Since being sick my appetite has been waaaay off, and I know when I’m not interested in eating there is something way wrong! I always seem to be interested in food! Hence the name, right? Hopefully this virus that has taken over my body will part ways soon and I can get my normal energy back. In the mean time, I’ve been trying to find food that sounds appetizing and I haven’t had much luck. I stand in front of the fridge pondering and waiting, just waiting to see if a good craving will pop up. Nothing but a small, ‘meh’ emerges, along with a painful cough. I just eat because I know that’s what I should do. But, alas! I actually found a great product that soothed my sore throat and chest and was pretty much the only thing that has made my tummy happy. (more…)
January 24, 2011
August 18, 2010
asian-style pb sauce
Happy Wednesday! This Asian-style peanut butter sauce is very versatile and can be used in all sorts of things. I mostly like it with roasted veggies, noodles and tofu, but it would be a great marinade for chicken or for a satay dipping sauce for a party with chicken skewers. I really just like it I think because it is heavy on my favorite peanut butter flavor. I will also warn you that this is not the lightest sauce in the world, but it is full of healthy fats and sure tastes good! (more…)
June 25, 2010
balsamic tempeh tortellini + a giveaway!
CSN Stores graciously offered to giveaway a $60 giftcard to my lovely readers to use at any of their online stores! They have a ton of home and kitchen goodies, from furniture, cooking gadgets, even neat lighting. I’d love to get some of their landscape lighting in our backyard that’s currently all rocks right now 🙂 Check out the giveaway details below! (more…)
June 22, 2010
a bit late but Happy Father’s Day!
ooh, sorry for being a missing person lately. Yes, my good ol’ laptop decided to take a dump on me again for a 3rd time!! grrr It was actually pretty funny because Chris and I were talking about how I should get Mozy to back up all my files since my laptop has been so shady, and the moment I tried to then turn it on . . . nuthin’. Yep, it was dead. Another good thing about all this though is that my 2-year performance plan will be up in July, so if it would have waited to die another month or so I would have been sh– out of luck. I’m hoping that they will send me a store credit for a new one since this is the same problem for the third time. *fingers crossed* I do know that I will NOT be getting an AMD processor again. That thing just got too hot and fried itself every time.
I hope you all had a nice Father’s Day! Just a little re-cap of the weekend and our dad’s day celebration . . . (more…)
December 31, 2009
out of this world banana puddin’
I couldn’t really figure out what the heck to title this post since it’s pretty random, but after much contemplation I figured it should be titled after the epitome of all banana puddings I’ve ever had. . .
After breakfast most of my morning was spent doing laundry and catching up on bloggies, so we ended up not getting out of the house till later. My mom wanted to find a new laptop computer so we ventured out to Best Buy and found a pretty good deal on a Dell. My mom is not savvy with computers, so Chris helped her out 🙂
Breakfast was one of my simple staples . . . this one included Nature’s Pride pumpkin granola, TJ’s honey O’s, TJ’s shredded wheat and cinnamon Puffins. I topped it with 1/2 a sliced naner, frozen blueberries (I love how they turn the milk blue!) and 3 walnut halves.
I had a pretty simple lunch too . . . An Orowheat sandwich thin (I think I like these!), spread with some cooked sweet tater, sliced TJ’s tofu, avocado and muenster cheese. Then I pressed it in the foreman grill with some carrots and hummus alongside. It was yummy and just the right size! I love adding cooked sweet taters to pretty much anything because it lends a subtle sweetness 🙂
Among the many food stops that we wanted to try to make on our trip here, one was Gary’s BBQ which is known for their homemade banana puddin’.
Everything is very reasonably priced and the waitress always calls you ‘hun’. I just think this is too cute because we don’t get that Southern hospitality in Vegas! We first found out about Gary’s when it was featured in Southern Living magazine. Chris had a few bites of their pulled pork sammie just to try it and really liked it.
Their pudding is rich, ultra thick and to die for! It’s definitely worth the drive. I wish my mom and I would have shared one because I forgot how mondo they are. I could only finish about 1/3 of it and then I was spent. I ate too much, but this stuff is better than ice cream and just as deadly lol
It’s so mondo, stuff was falling off the sides of the bowl!
After a successful stop at Best Buy, we wanted to look at a few other nearby boutique shops for fun, but Chris slammed his finger in the door as we were getting out and we had to head back home. Ouch! But he is doing fine now 🙂
For dinner I whipped up some hearty meatloaf, roasted squash, parsnips and spaghetti squash.
It was my first time making spaghetti squash and I think I’m in love!! It is so simple to make and is so delish. This will definitely be a staple in our house from now on, especially because it makes a ton and this one squash was only about $3. In one cup of plain, cooked spaghetti squash there is only 42 kcals and a fairly good amount of vitamin C and fiber. Yum!
