Monday, December 6, 2010

Winners of Holiday Gift Giveaway Hop!

Announcing the 2 winners of the $5 Amazon.com e-gift card in the Holiday Gift Giveaway Hop!!

Congratulations to....

Winner #1 

#127 Jackie

Winner #2

#74 Anne Brooks 

You both have 48 hours to respond through e-mail to claim your win! If you have not replied in 48 hours another winner will be chosen via random.org. 

Thank you all for entering my giveaway! I know a lot of you just stopped by to enter, but I hope you stick around and come back often! 

Again, congratulations to our winners! And thank you to Simply Stacie for this great gift giveaway hop!


Menu Plan Monday

Nothing too exciting for this week! I need some not too complicated meals since this week is going to be very busy! I have two Pampered Chef parties, one Thursday and one Sunday! Should be lots of fun!

Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Spaghetti
Wednesday - Enchiladas
Thursday - Vegetable soup for hubby (I'll be eating at the party)
Friday - Supper @ Inlaws
Sabbath - Potluck (TBA)
Sunday - Pampered Chef part at my Grandma's (eating out for hubby)

Have a great week!


This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday at Orgjunkie.com 

Dinner by Default


You know the drill. You leave town for a couple of days and before you depart, you maniacally clean out the refrigerator and the produce bin. Heaven forbid a lemon should be left out to rot while you are absent! (Well, maybe I’m justified here – remember those fruit flies?)

http://nevertrustaskinnycook1.blogspot.com/2009/09/windex-and-amaretto.html

So you leave the house and head to the airport, secure in the knowledge that your house has been left in good order, the timers are set to turn lights on and off and you won’t come home to the smell of decaying citrus or the sight of blackened cottage cheese. All is well and off you go on your trip with nary a thought about what on earth you are going to do about dinner on the evening you return.

But then, of course, you come home to NOTHING IN THE HOUSE. You’ve been traveling all day and the last thing you want to do is head out to the grocery store. Maybe a pizza delivery is in order. Well, maybe not. You’ve probably consumed enough junk on your trip to last for the next three months, so the last thing you can justify is a pizza, loaded with carbs and oozing with fat. Scratch that idea.

The answer to this conundrum is Penne alla Vodka. If you are like me, you have everything you need to make it in your pantry (okay, maybe not the vodka but if you are like me, you will have it somewhere in the house). It’s easy, it comes together in minutes and it’s really, really good. So good, in fact, that you will never miss that pizza!  Besides, it has vodka in it.  How bad could it be?


PENNE ALLA VODKA

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes (San Marzanos, if possible)
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (or more to taste)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
16 oz. whole wheat penne*
2 tablespoons vodka
½ cup heavy cream

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a very large sauté pan. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute, or until it just starts to give off a wonderful aroma. (Do not let it burn). Add the tomatoes with their juice and season with the red pepper flakes, kosher salt and black pepper. Bring mixture to a low boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes to allow flavors to marry.


Meanwhile, bring a large pot of generously salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook, stirring often, until pasta is just done, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well and add to the simmering sauce in the pan. Stir in the vodka and the cream. Season again if needed and cook for another 5 minutes or so until vodka evaporates slightly.

It’s nice to serve this with a little chopped parsley, but you probably don’t have any since you cleaned out your refrigerator. No worries, it’s good enough without it!

Serves 4 - 6

*I would urge you not to turn up your nose at whole wheat pasta.  It's delicious and it's good for you.  In truth, I prefer it to the "white bread" variety of pasta.  It has more of a bite and a rustic quality that I think adds a lot to the dish.  It does take a little longer to cook, so factor that in, but don't be afraid to serve it to your family or friends.  If they are like mine, they won't know the difference.  Trust me!


*Regular old canned tomatoes will do, but if possible, try to get your hands on some San Marzanos.  Most grocery stores carry them these days and it's worth seeking them out.


*I have been known to serve this to company. They never knew it was a desperation dinner!

GUEST at NITHU'S KITCHEN


Thank you Nithu for inviting me as a guest at your lovely space .
It was indeed a great pleasure and honour for me.
To read click HERE
Friends, Nithu has a lovely blog. Keeping health in mind she always makes her recipes simple and easy to make.
Do visit - NITHU'S KITCHEN

Link of the Day

It's not political. It's not debt pr0n. It's not snarky. It's just clever, beautiful and wondrous.

Click here.

What Is Ben Bernanke Investing In?

Last night, Fed chairman Bernanke went on 60 Minutes and had this to say:
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the economy is barely expanding at a sustainable pace and that it’s possible the Fed may expand bond purchases beyond the $600 billion announced last month to spur growth.

“We’re not very far from the level where the economy is not self-sustaining,” Bernanke said in an interview broadcast yesterday by CBS Corp.’s “60 Minutes” program. “It’s very close to the border. It takes about 2.5 percent growth just to keep unemployment stable and that’s about what we’re getting.”
When I buy shares or corporate bonds of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), I'm investing in a company that supports all phases of American agriculture. I invest in them because I think they're going to grow by creating more of what people want and need and will pay for. Implicitly, I'm saying that ADM will create economic growth. ADM does so because their managers want to make a higher profit. When they make more profit, they can expand and hire more people to make still more profit.

When Ben invests his $600B in Federal debt, he's investing in an organization that is not motivated to produce profit or build things that people want and need and are willing to pay for. Why does he think this is going to lead to growth?

In simpler terms, if you wanted economic growth, would you put money into the hands of Congress and the President or would you put it in the hands of ADM?


If you don't like ADM, how about DOW? Watch this Kiwi commercial and ask yourself how that $600B given to the government will lead to more growth than this.