tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38291407055777821162024-03-18T20:15:55.051-07:00Losing My PuppyWhen I started this blog in 2014 I had big plans to lose the weight that corresponded to the weight of my new puppy...as she grew so would my loss. Turns out it didn't work quite like that. Four plus years later I weigh more than ever and my puppy is potentially facing surgery for an ACL injury. Here I am trying again, expanding the focus of the blog and keeping the name. Hope you will continue on the adventure with me. Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.comBlogger374125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-89525839292941186292018-10-10T08:23:00.003-07:002018-10-10T11:29:34.013-07:00Photo JournalismI was thinking I need to do a post, but I didn't know what I was going to write about. I took a look at the pictures on my phone to refresh my memory. I found all sorts of random pictures from the last week. I hope you enjoy a peak in my photo journal...a.k.a. my phone.<br />
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Cereal gone Halloween Wild!!! Tony the Tiger seems to be trying to appeal to the pumpkin spice crowd as well with his pumpkin pie flavored version. <br />
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Toucan Sam almost had me, although I am not 100% sure what he is dressed as. My first thought was an owl, but the paws on his feet suggest otherwise. Either way just looking at this picture makes me want a big ol' bowl. <br />
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I don't always make good choices when I forget to bring lunch. However, one day I did. First of all I passed up fast food, then passed up a Froot Loops binge...and settled on this Spinach Artichoke Ravioli. It was pretty good and I felt good about my choice - win/win.</div>
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Friday we had a professional development event for all the teachers in our county. There were three locations. I was at the venue for high school teachers. Each venue arranged morning refreshments for the attendees. Ours had baskets of bananas...there were loads leftover. Somewhere in the county there is a massive batch of banana bread to be made. <br />
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There were also tons of pastries. I did indulge in a couple cookies. At one point, I went back to get something else and then checked myself. I grabbed another bottle of water and backed away from the pastry spread. To no one's surprise, there was very few leftover pastries. <br />
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I later phone out that one of the locations had fresh fruit parfaits with yogurt and granola...yum!! <br />
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Saturday morning the girls of our family enjoyed a farmers' market outing. My mom gets coupons from the senior citizens' center to use at the farmers' market. Then the market matches those amounts. I think it is a great idea. The market season ends this month and she had extra coupons to use up. She wanted to take us to pick out pumpkins (and other veggies). I got some spinach and zucchini, in addition to a couple of pumpkins. <br />
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Although I didn't buy any this time, I couldn't resist a picture of these pretty mixed pepper boxes. <br />
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We still have five big pieces of our tree to get rid of. They are too big to easily move and our chain saw can't handle the size. I contacted a local woodworking group to see if anyone wanted them. A guy came out Sunday to look at them and it turns out the tree was dead too long and some of the wood around the edges is too soft now. I was really hoping someone could use it for something other than firewood. Looks like I am back to Facebook Marketplace to find someone willing to cut their own firewood. <br />
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This may be one of the most random things I've seen in Walmart. These slippers caught my eye as I was heading to the back of the store to get cream cheese. I didn't know until that very moment that I needed AC/DC and Def Leppard slippers. Just kidding, I didn't need them :) <br />
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My niece was raving about these bagels, so I had to try them. They make a delicious egg sandwich. My husband does not agree...he couldn't get passed the smell of the Asiago cheese as it toasted. <br />
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I spent a little time sewing.... <br />
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....while watching harvest themed Hallmark movies. Seriously they have movies for every occasion. <br />
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My goal was to get through this stack of squares. I made it through about a third, I think. <br />
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When pugs take selfies. This is my niece's pug, Penny. I am glad to see I am not the only one who had trouble finding the right angle. The struggle is real. <br />
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Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving...also known in Canada as Thanksgiving. I grew up in Ontario and one thing I bought back to the States with me is a love of Butter Tarts. There are a gazillion recipes and this time I chose the <a href="https://www.canadianliving.com/food/baking-and-desserts/recipe/best-maple-butter-tarts">Best Maple Butter Tarts</a> from <i>Canadian Living</i>. <br />
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I did take the pre-made crust shortcut. I've made the dough before, but I tend to have more trouble getting them out of the pan in one piece. <br />
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The filling is a super simple mixture of brown sugar, corn syrup (or in this case maple syrup) butter and egg. Some people liken in to the filling for pecan pie. <br />
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There is a Butter Tart controversy that I have to address. Canadians are divided on whether or not raisins have a place in butter tarts. Truth is I will NEVER turn down a raisin-free butter tart, but I as you can see below I am Team Raisin :) I actually made a couple without raisins because I know some people just don't like raisins. I did have one raisin-free tart and it too was delicious!<br />
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I only made one batch and I shared them. Truth is I wanted to keep them ALL for my greedy self. <br />
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My husband had his game group over Monday. I made them these <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/valerie-bertinelli/peanut-butter-brownies-with-salted-pretzels-3497620">Peanut Butter Brownies with Salted Preztels</a> that I pinned immediately after seeing Valerie Bertinelli make them on Food Network. Her show is one of my go-to shows - she definitely has the "I want to hang out with her" factor. I did make one minor (or major) change. I used my favorite brownie mix for the base and used Valerie's instructions for the peanut butter swirl and pretzels. This picture was taken right before I added the pretzels and put it in the oven. Her recipe calls for half a cup of broken pretzels. Next time I would probably double the pretzels. Once out of the oven, taking pictures was apparently the last thing on my mind because there are none. The parchment paper made it super easy to remove the slab of goodness (after it was completely cooled) and cut into nice even bars. <br />
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When your niece takes you for ice cream and then her jeep won't start. Her brother and his friend came to rescue us. It ended up needing to be towed :( <br />
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Yesterday I forgot my lunch and was in the mood for a sandwich. When I got to Jimmy John's, I discovered they just introduced a new bread - 9 Grain Wheat. <i>The all-new bread is made with a blend wheat, rye, flaxseed, quinoa,
oats, millet, barley, amaranth, and spelt, along with a hint of honey
and molasses. </i>I wanted to love it, but I did not. To me, it almost had a bitterness to it. Not to mention it was 120 calories more than my beloved white rolls. <br />
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I hope you enjoyed a peek in my photo journal. Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-56013761328551989152018-10-02T05:14:00.002-07:002018-10-02T06:51:14.710-07:00Veggie Potstickers <br />
Not much to report from the weekend. After last weekend it was nice to enjoy some "do nothing" time.<br />
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I did make <a href="https://damndelicious.net/2018/07/24/vegetable-potstickers/">Vegetable Potstickers</a> and (spoiler alert) they were delicious. Potstickers are one of my all time favorites and I have made several times, but only meat-filled versions. I have been trying to be purposeful in introducing more vegetarian meals to my diet. I always have carrots in my fridge - except this day - had to make a quick trip to the store.<br />
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Prep started with chopping and grating. I kept looking at the carrots thinking "that's a lot of carrots" and at the mushrooms thinking "that's not enough mushrooms".<br />
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The recipe called for grated ginger, which means first there must be <i>peeled</i> ginger. I watch all kinds of cooking shows and I have seen this trick <i>many</i> times, but for some reason I refused to try it. I continued to peel my ginger with a knife. And if you know how knobby ginger is that is no easy feat. The trick...peel the ginger with a spoon...yes a spoon! Simply scrape it with the edge of the spoon and the peel come right off with no danger of cutting yourself. I am embarrassed I didn't try it sooner...don't be me.<br />
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I saw water chestnuts in the recipe and decided to skip them. I've never been their biggest fan.- kind of a take it or leave it situation. When I ran to the store for carrots, I decided to pick up a can. I opened it fully intending to use them, then I took a taste.Nope...straight into the trash.<br />
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All the chopped veggies were sauteed until a little tender and mixed with the rest of the ingredients (seasonings) and an egg. The egg is supposed to be a binder for the filling. Maybe my cabbage was a little too large because it didn't really seem to bind the filling. It was still going every which way.<br />
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They were a little tricky to fold, but a little patience and a dab of water around the edges to seal them did the trick.<br />
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I ended up with about 35 potstickers. The outsides are a little messy - those mushrooms were constantly sticking to my hands and ending up on the outside of the wrappers.<br />
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I put most of them on a parchment lined sheet pan and put them in the freezer for a couple of hours. Once frozen I transferred them to a freezer bag.<br />
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The rest of them I cooked up for my niece and I to sample. I made a simple dipping sauce with soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and garlic/ginger paste. I looked through a few recipes to determine a ratio for soy sauce to rice vinegar (2:1). I have winged it on the sauce many times, but often struggled to balance those two ingredients. The ratio turned out great.<br />
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And so began the struggle to not reach in the freezer and eat potstickers for <i>every</i> meal. There is a little bit of work involved in making these, but nothing difficult. If you are a potsticker fan I definitely recommend making a batch or two to keep in your freezer for a super quick meal.<br />
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I am still enjoying beautiful anniversary flowers. I love the colors! <br />
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Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-39440381886951415982018-09-29T07:41:00.001-07:002018-09-29T07:54:47.042-07:00Festive WeekendI love festivals, but the heat of summer is too much. Last weekend was perfect weather to get out and enjoy a couple. I crammed so much in last weekend, I was a bit overwhelmed on what and how to blog. Then the week passed by so quickly, I didn't get it together. Hang onto your seats - here goes a big ol' post before we get too deep into another weekend (I actually, have very little planned other than my husband's game on Sunday).<br />
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On Saturday (before we headed out for our mini anniversary road trip) my mom and I took a quick trip to a local festival. Lincoln Place is a neighborhood in a town about 20 minutes from us. The neighborhood was settled by Eastern European immigrants who had arrived to work in the steel mills in the late 1800s/early 1900s. For many years, the area was known as Hungary Hollow. Mexican immigrants began to arrive around 1920. Around the same time the area was officially named Lincoln Place to reflect the American ideals the residents now embraced while continuing to honor their various cultures.<br />
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I was not expecting the Mexican influence, but it was great to see the different cultures featured side by side in food and dance.<br />
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A sad chapter in the history of Lincoln Place was a fire in 1953.<br />
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One of the actual fire engines that responded to the fire was on display. I have to admit, this fire engine looked much older than something I would have expected in the 50s. Perhaps it wasn't their newest truck.<br />
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Throughout the day, various dance troops performed. We were only at the festival for about an hour, so we only saw Mexican and German dancers.<br />
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I wish you could see how intricate this dress was. Each flower seemed to be individually crafted.<br />
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The food was the main event. There were at least ten different booths representing countries including Armenia, Bulgaria, Russia, Germany, Macedonia, Mexico - main dishes, desserts, snacks. There were so many things we wanted to try...and you can see we did our best. The first thing I did (and it was difficult) was to eliminate Mexican food from our sampling. I wanted to try the Eastern European cuisines with which I had very little previous experience. I was happy to see the prices were very reasonable. I brought home leftovers. And there may have been some desserts we took home...not sure what happened to the pictures, so maybe that didn't happen :) I picked up apple strudel from two different booths (German and Macedonian) for my strudel loving husband. His winner was the German strudel. I can't compare them because someone didn't share his favorite. I did, however, enjoy the Macedonian version.<br />
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I bought this dessert from the Russian booth. Large wafers are layered with cooked sweetened condensed milk (basically dulce de leche). It is super simple to make, but apparently the wafers aren't readily available outside Russian/Ukrainian shops. I loved the look of this dessert, but was not a fan of this particular flavor.<br />
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I found this cutie for my Christmas tree at the Russian booth.<br />
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This was the first year I'd even heard about this festival. Sadly, they announced it will most likely be their last one due to lack of funds. I am quite curious about their budget and expenses. I hope they find a way to continue.<br />
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Sunday my niece and I went to a local Art Fair. It had been circled on my calendar for awhile (technically marked as "interested" on Facebook). At the last minutem I invited my niece and was super happy she was able to go. There was a wide variety of artists using all kinds of different mediums.<br />
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Is it a painting? Yes and no. It is a combination of painted fabric and embroidered details.<br />
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A closer look reveals the intricate ribbon embroidery.<br />
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I think I could find a place for this guy in my house.<br />
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How pretty would this be hanging above the patio or as a canopy over a bed? I loved how it filtered the light.<br />
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This artist had a quirky aesthetic. It is fascinating to see what is in people's brains and even more incredible how they get it out into their art.<br />
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We talked a little to this artist She made cyanotype sun prints using local plants. Her father was (is?) an environmentalist. I loved how her artistic passion incorporated his scientific passion. In related news, I just put a sun print kit into my Amazon cart. Sounds like a fun project for our sidekick and bonus boy.<br />
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I thought this artist had a fun aesthetic.<br />
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Who could resist this lineup. People without $400 ;)<br />
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I could have spent so much money at the art fair!<br />
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I think I have buyer's remorse, actually non-buyer's remorse about this artist -<a href="http://laylmcdill.com/"> Layl McDill of Minneapolis</a>. We spent quite a bit of time looking at her booth filled with items made from polymer clay. Her work was fascinating. She was so open and informative about her work. I was not surprised at all to see she on her website that she teaches classes.<br />
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Each color is a log of polymer clay shaped and pressed into the bigger log. She then continues to pull and press the log into various sizes. Then she cuts slices off the log to make the various pieces. It is incredible to see the same design several inches in diameter down to half an inch in diameter.<br />
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She had several teapots made from her creations. It is creation layered on creation to make yet another creation. I would say simply stunning. but there is nothing simple about it. .<br />
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You all know I am obsessed with Christmas ornaments. I really wanted one of her ornaments, but $24+ seemed too extravagant for an "impulse" buy. I found some of her work for sale on another <a href="http://www.claysquared.com/">website</a>. There are tons of ornaments, but pictures do not do her product justice. I feel like it would be nearly impossible to choose one through the website. But I may I might have to try!<br />
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The detail and colors are amazing. Do you see the snails??<br />
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I wonder if she sold this guy or has one similar. Perhaps I will be sending her an email and ordering myself a Christmas present.<br />
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A couple of local restaurants were serving food at the art fair. One was a wood-fired pizza place my husband and I love. Wee especially love a pizza we had during a pizza crawl event we attended a couple years ago - Chili Lime Pork. Unfortunately, it is a seasonal item and I just noticed last week we missed the season. However, this Maple Bourbon Pork from their fall menu is super tasty. My niece and I picked up a couple items to take home to share with my husband for lunch.<br />
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Tuesday was our 7th anniversary. Although we had celebrated in advance over the weekend, I couldn't resist making him a special meal. I chose him over Cookbook Club - that's true love. I had some comp time at work, so I took the afternoon off to focus on the meal. By now. you all know how much I love to make new things. It might be the bane of my husband's existence. He says I make something good and then he never sees it again. He is very much a person who loves the tried and true. I decided to make him a meal of known favorites. (Side note; he would have never met these favorites, if I had tried new things, just sayin'.)<br />
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Any meal that includes my Jalapeno Boats has my husband's instant attention. I've been making these for so long I just wing it every time I make them. I cut the jalapenos in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and ribs. For the filling, I start with a block of light cream cheese, add shredded cheddar, crumbled bacon and chopped cilantro. Then I spread the filling inside the jalapeno boat. It gets a little messy corralling the filling into the boat, but your hands are your best kitchen utensil, so it all works out Finally, I press filling side down into panko to give them a bit of a crust. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes or so (until they start to brown on top and peppers soften a little. I had these ready when he came in from work.<br />
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<a href="https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aaron-mccargo-jr/bacon-wrapped-potatoes-with-honey-scallion-sauce-recipe-1973675?soc=sitesocialpinterest&crlt.pid=camp.wfWKvIENweAI">Bacon Wrapped Potatoes with Honey Scallion Sauce</a> - This recipe from Aaron McCargo, Jr (winner of season 4 of Food Network Star) might be my favorite of the night. I remember watching the show and when he made these I had to try them. I've only made them a handful of times over the years because they are super decadent. Potato wedges are wrapped in bacon and slowly cooked in shallow oil. By the time the bacon is crisped up the potatoes are cooked through. The crispy bacon with the soft potato is a great texture. The sauce, however, is what sends it over the top - honey, melted butter, green onions, salt and pepper. I love the how the warm butter draws the green onion flavor into the sauce. So simple and so divine. I might have licked the plate.<br />
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<a href="https://4sonrus.com/mexican-street-corn-salad/">Mexican Street Corn Salad</a> I made the salad early in the afternoon, so it had time to chill. We are obsessed with the flavors of street corn - cotija cheese, lime and cilantro. This recipe uses a bag of frozen corn which you char a little in a skillet. I had to make a second trip to the grocery store because the first bag of frozen corn was not good - it was old tasting (like it had been picked well past its prime). You definitely need a good ingredients to make delicious dishes.<br />
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The final step was cooking delicious ribeye steak. I was always intimidated making steak. It was too expensive to ruin. After I got my cast iron skillet, I found instructions on cooking it on the stove and finishing in the oven. We like our steak medium rare, so it takes almost no time to cook - a couple minutes on each side and then in the oven for a couple of minutes. The secret is in the "board sauce" - chopped garlic and herbs smashed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper to make a paste. Spread the paste on the cutting board and put the hot steak on top to rest. Once rested, I slice the steak and mix it up with the board sauce. It is SO good! You can mix and match any herbs you like. On this night I just used basil cause my rosemary had died. Other times I've done cilantro and a bit of jalapeno.<br />
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You might be wondering where the dessert is....there was going to be an orange souffle.... However, I chickened out. I figured I had enough going on. I've never made souffle and no matter how easy Ina Garten says it is, I am still a bit nervous. One of these days.<br />
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I debated even including this or perhaps even worse wrapping up a very pleasant post with this. Just trying to keep it real. So, a week or so ago I bought this frozen paella at Walmart. It was marked down, but still had good dates on it. I decided to make it Wednesday evening for myself. It had a strong seafood smell to it - not in a bad way (unless you ask my seafood hating husband). It looked good...and tasted good. When I finished eating dinner, I was already looking forward to eating the leftovers the next day. That is until I woke in the middle of the night and proceeded to throw up several times. Then woke up again...you get the idea. I can barely think about it without feeling queasy and I currently have a strong aversion to all things seafood. Hopefully that aversion will pass...I am not sure I could ever forgive Sam's Choice if it doesn't pass.<br />
