Fun New Year’s Meal idea!

December 30, 2007 in Food and Drink

  Thanksgiving was delicious and special – but our Christmas Day meal was fun and a lot easier. PIZZA!! Lynn went to a local pizzeria and purchased ready made pizza dough (freezes well!). I cut up every kind of topping you could think of and everyone got to make up their own little personalized pizzas. Lynn brought her pizza stone – which we kept heated up in the oven and it made for a delicious crust. Robert and Dallas showed off by tossing our pizza dough in the air. (I failed as an action photographer – we hooted and hollered when the dough flew in the air like a couple of UFO’s!) If you’re struggling for ideas for New Year’s – Pizza may be your answer. 

My holiday is extended this year – my mom and sis are here now for our Family Christmas. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!”

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My strong desire to eat prevents me from Cooking

August 10, 2007 in Food and Drink

It sounds like a contradictory statement doesn't it? Don't most people cook for the actual PURPOSE of eating? My problem is I just can't wait! As I'm driving up the hill on my way home from work, my brain is thinking, "what should I have for dinner?" As I walk in the door,  my stomach starts churning big time. I throw my bags down and whip the refrigerator door open...."is there something that I can grab and eat now?" Next are the cupboards. One after another, I open each food cupboard door looking for just the right thing. "I do want it to be kind of healthy - but what I really want is something now!"

"Okay, what will it be? I really should make us some stir fry OR grill some chicken and veggies on the BBQ. But that would take too long. What can I eat now?"

"Let's see, which of my quickie meals sounds good? Yogurt over a bowl of fruit? A bowl of shelled peanuts? Perhaps a bowl of Grape Nuts? A big bowl of Popcorn?"

You can see, all I really need is bowls! Well, silverware comes in handy too. To smear celery with peanut butter or to cut up an apple and cheddar cheese.

"Can I wait long enough to pick a few leaves of basil from the garden - because that is great with sliced tomato and Havarti (w/dill) cheese."

"No, not tonight, I think what I really want is a good meal. Once again, my strong desire to eat prevents me from cooking."

"Hey Murphy!  Get in the car, We're going to "Taste of Thai" NOW!"

                                           
                                       

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Love those Satsuma Mandarin Oranges!

December 10, 2006 in Food and Drink

My son describes them as the perfect fruit - and I think he's right.  They peel in seconds, there are NO seeds, the sections break apart easily and they are delicious!! I've had several this weekend.  Anytime a fruit is as easy to grab as junk food, now that's a pretty good thing.

I have had quite a week.  Well, really more of a "lost" week.  I had the stomach flu to end all stomach flus.  At least in my experience.  Stomach flu does have a way of getting us on our knees for a variety of reasons -  one of them being to pray that you're not dying. I actually called the Dr. this time - just to confirm that I would, indeed, pull through.  I was supposed to travel at the end of the week and I had to cancel.  I didn't have the strength to move underwear from my dresser to my suitcase two feet away.  I figured that was a sign.  If I couldn't pack or bathe - then I probably couldn't make it to the airport.....And I was trying to think of others - it's not bad enough that someone would be flying from west to east coast in a middle seat - but then if they had to sit next to me "moaning" - now that just would have been cruel. 

After a full week, I'm almost back to 100%. Now the one positive consequence of the stomach flu is weight loss.  I was pretty excited that after days of dehydration and gnawing on little more than a few saltine crackers I expected my loss to be significant.  Even though I have a lot of work to catch up on and my son has no groceries - in my head I was planning when I could get away to purchase new jeans in the next size down....... so with great anticipation I got on the scale. ......Yes, it was shocking all right.  My disappointing loss was only 1/2  pound.  How could that be??

I'm over the shock and disappointment, and will work hard not to gain back that 1/2 pound!

I'm bringing a box of those oranges into the office - YUM!!  Debbie

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Party Time

December 2, 2006 in Christmas, Food and Drink

Last night I had my annual gathering at my home with my staff to celebrate the holidays.  I served my famous lasagne that seemed to go over with the group.  Of course after a two hour cocktail hour, they would have eaten anything!  Lasagne always seems to take longer in the oven than you think.....I made it last weekend and froze it.  I thawed it in the frig for 3 days and it still took two hours to heat up.  (good thing I had lots of appetizers!) We did a fun little gift exchange that Kris (my assistant) found on the internet for us to try.  One at a time everyone draws a Holiday themed Trivia question.  All the gifts have answers to the questions.  So when you figure out the answer, you take the gift that has the answer on it.  Many of the questions had to do with Christmas Carols, which instigated much singing! It was fun  - gifts always seem to put a smile on everyone's face.  I got a gift card to Jo-Ann Fabrics - lucky me!

Today is recovery day - I tried to sleep in.  Why is it that when you really want to sleep in, you can't?  I received a new piece of exercise equipment today.  The treadmill gets a little boring all winter long - so I decided to get an Elliptical machine.  I'll let you know what I think. 

I'm hitting the mall with a friend later today for more Christmas shopping.  Give my lasagna recipe a try....I hope you enjoy.

Happy Shopping!  Debbie

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My Idaho Thanksgiving Adventure

November 26, 2006 in Family, Food and Drink, Friendship, Holidays

I just have to tell you about my fun Thanksgiving.  I have a very special group of friends that I consider "family."  In fact we call ourselves "Ohana" which means extended family in Hawaiian.  So, as tradition has it, we spent the holiday together.  This year we went to Lynn and Neil's who live on Hoodoo Mountain in Idaho.  Packed with pies and all the ingredients to make a new Cranberry Yam recipe, my son and I drove up right after work on Wednesday.  All 14 of us decided to spend the night (just because it's so much more fun).  Big, huge, silver dollar size snowflakes started to fall just as I was starting to drive up the mountain.  And they never stopped.  It was fun to watch them coat the ground, the trees and the power lines.  You get where I'm going now, don't you?  (Power lines was the clue)  Early (like 4 am) on Thanksgiving we lost power.  The 26 lb turkey was suppose to go in the oven at 6:30 am for dinner at 2:00.

We never feared that we'd starve, but our Turkey dinner was in jeopardy.  (Oh, and the pump that keeps the plumbing working is electric - so, no water or facilities either!)  Of course, being on a mountain in Idaho, they have a wood stove.  So we huddled around that in our jammies for a few hours.  On the stove we heated a ration of water for coffee.  Mary even managed to cook some chicken apple sausage and scrambled eggs on the stove for us.  Much to our relief (and a touch of disappointment) the power was back on by late morning.  And the turkey went in the oven. I managed to stay in my jammies until about 3:00pm when it was my turn to use the shower.  What a great day.  Dinner was about 4 1/2 hours later than planned - and what a feast it was.  Much to all our surprise, my 17 year old son asked if he could cook up the cranberry sauce. My pies were gone long before dinner and the new recipe for Cranberry Yams got rave reviews and we decided it was a keeper. Debbie 

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