Buzzin' about honey.....

September is National Honey Month. I love honey...I mean I reaaaaaallly love honey. I love how it tastes, I love how it looks, I love how it pours, I love to cook with it, I love the little bees that make it and how it looks in the comb. It is one of the most natural, gorgeous-looking foods that is soooo good for you, as is. Honey is a natural builder for your immune system as well as a natural, home remedy for lots of ailments! And let's be totally honest--it was honey that made the 9 1/2 weeks movie famous--everyone remembers the honey!

Honey is a natural sugar that absorbs super-fast into your bloodstream, unlike processed sugars. It is also a great natural sweetener in your tea or coffee or yogurt. If you work out, a spoonful of honey before you head out will give you enormous energy to go that extra mile. If you lose your energy at the end of the day, instead of having one of those processed sugar-filled energy drinks, spread a little honey on a piece of wheat toast and you will get that same boost, but naturally. If your kids have a particularly long day at school coming up or big tests in their future, make sure for lunch that day you pack a peanut butter and honey sandwich. That little boost of 'honey-love' will give them that little extra punch to get through the day with lots of energy!

You've probably heard a lot about our honeybee population dying out and the dangers that could cause. My daughter, my little nature lover and protector of the world, was explaining this to me some time ago, so I looked it up. According to the Dept. of Agriculture, "honeybees pollinate 80% of our flowering crops which constitute 1/3 of everything we eat. Their loss could effect not only dietary staples such as apples, broccoli, strawberries, nuts, asparagus, blueberries and cucumbers, but may threaten our beef and dairy industries if alfalfa is not available for feed." So protect those little honeybees!

Love your honey--the human one in your life and the one that is the golden elixir that is soooo good for you....

...isn't that gorgeous?

He's my lobster......

At 11 am this morning, 18 years ago, Sal and I said "I do". Oh what young, naive kids we were then. It blows me away to think how much he and I have gone through in these 19 years--18 married ones--together. Here's how the love story started: It was the summer of 1990, girl is at Smithhaven Mall on Long Island, NY raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Boy is at mall and stops to make a donation to MDA. Girl and boy start chatting. Boy gives girl his business card, girl calls, there is a date. Two weeks later (yes, 2 weeks!), boy and girl get engaged. The next summer boy and girl become husband and wife.

We have been through so much in these 19 years together--many 'friends' saying we were crazy for getting engaged so soon, my parents fighting the impending marriage with all they had, lots of moves around the country, the launching of Sal's accounting business, the losses of lots of family members including both of our Dad's, the birth of one gorgeous daughter, 2 car accidents, a few heated discussions, one knee operation, lots of great vacations, 3 saved souls, the gain of 4 kitties and the loss of 2 of them, a few tears, some frustrations and just bucket loads of laughs.

Through all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly--I cannot imagine my life any other way. He is truly my best friend and I would move heaven and earth for him. I like knowing that no matter what happens on any given day, I can count on him to have my back and I, his. I love, love, love you baby. To quote Phoebe from Friends "He's her lobster". Yep, he is.

A beautiful weekend, full of family, friends and food....

So the weekend started with a quiet dinner with my husband and daughter. I spent part of the afternoon cooking dark chocolate brownies and white chocolate, macadamia nut, dried cranberry blondies for our neighborhood cookout. While pulling them out of the pan, one of the blondies 'accidentally' broke, so it became my taste tester brownie. Man, are they good. The right amount of buttery....buttery-ness, brown sugar richness, white chocolate sweetness and the slight tartness from those cranberries. I had sprinkled a little kosher salt on top to offset the extra sweet from the white chocolate, which was the perfect call. The way I can tell if the food worked is if the platter is cleaned shortly after I set it down and it was. I mean there wasn't a crumb left. yay!

