A New Carsickness Cure?

I love field trips. The other teachers on my team don't always share my love. My favorite field trip partner gets carsick (bus sick?) every time. Someone suggested that she eat ginger cookies. Each of us showed up the morning of the field trip with a large bag of hard ginger cookies. We ripped open a bag within the first three miles, and they were hard and gingery. I came home with a whole unopened bag. We couldn't even get middle school students to eat them. The cookies have been lounging in the back of the cabinet. Then, as I was looking for a peach recipe, I came across this recipe that used peaches and gingersnap cookies.

Even better, it's a Weight Watchers recipe. 3 points a slice.

Didn't mind the ginger cookies so much when they were ground up and mixed with butter.

Gingersnap Peach Pie

Recipe courtesy of WW online.

2 pounds peaches, yellow or white (I used 3 large peaches)
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp butter, melted
4 oz gingersnaps, about 18 cookies

Preheat oven to 400ºF.
Cut peaches in half and remove pits. Cut each peach half into four slices. Combine peaches, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and cornstarch in a medium bowl; set aside.
Crush gingersnaps into crumbs; place in a small bowl. Pour melted butter into crumbs and combine thoroughly.
Pat crumb mixture into bottom of a 9-inch pie plate; make sure crumbs are evenly distributed.
Starting at edge of pie plate, arrange peach slices in concentric circles so that they cover entire surface of pie and form a petal-like pattern. To form center of flower, arrange several peach slices in a small circle. Pour any remaining liquid from peach mixture over top of pie so it is evenly distributed.
Bake pie in bottom 1/3 of oven for 20 minutes; reduce heat to 325ºF and bake for 40 minutes more.
Remove from oven and cool completely in pie plate on a wire rack. Slice into 8 pieces just before serving.

A Box of Souvenirs

So what does a girl bring home to remind her of her time in the South?

The possibilities are endless. Any suggestions?

Cabana Girl Hits the Road

Heading out for a few day of fun and sun! (And crab legs and Krispy Kremes and Frozen Alligators and frozen grapes and......)



Noggin - Moose A. Moose "Are We There Yet?" Song - video powered by Metacafe

Why Kroger's Loves Me

I like to grocery shop. No, wait, I love to grocery shop IF I'm by myself and IF I have money and IF I have time to leisurely look around.


I am a sucker for new products and will throw them in my cart. Kroger's loves to see me coming, and I'm fairly certain they turn up the 80's music when I pull in. I bee-bop around, singing to myself, throwing everything in the cart.

Personally, I think the Kroger card (and all shopping cards) are a scam. I spend the same amount of money each time I go. I think they store an average of what I spend in their Big Brother computer and work the numbers out slightly to get the same amount each time. I can go in with a list and a stack of coupons and spend X amount. I can go in and randomly toss items in - still spend X amount of dollars. It's a scam, I tell you.

They sucker me every way I go. This is what I bought last week:

Ken's Steakhouse Healthy Options Sweet Vidalia Onion. I love the full fat version of this dressing, so I won't buy it. But lookee here, Ken made me a low fat version with only 2 g. of fat. I have trouble eating salad all the time. Those little Wish-Bone Salad Spritzer things are great, but sometimes, I just need a little fat on that salad. Can you tell by the picture how much is gone already? It's not me. Farmer Brown loved it, too and was eating it on french fries and chicken.




Love Morning Star Farms sausage patties and now they make them with maple-flavor. Mmmmm.....these were durn good on some whole wheat English muffins and a scrambled egg.


While I was foraging away in the organic section looking for hulled pumpkin seeds to make this granola, I saw this granola calling my name - already made. Seeing as I couldn't find the pumpkin seeds this week, I quickly grabbed this. Fabulous choice. I don't think that it is new, but I have heard Big Mama raving about it. I eat it for breakfast with yogurt and fruit. I eat it for a snack, plain out of the bag. I eat it for dessert with sugar-free strawberry gel and Cool Whip lite. Just can't go wrong with it.

