Pre-New Year's Resolution Part 2

#40: Make meal plans every week
#41: Try a new recipe at least twice a month
#44: Make (or order in) one vegetarian meal per week
#45: Make fish at least once a month

Along with my workout kick, I'm also trying to cook more (both dinners and lunches for J and I), both as a means to save money AND be healthier! So far, it's been pretty great!

I've tried a bunch of new recipes from EatingWell and they've been a hit:
Chicken Paprikash
Sweet and Sour Chicken
Honey Soy Salmon

I've also made a delicious Turkey Chili recipe for lunch this week from the Food Network.

Progress Report: #7, #16, #41, #44, #49, #90

#7. Go to at least 3 Mets games each summer
This past Saturday, May 30th, J and I (along with J's sister and her roommate) voyaged back into Queens for another Mets game! While this one wasn't as good as the last one (half the team was out "resting" and they lost pretty badly), we DID get to take a picture with the old Shea Home Run Apple, which is pretty awesome.


#16. Try to find the best burger in the city
Another trip to Citi Field also gave us a reason to start our best burger quest! We each had a Shake Shack Double-Shack Burger and it was mmm mmm good! We decided to judge each burger we taste on 4 points: Taste, Presentation, Value, Overall each on a scale of 1-10.

Taste: 8

We liked the charbroiled taste of the burgers and the cheese to burger ratio. The burger came with a special shack sauce, tho I couldn't really taste it, it was overpowered by everything else.

Presentation: 5

Nothing really special on the appearance front. It looks like a homemade burger - kind of messy/sloppily piled together.

Value: 8

The double-shack burger was $8.25. We're not sure of how the prices compare with the Madison Square Park location (we'll be sure to try it out there as well) but we felt that it was pretty reasonable for a regular meal, let alone a ballpark meal. We were also so stuffed afterwards that we didn't really need to eat anything else.

Overall: 8

J: If I'm at Citi Field, this is hands-down what I'm eating.

C: While we ranked the burger for presentation and value, what's really important to me is taste, and this burger tastes GOOD. I'm in for more, both at Citi Field and hopefully sometime soon, at the Madison Square Park location.

#41. Try a new recipe at least twice a month/#44. Make (or order in) one vegetarian meal per week/#90. Keep blog updated and always have a picture for recipes
New June Recipes up! Includes Southern-Style Chicken Stew, Egg Salad Sandwich, my official new recipe of the week Saucy Pepper Steak, Penne with Veggies in a Ricotta Sauce, and Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Dressing. Yumm-o! Not only did I do a lot of delicious cooking this week, but got a lot of leftovers out of it, which makes for my favorite recipes.

#49. Scrapbook all my saved up stuff
So this week, our modem broke leaving us internet-less for a night. I took this opportunity to finally start organizing all the random stuff I want to scrapbook!! I've kept everything in this tote bag in my closet, so I had to organize it by year (going back to 2007, eek) then start scrapbooking! Unfortunately, the progress stopped when my scotch tape ran out. Doh! And now that we've got our internet back, it's all in a pile in my armchair. But! Now that I've started, I have a renewed yearning to finish, so I don't think it'll be there for long!

Progress Report: #3, #14, #44, #84

#3: Have Justin teach me how to golf
So, while Justin hasn't exactly started to teach me how to golf, we DID go to the Driving Range this weekend when we were in LI, so I figured I'd count that as to have something to share on the blog. He did his best to show me how to bring the club back correctly, how to flick my wrists, how to not jump up when I follow through. So I'm still in the infancy of my golfing education, however, I did hit a few balls relatively well AND even managed to hit the sign that said "Can't Hit This Sign?" a few times! I even have pictures to prove it, which I will add shortly.

#14: Go to brunch once every 2 months (not just at the diner)
Ok, so I'm only going to count this once, since we go here every time we're in LI (sometimes twice): Maureen's Kitchen. We are completely obsessed with this place!! Justin's sister introduced us to it last year and it's become an LI ritual ever since. It's about a 20-30 minute drive from J's parents house but well worth it. It's a small family-run place, super cute and kitchy decor (involving cows and cowprint everywhere) and is only open til 3 during the week and 1:45 on the weekend. They have a good amount daily breakfast and lunch specials every day, which are extremely creative and unique. Justin ALWAYS (a good 98% of the time) will get the Croissant French Toast of the day, which comes with cream cheese in the center (warmed from the french toast, sometimes flavored) and various fruits that change each time we're there. I tend to enjoy the lunch specials more and will more often get those - this weekend I did get an amazing omellete of chicken sausage, roasted peppers, scallions and asiago cheese. On our second go, I got the Cranberry Chicken Salad Sandwich with white cheddar, which was to die for and so large that I was able to take the second half home and eat it for lunch the next day (which is something I almost always try to do on our last day on the island, so I can bring some Maureen's love into work the next day. Countdown to our next Maureen's trip: about 29 days.

#44: Make (or order in) one vegetarian meal per week
Happily, it looks like I eat vegetarian for dinner a good amount! I ate my beloved Eggplant Rollatini from Abitino's on Mon/Wed (the portion is big enough to get two dinners out of it!) and last night I had a make-your-own Pasta Primavera in Pesto Sauce from The Bread Factory. What I need to work on next is eating more vegetarian meals that DON'T include pasta!

#84: Plan a group wine-tasting trip
Justin and I are planning two wine-tasting trips this summer to the North Fork! I finally took the initiative this week to email out dates and get the planning ball rolling. We're keeping the groups small so that we don't have to deal with a limo/van and the added costs there, which also cuts down severely on the stress and planning for me! Woohoo! I wish the summer was longer so that all the weekends didn't book up so quickly!

Progress Report: #14, #40, #41, #44, #72, #90

#14: Go to brunch once every 2 months (not just at the diner) (1/16)

This one was unintentionally easy this month...we went to Brunch for Mother's Day with my family! We went to City Crab on 19th and Park, where I had the Eggs Copenhagen (like Eggs Benedict but with Smoked Salmon instead of the Canadian Ham) and a Pear Cosmo. Mmm!

#40: Make meal plans every week (2/143)
#41: Try a new recipe at least twice a month (4/66+)
#44: Make (or order in) one vegetarian meal per week (2/143)
#90: Keep blog updated and always have a picture for recipes

These 4 pretty much go hand-in-hand (in-hand-in-hand).

While last weeks meal plan was intricate and well thought-out, since I was out of town this past weekend for my 5th Year college reunion and came back late on Sunday night, with a cold to boot, this week's meal plan was much more haphazard. Lunches this week have consisted of sandwiches (which are actually pretty yummers) of salami, pepper jack, lettuce, sweet pickles and mustard. Dinners this week were Italian Order-In (Eggplant Rollatini mmm) which was large enough for two dinners and Cheesesteaks before the concert last night. Tonight will be the only cooking night and the menu is simple steak (marinated in lime juice) and baked sweet plantains, which have become a staple at our place recently.

As for new recipes, over the past 2 weeks I've tried:
Steak Tacos (which also produced follow-up lunch Steak Salad)
Aromatic Noodles With Lime Peanut Sauce
Chicken Parmesan
Falafel Pitas with Cucumber-Yogurt Dressing

And, obviously, have added those to the blog, check to #90! I still have to update the food porn. As for #44, last week I made Falafel Pitas for dinner and this week's big V-card goes to Eggplant Rollatini. All-in-all, my Cooking 101 list is moving along stronger than any other section! (Gee, I wonder why!)

I'll close out this lengthy progress report with:
#72: Visit all 4 boroughs (3/4)

This 101 thing is managing to fly by, though I fully intend to visit boroughs more than once. Now, the Bronx is unfair, my parents live there, afterall. I visited just last week to get my hair done! Queens was also easy peasy, with the Mets Game being located there (and with all the other games I have planned, I will be a repeat Queens visitor for sure! Brooklyn was a new one for me for a nighttime locale, but I was able to check this one off thanks to my friend Sheryl's birthday earlier this month, located at the very fun Radegast Hall & Beer Garden.