Honeymoon Chapter 7

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On this day, we got up early to go on a snorkel cruise to Molokini Crater. We had breakfast on the boat. I am not naked in this photo, I have on a strapless swimsuit.
The water was a little rough, but it was beautiful there!

We saw an eel! I found it in the water! I was so proud to spot it!
Us in the water before swimming over to the reef shelf where the water drops off.
This is Hawaii’s state fish…the humuhumunukunukuapuaa. It was pretty!
This is Molokini Crater as we were driving off. We had a BBQ lunch on the boat before we left.
We got home and sat on our lanai and saw a bunch of whales!
And we saw this gorgeous sunset!
And I grilled out for dinner…yum.
Steaks and grilled veggies. yum yum yum!


Filed Under: Cooking, Hawaii, honeymoon, travel, Tyler

Veggie Au Gratin

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So I saw The Barefoot Contessa cook a recipe today. It was for eggplant au gratin. I had everything in my fridge except the eggplant, but I had some squash and onions. So I decided to do that for dinner.

I didn’t bother looking up the recipe, so the exacts may be a little off. But it was FABULOUS!
(and bonus, I got to use my mandolin to slice all the veggies!)

Ingredients:

-1 yellow squash, 1 zucchinni, 1 red onion sliced (I think you could use anything from potatoes, eggplant, any root or squash really…)
-1 egg
-1/2 cup ricotta cheese
-1/4 cup half and half or cream
-1/2 cup parmesean cheese grated
-1/4 cup marinara sauce
-salt and pepper

1. Sautee the veggies till almost done.


2.Mix the egg, ricotta, half and half and HALF of the parmesean.

3. Put a layer of the veggies in the bottom of a baking dish. Spread the marina on this layer. (Barefoot Contessa used individual ramekins for this…but I did one big baking dish. Whatever. I’m a rebel.)

4.Put on the rest of the veggies. Pour the ricotta mixture over it and shake the baking dish to make sure the sauce goes all the way down.

5. Sprinkle with the rest of the parmesean cheese.

6. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until browned.

ENJOY! Ty really liked this! I hope you do too!


Filed Under: Cooking

Yummy Easy Crab Cakes

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I made crab cakes for dinner last night. It was a new recipe and oh so good! I will share it…

2 cans of crab meat drained well (in the grocery store by the tuna, but usually on the top shelf)
1 egg
1 1/2 tablespoons of mayo (I used fat free)
1 tablespoon dijon or spicy brown mustard (I used spicy brown)
1/4-1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Seasoned salt
2 tablespoons french friend onions crushed up(like the kind that goes on green been casserole)

Preheat oven to 400.

Beat egg with a hand mixer until frothy. Add in mayo and mustard. Pour over crab meat, add onions and seasoning. Add breadcrumbs until the mixture holds together. Depending on how much you drain your crab, it may take all of it. Ball them up (I made 4 smaller ones with mine…you could do 2 large). I dipped mine back into some bread crumbs for a crunchy coating. Its optional.

Lay on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Remove with a large spatula (they will try to hold on the pan). Enjoy!

PS. This comes from a healthy cooking cookbook and it says per serving (with the recipe making 2 servings) it has about 250 calories per serving. Not bad eh?


Filed Under: Cooking

Healthy Cooking

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We didn’t eat a ton of fresh veggies growing up (mostly because I don’t think my sweet momma knew how to cook them)so once I got out on my own, I started experimenting. Sauteed zucchini and squash are one of my favorites.

You will need:
1-2 zucchini
1-2 yellow crooked neck squash
1 onion
dollop of butter or margarine (I use margarine)
Dry ranch seasoning or seasoning salt
Red pepper flakes- optional

Start by taking the skin off the onion.

Onions always stink up my trash can and are so bad for your disposal (they are stringy and don’t break down well…so says my father) so I wrap the skin and ends in foil so they don’t stink up my trash!

Cut the onion in half and slice in thin slices. If I had a mandolin slicer (here’s hoping for one off the wedding registry) I would use that to get uniform slices.

Then I put a dollop of margarine in the pan and let it melt over medium heat.

Add the onions and saute for 8-15 minutes over medium heat. If you like your onions to have a bite, in both flavor and texture…go for 8. Tyler hates crunchy “spicy” onions, so I go for 15 to really make them sweet.

At the beginning of the saute, I add a little pinch of red pepper flakes. We like it hot.

While the onions saute, slice the squash and zucchine into thin slices. I used 2 zucchini and 1 squash. It makes a big pile, but we like it as leftovers (WARNING: it gets a little mushy as leftovers. We are cool with that…but if you don’t like mushy food, only make what you can eat.)

Saute the squash and zucchini to your liking of doneness. I went 13 minutes. They are pretty soft, but the edges are borderline crunchy. If you don’t have as much in a pan as I do, it will take you less time. When they are like 1 minute from done, add a good sprinkle of dry ranch seasoning (the favorite seasoning in my house). I guess I might have used about 1 tablespoon? Maybe a little more? Anyway….add this at the last minute because it WILL burn in the pan on the heat. Voila! Healthy fresh veggies anyone would love!


Filed Under: Cooking