Corn Pudding Recipe for Christmas Dinner…

On By Barbara StroudIn FOOD, Recipe1 Comment

There is nothing better than a good corn pudding to go along with a holiday meal. A mixture of sweet (Jiffy corn muffin mix) and savory it seems to just melt in your mouth! This recipe is from Daphne Oz (yep, her dad is Dr. Oz, she’s the gal on THE CHEW, a TV show about food…). I saw this in the DASH RECIPES circular that comes in the paper once a month. GREAT RECIPES inside that little gem, so be sure to look through it carefully! This isn’t a healthy side dish, but hey, it’s the holidays, this is a very popular recipe right now… Like Daphne says… eat less the day before and the day after a holiday feast, that way you can enjoy the holiday! From DashRecipes.com:

DAPHNE OZ’S CORN PUDDING

INGREDIENTS

1 (8.5-box) Jiffy corn muffin mix (or vegetarian equivalent)
1 can cream-style corn
1 can corn nibblets, drained
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sour cream
AT A GLANCE:SERVINGS: 8ACTIVE TIME: 10 minTOTAL TIME: 1 hr 5 min

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Grease an 8 to 10-inch pan with butter and pour in mixture. Bake at 350˚F for 55-60 minutes. 

Serves 8.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Image: DashRecipes.com

Featured Artist… Ezra Katz!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist2 Comments

Painting by artist Ezra Katz

Ezra Katz. An artist who paints the most delightful paintings! I really do enjoy his style. This is an amazing painting. The wonderful shadows, the light in the distance… the clear crisp of the foreground and the light and  more fuzzy background just makes everything say LOOK AT ME! A great painting!

Here’s a blip about Ezra from his website:

Ezra Katz, born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1970 and, raised in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, began studying art at the age of seven. Learning from several teachers who would come from Mexico City and stay for the summer at this family home. Katz began with academic art and later studied commercial art when he arrived at the University of Texas in Austin and Corpus Christi. In Mexico, he established himself as an artist.  In the off seasons, Ezra traveled through the United States, painting commissions for private clients. In Cabo San Lucas, Ezra created a following among restaurateurs and hoteliers creating his highly original murals and etchings. Ezra now makes his home in two places, California and Mexico. He delights in the diverse landscapes of the Bay Area.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Ocean House Hotel, Port Clyde, Maine… beautiful light!

On By Barbara StroudIn TRAVEL4 Comments

Look at that beautiful light! The colors and textures in this photo are reminiscent (to me) of an Andrew Wyeth painting… the light is magnificent. This photo was taken from the top floor of the Ocean House Hotel, the back screen door… on our way to a fabulous breakfast! If you’re ever in Port Clyde and need a place to rest your head, the Ocean House Hotel is a neat place with a wonderful breakfast!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

And… I’m baaaayaaaack!

On By Barbara StroudIn THOUGHTS, TRAVEL2 Comments

Well, I’ve been in Michigan visiting “my people”… trying to catch up after not seeing them for SEVEN MONTHS, ahhhh, it’s hard living far away from everyone! I’m writing this post ahead of time, and I am assuming that I’m way up high in the sky on my way home now… hope y’all missed me ;)

I’ve got lots of good stuff planned, so stay tuned…

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Randy Higbee Gallery 6 Inch Squared Show!

On By Barbara StroudIn ARTLeave a comment

The opening reception… tomorrow night (Saturday, December 8, 2012)! Judging by what I’ve seen from my Facebook friends who are artists who submitted work to the Randy Higbee 6 Inch Squared Show… it’s going to be AMAZING! There is some brilliant work that will be featured (and framed beautifully I’m sure!). I know last year the quality of work was nothing short of amazing. Top artists from throughout the country are painting 6×6 paintings for this show. It will be a hit, trust me! You’ve got to check it out…! Now is the time to get an original piece of art from a top notch artist!

Click HERE to see all the paintings included in this show!

From the Randy Higbee Gallery website:

6 Inch Squared 

An Exhibition and Sale by a Collection of the Finest Artists in the United States

Opening Reception

December 8th 2012

Catch you back here tomorrow!

(Note: Image also from the Randy Higbee Gallery website!)

Fabulous Bean Soup – it can’t be easier!

