The Most Amazing "Place" for Gifts!

I was just made privy to these amazing products on an innovative new site, Quirky.com. They use the internet to bring inventors together. A good idea can be collaborated on by many, and finally put into production after enough interest (pre-sale) is established. The site is genius in itself, and the inventions are a little bit of brilliant.

I am absolutely enthralled with the Wrapster earbud detangler! I swear I've been looking for a product like this for years. I've tried so many different approaches and none of them have worked in the long run. Currently my ear buds lay tangled in a pouch in my purse, somehow I think if the tangle is confined it's not as bad; but it is, it's bad. I can't fully attest to this product since I haven't tried it out, but I am so excited to!

I honestly don't know where to start (or end) with my gushing over these products. There are wonderful gift ideas for friends and family of all ages…I imagine this is how people felt when the first Sharper Image opened in 1977. And just in time for the Holidays!

Enjoy!

Pregnancy and Anti-Support (from other Pregnant Women!)

So this is my first child and I'm not really the kind to baby (pardon the pun) any personal challenges (ie pregnancy)...so I come on the boards and look out for threads/topics that I relate to, and chime in; but I've noticed something really weird (awful, b*tchy?) about the way pregnant women post: As much support as you get on a subject, you get equal amounts of anti-support. I mean, if a post is about feeling fat in the first trimesters (before you're really showing, but have lost your waistline) then why (oh why) would you go on there and say "i've lost weight and i feel great!". That is not supportive. Start a new thread called "i've lost weight and I feel great" and that way you and the others who share that sentiment can relish, and leave the ones who are feeling crap and want (/need) to moan about it do so on their own thread. The simplest way to look at it is; this thread is about something negative, don't go on and say 'I'm so glad I don't have what you have!'. It's just rude. This really seems so simple to me, but I keep seeing it on the Online Pregnancy Boards. Or the women who go on the 'name poll' boards and say 'I hate that name". Shut up. This isn't your Sister or your Cousin, or even a physical neighbors' 'name poll'; so just let it be. Sure, you can point out that maybe no one noticed the name could easily be mistaken for something awful; that is handy advice...but that's not what I'm referring to here. I guess I'm just one of those women who likes to support other women, rather than break them down. There are enough cultures, historical hang ups, and stereotypes that women have to endure and push through every day...why turn on each other? Why make Pregnancy harder than it already is?

Savory Meaty Mushroom and Bacon Bread Pudding

Perfect for the early coming of Fall, we made a savory Meaty Mushroom and Bacon Bread Pudding last night that had the nostalgia of Thanksgiving Stuffing with 1/10 of the work. Unfortunatley we didn't take pictures...sorry! Our version is adapted from a recipe found on Crumbly Icing who apparently originally grabbed it from Mainly Mushrooms.

I always try and use every last bit of every last thing (within reason) and that's how I first discovered the greatness of Bread Pudding. In this case we had people over three nights in a row, each night included fresh French Bread that was only half consumed. That left us with plenty of 'day(s) old' bread, that is perfect for Bread Pudding. Yay ;)

Our alterations from the original recipe account for the fact that we found the original recipe made too much filling for just four ramekins, and that one ramekin each was not sufficient for a main course.


Mushroom & Bacon Bread Pudding (Adaptation)

Serve with a protein, side salad and bold red wine to complement the rich features of this dish.

Makes 6 sides/ramekins.

2 T rosemary, minced
1/4 cup Asiago or Parmesan cheese, grated
2 oz. (250 g) guanciale or 2 slices thick-cut bacon, can be diced
1 cup chanterelles or other meaty mushroom, diced
2 shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups white bread cubes (you can use whatever you have left over, but we recommend French Bread)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups of 2% milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat; add guanciale or bacon and fry until meat is brown and cooked through. Remove meat and drain on paper towels – leave the rendered fat in the pan. Cut guanciale into small pieces and put in a small bowl. Leave skillet on medium heat.

Mix rosemary and Asiago cheese in a small bowl; set aside. Whisk eggs, milk, salt, and pepper together in a medium bowl; set aside. Grease 6 6 oz. ramekins with some of the rendered fat.

Add chanterelles to the skillet and saute until tender. Combine with the guanciale pieces.

Fry the shallot and garlic until just brown; combine with mushrooms and guanciale mixture.
Combine Egg/Milk mixture with Shallot/Garlic/Mushroom/Guanciale mixture. Make sure the mixture is room temperature and finally mix with Rosemary/Cheese! Fill those ramekins!!

Bake ramekins on a foil-lined tray for 35 minutes or until set and golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes.

Run a small paring knife around the edge of each ramekin, invert, and then re-invert onto a plate.

Enjoy!!

Love

I love it when countdowns break from days to hours <3

starting something new

as we near (careen?) closer to the due date (november 4th) i feel like the to-do list is growing as fast as my belly, yet there are several items on the list that we really cannot control. we're at a standstill with our house and i've zen-ed out on the waiting game; "worry" never got anyone anywhere, right?

so i thought i would take control of another part of life and a totally unrelated (long standing) to-do item, i'm finally going to (finally) put some (serious) time into learning the guitar. yee ha. maybe, eventually, i will learn 'yee ha' style guitar; but for now i'm focusing on the basics and will move from there to 'motown'. cool? yeah?

luckily i already have a beautiful guitar and a background in strings. i bought some books with audio components, but actually think i'm going to use the Garage Band tutorials to start. knowing Steve Jobs is such a huge music fan, i'm hoping he put some of magic in Garage Band...finger plucking, fingers crossed :)

we're having a baby!

so of course i spend way too much time on mommy blogs. and of course there are some amazing mom's out there. i'm going to be taking some tips and learning some tricks, it should be fun. it looks fun.

