Easter and Lemon Coconut Cake, it's the perfect combination….

The women in our family love cake, especially any kind of lemon cake, well actually we love lemon anything.  The guys love lemon, too, but they're more of pie/cobbler/cookie guys, cake just isn't their thing.

So it's time to bake for Easter, and of course it has to be lemon, and coconut, I must have lemon and coconut for Easter, it's just the way I roll.   I was searching for a new recipe, and I found a really popular one on Pinterest, complete with 7-minute frosting, which I haven't made in years, and 7-minute frosting is just delightful, light, fluffy, yummy frosting, not heavy like cream cheese frosting, it's what mother always made when I was a child, good memories.  

After many discussions with my friend, Carlene, about this cake, I decided it was the "one" for Easter.  After all, it was filled with lemon curd, and we all know that lemon curd is absolute nectar of the gods, this cake had to be good.  So I made the lemon curd and popped it in the fridge the day before the family arrived, and got up Saturday morning to make the cake.  The house was busy, the kitchen a bit chaotic, as it always is when family is home, but it's the way I like it.  I got all the ingredients assembled, found the pans, lined pans with parchment, sifted, separated eggs, beat the ingredients separately, are you getting the idea, here?   This cake was a royal pain in the patootie!!!!

I took it out of the oven, it was lovely, I put it on the racks to cool, we left for lunch, my cake was sitting there with tea towels draped over it so it wouldn't dry out.  Later in the day, in between playing with Abbie and smooching Ben, I made the 7-minute icing, which actually requires ten minutes of beating with an electric mixer, eight of which is done over boiling water on the stove.  Egads, no wonder I don't make that frosting anymore, but oh, it's delightful.

The recipe called for splitting the layers of cake, and filling all of it with lemon curd, but I was pretty frazzled by this time,  and decided to just put both lemon curd and frosting between and on top of the cake.  It would work fine, right???   Wrong!!!!!  I had a heck of a time, the combination of lemon curd and frosting made the layers want to slide sideways, and  I had to keep adjusting, but it's a cake you chill, so I knew once I got it in the fridge, it would be fine.  Naturally, I forgot to take pictures *sigh* but it was a beautiful cake with a heavy dusting of moist coconut on the top.  But, oh, it was such a pain to make, I told everyone that they had better enjoy it, because I was never making it again!

By now it's Saturday night, the cake had chilled nicely, I cut slices of it, Lindsay took a bite and moaned, then Deanna declared it was one of the best cakes she had ever eaten, and I'm thinking, OH, NO, they like it, they REALLY like it!  And the guys, meh, not so much, but they're not cake eaters, remembers.

So will I be making it again?  Oh, sure I will.  My girls loved it, and that's what mothers-in-law do, they do special things to make their sweet daughters-in-law happy.  But the next time I'll make the entire cake before everyone arrives, I think it will be much easier that way.

And since I didn't have a picture of my cake, I emailed the originator, Celeste, from Sugar & Spice Blog, and she graciously let me use her picture. 

I'm posting the recipe on Jan CAN CAN Cook.  If you want a really spectacular, sinfully decadent cake, this is it, ladies!

Photo and original recipe courtesy of Celeste at Sugar & Spice Blog

Grandchildren…

These little precious souls are the most amazing things.   I haven’t posted newborn pictures of any of my girlfriend’s grandchildren in the past and I regret that because they are all just wondrous, and the older I get the more I realize how fleeting these moments are.   I get so excited when my friends become grandparents, it’s the next best thing as to when mine are born!

So without further ado, let me introduce you to Aubrey Evelyn, 7 pounds, 8 ounces, 20.5 inches long, born just before dawn to my friend Nisha’s daughter Mandi, her husband Eric and her big sister, Gabby.  Is this not the most adorable baby picture yet?  It’s the do rag, oh, how darling this child is!!!!  Congratulations, family, she’s just perfect!

 

I couldn't have said it better….

