Where on Earth?

Happy Earth Day!

Randoms:

I always wondered why people apologized for not blogging in a while.  My thoughts: it's your blog, do what you want.  We don't sign a contract to blog saying we will blog every day or 3 times a week or however much.  But, that said, now I am the one feeling guilty and the need to apologize for not blogging as often lately.  I have been terribly uninspired.  And, I am quite grateful for you and don't want to let you down.  So, if you are still with me..Thank you!  And I am sorry!

I started an official diet.  It's through a hospital, not a name brand like weight watchers or anything.  I am excited about it...but, I won't be posting too many recipes for the next 15 weeks.  (The length of the program)  It will all be worth it in the end, when I get nice n skinny I will not regret not posting recipes for a while.  Then I'll have to find new healthy recipes to post so I can maintain.  In the meantime, I will have to find other tidbits to blog about.  So my second apology: if you are a fan of recipes, I apologize for the lack of in the coming months!

It's Earth Day!  I'm sorry to say that doesn't mean much to me, I haven't done anything special for the earth.  I did plant some flowers a couple days ago, that was earthly, no?  What else does one do on earth day?  I don't know.   I work 12 hours so I can even go outside and appreciate it.  Nevertheless, Happy Earth Day!!

I do hope for better inspiration soon.

Tomorrow I will tell you everything you never knew you wanted to know about my exciting new diet!

Honey Cashew Green Beans

Here is a very simple side I found on allrecipes.com that I am at this very moment ready to eat the whole thing!  Just as dinner was about to be ready, hubs had to run to finish his taxes..talk about last minute.  So here I sit, waiting on him and dinner, although, now that recipe is up on blog, I do think it's time to just eat it!  Sorry hubs.  Some of us got our taxes in on time!   I did have a bite as it was finished and it is definitely blog worthy, unlike some of the other mishaps I've had lately. 

Honey Cashew Green Beans

Recipe from allrecipes.com

1/2 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
2 Tbsp coarsely chopped cashews (or any nut you have on hand)
4 1/2 tsp butter
1 Tbsp honey

Place beans in a steamer basket and steam for 8-10 minutes or until crisp tender.  Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt butter and saute cashews for about 2 minutes or until golden brown.  Stir in honey; heat through.  Transfer beans to the skillet and toss to coat.  Serve immediately.

GTKY Sunday

Gosh is it Sunday already?  Time is just flying by these days.  I'm feeling short on words today, here is my Getting to Know You..head over to www.mannland5.com to link up!

1. do you watch/read the news?
Very sporadically.  I get breaking news from cnn sent to my email, that is usually my only source of news!  And I do enjoy the Sunday paper.  But let's be honest, news comes secondary to ads and coupons.


2. how would you describe your "look"?
Usually it's simple, classic, comfortable.  (I'm a Charlotte)  But right now my look is very yoga pants chic.

3. did you play sports in high school or college?
Yep, I was a swimmer.

4. would you rather give up lipstick/gloss or high heels?
Right now...the heels for sure!  When I get down to my goal weight, I'll lose the lipstick.  Just a little chapstick is all I wear anyway.

5. what's your favorite show to watch on tv?
It's a toss up between Wednesday and Friday nights.  I'll go with the Wednesday line up: Survivor, American Idol, Modern Family, and Top Chef.  Oh, happy night of tv for me!  And love to my dvr!

6. would you rather bake or cook?
I enjoy baking more, but let's face it, can't get to my goal weight with baking.  Cooking it is!

7. shorts or skirts?
Skirts!  Not a big fan of shorts.

8. what's your favorite scary movie?
Favorite and scary movies are 2 terms that just don't go together in my vocabulary.

Zucchini Bread

This past weekend I was doing a little spring cleaning and found stacks upon stacks of old food magazines.  That promptly ended said cleaning as I sat down with them piled around me.  I went through them all, ripping out the recipes I wanted to save so I could get rid of the magazines.  Today I did a little refrigerator cleaning and found so much wasted food, I realized I have to do better using up what I have instead of finding a recipe and ignoring what I have to go buy something else.

2 of the things to use up were zucchinis and buttermilk.  I remembered seeing this recipe for zucchini bread in a Food & Wine magazine, the original called for yogurt instead of buttermilk.  I almost started to run out for some yogurt before reminding myself to substitute.  I'm sure this bread is fantastic with yogurt, but I was quite pleased with how it turned out with the buttermilk.

I think this might be the best bread I've ever made.  The crust has a nice crunch to it, not too hard, just perfect.  And the inside is not too dense, just light and moist. 

