Help Wanted: Need Guest Posters!

                                                           HELPING OTHERS ROCKS! Source: None via Emma on Pinterest

Well folks, in a little over a month's time John and I will be setting sail on the high seas on a journey to the deepest depths of the grand and mysterious ocean....err....on a luxury cruise ship sipping daquiris and getting our suntan on! Yup, our anniversary is coming up and our dear parents have given us a week long cruise vacation to celebrate. We. Are. So. Excited.

Seeing how I'll be up to my eyeballs in buffets and tide pools I'll have zero time for writing this here blog. As much as I love it, and all of you, you will be the last thing in my pretty little wind-swept head. :)

I need your help. I'm looking for guest posters from October 31st till November 4th. If you are interested in guest posting during that time, please shoot an email to culture_connoisseur(at)yahoo.com letting me know you are interested and proposing a topic to write on.

I can't wait to see what you guys come up with! Hope to find my inbox fat and happy. Thanks again for all your help, John and I both appreciate you helping take a load off our backs while we enjoy the sweet Caribbean sunshine!

Linguine With Two Sauces

Good morning, everyone! Did you have a good weekend? We had a very productive one and had a chance to hang out with some new friends and enjoy old friend's company. Sunday we spent slaving in the kitchen and cleaning the house from top to bottom. Can you believe I came away with zero pictures? Very unlike me, I know, but that's what happened.

Instead of a weekend update, I'm here to share a yummy recipe with you. This is my old stand-by when I'm hosting a fancy dinner because the pasta is so yummy and rich and tastes so "oh my, you must have slaved all day..." I can't wait for you to try it and wow your guests. Also, I wanted to give a big hug to each of you, your comments on my health update were so uplifting and motivating to stay focused on the next step in our health journey! Thanks ladies!

This recipe comes from a Cooking Light magazine all the way back in 1997. But I got it out of their "Best Of" cookbook a few years ago. Surely it has to be one of their best. Here's what you need:

Linguine With Two Sauces
Serves 8-10

2 teaspoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
3/4 teaspoon pepper, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
2 (14.5-ounce) cans Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained 
Cooking spray
4 cups sliced cremini or button mushrooms (about 12 ounces)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded reduced-fat, reduced-sodium Swiss cheese (such as Alpine Lace)
1/2 cup dry white wine (and more for drinking...)
8 cups hot cooked linguine (about 1 pound uncooked pasta)
1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
Fresh oregano sprigs (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Add basil, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and tomatoes; cook over low heat 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Place a large saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat until hot. Add mushrooms, and cook 5 minutes. Remove from saucepan, and set aside. Add flour to saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Place flour mixture over medium heat, and cook until thick (about 3 minutes), stirring constantly. Stir in Swiss cheese, wine, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook until cheese melts (about 1 minute), stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in mushrooms.

Combine linguine and mushroom sauce in a large bowl. Spoon linguine mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spread tomato sauce evenly over the linguine mixture, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes. Garnish with oregano sprigs, if desired.

(This dish is great when you have another couple over because you'll have tons of leftovers to nosh on the next couple days after the party. This dish reheats really really well.)

Question of the Day:

What is your go-to recipe to impress your guests?

Hannah's Health Update (and a winner...)

Today is the day we've all been waiting for....the finale of the giveaway! Our winner is.....

Comment #4- Hilliary from Happily Ever Healthy!

Congrats, girl! And thank you for all of you support! Please email your full name and address to culture_connoisseur@yahoo.com  so I can set up your subscription.

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                                                                             Source: saturatedcanary.blogspot.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Fitness Update:

I'm feeling great these days folks! First I want to share with you a major victory...a little over a year ago I took the Real Age Test, and scored 34 years old! (That was 12 years over my actual age.) Over the last year I have increased the amount of exercise I do, changed to a 65% vegetarian diet, started getting more sleep at night, and cut out almost all drinks but water and the occasional sweet tea. I took the Real Age Test again yesterday and scored at 20 years old...that's 4 years younger than I actually am! Needless to say, I'm feeling on top of the world!

