A Bit of Life and a Recipe Too- Marinated Pepper Salad

I have worked hard pretty much the entire day on VBS stuff so I would have a moment to actually sit down and give this poor little blog some attention! I am probably losing several of you as followers because I have been so lame. My apologies once again for my lack of blogging. Life has been happening around here too on top of my busyness!
(And it is now Saturday instead of Friday evening when I started this post!)

For example, my hubby turned 40 on Monday!!!!!!!!! I had no intentions of throwing him a surprise party. I told him long ago that I would rather buy him something then spend a lot of money on a big party. So that is what I did. However, I did surprise him with this........

A new road bike for triathlons!

The magic word here is carbon! Carbon = light weight and easier on your body.

I couldn't have put this little deal together without the help of my best friend's husband, Bert. He is a serious triathlete and marathoner and has been so helpful for Miles. I think Bert was almost more excited than Miles. The fact that Bert knew about it for so long and that he was gaining another biking buddy may have had something to do with his excitement. It was an amazing store to be in too. Probably like me at Williams Sonoma.

We also needed the help of Bert's cousin who manages Now Bikes in the Cities. He built the bike for Miles and gave us the best bike he possibly could for my budget. He is teaching Miles how to actually ride this bike above.

Miles had to practice learning to clip in and out with his shoes. This is probably the main reason I will stick to running. Can you say "Big Bike Wreck?" for Pam if I had to remember I couldn't just set my foot down. Plus this is a big boy bike with no kickstand.  He also got a  computer for the bike because of course you need to know how far and fast you are going! The very next day, yes on Mother's Day, I let him go for a ride with Bert. Bert tried to tell me they would start out slow and get him used to riding. Ummm........35 miles isn't really easing into things now is it???

The bike wasn't the only fun part of the day. With my kids at Nana's house we were free to leave for the whole day Saturday with some of our best friends and Bert made us the best CD full of 80's music, Nacho Libre, Napolean, Caddy Shack, and Dumb and Dumber quotes to listen to on the way!

Poor Miles thought he was going to have to endure girl shopping for the day when Bert chimed up from the back that we were in the area of his cousin's bike shop so could we just make one guy stop first? He promised he wouldn't keep us too long in the bike shop! He asked Jeremy, his cousin, what would be a good bike for Miles to start with and Jeremy brought out this winner! Miles looked at us and said, "What is going on guys?" He bought every lie we had told without questioning anything. I was relieved to not have to tell anymore!!!!

After all the bike fun we headed downtown for a few quick girly stops at LUSH and Marshall's before our big dinner! We had planned for quite sometime also to eat at Fogo de Chao for Miles' 40th birthday.

Once again I think Bert was more excited than Miles! He even asked Wednesday if I was thinking about what kind of meat I was going to have first on Saturday as he looked off dreamily in the other direction. He had been there before though so he knew what to expect. We had long conversations a couple times about how this Brazilian steakhouse worked. It was incredible! It lived up to all my expectations. Gaucho's, as they are called, roam the restaurant with their meat on a spindle kind of thing and if you have your special table coaster flipped to green they will be right at your table to slice you off a piece. The meat is cooked over an open flame and the gaucho's serving you have cooked that particular cut. They are meat experts! Sorry to my vegetarian and vegan friends. You would hate this restaurant!

But before we got down to all that meat business we had to take a trip through their incredible salad bar!!! This plate doesn't even do it justice so you should visit their website to see the beautiful pictures and also see how they do the whole meat experience. The salad bar had aged cheddars, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, aged balsamic, giant asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, mixed salads, fresh breads, crispy potatoes, I could go on and on and on!!! I would have been thrilled to have only eaten the salad bar actually. Those red pepper looking things in the middle of my plate were some kind of sweet red peperoncini that was like nothing I have ever tasted before! Unfortunately I was too full after all the meat to go back for a second trip. I really wanted more aged balsamic. I might have to fork over the $28 it costs for a good bottle at Williams Sonoma or put it on my birthday list!

