All you need is love

You know how your mom always tells you how smart and beautiful you are but you don't really believe it because she's your mom?
"Mom, you have to say that because I'm your daughter."

It means so much more when the cute guy who sits beside you in science class tells you how he could melt in your eyes. For some reason the same affirmation means so much more when it comes from a relative stranger.

Which is why I am so completely and utterly touched that not one, but two bloggers who I have never met have given me the "I love you this much award." Both Jaime and Nicole have opened their arms and my response is the same as I so often reply to Thatboy when he professes his love to me - "Not as much as I love you." (and then of course I begin crying hysterically when he doesn't challenge that statement meaning he doesn't love me as much as I love him - Ladies, it works and it gets you the NICEST jewelery)

Jaime is gonna be a mommy any day now (or in a couple months) and even though we've never met and she lives almost across the country completely, the warmth and patience of her blog makes me convinced she's going to be an excellent mom.

Nicole on the other hand lives much much closer and is already a mother! She is truly an artist in the kitchen, and outside of the kitchen and I seriously have sour cream rotting in the fridge JUST so I can try her cookie recipe.

Now I get to tag 10 (10??!!) other blogs I love!

1) Jen at Dinner a Deux. Has anyone been keeping track of how many times I've tagged Jen in the hopes of her restarting her blog? What's it going to take Jen? You were always one of my faves and Thatboy and I used to act out your posts. Well, not really, because Thatboy caters to some of my whims, but not the crazy ones.

2) Elly of Elly Says Opa. Well this one should also not be a big surprise. Everyone knows I love Elly. Everyone. Especially if you hang out in Chicago bathrooms where it is written on almost every stall. She's funny, smart, and one heck of an amazing cook. And since the San Diego Greek Festival is coming up, I think of her almost every day I drive past the banners.

3&4) I promise I'm not cheating, but there's no way I can award this to only have of a culinary team. Just like Siskle and Ebert, Regis and Kelly, Watson and Crick, some duos can't be separated. Tthere would be no Equal Opportunity Kitchen without Giz and Psychgrad. Giz brings the wisdom that only a mother can bring, and Psychgrad brings the wisdom that we all have when dealing with our mothers.

5) PatsyK of Family, Friends, and Food is a blogger after my own heart because she too is always looking for quick weeknight meals. She's like Rachael Ray, but better (not that it takes much). She has totally convinced me to pick up an Ellie Krieger cookbook.

6) Nina of Nina's Kitchen blogs ALL the way from South Africa. I think Nina knows how much I love her - I tell her almost daily, but its time I shared my love with all of you. I love how Nina uses ingredients I've never heard of. I love how Nina makes everything look gorgeous. I love how Nina says how easy everything is to make (yet it looks like it must have taken hours).

7) When I pulled up Good Things Catered to get the url, I accidentally let Thatboy see it over my shoulder. I have purposely been keeping this blog from him because its okay for me to love Katie (or as we affectionately call her, Katie Numbers), but it is NOT OKAY for Thatboy to love her. Thankfully he only saw a picture of the cake and not Katie herself or I would have lost him for sure. The problem with Katie is that she's gorgeous, talented, and ridiculously kind and sweet. Which means you can only hate her for about .2 seconds before you too fall in love. Go ahead, try to resist. I dare you.

8) I have to admit, one of the reasons I was amped about living in San Diego was because that's where Bubbie of It's Just Me lives. In my head I have already made us best friends. We go on fabulous shopping trips together, and hang out at Target on our lunch breaks. However, this makes me sound creepy and stalkerish so I'm going to pretend like I never said that. The "in my head Bubbie" is insanely flattered and hasn't told security at the front desk of her building about the weird girl who's not allowed inside.

9) Melissa of It's Melissa's Kitchen probably won't be as touched by this award because I'm hardly a stranger. In fact, I only started reading Melissa's blog because, well, I like to support people I know. However, I have a VERY short span of attention, so Melissa, you should know I wouldn't have stuck around this long if you were boring. So you should be VERY touched. In fact, I've even clicked on some ads every now and again so Mr. Melissa would be happy. By the way, even if YOU don't love Melissa, show your love for me by going and clicking on an ad or too.

