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Week In Review: The Thirty-Sixth Edition

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I actually like Monday’s. I know it’s weird; me and Garfield would never get along. Plus, I could whoop that cat’s tail, although it might be disturbing I’m threatening an imaginary cartoon character. Nevermind, I’m sure that’s normal.

Monday’s are a fresh start to the week, a new beginning so to speak. They’re also a second, a third, and sometimes even a fourth chance to finish all the things left on the prior week’s To Do lists. Yes, I rarely ever cross all the items off my list in a single week. Usually there is some rollover action happening, and Monday’s always make me feel like This Might Be My Week. Cue triumphant music.

After a weekend partially spent recharging my batteries, I have a renewed sense of purpose, vim and vigor. Maybe, just maybe, this will be the week I get all the yard work done (as if anyone could ever get all the yard work done) or maybe this is the week I steam clean the carpets. Sure, it could happen. It’s only Monday; anything can happen. The possibilities are endless.

I Love Lists

While Monday’s represent wonderful new beginnings, they’re also time for the Week In Review, which is a chance to recap all the glorious things you crossed off the prior week’s list. It’s your highlight reel and a celebration of sorts, where you can reflect on all your accomplishments and relive those blissful moments where you took pen to paper and crossed an item off your list. Ah, the strike through; such sweet, sweet bliss.

On that note, let’s get listing:

  • I worked forty plus hours on my mortgage paying job. Things are really heating up at the office, so I also did a one hour yoga session on my lunch hour to counter that. I’m incredibly fortunate to work for a company, which offers free semi-monthly yoga sessions.
  • I managed to get back into my regular blogging schedule and finally put up a CSA post last Friday. It was a relief to get that off my chest. Speaking of my beloved veggies, I picked up my newest share last Thursday, and I need some good ideas for fennel. Anybody? Bueller? Bueller?

CSA Summer 2013

  • I caramelized another batch of onions in the crock pot. You cut up your onions, throw them in a crock pot with a dash of olive oil and walk away. Seriously, it doesn’t get easier. Plus it makes your house smell phenomenal.
  • I hit up the farmers market on Friday and scored some onions (hence the caramelizing), a cucumber and some fabulous cheese. I can’t wait to dig into these bad boys, and by bad boys, I do mean blocks of ♫ cheese, glorious cheese♫. I sang that last bit in my head and hope you do the same. I’ll wait while you go back and try again. 🙂

Lemon Zest and Garlic & Herb Cheese B

  • I made a double batch of Lemon Blueberry Granola; half for the Hubby and three-quarters for me. My math skills are strong. I know I said I’d share the recipe for this, but until the lemon flavor up and smacks me in the face with every single bite, I refuse to declare it publishable. It’s really good; just not ready.

Lemon Blueberry Granola

  • I went to see the Hubby this weekend and attended his “White Coat Ceremony.” The ceremony is a big to do in pharmacy land, where all the budding young pharmacists are presented with their very white and wrinkly jackets. Next year, somebody needs to take an iron to those things before they pass them out.
  • After the ceremony, the Hubby and our families went out to lunch. I got pizza. It looked great; tasted ‘eh. I’ve had better, and I’ve most definitely made better so I gave the leftovers to the Hubby. Lucky guy.

Olive and Onion Pizzas

  • I slow roasted an entire cookie sheet and a half of tomatoes. Well technically the oven slow roasted them, and it took a total of eleven hours. The end result is only one stinkin’ cup of tomatoes, and now that it’s done, I have no idea what to do with them. “That was a great use of my time,” she says, while dripping sarcasm.

Slow-Roasted-Tomatoes

  • I froze some more shredded zucchini and a couple of ears of corn. A caterpillar came out of the corn, and I unknowingly blanched the poor sucker. Oops.
  • To finish the week off right and partially prepare for the one ahead, I had a long soak in the tub yesterday, where pampering and a pedicure were prevalent. I also curled up on the couch with a hand-held bowl of some Creamy Potato Soup. It’s possible I froze a batch or two as well.

Potato Soup on the Couch

Enough about me. Let’s hear from you. Link up and get your list on.
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Week In Review Button Final

Interested in participating in the Week In Review…good, you should be.

  • Your post should be about all the things you accomplished in the last seven days or so.
  • Your post can be about food, social outings, workouts, home improvement projects, fun excursions, none of the above, or all of the above. The idea is to recognize all the things you accomplished in the past seven days. It’s an ode to yourself, a celebration of sorts, and a virtual pat on the back. Plus you get to write in list form, which rocks my socks. Although if you want to stick to prose go ahead; it’s your world.
  • Add the Week in Review button to your post, link back to Clean Eats, Fast Feets and get your list on.
  • Or you can be like me and make up own your rules. If you can justify it, I’ll accept it. How’s that for lenient?