Miles even got a free birthday dessert. He picked chocolate lava cake but he shared with me of course! Did I mention the incredible service at this restaurant? They work as a team so they are fast and incredible. Your dirty plate disappears like magic when you are ready for a clean one and there is always someone around to get you something if you need it. You have to be really fast turning your coaster from green to red to tell them to stop coming or you will have 5 gaucho's at your table ready to give you some of their meat. It was like they had a 6th meat sense that we would turn to green. It was completely packed in the restaurant. People know a good thing I guess!

I can't believe he is 40 actually! When we met we were pretty young. I was actually only 19 and 40 sounded so old back then. Now that he is there and I will be shortly it doesn't seem old at all. I am sure our kids think we are old fuddy duddies however!

Let's flip gears now and talk about Mother's Day! Did you see this funny thing I posted on Facebook that my daughter brought home for me?

Do you know what that says? That's right people. It spells quinoa in kindergarten spelling world! I laughed so hard when I figured this out! I totally love it!

This was maybe not as funny but later we noticed that on the computer screen she wrote, "Like me," Now that is hysterical. She has facebook completely figured out. For the record while I do like facebook it isn't my favorite thing to do! Faith has no idea when I am on facebook, or working on my computer doing VBS stuff, (ugh) or Blog stuff keeping all of you happy!

I also got a few exciting Mother's Day gifts and had a wonderful Mother's Day lunch with Miles' parents and his godmother who came all the way from Mexico for his 40th birthday.

Maybe you saw this on facebook too! I wanted it when it first came out months ago but they sold out right away. I can't believe Miles even remembered this because I had actually forgotten about it.

This is my new best friend! It keeps track of every step I take during the day, the calories I burn based on my height, weight, and movement, and I earn fuel points for moving. It is also a watch. I plug this into my computer (there is a USB when you open that silver part up) at the the end of the day and all my info is downloaded and stored at Nike+. I earn achievements and my fuel points accumulate there and my steps get translated into miles. I can compete with people online as well.

It has been very motivating. In fact I forgot to wear it Wednesday morning when I went to clean and I was so upset. I really wanted to know how many calories I burn when cleaning. So later that day because I wasn't happy with the numbers I had I went for a run so I could meet my 3000 fuel point goal for the day. These were my numbers yesterday at 4:20pm. They are very sad too because I sat in front of my computer most of the day typing VBS stuff. I did run 3 miles yesterday morning though so I wasn't completely lazy. The 8857 is the number of steps I had taken, 655 is the number of calories burned, and 2702 was the number of fuel points I had earned. In comparison, the day before when I remembered to wear it to my other cleaning job my steps were 15,469, my calories burned were 1263, I earned 5209 fuel points all of which equated to 6.35 miles walked. I didn't even run on Thursday. I knew cleaning was a good workout! I burned 900 of those 1263 calories just cleaning!!! I have found it to be pretty accurate in relation to my other Nike+ device I use with my shoe and ipod to track my runs. The calories burned come up pretty similar. Super fun to actually know how much I am moving and my brain likes that it is all stored online for me. It seems very organized that way and I love organized!

 I also got a fun surprise gift from my good friend Ka-Lee. You know the one who stole the blog giveaway basket from you. She was very thoughtful and picked me up a copy of this........

You know I was super stoked when I opened this little gift up! I sat at the coffee bar at church and poured over it with a friend. I think perhaps I should cook my way through it and blog about it like the movie, "Julie and Julia."

It has the best pictures all throughout which is how I like my cookbooks to be!

Plus who wouldn't want to try Salted Caramel Hazelnut Coffee Cake that was actually cleaned up and a healthy way to enjoy a dessert?

Slow Cooked Curried Chickpeas sounds pretty good to me too. This is going to be fun to start using when life slows down a bit and I am not throwing meals together in 2 minutes or less. I have missed being in the kitchen.

