recipe Archives - Real Life Notes

#28: Progress-Real Restaurant Mojito Recipe

November 5, 2012 by Jill 2 Comments

Mojitos are my favorite cocktail. I've been on a quest to learn to create the perfect mojito at home. I recently made some progress on that quest. I learned how to make a delicious mojito that is restaurant quality. It's not perfect to my tastes, but it's the best cocktail I've ever made at home. Read on to learn the secrets of my real restaurant mojito recipe. A few days before my birthday, I serendipitously received this email from La Duni, one of our favorite restaurants (so far) in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: household management, life, recipe Tagged With: mojito, thirty by thirty

Veggies and More Veggies: Whole Living Challenge Week 2

October 8, 2012 by Jill Leave a Comment

Well, I survived the first week of the Whole Living Challenge. Now I'm starting week 2 of the Whole Living Challenge. How's it going? I still don't love vegetables. But I did eat a lot of them last week. Until Friday, when we left town for a Settlers Weekend at the beach. Then I cheated all weekend long and ate whatever I wanted to. And it was awesome. But now we're back home, and I'm trying to stick to week 2. This week I can add seafood tofu, beans and lentils. I'm very excited about this. It … [Read more...]

Filed Under: cooking, household management, life, recipe, thirty by 30 Tagged With: whole living challenge

Why Can’t I Love Vegetables?!?

October 2, 2012 by Jill 6 Comments

[pinit] The 30th item (clearly I'm going out of order in completion) on my Thirty by 30 list is to eliminate processed food and learn to eat vegetables. This week, I took a tangible step towards that goal, hopefully. I started the Whole Living Challenge. The challenge is structured as a cleanse and detox, which is good, but isn't exactly my main goal. My goal is to learn to enjoy fruits and vegetables. I don't right now. When I'm hungry, I don't think, "A banana sounds good." I don't reach for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: cooking, life, recipe, thirty by 30 Tagged With: fruit, vegetables, whole living challenge

Recipe: Chicken Tikka Masala

March 19, 2012 by Jill 1 Comment

Here's my version of our favorite crockpot dinner ever, chicken tikka masala. Recipe adapted from Real Simple. Crockpot Chicken Tikka Masala 1 15 oz. can crushed tomatoes 1 medium onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, diced 1/2 head of cauliflower, chopped 2 TBS tomato paste 2 tsps garam masala spice 1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken (I use either breasts or thighs, both work well) salt and pepper 1/2 cup heavy cream Dice onions and garlic. Chop cauliflower. Chop chicken into … [Read more...]

Filed Under: recipe Tagged With: chicken, crockpot cooking, entree, freezer cooking, indian, vegetables

Best Kale Salad Ever

March 8, 2012 by Jill 3 Comments

or I ate an entire bunch of kale for dinner... OMG. I just finished eating an entire bunch of kale. Raw. Delicious. I don't even like kale. But I do now. One of my college friends was in town this weekend. When I mentioned how I'm trying to eat more fruits and vegetables she recommended a cookbook (for which I immediately put in an interlibrary loan request) and wrote down this awesome kale salad recipe for me. Seriously awesome. This is the second time I've made the recipe this week. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: cooking, recipe Tagged With: kale, salad, side dish, vegetables

Freezer Cooking

December 7, 2011 by Jill Leave a Comment

A few weeks ago, I did a batch of freezer cooking, and it was awesome! I went to the grocery store by myself (!) on a Sunday morning and spent a few hours that afternoon chopping and preparing double-batches of three recipes. I ended up with six meals.The awesome catch is that all the meals were crockpot dinners. So to prepare them I just had to chop the veggies and put all the ingredients in freezer bags. Then when I'm ready to cook them, I just take it out of the freezer, cut the bag off, and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: recipe Tagged With: food, freezer cooking, meal planning

Recipe: Egg Muffins

September 14, 2011 by Jill Leave a Comment

Post baby, I needed a breakfast that I could eat with one hand. Cereal and nursing results in more cereal on the baby than in my mouth. So when I found a recipe for egg muffins on Pinterest, I had to give it a shot.Basically, you chop up some vegetables and brown some sausage. Then you mix up eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and baking soda. You grease some muffin tins and fill them with your veggies and meat. Then pour the egg mixture over everything and bake.You can find the full recipe here.My … [Read more...]

Filed Under: recipe Tagged With: breakfast

Grocery Breakdown: Week of Sept. 27

September 29, 2010 by Jill 1 Comment

Sunday: Leftover tortellini from last week. Monday: Black Bean Soup and Cheese Quesadillas Tuesday: Chili and Cornbread. (I froze some chili last week and made homemade cornbread from the recipe below) Wednesday: Italian Sausage and Ravioli Thursday: Chicken Verde Tacos Friday: Oktoberfest with Maureen and Laura and friends Saturday: Phil is going out for pizza, I'll stay at home and scrounge while studying. Total this week: $63.14 Homemade Texas Cornbread: (adapted … [Read more...]

Filed Under: budget and expenses, cooking, household management, recipe Tagged With: cornbread, grocery breakdown, meal planning, side dish