Strawberry Gorgonzola Bruschetta Appetizer

While checking some stuff at Henry's earlier this evening they were demoing a new appetizer that I fell in love with and felt the immediate need to share it with you all! It is very easy to make and pleasing on the eyes.

What you need:

Mini garlic toast

Gorgonzola cheese

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive oil

Fresh Strawberries

Salt & Pepper

You prep by turning on the broiler. Lay the mini toasts on a cookie sheet and mix three tablespoons of olive oil to one tablespoon balsamic vinegar. Brush it onto each of the toasts and sprinkle some coarse sea salt (any should do, I just enjoy the flavor of sea salt quite a bit). Place a piece of Gorgonzola onto the toasts and pop them into the oven for about three-five minutes. Keep an eye on them because you want the cheese to begin to melt, not over done. After you pull them out, place a strawberry slice onto each and finish with fresh ground pepper on top. I took the picture before adding the pepper by mistake. It was incredibly delicious but very rich! I would recommend to serve it with some light white wine. An oak tasting Chardonnay or any Pinot Grigio would be amazing.

Enjoy! :)

Diet Review: 17 Day Diet

I am always up for trying new ways to shed some pounds and have read/tried about every diet out there. I was skeptical that this "Diet" would be any different from any of the others I had read about. It's all the same that you need to eat less, work out more (basically). I happened to catch an episode of Dr. Phil in which he reviewed the Diet and expressed his skepticism as well. Dr. Mike Moreno answered the questions that were asked thoroughly and explained why he felt his diet would work in common sense terms.

I ordered the book after watching the show because I felt like what he was saying really made sense to me. I'm excited to say that after reading the book I am eager to start the 17 Day Diet and I am making out a grocery list so I can start on Monday. A review of the diet will follow in 17 days (What appears to be around April 15th on my calendar). Many claimed to have lost 12+ pounds during the first 17 days, and Dr. Moreno stresses to follow the diet and move onto the next phase after 17 days to keep your metabolism moving.

Basically you are limited in the foods that you can choose from, but the protein/vegetables that you can have, you are able to eat as much until you are full. You are alloted a certain amount of servings of fat and dairy/pro-biotic foods. As far as working out, it asks for you to exercise in some way or another for 17 minutes two times a day. The majority of the reviews I have read thus far have been pretty positive and most say they do not feel deprived. Anything is possible for 17 days!

Tsunami updates on Twitter faster than news stations?

This tragedy in Japan continues to break my heart...the past 3 days it has been one thing or another. Whether they continue to experience horrible aftershocks or a nuclear meltdown, they just can't catch a break. I urge you if you haven't done already to make a donation to the Red Cross of $10 by texting REDCROSS to 90999.

While watching all the different news casts and live coverage of the Tsunami, I was amazed at how often the reporters referred to Twitter and Facebook as fantastic sources of breaking news. My job position is within the Social Media industry and the more that I learn regarding this exciting field, the more I realize that this is changing the world as I type this. We no longer need to stay glued to CNN to watch updates on breaking news stories when you can hashtag the story in a Twitter search and get updates from people actually witnessing the event occur (example being #Tsunami). It is quite exciting to be a part of experiencing these changes in the world and the fact that Youtube has passed Yahoo as a search engine says a significant amount about where we get our facts.

As a Twitter reluctant in the beginning, I can now say that I am probably more addicted to that form of social media than Facebook. I love being able to communicate with thousands of people as opposed to sharing a status update with 160 friends. Just some random thoughts for the evening.

Out of breath...

I have that overwhelming feeling that I am not in control of my emotions right now and it is an incredibly uncomfortable feeling. Within this last week I have gone from calm, confident, and secure to feeling the complete opposite. I know it is normal to go through times like this and that it will pass...I just want it to pass quickly lol! I had a chance to really vent to a few great friends the past couple days and it has helped a lot! I definitely do not take anybody in my life for granted because I really have been blessed with a great circle of support. So for now I will head to bed with Chelsea Handler's "Are you there Vodka? It's me, Chelsea" and smirk a bit. She definitely has a way with words that really just say "Hey....stuff happens, get over it and move on!"

