Rosemary Chicken & Brie En Croute

Cooked this last night, YUMMM! I think I will try puff pastry next time.

Rosemary Chicken and Brie en Croute

~ 1 whole chicken breasts, quartered (or 2 chicken breas halves, cut in half)
~ rosemary, salt and pepper
~ 1 can crescent rolls
~ 2 Tbsp chives
~ 6 oz brie cheese, cubed
~ 1 egg, beaten
~ 1 tsp dried rosemary
~ 2 Tbsp shredded parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 350F. Season chicken with rosemary, salt and pepper, and brown in hot olive oil.

Seperate dough into 4 rectangles, firmly pressing perforations to seal. Spoon 1/4 of the chives into the center of each rectangle, top with 1/4 of the brie and one peice of the chicken.

Fold the edges of the crescent rectangles over the chicken, making sure the filling is completely covered, seal the overlapping rolls well.

Place seam side down on an ungreased baking pan. Cut a couple of steam vents in the top of each roll. Beat the egg with a Tbsp of water to create an egg wash, brush the outsides with the egg wash. Sprinkle with the rosemary and parmesan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before serving - serves 4.

Amish Friendship Bread

In an age of instant gratification, Amish Friendship Bread and the 10 days it takes to ferment before it can be baked seems like a hard thing to wait for. This is a good lesson in patience, especially if you have little ones who love the bread. (Now if we could only find a way to teach the men a bit of patience, too). 

No, this is not really a 'healthy' recipe, but it is a wonderful bread to share with friends during the holidays. If you are low on will power like me, bake the bread in 3 smaller disposable bread pans and give a loaf and a bag of starter along with the directions to a couple of friends.

I received my very first Amish Friendship Bread starter a couple of months ago from a neighbor. *Somehow* I lost track of the days, afraid that I had ruined it I threw it out. I don't think any of us had ever tasted the bread before, so we didn't really know what we were missing.

Then, a couple of weeks before Christmas, one of Brianna's violin students' Grandma gave her a loaf of the baked bread. OH MY GOODNESS! I believe it is the best dessert bread I have ever tasted. I sliced a couple of pieces for a friend and I to munch on while we crafted downstairs and came back upstairs to find most of the loaf finished (all while Bri was at work), and then the rest got finished during breakfast, so the pour girl never even got a slice.

So, Bri asked the Grandma if she could have the recipe so I could bake her a new loaf and came home with 2 cups of starter and the recipe. I baked the bread along with my Christmas pies, and have the other cup on the counter re-starting.

Just wanted to share the recipe here for all my friends and family.

TO BAKE AMISH FRIENDSHIP BREAD

ingredients:
Bread:                                        topping:
1 cup starter                                  1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs                                           1  tsp cinnamon1 cup oil
½ cup milk
1 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp vanilla
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 large box instant vanilla pudding mix

Directions:
Stir the bread ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Combine the 1/3 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon in a separate bowl.

Spray 2 loaf pans with non-stick spray, dust with 1 tablespoon each of the cinnamon sugar mixture. Pour batter evenly into the pans and sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture over top.

Bake 1 hour @ 325 degrees. Cool until bread loosens from the pan (10 minutes) serve warm or cold.

Makes 2 loaves, about 10 slices each

TO RESTART THE STARTER:
Leave the 1 cup starter on your counter
On days 1-5, mush the bag.
On day 6, add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk and mush well.
On days 7-9, mush the bag.
On day 10, pour the starter into a NON-metal bowl and add 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1 1/2 cup flour, 1 1/2 cup milk. Stir well, place 3 cups of the starter into 1 gallon zip top bags - 1 cup per bag. Give 2 to friends along with these directions and the baking directions, place one on your counter to re-start (or in your freezer for a later date, just allow to come to room temperature and then follow the above directions).
There will be 1 cup remaining in your bowl to bake the bread with. 

