Butterflied Shrimp as good as takeout

It's great when someone recommends a recipe and you can count on it being delicious. It's even better when they leave you with a sample, as my sister did last night when she fried up a batch of this Fried Butterflied Shrimp that she found the recipe for on allrecipes. Just as they promised, it knocked my socks off, especially when paired with my brother in law's heavy on the horseradish, just the way I like it, cocktail sauce. Rumor has it that the next time my sister makes it, she may be substituting beer for the water in the batter as one reviewer suggested. Yum. Do you think it would seem obvious if I waited outside her door later with a 6 pack? Surely, I jest......or, do I?

The Pink Cookie & Pink,the artist

I love cherry chip cookies because they are one of those great creations you can make a huge batch of ahead of time, store in the freezer and take out as needed. That makes them a great addition to any cookie tray. Personally, I like them better after they've been in the freezer than I do when they're fresh. Unfortunately, the main ingredient, cherry chip cake mix, is sometimes hard to come by in this area, so I've improvised various solutions, which I've included in the recipe.

CHERRY COOKIES

1 box cherry chip cake mix

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1  3/4 cup flour

icing:

2 cups confectioners sugar

6 TBS butter (softened)

3 TBS softened cream cheese

cherry juice

1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract

*Cake mix substitution: I doubled the recipe and used one box of party rainbow chip and one box of strawberry. My sister in law used a white cake mix and chopped maraschino cherries. Funfetti is also a good choice. All will yield delicious results. Use your imagination. If it's good cake mix, how can you go wrong? *

Mix first 6 ingredients together. Drop on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 deg. on bottom shelf for 8 minutes, then on top shelf for 2 more minutes. Cool on rack. *these work best on an airbake cookie sheet. also, if you decide to make them into bite size, cut down the amount of baking time*  For icing, mix first 3 ingredients together and then mix in cherry juice and extract until icing consistency. Ice cookies after they cool just slightly. If freezing, allow icing to set up before stacking in container between sheets of waxed paper.

I can't make the pink cookie without thinking about Pink, and I just happened to hear her on my ipod this morning, singing "Sober" which always gives me pause as I consider what she's saying. She's brilliant. Or, I don't know, perhaps she just seems brilliant to me because she has written words that I can identify with and she is able to sum up in 9 words what people with an addictive personality are generally loathe to accept about themselves:  "The quiet scares me cuz it screams the truth."  As I've noted in previous posts, I learned from Dr. Drew that when someone with an addictive type personality says they are "bored", it's just a cover for an emotion that is not actually boredom, but rather, the mind has become still enough to come to a point where it is beginning to process emotional information. When we are a person who has repressed painful emotional information in an effort to avoid the pain of confronting it and we feel it start to creep in we either: A)take our previous escape route of various addictions; be it work, drugs,alcohol, people, shopping, gambling, food, etc...(any avoidance tactic) and continue to postpone it,  or B) learn to let ourselves be still and ride it out.     BE STILL! (say that in a loud, booming voice)     I can tell you honestly that it is not easy to learn how to be still and let yourself feel things even once you've finally come to the realization that you have spent your life escaping. The realization is part one and the rectifying of your situation is a whole other undertaking.  I can only speak for myself as to the degree of difficulty involved, but though I wouldn't actually consider myself a true addict of anything, I have formed unhealthy attachments to practically everything! I can look back to my early teens and the list starts: disordered eating, boys, love, alcohol, exercise, men, etc... Note that I said I didn't really feel I was actually addicted to anything and I guess this would be because as soon as I thought I may have a problem in one area, I would give it up (to make certain it didn't have a hold on me) only to pick up another! So, I don't know, maybe I'm just kidding myself and that is an addict, but as anybody knows, kidding yourself is a well-honed skill of any addict! So full-on addict or not, I would turn to whichever particular  avoidance poison I was engaging in at the time in an effort to avoid "the silence" that Pink is talking about. If I let go of all these outside vices I would be left alone to hear what was screaming out within me. I was afraid the pain of that may kill me if I gave it a voice, so I didn't. Not for a long time. But I finally got tired of running. My vices no longer comforted me once I became informed enough to see behind the facade I had created. The time had come to be still and if it killed me, then so be it, but I was fed up with living in fear. I gave my truths their voice and I made myself sit with it, as I continue to do now, and it did not kill me. In fact, it is exactly as another one of my favorites, Kelly Clarkson, sings: "what doesn't kill you makes a fighter, footsteps even lighter..."  I have accepted the fact that my first inclination will always be to look for the quickest escape route, but I work to fight that response. I have a feeling it will always be a battle, but luckily I've always been a scrapper.