On By Barbara StroudIn FOOD, HEALTH, Recipe3 Comments

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This soup is amazing. When it’s cold outside it will warm you. With all the beans it will fill you up and keep you full for a long time. I used a ham bone from Honey Baked Ham and it had a good bit of ham on it. There was the perfect amount, so I didn’t need to buy extra. This soup is outstanding! This is a collaboration of several recipes. Note: I DID NOT USE THE SEASONING PACKET…

Why didn’t you use the seasoning packet you ask? Well, because there isn’t anything that even remotely resembles “ham” and if there was, how would they get it in that tiny little packet? This is what’s in the seasoning “HAM” packet: Hydrolyzed Soy Protein (omg, click orange link to read what it is!), maltodextrin, salt, artificial flavorings (including artificial smoke flavor), silicon dioxide. Ok, what in that list appeals to you? One rule to becoming healthier… don’t eat stuff you can’t pronounce, don’t know where it comes from or ISN’T REAL! Soy protein for ham flavoring? Creeps. Me. Out. All you have to do is add a few spices and this recipe goes from being CREEPY to being a true delight! AND it only takes a minute to add a few spices. Here’s how I made the soup (click HERE to print recipe only):

15 (or 16 or whatever beans you’ve got!) BEAN SOUP

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg of 15 Bean Soup (dried beans only) – approximately a pound, give or take

1 ham bone – whatever size will fit in your pot (mine came from Honey Baked Ham, they sell their ham bones and they have quite a bit of ham, if you don’t have a ham place near you, you can use 1 pound of ham, ham hocks or smoked sausage).

1 large onion, chopped.

1 14.5 oz petite diced tomatoes

3 quarts water

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 ribs celery, chopped

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 bay leaf

Pepper (I didn’t use salt because of the salt in the ham/bone, it didn’t need a speck!)

DIRECTIONS

Wash the beans and then soak in a large pot of water overnight (or for at least eight hours). Or you can use the Quick Cook Method (which is what I did because I decided to make the soup that day) – to do this rinse the beans then put them in a large pot with 3 quarts of water and bring to a rapid boil. Reduce the heat, cover and continue on a slow boil for 60-70 minutes, and then drain the beans and rinse one last time.

In a large dutch oven, heat about a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onion and celery and saute until translucent. Add minced garlic, saute 1 minute or until fragrant.

Add spices, beans, tomatoes and ham bone.

Cover with about 3 quarts of water, or enough to either cover the bone or fill your pot.

Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer about 1.5 hours.

Remove the ham bone, let cool a few minutes and cut the ham off the bone into small pieces.

Remove the bay leaf and add the diced ham back to the pot.

Serve… I served with an olive baguette from Trader Joe’s that I heated in the oven, then dipped in olive oil.

TOO GOOD, and it makes a large pot, so there is enough to eat, have lunches, and freeze!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Eric Aho!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured ArtistLeave a comment

“Ice Cut” by Eric Aho

Eric Aho. Whoa! I cannot tell you how much time I have spent trying to decide WHICH of his paintings to feature. Each one is so brilliant and unique. “Ice Cut” is an oil painting that almost looks like it could be a watercolor. Eric’s use of color and light is so amazing. His nocturne’s mesmerize me! Everywhere I looked for his work I saw more and more and more and finally decided to go with the very first image that struck me. As simple as it is it just draws you in.

Read a blip about Eric from DC Moore Gallery:

Eric Aho explores extreme conditions of nature in landscape paintings that incorporate traditional representation, gestural abstraction, and implied figuration. The subjects of Aho’s recent paintings—ice floes, forest fires, and snowstorms— recall the immediacy and monumentality of nature. In them, he makes palpable the physicality of mass and texture while directing us to the more intangible qualities of light, movement, and time.

Evoking tectonic sensation on a scale and with a painterly vigor appropriate to the wildernesses depicted, Aho conjures the density and friction of layers of ice, the bracing temperature of arctic water, and the beauty and destructive force of wildfire. In the catalogue accompanying the exhibition, author Bonnie Costello elaborates, “The dynamism of these paintings aligns with their subject matter. Instead of offering abiding geological forms, as a stable theater for variations of light and season, Aho places us deep inside extreme, protean states—in a reality not just leafing and shedding, but burning and freezing.” As representation dissolves into abstraction, these works simultaneously evoke grandeur and moments of intimacy. Aho explains, “I respond to extremes and the tension between clarity and indistinctness, the literal and the suggested, between the knowable and the unknowable. I am curious about the line we are unable to crosseither physically, intellectually, or imaginatively.”

