I read a blip in Prevention magazinethat said there was a 64% DECREASE IN THE RISK OF BREAST CANCER FROM EATING ONE BUTTON MUSHROOM DAILY! This should be front page news… Even if you don’t like mushrooms, it seems like there could be some way to sneak one into your day! Lucky for me, I DO like mushrooms, and after reading this I AM going to eat more of them!
It’s Thursday. My mom has her first chemo treatment today… I am praying things go well, my hope is that she’ll feel great and continue on without any problems… I’m going to dedicate the next 12 Thursdays to different bits of information that I’ve read to help prevent cancer. Pass them on; we all need a break from this ugly beast! OK mom, 1 down, 11 to go!
I remember the first time I saw one of Jane Ryan’s acrylic paintings… at Maine Cottage in Charleston, SC. Maine Cottage has since shuttered it’s doors, but the one painting that we saw years ago lives on in my mind. It was facinating… a very different woods scene. The painting in the post is from the artists website, it’s entitled LAST LEG. I like her work, it’s so different. Very refreshing. If you get a chance, check out her website. You will also notice a list of galleries, so I would check those out as well!
Whenever I make these cookies and take them somewhere, people go nuts! Seriously… These are too good, and when I give out the recipe, NO ONE can believe they’re “light”. This recipe is from Cooking Light magazine. Make no mistake, part of what makes them so light is the serving size (one). With 81 calories, 3 grams of fat, 1.4 gm saturated fat, and 0.5gm fiber you have to be careful to not eat more than one (or two), but if you exercise a lot and can burn off what you eat… by all means, have at it! I love the cookie dough (I’m aware of the safety issues… to me, the dough is worth risking my life for taking a wee bit of a risk… I’m happy to report that in my little world there is no calorie content in the dough UNTIL IT IS BAKED… (and if you believe that I have swamp land, I mean a deep water lot for sale, hee hee).
I do make a few modifications, ALTHOUGH they’re perfectly fine as the recipe indicates. Here are some of the changes I’ve made throughout the years.Leave out the brown sugar. OOPS… it happened once and I thought they turned out BETTER. But the difference between it being there and NOT being there is barely noticeable (therefore why waste the extra calories?).I use regular chocolate chips instead of mini. I didn’t care for the mini chips, they were, ahhhh, TOO MINI… I like a hefty bite of chocolate not a tiny smear where you THINK you may have just gotten chocolate (or maybe not)…I usually use walnuts and I don’t always toast them. One reason, I’m almost always in a hurry. Another reason, I forget about them until I smell them burning. Soooo, since nuts are good for you I use a generous amount, usually a few handfuls. Same with chocolate chips… I put a few handfuls… I buy good chocolate chips, free of allergy causing soy and other miscellaneous ingredients that takes away from the flavor of the chocolate. I also use dark chocolate chips…I usually (not always) make the cookies SMALLER. I like them bite size. No crumbs that way, boy do I have things figured out or what? You just have to watch them closely because they won’t always take as long to bake. I think you tend to eat less when you think, HAVE I JUST EATEN FIVE COOKIES? When in reality it was probably 2.5… a way I mess with myself, ha ha…Lastly, I use a Silpat cookie sheet liner instead of parchment, but either way it’ll work just fine! Give these a whirl, I do believe they’ll quickly become your favorite! Click HERE for the recipe from MyRecipes.com where you can easily print (as well as see the full info on nutritional info) or see below…
Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan Cookies
These easy drop cookies are crisp on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside. Chocolate minichips disperse better in the batter, but you can use regular chips.
YIELD: 3 dozen (serving size: 1 cookie)
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (about 5 1/2 ounces)
1 cup regular oats
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate minichips
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 4 ingredients (through salt), stirring with a whisk; set aside.
Place sugars and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add vanilla and egg; beat until blended. Gradually add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until combined. Stir in pecans and minichips. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until edges of cookies are lightly browned. Cool on pans 2 minutes. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.
