couple times now, I have to say that I’m getting pretty good at it. It’s definitely something that comes with practice.

Sometimes people stuff them with things, but I prefer them plain with just some simple powdered sugar and maple syrup.

What is your all-time FAVORITE food?

As you’ve probably heard by now, Google Reader is shutting down this summer. While understandable, since it’s probably one of Google’s lesser-known and not-as-popular products, this news leaves us bloggers in kind of a bad spot. As it’s one of the best RSS readers, most bloggers use Reader as a way to follow their favorite blogs and news sites.

A little while back, I did a post called 5 Tips for Google Reader that kind of explained how to use it and what I specifically used it for. But a couple of months ago, I made the big switch over to Bloglovin’.

Deciding to switch RSS readers was a big deal for me. Since I follow (literally) hundreds of blogs, I knew that it would have to take something pretty freaking awesome to make me want to go through the trouble to transfer them all over.

Enter Bloglovin’.

I read a post online from a fellow blogger that had decided to make the switch and, after hearing all about it, I couldn’t not start using it.

Basically, it’s very similar to Google Reader, but I’ll walk you through it, in case RSS readers are something new to you.

#1: Sign up for Bloglovin’

Here’s what their homepage looks like. There’s a handy sign up button in the top right corner.

#2: Claim your blog

If you’re a blogger yourself, you can go into your account and click on the “claim blog” button. This allows you to view how many Bloglovin’ followers you have and lets other Bloglovin’ users see that your profile has a blog attached to it.

#3: View Your Stats

Like I mentioned, claiming your blog allows you to see how many followers you have and when exactly they subscribed.

#4: Sync to Facebook

Another great perk of claiming your blog is that you can sync your Bloglovin’ account to your Facebook account, which automatically publishes your new posts to your page.

#5: Switching from Google Reader to Bloglovin’.

It’s way easier than you thought it was going to be! They walk you through exactly how to transfer your blogs from Google Reader to Bloglovin’.

#6: Adding new blogs to Bloglovin’.

After you go ahead and switch all of your Google Reader blogs over to Bloglovin’, you might eventually want to add some new ones. This process is super easy and user-friendly.

First, just go to the search bar on the top of your Bloglovin’ homepage and search the URL of the blog that you want to follow.

For example, if you search http://bitinglife.com, my blog pops right up. Just click “follow”!

After following the blog, you have the option to add the blog to a group. I personally love being able to organize my blogs. It just makes them so much easier to read!

For example, I always spend a lot of time reading and commenting on the blogs in my “Favorite Blogs” and “Good Blogs” categories, whereas I just quickly skim through my recipe blogs in order to look at the pictures and then only click on the ones that look really good.

#7: Reading blog posts

Like I said, I really like to group blogs into like categories to make reading them a lot easier. These are just the seven categories that I have — obviously it’s totally up to you how you want to personalize it.

One great feature that Bloglovin’ has, but Google Reader didn’t, is that, when you click on a blog category, it gives you the option to only have shown the blogs that you haven’t read yet (um, excuse the fact that I’ve been a horrible blog reader lately and obviously have some serious catching up to do!).

All you need to do is click on “show read blogs” to view the unread blogs in that category.

To start reading your blogs, you have a few options of how you want to go about it — which I love. You can either click “all unread posts” (this button is shown in the first picture of this section), a group, or one specific blog.

I never choose the “all unread posts” option, because I feel like that kind of defeats the purpose of grouping them. If you choose to read blogs by their group, it organizes them with the most recent post first, and it the goes in subsequent order (switching back and forth between the different blogs within that group depending on when their posts went live).

The picture above is what it looks like to click on a single blog (by the way, go check out the blog featured — Abby Eats Almonds), which is how I most often how I read on Bloglovin’. You just click on the title of the first post, and it brings you to a new page where you can read it with the Bloglovin’ toolbar (this is also set up so that you read the most recent ones first).

Take a look at this awesome toolbar! This is the best and most important part of Bloglovin’.