10) You know how there are people who live lives you've only dreamed of? Well one of those people for me is Joelen of Joelen's Culinary Adventures. First I adore her new place. I wish I lived somewhere nearly as cute (except for the fridge in the pantry, but hey, even Joelen thought that was a little strange at first). Second, even though she has a normal person job (for the time) she finds the time to host about 300 million foodie groups. There's her bookclub, her fieldtrips throughout Chicago, and the classes she runs out of her home that fill up so quickly that people have been catty and cutthroat to get a spot or gripe about not getting spots. She's been featured on television and in print!

A promise is a promise

I promised food and I deliver. Of course its nothing fancy, but its quick and easy, I'm easing my way back. In fact, I took one of the easiest recipes and made it a hundred times easier by taking a cue from one of my fave blogs, Nina's Kitchen. See, when Nina serves shrimp, she doesn't bother to shell the shrimp. She thinks half the fun is having the guests do it themselves. I don't know if I agree with her on that point, but it makes for a gorgeous presentation and it saves me a lot of time.

My friend Tater believes that "putting something on a stick automatically makes it better." With that in mind, I present to you lemon shrimp...on a stick.

Shrimp on a stick

1/2 lb shrimp, deveined
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 bell pepper, cut into 1" pieces
1 medium onion, cut into 8 wedges
1 medium lemon, cut into 8 wedges

1) In a ziplock bag combine shrimp, olive oil, salt and pepper. Refrigerate overnight.
2) Soak 8 bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes.
3) Remove shrimp from bag and discard marinade. Preheat broiler.
4) Alternately thread shrimp, peppers, onions, and lemon on skewers.
5) Broil 4 minutes, turn skewers and grill 4 more minutes.

I hope you weren't looking for food...

Sorry to be a tease. I promise tomorrow there will be food here, and I never make a promise I can't keep. Instead we'll keep catching up with old mail.

Melissa of It's Melissa's Kitchen tagged me with a 411 meme. There aren't any instructions on this one, and those who know me, know that leaving me without instructions can be very very dangerous.

But I'll play nice. One of my favorite movies is on right now and that always puts me in a good mood.

1. Why did you start your blog?
If you look into the dark dark archives of this blog you'll see this blog has had a bunch of lives. Almost cat-like. It began as a way to document law school. Do you see how long that lasted? Yeah....law school, well, it takes up A LOT of your life.

2. How did you come up with your blog name?
Like the subject matter, the name has also been changed a number of times. The current name came from one of my views on my own life - no matter how hard I try, things just don't come out well. See I always mean well, but things tend to get twisted.

3. Do your friends and family know about your blog, and what do they think?
My family knows because one of the "lives" was to keep them updated when I lived in Europe on a different time schedule. Some of my friends know, but not all of them. It's kinda hit or miss. Most of my really close friends don't know, because how do you bring that up in conversation?

4. How do you write posts?
Well first I place my fingers over the keyboard, then I press down on each letter of the word I plan to write and the sentences, they just magically appear on the screen!

5. Have you ever had a troll or had to delete unkind comments?
I've never had a troll, but I have had an unkind comment. I don't delete them though unless they're offensive. I'm a firm believer in the First Amendment.

6. Do you check your stats or care how many people read your blog? If you care, how do you increase traffic?
I check my stats, but I don't really care how many people read my blog. I'm more interested in who than how many.

So there's no direction as to how many people to tag, so since this is a 4-1-1 meme, I'm tagging 4 people.

Shawnda
Amber
Peabody
Ally

Look What I Made!

You know when you go on vacation and stop your mail? Inevitably when you come home you have more mail than you've received in the past 2 months combined. So its no surprise that when I take a break from blogging for a week all of a sudden I become the target for tags and awards. Which is nice since I don't have much else to blog about. I'm going to try to hit the kitchen again tomorrow so stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, let's look at some old favorites. Jaime from Burnt Toast tagged me with a fun meme where I get to recommend recipes from OTHER people's blogs!


HERE ARE THE RULES to LOOK WHAT I MADE!

1. List the names of 2-5 recipes you tried from other blogs. Provide a direct link to the recipe. If not available, give the blog link and let the reader search for the recipe by name.

2. Shortly describe your experience with the recipe.

3. Tag 3-5 other bloggers or the authors of the recipes you listed to post the links to the recipes they have tried from other bloggers. Note: If you are new to the blogging world and haven’t had a chance to try any recipes from your fellow foodies, just pass the tag on to someone else.

