All in Good Food

I use my slow cooker quite often so I was wondering how often others are using one and why? Here are just a few questions regarding slow cooker/crock pot use to help me gage how popular and versatile this appliance is. If you would like to participate please answer the questions in the comment section and thanks for your help.

Q: Do you own a slower cooker?

Q: If you own a slow cooker, how often to you use it?

Q: What have you cooked in it?

Q: What have you cooked in your slower cooker that did not turn out the way you expected?

Q: What do you like/dislike about cooking in a slow cooker?

I wasn’t sure how I was going to start this post or what I was going to write for that matter so it took me a few days to gain my composure so that I could get the right words to paper. This post is created just to inform my loyal readers as to a development that has risen in my food blogging world. Back in March of this year I was reading one of the blogs I follow under my quilting blog and the writer was talking about using Google alerts to track possible uses or misuses of your blog posts. Now I had done searches before on the internet concerning my blog and hadn’t found any misuses of my posts or recipes so when I used Google alerts I didn’t expect to find anything.

As my readers know I’m not a trained chef, I am just someone who loves cooking and loves food in general. So my recipes are simple dishes I mostly created to help me overcome having a very small budget for groceries and very little time to cook hence the name of my blog All in Good Food a play on the term all in good fun because I like having fun with my food; cooking, eating, displaying, photographing; all the joys of a foodie.

Well here is the news readers! What I found out was that a large appliance company who I will not name in this post has taken my blog’s name. They claimed they researched the name and purchased the domain name in January of 2010, however if you have been with me from the beginning you know that I created this blog in 2009 and have been posing to it ever since then. As a matter of fact I not only have this blog here on Blogger but one of the same name on Live Journal. I created them both in my early days on blogging because I was new to blogging and wasn’t sure which company offered the best service for what I needed. So although I began posing to only one of my blogs on a regular basis I still have the two blogs.

I did contact this company at that time to inform them of the fact that my blog already was using the name All in Good Food but it wasn’t until recently that they replied to my email stating that they did research on the name and purchased the domain name back in January 2010. This company claims they did research on the name but I am the one how has the twitter name allingoodfood42, a fan page on Facebook under the name All In Good Food, a flickr account under allingoodfood42, a gmail account under allingoodfood @ gmail.com. Apparently they did not research to see if anyone was already using the name. Which is a sad commentary on the fact that big companies don’t get that fact that the food blogging world is large and should be acknowledged.

I know that my posts recently have been sporadic for various reasons but I take pride in my blog and do not want to post anything that was not worthy of being posted. If I didn’t feel the recipe I came up with or the pictures I took were ready for posting I did not post them. With that said I am here to let you know I will not be changing my blog name. The REAL All in Good Food is right here on this blog from an everyday foodie and home cook just like you.

I do have to say that I will from now on go out of my way to not buy any products from the company I mentioned above, however that is my choice that is why I will not mention the companies name. I am not here to slander anyone, I am just here to defend and hold on to my passion that I have and am working hard on. Although I do have the dream of attending a highly rated cooking school in the near future it is to hone my skills and not to become a professional.

I hope that you will continue to read my blog and support me as you have in the past.

With all my love and thanks,

Marisa

Hi everyone, well it’s back to work time. After being off for three months it’s good to get back although while I was off I was not idle. I caught up on a lot of my sewing/quilting and had loads of fun.

Well since today’s shift is a short one, only 4 hours I kept my bento very simple. I also cheated a bit and purchased a Lunchable that was created for field trips. This one included bread, turkey, cheese and mayo packet to make a sandwich as well as an apple sauce cup, small bag of cookies, small bottle of water with a Kool Aid Singles packet. I thought they were very nice with the sandwich and drink included but I did modify it. I took the whole thing apart and just kept the sandwich and drink part.

The sandwich is turkey and cheese and I added lettuce and it came with a packet of light mayonnaise which is hiding under the sandwich. I will put the mayo on when break time comes. Also in the kit there is this mini bottle of water, so cute, and a Kool Aid Singles packet but I decided to make some peach tea instead. I added some trail mix and a fruit snack pouch, which I will probably eat on my ride home.

Yeah I know it’s not as balanced as I would like but I’m trying to get back into the “bento” swing of things. I haven’t made bentos on a regular basis while I was off. So stay tuned for more to come.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Till the next bento.