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I ended up being sick all the next day and into Friday. My ribs still hurt from the trauma.<br />
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I don't have a festival packed schedule this weekend. I am planning to enjoy some time at home, but even as I write this part of me is wondering what I might be missing out there. I have a recipe (ingredients already purchased) ready to try. I might also do a little sewing. <br />
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Hope your weekend is off to a good start!<br />
<br />Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-9354292698026507392018-09-25T04:43:00.001-07:002018-09-25T04:43:01.445-07:007 Years and Counting On the prettiest of September days, 7 years agom the day I had almost given up on finally arrived. I had pretty much been ready to get married since college...maybe even earlier. I remember asking my mom if I was mature enough to get married...I was 16 at the time and didn't even have a boyfriend. I don't remember what she said, but hopefully she was honest and said "no way" but in a less blunt way :) One would hope I was plenty mature enough by the time my husband and I finally found each other. I was 42 on our wedding day.<br />
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We got married in the lodge at the state park where we had our first date. My husband was a martial (not to be confused with marital) arts teacher and my sisters' family were his students. We were introduced and spent a little "together" at my sister's house. He was invited over to watch football...he didn't see the set up. We seemed to like each other, but he didn't make his move. I finally broke down and made my move. I invited him to go hiking at the state park. It was the Saturday after Thanksgiving and the weather was absolutely perfect. I think I was officially smitten when he arrived to pick me up with bottled water for our hike. Such a little thing, but I found it incredibly thoughtful.<br />
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If I had a dollar for every time he has given me this look, I would be retired. He'd still be working, but I'd definitely be a full-time housewife.<br />
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I am looking forward to all the days with this man by my side with your hands and hearts entwined.<br />
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This year we celebrated our anniversary with a mini road trip to a town about 1.5 hours south of where we live. I've been intrigued ever since I heard the creator of Popeye was from Chester. I am always up for exploring a new town, so off we went.<br />
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Thankfully, my husband got us a little lost. According to the map, it appeared we were to go straight-ish south, but turns out in one of the small towns our road took hard right, but we went straight. Had we not taken this "detour" we would not have discovered this cute covered bridge. We actually passed it and I made him go back to take pictures. If he had a dollar for every time I made him turn around so I could take a picture of something...he would be the retired one...actually, I'd probably claim the money and be the retired one :) <br />
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We finally arrived at our destination.<br />
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The town is decked out with statues of various characters. "I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!"<br />
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We didn't have anyone to take a picture of us both, so just superimpose the picture above on this one and you will see me gazing lovingly at <i>my</i> Popeye :)<br />
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I insisted on a quick peek in this store. It was filled with Popeye merchandise. While inside the clerk asked if we were with the boat. With the boat? Turns out a large riverboat was stopped in town on its way cruising up the Mississippi. She mentioned it was scheduled to leave in about 15 minutes, so off we dashed to find the <i>American Queen</i>, largest of the Mississippi cruising riverboats.<br />
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It took us a little bit to find the landing, but we made it in time to see the <i>American Queen</i>. Tour buses were still unloading passengers to reboard the riverboat boat after their day of exploring.<br />
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It might be fun to take a river cruise one day...but I am thinking maybe one in Europe.<br />
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We were fascinated by the lowering of the smoke stacks.<br />
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Under the bridge with room to spare.<br />
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Then back up they went.<br />
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We saw a few more statues on our way out of town.<br />
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On the way home we decided to stop in one of the little towns for dinner. We dined at the Opera Bistro.<br />
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I can't believe I ordered a salad with blue cheese. I've never been a fan, but it might be growing on me. I loved the idea of the poached pears, but didn't love the seasoning on them. I think they would have been much better poached plain. My husband loved the raspberry vinagrette and claimed what I didn't use to dip his fries or should I say <i>pommes frites</i>?<br />
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He ordered a steak sandwich and was very happy with his meal.<br />
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I ordered the macadamia nut encrusted chicken on mashed potatoes with shoyu sauce and papaya marmalade...and was very happy with my meal. I wasn't sure what shoyu was. It is a soy sauce. The sauce had a hint of soy sauce flavor, but was not the least bit overpowering.<br />
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Our first <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.02em;">Crème Brûlée. It was delicious, but I was a little disappointed it didn't have that hard layer you can crack with your spoon. It was more of a sticky chewy layer on top. I have watched enough cooking competitions to know it would be very harshly judged. But again it was delicious. </span><br />
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It was a lovely day of celebration with my love.<br />
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Probably my favorite decor element in our house is in the bathroom. I found the "love" picture at Michael's. The hydrangea reminds me of our "relationship bush: - the first birthday gift my husband ever got me - it too is still growing strong, if not a bit wild. I believe the collage frames were from Walmart. I had bought them for something else, but changed direction. I filled them with pictures of our adventures. I love how it turned out!<br />
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A closer look.<br />
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I look forward to so many more adventures with this great love of mine. Seven years is just the beginning.<br />
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<br />Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-61829232180205680572018-09-21T07:53:00.003-07:002018-09-21T07:53:44.185-07:00Never So Happy to See A Friday<br />
It has been a crazy busy week at work.<br />
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You all are so complimentary of my cooking, but I have to admit, some days I don't have much of a cooking vibe and I phone it in with something I know my husband will like but takes no effort....Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. He is <i>very</i> particular about his mac 'n cheese - Kraft Original only - no homemade, no other brands, no other flavors, no different shapes...Kraft Original. And he definitely is NOT going to eat it leftover. Thankfully, I am not so picky and no leftovers were wasted. I simply added a packet of tuna, some frozen peas and mixed it together. <br />
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Grabbed a few apples and I had three yummy lunches. Yes, I confess, I break the cardinal rule of office etiquette and microwave tuna at work. Fortunately, I mostly work alone and when I don't my co-workers don't mind. In fact, I think my boss was legitimately envious of my lunch the day he was in :) <br />
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Being wiped out from work all week I was grateful for easy familiar meals. Before you say "oh no, there is the sweet potato hash (oatmeal, etc.) again." I would like to draw your attention to the glasses. My husband took me out to eat one evening and the restaurant was right next to a flea market. I sweet talked him into popping in for a minute to look for a new glass...I ended up with 3 glasses and a plate that matches mine. Score! <br />
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I am a morning person, which is a good thing since I worked early every day this week. Monday, I worked 11+ hours on our office newsletter - 24 pages of information for our county teachers' institute. <br />
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Eating at my desk. I didn't mind at all eating the faux tuna casserole three days in a row.<br />
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A long day on Monday, meant I got to see a pretty sunset on my drive home I would have otherwise missed : )<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0d1dJvM5qzXBuU9410nM4d5ex5zfBEy8RBYEFmfp_Pf9OelLXFLx2W_nq3hlSR3MYAv3eCeTGUkiyCKnmEVHgw19d6KaqtBeURWXdPxoFSj_PHKAwAu5K7Y_qn7OA1UZvN3GXBUH9Nbo/s1600/20180917_183457_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0d1dJvM5qzXBuU9410nM4d5ex5zfBEy8RBYEFmfp_Pf9OelLXFLx2W_nq3hlSR3MYAv3eCeTGUkiyCKnmEVHgw19d6KaqtBeURWXdPxoFSj_PHKAwAu5K7Y_qn7OA1UZvN3GXBUH9Nbo/s640/20180917_183457_HDR.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Next morning, up and at it again. My husband is claiming this glass for himself, but I had to at break it in, at least. <br />
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One final glass of water with a side of chicken tacos topped with fresh peach salsa. <br />
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Enchilada Turkey Stuffed Peppers are a go-to healthy comfort food. I always use poblanos for this recipe, but I only had three and needed five. I substituted Cubanelles for the other two. It was my first time using them, They were good and like the poblanos they don't have that sharp over powering taste that green bell peppers can have when cooked. <br />
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I still had some of the egg roll wrappers left after making them for my niece. I made up some more egg rolls. This time I baked them instead of frying. I just sprayed them with a touch of cooking spray and baked until crispy. The turned out really well and I felt much better about eating them - both mentally and physically. I need to figure out the exact calories, but my educated guess is about 100 calories each. <br />
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Yesterday my co-worker and I decided to go out for lunch. She loves sushi. I've had it a couple times and like it, but never go out for it. My lunch special came with miso soup. <br />
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I was a little grossed otu by the way the soup separated as it sat. Reminded me of fat separating from broth. I was not a fan of the fermented flavor of the miso. At least I tried right?<br />
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I did however enjoy my spicy tuna and California rolls. I need to use wasabi more often. <br />
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Next to the sushi place was a cute store with home decor items. I was intrigued by this sign...I feel like it could have many meanings - live with excitement, run away, etc. <br />
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Perhaps the highlight of the week was finally getting our big dead tree removed from the front yard. We have been in desperate need for awhile, but I hate calling around for estimates and kept putting it off. I finally made a few calls last week and found a great price. I was super happy they could do it within the week (the service we used before was booked until the end of October!) Unfortunately, I was not home to see it in person, but my husband did a great job documenting the process! <br />
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They were supposed to start before I left for work, but apparently they had a "tree fell on a house emergency" they had to take care of first. I was afraid to ask if the tree fell on the house when they were cutting it! So, when I left for work...<br />
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They made it out in the afternoon and my husband got home just in time to see them get started. <br />
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He was super impressed with how the guy in the bucket was able to pretty much cut down the tree one handed. He just stuck out the chain saw and down fell the branches.I am sure it is a bit more complicated, but that is what it looked like.<br />
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My neighbor was impressed with how the other guy got paid for just standing around smoking while the guy in the bucket did all the work.<br />
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Our great deal on cutting down the tree was partially because they were not taking away the wood. I was told, however, the pieces they left would be a manageable size. I wonder who will be moving a 5 foot length of trunk with a 2+ foot diameter. I couldn't even roll it much less put it in a truck!! <br />
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I called the next morning to find out when they would be returning to grind the stump. I asked if when they came back they would cut a couple of those huge pieces another time. The office girl then put me on with the owner, who explained we were getting a free stump grinding because of the office girl's mistake when she wrote up our estimate. I was happy he was honoring the estimate, but was disappointed that he wouldn't send the crew back out to cut the logs again (cause he'd already lost money on the job). Apparently, the cutting and the grinding are two separate crews and the grinding crew doesn't carry a big saw. <br />
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I left Millie out to investigate. She was in 7th heaven - I've never seen a dog that likes to chew up sticks like she does. Hmmm...I wonder if she would work on those logs for us.<br />
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Millie weighs about 80 pounds so you can really get a sense of how big those logs are. <br />
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I am very much hoping for a relaxing weekend (other than cleaning up that tree mess) and a much less hectic week next week. What are your weekend plans? </div>
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<br />Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-22004249650829924962018-09-16T18:53:00.001-07:002018-09-16T18:53:08.329-07:00Cooking for FriendsBefore I get into this weekend, I forgot to mention in my last post that I am a complete egg roll snob. I never order them in Chinese restaurants because I am always disappointed. I am not sure if there is some flavoring in them I don't enjoy. Perhaps it is partially the crispiness (or lack there of) of the wrappers. Nothing can live up to how that ultra thin wrapper fries up light and crispy. That being said, I have one guilty confession. I will eat (and sometimes may crave) egg rolls from...I don't know if I can say it....Jack in the Box. I know, I know, I can't believe it either. Maybe it is "something" they put in them - like whatever they put in their greasy, chewy tacos that make some people go crazy for them.<br />
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Sorry for that diversion. I just felt like I had to address my snobbery.<br />
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Our weekend got off to a slow start and I didn't mind that a bit. It has been a crazy stressful work week, with another one on the way. Saturday morning, Millie was giving her best pathetic look.<br />
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To cheer Millie up (and to buy apples for me and peaches for my husband) we took her to the farmers' market. I hadn't been in a couple of weeks. The Beet Box is a mobile market. They travel around the county between market days selling fresh veggies.<br />
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So many pretty flowers still in bloom.<br />
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You can tell fall is upon us with the wide variety of squash at the market. I am not sure how I feel about the warty pumpkin...does it have a disease? barnacles?<br />
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Millie was offered a doggie snow cone made from chicken broth. I think the heat got the best of the snow cones. It was just a bowl of cool broth.<br />
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Millie was not impressed...she took a little taste and then tried to make her not-so polite getaway.<br />
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Turns market day was also an adoption event for several rescue groups. I was careful not to make direct eye contact with puppies. I am not quite ready to be a two dog household again. <br />
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This past winter we had a fun trip to Baton Rouge visiting friends over New Year's. While we were there we made a delicious discovery. At our friends' New Year's Day/college football feast, we were introduced to the most delicious potato salad from a local restaurant, Rice and Roux. In their salad, the potatoes are mashed instead of the usual chunks. We loved the mashed potato texture and how the flavors were distributed evenly throughout the potatoes. Since we are some 800 miles from Rice and Roux, I had to find a way to make it at home. I made my first attempt this weekend. <br />
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I scoured the internet for a knock off recipe, but came up empty. However, there were several generic "mashed potato" salad recipes. I settled on <a href="https://www.justapinch.com/recipes/salad/potato-salad/mashed-potato-salad.html?utm_source=pinterest&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share">this one from Just a Pinch</a>. My husband had friends over Sunday and it seemed like a good occasion to try it. I prepped all the ingredients while the potatoes cooked. The recipe recommended mixing it together while potatoes were still warm...and even eating it warm or cold.<br />
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I mashed the drained potatoes and then transferred them to the mixer bowl.<br />
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I knew the potatoes had to be creamy and the best way to do that is with Super Mixer. The first mix included celery, onion and relish.<br />
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I have never done this step for a potato salad - dissolve sugar in white vinegar.<br />
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The sugar/vinegar is then whisked into the mayo. Then into the mixer bowl for a second mix. Finally the chopped eggs were added for a final mix. <br />
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The salad ended up having a really nice "mashed potato' texture. The eggs, celery, and onion made it a little lumpy, but not in a bad way.<br />
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Later in the day my friend messaged me the two pictures below - she was having the Rice and Roux original for an LSU football party.<br />
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Looks like they had tamales too :) Thank you for sharing the pictures.<br />
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First, I was envious and secondly, I could tell from the pictures they don't use green things in their potato salad. I am not sure about the onion and eggs. Surely, they add more than mayo to their potatoes. Guess I will need to do some more research. In the meantime, we did enjoy this recipe. For me the biggest takeaway is the mashed potatoes allow for the flavors to get evenly distributed. I am pretty sure we have all had that disappointing moment biting into a hunk of bland potato just dripping with over mayo-ed sauce??<br />
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My husband's game gathering had me busy in the kitchen. My husband <i>loves</i> sugar cookies. Since he realized he also likes my chocolate chip cookies (he's not the biggest chocolate fan), I haven't made sugar cookies. The sugar cookies are a little more labor intensive since I created a lime glaze for them...and why stop at lime when there are lemons and oranges in the world. I started by zesting each fruit. I combined the juice from half of each fruit with powdered sugar until my glaze reached the right consistency.<br />
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Orange <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5k3nJGkuXnrXqdRt2k96DKKRty9vogZRMl1hBu9rNOYLKUDi0-Ptabd06IxYFTsfY8979K2BHXVWPzwD9OvhWi9QGYzo3UbY2JAaLh2KaYwbCAE0J_mCUenppVt0zcorcIUj56JgsDsc/s1600/20180915_183803.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5k3nJGkuXnrXqdRt2k96DKKRty9vogZRMl1hBu9rNOYLKUDi0-Ptabd06IxYFTsfY8979K2BHXVWPzwD9OvhWi9QGYzo3UbY2JAaLh2KaYwbCAE0J_mCUenppVt0zcorcIUj56JgsDsc/s640/20180915_183803.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
Lemon<br />
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I took some of the lime cookies a step further, by topping them with a little bit of flaked salt to give them a margarita vibe. I am certain they will happen again. </div>
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The guys has decided they wanted BLTs for lunch. They supplied the bacon and I was tasked with cooking it all. On the recommendation of friends, I cooked it in the oven - my first time. I put the bacon in a cold oven and let it start cooking as the oven got to temperature (400 degrees). I think the advantage is supposed to be more even cooking. And it did cook very evenly. However, it seemed to take forever to cook. To be fair, that was probably due to the two double stacked pans of bacon in the oven at one time. (I put a rack on top of these pans and laid out another layer of bacon.) Everyone seemed happy with the baked bacon. Well, almost everyone....my husband is still solidly in the stove top frying camp.<br />
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Nothing beats a BLT with garden fresh tomatoes!<br />
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My tomatoes have been slow this year, but have exploded the last week or two. They aren't the prettiest tomatoes I have grown, but I picked a bunch Saturday morning. I had two big bowls that needed attention.<br />
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I know some people go through a whole process of blanching and peeling the tomatoes, but I don't mind the skins. I simply washed and quartered them, cutting out any bad spots. I ended up with three quarts for the freezer. They will be the base of several batches of chili this winter. <br />
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I am not sure what to do about this guy.....<br />
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<br />Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-43992456466778475002018-09-14T05:03:00.001-07:002018-09-14T05:03:01.773-07:00Birthday Treats I can't believe I forgot to mention one of my favorite things from the sidekick birthday weekend. Friday night my husband was working, so I decided to make something I like and my sidekick <i>loves</i>...grabgrabgoon. You may know it as crab rangoon, but our sidekick has forever changed the dialect in our house :) She likes to cook and I thought she would get a kick out of making this treat. I was trying to wrap them the way the restaurants around here do...like this.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">from Dinner, Then Dessert</td></tr>
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It didn't quite work out that way. We tried two different methods (see picture). The ones on the right are cuter, but the left is much easier. They were <i>both </i>delicious!<br />