For this I cut it in 1/2 and roasted it cut side down at 375 F with a bit of water in the sheet pan for about 30 minutes. Then I turned it over, topped it with about 1/2 tbsp of butter in each half along with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder and continued to bake it until soft. I also added some parmesan cheese once it was done. Yum!
Alongside we tried a new Malbec that we found at a local wine store called Total Wine. It was nice and full with rich, chocolate-y undertones, but it wasn’t out of this world. I much prefer the Layer Cake Malbec.
I’m looking forward to New Year’s! We made reservations at a local wine lounge/restaurant that’s going to have some live entertainment which should be fun. Hope you all have a safe and happy New Year’s!!
Do you have any New Year’s plans yet?
June 13, 2009
lots of planning
With the housewarming party fast approaching, there is lots of planning to do. As you know I’m a huge list writer and I really like the program called OneNote. I also use it for all my classes. I swear I’d be lost if I didn’t have my plan of action! Most of the time this way of thinking is beneficial for me and helps me really get things done, but a lot of the time it is most certainly my downfall. If something doesn’t quite go as planned, I get cranky and all discombobulated. Well, let the planning begin . . . Let me know what you think or if you have any tried and true crowd pleasers. If everyone attends there should be around 30 people . . . eek! But, it should probably be more around 20-25. More pictures to come as the food is prepped!
Menu Ideas so far . . . I may have to narrow some down
~Starters~
- Spinach artichoke dip with Hawaiian sweet bread
- Various cheese, Nut and fruit platters with honey
- Fig compote, goat cheese and caramelized onion bruschetta
- Caprese bruschetta with balsamic reduction
~Main~
- Artichoke heart, sun-dried tomato and olive pasta salad with lemon vinaigrette
- Panzanella salad
- Mini Veggie Calzones with marinara dipping sauce
- Asian BBQ chicken thighs
~Dessert~
- Chocolate fountain with strawberries, pretzels, marshmallows and brownie bites for dipping
~Grown-up Drinks~
- Citrus Champagne Punch(tried this at a friend’s, so good!)
- Starborough sauvignon blanc (very fruity and fresh)
- Ravenswood chardonnay (like butta’)
- Willow Springs Cabernet (nice fruit)
- Cakebread Merlot (haven’t tried yet, but got as a gift)
- Seghesio Zinfandel (jammy and full)
Wow, I have lots of things to do before all this is golden. We even have more house stuff to do too . . . eek! Here’s my plan of attack so far . . .
This weekend:
- Clean up yard somewhat, Extra outside chairs,Touch-up paint, Baseboards, Thresholds? and Hang pictures
Mon-Wednesday
- Buy Wine/Alcohol at Lee’s
- Buy Platters/serving stuff at HomeGoods (so cheap!)
- Make brownie bites/freeze
Thursday
- Grocery Shopping
- Prep Salad/bruschetta ingredients
Friday
- Assemble Pasta salad/Panzanella salad
- Marinate chicken
- Roast Veggies for calzones
- Make calzone dough
- Clean upstairs
Saturday
- Buster Walk/Bath
- Clean downstairs
- Assemble Platters
- Make citrus punch
- Make calzones
- Grill Chicken
PARTY! – 6pm
For lunch the other day I had something that I haven’t had in a long time . . . tempeh! I marinated a few strips of it in Hoisin, lime juice, and sesame oil for about 5 minutes. Then I grilled it on the grill pan, and placed in on some sandwich bread with mozzarella, spinach and avocado and pressed it into a panini. I also had greek yogurt on the side for dipping. It was delish and very filling!
Buster has this weird thing and likes to smell shoes when you take them off! We took Buster to the dog park for the first time and he had a blast! He loves being around all the other dogs and people. All the dogs were barking at him and smelling his butt, but he didn’t mind at all! Isn’t that amazing that dogs smell each other’s butts to meet and find out about each other? He was romping through the grass like a gazelle and loved all the new smells. We are definitely going to make this a continued occurrence in the future. He was so tuckered from all the excitement, but he still had us up at 4:15 am wanting to get up. He is such a new dog once he got his poor ears and teeth fixed up. He had a really bad ear infection the week after we got him, one of the worst the vet has seen. Now, he’s been on antibiotics and two kinds of ear rinses and he’s feeling much more chipper and is quite the character.
Here’s Buster’s new friend Louie. He’s my friend’s dog and is quite the ham!
Here’s the happy papa and Buster . . .
Hope you all have a wonderful, productive weekend! Let me know on any of your recipe ideas 🙂
