Happy Thanksgiving!

We will be having the family over today for Thanksgiving.  Jessica, Pat and the boys will be here as well as Jeff's mom and Aunt Joy, and Jeff's dad and Robin.  Justin will be here but Sarah is still in Spain on her 5 week work/vacation.  She is due home on Saturday.  She's been to London, Spain, Portugal, Casablanca, Morocco among other places.  We'll be having the traditional menu of turkey, dressing (this year I'm making dressing with cranberries and apples,) mashed potatoes and gravy, my special yam casserole, Aunt Joy's Zesty Carrots, steamed French green beans with slivered almonds, a kale side dish with asiago cheese in a bechamel sauce, homemade cranberry sauce, rolls and a green salad.  Our dessert is never the traditional pumpkin pie as most of the family can really take it or leave it so I'm auditioning a White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse cake from Costco.  If we like it, we'll have it for our Christmas Party next month.  Here's a tiny photo of it from the Costco website.  You can see that it will make a nice Christmas dessert!

So what to do with those Thanksgiving leftovers?  Can't beat a good turkey sandwich with cranberries on the side but if you have a lot of leftovers from all the dressing and side dishes, you can make what I call a "Pilgrim Pie!"  It's similar to the British Shepherd's Pie.  You basically line a casserole dish with leftover dressing, add turkey, top with some gravy, add leftover veggies and make a top "crust" with mashed potatoes.  Here's a more formal recipe but you can pretty much improvise and it'll turn out great!

~ Pilgrim's Pie ~

2 cups leftover stuffing

2 cups cooked turkey

1 cup gravy

2 cups leftover cooked vegetables

2 cups mashed potatoes

Preheat oven to 350°F

Press stuffing into a greased casserole dish

Layer with turkey, chopped into bite sized pieces

Pour gravy over top

Top with leftover cooked vegetables

Finish with a crust of mashed potatoes

Bake in 350°F oven for 30 minutes or until warmed through

Serve with cranberry sauce

Spur of the Moment

We had a quick little trip up to Morro Bay over the weekend.  George and Robin were on their way down from a Washington/Canada trip and called and asked if we might want to meet up with them in Morro Bay.  Jeff's grandparents built a home there many years ago and it is still in the family so we had a nice place to stay.  It was our first road trip with the dogs in the new Prius.  Remember I showed you the liner that Jeff made to protect the back area when the seats are down?  The dogs are great travelers and they had so much fun hiking and going to the beach.  Here's a photo of a trail we took high above the Morro Bay area.  Off in the distance, you will see the big Morro Rock in the water that is a landmark for the area.  My physical therapist would freak out if she knew I did this strenuous uphill climb!

We've visited Morro Bay a lot over the years but this weekend was, without a doubt, the best weather I've ever experienced there.  It's so often foggy and cool but, as you can see, it was sunny and clear with temps in the mid-80's!  We did this hike with Jeff's cousin Susan and her husband Greg and their 12 year old Golden Retriever, Sophie.  We had a nice BBQ back at the house that George and Robin fixed for us all.  Delicious tritip steaks, George's famous twice-baked potatoes, salad, and apple pie a la mode.  The following night, we went out to a Mexican restaurant.  

Jeff, Kanan and Cooper at Morro Bay beach

Cute Sandpipers running in the soup

Otters Galore!

Amazing Race European Tour

Justin and Sarah are on their Amazing Race style of an European Tour.  They arrived Friday in Amsterdam and then a quick flight to Venice, Italy.  The stop in The Netherlands was because that's where the cheapest flight from the US landed them.  Here's a photo taken in Amsterdam.

They stayed on a "Boat and Breakfast" Yacht in Venice.  HERE'S a link to their floating accommodations.  They were so lucky to have a gorgeous first day in Venice.  This is definitely on our bucket list.  Here are two photos of the famous canals.

They have now arrived in Prague in the Czech Republic.  They are staying in the historic Old Town Square at the Lippert Hotel.  There's a webcam showing the view they have from their room HERE and here's the photo Justin took of the view from their room.  The church you see is the Tyn Church.    

Construction of the Romanesque/early Gothic church started in 1365.  The grand portal was built in 1390. The West front wasn't erected until after the Hussite wars in 1485; the south tower was finished in 1511.  Although the structure is not the same, legend has it that Tyn Church gave Walt Disney the inspiration for Sleeping Beauty Castle.  And take a close look at the two spires on the church. They are not symmetrical. They represent the masculine and feminine sides of the world. This is characteristic of Gothic architecture of the period.