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This hasn't been the exercise week I was hoping to have. I will definitely get some in this weekend. I tell you otherwise you have my permission to scold me in the comments next week....just be gentle :)<br />
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Between fried treats I did eat some good things....<br />
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Yummy sweet potato/spinach hash.<br />
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Egg salad sandwich with a side of grapes.<br />
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Stir fry - sadly, I am now out of snow peas and mushrooms again. I am not sure when I will make it back to my new favorite store.<br />
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Thursday was my oldest niece's 24th birthday. I decided to make her egg rolls. These are a family favorite that we learned how to make back when I was in high school. My brother was dating a Cambodian girl and her mother was a cook for the King of Cambodia before the Khmer Rouge took over in one of the world's worst cases of genocide. Her father was killed because he wore glasses...the sign of a learned man. The rest of her family later escaped to the United States. Her mother shared this recipe for egg rolls with us. I don't have it written down. Exact measurements are really not that important. I have made it so many times I just eyeball it. The filling is simply ground pork, cabbage and carrots. <br />
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Chop carrots and cabbage. Don't feel guilty about snacking on the raw veggies as you chop.<br />
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Brown the pork, then add carrots and cabbage. This will seem odd, but also add about a teaspoon or so of sugar. Cook until slightly softened.<br />
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These are my favorite wrappers...super thin. I buy the ones that are pre-separated. The ones you have to peel apart yourself always end up a shredded mess when I try to separate them.<br />
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In addition to the pork/veggie filling, we add a little bit of cellophane noodles. The are also known as glass noodles and are made from starch (mung bean, potato or tapioca - I think mine were bean). Sometimes, I see them in the grocery store, but I always stock up at the international stores (much less expensive). Just don't confuse them with rice noodles, which look similar. Soak the noodles in warm water for a few minutes to make them pliable. <br />
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Ready to assemble. <br />
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A scoop of filling and a few noodles. (I've also heard the noodles called bean threads). <br />
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Start rolling away from you tucking the filling into the wrapper. <br />
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Then fold in the sides and continue rolling. <br />
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24 egg rolls and ready to celebrate my 24 year old niece :) I gave them to her uncooked, since they are best freshly fried. You can also brush them with a bit of oil and bake...not quite the same as fried, but still delicious. I wanted her to have extra to freeze for a later meal too. <br />
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I also made her a jar of this sauce...love that stuff. It is fish sauce, water, vinegar, sugar, salt and chopped garlic. <br />
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The whole recipe is super easy. I spent about 15 minutes making the filling the night before. Then the next morning about 15 minutes to roll them up and make the sauce.<br />
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Wrapping up this post with a shot of our pathetic pup living her difficult life in a pile of pillows. This might be payback for my husband letting her sleep on my pillows :) <br />
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I am SO ready for the weekend...what are your plans? Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-8624329640571371592018-09-11T07:51:00.003-07:002018-09-11T07:51:30.702-07:00You Are My Sunshine<i>You Are My Sunshine</i> is my sidekick and my special song. After spending her last two birthdays with us, this year we had to wait a week to celebrate. She has just turned six...and when you are six you get to bake your own birthday cake :) She got a kick out "reading" the recipe on the box (thanks to the pictures of the ingredients). She did all the measuring and mixing. The decorating was a collaborative effort among the four of us.<br />
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Our sidekick and her bonus brother were with us the entire weekend. When we have her, I can't help but try to pack in everything we can. Awhile back, I made a king-sized quilt from 3 inch squares. I had a stack of squares leftover. I decided to give them to her to make her own quilt. This weekend she laid it out. When I make quilts like this the pattern is supposed to be random. My husband always teases me when I go back and move squares so the same fabrics aren't too close together - making it a little less random :) I really had to sit on my hands and allow her to do her own thing. Hey! Can't you see you have three blue denims in a row??? When she was finished, we carefully picked up and labeled each row to be sewn at a later date.<br />
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This is the quilt I made. It is gigantic. I am sure you can find some "mistakes." For example, right in the middle of the edge of the foot of the bad, I now see two red squares side by side and a few squares down two dark blues side by side. I think I might have gotten a row flipped when I was sewing to end up with two mistakes so close together. <br />
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<img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXFAApFLwpeTDSr8nBwqv_Kd0McHo78i9YNsqs9fvEhvrEuDmZw0MOZlB-RUCKvlMRdgN3w-8jyfMovFuI-krA8TZEXz5SbONkJrJZNp-BjGEgu4wl690egaxY2WXi3x5JcURD8idDT4/s640/20160402_183835.jpg" width="640" /></div>
It rained quite a bit this weekend. Therefore, it was muddy at the farm and we didn't take Millie with us. When we got home, we all got a pretty snarky sniff-down from Millie. My sidekick decided she needed a disguise so Millie wouldn't know she went to the farm. Who would have thought you would need to go into the witness protection program for such a minor crime?<br />
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I might have won a game or two of Yeti in the Spaghetti. If you haven't played - the goal is to pull out the spaghetti noodles without making Yeti fall in the bowl.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaCp-xAVOYGiirEug8gtiEgWbemGFJV7ZtyXNado8Hc_MVRbSPx0kGqv0G7_8FzBBJKhTwp3j4E2JkKUW2t7bZKvanmYefEohfzp0iKL02yxiTO2sUIkRK79Ao-EnMY8iYFgB8kX6tlSI/s1600/20180907_195520.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaCp-xAVOYGiirEug8gtiEgWbemGFJV7ZtyXNado8Hc_MVRbSPx0kGqv0G7_8FzBBJKhTwp3j4E2JkKUW2t7bZKvanmYefEohfzp0iKL02yxiTO2sUIkRK79Ao-EnMY8iYFgB8kX6tlSI/s640/20180907_195520.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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Sunday we celebrated the return of football with a couple snacks (and some not pictured pizza.) </div>
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It was our first time trying <a href="https://www.spendwithpennies.com/oven-baked-buffalo-cauliflower/">Buffalo Cauliflower</a>. (Full disclosure - I couldn't find the exact recipe I used, but this one is essentially the same.) I was a little nervous about making it too hot for the kids - it had a good kick, but next time I will use more sauce. I was a pleasantly surprised how much the kids loved it. They gobbled it up. I will definitely make it again, but I will need to tweak it for my husband. I thought it had a bit of a flour taste from the batter - perhaps more sauce will help that too. <br />
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Unfortunately, all weekends (and visits) must end. I was wiped out and didn't get up early enough to walk on Monday. However, I am happy to say I was at the gym this morning before the crack of dawn. <br />
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I decided to go swimming again. I was a bit bummed when I arrived to see that I was FAR from alone in the pool. There were about 6 people already there walking and someone else swimming in the lap lane. I don't mean to disparage the walkers at all (I am one of them) and maybe they are doing their best. I did my best to work around everyone.However, they were much slower and some were walking two abreast chatting. Hopefully, I didn't annoy them too much by dodging around them. I couldn't swim around them, so I was really trying to walk as fast as possible. At times I felt like the person weaving in and out of traffic. After awhile the lap lane opened up and I asked a lady using a kick board if she wanted it (she was there before me). She didn't. It was so nice to be able to freely swim a few laps. For some reason, I was having trouble getting my swimming grove on. When someone else came in (who looked like a more accomplished swimmer) I let him have the lap lane and moved back into the fray. Some laps I was able to get ahead of the walkers and at least swim half the length of the pool before walking again. At one point, an older guy who was basically floating along on a noodle, pulled out a rope to create another lap lane. I naively thought he was doing it for me, but instead he hopped in that lane and continued his meandering. I admit in my mind I was not so supportive of him doing his own thing. I hope I didn't annoy people - I was doing my best to get in a good workout without getting in anyone else's way. I guess I am going to have to get there earlier and stake my claim.<br />
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This is a picture of the renovation work I mentioned last week. They made this slate wall and put down a vinyl floor covering on the pool deck. I think the wall looks great, but am not a huge fan of the blue pool deck. Incidentally, today I am wearing a dress that same color of blue.<br />
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For reference, this is the old wood wall on the left and the concrete deck. The painted stripe is still the same. And what a lovely <i>empty</i> pool....<br />
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I managed to log 45 minutes (which translates to 3 miles for our Hogwarts challenge). When I got home I made my lunch and had a good breakfast. Tonight I am making turkey burgers. I give myself a pat on the back for getting some healthy foods together for the day :) <br />
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This post seems uncharacteristically short, so let me throw in a couple random pictures from the weekend.<br />
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I am not sure how I feel about this frosting I saw at Walmart. The boxes contain pre-filled pastry bags of icing. Of course, I have all kinds of cake decorating tips and bags so I definitely wouldn't buy it. I suppose it works for the occasional baker. <br />
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A local news station visits area high schools during football season for early morning pep rallies. My niece's high school was featured this week. I am secretly (or not so secretly) in love with the mascot. <br />
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Hope your week is off to a fantastic start! <br />
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<br />Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-58092775953480410292018-09-07T08:41:00.004-07:002018-09-07T21:32:39.414-07:00Mixing Up the Exercise <br />
First, I feel like I need to address the streaking. Maybe I am not going to do <i>every </i>day in September. At this point, I have worked out 4 of 6 days. I feel really good about that and I don't want my arbitrary decision that it has to be <i>every</i> day to diminish my accomplishments. I definitely don't want to burn myself out from the get go either. That out of the way, let's celebrate what has been a good week on the exercise front.<br />
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Wednesday morning I did a video from FitnessBlender.com. If you haven't checked them out, I highly recommend it. There are tons of free videos. You can sort through them by length, intensity, target areas, etc. I chose this <a href="https://www.fitnessblender.com/videos/low-impact-cardio-workout-for-beginners-recovery-cardio-workout-with-no-jumping">one</a>. My legs were already a bit sore from the walking, so I wanted a low impact workout that would target more than my legs.<br />
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Step one - move the furniture and lay out my mat. The mat is a Millie magnet. As soon as it is down, she is there to get on it. It is like our floor is hot lava!<br />
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Once I get the dog removed, it is time to get started. There were a few things I couldn't do...anything on my knees really hurt my knees. I just did more of the exercises I could do or marched in place to keep my heart rate up.<br />
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In addition to shuffling through their video library, you can purchase workout programs where each day of a specified time period is laid out for you. I haven't purchased one yet, but I am considering it. In addition to the fitness videos, they have meal plans, discussion boards, recipes, etc. I will definitely be spending some more time on the site checking out the other content.<br />
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In the meantime, I feel like I got a a really good workout and am "enjoying" some of that "I used some forgotten muscles" pain.<br />
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After my workout, I was really craving stir fry. I had all those wonderful veggies from the international store. I figured why not have that for breakfast. It really hit the spot.<br />
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Thursday morning I was determined to hit the pool at the gym. Sadly, in a blogging fail, I forgot to take my phone so no pictures. I will share some next time. They did some remodeling in the pool area. For my pool workout I did swimming and walking laps. I also did some underwater squats. My glutes have been feeling it all day. I keep telling myself the pain is good - I am imagining my firm, lifted hiney emerging :)<br />
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I am still working on my grocery budget plans, but wanted to share something I have always done. I love pork butt. I think it is a regional thing to call it pork butt (the sliced version = pork steaks). The cut is also know as pork shoulder or Boston butt. On all the summer holidays, local stores around here have pork steaks on sale. I like to buy a couple butts and freeze them. This week I bough two for 99 cents a pound!<br />
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The first one is cut in steaks.<br />
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I trim as much of that fat off as I can.<br />
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Out of curiosity I put the fat on the scale. Even though it was close to a pound, it still is a very good per pound price for the trimmed pork about $1.15/pound.<br />
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Admittedly it is a fattier meat even when trimmed, but having it portioned up helps. I separate the steaks with bones and those without. If I am grilling, I use the bone-in. If need to chop it up, I grab the boneless. We cooked a couple of the pork steaks for dinner, otherwise I would have another bagful.<br />
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The second butt I asked the butcher to cut in quarters. Since there are just the two of us, these 1.5-2 pounds "roasts" are the perfect size and much less expensive than some other pork roasts. I like to cook them in the crock pot to use for enchiladas, Cuban sandwiches or good old fashioned BBQ pulled pork.<br />
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This time I weighed them before freezing and wrote the weights on the bags 2-7 is 2 pounds 7 ounces.<br />
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When I made the stir fry the other morning, I made a large batch. Leftover stir fry and grilled corn for lunch is just as good.<br />
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Then one of my co-workers from another office stopped by with these treats. I was the only one in our office at the time, so I took one and resisted his offer to leave a few there for the others when they come back in. I know myself well enough to know, I would have eaten theirs long before Monday. It was a nice sized treat. Just a couple bites to really enjoy it. Then I second guessed by decision to not let him leave any more...<br />
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This weekend our sidekick and one of her "brothers" are spending the weekend with us. I am excited to see them. It is supposed to be super rainy all weekend, so I am thinking up indoor plans. One of our sidekick's favorite foods is crab rangoon. I think I am going to teach her how to make it for dinner tonight. I bet she will get a kick out of that. I will balance that meal with more stir fry :) I also have a bunch of leftover quilt blocks that I am going to let her arrange for a quilt of her own. Then I will assemble it for her. We are also going to squeeze in a little birthday celebration for her - can't believe she is 6 already!<br />
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What are your weekend plans?<br />
<br />Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-73792995898252884592018-09-06T19:18:00.003-07:002018-09-07T08:29:16.842-07:00My Condition - Squirrel!! My husband teases me about my many distractions followed my obsessions. I see something and suddenly, I want to know everything about it, go there, try it, etc. Then something else catches my attention. The recipes I am featuring today are prime examples of my "condition".<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: large;"><b>Salteñas</b></span></div>
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The moment that started it all... Back in June my niece and I went to a Hispanic festival. There were crafts. There was dancing. But you know I was there to taste the food! It was fun to go with my niece because we could sample more goodies by sharing - that and she is good company. There were at least a dozen booths featuring different Latin American foods - empanadas, tacos, papusas, arepas, etc. It was here at the Taste of Bolivia booth I first met up with s<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">alteñas. The first time I went by the booth the chicken s</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">alteñas had a few more minutes in the oven. I am so glad I went back to get one. It had a slightly sweet shell filled with a spicy savory stew. I stopped one more time before I left to get one to take home :) Then I went home and read all about them. History says the first person to make this version was a woman from Salta, Argentina who was exiled to Bolivia. S</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">alteña translates to woman from Salta. S</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">alteñas are often served as a mid-morning snack. </span><br />
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First task was finding the must-have ingredient - aji amarillo (Spanish for yellow chili pepper). This was the main reason reason for our trip to the international store last weekend. It is not readily available at grocery stores. I almost ordered it on Amazon, but then I would have missed out on that trip the the international store. The aji pepper (<i>Spanish for yellow chili peppe</i>r) is a hot pepper. According to the Scoville scale, it is 10 times hotter than the j<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; white-space: nowrap;">alapeño. </span>Granted I don't have any experience with the raw pepper, but based on this paste it seems like a stretch. However, it was plenty spicy. Aji amarillo is used extensively in Peruvian cuisine. I do have a whole jar to use now, so maybe Peru is my next stop.<br />
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Making my s<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">alteñas</span> was a two day affair. I made the filling on Saturday using <a href="https://dulceandsalado.com/2013/01/03/saltenas/">this recipe</a> from <i>Dulce & Salado </i>(Sweet & Salty - sounds like my kind of website). I especially liked that the recipes were posted side by side in Spanish and English. I could practice my Spanish a little bit by reading both. Other than the aji amarillo, the ingredients are basic things I usually have on hand...although now I have aji amarillo on hand too :) There is a little box of gelatin sitting on top of the jar - I didn't notice I cut it off until just now.<br />
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First thing I did was poach the chicken and shred it. Don't forget that <a href="http://losingmypuppy.blogspot.com/2018/09/two-emergencies-and-weekend-odds-and.html">amazing shredding tip</a> I shared the other day using the stand mixer. I cooked the potatoes in the poaching liquid for about 5 minutes - just a pre-cook as they will continue cooking as you make the filling and again when you bake the s<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">alteñas. </span><br />
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The aji amarillo looks a lot like baby food...apricots or carrots anyone? I took a little taste at this point and the paste was hot. I got a little nervous because I had invited my mom over and she doesn't do super spicy.<br />
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The aji amarillo was combined in a pot with melting butter.<br />
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Then I added the onions and seasonings and cooked until the onions were tender. Then in go the other veggies.<br />
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Finally the cooked chicken and chicken broth were added and simmered for 10 minutes or so. Finally, I added a packet of gelatin and chilled in fridge to set the gelatin. Gelling the mixture makes is much easier to stuff the s<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">alteñas. The idea is when baked them the gelatin will melt and you still have a juicy stew-like filling in a hand held pastry vessel. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sunday morning, I mixed up a very simple dough. It doesn't need to rise - just rest for a few minutes before rolling. </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3PNr4-1AzmADGr6rQkbTGUM8XLtskgNLH3Ax0VNc0F93SyKP3FXvhKX_u3pkiatt0vanksnJEFQhiAQYrXuoWDgODwM_Gw0TYEf6HWo0lBf5hghAmXRW9vfP2w_0KDVpIH6jK0ee3HcU/s1600/20180903_121040.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3PNr4-1AzmADGr6rQkbTGUM8XLtskgNLH3Ax0VNc0F93SyKP3FXvhKX_u3pkiatt0vanksnJEFQhiAQYrXuoWDgODwM_Gw0TYEf6HWo0lBf5hghAmXRW9vfP2w_0KDVpIH6jK0ee3HcU/s640/20180903_121040.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Dough divided and ready to roll into 5 inch circles.<br />
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Filling ingredients at the ready. Apparently you should always add a piece of hard-boiled egg to each s<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">alteña. T</span>hen there is some debate on olives vs. raisins. I actually used both.<br />
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It was a little tricky getting the right amount of filling. It is at this point you really appreciate the gelatin - it would be pretty tricky to wrap stew. I made holes in more than a couple of the s<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">alteñas</span> trying to stretch and fold the dough over the filling.<br />
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But sometimes it worked - no holes.<br />
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The next step was almost my undoing. I watched a video on how to "braid" the edge to make an extra strong seal. I just couldn't seem to get it to look like a braid.<br />
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Then for some reason I changed hands and it was easy peasy. I wonder if the person I was watching was left handed or it was a mirror image video. It felt great to finally figure it out - look at this beauty!<br />
