Rasberry Rum Brownies-trial run

Since I always like to do a trial run of anything new before serving it to actual people...oh who I am kidding?  I'm sick and and had all this stuff and figured it was BOUND to work together!  

Before:

Here's what I did:

for the rasberry/rum part:  In a saucepan, slowly heated 2 parts of rasberry preserves to one part dark rum.  Then strained the seeds off.

For the brownies:  In stead of using water, I used the rasberry/rum mix.  Then I put an extra splash of rum in because, well, just because!  I also put a splash of water in there, since it still looked kind of dry.  I cooked the brownies according to directions.  Had to cook them a little longer than the directions, actually.  Not sure if it was my oven, or maybe because of the rasberry preserves in there.  

The batter:  damn skippy!

The finished product:

Lost a lot of the "rasberry-ness."  When I do this again, I'll see about punching up the preserves, or maybe even see if "they" make a rasberry extract of some sort.  

Trial run grade:  I was going to give it one and a half thumbs up, but that sounds kind of creepy so I'll give it a B- instead! 

Cheers, Y'all!

Scrambled Eggs, a la Alison

Ever in one of those "moods" where you don't feel good and you know you need to eat something half way good for you, but totally don't feel like putting any effort into it?  That was me tonight.

Ended up scrambling two eggs...now before you go thinking "Wow.  That woman's livin' 'la vida loca' " please read on.  I like to amp them up a notch, while still keeping them pretty healthy.  So to the two eggs, I sprinkle in a good dose of nutmeg and some small chunks of fat free cream cheese.  The cream cheese really adds some "body" to the eggs, and the nutmeg just makes them really yummy.  Another neat thing to do (instead of the fat free cream cheese) is to add about a tablespoon of plain Chobani yogurt.  Either way, you make the eggs taste "richer" without addingg any fat.  

Put the eggs on a plate.... since they need to cool for a minute anyway, smack a couple pieces of Canadian Bacon in the pan.  The meat only takes a few seconds to heat on each side.  

What you end up with is a dinner that has lots of taste, plenty of protein, and very little fat.  SWEET!

Bets' Pineapple Cole Slaw

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup sugar

3 TBS apple cider vinegar

8 ounces crushed pineapple, drained

16 oz cole slaw mix (use some of the red cabbage mixed in for a colorful variation)

Go a little light-handed on the liquidy stuff, and a little heavy-handed on the slaw part, else it gets a bit soupy)

Mix mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar and sugar together.  Then add slaw mix and pineapple.  Mix it all up good.  Chill overnight.

(Even my friend, who said she doesn't like slaw, LOVED this!)

Portabella Mushrooms: The Other Meat

I LOOOOVE me some portabella mushrooms!  Kroger makes some really good fresh stuffed ones.  My favorite variety, which they don't have very often so it's that much more of a treat when do, is the ones stuffed with big fresh spinach leaves and cheese.  I like to sprinkle some chopped up marinated sun-dried tomatoes on top, and of course a little more cheese.  Two of them cost about $5, and I can never eat all of them both.  So of course the extra can be reheated for a snack the next day or put into the "trash soup" bag in the freezer. 

Paired with some fresh milk from Homestead Creamery right here in Virginia, it's a winner!

A Little Preparation..

...goes a long way.  Pay day, so went grocery shopping.  Bought another big thing (about 2 pounds, so "big" to me.  I guess it depends on if you ask a man or a woman for the definition of "big" for the answer you'd get!)   Now.  Where was I before I so rudely interrupted myself?  Oh.  Bought a big thing of hamburger meat.  Mixed it up with some chopped onions and Old Bay and fresh rosemary.  Threw some nutmeg in there for the Hell of it.  If it's good I'll call it "Greek Hamburger Steaks."  If it sucks, no one will ever know.  That's the beauty part of living alone!  

Also got a package of four pork loin chops (at $ for the package, "it's a good value" she said in her best TV commentator voice)!  Thinking I'll put tenderizer and seasoning on them and then freeze them individually so I can one out in the morning and have it for dinner that night.  Either pan fried or roasted.  Or who knows...I'll figure it out when I get there :=)

Some days, nothing else will do

Some days, nothing else will do but a grilled cheese sammich for supper.  Used my double fiber bread, of course, and heaped on a mountain of sharp cheddar and then delicately balanced some mozarella on top of that.  MMMMMMMM......good schtuff!!

There's no such thing as too much cheese!!!!

Julie and Julia

...Watching it on Lifetime.  It's just sooooo well done.  A little hurricane came flying through the area this weekend....I'm perfectly okay, but haven't been able to go get "good" food since I got home from Cincinnati.  They fed us breakfast and lunch today at work.  Nothing to write home about, but at least it was free.  

I promise to get back to healthier eating!  Believe me, my body is telling me I need to.  I want steak.....

Fincinnati, Day One

I'm here a day before everyone else.  Had hoped to lounge by the pool, but that gets tricky when it rains every ten minutes.  Oh well.  Life goes, oh blah de oh blah dah.

Cruised the road in front of the hotel for a dinner spot.  Went up one way for a whole bunch of traffic lights, then turned around and did the same thing in the other direction so I could see what my choices were.  One of the first places I'd seen was called "Larosa's Pizzeria."  It just kind of called to me.  So after I got parked and trapped in my car by the DELUGE of rain for about ten minutes I made my way in.  

My waitress Jess was just a sweet as she could be.  She totally "got" why I wanted a slice of orange for my Blue Moon.   My "BLT" salad was a really good sized portion with a neat garlic dressing.  What do I care--nobody's going to be kissing me tonight, and now I don't have to worry about those pesky vampires either.  I just kind of wished they hadn't used the "pre-made" bacon bits, but maybe that's just me.

Had hoped for some eggplant parmigiana for my dinner,  but it wasn't on the menu.  Didn't really feel like pizza.  Ended up ordering a combo of meat lasagna and cheese filled ravioli.  I expected your run of the mill mass-produced stuff, but boy was I pleasantly surprised!  What I got was a plate of lasagna and garlic bread.  The lasagna was anything BUT frozen and reheated!  To be honest I didn't touch the bread b/c I just don't need any more bread today.  You can just tell when something is freshly made with fresh ingredients, and this WAS!  Jesse checked in with me just often enough and just as I was finishing the lasagna, she brought me a plate with a bowl of cheese-filled ravioli and (strangely, I thought) another piece of garlic bread.  The ravioli was even better than the lasagna.  I ate til I almost exploded.

You really take your chances trying to find someplace "worthy" to eat.  Boy did I luck out tonight!  I deem Larosa's "TOTALLY WORTHY."  Apparently, it's a chain in the Cincinnati area.  Here's their website:

http://www.larosas.com/story.html

Tomorrow:  BUFTETT DAY!  There was this neat-looking bakery next to the place I ate dinner; I want to check them out tomorrow.  Besides the yummy treats, their logo is a big happy face on a bright yellow background, so it's MEANT to be! 

Last Day Before Vacation

Fridge is pretty empty since I won't be here for the next few days (off to see the lizard!  Woo hoo!)  Grabbed a Stauffer's frozen lasagna for dinner....dessert will be more Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey.  Yummmmm.....  

Taking some fiber breakfast bars and string cheese on the road...

See you on the road!  :-)

Beach House Bar and Grill

Ate dinner there tonight....it's at The Shoppes as Innsbrook.  Was able to sit outside fortunately, since the inside is all "smoking" section.  Blech.  But it was a nice breezy night since there's a front moving in.  Had chicken club tacos and "beach fries" (which apparently are just regular french fries with Old Bay sprinkled on top).  The tacos were were served with sour cream (you know I love sour cream but it didn't really "go" with the dish) and some sort of Caribbean version of sweet and sour sauce which was really good.  Three of those things for $7.99 and that, my friend, was a MEAL.  

We went there because that's the only place in Richmond I've found that will make you an "honest" margarita.  By "honest" I mean they actually put some dad gum liquor in it.  I had three of them one night and I was about on my ass.  I was a good girl tonight and had only one.  

We split coconut shrimp for an appetizer.  Not cooked quite crispy enough, but can't complain at the $4 happy hour price.

Overall, I do like Beach House, as long as I can sit outside.  

This writer will be on the road to Cincinnati to see Mr. Jimmy Buffett for about five days starting Saturday, so Lord only knows what will get posted.  Guess we'll all just have to wait and see!   Woo hoo!!

Steak is Good for What Ails Ya

Took one of those steaks I had pre-seasoned before I froze it out of the freezer and let it thaw while I was at work today.  So when I got home, it was ready to throw into a hot cast iron frying pan with some butter melted in it.  Two minutes or so on each side.

While that cooked, I reheated some of the garlic and pecan pilaf.  I put some half and half in it since it seemed to have dried up a bit.  Not the best choice I ever made.  Should have used butter.  It wasn't icky, just could have done better is all.

Also heated up the rest of the sweet potatoes from the other day.  

So from the time I got home to the time I was happily eating my dinner was a total of about 20 minutes.  

The moral of the story:  a TINY little bit of thinking ahead pays off nicely after a hard day at work.  Either that or you should stay away from people who say they're your grandmother if your name is Little Red Riding Hood.  Something like that.  