If you have run out of friends who are willing to take the starter, put the 3 bags in your freezer. You can bring to room temperature and follow the baking directions without going through the re-starting process - just don't forget to re-start the last bag ;)

TO MAKE STARTER:
If you don't have a starter, follow these directions to create one. There are recipes out there that call for yeast, I have not actually made the starter yet but from what I read this is the recipe to use.

DO NOT REFRIGERATE!
DO NOT USE METAL BOWLS OR SPOONS!

They say to use a container that you can cover loosely, like a glass bowl that you can cover with cheesecloth and secure with rubber bands. Your container should be glass, plastic, or glazed ceramic and have more than a 4 cup capacity. I know that starter gets passed to friends in gallon size zipper top bags, but the air flow is supposed to be better for the fermentation process (I am by no means an expert on this, so if you have a way that has worked for you in the past, by all means, stick with that!) Once you have the starter created, just re-starting  and you shouldn't have to make it again.

Combine 1 cup sugar with 1 cup flour, stir well. Add 1 cup milk and combine completely. Cover loosely (with a lid left slightly ajar or secure a paper towel or cheesecloth to the top with rubber bands. Keep at room temperature and stir (with a NON metal spoon) every day for 17 days.

Day 18, do nothing.
Days 19, 20, 21, stir
Day 22 add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk and stir completely
Days 23, 24, 25, 26 stir
Day 27 add 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk and stir completely
Separate into 4 starters, give 2 away to friends, use one to restart and the other to bake.

Individual starter (1 cup portions) can be kept in the freezer in gallon zipper top bags until ready to use, then left on the counter until room temperature before starting the 10 day restarting process.

A little note:
Though I'm sure none of you are nearly as forgetful as I am, here is a trick I am trying to keep me from loosing track of the days on the bag of starter I have fermenting on the counter. On the outside of the zip top bag in permanent marker, I wrote 1-10 with the date below each number and circled 6 and 10 to remind me.

One easy way to make the vegetarians AND the carnivores in your house happy

Or, "A Tale of Two Chilis"

So, my daughter decided to take the healthy road and eat a mainly vegetarian diet. Let me tell you, in our house, that's no easy feat. She started with a fully vegetarian diet over spring break earlier this year (March 2009) and has added some poultry and seafood back in.

When her dad cooks, he doesn't take her into account. She thinks he still believes that she will just give in and eat the steak, and he secretly stands out by the grill plots beef and pork meals just to driver her crazy while he laughs maniacally. 

When I cook, I try to cook poultry or seafood. If I am cooking something that has beef or pork in it, I will do a separate thing that she and I can share. This works very well for me right now, I try not to eat B/P more than once a week for health reasons, and my husband doesn't get mad because it's not a separate meal for just one person. Not sure how I will make that work for me after she leaves for college, but I guess I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Now, to the point of this post, CHILI! Chili is one of our family favorites, but my husband feels like it HAS to have beef inside and a beer to wash it down. All the talking in the world will never convince him that the beans are enough of a protein source, so I've stopped trying. Now I just make one pot for the omnivores (aka, the boys) and one for the flexetarians* (aka, the girls)

I've finally perfected the dual pot chili and thought I would share my recipe with those of you who have a household like mine, or just have friends with different diets and you want something to serve at your next gathering.

A Tale of Two Chili's

ingredients
1 1/4 cup diced bell pepper**
1 1/4 cup diced onion
1 1/4 cup sliced celery***
5 cloves garlic
cumin, cayenne, chili powder
1 pound ground beef
3-15oz cans chili beans****
3-15oz cans kidney beans
2-15oz cans great northern or other white bean

directions
Drizzle a little olive oil in a large sauce pan, heat, and add the diced vegetables, minced garlic, and a good sprinkle each of chili powder, cayenne, and cumin. Cook over medium heat until the vegetables are tender.

Into a 4-5 qt slow cooker, pour about 2/3 of the cooked veggies, 5 cans beans (2 pinto, 2 kidney, and one white) and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp cayenne, and 1 tsp chili powder.

