Crash! Boom! Pow!

Remember in the old television live action version of Batman when there would be a fight and just as Robin threw a punch at the Joker a big POW! would appear across the screen? Well, that happened to me yesterday evening. It did! I was sitting on my bed getting ready to type a post for the blog and POW! the blue-screen-of-death appeared on my laptop. I followed the directions on the screen to restart the computer. I rebooted and just after the Dell bootup page came the CRASH! My sweet little Dell proceeded to tell me there was no bootup sequence. That was it; one little sentence on a pitch black screen. Nothing else would happen.

So I did what anyone would....I rebooted like four more times. Each time CRASH! BOOM! POW!

Next, I called Staci's husband, Rob to see if he could come save the day. He's one of those handy dandy IT guys that we all like to poke fun at right up until we desparately need them. He spent about 45 minutes trying his darnedest to make the hard drive cooperate, but to no avail. Thanks for trying, Rob!!!

This morning I posted a desparate plea on Facebook to anyone who would listen that I needed help....my sweet little Scottish friend, Caroline, replied quickly that I should hurry up and make a date with her hot hubbie! So, tonight my hard drive rests in the capable hands of Scotsman with computer smarts.

I pray he does not hear the CRASH! BOOM! or POW! and calls me in the days to come with the promise of a gift.....of data.

Now that you've read this, please go backup your computer to an external hard drive, a DVD or an online backup system so you don't have the day I've just had. =)

UPDATED: I just wanted to add that I've heard back from Sean - the Scotsman that offered to see what he could do to help me out. The news is not bueno. The hard drive has been wiped clean....there's nothing left to recover. I don't understand, but will have to accept it. Damn.

Yes, I'm Alive!!!

I know, I know, I know...it's been a while. Ever since that night of All Star selections our lives have been nonstop softball. The weeone had 2 hour practices every night right up until this past weekend when we headed for the tournament! I was exhausted, and I didn't even swing a bat or throw a ball!!! The experience of a softball tournament was a new thing for me. It's an amazing phenomenon and those of you who do the whole tournament ball thing year round are to be commended for your stamina alone! The girls played at 8pm Friday, noon on Saturday, 5:30pm Saturday, 8am Sunday and 9:20am Sunday....whew! It was hot and fun and crazy and fun and exciting and fun and sad when they lost for the second time and the ride was over. So the tournament is over. The girls came in 4th place which was an amazing finish for them and they had so much fun. It was kid heaven - friends, softball, hotel rooms, swimming pools, staying up late, pizza and lots of fun. Mission softball accomplished.

Here's my favorite little catcher....bless her hot little heart in all that gear!!!
(Her dad got some great photos that I'll share with you when I get them...I only took a couple as I was busy herding girls in the dugout!!!)

Here's most of the team being praised by their coach after their very last game on Sunday. That's the weeone in the back on the left with her ball bag on her back.

Now that the softball chapter is closed for a while I sort of feel like God is saying "You may now return to your regularly scheduled life!" and I'm totally jazzed about it! It's summertime and I want to play!

For our first night of freedom I thought a dinner that involved the grill would be incredibly appropriate. I mean, what screams summer better and louder than a hot sizzling grill?!?!

So I took a sirloin steak and marinaded it in my favorite marinade - some Worcestershire sauce, honey and cajun seasonings. I wish I could tell you how much of each I use, but I truly have no idea....just some. =) Then I just tossed it on a hot grill until it was beautifully medium rare. yum. I also sliced some polenta and grill those slices as well. I topped a couple of those with mozzarella for the weeone. Then when it all came off the grill the polenta was dressed up with some Muir Glen Organic Diced Tomatoes with Basil and Garlic. yum. It tasted just like summer.



I love polenta. I really do. It should be a food group all by itself. =)

All Hail the All Star

Tonight there are no recipes...the weeone ate snack food and fruit for dinner. BUT, it was a big night in our house.

Tonight was the Closing Ceremonies for the regular ball season where the weeone plays softball. Her sweet little Crickets were 0-9-1. Not the best record...close to a perfect losing season, but the weeone was a hotshot this year. If there was a play being made, she was in the middle of it. As a result, tonight, along with receiving her team 3rd place trophy she was recognized as one of the players elected to the All-Star team that will represent our club in the city-wide tournament the first weekend in June. WOOHOO!!! She was so excited to acheive this honor. She proudly carried her trophy and plaque around all night...until she was invited to go swimming with Isabella...then she ditched the trophy and the plaque...typical 7 year old. Gotta love it.

I was born in Kentucky

You probably didn't know that. It's true. Fort Knox, KY. So it only stands to reason that I would love two things....Bourbon and more specifically Mint Juleps. A couple of years ago my friend Lesil introduced me to a great frozen drink called a Bourbon Slush. I've been in love with them ever since and Lesil has always obliged me by having having them frozen and ready to enjoy when she knows that I'm coming.

I've never made Bourbon Slushes mainly because I'm terrified that I'll screw them up and ruin them in my mind forever. So you can imagine my excitement when I found a recipe on the Cooking Light website that was frozen and included bourbon....I knew I had to try it.

I started by chopping up a good amount of fresh mint. I love that smell....I should use fresh mint more often!

While I was chopping I was making a simple syrup with water and sugar on the stovetop. Once the sugar was good and dissolved, I added the mint to the mix and removed the pot from the heat. I let the syrup cool and become infused with the sweet mint flavor and smell.


