Kasey Likes It [Magic Bullet]

Over the past few months I've developed the habit of drinking at least one (if not two) protein shakes each day. At home, I mix it (Dymatize Whey Protein) with 8 oz milk and ice in a blender, which makes it frothy, cold and yummy.

At work, I use a shaker cup and just blend it with milk. Not nearly as yummy, but it works, and usually counts as either breakfast or lunch.

I'd been thinking about a Magic Bullet to keep at my office, but didn't think it was worth $69. So, when I was able to get one for $29 with some discounts, I jumped on it and put it under the Christmas tree (more to unwrap!).
I've been using it at least once a day since Christmas and love these things about it:

1) It is so much smaller and easier to pull in and out of the cabinet to use.

2) The blender is also the cup and makes for fewer dishes.

3) It's super easy to clean.

In fact, I've grown so fond of it that I now the thought of leaving it at my office makes me sad, because I'll have to go back to using the blender at home. However, I certainly am not going to spend another $49 to get a second one.

So, I decided to start looking around for a cheap blender for the office....you know, the $15 - 20 kind. Proctor-Silex. Something like that.

I dragged Jimmie to about 8 different stores over 7 hours today, researching scratch & dent refrigerators, so we also looked at steam cleaners and blenders. I'd read about a Hamilton single serve blender on Walmart.com for $18 and Walmart was the last place we stopped.

They had it for $12.88. Score! This is the one I'll take to the office.

I mixed up a shake for a late dinner, only to discover that the $12.88 blender works SO. MUCH. BETTER. than the Magic Bullet! I was very surprised. Here's what I like about it:
1) Mixing time is about half that of the Magic Bullet

2) It didn't leave a single chip/chunk of ice (the Magic Bullet doesn't quite crush all the ice, leaving me spitting little ice cubes back into the cup)

3) It's just as easy to clean.

4) What's not to love about the price??

I'm going to return the Magic Bullet and get a second Hamilton. It rocks!

POM in season

Did you know you can freeze pomegranates whole?

Yep, just put them in a ziploc bag.

Thaw before peeling.

YUM

On Following Directions

I'm usually a pretty good follower of directions. I also like my orange juice a little strong, so I always leave out about 1/2 can of the recommended water. But, all brands are different, so I always look at the directions to see if it suggests 3 cans, 3 1/2 cans, 4 cans, etc.

When I flipped the orange juice can around this morning to see how many of cans of water to add, I was surprised by the semantics:

CONTAINS 100% ORANGE JUICE WHEN MIXED ACCORDING TO DIRECTIONS.

So, if I add just a little too much, or not enough water, what it is?

Orange water?

Orange sludge?

Cinnamon Rolls

I've had one of these for 5 years.I have never used it to make bread dough. I know!

So, as we prepare to exit this decade and enter the next, I decided to give it a whirl. Since I didn't plan ahead, I was happy to find a 60 minute, fast-rising dough recipe. Is it bad that the 'warmest place' in my kitchen (other than my oven) is the heater vent on the floor?!

It was covered (and it totally worked)!
15 minutes later, the dough was ready to go.

I'd just watched Giada make an excellent hazelnut cinnamon roll recipe HERE. I used pecans.

The icing has a little mascarpone cheese in it - [not so] secret ingredient!

They. were. inhaled.

Bread = not so hard in a mixer with a dough hook. I think I'll make dough more often.

I'd better get my run on tomorrow....I just ate 3 of these bad boys! Good thing we gave away one of these pans.

Hazelnut Cinnamon Rolls recipe HERE.

I May Have Set A Record

I've made a home cooked meal THREE nights in a row this week!

It began Sunday with beef stew and sourdough.

Granted, it's hard to take an appetizing picture of stew, but it was SO thick and flavorful...and it appears to have cured whatever ailed Jimmie for the preceding 12 hours!

Monday night I made a caprese salad, which we had with italian grilled chicken and [more] sourdough. Jimmie raved about this one, too. Can't you just smell that basil??

