August 12, 2009

I think that if you looked at my genetic makeup under a microscope or DNA viewer or whatever the heck you would use for such a purpose, you would see that I’m 1/8 Choctaw and 7/8 Chickpea!  I eat SO many chickpeas, I’m sure I’m close to turning into one!  I honestly eat a chickpea in some form or another at least 4 times a week.  If it’s not hummus, then it’s one of these other two go-to lazy vegetarian girl dishes:

• Marinated Chickpeas – Ok, pay close attention because this is super-duper complicated.  Take a can or two of chickpeas.  I actually wouldn’t even bother with just one can because I’m such a chickpea piggie.  Dump the chickpeas into a colander.  Rinse them with cool water to get rid of all the slimy gross liquid they’ve been swimming around in since they were canned.  Drain them well and pour into a bowl.  Add fresh lemon or lime juice, extra virgin olive oil or your favorite delicious healthy oil (could be macadamia or walnut or whatever), sea salt, fresh pepper, and voila!  You’re done!  If you want to get fancy, add other seasonings, like Frank’s Red Hot Sauce, lemon pepper (Penzey’s is my choice), fresh herbs, or even parmigiano reggiano shreds.  Eat it up asap or let it sit for a while.  I’m addicted to this as much as I am to hummus.  You can crush the peas a little bit if you want, or leave them whole.  I like this at room temperature.

• Not-Tuna Chickpea Salad – Here’s another high-difficulty gourmet recipe.  Rinse and drain the chickpeas, and then whir them around in a little food processor or chopper til they’re crushed up some but still have some texture.  I don’t like them completely pureed.   You may need a little olive oil or lemon juice if the mixture is too dry, but usually they mush up fine.  Then, basically make your usual  tuna salad recipe with whatever you like, substituting the chickpeas for the tuna, of course.  I like a dab of mustard, some mayo (dairy-free would be fine), dill pickle relish, a little lemon juice, Frank’s Red Hot, lemon pepper, and sea salt.  Pile it onto whole grain bread or crackers, fill a pita, or just gobble it up with a spoon.  It would also be good wrapped up in some lettuce leaves or piled into a hollowed out tomato for lunch.  You may say “weird” right now, but try it and you’ll say “hmmm, BigSis was right.  This is yummy!”

That’s it guys and girls…two of my easy, healthy, vegetarian staple chickpea dishes.  Certainly not on the menu at LilSis’ house, but at Casa BigSis, it’s a scrumptious meal!  You know, I like to eat healthy but I don’t usually have much time for cooking in the evening so I need fast food that isn’t junk food.  I’ll have more easy meatless recipes for you later.  Have a tasty day!

~BigSis

August 11, 2009

Hay Hay was a little disappointed that we didn’t make time to get him some White Castle Burgers on our recent trip to Chicago. I’m not sure what the fascination is with those little burgers, but it may be because you can eat so many of them at one sitting. I couldn’t tell you from experience because I’ve never actually eaten one.

I’ve never even wanted to make sliders because I thought you had to make each little hamburger patty individually and it seemed like too much work for teeny, weeny burgers. I never even thought about cooking the beef all together in one pan and then cutting them into small patties.

When I first saw this recipe for Sliders on Noble Pig, I knew that my guys would like them, but I had no idea that they would absolutely go crazy over them! I decided to surprise HayHay with this treat since he missed out on the White Castles.

I barely got to grab one to take a few quick photos before the carnivores swooped in with their plates. I obviously wasn’t successful in trying to take a photo of the entire platter of sliders. Actually, the photo of the one alone looks a little sad, too, but these were so good! Be sure to visit Noble Pig to check out her recipe and awesome photos of these sliders.

Between HayHay, one of his buddies, and SirHoney, all sixteen little sliders disappeared within minutes. Wow! You’d think that I never fed them. (Luckily, I did manage to eat one myself.)

It’s funny how BigSis was just talking about being a vegetarian. (It wasn’t planned for me to talk about beef the day after she talks about not eating any critters. It just worked out that way.) I think I could probably do without meat if I lived alone, but the guys in my house would never stand for it. They are ‘meat eatin’ maniacs!

~LilSis

August 10, 2009

I just channeled Elly May Clampett for a minute there, didn’t I?  I can’t help it; sometimes my inner hillbilly comes out!  After all, I am from Texas.  Hey, fellow Texans; please don’t be offended.  You know the rest of the world tends to view us as hicks or rednecks or bumpkins.  If we can’t have a sense of humor about it, we’re in deep horse doodie!

