Came across this on my way to work, was too funny not to jump in!
Archive for February, 2009
Humor on the street
Feb 28
Eggplant and Tomato Gratin
Feb 27
I had some eggplant that was starting to go bad and needed something yummy to make with it!
So i found this gem and with some modifications it was great! Some other options i thought of was to brush the eggplant with hot oil, and use good cheese!!
Ingredients
1 pound Eggplant, cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
Cooking spray
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tomatoes, cut into ¼-inch-thick slices
2 medium zucchini, cut into¼-inch-thick slices
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375°.
Arrange eggplant slices in a single layer on a baking sheet coatedwith cooking spray. Coat slices with cooking spray; sprinkle with salt.Bake at 375° for 16 minutes, turning eggplant over after 8 minutes.Combine cheese, oregano, pepper, and garlic in a bowl.
Arrange half of eggplant slices in an 8-inch square baking dishcoated with cooking spray. Arrange half of tomato slices over eggplantslices. Top with half of zucchini slices; sprinkle with half of cheesemixture. Repeat procedure with remaining eggplant slices, tomatoslices, zucchini slices, and cheese mixture.
Bake, covered, at 375° for 1 hour. Uncover and bake an additional10 minutes or until vegetables are tender and cheese is golden brown.
Yields: 4
Wordless Wednesday
Feb 26
Latest whereabouts
Feb 26
Sorry for the delay folks!
Hubby got a Wii (from me) and a Wii Fit (from tom) for his birthday and we haven’t been on line as much at night. But we might have to take video of us doing the hula game – that is hysterical! Hubby calls it a palsie fit by the time we are done with the round!
Then restaurant week started – so when we aren’t exercising we are eating!
My reviews are here:
But I did see this fun little game and had to put it somewhere besides a facebook note (I hate those, and my mom doesn’t have a facebook account … yet!) But it was too funny not to share!
Go to GOOGLE….type in “xxxxx needs” in the search engine – that would be your name and needs in quotations. List the first 10 you find in a list
My List – Nicole Needs:
- A boob job
- Big Bones
- A stylist
- To lay off the botox
- A drummer
- No food when she can shop till she drops
- To live in the NOW
- Big meal
- An urban love nest
- Dairy to protect her bones
Friday Feast
Feb 20
Feel free to play along for some yummy fun! I will post a new one each Thursday night for those that are on a different time zone. JOIN IN!!!
Food 4 Thought Friday ~ This week’s questions
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Breakfast
What do you usually eat for breakfast and what time do you usually eat it?
What do you usually eat for breakfast and what time do you usually eat it?
it was cheerios with 1/2 cup berries and skim milk, but with my new change to high fiber – it is Simply fiber with 1/2 cup berries and skim milk. Around 8-8:30.
Lunch
Have you ever totaled a car?
Thankfully no. But i did roll a rental car into a snow covered median, walked away, car only had 5K in damages!
Thankfully no. But i did roll a rental car into a snow covered median, walked away, car only had 5K in damages!
Dinner
What are you currently looking forward to right now?
Chillin at home tonight with phillip. Dinner tomorrow with D and M. Skiing on Sunday.
Midnight Snack
How many pillows do you sleep with at night?
Just 1
Recipe for the Week (instead of your recipe for life, what is it just for this week?)
Instead of focusing on what you hate – focus on what you are grateful for. Start small – feet to walk to work, having work, sneakers for the feet i use to walk to work… etc etc etc.
Heading home from Disney
Feb 19
Heading home
Wednesday came way way too fast!
We got up at the butt crack of dawn and got ready to head out. The other problem with the “included transfers via Magical Express” is that they over compensate how much time you need! They pick you up 3 hours prior to your flight – which during prime time is probably needed, but since it wasn’t prime time, it was an 8:30 am flight and we are Assent level… it was a tad overkill…
We hoped to spend a bit more time with momClaudia before her flight, but were were through separate security points. :(
We said our good byes and see you soon there.
At security we were entertained with a joke from the TSA gal – someone asked her what TSA stood for, she told them, and their reply was – “oh,i thought it was ‘throw stuff away’”. I’d say that was pretty stupid to say to the people that can keep your from making your flight! We politely laughed and gave our sympathy of what a mean spirited thing that was!