Tonight I roasted a chicken - for the first. time. ever. I know! ...pick your jaw up off the floor. How can one have gone so many years without ever roasting a whole chicken?? I defy the odds.

I stuffed it with rosemary, sage, thyme and lemon. Jimmie said it was the best chicken he's EVER had!

I'm starting to think he just likes when I cook. ;)

After we ate I put the bones on the stove for 4 hours and made chicken stock. This will be used another night this week for Carrot and Pomegranate soup! My fridge overfloweth with goodness this week.

I also made fudge topped with candy cane tonight, to go with the toffee I made Sunday night. Ready to put together some goodies for friends.

Tomorrow I'll make fresh pomegranate syrup (for the soup). Also on the docket is Giada's Ricotta and Vanilla Bean Puddings (with cranberry orange sauce) for dessert on FENCE-tivus [Christmas Eve]! I may even sprinkle some pomegranate seeds on top...

A Greek Tragedy

Found this at Sam's Club two weeks ago...I heart it.
Fell in love with it...

...and then they took it away.

Sad. I hope it's just a supply issue (not a discontinuation). I think it's a very small dairy that may have been overwhelmed with the demand. At least I'm hoping that's the case. Since I started eating greek yogurt a few months ago I can't even think about Yoplait. It's way too sweet and not nearly as satisfying. And greek yogurt has ~13 grams of protein and no fat! Too bad you can't order yogurt on Amazon!

Pomegranate Cheesecake

Cheesecake. It's good. The Clines have a cheesecake tradition. Every New Year's Eve we baked a cheesecake - the good kind with several bricks of cream cheese. And it was always topped with cherry pie filling. Yum.

I hadn't made a cheesecake in years when I made this one last spring for a 'birthday cake.' It was SO good. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed a good, homemade cheesecake with a graham cracker crust.
Fast forward 18 months and I was in the mood to bake another cheesecake. This time it was Thanksgiving and we decided to venture outside of our comfort zone and try something new. And so I bring you Pomegranate Cheesecake. The recipe came from Better Homes & Gardens, but was written so poorly that it took two trips to the store to obtain all of the ingredients and about 5 times reading through the recipe to figure out which portions went in what bowl when. You catch my drift. The recipe below is my re-written version that I'll use next time I make it.

Pomegranate Cheesecake (adapted from BH&G)

Ingredients:
· 1/2 cup butter, softened
· 1/4 cup (plus ¼ cup) packed brown sugar
· 4 eggs
· 1-1/4 cups (plus ¼ cup) all-purpose flour
· 4 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
· 1-1/4 cups (plus ¼ cup) granulated sugar
· 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. vanilla
· 1 16-ounce carton dairy sour cream
· 1 tsp. finely shredded lemon peel
· 16 oz pomegranate juice
· 1-1/2 cups pomegranate seeds (1 fresh promegranate – I doubled it!)
· 1 Tbsp cornstarch

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a mixing bowl beat butter on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar. Beat until combined. Add 1 egg; beat well. Beat in 1-1/4 cups flour until combined. Divide dough in half. Cover and refrigerate one portion.

2. Spread unrefrigerated dough half on bottom of ungreased 10-inch spring form pan with sides removed, spreading dough to edges. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely. When cool, attach sides of pan. Press chilled dough onto sides to a height of 1-3/4 inches, using a thin metal spatula to spread dough.

3. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F. For filling, in an extra-large mixing bowl beat cream cheese and 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar until fluffy. Beat in the remaining flour (1/4 cup) on low speed until smooth. Add remaining 3 eggs and 1 tablespoon vanilla all at once, beating on low speed just until combined. Stir in 1/2 cup sour cream, the lemon peel, and 3/4 cup (half) of the pomegranate seeds.

4. Pour filling into crust-lined pan. Place on baking sheet. Bake for 65 minutes or until edges are puffed and center jiggles slightly when gently shaken (I ended up 75 minutes...probably depends on altitude). Remove from oven.

