Four Foods Friday - on Sunday this week...sorry, Val!

#1. What�s your favorite form of potatoes?
Smashed with cheese and garlic.
#2. Pie crust. Premade or from scratch?
Premade. I am *way* too lazy to make one from scratch. Well, I take that back. I do make crumb crusts (like graham cracker) from scratch.
#3. Vegetables. Fresh, frozen or canned?
Usually frozen or canned. BUT...yellow squash has to be super fresh. I prefer it from my friend Karen's garden, actually. I can never seem to find it in good condition at the store anymore.
#4. What one dish do you wish you could prepare better?
Gah...any kind of cake. I am terrible at baking. Something always goes wrong! Let's not even talking about trying to ice said cakes. I usually make a thin glaze or use powdered sugar to top my cakes. :p

Labels: 4foodsfriday, meme

For this Tackle It Tuesday, I cleaned out my clothes from previous seasons. Every spring and fall I switch out one of the drawers in the chest in our bedroom from sweaters to shorts/swimsuits. Every time I do that, I get rid of clothes I haven't worn in the past six months and back. This year's clean out came to *drum roll*...

28 pounds of clothing.

Granted, there were about six pairs of jeans and three pairs of cords in there, but still...that's a lot of stuff. Truthfully, there's probably more I could get rid of. There are some dresses and things in the back of my closet that I haven't been able to part with yet. I did finally part with some stuff that didn't make the cut last time, so I'm getting there.

Next mission - the front bedroom closet full of kitchen items and other houseware. :-p

Labels: tackle_it_tuesday

It's been seven years since you came into my life, Little Bear. As your Grandie reminded me this morning, it really was Irish Magic that brought us together. So, to my Minnie, Minna, Mama, Bear, Grizzly, Grizabella, Sassafrass, MinneBits...I love you!

Labels: cats

Corrin is having a fantastic giveaway at oh, hey.. You guys should stop by and read all about the cute goodies bag she's putting together for Easter. Corrin always picks out super rockin' gifties and it looks like this may be the best yet! :)

Labels: contests

Four Foods Friday - Week #6!

#1. What�s your favorite fruit and how do you like to eat it?
Pears are my fave. I prefer them fresh (not canned) and just peeled and sliced.
#2. What is the one spice in your kitchen you use more than any other?
Fresh black pepper. Behind that are garlic powder, onion powder, crushed red pepper flakes, and oregano.
#3. Pudding. Instant, stovetop or premade?
Instant - and preferrably butterscotch. :)
#4. Share a recipe using potatoes.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

from Everyday Food Magazine, September, 2007

Notes: I used chopped frozen broccoli to save time and I used a hand blender rather than the regular blender.

Serves 6
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
coarse salt and ground pepper
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 large head broccoli (about 3 pounds), trimmed, stalks peeled, stalks and florets roughly chopped
1 medium baking potato, peeled and finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)

1) In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add broth, broccoli, potato, 2 cups water; season generously with salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until broccoli and potato are just tender, about 4 minutes.

2) Working in batches, pur�e soup in a blender (fill it no more than halfway) and return to pot. Stir in cream and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper.

To freeze: Cool soup to room temperature. Pour about 1 1/2 cups into each of 6 airtight containers, leaving 1 inch of space at top. Freeze up to 3 months. Thaw in microwave or overnight in refrigerator; warm over low heat.

Labels: 4foodsfriday, meme

Seriously, Minnie is a cheese nut! She knows when I have cheese in my hand. She comes unglued. But we aren't talking Kraft American (although she won't pass that up), we are talking $6.99/lb pesto jack, muenster, havarti, and the like. She absolutely cracks me up!

I wonder if she'll ask for some of the goat cheese I'm about to open for my Chicken Stuffed Crescents. hmmmm...

