I would like to thank Jenna from the blog Eat, Live, Run for this amazing recipe! And I apologize in advance for the horrible, horrible quality pictures I am putting up of them. I was in a rush because I had my online class and my DSLR was dead from shooting 400 pictures of a blue heron on Sunday! But these quesadillas were so quick and easy I had plenty of time to enjoy them :o)
I just want to say, I don't think I have had a better quesadilla in my life. After this post, I demand that you go to store, but the ingredients and make this delicious meal immediately. I was skeptical at first, but you will never taste anything so heavenly in your life. I present to you.... Shrimp and Goat Cheese Quesadillas. I would like to thank Jenna from the blog Eat, Live, Run for this amazing recipe! And I apologize in advance for the horrible, horrible quality pictures I am putting up of them. I was in a rush because I had my online class and my DSLR was dead from shooting 400 pictures of a blue heron on Sunday! But these quesadillas were so quick and easy I had plenty of time to enjoy them :o) The ingredients: Tortillas, pepper jack cheese, peeled shrimp, sauteed peppers and onions, cayenne pepper, chili powder and.... the most amazing cheese you will ever have in your entire life... the sweetest, creamiest thing to ever grace the face of this wonderful earth... goat cheese!! Seriously, go buy some... now! and eat it with your fingers... because I said so... After you sauté the peppers and onions use the same pan to cook the shrimp. Add the cayenne pepper and chili powder. They cook fast so keep an eye on em! Assembly time!! Sprinkle goat cheese, pepper jack, and the peppers and onions on the quesadilla. When they are done cooking, add the shrimp! Grill that baby up on a flat griddle until the cheese becomes nice and gooey.. and heavenly... and amazing.. Yes, that is all cheese... and yes I devoured this in 45 seconds No words. Except make this. Make this now.... I'm going to go eat more goat cheese....
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I don't plan on doing this every time I have a "Day in Nature", but my month was kind of cut in half because of my burn, so I really didn't have as much time to, and really wasn't up to, practicing my photo skills. I made up for it this weekend at Great Falls. I battled a lot of elements shooting at Great Falls. First, the weather. It really was such a beautiful day. Perfect temperatures and partially cloudy made for great hiking. The problem was the sun kept peaking out from behind the clouds and then hiding for a few minutes, only to reemerge. This made me have to change my aperture and exposure composition often. Even when I was shooting the same thing. It would go from blown out to over exposed in a few seconds. Very frustrating. Although Jake was definitely patient while I made my changes, I thank him for that. Another element I had to battle was the actual location. It isn't very easy to climb cliffs with an DSLR camera hanging from your neck. I kept envisioning it flying out of my hands and down into the Potomac or banging against the rocks. It was also difficult to find good balance and even-footing to make sure I could be as still as possible while shooting. Just by chance, this photo shoot had a definite theme, besides landscape photography, of birds. The only other time I have really taken the time to photograph birds was at Blackwater National Refuge when we happened across an eagles nest. They were flying over head and I tried my best to snap a few photos of them. I got them, but they weren't anything to write home about. This time, I had great subjects that didn't mind being the center of attention and were relatively easy to shoot (minus the woodpeckers head moving constantly). One thing I learned about taking pictures of birds, you have to take as many pictures as you can in a short amount of time. Take a few to judge your settings, and then just go for it. Snap away! Because usually they aren't around for long. When I came across the woodpecker my settings on my camera were set for a much brighter scene, not the shadows that he was hiding in under the tree branches, that also happened to be back lit by the sun. Ugh. So I snapped a few photos took a look and had a mild heart attack. Looked at my camera, back at the bird, thinking he better not go anywhere!!! Made some adjustments and then just prayed for something to come out. A few moments later, he was gone. Now I wouldn't say this is the "expert" approach to this situation, but it was mine. And it turned out ok :o) This was definitely a challenging photo day. It reminded me why I want a new high quality point and shoot camera that is easy to carry and you can whip out at a moments notice. But then I don't know if I would get pictures like this: And I am reminded why I lug this thing around... and its three lenses.
