Changes

As you can see, I have been making changes to my blog.  There's a new look, which I hope you like :)  I'm also changing the focus to a broader scope of whatever is on my mind.

I hope you enjoy the changes!

testing again

Testing Signatures and Graphics

Trying Something New

Aarti (the newest Food Network Star) posted a link to a NY Times article about rosewater and its uses in cooking.  I'm currently exploring some new flavors and dishes to help me with healthier eating habits, and am always interested in the unusual.  Rosewater certainly qualifies :)

Here are some excerpts from that article:

But don’t think of t as an exotic ingredient used in far corners of the world. Before 1841, when vanilla became widely available, rose water was also a primary flavoring in a wide range of desserts and pastries in Europe and even the United States.

...

Taking a cue from 18th-century bakers, substitute rose water for the vanilla in cupcakes, puddings or scones. Or (a personal favorite) add a teaspoon or so to your next batch of French toast batter. Put a drop or two in a glass of lemonade for a remarkably refreshing summer drink — or make a rose martini in the same manner.

Rose water matches uncannily well with many fruits, drawing out their shy aromas. Try adding a bit to a bowl of strawberries, or sprinkling sliced melon, plums or peaches with rose water mixed with a bit of riesling.

And if you make a salad of bitter greens dressed with a vinaigrette that has been barely touched with rose water, you’ll quickly change your mind about the versatility of this ingredient.

Here are a couple of interesting recipes using rosewater:

Victorian Lavender Cookies with Rose Water Icing Notes

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon lavender, crushed (be sure it's food grade lavender)
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

For Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
5 1/2 teaspoons water
6 1/2 teaspoons rose water
Serves / Yields
About 4 dozen

Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, lavender, flour, baking powder and salt.

Drop by teaspoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes.

While the cookies bake, prepare the icing by mixing the powdered sugar with water and rose water. Drizzle over the cookies after they have cooled.

Recipe from The Spice House

Rose Water Sugar Cookies
Time 20 minutes  Serves 12

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter or margarine
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 1/2 tsp rose water extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
3 cups flour
dash salt

Directions
Cream sugar and butter well.  Beat in yolk and extracts to blend.
Mix baking soda into sour cream and mix well with other ingredients.

Add flour, mix with a spoon by hand to mix well

Roll out dough on lightly floured surface and cut out your cookies as you would for sugar cookies.  Place on baking sheets a few inches apart.

Bake 325 about 20 minutes or just slightly pale brown.  Cookies should be set and cooked.  Do not over bake.

Cool on rack.

These should have a soft texture and mellow flavor.

From Grouprecipes.com

 Enjoy!

Monday Thoughts

One of the hardest things about choosing to live a healthy life is, well, choosing to live a healthy life!  There are so many temptations around me, and I struggle with them constantly.  I think my biggest struggle is giving myself a treat.  I can come up with thousands of reasons to treat myself throughout the day, and in so doing I lose the discipline I need to stick with my healthy choices.

Not having a set menu planned in advance is also a problem.  I think it would be a good thing for me to plan the week's menu in advance, shop for only what's needed, and follow the menu faithfully.  I'd have more control of the calories that way, and can also fit in those small 'treats' on a daily basis, making sure the treats are healthy choices.

I think it would be helpful to have at least 3 staple recipes for breakfast and lunch that I could rotate through, and then have more variety with dinner, or maybe have 3 staples for dinner and have more variety with lunch.  Whatever I do, though, I need to make sure the food is healthy and filling.

More thoughts on this in my next post.  I'm also interested in knowing your thoughts and what's worked for you, so comment away :)

Heart of a Lion

It's been 4 weeks and 1 day since Andrew brought Spiffy into our home and hearts, and what a month it's been!  The first few days were a roller coaster of worry and hope as Spiffy dealt with what seemed like nearly insurmountable odds.  Every morning I woke up, afraid that he might have died, hoping that he made it through another night.  I was so afraid he might be dead that I had my husband check on him first to be sure he was still alive.  And every morning, Spiffy was awake, alert, and waiting for us to let him out of the computer room.


During that first week, I was constantly holding Spiffy and cuddling him, and Spiffy enjoyed the attention.  I'd be at the computer and Spiffy would climb onto my shoulder and sit there, leaning against my head and purring as if to thank me for being rescued, warm, fed and loved.  My heart melted at those moments and the little ache I still had over the loss of Riley began to heal.

It wasn't an easy first week with Spiffy...we'd gotten him flea-free the first night (thanks to Capstar!), but we still had an eye infection, URI (upper respiratory infection, basically a cat cold), an infected wound along the bottom edge of his ear, and constipation to deal with.  We diligently kept his eyes wiped clean and applied terramycin ointment 2-3 times a day and also constantly wiped his nose and put him in a steamy bathroom about twice a day.  We cleaned out his ears and applied some NFZ Puffer once a day.  To get his bowels moving again, we mixed some plain pureed pumpkin with wet cat food, along with some milk and a small amount of mineral oil.  We worked hard to help Spiffy get better using our knowledge.  (Just a note...had Spiffy not been eating like a pig, drinking plenty of fluids and had his bowel movements not begun and if he'd been lethargic, we would have taken him to the vet immediately.  Since none of this was an issue, we did what the vet would have told us to do if we'd taken him).

Today Spiffy no longer has an eye infection, his ear is almost completely infection-free, and he is not constipated.  My husband laughed at me when Spiffy did his first big poop after we began treating him for constipation...I don't think I've ever been so excited about cat poop in my entire life!  The URI is hanging on, but is nowhere near as bad as before.

He is my fluffy little baby!!!  Right now he's sleeping in the hanging house on the cat tree just 2 feet away from me.  He's such a beautiful little kitten; if you had no idea what he looked like when we found him, you'd never believe he could have looked that bad.

He truly is a little kitten with the heart of a lion!

Smoky Salmon With Watercress and Bacon-Corn Couscous

I was switching channels this afternoon and stopped on the  Rachel Ray Show.  She was getting ready to prepare what looked like a wonderful healthy recipe that fit into the Mediterranean diet concept: Smoky Salmon With Watercress and Bacon-Corn Couscous

For your pleasure, I am sharing it here :)





Smoky Salmon With Watercress and Bacon-Corn Couscous

Ingredients
    * 4 filets of salmon, skin removed
    * Salt and pepper
    * Old Bay Seasoning
    * 1 teaspoon smoked sweet paprika
    * EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, for drizzling
    * 1 large or 2 small bundles upland cress or watercress
    * Juice of 1 lemon
    * 2 slices smoky bacon, chopped
    * 1 ear of corn, kernels scraped from cob
    * 1/2 small red bell pepper, chopped
    * 4 scallions, finely chopped or 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
    * 1 cup chicken stock
    * A couple of tablespoons chopped fresh dill
    * A few dashes hot sauce
    * 1 cup couscous

Preparation

Season the fish with salt, pepper, Old Bay and smoked sweet paprika. Heat a drizzle of EVOO in a shallow nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, cook fish a few minutes on each side until just cooked through or a bit pink at the center; you can gauge doneness very simply by looking at the side of the filets as they cook.

Meanwhile, dress watercress with lemon juice and a little EVOO, then season with salt and pepper. Heat a drizzle of EVOO in a saucepot over medium-high heat. Add bacon and cook to crisp, then add corn and peppers and scallions or onion and stir 2-3 minutes to tender-crisp. Add stock, dill and hot sauce and bring to a boil. Add couscous and turn off heat. Cover and let stand 5 minutes.

Top the fish with watercress salad. Fluff the couscous with a fork and serve along side the fish.


Yields: Serves 4