What did you accomplish last week? Are you a fan of Monday’s? Any good ideas for slow roasted tomatoes or fennel?

Comments

    • Thanks for posting the recipe. This is the second time I’ve done it, and it couldn’t be any easier. Plus, the whole house smells fantastic, and I’m already plotting how to use some of this most recent batch of onions. I’ve got black beans and corn so I think a Mexicali Pizza is in order.

      Reply

  2. Sounds like a great week, Meghan. Love the fact that your company offers you the yoga session. I’ve been hoping to get in some yoga (learn some yoga) while I’m here in NM, but we’ve been too busy with house things. I’m excited that it’ so available out here. I’ll get to it when I’m here for real. Have a great week!

    Reply

    • It is nice. They also offer fresh fruit every other week and Chobani on the off weeks.
      I’m happy to hear you have arrived in New Mexico safe and sound. You’re home away from home and soon to be just home. I can’t wait to hear all about your trip.
      Thanks for linking up Fran.

      Reply

    • I hear they’re fabulous in an actual dish so maybe I’ll change my mind when I get around to eating them in an actual meal. Now I just need to find out what meal….

      Reply

  6. Haha I love your comment about ironing the white coats (but I totally agree that that needs to be taken care of!) I love that you get yoga at work and fresh goodies to eat. It sounds like you had a great week (even if you didn’t share that granola recipe yet!) He’s hoping that you get all that you want out of this one 🙂

    Reply

    • I really want to share the recipe but it’s simply not ready and by the time I get there, the summer flavors will be long gone. Humph.
      You have a great week too. Don’t work too hard!!

      Reply

  8. You work at an amazing place, you know that? Jealous of the perks. And the view.

    Here’s a suggestion for slow-roasted tomatoes–I used mine in this enchilada sauce: http://recipesfordivineliving.blogspot.com/2013/05/easy-homemade-enchilada-sauce.html I had a rimmed baking sheet full which translated into about 3 cups in a quart sized tiptop bag.

    I’ve had the same thoughts about pizza, myself. How’d you like the stone?

    Your ironing idea is a hoot, but I LOL at the blanched caterpillar–BTDT. I read it out loud to my girl and she cracked up too (I saw her grill!).

    I didn’t do much this weekend . . . took a walk Saturday morning 🙂

    Reply

    • Obviously I slow roasted them too long because my rimmer baking sheet netted only one cup, although I did remove the tomatoes peel when they were done. Did you keep the peels on? Even so, the peels wouldn’t make up two cups worth.
      Thanks for the recipe suggestion.

      I loved the stone. It was probably my bet cooked crust to date. It now has a place in my oven, and it makes me happy.

      Just a walk, huh?! How about a half marathon sized walk!! Congratulations.

      Reply

  9. “Ah, the strike through; such sweet, sweet bliss” – never before have I been able to summarize this so succinctly. Perfect.

    Recently, I was trying to create my week’s meal plan, but I realized that it’s largely based on the whims of local produce. I wondered, “How do you make a meal plan when you don’t know what you’ll find at the market? Who could I ask for advice? Who is obsessed with planning and local produce?”

    Obviously, my brain instantly screamed, “MEGHAN MEGHAN MEGHAN ASK MEGHAN ALSO SHE LIKES CATS”

    Do you have any advice???

    Also, congratulations to hubby and his new white coat! Not sure if pizza and tomato sauce was the best celebration food, though 😉

    Reply

    • You just made my day. I am thrilled you thought of me!!!

      My sage words of wisdom: talk to the folks at the market and ask them what they do with ingredients. They are a valuale resource. Another resource: start searching Pinterest, food sites, google for that particular ingredient and you might get lucky, especially if you aren’t sure what you’re working with. Be ready to get creative and get ready to fly by the seat of your pants. Basically, embrace it and get funky in the kitchen. Music always helps; wine doesn’t hurt either. Oh and don’t give up because not every dish is a winner. Sad to say, but absolutely true. Feel free to email me any questions too because I love this stuff.
      megannmcc@aol.com

      I can’t wait to hear/see/read all about your kitchen escapades.

      Reply

      • Oh, that’s a really good idea! Chris also works with a few people who have grown up here and I’ll sometimes ask, “What is this? What do I do with it?”

