Easy peasy au naturel, 10-step blackberry jam

Since being unemployed, I’ve felt like I’ve had more time to feed my creative sole. More time to read, more time to design, more time to write (even if you don’t see me more here – I have 1,000 other projects going on), more time to say, “Hey, I’ve always wanted to do that… ” And then I DO IT. Go figure.

In the last couple weeks, I’ve noticed blackberries blooming into big, fat, weighted, sweet gloriousness on the various paths I take while walking, biking or running through my environment. Then I walked into Metropolitan Market last week and saw a table set-up, advertising the products they carry to make jams and jellies. Ding, ding, ding! Light bulb. (They see girls like me coming a mile away.) I decided I really wanted to make blackberry jam from scratch. And oh hey, look! I have a TON of time on my hands without that eight hours a day, oh you know, spent in the black hole of a cubicle office.

So, I bought the ingredients last weekend, and I Martha Stewart geeked out into the best case version of a housewife that I know. (A swearing, drinking, sassing Martha Stewart, which is much more fun because we’re better in bed, if you ask me). Of course, this led to me purchasing my ingredients at Metro Market. This was a stupid idea, in hindsight, that the BF was so kind to point out, because I am UNEMPLOYED and something tells me that I might have been able to find cheaper jam ingredients such as empty jars other than a place that caters to those who actually make money and can afford $4 cans of yams.

What concluded, after I obsessively read what I believe is every blackberry jam recipe and canning instructions available on the Worldwide Web, was a night of whipping up some pretty damn fantastic au naturel blackberry jam. Even if it meant I had to drag myself out to pick more blackberries in the dark at NINE P.M. cause I didn’t have enough. Here is my Martha Stewart geekiness and easy peasy instructions for you in pictures:

What You’ll Need – in layman’s terms:
Canning jars with lids
Pectin (No Sugar Needed Pectin for a sugar-free or au naturel jam)
Blackberries (Or other fruit that sounds yummy)
Splenda, honey or other sweetener of choice
No sugar added apple or white grape juice
A very, very large pot
A large saucepan
A potato masher, or big metal thingamajig
Tongs
A couple clean towels

1. Find blackberries and pick em. Just don’t tell PETB (People for the Ethical Treatment of Blackberries). If you’re really smart, you’ll enlist a boyfriend or friend to help you out since this is the most strenuous part of the adventure, and having thorn-poked fingers and brier-scratched arms sucks.

2. Pick somewhere around 8 cups (to make four 8 oz jars). If you pick only four ounces, you’ll have to go back outside in the DARK to pick BLACKberries. This is very difficult. You’ve been warned.

3. Put your jars and lids in the pot, fill it with water and heat the water on medium-high heat, but make sure it doesn’t boil. This heats the jars so they don’t crack when the hot jam is poured in.

4. In the large saucepan, mash the berries with a potato masher, or something that can equivalently mash such as the metal thingamajig I used, one layer at a time. Don’t puree them in a food processor!

5. Once all the berries are mashed, add a cup of no-sugar-added apple or white grape juice and one package of no-sugar-needed Pectin. This is for the sugar-free or au naturel jam. If you want to make jam with seven cups of sugar, you can purchase the regular box of pectin. Boil the berries and pectin/apple juice mixture until it rapidly boils and cannot be stirred down.

6. Next add the sweetener of your choice – or none, if you like. You can use Splenda, another artificial sweetener or honey, which is what I chose. If you’d like to use honey too, add one cup. Bring this mixture to another rapid boil, for three minutes, stirring constantly. While this is boiling, or earlier if you can fit it in, pull the jars and lids out of the hot water with tongs and place them on a clean, dry towel.

7. Skim the foam off the top of the heated jam, then ladle or pour, using a funnel, the jam into each individual, warmed jars. Wipe the edges and rims of the jar with a clean, damp towel. Screw the lids on tightly.

8. Using the tongs, carefully place the jars back into the very, very large pot of hot water. Make sure there is one to two inches above the tops of the jars, and bring the water to a boil with the lid on. Let it boil for 10 minutes (or the correct time for your altitude, according to the instructions in the pectin box). What you’re during right now is sealing and preserving the jam, so you can store it, and it won’t go bad.

9. While this is boiling, pour any leftover blackberry jam mixture over vanilla ice cream IMMEDIATELY. Eat it like a fat kid eats cake.

