a99kitten's Musings

…if only Washington was as smart (hahahahaha…I crack myself up – as if THAT would ever be true.)

I need to buy the Duck Tales series and see if Uncle Scrooge has any other good tidbits…besides swimming in his gold that is :)

I like this version waaaaaay better than the original song :)

I have been going through old recipes that I have found in magazines, printed from online somewhere, etc. I love finding recipes that sound delicious but have never really had all that much free time to cook much nor did I want to. To me, cooking is a chore unless I am making something that sounds very delicious or for a party or something fun. But everyday cooking? Meh. I’d just have scrambled eggs and call it a day.

After picking out a few good ones and buying ingredients for them all today (going to the store hungry is such a bad idea and I never learn!), I decided to make this one tonight.

So…when you buy shrimp, you need to make sure it’s de-tailed, de-shelled, de-veined and any other de it can be. Because if it’s not, guess who is doing it. You. Ok..so…I actually would be perfectly OK being a vegetarian (except for the occasional McDonald’s cheeseburger). Not a vegan mind you. The idea of giving up cheese is like giving up breathing. But I know myself well enough to know that I freak out over the smallest things with regards to meat. Blech.

As a child, eating at a very nice restaurant with my parents, and after my dad made a special request for a fish sandwich for me so I would like something I ate there, the breading fell off the fish sandwich (because it was some French chef’s idea of a breaded and fried fish sandwich). I saw veins. I started crying. I don’t think I ate fish again for a couple years. Yuck.

So when I saw legs on these shrimp, I wanted to run away. Sigh. Ok, suck it up. So I de-shelled and de-legged these shrimp. I now understand why Julia Child drank on her cooking show (or at least that’s the rumor.) And why the Drunk Cook girl on You Tube videos drinks (besides being really funny!) I get it. Totally. Also…..ARGH! GROSS. People who do this for a living = GROSS! Chefs = EWWWWWW! Sickos! ARGH!

Anyway….

Ingredients:
3 tblsp butter
2 tsp chili powder
chopped garlic (that was my own addition to the recipe – garlic is good!)
1 lb raw peeled shrimp (tails,legs, etc cut off and rinsed…a lot…bottom-feeders….ewwww)
2 tblspn lime juice
1/2 tsp salrt
1/4 black pepper
lime wedges

Directions:
1. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large nonstick pan over medium high heat. Add the garlic and brown, stirring frequently.
2. Add the shrimp, cook about 2 minutes; add the chili powder to the shrimp, cook 2 minutes or until shrimp is opaque in center, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.
3. Stir in remaining butter, spices and lime juice and stir until butter has melted. Cover and let stand 3 minutes to absorb the flavors. Serve with lime wedges.

I made some quinoa, so spooned the shrimp over the quinoa. WOW! It was very good. And pretty simple minus the whole gross part. Totally making again – with shrimp procured from the meat counter where they do all this stuff for you. I’ll pay extra. Seriously.

This is my neighborhood up in Tahoe. All this snow fell last night. The amount of husky mom fail I feel right now is unmeasurable. They should be running and bounding through the snow with that golden retriever in the video! Especially now that Stormy has his new fur coat growing in so nicely!!

If I didn’t have a doctor’s appointment at 7:30am tomorrow AM, I’d drive up there tonight. Damn.

And to think – this past weekend I was up there in sundresses and flip flops!!

I have been eating more fish lately. And trying to find good, healthy recipes for fish. I found this one online awhile back. I did not make it up (altered it a bit for me though):

Fish fillets with olives and oregano:

Ingredients:
4 (1 1/4-inch-thick) pieces white-fleshed skinless fish fillets, such as halibut or tilapia (6 oz each)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 very thin lemon slices
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup pitted brine-cured olives, halved lengthwise (2 oz) (original recipe called for green but YUCK so I used black)
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano or 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled (I opted for fresh)

PREP:
Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.

Pat fish dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sear fillets, skinned sides down, until browned well, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer, seared sides up, to baking dish (reserve skillet), then top each fillet with a slice of lemon.

Add wine to skillet and bring to a boil, scraping up any brown bits. Boil 30 seconds, then pour around fish. Scatter olives around fish and bake, uncovered, until fish is just cooked through, 8 to 12 minutes.

Transfer fish to a platter, then whisk lemon juice, oregano, and remaining 2 tablespoons oil into cooking liquid in baking dish. Season sauce with salt and pepper and spoon over fish.

EASY! Also made…

Roasted Brussels Sprouts: (i found this recipe over Christmas)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed and yellow leaves removed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Prep:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
Place trimmed Brussels sprouts, olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper in a large resealable plastic bag. Seal tightly, and shake to coat. Pour onto a baking sheet, and place on center oven rack.
Roast in the preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes, shaking pan every 5 to 7 minutes for even browning. Reduce heat when necessary to prevent burning. Brussels sprouts should be darkest brown, almost black, when done. Adjust seasoning with kosher salt, if necessary. Serve immediately.