Itadaki masu

Note: I know this post is very long but I ask that you please take the time to read it through fully so that you can understand me and my journey better.

Ok I said I was going to be honest with these posts about my weight loss and I am. About three years ago I lost my job and subsequently had to change my way of thinking. As I look back I think it was a good thing that happened and possible saved my life. I worked for a health insurance company and ironically the longer I worked there the more weight I gained. I can honestly say it was from the sedimentary atmosphere (I sat at a deck all day), the stress (I had to make a certain production and accuracy amount for my work), the food (my department was always having potlucks for peoples birthdays and the such and the café food wasn’t the healthiest), and taking all of that with me when I left work everyday.

Without making excuses I would say that the time between 2001-2007 was a very highly stressful time for me. In 2001 my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer just before she retired from the same company I was working for. She went on to do fine until early 2005 when the cancer came back and ultimately she passed away in December of 2005.

In 2003 I bought a home at the same time my parents sold my childhood home and moved down to Georgia. I don’t think I was really financially ready to buy the house and subsequently lost it in 2005.

In 2004 my daughter entered her first year in high school. The year started out on the wrong foot. Because of the many school closings in the area she ended up starting school 3 weeks late. Starting out like that in your first year is not good and very stressful. Ultimately she began having anxiety attacks and after hearing about my mother’s cancer relapse she began cutting. In 2005 I began home schooling her for the last three years of high school.

In 2005 I moved out of my home and into an apartment which I can honestly say I loved living in and we stayed there for two years and moved out when our lease was up in 2007. However even though we loved that apartment we still did many things to escape the pain and sadness we had bottled up from prior years.

As well as working in the high stress job, dealing with my mother’s death, and my daughters emotional state I’m not sure how I got out of it with no severe health issues. I guess at the time I was in denial. Yes I went to the doctor for regular check ups but because I did not have high cholesterol, high blood pressure or any signs of cancer I thought I was ok. When I looked in the mirror I knew I wasn’t an ideal weight but I did not see myself actually how I was. I can honestly say by 2007 I was weighing 245-250lbs.

You may be asking well what was your lifestyle like? How were your eating habits. Didn’t you exercise? Well in answer to those questions. My eating habits were awful. I ate a lot of processed foods, fast food and there was a 7-11 right next door to my apartment complex. So you can imagine. Pretty much I would come home from work so tired from being stressed out I would collapse after pulling out some processed food or stopping on the way home for fast food for dinner. I did not begin exercising until the spring of 2007 when we began walking at a park near our apartment, which I enjoyed and wish I could still go there.

2007 was the turning point in my life. In July I lost my job. Yeah losing my job is not the best thing in the world but it was the best thing to happen to me. The day I came home and told my daughter it was like the sun began shining again after a long stormy darkness. I could actually see a bright future for us.

In August of 2007 I spent a month in San Francisco training to be an English Language Instructor and completed the course on my 40th birthday. Just before leaving I knew I needed to get myself prepared for all the walking I would need to do in San Francisco so I began walking every morning as well as my walking in the park and was up to walking about 3-4 miles a day combined. I felt the changesin my body happening and was feeling good.

When I got back home I enrolled in on-line college courses, graduated and received my bachelors degree in 2009 and subsequently began my first blog All In Good Food. I will explain what has been going on with me/us in the past 3 ½ years more in depth in another post because I believe it deserves particular attention to the details in an attempt to maybe help others that are most surely in the same or similar situation.

I must say I began All In Good Food as a result of embracing my love for food and learning how to cook healthy tasty and convenient food. Because during that time I had long periods with no job I had to come up with inventive recipes that I could cook on a very restricted budget. That is were a lot of my recipes on the blog came from.

So when I say that losing my job back in 2007 saved my life I truly mean it. I believe that it forced me to make long needed lifestyle changes that put me onto the path to a healthy, happier life.

Please join me for my next post.

P.S.

I have to tell you that my daughter is doing very well and has developed into a well adjusted young woman. She is 20 years old now and got married last year to a wonderful young man who is in the navy and under deployment at this time. She has a dream of being a musician and has her own blog called Journey To Vaudeville. She is also my partner in the company we are in the process of starting. So she is doing very well.