10. After 10 minutes, carefully take the jars out with tongs and set them on a clean towel. Don’t shake them, so the pectin in the jam can set. Let them cool on the counter for 12 to 24 hours. If the lid doesn’t pop up and down after this, each jar is properly sealed and preserved. Decorate them with ribbons and a label if you’re a SUPER dork like me.

TA DA! Easy peasy au naturel blackberry jam in only 10 steps. Isn’t it fabulous to have a jam that is made of only blackberries, apple juice and honey?! The stuff in the grocery store is so full of sugar and additives… I’m now inspired to try to make all types of jam from scratch – it was that easy!

So, if you made it though that entire, ridiculously long post on how to make blackberry jam, I will reward you… I’m giving away one little jar of my beautiful culinary masterpiece that I’m quite proud of. THAT’S how much I love you! All you have to do is leave one little comment, telling me you’re absolute favorite type of jelly, jam or toast topping. (Peanut butter, honey and cinnamon sugar is accepted as well). Make sure your profile links to a place that I can find your e-mail… I’ll choose the winner of the jar of au naturel blackberry jam on Friday. Good luck!

Currently Feeling: Overworked and underpaid – I’m volunteering so much, it’s taking up all my time! But it feels really great to be involved.
Currently Anticipating: Having a free day tomorrow.
Currently Loving: The both Top Chef and Project Runway have started! TV swooon!

Update: 100 Salads of Summer

Last week, I started picking my way through the list of 101 Salads for Summer that I previously posted about. I decided that I’d just randomly move through the list as my taste buds see fit. The first two I picked out were:

# 2. Mix wedges of tomatoes and peaches, add slivers of red onion, a few red-pepper flakes and cilantro. Dress with olive oil and lime or lemon juice. Astonishing.

My notes: I love that these “salads” can be served alone, or work great as a side dish too. I think I’ll have a better understanding of how to pair veggies, fruits, oils and ingredients after this. It’s hard, however, to figure out the proportions of these salads since each “recipe’ is just an ingredients list. I thought the red onion WAY overpowered this salad; next time I’ll use way less. The cilantro is also powerful, and the red pepper didn’t stand out enough. The colors in this salad are simply amazing though! Red, green, orange, yellow, purple! I threw mine over some quineau and served it with chile lime verde crusted salmon.

# 3. A nice cucumber salad: Slice cucumbers thin (if they’re fat and old, peel and seed them first), toss with red onions and salt, then let sit for 20 to 60 minutes. Rinse, dry, dress with cider vinegar mixed with Dijon mustard; no oil necessary.

My Notes: Who doesn’t love cucumber! I once again guessed on the ingredients – and didn’t put enough Dijon mustard in the cider vinegar. But this was super easy breezy. I served it with a portebello mushroom Garden Burger over a lettuce leaf, sprinkled with pepper jack cheese. Kinda random, but I’m cutting out carbs this week to make up for all the wine I drank last week! (I had two wine tasting events I attended. Uber fun; but that much wine is terrible for the waistline).

The next two I’m going to try:

6. Sichuan slaw: Toss bean sprouts, shredded carrots and celery, minced fresh chili, soy sauce, sesame oil and a bit of sugar. Top with chopped peanuts and chopped basil, mint and/or cilantro. (The full trio is best.)

14. A classic Moroccan thing: Thinly slice carrots, or grate or shred them (the food processor makes quick work of this). Toss with toasted cumin seeds, olive oil, lemon juice and cilantro. Raisins are good in here, too. There is no better use of raw carrots.

(I have a box of fresh cilantro now that I’m trying to use up!)

Currently Feeling: Over packed with all this volunteering I’m doing – but at least I’m staying busy!
Currently Anticipating: The season opener of Top Chef 6 tonight! There are two Seattle chefs on it this season, and I’ve met one of them!
Currently Needing: To stick to my 5K training program. (Don’t laugh). I finally registered for one in September, so I can cross it off my to-do list for 2009!

Breast wishes

Today is my boyfriend’s 30th birthday – a HUGE milestone!

Personally, I believe birthdays are super special because it’s the day you get to celebrate YOU. Not your mom, not Jesus, not a dead Irish saint, not secretaries – YOU – the one person you’ve had around, and always will have around, for the rest of your life. That’s a pretty important person, so I think birthdays are cause for a big celebration.

But, boys tend to be lackadaisical in the party throwing department, especially birthday parties, so I’ve decided to throw a celebration for him because he’s grande. Tomorrow night we’re co-hosting a “Dirty 30” birthday part at a dirty dive bar in Seattle. Because I am a theme party WHORE, I tried to squeeze in a little bit of the dirty theme… Last night I went to a fabulous store in Seattle called Archie McPhee’s – a novelty item store with kitschy gifts and trinkets – and picked up some fake mustaches for everyone to wear (dirty ‘staches). They even had a set of PINK fuzzy mustaches for girls. How perrrfect. If I am going to sport a ‘stache, it had better be pink.

