June | 2013 | BulgingButtons

June 30, 2013
by BulgingButtons Leave a comment

Eating my Veggies

The veggie portion of Chicken Cacciatore

I admit it, I have horrible eating habits. I love food, but not all food. Of course the food I love most is the food that is the worst for me and the foods I tend to steer clear of are the ones that are usually quite nutritious. Case in point, my two least favorite foods (as in a polite, “No thank you” every time I see them) are watermelon and cucumbers. I know many of you are groaning inwardly at this moment, or else your jaw has hit the ground. Not like watermelon? Is she crazy? Cucumbers? Who doesn’t like cucumbers? Well, I don’t. Sorry. But we’re not here to debate the merits of any particular fruit or vegetable, at least not right now. What we’re here to do is to celebrate the amazing dinner that my sweetheart and I made and devoured last night.

The man I love is incredible and multifaceted (he’s also the photographer who took that lovely banner photo). This wonderful man also loves to watch cooking shows and actually try out the recipes. Well, lucky for me he caught an episode of Lidia’s Italy. She was making Chicken Cacciatore and he was intrigued. Off to the store we went in search of all the right ingredients. A short while later we were home and cooking. I was his sous chef, chopping onions and slicing gorgeous orange and yellow and red peppers. Before long the kitchen was filled with the most heavenly aroma, and our Chicken Cacciatore was ready. We had ours with pasta and wine, and it was incredible. The best part about it? The vegetables! I’m not kidding. They were so good, and we actually used a little more than the recipe called for.

Now I know that this meal isn’t “diet” food, but it’s delicious wholesome food and it’s a whole lot better than a lot of the garbage I’ve eaten recently. Besides that, there was plenty left over for dinner tonight and even more for tomorrow. I love cooking once and eating three times! If you try out this recipe I would love to hear your feedback. Enjoy.

June 27, 2013
by BulgingButtons Leave a comment

Coming Clean

Chilled ganache and Cool Whip.

Oh my gosh. I lied to you already. That’s no way to start a relationship, but it happened. I signed off with every intention of hopping into the pool for a bit of exercise (and to cool off) but I ended up at the fridge instead.

Are you familiar with ganache? It is either pure heaven or pure evil, depending on your point of view. It’s the incredibly smooth delicious covering for a cake that isn’t a glaze and isn’t quite a frosting. It’s made of chocolate and cream, nothing else. The other day my sweetheart, who loves to bake, made a trial birthday cake for me. He decided to try ganache for the first time. The cake is gone, but there was some extra ganache that I made him save in the fridge (he would have thrown it out). Chilled ganache is similar to fudge. It’s even better with fat free cool whip. Don’t ask me how I know, just trust me.

Anyway, on my way to a spoonful of ganache, I remembered that I had to bring some brownies to a potluck lunch. Today. I hadn’t made them yet. I did some quick math and even quicker baking, and the swim went out the window. The good news is, the brownies were well received. I wonder how they would taste with ganache?

June 27, 2013
by BulgingButtons Leave a comment

A Toe in the Water

It’s hot here. Extremely, exceptionally, terribly hot. Not only that, but the polished, glossy weather men and women keep telling us that it’s only getting hotter. How does 118 sound, folks? Move your weekend plans inside. Don’t leave your pets out. Drink plenty of water. Yup, it’s hot.

Yes, I have air conditioning. Living without it would be like winter in the Great Lakes without heat. In fact that is exactly what I tell my mother when she calls from that region in summer and asks me if I have the air on. Does anyone ask if you have the heat on when it’s 4 degrees out? Didn’t think so.

Still, even with the air conditioning on, it’s hot. After all, I’m not made of money so I don’t keep it set too low. It’s usually somewhere between 80 and 82, depending on the time of day. It’s also quite noisy as it’s doing its best to keep me comfortable in my little slice of Hades. I don’t want to overwork it because I don’t want to kill it. And did I mention how much it costs to run that sucker? My electric bill in summer is a couple hundred bucks. Not being an heiress or hip hop star I do feel the pinch.

Long story short, I was hot last night, sticking to the leather sofa, and unable to cool down from the inside with a nice refreshing Fresca. Ugh. But then I remembered… I have a pool in my yard! I insisted on it when I bought my house two years ago. I spent a ton of money on it to get it up and running properly, and I dump in pricey chemicals to keep it pristine. It takes up virtually the whole yard, leaving just a slab for a couple of chairs and an umbrella. Why would I NOT use it?

Now it sounds like I never use it, which is untrue. I’m in there a couple of times a week (on a good week, anyway), but not nearly enough. I feel like I have this wonderful resource at my disposal and I need to take advantage of it. Once upon a time I used to be a lifeguard, complete with cute mesh shorts with the word “guard” emblazoned across my then size 14 butt. I loved the water then and still love it now. I need to use that love to my advantage. While the water’s warm (and it will be for a while) I need to get in that pool and GO!

For me it’s a little like this blog. I know how to write and share ideas, but I have to figure out the best way to do it and learn the ins and outs of blogging. I have to become competent with this platform, so that I can move through it easily and efficiently to achieve my goals. I’m not expecting perfection right away, just a toe in will do for a start. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m heading back to the pool.