I saw this in People magazine and made it yesterday. We really liked it and when I was looking online for the recipe I found a similar one, also from Ina Garten but much simpler. I'm posting both here.
When I made the one from People I used a rotisserie chicken (she suggests that in the earlier version).
I decided to see if I could input daily on this blog again since it always contained useful information. After our update about the Abound program we went to Craft 31 for a beer and burger. We were last there 6 years ago.
Pesto
from: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/pesto-recipe-1951665
Ingredients:
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pignolis (pine nuts)
3 tablespoons chopped garlic (9 cloves)
5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups good olive oil
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Directions:
Place the walnuts, pignolis, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
Process for 15 seconds.
Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper.
With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube and process until the pesto is thoroughly pureed.
Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute.
Use right away or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top.
Romaine Salad with Parmesan Vinaigrette
from Food Network
Ingredients
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
2 hearts romaine lettuce, chopped
Directions
Whisk the Parmesan, mustard, vinegar and garlic in a small bowl.
Whisk in the oil. Sprinkle the vinaigrette with salt and pepper.
Toss the lettuce with the vinaigrette. Serve immediately.
I needed something for dinner tonight. Found some chicken in the freezer and thought I'd try this one.
It's similar to this other recipe I make but thought I'd try it. If it comes out good this will be posted and hopefully I'll remember to take a picture.
This recipe is a combination of ones I found online and we loved it. Larry said that he was leery of it when he saw what it looked like going into the oven but the final results were delicious.
The week I was home in between Florida and Hawaii my tooth with a crown on it broke - FRONT TOOTH.
We were winding down on our Hawaiian Cruise. It was Sunday night, the end of the last of five sea days after leaving Maui. Tomorrow we were going to stop in Ensenada, a port city on the Pacific coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula. We signed up for a tour that would take us around to some various sites including Margarita tasting and wine tasting.
I've made this recipe twice since I found it and I love it.
In ( ) are all the changes I made based on likes or what I had on hand and it still came out delicious.
The next time I make it I'll try to remember to take a picture.
from: Food Network
Level: Easy
Total: 50 min
Active: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
This has all kinds of interesting info.
How to Type Letters with Accents on Mac
I needed to look it up when I found the need to type a word with two dots over the u.
Years from now, (maybe only in a couple of days) I'll wonder what I was typing so I'll mention it here.
I was tracking movies we watched in a spreadsheet since we seemed to be watching a movie or episodes of a series everyday with our Happy Hour and the movie was AClüsterfücke Christmas.
For the first time in months, I actually looked at a BHG magazine that came the other day. A few days earlier I delivered 8 months worth of magazines that I hadn't looked at to the library. In addition to BHG, there was Martha Stewart Living and Vanity Fair and some AARP too.
I found some recipes and project that looked interesting so I thought I would put the links here just in case I actually want to make them some day. This is the link for BHG recipes online: https://www.bhg.com/recipes/
Laura and I visited Greta so that we could celebrate her birthday with her. This was the second time for Laura because John and Ann were there for Greta's actual birthday while Larry and I were in Hilton Head. Her family was thinking she had enough birthday celebrations already.
The first day we were there, Thursday, we sang happy birthday and had the cake.
On Friday we went into the city to visit Aunt Harrie. On the way we stopped in Yonkers and stopped and took pics of the house where I grew up
Since I always go to pinterest to find this recipe and then have to go to the creators website to get the whole recipe I finally decided to just put it here.
I finally decided that it was easier to make muffins than a loaf of banana bread and cut it into pieces before freezing for Larry and I liked this recipe. When we visited Michael and Doris one year Michael had made these delicious muffins and this recipe was the base for them. It's been my favorite ever since.
I can't believe we've lost another dear friend. We just had dinner with Steve and Britta a couple of weeks ago and now he's gone. He and Britta were so close, they could drive on long trips and would talk to each other the whole time. Larry and I listen to books.
We will miss you Steve. 💔 💔 💔
Stephen Clinton Biklen died at Sunset House Hospice on September 15, 2021, after a valiant battle with lung cancer. He is survived by his loving wife of 32 years, Britta Anderson, brother Douglas Biklen, stepsons Theodore and Robert Anderson, stepdaughters-in-law Meghan Anderson and Stacey Sigmon, step-grandchildren Claire, Liam, Ella and Lily and numerous other relatives.
Steve was born in Philadelphia in January, 1943, the elder son of the late Anne and Paul Biklen and grew up in Westport, CT. He was a graduate of Phillips Academy, Andover, Brown University, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Steve served as a LTJG in the US Navy, 1966-1969 on the destroyer Henry W. Tucker, home ported in Yokosuka, Japan.
After the Navy, he worked at Coopers & Lybrand in NYC before joining Citibank in 1973. He transferred to Rochester, NY in 1978 as VP of Finance for Citibank NYS and became manager of the Citibank Student Loan Business in 1980, ultimately overseeing its conversion to the publicly owned Student Loan Corporation in 1992. Retired as CEO of the SLC in 1998.
Steve and Britta married in 1989 and spent the years from then until now living in the Rochester area, always with loving pets, always taking advantage of the many outdoor and cultural activities available, and often traveling to different spots around the US and around the world, but always spending a week in the Adirondacks, primarily Lake Placid, every summer. Most importantly, they spent many enjoyable times in Vermont and Savannah with Ted and Rob and their families.
After retiring, Steve served on the Board of the Massachusetts-based American Student Assistance and volunteered for Meals on Wheels He also volunteered for Lifespan, which included assisting clients with their financial matters.