And then I made some quinoa. I wanted rice. But I always want rice! But decided on a “healthier” alternative. It’s pretty OK. Not exactly delish rice but more than passable for sure.

Not exactly traditional football day food but I wanted something lighter and healthier. Plus I have been wanting to try this recipe. It was very YUM!!!

I found a few recipes online that sounded good but they all had things I didn;t like in them. So I took a few ingredients form each and added my own and made this up!

These amounts are for a 4-5 serving meal.

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 andouille sausages
Long grain wild rice (I used 2 boxes of Uncle Ben’s boxes that has seasoning as well)
1 14.5 oz can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes
8 oz sliced mushrooms
White cooking wine
1 cup petite peas (I used frozen)
Chicken stock (I used low sodium)
Thyme
Crushed Red Pepper
Cayenne pepper

Cut up chicken and sausage. Saute in EVOO. As it is sauteing, I added a splash of the cooking wine. Then I add in the mushrooms to brown those. Adding another splash of white wine with them.

In a separate large pan, bring the chicken stock to boil (follow the directions of the rice.) After you add the rice and seasoning and bring to a boil, also add the meat, mushrooms and tomatoes and spices (I just used a few dashes of each.) Cover and let simmer on a low but not the absolute lowest. Stir frequently. When the liquid seems about half way evaporated, add the peas. Then just let simmer covered on low until all of the liquid has been evaporated.

Serve. Simple and very nummy. :)

I just finished the 3rd book of the trilogy. I have to say – overall – a big giant MEH. That might not be a popular opinion, but frankly, after the 1st book (which was good and hooked me), they went downhill fast. Part of the 3rd book kept me very interested and I think it could have been good. But man, half-way through you start looking around for any uppers you might have in the house to get through more pages. Not boredom mind you – just a serious downer.

I’m sure I’ll still go see the movie. Or at least rent the DVD anyway. But man, people applauding Katniss as a strong heroine/female figure – that’s disturbing. I would send my tween or teenage girl to a Buddhist Monk temple if she said she looked up to Katniss.

I get the survival aspect. The “do what you gotta do” frame of mind. Don’t disagree with that at all and most of the decisions she had to make. But her constant whining and “oh, I should just kill myself” BS got tired after the first few. Fine, do it or quit your moaning and groaning. Crikey.

And ***SPOILER*** the author really wanted to do a complete 180 from the Twilight series in terms of personal relationships. Jeez. Hook up with the completely bonkers basically lobotimized slobbering goober. Good choice. This will help civilization re-populate and do well. (?????)

Her indecision between Gale and Peeta bordered on an All My Children storyline. Duh – Gale. Period. The end. Yes, I know she is supposed to be a 17 year old girl. But the author wrote her so that we forgot her age and she was a kickass. So you can’t whip out the immature, emotionally-stunted teen girl card when it suits you. That worked for Bella. But we knew going in that she was a whiner through the entire series. And she didn’t kick any ass until well into the 4th book. So we weren’t being teased. We knew she was a whiner. Katniss – she kicked ass. She was tough. At first, the back and forth was OK but then *eye roll* and then *give me damn break you stupid girl!*

So I guess I would say they are worth reading I suppose, but be prepared they are not for everyone.

…you stupid, ugly skank.

Fail you idiot designers. We no longer live in caves where we need the warmth to survive. I hope PETA finds your homes…

A 1.5 hour walk to & around beach this AM. A 30 minute neighborhood jaunt this afternoon. And then an evening trip to Mavericks for much off-leash fun and play with other doggies till almost dark.

Now I have 2 huskies happily sound asleep.

They like Mom’s new schedule :)

I’m in the kitchen making breakfast for the huskies while Angelus stares at me (im)patiently. I hear BAM, BAM and paw scurrying. Run into living room as Storm is chasing a clearly disoriented bee around the room. He (the bee) finally hits the floor and Storm grabs it. NO!!! Both huskies have done this before and you end up with a swollen-lipped and/or tongued husky that you have to tweeze the stinger out of – no fun!

He drops it and the bee is flailing and buzzing so he grabs it again. NO! I yell again. Meanwhile Angelus, who had come in to see what the ruckus was, see/hears/smells the bee and says “Outta here” and goes and sits by the stairs. He and I have the bee-fear ever since we were viciously attacked by a a paramilitary bee hive and stung a bunch of times. So I am fighting my feeling of “run to the other room” too.

The bee is now under a chair where Storm is trying to get it but then stops each time I say NO. But then the bee moves and Storm is like “Come on!”

So I grab the cover off a shoe box my husband left in the living room and cover the bee. Try to show Storm – see bee is gone. Move along, move along, nothing to see here…

Run in the kitchen, grab a big cup and then slide the box top off and put the cup over the bee, a piece of paper under the bee and toss him over the side of the deck. Of course, the entire time imagining him as a cartoon Disney bee and him falling and so get sad. But then decide it was him or the huskies. I had to protect the huskies.

Storm just looked at me said “Really Mom? YOU had to protect ME from the bee? That’s the story we’re going with?”