50 Ways to Say Goodbye

WELCOME TO FRIDAY!!!  First, I hope there's no copyright infringements in regards to today's post title.  If you know what I'm talking about, isn't that fun?!  My kids love it, we all sing along and everyone wants to dance.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, well, there will be a link at the bottom for you to follow.  As you probably know, around here, we're pretty much music enthusiasts.  We all love, love, love music, almost more than we love good food.   All of my kids have grown up listening to music.  I used to be that mom who wanted every moment of the day filled with Bach, Mozart and the fullness of a grand piano so my children would be genius's.   That ended about 10 minutes into the idea.  Since then a stream of 90's bands have filled my house and my kids have picked their favorites.  Sometimes they look at me like I'm crazy, and sometimes they beg for a song to be played again.  My oldest got to hang out with Parachute AND the Goo Goo Dolls last year.  His first concert ever, he won a back stage meet and greet, and while we were grabbing dinner, met John outside on the sidewalk (yes, I have pictures!)   I cannot even begin to tell you how good Goo was to him.  The whole band was genuinely excited to see him, and since it was his first concert I was trying not to be "too much."  It was a great night and we had a lot of fun.

Now.  For reality.  Let's start at the beginning (the second part of today's post title.)  Yesterday was pretty crazy.  I woke up and got moving pretty quickly, drama after drama kept happening with the kids and before I know it, I'm running late.  Rushing into class, I get there about 5 minutes after class starts and feverishly start working on my (impossible) test.  Everyone is stressed, the tension in the room is palpable.  We finish the test and the class erupts into the hallway with sighs of frustration and defeat.  The common complaint was no matter how hard you studied, the test was just very complicated.  No one felt very good about it.  Onto lunch and the next test - the final.  We had no class the week before so Thursday's class was about last week's material, then we would take the final right afterward.   Here we are again, angst riddled and tense, studying the material and hoping for the best.  Luckily, after that one, everyone's moods lifted.  We ran out, excited and ready to get onto the weekend, however, I still had another test.  I rushed home to let the babysitter go, and the next thing I know I'm pouring through my work.  Took the test and finally cleared one more thing from my list. At this point, I'm exhausted and ready for the day to be done.  I get the kids to bed, and beeline for the shower.  And here, my good readers, is where it all goes down hill.  I start up the shower, and get in, and all the days aches and cares and worries start to swirl right down the drain with the yummy warm milk soap suds.  The water is steamy hot and melting away the stress and tensions.  I start washing my hair when suddenly it hits me... the water isn't quite so hot anymore... hmm.  Ok.  Maybe one of the kids left the faucet on in the other bathroom.  Ok, whatever.  Keep washing, but notice, it's getting a bit cooler.... and a bit cooler... and OMG HURRY UP AND RINSE OFF BECAUSE IT'S GOING TO BE ICE IN ABOUT 3.2 MINUTES!!!!  And now I'm RUSHING like a prize horse in the Kentucky Derby.  As I rinse finally and slam off the water, it goes to ice temperature and I jump out of the shower.  Grabbing a towel and shivering and thinking... this is NOT what I needed today, I proceed to go down the list of what's wrong.  Perhaps the breaker tripped?  Maybe the water IS on somewhere else?  Maybe there's a coil out?   I don't have time for this though, I have doctors appointments and another class tomorrow morning.  I head to bed, get deep into sleep and then hear beeping.... beeping... beeping.  We lost power.  Fun. 

Long story short... the power came back and after today's running, the wonderful appliance man showed up... and then I started singing 50 Ways To Say Goodbye... because for real, no lie... she's dead. 

TRAIN: 50 Ways to Say Goodbye

They're bringing my new water heater... on Wednesday.  Yeah......... 

I think this calls for something delicious!  

