February 8, 2009

So is it portobello, or is it portabella?  I’ve always wondered that.  Anyway.  You say potaytoe, I say potahto.  It occurs to me that this Sunday Supper is a lot like my Spinach Quiche with Tomato Sauce, so the spinach with cheese and tomato must be a flavor combination that I subconsciously gravitate toward. Or maybe my body is just needing more iron, calcium and lycopene right now.  Whatever it is, these portobello mushrooms worked really well with the other flavors.

I got a big package of 4 mushroom caps from Sam’s Club the other day, and they were by far the biggest ones I’ve ever seen.  They definitely deserved a special treatment of some kind, and since I had frozen spinach, tomato sauce ingredients, and more of the Cabot 50% Light All Natural Cheddar Cheese on hand, this is the filling I came up with on the fly. I didn’t measure, and you don’t have to either. Just eyeball the amounts of each component until it looks good to you. You’re the one eating it, so please yourself!  By the way, if you have a grill, these would be incredible started on it instead of in the oven!

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Portobello

Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Portobello with Tomato Sauce

4 large portobello mushroom caps
Olive oil
Salt and Shallot Pepper to taste
Frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
Cabot 50% Light Cheddar Cheese, grated
Tomato/marinara sauce – any kind, homemade or bottled

Clean the mushroom caps with a damp paper towel. Leaving the gills is fine in this recipe so don’t worry about removing them. Rub or brush each cap with olive oil on all sides. Salt and pepper to taste. Place in a baking dish (13 x 9 worked for my 4 giant caps) and bake at 350 degrees for around 30 minutes or until tender, turning a couple of times.

When mushrooms are done, drain excess liquid if desired. Smear a little tomato sauce in the bottom of the dish, and place the mushrooms on the bed of sauce. Add a nice handful of spinach to each cap, then top with cheese. Spoon tomato sauce over each mushroom. Bake until hot and bubbly, around 20 minutes.

Add a nice green salad, and you have a great simple, healthful dinner for 4, or a Sunday Supper and 3 lunches for BigSis!

~BigSis

February 7, 2009

I guess I don’t have enough ‘down time’ to think of browsing through YouTube for fun videos. When I’m on the computer, I’m either in QuickBooks, Excel, or online banking doing Accounting, checking off my tasks and keeping my calendar up to date in Outlook, working on blog posts, catching up on my Google Reader, or replying to emails.

Recently, I was browsing a new blog that I’ve been reading, Where’s My Damn Answer?, and saw this video in one of their posts. I was happy to have stumbled upon it. It’s so creative and well done that I wanted to share it with our readers.

It’s just a fun, upbeat video and, I think, worth 3 minutes and 37 seconds of your time to watch it. I’ve watched it several times.

I love this song so much, that I’m off to iTunes to buy it for my iPod!

~LilSis

February 6, 2009

I’m not a big TV watcher.  It’s not because my social calendar is too booked, or because I have very trendy cool moral/social objections to it that make me very righteous.  I just don’t have any ding dang time to watch television.  And I do have to admit that I don’t like most of what airs, except for the occasional episode of American Idol and Top Chef.

But I do have one TV obsession that I will totally fess up to.  One show that I do not EVER miss NOT EVER NOT EVER, and that is “Lost”!  I’ve been a fan since episode one, and this show has kept me hanging on through delays and the writer’s strike and indefinite season postponements.  I’m addicted to the beautiful Hawaiian scenery, the quirky plot twists and the wonderfully odd characters.  And, one more confession…I have a little bad boy crush on Sawyer.  Admit it…you do too.  ;-D  We know we should like Jack, but we do love us some Sawyer!

Bad Boy Con-Man Sawyer

We’ve had 3 episodes in this season so far, and we’ve had some questions answered.  Miracles of all miracles!  Can you believe it?    But I still have more questions, always more questions.