I went to see Julie and Julia Saturday with my friend Kellie. Wow. What a fun movie. Anyone who has any interest in cooking--or eating--would love this movie. And Meryl Street---just owned the body, voice and mannerisms of Julia Child. She was brilliant, as she always is. If the storyline was true to the actual life of Julia Child, she would have been someone I would have loved to hang with. She was so fun and full of life and had a great sense of humor. The love that she and her husband shared was beautiful--they were truly in love with each other. Even though French cooking is not my thing, I'm more of a rustic cook, it made me want to grab Julia's French cookbook, pick one of the recipes and just do it in her honor--kind of like Julie did in the movie with the entire cookbook. The scene with the lobsters was sooooo me. I've never 'knifed' a live lobster and will probably cry the first time. lol....it is really good.

Dinner today with the family went very well. The weather was just perfect around noontime, so we ate outside on the porch. The neighborhood was quiet and it was the perfect Southern luncheon. On the menu: baked eggs and poblano peppers stuffed with homemade turkey chorizo (for the spicy), baked eggs with a light pork sausage (for the mild), sweet potato & leftover shortrib hash with maple syrup, homemade roasted 4-nut & fruit granola, an heirloom tomato parmesan tart, organic chicken sausage (those were bought) and lots of fresh fruit. Also cinnamon bread and mimosa's. It was all spectacular. I have to say out of all of it, the tomato parmesan tart still blows me away. It is soooo simple and so rustic, but just incredibly delicious and very light. I could have eaten the entire tart myself! I had a blast making this brunch. There were lots of leftovers for the family, too. I love when someone says "if there are any leftovers, I want some of this!". That is the greatest compliment to my cooking ever--that is was so good, you want it a second time.

While the family nibbled on some of the eggs for leftovers tonight, I had a pomegranate mimosa. To me, one who doesn't usually drink, it's a perfect way to cap a perfect weekend. I hope yours was blessed and beautiful as well!

The weeeeeekend!

It's gonna be hot again! I have some little landscaping things I want to do. It will be very little because of how hot it's gonna be.

Tomorrow morning, a friend and I are going to go see Julie and Julia, the movie about Julia Child and the cook who discovers her own passion for food. Kellie and I both love to cook, so we’ve waited until both of our schedules would allow us to go together. I’m so excited about seeing her and the movie. If you are a foodie of any level I understand it’ll make you wanna cook even more!

After that, the family will go to church. We are right in the middle of a series about the Exodus out of Egypt. It's all about digging deep and staying truly committed in your faith, even during the toughest of times. Always a good thing to be reminded of from time to time!

After church, our subdivision is having a cookout. It’s our Labor Day celebration, one weekend early. We figure no one will be around during the actual holiday weekend. The ‘odd’ addresses on the street are to bring a side dish. Ours is an ‘even’ address on the street so I have been charged with bringing dessert. Tonight I am baking big batches of dark chocolate brownies and white chocolate macadamia nut blondies….yummmmmy.

Sunday, I’m having my family over after their Sunday church services. I love breakfast for dinner and so do they, so Sunday, I am doing breakfast for lunch--baked eggs & Chili Rellenos stuffed with turkey chorizo, homemade granola, cinnamon bread french toast, sweet potato hash, grilled fruit & mimosa’s. I make my own chorizo using ground turkey, instead of the pork and beef that is standard. It lightens it up considerably and I can control what goes in it. If you’ve ever read the ingredient list on packaged chorizo, you understand! You have to make it a couple of days ahead though, so those spices have time to really develop, so that’s what I’m doing later today. Sunday night will truly be for rest.....oh, yeah, and for watching True Blood too!

I am very excited about breaking bread with family and friends this weekend. I hope you have a lovely weekend! Stay cool!!!!

A thousand shades of green.....

It was one year ago this week that I was in Ireland. It was a gift to myself, a reward for having reached my weight loss goal previously in the year. It was my first trip abroad and given the whole world to pick from, Ireland was the first place I wanted to see.

Ireland is stunningly beautiful. It’s is rustic and old-world. It is soooo green and very stoney. It is magical and steeped in history. It is kind and deeply religious. And it still, thinking about it a lot this week, takes my breath away. I finally sat down earlier this year and scrapbooked about my trip, which gave me a chance to go through all my pictures and memories once more. I’m so glad I did that. Those little things, people I met, food I ate, things I saw and felt that I had forgotten about, that are now chronicled for me in that album. This is me at the Cliff of Moher. Yes, it was a very windy day!!! *sigh*

Do yourself the favor--pick that one place you dream of seeing and go--sometime. It may take you years to save up and then more to pay it off, but those memories, those stories, those feelings will last you a lifetime.

“I close my eyes and picture the emerald of the sea
From the fishing boats at Dingle to the shores of Donaghadee
I miss the river Shannon and the folks at Skibbereen
The midlands and the moorlands with their forty shades of green
Again I want to see and do the things we've done and seen
Where the breeze is sweet as Shalimar and there's forty shades of green”

~Johnny Cash "Forty Shades of Green"

Cookie monster.....

I love cookies. They are delicious, little hand held pockets of flavor, aren’t they? Individually sized, portable, filled or not, crispy or chewy….you can make them anyway you like them. Hands down, my favorite cookie is the classic Chocolate Chip cookie. There is nothing fancy about it or anything really difficult about making them. I think it’s the simplicity of them that make them so good. The butter, the salt, the sugar and the bittersweet chocolate….it’s ALLLL good! So my daughter did a field trip to the USS Midway Museum last year and they gave all the students a recipe card for the Chocolate Chip cookies that the ships cook made while the Midway was out at sea. I finally decided to try it a few months ago and WOW! It is the best recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies that I’ve made---and I’ve made a lot, believe me! It is such a straight forward recipe. Nothing fancy or unusual, just the usual ingredients, but MAN are they good! This is the original recipe and it makes a large amount of cookies so find some neighbors you can share with! You can easily cut this recipe in half though if you want a smaller amount. Enjoy!!!

USS MIDWAY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE

1 lb (4 sticks) butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp salt
4 cups & 8 Tbls all purpose flour
1 12oz bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream the butter in a very large bowl. Add both sugars to butter and cream well. Add the eggs and vanilla.

In a smaller bowl combine the baking soda, salt and 4 cups plus 8 Tbls flour. Add these dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Mix in bag of chocolate chips.

Spoon onto parchment lined cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes for smaller cookies. If you use ice cream scoop for large cookies, bake 13-17 minutes, depending on desired doneness.

"Get your tentacle out of my face!"

This is one of the funny lines from the movie District 9. I went to see it yesterday and it was really, really good. There were a couple of spots where it’s rather brutal, but as the movie rolled on, I so totally got sucked in. I’ll never be able to eat prawns again, that’s for sure. It is rated R, so not a kid movie, but if you are a sci-fi geek and wanna sneak off to the movies on your own—you should see this one. Peter Jackson is a master….

….and on a similar subject—what is it that makes movie popcorn so good? I don’t add butter to it or extra anything, but it’s just darn good. And it’s not like it is popped fresh right that moment. I’m sure you’ve seen them drag those monster bags of popcorn out of the back room and re-fill the bins…..maybe it’s that storage time—maybe it’s the ‘curing’. Mine was really, really tasty yesterday.

Best thing I ever did was give my daughter a crash course in making smoothies. I wanted to give her a healthy, quick breakfast idea that she could make on her own and she makes them almost every day now. I’m very proud of how creative she is on flavor combinations. She adds to my weekly grocery list the fruits and yogurt flavors she wants to ‘smoothie’. Click here for a link to some smoothie recipes I just ran across.

I read a great quote today: “Being negative drains us, while being positive energizes us”. I totally agree with this. Have you noticed when you have one of those negative days (we all have them), things just get more negative as the day rolls on and by the end of the day, you are just worn out! It’s like that old saying: “it takes more muscles to frown than to smile”….negativity uses a lot more energy that being positive does, for sure!

I hope you have a wonderful, positive Monday!