I know I have been very absent for a very long time, but I'm doing my best and hopefully you are still with me :)  I have been fairly busy at work and in my free time I've been getting involved in a new hobby... couponing! To some of you this is probably not a shock because I instagram and tweet about my couponing ventures but it's definitely something that I'm really enjoying.  I so far have been doing a good job of resisting clipping coupons for items I don't need and I have not bought anything we don't already use.  So no hoarding for me!  

One of the things I really love about couponing is it almost makes meal planning easier!  Instead of planning our meals for the week based upon what sounds good, I go through the stores' circulars and find things that are inexpensive and plan that way!  It makes a world of difference.  It makes planning the meals less confusing and allows me to feed Matt and myself on the cheap :)

I absolutely adore chili.  Usually filled with tomatoes.  Big plump, juicy tomatoes.  But as I've mentioned in posts pasts, my significant other cannot stand them.  So as much as it pains me, I have created a recipe for tomato-less chili.  I find this chili to be really good, despite it's lack of tomatoes.  I use tomato paste to get some tomato flavor in there without having the actual tomato pieces in there.  I think this recipe is perfect for someone looking to de-tomato-ize their chili (not sure how many of you exist!)  You can also make this a more traditional chili by adding 2-3 fresh tomatoes :)

Sorry for the dork-fest post title, it's just from one of my favorite shows, New Girl, which, if you don't watch it already, you definitely should and it's all available on Hulu.  So Matt and I were discussing how deli turkey just doesn't cut it sometimes.  Sometimes you want the real thing.  And by real thing I mean the thing that you are normally only lucky to have once a year? Black Friday.  The perfect Turkey Sandwich with real turkey meat and not some processed sliced turkey sitting in water or some other liquid wrapped in a plastic container (and it won't expire for like a month?? Weird).  So anyway, I had some time to spare, which is incredibly rare for me.  A day off is a fantastic blessing in my life, so I use it to make turkey for "real turkey" sandwiches for Matt all week.  Yum-my.

This is LITERALLY a one-pot wonder.  My favorite kind of meal.  This is another reason why I'm obsessed with my pressure cooker!  Easy to make quick meals that taste amazing and clean up is a cinch! Lentils are one of my favorite foods.  They are so easy to make (and quick with a pressure cooker), taste delicious, are incredibly filling, and very nutritious! The beauty of lentils is you can make them a million different ways.  This is just one example below.  Feel free to mix it up with whatever veggies you have, add pancetta, prosciutto, or simply make them plain with just a little garlic, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes with a drizzle of olive oil and shredded Parmesan cheese on top.  Oh the possibilities!  Oh and did I mention they are cheap??  A one pound bag is only about $4-5 and will make enough food for half the week for two people eating it every day! They are so good for you, I can't get enough!  High in protein and fiber, low in calories, carbs, sodium and all the other bad stuff we don't like :)  Below is just what I made tonight, but please feel free to mix it up and let me know what your favorite combos are!  I make lentils almost weekly and will be sure to post other good combos in the future.  I know that when the time comes and I have a family and need a quick nutritious meal on the fly, this will definitely be a good go-to!  Let me know what you guys think!

Hey guys!  Again please forgive my absence!  A lot has happened in the last few weeks!  I signed up for a freaking FULL marathon.  Like a crazy person.  I'm still trying to watch what I eat and come up with healthier things to eat.  This is certainly a good one and I'll be using it again.  My favorite part is that it's a one-pan wonder (except for the pot you have to use for cooking the pasta...but the rest can all be done in a single frying pan).  Read on for the Verdict to see more about how much I liked this recipe, and how my co-workers liked it as well!

Oh y'all I'm addicted...  I have a serious obsession with my pressure cooker.  I've been wanting one ever since I taught the pressure cooking class at Williams-Sonoma back in the fall!  I finally got myself one and I'm in love with it.  You can find one here.  I sincerely wish I had one of these to give away to you, because they are seriously amazing... Maybe Cuisinart will hear my plea, and offer one up but no pressure (LOL pun totally unintentional but awesome so I'm keeping it)

Hey guys!  Quick post this evening... Today was a lonnngggg day.  To tell you the truth, I felt like I was in 50 places at once today, so by the time 5 o'clock came around, I wasn't feeling much up to making dinner.  But, like a good housewife (yeah right lol), I texted Matt to see what he wanted for dinner.  To my pleasant surprise, he texted back that he was already making spaghetti and had made enough for me as well... what a keeper!   But for those of you who have read the blog before, you probably know how I feel about Matt's famous spaghetti with meat sauce. 

I figured I'd take the spaghetti and make something else to go on top, since I wasn't crazy about the idea of Ragu and ground beef (in Matt's defense, I had just read on twitter about some meat company that just recalled and insane amount of ground beef for salmonella...and even though it wasn't our brand, it was just kind of unappetizing).  SOOOO, I figured that I wanted to come up with something that I could just throw together in a jiffy so that I could pile it all in a bowl, curl up on the couch, and watch Stabler and Benson throw some perverts in jail.