And then there was the cake. I wanted to pick up a “dirty” cake from The Erotic Bakery – a shop that creates cakes and cookies in the shape of man and lady bits. I was going to post a few of the options here and take a vote on what to order, but when I called last night, I was too late for a rush order and they were $50 a cake anyway. Boo purdue. But then I realized, that’s really okay because they put vaginas on their cakes, and who knows what that would taste like anyway.

So I scrambled for plan B.

I started calling the party stores within my general area and asking, “Um. Do you have boob cookie cutters?” Not gonna lie; it was kinda awkward. But after calling a few places, even Lover’s Package, there were no boob cookie cutters to be had!

Time for plan c.

I started Googling, “How to make boob cookies.” No luck. Then, “How to make a boob cake,” brought up this result, and I was like, “Hey! I can do that!” So I was up until 12:30 a.m. last night, making boob-shaped cake pieces and flesh-colored frosting for Baby Daddy’s birthday cake. I’m SUPER excited to bust it out at the party… get it, bust it out. Haha. I think boobs and mustaches are a great pair. Well, unless you’re a lady with a mustache, then that’s just gross. Or, if your boobs are being tickled by some guy’s mustache, that’s gross too… uh boob cakes and fake mustaches are a great pair. Here’s how I did it:

First came the flesh-colored cream cheese frosting – a couple drops of green, red and yellow food coloring.

To make the boobs, you bake cake batter in two round mixing bowls and the base cake in a 9×13″ pan.

I saved some of the frosting and added a little more red and some blue food coloring
for the nipple area, which was made with a Peach-O ring with a Dot stuck in the middle.

I frosted the cake, then placed the breastesses on top, frosting each, and then finally the nipples.

TA DA!

Currently Feeling: Fancy in leopard print, a pink silk bow and my hair straightened for the birthday dinner tonight!
Currently Anticipating: All the surprises I have up my sleeve. I love surprises! And giving gifts!
Currently Loving: Mrs. Meyer’s Lemon Verbena Laundry Detergent. I picked it up on a whim last week, and while it’s a bit spendy for detergent, it’s SUPER fab and worth it! It makes my whole house smell great every time I do laundry!

Peanut butter cereal + mango martinis = my Easter celebration

I might have just had the most boring weekend of 2009. Possibly my life. I guess there is something to be said about loving Baby Jesus – at least Baby Jesus lovers had dinner plans that included copious amounts of ham, carbs and coconut-flavored treats.

Me, well, I just ate an entire box of Peanut Butter Bumpers while sitting home by myself.

That’s right. Peanut Butter Bumpers. Do not buy that shiz unless you want to spend every day just thinking about when you can get your next fix. Last week, I scowered the cereal aisle for something low fat, organic, low in sugar, blah, blah, blah, and I stumbled across these organic Peanut Butter Bumpers that pretty much taste identical to the Reese’s cereal. Read: crack.

So, my weekend was soo exciting that after watching six hours of DVRd shows while Seattle pissed rain, doom and gloom outside, I decided to have a bowl. Then another (sixth in a row) What Not to Wear later, I was like, “I must have that in my bloodstream again immediately.” So I had another bowl.

I think I probably had four bowls of Peanut Butter Bumpers yesterday, finishing off the box and completely defeating the entire purpose behind buying healthy cereal. In conclusion: while all you bragged about your amazing Easter dinners at home with family, I ate myself into peanut butter cereal oblivion.

In other super-exciting news, I created a new drink this weekend that I think is worth sharing. I bought a liter (that’s right a liter!) of Absolut Mango for $17 at the Duty Free store in the Puerto Vallarta airport. Seriously, how could anyone pass up a deal like that? I tried to look up easy mango martini recipes, to no avail, so created my own.

Je’s Mango Easter Perfection

Peel and separate 1/2 mandarin orange
Muddle mandarins and ice in a glass
Add 4 shots of Absolut Mango
8oz of Welch’s Mango Mandarin Juice
& 16oz Soda Water

Strain into two cocktail glasses and garnish with orange slices.

And boy, oh BOY was it good! Mango vodka is DE-lish. The martini is perfect for the summertime, or even a breakfast drink. Me, I drank it while dying Easter eggs Saturday night. That is probably only a small indication of what I’ll need to do to get through motherhood someday.

