Just for giggles

I hosted a 1960's theme fundraising dinner for my son's school last weekend.  It was a blast!

It was complete with vintage dresses, martinis, candy cigarettes and.....

Lime green jello mold, baby!  I must confess, in all my 37 years I have never actually made a jello mold before.  Oh I'm sure I've consumed some jello mold but I've never made one before.  I must also confess this will be my last jello mold.  Alas, I have lost my taste for sugar and this bad boy was really sweet!

Still I thought it would be fun to share the recipe, and the sugar rush.  And yes, my jello does match my dress and no I didn't mean to do that!  I bought the jello with little to no thought to my dress that I'd snagged at an awesome little antique store in Multnomah Village only days before my party. 

So, if you're ever consumed by a burning desire to twist, shout and dance the night away 60's style and need some sugar to keep the party rolling, find yourself a bundt pan (I had to borrow one!) and whip this bad boy up:

Jello and Fruit Salad Ring
2 cups boiling water
1 large box lime Jell-O
1 (8 ounce) package softened cream cheese
1 (15 ounce) can fruit cocktail, drained
1 (4½ ounce) container Cool WhipDIRECTIONS

Put Jell-O and soft cream cheese in large bowl. Add ½ cup boiling water and stir until dissolved. Add remaining water and mix well with mixer on low speed. Refrigerate until firm around the edge of the bowl (about 1 hour). Remove from refrigerator and beat with mixer on low speed until lightly mixed. Fold in Cool Whip and drained fruit cocktail. Pour into a non-stick bundt cake pan and let set in refrigerator for several hours or overnight (a non-stick square pan works well, too). Turn out onto a festive plate, slice and serve.

Recipe courtesty of AMC's Mad Men Party Guide

Hello strangers!

My oh my has this been a lengthy hiatus!  I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth and I haven't resorted to dining out nightly or ripping open boxes of noodles and cheese. I just haven't felt like blogging.  We've been eating, oh yes...we've been eating, but I was content to stay quiet in my little corner of the world and read what other people were eating.

It's Spring now and like the flowers outside and the leaves on the trees I'm coming out of hibernation.  It's been a long, dark, and wet winter!  We've been eating a lot of comfort food, rice and beans, lentils, roasted veggies and rich pastas and I am looking forward to the lighter palate of Spring and Summer-and hoping and praying we get a Summer this year, last year was far too chilly for my liking!

It's been a year of dietary flux in our household too.  I've been dipping my toe into the Vegetarian water for quite some time, I will admit I have not been able to commit 100% to it.  Sushi is my kryptonite, not that I get a chance to eat it often, but I really love it and I like to keep my options open!  I have hardly eaten any meat since the New Year, I still buy and prepare it for the carnivorous husband but it's dramatically reduced-you'd think that would dramatically reduce my grocery bill too but nope, not really-but that's a whole other vent in itself.  This week has been my first attempt at a vegan week, I haven't consumed animal products-even honey-since Saturday night.  On Saturday I did eat dairy and egg.  I actually feel really good.  My son, who turns 8 soon, has been dancing around it too, he's had stretches as long as a month where he will not eat meat, then all of a sudden he'll ask for some meat.  I try not to make a big deal out of it one way or another-but between you and me I think it bugs the heck out his Dad!  I suppose though since neither of us can commit we'd be considered "flexitarian" huh?  Kind of a silly way to define someone who just wants to eat what they want to eat to make themselves feel as healthy as possible.  I think if someone told me tomorrow, Krista you have to choose; meat eater or vegetarian?  I would choose vegetarian, but since that scenario is about as likely to happen as me winning the megamillions (and oh yes I did buy tickets for that!) I don't really have to worry now do I?

Some of my new favorite things though that I have discovered since I cut out meat are marinated and baked tofu-recipe to be posted later-and lentils and navy bean soup with smoked salt.  Actually I think the smoked salt is my favorite new kitchen discovery....well, ever!  Paulo gobbles up the soup, asks for more and then asks me to put it in his lunch the next day!  We've also been experimenting with juices, I started my week this week on a juice fast, after the initial caffeine withdrawal headache subsided I felt great!  I will post some new juicing recipes this weekend.  Finally I do have some new gluten free bread recipes to share.  So stay tuned for more recipes that I hope you will enjoy as much as we do.