Apple-Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats

You may think that you don't like oatmeal. You may think it and it may be the truth, BUT maybe you just think that you don't like oatmeal when actually, you may just not like oats by themselves. So hear me out here and be willing to consider looking at them with a fresh perspective. What foods do you like that you could add to your oats and make them appealing to you?  That's always the key. Take what you enjoy eating and find a way of co-mingling it with a food that you should be getting in your daily diet. Steel cut oats are a healthy breakfast option, but even as an oatmeal lover, they leave a little to be desired if you plan on eating them plain. Obviously, oats are always fantastic if they are covered with butter, brown sugar and cream, but we all know that's an unrealistic way of eating on a daily basis. Have a small bowl of it fixed in that manner for dessert some night if it's what you're craving (don't deprive!) but your body simply will not run well if you're going to eat that way often, especially as breakfast. And feeling great is the goal here, but so is enjoying the meal that is going to make you feel that way.  So give this a try:

Cook oats as directed on package. Slice a few apples, toss with cinnamon (cinnamon is great on EVERYTHING!) and simmer in a pan with 1/4 cup water until tender. Mash up. Leave in large chunks if that's how you like it. If you're short on time, some applesauce (the no added sugar kind) will also taste great. Chop up some walnuts, pecans or almonds (I'm a person who needs a lot of protein and loves nuts, so I add them everywhere I can) and toast them at 300 degrees until light brown (about 8-10 minutes).  When your oats are done, add it all together in a bowl and add some extra cinnamon and a drizzle of milk or cream if desired. Yum. It really is almost as good as an oatmeal cookie.  Well, kind of anyway!

Red Potato Salad

RED POTATO SALAD

2 lbs (about 6 medium) red potatoes, cut and cubed

5 hard boiled eggs, chopped

1/2 cup very finely chopped celery

about 2 TBS. finely chopped onion

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp pepper (I always end up adding more though!)

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. ground mustard powder

about 1 cup mayo

about 1/2 cup Miracle Whip

Cook cubed potatoes in boiling salted water until just tender (about 15 minutes) Drain in colander. When drained, pour into large bowl and toss with chopped eggs and all seasonings. Stir in mayo and miracle whip and chill until cold. (It's especially good if you can make it a day ahead of time). Stir well before serving and add more mayo if necessary. *these amounts are not finite! Add more or less of the seasonings depending on your personal taste. Enjoy!

Whenever I eat potato salad, I am reminded of one of my high school buddies and an episode in our lives that will be referred to as the graduation-party-potato-salad incident. As I remember it, SB and I were spending a day together about a week before her graduation party was due to take place and she was listing all the various foods that would be served and assured me that the potato salad would be coming from our local S.D. Super Duper. We both loved potato salad from the Super Duper. As we sat talking about it and thinking about just how good that potato salad was going to be, we suddenly had some niggling doubts that her mother had ordered enough. SB, who was the oldest of our group, the first to have a driver's license and also happened to have been born on Christmas, (okay, technically I know that doesn't really mean anything, but I always felt she just may have some sort of magical power because of it) was a young woman who believed in taking matters into her own hands (which is also why I have a long list of stories involving the 2 of us that I can not share here) decided we should drive right on down to SD and order another 10 pounds of potato salad, which could very conveniently be added to the rest of her mom's graduation food bill.  I, who would have been too scared to do the same without my parent's knowledge, agreed wholeheartedly and gladly went along, A-because I really love good potato salad and wanted us to have plenty and B-because I knew one way or another SB would figure a way around getting herself in trouble with her parents because A-she was the youngest of 4 kids and B-she was the only girl. *Parents are just too tired by that stage of the child-raising game to get all bent out of shape about trivial issues. * After the order had been placed, SB informed her mother of our contribution and she did do a bit of yelling. Well actually, it was more like a raised voice with a portion of astonishment, followed by a touch of irritation, ending with an amused guffaw (her general method of response to most of SB's antics) and a finger wagging at the both of us while she said, "you girls better be hungry that night, because the two of you are going to be eating potato salad until it's gone."  We looked at each other and nodded. No problem.  Sure enough, a week later around 11pm as we got ready to sneak away from the party clean up and into a tent where there just may or may not have been some boys and beer waiting for us (hey, this was the 80's after all!) her mom met us at the door with a 10 pound pan of potato salad and two plastic forks. "You girls forgetting something?"

It never ceases to amaze me in middle age how quickly time passes. Both of SB's parents are now gone; her father passing just last week. But no matter how much time passes I've never forgotten that night and I'll be darned if I've had potato salad since that ever tasted better.

Keep Moving

Christmas Butter Cookies

The holiday baking season has begun and the Homeslices always like to start with classic butter cookies, suitable for every holiday. You'll find my recipe here. I've used many different frostings over the years, but wedding cake icing has become my go-to white frosting because you can't beat it's taste and simplicity and it's gluten-free to boot! *will post my gluten-free butter cookie recipe at a later date*  For the frosting, I simply make one big batch of white and split into several smaller bowls to add food coloring to. My kids like many colors to work with. The cookies become such works of art, it seems a shame to eat them...but we do!

Party Cheese Ball; I'm offering, not pushing

This is my eldest daughter's favorite cheese ball and I'm happy to tell you that it couldn't be easier to make. Just combine the following in a large mixing bowl:

2  8oz. pkgs. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/4 cup mayonnaise

 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp. dried chives

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Mix well.

Plop the mixture on some plastic wrap and shape into a ball.