Whew, that was long! Now as promised a recipe. For Mother's Day I made several salads because I was meated out after Fogo de Chao and didn't really care for any of the steaks we had purchased to grill for everyone else who didn't eat meat the night before. My favorite was the marinated pepper salad. I found the recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen, which is one of my favorite recipe blogs.

I only have a couple pictures for you because I was doing this so quick Sunday morning but also because it really is a throw it all together kind of thing. Just chop up your peppers and toss them in a ziploc bag with 1/2 cup of balsamic, a bit of olive oil, and about 3 cloves of minced garlic. It is best if they can marinate over night but at least for a few hours if that is all you have. Mine only marinated while I was at church and I thought it was great. Then later or the next day you add 1 can of drained chick peas, some Greek olives, a little feta and some salt and pepper and give it all a stir. The original recipe said to drain all the marinade and just save a few tablespoons to pour back over but I used all the liquid and it doesn't get the slightest bit soggy even after several days. So whatever is your preference will be just fine. It makes a beautiful salad! I made it again this week with yellow and orange peppers too for even more color. Give it a try. It makes a great salad to share at a potluck for the summer time!

Hooray! I am done and it only took me two days to get this finished. Now I must go earn some fuel points and get back to the VBS planning again!

Marinated Pepper Salad

from Kalyn's Kitchen

3 cups of sliced sweet mini peppers (or bell peppers)

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp. olive oil

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Place in a bag or glass dish to marinate over night or for several hours.

1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed

1/2 - 1 cup black or Greek olives, drained and sliced in half

1/4 -1/2 cup Parmesan or feta cheese

reserved marinade

olive oil if needed

If desired drain the marinade reserving a few tablespoons and add all the ingredients together. Add a little more olive oil if needed and the reserved marinade. Alternately, do not drain the marinade and just combine ingredients. (personal preference prevails!)







Peachy Mango Quinoa Salad

Slowly but surely I am remembering I am a blogger. I know you are sick of my excuses but until about noon on June 10th my brain will be in VBS mode and so will all my extra time. That doesn't leave much time for experimenting in the kitchen. The name of the game is quick meals! For example, tonight I chopped up some veggies and cooked them in a bit of olive oil and balsamic with a dash of McCormicks Perfect Pinch Garlic and Herb and served it over some spinach. We ate some grapes and strawberries on the side. I didn't even take a picture because I have somewhat gotten out of the habit. Just in case you are wondering, we ate a big lunch and weren't very hungry. The kids ate the same thing but I also made them some cheesy toast.

Now on to the title of this post. My friend Ka-Lee gave me a recipe for Peach Chicken Salad that sounded really great. I was going to make it for small group a few Sunday nights back but didn't have enough chicken. So of course my favorite food came to my rescue, QUINOA! I still plan on making the recipe as it was but for now this is what you will get.

I diced my chicken and cooked it in a bit of water and garlic. I think I only had one chicken breast or two very small ones. I needed a bit more for sure.

The original recipe calls for just peaches but I used both a mango and some peaches and diced up some red onion. I seeded a cucumber and diced that up as well.

This dressing doesn't look very appetizing but it was a really nice change from what I normally make for this kind of a salad. It is white wine vinegar, lemon juice, Stevia, fresh mint, and salt and pepper. The recipe says to put these ingredients in a blender but I didn't. I just chopped up my mint and whisked it all together in this bowl.

I had already cooked 1 cup regular quinoa with 1 cup red quinoa just to add more color and make it look pretty. That ends up making about 8 cups of cooked quinoa. I didn't use all of that. When I make quinoa I always make extra to have on hand in the fridge. I may have used 5 cups of cooked quinoa for the salad. To make the salad  just toss everything into the bowl. I also added some sliced almonds for some crunch and some dried cranberries just because I love them so and gave it a thorough mixing.

