Posts
4/30/14
Last night as I lay awake in bed remembering a blog I started years ago I wondered if it was still accessible. I just logged on and read my first post 1/27/10 to my last post in April 2010. I remember beginning it as a hobby and then feeling like it was just another thing I had to do putting undo pressure on myself to BLOG! As if my 10 followers would certainly die if they didn't read my blog. !!!
As I just re-read those posts from 4 years ago, I thought, "Hey, that was pretty good!" And decided I wanted to start up again. If anyone reads it, hopefully it will be fun and informational, but if not it will be fun for me!!
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Carrot and Basil Soup
Since the Easter Bunny has left for another year, I thought you might not know what to do with all the leftover carrots so here is an awesome recipe. The broth really makes it. With regular vegetable broth it just tastes like carrots!! Hee hee. Don't get me wrong, I like carrots, but with this broth it is really something special:
Carrot and Basil Soup
1 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp butter or Earth Balance or Smart Balance
1 Large Vidalia onion, chopped
3 stalks celery
2 medium potatoes, chopped
2 pounds carrots, cut into chunks
6 cups of College Inn Thai Coconut Curry Broth (orig recipe calls for vegetable broth, I like to add a zing!!)
2 tsp ground coriander (optional)
1/4 chopped fresh basil
fresh ground black pepper to taste
Heat oil and butter in large soup pot over medium heat. Sauté onion for 3-4 minutes until slightly softened. Add celery and potatoes, cook for few minutes, then add carrots. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently. Cover, reduce heat to low and "sweat" veggies for 10 minutes. Make sure veggies do not stick to bottom of pot.
Add the broth, bring to a boil and cover and simmer until carrots and potatoes are tender. Let cool slightly.
Use an immersion blender to process until smooth, or put the soup into batches and process in a blender until smooth. Stir in coriander, basil, and pepper to taste.
16 – 1 cup servings at 1 point each
Carrot and Basil Soup
1 Tbsp Olive oil
2 Tbsp butter or Earth Balance or Smart Balance
1 Large Vidalia onion, chopped
3 stalks celery
2 medium potatoes, chopped
2 pounds carrots, cut into chunks
6 cups of College Inn Thai Coconut Curry Broth (orig recipe calls for vegetable broth, I like to add a zing!!)
2 tsp ground coriander (optional)
1/4 chopped fresh basil
fresh ground black pepper to taste
Heat oil and butter in large soup pot over medium heat. Sauté onion for 3-4 minutes until slightly softened. Add celery and potatoes, cook for few minutes, then add carrots. Sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently. Cover, reduce heat to low and "sweat" veggies for 10 minutes. Make sure veggies do not stick to bottom of pot.
Add the broth, bring to a boil and cover and simmer until carrots and potatoes are tender. Let cool slightly.
Use an immersion blender to process until smooth, or put the soup into batches and process in a blender until smooth. Stir in coriander, basil, and pepper to taste.
16 – 1 cup servings at 1 point each
Monday, April 5, 2010
Wine Tasting
We did a tasting at Macari and I explained the process to Kim. She did a great job and really liked the wines, as did I. Here are some of our favorites.
Next stop was
Kelsey ad Kimberly
We sat outside by soon to be blooming vineyards and ate out snacks of Weight Watchers Multi Grain Crisps, Laughing Cow French Onion and Garlic Herb cheeses, blackberries, apple slices, carrots and cucumbers. Yes, you can go wine tasting and still be prepared :) We enjoyed a glass of Chardonnay here. Very delicious.
Onto our final winery, One Woman Winery. Check this winery out on line, http://www.onewomanwines.com/
It is an amazing story and she makes truly fantastic wines. I had the Gewurztraminer and Kim had the Chardonnay. It is a bit pricey but well worth it.
This is the tasting shed where her charming and friendly daughter, Gabriella, serves up the wines.
After a fun filled wine tasting tour we ended the day with a little shopping and dinner in the beautiful and quaint town of Greenport.
Girls will be girls. What a great day!!
Sangria
It wouldn't be a holiday weekend without a little wine......well, actually for me, it wouldn't be any weekend without a little wine ;) I decided to make a nice sangria with a great inexpensive chardonnay, called Barefoot. Their sparkling wine is really delicious too which you can add to the sangria for a extra taste sensation.
Just cut up your fruitof choice. In this particular batch I put blackberries, an apple, a peach and some leftover pinapple chunks I had in the fridge with their natural juice. Pour it all together with the wine in a big container and let it sit at least a day. The riper the fruit the better. Sometimes I add a little bit of honey. This is so clean and refreshing for a sunny day.
For those of you counting POINTS, a 4 oz glass is 2. If you eat the fruit count it accordingly.
Just cut up your fruitof choice. In this particular batch I put blackberries, an apple, a peach and some leftover pinapple chunks I had in the fridge with their natural juice. Pour it all together with the wine in a big container and let it sit at least a day. The riper the fruit the better. Sometimes I add a little bit of honey. This is so clean and refreshing for a sunny day.
For those of you counting POINTS, a 4 oz glass is 2. If you eat the fruit count it accordingly.
Action shot (LOL)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Mr. Misto
Since we all need to get some healthy oil in every day as part of a balanced meal plan here is one way that I like to do it. Since olive oil is so good for you, but in moderation, like everything else, I like to be accurate with my measurement. Weight Watchers recommends 2 teaspoons a day. I figured out a long time ago that I do not like washing oily measuring spoons every darn day, so genius move......I put my salad on the scale, set it for grams and zeroed it out. I then measured 1 teaspoon of olive oil out and drizzled it over my salad to figure out that it weighs 4 grams. Now every time I have to measure my oil, whether in a salad or on my toast or english muffin I just put it on the scale. So easy! Can someone press the EASY button please. The other day I maade a beautiful salad and was lamenting at the fact that I was going to have mix it all together and ruin the presentation after adding the oil. Here is what I did.
