Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Here is a delicious snack and fantastic use of the pumpkin seeds that will be all over your newspaper-lined kitchen tables as you carve those Jack-O -Lanterns this weekend!

Enjoy them now while you can…….I guarantee you’ll be craving these nutty, crunchy morsels until next fall!

Remove the seeds from the pumpkin and let them soak in a large bowl filled with water. Wash them by rubbing them with your hands to remove the stringy bits from the seeds.  Dry them off with paper towels and spread them on clean newspaper to dry.

Heat a teaspoon of olive oil and a tablespoon of butter in a large heavy skillet until bubbly. Add the seeds and toast until brown and crisp, around 4 or 5 minutes. Season with a few shakes of garlic salt and a tablespoon of worchestershire sauce. 

You could also season the seeds FIRST, mixing them with the melted oil and butter  and spread them on a baking sheet and bake for 15 or 20 minutes.  Let them cool to room temp and munch away.  Your mouth will thank you!

Fall is for Figs

I’m so happy that it’s fall!   Love the crisp air, cool nights, football games, and, drum roll please……..FIGS!!!!

I just have to laugh when I ask someone if they like figs they hesitate, make a funny face and say, “Well, I like Fig Newtons”.  Ha!  They don’t know what they are missing  Fresh figs are so sweet and juicy and have a taste all of their own.These soft purple little ovals of pure,  creamy  sweetness are fantastic!!  It’s the mission figs I’m talking about. There in season now, and I say RUN, don’t walk to the nearest store that carries them (not too many do) and buy a bag full!   You’ll definitely find them down at the Strip District, much cheaper than the grocery stores.

Here is a simple quick appetizer to make in a flash utilizing these Fantastic Fall Figs:

Fig/ Gorgonzola/ Honey Bruschetta

Baguette bread, sliced in one inch diagonal slices

Four or five fresh figs, sliced

4 ounces gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

Honey for drizzling

Brush the bread slices with olive oil and place in moderate oven for five minutes till golden brown. Place several slices of the figs on the bread, sprinkle with the cheese and place back in the oven till cheese melts.  Drizzle some honey over the slices and serve immediately.  Yum ! Goes well with a glass of fruity Pinot  Noir

Growing Tired of Grilling

It’s now mid-August and I hate to say that I’m tired of firing up the grill and throwing everything from chicken to fish to burgers to veggies  on it for dinner.  I admit that I couldn’t wait back in April to begin the grilling season, but I guess I’ve exhausted my  outdoor grilling repertoire of recipes…hard to imagine, huh?  After eating my last hot dog on Sunday, I decided that I just had my fill of picnic food and was longing to make something more substantial, in my kitchen, ( which I miss; a post for another time!). I desperately needed to  following an honest to goodness recipe with ingredients other than those needed for pasta salad, hamburgers and baked beans!  So here is what I prepared and boy was my family thankful!! Hope you try it; it’s super easy!

CHICKEN PICCATA

4             boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 C     flour

1/2 t      salt

1/2 t      pepper

2 T         butter

1 T         olive oil

1 C         chicken broth OR white wine

2 T         lemon juice

2 T         capers, drained

1/2 C     chopped parsley

Pound chicken breasts between two sheets of plastic wrap to 1/4 inch .  Salt and pepper the breasts then dredge in the flour.  Heat one tablespoon of butter and the olive all the olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat.  Add chicken and cook three minutes on each side till golden brown.  Add 3/4 cup broth or wine, lemon juice, and capers to pan and cook for two minutes.  Remove chicken, keep warm.  Stir remaining broth in pan and reduce to 1/2 cup (about five minutes).  Stir in remaining butter and parsley.  Serve sauce over chicken.

I served my chicken with sauteed veggies and garlic couscous.  Light and luscious!

Why Wouldn’t You?

While driving around today in my car, I spotted three different motorcyclists  without helmuts.  I know the summer weather we’ve been enjoying is probably very conducive to going helmutless…letting the warm breezes flow through your hair, but come on now!  What about safety?  Just because it isn’t required by law to wear that said helmut, why take such a huge risk? I just don’t get it.  I’m all for prevention, in medicine as well as living in general.  It’s just like those who refuse to wear sunscreen to protect against skin cancer.  Why wouldn’t you do such a minor thing to prevent such a major disaster?

I always remember that famous graduation speech given by someone I”ve forgotten now, entitled  “Don’t Forget to Wear Sunscreen”.  It listed a number of things to do as you graduate from college and the last bit of advise was to put on suncreen to prolong your life.  Well said! (He should have added, wear your helmut while biking!)

writers block…..

I’ve been working on my latest book, a cook book, because I thought there would be no need for creativity (minimal at best) in writing recipes, WRONG!!! I’ve decided to preface each recipe with a short story about where the recipe originated, a description of who gave it to me or a visual picture about the dish itself. Well, I still have to create that little script using the most descriptive and enticing words to make each entry mouth-watering and something you just want to stop what your doing and try! I’m in the midst of moving and that, need I say, is putting quite a damper on my writing. Thus writers’ block is a real and daunting limbo where I’ve seemed to have landed. Oh, I know I’ll eventually move on and finish this project (I’m so close, my deadline goal is July 1). I try to do small segments daily, that’s how I was able to finish my first book. I’m banking on the fact that when I have more to do, I do more. Make sense? that’s just how I’m wired. I’m more of a morning person, so for the next few weeks, I’ll be up at dawn, writing and then on to packing those umpteen boxes.

Attention Graduates!

Graduations are upon us, High School, College, Tech Schools and, yes, even Pre-Schoolers will don the white caps and gowns….. my grandson, Aiden is soooo excited about his graduation

I’ve heard many great graduation speeches. I remember the title of  the speech given at my High School graduation many years ago ( well not that many), it was, “The More Beautiful the Question, The More Beautiful the Answer.”  I really never gave it much thought over the years, but now it does seem pretty profound.

We will all continue to ask questions as we go through life’s journey, how else can we learn anything, but I think what the speaker ( and I can’t even remember who he was) had in mind was to prepare us  to “see” beauty in everything. If we visualize something as pleasant, doesn’t it change our prespective?  As a new graduate, everything is new, different , exciting…but when turmoil, problems, unexpected roadblocks trip us up, isn’t it better to think that a good outcome is available?  Trying to attain this outcome will take your insight, experience, attitude and vision..that’s right a beautiful vision.  I think the speaker also was encouraing  positivity rather than negativity.

The one thing I wish for new graduates is the realization to the fact that change is inevitable. Not only in life situations but in ourselves.  Here I am, 35 plus years post-graduate and still experiencing the evolution of myself.  No one ever told me that I would become a chameleon over the years!   Oh, I’m still me only a different version.  I like to believe I’m the new and improved person I started out to be right out of High School!  Change allows a variety of experiences which make way for growth; and you can’t expect growth unless you change. Growth and change go hand in hand. Look at the butterfly.  Don’t you think it is grateful when he emerges from the  cocoon? Sometimes the stretching process is painful.  But if we are forewarned and are ready for change, it can be a much more positive  and anticipated thing.

I was a girl scout back in the day (Ha!), and our motto was , “Always be prepared.” So preparation is the first goal in stepping out into the great big world of change.  Hopefully, schools and parents alike have done their best in preparing the new graduates for the next chapter of life, whether it be college, the military or the workforce. The second goal in launching from one phase to the next is to realize what your purpose  in life is.  The best way to do that is through prayer.  We all have a specific purpose given to us by our Lord. ( Rick Warren’s book, ” The Purpose Driven Life”  is the best graduation gift you can give to the graduate).  Once we discover what it is, it will only guide us to the best path we need to follow.

It’s okay to be a little nervous, but keeping a positive attitude and a beautiful vision before you is one way to lead a beautiful life!  My Dad’s simple advice to me was…always give someone a smile, it won’t cost you a thing; they are contagious and you just might get one back!

Facing Life

I received an e-mail from a friend with the opening sentence,”Life’s not the way it’s supposed to be.  It’s the way it is; it’s the way you cope with it that makes the difference.”

Lately, I’ve found myself saying to other people regarding different situations while trying to make sense of certain actions and consequences the cliche, “It is what it is.”  Now that has me wondering, is that just a cop out?  It does seem like it could be trivializing a predicament, an easy way to bow out of assisting in solving one’s plight.  How many times do we face life’s trials and wish things were different…easier…less complicated?  It’s so much easier to throw our hands up and  do nothing.  What is more difficult is making the decision to do whatever we can with whatever resources we may have.

I believe we have to first determine whether our challenges in life are  up to us to change or not. If we have no control, then it truly ‘is what it is’  but our next step ( and this is an important one), is to make a choice as to how we are going to handle the situation we must face.  This is where our coping skills come in and where our faith will move us forward.

We can chose to be a victim and complain, speak negatively and think that there is no hope, or we can trust that God is in control and draw from the unwavering source of strength found in His promises to us, His kids, who He is crazy about.

He never promised that our lives would be without problems, but he did and does continually provide us with enough grace to wade through the messy times and hardships.  His grace, He tells us, ‘is sufficient and His power is made perfect in our weakness’.   To me, that is all we need to know.  He will guide us, if we let Him.  His peace will guard our hearts.

Life doesn’t always fit our plans. There are detours that Our Lord stategically allows, and during these times is when he will sit back and watch us maneuver and all he wants to say is,” Well done, my child!”

Monday Morning Random Thoughts

1.  I love sleeping in on Monday Mornings. (I know, I know..most of you can’t)

2.  Pittsburgh has something like only 57 or 58 days of sunshine per year!  Per Year!!!!

3.  A hummingbird’s heart rate beats at a rapid 500-600 beats per minute while perched and 1400 while in flight!

4.  The Chinese character for “crisis” has two meanings…danger and opportunity.

5.  There is nothing more soothing than to hear a distant train whistle (DISTANT!) while you are in bed just falling off to sleep.

6.  The Bible is the most read book.. ever!

7.  The low country is called such because of it’s low-lying terrain which is at sea level.

8.  Is the acronym for golf really Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden?

9.  If we all switched over to riding bikes instead of cars, what effect would that have on OPEC?

10.  God is more than capable to give us favor and blessings during our times of disaster and storms if we’d only ask and trust that He is able!

Missing the Lowcountry

Well, I’ve been home from our extended stay in South Carolina for 48 hours now and I’m already missing the beach, flowering azaleas and sweet magnolia trees, the chorus of singing birds that nest in the live oak trees that woke me every morning, the mild temperatures that Southerners seem to take for granted, and the abundant sunshine (most days) that they also take for granted! I could go on and on, but I don’t want to slump into a deep depression.
The friendly weatherman on the evening news is hinting and, dare I say, teasing us into thinking that Spring is just around the corner….the only true indication that it is in fact around the corner is “March Madness” and the never ending basketball games that have hit the airwaves, sports media, and every other media available. I’m well aware of the huge number of fans that are following their favorite college teams….I’m just not one of them. I actually cringe when I hear that constant squeaking of rubber soles on the wooden court floor during one of these many, many tournament games. Is basketball really as American as baseball and Apple pie??  Wait, did I just see President Obama filling out his own bracket on TV????

As you might have gathered, I’m not a very big sports fan, I will however, watch the Steelers play on a Sunday afternoon, that’s the extent it.

So, I’ll wait for March Madness to be over and hopefully, the ending will coincide with the entrance of a long- awaited Spring!!

Oysters, Anyone?

Oysters are an acquired taste…you either love them or you hate them! I was first introduced to oysters at a tender age of five or six by my dad. He would periodically stop at The Oyster House in Market Square downtown Pittsburgh and bring home an order or two of breaded, fried oysters.  He loved to eat them so much that he kept a bottle of malt vinegar and hot sauce in his glove box for whenever the urge for oysters struck.  Honest!

I remember eating only the breading at first, which was thick, moist and chewy.  I  gradually began looking for and eating the sweet, plump oysters hidden within the breading. The taste of oysters is mostly bland, therefore needing the added flavors of vinegar and hot sauce.

As I grew a little older, my dad and I would share our own strange little snack of smoked oyster on top of Ritz crackers  topped off with a squirt of Cheez Whiz…unsophisticated but good!  I think I was more fascinated with the manner of opening that small oval tin of oysters.  I would take the metal key adhered underneath the can and attach it to the metal strip and unwind it along the edge of the top to peel back the lid with the key.  Very neat for a ten year old kid!

Fried oysters were never a part of our Christmas Eve Feast of the Seven Fishes, but made their way onto the menu only 10 or 12 years ago.  We still include them in memory of my Dad even though I’m the only one who will eat them!

Here in Hilton Head, oysters appear on the menus at restaurants a number of different ways.  Po’ Boy fried oyster sandwiches, Oysters Dafuskie, named after the island which is a hop, skip and a swim away, and of course, your traditional raw and roasted oysters. There are lots of Oyster Roasts held here on the week-ends serving not only oysters but shrimp, cole slaw, red rice, corn on the cob when in season, collard greens and for dessert good old southern peach cobblers and banana pudding.  They do know how to eat her in the South!  There is only one small peculiar rule down here about eating oysters, they are only available in the months that contain an “r” in it.  those excluded would be May, June, July, August.  Hmm, I’ll have to research that a little more……

Here is my adaption of Oysters Dafuskie ( A creamy oyster stew)  Serve with small oyster crackers, what else!?!

1 C Half and Half

1 C Heavy Cream

1 T Butter

1 T Cocktail Sauce

1 T Worcestershire  Sauce

1 t hot sauce (Tabasco)

1 Pint shucked oysters with juice

Heat all liquid ingredients in med sauce pan till just simmering.  Add the oysters with juice, and cook for about 5 min. or until the edges of the oysters begin to curl.  Take off heat, serve immediately in bowls with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of paprika.  Can season with salt, pepper and more hot sauce!

Enjoy!!