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Into the oven for about 15 minutes. I couldn't wait to try it. Notice the juices spilling out of the s<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">alteña :) </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">I read several stories about how the goal is to hold the </span>s<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">alteña in your hand and eat it without spilling any of the juice. Apparently, the first person to spill juice pays for everyone's food. Truth is much of my juice came out during the cooking - guess my sealing needs some work. Even though this particular one lost of its juice, it still had plenty of flavor. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I put five uncooked s</span></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">alteñas in the freezer. It sounds like they are super easy to cook straight from the freezer...we will see. Overall, I would rather have the ones from the Hispanic Festival. I feel like the dough was just okay and for some reason my </span></span>s<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">alteñas flattened as they baked. All the pictures I saw they retained their upright shape. If I make them again, I might try a different recipe. </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="text-align: center;">Watermelon Gazpacho</b></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Another prime example of my "condition". Some friends were meeting up in Detroit and had mentioned a particular restaurant where they were going to have dinner. Naturally, I had to read the menu online and decide what I would order if I were dining there.. That is the moment I discovered - watermelon gazpacho. Wait..what? Of course, I know gazpacho - although I have never actually eaten it. But watermelon as the base intrigued me. As I mentioned, I am <i>not</i> a fan of mixing tomatoes and other fruits, so when I found this <span style="color: red;"><a href="https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/watermelon-gazpacho-recipe">recipe</a> <span style="color: black;">without tomatoes,</span></span><span style="color: red;"> </span>I decided to try it.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUc5CBMfxefGrzJGMt8s7QH_qThSsSD0Tmhhmt81YyxSJZ5p2xLw1kA_F8gJvvfgtlRZ-SKrsNPHOavSeZz9wSn9H_u_dIh61GnDJqMgLtWd_YLpmzUWkpthjq3JAZvHnE0ItPGCCI7Sw/s1600/20180903_121327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUc5CBMfxefGrzJGMt8s7QH_qThSsSD0Tmhhmt81YyxSJZ5p2xLw1kA_F8gJvvfgtlRZ-SKrsNPHOavSeZz9wSn9H_u_dIh61GnDJqMgLtWd_YLpmzUWkpthjq3JAZvHnE0ItPGCCI7Sw/s640/20180903_121327.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
Before mixing with the watermelon I pre-blended the other veggies. I didn't want my gazpacho to be chunky.<br />
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Then I added that mixture to the chunks of watermelon and blended it all with my immersion blender The immersion blender is a very handy tool. It is especially handy when you don't have to move something hot to a standard blender. Not to mention, it is so much easier to clean up than a blender.<br />
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It was super quick and easy.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Once blended smooth, into the fridge it went to chill completely and meld flavors. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I am still undecided what I think about this recipe. I like the idea, but I think this particular watermelon might not have been flavorful enough to stand up the onion and cucumber, which dominated the flavor of the soup. Next time I get a really great tasting watermelon, I think I will try again...with a smidge less onion. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Are you ready to see where my "condition" takes me next? </span></span>Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-54455772816794552142018-09-04T11:39:00.001-07:002018-09-04T11:39:11.834-07:00Let the Streaking Begin<br />
My Lovely Ladies group strikes again. We were looking for a fall challenge and someone suggested a mileage challenge. So London to Hogwarts it is - only 18452.2 miles - who knew England was that big?? It worked out perfectly for me since I had already committed in my head to exercising every day in September. I made this reminder calendar for the fridge.<br />
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You might have noticed from the calendar that I already missed Day 1. Not letting that derail me, not letting that derail me (see what I did there?) Especially with it still being hot I simply have to walk in the morning. I didn't on Saturday, thinking I would do it in the evening. Then we had unexpected company, which was fun, but didn't get the walking done.<br />
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I did NOT make that mistake on Sunday. I got a later start than my husband, but invited Millie to join me for a loop around the neighborhood. When there is a walk to be had, there is no doubt as to who will be ready first. Perhaps it was a bit mean of me to put the leash on her then stop to brush my teeth.<br />
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Again, she is ready to head out while I am locking the door and situating stuff in my pockets.<br />
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Morning skies are always the best.<br />
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Finally we are off...<br />
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This little guy brightened up a mulched area of someone's yard.<br />
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I always like walking through this section of the neighborhood.<br />
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I don't know if I need to slow down or speed up!<br />
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Millie was nice enough to let me carry her poop for half the walk. Naturally, she made her potty stop in front of the ONE person working in their yard.<br />
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A happy, though super sweaty, selfie to end the walk.<br />
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I think Millie has the same look...though not quite so sweaty :)<br />
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<br />
Hurray for a holiday Monday! Not only did I not have to go to work, but had an extra day to get my morning groove on. This time I was ready to go the same time as my husband, so I tagged along with him to the track. I am not the biggest fan of walking around a track - mostly because I feel like there is more to see in a neighborhood. The track my husband runs at is at my old high school. The first thing I noticed was the serious new gates.<br />
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Back in the day, this was the only gate. Mostly it was to close off the road that goes between buildings to cars during the school day. It was also were people would step off campus to smoke during the school day. True to high school social circles, these people had a nickname - they were known as "gate people". Being a "gate-person" was not a compliment.<br />
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Sorry, Millie. I am not sure she would like going round and round the track anyway.<br />
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I walked while my husband ran...he lapped me many times...do you see him?<br />
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It took me a minute to figure this out. Those are speakers on that tower. I am surprised they can handle being out in the weather.<br />
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Long morning shadow...even my shadow could use to lose a pound or two :)<br />
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Perhaps another sign of the times...all the classrooms were numbered from the outside. I think it is actually a good idea, but certainly wasn't done in my day.<br />
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I was a little sad at how my old school felt a bit run down. I might have to text this picture to the principal (who I went to high school with and see fairly regularly through work). She probably doesn't get around to that side of the track often, but I would think they wouldn't want to let this grass ruin the track. A jug of Round-Up is WAY more budget friendly.<br />
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The crime - had to dodge several of these little bombs on the track.<br />
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The perps - or at least some of their kind. I bet the baseball players don't love the bombs left on their field either.<br />
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So starts what I hope to be a successful steak of exercise.<br />
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I actually saw this posted on Facebook on September 1st. I am taking as a personal mantra for this streak I am putting together.<br />
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UPDATE: After a rude awakening by a vomiting dog in the middle of the night, I managed to oversleep this morning. Guess I will be taking an after dinner walk :) <br />
<br />Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-84539197218146696952018-09-03T19:28:00.001-07:002018-09-03T19:28:36.021-07:00Two Emergencies and Weekend Odds and Ends This is the odds and ends post for the weekend (and a couple days before) . I have a couple more in the works more with specific focuses.<br />
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One of moms of a pre-schooler on my husband's bus gave him these beautiful peaches. Her husband works at a peach orchard. I LOVE peaches, but they are my produce nemesis - either they never fully ripen or they spoil about 8 seconds after they become perfectly ripe. These were perfect from the get go.<br />
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Perfect next to my favorite breakfast hash.<br />
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Perfect in peach salsa (made by my husband - the self-proclaimed salsa king) on grilled chicken tacos.<br />
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I am sad that peach season is almost wrapped up. I wonder if there is ANY chance of one more peach delivery... I don't think apples are going to make a great salsa, but I am excited they are next in season.<br />
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Tuesday night I started getting a toothache. By it was more pain than not. For breakfast I grabbed this frozen breakfast bowl. I could have made something very similar (or better), but my mouth hurt and I just didn't feel like making the effort. Fortunately, this breakfast bowl was pretty tasty and 300 or so calories is right in my preferred breakfast zone.<br />
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I finally called the dentist when I got to work. They worked me in before the office opened at 1 p.m. We really love our dentist. I, however, did not love to hear that I needed a root canal. In fact, I have always been anxious about dental work - trying to make a decision (about treatment and the expense) by myself when I just wanted the pain to stop was overwhelming. Root canals have always sounded super scary to me. Turns out it wasn't awful - other than all the numbing shots, the full body shakes from the anesthetic, almost closing my mouth on the drill (dentist said it would have ruined both of our weekends), being told I have horse teeth (normal teeth 18mm long - mine 25mm) and the budget busting bill. The truth is, I am a big baby and may not ever be able to show my face at the dentist's office again.<br />
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I stopped at the store on the way home from the dentist and stocked up on ALL the soft foods. At one point while driving (actually at a stop light) I took a big swig of water, which fell right out of my still numb mouth and down my entire front and lap...oops. Good thing the pharmacy has a drive thru. When the pharmacist was giving me my prescription instructions, she was careful to tell me I had to take each of them with food. There were three - each with the same instructions - one pill every 6 hours with food. I was laughing by the time she finished. That is a LOT of food. Yes, I do realize I could take them at the same time with the same food, but at this point I was a bit punchy :) I finally got home made myself some scrambled eggs and settled in the recliner to wait pathetically for my husband to get home from work and take over my care. <br />
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Friday morning, my mouth felt pretty good and off to work I went. Then this happened...a flat tire. My car has lower profile tires, so there was no dramatic noise of flopping tires. Suddenly my tire pressure registered zero. I was closed to a gas station, so I pulled in aired it up. When I saw it was holding pretty steady I hurried back to our mechanic near my house. He quickly found this screw.<br />
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Apparently when the universe decides you need exercise, you get a flat tire. Since my husband was at work, I left my car at the shop and walked the few blocks home. <br />
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Thankfully, they were quick to repair my tire and it only cost $16 - so much better than Thursday's emergency. I may or may not have bought these on my way to work. I would never have known about them had one of my friend's not posted it on Facebook. Just so you know they weren't bad, but I am not running back for them any time soon. Not to mention, they bring bad tire luck :)<br />
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Back to enjoying my peaches on oatmeal and a side of prescriptions.<br />
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Saturday afternoon my sweet husband drove my mom and I to the international store I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. I needed a particular item for an upcoming recipe (which I made this weekend and will feature in another post). My mom and I are very similar in our love for new foods and international cuisine. I am especially thankful my husband stumbled across some good interviews while he waited in the car - we had plenty of time to browse the whole store.<br />
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Check out these gigantic jackfruit - apparently they can grow to 40 pounds! <br />
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My mom bought a couple pieces they had packaged up. I am not the biggest fan of exotic fruits...jackfruit included, but at least I tried. (Not my picture below)<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="300" src="https://clarissa623.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/img_4045.jpg?w=300&h=225" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from Domestic Urbanite</td></tr>
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The pepper section if one of my favorite areas of the store.<br />
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Many, many items I don't even know what to begin to do with...give me time. There a couple new things I picked up that you will see later this week.<br />
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I didn't buy any of this jam, but look at those flavors. I didn't even notice the upside down label until writing this post.<br />
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I am not an ale fan, but I was intrigued by these pies. I do love a good pot pie :)<br />
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I picked up these shrimp potstickers. I made my own dipping sauce with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, rice vinegar and sesame oil. I could eat myself sick on potstickers...so good. On my to-do list is to make my own potstickers to freeze.<br />
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I picked up some herbs - way more variety and cheaper than regular grocery stores. I bought Thai basil for lettuce wraps or summer rolls, tarragon for chicken salad and dill for potato salad (or pretty much anything- I l like it in scrambled eggs).<br />
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Peppers - Fresno and Poblano, plus a new one for me - Cubanelle.<br />
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Baby bok choy. Watch for it in a stir fry.<br />
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I also picked up more mushrooms and snow peas to make more of those delicious stir frys.<br />
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This pita bread is quite thin. I plan to use it for some yummy lunch wraps - chicken salad, hummus and veggies...<br />
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A few snacky items I picked up to taste. The cookies/crackers were good, as I expected. The corn puffs (Philippines) were good at first but I tired of them quickly. They really did have a sweet corn taste. The pickled onion chips(British brand made in India) tasted exactly like pickled onions, until the after taste :(<br />
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I am not gonna lie - the Crunchie bar was my favorite. I grew up in Canada and though I don't specifically remember Crunchie bar - I loved sponge toffee, which is the base of this candy. I have made it since moving back to the States, but it has been awhile. Perhaps I will put it on the Christmas treat list.<br />
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I found these chicken thighs on sale at Aldi for 69 cents a pound. I left some skin, but trimmed off a bunch of the the excess skin.<br />
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I was always very nervous about cooking bone-in chicken on the grill, until I discovered this <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/the-ultimate-barbecued-chicken-recipe-1916919">brining technique from Tyler Florence.</a> It is super simple, great flavor and I have managed to cook it perfectly every time. The recipe is for BBQ chicken, but I just do the brine part like he says and then my own thing for BBQ or grill as is. Simply mix the brine ingredients together - crush the garlic and I roll the thyme in my hand a little to get the herby oils going.<br />
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Brining liquid.<br />
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Pour over the chicken in a Ziplock bag and refrigerate - two hours is recommended, but Tyler says even 15 minutes is worth doing.<br />
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I am serious, it comes out perfect every time. The thigh on the left has been brushed with Korean gochujang sauce. My husband ate the plain ones with his peach salsa - he was a happy man.<br />
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I am throwing this tip in here because I don't want it to get lost in the cooking post (although I will probably repeat it). I boiled a couple chicken breasts for a recipe and for chicken salad I am making for lunches this week. I might have shared this before, but it bears repeating. If you need to shred chicken and have a stand mixer this is for you. Cook the chicken, throw it in the mixing bowl and mix with the paddle beater on medium speed.<br />
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I promise you, in less than a minute (maybe 30 seconds) you will have this. It's like magic....but real. You never need to shred with forks again. <br />
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There you have it - the miscellaneous of the past few days. I look forward to sharing more of my weekend in the next couple days.<br />
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I hope you had a great weekend and make the most of the coming week.Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-42846876836050302322018-08-29T14:29:00.005-07:002018-08-29T20:25:00.448-07:00Cookbook Club - Vegetarian Edition <br />
Back in February I discovered two "local" libraries had Cookbook Clubs. I say "local" because both of them are 30 minutes away - in opposite directions. There are at least four libraries closer to me than either of these two. However, none of them are offering this fun opportunity. Each month the group gets together for a potluck of dishes they have made from specified cookbooks or cuisines. <br />
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I was so excited when I heard about them, I signed up right away for both of them. Now, six months later, one of the groups has dissolved. I went twice -
once one of three people and the second one of two people. The second
group is flourishing and I have been having a lot of fun with it.
Cuisines we have covered include Thai, Chinese, Mediterranean, French and Indian. Each night there are 10-20 people there, so it is a sample-palooza!<br />
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This month's theme was simply...vegetarian. Even before I made the <a href="https://www.maddielymburner.com/blogs/recipes/sweet-potato-peanut-stew">Sweet Potato Peanut Stew</a> last weekend I had already decided to make it for Cookbook Club (I just couldn't wait to try it). I wasn't thinking about the fact that I had already blogged about it, so as I was making it for tonight I was taking pictures. And who am I to let pictures go to waste?? ;)<br />
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Tomato paste, peanut butter and cumin. By the way I am loving my tomato paste in tube. So much more convenient than those little cans when you need a tablespoon or two. <br />
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Add part of the broth and whisk it together well. I am pretty sure it would have been a chore to work the peanut butter into the stew without this step.<br />
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Veggies in.<br />
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Add peanut butter mixture and the rest of the broth. Bring to a boil. Everything was immediately smelling delicious. <br />
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Add kale and simmer. <br />
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When my stew was finished, I realized it was too much kale. At least, I felt like ti was too much for the cookbook club tasting. I didn't want someone's bite to just be a way of kale, no matter how tasty it was. <br />
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Side note: I have a HUGE pet peeve about Cookbook Club - the lighting. All my pictures come out way too yellow and I don't have the chops to fix them. Perhaps there is a setting on my phone/camera I am missing. <br />
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Okay, back to the stew, I was determined for my dish to be served warm. Piled in the basket surrounded by beach towels is a is a cast iron Dutch oven of stew. I am happy to report, it arrived in tact and piping hot :)<br />
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My stew set up. I brought little cups for the samples. Suggested toppings were chopped peanuts, cilantro and lime - so I brought a little bit of each. That might have been a bit of a mistake. There was too much craziness at the table for people to doctor up their sample.<br />
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In previous months we have set up the food buffet style, but someone suggested family style at the last meeting. I do really like sitting family style so we can talk more among ourselves as we eat. It is just more difficult to manage dishes that aren't easily passed - hot pots, etc. <br />
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Our leader made avocado deviled eggs and green apple dill sandwiches. The sandwich filling had good flavors, but was overpowered by the bread. I think I would prefer it be served as a salad or even open-faced. <br />
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Someone made vegan peppermint patties....well, almost. She decided at the last minute not to dip them in vegan chocolate. Instead she chose Ghiradelli dark chocolate - I support her decision.<br />
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Don't judge...no really, please don't judge. As always, I took a taste of everything. As you know a taste of everything adds up. I ate it all. <br />
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In addition to what I already mentioned, other items on the menu included:<br />
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Strawberry Caprese Salad - tomato, strawberry, basil, basalmic and cute little
mozzarella pearls. Lately, we have been into fruit salsa. I am not a big
fan of tomato and the fruit together. I think this salad would have
been better with either the tomato or the strawberry. I am actually a
little intrigued by just using the berries.<br /><br />Dueling
summer squash casseroles - one was made with zucchini and the other with
yellow squash. They were both creamy and cheesy. Both delicious, but
quite different.<br /><br />Lentil veggie stew - carrots, beats,
potatoes, etc. It had cinnamon in it, which actually reminded me a bit of
the squash lasagna I made last weekend. It was good, but I have other
lentil recipes I prefer.<br /><br />A bean and cheese quesadilla with guacamole...what's not to love?<br /><br />Cuban
black beans with papaya salsa. As I mentioned, I've been into fruit salsa, so papaya salsa!