It made a nice big bowl to take to small group. I am sure those people are really sick of quinoa by now especially since I made a bruschetta quinoa salad this Sunday night. So sorry everyone. However, rumor has it that someone has been eating it with his yogurt for breakfast, which is pretty exciting to me!

I think this would be an excellent salad to take to a potluck. People are willing to try things at potlucks that they normally wouldn't try. Then they will all rave about it and wonder who made it and then be asking you about the recipe. I promise you will win the prize for the best new recipe at the potluck! It is a really refreshing dressing and will make a great summer quinoa recipe.

I am sorry Ka-Lee that I just can't leave a recipe alone!

I will try the recipe like I am supposed to soon.

Here is a link to the original recipe if you too would like to try it.

Peach Chicken Salad

 

Adapted from Peach Chicken Salad on allrecipes.com 

 Peachy Mango Quinoa Salad

1 1/2 cups dry quinoa (will make about 6 cups cooked)

1 large mango peeled and cubed

2 peaches peeled and cubed

1/2 large cucumber seeded and chopped

1/2 medium red onion diced

2-3 chicken breasts cubed and cooked (rotisserie chicken would be great too)

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Dressing:

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1/3 cup Stevia

1/4 cup minced fresh mint

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Instructions: Cook quinoa and set aside. (1:2 ratio) In a large bowl combine chicken, peaches, mango, cucumber, cranberries, almonds, and onion and set aside. In a blender combine vinegar, lemon juice, Stevia, mint, salt, and pepper and process until smooth. Alternatively, chop mint very fine and whisk the dressing ingredients together. Drizzle over chicken mixture, add quinoa, and toss to coat. Top with a few more almonds and cranberries if desired for presentation. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled.

For those of you who read my last post and are curious about my final cake project last week here is how it turned out.

Mickey was a new challenge for me! He is so recognizable that if you are even a bit off it will cause a person to say, "That doesn't really look like Mickey!" He wasn't perfect but I was satisfied with how he turned out. I agreed to do this cake during my very busy week because it was for a little girl with leukodystrophy, a disease that damages the white matter of the brain and the adrenal glands. I prayed while I was making it, not only that it would turn out well for them, but that in some small way it would bless their family somehow. Her mom told me when she picked up that cake that even though her daughter doesn't speak, she communicated through expressions that this was the cake she wanted as they looked at images on the computer. She said she was so excited to show her daughter and see her reaction!!!  I was reminded that I really need to be more prayerful about the things I committ myself too. I wanted to say no to this because I was so busy but I would have missed out on an opportunity to serve someone and be blessed myself in so doing. Now someone please remind me of this next time I am complaining about being too busy!

Have a blessed evening!

Cake, UGH!!!!! and Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

I must apologize. I know you are probably sick of checking back here and finding my date addiction post over and over. I don't really like excuses but I have a few. A picture is worth a thousand words.

This is what my kitchen table looked like this morning.



Most of you know that I do a little cake decorating on the side. I usually just do this for people I know and I am usually pretty careful about who I say yes to. I have said NO many times! I said yes to some Prom cupcakes after a friend gave my number to someone. But.......I also said yes to teaching my small group girls how to make cake pops on Wednesday evening....

They did turn out adorable, but I had quite a bit left to finish yesterday so I could clean that all up and get on with my other tasks. Because I said yes to something else too...

Another cake. Here is a hint as to what it is going to be. I am working on a template that will hopefully make things go more smoothly tomorrow.

Cake is a lot more time consuming then most people understand. From emails and phone calls deciding what people want, to getting all the ingredients, making the cakes, making the frosting, coloring the frosting, making and coloring fondant, and actually constructing cakes or cupcakes it is a lot!!!! So when you get charged $75.00 for a cake know that it is worth it and probably more. In fact when I charge that much for a three tiered cake that takes me about 15 hours to complete and around $35.00 to make I am making diddly squat. There is NO MONEY in cake. Cupcakes are a little better  since they come with less stress but these were fancy prom cupcakes.

