On the Road Again...

Dev and I are saddling up and hitting the road yet again.

We have another job interview in Grand Junction (yay!), then we are going to spend this week with his parents.
After that, we fly home to GA to spend 2 weeks in Savannah with my family. I haven't been home in a year, and I'm very excited to see everyone.
Needless to say, I won't be blogging much until August. I will try to sneak a few entries in during the trip, but won't have a way to upload pics.
I hope everyone is having a great summer...keep your fingers crossed that we come back home with a job!!!

Safer Alternative to Traditional Shortening??

Is there such thing as a safe shortening? One that isn’t full of transfats?? If anyone knows, please chime in here and point me in the right direction, please???

Strawberry Fig Jam

I have been in the mood to make some jam or jelly lately. But what kind to make?? Usually, I would let the sales at the grocery store determine this. And in this case, that was part of my decision. The other part was the figs I had bought earlier this year at Trader Joe's- just sitting in the freezer, begging to be used. City Market had strawberries on sale this weekend. Hmmmm....strawberries and figs....that sounds like jam to me!

In my usual pattern, I googled strawberry fig jam to see what might pop up. I found a recipe, complete with step by step pics- so I figured I'd use that.

I think the person who made the recipe probably makes this jam all the time, and just expected the reader to know instinctively what to do, because there were several details left out.

I started by washing, hulling and quartering my strawberries. I needed 3 cups. Then I washed, destemmed and sliced my figs (I used a combo of Calmyrna and Mission figs). I needed 3 cups of them, too.

I dumped them in a pot with a mixture of 1/4 c. of white sugar and a whole pack of pectin (the amount needed was one of the details left out of the original recipe- so I winged it). I waited until it heated up and began to bubble. The recipe said it should boil, but there wasn't enough liquid to do that. So- I added a little water. After it boiled vigorously for about a minute, I dumped in the rest of the sugar (2 cups). Next time I'll use a little less.

While all this was going on, Dev was sterilizing my jars and warming the lid seals for me. He's so handy in the kitchen :)

I let the mixture boil about five minutes (no time measurements were given in the recipe), then took it off the heat. I filled my jars and processed them in a water bath for about 25 minutes (10 minutes is recommended for sea level, plus an additional 10- 15 minutes for our altitude).

Here's what I got....



It tastes really good, but I think next time I'll do two things....I'll use less sugar and I'll cook it longer. To me, it has an ever so slightly grainy texture. But it fit the bill for the jam I was craving, and it has put me in the mood to make even more!

My next attempt will be mango vanilla!!

Friday Night is Pizza Night!

Although we hadn't done it in a while, Friday nights are usually Pizza Nights for Dev and me. I make a pizza and we settle in to watch bad cable, a netflix movie or Friday Night Boxing- whichever is on.

Because we hadn't had home made pizza in a while, I decided to go half and half. One half is hawaiian (Canadian bacon, ham, pineapple and red onion) the other half is veggie (onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach and parmesan).

I made a quick sauce from a can of crushed tomatoes, olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic, red onion and a little sugar.

I love pizza night!

BBQ Chicken

Barbecued Chicken. It sounds so simple. Google it. You will be amazed at the number of recipes for sauces and methods you will find.

Chicken is one of my favorite things to roast and grill. And BBQ chicken is all that much better.

So I began to look around for a sweet, spicy sauce to slather all over some beautiful organic chicken quarters I bought at the store.

I found the perfect sauce recipe in the Foodtv magazine. And it was a Bobby Flay recipe. That suits me just fine, because I love his recipes for grilling, and I love the spice in his recipes.

Here's the recipe- scanned right out of the magazine...



I'm pretty sure I followed it to the letter, although I think I substituted vegetable oil for canola.

The results were terrific! It is sweet and thick and spicy! Next time I will add a little more chipotle, though. After refrigerating it a few days, it lost some of the depth of the heat.

I roasted the chicken at 400 until it was about 10 degrees from done (it had reached 160 on an instant read thermometer), then I slathered on the sauce and put it back in the oven to reach 170.

The chicken shared the plate with some garlic smashed potatoes and roasted squash. A very yummie meal indeed. It will be repeated several more times before the summer season is over. I can't wait to put this sauce on some grilled chicken, or even pork....the possibilities are endless!

Cavalcade of Fun 2009- Part the First

The Cavalcade of Fun for 2009 will be split into 2 parts. The first part was Di's visit to Colorado. The second part will be my returning home the last two weeks of July.

Part the First was too short and way too busy. But that's what happens when you plan a wedding right at the beginning of the visit. Even though I think it somewhat compromised the visit for Di, I am ever so grateful to have had her here to stand next to me at my wedding. Here's a shot of the wedding party...



Poor Diane, she didn't even get her own room the second night she was here. Devin's family was here for the wedding, so his parents got the guest room, and Diane and Shanda (Dev's sister) slept in the living room- one on the couch and the other on a camping cot.

The morning after the wedding, everyone was up and out the door. Dev's family headed back to Montrose, and a little later, Dev, Diane and I headed out the door to take the scenic route to Montrose- pausing for some tourist moments along the way.

Here's Diane at the top of Slumgullion Pass...



We stopped and took a look at the Black Canyon on the way into Montrose.

The next morning we set out for Colorado National Monument. Di wanted to do some hiking and see some scenery. We did a small hike, but boy did she see some scenery. I know she was close to puking a few times on some of the twisty canyon roads. Sometimes I forget what it's like to see things like that for the first time.

Here's a pic of me at the Monument, taking a quick power nap on a rock...



Dev's parents had a get together to celebrate both our wedding and Father's Day, so Diane and I whipped up a low country boil to feed the masses. I think everyone enjoyed it. I know we did.



A hummingbird even showed up for the party and started building a next on top of an extension cord on Dev's parents' patio.

The next morning (Sunday)Dev, Diane and I headed back for Alamosa, to try and relax and enjoy the last day of her stay. That evening we headed over to Cole Park to enjoy an outdoor concert by "Indian Nickel." The weather was beautiful. We managed to kick back and relax for a couple of hours. Here's a shot of Diane relaxing at the concert...



The next day, Di and Devin headed out for a short hike at Penitente Canyon. I stayed home and got some blogging and cooking done. That night was the only night we really got to cook together on this first half of the Cavalcade of Fun. We made a yummie dinner of grilled chicken, zucchini cakes, and herb focacchia. Needless to say, we never go hungry.

Unfortunately, Diane had to catch a plane back to Savannah the next morning, so we got up early and headed out to Colorado Springs.

I was sorry to see her go, but I also know that Part the Second of the Cavalcade of Fun 2009 will be even better than the first. So stay tuned for more cooking and fun with Diane and Mimi!

Diane also posted on her blog about the visit, so mosey on over there and check out her account.

The Wedding!

Some mornings I wake up and I still can't believe we actually went through with it. After threatening to get married for over a year, we took the plunge.

It was a very simple ceremony, performed by a local judge, right outside the courthouse. The weather was as perfect as it could be here in Alamosa (plenty of sunshine but very windy), and things went off without a hitch.

Dev's family was there (unfortunately, mine could not attend, but my friend Diane from Georgia happened to be here visiting, so she stood up for me. She's like a sister to me, anyway, so it was perfect) and my friends Mel and Cheri from school and Claire, Connie, Kim and Debbie from my knitting circle came. Kim's husband, Brian, wants to get into wedding photography, so he came and took some groovy pics. Kim also brought a cake (the one you see in the pic above).

After the ceremony, we all walked over to the local brew pub and had some dinner.

All in all, I'd say it was exactly what we wanted it to be. Simple, un-fussy and to the point. I would have liked for my family to have been there, but I'm sure we will mark the occasion when we fly home at the end of July.

Here are a few more pics of the festivities....