Aho is influenced by the history of painting in surprising ways. His work bridges diverse associations ranging from Courbet to deKooning to Turrell. Costello reveals, “The boreal fires that consume the canvas have an all-over quality that can make one think of Jackson Pollock, but they first burned into Aho’s imagination from a painting by Rembrandt, Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1647), where a tiny camp fire illuminates a circle around the figures who hover in a dark, expansive wilderness.

In earlier work, Aho focused on the landscape of his northern New England surroundings. His current process is a significant departure. Now, personal anecdote, memory, and invention are deliberately introduced into the content and meaning drawn from firsthand experience of the observable landscape. Intervening between the seen and the imagined, Aho explores “how a single painted image can mediate an equivalent level of tension and sensation present in an individual’s relationship to the physical world.” In her essay, Costello concludes, “With Aho, we confront reality not selectively, in discrete, familiar parts, or classical unities, but as sensation, in real time…. Consciousness is in a forest, finding its way, all smear and blur and shimmer. Perception is still happening in the viewing, which demands duration, for the painting is not just the afterimage of an event; it is the event.”

Following studies at the Central School of Art and Design in London, Aho received his BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art. In 1989 he participated in the first exchange of scholars in over thirty years between the U.S. and Cuba. His postgraduate work was completed at the Institute of Art and Design in Lahti, Finland supported by a Fulbright Fellowship and a grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation.

Aho’s paintings have been shown internationally in Ireland, South Africa, Cuba, Norway, and Finland. Recent exhibitions in the United States include: Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut; Hood Museum of Art, Hanover, New Hampshire; Portland Art Museum, Maine; Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Maine; National Academy, New York; and American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York. Eric Aho lives and works in Saxtons River, Vermont.

DC Moore Gallery | Eric Aho | Bonnie Costello | 

Check out Eric’s website, it’s amazing! Catch you back here tomorrow!

Grandmas Goulash… quick, easy and oh so good!

On By Barbara StroudIn FOOD, Recipe2 Comments

Grandmas Goulash, not Grandma’s Goulash… My recipe is a combination of both of my grandma’s recipes, one of them used tomato sauce and the other used tomato paste. It’s the tomato paste that gives it the great flavor (well that and the parmesan!)… I use lean ground sirloin (the leanest) or ground round (the next leanest) and it works perfectly. This is one of those meals that tastes even better the next day… try it, I just know you will LOVE it! Goulash is one of those quick meals that is the ultimate in comfort food! Comfort food doesn’t always have to be unhealthy…

Start by chopping one onion (however much you like, or none if you prefer)… Add a little olive oil to a large skillet (or large pan if you don’t have a saucepan large enough to cook everything in).

Add 1 pound of ground sirloin (or other hamburger), and cook until done. Drain off excess fat.

Add 1-15 oz. can of tomato sauce, about 1 cup of water, 1 can of tomato paste, salt and pepper to taste. If it gets too thick add a little more water.

Simmer (not boil, just until you see little bubbles on the edges) for one hour on low. I usually have the lid cracked so all the liquid doesn’t evaporate.

After the meat sauce has simmered for about 30 minutes, turn on a large pot of water to boil the 2 cups of elbow macaroni. Follow package direction for the macaroni noodles (or similar shape, can also use egg noodles if you prefer) until done. Drain, and add to meat sauce. Give it a good stir.

Now it’s ready to dish up! Add a veggie and/or a salad and you’ve got one great meal! Click HERE to print the recipe…

GRANDMAS GOULASH

Brown 1 pound Ground Sirloin (or ground round, etc.) in a large saucepan, drain any excess fat.

Add 1 diced Onion, cook until hamburger is done and onion is tender.

To the meat add: 1-15 oz. can of Tomato Sauce, 1 cup Water, 1 can Tomato Paste and Salt & Pepper to taste.

Simmer 1 hour.

Cook 2 cups of elbow macaroni as directed on package. Drain and add to meat mixture. 

Serve with Parmesan Cheese. 

Note: You can also add a little cheese and bake it the next day to change it a little. My preference is to leave it as is, you just can’t beat it!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Matt Linz!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured ArtistLeave a comment

“Laundry” by Matt Linz

A wonderfully executed painting by artist Matt Linz. The looseness and the bits of white peaking through I absolutely adore! Laundry… a mundane task, yet Matt captured it and almost made it look somewhat elegant, ha ha… I think that keeping the tighter brushwork on the woman made her *pop*, the looseness in other areas is quite nice. Great work! Check out Matt’s blog, it’s a goodie!