Someone near and dear to my heart sent me this first thing this morning.  It's just too funny not to share with you all.  I know, I know, I'm dropping the "F" bomb, but some times a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.  Know what I mean, Vern?

 

Facial Hair, Ughhhhhhhh….

My favorite lady on YouTube, that crazy Miss Tammy has done it again.  She posted a video that most women would never do, in fact, we all cringe at the thought of post-menopausal facial hair.  It happens, ladies, and it's not pretty, but this gutsy lady not only addresses it, but shows how she shaves the peach fuzz off her face.  I'm in awe...

 

Okay, I hate to even admit this...

I downloaded the AARP App for my iPad. I know, I know, so bad. But you know what's even worse? I like it.

 

~ Jan here, kicking and screaming, and not going silently into old(er) age.

 

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Have you bought bath towels lately?

 

I'm convinced that towel makers are now making towels longer to accommodate America's expanding waistlines.  Seriously, I think they must be.  I bought new towels recently, and every style I looked at were sooooo long.  And it's a good thing because they go around my body, however, when I put them on my head  to dry my hair, it's just not right.

It looks silly, that big wad of towel wrapped around my head, and it leans to one side, it's just wrong.  I'm thinking they need to make "hair" towels, because "hand" towels are too small for the turban wrap.

That is all, just bugging me and I had to vent….

Oh, I am SO amazed by this child….

You all know that I’m a computer nerd who spends her days just playing, well and working, too, on the computer.  Abby has always loved to sit at my desktop and watch YouTube videos, it’s the big screen, I think, and the fact that she can sit up close to view everything.  I always wondered how long it would be before I could teach her how to actually use the computer, but it turns out I didn’t have to teach her at all, she figured it out for herself.

Imagine my surprise when she was watching Tom and Jerry,  grabbed my mouse and started moving it around, actually putting it on different videos.  I showed her how to left click and she was off to the races.  She figured out the hand/eye coordination immediately and I was just blown away.  She started clicking and going to different sites, and looked up at me and just beamed!  And of course, I just beamed right back and told her how smart she was.    Then she started mousing over my bottom dock, and pulled up FaceTime.   I’m now convinced, more than ever, that she is actually going to be the rocket scientist that we always thought Mandi was going to be.  (private joke)

Dem Grandbabies came for Easter….

 

We had such a wonderful Easter.  The whole family came, it was a cool Easter, but the sun came out and we were able to be outside.

 

Abby put on P-Pa’s favorite t-shirt and dyed Easter eggs.  It was a huge success, too.  She put on glitter and stickers, it was so much fun for her.

 

Abby’s all dressed up in her Easter bonnet, complete with Mary Jane shoes and ruffled socks.  Such a sweet little girl.

Ben is all smiles, he’s a happy, giggly, drooly little baby, and don’t you just love those bare feet .  He’s just precious at almost eight months.

 

The guy’s took Tootie’s hardtop off.  It goes on at Thanksgiving and comes off at Easter.  Little Miss Poser is having a great time pretending to drive.

 

 

Grammie and P-Pa got Abby a butterfly kite for Easter.  Is there anything cuter than a little girl and a dog, running through the sunshine.

 

The wind wasn’t cooperating, but Uncle John managed to get the kite in the sky and Abby loved it.  It’s a great kite, if anybody is interested in it for their grandkids, here’s the link.

Trisher came over and took a family picture for us.  We don’t do this often enough. 

And that was our Easter, I hope you all had a good one, too…

Pioneer Woman's Favorite Jeans

 

Skinny Kick Jeans from American Eagle are Ree Drummond's very favorite jeans.  Just the name of them inspires legions of shoppers all across America to snap up one, two or three pairs of them as fast as possible.  

When I read her post about them, it mattered not that I'm old(er) and fat(ter), I zoomed over to American Eagle faster than the speed of light.  But of course, they are sold out of almost all sizes. *sigh*  American Eagle, I'm sure, doesn't know what hit them.  Pioneer Women groupies obviously bombarded them with sales, so we will have to wait until they restock.  The commenters said they ran large.  Large, bless their little hearts, that alone, will endear them to women everywhere.  And did I mention super stretch?  And they're only $39!  Heart be still!

Pioneer Woman says they're her favorite jeans, and that they are "real world" skinny jeans, meaning that they aren't as fitted as the spaghetti skinny ones you see in the store.  Of course the model in the picture below is probably a size 00, so on her they look tiny, tiny.  But hey, if they're good enough for Ree, they're good enough for Moi.  Now if American Eagle would just restock!  And yes, I'll update you when I finally am able to purchase them.  I'll probably be p*ssing and moaning about how awful they look on me.  But a girl's gotta dream, after all...

I know, you want the link, here it is, drool until you can buy them.  Here it is, antique medium is Pioneer Woman's fave…  And maybe they will make them in white for summer, or capris, oh the possibilities...

Grandparents

My friend, Marti, sent me the following grandparentisms.  Just had to share.  Enjoy!!!  ~   Jan

1. She was in the bathroom, putting on her makeup, under the watchful eyes of her young granddaughter, as she'd done many times before. After shenapplied her lipstick and started to leave, the little one said, "But Grandma, you forgot to kiss the toilet paper good-bye!" I will probably never put lipstick on again without thinking about kissing the toilet paper good-bye....

2. My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, 62. My grandson was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, "Did you start at 1?"

3. After putting her grandchildren to bed, a grandmother changed into old slacks and a droopy blouse and proceeded to wash her hair. As she heard the children getting more and more rambunctious, her patience grew thin. Finally, she threw a towel around her head and stormed into their room, putting them back to bed with stern warnings. As she left the room, she heard the three-year-old say with a trembling voice, "Who was THAT?" (I love this one!)

4. A grandmother was telling her little granddaughter what her own childhood was like. "We used to skate outside on a pond. I had a swing made from a tire; it hung from a tree in our front yard. We rode our pony. We picked wild raspberries in the woods." The little girl was wide-eyed, taking this all in. At last she said, "I sure wish I'd gotten to know you sooner!"

5. My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Grandma, do you know how you and God are alike?" I mentally polished my halo and I said, "No, how are we alike?''  "You're both old," he replied.

6. A little girl was diligently pounding away on her grandfather's word processor. She told him she was writing a story. "What's it about?" he asked. "I don't know," she replied. "I can't read."

7. I didn't know if my granddaughter had learned her colors yet, so I decided to test her. I would point out something and ask what color it was. She would tell me and was always correct. It was fun for me, so I continued. At last, she headed for the door, saying, "Grandma, I think you should try to figure out some of these colors yourself!"

8. When my grandson Billy and I entered our vacation cabin, we kept the lights off until we were inside to keep from attracting pesky insects. Still, a few fireflies followed us in. Noticing them before I did, Billy whispered, "It's no use Grandpa. Now the mosquitoes are coming after us with flashlights."

9. When my grandson asked me how old I was, I teasingly replied, "I'm not sure." "Look in your underwear, Grandpa," he advised "Mine says I'm 4 to 6."

10. A second grader came home from school and said to her grandmother, "Grandma, guess what? We learned how to make babies today." The grandmother, more than a little surprised, tried to keep her cool. "That's interesting." she said. "How do you make babies?" "It's simple," replied the girl. "You just change 'y' to 'i and add 'es'."

11. Children's Logic: "Give me a sentence about a public servant," said a teacher. The small boy wrote: "The fireman came down the ladder pregnant." The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. "Don't you know what pregnant means?" she asked.  "Sure," said the young boy confidently. 'It means carrying a child."

12. A grandfather was delivering his grandchildren to their home one day when a fire truck zoomed past. Sitting in the front seat of the fire truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog's duties. "They use him to keep crowds back," said one child. "No," said another. "He's just for good luck." A third child brought the argument to a close."They use the dogs," she said firmly, "to find the fire hydrants."

13. A 6-year-old was asked where his grandma lived. "Oh," he said, "she lives at the airport, and when we want her, we just go get her. Then, when we're done having her visit, we take her back to the airport."

14. Grandpa is the smartest man on earth! He teaches me good good things, but I don't get to see him enough to get as smart as him!

Isn't this the truth!

 

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The Best Easter Snoopy, EVER!

 

This one is for my buddy, V, a die-hard Peep's fan.  So funny!!!!

Williams Sonoma has discovered chickens...

 

The city farmers at WS are gearing up for summer with a catalog just chocked full of chicken coops, egg crates and baskets, bee keepers supplies, they have a whole line of goodies for the gentleman/lady farmer ;o

It's enough to make this old(er) country girl chuckle.  The younger generation will read this and dream of chickens in their back yard, cute little birds with feathers and fresh eggs, sounds good doesn't it?  Even hubby has been trying his darndest to talk my daughter-in-law, Deanna, who is a total sucker for any kind of animal, into a chicken coop.  Deanna's on board, John, however, isn't such an easy touch.  But why I'm laughing at the idea of all of these people buying chickens and supplies is that they don't realize how nasty chickens are.

First of all, they poop everywhere, including on their eggs.  And they don't want you to take their eggs from them, they will peck you!  And cleaning dried chicken poop off the eggs can be pretty cky.  And chickens are prone to lice, they get hot spots that they scratch and bleed, they lose their feathers, and when it gets hot, oh do they smell!

Of course Williams Sonoma isn't promoting any of this, but if you've spent anytime around chickens, you know what I'm talking about.  And I haven't even touched on roosters, who can be downright vicious, and did I mention that they have spurs, and will use them on you if they feel threatened.  And they crow, loudly at sunrise!  And bees?  Oh my, you have to really know what you're doing or they will swarm you and sting you mercilessly.  And then they will go to your neighbors and sting them.  Yikes!

And that's what I'm smiling about today, the fact that WS can market just about anything, attach pretty pictures and hefty price tags and people fall for it.   Here's a link to the catalog if you want to take a peek...

Today is the first day of spring...

 

Really???  March 19, 2012 we set a record in Heavensville of 83 degrees.  March 19, 2012, we set a record low.  I don't know when I've ever been more anxious for warm weather!

Maybe I CAN go home again, if only in my dreams…

 

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you know all about my long standing love affair with ditches.  I was raised in a little house next to a ditch bank, not a creek, we weren’t trendy in those days, it was a ditch, and I loved it!  So much so, that I’ve had a life long love affair with ditches and water ever since.

Fast forward to this past weekend, when my friend Trish showed me an area, unknown to me, drivable to on my golf cart, that has a wonderful ditch.  I can drive Milly right up on a little bluff that overlooks it, pop out a lawn chair, and with Maggie in my lap, read a good book, and I’ll be set for many happy afternoons this spring.  In fact, this picture reminds me a lot of my beloved ditch.  I used to sit on the bridge by the side of our house, perched high above the ditch and sit and dream.  The little bluff sits high, and so I can “kind of” recreate my childhood.

You can see the beginning of green in this picture, and if you look really hard, a cardinal is sitting on a branch.  This is my kind of living, mother nature at her finest.  Oh Trisher, I owe you for finding this spot!   Now if it would just warm enough for me to be outside…

The Internet has made my world a better place...

 

 

I've made such good friends online, people that I would have never known existed had it not been for Jan's Daily Dish.  

My friend, Holly, is from Oklahoma and is such a talented lady.  Holly read my blog, contacted me and we've become great friends!  She makes the loveliest cards, very original, very intricate, every one is a work of art and  just beautiful.   She sends them to me and I save every one of them, they are a treasure.  I put them on my bulletin board and it makes me happy just to look at them.  This is the St. Paddy's Day card she sent.  Isn't it wonderful?  This one has a painted background with torn pieces of paper that she stamped, painted, and glittered, it's so special!

My world is a better place thanks to friends like Holly.  Just puts a smile on my face on this yet another gloomy, cold dreary day.  Thanks so much, Holly, you are the best!

 

Homemade Cleaning Solution, this stuff is AWESOME

 

Some things are worth posting again, and this is one of them.  I first told you about this last August, how to use a simple solution of water, Prell Shampoo and alcohol to make this great cleaner.  I continue to use this daily and it's just the best, ever. It  works so well, it's environmentally friendly and it costs next to nothing.  I even keep a little bottle of the solution to clean my reading glasses with.

I buy green squirt plastic bottles at Dollar Tree, and keep them on hand.  I'm always sending a bottle home with my friends, it's a great little gift that everybody can use.

It cleans windows, stovetops, stainless appliances, countertops,  the only thing I don't use it on is computer screens and showers and tubs.  Showers and tubs need a stronger solution to cut the soap scum.

So for those of you who missed this post, here's the mixture again.  And for those of you who can't find Prell Shampoo, it's usually available at Dollar Tree.

1 pint rubbing alcohol 
2 tablespoons Prell Shampoo (can be hard to find, but they have it at Dollar General) 
A gallon milk jug

Put the alcohol and Shampoo in the gallon milk jug and fill with water.  That’s it, then just fill a squirt bottle and you’re good to go.

Paula Deen and hubby Michael Groover - What a pair!

 

I'm making breakfast this morning, have FoodTV on in the kitchen and Paula Deen and her long suffering husband, Michael, were cooking in the kitchen.  Talk about a bull in a china shop, the poor man was so out of his element.  He was a good sport, though, he was trying and Paula was talking about how funny he was.  Trust me ladies, the man wasn't funny.

But the "kicker" was the ending, when he was sent off to see his buddies toting packages of brownies.  Paula yelled out, "don't let the door knob hit ya where the good lord split ya."  Oh my, it was classic ladies, classic!  What people won't do for money!

Still laughing...

And the top o' the mornin' to ya…..

 

If I don't find a pot of gold today I'll settle for a pot of coffee.  

What a horrid St. Paddy's Day it is in Heavensville.  Gloomy, rainy, cold…  Will spring ever come?????

Family Stuff...

First of all, it's a Grammie's right to brag about the grandchildren.  Abby wrote her name yesterday with her Mama, then today she wrote it again all by herself when nobody was around.  I think she is an amazing little three year old.

 

But Abby isn't the only cutey in the family.  John and Deanna are visiting her family this weekend for her Dad's birthday, and John is antiquing with her sister's adorable little two year old, Emma.  I don't know who's cuter, Emma or Uncle John...

Something's Gotta Give, hands down the best movie set, EVER!!!!

So what do I do on a cold sunny day when everything has gone to h*ll in a hand basket.  I sit down, queue up Something's Gotta Give on Netflix and watch it for the badzillionth time.  Oh, it's not about the storyline, it's the house, ladies, it's the house that makes me drool.  My all time, favorite moviedom house, along with most of the female population that has seen this movie.

 This set is so famous, countless articles have been written about it, women have copied it, it's just the best beach house, ever!  I remember when the movie first came out and my buddy V and I fell in love with it.  We watched and rewatched, absorbing every detail.  And once again this afternoon, it mesmerized me as much as the first time I saw it.  So I'm giving you some pictures just to let you relive it again.  I plucked these from Hooked on Houses website.  Go to her site to view all the pictures, they are wonderful.  And while you're there just browse around, Hooked on Houses is one of my very favorite online places to visit.

 

 

 

 

 

I love this necklace so much, I found it online years ago and V's daughter, Angie, reproduced it.   I have it in black and brown, I never wear them, but I smile when I see them in my jewelry drawer...

 

I think the blah's are over, I feel so much better now.  Oh, what a movie this is, what . a . movie . this . is ! .!.!.

The sun is shining, it should be a good day...

Why do we have days when nothing we do goes right?   I can't blame it on the weather, or hubby, just myself.  Everything I touch today just goes to heck!  I've had some computer issues for days now, I did finally get those resolved.  Haven't eaten fish or chicken for a week now, but thinking of having fish tonight.  Mediterranean diet still rocks, that's not my problem.

I think I just need warm days to go with the blue skies.  And I desperately  need to give Mags a haircut.  She looks like a little shaggy dog, but it's too chilly to buzz her back and tummy, don't want her to get the shivers.

I talked to Linds this morning, the kids have both got the ick, and now she's getting it as well.  I should be counting my blessings, poor daughter-in-law, having to take care of two sick kiddos when she's sick herself.  I remember those days, they were not  fun!

I think I'll take a ride on Milly and sit in the sunshine.  She still has her cover on, so it's warm, maybe things will work better when I get back.

Thanks for listening to me p*s and moan, sometimes you just gotta vent!!!

~ Jan

Dancing Nana, Bless her heart….

This is a gem, ladies. A bright spot on a grey, cloudy Monday.

Be sure and watch this to the end, you will just crack up when she drops the "F Bomb."  Why does the younger generation not realize we are not so different than they are, just wiser and trapped in these old(er) bodies.

This is a classic. Gotta love Nana's everywhere….

Maybe it's time to revamp the Chiminea...

 

I just wish I could wake up and it would be sunny with a forecast of 70 degrees, is that too much to ask???  Really??? Last year I have pictures of Abby at the creek on St. Patrick's Day, it was warm and she was barefoot.  It was such a great spring, it never got cold after that.

But this year is a different story, every day we wait for warmer temps, and when it is warmer it's grey and rainy, so we dream.

I've had a chiminea similar to this on the patio for years.  I just use it as a compost bin, but I'm thinking this summer, that I should plant fleurs in that compost, and hopefully end up with something that looks like this.  I doubt I'll plant a rosebush, but I will try something.  This is just spectacular!

C'mon Spring, I'm ready!!!!

Sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do...

I got up this morning, made this great bulgar salad with dill, chickpeas, cucumbers, peppers, onions, garlic, cumin, lemon juice and evoo, and put in the fridge to chill.  

We had errands to run, hubby wanted to just grab fast food while we were out, so I "grabbed" a plastic container, put in my couscous salad and we were off.  Did it bother me eating it in a fast food joint?  Nah, not in the least.  I took my mixture of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews and raisins for dessert and I was a happy girl.

So far so good, with this diet.  I'm just loving the food.  It's so different than all the boring, diet food I've eaten for years.  The flavors are fresh, bursting with tastes that my midwestern/southern girl palate isn't used to.  It's a nice change.  Still no meat or fish and I've been doing this since last Tuesday.  I haven't missed it at all.

Here's the click for the recipe...

Had to share a giggle with you today...

 

Our little Benjammin is starting early with the car stuff.  Last weekend he was all about grabbing Abby's stomper truck.  Why does Abby have a stomper truck? Ummmm, could it be because she's a little Kentucky girl, whose Daddy is obsessed with any kind of wheels.  I don't think her pretty little mama bought it for her.

Grandkds are such fun!!!

Mediterranean Diet Information

Lunch was diced cucumbers, onions and tomatoes, marinated in olive oil and red wine vinegar, shredded lettuce and garlic hummus, all stuffed into a whole wheat pita pocket.  Was it good?   YES…..

Here is some more info for you.

I got this book at the library, The Miami Mediterranean Diet Expanded Edition.

It's a fast read, catchy title, looks like they are trying to knock off South Beach with this look, but it has a 300 recipes, a lot of them look really good, but since I'm just getting started, I haven't had a chance to try anything.  I tend to get more of my information online, but I did want several recipes in one place to get me started.

If there is a "con" to this way of eating, it's that you have to cook.  No way around it.  But I like being in the kitchen, so it isn't a stretch for me.  I haven't eaten chicken or fish yet this week, the beans, yogurt, olive oil and nuts satisfies me, I'm not hungry,  let's put it this way, this is so much better than low carb.  Every single time I do low carb, I say never again, and then in a desperate attempt to lose 5 lbs. yesterday, I cave and try it again. And it works, until you eat one little cookie, and then you blow up like a balloon!  So goodbye low-carb, hello Mediterranean Diet.  At least for this week...

Now for some links:

Living a Heart Healthy Lifestyle - this tells you what you need to eat...

Meditteranean Diet Menu Plans

1200-Calorie Mediterranean Diet

Breakfast Recipes

How to Eat a Mediterranean Diet for Heart Health

Mediterranean Meal Plan

This should be enough to tell you everything you want to know.

Dinner tonight - baked cod, frozen lima beans, baked sweet potato, green salad - afternoon snack is that yummy yogurt concoction I showed you yesterday.  Now you have it, a synopsis of what it's like to eat this way.  

Hope it's a good day wherever you are, temps are warming in Heavensville and the sun is shining.  Life is good…  ~ jan

The obsession begins...

Ladies,  you have never tasted anything yummier than this, it was my afternoon snack with a big cup of coffee.  Sliced strawberries, sprinkled with Splenda, a big dollop of plain Greek yogurt, a handful of those toasted oats on top, a few pieces of walnut, and then the oats drizzled with honey.

I could eat this every single day, and I just might.  It's good enough to make you weep!  Seriously...

Mediterranean Diet Boot Camp

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've undoubtedly been reading all the press this past week about how the Mediterranean Diet is the most healthy diet in the world and how Greek men have 90% less heart attacks than American men.  90%, that's astounding.

And if you're  a regular reader of my blog you also realize that I'm horribly  OCD.  The older I get, the more compulsive I am.  I'm also the Diet Queen!!!  I've tried everything known to (wo)man, sometimes with results, most often without.  Since January I have faithfully, until last week followed Low Carb dieting and I initially lost 7 lbs. stalled out, and didn't lose another pound.  And all the time I'm eating all that bacon and meat, I'm thinking I don't even like meat.

Enter my friend Cynthia, who is a tiny little thing and she's bummed because she's gained 10 lbs.  She told me she was going to try the Mediterranean Diet, and I decided, what the heck, I'll try it too.  I've known about it for years, read about it, but didn't really do any in depth reading, but that OCD kicked in and I have been reading everything I can get my hands on for the last couple of days.  Then I trekked to the grocery store where I spent $4,602.83 on Mediterranean friendly diet foods.

Now if you're not familiar with this way of eating, it's pretty simple.  You limit calories to 1200 a day to lose weight, you eat a lot of veggies, a ton of fruit, lots of olives, a handful of nuts a day, feta cheese, plain greek yogurt, honey  and of course, olive oil.  You eat fish and chicken, and limit red meat to a couple of times a month.  But the best part for me is beans, you eat beans daily, which I adore, so that part is easy.  And whole grains, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pitas, couscous, bulgar, barley, quinoa, and best of all whole wheat pasta, all the good stuff I really like.

 I'm going to chronicle how this is going, along with recipes in case anybody else decides it's time to eat healthy.  And since I don't have a good track record, I'll warn you ahead of time that this may fly out the window in a week,  a month, or even tomorrow, who knows.  But until it does, I'll give you all some "food" for thought.

I toasted  oats this morning by putting oats on my Silopat liner in the oven.  I used convection at 350 for about 15 minutes, stirring often until they were toasty and slightly brown.  And no, I didn't burn them, that's a shadow in the picture.  So now I jar them in my wonderful Ball jars, sit them on the shelf and they're ready when I need them as a topping for my yogurt.

 

And then I made black bean soup for lunch, which tastes pretty similar to Panera's Black Bean Soup.  This recipe is adapted from one I found on Once Upon a Chef, a great site, with lots of Mediterranean friendly recipes.  This was wonderful, a keeper recipe for sure, even hubby loved it.

Serving Size: 4

 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, roughly chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves, crushed and peeled - I used a couple of cloves extra of garlic
• 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped - I used a handful of baby carrots
• 2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 5 cups (40 ounces) low sodium chicken broth (best quality, such as Swanson) - I used a 32 ounce box of chicken stock,  which is 4 cups, I think that 5 cups would have made the soup too runny.
• 3/4 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander - I omitted this, because coriander is dried cilantro and I am not a fan.
• 1-3/4 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice, from half a lime - I used half a lemon instead of lime
• 1/3 cup sour cream - I put a big dollop of Greek Yogurt in mine instead of sour cream
• Chopped fresh cilantro - No way Jose, another omission

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large soup pan. Add the onions, and carrots and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and translucent, about 8 minutes, stirring in the garlic the last couple of minutes. Do not brown.
3. Add the black beans, chicken broth, oregano, coriander, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for about 15 minutes.
5. Purée the soup using a hand-held immersion blender until very smooth and creamy. (Alternatively, you can use a standard blender to puree the soup in batches.) Stir in lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle the soup into bowls and top each bowl with a dollop of sour cream and freshly chopped cilantro.

I also started a Mediterranean Diet Board on Pinterest.  Here's the direct link, not a lot of recipes yet, but I'm sure it will fill up quickly.

And if you're rolling your eyes and thinking, "oh-oh, here she goes again" I totally understand.  Just ignore my posts about this, as you all know I tend to burn out quickly.

Tomorrow I'll update you with a book I'm reading and some great sites for you to explore.

Okay, I won't make you wait until tomorrow, here's a great site to get you started...

~ Jan

Let's play the how smart is my granddaughter game ;o)

 

We all do it, believe that our grandchildren are the smartest little people in the entire universe.  I did it first with my own kids, and I've done it with my friends kids over the years as well.  Nisha's Mandi was so precocious, we all thought she would grow up to be a rocket scientist.  V's Angie was scary smart, Ang's Jes and Sam, so smart as well.  And now along comes the next generation, my little Miss A.

So the story goes, Abby was out with her mother, and they saw a sign that said "BABY."  And Abby tells her momma that they spelled it wrong.  "It should be spelled A-B-B-Y," she said.  Now this child is just three years old.  I'm thinking another scary smart rocket scientist is in the making.

Go Abby!!!!!!!
 

Cooking Rice in a Pressure Cooker

 

I'm such a fan of my Wolfgang Puck Pressure Cooker and talk about it often.  I use it many times weekly, in fact, I have lima beans cooking in it right now.  But I've always used a rice cooker for cooking rice.  Let me amend that, hubby is the ricer maker in the family, he is the one that gets the rice cooker it from the garage, measures the rice, puts in the water, and sets it and forgets it. :-D   So last week when it quit working, and he tore it apart and deemed it unfixable, I was thinking that I had to buy a new one.

But then I got the bright idea to Google cooking rice in a pressure cooker, and sure enough it's very doable.  In fact, when I got ready to cook it in my Wolfie, I discovered that it has a rice setting.  Duh, Jan.

But anyway, here's how I did it and it came out perfectly.  I put a cup of water in the pressure cooker, added the steamer basket, then I took a small stainless steel bowl, put in a cup of rice and a cup and a half of water in the bowl, set the bowl on the steamer basket, pressed rice, and it took six minutes.  You're probably thinking, "wow, that was fast."  Well, not exactly.  It had to build steam, and then you let it depressurize, so it's probably about the same amount of time as on the stove.  But, it doesn't stick, it doesn't come out like glue, it's perfect, fluffy grains.  Amazing, huh...

I want to go here!

This is my idea of heaven....

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