Coffee, anyone?

It's kinda funny..when you think of coffee, you probably thing in terms of Starbucks, or even your favorite local coffee shop. There's a bit of convenience when you're able to walk in, order what you want and it's all set for you and you're on your merry way to do whatever it is you need to do. Or, you might have your own instant coffee maker sitting on your kitchen counter..I know I have a Senseo that I use from time to time, but no where near as much as I used to. So, what would people back in the day do in terms of getting their daily fix? They didn't have all these fancy machines that grind everything up instantly ... in fact, they had one of these spiffy lil guys:

It's an old school coffee grinder!

This is actually one of the cooler ones I've come across since I've been here. Most of the grinders I come across are super dinged up, missing pieces, or are way too expensive. Given, this guy wasn't all that cheap, but this is the first one in two years I've found that's looked WAY different from all the rest.

I was really diggin' the metal support for the handle:

Here's the cool part...the doors to the area where you pour the coffee beans separate. I know, I know..how else are you gonna get the beans in there to grind? Well, all the other ones I've seen don't have tops like this...they look more like this:

So, I think it's pretty cool that this doesn't look like the standard style! 

The grinder wheel looks like it's in pretty good condition, other than showing some sign of age and wear. I have no intention on ever using it, but it's nice to know there aren't loose party rattling around in on the inside.

The whole assembly looks to be pretty nice; mainly dowels holding it together rather than nails or rivets.

Plus, this is the first one I've come across that has a tension loaded drawer so it ensures that it'll stay closed rather than fall out if you're transporting it some where. It sounds stupid, but after looking at a ton of these lil things, the slightest differences make or break when it comes to snagging something.

So, yup. That's my score for this weeks trip to the antique store. I think  I'll be taking a little hiatus from them for a bit since I need to save up for an upcoming trip over to Poland. Momma needs her money for pottery! :)

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BYBH Salsa

I came across some mean little chillies yesterday.. when I say "mean", they're vicious.

Meet the Habanero:

Eric always challenges me to make stuff really spicy since he likes things to be hot enough to, and I quote..ahem.. "burn your butt-hole". Due to my sensitive tummy, I can't handle anything too wild, otherwise it has to be smothered in sour cream or cream cheese...which completely kills any other flavors I potentially have in that meal. I might as well just eat a container of sour cream and call it a day.

Well, when I saw these bad boys in the Chièvres commissary, I instantly snatched 'em up to make some "BYBH" salsa.

Here's what you'll need:

* 1 Habanero Pepper

* Half of a  medium Red Onion

* 3 Garlic Cloves

* 1 Tablespoon of Lime Juice

* 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt

*  1 Teaspoon of Cilantro (preferably, fresh)

* 4 - 5 medium Tomatoes

Tools Used: 

* Manual Food Processor (MFP)

* Veggie Wedger

* Adjustable Measuring Spoons (AMS)

* Large Grooved Cutting Board

* Simple Additions Small Square Bowl(s)

Step 1: Cut up your Habanero Chili ...in all honesty, I recommend you cut it in half, then half again so you only end up using 1/3 of the actual thing. If you're ballsy and really want so

me spice, use half of a chile. Don't say I didn't warn you. Toss however much you plan on using into the MFP.

Step 2: Take your Red Onion and put it in the middle of the Veggie Wedger, the bottom part that DOES NOT have the blade..

Place the blade part of the Wedger in the middle of the Red Onion, make sure it lines up with the grooves of the bottom holder..

Then, press down. You'll have perfectly sized onion slices to put in the MFP. I use two wedges, but it's up to you if you want extra onion or not.  Toss those in the MFP...

Get a nice bulb of Garlic and get three good sized cloves off of it, peel 'em and toss them in the MVP..

Measure out 1 Tablespoon of Lime Juice, 1 Teaspoon of Cilantro in addition to 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt; toss all three ingredients into the MVP.

Since you have all those ingredients in the MVP, it probably looks like a jumbled mess. Don't worry, it'll look kinda better in a minute. Go ahead and put the top part of the MVP on the unit (make sure the blade is in the plastic holder) and pump the handle several times. It'll chop up everything into a colorful disaster. If you take a whiff, you'll definitely smell the Habanero in there!

Take your tomatoes and do the same process on the VW as you did with the Red Onions.

Do about three tomatoes like this then toss them in the MFP, and pump the handle some more. Wedge an addition one to two more tomatoes, then once again, toss in the MFP and pump the handle. Do this till you get the type of consistency you're looking for in terms of salsa.