Here’s a little blip about Matt from his website:

I earned my BFA from the College of Visual Arts, located in St. Paul, MN. in 1997. After graduating I began work as a catalog photographer and designer. My two biggest artistic accomplishments have been receiving signature artist status with the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, and having my work shown in American Artist magazine (Acrylic Highlights). When I’m not working I spend as much time as I can outside and with local artist groups sketching with traditional media. These sketches and other work will be the focus of this blog.

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Christmas Tree… Fresh or Fake?

On By Barbara StroudIn HOME, THOUGHTS3 Comments

2011 Christmas Tree...

Well, it’s that time of year… time to put up the Christmas tree! Have you ever had a tree fall over after you’ve decorated it? In the 20 years that we’ve been married we’ve had two trees topple over… devastating consequences… the first tree had lots of glass (beautiful) bulbs… only a few of the glass bulbs survived… it happened as soon as we finished decorating it. It was beautiful. We went to bed and CRASH! Ugh… hours of cleanup and then cement blocks to keep it from falling over. Over the years we finally gave up the cement blocks. Do we REALLY need those big heavy things? Nah… We decorated the tree and a few days later CRASH. Tree toppled… water was everywhere. We had one of those big heavy duty stands that seemed (at the time) to hold about 90 gallons of water! We UNdecorated the tree (sigh)… and moved it to the sunroom… if it floods in there all is well… then we put a little cup hook in the moulding and have tied the top of the tree to it. You can’t see it, but it’s keeping the tree from taking a dive! That (and the cleanup) is the downside of a fresh tree. But the smell, ahhhh… I guess it’s what you grow up with. We always had a fresh tree, so I can’t think of anything but.

Whether fresh or fake, Christmas trees and their beautiful lights can give off such a nice warm glow. I love that! The bonus is that we can see the Christmas tree that’s in our sunroom, but it’s in a cooler room away from the fireplace!

Enjoy your tree! Catch you back here tomorrow!

The little one… not yet fuzzy…

On By Barbara StroudIn HOME, THOUGHTS4 Comments

This photo was taken three years ago, shortly after we got the little beast affectionately referred to as Charlie! This was before he got fuzzy… pretty soon the hair grew in front of his eyes and his coat got longer. He’s soft but much like a Swiffer… you know, those cloths that dust clings to? Yep, that’s Charlie… when he goes outside he comes in like a little Swiffer… have to de-swifferize him before he comes in the house, ha ha…

This is Charlie three years later…

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday. Are you getting your shopping done for Christmas…? Can you believe how quickly it got here this year… each year it seems to arrive a little earlier!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Ann Larsen!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured ArtistLeave a comment

“Winter Color” by Ann Larsen

This is a beautiful winterscape. Look at all those colors that make up the snow. Just like in real life… snow certainly isn’t all white when you look at it, since reflections and shadows appear as different colors. I love a snowy painting WITH SUN. It just makes everything pop. Nice brushwork and great flecks of light throughout the painting! Her paintings lack the fine details that end up making a painting ‘fussy’. Take a peek, I’m sure you’ll enjoy them!

Here’s a blip about Ann from her website:

Ann is an award winning artist living in upstate New York’s Adirondack Mountains.  Born in Louisivlle, KY, Ann began traveling and living throughout the United States at the age of 18.   After completing a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Central Oklahoma, she and her family moved to Denver, CO where Ann began to focus on her painting and fell in love with the western landscape.   Even though she lives in a beautiful part of the country, where plein air painting is a challenge almost any time of year, Ann also spends time painting on the coast of Maine and throughout the Southwest.   

Ann’s approach to the landscape is to simplify as much as possible in order to create the strongest paintings.  “I want my viewers to know how I felt about a place when I painted it.  I’m not trying to copy what I see nor am I interested in lots of detail.  I want to suggest a subject with the buildup of paint and exciting brushstrokes.”

Northlight Gallery in Kennebunkport, ME states, “Ann’s work exhibits the careful, thoughtful hand of an artist deeply committed to both her medium and her environment.   Ann is able to suggest the power, grace and mood of her subject as she captures the essence of New England in her landscapes and seascapes.”

Catch you back here tomorrow!

The Flatbread Company, Portland, Maine – Pizza with a view!