After security we saw the light at the end of the tunnel – a Starbucks! Disney apparently doesn’t believe in Starbucks or they haven’t come to a deal that makes both companies happy, cause there are no Starbuckswithin Disney property. Sigh.
That caused momClaudia a bit of unhappiness…
So we stocked up on our favorite caffeinated beverages and headed to the gate – still 2 hours from take off…
We did get a bit of blogging done – hence you being able to read about my trip! :)
It’ll be nice to be home and see phillip!
Disney Day 4 – Epcot
Feb 18
Disney Day 4 – Epcot
Last day in the parks. Boohoo!
We decided to sleep in a smidge more and got to the park a littlelater. We were still able to get a Fast Pass for the Test Track ride,and step right on to the Space Mission ride. Both were pretty cool! AndI only got a little sick at the end of the Space Mission Ride! Yeah me!
After the 2 big rides we ate our way through the rest of the park!
We skipped mexico – since everyone was there, but had sushi in Japan(would not recommend it, kinda dry), Beers and Pretzles in Germany,Chocolate Carmels in Normandy, Beer and Creme Brule in France, and Beer in Canada… Ok, that sounds like a lot more beer than food, but i was still stuffed!!
Surprisingly it took us most of the day to get through the world!!
At the end we did the new (new to me) ride in the big ball. It was cool- it took your picture at the beginning – which meant i was cloned since hubby sat with momClaudia. And then you put together a how you want your future to look movie by picking different choices! It was very funny! After it was over you went to kiosk and via face recognition it found your picture from the ride and let you email it off to yourself or friends! It was hoot! Hubby and momClaudia went with her choices so their video was pretty funny!
Again it was a pretty full day when we finally left the park! We headed back to the hotel to chill by the pool bar and enjoy our last night together!
While at the pool bar we noticed that the giraffes had been given another extra meal and were right there!! So super cool!
momClaudia and I went over and took some pictures and watched them eat! Yeah!
Since we ate so badly all day – including english chocolates, japanese candies, norwegian caramels, and more… for dinner we ordered pizza!
We watched the biggest loser on tv while chowing down on slices of veggie pizza (for me and momClaudia) and double pepperoni for the hubby! What a way to end our vacation! (back on Sparkpeople when I land in Denver!)
Chicken Pesto Spirals
Feb 17
So this started out as a Cooking Light recipe and then….
Well, I’m lucky that I can modify, substitute, and generally mess with a recipe with usually successful results… Must be grandpa’s Italian heritage coming through the gene pool!
This recipe called for it’s own version of pesto with basil and parsley… Well – I had cilantro cause i had made my most favorite Chili Cilantro Dressing…
But I knew I had a recipe for cilantro pesto and i could definitely use that here.
As I was gathering my ingredients I realized I had no pine nuts… Hrmph.
I had no almonds… Hrmph…
But I did have pumpkin seeds – remember the Chili Cilantro dressing???
So I substituted pumpkin seeds into the lovely recipe, added some red pepper flakes… and whala – some garlic ridden yumminess that was green and would go great in my chicken spirals!
The original recipe called for pounding the chicken, putting in the pesto and then salt and peppering it. That just would not do. So I pounded, salt and peppered, pesto-ed, rolled, added more pesto on top and then cooked!
My Chicken Pesto Spirals
2 chicken breasts
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 cilantro pesto recipe
Tooth picks
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375
Prepare small pyrex – coat with pam
Pound chicken breasts thin
Salt and pepper both sides
Put 1/4 of the pesto on each breasts (i don’t do just the middle, i hate having a piece of a roll with no filling – it get’s messy, but hey it’s worth it)
Roll breast, tuck in ends if possible, secure with tooth picks, put seam side down in prepared pan
Continue with second breast.
Put 1/4 of the pesto on top of both rolls
Cook for 15 minutes
Roll breast to other side, place last of the pesto on top of each beast.
Cook for 15 minutes.
