Archive for October, 2009
I spy with my little eye
Oct 28
David Sedaris visited Denver, to a packed house at the Buell.
The stage was still set for Wicked, but he looked great under the giant dragon!
Hubby and I last saw him years before out in Southern California – so we didn’t feel the need to pay the big bucks to see up his nose!
We were waaaay up in the balcony – 3 rows from the back! We could see pretty well, but of course the fun of “seeing” David Sedaris is to hear him read his stories.
He read a couple excerpts from his next book! We hope he calls it “Animal Stories” – you’ll have to wait and see when it comes out!
NPR – KUNC (did you know they do a 1 day donation drive? how cool is that) and The Tattered Cover were there to support him and he supported them right back!Very cool!
His suggested reading this time around was “Our Dumb World”
It sounded hysterical and I think at least one person might be getting if for Christmas this year!
He also suggested a weird recommendation for TV or internet viewing was a show on BBC called The Specials – Sounded interesting…Weird, but interesting.
The crowd was well behaved, creepily well versed in Mr Sedaris’s life, family and habits, and just happy to have him in their midst! The hour and a half flew by and we all moaned when he left the stage.
Cheese and Corn Dip
Oct 25
I created this from a different type of sauce for a chicken recipe.
We had some spinach quiches that needed some extra something to make them worth eating, so i came up with this!
Cheese and Corn Dip
- Sauce:
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1/2 can of corn
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1/2 cup fat free milk
- 1/2 cup (4 ounces) block-style fat-free cream cheese
- 1 cups (8 ounces) shredded extrasharp cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup mozzarella
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)
To prepare sauce, melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add corn, jalapeno and onion. Cook 10 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in chili powder; cook 1 minute. Stir in milk and cream cheese; cook 6 minutes over low heat, stirring frequently. Stir in cheddar cheese, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and hot pepper sauce; cook 4 minutes or until melted, stirring frequently. Add more milk to consistency desired. Serve warm!.
Free booze!
Oct 21
Sunday I managed to snag an invite to a Bombay Sapphire “evening”!
There were free drinks a flowing, ice sculptures, “mixologists”, a little bit of food – definitely not enough to sop up all that booze and a photo booth.
We aren’t too creative, but we got in anyway and produced the fun below!
Tabbouleh Salad – my way!
Oct 20
This was originally a cooking light recipe (duh) that i changed up – with the barley i had in the cabinet!
It made enough for me to enjoy it for lunch all week! yeah!
Tabbouleh
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked barley
- 1 medium diced cucumber
- 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 cup diced tomato
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
Preparation
Combine cucumber and remaining ingredients to barley; toss well. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.
Go Green – with a font!
Oct 18
I was flipping through the newspaper last weekend and came across a “go green” peice of info regarding a font that used a percentage less ink… ooooh….
Eco Font
If you want to find the font – you can find it here
Girl’s Weekend
Oct 11
Last weekend Hubby went to the Adobe Max Conference on, so i decided to have the ladies over for some dinner and a viewing of Dirty Dancing!
I decided to go through my saved Cooking Light recipes and came up with a feast for my fabulous gal pals!
Baked Frittata Ribbons in Tomato Sauce
Scallops with Chipotle-Orange Sauce
Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry in the crockpot
Crock Pot Chocolate Kaluah Cake
The frittata was a lot of work – the tomato sauce part – i would definitely not do that again, maybe the egg part but with extra flavoring.
The red pepper cheese dip was an interesting dip and makes a TON! (We’ll see what the work peeps think!!)
The soup was yummy and i finally figured out where to buy lemon grass and how to deal with it!!
The scallops were really really spicy! But tasty!
The asparagus and ham casserole was ok – i added some mushrooms- it was just ok – don’t think i’d make it again…
The Kaluah cake was a hit, that’s not a surprise!!
The night was so much fun!! There was fabulous conversation! And great girl bonding watching Dirty Dancing!
Can’t wait for the next one!!!
Found this fabulous recipe on Sandra’s blog – Diary of a SAHM
This moist cake is amazing served warm straight from the slow cooker, along with a small scoop of light vanilla bean ice cream or whipped topping!
Ingredients
1 box (18.25 ounce) devil’s food cake mix
1 cup fat-free sour cream
1 cup 1% low-fat milk (or use nonfat or 2% milk)
2 large eggs, a higher omega-3 brand if available
2 egg whites or ¼ cup egg substitute
¾ cup Kahlua liqueur (or similar)
16oz container frosting
Preparation
1. Coat inside of slow cooker with canola cooking spray.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, sour cream, milk, eggs, egg whites, and Kahlua by beating on medium for about a minute.
3. Pour cake batter into prepared slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.
4. Rich before serving, frost the cake
5. Cut cake into about 16 wedges. Serve each slice with a small scoop of light vanilla bean ice cream (using a cookie dough scoop), if desired.
This was the main dish for the ladies. I was surprised at how hot the peppers were! I would probably add more orange juice next time!
Scallops with Chipotle-Orange Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter, divided
- Cooking spray
- 1 1/2 pounds large sea scallops
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce
- 1/4 cup chopped green onions
Preparation
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Sprinkle scallops with paprika and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Add scallops to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove from pan, and keep warm.
Add orange juice and chile to the pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Bring to a boil, and cook until reduced to 1/4 cup (about 1 minute). Add 1 tablespoon butter and 1/8 teaspoon salt, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Serve the sauce with scallops, and garnish with the onions.
Nutritional Information
- Calories:218 (29% from fat)
- Fat:7.1g (sat 3.7g,mono 1.7g,poly 0.7g)
- Protein:28.9g
- Carbohydrate:8.1g
- Fiber:0.4g
- Cholesterol:72mg
- Iron:0.6mg
- Sodium:488mg
- Calcium:47mg
I cooked this little number up for hubby and I for dinner Saturday night. I adapted it from Cooking Light – I uped the heat! Next time i would definitely cook the noodles longer, and more salt on the chicken peices! It was quick cook and something I could do on a “school night”.
Thai Rice Noodles with Chicken
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice, divided
- 2 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
- 8 ounces 1/2-inch-thick rice noodles
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh chile paste with garlic (such as sambal oelek)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
- 4 teaspoons canola oil, divided
- 3 tablespoons thinly diagonally sliced green onions
- 1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
Preparation
1. Combine 2 tablespoons juice and chicken in a bowl. Let stand 15 minutes.
2. Soak noodles in hot water 15 minutes or until somewhat soft but still slightly chewy. Drain well.
3. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons juice, sugar, and next 4 ingredients (through chile paste). Stir in 1/8 teaspoon salt.
4. Heat a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Remove chicken from juice; discard juice. Add chicken to pan; stir-fry 4 minutes or until done. Transfer to large bowl; sprinkle with remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pan. Add green onions, ginger, and garlic; stir-fry 45 seconds or just until golden and fragrant. Add noodles; cook 30 seconds, tossing well. Stir in sugar mixture. Add chicken; cook 30 seconds. Place 1 1/4 cups noodle mixture on each of 4 plates.
Nutritional Information
- Calories:343
- Fat:5.5g (sat 0.6g,mono 2.9g,poly 1.6g)
- Protein:17.5g
- Carbohydrate:54.4g
- Fiber:0.7g
- Cholesterol:34mg
- Iron:2.1mg
- Sodium:615mg
- Calcium:36mg