The cook of this dish said she doesn't like spicy so she didn't use all
the peppers - a little more heat would have been perfect with the
papaya. I also have a Cuban black bean recipe we love - makes me think I
need to get that recipe back out for fall.<br /><br />Sicilian potatoes and green beans - green beans and potatoes are boiled together then dressed with a vinaigrette which they are still warm.<br />
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After the meetings, the leader scans everyone's recipes and emails them to the group. I am eager to read them. With the new family-style format it was much more difficult to hear/concentrate on people when they were describing their dishes. I liked hearing how people made their items and I felt like I missed quite a bit last night.<br />
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I try to be honest blogger....and to be honest I might have over-kaled the stew. I was concerned it would be difficult to serve in my little cups with big wads of kale. The first batch I made I used spinach, which wilted much more than the kale. (The spinach also retained a much more attractive green color.) To be clear, it was not a "too kale-y" taste issue, just that I thought it would be more difficult to sample and didn't look as pretty. This is actually a bowl of kale I fished out the pot and left home.<br />
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When I got home I added that kale back into the leftover stew and all is well. I can eat ugly food :) <br />
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I love these storage containers. I have them in three sizes (quart, pint and cup). I love the look and the practicality of them. I remember I first discovered them when I was going through my wonton soup phase. The Chinese restaurant used them. I would get a quart of soup for about $2.50 with an awesome reusable container. I may have eaten the soup for the containers. One day, I asked if I could just buy some of the containers - I didn't know at the time I could buy them on Amazon. The restaurant was willing to sell them for $1 each. Not what I had in mind. Check out the 8 oz. size <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HBTA20U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1">here</a>. (48 for $13) <br />
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So that is your taste of Cookbook Club. Next meeting is in September and I have three issues....<br />
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1) The theme is "favorite dish". Wait, what??? How am I going to choose what to make for that one? At first, I was a bit disappointed in the theme because I've been enjoying sampling specific cuisines. But then as we talked around the table, I started to think it would be fun to try people's "best" dishes.<br />
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2) I won't get to try a new recipe. Clearly you all know by now, I am ALL about the new recipes.<br />
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3) After coming to terms and getting a little excited about the possibilities.....someone mentioned the date of our next meeting....September 25th. Our wedding anniversary. Whomp whomp (not the marriage - the date conflict). What do I do now? Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-62640219301042658512018-08-26T21:14:00.002-07:002018-08-27T07:34:51.118-07:00More Than FoodPulling pictures together to write this post and it feels a bit like all I have done this weekend is make food, collect food and eat food. Let's take a look.<br />
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Friday night my husband was working and I took the opportunity to make a "wife-friendly meal" that I saw Katie Lee make on The Kitchen - <a href="https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/katie-lee/low-country-boil-packets-2482370">Low Country Boil Packets.</a> Low Country Boil is one of those things I could eat until I pop. One day I hope to be part of one where they dump the buckets of food down the middle of the table and people just reach in and chow down.<br />
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Unfortunately, I didn't have the clams in this recipe, but I made it work with a little extra shrimp. I was surprised by the lemons in the recipe just because I don't remember lemons used in boils I've had in the past, but who am I to turn down a lemon?<br />
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For this particular version, you make individual foil packets to be cooked on the grill. Layer the sliced potatoes and sausage - top wtih shrimp and corn - sprinkle with scallions and a couple lemon slices and tightly wrap in foil. Great thing is you can prepare packets in advance and it only takes 15-20 minutes on the grill. However, this is where it went wrong for me. I could not get the grill to light...20 matches later, I decided to just cook them in the oven.<br />
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I set the oven for 425 and cooked them about 20 minutes. The shrimp was a bit overdone, but everything else was perfect. At this point, I was still on the fence about the lemon, but as I tasted those buttery, lemony potatoes with a hint of Old Bay seasoning, I was sold. In fact, it got me thinking about a lemony roasted potato recipe I saw on Rachael Ray recently. I have a feeling you are going to see that one soon.<br />
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Saturday day morning I decided to address some tomatoes my mother-in-law had given me. They were mostly Roma tomatoes, so not my favorite for sandwiches and such. I found this <a href="https://growagoodlife.com/crockpot-tomato-sauce/">Crockpot Tomato Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes</a> recipe on <i>Grow a Good Life </i>blog. I had some spaghetti noodles, but no sauce in the pantry so it seemed like a win/win. I supplemented the fresh tomatoes with some of the frozen ones that needed to be used up too. I started with about 5-6 pounds of tomatoes which pretty much filled my large crock pot. Chopped onions, carrots, olive oil and spices joined the tomatoes for a <i>long</i> day of simmering.<br />
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Pretty much from the start those Italian herbs smelled amazing. After about 4 hours it looked like this...not very saucy yet. To be honest, I expected the onions and carrots to be more cooked and broken down than they are here.<br />
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There was a whole direction about using a food mill to process the tomatoes to remove the seeds and skins. But, I am a little bit lazy and decided to just use my immersion blender. If nothing else, it was a whole lot less messy. Once blended it was back to simmering for several more hours.<br />
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It didn't thicken up quite the way I expected in the crock pot. I ended up moving it to my Dutch oven and simmering it on the stove for about 30 minutes to reduce the liquid a bit. I ended up with almost two quarts of sauce.<br />
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One quart into the freezer and one for a Sunday night spaghetti (I added turkey, peppers and onions). We have leftovers for lunches :) Full disclosure...was it the best sauce I've ever eaten? No, but it's not bad and I used up things we had, so that is a win. I am not particularly loyal to any one brand of sauce, so buying sauce can be hit and miss too.<br />
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On Saturday there were a couple of festivals I really wanted to check out. First was a Festival of Nations, I found out about last minute. In addition to crafts and entertainment, there were 60+ food booths representing just about any cuisine you could imagine. That one sounded like a complete mad house - they were expecting 125,000 over the course of two days. Huge crowds are not my favorite, but the chance to try all those foods in one place had me seriously considering it...maybe next year.<br />
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The second festival was the food truck festival I mentioned in the last post. I decided to brave the heat and humidity to check it out. My husband was busy getting ready for his game, so I went by myself, right as it opened. I had a chance to circle around the 20 or so trucks to check their menus and make some choices before any serious lines formed.<br />
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I had looked up most of the trucks and their menus prior to the event. I was super excited about this one and the menu I found online. I had picked out three items I wanted to try....and not a single one of them was on Saturday's menu...whomp! whomp! Spoiler alert: I have still never tried poutine. Although these choices may have been delicious I ended up skipping this truck completely. For a festival like this I really wish more of the trucks had smaller plates available. Even the trucks that sold tacos sold them in threes for $8+. With a somewhat limited budget and one tummy I didn't want to invest so much in a single dish.<br />
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The first item I bought was the Drunken Pig cupcake. It was kind of ironic because I had told my husband before I left I wasn't interested in the sweet trucks in the least. However, when I was walking by this one I heard a woman inquire about the Drunken Pig. My ears perked up immediately because I have had that cupcake at another event.<br />
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This pictures is actually from the first time I tasted the Drunken Pig last summer - you will see later why I used this picture today. Cupcake description from Sweet Divine\speaks for itself on the flavor of this cupcake that helped them win Cupcake Wars on Food Network <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "muli" , "lucida sans unicode" , "lucida grande" , "verdana" , "tahoma" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Newcastle beer and sharp cheddar cheese cupcake, sharp cheddar cream cheese frosting, topped with BACON!! </span><br />
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Clearly they do NOT skimp on the bacon. A beer cupcake is not something I would try without the lure of cheese and bacon. It is perfection with sweet and salty, creamy and crunchy. Chances are I will sidle up to the Sweet Divine truck in the future and ask them to "take my money".<br />
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Speaking of the lure of cheese.... welcome to the Cheese Shack!<br />
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Since I was by myself and it was ridiculously hot and humid I decided to shop for my goodies and take them home to share in the cool goodness and company of my beloved. On the way to the car I had a scary moment, in which I felt like I would pass out. I just can't take the heat/humidity. Fortunately, since I arrived early I was parked close by....a bottle of water and full blast a/c got me home safely (don't worry I did not start driving until I recovered).<br />
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Drum roll, please.....here is the budget busing bounty (I spent the whole $26 from the change jar and I am okay with it). First up: from Seoul Taco (Korean/Mexican fusion truck). I got one beef and two pork tacos. The pork was the clear winner and my beloved did let me have a little bite :) I confess I have had this truck's tacos before and knew I liked them - just forgot to go all pork or maybe their beef was better last time.<br />
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My wildcard purchase was this Feijoada (Brazilian Black Bean Stew) from Brazilian Express. Feijoada is billed as the national dish of Brazil. The beans are cooked with short ribs and smoked sausage and served with rice. I am a sucker for pretty much any ethnic cuisine...call it a "national dish" and of course, I want to try it. In the picture below notice the crumbling looking substance - farofa.<br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">In Brazil, where </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">farofa</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> is particularly popular, typical recipes call for raw cassava flour to be toasted with </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Butter">butter</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, salt, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sausage" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Sausage">sausage</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Olive">olives</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Onion">onions</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Garlic">garlic</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, hard-boiled </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Egg">eggs</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, and/or </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Bacon">bacon</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">until golden brown. It is an essential accompaniment to </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feijoada" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Feijoada">feijoada</a></span><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-zeldes_1-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 11.2px; line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farofa#cite_note-zeldes-1" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">[1]</a></sup><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churrasco" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Churrasco">Brazilian barbecue</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. In Brazil, farofa is also used in a stuffing for </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poultry" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Poultry">poultry</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> and other dishes, usually containing </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raisins" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Raisins">raisins</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nut_(fruit)" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Nut (fruit)">nuts</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, and/or finely chopped sweet fruits like </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apples" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Apples">apples</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> and </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bananas" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="Bananas">bananas</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">.</span></i><br />
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This particular farofa didn't seem quite as fancy, but had a good flavor. I would have liked a bit less or had it completely on the side. It was a bit dry with the rice.<br />
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Because I was sharing and wanted a sure thing....the Buffalo Melt. It ended up being my husband's favorite (although he liked everything I brought home). The sandwich was rotisserie chicken smothered in buffalo ranch sauce and mozzarella - all perfectly grilled. Pretty much buffalo chicken dip in grilled bread. Yum!<br />
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Finally my Drunken Pig cupcake - It was super hot out...the box tipped over in the car...it was delicious...enough said.<br />
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Sunday was game day. Every couple of weeks my husband several friends over to play Dungeons and Dragons. We always do a potluck meal. Since they often play Sunday mornings, my breakfast Pinterest board has been busy. I enjoy coming up with new ideas to feed them. As soon as I saw these <a href="https://www.momendeavors.com/gameday-breakfast-sliders-college-football-saturday-tailgate-2012/">Game Day Breakfast Sliders</a> from <i>Mom Endeavors</i> blog, I knew they were next on the menu. Super simple - layer split Hawaiian rolls with cheese, scrambled eggs, ham and more cheese.<br />
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Brush with melted butter mixed with a touch of brown sugar and yellow mustard.<br />
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Bake for about 15 minutes to get everything hot and melty. They did not last long!<br />
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My husband and friends played Dungeons and Dragons eons ago - long before I knew them. Since we've been together the guys have talked about playing again. Finally, back in February they started a game. I tried to play with them a couple of times, but turns out it isn't really my thing. Honestly, it is more fun to be able to conspire and plan the games with him - which makes me the unofficial Asst Dungeon Master (not to be confused with Assistant <i>to the</i> Dungeon Master for <i>The Office </i>fans). If I were still playing, he would have to keep all his planning a secret. That would be pretty difficult in our small house. The hours he spends preparing for each session would be off limits for me. He does an incredible job planning each session (sessions themselves are 4-5 hours each a couple times a month). He currently.has a massive campaign in progress. I can't wait to see what the guys think as it continues to unfold. They are on session 13 and my husband is confident it will be at LEAST that many more to conclude. I am amazed at how creative and artistic my husband is. I snapped a few pictures today of maps he created, which were actually in use for today's session.<br />
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I love this scroll he made for his group. It is a contract between a character he created and the rest of the group, who have been "hired" by that character. I think it looks cool with its Norse inspiration. The text is seriously funny in the context of the group - such a clever guy. I want to preserve it so it can hang in his command center as a memento of this campaign. There is something really great about seeing someone you love enjoy what they do...not to mention being proud of their mad skills :)<br />
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Finally, one big announcement....I read an ENTIRE book this weekend. I seriously can't remember the last time I read a book. My 16 year old niece recently read and recommended this one.<br />
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We had a good discussion about the types of books we like. We both like a book with a good hook, written from more than one character's perspective and some solid plot twists. (I am also obsessed with historical fiction, but didn't win her over to that...yet.) She is currently reading the Jodi Picoult book <i>Small Great Things. </i>She picked it out after I recommended the author. That reminds me I need to check if she is finished...my reading mojo is primed and <i>Small Great Things</i> is next on my list.<br />
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Meanwhile, at least I did something non-food related this weekend. As for the book, it was pretty good story. I felt like I could tell when the author was trying to make the reader suspect certain people and didn't buy in. I am honestly, not sure when I solved the "who done it" part of the book, but it did make sense. I hate when I read a mystery and the conclusion seems out of left field. I enjoyed the book, but mostly, I like that my niece and I can now discuss the book and the various themes in it.<br />
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Like I said it has been awhile since I read a book. I used to love to read, but since I got my "old lady eyeballs" - welcome to 40! - it has been more of a struggle. This weekend I just embraced the magnifying glass and enjoyed.<br />
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How was your weekend? Hope you are off to a great week!Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-9383466029131051502018-08-24T07:30:00.001-07:002018-08-24T07:30:14.781-07:00Talking Grocery Budgets<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Monday morning started with this pretty little gift from my green-thumbed co-worker. </div>
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Since I have been all about the food this week, let's start with an update on the things I made over the weekend. The green pea hummus hasn't held it's flavor as well as the Thai Red Curry. I really liked the freshness of the peas and cilantro the first day or two. It seems to be an "eat soon hummus" maybe I'd make it the day of a party. The pretty green color has dulled too, which is not as inviting. Perhaps in the future, I will make half batches or only make two if I have someone else to help eat it. The black bean hummus will happen next. <br />
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I feel like I might have overdone it a bit this week on "cool weather foods" for my lunches - the lasagna and stew. Both are good, but I have been thinking about a good wrap. Maybe I should only prep 4 lunches for a week, so I have a wildcard day. A wrap would help use up some of that hummus :) <br />
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In general, I have been thinking about budgets. Specifically, this week I have been borderline obsessing about grocery budgeting. I have never had a specific grocery line item in my budgets. I just buy groceries out of a nebulous discretionary amount - buying what I want when I want it. I really have no idea how much I spend just on groceries in a month. I think it is safe to say I waste plenty - buying more than I need or not shopping best deals. It made me very curious about how others handle this area.<br />
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I put the question to a Facebook poll - do you have grocery budget YES or NO? Then, I invited people if they would like to share details (i.e.how much they budget? how they make it happen? tips?) I was a bit overwhelmed (in a good way) by the responses. I put the post on my personal Facebook page and on the page of a large group I am in.<br />
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My personal page: Grocery Budget - 7 YES and 11 NO - 9 people commented<br />
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Group page - Grocery Budget - 283 YES and 164 NO - over 150 people commented<br />
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Clearly, I am not the only one working (or trying to work) through this issue. There were lots of great ideas that I will be mulling over and perhaps incorporating into my plan. I am hoping to have something solid in place next month.<br />
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One idea I really liked is to have a weekly budget and then a separate amount for the month for restocking or special events. For example: $50/week for each week's meals. An additional $50 to be used any time during the month for things like flour, sugar, condiments, etc. or for cookbook club food, special occasions, cooking for others, etc. For example, my husband has friends over a couple times a month. Today, while I was in the store I priced what I am thinking about making them this weekend and it would easily be $10 (20% of the weekly budget for one meal!) That cake I made for the firehouse would be similar cost. I definitely do not want to give up cooking for others.<br />
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Quite a few people include household cleaning products, toiletries, etc. in their grocery budget. It seems like that would make things easier, especially if you shop at Walmart or Target where you can buy all those things in one stop. Since I shop primarily at Aldi, that might not matter as much to me. Many people include their pet food in the grocery budget. So Millie's food could be the whole week's budget! Obviously, the budgeted amount would be larger to include more than groceries.<br />
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It seems like the majority of people's budgets were $25-50 per person per week. There were also people who reported doing some amazing budgeting for families of 8 or 9 people! Figuring out the best amount for us is most likely going to take some trial and error, but it really helped me to get some ideas where to start. I do know I am going to want to stay on the conservative side and stash the extra cash.<br />
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People suggested using cash/envelopes. I am not sure how much cash juggling I would like to have to do when I run into Walmart for shampoo and bananas. Debit cards are just so stinkin' convenient. Ultimately, making this work is going to take more planning and discipline on my part. Why does that sound like successful weight loss advice too??<br />
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For years, my husband and I have been paid on opposite Fridays, so it always seems we always have a little extra to spend. Now that we are seriously in moving mode, it is time to crunch down on the pennies a bit. This year his job is switching payday Fridays - so we will get paid the same days beginning in September. It seems like a good time to make some changes to our budget and I am eager to see how this payday change affects us. The immediate downside is during the transition he has three weeks between checks, but I have chosen to make our two week "budget" stretch to three weeks, just to give us a bit of jump start.<br />
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Already, I find myself making choices. I will be honest, I am seriously weighing spending a bit on a food truck festival in town this weekend. Our county doesn't allow for regular food trucks - it is only by special permit for specific events. It sounds like the health dept is not equipped to keep up with the inspections. My understanding is trucks are inspected more frequently and the mobility is an issue for surprise inspections. Anyway, I looked at the list of and there a couple of trucks scheduled for the festival that I would like to try. I counted out some money from our change jar...so it might happen :)<br />
