Breakfast Worms

I promised to make these with the grandkids last month. Last night, we finally found time to create these slimy worms to celebrate Halloween. The kids are so excied to take take a baggie full of these worms in their lunch on Monday to share with friends.

For those interested, here is the delicious recipe.



INGREDIENTS:

• 1 pkg. (6 ox) purple gelatin/jello
• 3/4 ounce (3 envelops) unflavored gelatin
• 3 cups boiling water
• 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream
• green and red food coloring
• 100 plastic straws with bendable necks

HOW TO:

1. You will need a container that holds at least 4 cups of liquid and is as tall as it wide (so that the jello mixture will fill all the straws). 
2. Make sure straws are flush with the bottom of the container. The bendable part of the straw should be fully extended and facing toward the bottom of the container.
3. I used rubber bands to help hold the straws together.
4. Combine the flavored and unflavored gelatin in a bowl. Stir in the boiling water and stir until completely dissolved. Set aside for about 20 minutes before stirring in the whipping cream.
5. Add 20 drops of green food coloring and 10 drops of red.
6. Place the container of straws in another container to catch any overflow.
7. Slowly pour the jello mixture into the straws. There will be jello that seeps up the sides of the container. That is OK. As long as the straws are tightly packed, the jello will fill the straws.
8. Chill the jello filled straws overnight. This is where it gets messy.
9. Run warm water the sides of the container that holds the straw. Wiggle the straws around until you are able to remove them.
10. There will be plenty of jello blob that follows this removal process. You don't want any of that mess.
11. Gently extract the jello worm from each straw by tightly holding the top of the straw and applying pressure down the entire length of the straw with your thumb and forefinger.
12. The straws will be slippery, so you may need to wipe them with a paper towel before you extract the worm.
13. Place extracted worms in a bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.

 

New Year's Breakfast Frittata

Check out the recipe for this breakfast frittata made with asparagus and bacon (turkey bacon). The added cheese was low-fat, of course, as Blimpy Girl tries to make dishes that our both healthy and low in calories. It was a great breakfast to usher in 2012 especially when enjoyed with long time friends.

A tall glass of freshly squeezed OJ and a slice of toasted hard crusted bread (with a little jam) topped off the morning meal. I hope everyone enjoyed their New Year weekend. Now.... back to work. Whew! So much to catch up on after a week off.

Cheese Tower Christmas Tree

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Love, love, love this! This was the cheese appetizer my daughter brought to our family Christmas yesterday. Everyone was in awe and snapping photos. She used four different cheese chunks (purchased pre-cut from Costco), parsley springs for the green, raspberries and sliced strawberries for the red.

What made this even more awesome was the cutting board used. My husband (the wine guy) received this from one of the wineries he represents. The grooved edge was ideal for arranging a border of cheese chunks.

I thought some of you might this idea useful over the holidays!

What is a Jicama?

This was a question I posed to my husband last week? I needed a Jicama for a salad recipe I wanted to make for an upcoming dinner party. My husband is in a line of work that affords him opportunity to experience all food types; so, was able to answer. I placed Jicama on my grocery list and decided to learn more about this bulbous looking food. Here is what I discovered:

• It is actually just that... a bulb and is part of the legume (bean) family.


• It is primarily grown in Mexico and South America, though different varieties are grown throughout the world.


• It has a crunchiness somewhat like a water chestnut.


• Peeling it can be a pain. I learned that first hand as you will see in above picture. I tried to use a vegetable peeler. Not a good idea. The skin in tough and you will need a very sharp knife to peel away the outer skin.


• It taste something like a cross between an apple and potato.


• It is most commonly eaten raw though it can be cooked and eaten and prepared like you would potatoes.


• It pairs well with salads and can be used as an appetizer for dipping. Just cut into strips and dip in a mango salsa. I noted that some suggest cutting and sprinkling with lime juice and chili powder. I even saw a picture where cookie cutters were used to cut out dipping shapes. Now that's a fun idea.

So how did I end up using this peculiar looking bulb? Below is the tropical black bean salad that I served this weekend for a dinner party. It was a hit and I loved the crunchy texture that the jicama added to the salad. By the way, the "J" is pronounced as "H"... hicama.