The cupcakes were red velvet with cream cheese frosting and chocolate with French vanilla butter cream. I loved the little Eiffel Towers on top. I did have to taste them for quality control. They were a pretty yummy indulgence! I delivered them to some oohs and ahhs from pretty girls in pretty dresses today. Fun!

So now you know where my week went. All why I am supposed to be concentrating hard and working away on VBS! For the record I don't eat most of the stuff I make just in case you are wondering. I do taste test to make sure that the frosting and cakes taste right but can you imagine how huge I would be if I was always eating this junk? It is pretty much junk food with lots of sugar, white flour, and food dyes, but once in a while there is a time and place to indulge! It is the cake pops really that are hard to avoid.

So on to something simple to make. Because of all the extra I've been doing around here I've had to make some quick dinner decisions. Before all the craziness happend I had been working on some whole wheat pizza crusts recipes. This one I love because you don't need to let it rise so it is quick! You still have time to make it for dinner tonight even!

Into a bowl place 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup white flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1 tbsp. yeast. (That was a little more than one packet for me.) Stir that well. Just a note on the white flour. You know I am against white flour but you need just a little for the gluten. I will try it with white whole wheat flour at some point.

Add 3/4 cup very hot water to the mixture and stir until it comes together. Take it out and knead the dough for about a minute. Let it rest. You only need to let it rest a little bit while you gather up your toppings.

I actually made two recipes of this for the kids to have their own but we actually like a quite thin crust and I think it might be possible to get away with one recipe.

I loved this crust so much not only because it is so quick but because it rolls out with a rolling pin so nicely. Just flour your surface and roll it out.

For the grown up pizza I made a nice edge, poked holes with a fork to prevent air bubbles and topped it with olive oil and oregano. I then cooked this for about 5 minutes on the pizza stone I had in the oven getting all hot to help make a crispy crust!

I used this cake lifting tool as a pizza peel to get my pizza in and out of the oven onto the pizza stone. You don't have to have a pizza stone but it sure makes a difference with the crust. I also like to put a little corn meal on the pizza stone to prevent sticking and for the flavor it adds to the pizza.

After our crust had it's 5 minutes in the oven I topped it with sauce, a can of diced tomatoes, and some turkey pepperoni. I have no idea what happened to my picture taking because I also topped it with green peppers, red onion, some leftover grilled pineapple on my half only, (Miles is a dud!) and low fat cheese of course!

Looking pretty good!

Hot out of the oven dripping with Friday night goodness!

I did polish off 3 pieces of it no problem! I washed it down with this...

I love Hansen's sodas and the ingredient list is not too bad. I really try to only drink pop when I am having pizza at home or when we eat out which is usually only once a week. Sometimes I don't even have it then! Pop has problems.

For the kids I kept it simple with just a tiny bit of pepperoni for Evan and cheese for Faith. I swear that girl and meat are not friends! She was switched at birth.

This was kind of a medium sized thickness for the crust and next time I will roll it thinner for sure or I will try to get away with just one recipe.

There you have it. Pretty quick and simple recipe for sure. I am still working on a more involved recipe that you have to let rise but that I could make ahead and keep in the freezer or fridge for those nights when I just can't think of anything else!

Now can someone please come take me out to dinner! I have to use all the rest of my energy to fulfill my last cake obligation tonight and tomorrow.

From Kristen in Her Kitchen

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1/4 cup white flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. yeast

3/4 cup very hot water

Combine both flours, salt, and yeast in a bowl. Pour in hot water and mix well. Knead dough for a minute or so and then let it rest while you gather your pizza toppings. Roll out crust onto a floured surface into desired shape. Fold edges up to make a crust and poke pizza all over with a fork to prevent air bubbles. Top with olive oil and seasoning and bake at 450 degrees for about 5 minutes. Remove and top pizza with chosen ingredients and bake for another 12 minutes or so.