Back to the critters.  It’s been 15 years since I had one on my plate; other than my cats trying to steal my dinner, that is.  And trust me, I have not withered away since I stopped eating meat.  People who know me know that I always say I don’t eat anything with a face or with parents.  No chicken, no fish, no flesh.  But I’m strong and have good energy 15 years later.  I am certainly not a pale sickly twig!

Why’d I stop eating meat?  I read a book by John Robbins called Diet for a New America and decided to skip meat-eating for a week,  just to see if I could do it.  I never went back.  Once I knew about factory-farming, I couldn’t forget that I knew it.  So there you have it.  I won’t get preachy about it. People know where I stand, and as much as I’d like for everyone to be vegetarian, it has to be your choice.  You don’t make a major lifestyle change like that because someone else is beating you up about it.  You do it because you want to.

I’m not vegan yet, but I’m always moving closer to it, and I’m intrigued by the raw diet.  I do eat an occasional egg, although if I think about it, it grosses me out to think of eating a liquid chicken.  And I do eat a little cheese.  Why can’t someone invent a tasty, melty non-dairy cheese, for cryin out loud??

So what do I eat on a daily basis?  By now, you know I eat hummus…I talk about it all the time.  Green hummus. Healthy hummus. Hummus with sundried tomato pesto added.  Now I’m on a mission for the perfect artichoke hummus recipe.

But I do eat other things – not just roots and leaves – and I’m going to talk more about that soon so stay tuned!  Meanwhile, happy anniversary to me and to all of the critters I didn’t eat!  In honor of this anniversary, check out this funny little Farting Cow video from Animal Planet.  Trust me, you’ll laugh!  Just don’t laugh so hard that you…well, you know!

~BigSis

August 9, 2009

Just a quick little reminder: Don’t forget to check out the August roundup of nutty pies and tarts on You want pies with that? For those who entered, the voting ends Monday at 10:00 a.m. and the winner will be announced soon after.

Thanks to Jacque at Daisy Lane Cakes for choosing the ‘Nut’ theme for this month’s event. I can’t wait to see the announcement for next month’s theme.

~LilSis

August 9, 2009

Have you ever had such a totally random thought that immediately afterward you wonder where on earth it came from?

I had one today.  I was finishing up with my quick and dirty weekend makeup routine when I glanced down and saw a pair of small silver hoop earrings.  For some reason, I thought it would be fun to put the small hoops in next to my larger hoops.

As I pick them up to put them in, I realize that it’s been a gazillion years since I’ve put an earring in my second piercing and they aren’t even there anymore! No evidence in site of them ever existing.  I don’t know why I thought of that today. I wonder how many years it takes for a piercing to close up?

Luckily, I’ve never haven’t taken the little diamond stud out of my upper ear cartilage piercing that’s been there for over 15 years or I certainly would have forgotten that it was there.  I got that piercing while in the midst of a ‘cabin fever’ craze in the middle of winter in Upstate New York because I had to get out of the house. So, it’s sentimental. 🙂

~LilSis

August 8, 2009

Beanie Baby Kaleidoscope by lyle58

Do you have boxes and boxes of Beanies?  I hate to even bring up this topic, because it makes me cringe.  I think that LilSis and SisMama feel the same way.  We fell victim to the hysteria that surrounded Beanie Babies, and we absolutely wish we never had.  Now, what the heckie darn do we do with all of them?  I have boxes and boxes taking up room that I don’t have, and I’d love to find a solution to the overpopulation problem.

I have three ideas so far, and obviously I’m not sold on any of them since I haven’t done a ding dang thing yet:

• Send the Beanies to the Beanies for Baghdad project. You send the Beanies to this organization, and they ship them to our military personnel overseas to give away to little kids who have so very little.  I wonder if this is still a viable option, since the president is talking about withdrawal timelines.  Once they arrive, could we be sure there would still be a purpose, a distribution channel and a home for them?

• Take them to children’s hospitals.  I’ve heard that hospitals aren’t always thrilled about taking in Beanies because they can’t be sure they haven’t been played with, and they can’t risk introducing any additional germs into the hospital environment.  Are there any nurses out there who might know about this?

• Try to sell them.  In this economic market, however, it’s the worst possible time to try to sell a collectible item.  It’s totally a buyer’s market, and prices are way down.  I also think demand is too low and the supply is too high.  This idea seems useless to me.  I’d much rather donate them than fiddle around with selling them for a song.

So, if you have tried any of these ideas or if you have any other solutions, I (we) would LOVE to hear them!!  I don’t want to just impulsively trash all these Beanies to get them out of my way … heaven knows how much money I invested.  But if they could be put to good use somehow, I think it would be selfish of me to hang onto them.  Help!