“Hold on honey. The Easter bunny can wait. Momma needs to pour herself another glass of “juice.” And get your hands out of my box of Peanut Butter Bumpers!”

Currently Feeling: Anxious for my “catch-up” meeting today, and to get a great apartment locked down. It’s such a rat race in Queen Anne to be the first to sign on a good one!
Currently Anticipating: Catching up with Bestie Amanda who also just got home from Mexico.
Currently Needing: To throw a garage sale. I’ve never done one before – but I think I have a lot of downsizing I want to do before the move.

Stuffed

Last Thursday I concocted my own recipe for a girls’ dinner I hosted at my house. The challenge? One of the guests was a vegetarian and allergic to gluten. So, here’s my low-fat, super duper yummy veggie and gluten-free stuffed pepper creation since I occasionally like to share my recipes.

As they came out of the oven, one of my girl friends said, “They look like they’ve been sitting in the bathtub for a little too long.” SO, maybe if I were on a cooking show, I’d get chopped for my presentation, but I think I’d score in the taste department. One step at a time, for the cooking challenged, one step at a time.

(Remember, you can click on the recipe card to enlarge it and print).

All in all, super easy and quick for the working woman!

It’s Super Bowl party time, bitches!

And that means a Sunday fun day with beer, nachos, wings, BEAN DIP, chips, meatballs and everything else that I normally wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot poll unless it were at a Super Bowl party. Ooh boy, I can’t wait!

What are YOU making? Need some ideas? Remember that really fantastic caramel corn I made for Christmas? I’m making it again, and perhaps it’d be a great reason for you to try it too. This stuff is seriously to.die.for. Baby Daddy’s dad even told him on the phone this week that they finally ate through the stash I gave them for Christmas, but they were rationing it out to make it last. I felt flattered, although I really do owe all credit to Rebecca over at Ezra Pound Cake.

Oh the joy of football and American fat food! This is the one day a year that I don’t mind sitting in a room with a bunch of drooling testosterone drones who stare ahead blankly at the TV screen without paying attention to the question I just asked you. Normally I’d threaten to cut your balls off, but not on Super Bowl Sunday! It is a day of love and thankfulness for all! (Or is that Thanksgiving?!)

If caramel corn doesn’t sound like your thing, here’s another recipe for a tasty Super Bowl treat that a friend shared with me:

Ingredients:

The Field:
1 Pound of Guacamole
15 Oz. Queso Dip For The Steelers End Zone
15 Oz. Salsa For The Cardinals End Zone
2 Oz. Sour Cream for the Field Lines

The Players:
15 Vienna Sausages
Helmets – 3 Oz. Sharp Cheddar Cheese

The Goal Posts:
1 Slim Jim for Each Goal Post
1 Oz. Monterey Jack Cheddar To Anchor (each)

The Stands:
58 Twinkies
1 Pound of Bacon
1 Bag of Nacho Cheese Doritos
1 Bag of Cheetos
1 Bag of Corn Tortilla Chips
1 Bag of Chex Mix

The Blimp:
20 Oz. Football-Shaped Summer Sausage (optional) (on second thought, no, this isn’t optional. Go buy one.)

TOTAL CALORIES: 24,375
TOTAL GRAMS OF FAT: 1,285
TOTAL COST: $86.47
TOTAL DELICIOUSNESS: 1 Billion trillion dude. One billion trillion.

(Don’t you love how this is my follow-up post to watching calories and trans fats in food. What can I say. Sometimes I’m a little manic. Stay tuned for a very important post I have planned about BUSHES. And I don’t mean political.)

Currently Feeling: Stressed out about wedding planning and hurt feelings. They always seem to go hand in hand.
Currently Anticipating: TWO.WHOLE.DAYS.OUT.OF.THE.OFFICE.
Currently Contemplating: My top five favorite bands.

Chicken Noodle Soup of the Eastern kind

I’m not much of a cook.

Occasionally I’ll dabble with recipes, but most of the time I’m stuck in my no-time, starving-when-I-get-home, need-to-make-something-healthy-and-quick ways. Therefore, I eat a lot of Trader Joe’s minute brown rice, stir fry veggies and some sort of curry or masala sauce. For at least the past six months, Indian food has been my mainstay. (Thankfully, I’m coupled. I don’t know how well smelling like Indian food would come off if I were single).

