If you're reading this it means that our technical difficulties have been resolved and you have landed back at our old blogging platform (Blogger). Hooray! You should notice that things are snappy again and some things should be familiar from before the original switch to theeibls. Whitney and I should be able to resume normal blogging now with greater productivity and reduced stress.
If anyone is interested in the details of what happened, when we were going to switch the blog over to theeibls.com, I already had a web hosting plan with it for the old wedding website, so I thought it would be fun to move the blog over to be self-hosted rather than point the domain at Blogger. I liked the idea of having more control over the site rather than having Google running everything behind the scenes. Because Blogger is not available for self-hosting, I decided to use WordPress, which at the time I figured was pretty much the same feature-wise and it wouldn't be a big deal to switch.
That was my big downfall; we had several problems with WordPress, and the only thing I used my extra self-hosting powers for was to hack up the php to try to fix things that just worked in Blogger. WordPress is slow, and seems like it can only be made workable with a combination of fast (aka pricey) hosting and a kludge of third-party speedup solutions. That kind of headache is just not worth it for a blog with a handful of readers. The other major problem with WordPress is that the post editor is terrible; the visual (WYSIWIG) editor frequently inserts weird formatting that you do not ask for, and doesn't permit certain formatting techniques that are easy in Blogger. On top of that, the html-style editor is not actually html, making it very difficult to fix the things that the visual editor screwed up, whereas Blogger gives you the real html.
All of that made it worthwhile to go back and port a few months of posts back to Blogger and to apply some of the stylistic updates we had made to the WordPress site (before the move I hadn't realized how flexible the Blogger templating is). Hopefully you appreciate the move as much as we do!
Technical Difficulties
I was a bit delayed with the next installment of Wellness Wednesday and wrote it last night after dinner. Right after I hit "save draft" to preview and edit, the blog ate it! It disappeared! The autosave had last happened after I inserted pictures and before composing the post so there I was staring at a blank screen. And now, with that said, I'm throwing up my arms for technical difficulties and taking the rest of the week off.
Unfortunately this was our new blogging platform's last straw. We have not been pleased with the move and over the next few days Patrick is going to make some changes to get it back to the way we were blogging before.
Fortunately for you, aside from a few days of missing our ramblings, nothing will change except maybe a few visual features. The blog will remain at www.theeibls.com and will continue as you know and love it!
So come back on Monday for some meal planning! Hopefully there will be some happier Eibls too (it's draining my wellness :-p haha).
Unfortunately this was our new blogging platform's last straw. We have not been pleased with the move and over the next few days Patrick is going to make some changes to get it back to the way we were blogging before.
Fortunately for you, aside from a few days of missing our ramblings, nothing will change except maybe a few visual features. The blog will remain at www.theeibls.com and will continue as you know and love it!
So come back on Monday for some meal planning! Hopefully there will be some happier Eibls too (it's draining my wellness :-p haha).
Gnocchi and chard
Chard may be hard to find in July but it was quite abundant in our spring CSA boxes. We made this at the end of May and were probably catching the end of the chard season. Chard will be popping up again in the fall so you can hold on to this recipe until then if your taste buds are intrigued.
I was drawn to this recipe because most things come out of the pantry with the exception of the chard. The gnocchi, onion / garlic, canned diced tomatoes, and canned white beans were all purchased ahead of time and whenever I had the chard I would be able to make the dish. This also means that this dish is prepped quickly and ready within 30 minutes. That's great on a busy weeknight!
Eating Well's Skillet Gnocchi with Chard and White Beans
Serves 4-6 | Total time 30 minutes
Ingredients
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 16-ounce package shelf-stable gnocchi
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c water
6 c chopped chard leaves, (about 1 small bunch) or spinach
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings
1 15-oz can white beans, rinsed
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 c shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 c finely shredded Parmesan cheese
Directions
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add gnocchi and cook, stirring often, until plumped and starting to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and onion to the pan and cook, stirring, over medium heat, for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and water. Cover and cook until the onion is soft, 4 to 6 minutes. Add chard (or spinach) and cook, stirring, until starting to wilt, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, beans and pepper and bring to a simmer. Stir in the gnocchi and sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover and cook until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling, about 3 minutes.
I was drawn to this recipe because most things come out of the pantry with the exception of the chard. The gnocchi, onion / garlic, canned diced tomatoes, and canned white beans were all purchased ahead of time and whenever I had the chard I would be able to make the dish. This also means that this dish is prepped quickly and ready within 30 minutes. That's great on a busy weeknight!
