Sorry I'm late!



Brushing the biscuits with buttermilk



So its been a few days, but I have been meaning to blog! lol.

So lets go back. So that Sunday night that (same Sunday I made Rice Krispies on!) was taco night! I happen to LOVE taco night! We bought these new(er) tortillas that we found at Safeway that are the smaller size, and are a corn/whole wheat blend. I find them delicious! I normally hate mass produced tortillas, but I've found that these have a great taste and texture and are definitely more healthy than the hard shells, which makes me quite happy! In any case, I chop up all the ingredients (onions, tomatoes, avocado, cilantro, lime, and radishes) and put them in my tiny little Fiestaware bowls that make taco night a little more fun! Ryan loves the little bowls. lol. I should have taken a photo, but alas, I did not.



Pan-frying the Cheerio Chicken



Monday! I DID take some pictures Monday! I tried something a little new. I made for the first time some sage biscuits from Blackbird Grain Farms. Its an organic heirloom grain biscuit mix. Now, these had a great taste, they were a little crumbly vs flaky, and for those of us that think KFC has the best biscuit ever, they are a little dry and not what you immediately expect out of a biscuit. HOWEVER, after that initial (and ridiculous) shock that your home-made, all natural, heirloom grain biscuit is not a KFC or Pillsbury biscuit...they are delicious! I constantly have to remind myself when I'm baking or cooking to be in the moment and not compare my food to things that aren't even real. Like KFC/canned biscuits. You just can not possibly make that in your kitchen, and I doubt that you would even want whatever they put in those in your home. lol. Anyway, on to the side dish. We have a ton of sweet potatoes right now, so I decided to dice some up (in decent sized bits) drizzle them with olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and a little extra garlic powder for good measure. Obviously if you've got fresh thyme use it! It is SO much better than the ground up powder you get in the spice isle. I gave it a little toss and put it in a casserole dish in a 400 degree oven for, lets say...30-45 minutes?? obviously the bigger you make the pieces the longer they'll need to cook.. I make a great healthy baked chicken dish that uses Wheatabix for the coating, but since I did not have Wheatabix I had to improvise with Cheerios. I first pounded out one chicken breast (ensuring that we get only one serving size of meat each) and then pounded and pulverized those poor little O's..To the bag that I beat the O's in I added some whole grain flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder and sage (seasoning heavily) and shook it about until it was well blended. Then I made an egg wash, but what I did this time was beat one egg with a tsp of "Better Than Bouillon" that gave it some good flavor there as well. Dip the chicken in the egg, then in the cereal mix and bake it or pan "fry" it until nice and crispy! Its always tender and delicious. However if you're going to try this I definitely recommend Wheatabix. The Cheerio's weren't bad, but Wheatabix is definitely better in this application.



Steaming some veggies for the pasta



Tuesday Night was a little simpler. I boiled up some organic, whole grain pasta (ziti) and sauteed up some chicken breast in olive oil with garlic and basil, shitake mushrooms, and carrot. Steamed up some broccoli and asparagus spears, and tossed it all together with some pesto and sunflower seeds. My first choice of mushroom would definitely be crimini for this, but Tuesday was a, "my fridge is full of stuff that is about to or is going bad" type of a night, so I scrounged and made a healthy pasta dish! Woo! And for dessert, because I've had a terrible sweet tooth lately, I baked some sweet potatoes (just like you would a regular potato) and split em, put a little smart balance on em and sprinkled a little brown sugar and cinnamon on them. Delicious! Even the husband liked them.

And Wednesday night was even more simple. I took a can of Amy's fat-free vegetable soup and added the left over taco meat from Sunday and Viola! Easy, if not a little too spicy for my tastes, dinner. I also had a left over biscuit. They are quite good but best eaten straight out of the oven.


Pasta in the back and chicken for sauce in front!

 Now that we are caught up, hopefully I will not fall so far behind again! While I'm not putting a strict goal of blogging every night, when I have good dinners to blog about, I should just stop being lazy and do it that night! TTFN!

Sunday morning!

Well...now it's Sunday afternoon, but that doesn't quite fit the No Doubt song thats been running through my head! In any case, Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I can laze around, and do whatever I feel like.

