Finding yourself
“No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see”.
~ Taoist Proverb
I’ve heard it over and over and I’ve even said it “I need to find myself”. The thing about getting older, you do get wiser. With that said, this phrase makes less sense to me every time I hear it.
Ongoing life lesson: With time, your being changes. Trying to find yourself keeps you stuck in the past. Embrace who you evolve into, without getting lost by compromising your values and principles.
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Pop’s Fried Chicken
Serving: 2-4
1 Game hen, cut in half. Thawed, washed and patted dry. In a ziplock bag (One with a seal and big enough to fit your meat), squeeze 1/2 small lime, 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp. sea salt, 4 tbsp. soy sauce, 2 tbsp. olive oil, 1 tsp. cummin, 1 tsp. garlic powder. Place meat in the bag of marinade and massage for a minute. Place in the freezer for 20 minutes before cooking.
Cook in a skillet. Set heat to medium high, place meat skin up with marinade in the skillet, cover for 10 minutes. Take lid off, turn the pieces around, cover for another 10 minutes. Take lid off (keep it off) and put heat on high. Pan starts to dry and have some oil from the marinade. Feel free to add a bit more oil if you have to. Just enough to pan sear until cooked inside and the skin is a combination of gold and brown.
Great with a spinach and tomato salad with sesame ginger dressing and some steamed rice.
Enjoy!
What’s in the box?
“The best things in life are unexpected – because there were no expectations.” ~ Eli Khamarov
I’m not saying that everything you’ve attained with a set of expectations were a disappointment but if you think about what gave you delight, most of it were probably what you least expected.
Ongoing life lesson… set expectations on certain goals to continuously challenge yourself, but definitely make more room for surprises.
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Imagine
What would be left to the imagination if you were already in paradise?
Location: Kauai. This picture was not edited at all and yes… the water was THAT blue!
Chocolate Peanut butter balls
This is so easy to make even your kids can do this themselves! Makes approximately 100 1 inch PB balls.
Ingredients:
2 cups smooth peanut butter, 1 cup butter or margarine, softened 5 cups confectioners’ sugar.
Mix all together. Shape into 1 inch balls, place on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt 24 ounces of chocolate chips. They usually come in 12 ounce packages. Follow the package’s instructions on how to melt this down. Dip peanut butter balls in melted chocolate using a fork (scoop from the bottom), toothpick (insert toothpick on top of the frozen PB ball to pick up) or easter egg dipping wire. After dipping, place the chocolate covered PB ball on wax paper lined plate and refrigerate for 10 minutes to cool.
You can also melt white chocolate and drizzle on the already dipped ball for design or sprinkle powdered graham cracker or drizzle melted caramel and sprinkle with some sea salt. Get creative… the worst part about messing up is eating the evidence and with chocolate covered PB balls, all your mistakes will be delicious! Great for gifts and even wedding give-aways for those brides & grooms crazy for chocolate covered PB!
Enjoy!
Chicken Chutney Pita
Quick and easy. Makes 6 servings. 5 minutes to prepare.
3 Breast Patties.
3 pieces Pita bread.
1 tomato
3 TBSP chutney
3 TBSP mayonnaise.
I purchased the cooked chicken breast at Wal-mart, but I’m sure it’s available at any grocery store in the frozen food section. The Deshi chutney can be found in the Asian section by the Indian food, I got mine at a mediterranean grocery store. There are several kinds of chutney, this is the green one (Coriander). Hot is good, it gives a bit of a kick. Pita you can get at the bread or frozen food section as well.
Heat up the chicken according to the product instruction. While I had the 3 patties in the microwave for 3 minutes, I was heating up the pita bread on my non stick skillet, stove on high at 30 seconds each side. Slice the tomatoes thinly. In a bowl, mix mayo and chutney.
Spread the mayo and chutney mix on each pita bread. Cut the pita and chicken patties in half. On one half of the pita, place a layer of tomatoes, 2 half patties, then top it with another half pita, cut it in the middle and serve.
You can add cucumbers and lettuce if you want. That’s it! Easy to make and great for entertaining.
Trail Mix
Does this picture make you want to grab a handful so you could toss it in your mouth and munch?