Their toolbar feature allows you to stay within your RSS reader while reading blog posts, yet still give all of your beloved blogs the pageviews that they deserve! I think that it’s really important to spread the blog love around as much as possible (which is why I chose to feature Abby instead of myself), and Bloglovin’ is the only RSS reader (that I know of — please let me know if I’m wrong) that allows you to do this.

Besides giving blogs pageviews and allowing you to comment seamlessly while staying within the reader (the comment feature doesn’t work on Blogger blogs for some reason — that’s why I have them in a separate category), the toolbar has some other great uses.

Following the arrows from left to right, I’ll explain the toolbar functions:

• Arrow #1: Once you’ve clicked on a specific blog on your homepage, that blog will be highlighted in the toolbar. Clicking on the drop-down menu allows you to switch back and forth between blogs once you’re done reading the original blog you started on. It also shows you how many posts you have left to read in that specific blog — for example, the “2/6″ refers to the fact that I’m currently reading the second post out of the six available unread posts on Abby Eats Almonds. This allows me to know when it’s time to switch to another blog. If you were reading the blogs by group, the title would just be the name of that group and how many within that group you have left.
• Arrow #2: The “older” button allows you to move to the next unread post. Clicking on the “newer” button allows you to go back to the posts that you’ve just read (these buttons only allow you to go back and forth between the original number of unread posts. In order to see older posts, click on that blogs’ name in your list on the homepage, and it allows you to go back further).
• Arrow #3: Click on the heart button if you really love a post. Those posts will be saved and will move to the “Liked Posts” category on your homepage.
• Arrow #4: Social media buttons that allow you to share posts on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
• Arrow #5: The “x” button gets rid of the Bloglovin’ toolbar. Use this if, for some reason, you want the original link to the post instead of the Bloglovin’ toolbar link, or if you just don’t want to be in the toolbar anymore.

The one thing that I don’t like about Bloglovin’ (compared to Google Reader) is that you can’t search for posts. You can only use the search toolbar to look up blogs to follow, you can’t use it search posts that you’ve previously read within the reader. I used to use that feature all the time in Google Reader — if I wanted to link to a specific post on a specific blog in a blog post, but couldn’t remember the name of the blog that I read it on, or something. It was a useful tool that I really do miss, but honestly, the sheer awesomeness of Bloglovin’ far outweighs that one small negative. I highly, highly recommend switching over.

And that’s all you need to know about switching over to and using Bloglovin’. I hope you love it just as much as I do!

What RSS reader do you use?

One of my favorite things about having a “real” job now that I’m done with college is…. being able to bring lunches to work with me! I realize that it’s kind of a weird thing to be excited about, but I honestly couldn’t wait to finally be able to do this.

For years now, I’ve been keeping a collection of recipes and recipe ideas for food that I want to make in the future. Brent is a little… picky… when it comes to food, so ever since we started dating, I’ve been putting these recipes into two categories — “Brent-approved” and “Miranda Meals” (I even have a Brent-Approved Pinterest board I use to save ideas!). Since I’m always making stuff from the Brent-Approved list, instead of mine, for our weeknight dinners, I have a backlog of Miranda meals that’s years’ worth of recipes long!

So, now that I’ve been working at my new job, I’ve been able to choose one meal to make each week, and then bring a portion of it to eat for lunch each day at work. The office has a great kitchenette with a fridge, microwave, toaster oven, and plenty of cabinet and counter space. I’ve even taken to keeping little snacks there for myself, like pudding and fruit cups.

Today’s recipe is a new office-lunch favorite of mine! I made it a couple of weeks ago, and it was so good that I’m making it again for myself this week, instead of picking a new one!

Chicken Couscous with Roasted Vegetables

(Recipe by Miranda Mowbray, Biting Life)

Ingredients (serves 3-4):

1lb asparagus, chopped into fourths (ends discarded)

8 oz. whole baby bella mushrooms, chopped into halves

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

olive oil

salt and pepper

cayenne pepper

paprika

onion powder

garlic powder

1lb chicken breast

1/2 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

canola oil

1 cup uncooked Israeli couscous

~ 2 cups chicken stock

Directions:

Preheat oven to 500˚.