Bon Apetit, y'all!

PB&J on the run

Last night was dinner on the run.  Running a little short on fundage, so I made a PB&J sammich to eat in the car on the drive to Emporia.  But here's my spin on it:

I used one piece of that double fiber bread I talked about earlier and spread creamy peanut butter on it then some Polaner All Fruit with fiber.  Cut in half,  and it's like a double serving of the fillings.  AND has fiber in two out of three of the ingredients.

Two beers for dessert after I arrived at my destination were the perfect choice for dessert. 

Brown Sugar

The food,, not the song.....lifted this from my Facebook page, about ways to soften brown sugar that's gotten hard.

Searching for ways to soften up rock-hard brown sugar.....

2 hours ago · Privacy: · ·

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• 'Jeanie Dougherty likes this.
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    Paige Berhow Put the brown sugar in a container and place in the microwave with a small bowl full of water beside it. Microwave for about 1 minute–at half power- check. If it’s still hard, try for another 30 seconds. You can keep doing this until the sugar is soft, but watch that you don’t melt the sugar.

    2 hours ago ·
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    Lisa Gagne' Walsh ya what Paige said....

    2 hours ago ·
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    Paige Berhow ‎...and then keep a piece of bread in the bag with the brown sugar to keep it from getting hard in the first place... :)

    2 hours ago · · 1 person
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    Alison Angle DeMasters Bread?? Never would have thought of that. Thanks Paige and Lisa!

    2 hours ago ·
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    Kati Hattwick Yeah nuke it

    about an hour ago ·
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    Sheree N Rick I keep a small slice of apple in it when I first buy it. Bread is better?

    about an hour ago ·
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    Paige Berhow I don't know if it's better or not, just what I've always done!! I did see a little terra cotta disc thing at the kitchen store the other day that was touted as being the best thing ever.....brown sugar really never lasts long enough around my house to harden up!

    about an hour ago ·
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    Bob Geist Hmmm, who would've ever thought that a woman would be trying to soften up something that was rock hard.

    53 minutes ago ·
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    Alison Angle DeMasters Damn, Bob. I must HAVE been divorced a long time not to caught myself on that one! LOL

    51 minutes ago ·
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    Paige Berhow That took a lot longer than I thought it would... ;)

    33 minutes ago ·
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    Beth Holloway Alison - the slice of bread in a tightly closed container with the brown sugar works great. Let it sit overnight......

    24 minutes ago ·

Making Do....

Running a bit short in the vegetable department, so making do with what's in the cupboard. Still fairly pleased with the results though.

Main course:  the other coconut crusted tilapia filet, reheated. A little dry on the reheat.  Oh well.  Can't have everything.  I had wrapped it up in aluminum foil, so I just reheated it right on the same piece of foil.  One less dish to wash!!  Woo hoo!

Veggie:  canned sweet potatoes....heated them up in a saucepan with some brown sugar.

Fiber/starch:  Near East Whole Grain Blends (roasted pecan and garlic "flavor").  Love this stuff!  Kind high in sodium, but it has a fair amount of fiber so I can justify it.  

Margarita Jello Shots

(Thanks to Bahama Breeze from BuffettNews.com for sharing this...I can't wait to try it myself!)

 

With summer coming to a close, I found the several "boat drink" flavored jellos on clearance and decided to give them a try.



1 pkg Margarita Jello (4 serving size)  (apparently lime jello is the same thing)
1/4 cup plus 1 TBSP tequila
1 TBSP Nellie & Joe's Key Lime juice
1 cup thawed cool whip

Mix boiling water and stir into jello for about 2 minutes to make sure it is completely dissolved.
Add alcohol and lime juice. Mix
Stir in Cool Whip until completely melted and well blended.

As it cools, the two layers will separate, looking like a frosty margarita.

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After a Few Days of Unhealthiness...

So after a couple days of not so healthy eating (hey-nobody can be good ALL the time, and if they say there, they ain't) I'm back to eating more correctly.

Tonight's dinner was:

Coconut Crusted Tilapia (frozen, from Kroger.  It comes in a package of two.   Cooked them both, then I'll have the other one some night next week when I'm in a hurry.  The package of two cost about $8 from Kroger.  I'm a BIG fan of Kroger's frozen seafood).

Poor Man's Alfredo:  While the fish cooked (about 30 minutes) I boiled up some of the whole noodles.  When they finished cooking, added some half and half, butter, and a whole bunch of grated cheese.  How much?  Ummmm.....all I can tell you is "enough."  (Thanks, Mom).  

Three Bean Salad:  the last of the leftover.  

Start time to table time:  40 minutes.  Easy cheesy.  And it's like an actual "grown up" dinner.