Usually I do everything I can to stay in my pajamas. Today however I had to get dressed for an appointment later so I used that opportunity to stop by the grocery store and get some rice crispy treat supplies! A simple, sticky, and rewarding treat....Made me think to the future and the possibility of making them with little ones. Probably my friends' little ones but hey. lol. Making rice crispies with kids is something everyone should do.

As you can see I decided to make a little sheep today! He's got some swirled chocolate frosting for wool and while his face doesn't look so good, I am SURE he will taste just fine!

Does anybody have any good childhood Rice Krispy memories to share??

Signing off! Rest up the rest of the day before we start the work week all over.

W-is for Wine

I promised some crafts! So tonight I am posting a real quick wine bottle decoration I did for a little wine and chocolate party. It is pretty simple, shabby chic... But for $8 with lots of extra materials who could complain?! I just took a base paper and wrapped the bottle, then added to contrasting stripes around the bottle. Made a little tag and tied a couple ribbons! The other nice touch and a good tip in general, is to use little rhinestones or buttons to cover up any seams.

 I think that considering this involved zero planning, an inexpensive trip to my favorite paper store, and only 10 minutes of my time, that it was a success! You could certainly do the same craft with fancier papers and nicely edged scissors! But for this particular edge I decided to tear the paper. I just enjoy the texture for an informal event like this. This would be a great Christmas present, hostess gift, or in this case a pretty way to cover up where the wine is from for a tasting game! Cant wait to have some and see what other wines we'll get to taste! Have a nice evening!

Lots Going On...

So! For my first REAL post that isnt just a, "hey! i'm back!" I will just go over a brief overview of whats been happening...

As I mentioned in the previous post, my family and I have moved into a nice little house back in the "city". This is big news coming from a terrible, run down little house (full of spiders and mice in the walls) in a small town about 30 minutes out of town...Just thinking about that place makes me depressed! But seeing as I am no longer there, I am now motivated to craft, and try all sorts of new things and get my life where I want it to be!

So on that topic, I am teaching myself how to sew...so far it is going quite well and I enjoy it very much, but alas...I hit a wall...I can not finish the adorable baby booties I started because I do not have an IRON! You read that right folks, I have been living without an iron for my entire adult life (only 4 years I suppose, but hey, I cant believe it!).

My husband and I also just started all our seeds for our garden, which I am very excited about! Finally we can have a garden! Hopefully it will flourish and I will have to give some produce away! We shall see. I am not putting all my eggs in THAT basket. lol. However I am going to give the garden my BEST effort!

Speaking of vegetables, and lifestyle changes, I am very proud to say that we have just joined the local CSA and will start getting boxes of FRESH, locally grown, mostly organic produce once a week from June through October. This is a big step for us. I cant wait to post some photos and interesting ideas surroundnig my weekly gift of produce!

Cooking. I have always loved eating good food, and therefore always loved cooking good food. I'll just come right out and say it. I am a dynamo in the kitchen. I love to cook and bake, and I love to find tasty, ways to cook and bake healthy food. So expect that in the future! I also hope to attempt canning this year!

I will sign off of this post beaming with inspiration and hoping for a few people to follow along on my journey =).

Gentleman! Start Your Engines!...again.

Hello!

Well...it seems as though I had completely, 100% abandoned my blog...lost all interest! Well, it turns out that major life events (mainly moving away from a terrible place that did not motivate me to do ANY thing) brings back my desire to blog...

While "The Guiding Bite" was previously on another platform (I cant even remember WHAT website. lol) I have decided to resurrect it here. It will continue to be about my adventures in food, both at home and eating out. It will contain some successful recipes, potentially some disasters and hopefully a little humility when it comes to the kitchen. lol.

This new and improved version will probably contain plenty of my crafty adventures from crocheting, to sewing, to some other, misc. crafts. Maybe I should have revised the name to, "The Every girl's Guide to Martha Stewart"...oh well. It is what it is!

In any case, I hope to keep at this and I hope to generate at least a few followers. Hopefully this will be a fun endeavor for everyone!