foodie copy cat

Because I am a sucker for surveys and for anything involving food I copy catted a post from my cousin Emily (sanks Emmy!) who found it on allrecipes.com blog. Here goes!

1. How do you like your eggs? Scrambled please, and I only eat them when I've scrambled them myself or if my dad has scrambled them--yes, there is an art to scrambled eggs.

2. How do you take your coffee/tea? Coffee--organic french vanilla creamer (just enough to make it look a light brownish color). Tea--one pack of Stevia raw (a natural sweetener)

3. Favorite breakfast food: Week days: two scrambled eggs every morning. Weekend days: chocolate chip or banana pancakes!

4. Peanut butter: Smooth or crunchy? Crunchy mmm mmm (hubs turned me on to crunchy)--although I haven't eaten it in awhile because its got so much crap in it and even the organic version has a ton of fat in it.

5. What kind of dressing on your salad? If I'm acting like I care what I'm eating, balsamic vinaigrette. If I don't care, ranch please.

6. Coke or Pepsi? Diet Coke or Diet Mt. Dew (a pepsi product)

7. You’re feeling lazy, what do you make? Pasta with random things thrown in or homemade p-i-z-z-a.

8. You’re feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order? Pepperoni or Hawaiian.

9. You feel like cooking. What do you make? Something from my Cooking Light magazine or something adventurous that I've been wanting to try. Tonight was herb stuffed chicken, steamed asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes!

10. Do any foods bring back good memories? Chocolate cake with chocolate icing reminds me of all of my birthdays spent with families and friends, bruschetta reminds me of times spent with Mom, Cissy and Katie; Mexican rice casserole makes me think of Dad and Ginny...and the last one is gingerbread cookies make me think of Katie.

11. Do any foods bring back bad memories? Slim Jims (I ate these so much when I was young and chubby...hmm coincidence? I think not). Other people's scrambled eggs and grits--too many bad experiences with those two things being runny and yucky--I only trust my own.

12. Do any foods remind you of someone?

• Chips and salsa: Mom
• Any type of pizza: husband
• Edamame: Pam (first person to make me try it)
• Flamen Ramen: Mom and Cissy
• Popcorn: Dad
• Pound cake batter: Teresa and Eva
• Green Beans: Callie
• Chick-fil-A meal: Emily Nance
• Grocery store birthday cakes: Katie
• KKD doughnuts: my cuzzie Emily
  

13. Is there a food you refuse to eat? Liver ewww and anything with the word "malt" in the title--gag me!

14. What was your favorite food as a child? Slim Jims (see above...and see pictures from my past) and potato chips (I rarely eat plain potato chips because of my chubby childhood).

15. Is there a food that you hated as a child but now like? Umm all vegetables and more "grown up" dishes.

16. Is there a food that you liked as a child but now hate? Umm my fave foods as a kid(see above), and I will say no thank you to all processed, meal- in-a-can dinners...also a no to fish sticks and almost all fast food.

17. Favorite fruit and vegetable: Pineapple and avocado (at the moment...it changes quite often)

18. Favorite junk food: Anything containing sugar, please :) And doritos

19. Favorite between meal snack: Reduced fat cheez its baby!!! Also, I try to eat fruit and occasionally some trail mix.

20. Do you have any weird food habits? I don't like leftovers...I'll eat something left over from a meal once, maybe twice if its some great dish but that rarely happens.

21. You’re on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on? Fruits and veggies, basically good for you kind of stuff--duh.

22. You’re off your diet. Now what would you like? As stated above, ANYTHING containing SUGAR and basically anything that's bad for you, mmmmm.

23. How spicy do you order Indian/Thai? As little spice as possible, I'm a baby.

24. Can I get you a drink? Yes, a glass of merlot please and thank you.

25. Red or White Wine? Red, red, red, red!! And as dry as possible please!

26. Favorite dessert? Anything with chocolate. I rarely eat dessert that doesn't contain chocolate--its a waste to me.

27. The perfect nightcap? Hot tea or cold water.

hi, i have a social life now

So, I'm quite proud to announce that most of my week is booked!! I think that's the first time that I can officially say that since we moved up here in August. Well booked with actual people, not with painting the house or some other home improvement activity. Here is what I have planned (and yes, I'm posting it so that I'll actually follow through with things since I'll have to report back to you all about my experience):

• Tomorrow night: Our realtor and her husband are coming over for dinner! She saw the house when it looked awful (aka before it was officially ours--and no it wasn't in bad shape, I just hated ALL of the colors) and now she's going to see it the way that I imagined it would be! Wahoo for progress! Oh and by the way I'm making yummy Herb Stuffed Chicken with steamed asparagus and homemade hollandaise sauce (will report back later on the outcome!)
• Wednesday night: Chick Lit Book Club. So yes, I'll admit...I'm desperate to make friends, so of course I took two things I love, hanging out with people and books, and put them together! I found the Pittsburgh Chick Lit club which reads books with strong women characters in them (hello! can I find anything more that I love?!). I was hesitant because I did find it online but they're meeting at a Panera and there were plenty of pics of them on their book club website, all non-threatening looking women that range from my age to their 40s. So I hope it goes well! (Don't worry...you'll also hear a report on that)
• Thursday night: Pilates class! Oh by the way, I went two weeks ago and it kicked my tail into next week! I LOVED it! I LOVEEEEE Pilates!!!!! I'm pretty sure that its my fave way to exercise! But yes, it was lots of fun but I was sore until the following Monday (can we say out of shape much?). And I'm brave enough to go again this week, wahoo, bring it on sore muscles!
  

bookworm to the rescue!

