State Fair & First Anniversary :)

Hello all!

I hope you had a lovely weekend and as happy a Monday as is possible...

I had a very relaxing weekend. Mr. G and I went out to his family's house on Saturday and to a church picnic yesterday, and that about wraps it up. On Thursday, though, we did something Mr. G has been looking forward to for a LONG time - we went to the Minnesota State Fair! Our "Great Minnesota Get-Together" is the third largest fair in the nation and the first in terms of average daily attendance. And the food? Amazing. Here's what Mr. G and I ate (however embarrassing to admit):

Australian Battered Potatoes

Chocolate Covered Bacon

Mini Donuts

Cheese Curds - my favorite :)

Chocolate Malts

Unfortunately I have no new recipes to share with you this week, but I did cook more lemon salmon tonight, and it was delicious!

In other news, Mr. G and I will be traveling down to Nashville this weekend to celebrate our first anniversary. :) We'll be staying at the beautiful Opryland Hotel on our anniversary night and eating dinner at a steakhouse in the hotel. The rest of the time we'll be staying with my parents and hanging out with friends. I can't wait!

Hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend!

<3 Mrs. G

Sunday Recipe #8: Lemon Salmon

Hello everyone!

Hope you've all had a great week. I survived my first week at the new job! Moreover, I actually really enjoyed it, and I think I picked a good company to work for. I picked a good week to start, too - we launched our company this week and had our summer party at the horse races yesterday. I just feel so blessed to finally be doing what I want to do, even if it did take me a while to get here. :)

As for today's recipe, Mr. G and I bought a huge slab of fresh atlantic salmon on sale yesterday at Cub, so I decided to try my hand at it. I've cooked salmon a couple times before, but I've never cooked it fresh, and let me say - it is a million times better fresh. Honestly. I used a very simple recipe with only the following ingredients - olive oil, lemon juice, lemon pepper seasoning and rosemary. I cut a couple strips of the salmon, basted it in a small amount of olive oil and lemon juice, and sprinkled with the spices. After about 15 minutes in the oven at 375, I added a little more lemon juice and pepper then let it cook 2 more minutes before taking it out. In my oven, 17 minutes was perfect - the salmon was flaky and tender but still juicy. We ate it with sides of rice and broccoli, and it was a perfect summer meal.

I also made chocolate chip cookies tonight (as requested by Mr. G), and I think they were my best batch yet! I used the recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House chocolate chip bag, but I added a little extra brown sugar, substituted some pancake mix for flour, and I didn't use the entire bag of chocolate chips. Also, they only took about 8 minutes to cook. Definitely will be making these again!

In other news, Mr. G and I joined a gym! We had been waiting to see what kind of insurance I got at my job, which turned out to be a good decision because it will pay most of our (already severely discounted) membership fee each month. :) We joined L.A. Fitness, and the one we go to is a huge facility that never seems very busy, so it's perfect. However, we do have to go at least 3 days a week in order to get insurance coverage, so we will be working out a lot. Maybe now I'll finally get in shape! If I stop baking cookies and cupcakes, that is...

Hope you have a good week!

<3 Mrs. G

Sunday Recipe #7: Croque Madame Redux + Exciting News :)

Hello everyone!

I'm not sure about you all, but I've had a very busy week. And it isn't going to stop anytime soon, because I got a job!! I finished up my internship at the ADA on Friday, and I start my new job tomorrow. :) My position is Media and Communications Specialist, and I'll be working at a start-up company that promotes health and wellness to other companies by providing tools, resources, and personal consultation to employees. It's a great company, and I'm so excited to get started!!

After getting the news last Friday, Mr. G and I celebrated with dinner in downtown Minneapolis - at the restaurant where I used to work, ironically - and went out with friends afterwards. If you've been reading my posts, you know that this has been a long time coming, and that I was starting to get pretty discouraged. But throughout the interview process for this job, it just felt right. Moreover, I was starting to get the feeling that my job search was about to come to an end - I can't really explain it, but I just felt a sort of peace about it that I hadn't had in a long time. I just knew I was close to getting a job, and it turns out I was right. :) Mr. G and I are both thrilled and immensely relieved. Life just got a lot better for our little family!

Amidst all the excitement about the new job as well as working extra hours at the internship, I still managed to re-try an old recipe that you may recognize - croque madame! Mr. G and I debated tackling a different recipe for it, but ended up going with the same one with a couple slight changes.

Here's the link to my previous post on (and recipe for) le croque madame. This time, however, we used Italian white bread (not French, but better than wheat), actual Gruyere cheese (yay Cub Foods!), and a bit more milk (I wanted the bechamel sauce to be slightly runnier). We also tried to cook the sandwiches less on the stove as well as in the broiler, but they ended up being about the same - slightly burnt, but not as bad as before. They actually started burning in the broiler almost immediately, so they were in there maybe a minute. Overall, the sandwich was still delicious, even though it was still quite a challenge to cook. Timing everything is the hardest part, but it's definitely doable, and there are plenty of easier recipes out there to try if this one scares you. Either way it's worth the trouble!

Wish me luck at the new job!

<3 Mrs. G

Belated Sunday Recipe #6: Low-Fat Turkey Tacos

Happy Monday!

I tried a new recipe last week, and Mr. G helped me out with this one. It's a quick, low-fat meal that anyone can make, and it tastes amazing! I served it with refried beans and Mexican rice, but you can skip the beans to keep it health-conscious. Personally, I have an obsession with refried beans... Hope you enjoy the recipe! I know I'll make it again.

Low-Fat Turkey Tacos

Ingredients:

• Mission tortillas (96% fat free)
• 1 lb ground turkey 90/10 (we used Jennie-O - watch out for the recalled stuff from Cargill!)
• Ortega reduced sodium taco seasoning
• Diced tomatoes
• Onions
• Green onions
• Lettuce
• Mexican cheese blend
• Light sour cream

Directions:

• Cook ground turkey in skillet. Once cooked, add taco seasoning according to package directions.
• While turkey is cooking, cut up vegetables into bite-size portions.
• Serve with tortillas and desired toppings.
• Enjoy!

Stay tuned, because I have exciting news as well as a very successful bargain shopping trip to report. 

Feel free to share any ground turkey recipes of your own! We buy a ton of the stuff, so I'm always on the lookout for new ways to use it.

<3 Mrs. G