I can’t stop cooking!

I have been craving meatloaf for over a week now and decided to give in and make some for dinner tonight. I don’t think I have ever made meatloaf in my life so we’ll see how this comes out. I made two smaller meatloaves instead of a bunch of mini ones like the recipe calls for. I think I will freeze the second one, unless it is really good and I eat it all. Accompanying the meatloaf, roasted asparagus and sweet potatoes. And maybe a glass of wine or two.

PS - I made these and added raisins to the dough. They are amazing. Skinny Taste’s recipes are pretty darn good. I am huge fan.

This. place. was. awesome.

Being from NJ, the diner capital of the world, I have been seriously disappointed in Dallas’ diner offerings. Basically, there are a handful of places that call themselves diners, like Metro Diner, but none of them have ever lived up to my expectations. Until today, when my mom and I went to lunch at Crossroads Diner.

Now it wasn’t a traditional diner and the food was definitely more upscale, but it was delish. They serve breakfast all day, have traditional diner classics like meatloaf and tuna salad and the portions were huge. I had a BLT and chips and brought half of it home for dinner. My mom had a corned beef sandwich and she had leftovers too.

The location is a little out of the way (Walnut Hill, between 75 and Greenville), but it’s worth it. I will definitely be back and I recommend my Dallas friends try it too.

The Dirty (Snowy) Jerz.

That’s right. I am back in NJ for a few days. I have a client event tomorrow and my rule of thumb this time of year is to fly in the day before the event in case their is inclement weather, such as their was today.

My 7am flight out of DFW was canceled, but the nice lady at American Airlines was able to get me on the next flight out at 9:35am. We even landed in Newark 30 minutes early…so take that Snowpocalypse 2011.

I spent some time in my company’s headquarters office in East Rutherford this afternoon, which brought back a lot of memories. I can’t believe I started here as an intern in 2004. How time flies when you are having fun. *Cough, right, cough.*

I am meeting up with my good friend John and his girlfriend Kate for dinner tonight (I hope we have Italian or Chinese!) and having breakfast with my uncle in the morning at a real NJ diner.

It’s time like these when I come up here, visit friends and family and then head back home that I miss it. That feeling usually goes away a few days later though, so don’t worry DFW, I have no plans to come back to the dirty Jerz.

These are pretty darn good. For some reason, they taste like coconut, which isn’t a bad thing, but I don’t think they are supposed to taste like that.

The last time I was in New York, I ate dinner with a client and colleagues at L’artusi. The food was good, not the best, but definitely good. We all shared some entrees so that we could try a little bit of everything and one really stood out.

Pasta with brussel sprouts, more specifically, pizzoccheri with brussels sprouts, fontina and sage. It was pretty darn amazing. It was baked in an individual dish and had that almost burnt cheese layer covering the entire thing.

I am on a mission to recreate this dish. I am not sure I will be able to find pizzoccheri and brussel sprouts have been rather expensive lately, but I will try to make this, or at least something close to it, because I have been thinking about it since I had it back in early November.

I have known of The Pioneer Woman for quite some time now, but I heard her recipes involved a lot of ingredients and took a lot of time to cook, so I never actually went to her site.

I just saw this (which looks fantabulous) and decided to check out the recipe. I had no idea what I was missing! The Pioneer Woman is awesome! And while some of her recipes look like they will take a lot of effort to make, she has some great 16-minute meals, like Mini Meatball Sandwiches and Beef and Bean Burritos, and some of the other recipes look pretty manageable. I am also a big fan of making extra food and eating it for a few days (or freezing it, if I can).

Not to mention, The Pioneer Woman, who lives on a ranch in Oklahoma, is freakin’ hilarious. Like really funny. She was a high-heel wearing 9-5er living in California until…On a short visit to her hometown, she fell in love with her husband, who she calls the Marlboro Man. She has four kids, who she refers to as “punks,” is obsessed with her camera and apparently cooks up a storm.

I highly recommend you check out her site if you haven’t. If not for the recipes, for some inspiration and probably a good laugh.

Diet: Day One & Some Realizations

I planned my meals out last night and was all set for today. I even set aside enough points to grab a skinny latte from Starbucks before my two hour client meeting this afternoon. I was starving at 10:30am so tomorrow I need to plan for a mid-morning snack.

Weight Watchers has always been the easiest way for me to diet. I like the fact that I can basically eat anything I want, but in moderation. If I eat something that is high in points, I just cut back throughout the rest of the day. And I am the type of person who tends to splurge every now and then, so I have come to the realization that it is OK to eat a couple slices of pizza or a piece of cake and just start over the next day. I can’t completely deprive myself of junk food or I would go crazy.

On to day two. And don’t worry, I won’t tell you about every meal I eat or fill you on every day. I might just need to complain for a few days while I get over being hungry.

Today would be the perfect Sunday if…

• I didn’t feel like I was getting sick.
• I didn’t get home from SD/LA/SF at 6am this morning.
• I didn’t spend 20 mins on the phone with AT&T customer service trying to get my air card to work again.
• I had some good food in my pantry/fridge.
• If the Cowboys weren’t losing right now. Pull it together boys,.

Some highlights from my trip to Seoul.