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Wow, perhaps I am making us sound destitute - please don't set up a Go Fund Me for us just yet. To clarify, I could supplement this 3 week period, I am just choosing to use it as an opportunity to be creative.<br />
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Next stop the freezer, it seems clear that knowing what you have is important to knowing what you need. We have this small freezer at the bottom of our fridge. I feel like things go here to die. Just looking at the picture. I have no idea what is in the basket....other than frozen veggies nobody wants to eat and tomatoes from my boss' garden last fall.<br />
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A quick closer look in the freezer has revealed a few things I think I can work with - shrimp, bread dough (that might turn into that breakfast pizza I made recently). Sadly, I know some of the stuff is not going to be good - my freezer is the worst about freezer burn. I hoping these impulse buys are still good. I am hoping I can use those hashbrowns for husband's friend get together this weekend - I won't know until I open them :)<br />
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I cleaned out the pantry awhile back so I have a reasonable idea of what is in there. Mostly, basics like 8 different kinds of vinegar and baking supplies. Always on the lookout for new tastes, I tend to buy random sauces. I am a condiment/sauce impulse buyer, for sure. Oh, look Spanish mojo sauce! Buy it then what?<br />
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I hope that wasn't too rambly. Part of blogging for me is working things out in my mind, by writing. Welcome to my thought process. And you thought I just blogged for the pictures :) Well, let's see some more of those pictures....<br />
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I made huge salads for Wednesday's dinner. Our lettuce supply was overflowing - green leaf, iceberg AND spring mix. A couple more salad meals and we should be back in a reasonable lettuce range. I topped the salad with grilled chicken, avocado and one small slice of salami cut in strips for a punch of flavor.<br />
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I have been obsessed with stir-frys after my trip to the international store last week - the mushrooms and snow peas were so cheap!<br />
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My husband's looked much different - no mushrooms, sprouts, peas. He is much more a broccoli, onion, pepper guy. In the spirit of no waste, I had this yummy non-traditional breakfast this morning. This is the last of my mushrooms and snow peas :( I have to figure out how to get over to the international store more often! I completely forgot I had this shrimp in the freezer. As I mentioned, I am always picking up condiments and sauces. I forget to use this garlic ginger paste I've had for awhile - adding a teaspoon or so, to the stir-fry was perfect.<br />
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Breakfast is served - check out this glass from my mom's high school - class of 1952!! Go Cardinals :)<br />
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I have talked about how good it makes me feel to do the 15 minute tidy ups before bed. Last night, I had to force myself to even do 10 minutes. I didn't get the dishes dried and I did not like seeing them this morning. However, it sure beats seeing a sink of dirty dishes! As you can see, just not putting away the dishes clutters up half my tiny kitchen.<br />
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I am still fighting the poison ivy. It doesn't itch much anymore - other than a few spots that came up later and some skin is itchy from the drying/healing process. The steroids have definitely affected my sleep and I am a bit weary of that. I can't believe it still looks like this 26 days after exposure. Keeping my fingers crossed this discoloration really fades soon - dermatologist said it could take a couple months :(<br />
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Before we get this weekend started - a quick update on my freezer finds...we had the veggie tots for dinner with a yum turkey burger topped with plenty of pickled onions! They were pretty good. I am not sure I'd get them again. I might just make my own mashed cauliflower as a side - same flavor, lower cost and processessing. Or roasted cauliflower florets if I want a finger food.<br />
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The bread dough turned into this breakfast pizza this morning. I didn't have spinach, so I just used a handful of spring mix and it worked great. Before baking I sprinkled with a little cheese and dropped an egg in the middle. <br />
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How good does that look? Okay, it is a little messy, but delicious :) <br />
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Trying out a scarf I picked up at the clothing swap a couple of weeks ago. Not sure the best way to wear it yet, but I do like the pop of color for a change up to this blue dress. <br />
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This weekend I am going to look into the pantry. I know there is some pretty random stuff in there...stay tuned. What are your weekend plans?Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-87484764089330344322018-08-21T04:43:00.000-07:002018-08-23T21:04:30.262-07:00Tiny Kitchen's Weekend WorkoutMy husband and I have decided next year is our year to buy a new house. Yes, I am super excited...and a little bit terrified. I have never had to sell and buy a house at the same time. I know people do it all the time, but I have fears. What if I fall in love with a new house before we can get this one sold? What if this one sells immediately and we have to squat somewhere before we find our new house? OR you might ask, what if everything goes perfectly smoothly? :)<br />
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One of the biggest reasons we want a new house is to have a bigger more functional (read "fun"ctional) kitchen. The other biggie is we want (need) a basement. In addition, to the extra space Midwest tornado season freaks me out not having a basement in which to immediately retreat in case of emergency. Back to the kitchen...I am desperate for more counter space. I would absolutely love to have an island. In my current kitchen, I am constantly juggling and not always successfully. Cooking/baking which I truly enjoy can quickly become very frustrating.<br />
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This weekend, for the most part, I was able to juggle and avoid frustration pretty well. I think my nightly tidy up sessions are definitely helping. Limited space means everything needs to be picked up and its place or it looks like a disaster. I started slow and built up to a Sunday kitchen fest. Friday night I made the Sweet Potato Peanut Stew and Saturday I made the the S'mores Pudding, both of which I posted <a href="https://losingmypuppy.blogspot.com/2018/08/not-bad-first-month.html">here</a>.<br />
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Sunday, I had a full schedule of baking and cooking planned. First up,<a href="http://www.sprinklesomesugar.com/lemon-blueberry-scones/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+sprinklesomesugar+(Sprinkle+Some+Sugar)"> Lemon Blueberry Scones</a>. I wanted to include a delicious treat with a cute mug I had picked up for a friend's upcoming birthday. She has a good dose of Anglophile in her, so I knew scones would be a good treat. I remember she loved a lemon blueberry cake I have made in the pastm so when I found the Lemon Blueberry Scone recipe I thought I had a winner. <br />
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One of the most intimidating things about pastries in my opinion is getting the butter mixed in correctly. To create tender or flaky pastries the butter needs to stay in little pieces. When it melts it then creates little air pockets and buttery yumminess (that might not be the technical description, but it is true.) You want it to remain as cold as possible and resemble coarse crumbs when mixed iwth the dry ingredients. Then when the heat hits those cold butter bits - they melt create a tender flaky texture. This recipe recommended freezing the stick of butter then grating it. I loved the idea of not having to spend all the time cutting the butter into the flour mixture. I expected to fly through the butter grating, but it took longer than I expected...frozen butter gets pretty hard and it is still a slippery thing.<br />
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I eventually got there. I had to remind myself frequently that it was not cheese and caught myself trying to nibble a few shreds.<br />
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It is important to not overwork the dough, so after adding the wet ingredients you want to mix very minimally. Because I was working with delicate berries too, I mixed very lightly than rounded the dough up right on the counter and pressed it into the circle.<br />
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Cut the circle in eight wedges and place on the baking sheet. One of the wedges crumbled as I tried to move it. I just rounded that one portion into a round scone. I have seen scones shaped both ways, but my mom always cut hers in wedges, so that is what I do.<br />
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After baking, I dipped the tops into a lemon glaze. The glaze was made with lemon juice, powdered sugar, vanilla and melted butter. I'd never used a glaze with butter in it, although it does make sense since most icings have butter in them. Also, butter and scones...<br />
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I packaged up a few for the birthday girl. Took a couple to my mom, shared one with with my niece and her grandniece since they were here when they came out of the oven - lucky taste testers. In the end, I had one left for my husband and one left for me. Forced Portion Control at work :) And it was a good thing there was only one for me. They were tasty little morsels and I would have had a hard time stopping.<br />
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A few weeks ago, my niece and I were talking about her plans to prep more freezer meals. Her husband has gone back to school to be a male nurse...sorry I can't resist....to be a nurse. She has a long commute for her job and they have an adorable two year old. She definitely knows the value of meal prep! After our conversation I ran across this on the bargain shelf at the bookstore.<br />
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I decided to try the Butternut Squash Chard Lasagna. (Sorry, I can't link this since it came from an actual cookbook, but if anyone really wants the recipe, let me know and I will post picture of recipe). Obviously, I am not a vegetarian, but I do like veggies and definitely would like to have more meatless meals in my repertoire.<br />
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This recipe had many steps. I actually kind of liked that because it seems like most of my cooking is pretty quick and this was a nice change for a Sunday afternoon. Now, I didn't make my own marinara, but that could have been fun to do. I do have a bowl of tomatoes that need attention.<br />
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First step was to make the cheese filling - ricotta, Parmesan, garlic, onion and spinach. The filling included oregano and a very unusual lasagna spice...cinnamon. More on that later. First lets see what a giant pan of raw spinach looks like after three minutes over the heat.<br />
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Not much at all. But that beautiful dark green makes up for the shrinkage :)<br />
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Next step was my beloved butternut squash. It actually had been in the microwave while I worked on the spinach. The recipe said to cook for 5-6 minutes and then peel off the skin with a vegetable peeler. That worked pretty well except around the bottom where the flesh is thinner. It was too soft to peel that way.<br />
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Then butternut is sliced into pretty little planks.<br />
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More greens to be wilted for the last layer. This time rainbow chard. I love the variety of colors in each bunch. I bought two bunches - first one at the farmers' market, but then I realized it wasn't enough and had to get more at the grocery store.<br />
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Ready for assembly. For the record, grating the mozzarella was SO much quicker than grating that butter!<br />
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Sauce, noodles, butternut, cheese filling, etc.<br />
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I had way more squash squash planks than for the one layer listed in the recipe, so I just added another layer. I love butternut, so that seemed like the reasonable thing to do. <br />
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Ready for the oven.<br />
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It took about an hour and 20 minutes to cook. The squash was still a bit al dente in places.<br />
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My lasagna made 10 hearty servings at 433 calories each - definitely a better value than a 300+ calorie Lean Cuisine that leaves me hungry. I packaged three portions for this week's lunches and two portions each in two foil pans to freeze for future meals.<br />
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Veggies and cherries completed my meals. Sneak peek at the next recipe can be seen at the top of this picture.<br />
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These pans are now safely in my work freezer. No excuses if I ever forget to bring my lunch! I love these containers I found at the Dollar Tree. I used up my stash of them this weekend, so I need to pick up a few more.<br />
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I had my first lasagna meal today for lunch. Like most casseroles, soups, stews the flavors were better the next day. Things just need a chance to settle and mellow. Back to the unusual lasagna spice - I was thrown a bit by the cinnamon. It does kind of make sense with the sweetness of butternut, but it doesn't not compute with lasagna in my mind. I had to do a little reframing. I am calling this more of a layered veggie casserole and it is really is quite good. Given all the recipes out there and my crazy need to try new things, I am not sure I will get back to this exact recipe. However, if I do, I think I might leave out the noodles. They didn't seem too necessary. I guess they hold the layers together a bit more than just the squash, but I might be able to live with a messier casserole. In the meantime, I am confident I will enjoy my lunches this week and having the frozen portions later this fall.<br />
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My last two recipes of the day were super simple. Making two was really as easy as making one since there were both hummus. Remember Maddie Lymburner from the Sweet Potato Peanut stew? Well, I did a little poking around on her website and found a video for three hummus recipes. I was instantly smitten by the colors. I chose to make two of the three - <a href="https://www.maddielymburner.com/blogs/recipes/green-pea-hummus-vegan-oil-free">Green Pea</a> and <a href="https://www.maddielymburner.com/blogs/recipes/thai-red-curry-hummus-vegan-oil-free">Thai Red Curry</a>. <a href="https://www.maddielymburner.com/blogs/recipes/spicy-black-bean-hummus-vegan-oil-free">Spicy Black Bean </a> I will get you next time. I had the ingredients for black bean too, but somehow making three seemed a bit extreme without a party :)<br />
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A set this picture up to show the similarity - tahini, salt, pepper and garlic were common to both. Garbanzo beans would have been in both, but I only had one can, so I subbed white beans for the other one (I couldn't tell the difference). Each had a citrus component and then the seasonings were different.<br />
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A handful of cilantro pretty much insured I would like the Green Pea Hummus. I have seen recipes that use all peas - I might try one of those in the future.<br />
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I ended up adding a touch of cilantro to the Thai Red Curry because I love it.<br />
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I like my hummus a bit tangy so I ended up using the juice of a whole lime/lemon instead of the half called for in the recipe.<br />
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See, aren't these just begging for a party?<br />
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I was very happy with how both of them turned out. I have to be honest though I am not totally on board with the tahini - I expected it to have more flavor on its own. Perhaps it does add to the creaminess, but I didn't have the patience to blend it super smooth. Good thing I don't mind a little texture. The friend who pointed me to this website, mentioned that her favorite use for hummus is in a simple dressing. I will definitely give that a try...and of course, make more hummus. I am invested in a decent sized jar, so I need to branch out.<br />
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I didn't mean to cook all vegetarian, but looking back it turned out that way. The hummus and the stew (if you don't use turkey broth like I did) are actually vegan. The lasagna and the desserts were clearly not vegan - well, we don't need to talk about cheese, butter and cream do we??<br />
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By Sunday evening I was exhausted, but I forced myself to clean up before bed.<br />
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Good night tiny kitchen....<br />
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<br />Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-40403264095141107652018-08-20T07:05:00.003-07:002018-08-23T21:05:42.918-07:00Not Bad for Month One<br />
I just realized this weekend has been one month in on my new year...quick status update:<br />
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My most positive change/report is that I have done 12 blog posts! It feels really good to be back to blogging. I am constantly looking at my life for what I can share. I think it makes me appreciate what I see and what I am doing more.<br />
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The first two weeks were good and then I allowed poison ivy and steroids to derail me. Okay, I didn't "allow" the poison ivy to invade my body, but have made choices to fight it more than fight for continued weight loss. I am on my second course of steroids and I want to eat all the time. I am not proud to admit a couple times I
have actually eaten cereal in the middle of the night. I seriously, never do
that...ugh. I haven't been weighing myself because I didn't want to be
discouraged by water retention. However, I did hop on the scale this
morning just to be sure everything hasn't gone completely nuts. I am up
the expected couple of pounds. Hopefully, that will be dealt with fairly
quickly as the steroids taper starting Wednesday.<br />
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I had planned to get cracking on the exercise, but hot and sweaty is NOT a good mix for my skin right now. Just walking from house to car or work to car in the sun and humidity makes for an itchy outbreak. <br />
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I have been back in the kitchen where cooking is definitely a passion. I have been experimenting with new recipes and will be sharing the results - good or bad. While we are on the subject....<br />
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Do you ever look at the title of a recipe and say to yourself..."that's not going to happen"? I am pretty sure that is what I would have said if I had just randomly ran across this recipe - <a href="https://www.maddielymburner.com/blogs/recipes/sweet-potato-peanut-stew">Sweet Potato Peanut Stew.</a> However, it was recommended to me by a well-trusted palate, I mean, friend. I love sweet potatoes, but I feel like I have had a hang up about peanuts and/or peanut butter in savory applications. A local Chinese restaurant makes decent dumplings, but I can't seem to get them to leave off the oppressive peanut sauce. My friend mentioned the recipe had a really good balance of flavors that was quite interesting. As I studied the recipe, that balance came together in my mind - sweet/savory, spicy/sweet, a bit of acidity from tomato paste.<br />
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The flavors and the texture of the stew is very comforting. The peanut butter doesn't overpower the taste and gives it a lush texture. I am already imagining this on my cold weather menu. If I had one criticism, it might be it is a tad on the sweet side .I did add extra peppers from my hot pepper-palooza. I will have to think about how to balance that a bit more for my taste. The peanut butter I used was simply ground peanuts, so no extra salt. Maybe a sprinkle of crushed salty peanuts on top would be nice. Look, I am already starting to embrace the dreaded peanuts! Maybe a splash of lime juice when serving would be nice.<br />
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I confess I did make a few adjustments on ingredients because a) it was Friday night b) I couldn't wait any longer to try it c) after a long week I certainly had no desire for a grocery run. I made these substitutions to use what I had on hand: <br />
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<ul>
<li>Turkey stock for the veggie stock - no longer vegetarian, actual vegan</li>
<li>Fresno peppers for jalapeno - supposed to be spicier, but I think it was pretty close</li>
<li>Spinach for kale - kale might have been a stronger balancing flavor</li>
<li>Orange bell pepper for red bell pepper - red peppers tend to be a bit more flavorful</li>
</ul>
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I don't think any of these changes dramatically altered the flavor - just a bit spicier. I have a couple servings for lunches this week, so perhaps I will test those add-ons above.<br />
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Another positive change I have been working on is the 15 minutes before bed tidy up. I can't tell you what a difference it makes to wake up to a tidy house - especially the kitchen! I am at my most productive in the morning, so having a jump start motivates me to get into some deeper projects. Saturday morning I did a complete fridge clean. I took EVERYTHING out and scrubbed it down. It is always a slightly depressing job because I realize how much food I have wasted. But ultimately the results are great. Not having to fear an avalanche when you open a fridge door is a good thing. And knowing what you have on hand helps plan meals. The before - don't judge :) <br />
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After - There is still plenty in there, but it is organized...in the first place you see (top right are things that need to be eaten quickly - cut fruit, leftovers, etc. I am a little proud that my veggies/greens are taking up the two drawers and overflowing to the shelf above, but there better be some salads this week :) <br />
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The empty space on the left was well used this weekend during my cooking frenzy. I made two batches of S'more's pudding cake. One I divided into three small pans instead of the 9 x 13 pan called for by the recipe.I bought these little plans at Dollar tree - 3 for a dollar. They come with a cardboard lid that you wrap the edges of the pan around to seal. For the record, you will use Geometry in real life. I had to figure area of these pans compared to the 9 x 13 - it was a difference of 5 square inches and that made no difference. <br />
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Poking holes in the cake before the pudding layer. <br />
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Before you freak out about me eating all this cake (you know, steroids), I all put one small pan (7 x 5). How I need to maintain portion control! Seriously, I do love to bake and baking for others lets me do that without eating everything.<br />
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I had noticed on Facebook that our local volunteer fire department had had an extremely busy week - several structure fires and tons of EMS calls. I thought a nice treat would be appreciated. When I dropped it off, I forgot to mention it needed to be stored in the fridge. I sent a FB message and the response was they didn't expect it to last the night anyway :)<br />
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My other clean fridge win is that I was able to do this...meal prep!<br />
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Lunches for the week. I will share the details of what all I made on this weekend's cooking marathon later this week.<br />
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Spoiler alert: I even had a couple of pans to put in the freezer. Even if it is delicious I don't think I could eat 10 servings in a row! Each pan has two pieces.<br />
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Now moving forward into month two building on what I have started. Looking forward to fall...is it too soon?<br />
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<br />Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-84811055578661775482018-08-16T20:39:00.002-07:002018-08-16T21:02:28.272-07:00Catching Up - Part 2After this post, I think we will be caught up...<br />
