Blog Changes

I have made a few recent updates to my blog that I'd like to share/brag about (especially since I had to figure out the html code on a few of them to makeit all work for me).

1. I have created a three-column blog so that I can highlight more areas without them running long down only one side of my blog.
2. Twitter - now you can follow me on Twitter and see what I am up to in the upper left corner of my blog. I have Twitter hooked up to my phone so I can Tweet at any time. So high tech, I know.
3. LinkWithin - now you can see similar posts that may be of interest to you at the bottom of each new post.
4. AddThis! - now you can take any of my posts that you enjoy and share them on your Facebook, on Twitter, via email, print them and add to your favorite websites.

Gourmet Memorial Day Picnic

For Memorial Day, I planned a gourmet picnic for Matt and I at one of our favorite spots... on the banks of the Red Cedar River on the campus of Michigan State University. For the menu I prepared:

Prosciutto and Sharp Provolone Sandwiches with Grill-Roasted Orange Peppers and Kalamata Olive Mayo
Low-fat Pesto pasta salad with walnuts (made with low fat ricotta cheese and only a teeny bit of olive oil)
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Reeses Pieces
Fresh Grapes
And of course, a bottle of wine

We took all of the stale bread I've been saving up all winter to feed the ducks and geese. Matt had fun "baiting" the geese and then chucking wads of bread at them... love my husband! It was a nice, sunny, romantic afternoon, just the two of us and Ozzy.

Creamy Horseradish Sauce

We bought some fantastic looking filet mignon the other day. They were each about 8 oz., so they didn't need any sides. We served it with some fresh green beans and one of my favorites, creamy horseradish.

Check out the grill marks on those babies! My husband is an excellent griller!

All measures are approximate. I always just do it to taste.

3 Tbsp reduced fat sour cream
1 Tbsp reduced fat mayonnaise
1 Tbsp Reese creamy horseradish - this is the hottest horseradish I have found. If you use jarred horseradish found in the refrigerated section at the grocery store, you will probably need to use some extra if you like your sauce spicier.
Italian parsley, chopped - I used this only because I had it on hand. I don't feel it did much to enhance the flavor, but it added a nice color.

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and refrigerate for 15 minutes or longer to allow flavors to develop.

Easy Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Our friends Josh and Katie just celebrated the birth of their second daughter, Natalie Grace, born last week. We took over some dinner on Saturday night. I held Natalie for almost two hours after dinner. She just slept right in my arms. I even dozed off a few times to the aromatic, perfect baby smell.

This casserole is adapted from a recipe found on allrecipes.com. I was skeptical that it would turn out runny, but all of the comments were correct in saying that this casserole had almost no extra liquid. It all soaked up into the tortillas and tasted so good!

2 large skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Southwestern seasoning
16 (6 inch) flour tortillas, quartered
1 (16 ounce) can green chile enchilada sauce
1 (16 ounce) can red chile enchilada sauce
1/2 packet taco seasoning mix
1 (8 ounce) package 2% shredded Mexican cheese
1 (8 ounce) container reduced fat sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium baking dish. Season chicken with southwestern seasoning. Arrange in the prepared baking dish. Bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until no longer pink and juices run clear. Cool, shred, and set aside. You can also grill the chicken, which I did, since our dishwasher is on the fritz and I didn't want to have extra dishes.

In a bowl, combine the shredded chicken, sour cream and taco seasoning.

Pour about 1/4 inch enchilada sauce in the bottom of a medium baking dish (I used 9 x 13), and arrange 6 tortillas in a single layer.

Top with 1/2 the chicken mixture, 1/3 cheese, and 1/3 of the remaining enchilada sauce. Repeat. Coat remaining tortillas thoroughly with remaining enchilada sauce, and arrange on top of the layers.

Sprinkle with remaining cheese, and top with any remaining enchilada sauce. Cover, and bake 45 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool slightly before serving.

Mussels and Sourdough Baguette

One bag of these puppies was the perfect amount for Matt and I for dinner. Mmmmm.... yummy!

1 mesh bag of fresh mussels (Here are some tips for buying and cleaning mussels)
1 C white wine
2-3 C chicken stock
3 cloves garlic, crushed/minced
1 ½ Tbsp Old Bay or other seafood seasoning
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
Sourdough Baguette

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Thinly slice the baguette and bake on a large sheet until the slices are nice and crispy.

Thoroughly rinse and clean the mussels, discarding any that are cracked or split open.

Meanwhile, in a medium (4-5 qt) pot bring the wine, chicken stock, garlic, seasoning and some chopped parsley to a rolling boil. Allow to boil for 10 minutes or so to allow the flavors to meld.

Add the mussels. At this point, make sure that the liquid barely covers most of the mussels.

Cover the mussels and cook for 5-10 minutes, until they have all started splitting open. Remove from the heat and dump all of the mussels and liquid into a large serving bowl. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve with the slices of baguette. I like to eat mine on top of the baguette and using the leftover baguette to dunk in the sauce goodness.

Pineapple Angel Food Cake Trifle

Happy Memorial Day! What a beautiful day we are expecting today! I finally got around to posting my dessert from Easter. This is one of my favorite desserts to make because (a) it's so darn pretty (b) tastes delicious (that's the important part) and (c) it's WW friendly!! If you don't have a trifle bowl, you can certainly make this dessert on a large platter.

20 oz can crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
1.5 oz (or so) package of fat free, sugar free vanilla pudding
1 container of fat free (or lite) Cool Whip
1 pre-packaged Angel Food Cake - if you're making your own, I think you would probably need one pan's worth for this recipe
Fresh strawberries

In a large bowl, mix the crushed pineapple (with all its juice) and the package of the dry pudding mix. Then add half of the container of Cool Whip to the mix.

To assemble the dessert, cut your angel food cake into three lengthwise portions. Start with a layer of the angel food cake. Then slather about one-third of the pineapple mixture on top and sprinkle with some fresh, cut strawberries. Repeat two more times, ending with strawberries on top.

Finish it off by topping it with the remaining half of the Cool Whip and some fresh strawberries.

WW points per serving (10 servings): 3 points

VRT

Let me take this opportunity to say how much I absolutely LOVE our new Samsung front loading washer and dryer. We purchased them when we bought our house because the house didn't already have a set. Based on the Consumer Reports review from March, Samsung is one of the best brands to buy, but also the most expensive. So we went into Lowe's planning to get a GE model that was ranked in the top 10. The guy there told us about a brand new Samsung model that was made to compete with the GE and is the exact same price as the GE. SOLD! Our model numbers are WF209ANW (washer) and DV209AE (dryer), for anyone in the market for a new washer and dryer.

Now we come to the VRT - Vibration Reduction Technology. The washer doesn't even sound like it's running when it is in full spin. That's how quiet it is. The washer has little pegs on the bottom to that you can adjust to make it level with whatever ground you have it on. They are seriously barely audible.

Anyone wanna come over and watch them run? It's one of my favorite things to do. And at the end of both the wash and dry cycle, the machine plays a little "Samsung song," as I like to refer to it. That's the best part.

Now, off to do some laundry!!