5. Stir together remaining sour cream (the entire 16 oz carton, less the ½ cup you already used), sugar (1/4 cup), and vanilla (1 tsp). Spread sour cream mixture over top of baked cheesecake. Return to oven; bake for 10 minutes more (or until golden). Remove from oven. Cool on wire rack for 15 minutes. Loosen crust from sides of pan. Cool for 30 minutes more. Remove sides of pan; cool completely. Cover; chill 4 hours or overnight.

6. Remove cheesecake and Pomegranate Sauce (recipe below) from refrigerator 15 minutes before serving. Spoon some sauce over top of cheesecake; pile remaining 3/4 cup pomegranate seeds in center of cheesecake. To serve, slice cheesecake. Pass remaining sauce. Makes 16 servings. I say go with 2 pomegranates if you like them...you’ll want more seeds to sprinkle over the top!

7. For sauce, in a medium saucepan bring 1-16-ounce bottle pomegranate juice to boiling; reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered, until reduced to 1 cup (10 to 12 minutes). Stir together 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. Add to juice. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir 2 minutes more. Transfer to a medium bowl; cover surface with clear plastic wrap. Cool to room temperature. Store, covered, in refrigerator until serving time.

Baked Jalapeno Poppers

After thinking about hot poppers for two weeks, I finally decided to try out THIS recipe for low fat poppers, courtesy of Hungry Girl.

I am a big fan of using what I have on hand, rather than running to the grocery store for a missing ingredient and spending $30 on things I didn't know I needed! So, I changed it up a bit. AND I doubled the recipe to 4 servings:

10 jalapenos
1/2 cup fat free cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded fat free cheddar (I used jack cheese I had on hand)
1 cup Fiber One cereal (run through blender until consistency of bread crumbs)
salt, pepper, garlic salt to taste
1/2 cup eggbeaters (I used regular egg because I didn't have eggbeaters on hand)

I highly recommend wearing gloves, because I always seem to put my fingers in my eyes after cutting jalapenos.

Slice jalapenos lengthwise, removing seeds and membranes.


Combine cheeses in a small bowl and mix together with a fork. Optional: add salt, pepper, garlic salt to taste. (I added my seasonings to the cereal)

Stuff each jalapeno half with cheese mixture.

Blend cereal in blender until crumbled to a bread crumb texture.

How cool is this packaging? 2 separate bags to prevent it from going stale. Brilliant! All cereal should be packed this way.

Dip poppers into egg, then cereal mixture.

Place on cookie sheet (tin foil = I don't have to wash a cookie sheet).

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. They just came out of the oven. All I can say is "YUM!"

Now doesn't this baked, low fat goodness look more yummy than this gigantic fryer?

This is the world's largest jalapeno popper, in case you were wondering!

Dinner [was] Served

I cooked dinner two nights in a row!

--Santa Fe Chicken and Steamed Asparagus over Linguine
--Turkey Taco Salad with Pita Chips and Magic Sauce

I guess I'm done for the week. :)

Asian Noodle Salad

I spent a small fortune on these ingredients today for an asian noodle salad.

I just hope it looks like this when it's finished. And tastes as good as everyone claims!

I found this on http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ and have been thinking about making it for two weeks now. It's time!

Asian Noodle Salad adapted from Jamie Oliver

SALAD INGREDIENTS:
1 package linguine noodles, cooked, rinsed, and cooled
1/2 to 1 head sliced Napa cabbage1/2 to 1 head sliced purple cabbage1/2 to 1 bag baby spinach1 red bell pepper, sliced thin1 yellow bell pepper, sliced thin1 orange bell pepper, sliced thin, 1 small bag bean sprouts,3 sliced scallions, 3 peeled, sliced cucumbers, LOTS of chopped cilantro—up to one bunch, 1 can whole cashews, lightly toasted in skillet.

DRESSING:
Juice of 1 lime, 8 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons sesame oil, 6 tablespoons soy sauce, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 3 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped, 2 cloves chopped garlic, 2 hot peppers or jalapenos, chopped, More chopped cilantro—LOTS
Mix together salad ingredients. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour over salad. Mix with tongs or hands and serve on platter. *Dressing keeps up to three days before serving, WITHOUT cilantro.

