Hodge Podge of Home Cooked Goodies (Mostly)

Before I show off some of the goodies I made while Ryan was recovering, check out the sushi I picked up from the commissary.  I was really trying to keep the noise down in the living room and not run the microwave or cook things that smelled too much because he was really sensitive to all of that, so I thought sushi would be perfect.  Well it would have been, except he woke up right then and can into the living room and it was a tad too fishy smelling for him.  When you are sick, you are sick, and some smells just do not work.

As he was starting to feel better I started making more foods.  One that I was really eager to try was this Flatout bread that I picked up from FNCE.  I spotted the pizza picture on the front and thought this would be a really great idea.

So let's take a look at the facts.  One bread has 90 calories, low in fat, high in fiber and has quite a bit of protein.  Not sure about the 1 gram of sugar alcohol in here, but I will let that slide.  Overall I think this fits in to any diet well, but I wouldn't use it everyday.  I like that it is low in calories, but the sodium is a little high, and I personally like variety in my breads.  I actually think I like this better for pizza use than a sandwich.  As for the taste, not to bad, and I am picky, so I was impressed that it tasted better than I expected.

Here is what it looks like before I "decorated".

I added mushrooms to my pizza, and as usual, I added way too many, which I knew, but left them on, and it was a little too heavy for the pizza.

But it was good, and I ate all of it.

During his time home from work I also got out of the house a little bit just to make sure he had quiet and I could go and make some noise somewhere.  So where might I head to entertain myself?  The local grocery store.  After wandering and looking at packages of foods, I came home with some sushi for dinner...

...and some ice cream for dessert.

I really like the little cups of ice cream.  It is better than sitting around with a pint (although I could never eat that all in one sitting).

Towards the end of Ryan's time at home, he was starting to feel better and was eating a little more, so I was ready to get into the kitchen.  I had gotten a few Cooking Light magazines in the mail, which had been forwarded from the island, so they are a few months old.  I saw these salted caramel brownies and knew right away that I wanted, no needed, to make these.

Started with my dry ingredients.

Then I ran into a problem.  I did not have enough liquid to get everything wet, and I had quite a lot left over that was dry.

I decided to add just a teeny bit more of egg and that did the trick.

After my oven finally decided to cook my brownies (we have since had the oven replaced), I took them out, let them cool, and moved on to the caramel topping.

The topping included some butter, and then a bunch of sugar.  Not the healthiest, but if I am going to indulge in some brownies every once in awhile, I am certainly making them from scratch and using the "real" food.

Yummy caramel topping!

Then I coated my brownies.

Drizzled some chocolate.

Obviously sprinkled with too much salt in some places (as you can see here, oops!).  Then I enjoyed my brownies.  Yes, my slice is about 2 servings since the recipe makes 20 brownies and the pan was a 9x9 so I cut into 9 brownies, although we did cut some of those in half.  I really depended on our appetites at that time.

Next up is a yummy white bean soup.

I started with carrots, celery and onions

Cooked those in a little oil.

Then I added some veggie broth, a little water, and my beans, plus some black pepper and Mrs. Dash Italian seasoning.

When it was nice and hot we enjoyed a tasty soup.  This was a good one, and I plan to make it again sometime.

Last up is a sandwich, which I made using these flatbreads, which I picked up at FNCE too.  They were chipotle flavored, so I decided they would go nice with a breakfast sandwich.

I kept it basic and just added some scrambled eggs and cheese.

Folded it over, and had a yummy breakfast sandwich.

After all that, Ryan was feeling much better and headed back to work.  When he came home at the end of his first week he brought me these beautiful flowers.


I was very glad that I found the vase after only 10 minutes of looking.  I figured it may never turn up.  Yeah, it was sitting next to the sink for so long that I just forgot it was right out in the open, like it was a permanent fixture in the decor and just blended with the wall.  I felt silly after that one.




QUESTIONS:  Have you ever tried Flat Out bread or the Pan Plano bread?  How would you use them? What is your favorite kind of brownie?  When was the last time you got flowers?