• How are these folks getting back to the island?
• Can Ben go back?  Would he be the leader again?
• How are they going to convince Sun to go back and leave her baby?
• Is Claire’s mom *really* as innocent as she seems?
• Was there anything funnier than when cry baby Neal got shot with that flaming arrow?
• Is Daniel Faraday less the benevolent, bumbling scientist, and more of a villain?
• Is John Locke really dead?
• Is there something menacing or weird about baby Aaron?
• Could Sayid’s hair possibly be any greasier?  Does he have a secret stash of hair gel that we don’t know about?
• Would anyone care if Charlotte, Juliet and Miles all died from this brain displacement malady?
• What would have happened if Sawyer spoke to Kate when he saw her in the past delivering Aaron?
• What would happen if one of the characters ran across themselves in a time travel episode?
• Is Penny going to die at Ben’s hand as he promised?
• Why does Charles Widmore feel Ben stole his island from him?  Did he think he was the “heir to the throne” when Ben came along, perhaps?
• Why does Richard wear so much eyeliner?  Does it have something to do with his agelessness?  If he doesn’t age, why did he have to wear reading glasses to remove the bullet from Locke’s leg?

If you think you know any of these answers, please share them with me!  Only 5 more days til the next episode!  Not that I’m counting.  I do have a life you know.

~BigSis

February 5, 2009

This past week, Meem, TallGuy and our new grand baby, LittleOne, were here visiting us from Chicago.  They were thrilled to be here in CA with us and out of the single digit temperatures in Chicago. We were also thrilled to have them here with us. They were here almost a week and we had so much fun that I can’t even begin to share the details. I’d probably boo hoo through writing the whole post. I’d love to show you all the photos full of total cuteness, but this is the only one I can share of LittleOne.

How cute is he??? He's a big boy...only four months old!!

We bought LittleOne this adorable little CA surfer dude swimsuit when he got here. The poor little guy hasn’t been out of a snow suit for months and his feet had never felt grass or sand until he came for this visit. We miss them a lot already and won’t get to see them for a couple of months, so it was hard to see them leave.

There was only one member of this household who was not sad to see them leave. If you guessed TomTom, you guessed right!  He did NOT like the fact that he wasn’t the center of attention while they were here. He acted up the entire time, so he spent a lot of time in “kitty time out” in his room a/k/a the Laundry Room. Of course, that just pissed him off more!

Here he is in LittleOne’s car seat. Look at that smug look on his face! If you think he looks sweet in this photo, then guess again. If we would have tried to take him out of this car seat, his fangs definitely would have come out! Seriously!  Do you think that he’s trying to tell us that he’s the baby of this house?

~LilSis

February 4, 2009

Once upon a time, I did take advantage of time on the cardio machines at the gym to catch up on my magazine reading. Now, I only go to the gym for yoga or weights and do my cardio outside.  It’s rare; but if I do go to the gym for cardio because of weather, I can’t read on the machines any more. I don’t know if it got darker in my gym or if my eyes just got worse, but I refuse to wear reading glasses while working out! (Go ahead, call me vain!)

My problem right now is that I just don’t have enough time to kick back and leisurely browse through my magazines. I’d like to be able to read my magazines in a relaxed mode and not in a huge hurry just to move it from the ‘unread’ pile to the ‘read’ pile.

How nice would this be? (aahhh…heaven)

Flickr photo by Santheo

We talked about this about four months ago. At that time, I was down to these six subscriptions.  I’ve just decided that I probably won’t ever have time to read these each month, so something’s gotta give! Here’s how they rank now:

Keepers:

• Fit Yoga
• whole living body+soul

Undecided:

• Heart Healthy
• Food Network

Won’t renew:

• Sculptural Pursuit
• Coastal Living
• Food & Wine

When it’s time to renew my subscriptions, I will probably only keep FitYoga and whole living body+soul.

I like Heart Healthy and I do occasionally find articles in it that are interesting and maybe a few recipes that I like, so it’s under consideration. And, I also, am a little disappointed in Food Network Magazine. I’ve got several months left on my subscription, so for now, I’ll keep reading as time allows and make a decision when my subscription is due for renewal.

