A Random Act Of Kindness

Something you can find from within, to up and do something good, something positive for someone else.  I drive a little under 30 miles to work and back home five days a week all year round whether it the windy rainy, snowy, hot, all the above.  We see so many things that we have and use as a given, where there are people out there who do not have all the givens that we are a custom to, for instance a car or a ride for that matter.

On my way to and from work there is a older little lady she must be more than 60 years old that I see walking slowly but surely along the highway.  She walks the highway to and from wherever she is going.  Sometimes I see her carrying an umbrella sometimes with a coat, or with a scarf around her head, her posture is bent over about a quarter of the way, she is always walking alone. 

I thought to pull over and ask her if she needed a ride. I would help her by offering her a ride I could take her to where she was going faster in the warmth of my car and give her a brief break off her feet, I just imagine they must be sore.  But then I got to thinking about it and she chooses to walk she does not let life or the elements of life stop her, a ride would be helpful but only for that moment. 

This month it may sound silly but I am going to buy some inserts for her shoes.  I think to get a slightly bigger size so they can be cut to the right size if needed.  While I know I can not make it so she does not have to or need to walk that distance I can offer some help.  To show the random act of kindness with shoe inserts that helps her in her daily journey would be useful, something to take the edge off seems like the right thing to do.

A Greek Pasta Salad I Love

My family loves when I make this Greek pasta salad, I would make it every other day if only it wouldn’t seem so obvious!  Mediterranean food has this distinct refreshing taste, and a nice zing to it that I really enjoy with some similarities to italian dishes.  The salad is colorful and tangy with all the fresh ingredients tossed with pepperoni and macaroni infuse with herbs and very simple to prepare.  The real magic in this salad begins after you put the ingredients together and it is put into the refrigerator to mingle!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

¼ cup red wine vinegar

¼ cup balsamic

1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 ½ tbsp garlic salt

1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil

1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

3/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

3/4 teaspoon white sugar

2 1/2 cups cooked spiral macaroni

3 cups fresh sliced mushrooms

15 cherry tomatoes, halved

½ cup chopped red onion

3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1 (4 ounce) can whole black olives

3/4 cup sliced summer sausage, cut

into strips

Directions

1.  Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add spiral pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together for 30 seconds the olive oil, vinegar, balsamic, garlic powder, garlic salt, basil, oregano, black pepper, and sugar. Add cooked pasta, mushrooms, tomatoes, red onion, green onions, olives, and feta cheese.

3.    Add in chopped pepperoni and last but not least add in pasta.  Toss until evenly coated. Cover, and chill 2 hours or overnight.

Spaghetti Night

Every now and again I encounter one of those days where I work all day, only to leave work to run errands of all sorts and kinds from one city to the next. By the time I get home it is time to cook dinner. 


While my first instinct is to make my favorite Thai food I think to myself this night will be different. I like to change it up to keep dinner always refreshing and delicious. I think that so much repetition can sort of numb the taste buds of the family. I ponder it in my head for a minute or two, to think about what sounds good to me and when the last time we had it would have been.  Hummm think think...


I decided what better way to bring in a somewhat chilly evening than with spaghetti, it sounded perfect!


So for dinner I made spaghetti, mamma’s spaghetti!  Close your eyes and picture this. Al dente pasta topped with a rich and robust meat sauce with lean ground beef cooked in with chopped onions, garlic that is sautéed in olive oil until just golden brown, all brought together with a perfect blend of seasonings and herbs with a added kick of spice from my favorite Sriracha sauce blended in to perfection topped with ciliantro.  Now open your eyes and pass me the whole wheat, melt-in-your-mouth toast topped with creamy butter sprinkled with garlic salt and parsley! 




No less than delicious!   


On the side I like to keep some options open so they can have choices, you can top the spaghetti with shredded mozzarella cheese or Romano/ Parmesan cheese, or if you are like me you can add crushed red chili peppers!  


A perfect meal in the warm comfortable ambiance of my home, what a way to round off the evening!


To add a side dish to this think salad. 

5 Facts About Limes

There is nothing quite like the sour zingy taste from the acidic zesty lime to pucker your face right up!  Limes are another very popular flavoring in my house.  It can really gives food a refreshing taste. 

Chocolate-Chip Banana Bread

Imagine this… early morning before the sun rises you wake up to start your day, you brew up your favorite coffee, and then you slice into a moist tasty piece of chocolate-chip banana bread.  Now you ask yourself should you warm it up in the microwave or eat it plain.  The answer is it won’t matter it’s so smooth and tasty you can’t go wrong.  What you should be asking yourself is 1 piece or 2?

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup mashed fully ripe bananas (about 3)

1 cup reduced fat sour cream

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2-1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1.    Heat oven to 350ºF. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add bananas, sour cream and eggs; mix well. Add combined dry ingredients; mix until moistened. Stir in chocolate chips.

2.    Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan and dust greased pan with a sugar-cinnamon grinder or use a teaspoon of brown sugar and cinnamon blended together to dust the pan.

3.    Pour the banana mixture into the greased and dusted 9x5-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle an additional teaspoon of brown sugar on the top of the bread.

4.    Bake 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 min.; spread light butter over the top of the bread and then serve.

 Refrigerate leftovers.

If you are not a banana bread lover hold on this bread will change the way you think about the whole idea!  It has an excellent taste and the texture is just right!  It is simple quick and tasty.  Very moist and it comes out perfect everytime. 

Here is an idea, a dirt bike cake!

Bake less Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies Recip

This yummy sweet treat is great to make with kids. With no baking required you can’t beat it! I love the way this tasty treat is sweet yet not overpowering.  A quick and simple recipe for treats in a hurry! 

Best Burger In Town



We had the mouth-watering bacon burger combo, and it was everything it should be down to the sweet and tangy fry sauce!

Saturday was perfect for an exciting day of big fun skiing and snowboarding in waist-deep, fluffy, dry powder. All day long gliding down breathtaking runs and taking in the crisp air and the beautiful scenery up at Utah’s Powder Mountain.  It was unbelievable!

And after a perfect day like that what could be better than treating ourselves to a burger, but not just any burger the best charbroiled stunning burger around! 

So off to Ogden we went, where they seem to have a variety of the more traditional and unique businesses in town. To be exact, we went to Riverdale. That is where you will find the one and only Best Burger.  It looks nothing like all the chain food burger stops you see every day, in fact it almost sticks out because it has this old diner look about it.  Do not let the initial appearance fool you; this is the burger joint that makes the best hamburger you will find around.

The burgers are charbroiled to perfection right before your eyes!  Everything is made fresh so you will need patience, but trust me all the much waited anticipation for the perfect burger is all well worth it! 



My camera doesn't nearly do this burger enough justice!  That being said I need to use a better camera!  So we had the mouth-watering bacon burger combo, and it was everything it should be down to the sweet and tangy fry sauce! It’s all topped with fresh shredded lettuce pickles, tomatoes and strips of bacon served with their fresh crispy French fries; you can’t beat a perfect burger like that.  Thanks Best Burger for firing up the grill to put out amazing burgers!

A little zinger for ya, try adding some ketchup to their fry sauce Mmmm!



5 Facts about Broccoli

Facts

1.   Broccoli is a vegetable that is a part of the cabbage family.

2.   Broccoli is one of the richest vegetable sources of calcium, iron and magnesium.

3.   Broccoli contains about 3% of protein and is very rich in vitamins A and C more than what you could get from an orange in the concentration of the latter.

4.   Broccoli is packed with phytochemical which are natural substances found in plants that protect your body against certain types of cancer and heart disease.

5.   You may eat broccoli raw like in salads or for dips, steamed and served with butter and seasonings, sautéed in stir fry dishes, or baked as a casserole.

In our house it would be more than fair to say we eat a lot of vegetables.  There is not one person in our house that will not back me up on that comment!

It is so important to incorporate fruits and vegetables into our lives, especially the dark ones, the darker they are the better they are for you.    Not only does broccoli add nutrition to your meals broccoli adds a nice crunch, it has a good texture and the dark green color adds life to the meals I make!

Tip

For the pickier eaters in the family, usually the younger ones but for the older reluctant ones (you know who you are) if they have a hard time eating broccoli, I try to give them a smaller portion or I try to mix it in with other foods so that it is not so overwhelming for them. 

By eating veggies often I think I have a better chance of getting my family to take it in and expect it as a part of eating at meal time, and making it almost second-nature so they can take it with them throughout their lives as they grow.

EAT UP!



Caesar Salad Bliss

Today I would like to take a moment out to recognize the Caesar Salad.  The first time I ever had it I loved it, and I knew right then that I would have it again!  Needless to say from that day on whenever I go out to eat and I have the option I order a Caesar salad with my meal! 

Our son had given us a gift card to go out to eat at a local Italian restaurant the Olive Garden (how sweet is that). The kids were all out for the evening and we decided it would be the perfect night to go out on a date.  And of course you guessed it, I ordered the Caesar salad with my meal. 

This fabulous creamy Caesar dressing blended together with crisp romaine lettuce with an imported parmesan cheese added and topped with croutons, sprinkled just so with freshly grinded pepper and freshly shredded cheese is just so delicious to me, it is a dish I savor down to the last bite!  The salad was large, I could have, and should have had it for my meal that is how big it was.  The only thing that could have made that salad better would have been grilled to perfection chicken and to add a bonus crisp crunch some red onion! 



Read more about red onion

The first time I had it I loved it, I knew right then that I would have it again! 

Picutre courteous of Olive Garden.  Thank you!

Red Onion

A trick I use to add wonderful flavor to many of my favorite savory dishes is to simply add some onion.  This week’s ingredient is all about the red onion also known as the purple onion.  This is one of those vegetables that my kitchen seems incomplete without!  I love the flavor an onion can instantly give to a dish! To me the red onion has this mild hint of sweetness and good flavor that I love, the kids on the other hand… not so much.  But I want them to have it regardless, so to help everyone out when serving with kids I just finely chop them up and blend them in so they are not so obvious, wink wink!

Description

Red onions fall into the spring-summer variety category of the onion family.  They are firm with a mild scent with an even-color sealed in a thin, paper like skin that you remove completely before using. The red onion is a vegetable that comes from the ground like the white onions, spring onions and red spring onions. 


Uses


Red onions can be used in many ways from salads and sandwiches to hamburgers and shish-kebabs, in dips, stews, and even soups, as well as in many main dishes.  After you peel the thin skin the can be eaten raw or cooked.   Whether they are grilled, sautéed, baked, broiled or even micro waved we all should try to include red onions in our meals!

Benefit

When it comes to health benefit advantages in red onions, the things you should know are that they are low in saturated fat, have zero cholesterol and low sodium. They're a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin B6, folate, potassium and manganese, not to mention an excellent source of vitamin C.

The sulfur compound that causes the tear jerker effect you have probably encountered from the red onion has been said to reduce the risk of heart disease and other cancers.  Red onions have flavonoids which are good to clean up oxidative damage that can lead to cancer heart disease and certain tumors.  And this may come as a surprise but red onions help to maintain healthy bones! 

What are you waiting for, try this crab dip with tang for a refreshing way to get red onions in your diet today!

The Winter Dew Tour Toyota Championship at Snowbasin went big

The Dew Tour 22-foot superpipe at Snowbasin

This year the Dew Tour went big when they came with the 22-foot superpipe!

Last weekend we had the chance to go up to the third and final stop of the Winter Dew Tour Toyota Championship at the Snowbasin, Sun Valley Resort, in Ogden Utah. 

This year they went big with a 22-foot superpipe.  We are a family of skiers and snowboarders, and while a 22-foot superpipe may sound like it’s a big pipe and it even looks huge in pictures, that is all nothing in comparison to standing at the foot of the gigantic pipe!  Unbelievable how they put this all together and unreal how they ride it!  Along the sides of the pipe they went out and carved steps into the snow, it was crazy how much went into the making of this.

This is the second time they have come here and our second time making the trip up to see it in action.  It is awesome to see all these winter athletes from around the world coming here to compete in some serious freeskiing and snowboarding! 

We snapped some shots and I thought it was very necessary to share.

Kelly Clark on her winning run

Here are some shots of Kelly Clark, the girls did awesome but Kelly went bigger and higher for sure!

If only you could see just how high up that is!

They have stands set up in a sectioned off area where they promote sell and give away good stuff, we went over to check it ou and I had to take a picture of this, who thinks up this stuff!   A snowboard you can ride with built in music!

Please keep in mind that this article represents my own expression and not that of any one else, I did not receive payment for this aritcle.

Rambutan

 I remember the first time I seen this exotic fruit I was young and very curious.  To me it resembled some wild sea life that you would find in the ocean!