Wine of the Week: Chardonnay

Friday we decided on a bottle of Hardys Chardonnay from Australia. It is a fantastic wine and complimented the Shrimp Fettuccine we made for dinner. It was very smooth in flavor and definitely one of the more pleasant Chardonnay's that I have had. It was 13.5% in alcohol, so not too strong. I definitely preferred the fruitiness of this Chardonnay as opposed to many of it's Oak flavored siblings lol. I would definitely enjoy this bottle again and at $8-$10 a bottle it was a great deal!

Chick Fil A Soup recipe

I need to make this again soon! It turned out so yummy and is definitely one of my favorite meals ever!!

I found a copycat recipe for Chick-Fil-A's soup which is my favorite! The stomach flu has made it's way into the house and we all feel kind of cruddy :( Here's the recipe though for anybody interested, sounds delicious!!

Chick Fil A Chicken Harvest Soup

1/4 pound butter
3/4 cup flour
2 1/2 to 3 quarts water
2 tablespoons chicken base
2 quarts chicken stock (see chicken tenders recipe)
1 pound fresh carrots, diced
6 to 7 ribs celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
3/4 teaspoon white pepper
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Cooked chicken tenders (either boil or pan cook)
10 ounces egg noodles

In a large pot, melt butter. Add flour and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Slowly add the 2 1/2 to 3 quarts of water, stirring constantly. (The amount of water used depends on how thick you want the soup.) Simmer 20 minutes. Add chicken base and chicken stock.

While chicken stock mixture is cooking, bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a separate pot. Add carrots, celery and onion. Cook 6 minutes. Drain. Add to chicken stock mixture along with white pepper and garlic powder. Simmer 10 minutes. Add diced cooked chicken tenders.

Cook noodles in a separate pan of boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Add to soup. (Noodles will continue cooking in the soup.) Simmer soup 2 or 3 minutes more and serve.

A Saint on Death Row: The Story of Dominique Green

This is the book description I get off of Amazon; On October 26, 2004, Dominique Green, thirty, was executed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas. Arrested at the age of eighteen in the fatal shooting of a man during a robbery outside a Houston convenience store, Green may have taken part in the robbery but always insisted that he did not pull the trigger. The jury, which had no African Americans on it, sentenced him to death. Despite obvious errors in the legal procedures and the protests of the victim’s family, he spent the last twelve years of his life on Death Row.

When Cahill found himself in Texas in December 2003, he visited Dominique at the request of Judge Sheila Murphy, who was working on the appeal of the case. In Dominique, he encountered a level of goodness, peace, and enlightenment that few human beings ever attain. Cahill joined the fierce fight for Dominique’s life, even enlisting Dominique’s hero, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to make an historic visit to Dominique and to plead publicly for mercy. Cahill was so profoundly moved by Dominique’s extraordinary life that he was compelled to tell the tragic story of his unjust death at the hands of the state.

A Saint on Death Row will introduce you to a young man whose history, innate goodness, and final days you will never forget. It also shines a necessary light on America’s racist and deeply flawed legal system. A Saint on Death Row is an absorbing, sobering, and deeply spiritual story that illuminates the moral imperatives too often ignored in the headlong quest for justice.



*****I finished this book about a week ago and I am still finding myself thinking about the book quite often and the impact it had on me. I find that I am in disbelief that at this point and place that our society is in, that a man can be convicted and executed based on no physical evidence whatsoever. I need to read further into this case to actually be able to justify an opinion on whether racism in fact a sad factor in this situation. It appears that the Texas judicial system is lacking in many ways irregardless of any racism argument and that can be said with how the trial played out. Anybody curious on this case or learning more about more "current" Texas judicial proceedings should absolutely read this book. At 160 pages, it isn't a hard read or take a lot of time by any standards. It definitely has made me curious to read more books and look into this case far more. *****