The last three are just being eliminated because of lack of time. I like them all but just cannot find any extra time in my day to read them.

It’s such a stress factor for me when I see my “to read” pile of magazines stacking up! That’s just wrong! Magazines are supposed to be fun; not another source of stress!  So, for now, I’m weeding out my least favorites!

~LilSis

February 3, 2009

I’ve been trying to intensify my gym time, and have been going 5 times a week instead of 3, plus I’m shaking up my cardio a little. You know how your body will get used to the same old routine after a while, and it stops being as effective? So, lately I’ve been hopping on the bike 5 times a week for half an hour each session before I run off to the treadmill, and I discovered that’s the perfect time to work on my stack of unread magazines. That 30 minutes ends up being a good barometer to determine which magazines are worthwhile and which are a waste of money. If I can breeze through an issue and leave it in the gym, completely done with it after half an hour, then it’s not a keeper.

Sorry, Domino Magazine, you’ve failed my gym test. I can flip through you in only a matter of minutes, just like an issue of People. I adore your cute little sticky tags, but I never find anything to mark any more! I used to love you, but I guess I’ve moved away from your demographic. I didn’t find one article or photo layout of note in the last issue, and didn’t see one decorating idea I would ever implement. So, I’m sorry, Domino, I have to end it with you. But it’s not you; it’s me.

Bon Appetit, I’m breaking up with you too. We’ve been together for a couple of decades now, but you’ve been letting me down for months and I’m not putting up with it any more. You used to be so interesting and fun, and now I just can’t relate to you at all. What happened to you?

More Magazine, you’re making the cut. You last for a couple of gym sessions, and I’m pretty much reading you cover to cover. I can relate to your articles, and I appreciate the positive tone of your issues. I’ll renew you when you come calling next year.

Food Network Magazine, you’re on probation. Your initial issue was strong, but your performance in the second issue was a bit weaker and a tad boring. I’m a demanding reader, so you’ve got the rest of this subscription to entertain me and please me. Can you make the grade, or will I have to kick you to the curb with Domino and Bon Appetit?

To the Curb! Flickr photo by JP Shooter.

Martha Stewart Living, I’m back! I cheated on you with Real Simple for a few years, thinking you were too high-maintenance. But Real Simple lost my interest eventually, shallow fickle reader that I am.  I’ve been having a little newsstand fling with you, and I think I’m ready to make a subscription commitment to you again. While others last only half an hour, you keep me reading for at least a couple of hours, and I usually tear out some of your pages for later reference. I’m back, have you missed me?

LilSis, have you done any magazine weeding lately?  I’m feeling ruthless and demanding more from my subscriptions…how about you?

~BigSis

February 2, 2009

Don’t these pastries look yummy?  Cream puff, anyone?

Okay, so you can’t eat these yummy little pastries! These are actually a set of novelty erasers from Japan. They’ve been on back-order for weeks and I just received my email from Jet Pens that this set of Iwako pastry erasers with tray is now available.

How cute would these be sitting on your desk? I do a lot of number crunching, and yes, I do occasionally need to erase mistakes. I think it’s going to make erasing a little more fun if I do it with a cute little donut or cream puff.

This little dessert tray set is cute, too.

And, they also have a little sushi set.

If I had more time to look through the Jet Pens website, I’m sure I could find tons of stuff that I’d like to have but don’t really need! For now, I’m just going to start with the little pastry set. I can’t wait to have that little tray of yummies on my desk!

~LilSis

February 1, 2009

Happy Super Bowl Sunday, you all!

This is a big party day, so please remember to take a cab or get a ride home if you are “overserved”!  Be safe and have a fun day!

~BigSis

January 31, 2009

I wish I had known about this fundraising opportunity before today.  It’s a little bit late to tell you about it, but I don’t want to assume that none of you will be able to integrate this idea into the parties you already have planned.  Check this out if you’d like to make your Super Bowl Party more than just a party; if you’d like to make it a chance for your guests to donate to an important charity.

