Veggies, Recipe Hit & Miss + Egg Salad

I did more cooking over the long weekend. I love me some Kickel, but that fam is not into my normal veggie-heavy diet. Jade threatened to revolt if Niki and I tried a vegetarian meal. :) I'm a vegetarian by no means- I had a nice steak at Saltgrass Friday night! But I am certainly happy eating just veggies, or mostly veggies, a lot of the time. So, while my Kickel clan was out of town for Easter I veggied it up.

Thursday Night I tried out the Cooking Light Pappardelle with Baby Spinach, Herbs and Ricotta. Do yourself a favor and don't try it. It's so, so bland! And I love light pastas, so that's saying a lot. I even added extra herbs to no avail.

Saturday I went to a farmer's market and got fresh green beans, local goat cheese and some teeny potatoes. I did the green beans in a cast iron skillet with a little sausage, roasted the potatoes and made the Fusilli with Carmelized Spring Onions and White Wine and it was great. Cooking Light saved itself here. Now, I'll warn you that it's not a huge kick of flavor. And I sprinkled a little fresh shredded Parmesan cheese to it. No much, but who has ever heard of pasta without cheese? It was a great side for a meal with flavor and I really enjoyed it. Warning: it does not reheat well. So eat it the first time around.

Sunday I was up for some baking. I was catching up on cleaning (mostly the kitchen I destroyed over the weekend) and laundry and I like to have something baking while I'm putzing. So I whipped out my all-time fave Banana Bread recipes (old post about that here). This list of recipes for Banana Breads are amazing- they are all delish! I went for the peanut butter ones yesterday. Better for you than old-school banana bread and more moist. Don't leave out the flax seed!

About egg salad, you probably have a ton of Easter Eggs around. This is great for me because I am a lover of egg salad. Pinch My Salt put up a great basic recipe today and I tend to agree with her comment: the simpler the better. The only think I do different here is add a little fresh chopped onion. But go without of you don't like them.

That about covers it. Van and I spent the majority of our time relaxing, enjoying the weather and sleeping!

Using my fave black mud peel off mask. No clue why I thought it would be a good idea to take a pic, but here ya go. 

Van resting after a swim and a bath. I love the face!!

Smoked Salmon and Egg Sandwich = YUMMY!!

I love Cooking Light. I have tried so many new things because of them. And I respect that they still use butter, sour cream, etc in their dishes. They just use them wisely.

Sally has some salmon her brother sent her from Alaska, and we eat a lot of eggs because they are so fresh and delish here. So this recipe jumped out at me. It sounded a little odd... but it ended up being completely outstanding! Very unique, but very good. And it was so quick and easy to make. It was like having a gourmet cafe meal on a budget, and fast. And we got to eat it while watching the Packers, so it was good all around.

I highly recommended this- give it a shot!

• 4  cups  water
• 1  tablespoon  white vinegar
• 4  large eggs
• 1/4  cup  (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
• 2  tablespoons  minced red onion
• 1  tablespoon  chopped dill
• 3/8  teaspoon  kosher salt
• 4  (1-ounce) slices whole-grain bread, toasted
• 1  cup  fresh arugula
• 4  ounces  smoked wild salmon
• 1/4  teaspoon  black pepper

Preparation

1. Bring water and vinegar to a simmer in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add eggs, 1 at a time; simmer 3 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.

2. Combine cheese, onion, dill, and 1/8 teaspoon salt; spread 1 tablespoon cheese mixture over each bread slice. Top each serving with 1/4 cup arugula and 1 ounce salmon. Remove eggs from pan with a slotted spoon; top each sandwich with 1 egg. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

219

Fat:

10.7g (sat 3.9g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g)

Protein:

0.0g

Carbohydrate:

0.0g

Fiber:

0.0g

Cholesterol:

0.0mg

Iron:

0.0mg

Sodium:

640mg

Calcium:

0.0mg

What Brings Me Peace

I was listening to a sermon on my way to work this morning and the pastor (Chris Hodges, Church of the Highlands) was explaining that the song Silent Night and the phrase "Peace on Earth" were both rather misleading, although they are some of our favorite holiday phrases.

