Pushing 50 and it's time to try a few (maybe... 365?) new things.
This blog is not about reinventing oneself or one's life, but about how much fun one can have while going out on a limb and branching out.
Kicking anxiety's butt one day at a time, yeah!
Well, you know how it goes- when one person in the house falls ill the rest will soon follow. Like me. After running a few errands and before I started to feel too crummy, I picked up a couple of new-to-me items from Trader Joe’s.
My sore throat told me that tea would be a smart purchase. I love tea, all kinds- green, black, herbal, and mixes. If I’m going to be stuck with a scratchy pain in the neck I mighty as well try a new brew to break up my favorites- roasty genmai-cha , herbaceous mint, and perfumed Lady Grey.
A new tea and quick dinner…
I wanted something easy to throw in the oven for dinner, too, and The Boy always loves anything resembling a chicken nugget. A pot of rice and boiled edamame later, we had two new things to try: Organic Ginger Pear White Tea, and Tempura Chicken with Sweet and Sour Sauce.
Verdicts:
The Tea
I don’t care for ginger, have never tried any white teas, and was suspicious of the word “flavored” in tiny print next to the word “pear” on the box. However, I loved this tea! Totally surprised me. The ginger was very mild, as was the tea (I think that is what white tea is known for) and the “pear” was subtle, too. Very good. I look forward to putting this tea into my rotation tomorrow as my dry throat annoys me.
The men laughed at these serving sizes…
The Chicken
Yep, the little nuggets are probably the same that you get in Trader Joe’s Orange Chicken. Which we love. Totally deep fried, battered, and I am there. This sauce was nothing special, a basic sweet and sour glaze. What killed us is the serving size- check it out, there are supposed to be seven servings! I piled the chicken into seven similar sized piles and the men of the house laughed at me. The Boy ended up eating two servings of everything… growing boy and all. I took one serving, wanted more, but honestly didn’t need any more. Boo. I hate to admit that I like to eat way too much food. Curse my love of eating!
My dinner- I wanted more but know that I need less. Boo!!!
The Husband is sick as a dog, poor sweetie. He’s the complete opposite of me when ill- leave him alone, bring the occasional tea or hot toddy and he is fine. Me? I want sympathetic noises several times an hour, offers to fetch the remote, tissues, phone, iPad, etc… And soup. I want nice, preferably home-made soup.
Navy Bean Soup is on the menu tonight for two reasons: it is The Husband’s favorite (poor sick sweetie!), and I want to do a “New Menu Monday” post. So, instead of our favorite bean soup side, The Most Fantastic Corn Bread On The Face Of The Earth, I found an interesting and good looking garlic bread.
Garlic Parmesan Petal Bread photo from YourHomeBasedMom.com
I was late today, digging this recipe out of my Pinterest board “Breads, Muffins, Pastries and Quick Breads.” well after 4:00 this afternoon with errands still to run. On the way home, I ran into the grocery store and picked up a bag of frozen dough for rolls, as suggested by the author. The recipe I’m trying tonight comes from a March 2015 entry from the blog “YourHomeBasedMom.com.” There are tons of great recipes there, go check her out.
Thawing Dough
The changes I made to this recipe were to use nine, not 14 rolls; Italian seasonings instead of oregano; fresh garlic, not garlic salt; and real parmesan cheese, not “the kind from the green can.” Her recipe suggests using home made dough, frozen ready-made if you are short on time… which I was.
Ready to Roll and DipAll Coiled UpRisen Dough
Garlic Parmesan Petal Bread
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 big cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
7 frozen rolls, thawed
Microwave butter on a plate then mix in the cheese, garlic, and Italian seasonings. Roll thawed dough balls into ropes, then roll in seasoned butter and place coiled up in your buttered cast iron pan. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top.
This. Was. DELICIOUS! I really think that the fresh garlic really made this recipe. Fast, easy and yummy. I’m already thinking about how the next time I will make a dough with half whole wheat and add even more garlic and parmesan.
The Girl had to read Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist” as a freshman English summer assignment. She racked up several more novels over her high school career and frankly, I probably have not read half of them myself even though I have been quite a reader over the years. The Boy received his summer assignments recently and once again, “The Alchemist” is on the list. There’s got to be something to this story if both of my kids have had to read it…
Originally published in Portuguese in 1988, and almost thirty years later, I am looking forward to traveling the pages along with Santiago the shepherd boy as he searches for treasure in his adventures. I love a good adventure!
I just need to get it read quickly because when The Boy finds out, he’s surely going to decide that he needs to begin his summer assignment…
Click for the Amazon link to “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho