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| Weta |
This morning, just before heading off to work, I found a weta in the house. For those who don't know, a weta is a huge frigging bug that looks like a cross between a grasshopper and the Incredible Hulk (click on the picture on the left to get a good close up of this atrocity).
As I was just about to leave for work, I was wearing my shades and was tidying up the dining room table. I grabbed a couple of things, some of which I thought was trash. so I picked it up.
Within a split second, here is the conversation that went on between my brain and my body.
Brain: "ummm...this doesn't feel right."
Body: "hmmmm? What?"
Brain: "Uh...whatever you're holding, its moving."
Body: "Its what?"
Brain: "Drop it you idiot!"
Eyes: "Let me see what all of this is ...HOLY SHIT! What the hell is that?!?!"
Body: "Dear sweet Jebus, its eating my hand!"
Brain: "DROP IT!"
Body: "OK!"
[a second after I had actually dropped it}
Brain: "You all right?"
Body: *shudder*
Brain: "Seriously, you ok?"
Body: *shudder*
Another great find! Today we tried a new recipe from
Eats Well With Others. This is the first time we have tried any of the recipes from this site, and judging by the results we had tonight, we will be going back often! We made the
Mexican Sweet Potato Risotto, and it was phenomenal!
The recipe is below, but I heartedly recommend that you go to her
blog to check out the amazing food she prepares.
Mexican Sweet Potato Risotto
Recipe Source:
Joanne-eatswellwithothers.com
Ingredients
3 sweet potatoes, or about 1 1/2 lb
4 cups vegetable/chicken broth + 4 cups water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
12 oz arborio rice
1 chipotle in adobo, minced
2 tbsp adobo sauce
1 tsp hot chile powder
1 tsp cumin
Juice from 1/2 lime
salt and black pepper, to taste
cotija cheese, freshly grated
Directions
- Roast the sweet potatoes at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, or until fork tender. Let them cool so that they can be touched, then cut them in half and scrape the insides out into a bowl. Mash with a potato masher.
- Bring 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth plus 4 cups water to a simmer. Add 1/4-1/2 cup of this mixture to the potatoes so that they have a looser consistency and will blend better into the risotto.
- As the broth/water is getting to a simmer, head 1 tbsp olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onion into the pan and saute for 3-4 minutes or until translucent. Add the rice to the skillet and saute for one minutes, stirring constantly so it doesn't burn. Add in the chipotle pepper and adobo sauce. Stir.
- Pour the broth/water mixture into the rice in 1/2 cup-ish increments, stirring continuously, and only adding the next half cup after the previous one has almost evaporated. Keep doing this until the arborio rice is just about al dente. Add the sweet potato mash to this mixture, stirring it in until it is fully incorporated. Add the cumin and chile powder. Mix in. Add the lime juice and salt/pepper to taste.
- Ladle into four bowls. Grate some cotija cheese on top of each bowl.
The only thing that we would do differently the next time is to add a bit more cumin, add one or two more chipotles and we might add black beans to the mixture the next time.
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| Pedometer |
Last week I wanted to restore my laptop back to factory conditions. It had been getting kind of temperamental and the hard drive was getting kind of bloated, so I thought it was time. Having done factory restores before, I did all the necessary prerequisites such as backing up data, writing down the programs I would need to reinstall, etc. I managed to do it all properly with the exception of the data for my pedometer.
When I got the pedometer for Christmas last year, it came with a program that allows you to upload the data onto your hard drive, and will show you graphical representations of where you are in terms of your goals. The only problem is that unlike much of the software products I had installed, it didn't allow the data to reside outside the program file. The way I have most of my programs set up is to have the program files in their default directories, but any associated data files would reside in a central location specifically for data. This means that as long as I backup the centralized data files, restoring a disk shouldn't cause any issues.
Oops. As I mentioned, this program didn't allow separating the data file from the program file, and as such, I lost over a year's worth of data for my walking program. The good news is that according to my last recorded data, I was well underway to making my goal of 5 million steps for the year. The bad news is that I can't prove it, so I have to start all over again.
Bugger.
Generally in the summer, Kristie and I make up a batch of Muesli on Sunday evening and have it throughout the week.
On weekends however, we enjoy making meals that we either haven't had in a while, or brand new meals that we have never tried.
This week we found a recipe for
Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal. Having good success with
Baked Nutella Oatmeal and
Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal (which we made, but didn't blog about), we thought that we'd give this new one a try. Wow! This dish was amazing; and so easy to make. It would be a wonderful dish for those of you suffering through the Great White North at the moment.
Here's the recipe:
Baked Oatmeal with Peanut Butter
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup Peanut Butter (use one low in salt)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350° and grease a 9×13 pan. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and stir well. Spread in to pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Serve with warm milk poured over top.
That's it! That is all there is to it!
Other serving suggestions:
- slice bananas on top then pour warm milk
- sprinkle with a few mini chocolate chips
- add yogurt and a little maple syrup
yields 12-16 servings and is wonderful left over for a quick easy breakfast.