Into a 2-3 qt slow cooker, add the remaining 1/3 veggies and 3 cans beans (1 of each). Stir in 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp cayenne, and 1/2 tsp chili powder. The vegetarian chili is ready to cook, just cover and turn on low for 5-6 hours. 

In the saucepan you used for the veggies, crumble the ground beef and season with 1-2 dashes each of you seasonings and brown. Drain and add to the larger slow cooker. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 5-6 hours.

Serve with your favorite chili accompaniments and enjoy.

(Oh, BTW, if you don't have any omnivores in your household, just skip the meat part and you have the perfect pot, even for a vegan)

** I like to use the mini bell peppers so I can have a mix of colors
*** I've found it easiest to take the whole heart, rinse, spread it out just a bit to cut out the leaves on the inside, and then slice directly from the heart
**** we like the hot chili beans, but if you prefer your chili a bit milder you can use mild chili beans or plain pinto beans. Use whatever kinds of beans you prefer, you will need a total of 8 cans or about 120 oz

*FLEXETARIAN: you like that word? Yeah, me too. I just recently came across it, but it fits me perfectly, because I do still indulge in beef on occasion (and on even rarer occasion, pork), but now I'm more selective when I do and keep it to once a week, and am working on reducing it more until it's all but gone from my diet.

Here's what wikipedia says:
Flexitarianism is a semi-vegetarian diet focusing on vegetarian food with occasional meat consumption. A self-described flexitarian seeks to decrease meat consumption without eliminating it entirely from his or her diet. There are no guidelines for how much or how little meat one must eat before being classified a flexitarian. Flexitarian is distinguished from polpescetarian, i.e., one who eats only chicken and fish, but does so exclusively

39 pounds

and feeling fabulous ...


I am trying not to buy too many articles of clothing since I'm not planning on being this size for very long. I kept my size 16 jeans from before I had Chris so I'm good on those, but I noticed that a lot of my shirts are just too baggy, making me look bigger than I really am. I think I have a couple of T's that fit properly and a couple of blouses that tie in the back so they look alright. So, I picked up this sweater, a hoody, and a T-shirt at Ross and a cute ruffle front sleeveless blouse and a skirt that will match this sweater perfectly at Target. Oh, and YAY, I won an Aerosmith tank from aeroforceone, can't wait to get that in the mail!!
I have another weigh in next week, I'm hoping to get out of the 200's by then, wish me luck ;)

Birthday pictures, anyone?

Check out this adorable birthday kit from Snowflake Beach Designs, "Another Year Older"

and the layouts I made with the kit

All images are clickable, click the kit to pop over to goDigitalScrapbooking.com and pick it up. While you are there, grab the rest of the 'Build Your Own' Designer Collab Kit. Clicking the layouts will take you to them in my gallery at GDS, stop by and tell me what you think.

How to fix a picky husband (Or, how to stop a sabatour in his tracks)

This question was posed on a forum that I visit, I thought I would share my answer here just in case it might be helpful to someone else ...

My husband is a picky eater and my meals reflect it. I rarely buy much for fruits and veggies because the only veggie he will eat is broccoli and he's not big on fruit either. It's just the two of us and I always feel like produce will go bad. Plus, when I make supper, I try to cater to his likes (pizza, mac and cheese, stuff like that) and I don't have the will power, funds, or energy to make something healthy for myself. Any suggestions on how to deal with this?

My hubby is picky as well, and now his health is showing it. He has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and his borderline diabetes is no longer borderline.

Here are a couple of tips that I've been using to help us both out that may help you and your hubby.

1) Always make a salad, that way if the dinner isn't as healthy as I would like I can eat a small portion of it and fill up on the salad.