Zucchini Bread

Recipe adapted from Food & Wine Magazine (Sept. 2009)

1 cup walnut halves
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp buttermilk
1 cup coarsely grated zucchini

Preheat oven to 325.  Spray a loaf pan with Pam baking spray, or butter and flour.  Spread walnut halves on a skillet and toast for about 8 minutes, until they are fragrant.  Transfer the walnuts to a cutting board and coursely chop them.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and powder, and salt.  In a medium bowl, mix together the eggs, sugars, vegetable oil, and buttermilk.  Add the dry ingredients along with the grated zucchini and toasted walnuts and stir until the batter is evenly moistened.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, until the loaf is risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let the loaf cool on a rack for 30 minutes before unmolding and serving.

Link Love: Breads

Lately the baking bug has been biting me repeatedly.  As much as I want to say no, then I think..well it won't hurt.  I'll just make it and give it, just get it out of my house and I'll be fine.  In theory that works quite well, unless you are lingering with those you give to, then eat a bit or twelve. 

I blame the baking bug on other people's blogs.  There have been some wonderful posts lately on breads.  Here's a few:

Quick Banana Bread by Yadi at Shop.Cook.Make:  ~ I just love her blog by the way, gorgeous photos and tempting recipes!

Ice Cream Bread by Leslie at The Hungry Housewife: ~Seriously, you need to see this recipe!

Peanut Butter Bread with Struesel Topping by Mary at One Perfect Bite:  Um, hello!  Peanut Butter AND struesel topping!?  Perfection indeed!

Garlic Rosemary Bread by Julia at Fat girl trapped in a skinny body:  I can't wait to try this one!

Cheesy Pepperoni Pizza Quick Bread by Jenny at Picky Palate:  I'm dying right now, dying ya hear?  I need this in my belly right now!

Noooooooooooooooooow you see why I currently have a loaf of zucchini bread in my oven?  If it turns out half as pretty as the photos above I will post it later tonight!

GTKY Sunday!

Woohoo, Getting to Know You time!!  I'm not so sure about the questions this week.  I wanna go back to last week's since I missed them, but you know, maybe against the rules or something so here goes:

(First, a pretty picture)

1. do you weigh yourself?

Not so much.  When I lose my first 20 pounds I'll start to weigh regularly but at this weight it only ruins my day to see what I weigh.

2. what's the nastiest thing you've ever eaten?

I don't get too adventurous when it comes to food ~ Anthony Bourdain I am not.  One time I was in Puerto Rico and went out for Chinese food.  I ordered chicken, and I know the stereotype about that I try not to play into it.  But seriously, this was NOT chicken.  It grosses me out to think about what it really could have been. **shudder**

3. snail mail or email?

Snail mail is nice but who remembers to buy stamps anymore?  Email.

4. do you have any irrational fears...what are they?

Plenty of irrational fears.  My hubs would probably have a laugh at that understatement.  I can't read scary or heart thumping books or watch such movies because I will turn chicken little at night.  The latest was the movie The Fourth Kind.  I swear I will be woken by alien owls at 3:33am.  **shudder**

5. do you play an instrument?

I keep thinking I'd really like to learn the guitar but there are a million other things I'd like to do first.  No is the answer to this question!

6. would you rather be bitten by a snake or attacked by a bear?

Oh my.  Seriously?  **shudder** again.  Aw, man!  Aw...do I really have to pick one of those?  I guess the snake.

7. do you ever go braless in public?

Only if I have on a shelf bra tank and something else over that. 

8. today i am thankful for........................?

Oreo truffles, family and friends, a fun night out last night with hubs, Sunday morning motivation, and dunkin donuts coffee.

 

 

Thanks, Keely, for the Sunday morning **shudders**!!!

 

Head over to MannLand5 to link up!

Oreo Truffles

I think this recipe has been around for a while now, and to be honest I don't know where it originated.  But lemme just say, it's uber easy to make, ridiculously easy! And I'm sure hoping they are still around for me to bring to the lovely ladies at work tomorrow.

All you do is take a package of oreos, remove about 8.  Eat 3, and put 5 in the food processor.  Set the crumbs aside.  Then process the rest of the package and put those in a separate bowl. 

Add 1 block of softened cream cheese to the oreo crumbs and mix well.  Form them into balls, dip them into melted chocolate, and then take the saved crumbs and sprinkle it over the chocolate.  Refrigerate them and Enjoy!

I used Godiva vanilla bean white chocolate...

And Lindt extra creamy milk chocolate.

The only question is...

Will they last for me to bring to work tomorrow?

Only time will tell. 

Only time will (munch munch) tell.