To honor Steve’s wishes, there will be no calling hours or funeral service. His wish was to be remembered without ceremony by those who knew and cared about him in whatever way they find comfort. The family will hold private Memorial gatherings at a later time. Contributions in his memory may be made to Wilmot Cancer Institute (WEBSITE), Sunset House Hospice (WEBSITE), Doctors Without Borders (WEBSITE), or Lollipop Farm (WEBSITE).
Doris made this salad dressing the other day while we were here in Chatham. DELICIOUS!! I have so much basil at home at least I know where 10 leaves can go.
One year ago today, March 11, 2020 a corona virus, Covid-19, was declared a pandemic in the United States. What a year it's been. On Monday, March 15 we get our second covid vaccine shot.
Well, I have to admit I have already failed as you can tell since my last post was Jan 3.
I did do a lot of those Yoga classes and did post on instagram consistently for a few days. But I have been walking every day even when the temps are in the teens.
We were finally able to get a covid vaccine appointment in Syracuse the day before we were going to leave for the auto-train to go to Florida. Now we decided to just stay overnight 2 days in Harrisburg on our way to Lorton, VA instead of driving back home and doing the same trip the next day. At least one shot before we go to that viral state is better than nothing.
We got to go snowshoeing twice already after not having any snow for the longest time. The first time was a perfect day.
So far, so good, but it's only day 2. I can already feel that I'm not going to keep it up. Too many things to do and not enough hours in the day. In face, I need to go back and look at yesterday to see what all my goals were.
So far I've done 2 days of yoga classes and posted 2 pictures on instagram. It's raining now so have a reprieve from walking for a while. I did send out some holiday greetings yesterday and felt good about catching up with that. Still have some more to do.
That was the first time I wrote 2021, when I put it in the title. It's hard to believe it's been 21 years since we were worrying about Y2K as the year 2000 was rolling around. I had my New Year's Eve party and Craig Erickson created a fireworks display for us in the backyard. Of course, I invited all the neighbors so no one would feel left out or complain. Y2K could have been the pandemic for that time. Now instead we have Covid-19.
Since March of 2020 everyone has been in a lockdown. We're like China always was, wearing masks. But we can't see anyone other than in our household unless we're outside. Now that it's January and cold it makes it a lot harder.
Today I'm starting a 30 day Yoga program online, I'm also going to post a picture, trying for a drawing, every day on Instagram, and of course keep up with my daily walks. In addition to that I'm going to try to keep up with this blog every day because since I haven't worked on my memoir I can at least keep a real time memoir going here. Next week I start Zoom ballet and tap.
That's not mentioning how I still want to go through everything in my office, downstairs bedroom and basement. We've been home for 9 months with basically nothing to do and I haven't done any of that. But for accomplishments, I have listened to lots of books, watched lots of movies and binge watched lots of shows on Netflix, Prime and Hulu, learned to play pickleball, played neighborhood bridge outdoors and met my Kodak bridge group on Zoom and then in the park every other week once the weather turned nice and Zoomed with my family everyday for the first two months and now about three times a week.
I even did a Zoom call at the end of 2020 with the Davis/Dwass relatives, most of whom I didn't know. They're from my grandfather's side of the family (my mother's father). I also heard from someone who is a distant relative from my father's father's side of the family. We never knew that grandfather since he and my grandmother divorced when my father was still a boy.
I still haven't sent out all my holiday greetings that I wrote on December 21. It seems that the more free time I have, the less time I have to do things (or do I just lack the initiative?). Of course, there are all those hours I waste surfing the web for things to buy that I don't need (one of the reasons I need to do a clean-up, I need to get rid of things) and of course all those interesting things to read. (9:19 AM)
Today, Dec 29th, in my informed delivery email from the USPS I see that we are finally getting my sister's Christmas card that she mailed on Dec 16th.
I must not have made this recipe since I started my blog because it wasn't on here. Laura is making her first Thanksgiving dinner this year - it's called "Thanksgiving in the Times of Covid" and wanted to check some things about the recipe which was in Greta's bridal shower cookbook. So now I'm adding it and maybe I'll make it again because it is SO delicious but it will have to be when there's more than just Larry and I to eat it. Laura is going to send her picture to add to this after Thanksgiving.
PRETZEL SALAD
FIRST LAYER:
2 cups pretzels, broken
3/4 cup butter, melted
3 tablespoons sugar
Combine pretzels, butter and sugar. Place in.9 x 13" pan.
Bake for 10 minutes at 400-degrees. Let cool.
SECOND LAYER:
8 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups non-dairy topping
Beat together sugar and cream cheese. Fold in non-dairy topping. Layer over pretzel crust.
THIRD LAYER:
6 ounce package strawberry jello (or .6 oz sugar free)
2 cups boiling water
10 ounce package frozen strawberries
Stir water with jello to eliminate jello crystals. Add strawberries. Pour over second layer when slightly cool.
Let cool until jello is firm.
Note: Let jello cool enough so it won't upset the cream cheese layer.
If you want to do anything that involves the arm you get you flu shot in, make sure to schedule your shot for when you have nothing going on for a few days.
Yesterday, Larry and I went over to Walgreens to get our flu shots. The shot felt more weird than I remember going into my muwcle but the bad part was that 3 hours later I felt like I had damaged my shoulder in some way. I couldn't figure out why it was hurting so much or why it was so hard to move my arm. About a half hour later I remembered I had gotten that flu shot.
When I came home I asked Larry if his arm hurt and it did in the same way. I usually feel a little sore after but he doesn't. Now we both did. Hoping it will go away in a few days and not turn into a case of SIRVA which I never heard of until I looked up shoulder pain after flu shot.
I got this recipe from Once Upon a Chef, click here to see the recipe.
However, this is how I made it so that it was very non fattening and still delicious.
Asparagus Soup
This asparagus soup tastes rich, yet it’s made without heavy cream — just veggies, broth, and a hint of Parmesan puréed to silky perfection.
