I made a pretty amazing dinner last night for my family and I wanted to share it with my fellow food-a-philes.Keep in mind that I ROUGHLY followed a recipe, so there are no real measurements. All my ingredients are organic and from Trader Joe's or the farmer's market. That will make a huge difference in freshness & taste so don't skimp! All in all, this meal is still only about $5 a person for a family of 3.
Take a whole chicken and wash all the salmonella and sticky off it.
Gently pull skin back from flesh to make a pocket (you cannibal, you) and stuff it with golden raisins and/or cranberries
Lay bird breast side down in 1 cup chicken broth & bay leaves in crock-pot.
Chop onions and garlic to throw in broth, salt bird
Pour whole bag of Trader Joe's pre-diced butternut squash into a large bowl
Give chicken a kiss and slap your knee
Toss in bowl: squash in honey (or agave for diabetics), TJ's pumpkin spice mix (with cinnamon & nutmeg), a bit of salt, turmeric, cumin, cayenne, & garlic powder
Pour squash mixture around chicken and give bird a bit more honey on top for good measure
Cover and cook on low for 8 hrs.
When you get home from traveling the world: cook brown & wild rice medley in rice cooker for approx. 25 minutes.
Serve a side salad with Annie's Shitake Asian dressing, (Harris Teeter) toasted pita bread and a good dry red wine like 2Buck Chuck Cab.
Serve squash over rice next to chicken; they are all friends.
This meal will transport you straight to Casablanca! Enjoy!
Saturday night. I made some calls, grabbed my coat and I was out. We met up with about 20 of our friends and did the unthinkable: we went roller skating at the local Skate Ranch. ("Wha...Whaaat?!") I had no idea what to expect, even of myself. I haven't skated in about two decades. Some in our group totally chickened out and just sat on the sidelines the whole time. Not me. I may have looked like I was doing some sort of retarded robot seizure thing around the rink, holding on to the walls every few feet to avoid paralyzing myself, but I did it. And never fell once. As a reward, we went out afterwards to the Falls Tap Room. When we arrived, we noticed a patron out front acting...just not quite right. Upon closer inspection we realized he was straight up peeing right in front of the joint. Yellow puddle and all. We complained to the manager, who was my former boss a couple of years ago, and he totally footed our bill, adult beverages and all. It easily came to over $100. Pretty sweet. Maybe I should get my husband to always pee in front of places I want to get something for free.
Me: "I just saw some homeless riff-raff peeing in front of your store. How disgusting! I'm never shopping here again and I'm calling the BBB and maybe Channel 11 too while I'm at it!"
Whole Foods: "That's terrible! We don't want to lose your business! Go get yourself $500 of groceries, on us!"
Me: "You expect me to pay that sticker price?? I just saw some idiot pee on the hood! I'm outta here!"
BMW sales manager: "Wait!...Wow, you have no idea how sorry we are, Mrs. Price. Accept this free car with all the upgrades as our token of apology.
Me: "Do you guys really expect me to keep making my mortgage payments when every time I open my front door there is some random white guy peeing on my porch?!"
Bank of America: "Absolutley not, Mrs. Price. The home is now yours scott-free. That's pretty gross, after all. And for your troubles we'll even give you a vacation home anywhere in the world you choose. And, what the heck, how 'bout an unlimited credit card to decorate the place?"
Here are a few pics I want to share. They mean a lot to me because they show my daughter, whom I love, learning things from people that love her too. There's not much more that I can say that would add any more meaning to these pictures, but if you are reading this and have a child, treat every moment you are with them as a learning experience. And remember, you are the one they learn from first--especially the lesson of love.
I'm totally exhausted right now. Why I do this to myself, I dunno. But I'm tired. And maybe a bit cranky, or as K calls it, snarky. I rolled out of bed this morning after approx 6 hours of sleep. I went to a wine tasting party at K's last night and because I rode with another friend, I was there until after midnight with no say in the matter. You know how that goes. I was already tired when I got to her house. I think the pj's I wore over there was a dead give-away.
"Um...Is that your pj's you're wearing?Omg...and slippers?!"
"Yeah...and?"
It was about 7 of us girls and K's husband, lucky guy. We ate, we drank, we talked, we ate some more and then we played Rock Band. In other words, nothing to get all dolled up over but we had fun. This morning I had a plan: I was going to do some quick shopping for tonight's dinner at Earth Fare http://www.earthfare.com/ and then head to TJ Maxx for some serious shopping. I'm in need of a few skirts and blouses (and maybe shoes and a cute hat and...) and I wanted the MAXXIMUM for the minimum. So I threw on my go-to jeans, an old green sweater that looks waaay too Christmas-y, and a knitted hat that I hoped was cute enough to hide the fact that I didn't brush my hair (ok, or teeth) and drove like 45 minutes to stupid Earth Fare because there's not one near me. As soon as I walk in the door I run into Anna-Lynn S., an old friend of mine I haven't seen in years. But today, since I look like the Grinch, I ran into her. If I had looked like Tyra, I wouldn't have seen anyone! Thus was the beginning of a strange string of events where I ran into TWO other people I knew PLUS my COUSIN and AUNT who don't even live in a 70 mile radius but just HAPPENED to be where I was today. It's 10:30am. I realized I haven't had breakfast so I walk over to check out the goodies at the hot bar. I'm super hungry, the coffee is hot and the egg & bacon bagel sandwiches are calling my name. Text message on my phone:
K: I'm going to SouthPointe Mall. Wanna join me?
