What I'm Watching: Being Erica

One of my favorite TV shows is "Being Erica." It is a Canadian show, but Soapnet runs the reruns on Wednesday nights. I first came across the show at my parents' two Christmases ago. I was flipping the channels in a fit of holiday boredom that often comes with not being at your own house and having your usual activities to keep you busy. They were showing a marathon of the first season on Soapnet and I got hooked immediately.

When I got home, I watched the rest of the episodes that I had missed on my computer on Hulu and got caught up just in time to start watching the second season on Soapnet. I was THRILLED to find out there was a third season and it started just a few weeks ago. "Being Erica" follows 30-something single Erica, who has lived a life full of regrets. Enter Dr. Tom, who offers her therapy. Time-travel therapy to be exact. Erica gets to go back in time and relive those regrets, doing what she always wished she had done. She can't really change the past, but she learns from it.

It's such a well-written series and I love the cast. Not only do we get to see what's going on in Erica's life, but also in her friends' and family's lives. We get to see Erica learn and grow and start being a success. I always can't wait to see what happens next! I highly recommend this series. Watch it if you can find it! What is it with Canada and its artistry? My favorite music artists all come from there (Sarah McLachlan, Chantal Kreviazuk, Alanis Morissette) and now my favorite TV show. Maybe the cold and darkness makes them retreat inward and draw out their creativity.....

Cooking Healthy this Week

I'm cooking healthy this week and in the weeks to come. Allrecipes has a way of veering me off my nutritious-eating-track. There are so many recipes that I want to try, I get excited and go overboard. Then I burn myself out and just don't want to cook anymore or take any more photos. I get sick of it! I had to make myself take a break this week, from allrecipes and the internet in general. I cooked very healthy this week, and mostly recipes I have made before. I did try a couple of new recipes and took a few photos, but I'm already feeling more energetic and refreshed.

Cutting way back on my sugar intake helps too. I feel so good when I don't eat much sugar, I'm really going to try to make that a habit. I love sweets and find that the more sugar I eat, the more sugar I crave. Even if I exercise, I still don't have the energy that I do when I don't eat sugar. I sleep better too! Not having those blood sugar spikes helps with appetite, sleep and energy. I'm a pretty low-energy person in general (my friends call me laid-back and "zen."), so everything I can do to increase my energy helps. I do like being laid-back, but my creativity and ideas make me want to do more than just watch TV.

One of my favorite salmon recipes is Baked Salmon II from allrecipes.com. It's an old favorite and one that I make often. I even have the recipe memorized. Full of good fats and lots of flavor, it's a recipe that really makes me feel healthy after eating it. A White and Wild Rice Pilaf and Clementine Salad rounded out the healthy meal very nicely.

I have to admit that I did bake a sweet this week, but the fruits of my labor were enjoyed by my husband's co-workers. I had some ripe bananas and had to make something (can't let anything go to waste!), so I baked a recipe I've been wanting to for some time now, Creamy Banana Bread, make with cream cheese and featuring a cinnamon pecan swirl. Hubby came home from work with an empty container.

Pining for Pine Nuts

I know I've mentioned this before, but I really love pine nuts. It's kind of bordering on obsession. Only fueling my obsession is the pine nut shortage going on right now. I started noticing them disappearing from the grocery store a while back. My natural foods department always carried them, but the price kept going up and up, then finally the company we bought them from stopped supplying them. I've been buying them in the produce department in little 4 oz. packets for about $5. Suddenly they disappeared. Nooooo! A few weeks later, however, produce started carrying a different brand, same size, but almost double the price. I still buy them and feel a little guilty about the amount of money I spend, but I LURVE them!

These new ones are from China, and I run the risk of getting "pine mouth" from eating them, but so far so good. I think I may look into purchasing them on the internet. Or I could use a different nut, but I love pine nuts, darn it! Like I mentioned before, I like to toast them and add them to salads and quinoa dishes and make pesto. It's also a great addition to pasta dishes. Since I'm still not eating sandwiches (yuck), I came up with an easy, nutritious and delicious lunch dish.

Tuna Pasta with Spinach, Pine Nuts and Olives

Serves 2

1 cup gluten-free rice fusilli pasta, uncooked

2 cups torn baby spinach

1 - 5 oz. can tuna, drained

2 Tbsp. pine nuts

2 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

1 Tbsp. sliced black olives

1/2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1/4 tsp. dried basil

1/8 tsp. dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring a medium saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook 10 minutes, or until tender. While pasta is cooking, toast pine nuts in a dry non-stick skillet over medium-low heat, stirring often.

2. Place spinach in a colander and drain pasta over spinach to wilt it. Return pasta and spinach to saucepan and stir in the olive oil, basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Stir in parmesan cheese. Stir in tuna, pine nuts and olives. Serve warm.

Valentine's Day

So I'm kind of a cynic when it comes to Valentine's Day. I always have been. My college roommate and I even dressed in black in protest of the day one year. I'm a little more tolerant of it now since falling in love and getting married to such a great guy, but I still think it's kind of hokey, contrived and commercial. Of course, I shouldn't complain, since the store I work for obviously benefits from the holiday. I had to work all day yesterday and just about every five five minutes a page went out, "Floral department, you have a call on line one. Floral, line one." What a great money-maker Valentine's Day is!