But I try, I really do. I like to think that I’m on a VERY slow path of perfecting my cooking until I have children and a hubbie that I need to cook regularly for someday. Not every girl my age can be as talented as this one (heart-shaped French Onion soup, really?!), but I still like food. A lot. Which does lead to the occasional kitchen experiment.

The other day I was trolling around on the NaBloPoMo site, which features a blog every week, and I found Ezra Pound Cake. You will not find cooking blogs in my blogroll, but OH! The pictures! The recipes! They made my mouth water. I think this might officially be the first food blog I’ll put in my RSS.

So when Baby Daddy and I decided to walk to the store last night to get ingredients to make dinner, I immediately thought of the picture of Thai Chicken Noodle Soup that I had drooled over last week.

You can’t tell me that doesn’t look amazing…

And, just as I thought, it tasted totally amazing. (Thank you, Rebecca!) So, I figured I’d share it here via my dorky little pink recipe cards if you so care to print and try the recipe yourself. Let me know if you do!

Currently Feeling: Annoyed.
Currently Anticipating: Wine and snacks with Bri tonight.
Currently Hating: Stressing out over Christmas gift giving.

A Little Spice to Life

I’ve really been into Ethnic foods lately—especially curry, masala and any other sort of spicy and flavorful Indian-type food. Last night I piecemealed a pretty decent dinner together from the random ingredients in my cupboard, and I was pleased as punch. It’s not everyday you can find a recipe on the side of a box (literally on the side of the couscous box), add a little and substitute for what you don’t have—and end up with a decent meal. I think this is proof that my culinary capabilities are evolving past having to read and follow a recipe verbatim. (Yippee!) So, thought I’d post it here for those interested in experimenting a bit in the spicy, Indian-food category (You can click on the card to make it bigger, and print):

(The recipe called for walnuts—I substituted cashews—and 1 ½ cups of tomato sauce, but I used the rest of the TJ’s Marsala I had and tomato sauce. I added ginger, garlic and chicken, but I left out the raisins and chutney, which I didn’t have. I’d like to try it with raisins next time since I’m a sweet and savory type o’ girl. Mine turned out four stars, so next time I won’t add quite as much extra Cayenne pepper.)

Next up…Baby Daddy and I are signing up for a handmade sushi roll class, which I’m REALLY excited for!

Currently Feeling: Loving that my 401K savings plan is rapidly growing.
Currently Anticipating: Conor Oberst at Easy Street Records for free tonight! Anyone want to go with me?
Currently Reading: “Water for Elephants” by Sarah Gruen.

From Canned Food and Probably Back Again

Since for the most part I’m constantly trying to watch what I eat, I find it much more exciting now that I know how to make a few recipes and shop for tasty ingredients at the grocery store. Today I enjoyed white bean chicken chili I made in my crockpot last night, (recipe courtesy of good ole mom and listed below), with a walnut, dried cranberry, apple and chicken salad with raspberry, walnut and Gorgonzola dressing. That sure beats eating things like plain chicken, soup out of a can, a jar of spaghetti sauce poured over noodles, or boxed meals. Watching your figure is less boring or daunting when you’re actually eating stuff that tastes good AND is healthy…

Do you remember the days of grocery shopping in college, or when you first lived on your own? I went into that big grocery store and had NO IDEA what I was doing. For years I wouldn’t go grocery shopping until everything was gone in my cupboards except half a bag of instant rice and a box of pudding, and nothing was left in the fridge besides pickles and mustard. My grocery-shopping trip always ended up costing way more than what I could afford as a college student who made $350 every two weeks. And I still only bought boxed or canned stuff—Mac ‘n’ Cheese, Top Ramen, Au Gratin potatoes, Spaghetti O’s, Chef Boyardee Ravioli. I even went through a phase of eating green beans out of a can for lunch at work. It wasn’t that I was trying to starve myself—it was just easy and inexpensive.

Since college and moving out on my own, I’ve actually experimented with recipes, bought some cookbooks and even ask for practical things for Christmas like a crockpot, knife set and spice rack. (These things make cooking soooo much easier!)

My mom would like to think that this new foray into the cooking world will improve my chances with finding a husband and getting married. She’s totally a “cook for your man, and he won’t ever leave!” type of woman. I think she used to believe that she failed as a mother cause I wasn’t interested in cooking or cleaning—ever. She probably thinks now that I’m learning to cook, she’ll have grandchildren on the way soon. She’s been bugging me to pop out a couple grandchildren for her since 2002.