It’s so easy to make trail mix and there are many varieties to choose from. You can go healthy and use Kashi cereals with dark chocolate chips and sesame sticks or do the traditional kind. If you have kids, this is something fun to do with them and great to have around the house for mini snacks or to feed those emergency cravings that we all get every now and then.
Things you’ll need for a traditional mix: Raisins, M&M’s, Peanuts, Almonds and Cashews. You can just put a cup of each ingredient in a bowl, mix well then store in baggies or a mason jar.
There is really no wrong or right way of doing this, but it’s always fun to put it together. Enjoy!
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An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Some little known facts about the apple from healthdiaries.com:
- Weight Loss - A Brazilian study found that women who ate three apples or pears per day lost more weight while dieting than women who did not eat fruit while dieting.
- Bone Protection - French researchers found that a flavanoid called phloridzin that is found only in apples may protect post-menopausal women from osteoporosis and may also increase bone density. Boron, another ingredient in apples, also strengthens bones.
- Asthma Help - One recent study shows that children with asthma who drank apple juice on a daily basis suffered from less wheezing than children who drank apple juice only once per month. Another study showed that children born to women who eat a lot of apples during pregnancy have lower rates of asthma than children whose mothers ate few apples.
- Alzheimer’s Prevention - A study on mice at Cornell University found that the quercetin in apples may protect brain cells from the kind of free radical damage that may lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
- Lower Cholesterol - The pectin in apples lowers LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. People who eat two apples per day may lower their cholesterol by as much as 16 percent.
- Lung Cancer – Prevention According to a study of 10,000 people, those who ate the most apples had a 50 percent lower risk of developing lung cancer. Researchers believe this is due to the high levels of the flavonoids quercetin and naringin in apples.
- Breast Cancer Prevention - A Cornell University study found that rats who ate one apple per day reduced their risk of breast cancer by 17 percent. Rats fed three apples per day reduced their risk by 39 percent and those fed six apples per day reduced their risk by 44 percent.
- Colon Cancer Prevention – One study found that rats fed an extract from apple skins had a 43 percent lower risk of colon cancer. Other research shows that the pectin in apples reduces the risk of colon cancer and helps maintain a healthy digestive tract. Liver Cancer Prevention Research found that rats fed an extract from apple skins had a 57 percent lower risk of liver cancer.
- Diabetes Management - The pectin in apples supplies galacturonic acid to the body which lowers the body’s need for insulin and may help in the management of diabetes.
Sounds like a trip to the store for me… need more apples since it also has more caffeine than a cup of coffee and I’m trying to cut down.
Home Made Ghirardelli Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups!
WHY WHY WHY Haven’t I thought of this before!?! I was perusing the aisles of the grocery store this morning picking up a few things for later posts and found myself wandering down the Valentine’s Day aisle. I picked up a few boxes of my husband’s favorite candy and set it right back down. I’m not paying extra because it’s a heart shaped chocolate peanut butter stuffed candy. Then a light bulb went off and I pushed my little cart right on over to the baking aisle and grabbed two 4 oz. Bars and one …
Staying young
“We do not cease to play because we grow old. We grow old because we cease to play.”
~ George Bernard Shaw.
Do over
There are no backspace or delete buttons in life, but don’t let that stop you from trying again.
~ Christine Sternfels
I think we’ve all been in situations where you might say “Wish I could click undo. Do over!”
I’ve been there too many times and continue to realize that had I given up in my darkest moments, I wouldn’t be here. Had I given up on love, I wouldn’t be happily married. Had I given up on my daughter, someone else would be helping her plan her wedding. Had I given up on my career, I wouldn’t be able to pursue my dreams. We learn things along the way and we don’t find the value in pain and hardships at the time but it’s what helps us achieve. Learning from our mistakes makes us wiser and more equipped to be able to handle, maintain and appreciate success.
Life is one lesson after the other. Each time you fall flat on your face or even if it’s just a scratch, get up and start all over again.
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Reflection
Take time to reflect to be in touch with who you really are, then take action to fulfill your purpose.
