Happy Halloween!

I was in The “OC” over the weekend and they decorated the “orange balloon” for the season and it looked like it was eating the building! Cracked me up!

I did also ride that thing – oy – 400 feet up in the air – i was scared to death till it was almost over and then it was fun! Typical me!

(just realized this never was posted yesterday, on halloween… doh)

“Stuffed” bread is not normally something i’m a fan of.

But i had some sour cream that was due to be out before i had any plans of using it… I adapted a recipe from CL

The first time i made it, i used some La Madelaine raspberry rhubarb preserves. WOW! Great!

The second time i made it, I used strawberry preserves and splenda – and i gotta say it did not work as well – i think it was the splenda, not the cheap jelly, but i’ll have to make one more to confirm!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup seedless raspberry jam – or your favorite preserve
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
• 1 1/8 teaspoons vanilla extract, divided
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg white
• 3/4 cup fat-free sour cream
• Cooking spray
• 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons 2% reduced-fat milk

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Combine raspberry jam and walnuts in a small bowl.
• Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine sugar, butter, lemon rind, 1 teaspoon vanilla, egg, and egg white in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add flour mixture and sour cream alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
• Spread half the batter into an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Spoon raspberry mixture over top, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Spread remaining batter over raspberry mixture.
• Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Combine 1/8 teaspoon vanilla , powdered sugar, and milk in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle over loaf.

My favorite food blogger – Joanne – turned me onto the site she writes for on occasion: Marcus Samuelsson

I totally feel like i’m cheating by finding another recipe to try, but i did and i gotta say it was worth it!

I saw it – Spiced coconut lentil soup – and totally had to try it!

I adapted it a smidge by uping the heat (and don’t own vegan bullion grains… so went with the non-veggie version – sorry), but other than that kept it the same.

Ingredients:

1/2 large red onion chopped
2 dried red chilis
1 tsp ground bottles ginger
1 tsp bottled garlic
1 cup red lentils
1 400g can coconut milk
3 cups water
1 scant tsp beef bouillon
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
black pepper and red pepper flakes
juice of 1 lime
1 heaped tsp spicy olive oil

Preparation:

1. Heat the  oil in a heavy based saucepan. Add the onion, season, cover and allow to soften for several minutes.
2. Add ginger, garlic and red pepper to pan, cover and cook for a few more minutes until the flavors begin to infuse
3. Rinse and sort the red lentils and add to pan along with the ground coriander, paprika and cumin. Mix thoroughly and then pour in the coconut milk and water. Sprinkle in the  bouillon and lightly season with some sea or kosher salt,freshly ground black pepper, and red pepper flakes.
4. Cover, bring to the boil and then lower to a gentle simmer for forty minutes, ensuring to stir frequently.
5. Juice the lime and set aside.
6. When the lentils have softened and almost disintegrated to form a thick, creamy soup, take off the heat, pour in the lime juice, taste for seasoning and serve with fresh avocado

Nutrition:
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 205.4
Total Fat: 10.4 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 201.6 mg
Total Carbs: 20.7 g
Dietary Fiber: 6.5 g
Protein: 7.9 g

It’s training time!

For the 3rd year in a row, i’ll be “Running the Republic”. That means in February of next year i’ll be climbing 56 flights as fast as my little feet can carry me!

I’ve averaged a little over 13 minutes each year – i’d like to kick some serious butt this year!

I like this race because first off – it isn’t a “race”, there is absolutely no running involved! And second my parents have smoked for about forever, my co-workers smoke constantly and I want to do what I can to make sure research continues and we keep others from starting to smoke!

Feel free to donate if the mood strikes!

Another find from this or last month’s Family Fun catalog. Who says you need to have kids to enjoy yourself!

I decided to make these yummies and of course only had vanilla almond bark chunks in the house. Sigh. Yeah for target!

I decided to use the mini crock pot to melt the “bark”

FYI – just cause they look they are not melting, don’t be fooled! These bad boys hold their shape like no bodies business!

Next i employed the hubby to create the bones!

It is kinda creepy and weird to smoosh baby marshmallows on the ends of pretzels! The boys enjoyed getting the pretzels that we broke too short!

Next it was team work to coat the bones!

Hubby dropped the bone in the baby crock pot, i smoshed it down to coat then lifted, shook, and placed on the wax paper!

They set up in about 30 minutes!

I started to get a hand cramp holding the fork in that position for so long – but it was definitely a fun project!

Last year i joined the family in Disney and booked the event though AAA – and for some reason received the Family Fun magazine as a “thank you”. I read it each month and actually find some interesting stuff! This month I found the Jar-o-lantern and knew i had to do it!