You can email me at allingoodfood@gmail.com

Hello everyone it is time for me to get very real here. If you follow my Blog, twitter or Facebook then you know I have never posted a picture of myself, well I take that back I did post one from Thanksgiving after my daughter and I put up our Christmas tree this past year but that is it. There is a reason I haven’t put up any pictures and that is my weight. Don’t get me wrong my self-esteem is not low it’s just my body is unhealthy and there are factors in my health history that warrant me making this change more aggressively now. So I will be honest here about whats going on in my life, my weight loss, my exercise, my set backs and my triumphs all without excuses.

Current Stats

Sex: Female
Age: 43 (will be 44 this year)
Weight: 198.8
Height: 5’3”
Illnesses: Asthma (currently under control)
Health History: Breast Cancer (Mom), Upper Respiratory issues (Paternal Side of family)

My Weight Goal: 130lbs That means I will need to loose about 70lbs (roughly) (at my current weight it would be 68.8lbs)

I am asking all of my foodie friends for food or recipe suggestions and to keep me very honest about my food choices. All I ask is please be nice about it, berating someone will get you nor me anywhere and I will not post any comments that are negative or belittling. I will try not to be annoying on this journey but I ask for your patience and understanding. With that said the journey has begun.

Update: You can email me at allingoodfood@gmail.com

Hi I just wanted to share with you a little appetizer I whipped up yesterday.


I was looking for something light and filling to eat for lunch yesterday as I was in the middle of reorganizing my sewing area. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Although I have not written a post on it yet I have spent the last year working on making my own tortillas and through trial and error I have finally found the recipe balance I like. I know what you are thinking why go through all that trouble when you can just buy them in the store? Well I like to have the flexibility to make them any size I want and to add any flavor I want to them. You don’t get that with the store bought. As of yet I have not see them in the 4” rounds or in square shapes. I also have the ability to make chips any size and shape I want. That is the key right have the flexibility to have it the way you want it.

Well I am not going to cover making the tortilla dough in this post. This post is for the appetizers I made from them. I will have another post and link to the tortilla recipe and preparation. So here we go.

This recipe is very simple and easy. You can even have things pre-made and set aside to assemble and heat up later. This is perfect for those busy days or for an after school snack for the kids. As I have been working a lot with my sewing lately I needed another quick and easy go-to recipe.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast (cut into thin slices)
10 large broccoli florets
Cheese of any variety you like (shredded or sauce)
Home made tortillas
Yellow mustard


1. Make tortilla dough, following what ever recipe you are comfortable with, and roll, press and/or cut to desired size.

2. Pan sear the chicken piece.

3. Once chicken is fully cooked. Add taco seasoning of choice to taste and a small amount (I didn’t measure the amount but I would say around 3 tablespoons) of chicken stock or water to the pan. Note adding the liquid helps to coat the chicken better with the taco seasoning.

4. In the same pan add about a tablespoon of butter and let it melt. Don’t clean the pan between cooking the chicken and broccoli so that the broccoli can get some of the flavor from the taco seasoning. Once butter is melted sauté the broccoli. Note I use frozen broccoli and let it thaw out in the pan when it is cooking to retain it’s color and flavor.

5. Once broccoli is cooked remove it from the pan to a cutting board and let cool enough to handle. Cut into slices.

6. Then assemble. Lay down your tortilla, cover with cheese, add broccoli slices, then the chicken.

Note: Sorry I don’t have step-by-step photos. A lot of the time when I try out a new recipe I forget to take photos of the steps. So the next time I make it I will remember to take the photos and update the post.

I hope you will try these out and let me know what you think and if you tried anything different ingredients. These are designed to be very flexible to taste.

So until next time, Itadaki masu!

Rice with shredded carrots, mini turkey burgers, tamagoyaki, grapes.

So until my next bento, Itadaki masu!

Sometimes I feel you have to go back to the beginning to regain what you feel you lost. Lately my friend rice has not been coming out right and I could not figure out why. Then I realized to began to suffer the fatal flaw that happens to some cooks and that is complacency. Most of the time when I cook I don’t measure I cook by taste but there are times when measuring is needed and/or required to get the taste right every time. So what I had been doing was not measuring when I cooked my rice I would just eyeball the amount of rice and the water that went into my rice cooker. Well this past week I went back to my old ways and measured out my rice and my water and the result was my perfect fried rice.

Being a free spirit when cooking is good at times but when it comes to basics keep it by the book so to speak.

Here is my bento from Friday. Fried rice, sautéed broccoli with cheese sauce, and turkey patties. Can’t get more basic than that.