ME: Maybe. (meaning, not really but let me decide after I eat) I'm at Earth Fare right now.
K: You're already almost to the mall. It's just off 5-40.
ME: Fine. Text me when you get close. (thinking that means at least 40 minutes to eat and shop)
K: I'm 5 minutes away. Meet me at Anthropologie.
So I run & grab 2 muffins and a coffee that is cold by the time I race to the car and head over to the mall. I'm now over an hour away from where I live, my gas tank is on E, I'm hungry (muffins don't cut it) and I look like Yoda. Of course I get there and K has on her make-up and looks as cute as Mini Mouse, including a really cool red & white polka-dot belt. She already had several dresses in her hand to try on, and walked out with some great purchases. I walked out with nothing. http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/index.jsp
"Well, what do you want?" she said, re-applying her perfectly pink lip-gloss.
"I need a cute skirt that doesn't stop 10 inches above my knees or 10 below my ankles!"
The next hour or so consisted of me following her into all the trendy boutiques and out of them with a bag in her hand but none in mine. But hey, I ran into all my friends today, so that's ok! We ended the afternoon together with soup & salad and a quick stop in to World Market where again, she walked out with a big bag but I didn't. I love her to death, but I officially hate shopping with other people. Oh, but I did buy my husband some kicks from Urban Outfitters, so at least my debit card got to see the light of day.
http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/index.jsp
This whole weekend can be summed up in one phrase: WINTERFEST. I almost typed "FEAST" as I also ate a lot. I'm trying to make up for all those calories I burned at the gym. The highlight this weekend was that my daughter was away visiting her best friend which left hubby and I to relax and have fun with friends. Included in the fun was a festival downtown, lots of hot cider, an art exhibit, a freak snow-storm and getting my picture taken with a buddy of mine I haven't seen in a while who looks just like Justin Bieber. "WE LOVE YOU, BIEB!" So instead of details, enjoy the pictures.
So I did this class last night at the gym with my husband and J. (K was still at work and couldn't make it) It was called "Body Pump" and it pumped my world alright. I'm barely able to sit in this chair today and type without being in pain. The instructor, Mindy, was all of maybe 24 years old and looked like a hot, extremly in-shape vampire from Twighlight. She wore her black hair in a high pony tail that swung back and forth as she threw herself to the ground and commenced 45 push-ups, no sweat. We all, maybe 30 in the class, followed suit as if she would bite our necks if we didn't. We combined that with crunches, lunges, and whatever else she could think of to kill us slowly--all this and we had to hold dumbells with our choice of weight. I chose 5lbs and by the end of the hour I could hardly raise it over my head any longer. When we got home my husband asked me if we can join this gym because all the classes are included.
"You want to PAY for this?!?"
"Yes. I think we need this kind of discipline if we're ever going to get into shape."
So I guess as of today, we belong to a gym. That sucks.
http://www.lff.com/
So it's officially December and I have now lost most of my body tone from the summer when I was much more physically active than I am now. I'm not fat by any means (see my title & profile picture), especially since I'm basically a vegetarian...almost. But when it comes to physical endurance and stamina or even lifting my dirty clothes basket when it's full, it's a sad sight. My husband has been begging me for over a year to join J&K's gym. I've been saying no because I thought it was just another gimmick to spend more time with J& the guys and avoid his other chores here at home.
"Honey, I just don't have the time to mow the lawn today."
"You didn't have time to mow it last MONTH either!!"
But now I may need to rethink this. There's no getting past the fact that we both could be in a lot better shape. I cringe when I think about how awesome we were physically just two years ago in comparison with today. If I could lose just 5 lbs and beat K in arm wrestling I'd be happy. So J&K hooked us up with a two week free trial membership. When I went Saturday I thought I was going to die. Pathetic. But tonight we have a weight-training class and I'm excited about it. I'm gonna walk in there with a new attitude and my new workout gear I bought today. Yes, I may sweat & make pit rings like an ice glass melting on a polished mahogany table and I may even faint from exhaustion and totally embarrass myself but at least I'm not the type to sit on my butt all day and blog about absolutely nothing. (the Seinfeld of blogging)