        A glass of wine definitely gets the culinary creativity flowing. Plus, there are very few things that a generous splash of hot sauce can’t cure 🙂

        Thanks again for the advice! I hope all is going well over there with ya!

        Reply

  10. I’ll never understand why people dislike Mondays. I mean, I suppose I probably could understand, considering I used to really dislike them as well, but now? Love em. Fresh start indeed. Although I suppose any given moment is technically a fresh start, but that’s being a little overly optimistic, even for me. And I’ve heard that roasted fennel is pretty fantastic… you can never go wrong with roasting 🙂

    Reply

  11. LOL. That tomato thing resonates so strongly with me. The other week I lugged a huge bag of tomatoes, for which my mum slow roasted for pasta sauce…. it literally made ONE meal. All those damn tomatoes!

    I’m actually interested in freezing shredded zucchini- I try and add it to random things like pancakes and oats and its a biatch to constantly do it so it doesn’t go rotten- if it freezes and defrosts well I must try this! Thanks champ

    Reply

    • So far I’ve just done the freezing part and from what I understand, there is no need to remove the excess water before you freeze it. Basically, you just shred it, stick it in a freezer safe Ziploc bag, remove excess air and freeze away. Hopefully, defrosting and cooking with it when I’m ready will prove to be as easy. I’ll let you know what that happens. 😉

      Thanks for swinging by and saying hello. It is so refreshing to see a man in my feed.

      Reply

  12. The pizza sure does look good, bummer it tasted like a bag of ass. Or did I just assume that from your “eh?” Maybe I just wanted to say bag of ass. Whatever. HA! I don’t have anything against Monday, my job doesn’t have a “Monday” these days so really it’s just another day for me.

    Reply

    • It was a bummer, which is bothersome because it looks pretty damn good. You feel free to say bag of ass anytime. There are no rules here.

      Reply

  13. I have to get on the crock pot onions. I’m super happy with a bowl of soft, sweet onions and a baguette. To me those are the trappings of a solid afternoon.
    Did you use the roasted tomatoes yet? If so- how and how did they taste?

    Reply

    • You really do. They are a glorious thing, and I can’t wait to start adding them to all my favorite Fall foods (shh, I am embracing Fall, just not the pumpkin craze).

      I haven’t used the tomatoes yet, but I ‘ve got plans to make a tomato soup this afternoon and they’re going to be a part of that so we shall see.

      Reply

  14. Ok, so I think I totally get bonus points for singing “cheese, glorious cheese” AS I was reading it the first time…and even MORE bonus points since I sang it in my best fat opera man voice! 😉

    I want that granola!! Omg, I just bought a HUGE bag of dried blueberries from Costco a few weeks ago so I can make THESE: http://www.thehealthymaven.com/2013/09/blueberry-white-chocolate-chip-cookies.html but I’ve still yet to get to the store for white chocolate chips since I keep toying with the idea of making my own with the rock of cocoa butter I’ve had sitting in the fridge for nearly a year! What can I say? I’m ambitious but my ADD tends to get in the way of my creativity! 😉

    I hate that the pizza didn’t live up to your standards…especially since it LOOKS fantastic…sneaky little bastard! Oh and I bought a thing of fennel last year at the store because I was going to get all super creative and stuff and I was even thinking about trying to recreate an apple fennel slaw I had at a cafe. Well, besides throwing it in a few salads, I ended up just juicing it all! #foodbloggerfail

    Reply

    • You do get bonus points for singing it.
      Sometimes our similarities scare me. I have so many ideas and I want to make everything that I get carried away or my ADD takes me off to the next best thing. I have a bag of Puffed Kamut because I was going to make my own Honey Smacks cereal, and it’s been sitting in my cabinet for almost a year now. Oops.

      Great idea on the fennel. I could absolutely try juicing it. I’ve certainly drank worse. Perhaps I could just add some champagne and…no, that’d be bad.

      I’m in full own granola testing mode so not only will you be having some come October, but you may be having a lot.

      Reply

      • Yesssssss! I can’t wait! Less than a WEEK! Ohh, I’m so excited….and I just can’t fight it…I know, I know, I know…. 😉

        Honey Smacks?! You mean the stuff that makes your pee smell like straight up SUGAR!?! I used to LOVE those! Lol

        Fennel and champagne…I can see that being a good combo…for strangebutMAYBE?good 😉

        Reply

        • So long as you’re not Jessie Spanno excited. 😉

          Yep, the straight up sugar honey smacks. I thought I’d recreate them with just the kamut and honey. How hard could it be? Famous last words right.

          Reply

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