hummus! round one

so i eat a lot of hummus. lots. like a costco sized tub :) it's that sabra hummus! if you've never tried it, head to the grocery store immediately and buy some. and some pita chips. then cancel dinner and sit on your couch and enjoy the yumminess :)

as a result of my hummus addiction, i've been trying to make my own. i've yet to come up with a chickpea version that tastes as good as sabra, but this spicy black bean hummus is in it's own league. it's delicious with pita chips or multigrain tostitos. and you can control the spice with how much jalapeno you use. i used a whole one the first time and WHOA! that stuff was hot. nate ate it like candy of course, but it was a bit too hot for me. about half seems to be perfect :) enjoy! and if you have a great hummus recipe, please share! i'm still tweaking the chickpea one. i'll post it once i'm satisfied :)

Spicy Black Bean Hummus

• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon tahini (roasted sesame seed paste)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 small jalapeño pepper, chopped (about 2 tablespoons)
• Dash of crushed red pepper
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Dash of ground red pepper

Place garlic in a food processor; process until finely chopped. Add lemon juice, tahini, cumin, salt, black beans, jalapeño pepper, and crushed red pepper; process until smooth. Spoon bean mixture into a medium bowl, and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle with ground red pepper.

(not pictured as hummus isn't all that photogenic) :)

tgif!!

so glad it's friday!! happy weekend to you all :)

cleo's new friends

so it was a little difficult to get them to sit still, and i definitely didn't get a group shot, but here are the dogs that cleo's been hanging around with this weekend :)

colt:

and nittany:

better than ezra

last weekend we went to see better than ezra at house of blues in orlando. it was fantastic! we had a great view of the band and there always tons of fun to see live. i was thinking about the first time i went to see them, and cassie, correct me if i'm wrong here, but i'm pretty sure it was thirteen years ago!

better than ezra was cassie's favorite band and they were playing for $17 a ticket at the electric ballroom in tempe (which has since been torn down). i was fifteen (cassie's friend drove). we staked out a coveted railing spot and the cover band played so long i almost fell asleep! when they finally came on we loved every minute of it. we had to leave sometime at the end (maybe already at the encore? i can't remember) to make curfew.

we've seen them lots of times in betweeen then and now. i'll see them at least once more this year, they're playing at epcot's food and wine festival in october!

dog central!

we're dogsitting this weekend for 2 dogs plus our usual resident canine, cleo. it's been pretty entertaining! cleo has never seemed to understand how to play with other dogs and she usually ends up growling and making a whole lot of noise that scares them instead of encouraging them to play with her. not so with this bunch! colt is a french bulldog and nittany is a mix of several things (i'll have to post a pic, she looks sort of like a tall fox). but because nittany is used to the frenchie growl, she just plays right along with cleo. right now they are chasing each other in figure eights around the couch. it's nice for cleo to have some entertainment ;)

nate's been out of town TONS lately! which is good that he's busy at work and that lots of that time has been in PA so he's been able to see family and friends. the only downside is that he's not here with me! i' ve been keeping busy though, been working late some and also working on catching up on photos. i also (and this is embarrassing) have been playing a whole lot of the sims2 and some stupid game on facebook that cassie and i have both reluctantly gotten addicted to ;)

this weekend, nate's brother (and lots of others from his company) will be in town for a conference. so we'll be spending time with him which will be fun :) i'm hoping to challenge him to a round of dr. mario! i think the band is getting together sometime today too.

have a great weekend!

oh okay one more :)

i think this one is my favorite:

attn: fans of fletcher

i'm working on the photos but since i went a little crazy with the quantity last weekend, it's a lengthy process ;) these things take time people! in the meantime, here's one more of fletcher. i think he's dubious that i will finish these anytime soon... what do you think?

fletcher william

is adorable of course :) we've been running around with drew, laura and baby this weekend and are having a great time so far :) we've also been doing a mini photo shoot with fletcher, here's one i edited quick and dirty -- more to come!

hotlanta!

nate and i were in atlanta this past weekend for a good friend's wedding. we used to work with her in florida and it was great to see her again :) the wedding was very cool too :) ever since my own wedding, i appreciate all the small details so much more!

for the rest of the weekend, we spent our time with ashlea who is finishing up soon at georgia tech. she is a fantastic tour guide so we saw plenty of neat areas in atlanta and had a fantastic time :) the most photogenic of which was piedmont park:


we ate, we drank, nate & ashlea played guitar, we shopped, we talked -- all in all, a perfect weekend :) we weren't ready to head home on monday, but i'm sure we'll make another trip before ashlea leaves atlanta for good :)

baby, you were right all along

i'm laying on the guitar and nate's playing guitar. the chorus involves "baby you were right all along." it's a toss up as to which i find more attractive: the fact that he keeps saying "baby, you were right all along" or that he looks cute when he's singing and playing guitar :)

in other news, i'm about to build an ark! florida has been in a drought this year and boy are we making up for lost time! it's been raining for DAYS. apparently we've gotten a total of around 7 inches, and will get 7 more by saturday. the power flickered at work today too. it's been a very dramatic rain, lots of lightning and thunder and some serious rain!

salmon with maple-lemon glaze

no picture, but we had this for dinner and really liked it :) it's super easy, takes about 15 minutes!

