Tailgating....Hokie Style!!

"After all, is football a game or a religion?" ~Howard Cosell

We went up to Blacksburg VA this weekend for the first home game at Virginia Tech!! If you don't already know, I have become an avid fan!  Home games for us mean tailgating beginning early Saturday morning, if the schedule works out, we cook out for Breakfast AND Dinner!!  This weekend worked out that way, the game started at 12:30, so afterwards the plan was to have some FROGMORE STEW for dinner!!  Jess had been looking forward to his since she was in India!!

Jess and Brad playing 'corn hole'...(Check out how skinny Brad has become!! He looks AMAZING!!)  He is working really hard to continue with his diet...(even though we (the in-laws) keep tempting him with all this GREAT FOOD!) :)

Hubby and I got out early and setup the site, Jess and Brad came and were able to park beside us, giving us a nice little piece of property for our tailgate!!

Setup and ready to start cooking Breakfast!

 Hubby and I cooked bacon and pancakes, (plain and blueberry) for breakfast!!

Hanging out AFTER Breakfast!!

We were lucky enough to be entertained by the Corps of Cadet "Highty Tighties" as they practiced for their first home game of the year!!  Here is a little 'snipet' for your enjoyment!

Here are the Highty Tighties heading to the game in full uniform!!

Here is the view from our seats!! LOVE IT!!!

Jess and Brad got season's passes too this year....at the 50 Yard line!! How about that for great seats!!

The view from Jess and Brad's seats!!

After we snuffed out Applachian State (66-13), we met back at the truck to start the stew!! We all pitched in to shuck the corn, cut up the kielbasa and adding the flavors and get it to start boiling!!

About the time we got the potatoes and Sausage in the pot with the spices, we looked up and noticed a VERY ominous sky!! 

Hubby quickly got on his laptop and found that we were under a Severe Thunderstorm Warning!!  We quickly decided to pack up and head out to Jess and Brad's to continue our 'tailgate' at their house!! We threw it all in the truck and took off!! By the time we got to their house (10 Minutes) the storm hit BIG time!! Hubby and I got soaked carrying the stuff in from the truck!!  That's okay, we continued our 'tailgate' inside!!  We setup the table cloths and paper platters on the table and continued the stew on Jess' stove!!  I absolutely love to cook outside, but I do have my limits!! :)

Crab Boil, new potatoes and kielbasa sausage...and of course one bottle of beer...your choice of what kind!!

Fresh Corn on the cob, and Fresh shrimp to finish it up!!

Pour it all out into a pan and Dig in!!

The secret to the stew is to add things separately so that it all cooks JUST right!! Of course, potatoes first, then the Kielbasa, let the potatoes cook until ALMOST done, then add the corn, cook (slow boil) for 9-10 minutes....add the shrimp for the last 5 minutes or so!!   I always sprinkle the shrimp with some Old Bay as soon as we take it up... Put butter, cocktail sauce, roasted garlic grinder, salt, pepper and whatever else you want to dress things up with on the table!! It's a lot of fun to make and GREAT FOOD!!


Jess and I are working on the menu for the next home game....in 2 weeks!! I'll keep you posted!!


::Hugs::


Cheri

A Homecoming....and Cauliflower Mac N Cheese!

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.  ~Lin Yutang

Where have I been? I had a little adventure of my own!! 

As some of you know, our daughter Jessica traveled to India for 2 months this summer as part of the Vet School program at Virginia Tech.  She has a blog here of her own in order to share some amazing pictures and to share her adventure. I'll let her tell you all the stories, as she updates. 


What does that have to do with me?? 

Jess had great difficulty with internet connections in India, they had paid for a broadband card, that ended up not working, so communications were slim to none! Facebook chat was nearly our only chance to communicate, and with spotty internet, it was rare....plus they were 9-1/2 hours ahead of us, so timing was also difficult. 