On By Barbara StroudIn FOODLeave a comment

Waterfront dining… there’s nothing like it! Especially when the atmosphere is casual, the food is delicious and there is a great view! We had heard wonderful things about the Flatbread Company, so, on a recent stop in Portland, Maine we decided to check it out. Located on Commercial Street, right in the heart of things sits this amazing restaurant. I’m not sure we would have run across it if someone didn’t tell us about it. I am so glad they did! Especially since it’s only a few minutes from the airport. It’s good to have a plan when your plane lands and you’re are ravenous with nowhere in mind to go! Check out their MENU; it’s not typical pizza, it’s different, and absolutely delicious. The salads are so beyond wonderful, very different, very, very good! So wonderful that as soon as it arrived… WE. ATE. IT. Ok, so that’s what normal people do, but I have to TAKE. A. PHOTO. FIRST. Well, you don’t see what we ordered (it was so good, just trust me on that!), but I did take photos inside the place. We got there before they opened (on our way to the airport), so that’s why there aren’t many people yet…

They have a neat website showcasing each of their restaurants… check it out!

Catch you back here tomorrow!

Featured Artist… Eleinne Basa!

On By Barbara StroudIn ART, Featured Artist2 Comments

“Afternoon Light” by Eleinne Basa

Normally I like to feature a painting that is still for sale. This is an exception. Even though this gorgeous painting has sold, I just had to share it with you. STUNNING! LOOK at that light. Absolutely incredible. That beautiful warm golden light alongside the dark sky is perfection! This painting won the $15,000 First Place Award in the 1st Annual Plein Air Salon Online Competition! Woohoo Eleinne!
The awarding was announced during the 1st Plein Air convention in Las Vegas.

Here’s a blip about Eleinne from her website…

A Classically trained artist, Basa began painting at the young age of 8. Her early training still influences her as it is when she is painting “en plein air’ that she is brought back to a time in her childhood when “painting was pure and comes from someplace deep within.”
Basa’s landscapes allure the viewer to move into the work with their radiant light and luminescent qualities reminiscent of the early Luminists and Tonalists of the American School. She is inspired by painters like Thomas Moran, George Inness and is continually striving to achieve a certain timelessness to her work.

A professional and full time artist since 2004,
Basa participates in several national shows and have been invited to participate in prestigious events such as the Maynard dixon Country show in 2009 . She has also been invited to show her works at the National Arts Club and at the Salmagundi Club in New York, New York.

D. Eleinne Basa lives in Jackson New Jersey with her husband and two children.

Check out Eleinne’s website, see all the amazing paintings…  and I’ll Catch you back here tomorrow!

CHILI RECIPE: How to make a great pot of chili!

On By Barbara StroudIn FOOD, Recipe4 Comments

Best Chili Ever!

This is one fast and easy recipe. This chili is so tasty you absolutely won’t believe it, especially when you see how quickly it comes together… Not too many ingredients:

CHILI

1 pound ground sirloin (or whatever hamburger meat you prefer, I find whatever I can that has no antibiotics, etc.)

1 onion, diced

2- 28oz cans of diced tomatoes

2- 16oz cans of chili beans (I use Bush’s Chili Beans, whatever heat level you desire. Today I used Medium)

Chili Powder (to your taste, I use about 1-2 Tablespoons)

Crackers to crinkle on top when served… can also top with cheese, sour cream and any other topping. I just use crackers, oyster crackers are best!

Step One:

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan or dutch oven. Add onion. Cook until translucent.

Add hamburger and break up with spoon while it cooks. Cook until meat is no longer pink.

Step Two:

Add two cans of tomatoes and two cans of chili beans WITH the juice. Now take each can that you used (tomatoes and chili beans) and fill each can about 1/3 of the way with water. Add the water to the pot (this also gets the extra juice from tomato cans/bean cans).

Now add the chili powder, you can also add pepper… if you used no sodium tomatoes/beans you can also add salt at this time. (I don’t use it because I buy regular tomatoes and chili beans, so there’s plenty of salt).

Bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer for about an hour. Add more water if it needs it. You can make it as thick or as runny as you like! As it simmers it will reduce over time.

Serve in a bowl. Can top with saltines, oyster crackers, cheese, sour cream, green onions or whatever sounds good to you!

NOTE: Last time I made chili I didn’t have chili beans and didn’t want to run to the store. What I did have is cannellini beans, so I DRAINED those beans and added two cans and I doubled the chili powder. I think I also tossed in a tablespoon or two of diced jalepeno’s… I buy them in the pickle section, that way you don’t have to cut them up… good time saver! This chili was awesome. You can use whatever beans you like. Most common are red kidney beans or whatever you’ve got on hand!

ENJOY!

Catch you back here tomorrow!