Maybe I Do Have a Green Thumb

Things are going much better in my balcony garden. I never used the fertilizer I have, but instead, I watered my plants with water that I dissolved epsom salt into. Everything seemed to perk up! From what I've read, it's good to do this once a month or so. One of my gardenias is turning yellow so I need to pick up a spray bottle the next time I'm out so I can spray the epsom salt solution on the leaves.

I can't wait for my compost to be ready. I'm still adding to it and the bin is almost full. I started it a little over a month ago and I hope the heat here will speed it up. I've never composted before, let alone on a balcony, so I'm excited to use this on my plants. I never realized how addicting gardening can be, but I'm glad I've found something to eat up some of my spare time.

One Ingredient Italian Ice

The AC in our building is broken and our apartment is a sweltering 84 degrees. I thought now would be as good of a time as any to try a really cool (literally!) summertime dessert I came across a few days ago at Stephanie Cooks. Enter Italian ice. Italian ice that has only one ingredient and is easy on the waistline!

Italian Ice

•  Fresh, chopped, frozen fruit (I used watermelon)

Place the frozen fruit pieces in a food processor.

If you want it to be choppy, like slushy ice, hit pulse a few times until the fruit it chopped up and resembles Italian ice.

If you prefer it more smooth, let the food processor run for about 2-3 minutes or until smooth like soft ice cream.

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My first attempt came out a little soupy (see picture), but I ate it anyway. It was still pretty great and I am SO glad I found this idea. It's as easy as pushing a button on a blender, which suits me perfectly. It was a wonderful relief to the no AC situation and I can tell you now it's going to be a staple for us this summer. I'm going to see if I can make a prettier batch tomorrow. :)

Low Fat Mac and Cheese

Kevin leaves for Munich for two weeks tomorrow, so for dinner I wanted to make something that would yield a lot of leftovers that I could eat while he's gone. Cooking for one is such a pain. I've made this recipe from RecipeZaar once before (yes, I do realize it's sacrilegious to make low fat macaroni) and we ate it for leftovers for two or three days afterward. So if you make this, be warned... it makes a lot of macaroni.

Low Fat Mac and Cheese (my changes are in italics)

• 1 tbsp unsalted butter 
• 3 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour (used whole wheat)
• 1 tsp dry mustard (used regular mustard.. Kevin says it's close enough)
• 1/2 tsp paprika 
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt 
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat milk 
• 1 cup nonfat sour cream 
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
• 4 cups cooked elbow macaroni, from about 2 cups dried (used whole wheat penne)
• 1/4 cup corn flake crumbs or dried breadcrumbs (used FiberOne last time, omitted this time)

Coat 2 quart casserole with nonstick spray. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Melt butter in medium saucepan. stir in flour, mustard, paprika, and salt. slowly pour in milk, whisking continuously until there are no lumps in the flour. continue to stir with whisk, raise the heat, and cook until milk bubbles and thickens.


Remove from stovetop and stir in sour cream, egg, and cheese.

Toss macaroni and the cheese mixture together in a bowl and then pour it into the casserole. Top with the cornflake crumbs. Set in the oven and bake for 20 minutes (I did almost 40), or until bubbling around edges.

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So yummy! Not Stouffer's, but I don't think anything will match that. :) We're pepper fans so we eat this with a bit of black pepper on top, which I think makes it even better.

Guilt Free Banana Bread

Kevin asked me to make banana bread today. Let it be known that he is not fond of diet foods, yet the only banana bread I've made for him is this recipe from Hungry Girl. Granted, each time I've made it I have had to substitute a few ingredients due to what I had or could find.

Banana Bread (my changes are in italics)

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
• 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
• 1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (used 1 egg and an extra banana)
• 1/2 cup no-sugar-added applesauce (used regular applesauce because I can't find sugar-free here)
• 2 tsp. baking powder 
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract 
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a large bowl, combine both types of flour, Splenda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon (in other words, all dry ingredients). 

In a separate bowl, mix together the mashed bananas, egg substitute, applesauce, and vanilla extract (all the wet ingredients). 

Add this mixture to the bowl with the dry ingredients, and stir until just blended. 

Spoon batter into a large loaf pan (about 9" X 5") sprayed with nonstick spray. 

Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly, and then cut into 8 slices.

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I think this recipe does a pretty good job cutting the calories and fat out of a normal banana bread recipe without sacrificing much yummy goodness. If you make this exactly as it says, it's only 140 calories per slice! 

Who Doesn't Love a Good Sale?

Went to Mall of the Emirates today to get some soil and pots from Carrefour. On our way out, we passed Home Centre, and there was a HUGE sale going on. We purchased some allergen control sheets, pillowcases, and duvet cover for 70% off. We also ended up with a set of 10 glasses, 2 travel mugs, a 3 tier shelf for the bathroom counter, a new pillow for me, and a table lamp for the balcony. All for $75! I'm so excited, especially about the sheets, because we haven't been able to find anything that fits our California king bed that's not very expensive.