I have a little gadget called MISTO that turns oil into an aerosol. You put it in, pump it up and spray out the oil in a mist. Genius!! I have used this over the years to oil my pans. Well, better late than never, I decided to mist my oil onto my salad. I set the scale on grams and began misting until it hit 4. It took several pumps to get it up to 4 grams but then I could eat it without having to mix the oil in. I had already put the balsamic vinegar on. By the way, I buy the Good Seasons Italian Dressin mix and put it in my cruet with mostly balsmaic vinegar and a little water. I then add my oil separately for a perfect measurement.
I have a little gadget called MISTO that turns oil into an aerosol. You put it in, pump it up and spray out the oil in a mist. Genius!! I have used this over the years to oil my pans. Well, better late than never, I decided to mist my oil onto my salad. I set the scale on grams and began misting until it hit 4. It took several pumps to get it up to 4 grams but then I could eat it without having to mix the oil in. I had already put the balsamic vinegar on. By the way, I buy the Good Seasons Italian Dressin mix and put it in my cruet with mostly balsmaic vinegar and a little water. I then add my oil separately for a perfect measurement.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Cactus Pear
I am a huge advocate of always trying new things, so I set out on a quest to find some fruits and vegies I haven't tried yet. The Weight Watchers Magazine March/April issue inspired me to try my hand at steaming artichokes and when I was shopping I noticed an interesting fruit called a cactus pear, so I bought that too. Here is my experience;
The magazine said to use a steamer basket and cook on the stove top. Welllll.......I don't have a steamer basket for the stove top but I have a Tupperware microwave steamer so I thought that would work just fine. I thought WRONG! I managed to burn the crap out of them, stinking up my house in the process. I do not recommend this! I will try again over the stove top at a later time.
Now, the cactus pear. It is called this because of the spiny needles that stick out of it, although most fruits here in the states will have those removed before you purchase them. I understand the cactus part of it, but for the life of me cannot figure out why it is called a pear. Cactus Pomegranate would be more comparable. Anyway, I had to look up on line how to even cut one of these things. I get an E for Effort here. I scored around the outside like it said to peel the skin back, but I guess I scored too deep because all the flesh peeled back leaving a core of red seeds. I tasted the flesh and spit it out. Reminded me of dirt, or what I think dirt might taste like, having never really tasted dirt. I tried the seedy part and spit that out too and wrapped it all up, minus the spit, and put it in the fridge for my husband to try when he got home from work. (He had said he wanted to try it.)
When he got home I presented him with it and he bit into the flesh and said something like, "mmm, not bad". I asked "Are you kidding?" And he said it tasted a little like unripe melon. Of course I had to try it again and it did taste like unripe melon. So the moral of the story here is, if you like unripe melon eat it cold. If you like dirt, eat it warm. If you don't like either don't bother spending $.99 a piece for them.
The pictures below show the pear in my fruit bowl whole, and what it looked like cut up on a plate. Reminds me of raw beef. This will not deter me from trying other interesting things. You never know what you might like, and it's a little like an adventure.
The magazine said to use a steamer basket and cook on the stove top. Welllll.......I don't have a steamer basket for the stove top but I have a Tupperware microwave steamer so I thought that would work just fine. I thought WRONG! I managed to burn the crap out of them, stinking up my house in the process. I do not recommend this! I will try again over the stove top at a later time.
Now, the cactus pear. It is called this because of the spiny needles that stick out of it, although most fruits here in the states will have those removed before you purchase them. I understand the cactus part of it, but for the life of me cannot figure out why it is called a pear. Cactus Pomegranate would be more comparable. Anyway, I had to look up on line how to even cut one of these things. I get an E for Effort here. I scored around the outside like it said to peel the skin back, but I guess I scored too deep because all the flesh peeled back leaving a core of red seeds. I tasted the flesh and spit it out. Reminded me of dirt, or what I think dirt might taste like, having never really tasted dirt. I tried the seedy part and spit that out too and wrapped it all up, minus the spit, and put it in the fridge for my husband to try when he got home from work. (He had said he wanted to try it.)
When he got home I presented him with it and he bit into the flesh and said something like, "mmm, not bad". I asked "Are you kidding?" And he said it tasted a little like unripe melon. Of course I had to try it again and it did taste like unripe melon. So the moral of the story here is, if you like unripe melon eat it cold. If you like dirt, eat it warm. If you don't like either don't bother spending $.99 a piece for them.
The pictures below show the pear in my fruit bowl whole, and what it looked like cut up on a plate. Reminds me of raw beef. This will not deter me from trying other interesting things. You never know what you might like, and it's a little like an adventure.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Suggestion from you
By request I will put points on everything from now on. Thanks for the suggestion. The omelette was only 2 points :) and the oatmeal pancake with blueberries and yogurt is 4 or 5 depending on how much blueberries and yogurt you put on.! The recipe makes enough for 2 people and they are 3 points each.
Also someone wanted to know where I buy my exercise DVD's. http://www.collagevideo.com/ except for the Weight Watchers DVD which is available in any meeting room. You don't have to be a member to purchase it.
Speaking of Weight Watchers their new Blueberry Pie Yogurt is TO DIE FOR!!!! What a treat, oh so yummy!!
Also someone wanted to know where I buy my exercise DVD's. http://www.collagevideo.com/ except for the Weight Watchers DVD which is available in any meeting room. You don't have to be a member to purchase it.
Speaking of Weight Watchers their new Blueberry Pie Yogurt is TO DIE FOR!!!! What a treat, oh so yummy!!
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