Thursday, July 23, 2009

Coveted Recipes

Ok, for those of you who keep asking me for my recipe for Garlic Bread and Citrus Avocado Salad... Here ya go!

Citrus Avocado Salad

I made this one up as I went, but here is the gist of it.

1 clove garlic
1 half small onion
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp vinegar
zest of one lemon
zest of one lime
juice of one lemon
fresh italian parsley chopped
small amount cilantro chopped
dash of cayenne pepper
salt
pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor till well blended, then drizzle in olive oil till you have a nice consistency of dressing.

Dress over chopped romaine and hearts lettuce with 1 chopped up avocado and feta cheese. YUM!

Lisa's Best Ever Super Cheesy Garlic Bread*

Roast 2 cloves of garlic in the oven (cut off the tops of the entire bulb (not worrying about removing any skins), set in tin foil, drizzle generously in olive oil and salt. Wrap the foil up tight around the garlic and place in a small pan. Roast in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes till softened) Set aside and let cool.

Once the garlic is cooled (otherwise it will melt your butter and you'll have soggy greasy bread), squeeze out the garlic from the bulbs into a bowl. Mash.
Add 3/4 stick butter and about 3 tbsp mayonnaise (yes, I said mayonnaise, just trust me).
Chop and add about 5-6 large leaves fresh basil
Chop and add 1 medium size clove fresh garlic
Chop and add most of one bunch of fresh flat leave parsley.
Add about 1 tsp oregano, plus salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and red pepper chili flakes to taste.

Grate in about 1/3 cup fresh Parmesan. Combine well.

Cut a loaf of fresh sourdough bread in half. Put oven on broil (if you're brave and attentive, if not, try 450) and spread the mixture over the bread halves. Place thinly sliced mozzarella cheese on top of the spread, then grate additional fresh Parmesan over the top of the mozzarella. Sprinkle with Paprika (for color) and place in the oven for less than 10 minutes. Watch till the cheese is melted and slightly browning.

(For an even more cheesy, yummy flavor if you've picked a large loaf of bread, you can grate more Parmesan into a tray and brush the outside of your bread with a very light layer of a combination of egg white and water then roll in Parmesan.)

Enjoy!
*Not by any means low on calories
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Welcome to Kasey's Life!

Kasey LOVES the song Welcome to My Life, by Simple Plan. Kasey dissects the lyrics, and informs me of which instances are "true about me" or "not that" and he even throws in a "TOTALLY not that". It must be tough to be 6 years old and feel "left out in the dark, kicked when you're down and like you've been pushed around". Welcome to Kasey's life! :-)

(Who could resist those lips? My Kasey is just the CUTEST thing!)

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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

A Quick Trip beyond the Red River and a lil Rivalry

I had the pleasure of accompanying Taylor and sweet-sweet Kennedy over the Red River and into OK Saturday morning for a lil moral support during the ever-so-dreaded custody exchange. As a parent, this is something that is unimaginable when times are happy, but becomes a new reality as relationships/marriages are severed. My hope for all single parents out there would be to make this situation as amicable as possible, for the children. They have enough anxiety as it is, being moved from home to home, without having to sense our discomfort with dealing with the "ex's". Taylor, despite all your built up anxiety and apprehension, you did GREAT! Way to hold it together for Kennedy!



We did manage to make some fun of the trip with a quick stop into the local Cracker Barrel to rummage through the odds and ends of American Culture.

Sooner!


Bevo!


Red River Rivals!
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Saturday, July 18, 2009

It's about time to catch up

So, first on the list of catch up photo posting is Travis and Michelle's wedding festivities:

Bachelorette Party:



Don't bother asking what Michelle and I are doing here, because I have no explanation


Michelle, Me, Taylor and Jaime


Attempting the threesome prom pose


Cheese!


Jaime and Taylor


The Wedding:

Just Me...


Ben and Jaime


Jason and Taylor


Michelle and Chip


The Entire Crew: Taylor, Michelle, M2, Stephanie, Me, Jaime


Obviously, something was funny


Jason, and his date while Taylor was busy with Wedding obligations, the purse


Me and my wedding date, the fan.

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Thursday, July 16, 2009

Monthly Night of Girls raising havoc / Michelle's Surgery.

Tuesday night, one day after Michelle's surgery. The poor thing was in so much pain and in and out of conscience-nous. However, she did manage to keep her spirits. The funny part was that she insisted that Taylor and I take pictures so that we could post them to facebook for everyone to see her pain, but by the time we got the camera ready, she was already knocked back out. We couldn’t pass this opportunity up to take advantage of a photo shoot with our bemused and drugged friend :-) Watching the genuine worry and trepidation of Chip towards Michelle this night touched a fuse in me that had not been touched in a very long time. Perhaps there is something to the whole idea of growing old with someone…





Thursday night / Girls Pajama Night. Michelle feeling MUCH better.














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I intend to help my children live a longer life than me.

Tom's Farms - Aug 2008

Tom's Farms - Aug 2008