I'm posting this early on Sunday (Happy St. Patrick's Day) because we are going up to Ojai with Chris and Liz for an early dinner at The Ranch House.  They have a beautiful outdoor setting and we have 5 PM reservations so we can enjoy eating outside.  HERE's (another) link to The Ranch House.  You can have a virtual tour from that link and see the menus.  I'm ordering :

Chipotle Chicken Chevrie
Jidori free range breast of chicken stuffed with wilted spinach, wild
mushrooms, chevrie, toasted walnuts & thyme, rubbed with a sun dried
tomato pesto - baked -served with a cranberry tequila glaze.

MUFA's

MUFAs...whatfa's?  Poor Jeff, he knows he's always in trouble when I'm watching another Dr. Oz show with pen and notebook in hand.  Our latest additions to our healthy diet are MUFAs.  MUFAs (pronounced moo-fah) are monounsaturated fatty acids, plant-based fats found in some of the world's most delicious foods—avocado, nuts and seeds, oils, olives, and dark chocolate! Studies show that these good-for-you fats enhance heart health and protect against chronic disease. And now the latest research shows that these dietary superstars may even target fat where it's hardest to lose—in your belly!  You have to eat MUFA's in moderation.  If not, the alternative title for this blog post would be "My healthy diet is making me fat!"    Here's a list of MUFA's and the calories for each.

NUTS/SEEDS - 2 Tbsp, raw or dry roasted unsalted, 1 cup for edamame
	Almonds - 164 Almond butter - 202 Brazil nuts - 186 Cashews - 163 Cashew butter - 188 Hazelnuts - 178 Macadamia nuts - 203 Pecans - 196 Peanut butter, natural, crunchy - 188 Peanut butter, natural, smooth - 188 Peanuts - 166 Pine nuts - 191 Pictachios - 161 Pumpkin seeds - 148 Soybeans, boiled (shelled) - 298 Sunflower seeds - 165 Sunflower seed butter - 186 Tahini (sesame seed paste) - 178 Walnuts - 185
OILS - 1 Tbsp
	Canola oil - 124 Flaxseed oil - 120 Olive oil - 119 Peanut oil - 119 Pesto sauce - 80 Safflower oil - 120 Sesame oil - 120 Sunflower oil - 120 Walnut  oil - 120
OLIVES - 10 for olives, 2 Tbsp for tapenade
	Black olives - 50 Black olive tapenade - 88 Green olives - 50 Green olive tapenade - 54
AVOCADO - one quarter cup
	Avocado, California - 96 Avocado, Florida - 69
CHOCOLATE - one quarter cup
	Semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips - 207

MUFA's are a major part of the Mediterranean Diet.  We bought black olive tapenade and pesto at Costco.  We always have Costco's mixed nuts on hand as well as dark chocolate and avocado.  A typical MUFA meals has 3 oz of lean protein, 1 complex carb, unlimited veggies and 1 MUFA.  Each meal should be 350 calories or less.  Don't even get me started on PUFAs!

Update on the boys... Ryan is feeling better but Jacob is still running a temperature.  He doesn't quite understand the concept of a fever.  He keeps saying it's hot in the house.  He was at the doctor on Thursday and they say it's not the flu.  Not sure how they came to that conclusion.  Hopefully they'll both be better after the weekend of staying warm and cozy at home.

Amazing Places to Visit

I subscribe to a Facebook page called "Amazing Places to Visit.  Every day they post a photo of some truly beautiful and fascinating place.  Yesterday, they posted about "Cenotes" which really caught my eye. "A cenote is a deep natural pit, or sinkhole, characteristic of Mexico, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. Especially associated with the Yucatán Peninsula, and some nearby Caribbean islands, cenotes were sometimes used by the ancient Maya for sacrificial offerings."  Here's a photo of a cenote in Chichen Itza, Mexico.

If you click HERE, you can see google images of many cenotes.

So it's Superbowl Weekend which is always a good excuse for lots of hors d'ouerves and dips.  I'm having pita chips with some spinach dip made with lowfat Greek yogurt.  No chicken wings here although I hear there's a shortage of them.  I mostly watch the Superbowl for the commercials and the halftime show.  Poor Beyonce...everyone will be watching to make sure she doesn't lip sync.  What a non-issue as far as I'm concerned.  Then there's Puppy Bowl 9 on Animal Planet if you prefer that to football.  Happy February and have a super weekend!

