Showing posts with label arnold palmer tea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arnold palmer tea. Show all posts

Monday, February 1, 2010

Monday - Dinner


Jason and I ate at Sandy Magee's last week and I had some Chilled Avocado Soup. I searched high and low for a recipe. I came across several but I really wanted to find one from a trusted source rather than just another online blog. Finally, my uncle's niece (She's not my cousin. I may be getting our relation mixed up somehow. We're family. That's what I know.) emailed me her chilled avocado soup recipe. I adapted this recipe from hers. I posted what I did but put in parenthesis the original.

Chilled Avocado Soup
5 avocados, peeled pitted and mashed (4 avocados)
2 cucumbers, diced (3 cucumbers)
3 garlic gloves, crushed (2 garlic cloves)
4 cups buttermilk
1 cup plain yogurt (2/3 cup yogurt)
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp cayenne (1 tsp tabasco)
1 tbsp sea salt
2 tbsp dried basil (1 cup fresh basil, chopped)
(1/2 cup red onion)

Blend everything in a food processor until smooth.


I also made stuffed celery tonight. Except I didn't have an extra avocado so it didn't turn out quite right. It was still pretty delicious. I'm just going to post the original recipe and promise to do it correctly next time.

Stuffed Celery
5 celery stalks
1 avocado, peeled pitted and mashed
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 roma tomato, finely chopped
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cups green chilies, finely chopped
seat salt to taste

Combine everything except the celery sticks. Cut celery sticks into quarters and arrange on a plate. Stuff the celery and enjoy!

We drank more Arnold Palmer with dinner and we were all over proud of ourselves. Then we watched a movie and they ate ice cream. Then we really, really craved ice cream. Then we went to the store and bought ice cream. We came home and ate ice cream. After doing sooooo good with dinner, we messed it up with ice cream. Tomorrow is Fettuccine Not Alfredo. We'll see how that goes.

This Weekend


Saturday morning I had eggs, fruit, and yogurt.
Veggie Egg Delight
1/2 cup Green bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 cup Red onion, finely diced
1/4 cup Portabella mushroom, finely diced
1/2 cup Roma tomatoes, finely diced
Shredded cheese to taste (I prefer mozzarella but in the picture, I used cheddar)
3 farm fresh eggs
Rosemary
Thyme
Sea salt
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh basil, minced
Smidgen of milk
Olive oil

Heat up your skillet. Pour enough olive oil in to cover the bottom. Break the eggs into a bowl with the milk. Whip with a fork until frothy. Add your spices. Set aside. Throw all of your veggies into the skillet. Add a smidgen more olive oil to keep it from drying out. The tastiest way to cook them is let them simmer on low heat for about 8 minutes. The healthiest way is to flash sautee. Turn the heat up and stir them in olive oil for a few minutes. When you bite into the veggies, they will still crunch this way. Add your eggs once the veggies are cooked to your liking. Scramble at medium heat. I prefer hard scrambled so I usually leave them on the stove for about 5 minutes. If you want soft scrambled (more runny), it takes less than 2 minutes. You have to keep stirring them so they don't burn to the bottom of the pan. Turn off the stove and remove pan from heat. Sprinkle cheese over top and let sit while you prepare your yogurt.

Sweet Vanilla Yogurt
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
4 tablespoons agave nectar
vanilla extract to taste
1/4 cup grapenuts

This is a variation on a recipe I used earlier this week. I made this one pretty and didn't stir it up together until I sat down to eat it. If you want pretty, follow these instructions. If you want just regular yogurt, follow Thursday or Friday - breakfast lunch. Although, I made both of those pretty too.
Scoop the yogurt into a pretty bowl in a nice round plop. Using a the back of a spoon, make a shallow lake in the top. Pour the agave into the lake, allowing it to spill over the edges. Pour the vanilla into the lake. Most if it will stay in the top, making it darker. Sprinkle your grapenuts over the entire bowl like tiny, leafless trees. Viola! You've got a bowl of yogurt that looks like a snowy hill in the winter! Not my winter, of course. I live in Texas.

The last part is mostly up to you. Choose your favorite sweet fruits, cut them up, and enjoy! I used strawberries, bananas, and grapes. Grapes don't fare too well with the sweet yogurt but they taste wonderful by themselves :)

By now, your cheese has melted. Slide the entire egg creation onto a plate. Don't scoop it out, slide it, so the cheese stays on top. Serve it all together and you've got a delicious, mostly healthy*, filling breakfast!

*Yogurt gets an 8 on a scale of 10 for healthiness because it's a dairy product and those aren't too good for you all the time. I wouldn't recommend eating dairy daily. Fruit gets a 10, as long as its fresh. Frozen fruits only go down to a 9 though. In deliciousness, frozen fruits get a 6 and fresh gets a 10. The eggs get a 5 because they aren't healthy but they aren't detrimental. The longer you cook the veggies, the less healthy they become. I recommend flash sauteed.




Saturday for lunch was pizza. I did not cook because we went out antique shopping. I know what you're thinking. Pizza isn't on the diet! Oh, my friend, you are wrong! It may not be incredibly healthy, but it sure was close! Its called a Margherita Pizza. No, you can't drink it. No, you won't get drunk. Yes, your tummy and taste buds will scream in delight! We ordered it from a local pizzeria that operates with a stone oven. They claim to have all fresh ingredients and their crust is whole wheat. No, it didn't taste like whole wheat. Yes, the ingredients tasted like they were over nighted directly from Sicily. I have yet to try to make it myself but I can almost guarantee it's on the menu sometime in the next week or two. I have yet to decide on a specific recipe but here's the basic ingredients (I've gathered this from looking at several online recipes: parsley, garlic, oregano, tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, fresh mozzarella, Parmesan, feta. I've seen some that has onion, some that adds chicken, and various other things. Basically, tomato, mozzarella, and basil give this pizza a superb, one of a kind taste.
Saturday snack I had some cut up fruits with agave drizzled over it. Dad cooked chicken breast for dinner with avocado toast. Tasty.
Sunday breakfast was again very difficult for me. I ate chips and drank a root beer about 10 AM. Lunch was a little better but still not fantastic. It was fend for yourself at the Hochstettler home. Which always ends up a tasty meal, regardless. I had a croissant with some very delicious, very soft cheese. I also ate part of an apple and some macaroni. Last night for dinner was semi healthy. We ate at Olive Garden. Spinach artichoke dip for appetizer. We both had creamy soups for starters, and way too much bread. I then had the stuffed chicken with mushroom garlic mashed potatoes. Jason had the seafood fettuccine. To be honest, though, I don't entirely remember what he had only that it was noodles and seafood. He added cayenne to it. Who's surprised? Not I. No, that's not a picture of the dip from last night. That's a Google image. We ate last night's food too fast to capture it on film... er... SD card... I am currently searching for the perfect spinach artichoke dip online because Jason absolutely loves the stuff. It is our appetizer where ever we go.
This morning, I woke up a bit late and decided to eat lunch for breakfast instead of the other way around, which I have been doing the past week. I had left over bread and stuffed chicken from Olive Garden with a homemade Arnold Palmer.

In conclusion, weekends are not very healthy for me. I slip easily and blog lazily. Oops.

Tonight is the chilled avocado soup I've been itching to make and a small veggie salad with avocado dressing.


Til' 'morrow