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I have been all about the sunflowers at the farmers' market the last couple of weeks, but I found a crazy new flower and skipped my planned sunflower purchase. These are celosia (or Cock's Comb). Side note: The plate is a yard sale find from MANY years ago, but I still love. It currently hangs in hangs in my laundry room.<br />
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Most of the varieties are more of a fan shaped (or like a rooster's comb), but these had a fun brain shape. I couldn't resist - especially for $1/stem.<br />
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We had a visit from our sidekick last weekend - four wonderful days. I love that girl to bits and am so grateful she is still in our lives.<br />
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Since she wasn't with us for Millie's birthday, so we had a belated Millie birthday party. We made Millie peanut butter pumpkin dog treats. Anything peanut butter and Millie approves.<br />
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I didn't mention yet, but in June we said goodbye to our 17 year old dachshund, Zommie. Our sidekick adored Zommie and telling her Zommie was gone is one of the hardest things I have had to do. I got Zommie at about 2.5 months old.<br />
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Seventeen good years. So much love and so many adventures.<br />
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Sorry to just drop the sadness in there. I have been wanting to share, but it never seemed to be the right time. Thinking about how much our sidekick loved Zommie it seemed like the right time.<br />
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Sunday we went to the zoo with my niece and her daughter. They are incredibly sweet and fun together.<br />
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Our sidekick's main goal was to see the zebras. She was super excited when I mentioned there was a new baby. She decided to name him Bob. The zoo actually named him Colton, but he will always be Bob to us :)<br />
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Those ears :)<br />
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The apes were feasting on their morning lettuce. Everyone was in their own spot munching away.<br />
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I admit it. I may have made this face a time or two when eating salad. No doubt, I have had MANY delicious salads, but sometimes I just don't want to eat another leaf.<br />
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Showing off that silver back. "Hey dude, do you work out?" He cut an imposing figure.<br />
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I think I have solved the Sasquatch mystery. Runaway Orangutan perhaps? Look at those feet!<br />
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Walking through the underwater tunnel we saw a sea lion being "scolded" by a keeper. She was trying to get the sea lion to let go of a piece of electrical tape she had found. She ended up keeping her right beside using signed commands, while waiting for assistance to arrive. It was interesting to watch their interaction. That sea lion's expression.<br />
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We spent a good amount of time in the cool herpetarium (reptile house) - hot day at the zoo. The girls actually really enjoyed looking at the snakes. Our sidekick's eyes almost popped out her head when she turned a corner and saw the enormous python. And what little girl wouldn't love these "rainbow snakes".<br />
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I didn't warn you about the snakes, but take warning now...gross pictures ahead. Scroll fast! Don't ask how I know, but googling skin conditions is never a good idea! Remember all that amazing yard work I was so proud of a couple of weeks ago? Well, it turned into a poison ivy fest. My husband had it for a few days, then I broke out. For some reason mine went CRAZY. It started with these blisters. This was my legs on Aug. 7 when we got home from The Hill.<br />
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I thought that was bad....then this was my leg a week later. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EmhHAnA86AOzwAGz62zlgtaU9xKqzqusO009Aump-oO-5lHzQ1jnxoueEwgSymkLrCm9bWF9jiQCnoqEWxZ2ZnCtW5aaRZ2bAjQpjvtlTZKaFkpPF1E1cwGCvlQLj_Akp20S1v372f8/s1600/20180814_191604.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9EmhHAnA86AOzwAGz62zlgtaU9xKqzqusO009Aump-oO-5lHzQ1jnxoueEwgSymkLrCm9bWF9jiQCnoqEWxZ2ZnCtW5aaRZ2bAjQpjvtlTZKaFkpPF1E1cwGCvlQLj_Akp20S1v372f8/s640/20180814_191604.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
I also had a couple of these patches pop up in different places. I was starting to freak out in addition to being EXTREMELY uncomfortable.<br />
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Thankfully, last summer I had found a dermatologist for another issue. When I called Monday they said they could see me the next day. Doctor said it was an extremely angry case of poison ivy and gave me much stronger meds than my GP had already given me. The steroids make me want to eat constantly - ugh!<br />
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As you may know, dermatologists are notoriously hard to get into. I once waited 3.5 months for an appointment only to really dislike the doctor and her office staff/procedure. Her treatment plan did not work in the least and I never went back. I am thankful to have found one I really like - friendly, attentive, accessible and capable - with a very pleasant staff.<br />
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As part of my reward for going to the doctor, I talked my husband into stopping at a nearby international grocery store. I've been wanting to go for awhile, but it is about 45 minutes from home - not exactly convenient.<br />
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I made quite a haul for $30-something. I was shopping for a few particular items: egg roll wrappers (not pictured because I'd already put them in the freezer - planning to make egg rolls for my niece's birthday), cellophane noodles (for birthday egg rolls and my lunch egg roll bowls), Maggie seasoning (a bit like a soy sauce - my mom always had it when we were kids), pomegranate molasses (I was supposed to use it for my watermelon prosciutto bites a few weeks ago) and fennugreek (spice used in Indian cuisine - it smells amazing!) and dried red peppers. The produce was all impulse buys. Everything was so cheap, I kept grabbing packages. I actually considered oyster mushrooms at the farmers market that were $11/pound. All the mushrooms were $4.99/pound. I got three types of mushrooms (oyster, shiitake and shemeji), bean sprouts, two types of fresh peppers (Fresno and Bird's Eye) and snow peas.<br />
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I had a little fun with my hot peppers. All such pretty reds, Left to right - mystery pepper (the guy at the farmers' market said they are cayenne, but pictures online look nothing like that), Fresno and Thai Bird's Eye.<br />
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Then I got the bright idea to taste test them. I even got a glass of milk at the ready to cool my mouth (water does NOT work).<br />
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I started with the Fresno. It was not really hot at all. I read it has a pretty broad range what it comes to heat (2500-10000 Scoville units), but is often compared to jalapeno. It had a sweet flavor I liked too. From PepperScale.com <i>"I</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #383838;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>t looks like a jalapeño and even tastes like a jalapeño, but the Fresno pepper has a few tricks up its sleeve that make it a very popular chili in its own right. It delivers a slightly spicier kick, like a mild serrano chili, and in its mature red form, the Fresno pepper has a fruitier, smokier taste. This is a favorite for foodies looking for a twist on the norm." </i></span></span><br />
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The mystery pepper started out slow, but then burned my lips. I did a bit of a milk soak doing duck lips into the glass.<br />
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I did NOT even pretend to try the Bird's Eye - I could smell the heat the second I cut into them. From The Spruce Eats "<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Bird's eye chilies are very hot. On the Scoville scale, they rate between 50,000 and 100,000 Scoville units. That's over 20 times hotter than a jalapeno, but three times less spicy than a habanero. The heat can sneak up on you, as the mature red Bird's Eye chili can have a delayed potency with the heat building as you eat the dish, and then lingering long after you stop eating. If your taste tends toward medium or mild-spiced foods, try de-seeding them, then mincing for less heat."</i></span></span><br />
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I did use a few of the Bird's Eye in a Beef/Mushroom/Snow Pea stir fry. I cut a couple in half and cooked them with the beef. I had a little bit of beef left that I didn't use in my tacos (see below). They were scraps that need a lot more trimming to get the fat off. The Bird's Eye gave plenty of heat just used like that and were picked out before eating. My stir fry was a way to use all the produce from the international store. I was happy with the oyster and shiitake mushrooms. I didn't remember what either tasted like or if I'd ever even had them (which seems unlikely). It was quick and super tasty. Admittedly, it wasn't the most filling dinner because I hadn't made rice...and you know what they say about Chinese food :)<br />
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Tuesday night my husband had friends over for a game. Everyone brings a dish to share - the guys brought pizza and White Castle. I made Barbacoa Beef Tacos...because I am fancy.<br />
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The bright pink goodness on the toppings tray are pickled onions I made the other day. Super simple - great on tacos, sandwiches, even salad. Red onions are simply soaked in a vinegar, spices, garlic mixture for an hour or so. They keep in fridge for a couple of weeks...if they last that long! I have been known to continue adding additional onions to the pickling liquid as I use them. There are many recipes out there, but I have been using<a href="https://www.budgetbytes.com/pickled-red-onions/"> this recipe </a>from Budget Bytes.<br />
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They eventually turn a pretty hot pink color.<br />
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Back to the Barbacoa Beef. - I used <a href="https://www.closetcooking.com/barbacoa-tacos/">this recipe</a> on Closet Cooking. It may look like a bunch of ingredients, but it is super simple and other than the meat I usually have these ingredients on hand.<br />
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The beef is browned and added to onions. spices, lime juice, vinegar and chiptotle peppers. It is then braised in the dutch oven for 3-4 hours until tender and easily shredded with a fork. Tons of flavor! I am in love with my dutch oven. One of these days I will show you the bread I bake in it.<br />
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We discovered this recipe in the spring when I had a "taco week" for my husband . For seven nights in a row I served him different kinds of tacos....there were NO complaints!<br />
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The beauty shot! I love these adorable little corn tortillas from Mission (only 100 calories for three). They make about a three-four bite taco. They are especially great if you are mixing and matching fillings and toppings. This time I was super happy with my plate of four of the same :) Aren't those onions gorgeous? I bet this would be also be great using a big lettuce leaf in place of the tortilla - I will let you know.<br />
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I think this brings us current on what I have been up to. I will try not to let it pile up again :) Thanks for hanging in for the whole post!Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-24885821491473014862018-08-15T06:47:00.001-07:002018-08-16T21:03:32.188-07:00Catching UpI am here! I just got caught up in all the things. I have to figure out how to work in my blog time too. I have loved being back and I don't want to lose it again.<br />
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In case anyone is still wondering about the question I last left you with....what I was my plan for this bowl of yum - chicken, pea shoots, carrots, cucumber and Thai basil?<br />
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A few pieces of each were lined up on a rice paper wrapper.<br />
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Summer rolls!!<br />
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The perfect summer lunch.<br />
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Apparently early August was The Wrap Era. I seemed to be wrapping everything. This one is leftover turkey burger and veggies, with a bit of hummus to hold it together.<br />
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Grilled chicken, tomatoes, onions and spinach. In addition to holding everything together, the hummus "glue"makes all the difference in flavor.<br />
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Grilled chicken and leftover peach salsa. It was tasty, but got a bit soggy by lunch time.<br />
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I made a batch of one of our all time favorites - Salsa Verde Chicken tostadas. Red cabbage with cilantro and lime juice to top it off. I used the salsa verde I wrote about in my last post - it was perfect! It isn't a character glass, but I couldn't resist these vintage daffodils,<br />
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We had a grilled pizza party this weekend. I love this white pizza topped with greens and crispy pancetta.<br />
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We cut up a buffet of toppings and everyone built their own pizza. We cooked the pizzas on the grill. Grilling gets a little crazy, but so worth it. Afterwards, I collected all the leftover cut up veggies into one container. The next morning I used them in a super simple veggie egg scramble. <br />
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I had a little bit of dough leftover. This morning I made breakfast pizza with spinach, tomato, mozzarella and sausage. An egg is carefully placed in the center before baking.<br />
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Bake for at 450 for 10-12 minutes until egg is set. I wasn't sure how cooked the yolk would be - it was a perfect like my favorite over-easy eggs. Then spreading the yolk around the top was so decadent.</div>
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I was definitely a fan and will probably play around with this concept in the future. I would like some fresh herbs next time. Unfortunately, my husband was not into it. I knew I was taking a chance with fresh tomatoes and spinach, but I was hoping the egg and sausage would win him over.<br />
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Food has been a bit unbalanced with a few too many treats again. However, I am not throwing out whole days because of them, so that is progress.<br />
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Loving the farmers' market this time of year...as long as we get there early before it gets too hot.<br />
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I am still enamored with these tiny eggplants - the color :)<br />
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Speaking of color, there are so many varieties of tiny tomatoes in the market. Thankfully, the squirrels are finally allowing me to have some of the Sun Gold tomatoes from my garden, so I didn't buy any of these.<br />
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Who knew there were so many kinds of garlic?? I bought three varieties to sample.<br />
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I snapped a quick picture of the description to help me remember why I chose what I chose.<br />
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My three. I have to be honest. I should have written down which three I chose. I am already not sure :(<br />
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In addition to the produce, there are some beautiful handmade items. The colors of this yarn makes me wish I were a knitter.<br />
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I am not sure why I didn't buy this shark. It feels like something I need, but where would I put it??<br />
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My haul from the week before last - tomatoes, English muffin bread, eggplant, peaches, chard, beet, zucchini. I am ashamed to admit I wasted another beet. I love beets, but apparently I am too intimidated to actually cook them. In the green box are ground cherries. Inside each papery husk is a sweet/tart little fruit.<br />
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I didn't get a close up of the ground cherries, but I found this picture and description on Sage Garden Greenhouse's website. <i> "<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; letter-spacing: 1px;">Sweet, tropical-tasting gold berries wrapped in paper husks add magic to your garden.</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #444444; letter-spacing: 1px;">Bushy plants grow 2.5 - 3’ tall. When ripe, the husk around the fruit becomes papery dry and the fruit falls off the plant to pick picked up from the ground. Some people place a tarp underneath the plants to make harvesting easier, but either way the husks keep the fruit clean. </span></span></i><i style="background-color: white; color: #444444; letter-spacing: 1px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Native to Central and South America. Use as you would a common tomato. Can be eaten raw, used in salsas, salads, as a flavouring, and in jams and jellies. Fruits are excellent in desserts. Fruits dry well</span><span style="font-family: , "helvetica neue light" , "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;">." </span></i><br />
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<img alt="Image result for ground cherry" src="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0736/5693/products/Ground-Cherry-BS_grande.jpg?v=1425067244" /></div>
This Green Zebra tomato was perfectly ripe and delicious in a wrap pictured above (with Grumpy Bear glass and a side of cherries).<br />
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In an out of my comfort zone move, I tried my first clothes swap last weekend. Everyone brings clothing they no longer want. Then for a $5 donation you can take as many "new to you" clothes as you wish. My niece invited me last minute and I didn't have anything to take, but they accepted can goods if you didn't have clothing to share. I was concerned I wouldn't find anything in my size, but I did pick out a couple of things (I will post pictures when I wear them). I also got a couple things for my sidekick - shoes and a cute hat for winter. My niece got a couple bags of goodies. The poor workers were hanging items as fast as they could as more people came in. I didn't think I was going to get my niece out of there - she was constantly rechecking racks for new items. They had a good turnout and I saw plenty of happy "customers".<br />
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Last week we had the opportunity to go to a practice round of the PGA Championship golf tournament held this weekend in St. Louis. Unfortunately, a thunderstorm ruined our plans. We ended up exploring a neighborhood I've always wanted to check out. It is called <i>The Hill</i>. It is known for its Italian cuisine - restaurants, delis, bakeries and grocery stores. Baseball greats like Yogi Berra and Joe Garagiola grew up there. We picked up a few things to take home.<br />
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First stop the Missouri Baking Company. I could not resist the Concord Grape Coffee Cake - word is the grapes were grown by a gentleman right there in the neighborhood. It was tasty but the seeds in the grapes were a bit tedious and the cake part got a bit too soggy from the juice. I wonder if I can get back there before peach season is over...<br />
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Gioia's Deli is know for its hot salami. (hot as in temperature - not spice). The guy in the white hat did a great job introducing us to the menu.<br />
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My husband chose the Italian Trio and I got the Hogfather. You have the option to top your sandwich any way you want, but sometimes you just have to go with the menu The Italian Trio was <span style="background-color: white; font-family: "raleway"; letter-spacing: 0.4px;"><i>Mortadella, Genova & Hot Salami. Served on Garlic Cheese Bread and Garnished with Pepperoncinis, Onions and Vinegar & Oil. "Cathy's Favorite."</i> </span>It sounded too simple and we were tempted to add on. It was perfect just they way they made it. I got a kick out of the little pig nose on my Hogfather sandwich.<br />
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I have a thing for fire hydrants and love the different paint jobs in various communities. These red, white and green ones were everywhere.<br />
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I was intrigued by these long narrow houses and would have loved to go on a door to door tour. I couldn't help imagine growing up in this neighborhood in the 50's. Nonnas cooking huge Sunday dinners and kids spilling of the porches. Apparently the houses are rarely offered on the open market and the neighborhood is still over 75% Italian-American.<br />
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I would have liked to have walked around a bit more, but we were dodging rain as it was. Not to mention, is it creepy to just stroll around random neighborhoods? Next time we will need to try one of the many restaurants. I will let you know if I talk my husband into a return. I just checked and their are walking tour plans online, so it must be okay :)<br />
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There are a few more things I want to include from the last week or two, but if I don't get something posted it will be another week or two. Life marches on :)Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-24189267946761379342018-08-02T08:18:00.003-07:002018-08-16T21:04:04.499-07:00Ending July on a Good NoteAfter our yard work extravaganza, I picked the first batch of tomatillos. The plants are still covered with fruit and will be ready for another picking soon. What to do with tomatillos? Make salsa verde!<br />
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I started by grilling the tomatillos, peppers (I had a mix of poblano, serrano, jalapeno and anaheim) and onions.<br />
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After they were all a little charred and softened, they were ready for use. Don't worry I did scrape off a bit of the extra char - sorry peppers!<br />
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Everything went into the food processor with lime juice, cilantro and a few spices.<br />
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This batch made enough for a big jar to use now, a tub to give away and a packet to put in the freezer for later. This is my first attempt to freeze it, so fingers crossed it does well. I will probably use the frozen for cooking so I am not concerned about the texture.<br />
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Yesterday I had to go to our main office in the county administration building. Since it is right next to the courthouse and Wednesday is a busy court day, I parked a couple blocks away and walked down main street. On the way back to my car, I ducked into a couple shops. I feel in love with a shop that sells decor and toys for children. Seriously, I think I<i> loved </i>90% of the merchandise. I wanted to treat myself to this embroidered pillow, but $165!<br />
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This may be the cutest little narwhal I have every seen. I wonder if there is anyway he will show up in my Christmas stocking (hopefully my husband is reading!)<br />
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So many precious books. I would have loved to pull up one of their cozy chairs and stay all afternoon.<br />
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Do you need a baby to have a mobile? Surely not.<br />
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This guy was made with different papers and a bit of paint. I wonder if I could create something as cute. It would be perfect in my craft room...or living room?<br />
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I stopped at a little meat market that has been in business since 1947. It still has that old-time look inside - down to the manual pencil sharpener just like the one that hung in my grandparents basement stairway. I actually mentioned it to the guy and he said that is were his grandparents kept theirs too. I found an interesting article in our local paper. I had heard of meat lockers but really didn't know what they were. This excerpt explains: <br />
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<i>In all those decades, much has stayed the same. The original locker
keys and giant old-fashioned wooden desk remain in the small office.
They still use a rotary phone to communicate from the front counter to
the back rooms. And the lockers themselves are
still there, going back to a time when most homes did not have freezers.