Labels: cats, general silliness, updates

Dearest Shimlet,

Thank you soooo much for my pressie! It actually me made jump up and down like a little girl. Allow me to demonstrate:

*gigglegigglegiggle**bouncebounce*
*gigglegigglegiggle**bouncebounce*...

It was distracting enough to make Dustin to put the phone down for a minute to make sure I was ok. hehehe. I tried to explain to him what was going on, but alas, he's a boy and didn't get it.

As you can see, I've already framed it and it's sitting on the bookcase next to my bed. (BTW, please ignore the ghetto bedroom in the background...it's about to get a makeover. :p)

You really brightened a rainy, dreary Monday evening.

Love,
Megs

Labels: general silliness

Some new treats to kill time with...

Corn nomming
JB's Winter article in Austin Monthly Home - about throwing parties
Previously On Lost
Bacon Cups
Books by the Foot
I Am Legend Alternate Ending

Labels: links

Scientists have linked a gene called "IGF1R" - often found in short women - to a long lifespan. Read more...

Dad sent me this link...you have to check it out.

http://dinnerinthesky.com/

For more unusual restaurants, check out the Forbes.com arcticle.

Labels: links

Four Foods Friday - 5th week already! :)

#1. What type of m&m is your favorite?
Peanut
#2. Peanut butter. Smooth, chunky, creamy. How do you like it?
Creamy
#3. Do you usually drink out of glass, acrylic, Tupperware type or paper cups?
Glass usually...or my gigantic mug from Lambert's Cafe in Sikeston, MO.
#4. Share a chicken recipe.
Chicken-Stuffed Crescents

This is from a recipe I quickly glanced at and then used my own ingredients.

1 T garlic, chopped
2 T onion, chopped
1 5oz can of chunk white chicken, broken apart
1 6oz jar of marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
1 T capers
1 T mayo
4 oz log of goat cheese (your favorite flavor, I used Mediterranean)
1 can of 8 crescent rolls

Saut� onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Mix with next 5 ingredients. Open can of crescent rolls and lay out on a cutting board or other surface. Divide filling evenly between each roll, being careful not to put too much so that it leaks out in the oven. Bake rolls according to directions on can. Enjoy!

Labels: 4foodsfriday, meme

If you live in Texas, Ohio, Vermont, or Rhode Island, today's the day for your primary elections!

For the first time in a long time, the Texas primary will play a crucial role in deciding a party's candidate. By this time in election season, the nominees for each party have normally been decided, even if not officially. This year is a different story. With Obama and Clinton so close in delegates, Texas and Ohio are both very crucial.

Being a history major, politics have always fascinated me. This, along with politics always being discussed on Mom's side of the family when I was younger. My grandparents were very political and formed in me a sense of how important it is to be an active part of the system.

That being said, I offer the following information to my fellow Texans.

1) You can vote in either primary today, regardless of your normal party affiliation. You can go back to voting for your own party in the general election since both parties will be on the same ballot.

2) Unlike most states that either have normal elections or precinct conventions (caucuses), Texas does both. So, if you really want to support your candidate, it's important to be a part of the caucus, too.

For example, if a precinct has five delegate positions available, and 20% of the people there support Candidate A, while 80% support Candidate B, then Candidate A will get one delegate and Candidate B will get four. So, even if Candidate A won a majority of the precinct primary vote, Candidate B gained most of the delegates up for grabs at the caucus.

So, there it is in a nutshell. Go out, vote, then come home and watch the results come in. It should be an interesting night!

And in preparation, a little treat from our childhood. :)

Labels: bunnies, links

I was tagged by Corrin to participate in a fun little book meme. What a perfect way to spend a sleepless Saturday morning. :)

How to play:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

The first book I saw on the bookcase here in the office was Animal Farm.

"For once Benjamin consented to break his rule, and he read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It ran ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS."


I tag shaylagirl, euphaes, quodscripsi, soul_journey, and candybutton.

Labels: meme

he'll get ya.

Star Wars according to a 3 year old

Go here to find out...

My results:

Labels: meme