Oh, This Is Not Good…

No Internet, Day 3: Heather begins to decorate.

I’m having to get resourceful here. Like creating holiday table settings from pinecones and adorning the chandelier with Christmas ornaments.

Yikes.

This morning I took the day off from running and enjoyed a mug of cereal for breakfast. I’m actually not nuts about cold cereal, but I spotted a box of Nature’s Path FlaxPlus Pumpkin Raisin Crunch (now there’s a mouthful) at the store and was intrigued by the pumpkin mention.

Apparently I need to be better about reading labels, because the “pumpkin” is actually pumpkin seeds. Not nearly as exciting as I’d hoped. The cereal is just okay. It contains the tiniest raisins I’ve ever seen in my life… like something you would feed your Barbie. I mean, if you still had Barbies, of course. Which would be ridiculous. Oh, hahaha. Now that’s just silly.

Moving on. I had my last class of the semester today! No more classes until Jan. 20. We took our final exam and I was outta there by 4:30. Not too shabby.

A few weeks ago I was shopping at Sur La Table and they offered a free subscription to Bon Appetit. The first issue arrived a few days ago and featured a bunch of “value recipes”. Tonight I tried the Beer- and Onion-Braised Chicken Carbonnade, described as “… a Belgian beef stew flavored with beer, onions, and brown sugar.” But obviously prepared with chicken thighs instead of beef. Although not the hugest fan of drinking beer- cooking with it is another story.

It’s an easy recipe to put together. You just brown some chicken thighs and onions in butter, add beef broth, dark beer (I used Saint Arnold Christmas Ale), brown sugar, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar and bay leaves, and let simmer for a while.  Served over whole wheat noodles:

Not terribly pretty- but it tastes good! More like a gravy than a stew.  Lots of leftovers, too!  Hey, look- here’s the recipe.

Remember those Nigella “moonblush tomatoes” I made last week? Well tonight I threw together an impromptu appetizer (see?? I need the internet): whole grain French bread, sliced, toasted and spread with goat cheese. Then I drizzled on a little balsamic vinegar and topped each crostini with a couple of the dried tomato halves:

Maybe I misjudged the little guys. The tomatoes are super sweet and worked well with the goat cheese… I bet they would be good on salads, too.

So tomorrow is the big day- Chloe’s surgery. I’m dreading it. It sucks that she’s so happy and playful tonight, and tomorrow she’s going to be hurting. But I guess it’s better to know what we’re dealing with and get it out of there ASAP.  So send some good vibes this way…

And on a happier note, the Dallas Morning News finally released Chloe’s Pet of the Week E-Card!! You can view it here, and even customize the font and background color. And then send it to all your friends, of course. 

Also, THANK YOU to Joy for the Scottish Rite donation! Don’t forget- the marathon is only 6 days away… which means that you can still donate.

SURVEY TIME!

What’s your favorite cereal (healthy or not)?

I really love Grape Nut O’s, but I can’t find them ANYWHERE anymore. Maybe they stopped making them? That would be sad. And I’m going to bet you 5 million dollars that Brian answers Cinnamon Toast Crunch. If he says anything else, he’s lying. There’s a box in our pantry right now. He sneaks it into the grocery cart.