How about these apples...I mean potatoes...

Most of the nation has been under a heat wave. Michigan is no different. 90 degrees plus weather every day and NO rain in sight. Walking on grass is like walking on a bed of pickers. Even with A/C, I am trying not to heat up the kitchen unless absolutely necessary. I've been preparing simple Blimpy Girl summer dishes that don't require the oven. This was my mid-afternoon snack today. It's a garden fresh potato salad.

I've posted the recipe below should you want to whip up a batch for yourself. EZ to do and most of the ingredients can be found in your garden or fridge. If you don't have all the ingredients, improvise.

Garden Fresh Tater' Salad (Makes about 6 servings)

9 Yukon Gold potatoes
1/2 cup of:
chopped celery
diced tomatoes
chopped red and yellow pepper (combined)
chopped sweet onion
diced cucumber
frozen baby peas (thawed)
diced baby carrots (about 4-6 carrots, thawed and diced)

All the different colors give this dish an awesome eye appeal when served.

OK, cook up those taters (peel and cube before cooking) just until soften. Drain, but don't rinse. Once cooled, add all the diced/cubed/sliced/chopped veggies listed.

Add the dressing (I like to mix into ingredients with hands so that the taters don't get smushed.

1/4 cup low fat or no fat mayo
1/4 cup low fat or no fat sour cream
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon relish (the sweet kind)
Salt to taste

I like to put my tater salad in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving. Totally up to you. Add some garden sliced tomatoes and you are good to go. A full cup of this garden goodness is about 100 calories. Hmmm... you could add a grilled chicken breast and still be under 300 calories. You can even reserve some of the tater dressing for dipping the grilled chicken.

Diary of a Blimpy Girl: Taco Thursday

Tonight's dinner was a bean taco. Took about 10 minutes to prepare. I added a small side of baby spinach leaves and a juicy tomato slice along with an extra dollop of refried beans. This entire meal, as pictured, just a mere 225 calories.

My Blimpy Girl recipes have earned me a 28 pound weight loss. I've continued to maintain this weight loss since early February. If you're struggling to lose weight, message me via my business FB page. I will gladly share some of the recipes I've used in my weight loss journey.

Diary of a Blimpy Girl: Pear Ala Mode

In my weight loss journey, I am learning how to create yummy low fat desserts. This is one of them and I'm very proud that it was my OWN creation. I was trying to use up food that was purchased before leaving for my extended weekend vacation in Disney. I had a pear on hand and thought...hmmm....why not do a pear ala mode. Here's the recipe and I must admit it was awesome with a capital "A".

If you add a generous scoop of fat free vanilla ice cream the total cal intake will be 280. If you substitute a generous scoop of frozen vanilla (fat-free) yogurt, you're looking at 250 calories. Not bad for a scrumptious dessert.

You will need:

1 medium pear
1 teaspoon Splenda sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup Fiber One cereal coarsely chopped
1/4 cup raisins or cranberries
1/8 cup white wine
3/8 cup apple juice (unsweetened)
1 teaspoon sugar free maple syrup

Cut pear in half and scoop out the center of each half to form a hollow area.

Place pear halves in a glass microwavable shallow dish. Add 1/8 cup apple juice and 1/8 cup white wine and pour in and around the pears. Mix Splenda sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkel over tops of halved pears.

Coarsely crush 1/4 cup Fiber One ceral and add 1/4 cup raisins. Place this mixture into the hollow of each pear half.

Cover dish with wax paper and cook pears in microwave for 6 minutes. Don't worry if some of the filling falls out of the pear. You can scoop it up later and place back into the pear hollow. Let cooked pears set for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a serving dish. Pour off any remaining juices from the glass cooking dish into a small saucepan. Add 1/4 cup apple, brown sugar and maple syrup. Cook over medium heat until reduced to a sauce like consistency.