At first I was thinking, now wait- don't be trying to debunk Christmas!But I listened, and he was correct. Think about it harder, Mary was between the ages of 13 and 17, pregnant out of wedlock, and in an arranged marriage to a man 30 or older that she didn't know. The story placed into the historical context it requires revealed that she had most likely been disowned by her family. She was nine months pregnant riding on a donkey for miles and miles to pay taxes. When she got there she gave birth in a barn. Now I like barns- but it wasn't the picturesque scene we create it to be. She was alone with a man who knew nothing about women or birth, probably bearing it all to him and in an extremely dirty place. And she had to put her baby into a feed trough- I promise you, they are not tidy locations!

All of this was explained to remind us that while we love to make Christmas picturesque, the first Christmas really was not. He went on to explain that the phrase "Peace on Earth" appears in the Bible only once, when Jesus was stating that he did not come to bring Peace on Earth. The verse in Luke says that the angels claimed God would bring peace to those, "On whom his favor rests," meaning those who believe in him. We shouldn't expect peace to come in this word. What we should expect is that God sends us peace when we believe and trust in him, despite a tumultuous world. So I began thinking of the things that truly bring me peace and here is what I came up with:

Family & Friends
    

It seems like regardless of the day's events and emotions I always have someone near to give me a hug, say something sweet, give me the right Bible verse, talk me through something. I will never be able to understand the amazing gift of my family and friends and how much peace and joy they bring to me.

Animals 

I'm sure you all know by now that my Van Geaux is one of the major loves of my life! She is so comforting for me to have around. And I just worshiped my horse when I had him. The same goes for most animals with me. I just love to hug and cuddle them like a big nerd! There is something about that unfaltering love they give. 

Nature

I just love to be outside (when the weather is cooperating). I always have my breath taken away by the majesty of this world.

Books

I'm like Rory in The Gilmore Girls, I feel insecure if I don't always have a book with me. I pack one every morning even though I rarely read it until I get home at night.

Food & Drink

This is probably my most frivolous peace-bringer! But it's so true. I even love cooking and mixing my food and drinks. There's just something about that great flavor that brings comfort.

What brings you peace? Let's learn to focus on our peace-bringers. Because we live in a crazy world!

Busy Weekend

My weekend is PACKED! I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Or maybe I'm just exhausted from the week I've had. Either way...

I am FULLY looking forward to these things:

Tonight

Dinner at the Global Grill (where they serve my absolute fave dish: Lamb Lollipops!) with my LOVE, AC, and my crazy Mama and Aunt Karen with whom nothing is ever dull! Then we will stroll around Gallery Night.

Saturday

LSU and Auburn are the only two undefeated teams left in the SEC (and, arguably, the only two undefeated teams that matter since the others have crap schedules). T Hamm (sadly) in an Auburn fan. I'm not sure why we're friends at times like these, but we are and so we are trekking out to Daddy's for a tailgate party on the sofa, cookout, and the big game between LSU and Auburn at 2:30. There is just no better way to spend Saturday afternoons that watching football!

Sunday

I will be taking miss Van swimming and sleeping it up!

Weekend Bliss

Things I will be doing this weekend:

Tonight!

T Hamm and I are taking the pups up to Blackwater for a swim then hitting out fave Mexican joint . YUM!!

Saturday

Hit the beach at about 4:30 for my co-worker (or former co worker) Richard's going away fish fry (YUM!), then off to the Seafood Festival with T and AC for the Sister Hazel concert!! PUMPED!!

Sunday

Sleeep, Coffee, Barn, Nap, Football, Football, Barn, Football, Sleeeeeeeep!!

(I have need a lot of rest for the coming week- marathon Board Meeting, Aunt and Uncle in town, first week at work without Richard and Sal's gone to the farm is mine to care for!)