July 6, 2011

I mentioned this family favorite recipe for Stuffed Mushrooms Italian a couple of years ago around Christmas time and BigSis shared her veganized version with us last New Year's Eve.

It's always been a tradition of ours to make these yummy mushrooms for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years Eve, but these are also perfect for a summer cookout or barbeque. When I made these for our Father's Day cookout, I decided to try to get a couple of photos before they were all gobbled up since I wasn't able to get photos the first time around.

Try these the next time you need to take an appetizer to a ‘get-together' with friends or family and I promise you won't be disappointed. They're easy enough to make ahead and then just put on the grill on some foil to stay warm until ready to serve.

Stuffed Mushrooms Italian

24 large mushrooms
1 pound hot Italian sausage
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 shallots, minced
1/4 c. Progresso Italian Breadcrumbs
1/2 stick plus 1 T. butter
1 c. or so seasoned dry stuffing mix (any flavor)

Wipe mushrooms clean, and remove stems. Saute very lightly (only about 30 seconds on each side) in 1/2 stick butter.

Remove sausage from casings and cook in skillet until brown. Drain. Saute shallot in 1 T. of butter until translucent. (I cheat sometimes and just saute the shallot with the sausage.)  In mixing bowl, combine cooked sausage, shallot, cream cheese, and breadcrumbs. Stuff generously into mushroom caps.

At some point after making these for years, we added this one ‘secret ingredient’ that wasn’t in the original recipe. After stuffed, turn the mushrooms upside down and gently press into the dry stuffing mix, just until the top is covered with a layer of stuffing mix. (The dry stuffing mix on top adds a nice crunch and wonderful texture to these mushrooms.) Put in a 13 x 9 casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees until hot. I like to keep them in a few extra minutes until the tops are browned a little.

~LilSis

June 25, 2011

It's been a couple of weeks since I've been back home from my extended weekend trip to California, and I'm still thinking about Beach Break Cafe! On our way to take me to the airport, we stopped in for a late breakfast/early lunch and we can't believe it took us so long to eat there!

We happened to be at Beach Break Cafe on the last day of school, and this was apparently THE go-to spot for happy high schoolers who were eager to celebrate their freedom with an awesome California-style meal. HayHay saw oodles of kids he knew. We had to wait for a table for 15 or 20 minutes, but it was well worth the wait.

Even before our food came, we were loving the cafe. All of the staff were so friendly and our server told us that they were experimenting with new restaurant POS systems to try and make their service even more efficient. The decor and vibe was very beachy-cool, and fun. We sat out on the patio and enjoyed the fresh air and people watching. This is our kind of place! You can keep your fancy fah-fah-fah restaurants. Give us a laid back hole in the wall cafe and we're happy girls!

Being vegan 99% of the time, my food choices were somewhat limited as usual, but I did have options. Take a look at the menu. I was dying to try the legendary crispy hashbrowns, so that's what I had, along with sliced tomatoes, biscuits and coffee. There was no way I was going to be virtuous with oatmeal or fresh fruit on this trip! I wish I'd gotten the fresh-squeezed tangerine juice that LilSis tried. It was pure California gold in a glass! Beach Break also offers fresh-squeezed grapefruit and orange juice.

Here's LilSis' meal before she tore into it. Check out those crispy golden hashbrowns!

LilSis' plate at Beach Break Cafe

Check out HayHay's plate. You can't even see the 2 ginormous slabs of sourdough toast on the side!

Beach Break Chicken Fried Steak

You see that hand on the right of the photo? It belongs to a 17 year old surfer and it's holding a fork. You know what that means? It means in 10 minutes flat you have this situation:

Beach Break plate after HayHay attack!

I guess he was too full or the garnish would have been history too!

We'll definitely make breakfast at the Beach Break Cafe a regular stop when I'm visiting. The whole fam damily is hearding out to Californie later this summer after my new great nephew is born, so Beach Break better get ready! We'll need lots of those delicious hashbrowns!

 

~BigSis

June 18, 2011

 

Happy purple petunias on my front walk.

I've had to really ‘baby' these petunias that are in my front yard because they get a little more sun that they like, but they seem to be happy now, which makes me very happy!

I love how this random yellow pansy seeded right in the middle of this pot. 🙂

When BigSis was here visiting, we were talking while I was watering and we both agreed that petunias always remind us of our Grandmama. Petunias and snapdragons always bring back happy childhood memories of our visits to her house and of her beautiful flower garden.

Happy yellow petunias

And I just love these yellow petunias that I bought for the shower! They're very happy in my backyard.

~Not to be “Debbie Downer”, but this week has been a bit of a melancholy week. We've both been extremely busy with work so there hasn't been much time for a new post, but it's also been a little hard to get in the mood to talk about anything related to Father's Day.~

Last year I was able to shop for Father's Day cards for my father-in-law for the first time since Daddy passed away, but for some reason, I couldn't do it this year; four years later. I had to ask my hubby to go pick them out for his dad so I wouldn't end up a blubbering idiot in Hallmark reading sentimental Father's Day cards.