So what about you? Anything new you've been purchasing that you just love? You know I'll throw it in my cart next time I'm at Kroger's.

Kicked Out of the Chubby Club

So, I got kicked out of the chubby club.

I know. That’s kind of embarrassing to admit. I would like to tell you that they kicked me out of the chubby club because I lost so much weight. Sadly, I was kicked out for not adhering to the guidelines of the program. Was I keeping a food log? Yes. Did anyone want to see it? No. Did I meet with the nutritionist? Yes. Was I using her advice? Yes. Was I meeting with my personal trainer? Uhhh….no.

I met with him FOUR times, and we worked out once. Once. As in he put me on a machine, set the timer for 20 minutes and walked away. When I was done, he told me that our session was finished. (*The other three meetings consisted of him talking about his diet and the website he created for the gym. He eats Burger King but burns it off playing Dodge Ball.)

Instead of wasting my time arranging my schedule to meet with him, I became a free agent, doing my own thing at the gym. But I was intimidated by it all. Everyone seemed to know what they were doing and I fumbled around and ended up hiding out in the W.O.W. room (Women Only Workout Room – knock off of Curves.) It was great, but I didn’t feel like it was doing me any favors. I quit that, too.

I got my official letter in the mail, informing me that I was no longer a part of the club. Then, I got a bill.

Now, I’m working out at home. I would like to call the suckers up at the gym and say, “You see these Hip Hop Abs?”

I’ve lost six inches off my waist. I’ve lost three inches around my bust (sigh!). I’m nowhere where I need to be, but I want to say that a gym has no more than what you can get at home.

Without a bill.

When Does a Muffin Cross the Line?

I got this recipe over at The Finer Things. What drew me to this recipe was that it had zucchini and whole wheat four. If you ignore the oil, sugar, and LARGE box of instant pudding mix, this is rather healthy.

I figured these would be a little dry or heavy. But, I was wrong. So wrong. These tasted like little chocolate cupcakes.

So, when does a muffin cross the line and become a cupcake? And is it a cupcake if it doesn't have icing?

Chocolate Pudding Zucchini Muffins
3 eggs, beaten
1 c. cooking oil
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 large package chocolate instant pudding
2 c. grated zucchini
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. unbleached flour
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)
Beat eggs, oil, sugar, pudding mix, vanilla and zucchini together.
Blend dry ingredients and add to zucchini mixture; mix well.
Scoop into greased muffin tins. Bake 17-20 minutes at 350°.

*Amy at The Finer Things said that she got 2 1/2 dozen. I got 1 1/2 dozen regular muffins and 2 dozen mini-muffins. She also suggested that it could be made into 2 loaves.

Very unappetizing picture of the muffins. Here's proof that they're good:

The Zucchinis are Here and are Multiplying

I was so excited last week because I found this



It has only taken me a whole week to get tired of finding it.

I have made three turns of Pineapple Zucchini Bread. I have steamed it, sauteed it, and crisped it. I always start getting a little desperate, wanting to save the environment and eat locally and all that jazz, so I feel I need to use the zucchini up. Every summer, I pull out this recipe, look at the ingredients, and my stomach heaves a little. Then, I make it.

Trust me - it is not a waste of pizza dough.

This is a super-duper way to use the zucchini differently.

(Warning: Yes, even though you know I always take bad pictures, the pizza still looks this disgusting.)

Zucchini Pie

1 pizza crust (I used a Martha White mix)

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

2 tsp. mustard

4 c. grated zucchini

1 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. butter

2 Tb. parsley

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. basil

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

Place the crust in your pizza pan. Spread with the mustard (I used a little more mustard to lightly cover the crust.) Sprinkle with 1 c. of shredded mozzarella cheese. Saute the zucchini, onion and butter in a large skillet, 3-5 minutes until tender. Then add the spices. (I did use fresh oregano, parsley, and basil from the garden.) Spread the mixture over the cheese on the crust. Then, beat the two eggs and stir in the remaining cup of cheese. Spoon and spread this over the zucchini. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.