28 May 2009

Thursday Recipe

Since I am heading for the comforts of home next week, I thought this week's recipe should be of the down-home, comfort food type. Who best to accomplish this but Paula Deen? Here is one her recipes. It is shrimp stuffed potatoes. Enjoy!

Ingredients

  • Vegetable oil, for coating
  • 6 large Idaho potatoes
  • 8 tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups grated cheddar cheese, plus more for sprinkling
  • 2 cups grated Monterey Jack
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 pound shrimp, peeled and Sauteed
  • Paprika

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Begin by washing potatoes, drying them, and gently pricking them with a fork on the sides. Coat each potato with vegetable oil, place on foil covered pan, and bake for approximately 1 hour.

Place the butter in a large bowl. Remove the potatoes from the oven and slice each potato in half. Gently scoop out the potato and place in the bowl. Using a mixer on high, mix the potatoes, butter, sour cream, salt, and pepper. Fold the shrimp and both cheeses into the mixture. Gently stuff the mixture back into the potato shells, making sure not to break them. Pile the mixture as high as you can on top of the potato shells. Sprinkle each potato with cheese and paprika for color. Bake in the oven for approximately 20 to 30 minutes until browned on top.

27 May 2009

Random Weblinks

Fun and interesting stories from around the internets...

1. Apparently there is a cat in China that has wings!

2. Sigh. Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig together on Broadway.

3. J.Jill has some of the prettiest ocean blues in their collection right now.

4. One word - yum!

26 May 2009

Life...Interrupted

I was doing so well. Doggone it I was ready to step up to Level 2 on Jillian's 30 day shred. Inevitably something was going to go amiss. That thing was me. Last Monday I slipped and fell while at Moe's picking up my dinner. I twisted my ankle and whacked my knee pretty good. I already had an existing appointment with my doctor to go over my cholesterol meds and vitamin D levels, so I had her check it out. So of course her verdict was a mild sprain with no tearing (yeah!) but no strenuous physical activity for a week (boo). Fortunately my apartment complex has a gym so I was able to walk on the treadmill and do some incline workouts. The ankle feels back to normal and I will be getting back to Jillian's workout on Friday.

My lovely darlings are hanging in there. Kate had her yearly vet appointment on Saturday and she came through like a champ even though she had a few moments of panic when some very very very large dogs started barking in the lobby. Jack has been a little off lately. He's been hissing at Kate, which he hasn't done for months. I thought maybe he wasn't feeling well so I took him in to see the vet today. She couldn't see anything wrong, so she gave me some ideas to help Jack not hiss at Kate anymore. I feel bad for Katie because when Jack is mean to her she looks at me with her big sad eyes as if to ask, "What did I do wrong? Why is he being mean to me?" My poor baby.

Work is good. I had a couple of quiet weeks, but things are picking up speed now as I get ready for freshman registration. I am only in the office for 2 days next week. Michaela is getting married! Woohoo!!! I am so excited for her and Michael. Michaela has been one of my best friends since we were 15 years old. I can't believe the wedding is actually here already. I feel like she just called me last week to tell me she was engaged. I am 90% ready for the wedding. I am just waiting for my shoes to arrive. I pick up the dress on Friday night after work. My only dilemma - I have no idea what to do with my hair for the wedding. Ideas? Thoughts? Suggestions? I am open to any and all ideas.

14 May 2009

Thursday Recipe

I got this one from an amazon.com blog. It is a self-frosted nutella cupcake. They are yummy. I have already promised my sister I would make them for her when I come home in June for Michaela's wedding. And for those of you who don't know, Nutella is like the nectar of the gods. It's an Italian chocolate-hazelnut spread. So good on cake, crackers, bagels, english muffins...

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup, 12 oz) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners or grease the cups with some butter. Alternatively, butter an 8-inch round cake pan.

Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full (or pour all the batter into the cake pan). The batter will be thick. Top each cake with a dollop (I used about 2 tsp per cupcake and about 1/3 cup dolloped in tablespoon measures for the cake round) of Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the Nutella.

Bake cupcakes for about 20 minutes and the round cake for 25-30.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 12 cupcakes or 1 8-inch round cake.

10 May 2009

Mother's Day

In honor of Mother's Day here are the top ten things about my mom.

1. She is a top notch curtain hanger. Rods, drapes, ironing said curtains - after all the times I've moved, she is the best at it.

2. She lets me call to vent and complain about things. Sometimes it might border on a whine, but she lets me do it anyway.