Pour it out into the Simple Additions Small Square Bowl and ta-dah! You're all set! It's the perfect size for chips and dip :)

...Oh...and in case you're wondering. Eric isn't going to challenge me any more. This salsa brought tears to his eyes. 

VICTORY IS MINE!

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End of Week 3!

Woot! Down another 2.6lbs! So, my total weight loss as of March 5th is 10.4lbs....sweeeeet! I'll do a video blog tomorrow since Eric and I are leaving in a few minutes for a road trip over to France for the day. I'm excited! Errr..about France and the weight loss, ha. Happy Saturday, everyone!

Update!

We just got back from running our errands :) So, I was able to do a blog today, yay!

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Button Button Button

Thanks to Kaysie, I'm gettin' with the times and actually made a button for my blog. A button is...I guess you can consider it a badge of some sort, in which you add it to the side bar of your blog to show what kind of blogs you like to read. It kinda makes me think in terms of my shot glass collection; if I like somewhere I've visited, I get a shot glass as a souvenir. So, consider my button your shot glass, lol

If you're interested in snagging a little piece of me, here you go:


<a border="0" href="http://halleez.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src=http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu16/SilentBranch/INCButton-1.jpg></a>

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The Treats of Champions

I absolutely love my dogs, and I'm pretty sure they love me just as much considering they were my little body guards this morning. Long story short...I woke up to some random man in my kitchen and my dogs went ape-shit on him. It made for a lovely morning involving a baseball bat, police and the base police...ha. More than anything, my dogs were able to alert me that something was up and then proceeded to snap and pretty much chase him out of the house, then down the driveway. LOL. And yes, I can laugh about it NOW....

For that, I'm extremely grateful. So, I ended up spoiling my little furbabies today! 

There's a pet store down a ways from us and they have some pretty cool little toys in there for dogs. The only problem is; they're expensive. Then again, everything is expensive here. When I go back to the States later this year, I'm gonna look crazy when I go into a PetSmart and leave with a shopping cart FULL of squeaky toys! Anyway, when Eric and I got there, we found some squeaky Kong toys that look like tennis footballs, in addition to some bouncy balls. Then...we found this:

 

It's about the size of a bowling ball and made of a rubber exterior with a hard plastic inside. I dunno if you'll even know what I'm talking about, but it has this noise makers on the inside so when it rolls, it makes a "wacka wacka" sound. It TOTALLY freaks Cole out! The hole you see in the picture is where you put the dog treats and you can adjust it so the hole is actually smaller...that way, it'll cause the dog to play and play, then figure out how to open it up so it can get the treat. When we filled it with treats and let the dogs have at it, it looked like a weenie dog soccer team running around the house! I was hilarious! At this moment, Cole is passed out with it right next to him. I HIGHLY recommend this thing, and yes, they make smaller versions of it for the smaller dogs :) 

Oh, and my dogs usually get treats. We've trained 'em to the point that when they go outside at night, then come right back after they do their business, they get a treat. Before, they'd take FOREVER outside and during the winter, it's freezing out there! Since we've been doing the treats, they've definitely picked up the pace. The only bad thing is that since we have four dogs, we go through treats rather quickly. What makes it even worse is that their treats run about $6 a bag! Agh! We use Beneful's Snackin' Slices..so..they're healthy, but just becoming way too expensive for us. Seriously, think in terms of about $30 on snacks a week. That's just not OK anymore...

So, I went trolling around online to see what I could find in terms of stuff I could make for the furbabies. I mean, I want to make healthy treats for 'em so I won't convert them into little butterballs with eyes..otherwise, it's kinda defeating the purpose as to why I'm going through the effort in the first place! I ended up finding a very simple recipe which didn't require me to use yeast or anything of that sort. Most of all, they were regular ingredients most people can easily pick up at a grocery store, yay!

Ingredients:

1 egg

3 cups of whole wheat flour

3/4 cup of corn meal

1 cup of chicken broth (or beef)

2 tablespoons of butter

*PREHEAT OVEN TO 325*

Take an egg and have it at the bottom of your mixing bowl:

Mix in the 3 cups of whole what flour as well as the 3/4 cup of corn meal:

 

Toss in the 1 cup of chicken broth as well as the 2 tablespoons of butter (room temp), then begin to mix & fold everything together. I ended up having Eric help me with that since it needed a little bit of elbow grease to mix everything together. It's WAY too thick to use a mixer! Once it was all combined, we rolled it out onto a cutting board, rolled it to about a quarter of an inch thick, then started punching out the different shapes. 

