What I Really Think

Okay, I know I'm a day late, but through the miracle of back-dating, this post still appears on time. Hey, it's not cheating, it's using my resources.

Anyway, I wanted to make these yesterday but ran out of time. I wanted to make them yesterday because February 5th was World Nutella Day! Yes, a day devoted to the ... well ... devotion of Nutella (who needs Valentine's Day when you have a day devoted to the delicious chocolate hazelnut spread?).

A few years ago, Michelle, over at Bleeding Espresso, and Sara over at Ms. Adventures in Italy started this "affair" and it's been going strong ever since.

So without further delay - let me present you with my contribution to the worship of Nutella!

Chocolate Hazelnut Thumbprints

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Lest you think we ended our trip on a sour note, don’t fret (well, actually we did, but you can read about that here), we still had one more free day in Tel Aviv to spend time together.

Originally, when Sammi talked about this trip, she requested four things, hiking to waterfalls (we missed this), the Dead Sea, climbing the snake path of Masada and shopping. So Tuesday was our last opportunity to do some shopping, and trust me, Tel Aviv accommodates.

We didn’t want a late start like we had on our free day in Jerusalem, so everyone made sure I got them up and we were out of the hotel by 9:15. We took a cab over to the Carmel market. On Tuesdays and Fridays, on the street next to the Carmel market is also the Nachalat Benyamin Art & Craft Fair. We had visited it on Friday but Sammi wanted to return to get more gifts for her friends. When we arrived though, the crafters were just setting up, so we dove into the Carmel market (food and house wares), instead, which was much less crowded and therefore much more enjoyable, than Friday.

Candy Assortment at Carmel Market

Pomegranate Juicer

Continue reading "Tuesday Again" »

Yes, I know I missed last week and I still intend to make the veggie stew but in the meantime, I skipped ahead and on Friday night I made Jerry's Risotto al Granchio e Gamberi.

The original recipe called for 6T olive oil but I cut that down to 2T. And at 6 servings (about 8 oz each), this came in at 7 points a serving (with the 6T it would be 10 points). I also used canned tomatoes as winter tomatoes suck. I drained the canned, diced tomatoes and measured 1 cup. Otherwise, everything was the same.

I found the crab meat I bought a bit fishy or strong in taste and may make this again with better quality crab or only shrimp. Oh, and I used rock shrimp, which I didn't bother to chop, and found to be sweet and delicious.

Shrimp and Crab Risotto

Continue reading "Sunday Slow Suppers: Risotto al Granchio e Gamberi" »

Just wanted to take a moment to wish Kathy (TrekCapri) well as she brings her new "baby" home, kitty Elizabeth home. Also wanted to get a little virtual present for Elizabeth, enjoy!

Okay, I know you're expecting Sunday Slow Suppers but I didn't get a chance to do it yesterday (feeling under the weather), so I'm going to make it tomorrow.

In the meantime, I got this recipe from Sheri of As the Seasons Change when we were talking Crockpot recipes. It's so easy! I ended up making it on Friday and then we went out, so I put the roasted pork in the fridge and yesterday, shredded it and reheated it with BBQ sauce.

BBQ Pulled Pork

2 - 2.5 pound pork tenderloin (I used two that weighed about 2.25 pounds)
3/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water
BBQ Sauce

Put the first three ingredients into the crockpot. Cook on low for 8 hours. Discard the liquid. Shred the pork and rewarm with a BBQ sauce of your choice (we used KC Masterpiece). That's it.

Now, I used a bit more than a 18 ounce bottle of sauce b/c I was trying to keep the points down but you'll probably want to use more. I served these on potato rolls, with cole slaw and fries and it could not have been easier!

Points for the pulled pork figuring this makes 10 servings (about 1/2 cup in size), is 5 points (plus 2 for the roll, total of 7). If you get 12 servings out of it, well then it's 4 points for the meat.

Sorry no pictures.

Sammi has been asking me for years to make Monkey Bread. Y'all know what Monkey Bread is right? Well, for those who don't it's this pull-apart bread coated in a cinnamon-sugary caramelized syrup and it's downright decadent. Well, for obvious reasons (i.e., as obvious as my stomach hanging over my pants), I never made it (seriously, it's like heroin to an addict).

Anyway, now that Sammi is baking, I finally decided to let her have a go at it and purchased a "Monkey Bread kit" for her for Hanukkah (with the intent that she could bake us all Monkey Bread for Christmas morning). Unfortunately, that morning, we realized the kit needed some major effort (i.e, allowing time for dough to rise and such), and we were hungry. So instead we opted for this recipe, Grands Monkey Bread since I had a couple of cans of biscuits in the house (Sandy, please, I hope you're not reading this and discovering that I don't make biscuits from scratch). Within 45 minutes, yummy, Monkey Bread.

But now I'm back on program and so I decided to check out Cooking Light to see if they have any Monkey Bread recipes, and surprisingly they do, here but I didn't want to deal with the frozen bread do. So I combined the best of both worlds to come up with my version.

Mmm...Monkey Bread

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Found this recipe on Cooking Light this morning, Pumpkin Muffins, when searching for something I could make for some friends coming over for coffee (I knew I had a can of pumpkin in the pantry). After reading reviews for the recipe and based upon what I had on hand, I made a few adjustments and came up with this instead.

Pumpkin Muffins (with chocolate chips)

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