Julianna Grimes and Ann Taylor Pittman, Cooking Light
DECEMBER 2007
Bradley Hendershot. Nice guy… met him a few years ago on Monhegan Island. He does fabulous watercolors mainly of Pennsylvania, Maine and Maryland’s eastern shore. If you aren’t familiar with his work, check him out! He has a website with paintings, gallery information and upcoming exhibitions. Brad’s work reminds me of some of Andrew Wyeth’s work.
Funny thing, when I think of Brad I think of blueberry Pop-Tarts. Ha… He had a studio set up on Monhegan across from the Island Inn (the John Sterling House for those of you who are familiar), Fred and I popped (yuck, yuck) in to introduce ourselves and check out his work and there were boxes of blueberry Pop-Tarts on the counters. Not just a few boxes… MANY boxes. Too funny… what’s any better than an unfrosted blueberry Pop-Tart? Too bad it’s not health food…! So if you haven’t seen Brad’s work before, click on the website link above!
“It took me time to understand my waterlilies. I had planted them for the pleasure of it; I grew them without ever thinking of painting them.”Claude Monet Quote
Are you an artist? Do you have a website? In this day and time it’s pretty much a necessity to have a website. You need a website that is up to date that provides information to potential art collectors. Problem is… we aren’t all well versed in creating a website, especially one that may also include a blog, email newsletter, “buy now” button, the ability to add images, etc. Well LOOK NO FURTHER… with Fine Art Studio Online you can create a website so easily it will make your head spin, AND if you need help, they have wonderful “artist support agents”. Pricing is low compared to paying a webmaster. You have a few options and the pricing varies. Their most popular plan (the Gold plan) is only $28/month and allows you to add up to 750 images! Check it out HERE.
Many wonderful artists use the http://faso.com site to create their own sites… Brian Blood, Glenn Dean, Logan Hagege, Bridget Jennings, Brian Kliewer, and Kevin Macpherson, just to name a FEW…
A blip from FASO.com website: Enjoy quickly designing, maintaining, and updating your site, blog, email newsletter and more. You won’t have to wait for a webmaster every time you want to make a change. (Say goodbye to your web developer’s change fees too!) If you can surf the web, you can use our software! Plus, if you run into an area where you need help, you can always turn to our professional Artist Support Agents and take advantage of our Positively Remarkable Customer Service.
So if you need a website, but have been putting it off, check it out! They offer a 60 day free trial, can’t beat that! Check them out, you’ll be glad you did!
Owwiiieeee… Chobani Greek yogurt! Have you tried it? You’ve heard the hoopla, better for you, more protein, yada yada… but have you TASTED IT? Absolutely delicious. Even the plain (especially when mixed with a cut up cucumber and some green onion… oh heavens!)… give it a try if you haven’t already! They have lots of flavors to choose from!
Wiscasset. LOVE that little town… “Maine’s prettiest Village” also has a pretty fantastic gallery, Wiscasset Bay Gallery. Keith Oehmig, the guy who established Wiscasset Bay Gallery, just happens to be a fabulous artist as well as a really nice guy. The kind of guy you WANT to buy a painting from. The piece above is entitled “Camden Waterfront” (oil on board/24×30) is an excellent representation of his work, AND while I already had him scheduled to be a post on this blog, an art card arrived in the mail with this very painting on it! Whoa…! It’s wonderful receiving those cards, and THANK YOU to the galleries who still send them. I have a bulletin board full of artists that we would like to collect from one day… This card is now going on my bulletin board!
If you haven’t been to Wiscasset, what a fabulous place to stop! If you haven’t been in Wiscasset Bay Gallery… hoof it on over there! You’ll be SO GLAD you did! It’s a treasure of paintings!
The Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer is a biscotti-makers dream come true… no kidding! The first few times I made biscotti I only had a hand mixer, so that worked for the first part of the recipe. Then it says to stir by hand… What?! It’s like stirring glue mixed with cement, are you serious? Then I had to call in the big guns… well, ahem, he does have a name… “HEY FRED… PLEASE COME AND STIR THIS FOR ME“… ha… it was kind of like having a nice mixer BUT one that talked back… hmmm… then came the Kitchen Aid mixer… throw the ingredients in and hear it roar… I love this thing! I like my counters clean and cleared off, however this mixer gets used enough that it has the privilege of staying put! Did I mention how great this mixer is, ha ha??
Of course it’s good for everything, not just biscotti, it was just necessary for biscotti!Hey, enjoy your day! Catch you back here tomorrow! Image via Google.com
Isn’t this fabulous? I LOVE the light coming through on the adironack chairs! This is one example of Margaret’s wonderful work, a mixed media monotype entitled “Watching the Tide Roll Away”. My husband and I have loved Margaret Petterson’s work for many years. She’s versatile, paints in watercolor, oil and does monotypes. Margaret’s work is shown at the John C Doyle Gallery (John, another wonderful artist and future blog post!). Margaret can paint large paintings so full of color, they truly are special. If you haven’t seen Margaret’s work before be sure to check it out (click HERE)…
Have a wonderful week, I’ll catch you back here tomorrow!
You probably recognize this image don’t you? MASTER BEDROOM by Andrew Wyeth. I think he was just the most talented artist and interesting man (judging by his biography). OK, enough already, time for the quote… (artquotes.net)
You think you’re developing and getting better and then you see something you did years ago. Looking at your early work.. sometimes it has a depth that surprises you.
-Andrew Wyeth
When I look at his work over the years it’s amazing how it changes, not from good to bad, but just different. I guess there are a few paintings I can look back on where I’m surprised at the depth… hmmm… good!
I would like to introduce you to BESSIE MAE. She is a strong presence in our house – and, may I say, how can she not be? We bought Bessie Maeduring Spoleto (art festival) many years ago, she was created by artist Jonathan Green. He is a wonderful artist depicting the southern experience in the most interesting detail. If you aren’t familiar with his work, check it out, it’s facinating! Jonathan moved back to the lowcountry several years ago and resides on Daniel Island. Check out his website with his gallery information (click HERE) as well as Gallery Chuma’s website (click HERE)…
We like to collect original work. Bessie is an exception. Bessie is an original lithograph. The process that Jonathan uses is impressive, click HERE to learn more about it!
I made a few changes, one reason was that I was cooking for two and didn’t want leftovers… the other, I didn’t have any sesame oil… I made this a few times before I feel it was perfected. The first time I halved everything, BUT I kept the amounts for the sauce the same. There wasn’t enough. It was a tad dry… I didn’t measure the broccoli, so perhaps I had too much AND I had more shrimp… For two, I made these changes: 3/4# shrimp, and however much broccoli you want, it’s awesome so we ate quite a bit, probably close to 4cups… I used 1/3 cup of low sodium chicken broth, 2 1/2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar and 2 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce and 2 1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch.
If this sounds tasty to you, view the recipe below, or click HERE to go to their website for easy printing… NOTE: start your rice long before you start the stir fry because it goes quickly. I start the rice, and then start getting the other ingredients ready. Once the rice is almost done (or is done) THAT is when I start tossing ingredients into the wok!Enjoy!
Shrimp and Broccoli Stir-Fry
Stir-fry a zesty shrimp dish for a quick weeknight dinner. Spoon over basmati or jasmine rice. Try the recipe with chicken or steak, too.
YIELD: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup)
COURSE: Main Dishes
Ingredients
1/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil, divided
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon bottled minced garlic
1 pound peeled and deveined large shrimp
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups small broccoli florets
1 cup vertically sliced onion
Preparation
Combine first 6 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.
Heat 2 teaspoons canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add ginger and garlic to pan; stir-fry 30 seconds. Sprinkle shrimp with salt. Add shrimp to pan, and stir-fry 3 minutes or until done. Remove shrimp mixture from the pan.
Add remaining 1 teaspoon canola oil to pan. Add broccoli and onion to pan; stir-fry 4 minutes or until broccoli is crisp-tender. Add shrimp mixture and broth mixture to pan; cook 1 minute or until thickened, stirring constantly.
