Fondue Night!

Tonight we had delicious fondue for dinner! If you've never tried it, I suggest you do. It's a pretty simple dinner, although it can get expensive, depending on what you choose to have. We kept tonight's meal pretty simple, and cheap. For starters we had cheese fondue with french bread. Then for the main course we had chicken (both plain and lemon pepper) along with potatoes, carrots, and broccoli. With our plain chicken we had dipping sauces to spice up the chicken: Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ and honey mustard. And then, of course, we had chocolate fondue for dessert. With our chocolate fondue we had strawberries, bananas, pizzelles (wafer cookies), and marshmallows. Mmmm, it was delicious!

If you want to enjoy fondue some night, invest in a fondue set, invite a few friends over, and follow these simple recipes.

Beer Cheddar Cheese Fondue:
1 clove garlic, halved
3/4 c. beer
8 oz (2 c) Swiss cheese, shredded
4 oz (1 c) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 tbsp flour

Using the inside of the halved garlic clove, rub the inside of a heavy sauce pan, then discard. Add the beer to the pan and slowly warm. Coat the cheese in the flour and gradually add to the beer, stirring constantly. Continue to stir while heating until thickened and bubbly. Transfer cheese to fondue pot. Serve with pieces of french bread for dipping.

Lemon Pepper Chicken for fondue:
1 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp minced lemon zest
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp lemon pepper
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 lb chicken, cubed

Combine all dry ingredients in bowl and set aside. Beat eggs in separate bowl. Dip chicken in egg then coat with flour mixture. Place coated chicken on a wax paper-lined plate. Repeat until all chicken is coated, and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Repeat dipping/coating process so all chicken is double coated. Cook in oil about 3 minutes, or until cooked through. Serve with a variety of vegetables to be cooked in the oil as well.

Guiltless Chocolate Fondue (it's relatively low fat!):
1 1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup fat free evaporated milk
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients in a heavy sauce pan and heat slowly, stirring constantly until smooth. Serve with fruit, pound cake, marshmallows, cookies, or anything that sounds good in chocolate!

Birthday

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Donnie!
Happy Birthday to you!

I'm Hooked

On The Biggest Loser. If you've never seen it, I suggest you watch it. It's phenomenal. This season (season 9) is the heaviest cast they've ever had, and there are some big people, with some serious health problems. It almost breaks my heart at the end of each week when someone has to get voted off because they all need so much help. I understand that it's a game and a contest, but still...can't they just be out of the running to win but stay at the ranch to get the help and encouragement they need?! Uggh! Anyway, watch it. You won't be disappointed. NBC at 8/7c.

Ice Fishing - Round 2

Went ice fishing again today...this time with David and Rachel, and their dog Olive. It was really nice to see them; since they moved to Fort Collins it seems like we don't see them as often as we used to. It was a nice sunny day -- great for sitting outside and enjoying the weather. Caught lots of fish too. Successful trip in my mind!

Gone Fishin' - - Ice Fishing!

Today I went ice fishing for the first time ever. I've been wanting to try it for a while now and I finally got to. It was pretty fun too, especially since we were actually catching fish! We went to a state park up in Longmont, CO that has multiple little lakes...we only tried fishing on two of the lakes. The ice was still pretty thick, although we did see one area of the lake that had orange cones with warning tape strung between them because there was a large hole in the ice. We could only assume someone or something (maybe an animal) fell through. I took a picture, but it's not that interesting so I left it out. Ice fishing is a pretty simple activity, and it can get boring (in my opinion) if fish aren't biting. The hardest part, by far, is drilling the holes through the ice...especially if you only have a hand powered ice auger. The ice was about 6-8 inches thick, and being about the same height as the auger, I couldn't get much weight on the auger to break through the ice. BUT, I did do it, and I actually drilled 2.5 holes. I was pretty proud of myself. Between that and catching 4 fish, I'd say it was a pretty good day!

Mickey liked to play with the fish after we caught them, but don't worry, he never hurt them. All the fish survived and were thrown back to their home.

Delicious Dinner

Tonight for dinner I tried another recipe out of my new cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes From an Accidental Country Girl. They are all recipes this lady (Ree Drummond) makes for her family; her husband is a rancher and her kids help out too. So it is the quintessential country cookbook full of meat and potatoes recipes. They are all really unhealthy meals, but oh so tasty.

The recipe I made tonight was home-made macaroni and cheese. The guys also made hamburgers on the grill and baked potatoes (that was too much starch for me, so I had a small hamburger and steamed broccoli with my mac and cheese). It turned out really well, although it hurt me a little to eat it because I know how bad it is for my heart (and I even made it a little healthier than suggested).

If you're interested in making this recipe, here it is (it makes 8 servings, although we had 4 people eating it and had more than half left over):

4 cups dry macaroni
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 heaping teaspoons dry mustard
1 pound cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Cook 4 cups of macaroni until very firm. The macaroni should be too firm to eat right out of the pot. Drain and set aside.

2. In a small bowl, beat 1 egg and set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 and butter a large oval or rectangular casserole dish.

4. In a large pot, melt 1/4 cup butter and sprinkle in 1/4 cup flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat and cook for 5 minutes, whisking constantly. Don't let it burn.

5. Pour in 2 1/2 cups whole milk and stir. (I used 2% milk, and I would have used skim, but it was my first time making the dish and I didn't want the cheese sauce to be too thin. I don't think that would be an issue if skim milk was used though.)

6. Add 2 heaping teaspoons of dry mustard and whisk until smooth. Cook for 5 minutes or until very thick, whisking constantly. Reduce the heat to low.

7. To temper the eggs, slowly pour 1/4 cup of sauce into the beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking the egg. Whisk until smooth.