4. Notify the tagged bloggers about the tag either by leaving a comment on their blogs or by emailing them.

So here are some recipes from some of my favorite blogs:

1) When my friend L had her baby I knew I wanted to make her something that would freeze well, so I turned to stew. And then I turned to one of my favorite blogs to find a stew recipe. It's no secret I love Elly's blog and her beef stew is absolutely fantastic. It was so fantastic in fact that I made extra to keep for us and Thatboy ate ALL of it up. I didn't get any. And to add insult to injury he talked for days about how good it was.

2) If you're looking for a quick and easy dinner Amber's your girl. Seriously, everything comes together so quickly and its always delicious. Especially her tortellini soup. It might have been the fastest soup I've ever made and it was just sooooo good!

3) Before we moved I had packed just about all of our cooking implements...except our crockpot. And lucky for me Erika of Bean's Bistro has a ton of great crockpot recipes in her blog. And lucky for me, most of the ingredients she uses were in my "get rid of before we move" pantry! And so I adapted her crockpot jambalaya because I didn't have shrimp. It was so wonderful to come home after a long day of work and have dinner all ready so we could get right into more packing!

4) My all time favorite dessert to make is panna cotta. It always looks so pretty and fancy and its ridiculously easy. One of my faves for "something different" is Sarah's coffee panna cotta. With that chocolate on top? Delicious! Although, her version looks far prettier than mine!

5) I'm still working on my risotto skills, but that just means I have to make a lot of risotto. I know. Poor poor me. I LOVE this recipe and and wish Jen would post more in her blog - she hasn't in ages and it makes me sad. The first time I tried this was the first time I realized halving risotto recipes doesn't work for me. When I master this dish I'm so making it again!

A Day Late and A Dollar Short

So technically the Recipe Exchange recipes were due yesterday, but the ever understanding Amy gave me an extension. Meanwhile I HATE letting people down, and I know that whoever sent in the recipe I was supposed to make is probably tapping their toes anxiously waiting for the results. I feel really bad about that so I summoned up some fortitude and accomplished the feat today. Only a day late! That being said, I'm going to take a little hiatus from the kitchen while things hopefully work themselves out. I'll be back soon, I promise.


The theme of this month's exchange was Family Recipes. I'll let you in on a little secret about my family recipes. My great grandmother on my father's side was definitely the cook in the family. her dishes always had people begging for the recipe. And she always complied and gave the recipe. Except for one little fact. My great grandmother on my father's side was also the evil one in the family. She would always leave out a key ingredient or step in the recipe. "Why would she do that?" You may ask. I'll tell you why. She left out a key ingredient so when the next person made it they'd shake their head and say "It's just not as good as when Zelda makes it!" My great grandmother on my father's side was also the genius in the family.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Grandma Williams, the creator of this recipe is very similar to my great grandmother. Only because this recipe did not come out nearly as well as anticipated AND I followed the directions exactly. Or nearly exactly. Which is another reason why I'm going to take a break from the kitchen because I think the meds are affecting my mad skillz.

I'll walk you through it. My remarks are in red.....just in case you can't tell.

Spaghetti Sauce

by Grandma Williams

3 12 oz cans tomato paste

3 15 oz cans tomato sauce

1/2 tbsp salt

pepper to taste

1 tbsp instant minced onions (or the real stuff) I used the real stuff. Not that it matters.

1/2 tbsp instant minced garlic (or the real stuff) See above.

scant 3 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp dried basil

3 cans water (use tomato sauce for water)

Fry tomato paste in oil until it can be formed into a ball. I'm sorry. Until it forms a what? Mine never balled up. Basically I fried it until it was shiny. Add tomato sauce, water and other ingredients.

Mix, bring to a boil. Turn to low & simmer 4-5 hours (the longer it cooks, the better it tastes! And it freezes very well) This is where "War of the Kitchen" began. When this baby boils it REALLY boils. Bubbles of tomato sauce ALL over the kitchen. It made me want to cry. But I didn't. Instead I kept playing with the heat until there was BARELY a flame below it. And STILL it kept sending Tomato volcanoes all over the place. I yelled to Thatboy "That's it. I'm going to put a cover on this thing before someone gets hurt." And that's when the tomato sauce heard me. It heard me and it sent a missile STRAIGHT for me. I have a beautiful red thumb to show for it. And I'm quite certain the new neighbors expect to find my body in a dumpster after the screaming that went on. I had to stop cooking the sauce after 3 hours because by this time it had almost solidified. There was very little liquid left and it was much more similar to tomato paste than tomato sauce.