Drizzle sauce over pear halves and serve with a scoop of fat free ice cream. Reserve some of the pear sauce for the ice cream :))

2 servings

My Newest Passion: Cooking to Lose

If you follow my business FB page, you know that I have lost 27 pounds since mid-January of this year. An awesome accomplishment for anyone. I am continually asked, "How'd ya do it." The answer is found in the Diary of a Blimpy Girl Episodes which I am currently journaling. Besides a love for all things soap, I have acquired a new love to "Cook to Lose." My Blimpy Girl Episodes will eventually become part of this blog.

Trust me, I am NOT a cook, nor have I ever enjoyed cooking. This is a whole new arena for me and I look forward to sharing my journey with you. I know my blog is mostly about soap related things (and occasional posts about family). But this is a new chapter in my blogosphere. So many struggle with weight gain and if my Blimpy Girl Diary can help... I am there for you!

The photos shown in this post are from Diary of a Blimpy Girl: Episode 20 (Chicken China Town). This is an incredibly low calorie dish that is bursting with flavors. It has a little kick for those of you craving a hint of spiciness. This is actually my improvised version of a recipe I found in the HungryGirl.com recipe book. I found that recipe to be boring with no real flavors, so I added my own touch. I liked it so much, I am sharing.

This recipe makes 5 to 6 servings (1 cup per serving) at about 200 calories with the side salad shown. I must tell you that I could barely finish the full serving. I also added a small side salad and a glass of Pinot Grigio wine. Not a wine drinker? Pour yourself a glass of sparkling water in a wine glass.... zero calories!

Here's my Chicken China Town recipe:

Packet (about 1 ounce) dry fried rice seasoning mix

1 ounce rice noodles

Pinch or two of garlic powder
Pinch or two of ground ginger
1 Tablespoon lite soy sauce

2/3 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (not eggs whites, but the actual egg substitute)

2 cups diced carrots and peas

2 cups cooked brown rice

6 ounces chicken breast cut into bite size pieces

3 tablespoons tamari sauce (you can also use lite soy sauce)

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

6 tablespoons white wine (you can substitute sherry if you don't have white wine)

2 teaspoons Splenda sugar substitute

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 cup fat free pork broth

2 teaspoons corn starch

1/2 to 1 yellow bell pepper cut into bite size chunks (you can substitute 1 cup bean sprouts or mushrooms)

1 scallion chopped

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Scramble egg substitute in fry pan with non-fat spray oil and cut into bite size pieces. Set aside. Using same fry pan (lightly coated with non-stick spray oil) warm the peas & carrots. Remove from skillet and set aside in same dish as your egg bites.

Weigh the rice noodles to equal 1 ounce. Place noodles in a bowl of hot water for 10 minutes. Drain water and chop noodles into 1-inch lengths. Set aside with veggie/egg bites.

Respray skillet and cook chicken bites until slightly crispy brown. Add brown rice and seasoning mixture and stir. Add veggies, rice noodles and egg bites thoroughly mixing into the rice mixture. OK, now time to prepare the yummy sauce...

Sauce

Combine white wine, rice vinegar, sugar, red pepper flakes, tamari sauce and sesame oil in a bowl. Stir well and pour over the skillet mixture. Allow this to cook for several minutes over medium heat. While cooking, add cornstarch to the pork broth. Whisk until blended. Pour broth over the skillet mixture and cook until thickened. Season with salt/pepper. Add diced scallions to each portion served.

That's it! Plate it up and enjoy.

Soap Dishes: The Project Begins

A few days ago I posted about a soap dish I was going to make. You can read that post here. On Sunday, I began the project. It takes about a week to complete. Here are photos of what has happened so far.

You need to pick your leaf. This is a leaf from one of my Yucca plants. Pick a leaf that has no holes (from insects) and is still fairly green. Many leaves are already turning brown due to the Autumn season. Those might not work so well. A leaf with pleny of veins is a perfect fit.

My neighbor mixed up the concrete. I'll have the correct mixing ratio posted soon. Basically, you just mix water into the concrete until you get a consistency as shown. It's very similar to the same consistency you want when making fizzing bath bombs. You want to be able to squeeze the mixture until it feels and looks like wet sand.