I suppose being able to cook for my significant other can’t hurt…But I sure hate to think that domesticating myself a bit more is leading me on the path of getting knocked-up soon. Cause learning to cook for myself is fun, but I imagine cooking for a family every night is a whole nother ball game. I’ll probably have to revert back to Spaghetti O’s and Chef Boyardee Ravioli. They say life always comes full circle, right? Enjoy that can of beans, kids!

Hey, look! It’s a printable recipe card for you! Just click on it…and print!

Currently Feeling: Positive about this workout program during the week at work. It’s so much easier to go home and not have to worry about it…and it’s free!
Currently Anticipating: Getting my Adobe GoLive tutorial books in the mail so I can teach myself how to create a killer Web site for my resume and portfolio.
Currently Hating: No Sex. Weeks, days, hours and months with no sex. Boo. Hiss.

Who Ever Thought I’d Be a Domestic Goddess?

Sometimes I watch Martha Stewart’s talk show. I’ll admit it. I’ve changed so much in the last three years, I hardly recognize myself in the mirror each morning (I swear, it’s not the ten pounds.) Not only have I grown an infatuation with sushi, started dating older men, and began to shave my legs (oops, did I write that out loud?), but now I’ve joined the ranks of domesticated women—I’ve started cooking. I think my mom still gets a little lightheaded each time she hears this, but it’s true. Moving out on my own and having the means to buy groceries and cook for myself, not to mention the nutritional value of cooking healthy, has me going as far as researching recipes online and reading people’s “Cookbook Critic” blogs. I’ll even admit to you that sometimes I read my cookbooks and mark the pages of recipes I want to try with pink sticky notes while sitting with my feet up on the coffee table, watching tv. Some would call this my “Super Single Behavior.” So far I’ve managed to create an excellent recipe for curry, cook an awesome meatball casserole, prepare chicken in a number of different ways that actually taste good, and bake perfect Snickerdoodles and a Pineapple-Mango Upside-Down Cake. And I can’t stop. I love making things for people to eat and getting compliments on it. It’s almost as satisfactory as retail therapy.

So, while watching Martha Stewart’s show a couple weeks ago about excellent appetizers, I got the idea to have an appetizer and wine party at my house for the season finale of America’s Next Top Model. Each week, I get together with a group of girls to watch what is equivalent to the best show in the world. Sometimes we trade-off making dinners, but the menu was starting to get a little short and boring. i.e.: tacos, spaghetti, spaghetti, pasta, tacos. I’ve become uninterested in stuffing myself, so I thought an array of appetizers for dinner would be a light and fun way to spend the last night of our weekly reality-TV gatherings. Everyone took to the idea right away, and what progressed was an awesome evening of nibbling and sipping. I’m definitely going to do it again. Spread out on my kitchen counter were platters containing stuffed tomatoes, homemade hummus and pita chips and barbequed pork, courtesy of me; pasta salad from Sarah; a cheese and cracker assortment thanks to Hannah; bruschetta from Shannon and a veggie tray from Lacey. Days like these are exactly how I pictured life in my twenty-somethings…rushing to prepare food for my girlfriends, getting slightly giggly over wine, gossiping about our favorite TV show, cleaning up my apartment after the party was over, falling soundly asleep in my bed. (well, maybe my fantasies included a guy in my bed, but hey, I’m working on it!) The only bump in the evening was when Lacey said, “Thanks Martha Stewart,” and I thought she was referring to me. I’m not ready to be called Martha Stewart! I’m still young and vibrant, sometimes I overcook my meat and burn the garlic bread…while I love dabbling in domesticity, I’m sure as hell not any Martha Stewart. Lacey was actually thanking Martha Stewart for the appetizer idea, not referring to me as Martha Stewart. Phew. That was a close one.

So, here I am. Enjoying my single life in my twenties. Living like I’m on Sex and the City. And even trying my hand at being a domestic goddess—watching myself turn into the woman my mom wanted, but I’d never thought I’d be. Isn’t it interesting how things turn out?

Stuffed Tomatoes

Perfect for a light dinner or an appetizer

1 10oz. Can of white chicken
1/3 c. of mayonnaise
5 green onions, chopped
1 glove of garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
2 large tomatoes (dinner) or 8-10 Roma tomatoes (appetizer)
Shredded mozzarella cheese

Cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the insides, creating a shell to put the chicken salad mixture in. Set aside. Drain the chicken and mix it with the mayonnaise, chopped green onions and minced garlic. Salt and pepper the mixture to taste. Fill the tomato halves with the chicken salad. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and broil for 3-5 min until cheese is golden brown. To prevent the tomatoes from tipping over, it’s best to bake them in muffin tins.