Italian Meatballs

by Grandma Williams

2 eggs, well beaten

1 lb. ground beef I used the ground veal I had in the freezer.

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp parsley, minced

1/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp oil

Combine all ingredients except oil. Mix well. With wet hands shape into 16 balls. Brown in hot oil slowly, shaking pan often. I SWEAR I did this. But I don't usually fry my meatballs, so this was a new test for me. Instead of meatballs I ended up with meat patties. When I put them in the pan they just flattened.

Drain. Add to spaghetti sauce last 1-2 hours of cooking. Yeah...those meat patties? Completely disintegrated when I put them in the sauce. I'm very go with the flow, so I shrugged it off (or as best as I'm able to shrug) and figured "Whatever - MEAT SAUCE!"

Fresh Pasta

Adapted from Nook & Pantry

1 cup flour I used whole wheat flour

2 large eggs

Make a mountain of flour on your work surface, then create a crater in the center. Add your eggs in the crater. Use a fork and beat the eggs in the crater incorporating a little bit of the flour at a time. Once the egg mixture begins to look like a batter, you can start incorporating more of the flour into the dough. After mixing all the flour, you will end up with a dough. If the dough is still sticky, add some more flour. Knead by pushing with the heel of your palm, fold the dough in half, give it a half turn, and repeat the process for 8 minutes or until it feels smooth. Marcella did not specify to let the dough rest but I let the dough rest, covered in a bowl (dish towels work great for this), for 15-20 minutes.

Cut the dough into 3 equal portions. Take one portion of the dough and press it flat, then run it through the pasta machine on the widest setting. Fold the dough in thirds and run the narrow end into the machine again. Repeat twice more. Do this to the remaining 2 portions of dough. Now you should have 3 portions of dough that have been passed through the widest setting 3 times each. Go up one setting, and run each portion of dough through twice, but do not fold in thirds this time, just run it straight through twice. Repeat with the two other pieces of dough. Go up one setting, and repeat again. After running the pasta through the #3 setting twice more, run it through the spaghetti cutter (the middle cutter between fettuccine and angel hair). Separate any noodles that did not get cut all the way through. Lightly toss the noodles in some flour.

So I was REALLY excited about this part. I was so excited I made Thatboy go out and get me a pasta machine. I've always wanted a pasta machine. I love homemade pasta. And things started out SO well! I had such high hopes. Even though it took much closer to 2 cups of flour than 1. And then the machine failed to cut the spaghetti - so I ended up with a beautiful crimped sheet of pasta. I painstakingly pulled each strand of spaghetti apart and put them in a bowl. I figured I'd toss all the noodles in flour at the end. BIG mistake. HUGE. By the time I had made all three sections my bowl was just one clump of spaghetti dough. There was nothing to do but try try again. I added a little flour and made a ball and tried again. This time the pasta cutter worked and I tossed each sheet immediately after cutting. I was feeling pretty good by this point.

Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt the water, then add the pasta. Cook for 1 1/2 - 2 minutes or until the pasta is al dente. Drain the pasta reserving some of the pasta water to thin out the sauce if necessary.

The end result:

Yum!!!!! Thatboy loved it, and we have plenty of sauce for many pastas to come. I'm not sure whether I'm amazing, he's kind, or he's been dipping into my meds. Whatever the reason dinner was a hit. But I'd be willing to bet it wasn't nearly as good as Grandma Williams makes it.

Back in the Saddle

..well...kinda....
It's been 4 days. 4 DAYS since I've been able to cook. My hands are itching to hold a spoon. And although Thatboy keeps throwing spoons at me, its not quite the same thing. I'm still not able to be up and "at 'em" for long periods of times, so if I wanted to cook, I knew it would have to be something quick and easy...and done before I took medication ;-) So I made a cold soup. Cold=no fire or other hazard involved. Cold = the food processor does most of the work. And as nervous as Thatboy was about me handling knives in my current condition I didn't get hurt or hurt anyone AT ALL! So it was a very successful kitchen adventure.

1) Cut up half a cantalope. Or you could cut up a whole cantalope like I did and store half for the dog.