Eating Well's Skillet Gnocchi with Chard and White Beans
Serves 4-6 | Total time 30 minutes
Ingredients
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 16-ounce package shelf-stable gnocchi
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c water
6 c chopped chard leaves, (about 1 small bunch) or spinach
1 15-oz can diced tomatoes with Italian seasonings
1 15-oz can white beans, rinsed
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 c shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 c finely shredded Parmesan cheese
Directions
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add gnocchi and cook, stirring often, until plumped and starting to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
Add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil and onion to the pan and cook, stirring, over medium heat, for 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and water. Cover and cook until the onion is soft, 4 to 6 minutes. Add chard (or spinach) and cook, stirring, until starting to wilt, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, beans and pepper and bring to a simmer. Stir in the gnocchi and sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover and cook until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbling, about 3 minutes.
Meal Plan Monday Post
Two weeks of meal plan today! Last week we were vacationing in Cancun and detained from meal plan Monday. We did our best to eat in / cook before and after the vacation so we could "splurge" at the resort. Our favorite lunch in Cancun was the fish tacos!
We had a low-key weekend celebrating the Fourth of July (especially compared to the weekend before)! It was nice to come back from vacation and have the three-day holiday weekend. It was rainy throughout the weekend but we welcomed the drizzles and relaxed with the cats. The rain held off for fireworks so we were able to meet friends for dinner beforehand and have a fun evening on Saturday!
Meal Plan for Monday June 22 - Sunday July 5
Monday - Pasta with squash and peas
Tuesday - Creamy mustard chicken, smashed potatoes, green beans
Wednesday - Salmon, roasted beets, sauteed zucchini
Thursday thru Tuesday - Cancun vacation 6/25-3/30
Breakfasts - Most mornings we used room service
Lunches - Most days we for lunch we ate by the pool; fish tacos and quesadillas were our favorite options
Dinners - Dinner was different every night; some were at the restaurants and some were with wedding activities
Wednesday - Baked cod, beets, zucchini [everything in the oven]
Thursday - Cheesy baked chicken, okra cakes, corn
Friday - Breakfast bagels / cereal
Lunch BLT sandwiches
Dinner Pork fajitas, tomatillo salsa, spanish rice
Saturday - Breakfast Bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich with fruit
Lunch Leftovers
Dinner Old Chicago & the Chapel Hill fireworks
Sunday - Brunch Banana crepes
Dinner Fried green tomato salad
We had a low-key weekend celebrating the Fourth of July (especially compared to the weekend before)! It was nice to come back from vacation and have the three-day holiday weekend. It was rainy throughout the weekend but we welcomed the drizzles and relaxed with the cats. The rain held off for fireworks so we were able to meet friends for dinner beforehand and have a fun evening on Saturday!
Meal Plan for Monday June 22 - Sunday July 5
Monday - Pasta with squash and peas
Tuesday - Creamy mustard chicken, smashed potatoes, green beans
Wednesday - Salmon, roasted beets, sauteed zucchini
Thursday thru Tuesday - Cancun vacation 6/25-3/30
Breakfasts - Most mornings we used room service
Lunches - Most days we for lunch we ate by the pool; fish tacos and quesadillas were our favorite options
Dinners - Dinner was different every night; some were at the restaurants and some were with wedding activities
Wednesday - Baked cod, beets, zucchini [everything in the oven]
Thursday - Cheesy baked chicken, okra cakes, corn
Friday - Breakfast bagels / cereal
Lunch BLT sandwiches
Dinner Pork fajitas, tomatillo salsa, spanish rice
Saturday - Breakfast Bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich with fruit
Lunch Leftovers
Dinner Old Chicago & the Chapel Hill fireworks
Sunday - Brunch Banana crepes
Dinner Fried green tomato salad
Chorizo - egg bake
I was feeling like we had gotten into a bit of a brunch rut - lots of waffles, eggs and toasts, some oatmeal recipes, pancakes, and other recipes that are in our rotation. So maybe there was variety in our brunch rotation but nothing new! And I was ready to try a new brunch recipe. Our CSA routinely offers chorizo which is a fresh sausage typically with Mexican spices added into it and can be a bit spicy. We've never gotten the chorizo before so I found a recipe to try with it and thus begins our chorizo bake adventure! Patrick was a little skeptical at first because the last time he had chorizo it was too spicy and he didn't like the dish.
This turned out really well! The chorizo from our CSA was on the mild side and the flavor profile of the dish was quite tasty. It does take a bit of time to prep but the potatoes can be boiled ahead. We actually had a smoothie while the potatoes boiled, went for a 3 mile walk while they cooled, and then made the chorizo bake when we got back from the walk. We had never baked eggs so that was fun to try as well.
Baked Eggs with Chorizo and Potatoes
Serves 8 [we halved and had leftovers for breakfast the next day]
Ingredients
2 lbs medium Yukon Gold potatoes
1 1/2 lbs fresh chorizo, casings removed
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
8 large eggs
Toast and hot sauce, for serving - we also served with an avocado
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375°. Put the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook over moderate heat until tender, about 25 minutes; drain and let cool. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 3/4-inch pieces. Meanwhile, heat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet. Add the chorizo, break it into chunks with a wooden spoon and cook over moderate heat, turning, until cooked through and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Scrape the chorizo mixture into a bowl and wipe out the skillet.
Heat the oil in the skillet. Add the potatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until golden and crispy, about 6 minutes. Stir in the chorizo mixture. Remove the skillet from the heat. Using a ladle, make 8 indentations in the potato-chorizo mixture about 1 inch apart; crack an egg into each one. Bake the skillet in the middle of the oven for about 12 minutes, or until the egg whites are just set but the yolks are still runny. Serve at once with toast and hot sauce.
Happy 4th! If you're looking for a weekend brunch recipe then this would surely fit the bill.
This turned out really well! The chorizo from our CSA was on the mild side and the flavor profile of the dish was quite tasty. It does take a bit of time to prep but the potatoes can be boiled ahead. We actually had a smoothie while the potatoes boiled, went for a 3 mile walk while they cooled, and then made the chorizo bake when we got back from the walk. We had never baked eggs so that was fun to try as well.
Baked Eggs with Chorizo and Potatoes
Serves 8 [we halved and had leftovers for breakfast the next day]
Ingredients
2 lbs medium Yukon Gold potatoes
1 1/2 lbs fresh chorizo, casings removed
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
8 large eggs
Toast and hot sauce, for serving - we also served with an avocado
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375°. Put the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and cook over moderate heat until tender, about 25 minutes; drain and let cool. Peel the potatoes and cut them into 3/4-inch pieces. Meanwhile, heat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet. Add the chorizo, break it into chunks with a wooden spoon and cook over moderate heat, turning, until cooked through and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Scrape the chorizo mixture into a bowl and wipe out the skillet.
Heat the oil in the skillet. Add the potatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook over moderate heat, turning occasionally, until golden and crispy, about 6 minutes. Stir in the chorizo mixture. Remove the skillet from the heat. Using a ladle, make 8 indentations in the potato-chorizo mixture about 1 inch apart; crack an egg into each one. Bake the skillet in the middle of the oven for about 12 minutes, or until the egg whites are just set but the yolks are still runny. Serve at once with toast and hot sauce.
Happy 4th! If you're looking for a weekend brunch recipe then this would surely fit the bill.
Strawberry Biscuits
During the height of strawberry season - which wasn't too long ago - Granny sent me some delicious fresh strawberries right out of the patch. I knew I wanted to try something special with the strawberries and thought this strawberry and cream biscuit recipe from Smitten Kitchen was just the right splurge!
The biscuits tasted wonderful. Unfortunately they didn't rise quite as much as I was expecting but I'm not the best biscuit maker ever so maybe I overworked the dough. The recipe below is pasted exactly from the smitten kitchen website so all the notes are hers.
Thanks for the strawberries, Granny! If it's not too late in the season and you can find fresh strawberries then these will be a great addition to your July 4th weekend.
Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry and Cream Biscuits
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon (15 grams) aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
6 tablespoons (85 grams) cold, unsalted butter
1 cup (about 130 grams) chopped very ripe strawberries (I quarter small or medium ones and further chop larger ones)
1 cup heavy cream
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, sugar and salt together. Add butter, either by cutting it in with two knives or a pastry blender (alternatively, you can freeze the butter and grate it in on the large holes of a box grater; a tip I learned from you guys) cut it into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, breaking it up until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal with tiny pea-sized bits of butter about. Gently stir in the strawberries, so that they are coated in dry ingredient, then stir in heavy cream. (I like to use a rubber spatula to gently lift and turn the ingredients over each other.) When you’ve mixed it in as best as you can with the spatula, go ahead and knead it once or twice in the bowl, to create one mass. Do not worry about getting the dough evenly mixed. It’s far more important that the dough is not overworked.
Generously flour your counter. With as few movements as possible, transfer your dough to the counter, generously flour the top of it and with your hands or a rolling pin, gently roll or press the dough out to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut into 2 1/2-inch circles with a floured biscuit cutter or top edge of a drinking glass, pressing straight down and not twisting (this makes for nice layered edges) as you cut. Carefully transfer scones to prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple inches between each.
You can re-roll the scraps of dough, but don’t freak out over how wet the dough becomes as the strawberries have had more time to release their juice. They’ll still bake up wonderfully.
Bake the scones for 12 to 15 minutes, until bronzed at the edges and the strawberry juices are trickling out of the biscuits in places. Cool in pan for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Do ahead: Biscuits are generally best the day they are baked. However, if you wish to get a lead on them, you can make them, arrange them on your parchment-lined sheet and freeze them. If you’re prepping just one day in advance, cover the tray with plastic wrap and bake them the day you need them. If you’re preparing them more than one day in advance, once they are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag or container. Bring them back to a parchment-lined sheet when you’re ready to bake them. No need to defrost the froze, unbaked scones, just add 2 to 3 minutes to your baking time.
The biscuits tasted wonderful. Unfortunately they didn't rise quite as much as I was expecting but I'm not the best biscuit maker ever so maybe I overworked the dough. The recipe below is pasted exactly from the smitten kitchen website so all the notes are hers.
Thanks for the strawberries, Granny! If it's not too late in the season and you can find fresh strawberries then these will be a great addition to your July 4th weekend.
Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry and Cream Biscuits
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon (15 grams) aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
6 tablespoons (85 grams) cold, unsalted butter
1 cup (about 130 grams) chopped very ripe strawberries (I quarter small or medium ones and further chop larger ones)
1 cup heavy cream
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In the bottom of a large, wide-ish bowl, whisk flours, baking powder, sugar and salt together. Add butter, either by cutting it in with two knives or a pastry blender (alternatively, you can freeze the butter and grate it in on the large holes of a box grater; a tip I learned from you guys) cut it into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, breaking it up until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal with tiny pea-sized bits of butter about. Gently stir in the strawberries, so that they are coated in dry ingredient, then stir in heavy cream. (I like to use a rubber spatula to gently lift and turn the ingredients over each other.) When you’ve mixed it in as best as you can with the spatula, go ahead and knead it once or twice in the bowl, to create one mass. Do not worry about getting the dough evenly mixed. It’s far more important that the dough is not overworked.
Generously flour your counter. With as few movements as possible, transfer your dough to the counter, generously flour the top of it and with your hands or a rolling pin, gently roll or press the dough out to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cut into 2 1/2-inch circles with a floured biscuit cutter or top edge of a drinking glass, pressing straight down and not twisting (this makes for nice layered edges) as you cut. Carefully transfer scones to prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple inches between each.
You can re-roll the scraps of dough, but don’t freak out over how wet the dough becomes as the strawberries have had more time to release their juice. They’ll still bake up wonderfully.
Bake the scones for 12 to 15 minutes, until bronzed at the edges and the strawberry juices are trickling out of the biscuits in places. Cool in pan for a minute, then transfer to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Do ahead: Biscuits are generally best the day they are baked. However, if you wish to get a lead on them, you can make them, arrange them on your parchment-lined sheet and freeze them. If you’re prepping just one day in advance, cover the tray with plastic wrap and bake them the day you need them. If you’re preparing them more than one day in advance, once they are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag or container. Bring them back to a parchment-lined sheet when you’re ready to bake them. No need to defrost the froze, unbaked scones, just add 2 to 3 minutes to your baking time.
Wellness Wednesday - Vacation
We skipped Meal Plan Monday this week because we were on vacation! You may have noticed the sneak peek on the Instagram photos (right sidebar of the blog). Today's Wellness Wednesday post is being written right before I hit publish on the post (probably a first for the blog). What a coincidence that we would return from vacation on Tuesday evening and not have drafted the Wellness Wednesday post yet. As you can imagine last week was really busy and even though I managed to draft all the other posts this one just didn't make it!
To me wellness is all about moderation. Moderation in your diet as well as moderation in your work / life balance and all other aspects of the wellness dimensions. Everyone needs a little rest and relaxation to reset the work balance. Sometimes it's hard to schedule a vacation so for this trip we relied on Patrick's brother. He and his now-wife planned a beautiful destination wedding in Cancun, Mexico! Here are some snippets from the trip...
Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Eibl! What a joy it was to celebrate with yall.
To me wellness is all about moderation. Moderation in your diet as well as moderation in your work / life balance and all other aspects of the wellness dimensions. Everyone needs a little rest and relaxation to reset the work balance. Sometimes it's hard to schedule a vacation so for this trip we relied on Patrick's brother. He and his now-wife planned a beautiful destination wedding in Cancun, Mexico! Here are some snippets from the trip...
We relaxed by the sea
We explored the Mayan ruins of Tulum
and Patrick gave a best man speech!
Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Eibl! What a joy it was to celebrate with yall.
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