It took almost 45 minutes for my chicken to be cooked all the way through – original recipe stated only 30 minutes – probably depends on how thin you pounded the chicken. I also had to chill my chicken for an extra hour in the fridge before cooking it. (timing was off on when dinner would be) Just check the temp – 170 degrees.
Also take care with the pesto and don’t contaminate it with the spoon or what not that you touch the chicken with.
I really enjoyed the results, I added in some cheesy scalloped potatoes (from the box) and did another beer bread with diced green chilies, cayene powder on the cooked onions, coors lite, and nacho/taco cheese. LOVE this recipe – just throw in whatever you want!
Disney Day 3 – Happy Birthday Claudia!!!!
We got up in time to get to the Magic Kingdom when the gates opened! We stopped at will call to get momClaudia’s free pass and her birthday pin!!! Yeah!
Having that pin was the best! Everyone said happy birthday! One cast member even sang it! And tons of people in the park visiting added their good wishes as well! There were a lot of people in the park with their birthday on Feb 9th!
We started in Tomorrow Land – making sure we the buzz light year ride -which is now disappointing compared to the midway ride in Hollywood,fast pass for space mountain, the stitchride, and laugh floor
We got to see the new Haunted Mansion – looks very cool on the outside and most of the inside is still the same!
We skipped the Tiki room since they ruined it with the "under newmanagement" portion that includes the bird from Aladdin, and the onefrom Lion King – blech
But we did do the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Dep included, and big Thunder Mountain!
We lucked out on dining and beat the crowds. They had a new sandwich(to me) – hummus and tomato on toasted wheat bread with broccoli slaw.Very tasty – very garlicky – bring a mint!
After lunch I even got my Dole Whip! Mmmmm! Love it, love it, love it! 
Around 3:30 we were shopped out and ride-ed out and decided to drop off our purchases before momClaudia’s big dinner!!
We arrived at Downtown Disney with almost 2 hours to spare. We poked inthe shops, got samples at Ghiradelli’s, and even found the "10 dollar"store.
Dinner was at Fulton’s Crab Shack – momClaudia chose seafood for her big celebration!
Our server was very pleasant and teased momClaudia about singing for her and bought here a piece of cake for her birthday.
We had seats right by the window and got a mini fire work show over the hotels across the way! Yeah!
We did some souvenir shopping on the way out and grabbed a new ornament for the Christmas tree!
It was a really tasty dinner and I think a great way to celebrate momClaudia’s big day!!
Disney Day 2 Part 2
Feb 16
MomClaudia was waiting for us in the our lobby – be aware that there is no way to move between Universal Studios and Disney Property via anything but a cab! Poor mom was at a conference at Universal and was coming to spend the rest of her birthday week with us at Disney! Yeah!!! The only way she could get to us was via a $40 cab ride… oofa!
We showed her our room and where she would be spending her sleeping hours!!
We exchanged extra Christmas gifts (since they got stuck not all their gifts were shippable)
Then we headed to the Hollywood Theme Park! We rode most of the rides and saw most of the shows!
The best ride was the new Toy Story Midway ride! It’s 3-D and you getto play games with a cool string pulled shooter!! I did pretty good!
We also got to eat at the 50’s sci fi drive in theater!! Hubby loved it, momClaudia not so much – as she said – "I hate to eat in the car".Hahahahh!! And that was the theme! Luckily or unfortunately we didn’t have reservations so our "car" was just a table between the front and the back ends, the regulars seats are at really like being in a car.You sit 2 by 2!!
The best part – real cherry coke!!! Mmmm!!!
We got back to the hotel and brought momClaudia over to see the nightime animals – unfortunately no extra feeding so they were really far away and really hard to see!
We hit up the hotel bar for a night cap – momClaudia went with a mudslide martini and said it was rather tasty!
And then it was time for my tradition – Caricature!!!
This time I allowed hubby to join me in my portrait!! Rick (the cartoonist) did a fabulous job! We did one with the 2 of us on the couch with Phillip on my lap and angel Terrance watching over us!
It looks really good! And it’s funny to see my weight fluctuate via cartoons! Can’t wait to get it framed and add it to the current collection hanging in the guest bathroom!
Then we hit the hay in anticipation of a full day at the Magic Kingdom the next day!