If you wanting another book suggestion, here's one: Six Hours One Friday by Max Lucado. After I finished the lovely "Barefoot" last night, I decided that my soul was thirsty for a spiritual book. And with the Easter season just around the bend (despite the small amount of snow that was so begrudgingly welcomed on my car this morning) I decided to pick up this book that my Mom handed off to me a few years ago. She raved about how great the book was, no surprise there, she's a huge Lucado fan. I've only read one of his small books--literally small it was like 4"x4" (I think it was a devotional--it was 4 years ago, see...my memory is already failing me) but I'm definitely hooked on this book! I'm finding that since I have a regular job these days and I'm no longer a free-loading college student that my life is more mundane and structured (against my will). With all of that to say (yes, I'm going on a serious note here people), I think that people who have regular, structured schedules have different struggles than others who have more flexible schedules (and yes I'm well aware that we all have different struggles). You may be wondering "what am I really contributing to?" or "what's my real purpose here?". I know that I've been entertaining those thoughts lately...and this book is great at reminding you what Jesus did for us and what that really means to a person. I can't stand books that sound like fire and brimstone preaching, Lucado is not like that at all, he's very realistic--you can tell that he wants people to feel connected to his book and in a bigger way for people to feel connected to Christ. I mean geez, I'm about to start the 5th chapter and I've already teared up twice. And yes, it was during one of my favorite New Testament stories, the woman at the well, he explained that story in very descriptive lamens terms for those of us who aren't Biblical scholars--just so we can understand it on a deeper level. Anyway, if you really want to get into the Easter spirit I suggest you pick this book up or just read the book of Matthew in the New Testament...forget the Easter bunny! (Except...Mom...just so you know, even though I'm "grown up" and married I will still be accepting Reese's eggs from the Easter bunny this year)

rain, rain go away

I am TIRED of rain and cold weather, can I get an amen?! It seems to be the trend here that you get cold day after cold day and then some beautiful somewhat warm day only to be followed 2 days later with a chance of snow!! Again?! I don't want snow! It's almost April! I want warm, beautiful weather! Ugh, I am so sick of cold and rain and snow and whatever else can come of nasty weather! Go away! Bring me your warmth, bring me your sunshine, bring me your signs of life growing outside!! (A little Ellis Island anyone?) But yeah, I'm tired of it.

another book down

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been reading Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand. I really, really liked this book! It was nothing short of 400 pages long and I found myself blowing through it with great ease. It's definitely a good book if you're going to the beach for a week or if you just want something to pick up at night. The story is about three women (2 sisters and 1 friend) who go to Nantucket for the summer. Each of them has their own story and their own drama that they're dealing with. You follow them through the summer, and as the summer progresses you get more hooked and find yourself wanting to know..."What happens next to Brenda?", "What was Vicki's response to that?", etc. It's nothing mindblowing, but it is a light read and if you're a woman reading it, I think you will be somewhat empowered and find some strength from it. The book was given to me as a gift from one of my friends at work and I was hesitant to read it because I had never heard of the author and the book was quite large, it seemed like a daunting to task to take it on. It was a wonderful book and I found myself longing for another book about these three women and their lives as well as a warm summer day on the beach! I give it 4 out of 5 stars!

mexican again, tonight?...yes please

For dinner tonight:
Southwest Shrimp and Corn Chowder

• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 cup chopped green onions
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped serrano chile (about 1 small)
• 1 (4.5 oz.) can chopped green chiles, undrained
• 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups reduced-fat milk
• 1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups frozen Southern-style hash brown potatoes, diced, thawed
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 (15.25 oz.) can whole-kernel corn with red and green peppers, drained
• 1 pound peeled and deveined small shrimp
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions, bell pepper, and serrano chile to pan; saute 2 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add canned chiles to pan; cook 1 minute. Add flour to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in milk and next 5 ingredients (through corn); bring to a boil. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick. Stir in shrimp; cook 1 minute or until shrimp are done. Remove from heat; stir in cilantro. Yield: 6 servings.

Calories: 212
Fat: 6.7 g.
Protein: 19.3 g.

I served it with cheese and green onion quesadillas. The whole meal was filling, healthy and delicious mmm mmm!!

PS-That's the picture that Cooking Light has listed (the recipe that I used) and yes, mine looked very much like that!! (can you sense the pride in my voice?)

pics from last weekend

Our side of the table at dinner:


Their side of the table:


John and Teresa showing off their HUGE calzones:


Teresa was excited/amazed/afraid at how big it was:


Great view from Mt. Washington:


Us at Mt. Washington:


In front of the house right before we left for the airport:


A little closer:


Me and Callie before they left to go in the airport:


Me and T: