LGBT familes, teen advice to parents: Be prepared

Today I read badgerbag’s live blog about the COLAGE panel about growing up in LGBT families. I found this quite amusing. I wasn’t too suprised about the differences in each kid and their family. And yeah I could relate to a few of them. Overall, I just found this an interesting read. It’s funny because all these families supposedly "talk".  I can’t remember a time really when I talked to my mom about gay issues. Maybe I’m just lazy. I just don’t feel the need to get into all of it. I mean I have the basic opinion that g&l should be given the same rights but I don’t feel so troubled by this that I have to talk to my mom about it. I dont feel like I have to be a part of some society either. I do my part on my own, just like everything else in my life. lol

Technorati Tags: glbt, families, gayfamilies, kidswithgayparents, gayparents

Watership Down

I read the book Watership Down. It is one of my good friend’s favorites so I was excited to read it. I had seen bits and pieces of the movie in religious education about a year ago but I didn’t know that the book would be so much better.

In the movie they switched around certain parts. Like who finds Erafra and the end scene when the farm girl, Lucy, takes Hazel home in the car. One thing I also didn’t like about the movie is that they made their journey seem a lot shorter than it really was. The movie also did not get into detail about rabbit behavior. The movie did show how the rabbits were tricky but it didn’t give the behind the scene look like the book did.  I think that it was cool that they showed the characteristics of rabbits and how they live well.

Over all the quality of this book was exceptionally high. Some of the
descriptions of the scenery were dragged out too much. It was just too
long for me and it didn’t read as well as I’d have liked it to. I wouldn’t say this book was my all time favorite book because it wasn’t. But I guess I would say it is a must read. The only warning I would give is that the beginning may seem too slow but it gets better at the end.

Technorati Tags: watershipdown, rabbits, literature, movies

T-shirt reconstruction

So today, in Ready Made Blog,  I read an article about how t-shirt reconstruction is "in". At sites such as Oh My Stars there are step by step instructions to make all sorts of shirts fun again. Also, at this site, someone even made their band tshirts into a prom dress. How awesome is that!?

I think that this is really cool. I’m really into these kinds of things right now and I think I just might experiment with a few of the ideas.

Technorati Tags: readymade, readymadeblog, tshirts, crafts

Strata for One

Strata for One (from Foody Julia)

1-2 slices french bread (hearty white does in a pinch, it can be crustless if you want)
1 tsp butter or margarine
1/3 cup grated cheese (cheddar, muenster, your fave)
1 large egg (go with 2 if you’re using thick slices or more than one slice of bread.
2-3 tbs white wine
Splash of tabasco sauce
(secret ingredient, 1/2 pinch of nutmeg)

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a ramekin or small baking dish. The dish should allow the bread to rest against all sides – this will cause the strata to puff up slightly. Spread the bread slice with butter and lay in the dish. Layer the on top (I realllllly like muenster or whide cheddar for this) and set aside. In a mixing bowl beat the egg, wine, nutmeg and tabasco sauce together. Pour over the cheese. (At this point you can refrigerate it…I would prep it in the morning, cover and refrigerate it and when I got would would just toss it into the oven.) Pop it into the oven for 25-30 minutes until puffy and barely browned. Serve with fresh tomato wedges, a glass of the same white wine, and a spinach salad.

The flavour will change dramatically depending on the type of cheese you use. Some folks will make this without the wine, but I think it loses a lot of depth. Avoid red wine for this dish – it isn’t pretty at all. LOL

All the notes above are Foody Julia’s. Here are mine. First of all, I didn’t have the wine. I’m sure it would have added some depth to this. And it needed depth. It felt like something was lacking. I will have to try it again sometime with the wine. Or maybe with a wee bit of dijon…so some reason I’m really digging the idea of a wee bit of dijon in this). Secondly, I didn’t have a good white bread. But I did have a good wholegrain bread. Unfortunately I got it pre-sliced at the bakery and I think it would have been better if it were a bit thicker. I did slice the crusts off though. Thirdly, the cheese I used was pretty mild. I think that this really needs a sharper cheese. If I had some of the Seriously Sharp Cabot Cheddar cheese I think it would be yummy (I *do* have some Cabot cheese in my fridge…some jalapeno cheddar and maybe some habanero cheddar…).

Now all of that withstanding, this came out of the oven looking *awesome*. It puffed up and browned up (or barely browned if you will) beautifully. What happens is that that egg soaks through the bread so you kinda have a layer of egg, then bread, then cheese. Yum! My ramekins were to small for this so I used one of the mini casserole dishes that my mom bought me from Princess House years ago (yes I have crystal mini-casserole dishes – more than half my plates, mugs, bowls and drinking glasses are from Princess House). I just checked their site and they don’t have them anymore. It’s a shame because while there were a bit expensive they are so worth and it and use them a lot. This only took a few minutes to throw together.

Yes, I will try this again but next time with the wine and sharper cheese.

Monkey Bars

1 1/4 cups ap flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 medium bananas (3/4 – 1 cup banana)
2 tbsp butter, melted
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 9-inch square pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg.
In the bowl of a food processor, blend bananas until smooth. Add in melted butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla and whizz until smooth and well-combined. Pour banana mixture into flour mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
Pour batter into prepared pan (it will be a thin layer).
Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes, until a tester comes out dry.
Cool completely before slicing.
Makes 16 bars.

Chick Pea Burgers

2 tsp vegetable oil
3 green onions (including tops) chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp each dried oregano and chili powder
1 cup diced sweet red or green pepper and/or ½ cup chopped pickled hot peppers
Half tomato, chopped
1 can (19 oz) chick-peas drained and rinsed
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs
2 tbsp cilantro or parsley, chopped

1. In nonstick skillet, heat 1 tsp of oil over medium heat and cook onions, garlic, oregano and chili powder, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add red pepper and tomato. Cook, stirring for about 3 minutes or until pepper is tender and liquid is evaporated.
2. In food processor, mix pepper mixture with chick-peas; transfer to bowl. Stir in bread crumbs, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste until well combined. Pressing firmly, shape into 4 burgers.
3. In nonstick skillet, heat remaining oil over medium heat and cook burgers for 4 minutes on each side or until heated through.

Serves 4

Mexican Salad

1 can (16 oz.) black beans, rinsed, drained

1 can (16 oz.) kidney beans, rinsed, drained

1 can (16 oz.) navy or great Northern beans, rinsed, drained

6 oz.  Sharp Cheddar Cheese, cubed

1 small  red pepper, chopped

1/2 cup  Salsa

1/2 cup sliced green onions

1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)

1 Tbsp.  lime juice

12   lettuce leaves

 

 
   

 

TOSS all ingredients except lettuce in large bowl. Refrigerate several hours or until chilled. SERVE on lettuce-lined plates.

Lunch Crumble

5 apples
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
6 tbs. butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. allspice
2 tbs. apple juice or orange juice

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly butter a 9-inch square baking pan or a casserole of the equivalent size, then dust it with flour. Peel, core and slice the apples, and arrange them in the pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the oats, brown sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon, salt and allspice on low speed until it forms a coarse meal. Crumble the mixture evenly over the apple slices and sprinkle with the juice. Bake for 35 minutes.

Makes 6 servings.

**Tips from Elaine Magee**
I think you can use whipped butter and bring it down to 3 tablespoons.
You can add in a few tablespoons of light or fat free cream cheese to
help give it the same crumble texture. I think you can also decrease
the brown sugar to 1/2 cup.

If you do this and it makes 4 servings, then each serving contains:
359 calories
5 g protein
70 g carbohydrate
7.8 g fat
3.9 g saturated fat
16 mg cholesterol
6 g fiber
200 mg sodium
Calories from fat: 19 percent.

***Recipe found at New Moon UK***

Harvest Morning Muffins

3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup grated apples
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbs. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 12-muffin tin or line it with paper liners. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the eggs, sugar and oil until well combined. Stir in the grated apples and carrots. In a separate bowl, sift the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Blend the dry ingredients with the apple mixture until just combined. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

***Tips from Elaine Magee***

3 eggs sounds like a lot for just 12 muffins, so I just used 2 and
added 2 egg whites. I cut the oil down to 1/4 cup of canola oil but you
could bring it down to 2 tablespoons and it would probably still work
out. You could add anything to make up the difference (flavored yogurt,
fat free sour cream, applesauce, etc..)

If you do this and it makes 12 muffins, then each muffin contains:
177 calories
5 g protein
27 g carbohydrate
6 g fat
.7 g saturated fat
43 mg cholesterol
2 g fiber
196 mg sodium
Calories from fat: 30%

***Recipe found at New Moon UK***

Aesop’s Fables

The Farmer and the Viper

It does seem that if you are kind to "evil" that you don’t get any back. There are some exceptions though. There’s not a thing in the world that is completely evil.