Alzheimer’s Disease has been selected as the official 2009 charity for the College Bowl Championship Series on FOX Sports.  In conjunction with that effort, there are Tackle Alzheimer’s Parties and Tailgates going on all over the country on Super Bowl Sunday.  You can download a poster for your party, download donation forms, or encourage your guests to donate online.  You can find all of the details online that you need for your own Tackle Alzheimer’s Party.

Any contributions at all that you are able to collect or make yourself are important.  This disease runs rampant in our family…our dad had it, and so did his mother, his sister and his grandmother.  The genetic link probably goes back farther than that, but people didn’t identify it as Alzheimer’s back then;  it was just dementia or senility.  If it isn’t in your family, chances are you know someone whose life has been touched by this disease.  Thanks from all of the impacted families for your support of this cause!

~BigSis

January 31, 2009

I’m not a football fan.  There, I’ve said it.  Out loud!  Please don’t hate on me, but I really do not like football.   I used to watch the local team, but I’m just done with the whole ding dang sport (don’t ask).  I’m single so I don’t have “The Hubs” forcing me to watch football, and I’d much rather spend 3 hours baking or walking or shopping or organizing something.  Just about the only sport I like to watch on TV is hockey, and then only if the Dallas Stars are playing.

This weekend is about the Super Bowl though, and not the Stanley Cup, whether I’m watching it or not (not).  And what goes with the Super Bowl?  Snacks of course!  Appetizers, football food, dips, chips!  Woo hoo…my favorite kind of food!  There’s a flurry of activity in blogdom this week about what to serve for the Big Game, and since I’m not actively participating, the least I can do is provide a little recap for your snacking pleasure!  Ready…settie…kick-off!  Or something like that.

BigSisLilSis party favorites:

• Chili Con Carne
• Angel Hair Pasta Salad
• Easy Deviled Eggs
• Chicken Enchilada Soup
• Healthy Hummus
• Cherry Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella Skewers
• Pimiento Cheese Spread
  
• IT
• Barefoot Contessa’s Outrageous Brownies
• Big T’s Peppers
• HVR Cheese Ball
• Artichoke and Spinach Dip
• Grilled Shrimp Wrapped in Bacon
• Sun Dried Tomato Spread
• Stuffed Mushrooms Italian
• Cheesecake Crunchy

Savories from some tasty sites:

• Quick-N-Dirty Habanero Cheese Straws from Ezra Pound Cake
• Hot Popper Dip from King Arthur Flour
• Smokin’ Mozzarella Balls from Picky Palate
• Snack Food Stadium from Serious Eats
• Boneless Buffalo Chicken from Cook’s Country
• Spiced Pecans from Ezra Pound Cake
• Bacon, Cream Cheese, and Horseradish Dip from Serious Eats
• Chicken Wing Variations from DallasNews
• Super Bowl Menu from Cook’s Illustrated with Chili, Nachos, Caesar Dip, Brownies and Lemon Bars
• 75 Super Bowl Party Recipes from Martha Stewart
• Game Day Menu Ideas from Pillsbury
• Big Game Bash Recipe Ideas and Tips from Food Network
• Super Bowl Favorites from Bon Appetit
• Winning Super Bowl Party from AllRecipes
• Game Day Grub from RecipeZaar

You have to have some sweets too! How about these?

• Tropical Poundcake from Baseball, Baking & Boys
• Mounds Muffins from A Southern Grace
• Chocolate Pecan Cheesecake Bars from Bake or Break
• Cheesecake Ball from Dozen Flours
• Chunky Chocolate and Walnut Cookies from Sass & Veracity

If that isn’t enough, check out the Super Bowl Smackdown on RecipeGirl for a bunch of other great recipes with photos!

Since LilSis and I both want to laugh more this year, let me leave you with some photos of bad Super Bowl cakes from Cake Wrecks.  There are bad Super Bowl cakes and there are really bad Super Bowl cakes!  Have a fun weekend, whatever you do!

~BigSis