She was due to fly out on Wednesday, August 17 at 1:45 am India time (~ 4:30 pm here), to Frankfurt, Germany, then nonstop to Dulles, and after a 4-1/2 hour layover, on to Roanoke, VA, which was 30 miles from home!  I had her itinerary, and would track the flights across the world!! I know, it's just a Mom thing, I have to watch all the countries she flies over!! :) 

The plane had just lifted off, and they were in the air about 15 minutes, and her husband Brad called! I cheerfully answered with "I just saw her take off!!"  There was a long pause, the Brad responded with, "They didn't make it on the flight!" "They didn't have the proper exit visas"...Thankfully, he called the Vet School and spoke to them, explaining the issue, so that any help could be provided from this side!! He gets a medal for thinking of that, I couldn't think that straight!!

Without going through a lot of detail, I'll give you the shortened version of the next 48 hours!! They had to deal with the Indian Govt. offices, pay fines, fill out additional paperwork to register and get approved...they started when the offices opened that morning, and managed to push through the applications (normally 3-5 day waiting period) and get them approved in a couple of hours, then had to work closely with a travel agency to find them all flights, they confirmed it all just 30 minutes before time to get to the airport...again!!  Long story short...they made it out 24 hours later (Thursday), same flight!!  The only problem was that Jess couldn't fly to Roanoke, she would get to Dulles (Washington DC), and needed a ride home to Blacksburg VA!! 

 That's where I came in!!  I drove to Dulles, and met her there (THANK GOODNESS!!) and took her home to her hubby that night!! Her plane landed in DC at ~ 3:15 pm, and we had her home by 10:00 pm that night!! As you might have guessed, I have never been so happy to see her in my life!! She insisted I stay an extra day, so we got to visit on Friday and I came home Saturday Morning!!  


Believe it or not, her school started this morning (Monday) at 8:00 am!! Phew!! I know this will be an adventure she will not soon forget, I know I won't!!  I didn't think to take a camera, all I could think about was to get her home, but found this picture they took of themselves at the Frankfurt Airport....on the way home!! FINALLY!!

They looked tired...but so relieved!! 

So I got to participate in the adventure...even for just an instant!! :)

Welcome home Jess (and girls)....we sure are glad you are home!! 

Okay......Enough about matters of the heart!!

I decided that hubby would play guinea pig again this evening, I found a recipe I wanted to try, from Rachel Ray, and as usual, I followed it mostly, but made changes to it (noted) I halved it for the two of us and it's still a lot of leftovers!!...and I think it's a keeper, so I thought I would share!! 

Here goes:

Cauliflower Mac N Cheese

1 lb short cut pasta  (I used  1/2 lb penne rigate)

1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil 

1 head cauliflower (I used 1/2 head)

1 cup chicken stock
3 TBSP Butter

1 onion finely chopped (I used 1/2 onion)

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 TBSP flour (I used 1-1/2 TBSP)

2-1/2 cups milk (I used 1-1/4 cup)

fresh ground pepper

fresh grated nutmeg

3-4 sprigs sage , thinly sliced (I used fresh chives instead!)

2 TBSP Dijon mustard (I did not use)

1 cup sharp white cheddar cheese (I used 1/2-3/4 cup yellow mild cheddar)

1 cup Gruyere cheese (I used 1/2+ cup)

1 cup shredded parmigiano cheese (I used 1/2+ cup)

1 small bundle watercress (did not use)

As I said above, I halved it and it still would feed 4 easily!!

Bring salted water to a boil for pasta, and under cook the pasta about 2 minutes.

While the water comes to a boil, in a covered dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium to medium high heat, cut the core out of the cauliflower and set the head into the pot and add 1 cup of stock, cover and steam 12-15 minutes until tender. Remove and separate the cauliflower into flowerets, set aside. Discard the water from the pot.

Over medium heat in the same pot, melt the butter then add onions and garlic.

Saute until tender, and in the flour and whisk for 1 minute.  Whisk in the milk and season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and chives.  When thickened, stir in 2/3 of the combined cheeses. Add the pasta, cauliflower and stir, transfer to a baking dish, top with remaining cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbly....20-30 minutes!

It was really good!!  Rachel says to garnish with fresh chopped watercress...I didn't do that, it was good just like it was!!  Another good one, and healthy too!!


Enjoy!!


::Hug:: + a special hug to Blacksburg VA tonight!! ;)


Cheri

Yummmo!!!...and the Squirrel Battle Continues!!!

We are living in a world today where lemonade is made from artificial flavors and furniture polish is made from real lemons.  ~Alfred E. Newman


I came home today and announced to my Hubby that he was going to be a guinea pig once again at dinner....most of the time that is a good thing, but I suspect he might get a little nervous when he hears that...I love to try recipes!!  A co-worker of mine gave me some homemade tomatillo sauce that his wife had canned and I have never had a sauce like that, so he told me it was used on enchiladas and burritos... so I thought Okay, I'm game!! 


Hubby wanted to know a little more about what to expect, so the conversation went something like this: 


I told him I was going to make some burritos...
he said "that sounds good"...
and I followed it with "*coworker* gave me some Tomatillo sauce today, and I want to try it,"... 
"what's that?" he says 
I followed with "it's a green sauce"
.....you should have seen his face, he scrunched up his nose and obviously was now much more nervous!!  He says "I'm not too fond of GREEN sauce!" but quickly followed it with, "but I guess I can try it." 


Later, when he came into the kitchen, I took off the lid and let him smell it (BTW it smelled wonderful!) , and he says "it smells like pickles!!".....so I guess green means pickles!! :) 


So here we go....this has to be the World's easiest recipe!!  (I took pictures this time...I still feel silly doing that!!)


As I mentioned before, we try to stick to veggies for meals during the week, at least for supper, it is healthy, and hopefully it will cut down on some of the weight gain that has been happening around here!!...(Sorry, I digressed!)


I got a can of fat free refried beans, low fat sour cream, shredded mild cheddar cheese, flour tortillas and medium salsa and a sweet onion at the store on the way home from work....oh and spanish rice mix.


I mixed about 1/4 cup of medium chunky salsa with the refried beans....

I then added 1/4 of the mixture into the center of one Medium size flour tortilla and topped it with about 1 Tbsp of the cheese...

Then I rolled it up (this takes practice, believe me!) and put it in a glass pan sprayed with nonstick spray, flap down...

I did this with 4 tortillas..... (I got better at it as I went along)

I then poured the Tomatillo sauce over the top, and added the rest of the cheese from the package....~1/2 to 1 cup or so I would guess....

Cover tightly with aluminum foil sprayed with nonstick spray....

and put into an oven preheated to 425 degrees for about 20 minutes....

While that is cooking....thinly slice 1/2 the sweet onion, and saute in butter or olive oil (I use low fat margarine) until transparent...

after 20 minutes, remove foil....(be careful not to burn yourself on the steam!!) put back into oven for about 5 minutes or until tortillas begin to turn slightly golden.

Put onto plate and top with sour cream and sautéed onions, serve with spanish rice on the side!!

It was REALLY, REALLY good!!!...and So easy, it even looked sorta fancy!!  This was the final result for both of us.... Hubby thought it was good too!! :)

I made 4 of them, but one each was more than enough!! so I froze the other 2 for another time!! You can spice it up as much as you like, maybe garnish with peppers, or even roll them in the filling....I wanted to make sure not to overpower the sauce so we could taste it!! It was great!! Thanks Deb....of course you know now I want the recipe!! :)  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile......Outside the kitchen window

While I was playing in the kitchen, I kept one eye out of the window on the new setup of bird feeders....the squirrel ruined feeder number 3, so I regrouped and decided to try something different!! I got a new feeder on Monday....

I also strung a thin cord across  about 6-1/2 feet high and hung the finch sock and the new feeder on the string. Obviously the feeder is still too close to the shed, but that is an easy fix!! (and I think a little grease on the 'hat' to the right will be a help too!! )

I know, it looks a little bit like West Virginia, but I am determined to feed my birds, and not the squirrel....at least from the bird feeders!!

While I was cooking....I saw his silhouette on the shed!!

...Cue Theme Song "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly"

..... I grabbed my camera, and this is what I got!!

                              

I think I won the battle this time!! Yahoooo!!! I'm going to 'tweek' things, and we'll see how it goes!!

::Hugs::

Cheri

Wacky Wednesday

Life is like riding a bicycle – in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving ~ Albert Einstein


In the spirit of eating healthy I decided to try something for dinner, grilled veggies...sound good? I thought so! When we were in Sanibel, we decided to do a little shopping in Periwinkle Place.  For those of you that don't know, it is sort of a strip mall that is set back into beautiful tropical foliage. Several of our favorite stores had closed, which was very sad, but there was a new store there that Jess and Brad found...it is called Sanibel Olive Oil Company.  It's a small store with nothing but flavored oils, spices and balsamic vinegars.  They have little cups by each one where you can sample the different flavors!  Jess had me try the Cilantro Garlic Balsamic vinegar and I loved it, so of course I had to buy a bottle, she and Brad did too....(and another flavor also)!  They even offered chocolate flavored...not sure how I felt about it, it did taste like Chocolate...but was strange since it was a balsamic!!....Anyways...I've been thinking about how to use it so I came up with this idea to keep it healthy and we would have grilled veggies! Well I must say, it was amazing and very easy!....(and I got to use Hubby's Father's Day Grill from Jess!)  I did take a couple of pictures this time, though I felt rather silly....guess I shoulda taken pictures cutting up veggies etc...but remember I'm a newbie at all this blog stuff!! :)  Here goes.....


The recipe:  Grilled Summer Veggies


The seasonings:
1/2 to 2/3 Cup Balsamic Vinegar (of course I used the Cilantro Garlic Balsamic)
1/3 Cup EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
1/4-1/2 cup water
Garlic Grinder Spice (you decide how much!)
Sea Salt Grinder        "             "


The Veggies:
1 Zucchini-Halved longways and sliced fairly thin
1 Yellow Squash-Halved longways and sliced fairly thin
1 medium sized Sweet Onion-Halved and sliced thin
1 Green Bell Pepper, sliced thin
1/2 package fresh mushrooms (Buttons or Baby Bellas) sliced ~ 1/4 " thick
10-12 Baby carrots sliced into 1/4 " thick 'coins'


Slice all veggies, put into casserole with lid or ziplock bag. 

Mix all seasonings, pour over veggies 

Let marinate for 4-5 hours stirring or shaking fairly often, you will notice veggies absorbing the dark balsamic and begin to soften. Grill in foil or on a grill pan @ ~ 350 degrees, stirring often to cook evenly for 30-40 minutes or to desired veggie doneness (how about that for verbiage!) 

Really bad picture...sorry!

Serve over steamed rice!!

I think I need to work on my plating! :)

It was Yumm-o!! We had applesauce as a side, and it was great!! 


We will definitely have this again!! And so healthy!! :)






Prior to our mini cookout, many of the animals around here entertained us.... between and during the thunderstorms!! The squirrels have been driving us nuts hanging on the goldfinch feeder socks, and the 'squirrel-proof' feeder!  We had to move the feeder from the deck up high on the front of our shed, with hopes that they wouldn't get to it....They will actually eat the plastic on the feeder so that it will no longer slide down and cover the holes!! Today I actually 'darned' the finch socks to close up the holes!! (does anyone know where I can buy finch socks made out of stainless steel?) 


While I was at the store buying feeder #3 (since spring) I was looking for, what we call a 'hat' to put over the feeder, well I bought the wrong thing, but out of frustration we decided to put it over the feeder anyway, and leave it loose, so it would move around, hopefully making it a little more difficult for him to reach the feeder.  We enjoyed watching this squirrel try to get to it twice....and I actually got to video it!!  (I played with youtube video editing on this one!) 

This guy was hilarious to watch!

Then he just stood upside down on the roof....still trying to figure out how to get to that seed!!

After watching this for a while, I went out front to the porch and was 'greeted' by the duck 'teenagers', obviously looking for food...and I have NEVER fed them, but this time I couldn't resist!! 

Notice there are 5 brunettes and 1 blonde!! They are so sweet....if you listen closely you can hear them 'beeping'!! 


Unfortunately no Mama Duck yet on the eggs in the garden :(


We also had many finches on the socks today!!

Hubby's favorite Goldfinch and a House finch.....Notice the rubber-band on the back sock...too many holes!!

More Glads are coming in, they are so pretty!!

I hope you enjoyed our Wacky Wednesday!! We did!!


::Hugs::


Cheri

Veggies and Flowers!!

Do vegetarians eat animal crackers?  ~Author Unknown



My hubby and I are trying to get back into the veggie diet that has been successful for us in the past....eat veggies/pasta all week, no meat. Then on the weekend have something we have been craving, nothing crazy, but back to the veggies on Monday!! It has worked pretty well for us in the past, but we can't seem to maintain it for very long these days!.....anyway, I've been looking around for some recipes and ran across a couple that we really enjoyed....I found them online and adjusted them to our tastes.  I thought  you might enjoy them also!! I guess if I am going to post these, I ought to take pics...but I didn't think of that!!


Cheese Tortellini with Veggies


9 oz cheese tortellini (frozen or fresh)
1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
1 sweet onion sliced paper thin
1 large red or green pepper
2 cups fresh broccoli flowers, chopped
1/4 cup chicken broth
1/4 fresh lemon juice
1 Tbs tarragon
3 Tbs Parmesan cheese, grated


Spray nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray, on Medium heat, saute onion and pepper ~10 minutes. Stir in chopped broccoli, pour in the lemon juice and wine, and add tarragon. cover and cook over low heat for about 15 minutes.  Prepare Tortellini according to package directions while veggies are cooking.  Stir in the olive oil and then fold in tortellini.


It's really good....and good for you!  I decided to have it again last week but didn't have all the ingredients so I tried with what I did have....this is great too...and much different....you would swear there was meat in it!!


9 ounces tortellini
1 cup baby bella mushrooms sliced thin
2 small zucchini squash, sliced in coins
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small sweet onion sliced thin
1/2 cup vegetable broth
3 Tbs. Parmesan cheese, grated
You would bet it had steak in it!! it's great!!




Another recipe I tried for Mother's Day dip!! My Mom loves Avocados and they were on sale, so I found this recipe on the internet....I have fixed it several times since and it's great on tortilla chips, veggies or pretzel rods....only trouble is it doesn't last very long!! 


Avocado and Roasted Garlic Dipping Sauce


2 Avocados
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 entire head of roasted garlic, squeezed from skin
1 Tbsp chopped parsley
1/8 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp coarse salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper


Roughly mash avocados, (texture should not be smooth)
Fold in remaining ingredients
Chill one hour to marry flavors


(If you don't have a garlic roaster: put cloves in a square of foil; drizzle with 1 tsp olive oil, and pinch of sea salt, seal foil. Bake at 450 F until garlic is very soft, about 20 minutes)


I just decided to share some of my favorite new recipes, I hope you try them, if you do, let me know what you think!!  


I took some new pics in the gardens today.....we've had light afternoon showers yesterday and it made my flowers very happy!!

The Orange lilies have gone crazy!!

They're early, but abundant!!

This Gladiola always blooms early...one stalk, then another at the end of the summer!! Very strange..but pretty!!

This guy (snapping turtle) came by for a visit, he obviously was in his camo disguise, he even had a long trail of moss!

He was a little shy, I was going to put my foot there to give you a size comparison, but changed my mind!! He's not really huge, but big enough to take off toes!!

That's all folks!! Just a hodge podge of stuff to report!!


::Hugs::