Growing up my dad always got "his girls" (me, my mom and my sister) a red, heart-shaped box of Russel Stover chocolates for Valentine's day. My husband carries on with that tradition and I love it. No fuss. I couldn't ask for anything more than chocolate. Chocolate is the way to my heart. Course, he already has my heart.

For me romance isn't flowers, balloons or cards. It's like this story I read in the local paper about a couple who have been married 74 years. "Tony sometimes brings Rose her pills and a glass of water so she doesn’t have to get them, which is very romantic in her eyes." Awww, that is so sweet. When I read that line, I was reminded of my husband and me. We've both had medical problems and have had to take care of each other, and yes, he has even brought me my pills and a glass of water. We are such old souls. I always think it's romantic when we help each other out in little ways, like he refilling the soap dispenser next to my sink in the bathroom, and me baking cookies for him to take to work. We respect each other and take care of each other. Now that's romantic!

I can't let a little hokeyness get in the way of having some fun in the kitchen for Valentine's Day however. It is a time when I can bake some fun things, use sprinkles and decorate with red and pink, a couple of my favorite colors. This year I made Michelle's Soft Sugar Cookies from allrecipes. This was an excellent recipe! I frosted them with Sugar Cookie Frosting (not such an excellent recipe, but adequate). These cookies reminded me a cookie bouquet I made for Bryan when I was a senior in college. I'm pretty sure I used a tube of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough and canned frosting, but they were beautiful. I remember I had a hard time finding some skewers to put the cookies on to make the bouquet, but I was determined to make them. Either that, or I was determined to put off working on my senior design project!

I also made Beth's Chocolate Chip Cookies with Valentine's M&Ms and Sweetheart Cupcakes with Rick's Special Buttercream Icing (awesome). I thought the cupcakes were going to be much more difficult to make, but they weren't really at all. I did run out of the pink and red batters, resulting in some plain cupcakes, but overall it was a success. Bryan LOVED the raspberry flavoring.






I hoped you all had a sweet Valentine's Day! Be sure to check out MySweetCreations' blog for more Valentine's Day treats.

Dianne's Designs

One of my hobbies is making beaded jewelry. Mostly earrings, but I make the occasional necklace too. I started making earrings mostly for myself. I couldn't find any earrings that were the right length, color, etc. to go with my clothes, so I decided to make my own. I discovered that it was pretty easy and a lot of fun. I very quickly got requests from people to make earrings for them. Especially my mom, sister and coworkers. My aunts even paid me to make them earrings. They told me what colors they were looking for, and I went to work. I mostly make them as gifts, but everyone tells me I should sell them. Maybe, but that sounds like work. I just like creating them for fun.

I really like making jewelry. I get to be creative, experiment with color combinations and different styles, but at the same time, the projects are not very time consuming. I like quilting too, but my main complaint with it is that it takes so long to complete a project. With jewelry making, it only takes a few minutes to design, then a few more minutes to execute, and then you're done! I love buying packages of mixed beads, then challenging myself to make something beautiful of the hodgepodge of colors and sizes. The earrings I have pictured are my most recent creations that I made as Christmas gifts this past holiday season.

And here is my tackle box. It really is a tackle box. It turns out to be the perfect place to organize my beads and tools.

"It was the best of times,.....

.....it was the worst of times." We all know those famous words from Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” (image courtesy of Barnes & Noble). Well, I’m happy to report that I have finally read that book. I’m so glad I did. I never had to read it for school, but I wanted to read it on my journey to becoming a well-rounded person. While it was rather difficult to get though, I can see why it is so celebrated.

The book takes place during the French Revolution. As I was reading the parts of the book describing the Revolution, I was having a hard time understanding how it could be the “best of times.” It was so brutal and gruesome. There were riots and people’s heads were getting chopped off left and right. By the time I finished, I understood. France had to go through a revolt to get better. There was a lot of abuse going on with the nobility. The rich were very rich and the poor were very poor. The state of the country was not good. The people revolted so it could become the great country it is today. It gave me a better understanding of that time in history. It’s helped me understand better what’s going on in Egypt right now, the mentality and state of mind that drives people during a revolt.

During all of this chaos is a story. A story of a long-lost father, Dr. Manette, and his daughter, Lucie, and the circumstances that parted them and brought them back together. Dr. Manette is falsely imprisoned in the Bastille for 18 years. He is released and reunited with his daughter. On the trip back to London they meet Charles Darnay. He escapes charges of espionage with the help of Sydney Carton. Both Darnay and Carton vie for Lucie’s heart, but Darnay ends up winning. Darnay’s mysterious past pulls him back to France, where his life is in grave danger. Ultimately, the story comes full circle and all is revealed. There is an unexpected hero and a great sacrifice it made.