~BigSis

August 7, 2009

There are only a few weeks of Summer left, so I find myself daydreaming about a nice trip to Paradise before it’s time to get ready for back-to-school.  If someone were to ask me to describe my idea of Paradise, I’d probably say something like this:

“I’m on an island far, far away where the sand is so soft and so white that it reminds me of powdered sugar, and the beach is surrounded by the most gorgeous, clear turquoise blue water that you’ve ever seen. There is not a cloud in the sky and the sun’s rays feel perfect on my skin that is slathered in my favorite Hawaiian Tropic. There are no cell phones, computers or televisions on the island and I am able to leisurely read a book while laying on the beach, totally uninterrupted, except for the occasional delivery of food and cold beverages”.

Unfortunately, it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be experiencing anything like that any time in the near future so I’ll have to compromise.

(Yes, this sign really is in my backyard; but, no, it’s not always Happy Hour.) 🙂

Since it’s Friday and the guys are golfing today, I thought I might be able to experience a little Paradise right here in my own backyard. I’m going to try and take a couple hours off this afternoon to read by the pool while I have the house to myself. I may have a couple of friends stop by later so I wanted to make some sort of refreshing, tropical dessert.

While browsing the Internet looking for some ideas for a freezer pie, I stumbled upon this recipe for Paradise Pie on texascooking.com. I knew right away that I wanted to make this pie and I was thrilled that it was so fast and easy to put together!

The combination of the pineapple, coconut, and pecans was so tropical that I almost felt like I if I closed my eyes, I could pretend that I was in Paradise!

Paradise Pie poolside, anyone?

Paradise Pie

• 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple, well drained
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 carton (8 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed (use 4 oz.)
• 1 9-inch graham cracker crust

Combine the milk and lemon juice in a bowl. Stir well. Add the drained pineapple, coconut and pecans, mixing well. Gently fold in the whipped topping. Pour into the crust. Freeze until firm, at least 4 hours. Remove from the freezer about 15 minutes before serving. Cover any leftover pie loosely with foil or place inside a large freezer storage bag and return to the freezer.

I’m submitting this recipe to this month’s You want pies with that event. Be sure to check the site on August 8th for the full roundup!

~LilSis

August 6, 2009

We have exciting news today!  We just added Comment Luv to our site, and Grace from “A Southern Grace” got served up with the first dish of Luv yesterday!

If you’re not familiar with CommentLuv, here’s how it works.  When you leave us a comment, you’ll see a logo for CommentLuv with a checked box next to it.  If you have a blog, CommentLuv will run out and grab the title of the last post you published, and will link to it below your comment.  Cool, eh?  Using Grace’s comment on our Food Face Plate post, here’s what her Luv looked like immediately following her comment:

grace´s last blog post ..fingers, strips, tenders, what-have-you

Why would we do this, you ask?  Because we SO appreciate your comments, and want to show our appreciation in a tangible way that will mean something…links back to your posts!

So, let us know if you like the new feature.  We hope it’ll show our commenters how much you mean to us!

~BigSis

August 4, 2009

IT’S HOT!

I know that there are people all over the country experiencing hotter temperatures than 100 degrees, but this was before noon in the shade! I know, I know, I’ve been told that I am now officially a ‘wimp’ when it comes to weather because of living in Southern California for the past seven years. I’m heading back to CA in the morning and hopefully will get back some of the energy that this heat has literally sucked from my body.

For those who didn’t read last week, we spent the weekend at Possum Kingdom Lake in Texas to celebrate our mom’s birthday. We really had a fantastic weekend despite the temperatures.  These are a couple of photos that show the views we had from the home where we were staying. It was absolutely beautiful!

We did exactly as we had planned: boating, eating, and relaxing. And, LOTS of laughing!

We also managed to catch a couple of unexpected incidents on video, so as time allows we hope to share a couple of really fun videos with you real soon!

~LilSis

August 4, 2009

We had a great weekend celebrating SisMama’s birthday, and will talk about it later this week.  Meanwhile, I just stumbled upon this cool item and wanted to share it.

Do you remember being a kid and needing encouragement to eat?  I don’t.  I think I’ve always liked to eat, and sometimes wish I didn’t enjoy it so much!  But I’ve known kids who weren’t interested in food at all, and had to be bribed or threatened to eat.  Maybe this cool product would make mealtime fun for them, or maybe it would be even more fun for us big kids!

Food Face Plate

It’s Wooly Willy; that dude from the magnetic game you took in the car with you on road trips!  But now, he’s on a plate and instead of decorating him with magnetic metal shavings, you’re decorating him with your food.  I love the green bean eyebrows!

I heard about the Food Face Plate from FreshTrend, and found the plates available for sale on Perpetual Kid for $9.95.  If you buy one of these and play with your food, send us a photo!

~BigSis