Any time I'm a little ‘down in the dumps, I make myself go for a walk by the beach or just go out into my yard and do some gardening. Both of those things always cheer me up. I take great pride in my garden and have been recommended by a friend to use trugreen, as she uses the ohio branches of trugreen and has said how much it has helped her grow and maintain her garden, so I think I'll have to take a look for myself!

We're lucky that here in Southern California we have flowers that bloom year-round and right now I've got some blooming like crazy! So, instead of talking about Father's Day today, I wanted to post some pictures of some of my very happy flowers in my yard that make me very happy! 🙂

Happy Impatiens on my front porch.

In the winter, I just cut these impatiens back and leave the pots on the front porch and they come back in full force every Spring.

Happy Blue Hydrangeas

These blue Hydrangeas that I bought for the shower are absolutely gorgeous now that they're in full bloom.

Happy Pink Hibiscus

I have a huge Hibiscus tree in our back yard that has struggled for a couple of years with some mean ole bugs, but hopefully this is a sign of some happy hibiscus this year.

Happy Orange Hibiscus starting to open.

The orange Hibiscus tree had to be trimmed all the way back a couple of years ago because of bugs, but this is my first bloom of the year so I hope it's going to provide lots of happy blooms for us this year.

Happy pink Geranium.

We have several different varieties of Geraniums in our yard, but these pink ones are very happy.

Happy Bird of Paradise

And, one of my most favorite flowers is the Bird of Paradise and I'm really lucky to have several of these happy plants in my yard.

So, whatever you do tomorrow, whether you're able to celebrate Father's Day with your father or just spend some time reflecting on happy memories, as we'll be doing, we wish you all a very Happy Father's Day!

~LilSis

June 11, 2011

We had a great time last week while BigSis was here in California visiting and helping me prepare for the big baby shower! We ate Mexican food every single day during BigSis' visit and may have over-indulged just a little bit, but that's just what we do. It's tradition.

Now, it's back to the grindstone and the gym for both of us. BigSis is back to work in Texas and today was my first day back to work after several days off.

We shared a ‘sneak peak' photo of these crackers the other day when we talked about the shower and we promised that we'd be back to share the recipe with you.

Crispy, Cheesy, Yummy, Chive Crisps

This recipe is similar to one that SisMama has made for years; with only slight variations like the chives and the rice krispies. You can find this recipe for Cheese and Chive Crisps on allrecipes.com.

These crackers were absolutely “melt in your mouth' delicious and each and every one of them disappeared long before the end of the day.

I was a little skeptical about the rice krispies at first because I had always made the original recipe that didn't include the cereal, but BigSis convinced me that they would be yummy and now I couldn't imagine making them without the cereal. And the fresh chives made these cheesy crackers even more special.

The only thing that we both agreed on is that the next time we make these, we would at least double the amount of Frank's Red Hot to give them just a little more kick!  🙂

These tasty little crackers would be great for any get-together – especially a cocktail party – so give them a try!

~LilSis

June 6, 2011

We've been busy little bees lately. Wanna guess what we were up to?

We made these…

Crispy Cheese Crackers

and these…

bought these…

assembled this…

made these…

put these together…

got the back yard ready for guests…

and tried to keep TomTom out of everything…

Aren't you going to unwrap it for me?

You said the bassinet was for the baby!

If you guessed we had a baby shower you'd be right!

Saturday we hosted the shower for Bry and his wife Rach's soon-to-arrive little boy, so we spent a few days baking, cleaning, planning and crafting.

We had a lot of fun putting the shower together and can't wait to share some of the ideas with you.  We'll be back soon with the recipe for the cheese crackers and the directions for the fabric-wrapped letters.

But for now, there are more important things to do on my last day in San Diego, like walking on the beach and eating more Mexican food.  Adios!

~BigSis

May 30, 2011

We wish everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day!

Last weekend, I attended a function called Operation Appreciation which was held at the Oceanside Pier in honor of Military Appreciation Day.

It was a great day because I was able to watch my son, Bry, with his Naval Unit working on the beach during the LCAC demonstration.

Here are just a few shots that I wanted to share today.

Our entire family is extremely proud of our newly-promoted Petty Officer!

We want to thank everyone

who has or is serving in our U.S. Military for sacrificing

their lives each and every day

to protect our country.

And, we honor all who have made the ultimate

sacrifice and lost their lives while serving our country.

Today is a day to remember them all!

~LilSis

May 22, 2011

What do you get when you mix this:

Kale, cucumber, spinach, parsley, pears, and lime

with this:

Breville Ikon Juicer

You get this!

Green Juice!

My very first green juice!  I finally gave in to my desire for a juicer, and bought the Breville BJE510XL Ikon 900-Watt Variable-Speed Juice Extractor. There are worse things to wish for, right?

I'm reading Kris Carr's book Crazy Sexy Diet right now, which I highly recommend by the way!  This is one of the juicers she suggests, and I think her opinion on the subject is pretty credible, so I went for it.