3. She and I are addicted to the same author - Jodi Picoult.

4. She always makes my favorite meal when I come home to visit - stuffed shells.

5. Mama never complains or wheedles that I don't come home to visit often enough. She understands that it's hard to get away sometimes given my two jobs and my eventually going back to school. She's disappointed when I say I can't make it for a major holiday (2 Christmases in a row...cough...cough), but she understands.

6. She doesn't pressure me about not being married and not having kids yet - although I think she secretly wishes that one of us would give her a grandchild already.

7. She loves my friends and she's never had an unkind word about any of them or any of my boyfriends either. She is tolerant and open-minded and I love her for that.

8. She is so grounded and well-liked by people. After my parents divorced she still stayed in touch with my Dad's family and they ask about her all the time too. Not in a polite way, but in a genuinely caring about her happiness way. She could have just dropped us off at birthday parties and family dinners, but more often than not she stayed. Many of my dad's siblings even came to her wedding when she got remarried.

9. She's a runner! In her very very early 50s, my mother has become a runner. It's a hard thing to start, but she did it and she loves it.

10. She has shown me nothing but unconditional love and support throughout my life.

Happy Mother's Day Mama - I love you! And Happy Mother's Day to all my mommy friends and moms-to-be out there.

06 May 2009

Amy Grant - new EP on iTunes

If I have failed to mention my love for Amy Grant's music in the past, please let me rectify that mistake RIGHT NOW. I've LOVED her music for as long as I can remember. The Christian stuff, the pop stuff, the country sounding stuff. I love it all. So I was super excited to see that she has a new EP on iTunes called "She Colors My Day". Please head over and check it out. Such a good EP - check it out here.


Wishing and Hoping

This pretty much sums up how I'm feeling at the moment...especially as my 32nd birthday looms around the corner. And I'm sorry, but I'm tired of hearing, "If you stop looking there it will be", and "don't worry about it you have plenty of time". I never envisioned myself being in my late 30s when I finally had a child. I was supposed to be in my mid-20s. What makes it harder is that I have never had any desire to be pregnant. I know I don't have it in me to carry a child for 9 months. I'm a wee bit of a hypochondriac and I think pregnancy would push me over the edge. I seriously want to adopt a child. That will entail years of saving my pennies (unless I win powerball!), so I am looking at my late 30s, early 40s anyway. Sigh. I'm just going to keep praying.


05 May 2009

Wolverine

Sigh. Hugh Jackman is simply the best. Truly. I saw Wolverine over the weekend and my stars, I am in love with him. Yes, I know he is married and has two kids, but a girl can dream, can't she? Although he is my friend Aixa's #1 on her freebie five, so maybe I would settle for Liev Schreiber, who also put in a great turn as Sabretooth.

I know the movie didn't get stellar reviews, but not every comic book movie is going to be a "Dark Knight", and for what it was, "Wolverine" did a great job. It pulled you in right away and kept you going until the very end. Will.i.am, Taylor Kitsch, and Ryan Reynolds round out a great supporting cast with Taylor Kitsch's Gambit my favorite of the three, although Ryan Reynolds had the best lines.

It moved fast - before I knew it, the movie was over. Start time was 12:50, with previews and all, it probably started close to one and I was out of the theatre and into the afternoon sunshine by 2:40. Not even a 2 hour movie. So what are you waiting for? Since this is a prequel, even if you've never seen an X-Men movie before, you can jump right in. Come on - look at that picture. Why wouldn't you pay $8.00 to spend almost 2 hours watching him on the big screen?


6 weeks

I am six weeks in to my recommitment to Weight Watchers and I am down almost 10 pounds. 9.8 pounds to be exact. With my improved nutrition and Jillian's 30 Day Shred, I am starting to feel better too. I took a break from Jillian last night, but will be back to the shred tonight and tomorrow. It is 20 minutes of agony, but it feels good afterward. Seriously, it's the hardest 20 minutes of my day. Forget waterboarding, if they wanted detainees to talk, they should put in the 30 Day Shred on a continuous loop and have them partake in Jillian's circuit training.

I have a doctor's appointment in a couple of weeks to check on my cholesterol and vitamin D levels. Having been on the statin now for almost 2 months, coupled with the niacin and fish oil, diet and exercise, I am so curious to see where I am at, especially the C-Reactive proteins. It would be awesome to see that number go down. If it is lower, maybe that means my metabolism will move from sluggish to at least moderately slow.
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