Tuuuuuuna

I frequently star items in my Google Reader, usually they’re items I either want to share in my Friday, Around the Interwebs posts, or recipes I’d like to try. It’s an easy way for me to keep track of what I’ve read in the blogs I love. So, this year, Travis and I are trying to incorporate more fish into our meals, and I remembered a post on Carrots n’ Cake that had a recipe using tuna. Tina found the recipe at Real Simple (which I love,) so Travis and I put it on our menu for Sunday night.

The kittehs freaked out when we opened the cans of tuna.

Seriously, they hovered around and talked at us while we were making dinner.  Catnip does nothing for them, but open a can of tuna, and they are chatterers.

Pasta With Tuna and Black Olive Vinaigrette I wasn’t totally impressed by this recipe.  It was okay, but I’m not sure we’d make it again.  We saved the leftovers, which I’ll be having for lunch today, so we’ll see.  I’ll be eating the leftovers cold most likely, because the idea of heating up canned tuna creeps me out.  To be honest, I prefer tuna and salmon raw. I don’t mind tuna when it’s seared, but really, ideally, I’d eat tuna and salmon as sushi only.  But, hey! We tried something new, and incorporated fish. Go us!  Tonight’s dinner is salmon, so we’re really on a roll ;)

What are your favorite fish recipes?

Around the Interwebs 11/26/10

Pumpkin cupcake filled with pecan pie filling ...

Image via Wikipedia

I hope you are all having a lovely Thanksgiving week/weekend.  Eat lots of turkey leftovers, and begin to panic about the upcoming Christmas holiday.  Huzzah for the holidays!

Holiday Travels: Best Foods for Being Jet-Lagged – The Kitchn

10 Ways to use the last 1/2 cup of pumpkin - The Kitchn

Sneaky Hate Spiral – Hyperbole and a Half  – Because surviving the holidays sometimes requires the use of humor, and Allie Brosh never fails.

Long Armed Mannequin Scares People at Old Navy – Consumerist

Advice on Holiday Shopping- CNN

10 Ideas for Leftover Turkey – Real Simple – Because there are only so many turkey sandwiches you can eat in one weekend.

Make More Time For Yourself - Real Simple – Because aside from having humor throughout the holidays, having time to decompress is definitely necessary.

Adapted Recipe Saturday – Chicken Pot Pie

I remember going to Marie Callendar’s with my parents when I was younger. I would ALWAYS order the chicken pot pie.  However, it always seemed like something really complicated, and difficult to make.  I couldn’t have been more wrong, and I’m so glad!

Our chicken pot pie is an adapted recipe from Real Simple’s Individual Chicken Pot Pies

The only real measurement we follow follow from the original recipe is the 1/2 cup of milk, everything else is kind of just by taste.  Ready? You need:

Chicken – you can use rotisserie, or leftovers, or pre-cooked, or cook it yourself, whatever. You could even use turkey, or tofu or just veggies! no rules!  Woo!  When we made the pot pie the other night, we used some leftover chicken from Monday night’s dinner.  If you’re using your own chicken, just make sure it’s cooked before you add it to the pie. No one likes salmonella.

Cream of Chicken Soup (1 can) – we use regular old Campbell’s, but you can use an organic brand or whatever.

Milk (1/2 cup) – use 2% or fat free, or whole milk, whatever you have. I bet you could even use cream if you really wanted to go wild.

Veggies – we use a combo of frozen and fresh typically. The last time we made it, we used a mix of peas, carrots and corn.  In the past we’ve used broccoli, and even added wild rice.  I bet some sliced mushrooms would be really good in there too (mmmm, something to try next time!)

Pie Crust- we have always used the refrigerated kind, and we buy whichever is on sale (name brand or store brand,) but you could totally make your own if you’re into that sort of thing. Make sure you get 2 crusts, because people who don’t put a crust on the bottom of their pot pies are crazy.

That’s it, really, I mean aside from adding spices, salt and pepper to taste, that’s all you need! It’s easy!

Mix together the veggies, soup and milk, set aside.  Put one pie crust on bottom of baking dish, or pie pan, fill with veggie mix.  Put second pie crust on top, voila! Easy peasy.

Bake about 30-35 minutes until heated through and top crust is nice and golden brown.

Money, Revisited (again)

Obverse of the Series 2006 $20 bill

Image via Wikipedia

I know, more money? So, Real Simple has a great little article right now called “Do You Need a Financial Guru?“  I love that money talk has become so much less taboo ;)   Anyway, after reading through the article I’m thinking about scheduling a meeting with a Financial Planner.  While I’ve mostly gotten my money together, I’m still struggling with the savings portion of the whole scheme.  I feel like, I’ve been so used to living pay check to pay check, that even when I have money leftover at the end of the month I panic, worrying that I’ve forgotten to pay something, or that I might need that money and if I put it somewhere hard to reach I’ll end up overdrawn.  I know, mostly irrational, but this is my life in a nutshell.

I’m still undecided on the matter (since it will most likely cost money,) but I think it could be really helpful.  Having someone walk through my finances with me, and help me figure out exactly what is the right amount to put into savings and retirement (which I am woefully behind on!) I think would make things less stressful.

This past year I used an accountant to file my taxes and was so grateful. I ended up getting back double what I got back last year because he knew all the deductions I qualified for that I was totally clueless about.  I did still owe the state money, but it wasn’t much.  I will definitely be going back to him in April.

Question: Would you ever, or have you ever used a financial planner?

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