UPDATE:

I made this salad on Sunday. YUM-O! If you are flavor shy, this salad (or at least the dressing) is probably not for you. But, if you loves veggies and like a sweet and spicy ginger sesame dish once in a while, then this salad is right up your alley. This salad would also be excellent with a rice wine vinegar and oil (milder) dressing, if that's more your style.

I probably spent about $12 on ingredients, but $3 was cashews and $3 was sesame oil because I didn't have any. Next time, I'll still have both of those ingredients on hand, because I didn't even use half of them.

This is a HUGE salad. Like, so huge it didn't fit in my largest bowl. It would probably feed 12-15 people, so you can easily halve it. I also store the noodles, salad and dressing separately, so they'll keep.

7 Layer Dip

If you don't like Cilantro (or black olives for that matter), STEP AWAY from the 7 Layer Dip.

I make it and I only make it one way.

There's a FOREST of cilantro in there.

So, please, if you are not a cilantro lover, don't bother dishing it up and wasting it. Just step away. This little baby is for Meg's Trifecta celebration tomorrow night (baby shower / birthday / girls' night) reason to party.


I've found that people fall into one of two groups: Cilantro Lovers or Cilantro Haters.

Don't be a hater.

7 Layer Dip:
Refried beans
Sour cream
Salsa
Green Onions
Cilantro
Olives
Shredded Cheese

The New BLT...with Avocado!

Here's a new twist on an old favorite....discovered this weekend by my husband.

Was BLT....Now BAST (Bacon. Avocado. Spinach. Tomato.) It will always be a "fat bastard" to us now! [pardon my french]

This was kind of an accident. We had all of the above in the fridge, but no lettuce. We decided fresh spinach would make it even better. And we'd happened to pick up some 'day old' ciabatta rolls the day before. Jimmie cooked the bacon to perfection, salted the avocado and tomato, de-stemmed the spinach leaves and toasted the ciabatta. To. Perfection.

Food pictures never do the real thing justice, but I tried.

I don't think we'll ever go back.

Kasey Likes It! [Tortillaz]

Today I decided to go straight from the office to visit a friend who'd just had a baby this morning. I needed to pick up a few things on the way, but didn't want to fight rush hour traffic on the main drag, so I drove out to Siloam Springs first and stopped at Walmart on my way to the hospital.

I didn't realize how hungry I was until I walked past the McDonalds at the entrance. Wow, I REALLY didn't want to eat McDonalds for dinner, but knew I needed something. I was headed toward the granola bar row for some Fiber Plus bars when this little cutie caught my eye:

I love guacamole. I love chips. A marriage made in heaven. Wow. A better tasting rice cake I have never experienced. They are ZESTY. Dare I say SPICY! (That's for you, Nat!) Garlic, lime, sugar, je ne sais quois, but I LIKE them! 4 grams of fat and 130 calories per serving (about 15 chips). So, I opted to try these and grabbed a banana on my way to the register. And then I got to snuggle the most beautiful, peaceful little baby and visit with my friend. It made me so happy to see she and her husband so happy with their healthy new little one. I hope she didn't notice my guacamole breath!

I'll admit I've eaten almost the entire (smaller size) bag tonight, but still under 12 grams of fat total. Not bad when compared to regular chips....not that I should be eating the whole bag. I'm just sayin' YuM. They also had a cheddar flavor. For those of you who don't like guacamole. Although, I can't imagine anyone that reads this blog doesn'nt like guacamole. Do you?

Raspberry Cobbler

We have a lot of these in our freezer:

So I decided to bake some cobbler:

Jimmie requested a raspberry pie made with our frozen berries. I couldn't decide whether to call this a cobbler or a pie. I decided to make individuals with crust only on top (1/2 the crust of a pie, right?). I think, technically, a cobbler crust is "crumbled" on top, but whatever.