Leaving the ball in the wrap, chill until firm enough to handle, unwrap and then roll in some toasted, chopped nuts. I have used pecans here, but almonds or walnuts are also delicious.

Wrap plastic back around and leave in fridge until ready to serve. It's best if it's made at least 24 hours ahead to give the flavors plenty of time to sink in.

DIET SABOTEUR?

I've got some excellent crackers to go with this as well as some vegetables and if you were coming to my house on Thanksgiving, it would be one of the appetizers I'd be offering you. It certainly can't compare to my favorite appetizer of the day (my sister's crab-stuffed mushrooms that I wait all year for) but what's a party without a cheese ball? You don't have to answer that. In fact, if you don't feel the same way about a cheese ball, I am not going to try to convince you otherwise. It's not my place. It would be impolite not to offer you some, but worse yet to pressure. I am a hostess, not a pusher.      Dammit. sorry...got a little carried away there. I will admit that I spent a good deal of the earlier years of my life engaging in some of this "pushy" behavior, but it was never to sabotage someone in any way, shape, or form. It was more about wanting to enjoy something with them and not realizing that my zealousness was controlling rather than inviting. Yet another one of those humbling characteristics of myself that I had to identify and work to eradicate. Sheesh, does there have to be so many? And must I keep finding them? Alas, my work continues...

This is the time of year that magazines and diet groups will warn you all about the "diet saboteurs" you will encounter. All of the many supposedly wily food villains out there just set on forcing you off your diet.  Now, I'm not saying there may not be individuals here and there who feel threatened for whatever reason by your adherence to a healthy diet and might take extra pains to tempt you off the wagon. I have seen it before with my own eyes and I know full well it happens. My problem with making it about the other person is that you are making it about the other person. You are the one on the diet, you are the one choosing what will or won't go into your mouth and you are the one in control of yourself. Ideally. So it should not matter if someone is standing 6 inches in front of you with your particular "favorite poison", they are not responsible for how you react to it. YOU are responsible for that. It's no secret that I have a problem with calorie restrictive or deprivation diets and this is one of the reasons why. When you feel like things are permanently off limits it just makes them more appealing and causes your self discipline to be literally "hanging on by a thread". This makes it easy to turn the person offering you the goodies into the scapegoat for your dietary transgression rather than admit that "dieting" may not be the best weight loss method for your lifestyle. Don't misunderstand me; it IS necessary to adopt healthy eating habits in order to lose weight and get into shape. It's just that there's SO much more to it than that. It must become a new way of viewing things and the "I've been good, I haven't cheated on my diet" mentality is a recipe for disaster: Good person=not eating too much       Bad person=pigging out   ????? Huh?

I know this mentality, I have lived it. Every disordered eater out there knows exactly what I'm talking about. Do I need to say again how destructive this is to your spirit?

As long as I'm venting, I'd like to get one last word in on behalf of that "stick" that you're friends with/work with/exercise with/ chat with, whom you believe can eat "anything she wants" because she's blessed with a "fast metabolism" and is thereby forever viewed by you as a person who "doesn't understand" for one second the plight of needing to lose or control her weight and is sometimes regarded with disdain because of this. This judgement is so unfair it continually ticks me off. First of all, good metabolism alone is rarely enough to keep any person over the age of 35 at an optimal weight. You may see them eating and think they eat whatever they want, but you don't know what they do with themselves in the many hours that you don't see them. Joyce Meyer has a great phrase that I remind myself of when I start thinking I want something that someone else has (that thinking NEVER leads anywhere good I might add) "don't be wanting what someone else has unless you're willing to do what they did to get it."  She says it's easy now for people to say they'd like her ministry, but they wouldn't have wanted it back when she was preaching in basements and buying her kids' shoes at garage sales, believing in God to make it all come together someday. He will make it come together someday if you have faith. But he also expects YOU to do the work. When people use that "oh you wouldn't know how hard it is- - you can eat whatever you want and you're a bone. It's not faaaaiiiiirrrrr" on me, I find it highly insulting because I DO know what it's like. I WAS heavy before and I DON'T eat everything I want every single second I want it. I developed a lifestyle that allows me to never feel deprived, but it also requires self discipline. That means that while I might like to eat heated tostitos and salsa and drink icy cold cokes with hubby every night before bed, I will settle for snack night once a week and enjoy it with gusto on that one night. And while I may not always feel like getting up at 4am to be assured the time for an early morning workout, I do it anyway because I know it's necessary; both for my mind and body. Besides, just as I've told anyone who has ever worked out with me, "just get up and do it. If you ever get done and regret that you did it, I'll never ask you to do it again." NOBODY has ever regretted it.

So enjoy the cheese ball....or don't. I'm not thinking anything about it either way. And to be perfectly honest with you, if I've ever offered someone something that they feel I should have known enough not to tempt them with because they are "being good", I can honestly say I was not trying to sabotage them. Especially if they are someone who's company I enjoy, I have this little lapse as far as assessing their body goes. I'm looking instead somewhere on the inside and never stopped to take notice of the size of their thighs.