~ Christine Sternfels
When we reflect upon our past - be it hours, days or years, why do we gravitate more towards what could have been? Unconsciously, most of us strive for perfection because of disillusions brought upon us by society, culture and upbringing that it became a life requirement to define our self-worth. Sadly, we often feel we’ve failed because we use the world’s expectations as our measuring stick. Stop conforming to live someone else’s life, to surpass someone else’s achievements or to fulfill someone else’s dreams. You need not worry about pleasing everyone.
It is in you to fulfill your destiny, so use each day to making it one day closer. Use each day to grow. Use each day to stay in touch with who you really are and embrace who you find. Use each day to face your fears to gain back the courage and the strength you were born with. You see, no matter how much pain you’ve had to endure or how many failures haunt you, you have today and everyday to define the reflection of the good life you were meant to live.
Your life awaits you…tomorrow’s outcome is influenced by your actions today and its reflection leads back to you.
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Smile
A smile is a frown turned upside down…
I know sometimes having a good day takes work, yet somehow no matter how bad things get there’s always something to smile about. A sweet memory, a funny joke, a silly comment… whatever it is and as the song goes ” Smile, what’s the use of crying.”
So go ahead, look at the mirror, make a funny face at yourself and smile. If you want some background music to go with that, CLICK HERE and feel free to sing along.
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Beauty
If you need make-up to feel beautiful, that’s okay… as long as you embrace the beauty that comes from within you. ~ Christine Sternfels
My husband and I have date night at least once a month. Last week I decided to get all “prettied up” for my honey and asked my daughter if she would help me with my make-up, it’s been a while since I last painted my face. She was so excited and laid out a variety of beauty products and what seemed like a hundred colors to choose from.
There was a point in my life when I thought how I looked was more important than who I was inside. I would say things like “You wouldn’t want that fried chicken if it didn’t look good.” or “It’s all in the packaging.”. Then I went through the stage when I convinced myself I was happy with my self and didn’t need make-up at all, because my bubbly personality was enough. Yes, extremes.
Just like with everything, I learned that doing things in moderation is a key ingredient to a well-balanced life. So every now and then, I make time to be pretty for my husband and for me.
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Intend to finish
If the word quit is part of your vocabulary, then the word finish is likely not. ~ B.G. Jett
Pan-Seared Garlic Salmon and Butter Garlic Spinach & Mushroom
Ingredients: 2 lbs salmon (defrosted, cut into 4 pcs). 10 cloves garlic, crushed. 1/2 stick butter. 8 oz sliced white mushrooms. 10 oz ready to eat spinach. 1 lemon. 1 tsp salt. 1 tsp basil. 1 tsp parsley. 1 tsp olive oil.
With the stove on medium, drizzle olive oil in your frying pan and place the salmon with the skin face down. Squeeze the entire lemon, then sprinkle the salt and basil on all pieces, cover for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, place a 2 qt sauce pan on the stove set on high. Drizzle some olive oil and half of the crushed garlic, saute for 2 minutes then place the mushrooms and mix enough to coat most of the mushrooms with oil and garlic. Cover for 2 minutes, then mix again and add 2-3 pinches of salt for flavor. Now add the spinach (stuff it all in there) and cover for 2-3 minutes.
Back to the frying pan, sprinkle the remaining crushed garlic on all salmon pieces then flip it so now the skin is facing up. Set the stove on high, cover for 1-2 minutes. Flip the fish again and press down on pan, leave uncovered for 2 minutes.
Back to the sauce pan. Take the cover off, place over the sink and drain the liquid created by the mushrooms and spinach. Create a hole in the center and place the butter until it melts. Mix and add a couple more pinches of salt. Now serve by placing the salmon on a bed of spinach and mushrooms. Drizzle the parsley over the food…. Enjoy!
Keep in mind that stove heat may vary. If the time I used to cook is not enough to cook your food, adjust accordingly.
Authentic Shrimp Pad Thai
Authentic Shrimp Pad Thai (recipe adapted from Kasma Loha-unchit) My notes: Despite our love of Thai food here in the U.S. there is a curious lack of information about its ingredients and preparation. I think that this in part stems from our fear of the unknown. Indeed, shopping in an Asian grocery store can feel like being in a foreign country. However, if you locate a friendly grocery store and ask for some help in finding the ingredients, you’ll be well on your way. I’ve been waiting for some time now …
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