Ready To Go

Stew snapped this shot of Riley, enjoying an empty mailing box from a baby gift we'd just received. It's amazing, a cat's fascination with boxes. No matter what size, condition, etc. they always want to jump inside.

Leapin' Lizards!

We have this rather large lizard living somewhere in our backyard - it's much larger that the typical gecko we see. He comes out every now and then to bask in the sun - on a rock, on the wall, .... Here he is lounging on the cool deck near the pool.

Cinco de Mayo Comes Early

Last week, we tried a few new recipes from this month's issue of Everyday Food. The Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Green Sauce (shown here) turned out really great. The recipe makes a large quantity - and in hind sight should've probably split into 2 batches, and frozen one. Served this with a side of Black Beans with Lime.

The Buttermilk Chicken Caesar Salad was another hit. Not too difficult to make (just need to pick up some lowfat buttermilk), and I used a bag of butter lettuce and radicchio to save some time. Unfortunately it doesn't look like the recipe is available online.

And finally (yum, yum!), tried the Cream-Cheese Brownies, featured on the magazine cover. Who could resist? The cream cheese mixture turned out a little soupy, so I ended up not using all of it - so to still get the marbled brownie effect. The tip to line part of the pan with parchment paper - to easily lift out the brownies - worked well too.

Bigfoot

We had an ultrasound done this week, and couldn't resist posting this photo :) The technician couldn't get any good face shots since she's all curled up and facing back, so figured this is the next best thing.

Sitting Duck

Leaving work the other day, I encountered this duck all comfy and cozy in the parking lot. He looked lost if you ask me, and I didn't see any other ducks nearby. However, he didn't seem to mind me taking his photo with my cell phone as I drove by.

Perfect Piccata

Was looking for a quick chicken recipe to try out with ingredients on hand. Found a Chicken Piccata recipe, from Sara Moulton, and it turned out very good. I've tried other piccata recipes before, and the sauce never turns out quite right - but this one was very flavorful. I'm not a huge fan of left-overs, but didn't mind having this a second night.

Catch Phrase

There are so many catch phrases in use these day - several of which I'm convinced have gained popularity through American Idol. Below are a few I consider a bit overplayed - one of these days I'm going to keep count of how many times I hear them in a given week :)

• Make it your own
• Be true to yourself
• At the end of the day.....
• Keep it real

Pretty in Pink

This week I received this beautiful handmade baby quilt from my grandmother. I love it - the design is really neat, and fabrics are subtle and sweet. Can't wait to use it! Need to purchase some nursery furniture next....

Muffin Mania

I tried a few new recipes over the last week. First, I made 2 different types of muffins from the muffin book I got for Christmas - apple cinnamon (pictured), and lowfat blueberry. Both were very tasty, and healthy too. The apple cinnamon used part wheat flour, part white flour, and the blueberry muffins used lowfat yogurt and only egg whites.

Last night I tried Giada's Tuscan Salad recipe, which I saw yesterday's Everyday Italian featuring 'light and healthy' fare. It was extremely good, and I will definitely make it again. It includes romaine lettuce, blanched green beans, cannellini beans, black olives, red onion, parmesan curls, and is dressed simply with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt pepper.

Then on a not-so-healthy note... I decided to try a recipe for a Cranberry Upside-Down Cake. Over the holidays, I was flipping channels and saw this cooking program 'Weir Cooking in the City' on a new digital public TV station called Create. The cake was inspired by a chef at Chez Panisse, and looked very fesitive. However, one glitch - it seems no one has fresh cranberries stocked after the holidays. So I reverted back to the standard upside-down cake fruit, pineapples. Will sample the results this evening - it smells very good and I just love that gooey carmely top.

Holiday Bake-off

Have a few posts to catch up on from the holidays... We had fun one Sunday baking Christmas cookies to send to family and friends. We made 6 different kinds this year - including sugar cookie cutouts, spritz, star-shaped shortbread, espress shortbread coins, chocolate chip, and ginger snaps. All-in-all, they seemed to turn out pretty well. We spent the next evening wrapping and prepping them to mail out :)