                                                                                                Source: weheartit.com via Hannah on Pinterest

We have been running 2-3 times per week in preparation for our 5k on September 24th, go to the gym 1-2 days a week to lift weights, and we do yoga 2 days a week or as needed to relieve tight and sore muscles after our runs. With each run and each weight I feel stronger and more endurant, but the yoga is what makes it all possible. Without yoga as the foundation I wouldn't be fit to do anything else.

                                                                            Source: letsrendezvous.tumblr.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Diet Update:
I've mentioned in previous posts that John and I are "Carnevegeveganarians." That is, we eat like vegans and vegetarians for most of our week and throw in some meat here and there when we feel like it. Making this change has completely changed our health...all our afternoon drowsiness is gone, we sleep better at night, we experience little to no illness (when we used to get sinus infections and colds year 'round), our dental health has drastically improved, fewer headaches, and even clearer skin.
Since we've so enjoyed the benefits of our healthy diet, we're taking it to the next level...

                                                                                Source: theveganproject.wordpress.com via Hannah on Pinterest

I'm a little hesitant to say "we're going vegan" because I feel like "vegan" has so many opinions surrounding it. Instead I'll say that John and I are going meat- and dairy-free for a month, and the "why?" is quite simple. Even though we have seen dramatic differences in our health lately in comparison with where we were at a year ago, John still experiences chronic heartburn. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes have been known to act as a medicinal diet, healing the body of it's ailments, preventing AND reversing heart disease and pro-longing one's lifespan.

Our meat- and dairy-free experiment is to see if it will rid John of daily heartburn for good. Currently he takes Priolosec daily, and has for years (which is not recommended) and we feel it's high time we try and deal with it. Chances are a doctor will put him on a prescribed medication, and we aren't interested in those...we want the chance to heal ourselves by way of good food straight from Mother Earth.

Our diet starts Monday, and I can't wait to see what happens. I'll keep you all in the loop and say a prayer that this finally brings John some relief!

Question of the Day:

Are you a vegetarian or meat- and dairy-free?

Have you tried in the past?

Grilled Kebab

Hey folks! Don't forget to enter my giveaway for the year subscription to Cooking Light Magazine. The giveaway closes tonight at midnight and the winner will be announced tomorrow!!
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Ok, down to business. This recipe was really delicious and pretty easy peasy. John found the recipe here and it turned out pretty darn good! To go with the kebab, we also skewered some roma tomatoes and grilled them to perfection, and I made a saffron rice and yogurt sauce to go with them. (See end of post for rice recipe and yogurt recipe).

Ingredients (for kebab):

1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped very fine
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, and leave for an hour to let the flavors blend. To make the kebabs, take small amounts of kefta (the beef) and shape them into cylinder or sausage shapes. Skewer the meat, squeezing it to mold to the skewer. You will need sword-skewers, and they can be purchased at your local Middle Eastern market.

Cook the meat (and tomatoes) over hot coals, about 5 minutes on each side (or longer until cooked through). Don't let the kebab dry out. Serve immediately. Grill tomatoes until the skins start to rip and some of the skin is charred.

Quick Saffron Rice: In a rice cooker combine rice and water and add a small pinch of saffron threads and 1/2 tsp tumeric. Stir together and let cook to perfection!

Yogurt Sauce: 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 1/2 cucumber (seeded and diced), 1/2 tsp minced garlic, 1/8 tsp salt, a couple sprinkles of pepper, and a shake or two of dried dill.

Question of the Day:

Have you ever had Middle Easter kebab?



Wordless Wednesday

Literally...no words....

Long Weekend Update| September 6, 2011

Me and the girls at Wekiwa Springs

Good Tuesday morning to you all! Raise your hand if your ready to start back into the work week. No takers? That's what I thought. Raise your hand if you had an awesome and relaxing long weekend....

Now that's more like it!

