The First 43: My Life Now

Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope you've all had a wonderful thanksgiving and are yourselves in a delicious food coma. There is so much to be thankful for; family, friends, furbabies, food in our tummies and roofs over our heads.  Last thanksgiving was rough for me. Being on such a strict diet made me irritable and frustrated looking at all the delicious food.  This year, though I ate in moderation I definitely enjoyed the food coma a little more.  Here are some photos of some of the desserts and some links to their recipes. Our mom's requested these again this year and they were a big hit. Date squares! Here is the recipe, I cut the sugar and margarine in half for the crust/topping but otherwise use the recipe as is. http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/date-squares Homemade cranberry sauce is maybe my favourite part of Thanksgiving.  This is how I make it: 2.5 cups cranberries 1 cup of water 1/2 cup of sugar I bring the water and sugar to a boil, ...

I took a stab at a new pasta sauce that I've been meaning to try for months. Luckily Pinterest kept it handy and top of mind for me. The original recipe I found was just a little bit too high in calories for my liking so, I made a few changes/substitutions and it tasted great. Ingredients: 140g package of Blue Menu (light) Goat Cheese 2 red peppers, roasted 1 cup 1% Milk 1/2 a white onion, chopped 2 garlic gloves, pressed 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil basil & thyme to taste salt & pepper to taste Directions: Preheat oven to 425*F. While it's heating, quarter your red peppers, take out the seeds and place them on a a piece of foil on a pan.  When oven is up to temperature, roast them for 10 minutes per side.  While the peppers are roasting, prep the onion and garlic until cooked.  When you turn the peppers, put a pan on the stove medium heat, and cook the onions and garlic.  Add cheese, milk, herbs, salt and pepper.  Simmer. Take the pepp...

  Hummus! mmmm!  I decided to give it a try, for the first time and it actually went quite well! I combined a few recipes and came up with one that worked out nicely. Ingredients: 1 540ml can of chickpeas (keep 3 tbsp of the water in the can) 1 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil 2 tsp of tahini OR sesame oil Juice of one lemon 1 garlic clove, pressed  Rinse the chickpeas and put them in a food processor (or blender if you don't have one)  Put in all the ingredients in with the chickpeas and turn it on.  Voila, you have hummus.  Tahini is preferred but, sesame oil will work if you don't have any (it's what I ended up using this time, since my grocery store was out of tahini)