'Twas a Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas!  Justin and Sarah were here on Christmas Eve and on the all important (to me) Christmas morning.  On Christmas Eve, we had tamales and played the board game Wits and Wagers.  In the morning, Jessica, Pat and the boys arrived followed by George and Robin and Jeff's mom, Audre.  We opened our stocking stuffers then had our usual brunch- see last post- and then continued on with opening the gifts.  Ryan was most excited about a Spiderman that climbs up walls.  Jacob was happy with tools and his Bob the Builder DVD's.

Jessica and Jeff both got new Kindle Fires.  Sarah surprised Justin with plane tickets to Denver towards the end of January.  Her best friend lives there and it's her birthday and Justin will be able to bring along his snowboard for some fun in the Colorado snow.  As I write this, I'm smelling white chili with chicken cooking in our new Cuisinart Slow Cooker.  I don't make Jeff abide by the "no gift with an electrical cord" rule!  We had four dogs here (Justin's Sierra and Sarah's Buddy in addition to our two) and our three cats.  The dogs all got Christmas presents and the cats shared an electronic mouse with flashing lights that made squeaking sounds.  So on to 2013.  I signed Jacob up for a little class called Busy Bees that takes place in our local recreation center so will be taking him to that on Tuesday mornings.  Sarah gave Jeff and I the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die, two passport applications and a suggested itinerary (complete with flight, hotels, etc...) that would take us from LA to Dublin, to London, to Paris, to Venice, to Rome, back to Dublin for a flight returning us to LA.  She's hoping we'll take the hint and make our travel plans a reality!    

Christmas Party Time

Getting ready for our Christmas Party this Saturday night.

The tree is decorated, the Department 56 Villages are on display and my console table welcomes guests with the Merry Christmas blocks that we made so many years ago in girl scouts.  I was a leader of Jessica's troop and I always made sure we did crafts that the parents would like and use.  No popsicle stick crafts!  I love console tables and they are especially effective if you have a floating seating arrangement like we do.  You don't want to walk into a front door and see the back of a sofa or loveseat.  You can see our Department 56 Christmas in the City village on display on the server adjacent to the fireplace.  

We are having our usual Honey Baked Ham.  Since Justin's girlfriend, Sarah, is a vegetarian, I have lots of side dishes and appetizers that she can eat.  I have mini quiches, pita chips and hummus, a broccoli slaw, salad with cherry tomatoes, pomegranate arils and feta cheese, mashed potatoes, BBQ beans, fresh pineapple and for dessert another Tuxedo cake and also a Red Velvet cake.  We'll play our silly gift exchange game and do our usual terrible rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas and other carols. 

San Diego Getaway

No Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales for us this year.  Instead, we are having a little getaway to San Diego.  We took the dogs and met George (Jeff's dad) and Robin at Santee Lakes, one of their favorite places to visit.  Before we left, we had a nice Thanksgiving at our house.  The boys were really good and Ryan enjoyed the traditional foods.  He brought his own little placemat that he made at school.  Jacob is still a fussy eater so he made do wit his usual bananas and other white food!  I was too busy getting all the food on the table so I didn't take any photos other than the one below.  My Facebook friends from Australia, South Africa, Sweden and Brazil wanted to see a picture of our dinner so I snapped a quick photo of my plate.  I didn't even think to arrange it nicely so what you see is what I ate!  You'll probably recognize my special yam casserole and Jessica's zesty carrots.

And rather than pumpkin pie, we had a Tuxedo Cake!

Chow

Food is always a big part of our travels.  I've always prided myself on finding the unique, local hot spots but it is so much easier now than it used to be thanks to google and all the trip advisor sites.  I used to have to ask around or look for reviews in local papers or magazines.  One of our oldest favorites in Carmel is the Rio Grill.  We've been going there since it first opened and the "kids" were using the box of crayons they gave them to draw on their paper tablecloths.  I usually don't order chicken in restaurants other than in salads but they have a smoked chicken dish that I just love so I always order that.  Here's the description:  House-smoked half chicken with mild-smoked chile butter, baby artichokes and red potatoes.  It's delicious!  Jeff always orders something new and this time had Grilled Prawns on penne pasta with a leek, pea and bacon creole cream.