This weekend we were able to squeeze in quite a bit of fun and relax time despite some of the more stressful tasks we had before us: finding new wheels for the car and scouting out a new place to live. More on the tires later, and more on the new place to live once we find something.

Sunday morning we went to Wekiwa Springs State Park in Winter Springs, Florida. It was such a beautiful, peaceful morning and we enjoyed a two-hour paddle around the springs with our friend Laura and her parents who were in town. As you can see, the water was so glassy and still and everything was so lush and green. We saw multiple turtles and even saw a little 2ft alligator as we were coming back to shore.

The company was the best part though. Laura just moved into town and it's been great getting to know her better. Meeting her awesome parents was the icing on the cake...talk about people of God! We really loved our time getting to know them and laughing along with them down the river. 

We also enjoyed an evening using our new grill. John made me homemade kebab and he knocked it out of the park. Something tells me he has a little bit of Persian blood running through his veins because it tasted just as good as the ones I've had at restaurants or our Iranian friends' house. I will be posting a recipe and how-to on Thursday. You're going to want to try this recipe!

We also grilled hot dogs this weekend...those were nothing to write home about. And frank-ly (hehe), I regret it.

Monday John finally got some new wheels for the car. He and a friend went to pick them up from a guy in St. Cloud. We paid $300 for all four wheels and tires. Not a bad deal. We parked the car inches away from my own last night so that if the theives had the nerve to come back again they would only be able to steal two of them.

Luckily, no such thing happened. And if it had, John swore we would move into a friends house until we found a new place to live.

Monday evening we got together for dinner at Olive Garden with our friends Becky and Reggie. Reggie just moved to L.A. and is back visiting his beautiful girlfriend Becky. Aren't they a lovely couple?  They are surely in love. I have a feeling he's going to be stealing my friend away forever sometime soon, but I couldn't think of a better person to do so. We love you Reggie!

We're looking forward to the short week ahead and the possibilities for housing coming our way. We should have some busy evenings scoping places out. Can't wait to update you all on our progress!

Have a great week!

Question of the Day: 

Do you celebrate labor day and recognize it as anything other than a day off?

Don't forget to enter the Cooking Light Subscription Giveaway by Thursday!

Low Rider

This is what I saw when I walked out to my car this morning. Our Miata's tires had been completely lifted.

I walked out. I saw the car. "Balls. Really? Really??" I walked back inside to notify my husband. The conversation went something like this...

Me: Dude... your car has no tires.
Him: What?
Me: Your wheels have been lifted, dude. (for some reason calling him "dude" felt like it broke the news easier.)
Him: Ah man, really?

There we were, me in my work clothes,  him in his underpants. Standing outside staring at our poor poor car.

I think we need to find a new place to live...

GIVEAWAY- Subscription to Cooking Light Magazine

                                                                            Source: frenchbydesign.blogspot.com via Hannah on Pinterest

Woo hoo! Yesterday my little bloggy hit 200 followers! I can't even begin to express my thanks to each of you for connecting with me here and "doing life" with me, even if it is on the web. All of your comments have been so uplifting and encouraging and even help me to achieve some goals I have set for myself.

If it wasn't for each one of you I probably would have stopped blogging months ago, and my passion for it may have fizzled out. Instead I keep on writing, because I know that in doing so I will continue to learn and grow from all of your responses and the experiences you share from your own life here. I really am grateful, and look forward to the future and my time here with you.

In the words of Buzz from Home Alone..."Ok, that's enough sh....ow of emotion. Let's open some presents!!!"

This giveaway will be the giveaway that keeps on giving. I would like to give one of my dear readers a year subscription to Cooking Light Magazine (my personal favorite). This magazine has tons of healthy and delicious recipes, tips for living a healthy lifestyle and even some beauty and fashion stuff as well.

To enter the giveaway: 

You must be a follower of this blog through GFC. 

To enter, just leave a comment below. :) 

This giveaway will close at midnight, next Thursday, Sept 8th, 2011.