too bad that in real life i had a full on 'mother to be' freak out by spending a bit too long with real life children. the screaming. the smearing of foods on any and every surface. i've been on so many blogs and none of them have the rubber body suit i'm going to want to wear. i'm adding 20 pairs of rubber gloves to my baby registry. which i'm hoping i'll only want when encountering other people children...that's the hope ;)

Hoots n' Hollers

I do not like Hoots from a car
I do not like them in a bar

I do not like them on the street
I do not like them in the heat

I did not like them yesterday
I will not like them any way

International Buffalo and Blue Mac n' Cheese

This was not only amazing because of it's deliciousness, but *also* because we were able to make it without 'Franks Red Hot Buffalo Sauce'. Every recipe I found suggested Franks. Franks, Franks, Franks. Well, I'm in Holland; there is no Franks. Instead we used a Dutch brand's 'Tex Mex' Hot Sauce. The ingredients made for a good substitute and we used creative discretion with Cayenne Pepper, Onion Powder, and Garlic Powder; to complete the 'Tex Mex' to 'Buffalo' Sauce transition. Substituting is the name of the game when cooking in foreign lands :)

I have to make a special point for one of the best features of this recipe, the two kinds of bread crumb toppings! Absolutely delicious!! Definitely something we'll be throwing into future recipes.

Here you have it! Our 'International Buffalo and Blue Mac n' Cheese'!

(Serves 8 to 10)

3/4 lb elbow macaroni
2 cups *special hot sauce
8 T. unsalted butter
2 Chicken Breasts; cooked and shredded
1/4 cup flour
4 cups low-fat milk, heated to a simmer
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 oz white medium/sharp cheese, grated
8 oz white mild cheese, grated
3 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1 cup bread crumbs
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 T. extra-virgin olive oil

*Franks red hot is recommended, but improvisation can be equally delicious

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add salt and the pasta, and cook. Drain and set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the hot sauce and 5 T. butter, and swirl together to incorporate. Reserve 1 cup of the buffalo sauce and set aside. Add the remaining sauce to the shredded chicken and mix well. Set aside until needed.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Melt the remaining 3 T. butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the flour to make a roux and whisk until it is nice and smooth. Cook for a couple minutes to cook out the raw flour flavor, but do not allow the roux to brown. Add the hot milk a little at a time, whisking in between each addition, until all of it has been added. Cook, constantly whisking, about 5 to 8 more minutes on medium heat until thickened, allowing it to bubble and simmer, but not come up to a full boil. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and whisk in the shredded cheeses, a little at a time until completely combined.

Once the cheeses are all combined and melted, add the pasta and stir to coat. It will be very cheesy and very saucy. Fold in the celery and shredded buffalo chicken. Pour the pasta mixture into a 3-quart shallow baking dish. Drizzle 1/2 of the reserved buffalo sauce over the top.

Add 1/2 cup of the bread crumbs to a small mixing bowl and add the garlic and blue cheese. Use your fingers to cut the blue cheese chunks into the bread crumbs as if you're making biscuits, yielding a mixture of pea-sized blue cheese/bread crumb chunks. Add the remaining buffalo sauce and combine. Crumble the mixture over the top of the casserole.

In the same small mixing bowl, add the remaining bread crumbs and olive oil and mix to combine. Distribute the bread crumb mixture over the pasta. You now have a double crust of blue cheese-buffalo-bread crumbs, and regular bread crumbs. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until nice and bubbly, and golden brown. Allow the pasta to cool for a minute before serving, as it will be extremely hot.

Enjoy!

FAQ FUN

Sometimes FAQ's make me laugh. I was trying to find out the measurements for substituting Vanilla Yogurt for the Eggs/Oil in Brownie Mix...Betty Crocker made it quite clear:

Q. I made the low-fat fudge brownie mix and the brownies seem chewy.
A. That’s normal for brownies made with less fat. Fat is what makes brownies moist, fudgy and tender.

Message received.

HELLO HOLLYWOOD: matt damon y marlon brando

I think Matt Damon can/could be the next Marlon Brando. I said it. There. I said it first?

P.S. Maybe there will also be updates to this blog called, "HELLO HOLLYWOOD". I just don't see why not.

You say 'left overs', I say 'yum'!

So!

I decided to add some cooking stuff to the mix. Isn't that great?! Say it with me, "That's great!".

Moving forward, I'd like to share a new recipe I found for transforming 'left over' rice into a 'right under' (opposite of 'left over') treat. I found this recipe on so many different blogs and websites, that I don't know where it's true origin lies...anyway, it works. It's great.

I highly suggest the trying of different sauces depending on the original rice used. We had a garlic rice with a hint of soy, to start. I added an additional egg white to the recipe (included below), since my original rice had dried out a bit....Upon ingesting, I dipped my Rice Fritter into Soy Sauce and was very pleased. The Man dipped his in Sweet Chili Sauce and was also very happy. We ended up having to splinter the remaining fritters off into fractions towards the end, since they were a) so delicious and b) we were hungry.

Recipe!:

1 cup cooked rice, packed

1 onion, grated

1 egg

1 egg white

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Vegetable oil for frying

(All below was found on various other sites/blogs, but is still useful information)

Combine all the ingredients except for oil and mix well. In a pan, heat oil for shallow frying. When the oil is hot, add a tablespoon of batter, pressing down slightly to form a flat fritter. Fry one side until golden and flip. If there are many holes in the fritter, add more cornstarch to the batter. Drain fritters on paper towels to absorb excess oil.

Serve with your favorite sauce and/or saucy experiment.

Enjoy!

i made a funny joke...

then I made this. maybe not as funny as the original joke, but not bad?