Oh, I ended up using my Pampered Chef Creative Cutters Set for the shapes since they were the perfect size to make the treats. Plus, they fit in the wacka wacka ball that I showed earlier :) They're good for small dog treats, or even if you wanna make "snack" size cookies so you don't totally pig out on huge cookie binges.

Keep rolling out the dough over and over again till you've been able to make as many cookies as you want out of it. We managed to get about four "rollings" out of it, so depending on how large your cookie cutter is, I guess it really depends on how many you'll end up making.

I tossed all of mine on my stoneware Large Bar Pan and baked it for 15 minutes, then allowed them to cool completely on my Stackable Cooling Rack. Once all of 'em were finished, I called over the weenies to see if they'd be willing to test 'em out. THEY LOVE 'EM! LOVE them! So, I tossed all of the treats in the furbabies handy dandy treat tin ....

...and now they await their fate.

 

Now that I know that they like the goodies, I'm going to try to fiddle with it and see if I can add some stuff to it..maybe like bacon bits or something, or even peanut butter. That way, they don't always have the same old thing all the time! 

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Oatmeal Pancakes...Say WHAT?

As I've mentioned in a few of my video blogs, I've changed my eating habits and have focused a lot of getting rid of stuff that bogs my system down. I end up eating six small meals a day, each one containing about two ounces of protein (chicken, turkey, fish, egg whites, etc), my lunch and dinner have a cup of veggies and half a cup of carb. My snacks are two ounces of protein and half a cup of fruit..so, I'm always feeding "the machine".

Ever since I started, I was alright with having egg whites for breakfast by normally boiling eggs, then having some salsa with 'em and a small side of red potatoes. Honestly, that got old. I'm NOT a fan of white eggs, and masking them in salsa only helped a little bit. So, I proceeded to do some research through some sites to get some idea's as to what else I could make that would fit within the guidelines of my eating specifications (I can't eat flour, and almond flour isn't readily available here). Then, I found "Oatmeal Pancakes". To be honest, the first time I made 'em was a total flop..but after tweeking it a little bit, they're awesome now AND Eric enjoys them. THAT says a lot!

Here's the ingredients:

* ½ cup ground oats, ground in food processor or blender

* 1/3 cup water

* 1 tablespoon Splenda

* ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1½ teaspoons maple extract (OR almond, or even orange)

* 2 egg whites

Luckily, I have my Manual Food Processor so I was able to grind up the oatmeal. 

I don't have an electrical one since the one we DID have is currently in storage (110v) and I wasn't willing to buy a 220v one..wouldn't use it enough! So, I put in a good amount of oatmeal into the processor since I figured once you grind it down, it'll make the amount decrease (which it did). Here's how fine I was able to get it:

I mix everything together (although I throw the oatmeal in last), and it looks like this:

Yeah, it doesn't look all that appealing. I agree. But, it actually comes out pretty well. BY THE WAY, this is enough batter to make TWO pancakes, not one huge one! Like any regular pancake, it's ready to flip when there's bubbles popping on the top and test the sides...if you flip it too early, it'll be a oatmeal smushy mess. NOT appetizing at all. A couple of spritzes of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" do the trick in terms of adding a lil bit of flavor as well as a lil sprinkle of Splenda on top. By all means, top it off with some berries (blueberries or raspberries)..bam! You're done!

I end up killing two birds with one stone by having these; my two ounces of protein and my half cup of carbs. Freaking yum! AND, these help give me some extra energy right before I go on my Couch To 5k run!

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Antique Pillaging

'Tis that time again where bored housewives descend upon the lovely antique warehouse that is "Slegers-Heise". I've posted about them a few times before, but I really never get tired of this place..especially since you can look at some amazing furniture and day dream about how you'll decorate your castle off in Never Never Land. 

Myself and a couple of other gals rolled over there to see what kind of goodies we could score. One of them was just there on Thursday and managed to find a really cool "baguette trog", which is what I've been looking for..actually, for quite some time now. 

The one I wanted is the thin lil guy in the back of the wire sifter; picture acquired from Barb

After seeing her post a picture of the one she found, I was pretty much on a mission to find one for myself.

We get inside and we head right up to the "stall" where they usually have the trogs and other random cool / vintage junk and doodads. Is it bad that when we passed some of the employee's, they kinda giggled? It's like "Oh look, the Americans are back to buy more...money money money!". They pretty much know whenever there's a little herd of us, we're bound to leave with SOMETHING. It's so true. I think the main reason why we always leave with something is because the group of gals that normally shop there are a bunch of enablers. "Oh that will look GREAT in your house!" or "That's SO you!"...I think it's a competition to see who can sway someone the most to get stuff....as if it's shopping vicariously through others. I'm on to you!! 

Once we get to the stall, we poke around and they end up hitting the jackpot with a few trogs (in case you're a little confused about what a trog is, here you go) , in addition to me finding a longer version of the baguette trog. After doing some searching, browsing and thinking about it...I ended up putting that back since I found something WAY cooler! Not to mention, I only brought 30€  ($42.50) with me, so I really had to "pick & choose" what I wanted to bring home. 

Here's the "WAY cooler" thing I found:

It's an iron scale! The plate and the bowl are made out of brass, and you can see that the arms are made out of hammered iron. It's very cool, although rather heavy.

You can tell that someone sprayed some sort of black paint on it..possibly to cover up some rust (there's chunks of paint missing from some of the corners that reveal the undercoat) and I thought it was pretty cool that it had "regal lions" with the brand seal on the base:

 

That's all I left with! YAY ME! When Eric came home, he was expecting a little treasure trove of goodies, but I think he was even caught off guard that all I had was the scale. Then again, it took my entire 30€, but I'm OK with that! I'm looking forward to some custom wood fruit that I bought from Etsy to come in, so now I'm torn between putting those in my trog, or now on the scale! Oi! Choices choices!

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Pampered Chef Top Ten Favorites

I've been selling for The Pampered Chef for about two years now, and though out that time people usually ask me "What's your favorite thing?". I think I've acquired pretty much the entire catalog (excluding some of the recent items that were just added), but for the most part, I have everything. I can confidently say that my kitchen is pimped out..not only my kitchen, but my Dad's as well since I have a knack of sending him goodies for him to test out and give me feedback on. 

Honestly, I can't chose just one thing. There's so many different things that are helpful, cool, time saving and all around worth the money..so, here's my official list of PC goodies that I adore:

 I use my Mix N Scraper like crazy! Seems simple enough, right? It's like a "super" spatula in my eyes! I use it to scrape out stuff from my mixing bowls, stir things around in my pans while stuff is cooking, get the last bit of goodness out of a jar...and it's strong! As in, it can really take a beating when you're working with something like cookie dough! I've had mine since before I was a Consultant and it still looks BRAND NEW, no stains, no melted spots from using it on the stove top..the head is also heat-resistant to 650°F....you'd never know it was like, five years old. I actually have the whole Scraper collection so I have every size you can think of, lol.

 The Adjustable Measuring Spoons have definitely helped when it comes to "taking up less space" in my kitchen tool drawer. You know how it is when you have all the individual spoons you  have to flip through, it sucks! These make life easier since you just slide the the black adjuster tab to which ever amount you need, and keep truckin! You can use them for dry and liquid ingredients AND they're dishwasher safe!

The Deep Covered Baker is FAHHHHBULOUS! It's a stoneware piece that's a huge part of my cooking arsenal! I bake/roast chicken in it, made chowders, stews, chili's, bake squashes..man, I use it a TON! Pampered Chef just released a new cookbook geared specifically for the DCB called "Dinner in your Deep Covered Baker", which expanded my mind a little more when it comes to what I can cook in it! The only drawback, per say, is the fact that it's kind of heavy. Other than that, I absolutely love it.

Lucky number seven is my Bamboo Knife Block Set. The only reason why I'm putting it at number seven is because I feel like I'm very lucky to have earned these for FREE. When I first started as a Consultant, you have the chance of earning "PC Dollars" with every new Show you submit. Well, I submitted so many within my first ninety days that I was about to get this without paying a dime. Definitely a nice perk when it comes to selling for Pampered Chef as a newbie. These knives are AMAZING and insanely sharp. Each knife is one solid piece of metal all the way through, NOT assembled in pieces. So, you don't have to worry about the handle warping and breaking off, splintering or anything nasty like that. In the set, you get nine pieces of Forged Cutlery — 9" Bread, 8" Chef's, 7" Santoku, 5" Santoku, 5" Utility, 5" Boning, 4 1/2" Serrated,
3 1/2" Paring and 3" Petite Paring Knives — plus the Bamboo Knife Block, Forged Cutlery Honing Tool and Professional Shears.

 The Mini Whipper is by far, the simplest thing on the planet, but I love it to pieces! Whenever I'm making scrambled eggs, I go straight to this cause it'll whip 'em up nicely and gives them plenty of foam (which gives you fluffy eggs). Not only that, but this helps when I'm mixing stuff up for sauces, drinks, dressings, etc. It's dishwasher safe (yay) and pretty indestructible! It's only $4! I use it non-stop!