Once the mixture was cooled I used a sieve to remove the solids from the syrup and then the concoction was ready for the good stuff. One cup of bourbon...and yes, that bottle of Knob Creek is now empty. A trip to Spec's is in my future! Anway...once the bourbon was added I poured it all into a bowl and put it to sleep in the freezer. There it spent the night getting good and frozen. This morning I pulled the bowl out of the freezer, scraped the contents with a fork and doled a bit out into a high ball glass with a wedge of lime and some mint to see the final result - YUM! And now I have a tasty cold treat that is non-dairy to enjoy while the rest of the crew has ice cream or cobbler. Something tells me that everyone else will be wanting my Mint Julep Granita!

Mint Julep Granita

from Cooking Light

Yield: 8 servings

• 3 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint
• 1 cup bourbon
• 8 lime wedges
• Mint sprigs (optional)

Preparation

Combine 3 cups water and sugar in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Stir in chopped mint. Remove from heat; cool completely.

Strain sugar mixture through a sieve into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish; discard solids. Stir in bourbon. Cover and freeze 8 hours or until firm. Remove mixture from freezer; let stand 15 minutes. Scrape entire mixture with a fork until fluffy. Place about 1/2 cup granita in each of 8 small bowls or glasses; serve with 1 lime wedge. Garnish with mint sprigs, if desired.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 211 (6% from fat)

Fat: 0.0g (sat 0.0g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g)

Protein: 0.2g

Carbohydrate: 38g

Fiber: 0.3g

Cholesterol: 0.0mg

Iron: 0.5mg

Sodium: 2mg

Calcium: 9mg

Jaime Harder, Cooking Light, JUNE 2007

The Cure...

...for not wanting to cook? It appears to be admitting you have a problem. Hmmm....that sounds a little too 12 step-ish for me.

Anyway, I found myself trapped in the house today as the weeone is running a fever and not feeling well and it's raining outside. So here I've sat watching reruns of "House" and few episodes of "The Real Housewives of New Jersey". I don't recommend messing with those NJ women. They scare me. And that one, Teresa? Definite stage mom. But I digress...

I had some shrimp in the refrigerator that had to be used in some way today or tossed. I initially started a pot of water to boil, adding in some Old Bay to season the little guys. Just as the water was coming to boil I remembered I had a recipe for Seared Chipotle-Shrimp Tacos. It looked quick and easy and I was hungry. So what the heck...I needed to break my non-cooking streak.

I started out by combining some cumin, onion and garlic powder, chipotle powder and chili powder plus salt. Next, the cleaned shrimp went for a swim in the dry spices. Once they were coated....

...into a hot pan they went. Three or four minutes on each side and the shrimp were seared and pretty and smelling like a great carribbean treat.

While the shrimp were sizzling, I combined some shredded lettuce with chopped fresh cilantro and lime juice. And here I deviated from the recipe a bit and added in a bit of mayonnaise. The original recipe allows for the addition of sour cream as a topper and since I'm dairy-free, I thought added a bit of mayo to the cilantro-lime salad topping would help to calm a bit of the heat I was expecting with these spiced up shrimp.


Next came the building of a taco! A couple of corn tortillas warmed up and dressed with the cilantro-lime salad, topped with some diced tomatoes, tomatillo salsa and the hot shrimp and voila! Dinner was ready. Yum. Really yum. And if you're afraid of some heat in your shrimp tacos, you might want to halve the amount of spices you use on this one.

Oh...and 1 more thing....this wasn't the only thing I made today. The other recipe is now in the freezer working its magic....ooooh I can't wait to taste it....it's a great blend of Southern traditions and hot summer treats...

Seared Chipotle-Shrimp Tacos
from Weight Watchers 20 Minute Recipes

2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon chipotle powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 pounds peeled and deveined medium shrimp
1 1/2 cups preshredded lettuce
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons lime juice
Cooking Spray
8 (5 inch) corn tortillas
1/2 cup diced tomato
1/2 cup tomatillo salsa
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl. Add shrimp; toss to coat. In a separate bowl, toss together lettuce, cilantro, and lime juice; cover and chill.

2. Heat a cast-iron grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray; add shrimp to pan and cook 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until shrimp are done.

3. Warm tortillas according to package directions. Divide shrimp evenly among tortillas. Top each tortilla with 1/4 lettuce mixture, 1 tablespoon diced tomato, 1 tablespoon tomatillo salsa, and 1 tablespoon sour cream; fold tortillas in half.

Yield: 4 servings of 2 tacos each

Nutritional Information: Cal 278; Fat 6.4g (sat 2.7g); Pro 33.7g; Carb 23.3g; Fib 3.3g; Chol 288mg; Iron 5.4mg; Sod 730mg; Calc 140mg

But I don't wanna!

I have lost my desire to cook lately. The weeone and I have been subsisting on easy to prep food at home or take out food lately. I know, I know...home cooked food is better for us, less fattening, and cheaper. But I just don't wanna. I just don't feel like cooking. I just don't.

Do you ever get like this? It happens every now and then for me. Usually it's when I'm worn out - too tired. I think the fact that we've been running crazy for a couple of months is just catching up with me. Between finishing school, craziness at work, the temps in Houston rising, and softball season the weeone and I are both just wrecked. We're just exhausted.

When you're so tired and can't quite find the inspiration to cook - what do you do?

Do you remember...

...when your kids were little, and I mean really little, like infants up to maybe age 3 or 4 and they would get overly tired? Do you remember what would happen? Do you remember how you'd fix it all? The weeone would get overly tired and so she just couldn't sleep. She was SO tired she couldn't sleep. I know, it never made sense to me either, but it's happened to all of us at some point. When are scientists going to figure that one out, by the way?

Anyway, she would be exhausted and the only surefire way to get her calmed down and asleep was to toss her into her carseat and do a few spins around the block. Worked every time.

Guess what? I'm overly tired. Can you come toss me into your car and do a few spins around the block?