Once you have the right consistency, you pile the concrete mixture onto your leaf. The leaf is sitting on top of a pile of sand that is covered with a piece of plastic. Your goal is to create a curved area in the center of your leaf dish and the heaping sand helps to create this concave area.

Work with small amounts of the concrete to build up the leaf. Smooth with your gloved hands (we used latex gloves). You can also use a spray bottle filled with water and spritz as needed onto the concrete to help create a smooth surface.

Our leaf is complete. Now we must let it dry for about 3 days. I will be posting an update on this project once the concrete dries and the leaf is removed. At that point, the painting process begins. Oh what fun! Tomorrow night I'll be meeting with a group of friends to form even more leaves. Tonight, I'll be peeling apples (from a local orchard) to make an apple crisp to share tomorrow with my crafty friends. I've posted that recipe. The Apple Crisp is easy and awesome tasting. Add a dollop of vanilla ice cream and you're good to go.

EZ APPLE CRISP RECIPE:

1. Core and peel 7 apples (I like to mix about 3 different varities of apples)
2. Mix sliced apples with 3/4 cup brown sugar and place into a 9-inch square baking dish (or something of similar size).
3. In a separate bowl combine 1 1/4 cups flour, 1 cup white sugar (you can also use Splenda), 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon salt.
4. Add 3 tablespoons melted butter to one beaten egg. Stir into the flour mixture and spread evenly over the top of apples.
5. Bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 35 minutes, or until topping is golden and crisp.
6. Serves 8 people.

Recipes: Coconut Shrimp & Key Lime Pie

This weekend was fun-filled and the weather was SO cooperative. It was our annual progresive dinner that included 3 close couple friends. One couple flew in from Nasville (they were trying to escape the heat wave down there in the South!).

This year the theme was "finger foods (tapas small plates). It was incredible and everyone contributed the best tapas food ever! I must admit, we did have to use flatware for various dishes. But, what the hey!

Pictured at the very top of this post is a pic of the Key-Lime Pie (from scratch) that I made which was dressed with Kiwi and Strawberries slices. Yummy, yummy! Then for my small plate dish... Coconut Shrimp with a Marmalade sauce. Sure wish I could claim it as my own, but, it was a Paula Dean recipe (thank you, Paula, from a women who NEVER cooks). The shrimp turned out awesome. Here is the link for Paula's coconut shrimp recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/coconut-shrimp-with-orange-marmalade-recipe/index.html

A Tip for the Coconut Shrimp: Don't forget to add the eggs!!!! I forgot the eggs, but the recipe still worked. No doubt, the eggs would have made the batter stick much better. Sorry, Miss Paula Dean... I didn't mean to shame you.

SIDEBAR: OK, most of you don't know that I'm a horrible cook. My husband does all the cooking. This is a rather humorous side to this post. When I was writing the ingredients for the shrimp recipe (from the TV show), I scribbled that "bacon powder" was needed. When my husband reviewed my shopping list, he asked, "What is bacon powder, I've never heard of that". Well.... it was baking powder! Miss Paula Dean, you've got to get that Southern accent down to something I understand :)

The Best Ever Sausage Dip

Last night was Bunco night and there were appetizers galore. Occasionally, there's an appetizer everyone rants and raves over and it's usually one of the easiest to make. This was the case with Mo's Sausuage Dip. It was a hit!

I'm certain that we've all sampled a version of this same dip at some time or another. Perhaps, we Bunco girls were just particularly hungry last night. But, for whatever reason, we pounced on this dip like a racoon on garbage. I believe we would have licked the dish if we thought no one was looking.

Anyway, my good friend, Mo (short for Maureen) emailed this recipe. Hope you enjoy it as much as we Bunco Girls did.

Recipe:

5 green onions chopped
1 lb. roll of Bob Evans Zesty Hot Sausage
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 up parmesan cheese
2 oz jar chopped pimento (drained)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Brown meat, drain. Add everything but 1 onion. Put in 1 quart baking dish. Bake 20-25 minutes, uncovered. Garnish with other green onion.

Hey...this is also great as a baked potato topping. DELISH!!