 By no means necessary, am I a fancy person. But, I love my Trifle Bowl! You can use it to hold layered puddings, various types of fruit salads or whatever else your little heart wants to devour (it has a 15 cup capacity), but you can also use it as a means of decoration! Instead of using mine ONLY for food, I actually put beautiful flower arrangements in it for my kitchen. SO pretty! During Christmas, I had a bunch of mini glass ornaments with tinsel in it, then I switched it out and had a lovely bunch of Tulips that I picked up from the local market. You can definitely use it for pretty much anything you can think of. It stores VERY easily (the pedestal fits inside the trifle itself) and comes with a nice plastic lid that seals up perfectly.

The Manual Food Processor is the bomb-diggity! It's one of the newest additions to Pampered Chef's Spring/Summer 2011 catalog. Mine came in a few weeks ago and I totally love how easy it is to assemble! Given, most of Pampered Chef's stuff isn't rocket science, but this particular product only has three pieces: the top which contains the pump to make the blades spin, the staggered blades and the 3 cup plastic unit that holds whatever it is you're chopping up (which has a nice rubber grip on the bottom so it won't slide will you're making stuff!). VERY easy to clean! The cup and the blades are dish washer safe, but you have to hand wash the top piece, which isn't even that bad. I spray it down with some cleaner then wipe it all up, and it's good to go! Since I've had mine, I've made a ton of amazing salsa, made fine chopped oatmeal to put in my pancakes, crushed up nuts...pretty much, I'm making this lil guy earn his keep!

The Measure All Cup!! AHH! I have the regular version (pictured above) as well as the Mini Measure All, I use 'em constantly throughout the day for my veggies! They're fabulous when you need to measure out something like peanut butter (or anything that is thick, like honey), then you just push out the contents without having to scrape everything out. Then you can just flip it over and use the liquid side for your "wet" ingredients! The fact that they're dishwasher safe is a major plus, and they can even go in the microwave when you're wanting to soften up some butter. Eric and I usually fight over the Mini Measure All since he has a knack of hiding it from me (normally stashes it in his oatmeal container) so he can use it in the mornings to make his breakfast. The regular Measure All holds 2 cups while the Mini Measure All holds 1 cup.

Stoneware, is by far, the best thing to bake on! You can bake pretty much anything and everything on the Large Bar Pan! The more you use it, the more "seasoned" it becomes! Seasoning is when the oils and fats from the food you cook pretty much sink into the stoneware, which causes it's own non-stick surface. The darker the pan, the better the non-stick! My bar pan is bordering on a chocolate brown / black color because I use it non stop! I'll bake cookies, rolls, bacon, chicken, and pretty much whatever else you can think of on there! It's almost impossible to burn anything on 'em (unless you leave it in there WAY too long), very very easy to clean and I store it in my Stoneware rack with my other pieces. By far, the best $34 I've ever spent! Here's additional info on Stoneware:

Evenly distributes heat and draws moisture away from
the surface

Retains heat, so your just-out-of-the-oven foods stay hot longer

No pre-soaking needed before use

Virtually nonporous, so it doesn't retain oils, odors or flavors

Microwave-, freezer-, and conventional and convection
oven-safe

I would die without my Executive Cookware!! In all honestly, I have all of the Executive Cookware pieces, well, except one...which is the Double Griddle, but I'll eventually acquire it!! People normally scoff at me when they see the price for the sets, and I agree, they're quite pricey, but very worth it. Most of the time, I try to get people a killer deal on these because I swear by 'em! If I happen to have a spare 50% off item or something, I'll hit up people I know that were pretty vocal about getting some cookware, but were frightened off by the $295 and $495 ticket price (eeek!). By chance, if you get a half off reward, you can manage to get the 5 and 7 piece set for $372.50 verses $745! Here's some additional info on them:

• Hard-anodized aluminum reinforced with titanium for superior durability
• DuPont™ Autograph® 2 nonstick coating inside and out for effortless cleanup
• Flared rims for drip-less pouring
• Flat bottoms for keeping food and oil from running to edges
• Thick bottoms for even heat distribution; thinner sidewalls for faster heat transfer
• Riveted stainless and silicone handles with stainless cast hanging loops for a cool, comfortable grip
• Tempered glass lids for a clear view while cooking
• Oven-safe to 400°F
• LIFETIME GUARANTEE

SO, there ya go! There's my loving list of all my absolute favorite Pampered Chef items :)

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End of Week 2!

One more week down! Whew!

Since my last weigh in, I've lost 2.2lbs! I'm OK with that! I'll take it!

Sorry I look like poo! Just took a shower and I was hurrying this up since I wanted to go back outside and enjoy the beautiful weather we have right now :D

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