Raspberry Cobbler

5 - 6 cups raspberries

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

Whisk sugar and cornstarch together to mix thoroughly. Toss with berries.

Pour berry mixture into baking dishes and top with your favorite pie crust dough.

Cut a few vents in the crust and sprinkle with sugar before baking.

Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour.

Good thing we also have some ice cream in the freezer to go with this dessert tomorrow!
I should not be up at midnight when we're "springing forward!"

Kasey Likes It [Splenda PEEPS!]

I spotted a new PEEP at the grocery store: "Splenda Peeps" are sugar free!

I decided to give them a whirl.

Let me just say that if you love PEEPS, you will NOT love THESE PEEPS. They taste like nasty vanilla and butter. They also lack the crunchy coating of sugar on the outside. I'm kinda glad there were only 3 peeps included and that I only bought one package. I don't feel so bad throwing them away. And I will be picking up some of my FAVORITE PEEPS on my next shopping trip!

Here are some fun facts about PEEPS:

Each PEEPS chick has 32 calories and 0 grams of fat.

Just Born produces enough PEEPS in one year to circle the Earth twice.

It takes six minutes to create one PEEPS chick. In the 1950's it too 27 hours.

PEEPS has been the #1 non-chocolate Easter candy in the U.S. for more than a decade.

PEEPS chicks for Easter come in 6 colors--yellow, pink, lavender, blue, green, and red.

New for Easter 2008 are PEEPS Yellow Tulips, delivering the first new Spring shape since the1950s.

Yellow is America’s best selling color of PEEPS chicks and bunnies.

All PEEPS have 0 fat grams, are gluten free, and are nut free.

People like to do curious things with PEEPS ….eat them fresh or aged to perfection, microwave them, freeze them, roast them, and even cook with them!

Kasey Leaves It! [the sugar free version, that is.]

Kasey Likes It! [Lime Squeezer]

I used to live somewhere that did a segment on the news every week, where they tested out a new gadget and gave it a rating on whether or not it really did what it claimed to do. Many of the gadgets were of the 'As Seen On TV' variety. I can't remember the clever name for the segment, but they had one. I'm not that clever, so until I think of something better, I'm going to call this 'Kasey Likes It.' Because I like things often enough to share them with you on a regular basis. At least, I think about sharing things I like, whether or not I actually get around to sharing them. And if I don't like it.....hmm. Maybe I 'leave' it. What do you think?

Tonight I tested out my new lime squeezer, purchased at TJ Maxx about a week ago for $6.99. Maybe it's a lime 'juicer,' but I prefer lime 'squeezer.' Squeeze is such a visual word.

Another visual word is leverage. Let me just say that LEVERAGE is a wonderful thing. Nevah, nevah, nevah, have I squeezed so much juice out of one lime. Sonic should be concerned about their stock price.

I also LOVE that a ton of the pulp went in with the juice. Look, there's practically nothing left of that lime!

Kasey likes it!

LIME is not just a pretty color

'Hey, Raymond, club soda with a lime, please.

And would you get me a towel?'

Extra points if you can name that movie.

My roommates and I used to crack up at this actress' accent,

and repeat this line over and over and over.

Have you ever noticed that a Diet Coke with Lime is never better than when Sonic makes it? That's because they have an amazing little tool, similar to this one. It squeezes the life (and juice) out of the lime wedge before they drop it into your drink. That's amazing to my, because I usually find it quite difficult to get much juice out of any lime.

So, when I saw this little steel beauty at TJMaxx the other day, it was love at first sight. They had a yellow one (slightly larger) for lemons, too. But, I figured if I bought smaller lemons, I could make it work for both!

Potato & Leek Soup

I was grocery shopping this weekend and trying to think up a few healthy meals with vegetables. While putting a head of romaine in a bag, I spotted some good looking leeks. I haven't make potato leek soup in a few years, so I put them in my basket with the intention to do it some time this week.