This was a tedious book to get through, with lots of obscure references about the Revolution that I had to keep flipping to the footnotes to try to understand. Once I got into the actual story of Dr. Manette, Lucie and Darnay I was hooked. What I really noticed in this book about Dickens’ writing is that really set the scene. He really wanted the reader to visualize the setting of the French Revolution.

The next book I would like to read of Dickens’ is “Great Expectations.” I hated the 1998 movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, but one sleepness night I came across the original 1946 movie and absolutely adored it. I decided that would have to go on my reading list and I have it on my bookshelf, but right now I’m reading some “fun” books on my new Kindle. I got a Kindle for Christmas and I love it. I was apprehensive about getting an e-reader since I love books so much and my husband and I love browsing at Barnes & Noble, but it’s really been great. Honestly, I don’t think our house could fit more books anyways! So far I’ve read “The Wedding Girl” by Madeleine Wickham and “Dune Road” by Jane Green. Right now I’m in the middle of “The Brightest Star in the Sky” by Marian Keyes. All of them are very light and enjoyable.

Rice Pudding, My Ultimate Comfort Food

Ugh, I've been sick the past 5 days. I really hate being sick. This time it was a head cold. Some people don't let colds faze them too much, but I, however, am knocked off my feet. All I can do is lay on the couch and gaze foggily at the TV, sipping 7Up through a straw, tissues all strewn about. I love any and all food, but my appetite completely leaves me when I have a cold. All I want to eat is toast and pudding. I can't even sleep. Being sick is a great time to catch up on "Who's the Boss?" reruns (3-5am on Hallmark channel).

I haven't done any cooking lately. Thanks to frozen pizzas and husbands for getting take-out! Last night I finally felt well enough to make one of my favorite comfort foods - rice pudding. I always make rice pudding when I'm not feeling well. It's so warm and creamy. Comfort in a bowl. I love, love, love my grandma's recipe for rice pudding. It's so good I have absolutley no desire to try any other recipe. However, I have tweaked her recipe over the years. I replaced some of the milk with evaporated milk to make it even more rich and creamy. Raisins and a sprinkling of cinnamon on top can be added if desired. You do need a double boiler and it takes over an hour to cook, but it's so easy, even someone with a raging head cold can make it.

Rich and Dreamy Rice Pudding

1 - 5 oz. can evaporated milk

3 1/3 cups milk (I use skim)

3/4 cup medium-grain white rice (you can use long-grain, but medium-grain makes it creamier)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup raisins (optional)

cinnamon (optional)

.

1. Add water to the lower portion of a double boiler and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and keep the water at a simmer.

2. Add milks, rice and salt to the upper portion of the double boiler. Cover and cook for 60 to 70 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed.

3. Add the sugar and cook for another 10 minutes.

4. Stir in raisins, if desired, and serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top.

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In other news, I recently picked up this cute grapefruit container at the grocery store. I eat half a grapefruit every day and usually put the uneaten half in a baggie to keep for the next day. It felt really wasteful using baggies all the time, so this container was a great find at only $3.

Sweet 'Kisses' for my Sweeties

Sorry it's been a while since my last blog (wow, a whole week!). I went away for the weekend, then was busy working and cleaning the house. Now I'm ready to focus on important things, like blogging. Not that visiting my niece this weekend wasn't important! I love seeing my niece, Sophie. She is 17 months old and very cute, sweet and smart. She is a very happy baby and I love watching her grow. Every time I see her, she has a whole new bunch of words to tell me. Once again in my life, I am known as "Di Di," only this time I don't mind. Hearing her sweet little voice say "Da-Daiiii" just melts my heart.


Whenever I go down to visit my sister, brother-in-law and niece, I have to bring treats. This time I brought some of their favorite cookies, Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies, or "Kissy Cookies," as we call them. I first started making these cookies in college. Back in the 1990's I got a cookbook on clearance called "Forrest Gump: My Favorite Chocolate Recipes." In fact, I think it was the first cookbook I ever bought myself. In it I found a recipe for Kissy Cookies, only four ingredients, perfect for a college student! They were so simple to make, I even used the recipe for my speech class. We had to do a "How To" speech for the class, where we would demonstrate something while speaking about it. I showed the class how to make Kissy Cookies and then passed them around for everyone to eat. I believe I got an "A "in that class.

The reviews on these cookies are mixed, but most people like them. We love them. They are a bit sugary, but I like that, the same way I like to bite into the sugar on a gumdrop. There's a recipe on the back of the Hershey's Kiss bag that is different (and some people say is a lot better) and I would like to try it sometime. I had a bunch of kisses left over, but I decided to try something completely different and found this recipe for Raspberry Almond Kiss Cookies on allrecipes. My husband loves raspberry and almond, so I figured this would be a safe bet. They are very good, although I was a bit disappointed in the cookie part being a little to dry and hard. They do have a great flavor combination and they look perfect for the upcoming Valentine's Day!

I also made some banana cupcakes to take with me on my visit, using Banana Cake II and Quick and Almost Professional Buttercream Icing. Sophie wasn't able to to eat a cookie yet, but she LOVED the cupcakes. What can I say, she takes after her aunt!