We always take whoever is home at Cousin Steve's house in Carmel Valley out to dinner as a thank you for their hospitality and this time it was Janie and their son Matthew who were home over the weekend.  We went to a charming restaurant in Carmel Valley called The Corkscrew Cafe.  When you first walk in the door, this is what you see... a big brick oven with loaves and loaves of fresh bread.  This is the restaurant I mentioned that made me feel like I was dining in the Italian or French countryside.  We sat on the patio next to a large koi pond and there was an arbor over our heads with grapevines bearing bunches of red and green grapes.  We each ordered a glass of wine and they came with a carafe for each of us!  Nicer than the usual half-filled glass!  I had a salad with chicken, Janie and Matthew had salmon salads and Jeff had the roasted cherry tomato pizza with fresh mozzarella, basil olive oil, goat cheese, black olive and tomato sauce.  They get many of their ingredients from their own garden.

It's tradition that we also eat at Roy's at The Inn at Spanish Bay.  It's on the 17 Mile Drive so we always take advantage of that beautiful drive which has an admission fee because the restaurant will reimburse you for the fee.  However, the entire 17 Mile Drive was closed to the public because of the Concours d'Elegance but they had our name at the gate thanks to our dinner reservation so we were admitted.  We could've just stayed inside the gates because we were already there because we had tickets to the Concours but we wanted to go have drinks and watch the sunset at another place we enjoy:  Mission Ranch Hotel and Restaurant.  This is Clint Eastwood's resort and there's an outside patio at the restaurant where you can see all of Point Lobos, the ocean and a lovely meadow with sheep.  

Nighttime Delivery

Our "Farm Fresh to You" delivery arrived sometime between 11 PM and 6 AM.  I was able to check the day before to see what was included.  We were shopping at Costco that day so I didn't want to buy things that were going to be in the delivery.  The jury is still out as to whether we will keep this service.  I liked getting all of these organic fruits and veggies for $15.00 (thru Groupon) but not sure I'd want to pay the full $31.00.  We'll get one more delivery (in a month) and then decide.  Here's a photo of what we received.  I moved it from the cardboard box to a basket for display purposes.

As you can see, there were 2.5 lbs of heirloom tomatoes, 1 lb of cherry tomatoes, 1 Eureka lemon, 4 nectarines, 1.5 lbs of flame seedless grapes, 1 lb plums, 1 cucumber, 1 bunch of beets and 2 heads leaf lettuce.  Jeff asked what is an heirloom tomato and here's an answer from google:  "An heirloom (called heritage in the UK) tomato is generally considered to be a variety that has been passed down, through several generations of a family because of it's valued characteristics.  Heirloom tomatoes lack a genetic mutation that gives tomatoes an appealing uniform red color while sacrificing the fruit's sweet taste.  Heirloom tomatoes can be found in a wide variety of colors, shapes, flavors and sizes."  So those orange, green and yellow tomatoes you see are not unripe, that's just their color.  Remember when I wrote about not refrigerating your tomatoes a while back?  We got those instruction from Farm Fresh to You as well.  They say not to refrigerate these gas releasers:  avocados, unripe bananas, nectarines, peaches, pears, plums and tomatoes.  Gas releasers you should refrigerate are:  apples, apricots, cantalopes, figs and honeydews.  In addition, you should not store any of the following fruits and vegetables near any gas releasers:  ripe bananas, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, cucumbers, eggplants, leafy greens, peas, peppers, squashes, sweet potatoes and watermelon.  If you put spinach or my beloved kale in the same bin as peaches or apples, your greens will turn yellow and limp in just a couple of days.  That would make a good science experiment for kids!  

By the way, Costco has a new product called Sweet Kale Vegetable Salad Kit that we bought.  It has kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and chicory.  It comes with packages of dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds that you add and a poppyseed dressing to toss it all in. It contains 7 superfoods!  It is quite good so I finally found a way to eat some kale.

While I'm on the subject of organic, I heard something on Dr. Oz that really made an impression on me.  I usually don't buy organic if a fruit or vegetable has a skin you don't eat so, for example, I don't buy organic bananas.  At Costco, organic strawberries are twice as expensive as regular strawberries but I think I'm going to be buying organic from now on.  It was pointed out how a strawberry is like a sponge so even if you really wash them well, you may not be getting rid of all the pesticides.

Warm Weekend!

We are starting to get out of our June Gloom weather pattern and had a very sunny, warm weekend and we have a warm to hot week ahead to look forward to.  On Saturday, we took Ryan and Jacob over to George and Robin's house in Burbank.  They have a backyard set up to attract birds and squirrels and the boys had a great time giving peanuts to the squirrels and watching the birds and hummingbirds fly in to eat and drink.  Robin gave Ryan lots of cactus clippings so he could make his own cactus garden.  On the way home, we stopped at the nursery and picked up a pot and special cactus planter mix.  Here's the result and a happy and proud boy.