2) Repeat with half a honeydew. Ooohhhh how pretty they all look. (Ignore the med bag in the back.........)

3) Pour the cantalope into the food processor and puree until its smooth. Add 1/4 cup OJ to the pureed cantelope.

4) Now puree the honeydew! Add 1/4 cup honey to the pureed honeydew.

5) Stand back and look at how pretty your soupy-soups look. This is about when the medication kicked in because the last part got pretty messed up. At this point I tried to combine the soups like at CPK where you get two different soups in one bowl, seamlessly and invisibly divided in two. How cool would that look? Half orange-half green? So first I tried just pouring in the orange, tilting the bowl and pouring in the green:

I can't even lie and say it looked better in person. Cause it didn't. So then I tried pouring them both in at the same time:

Seriously. There are times I remember why I'm not a professional chef. By this point in time I was EXHAUSTED so I figured screw it and just dumped the rest together:

Eh close enough. Back to my nap!

That Boy does it again

Without going into details, I was incapacitated today and unable to make dinner. This left me with a feeling of dread because Thatboy isn't very "helpful" in the kitchen. He once tried to make me dinner, one of those frozen "pour in a skillet and cook" meals. About 2 minutes in he was calling me into the kitchen to help because there was more than one step involved and he couldn't figure it out.

I was all ready to call for takeout when Thatboy announced he was going to make dinner and what did we have? Not wanting to waste a perfectly good steak or chicken breast on someone who burns popcorn, I suggested a salad. Because salads are hard to mess up. So I gave Thatboy instructions - I do have to say its very difficult to watch someone in your kitchen and not be able to help out. I told him to rip up the romaine, top it with some sliced avocados, and canned crab. Easy enough right? He even decided to improvise and added some of the arugula!

I talked him through making his own salad dressing, with only the slightest bit of worry when he couldn't find the champagne vinegar and worried about its orange flavor...or when he couldn't find the shallots on the countertop... But overall, I have to say I'm very impressed! Not too shabby for a man who's idea of cooking is microwaving frozen chicken strips!

Please God Let It Be Spring Salad

I don't think I will ever be a real Californian. I'm far too cynical and far too annoyed by the climate. A real Californian will tell you it never rains here, or it does rain, but really, its just a day or two out of the year. A real Californian will go on and on about the perfect climate, the temperate weather, the perpetual sunshine.

Let me give you a breakdown of the weather in California:
January - Rain. And when it rains it floods. Literally. The roads flood. Driving is impossible. You have to wade through rivers to get into buildings.
February - Random weather month. Some days its hoooot. Other days its cooooold. Still rain mixed in.
March - Wind, and rain, and cold, and hot. See February.
April-June- Now we begin the random weather months. You have no idea what the weather is going to be. Pack a sweater and a tank top in your car, because just cause it's warm in the morning does not mean it'll be warm an hour later. And keep an umbrella just in case, you know for the rain we've been getting this week....in May. And this is a great time to tell you about the Marine layer - Basically imagine super foggy and cold are morning. We call it June Gloom in June. Would you live in a place that brags of the weather being "gloom"? Not good marketing.
July-October - Gorgeous, warm, perfect beach temps. Let's count, that's 4 months of sun. 4. Not year round.
November -December - It's wet and cold. Rain, rain, and more rain. And when its not raining, it can get down to the 30s here folks.

This week has been the pits. It's been rainy, cold, gloomy, cloudy. I'm sick of it. When is it going to be Spring already? It's May for Pete's Sake!!!! When I was in Trader Joe's tonight I noticed some of the most gorgeous peaches. It's nowhere near peach season, which for me is a sure sign of summer. I figured screw it - the peaches smelled delicious, they were all ripe and perfect, and I hoped if I included them in dinner I might trick the weather into getting warmer.

I paired the sweeter than sweet peaches with spicy arugula. I love the bitterness of the arugula, almost like it bites you back and that's exactly the kind of mood I'm in right now. A bite you back kind of mood. I made some pomegranate vinaigrette to top mine, but a balsamic would work just as well if you don't want to make your own.

Dijon Dujour

I love when meals have a theme. Like "hey, why do we have so many bottles of dijon mustard"? I also like when dinner comes together all at the same time. The timing of this dish is perfect - and it's not too long before it's all ready to serve. In all of its dijon-y goodness. Which leads me to my most favorite meal theme. Yummy. And yes, that's a technical cooking term.

