I only SAY that I don't like ice cream

I know it seems unlike me but I really don't like to have conversations on the medical area shuttle bus in the morning. This is my "play with my new phone time". However, this girl got on the bus last week with about a million bags, a cup of coffee and a big platter. There were no seats so she asked me to hold her coffee while she reorganized all of her stuff. I was not feeling generous enough to offer her my seat (let's be real) but i did offer to hold the platter...which meant that she then felt comfortable telling me about how she made this dessert for her coworker. HOLY. It sounded so good. I just found it online and I swear, one of you needs to invite me to a summer BBQ so I can have an excuse to make it.

FROZEN BANANA SPLIT

24 (3.5-ounce) ice-cream sandwiches, unwrapped

6 medium bananas, peeled and thinly sliced

1 (12.25-ounce) jar hot-fudge sauce

1 (10-ounce) jar maraschino cherries, drained and finely chopped

1 (8-ounce) package milk chocolate covered toffee bits, divided

1 (12.25-ounce) jar butterscotch ice-cream topping

1 (8-ounce) container frozen nondairy whipped topping, thawed

Line a 13 by 9-inch baking pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Place half of ice-cream sandwiches evenly over bottom of pan, completely covering bottom, cutting sandwiches to fit, if necessary. Top evenly with banana slices. Pour hot fudge sauce over bananas. Top with cherries and 1/2 of the toffee bits and pour butterscotch evenly on top. Layer with remaining ice cream sandwiches and spread whipped topping over sandwiches; sprinkle with remaining toffee bits.

Cover and freeze for at least 4 hours. Remove from pan, using foil handles. Cut into squares and serve.

**********************

And because everyone likes to go from thinking about ice cream to thinking about my feet, here's a swelling update - my feet/ankles/calves are looking somewhat normal again. Basically I drank a ton of water, stopped having any artificial sweetener, had a little bit of salt (seems counter intuitive but does help), ate a ton of asparagus, ate a ton of non-processed food, etc...I still appreciate CCBL's reaction. :)

Whoopie Pies

I decided to make Whoopie Pies for cooking club today. The theme is "quick and healthy"...so I went with "bad for you and sort of complicated". I don't listen to directions apparently.

I used the mix from WS - I thought this would make it easier but I'm not convinced. But it was red velvet and I am a sucker for red food during Valentine's Day so I bought it ($14!!!! And it only made six pies!!!).

The directions call for cream cheese frosting but I wasn't sure about that (KLG later pointed out that WS probably suggested cream cheese frosting because that is the usual pairing with red velvet cake - she's so smart! College professor and all that!). I polled some friends with the question "Do whoopie pies traditionally have cream cheese or marshmallow filling? Or is it just a buttercream frosting?".

Here are the responses:

- isn't it like whipped cream?

- i always thought marshmallow!

- I don't know. clearly the internet is working, i suggest you go there.

- i cant help! I am not sure I have ever had a whoopie pie.

- Not cream cheese for sure. Some involve marshmallow. I think the traditional filling is like frosting with a lot of Crisco.

- aren't they an Amish thing? i would say definitely not cream cheese.

My favorite part of my friends' responses is that some of them googled "whoopie pie recipe" and then sent me the exact same link - coincidentally the same site that I had read PRIOR to emailing them. Actually not coincidentally because it's the first suggestion if you google "whoopie pie recipe".

Do my friends (and husband and brother) think I don't know how to google?

Also I think it's funny that some friends called them an Amish thing and some called them a Maine thing - my friends are very geographically divided. If you do google "whoopie pie recipe" and click on the first link, you can read the whole history of whoopie pies. It's fascinating.

Anyway, they are now made (with a marshmallow filling per the New England recipe because I thought I should skip the raw eggs).

They look cute but I'm not sold - I can't wait to taste one!

Also, in totally unrelated but still food news, I bought almond butter yesterday. If I read another article about peanut exposure in utero or via breastmilk leading to peanut allergies or asthma, I will freak out. A special thanks to my employer - we get articles like this emailed to us once/week. I didn't mind them when it was a "job thing" but now I'm worried as a parent-to-be. Almond butter seems like a good alternative (NOT eating a nut butter is not an alternative). However, almond butter is TEN DOLLARS PER JAR. Seriously? This better be good.

Cottage Cakes

I was talking to Mike last night and saying that my blog had been really boring lately. He looked over at me and said "well, it's kind of always been boring. If I didn't know you, I wouldn't read it."...ouch.

ANYWAY!!!!!!!!! We went to Manchester VT with my brother and his wife over Labor Day weekend. The inn served these awesome cottage cakes for breakfast. It's SO easy.

1 cup cottage cheese
4 eggs (beaten)
4 tablespoon melted butter or margarine (this is a TON of butter - I think you could reduce it)
1/2 cup flour

1. Whisk the first 3 ingredients together.
2. Fold in flour.
   
3. Pour batter on a griddle, using medium high heat.
   
4. Serve with syrup.

And head up to Manchester VT! It's awesome and there is a quarry!

Bruschetta!

Hmmm...I emailed the bride (what???? I'm possessed!) and she gave me the same advice as CCBL - just call the restaurant!

Anyway, here's the deal: it's just bruschetta! REALLY? WHAT?

So he gave me the ingredients:
- tomatoes
- onions
- fresh garlic
- balsamic vinegar (that must have been the sweetness)
- capers (interesting)

I guess I'll try it out!

Little Burgers with Greek Salad

Recipe #3 - I pretty much stole this from Real Simple magazine but I took out stuff I didn’t like and added other stuff (ummm, cheese).

Box of couscous
1 pound ground beef (or turkey)
Salt and pepper
Other Mediterranean-like seasonings
4 plum tomatoes, quartered
1 cucumber, sliced into half-moons
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Hummus
Feta Cheese
Pita chips (cut up some pita and stick in oven at 350 for 5-10 min)


1. Start making the couscous.
2. Mix the beef, salt&pepper and any other seasonings together and make little patties.
3. Stick the little patties in a glass dish under the broiler for 5 min; flip them over for another 5 minutes. Apparently it’s impt to keep a close eye on this because the fat in the burgers can catch fire under the broiler. Thank you, Google. I used 93% lean so I figured I might be ok.
4. Mix the couscous, tomatoes and cucumbers together. Dress with olive oil and lemon juice.
5. Serve salad with mini burgers and pita chips and hummus.
6. Throw feta all over everything.

Fish Tacos

As most of you know, I'm OBSESSED with a certain Mexican place that has burned down and I obsessively have been looking for a fantastic steak burrito or fish taco since the fire. I never even thought about MAKING it on my own until last week.

Also, Mike has a tendency to buy random protein products and stick them in the freezer. He's really good about cleaning out the freezer (whereas I usually forget to even look in there) but he would be happy with a random George-Foreman-ed piece of meat/fish and I like something a little fancier.

Anyway...Mike bought some Mahi-Mahi from Trader Joe's a while ago and it inspired me to find a recipe for fish tacos.

Mahi-Mahi (dude, if I knew how much, I would have my own cookbook)
Olive oil
2 limes
Taco seasoning (we have A LOT of taco seasoning in this condo – we make a lot of tacos)
Handful of chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Sliced red onion
Tortillas (we use the low carb ones – SO yummy)
Shredded white cabbage
Salsa
Sour cream

1. Mix together oil, the juice of 1.5 limes, some taco seasoning and some of the chopped cilantro leaves. Cover the fish with this marinade for 20 minutes (NO MORE THAN 20 MINUTES or you risk making seviche).
2. Grill the fish and the red onion (you’ll have to look up specific grilling instructions; I have no idea).
3. Place the fish and the red onion in tortillas and top with cabbage, salsa and sour cream.
4. Enjoy but realize it’s not as good as a certain Mexican restaurant.

Beet Salad

Here is the first of three recipes that I love:

Beet Salad - this is a Mamma original and takes about 30 seconds to pull together. It's nothing fancy...
- can of beets
- olive oil
- red wine vinegar (balsamic doesn't taste as good)
- one clove of garlic - minced (should be fresh if you can)
- oregano or Italian seasoning (which includes oregano)
- salt and pepper

1. Drain most of the beet juice and place the beets in a serving dish. It's best to do this in a wide dish so that the beets aren't resting on top of each other.
2. Drizzle with oil and vinegar, scatter garlic, oregano, salt and pepper.
3. Let it sit out for a few minutes (20 min would be ideal for the flavors to seep together).
4. If you're worried about garlic breath, you can pick them out now (the flavor is already seeped in).

Thoughts

1. I am SO happy that Mike is now a follower. I feel very cool.
2. I am waiting for before/after pictures of Meghan's hydrangea. I saw the cell phone pic and it was dangerously impressive.
3. I have three great recipes to post...but I've since found out that one of my recipes is actually a dirty word (according to the SW at work).

Dinner (again)

Dinner was so freaking good.

- Avocado and Grapefruit Salad
- Pork Chops (marinated in honey and soy sauce)
- Corn on the Cob







The salad is really easy and so good. For two servings, you need 1/2 avocado, 1 grapefruit, a little fresh tarragon (random), olive oil, salt, pepper and either lime or lemon juice.

1. Slice the avocado. 2. Cut the grapefruit into pieces (do this over a bowl so you can save the extra juice. 3. Mix the avocado and the grapefruit together. 4. Rip up a small amt of tarragon into little pieces. 5. Take the extra grapefruit juice and whisk it with the tarragon, some olive oil, some salt and pepper and a small amt of lime or lemon juice.

People in my home??????

M's graduation is on Saturday and we've got family coming over for dinner afterwards. I'm trying to decide if I should take everyone out to eat (probably for Mexican) or if I should pull together some easy platters to serve on the patio. 

Pros/Cons of Mexican: Easy/Expensive

Pros/Cons of the patio: Cheap/Time-intensive/Must Clean/People will be at my condo all night

Anyway, I'm sure "cheap" will win out so now I've got to pick a menu. 

Thoughts:

Apps - probably not; maybe cheese/crackers or hummus/pita

Salad - I'm thinking mozz/tomatoes/basil (do most people like that?)

Entrees - either make or buy some platters (meatballs, baked ziti, chicken/broc/pasta)

Bread

Dessert

Drinks

Any suggestions would be AWESOME (unless it's deviled eggs and pastries, CCBL!!!). 

Biscotti

It's absolutely ridiculous how lazy I am when it comes to typing. For example, I've been meaning to post the biscotti recipe for a week now.

But I'm too lazy to type it out, so here's a glorious picture of the biscotti. If you want the recipe, let me know and I'll post it.

They are SO GOOD, by the way.

Rice Cooker and Comments

Since L commented about the rice cooking slowness, I realized I forgot to share something - last year, we bought a rice cooker. If you search for "rice cooker" on target.com, you'll see it. It's red and about $16.

I was never a big rice eater but the rice cooker really changed my tune. It's easy and always comes out right.

AJS/CCBL, my 3 readers have complained that they have to jump through hoops to leave comments. Suggestions?

Grilled Chicken & Oranges

Here is the dinner from last night:

Chicken with Grilled Oranges (totally stolen and simplified from Martha Stewart)
- http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/sour-orange-grilled-chicken-paillards?autonomy_kw=Sour-Orange%20Grilled%20Chicken%20Paillards&rsc=header_2

Marmalade (I used 1/2 jar of sugar-free apricot preserves because that's what we had)
Splash of lemon juice
Coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
A package of chicken cutlets (thin sliced)
2 oranges

1. Mix marmalade, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Reserve half for serving (I leave the other half in the kitchen because my biggest fear is getting raw chicken juice near anything).
2. Slice oranges.
3. Brush marmalade mixture on chicken and throw on grill.
4. When you flip the chicken, brush more marmalade mixture on them.
5. Throw oranges on grill (oh my goodness, SO good).
6. Serve chicken and oranges with the reserved marmalade mixture.
7. I also grilled asparagus (with Pam, salt and pepper) and made brown rice (and stirred in scallions, blackberries, strawberries and rice vinegar).

Ang, I think it's all dairy/soy-free!

Chocolate Biscotti recipe coming soon!

Dinner

M turned over a new leaf last week in which he (we) eat healthy, colorful foods, work out a lot, breath fresh air, get plenty of sleep, etc, etc, etc...let's call it The Health Manifesto.

Well, the manifesto didn't do too well over the weekend (ahem, because one of us was drinking through numerous sporting events and the other went on a "gross food" supermarket spree at 1am with her coworkers) so I thought I'd try for a healthy dinner tonight:
- grilled chicken with a low-sugar apricot glaze and grilled oranges
- grilled asparagus
- brown rice with scallions, blackberries and strawberries

SO GOOD!

And now I'm making chocolate/hazelnut biscotti - ruining our health all over again. But delicious!!!

p.s. I need photos, I know!