I started out slowly; juicing carrots with apples and carrots with oranges.  I knew I wanted to go green, but I also knew I couldn't jump into the green pond right away.  You have to work up to these things!

After a couple of weeks I dove in…green juice.  Greens are full of all kinds of nutrients including vitamin A and iron, plus they have an alkalizing effect on your body.  You've probably heard the buzz about how diseases love an acidic environment, so maintaining a balanced pH is one thing you can do to help minimize your risk.

I bet you're wondering how this lovely greenness tasted!  It actually wasn't bad.  I expected a thick sludgy drink with all the personality of pureed spinach, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I did toss in a small lime and a slice of ginger to cut through some of the blandness, and I think it helped.

I'm not gonna lie and say that this was scrumptiously delicious, but I was able to get the whole drink down without making a face.  I think my palate will grow to appreciate a nice glass of green juice, and until then, I'll just think about the good things I'm doing for my body as I'm drinking it!

~BigSis

May 13, 2011

Step into Spring with this fun new color!

I just received an email from Clarisonic about their new tangerine Clarisonic Mia; so now you can choose from ten gorgeous colors; including yellow, pink, turquoise, blue, garnet, and more!  If you're going to use this wonderful little cleansing system every day, you might as well get one in your favorite color, right?

I haven't talked about the results I've seen from using my Clarisonic Mia, so I thought this would be a good time since I've been using it regularly for about four months now.

They don't have a photo of my Mia on the Clarisonic site any more since it was a limited edition, so here's a photo of my cute, little Mia.

If you love the design on this one, you can still buy the CLARISONIC Mia Sonic Skin Cleansing System, Limited Edition Hope is Beautiful from Amazon for $129.99.

BigSis talked about the results she saw from using her Clarisonic back in January of last year. I still wasn't able to justify the initial investment at that time, but after she talked about the Pink Clarisonic in October of last year, I decided since she was so happy with her results, it was definitely worth me giving it a try.

I was really very lucky and never had skin problems as a teenager or through my 20s and 30s. I admit that I was even quite lazy taking care of my skin through my 20s but when I turned 30, I decided that it was time to take better care of it. Since then, I've been religious about taking off my makeup at night and using eye creams, night creams and day time moisturizers to try to take care of my somewhat dry skin.

I guess you can say that I've still been a little lazy because I've been using the Olay cleansing wipes to take off my eye makeup and to wash my face. During these “pre-menopausal”, very “hormonal” last few years, I've had monthly breakouts that I've never experienced in my entire life! So, what I was doing obviously wasn't working and that's when I decided to buy myself a Clarisonic.

Neither of us are getting paid to endorse this product, but when we find something that works for women our age, we love to share it with everyone. I use mine once a day, at night, and you can still use your favorite cleanser like I do, instead of the Clarisonic cleanser and it works just as well.

Here are a few things that I noticed within a very short time using my Mia:

• Less breakouts immediately and now very rare breakouts!
• Pores appear smaller.
• Skin seems tighter and feels smoother.

This cleansing system has made more difference in my skin than I could have imagined. I wish that I hadn't waited so long to buy myself one but I'm happy that I finally did. If you have any issues at all and want to improve the look and cleanliness of your skin, we both highly recommend the Clarisonic!  🙂

~LilSis

May 8, 2011

BigSis was just talking about Mexican food for Cinco de Mayo and it's absolutely the truth when she says that we both LOVE our Mexican food. Whether that's fajitas, regular tacos, tacos al carbon (Mum's favourite) or just a good pile of nachos – you can't go wrong with Mexican food. Going out to a good Mexican resturant is one of our favourite things to do as a family, so I often try to create the recipes at home myself!

When it's my birthday or Mother's Day and my time to choose where we go, I always have a hard time deciding between Mexican food or brunch. For Mother's Day, most of the time I choose brunch just so everyone can take their time, have a few mimosas, and enjoy the meal without feeling rushed.

When at home, breakfast is also my favorite meal! During the week, it's usually just oatmeal, cheerios, or a multi-grain waffle and a banana. But on the weekend, when possible, I love cooking a nice big breakfast. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Garden Omelet

 

Spinach and Ham Frittata

 

Mini Asparagus Tomato Quiche

 

Spinach Quiche with Tomato Sauce

 

If you don't go out, have your family prepare one of these recipes for you and have a Happy Mother's Day!

 

 

~LilSis

May 5, 2011

Classic Tortilla Soup

Like most of our Texas sisters from other misters and brothers from other mothers, we sisters love our Mexican food!  Give us a reason to eat it.  Please!

Or don't give us a reason.  We'll still eat it.

Morning, noon and night.  We'll eat it 3 times a day.  Or more.  Girls need snacks sometimes, you know.

Cinco de Mayo is the official Mexican food eating holiday though, so bring it on!  Check out the recap we put together last year with some of our favorite Cinco de Mayo dishes.

My new favorite Mexican food snack is veganized Bob Armstrong Dip, so that's what I'll be making.

Vegan Bob Armstrong Queso Dip

Whatever you feast on, enjoy your Cinco de Mayo!

~BigSis