Dijon Steak and Potatoes

1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup flat leaf parsely, chopped
1 1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 Tbsp thyme, minced
1/2 Tbsp rosemary, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp crushed fennel seeds
1/4 tsp pepper
2 steaks
1 lb baby red potatoes, halved
2/3 Tbsp white wine
1 Tbsp orange champagne vinegar
1 scallion, sliced
2/3 Tbsp dill, minced
2/3 Tbsp basil, minced

1) In small bowl combine garlic, 1/8 cup olive oil, 1/8 cup parsley, 1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard, thyme, rosemary, salt, fennel seeds, and pepper.
2) Smear both sides of steak with mustard mixture and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
3) Take steak our of fridge and preheat broiler.
4) Boil water. Add potatoes and cook until tender, 15 minutes.
5) While potatoes are cooking, broil steak for 10 minutes for medium rare, turning after 5 minutes. Let steak sit for 5 minutes.
6) Place potatoes in large bowl and gently toss with white wine.
7) In small bowl whisk together vinegar and remaining mustard.
8) Slowly whisk in remaining olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
9) Pour dressing, scallions, dill, remaining parsley, and basil over potatoes, toss well.

Serves 4.
Each serving has:

Calories		405.0
Total Fat		31.5 g
Cholesterol		77.1 mg
Sodium		486.8 mg
Potassium		493.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate		4.8 g
Protein		22.7 g

Happy Cinco!

Last year on Cinco de Mayo we headed to a local Mexican restaurant and drank far too much tequila and did far too many jello shots. This year we're celebrating all week....but much more low key every day!

Today I enjoyed a lovely Cinco de Mayo lunch - a seven layer wrap. Well, 8 if you count the chicken. And you should! I made some seven layer dip to snack on this week and thought it'd be a perfect lunch all wrapped up in a tortilla. I felt so festive as I sat at my desk and munched on it. Of course, it did leave me wanting a margarita - but there's always tomorrow!

Seven (Eight) Layer Wrap

Start with a flour tortilla. (We won't count this as a layer, because I'm already pushing it with the chicken)
1) Spread refried beans over tortilla.
2) Mix sour cream with taco seasoning, spread this on top of the beans.
3) Sprinkle shredded cheddar over sour cream mixture.
4) Spread guacamole over cheese
5) Chop up tomato and sprinkle over guacamole
6) Slice a green onion and sprinkle over tomato
7) Sprinkle sliced black olives over green onion
8) Layer some chicken over olives and wrap her up!

I'm so Fancy

When I want to be fancy I toss together some stuffed mushrooms. They're so easy and always impressive. My new grocery store is super duper fancy. There's a grand piano in the produce section. I'm not kidding. They have fancy meats too. Like Fancy ground veal. Okay, so maybe that's not so fancy, but our old grocery store didn't care anything other than pork, chicken, and beef. I wanted to use it because, like Mt. Everest, it was there.

Put fancy meat in fancy appetizer and voila. I am fancy.

Veal stuffed mushrooms

8 oz. white mushrooms, stemmed and cleaned
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp canola oil
1 shallot, minced
1/4 lb. ground veal
1 Tbsp shredded Parmesan
3 leaves fresh basil, chopped
1/2 Tbsp olive tapenade

1) Finely chop half of mushrooms. Heat butter and oil in skillet over medium heat. Add chopped mushrooms and shallot. Cook about 5 minutes, until mushrooms have browned. Let cool.
2) In medium bowl combine mushrooms with ground veal, Parmesan, basil, and olive paste.
3) Spoon about 1 Tbsp mushroom mixture into each remaining mushroom cap.
4) Place mushroom caps in steamer basket and steam about 8 minutes.

Calories		117.5
Total Fat		8.9 g
Cholesterol		37.9 mg
Sodium		46.4 mg
Potassium		183.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate		1.3 g
Protein		8.2 g

Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?

If she can't she should learn to make a clafouti. According to Wikipedia, the source for all knowledge, a clafouti is a French dessert that combines fresh fruit and a pancake like batter. It has all the benefits of a pie, a crisp, a cobber - namely fruit and dough, but its a hundred times easier to make. The name comes from the phrase "to fill up" which is basically all you do with the dish. Fill it up with berries and batter. Then stick it in the oven and forget about it.