So how do you store a whole cow or pig without most of it rotting
before you can eat it? You rented a locker, just like
Jeff Merkel’s family. He remembers going to Edwardsville Frozen Foods
every week with his mother and helping her retrieve a week’s worth of
meat from their rented freezer locker. Those lockers are still
available, even with the advent of freezer compartments or chest
freezers in basements. A quarter cow renders about 200 pounds of meat,
which would take quite a large freezer at home. Instead, some 80 or 90
families still rent a locker for $70 a year to store large quantities of
meat.</i><br />
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Read more here: https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article143602814.html#storylink=cpy</div>
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I chose a couple of kabobs for dinner- one pork and one chicken. Both were good, but honestly I can make them at home for a fraction of the price, right? I enjoyed my grilled romaine again and corn is always a grilling staple in our house.<br />
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While I was grilling dinner I tossed a couple chicken thighs on the grill for a future meal. I seasoned the chicken thighs with cayenne pepper and garlic-ginger paste. What is going to happen with this plate of goodness? Stay tuned...<br />
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I love poking around new places. I suppose you could call it a bit of mental health care to go with my physical health focus.<br />
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I didn't get started until the middle of the month, but July has still been a good month for me. Since my "new year's day" I have tracked my food - not perfectly, but pretty well. I have definitely been more mindful of what I am eating - both quantity and quality. I am trying to not get hyper-focused on how much I lose or don't lose each week. I think I might do monthly reports. That being said, I lost 8.4 pounds in July :)<br />
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That brings us to August. My plan is to keep doing what I am doing and add in some walking. I might even try hopping in the pool again. I wonder if they remember me at the gym.<br />
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What are your August plans? Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-48224473109637549542018-07-31T09:22:00.002-07:002018-08-16T21:04:43.610-07:00Cool Weekend It has been a ridiculously hot summer since the beginning of May. If I remember correctly, we had precisely 3 days of spring. This weekend we got a major break in the heat - lows around 60 and highs around 80. We took well advantage of the cool weekend.<br />
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We celebrated our Millie - five years old. It doesn't seem possible.<br />
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My weekend started unofficially with this gigantic cupcake. My sister surprised me at work with this caramel chocolate cheesecake monster. Good thing I hadn't eaten that candy bar yet. Who knows how many delicious calories were in the cupcake. At least, I made it last the rest of the day.<br />
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We had a Friday night date night. We tried the burgers at a local ice cream/burger place. We both agreed we'd be back - hopefully not for awhile though :) <br />
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The weekend was a balancing act food-wise. More treats than I had planned, but the rest of the meals were on point and I was definitely proud of myself for not allowing a total free-for-all. Saturday lunch was a delicious turkey veggie wrap with hummus.<br />
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Loads of yard work helped balance the treats too. We worked for hours each morning - three truckloads of yard waste gone. We took down part of the fence, trimmed bushes/trees, cut down the weed trees that keep growing in our back fence, weeded flower beds. I started each day with a quick fried egg sandwich on wheat bread - slightly more healthy than the white bread version I loved as a kid. <br />
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We took advantage of my in-laws being out of town and used their truck to haul away the yard waste.<br />
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I can't believe we ended up with with this much stuff. It is going to make quite a bonfire!<br />
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I was pleased with my energy and stamina for the yard work. I am pretty sure I didn't start complaining until the second day and that was mostly because I <i>hate</i> weeding. Although, I haven't started exercising regularly, eating right has already made my whole body feel better.<br />
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Saturday afternoon my sister asked me to go to Whole Foods with her. I haven't been there in forever, so even though I was exhausted I jumped at the chance. It was fun to look around at items I don't find in my local grocery stores.<br />
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I have never thought of produce as food you would buy in a "party pack", but why not?<br />
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I couldn't resist trying a couple of these blueberry sausages, especially after I heard the guy behind the counter tell another customer they were his favorite item in the case. They were good, but I don't need to rush back for more.<br />
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I brought my hard-working husband home a little treat. I appreciated all the signs with the calories. One of my pet-peeves with calorie counting is trying to guesstimate calories - I want it to be exact or it feels like I am cheating. <br />
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I bought one serving of this Golden Beet salad which I had for lunch today. It was good and again I was very glad to know the calories. It almost stopped me from buying it because 200+ seemed a little high for a salad to go with my lunch.<br />
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A fun little wedge salad bar. Again, above where the calories for each item.<br />
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I got a little bit of this and that - a tasting menu of sorts.<br />
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It was fun to see and taste new things. I really wanted to bring home a hunk of goat's milk Gouda they had out for samples. I sampled and I might have circled back for a second taste - don't judge. But at $18/pound it was too extravagant to take home a hunk.<br />
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Sunday afternoon my mom and nephew came over for the watermelon tasting. See <a href="http://losingmypuppy.blogspot.com/2018/07/watermelon-tasting.html">here </a>for details.<br />
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It was a very good weekend. A nice balance of productivity and relaxation. A nice balance of treats and healthy choices. I am looking forward to living my life more like this weekend. <br />
<br />Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-16234430697426217982018-07-29T14:04:00.000-07:002018-07-29T14:04:04.062-07:00Watermelon TastingIn addition to all the ridiculously hot weather, this has been the summer of the flavorless watermelon. I finally got one that deserved to be celebrated.<br />
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From left to right:<br />
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1) <a href="https://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/double-serrano-watermelon-bites">Double Serrano Watermelon Bites</a> I have been excited about these since I found the recipe in my <i>Cooking Light</i> magazine. A watermelon cube is simply wrapped in Serrano ham, then topped with a slice of Serrano pepper. basil and a drizzle of balsamic glaze. The balsamic glaze is a substitute for the pomegranate molasses that I couldn't find. Since I was using the balsamic, I decided to use basil instead of mint (as called for in recipe). My one criticism is the finish. The watermelon disappears quickly as you chew. Then you are left with a glob of the chewy ham at the end. The flavors combination is tasty. I just wish you got the taste of everything all the way through.<br />
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2) <a href="https://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/watermelon-feta-salad-with-mint/">Watermelon Feta Salad </a>I used the flavors of the recipe, but cut way back on the olive oil. I am not always the biggest fan of mint and was tempted to substitute. However, in the end I used the mint. It was really nice in combination with the salty feta and sweet juicy watermelon. The lime juice pulled it all together with a bit of tart.<br />
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3) Watermelon sprinkled with Pico de Gallo seasoning. I found the seasoning at a Mexican and Honduran restaurant with a little shop attached. I'd only known pico de gallo as the fresh tomato salsa that I adore. I was intrigued by the seasoning and later learned it is used to season fruit. Super simple and a nice pop of heat with that cold juicy watermelon.<br />
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<br />Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-84890110662006351592018-07-27T08:21:00.001-07:002018-07-27T08:21:40.546-07:00Friday Fly ByCelebrating Friday with a few random pictures...<br />
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I have two go-to breakfasts - oatmeal and my sweet potato/kale hash. I was missing key ingredients for both the other day, so I whipped up a veggie omelet. Inside the omelet I had sauteed spinach and zucchini. I chopped dill and added it to the eggs. Then topped the whole thing with fresh cherry tomatoes and a bit of feta. I am not really a fan of cooked tomatoes, but the raw on top was very tasty. <br />
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I bought these tomatoes at the farmers' market last weekend. I was drawn to the yellow ones (Peach Garden Tomatoes) for their matte skin. You can tell a little in the picture if you compare to the red one. Description from the Burpee seed catalog - <i>A unique heirloom tomato, Garden Peach was reputedly introduced to US
gardens in the 1860s. The small, velvety-skinned 2-3 oz. fruits have
rich full flavor. The prolific vines unleash multitudinous 3-4" round
fruits with peachy-yellow skin and flesh woven with hints of red
throughout. Indeterminate. </i>If I can ever be free of the tomato snatching squirrels, this is a variety I would like to try in my garden. They have very good flavor.<br /><i></i><br />
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My husband was a very happy man last night. He is currently in love with fruit salsa - I've made peach and mango. Last night we had grilled chicken tacos with mango salsa. We love the sweet, spicy combo. I made it just like my pico de gallo except sub fruit for tomatoes. I do not like the recipes that use both the fruit and tomatoes together.<br />
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It is strange to me that I am loving the mango. For as long as I can remember, I have been anti-mango, but suddenly here I am truly enjoying them. <br />
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I broke down and bought a new food scale. I was constantly super gluing the previous one back together or buying new batteries. I admit the selling point for this one was its sleek red shape. Fingers crossed it holds up well. Weigh all the things! <br />
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Lunch prep. I have the last piece of Corn Zucchini Pie - a bittersweet day. The salad is <a href="https://www.skinnytaste.com/chopped-feta-salad/">Chopped Feta Salad</a> from Skinnytaste. I brought the empty container to shake it up with the dressing right before lunch. Remember the Salad Shakers at McDonald's? I thought they were weird (and I didn't go to McDonald's for their salads!), but now I get it. I don't like a lot of dressing on my salads and to be able to evenly distribute a little vinaigrette makes me happy. <br />
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I had to stop at Walmart on my way into work this morning to pick up candy and water for workshops we host. While I was there I picked up some balsamic glaze for a recipe I am going to make this weekend. This was on the shelf next to it. I am a bit turned off by anything "must".<br />
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Magazine cover judging is a fun check out lane pastime. I am guessing "milkshake bliss" is not the key to losing 22 pounds in a week. But if it is, sign me up! <br />
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I found this in my purse this morning. I think I must be in a good place if I completely forgot this has been in my purse for at least a week and a half. But now that I know...I might have to work it into my plan. Calorie-wise that would not be a problem, but I have been making a real effort to not so much processed sugar. I try to ask myself is this worth it? <br />
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Thanks for joining me on this Friday fly-by. I am happy to welcome the weekend. We are planning a bunch of yard wok since we have a break in the heat. I will be getting some exercise whether I like it or not. I also plan to spend a little time in the kitchen. I am excited about one thing in particular and will probably post about as soon as I try it.<br />
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What are your plans?Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-14196411414238615122018-07-25T04:46:00.004-07:002018-07-25T04:46:42.587-07:00One Week DownI made it through week one!! Once I got over my day two freak out, things have going rather smoothly. I am heading into week two with optimism :) <br />
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Monday, Tuesday and probably Wednesday's lunch. I am enjoying my Corn Zucchini Pie. Even with my reductions to the butter and cheese, it still has a decadence to it. I will have to find a replacement for the cherries today, since this was my last serving :( <br />
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Ask for a Star Wars glass and you shall receive a Star Wars glass. This is the only vintage one we have, but my husband has some newer pint style glasses. The vintage glasses are my nostalgia thing. Star Wars wasn't a big part of my youth, so I am not actively searching them out. In the meantime, Lando says "hello" to a special lady :) <br />
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Oh, and dinner was a turkey burger. I was kinda proud of this meal because we were both hungry and I didn't have a solid dinner plan - the most dangerous time for us to say "forget it, let's go out to eat." But I held firm and came up with this. I chose to do one slice of bread with lettuce as my other "slice." One of my memories of my grandma is that she always seemed to eat her sandwiches that way. Another one was her half a grapefruit for breakfast. I always thought it was cool to use her grapefruit spoons with the little teeth - even though I hated the grapefruit.<br />
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Enjoying my breakfast with a big ol' sunflower. I am out of blueberries, so I am going to have to come up with something else for breakfast...stay tuned. I usually boil eggs in advance, a half dozen at a time. Since I was making them right before breakfast I decided to do a soft-boiled egg. I really need to use these egg cups more before it seems like I don't <i>need</i> them and they get purged.<br />
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Unfortunately, the egg I pulled out early was already well past soft-boiled. Now that I have my cups out there will be a redo.<br />
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Late in afternoon yesterday, I realized that I had mixed up the dates for Cookbook Club - 4th Tuesday snuck up on me! Now I need to find an excuse to make the <a href="http://yireservation.com/recipes/chinese-steamed-meat-buns/">Chinese Steamed Buns</a> that I was planning to make next week.<br />
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Cookbook Club is a fun new discovery I made at a local library. Once a month they pick a cookbook or cuisine. Everyone brings a dish they have prepared from that book or theme. By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late to shop and make something. I decided to go any way - thankfully, they didn't throw me out and we feasted on many homemade Chinese goodies. Ironically, my favorite was a shrimp dish that the lady said was in her Chinese cookbook, but she didn't really think it seemed "Chinese." Normally, I might frown on that a bit, but it was so good I didn't care :) I am eager to see the recipe. The group leader sends out an email after each meeting with all the recipes. The next time I make Chinese food I am excited to try a tip for getting the restaurant meat texture I can never seem to replicate. Apparently, there is a marinating technique called "velveting" that makes the meat super tender. The lady who made a wonderful peppered beef said she found an even simpler method of soaking the meat in water with cornstarch. I will be checking into that. I've always been frustrated by dry or tough meat in my Chinese dishes.<br />
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To my knowledge, no one put Chinese takeout in their own container and brought it, However, if you had told me there was an impostor - with that <i>velveting</i> technique,the peppered beef would have been my chief suspect :) I did weigh myself and I am up 1.2 pounds from yesterday...so, no takeout...everyone knows Chinese takeout causes an immediate 5 pound gain :) <br />
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(Sorry about the yellowness of the picture. My cell phone hates the light in that room. Please let me know if you know any ways to correct that issue or at least minimize the yellow.) <br />
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While I was off feasting, my husband was puppy-sitting this cutie. Copper is an almost six month old Bernese Mountain Dog puppy. He is named after the hound in <i>The Fox and the Hound</i>. I can't believe I still have not seen that movie...don't tell his mama. I am glad I had a little time to play with him before I left. I thought Millie would have fun with him, but she ended up being a bit of a snoot. Next time maybe we will set up a play date on his territory.<br />
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We are actually Copper's back-up "godparents" of sorts. If anything should happen to his mama and her sister is not able to care for him, we are ready to take him in. I think it is very smart of our friend to include this important decision in her legal affairs. Makes me think we should be doing the same for Millie. It isn't something you like to think about at this stage in life, but you honestly never know. </div>
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On my way home from Cookbook Club this happened. I am not posting the actual picture for your own safety. I wouldn't want anyone to break an ankle tripping over themselves to get their own. It was delicious. I am a sucker for a warm dessert a la mode :) </div>
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Now that I got my post weigh-in treat out of the way. I need to buckle down for the week. I feel like the second week is more of a true test. The first week is exciting with a hefty water weight loss and such.<br />
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I just saw these on a friend's Facebook. I can relate.<br />
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At least, I am not currently following Garfield's eating plan. However,I do look like him a bit here (except I am wearing pants). One step at a time, right?</div>
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Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829140705577782116.post-3404761014887619982018-07-23T07:00:00.001-07:002018-07-23T07:00:15.802-07:00Marketing, Cooking, Eating SPOILER ALERT: I didn't get in any exercise this weekend and I went over on calories on Sunday.<br />
However, those two facts do not negate a good weekend.<br />
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Saturday morning I got the weekend off to a fun start with a trip to the farmers' market...well actually two markets in two separate towns. I like different things about each market. Here is my bounty....<br />
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I wanted to get more of of the Northeast Pole Beans I bought last week at the first market - got their last bag! I like the way the flatness looks.<br />
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Bought two of these pretties - only $1 each!<br />
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I went to the second market mostly to meet up with my mom, niece and her grandniece (I know, I don't think I am old enough for that either).<br />
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I bought a few more tomatoes. I felt so badly for one of the vendors. She had the last of her tomatoes because a hail storm wiped her out..."total loss" she said. She did have other items for sale, but I think her tomatoes were the majority of her business.<br />
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My niece had asked me the other day for zucchini ideas. I had completely forgotten about my zucchini pies of previous summers. I decided to make this <a href="https://pinchofyum.com/sweet-corn-zucchini-pie">Sweet Corn and Zucchini Pie</a><a href="https://pinchofyum.com/sweet-corn-zucchini-pie">.</a> I've made it before and remembered liking it.<br />
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I am a bit obsessed with corn on the cob. I love to grill it and eat it with nothing on it - seriously no butter/salt needed. I also cut it off the cob to use in all sorts of dishes. For this recipe I am starting with raw corn. My favorite part is how some of the kernels stick together. I can never resist nibbling.<br />
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All the veggies are sauteed until tender before mixing in the cheese and eggs.<br />
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Ready for the oven! The recipe said to line the pan with parchment paper. I did in hopes it will be easier to get out and hold together better for pretty portions. Let's see how it worked.<br />
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I did make two tiny revisions to the recipe. I reduced the butter by 2 tablespoons and the cheese by 4 ounces. Divided into 6 servings, my modifications will save about 100 calories per serving (322 per serving). I don't think it is quite a meal on its own, so a few less calories will give me a little wiggle room for "sides".<br />
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I ate a piece for lunch, took a sample piece to my niece and have four servings ready for meals this week. Saturday's lunch was delicious with a side of cherries and cherry tomatoes.<br />
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I' made one of the <i>Cooking Light </i>recipes I mentioned the other day - <a href="https://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/grilled-romaine-with-feta-and-nuoc-cham">Grilled Romaine with Feta and Nuoc Cham</a> Nuoc Cham is a Vietnamese sauce (super simple to make). Yes, that is me grilling lettuce! It isn't on the grill long but enough to wilt a bit and get some grill flavor.<br />
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While I grilled Millie stationed herself between the garden and the shed. She has dreams of catching a rabbit or squirrel one day. She chases them out of the garden and they run under the shed or up the tree by the shed.<br />
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I finished off my salmon with a bit of peach salsa. The romaine was very tasty. The Nuoc Chom sauce has great flavor (salty/sweet/tangy) and the feta is a nice complement or the crunchy lettuce texture. (Look closely and you can see the pretty grill marks.) The lettuce retained much of its crunch. I ate two servings! I think I will save this sauce recipe for my upcoming summer roll plans.<br />
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Maybe I am the absolute last to know this, but just in case...MyFitnessPal will do all the work for you when entering a new recipe!! All you have to do is copy the URL and voila!! I thought I was just going to have to quick add some calories for things not in the database because I was too lazy to enter ALL the ingredients. You have a chance to edit the ingredients before logging it. When I made my zucchini pie I edited it to reflect less butter and cheese. For the recipe title I did mark it less butter and cheese so future users would know it had been modified.<br />
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Sunday morning my husband had a group of friends over to play nerd games. It was a brunch potluck. I have never made chicken and waffles and decided Sunday was the day. I used this <a href="http://www.cookingwithcocktailrings.com/breakfast-and-brunch/2016/4/20/fried-chicken-and-waffles-with-hot-sauce-maple-syrup">recipe</a>.<br />
It was pretty straightforward and called for boneless skinless chicken thighs. Not only did it reduce extra calories by being skinless, it reduced my anxiety about properly frying the chicken by being boneless. Win/Win. They turned out very well. I ate two waffles and two small pieces of chicken. Because I made a batch and a half and didn't really keep track of how many waffles it made and didn't weigh portions of chicken. The recipe came out to about 450 per serving (my educated guess with MFP). I had two delicious servings just like below. The syrup was a supposed to be a mix of maple syrup and hot sauce. However, my maple syrup had gone bad (I didn't know it did that), so I had to scramble and make my homemade syrup, to which I added the hot sauce. It sounds strange, but the hot sauce really makes the dish. I could have eaten several more servings. The boys all tried it as chicken and waffles and then ended up eating up all the chicken plain - I even had to fry them more. They played and I cooked another win/win :) <br />
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I did track my brunch, but that was it for the day. I had planned on a nice salad or something for late lunch, but we ended up going to our Mexican place. I didn't even begin to guess the calories, but I had about half of my steak fajita nachos (subbed chips for tortillas), so it was not a calorie disaster by any means. It does bother me not to be able to be exact, but I am not letting that trip me up from the big picture.<br />
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I ended up not being hungry at dinner time, so I just skipped it. I confess I was a bit hungry before bed, but decided to just sleep it off. So overall, I am not at all unhappy with the day. I am working very hard to keep balanced this time around. It has to be something I can do forever. And now that I know about these chicken and waffles I have to be able to work them into my lifestyle. <br />
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Good weekend behind me and back to 100% tracking today :) <br />
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I spy corn and zucchini pie...can't wait until lunch. I also have some Rosemary Sea Salt hummus I am looking forward to. I promise I will eat it with the carrots...not my fingers. <br />
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And so starts a new week. I might be faking it until I make it, but I am ready for you, Monday! Annahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03208992401729752999noreply@blogger.com6