Friday, March 13, 2009

eat what we eat

I should have waited a week to make this recipe, it's green and perfect for St. Patrick's Day. It was the first time making pesto for me, and although it's not the traditional pesto, it was pretty exciting to find that it's really easy. Plus, I love using my food processor. You'll find the recipe on the Everyday Food website. It's too bad I don't take good pics of the food - when food is pretty it's so fun to eat!

__________

Don't worry, you're looking at bread in the next picture. Apparently, our bread machine has become a little temperamental. Or maybe I was supposed to know not to run the bread machine on the dryer (where it can be out of the way) while the dryer was also being run? At least - that's the only thing I can figure out. Please don't ask if we ate it anyway.

Rob and I make bread instead of buy it, I don't even know how much we save, if anything- we intend to figure it out sometime. It's not like bread is that expensive, but this bread is tasty and hearty. We especially love it for curry grilled cheese sandwiches.

Here is the recipe that usually works, I guess you'll only be able to use make it if it has a bread machine, and I don't know how well recipes work between different machines, but here is it. It's good (all but this one time), and very seedy.
3/4 c water
1 T butter
2 T molasses
1-1/2 c flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/4 c rolled oats
3/4 t salt
1 T each of sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and poppy seeds
1-1/2 T sugar
1 t quick-rise or bread machine yeast

Choose a setting for small loaf wheat bread.
____________

While we're at it, here's another bread machine recipe that we like

Salsa Cornmeal Bread:
1/4 c water
1 c thick salsa
1-1/2 T olive or vegetable oil
3/4 t salt
1-1/2 T sugar
2 c flour
3/4 c blue or yellow cornmeal
1/2 - 1 T minced jalepeno pepper (optional)
1-1/2 t quick-rise or bread machine yeast

choose a setting for a small loaf
____________

The last recipe to share is for a delicious and filling breakfast "pudding." Seriously delicious. Seriously filling. It's a weight watchers recipe, which explains some of the ingredients. In case you're interested - serving size is 3/4 cups (you'll be full, don't worry) and it's 3 points.

1-1/2 cups water
1 cup whole wheat couscous
pinch salt
3 cups fat-free milk
2 T packed brown sugar
1/2 t grated orange zest
1/4 cup fat-free egg substitute
1/4 cup wheat germ
3/4 t vanilla extract
optional and not included in points: sliced almonds and/or craisins for garnish

1. Boil water in large saucepan over high heat. Stir in couscous and salt. Reduce the heat and simmer until the water is absorbed, abt 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and fluff with a fork. Cover and let stand abt 5 minutes. Meanwhile, toast wheat germ in a frying pan over medium heat - it toasts quickly!
2. Whisk milk, brown sugar, and orange zest into the couscous. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, whisking frequently, scraping the bottom of pan to break up lumps and avoid scalding. Reduce heat to med-low and cook, stirring frequently until mixture is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat.
3. Whisk together 1/2 c. of the couscous mixture and the egg substitute in a small bowl. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring, until the pudding is thick and creamy, about 5 minutes longer. Add craisins at this point, if desired, so they can plump.
4. Stir in wheat germ and vanilla. Serve topped with almonds, if using.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Dear Casper,


My husband and I ate at your restaurant this weekend. We ordered the catfish po boy with sweet potato fries and hush puppies, it was all very delicious! Not only was the food good, but the place is pretty cool - the big windows and string of lights are what attracted us to eat there - and once we stepped inside, the tiny eating space and gator heads made it even cooler.

We were just wondering... if we recommend your restaurant to all of our friends and bring our out-of-town friends to eat there, then will you say hi to us and give us a free beignet? Because, although we really liked the food and the atmosphere, we did feel a little left-out when you came out to talk to all the diners except us. It's okay, don't feel bad, we'll still come back - we'll just be wanting more attention next time.

Thanks for listening. And thanks for the food (the hush puppies were my favorite!), maybe next time we'll order the gator.

Sincerely,
The Nylands

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Rob, I totally forgot to show you this picture I took

It's on MLK jr. hwy (shocker). Alicia and I passed it on the way to the Museum of Flight - it's practically parked in the front yard! Which I think is genius, by the way. Check out the lawn chairs.

Also, Rob, why does Bill Murray's character think he's in a movie?

That's all. See you when you get home.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

blush and bashful

This post and it's pictures are two fold: a) to show-off what fun Analise, Genevieve and I had on Valentines Day, and b) to prove to Torsten and Simon that they didn't miss anything fun on Valentines Day.

We baked cupcakes in the shades of pink and pinker.
Then we frosted the cupcakes in shades of pinkest and pinker still. The girls made sure that everyone in their family had at least one cupcake, marking the first letter of their names on the cakes. Other than that, there were lots and lots of hearts.

Analise. Expert piper.

Miss Genevieve. Creative Talent.

Not pictured: James, who head up the operation's Quality Control. Thanks to Rob for keeping him at bay with hours of Raging Rabbits on the Wii.

Thanks girls, I had a very fun (and pink) Valentines Day with you!

Virgania Horsen

These are old, but please watch them if you haven't yet.


Just give me your mail and tell me where you want it to go.

It's just you and me up in the air.

Newest Nyland

Some more pictures of baby Patrick (our nephew, for those of you wondering. C'mon, we've only been married six months). Imagine what a fun time we had this weekend - staring at, kissing, and holding this little guy.

James happy about his new title as big brother.
This is one of five pictures of James where he's smiling through asking,
"Can I see it?" (referring to seeing the picture on the camera's screen).

Patrick is Rob's 6th niece/nephew (there should really be a combined name for these terms),
but this is only his second that he's been able to see as a newborn.
He is very happy to be living so close this time around.

Here is Patrick just two hours after he was born, and at 5 lbs 12 oz, he is the newest and smallest (or maybe, fourth smallest because I can't remember if the Farmer triplets were smaller) baby I've ever held.I'm attempting to show how small he is by putting my hand next to him, but it just looks like he's closer to the camera than my hand -but my hand really is right next to his head,and his head really is the size of half my hand.