We should call it, "No Hot Shower Salad" 

Or just simply: 

Cold Shrimp Salad

Ingredients: 

4 Servings of your favorite gluten free pasta OR brown/long grain rice 

12-14 medium shrimp cooked but tails removed - can be chopped

1 stalk of celery - diced

1 avocado, diced or mashed

1-2 cups homemade mayonnaise (or store bought whatever you like)

1/2 lime (squeezed - use the juice)

red pepper flakes (to taste... no more than about 1 tsp)

2 tsp dill seed

2 tsp paprika

2-3 oz of shredded parmesan romano

1/2 lb of cooked sweet peas (cold)

2 cold, chopped hard boiled eggs

OPTIONAL: 2 tbsp milk if needed if dressing is too thick

Place pasta, shrimp, eggs, and peas in a large serving dish.   Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl or salad dressing bottle until well combined.  If you do not like mayonnaise (I don't blame you), you can use plain, unsweetened greek yogurt as a substitute.   I start with a cup, and as I add things, I'll add more to make it thicker or to cover better.  If you just like a hint, or 'dip', you can just use a cup, if you want the whole salad covered, then use 2 cups.  Pour your 'dressing' over your pasta mixture and serve COLD.  You can even place them all in the fridge (covered) for a while to chill.  However, this salad needs to be kept cold, AND needs to be eaten immediately.  The avocado, mayo, milk combo do not last for long and you'll have a brown mess the next day.  Serve this up right as everyone is sitting down to dinner.  It's delicious, flavorful, and healthy (mostly!)

And it's cold.  Just like the shower.  =)

Return of the Blog

Yes!  I'm alive!  For a while, I was pretty sure that the food blog world would mourn my inevitable passing as time went on and everyone realized that there were no more posts to be found from me, however, it's just a short term trend while I got back on my feet from my last excursion.

I'd share all the lovely pictures but, alas, they were all stolen.  If you ever didn't want to re-learn a lesson in your life that you already knew, then you know exactly where I'm coming from.  It was one of those scenarios that you know is happening right in front of you, but as the clueless tourist I am, did not heed the warning bells in my head.  Always listen to that.  I knew this.  Around and around in circles we go.

Needless to say, there aren't many pictures (the backup plan is a product endorsement I would rather avoid today, but I still bought one of them; and thank you my friend for letting me fill your phone with my frivolities.)  I spent this week pretty much replacing all my stuff.  In the meantime, my blog has suffered greatly from negligence again, BUT on the bright side, we have a new photographer.  For the time being I will post my own (mediocre at best) photos of the food I make but when she contributes, I'll be sure to let everyone know who's work it is (like you won't be able to tell - lol.)

Today we're taking on that continuation of Monday from 3 weeks ago.  I would LOVE to share what I learned on my trip, but they're not so good for the sugar free crowd (fried plantains) but they are my current addiction.  Finally, I found a market today that sells the good ones.  I fried three, ate them all with my version of Costa Rican sour cream (plain yogurt) and then realized that was probably 2 more than I should have eaten.  They were really good though.  So, for the gluten free, sugar free crowd, today we have a nice "salad."  It's more of a classic and surely nothing new or exciting so much, however it IS one of my personal favorites and a great addition to a summer table.  Healthy and colorful, this would be a great salad for your table during tomorrow's festivities.

So, my meal suggestion/recipe for today is a modified Caprese Salad.  The traditional Caprese has mozzarella, basil (or some type of pesto) with nice bright red tomatoes and hearty olive oil.  But today, I'm changing things up a bit, we're going to add some kick and your friends and family are guaranteed to love this salad on a hot summer day as a nice cool, light meal.


Kicked Caprese

2 bright full red tomatoes, chopped
1 medium ball of fresh mozzarella, chopped (a little bigger than one of the tomatoes)
couple handfuls of torn basil
2 medium hardness avocados, chopped and drizzled with lemon or lime juice to slow the browning
salt and pepper to taste
salad worthy olive oil of your choice
clean and bright balsamic vinegar of your choice

The simplicity is part of the fun in this summer salad.  Since everything is chopped, gently toss them together in a bowl.  Crack some fresh pepper over the top - I love to use a multi colored pepper, reds and black and white, all together to give it some snap.  Give a couple twists of fresh ground sea salt over the salad - go easy, the cheese will give it some saltiness.  Drizzle the olive oil and balsamic over in light handed quantities. I do not put exact measurements on this because one person's dressing is another person's swimming pool.  You could even leave a couple nice bottles out of the oil and vinegar separate from the salad so people can add their own, and completely skip the step with adding these dressings.

This fresh salad is a crowd pleaser, easy to make, and visually fun.  Enjoy!

If you're wondering where my beautiful fresh basil leaves are in this picture, well you'd be as sad as I was to realize after I chopped everything, I didn't have any fresh basil.  I did sprinkle with dried, but it's simply not the same.  Make sure you have real, fresh basil before making this salad, you'll be oh-so-not-sad you did!