• Step 1:

Find glass jars – all sizes – clean them and remove the labels

• Step 2:

cut out some face shapes in masking tape or paint tape

• Step 3:

paint the jar with orange paint!

• Step 4

Let it dry a bit – remove the tape

• Step 5:

Add a candle and enjoy!

I think i might add some black paint inside or double the levels of orange.

Slow-Cooker Beer-Braised Pork and Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 2 12-ounce bottles of beer (preferably lager)
• 1 can chopped chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 pound dried black beans, rinsed
• 1 1/2 pounds boneless pork butt (pork shoulder)
• Kosher salt

Preparation:

In the bowl of a slow cooker, combine the beer, 3 cups water, the chilies, adobo sauce, cumin, onion, beans, pork, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Set the slow cooker to low and cook, covered, until the beans are tender and the pork pulls apart easily, 11 hours. Using a fork, separate the pork into large pieces.

— I really had high hopes for this recipe! Along with another recipe to use my left over beer – it looked tasty!

I ended up putting a whole can of the chipotle chilies in adobo sauce instead of the smidgen they said to use. I could be in big big trouble tomorrow at lunch, but tonight it was tasty!

All in all the taste was just so-so, so i don’t see it being cooked again.

The hubby and I celebrated our 6th year out in Colorado Wine Country!

It was our first trip to a hotel with the pups! Not sure they enjoyed being in a weird place, even with their toys and their bed, but they did seem to have a good time!

We stayed downtown Grand Junction so we could walk to numerous places for dinner, enjoy the possibility of extreme midget wrestling, see a hot rod show and pop by a chocolate shop!

Saturday – We managed to get to a number of the wineries – probably a bit more that we – ok maybe just I should have enjoyed! But they were all great and we came home with quite the stash!

It was a pretty relaxing weekend – except for worrying about the dogs waiting in the car when we enjoyed wine, and worrying about them in the hotel room when we went to dinner, and worrying about them when we were in the room and hoping they didn’t pee and poop!

But we did get some quality time and were happy to spend another year together!

Cheers to more years!

And the final left over beer recipe!

Beef and Beer Chili – seriously how could beef and beer go wrong!

Adapted from CL – Beef and Beer Chili

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion (about 1 medium)
• 1 coarsely chopped green pepper
• 1 pound extralean ground beef
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 splenda packet
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 (19-ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can diced green chili
• 1 jalapeno – chopped
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 (12-ounce) bottle beer (such as Budweiser) amber and a stout
• 2 tablespoon yellow cornmeal
• 1-3 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Preparation

• Combine first 4 ingredients in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook 5-10 minutes or until beef is browned, stirring to crumble.
• Stir in chili powder, cumin, sugar, and salt; cook 1 minute.
• Add oregano and next 7 ingredients (through beer) to pan; bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat, and simmer 15 to 60 minutes. Stir in cornmeal; cook 5 minutes. Stir in juice.

Juice will cut the bitterness of the beer.

Make a nice thick chili with a great taste and a nice kick!! Mmm! Make nearly 8 servings! Yeah!

• Servings Per Recipe: 7
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 241.9
• Total Fat: 9.1 g
• Cholesterol: 33.6 mg
• Sodium: 430.3 mg
• Total Carbs: 20.7 g
• Dietary Fiber: 5.9 g
• Protein: 13.7 g

Recipe number to 2 to rid my house of weird beer I don’t want to drink!

Cheddar Beer Soup

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped onion (about 2 medium)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (12-ounce) bottle beer – harp lager
• 4 3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)
• 2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk, divided 2 cups fat free milk
• 1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) shredded extrasharp cheddar cheese
• 1 1/4 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese (bad choice, get the good cheese!)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion; sauté 4 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Stir in beer; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 20 minutes or until onion is very tender.

Immersion blend the onion, beer and broth mixture.  Blend until smooth. Return pureed mixture to pan. Stir in remaining 3 cups broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and 1 cup milk, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture and remaining 1 cup milk to pan; cook 12 minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove pan from heat. Gradually add cheese, stirring until smooth.

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I added some red pepper flakes and a smidge of cayene to add a little kick! And i had some left over corn i threw in too!

And with the left over tonight we tossed some shrimp with some “Chimayo Chorizo Sausage Spice” from Savory Spice Shop put it on the grill and then tossed it in the soup – and WOW! Yeah!

Lessons learned – for cheese soup definitely go with a light beer and a good tasteful cheese.