8. Pour the egg mixture into the sauce, whisking until smooth.

9. Add all but 1/2 cup of the 1 pound of grated cheddar cheese and stir until melted.

10. Add the seasonings, tasting and adding more if needed: 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp seasoned salt, 1 tsp ground black pepper.

11. Pour in the cooked, drained macaroni and stir to combine.

12. Transfer to baking dish, top with the remaining cheese, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until bubbly and golden on top.

*You can always add little extras to the dish if interested: crumbled bacon, caramelized onions, chopped mushrooms, diced tomatoes, etc. Whatever your heart desires.

At Last!

I finally got a job! I'm going to be a server at Chili's. I know it's nothing special, and I probably won't get many shifts per week; but at least it's something. Hopefully I'll be able to get a full-time job working for a bank, and between the two jobs I'll be able to make decent money. The coolest part about this though, is how I got the job at Chili's...

As you know, it's about impossible right now to get a job doing anything. The economy sucks, plain and simple. So after walking in to a bunch of restaurants and applying on the spot, I still hadn't had any luck in getting an interview, let alone a job. On I trudged, into Buffalo Wild Wings. I figured I could make good money there considering it's the only one in the area, and people just love eating wings and drinking beer while watching sports. (My thoughts were later confirmed by the manager - servers make about $700 a week!) Anyway, I began filling out an application, and while doing so, was told that the manager would be out to talk to me in a minute. He finally made an appearance and after some small talk and looking over my resume he told me he didn't have any positions open, go figure. However, while he was looking at my 'honors and activities' section of my resume, he said, "You're smart too! I don't even know you and I'm proud of you." I thanked him and we continued to chat, and finally he said something to the effect of: Well I don't have any positions open, but I wish I did. I just gave a job to one of our bartender's sons and he doesn't even really need a job. You know what, hang out here and let me go make a couple of calls. I know the manager at Chili's and maybe he can help you out.

At this point, I decided to not mention that I had just been to the Chili's he was talking about the day before and they told me they were only hiring cooks. I just let him go make the call. When he came back, he told me that he had talked to the manager at Chili's and told me the jist of their conversation, "I told him you're very well educated, pretty, and you just seem like a good girl. He told me to send you over there, he'll talk with you and then take it from there. When you get there, just tell him I sent you." He also gave me some tips about the Chili's manager's personality and what to do to impress him. I thanked him and headed over to Chili's.

Once there, I had to go through all the formalities: fill out an application and complete a standard test. If I passed, they would call me in for an interview. Later that same day, they called me to set up my interview. Yesterday I went in and interviewed, and about an hour after returning home, I got the call with a job offer. (They really don't need me, they were basically doing this because the BWW's manager called and spoke with them. Maybe someone will leave soon and I'll get more shifts than they currently think I will.)

Regardless of the number of shifts I get each week, I have a job. And I owe a huge thanks to the manager at Buffalo Wild Wings. I've always known that having connections is the way to land a job, especially now, but being new to the area I didn't have many connections. Thank God this man who didn't even know me was kind enough to take an interest in me and my situation. If not for him, I'm sure I'd still be searching. I need to make sure to send him a thank you this week!

Fresh Rainbow Trout...Mmmm!

Caught it...

Cleaned it...

cooked it...

...and ate it (sorry for the lack of picture at this part of the process).

Mmmm, it was good!! Simply season fresh rainbow trout with salt and pepper, dredge in corn mill or flour, and pan fry in vegetable oil. Tasty, tasty!

My New Year's Resolution

To stay in better touch with the people that mean the world to me

(circa 2004)

(circa 2009)

And also to lose 10 pounds (That's what new year's resolutions are to beauty pageant's answer of "world peace" is, right?)

What are your new year's resolutions? I'd love to hear them.

L.O.S.T.

I've been in a funk lately, and I really wish it would go away. As you may know, I've been searching for a job unsuccessfully for about 4 months now. I recently got credentialed as a Registered Dietitian and I thought that would help my job search efforts, but so far it has not. I was really hopeful right before Christmas because I was asked to a lot of interviews. But suddenly, everything has seemed to work against me again. My most prospective job offer was given to someone else; a man who called me Dec. 23 asking if I was still interested in a pharmaceutical sales position never returned my message for an interview; and the bank position I was offered, I turned down because I didn't want to quit a week later if offered a job from the place I was waiting to hear from. The bank did respect why I had declined their job offer and told me to call them if I was still interested in the job after hearing from my other option. However, now I am waiting to hear from WIC about a job I interviewed for last Monday. I feel like I am in a complete waiting game because my next step is to call the bank and/or apply to restaurants for a serving job, but it seems pointless to do that until I know what is going to happen with the WIC job. This whole process has been so frustrating, and I've never been one to give up; but after hearing that I was again not chosen for the job, that is exactly what I feel ready to do. I feel so lost, both literally and as an acronym (lonely. out of shape. sad. tired). I'm almost out of money, and after being rejected so many times I'm starting to wonder if this is where I'm supposed to be. With no money (and no home), I can't really pursue my interests or join any type of class (yoga, photography, dance, etc.). Plus I'm not working or in school, so I'm not able to readily meet people, AND my best friend just moved back to Springfield and my brother up to Fort Collins. I still have my boyfriend here and that's great, but I really need some ladies in my daily, or at least weekly, life. Like I said, I'm just in a funk and it's affecting everything about the way I lead my daily life. I really don't like it. And I wish it would go away. Thanks for listening.

Happy 2010!

Happy, Happy New Year!!

Can you believe it is 2010! It feels like just yesterday we were preparing for disaster to strike as the year 2000 rolled around. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed their night ringing in the new year, and I hope it's a blessed one. Until next time...