Salmon with Maple-Lemon Glaze

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 4 (6-ounce) skinless salmon fillets
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat broiler.

2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add fish to bag; seal. Refrigerate 10 minutes, turning bag once.

3. Remove fish from bag, reserving marinade. Place marinade in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH 1 minute.

4. Heat a large ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle fish evenly with salt and pepper. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add fish to pan; cook 3 minutes. Turn fish over. Brush marinade evenly over fish. Broil 3 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

mmm.. coconut popsicles

nate and i bought some edy's coconut popsicles at the grocery store yesterday and they are YUMMY.

i also kind of one to throw one in the blender with some malibu rum. don't judge me.

my husband is home!

he was out of town for a few days this week, it's good to have him back :)

if at first you do not fricassee... fry fry again!

so you know how i'm always blogging about these yummy recipes that nate and i really enjoyed? well i never blog about the flops. and believe me, there are plenty! if a recipe is bland, i usually just let it fade away into the sunset. and then there's the occasional recipe that's just AWFUL. looking at the following picture, you can probably guess why this one's awful, the main ingredient is there behind the finished product ;) while we were in az, we did a fun new year's with fancy appetizers and this was supposed to be my great contribution- a 'healthy' bloomin' onion. well, it wasn't. it was so gross we couldn't even eat it! everyone tried a petal... and then we threw it out. but not before we snapped a picture to immortalize it as a total flop :) i still want to try this again with different breading and see if it turns out :)

which way to the pictures?

well i'm officially caught up back through january! now just december and november to post and i'll be all current! that's progress my friends :) the picture below is from december: nate, cassie, jeff and i all went for a hike while we were in arizona for christmas :)

who do you belong to?

well we had another great weekend at the beach :) we're very lucky that nate's aunt and uncle are so generous with their place in florida :) it's one of our favorite places to be! i do get a kick out of how interested the rest of the condo community is in us and how they interview each and everyone of us given the first opportunity :) 'who do you belong to?' 'where are you from?' 'how long are you staying?'

nate's just started giving them all regular updates as we come and go :) 'we're headed out to the beach for the day!' ' we're going to dinner!' 'headed back to orlando, see you soon!' i do think it's actually kind of neat that they're all paying such close attention :) very close knit!

the eco font!

so check this out, there's an 'eco font' that used up to 20% less ink. how? by putting little 'holes' in the text. here's a blow-up a what it looks like, but when you have it in a normal print size, it's hard to see those little cutouts. try it out!

new template, new options

so i added a feature that you can just click to comment on a post -- i put a few categories up :) and new template, you know, because i have the attention span of a gnat!

fork lickin' chicken!

i bought the biggest bag of chicken you've EVER seen from costco, and as a result, we've been eating a lot of chicken! i tried out several new recipes and these are the two we've really enjoyed so far. they're both from cooking light although i added a little more butter to the first one so it's not quite as light ;)

Chicken Piccata with Capers
Nate and Sarah actually had this in Venice last week and it was so good I wanted to try it at home. It was really close! This was our definite favorite of the two recipes.

I only made 2 chicken breasts but we still used all the sauce (poured it over top the chicken and a pile of angel hair), so keep that in mind!

Ingredients

* 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 ounce)
* 1-2 tablespoons butter (I added a tablespoon of butter to the sauce at the end)
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1/2 cup white wine
* 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
* 2 tablespoons capers
* 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 4 cups hot cooked spaghetti (about 8 ounces uncooked)
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Place each breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet. Place flour in a shallow dish, and dredge chicken in flour.

Heat 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add white wine, 1/4 cup lemon juice, capers, and garlic to pan; scrape pan to loosen browned bits. Cook for 2 minutes or until slightly thick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. (Whisk in another tablespoon of butter) Serve chicken over pasta. Top with sauce; sprinkle with parsley.

Here's my satisfied customer :)


Cilantro Lime Chicken with Avocado Salsa
Of course, this one has cilantro so it was an immediate favorite of mine :) The recipe only called for the cilantro in the marinade, but I also put it in the salsa for the top of the chicken. Also, we had it with saffron rice, but turns out I don't really like saffron rice! Next time I will try it with black beans and rice.

Ingredients

Chicken:
* 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
* 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
* 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
* 4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* Cooking spray

Salsa:
* 1 cup chopped plum tomato (about 2)
* 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
* 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 avocado, peeled and finely chopped

Directions

1. To prepare chicken, combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; toss and let stand 3 minutes. Remove chicken from marinade; discard marinade. Sprinkle chicken evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done.

2. To prepare salsa, combine tomato and next 4 ingredients (through pepper) in a medium bowl. Add avocado (and cilantro!); stir gently to combine. Serve salsa over chicken.

new blogger!

fletcher (laura and drew's latest addition) now has his very own blog :) you'll find it on the list on the left, or here: http://theycallmefletch.blogspot.com/

yay!