Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Hungry Girl

I was introduced to the Hungry Girl site by a co-worker a couple years ago. It provides all kinds of tips and recipes for light eating based on Weight Watchers guidelines. The site's creator, Lisa Lillien, provides points values for all of her recipes as well. I receive a daily Hungry Girl e-newsletter featuring recipes, new healthy grocery items, and other great info.

I planned this week's dinner menu using mostly Hungry Girl recipes. So far I have made three of them with basically good results. (I am so lucky my permanent taste-tester is willing to try almost anything once.)

Monday night I made Hungry Girl Onion rings. It's a recipe I would definitely try again with some minor modifications. I used my mini food processor to grind up the cereal, which I will not do again. A full-size food processor is necessary to make the crumbs fine enough. I added some garlic powder, salt, and pepper, but not enough. (I have a fear of over-seasoning things, which usually results in under-seasoning.) I served the onion rings with veggie burgers on grilled sandwich thins. For dessert, I made another Hungry Girl recipe, Peaches 'n Cream Microwave Cupcakes. I substituted banana for the peaches, and the flavor was good. I think I over-mixed the batter slightly and probably could have cut the microwave time by 15 seconds. The recipe was super easy, and I will try this one again too.

Tonight I made Hungry Girl Pot Pie. (Pictured above.) I used two whole chicken breasts and four crescent rolls instead of the recommended three. I also added garlic powder, minced onion, and pepper to the veggie mixture. Finally, I sprinkled some Lawry's salt on the tops before baking. I consider this one the best success of the week, and Mr. Taste-Tester agreed.

They Aren't Kidding!

I just came across a new-to-me site with 350 free blog backgrounds....The Cutest Blog on the Block. As you can see, I have already made use of one of their offerings. It was a hard decision! We'll see how long it takes before I try out another one.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Childhood Favorites Reading Challenge



The Holistic Knitter is hosting this challenge. The rules are simple - read at least five books you enjoyed as a child between now and June. I have a small collection of books I loved as a child and have yet to reread them. (It's hard to justify rereading books when I have such a big stack of books I've never read.) Not sure what all five will be, but here are three that have made the list so far.
  1. Harriet the Spy
  2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
  3. Dear Mr. Henshaw (I can't count the number of times I read this one as a child.)

Mysteryreadercafe Reading Challenge


Lynda helped me out again when she posted about this challenge hosted by Kari at Another Book on the Stack. This one only requires four books, and I'm betting I can make at least one of my Agatha Christie books fit the requirements for this one too. Here are the rules:
1. Read a mystery with the word "murder" in the title
2. Read a mystery set in your region
3. Read a mystery that has been on your shelf for at least a year
4. Read a mystery from a "new to you" author
Again, I don't want to designate all the books, but I can say that I will likely choose to read a Tammy Hoag mystery to meet rule 2. I have read her books before and enjoyed them. As for a mystery that's been on my shelf for at least a year, we'll go with The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde. I picked it up at a charity book sale last winter after reading a lot of good reviews of it. That gets me one less book on my TBR shelf!

Agatha Christie Reading Challege

After watching Murder in the Vicarage on PBS a few weeks ago, I've had the bug to read more Agatha Christie mysteries. (I have only actually read one of her books in my lifetime of reading.) This weekend, while catching up on blog reading, I read a post on Lynda's blog about this challenge being hosted by Kathrin at All About Books. The challenge only requires you to read 2 Agatha Christie books during all of 2009. Although this goes against my resolution to read only books I own this year, I can easily obtain these at the library and most are really short. Finishing two in 11.5 months shouldn't complicate things too much. Because I have so many options to pick from, I am not going to post any pre-selections. We'll see which ones grab my attention when I get to the point of reading them.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Simplify

Having combined households with my roommate for eternity one year ago, it quickly became clear that I accumulate too much stuff. Having to pack and move all of that stuff recently further inspired me to want to simplify what I have.

Why do I need to collect a 3-inch stack of recipes from the internet when I get a great cooking magazine ten times a year and own dozens of cookbooks? Why should I buy another cross stitch pattern when I have drawers full of patterns that haven’t been started or are half done? Why do I keep going to the library, coming home with a stack of books I couldn’t possibly read in the allotted time when I have an entire bookshelf filled with owned books that are yet to be read?

But internet recipes are free! Library books are free! (Until you get into one that you can’t finish by the due date and rack up a bunch of overdue fees.) The cross stitch pattern is so cute and I might forget where I found it, and I got such a great deal on eBay! Of course, one runs into the obvious issues of shrinking storage space, lack of organization, and, sometimes, a shrinking checking account – all of which can drive a person crazy. But for me it goes beyond that.

It may sound like I have some kind of collecting and shopping addiction, but the real reason behind all of this is that there is so much to do and learn. I have a hard time passing up those opportunities despite the fact that I usually don’t get to take advantage of the last opportunity before I accumulate the next one. Then I find myself accumulating so many “opportunities” that I have even less time for doing. Additionally, life has taught me that there are definite benefits to “not doing” sometimes. Being busy every waking moment of the day is not conducive to self-reflection or maximizing the impact of your experiences.

So, this year I have resolved to collect less and experience more. I will cook only from cookbooks and recipes I currently possess. I will focus on reading the books on my bookshelves instead of the library’s. I will finish half-completed craft projects and start new ones from my existing stash. And, throughout my day, I will do my best to focus on the present and gain all that I can from each moment.