Today is weigh in day for Hunter.  He is now on his second bag of the special weight-loss formula so we'll see if he's lost any weight.  He hasn't had any more than what is suggested on the package for his size... it's a little less than 1 cup of food a day.  We haven't let him cheat at all... not even once!

Today is Meatless Monday so we'll probably have veggie burgers and a spinach salad.  Speaking of greens, you should see the smoothie drink I got at Costco.  It's called "Green Machine" and it's made by Naked Juice.  It has apples, bananas, kiwi, mango and pineapple in it but then it has green boosts that you really can't taste:  

• 1,300 mg Spirulina
• 400 mg Chlorella
• 100 mg Broccoli
• 100 mg Spinach
• 50 mg Blue Green Algae
• 50 mg Garlic
• 75 mg Barley Grass
• 75 mg Wheatgrass
• 50 mg Ginger
• 50 mg Parsley 

   

Kale No!

We've tried kale twice now and still can't find a recipe we can enjoy.  We first tried stirfrying it and that didn't turn out well.  Yesterday, I made kale chips.  You bake pieces of kale in the oven that you've drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.  Jeff thought it was awful.  I thought it had a bit of an Asian flair to it so suggested we might like it if we drank copious amounts of sake with it.  I'm not giving up though.  I have a Bobby Flay recipe that I'm trying tonight and another Martha Stewart recipe for "Peanut Kale Slaw."  On the other hand, I really liked the Hemp Hearts that I showed you yesterday.  It has a nice nutty flavor and I added it to my Uncle Sam cereal.  I also liked the Acai Smoothies that I made with vanilla soy milk.  I found chia seeds at Sprouts Market so will have to figure out what to do with them other than grow a chia pet.

We had a nice hike with the boys and then they ran through the sprinkler attachment with the wiggly tubes that Jessica bought for them.  I took a video so may post that when I get the chance.  

Mocktails and Meatless Monday

Good to know that so many of my friends are eating superfoods!  Just to show you I'm not a fanatic about diet, here are a few of my purchases from Costco yesterday.  I didn't find chia but I did find hemp and acai berries.  The Hemp Hearts can be used on salads, cereal or yogurt and the acai berries are in frozen smoothie packs.  I bought some nonfat vanilla soy milk to make the smoothies.  You can add a banana or use juice in place of milk.  And for fun, I bought Crystal Lights new drink mixes:  Mojito and Margarita.

I don't know if anyone remembers but I used to make my "Skinny Margaritas" using Crystal Light Lemonade mix and now they've made actual mixed drink mixes they call "mocktails!"  Do you think they stole my idea?  They also make an Appletini mix.

We had veggie burgers for Meatless Monday and tonight we are having wild caught halibut- also from Costco.  I'm marinating it in lemon, lemon zest, soy, garlic and scallions and we're having stirfry bok choy with minced fresh ginger, garlic and low-sodium soy sauce.  Costco also sells frozen brown rice in individual packets that we will have on the side.  What would I do without Costco?

Tonight on ABC- Concert for the Queen with Paul McCartney, Elton John, Annie Lennox, Stevie Wonder, Tom Jones and Kylie Minogue 

Hump Day Happenings

Jeff caught the boys' cold so I've had my hands full taking care of my usual responsibilities plus some of Jeff's so my blog posting might be scarce for a few days.  Yesterday, Ryan helped me dig up our flower bed where I plant annuals.  Instead of Iceland Poppies this year, I had Pansies.  I'm getting the bed ready for spring/summer flowers- usually Zinnias- but I may plant something different this year.  I'm always fighting a lot of weeds and grass in this flower bed so I may add some weed killer and maybe a weed barrier.  HERE's a link on eHow explaining what I have in mind.

Meatless Monday continues.  This past Monday I made spaghetti with meatless ground.  Don't ask me ground what?  All I know is there's no pink slime.  I bought this meatless ground at Costco and we added it to a huge jar of Prego Heart Smart Italian Sauce, also from Costco. We only needed one packet (there are 4) of the meatless ground.  I also added mushrooms.  The sauce with the meatless ground tasted fine!  We couldn't really tell it wasn't ground beef.  The big taste test was between 2 different Barilla pastas.  One was whole grain thin spaghetti and the other was Barilla Plus Angel Hair.  You know what, we liked them both. The first has a little more fiber and the second has a little more protein.  The wheat pastas have come a long way since they first came out.  They used to be really tough and tasteless. That's why I bought the thinner pastas like angel hair but I'm guessing pasta like penne would be fine, too.