Now for some quick burgers on the stove and an afternoon working on the balcony.

I'm Makin' Waffles!

I woke Kevin by clanging around in the kitchen in my desire to make some waffles. We've made waffles before with Bisquick, but they always turned out flat. This time I was looking for a recipe that promised fluffy waffles and came across this waffle recipe from Mr. Breakfast.com.

Waffle House Waffles (my changes are in italics)

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (used Chappati Atta wheat flour)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 cups milk
• 8 Tablespoons melted butter (used margarine)
  
• 4 large eggs - separated (used only 3 yolks because I messed one up)
• I also added 1/4 tsp of vanilla and a packet of stevia
  

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, egg yolks, melted butter and milk. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Fold 1/3 of egg whites into batter, then fold in second third. Once incorporated fold in the last of the whites. Cook according to the instructions for your waffle maker.

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I don't think these turned out quite like Waffle House waffles, which I think can be attributed to the wheat flour, but these were pretty darn good, a somewhat healthier option, and WAY better than using Bisquick. I'm sure they'd taste even better using the all-purpose flour but I like to "healthify" when I cook. I cannot stress enough the importance of beating the egg whites. I think that makes this recipe fluffier than other waffle recipes, so don't skip it!

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Ok, not really. But I think of that whenever I do some midnight gardening. I was really in the mood to work on my balcony garden and it's usually nicer to do it when it's dark so the construction guys working on the building next door aren't around to watch me and it's not as hot. Well, tonight was hot as Hades and I could see a few peeking guys in the construction elevator. Oh well.

I moved my cilantro to a bigger pot. I'm going to keep it inside because the wind wrecked my last one. I also planted aster and petunia seeds as well as strawberry and dwarf beans. Then finally, for the heck of it, I decided to break up the cloves of a chunk of garlic that was sprouting in my refrigerator and planted that too.

A lot of my garden is failing and I have no idea why. I'm on the 22nd floor of a high rise and we get a fair share of wind so I'm sure that has something to do with it. I'm new to this and I know there are certain times of the year to plant certain things, so I'm sure that has something to do with it as well. What I'm worried about most are the gardenias I bought four days ago (for only $10 each!). They aren't turning yellow, but they are shriveled up and drooping. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Kevin bought some fertilizer with an NPK ratio of "12+12+17+3 Mgo+TE as boron, zinc, manganese, and copper." I have no idea what this means so I'll be googling sometime in the near future. I didn't really want to use any fertilizer on food but my compost is no where ready yet and I don't know which plants the fertilizer is good to use on.

Here's what I have in addition to what I planted tonight:
- 3 "window" boxes of vinca
- 2 gardenias
- 5 or 6 boxes of lettuce and broccoli
- 3 pots of basil
- 1 pot of mint
- 1 pot of cilantro
- 2 bougainvillea
- 2 ficus
- 2 jasmine
- 1 pot of aloe
- 1 pineapple
- 1 banana plant
- 1 unidentified plant I received as a gift

Tomorrow, when it's light out, I'll take pictures and post them.

Crunchy Clothes? No Thanks

The dryer is BROKEN. I repeat, the dryer is BROKEN. It's been on the fritz for awhile, but now it won't turn on without the circuit breaker popping. And everything else on that circuit is unplugged so I have no idea what the issue is. Kevin spent a good part of the morning trying to fix it and it looks like part of the motor burned out. We got it used from Dubizzle which is Dubai's version of Craigslist so now we're on the hunt for another one. Until then, I either let the laundry pile up or use the drying racks we have. I hate drying racks. For some reason they leave your clothes hard and crispy, no matter how much fabric softener I use. Argh.

The rest of the day was completely wasted. I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer after only getting an hour and a half of sleep last night. I tried, believe me, I tried. I was really looking forward to working on my balcony garden. I know it's a little late in the season, but I have some strawberry seeds I want to plant, as well as some petunia and aster. I will get this done tomorrow, even if it means adopting Kevin's morning caffeine ritual, which is a lot.

Now to figure out something for dinner... but both of us are lazy tonight and settled in front of Shutter Island so it's pretty much guaranteed our kitchen won't be used.

Wide Awake

I returned to Dubai from the US a few days ago and I'm still suffering from a horrible case of jet lag. It's a little after 3am and I'm wide awake after napping most of the evening. I had been meaning to start a blog to kill a lot of the free time I have and I figured now is as good of a time as any.

I'm excited to share my failed recipe attempts as well as the rare successful one and any other household hurdles I'm able to overcome. I'd tell you that you're not allowed to laugh, but you are, alongside my husband, who laughs at me daily.

And now that this blog is officially no longer just an idea (and the dirty dishes are in the dishwasher), I'm off to try and get some sleep!