Place chopped asparagus, mushrooms, and green pepper in a medium-sized bowl.

Stir in olive oil and spices in with the vegetables until thoroughly combine.

Lay vegetables on a cookie sheet lined with foil and roast in the oven for 20 minutes, or until tender and fully cooked.

Pour couscous into a small saucepan with 1/2 cup of the chicken stock.

Continue to add more chicken stock as it gets absorbed (like you would with risotto), until couscous is fully cooked.

Meanwhile, sauté onions and garlic with canola oil on a sauté pan over medium-high heat until onions are translucent; set aside.

Cook chicken (I chose to sauté mine in small pieces, but shredding would work equally well); set aside.

Mix together couscous, chicken, and roasted vegetables (add more salt and pepper if needed).

Enjoy!

Hi, guys! It’s finally Friday!

I can’t believe that I almost forgot to write my Shopping List Friday post for today. This week just flew by so fast that it didn’t even feel like Thursday night (when I writing this post) already.

I don’t know about you, but knowing that the weekend is (almost) here is always such a relief. Time for some relaxation! I mean… more unpacking and painting.

Besides being Shopping List Friday (which is always exciting ), today marks one week that we’ve had our new kitty cat. We decided to go with the name… Ivan! I’m going to do a post all about him next week, so don’t worry, you’ll get plenty of cute cat photos soon.

#1: Stop & Shop

• (7) Prince pasta – $1/each
• (2) Jello pudding cups – $1.49 + $2.34
• (2) Generic-brand Pillsbury biscuits – $1.25
• (2) Land O’ Lakes unsalted butter 4-packs – $2.50/each (I used one $1/2 coupon)
• Large brown eggs – $2.69
• Frozen butternut squash (to make one of our favorite recipes) – $1.25
• Granulated sugar 4lb bag – $2.29 (I used a $0.60/1 Stop & Shop coupon)
• Hot Italian sausage (1 lb) – $2.99
• Hood frozen yogurt – $2.50 (I used a $0.51/1 Stop & Shop coupon)
• Daisy light sour cream – $1.67
• (3) Bananas – $0.95
• 100% whole wheat bread – $2.99
• Sub sandwich rolls – $3.49
• Alexia frozen sweet potato tater tots – $3.00 (I used a $2.50/1 coupon, making these only $0.50!!)
• Spinach – $1.50
• Deli Wonderbar bologna (3/4 lb) – $3.04
• Ben & Jerry’s Chubby Hubby (stocking up on my favorite flavor while it’s on sale) – $4.00/each
• Tomato – $0.80
• Green bell pepper – $0.90
• Cucumber – $0.80
• (un-pictured) Cat toy – $4.99

Total Saved by Buying Things on Sale = $20.63

Total Saved by Using Coupons = $3.50

Total Spent at Stop & Shop = $57.92 ($17.08 under budget!!)

#2: CVS

• Listerine – $5.79 + Get $5ECB wyb $10 (I used two $1/1 coupons)
• Carmex lotion – $4.99 + $3ECB (I used a $1/1 coupon)
• Maybelline makeup – $3.99 & $5.99 + Get $3ECB wyb $10 (I used a $2/1 coupon and a $1/1 coupon)

Total Coupons Used = $6.00 manufacturer’s coupons + $8.00 Extra Care Bucks

Total Spent at CVS = $14.41 + $11ECB

#3: Walmart

• Generic-brand strawberry Mini Wheats
  
• Rold Gold honey twists 
• Cat shampoo
• Lotion
• Hairball remedy
• Detangler
• Generic-brand Honey Bunches of Oats
• Cutting board
• 1-quart canisters
• All-purpose scoop (to scoop litter)
• Facial tissue 3-pack
• Annie’s mac ‘n’ cheese
• (un-pictured) Two large storage buckets (for litter and cat food)