2) though produce going bad is never an issue in my house, frozen is definitely a better choice than none.
Also, when you shop for fresh produce just get one or two apples instead of a whole bag.
A small prepared salad mix instead of the head of lettuce.
A small bag of baby carrots makes munching on them easier than having to peal and cut a regular carrot up first.
Many fruits and veggies can be frozen if you notice that they are beginning to go past their prime. While most need to be blanched first, there are two in particular that require little to no prep in order to freeze.
Bananas can be peeled and cut into marshmallow sized pieces and freeze on a cookie sheet until frozen when you can bag them up. These are great to blend into a smoothie, or pulse in a food processor for several minutes and they turn into a yummy soft serve 'faux ice cream'.
Grapes I just remove from the stem and place in cheap plastic cups in 1-cup portions. These make a perfectly scrumptious snack when you want something sweet and cold - or drop them in your water to keep it cold. which brings me to point #

3) Make sure you are drinking water instead of high calorie sodas and fruit juices - switching will make a HUGE difference. Add sliced fruit (while lemons are the first thing you might think of, you can also add orange or lime wedges, sliced apples or peaches, fresh or frozen berries, etc) or add a single serve packet of crystal light a glass of water.

4) Don't try to force huge changes on your husband or he will rebel, become angry, or try to sabotage your efforts.

5) Try little changes that he probably won't notice.
For instance, try using part lower fat cheese in that mac 'n cheese, or use less cheese, or use lower fat milk, use a whole grain paste (some don't taste that great, try barillo plus, it's whole grain with added fiber and protein and tastes just like regular).
Try making your own pizza using the whole grain, thin crust, prepared crusts. Add less cheese and go lighter on the toppings (opt for canadian bacon instead of pepperoni or fried bacon; opt for leaner ground beef or ground turkey; use more veggies, etc)

6) Start switching out processed grains for more complex carbs, like switching to brown rice, whole grain bread, or that barillo plus pasta I mentioned.

7) Also, try looking up the main dishes he likes and find recipes that are healthier. Then, add some side dishes that are healthier - maybe he will eat them or maybe he wont, but either way you will have something that's healthier to fill up on and won't be eating as much of the 'not as good for you' dish.

And guess what, I've noticed that some changes I've been making for me are starting to rub off on him - he's started adding crystal light to water instead of grabbing a can of soda and I see him adding salad to his dinner plate more and more often. Also, he hasn't said a thing about the zesty italian salad dressing he likes, it's gone from regular to lite and now has officially been at fat free for several months.

HTH

Aerosmith

Aerosmith has cancelled the remainder of their summer tour so that Steven Tyler can fully and properly recouperate from the injuries that he sustained during the August 5, 2009 concert at Sturgis.

Now for the straight scoop. Joe Perry was on a Detroit radio station on August 11 and said that Steve had two breaks in his shoulder blade and stitches stiches to his head, but nothing internal.

Straight from Steves lips,

He says that after a thunderstorm delay, the band was playing one of their best shows ever, when fuses started blowing and they had a complete audio system failure. But Tyler didn't want to stop playing. "I wanted to go out to the crowd to continue the show... so, the Train Kept A- Rollin' and I ran out on the cat walk and grabbed my mic to finish the song. I was doing the Tyler shuffle and then I zigged when I should have zagged... AND I slipped, and as I live on the edge...I fell off the edge!"

He says of his injuries, "I landed upside down, and after twenty stitches on the back of my head, and a broken left shoulder, I just want to say that I'm plain grateful that I didn't break my neck! In truth, after thousands of live shows, falling off the edge four times ain't too bad."

I'm continueing to send prayers and thoughts Steve's way. I feel for those that have tickets to concerts that are being cancelled, and feel very grateful that I finally got to see them in concert after all these years of wishing.

Here's a little layout from the concert using "Rockstar Wedding" by Silly Bean Scraps, clicking the photo will take you to this layout in my goDigitalScrapbooking.com gallery.

~ Thanks to aeroforceone.com for posting a video of the radio interview, Steve's lighthearted account of the incident (exerpt from which is in bold and italics above), and the photos & playlist from the concert which were used for the layout

Oh my ....

Sending well wishes to Steven ...