I saw this on someone's blog...and I'll be damned (not that I won't anyway) if I can remember where I saw it! So if it was on YOUR blog...sorry for not crediting you!

Ingredients:

2.5 cups chicken broth (I used 3.5 cups of mushroom broth)
1/2 cup uncooked long grain rice (I used 3/4 cup and it was brown rice, not white)
2 tsps chili powder (I used a bit more)
2 garlic cloves, minced (I used a bit more)
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
3/4 cup julienned green pepper
3/4 cup julienned red or yellow pepper (I just used one whole red pepper and omitted the green one altogether)
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
8 ounces orange roughy or red snapper fillet, cut into 1 inch piece (I couldn't find either, so I used cod)
4 ounces uncooked medium shrimp, peel and deveined
3/4 cup orange juice concentrate (I used a whole can of frozen juice)

Directions:

Bring broth to a boil, add rice, chili powder and garlic and return to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes (for white; for brown rice, simmer for 40-45 minutes) or until rice is tender.

Add tomatoes, pepper(s) and onion, salt & pepper to taste. Cover and cook over medium heat until veggies are tender.

Add fish and shrimp, stir well; then add orange juice. Cover and simmer for 2-4 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork and the shrimp turns pink.

I also made Cucumber Salad with Mint and Feta; I have SO much mint in my garden and a girl can only drink so many mohitos!!!

I had two bananas to use up ASAP, so I made this :-)

1.5 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (which I forgot to add...ME! Forgetting salt!)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 medium-sized, ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

In a small bowl, combine flour, backing powder, baking soda, salt & cinnamon. In a large bowl, cream together butter & brown sugar. When light and fluffy, beat in egg, followed by mashed banana and vanilla extract. Blend in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn loaf out of pan and let cool completely before slicing.

Store in an airtight container or plastic wrap.

I went car shopping today...and guess what I got? Not.a.damn.thing. In fact, I decided to keep my car!

The Honda Fit is not a good fit for me; it's ... too light, too...simple. I was quite disappointed actually. The salesman asked my why I wanted to trade "down" from my current car, a Honda Civic Si hatch (which they don't make anymore, sad to say). I hadn't realized the Fit was trading down until I finally found one to test drive. Definitely not for me. I also test drove a Honda Element; while nice, it's too big for my needs and as Jimbo said...it's so empty inside it echoes LOL! I sat in a Civic Si coupe, which was nice, but not big enough for Wolf's crate. Gotta take into consideration the dogs and Wolf doesn't like being in a moving car unless he's crated.

So after talking to the salesman, I decided to keep what I have for now. And truth to tell, I'm quite happy with the decision! It's a peppy car, well made and solid...and the stereo sounds awesome!

Before I went out I put on some sauce to simmer; my office mate gave me the recipe, and boy was it good! Here's the recipe:

one package of boneless pork spareribs
one package of sweet italian sausage
three 28 ounce cans of peeled crushed tomatoes (Pastene)
fresh garlic
olive oil
beef bouillon cubes

Pour a couple tablespoons of olive oil into a dutch oven, toss in 3 or 4 beef bouillon cubes and some garlic (I used 5 cloves, smushed flat with a the side of a knife) and heat that.

Brown the spareribs on all sides; remove to a plate

Brown the sausage. Put the spareribs back in the dutch oven and add two cans of the tomatoes.

Stir; then simmer for ... however long you wish LOL! I simmered it for 5 hours and the meat just fell apart!

A half hour before serving, add the third can of tomatoes. Voila!

I also added some pepper, salt & basil. Delish!

Here's the recipe I promised!

1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 tsp grated orange rind

Sift flour, measure, add baking powder and salt, sift again.

Cream shortening; add sugar gradually and beat until light. Add well-beaten egg and orange rind.

Combine dry ingredients and creamed mixture. Chill.

Roll thin on a lightly floured board and cut into fancy shapes; place on greased baking sheet. Brush with egg white diluted with water; sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and decorate with blanched almonds.

Bake in a moderate oven (325 F) 8 to 10 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

We never used the orange rind or the blanched almonds. Feel free to, if it floats your boat :-) Here are some pictures that give you an idea what they're like. The cookies my parents made were flatter, tho...

Also, work with small amounts at a time, keeping remaining dough chilled until needed. Unchilled dough will pick up too much flour from the rolling pin resulting in tough, dry cookies. Excessive re-rolling also produces tough cookies.

Enjoy, and if you make them, I'd love to hear how they came out! Pictures would be awesome, too.

Made these for breakfast this morning, but substitued Maribeth & hubby's homemade peach compote in the place of apples.

6 medium Granny Smith or Newtown Pippin (it comes in pints!) apples (2 lbs)
2 tbls butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tbls sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt

Peel & core apples; cut each into 8 wedges. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In 12-inch skillet with oven-safe handle, heat butter, 1/2 cup sugar & 1/4 cup water to boiling over medium-high heat. Add apples wedges to mixture in skillet; cook, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes, until apples are golden and sugar mixture begins to caramelize.

Meanwhile, in blender at medium spped or in food processor with knife blade attached (I used a wire whisk), blend milk, eggs, flour, salt and remaining 2 tbls of sugar until smooth. When apples are golden and lightly caramelized, pour egg mixture over. Place skillet in oven; bake pancake 15 minutes or until puffed and golden. Serve immediately.

This came out SO good, but I think I left it in the oven just a bit too long; the sugar mixture in the bottom of the pan REALLY caramelized into crunchiness. But it was still good :-)

Sorry, no picture, it was devoured in an instant!

Here's a dinner low in calories, high in fiber and just plain delicious! I used 1 pound of scallops, recipe called for 1.5 and I forgot to add the paprika! But I added the spaghetti & swiss chard, so it was all good :-)