Don't you love watching what other people are putting on the conveyer belt at the grocery store? I like to give them a good once over, then their basket a good once over, and then I have a very visual image of their lives. Kinda scary to make a snap judgment of people, based only on what groceries they're buying, but hey - I'll never see these people again and it's a fun little game. What else am I going to do while I'm waiting in line, besides peruse the weekly trash mags??

So, I noticed the lady standing behind me was totally eyeing my cart candy as I unloaded. Wouldn't SHE like to know what I was going to do with all those beans and ham? And who was going to get the giant heart shaped peanut butter cup?

So the cashier starts moving through my collection, picking and choosing similar items, very consciencious to put all of the produce together, greeting cards in a separate bag, etc. Boy, she was a talker. I asked where the Red Box went and she said they'd removed it for the remodel (because there's a NEW Walmart coming in 25 days!). I think that means they put the new logo and paint color on the building, but I digress. She told me a story about how they had taken away the cushy little mats that they stand on while they check, and that she had complained about how much her back hurt working all day without the mats. The complaining had worked, because they'd gotten the mats back! Then, she picked up my leeks and asked me what they were. After I told her they were leeks, she said, 'Yeah, that's what I thought - leeks. What do you use them for?' I told her they were similar to green onions and that I used them in a soup with potatoes and carrots. She told me, 'Yeah, I've never known what people use them for, but I know they're in the bible, so they must be good.' People in the bible belt LOVE to tell you what they know about the bible. It makes me laugh when people bring it up in unexpected context.

Yes, indeed, they must be good.

So, in honor of the bible lady at Walmart, here's a simple soup recipe I love. Most leek soups contain heavy cream, so I like this one because it's super healthy. I got this recipe from Teresa when I worked at Twinlab. She's an awesome cook. My favorite part is the un-exactness (ish) of the quantities:

POTATO LEEK SOUP

A bit of butter
1 leek (this big)
2 ish carrots
4 ish red potatoes
1 can kidney beans
2 knorr vegetable boullion cubes
enough water to fill the pot

Cut leek and saute in butter. (Slice the leek down the middle and rinse between the layers to remove grit. Then slice.) Cut up carrots and potatoes. Throw veggies into boiling water with boullion. Cook for a while, then add the rinsed kidney beans. Salt and pepper to taste.

Since I'm in a soup mood, here's another soup recipe from another Twinlab friend, Barb:

CHEESY POTATO SOUP

6 potatoes (cubed)
2 cups broccoli (cut)
2 large carrots (sliced)
2 stalks celery (sliced)
4 cubes chicken boullion
1 onion (chopped)
4 cups water
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 12 oz can evaporated milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1 Tbs parsley
1/8 tsp pepper
1 Tbs flour

Boil potatoes in boullion and spices. Then add all vegetables except broccoli. In a small sauce pan, melt together evaporated milk, flour and cheese. Add sauce to vegetables that have boiled. Reduce heat (do not boil after cheese is added). Steam broccoli in microwave. Add last. If too thick, add water.

Ice Storm Stew

Got Food Storage?

Got 5 minutes?

Then you've got Ice Storm [food storage] Stew!

I started with the intention of making a white bean chicken chili.
But I didn't have any white beans here...they're in my storage unit. Great place for food storage, huh??

I improvised and used what I had. Dump the following into your crock pot on low for a few hours until heated:

1 can chick peas
1 can black beans
1 can chicken
1 cup salsa
1 cup water

Optional garnish: cheddar cheese, sour cream and green onions (which I just happened to have in the fridge).

Serve with tortilla chips or Fritos scoops. There's plenty of salt in the salsa and the chips, so I didn't even add seasoning. So easy. So yummy.

My new love...

Too tired and hungry to make dinner today, I pulled this little pretty out of the pantry.

Along with a whole wheat grilled cheese sandwich, this was heavenly! Seriously, if you like basil you should try this. It reminded me of caprese.

Potato Love

Check out this spud-o-love! How could I leave it in the potato bin?

Now, what to make with this "love" -ly little spud...potato corn chowder? Baked fries?