I've been seeking clafoutis all over the net. Since it's really warm here I'm starting to dream about summertime fruits like cherries. I've been searching the grocery stores for fresh cherries, but apparently just because I think its summer, doesn't mean mother nature agrees with me. It's not cherry season just yet. So I headed over to the frozen food section of the store and picked up a bag of frozen cherries. Seriously, when I get an idea in my head nothing can change my mind. I wanted cherries and gosh darn it, I was going to get myself cherries.

One of my favorite summertime treats is to eat frozen fruit straight from the bag. If you come to my house in the summer you can almost guarantee a bag of frozen grapes in the freezer. But I know that's a little odd and most people prefer their fruit...not frozen. Which brings us full circle back to the clafouti. A little frozen cherries, a little batter, and voila: Dessert anyone?

Cherry Clafouti

6 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cherry liqueur
1 3/4 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 lb frozen cherries

1) Heat oven to 350. Coat glass baking dish with cooking spray. In medium bowl beat eggs and sugar until frothy.
2) Add milk, vanilla, and liqueur, stir until smooth.
3) Whisk in flour.
4) Arrange cherries at the bottom of the baking dish.
5) Pour batter over cherries. Bake until set in center and golden on top, about 50 minutes.
6) Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.
Serves 12.
Each serving has:

Calories		157.7
Total Fat		2.8 g
Cholesterol		107.0 mg
Sodium		50.1 mg
Potassium		117.8 mg
Total Carbohydrate		28.1 g
Protein		5.8 g

Product Review: Lancome Bi-Facil Eye Makeup Remover

I'm really not a makeup girl, which is ironic, given that I wear makeup every day. Well almost every day. Saturdays and Sundays are my freedom from makeup days and I run around bare faced and bare foot. I like that clean makeup free feeling.

But what I don't like is the makeup removal process. Mostly because I'm tired at the end of the day and all I really want to do is crawl into bed. Of course, I don't have the luxury of just crawling in to bed unless I want to declare war on my face (and just in case you're tempted, its a losing battle. Always) So I need something that will remove everything quick and easy. I've actually been using this for years. Partly because I like shaking the bottle. I'm simple that way and watching the components join together and get bubbly gives me inexplicable joy.

What: Lancome Bi-Facil Eye Makeup Remover
How Much: $26.00
Where to buy: Lancome, department stores
Review: There's really nothing about this product I don't like. I like the calming blue bottle, I like how it takes all my makeup off in a few swipes - even though it says its just for eye makeup, I like the way my skin feels like silk afterwards, I like the way I buy it during bonus time and get a bag of fun goodies. It's quick and effective and gets me tucked in as early as can be.

Curse you weather gods!!!!!

On Sundays I sit down and make my menu for the week. This makes shopping a breeze and cheaper, but it also is a huge time saver for me. See, by planning out my meals I never have that "what's for dinner" moment standing in front of the fridge trying to brainstorm. I can also plan to make less time intensive meals on days when I have less time.

On Sunday it was 250 degrees outside. It was hot, and I was NOT in a good mood. When I sat down to write the weekly menu I was thinking of things that were quick, easy, and didn't use the oven (although, as previous posts show, I was very excited about the range...). I planned my all time favorite salad for Wednesday night because hot weather is perfect for salads. Especially now that I get home when its still light outside.

So imagine my surprise when I left the office yesterday and it was Fuh-reezing cold outside. For those of you not from Southern California, fuh-reezing cold = under 60 degrees. But I had an easy dinner that I knew would cheer me up, even if it wasn't exactly salad weather any more.

Cobb salads are my fuh-avorite salads. I love the tomato, I love the avocado, I love the blue cheese - on a fresh bed of romaine. Yum!

Cobb Salad

1 head of romaine lettuce
1 tomato, diced
1/2 breast of cooked turkey, chopped
1/2 avocado, chopped
crumbled blue cheese
1 piece of bacon, cooked crisp

1) Chop/tear/cut romaine and divide between 2 plates.
2) Divide remaining ingredients between two plates, crumbling bacon

Serves 2.
Each serving has:

Calories		247.1
Total Fat		15.9 g
Cholesterol		43.9 mg
Sodium		952.6 mg
Potassium		775.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate		10.1 g
Protein		17.9 g