This was a huge goal for me. I was unable to accomplish this goal last month because of a certain burn on a certain leg that left a certain someone incapacitated. I wasn't able to spend time grocery shopping let alone spend a day in nature. But not to worry, I made up for it with this months trip to....... Great Falls, Virginia! Great Falls is located along the Potomac river that divides the states of Virginia and Maryland. It also happens to be where my parents got engaged. My Dad climbed up some of the cliffs and carved their initials into the rocks before he got down on one knee. Paul was a pretty romantic guy huh? Before going on our actual hike (we will get to that in a second), we headed to the over look to take a peak at the real reason we came. The falls. Jake and I "debated" its origins for a while. Went something like..."I think its from the Ice Age" "No it isn't there were no glaciers here" "I didn't say glaciers I said Ice Age." And then we stumbled across this: Note the Ice Age mention above. :o) Great Falls is also famous for one of George Washington's biggest failures. I don't think the man had many, seeing how he is the father of my beautiful country, but you never know. Washington was convinced that the Potomac River could be used as a "water highway" from Georgetown in DC all the way up the Ohio River to Cincinnati. However, the Great Falls threw a wrench into these plans. Thus the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was born. This man-made canal winds along the Potomac and consists of a series of dams and locks that were used to move the boats along the river. The canal operated from 1831-1924 when it was closed due to lack of use, frequent flooding, high costs and the influence of the railroad. The locks still stand along the Potomac today. There are trails on both the Virginia and Maryland side, but we hiked the famous "Billy Goat Trail" on the Maryland side. This trail lies between the canal and the Potomac river giving you breathtaking views of the river from over 100 foot cliffs. Why is it called the "Billy Goat Trail" you ask? Well because you basically need to be a billy goat to traverse it! Its a 2 mile long trail over rocks, boulders and cliffs. And it is all worth it! We experienced some amazing views on our hike, but also some amazing wildlife! I finally got my first picture of a blue heron! If you don't know, blue heron are basically the mascot of the Chesapeake Bay. They are such beautiful birds with long stilt legs, and usually spook pretty easily which makes it hard to snap a photo of one. However, there was one hanging out in one of the abandoned canals fishing yesterday, and he didn't seem to mind posing for me! So I apologize for the large slideshow of the same bird... but I was really excited!!! As we were walking towards the Billy Goat Trail, we (Ok, Jake) heard a * tap, tap, tap*. We stopped in our tracks. Looked up, and there was the biggest woodpecker I have ever seen! Huge!!! I thought they were small birds! Well, of course we (Ok, I) had to stop and snap some pictures! Great Falls was a great way to make up two months worth of nature time. There was so much to see and do, and after you jump across crevasses, climb jagged rocks and boulders on the Billy Goat Trail, you feel like you could do anything. The weather was perfect also. Cloudy with a high of 55. You will work up a sweat doing this so I would recommend going during the early spring. We also didn't have to worry about ticks and snakes either. It would probably be beautiful to hike in the fall though with the leaves changing! This is definitely something you must do if you are in the MD or VA area, and a great thing to do with some adventurous friends who are visiting! Then you have to go to DC and have this from Surfside in Northwest:
I would like to thank my roommate for coming across this amazing gem of a map!
Two observations: 1) Of course this is from Fox News, just makes it even better! 2) If you are sitting there thinking, "Huh, looks right to me", then maybe I'm not the only one who should be brushing up on their geography. This country has also been all over the news for the past 2 weeks so there really is no excuse. Oh and CONGRATS ON YOUR POLITICAL FREEDOM EGYPT! I would like to preface this by saying that I cannot take credit for this recipe. My friend Kacey's husband has this new blog called "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatless Meatballs." Both of them are vegetarians and found that it was sometimes difficult to come up with new veggie recipes to replace their favorite meat-filled ones. Her husband also happens to be a chef (tough life right?) so he has come up with some great veggie friendly dishes and was nice enough to share them! So this is probably my first real vegetarian dinner. I mean all the other meals I made were definitely vegetarian but this one... this one involved a lot of planning and prep and afterward I felt like a true vegetarian! It is also gluten free! If you don't could the garlic bread I cooked to go with it... ;o) Here it is.. Eggplant Lasagna: Here are the cast of characters for this delicious meal! 2 eggplants, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, parmesan, pasta sauce, spinach, olive oil and mushrooms that I ended up not using! haha! Slice the eggplant about 1/4 to 1/2 and inch thick. Lay the eggplant on a baking sheet covered with foil. (Mine had to overlap a bit because my baking sheets aren't that large but they turned out fine!) Drizzle with olive oil and top with salt and pepper. Then, pop in the oven for 10-15 min at 350 degrees. This is an important step to help remove the moisture from the veggies. I might add another 5-10 min next time I make this because I had some liquid in mine when it was done. While they are roasting, mix the ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan cheese together. Note: the "part skim" ricotta cheese is completely cancelled out by the pound of mozzarella in my hand. Oh well. Once the eggplant has roasted lay them along the bottom of the baking dish like you would lasagna and sprinkle the cheese mixture. WARNING: Do not make the same mistake I did. I got a little too excited and instead of laying them vertically, I laid them horizontally. Which cause me to use more than I needed on the bottom layer and later ran out of eggplant. fail.) And the layering begins. Sauteed spinach layer, also where the mushrooms should have been had I remembered to roast them as well, the pasta sauce, and then the eggplants, layered correctly. Once it is all layered, bake in the oven at 350 for 40-45 min. This.... is.... heaven... Thank you Doug for this amazing recipe!
So now I know why I don't read books often. Because I tend to stay up till oh lets say 2:36 am just plowing through chapter after chapter. Once I realize it is 2:36 on a Monday morning and that I am suppose to get up in 4 hours for work I force myself to sleep. Then I end up sleeping in and coming in a bit later to work, stopping for coffee, which I never drink so it leaves me jittery and feeling off. I come home collapse on the sofa for a nap at 5:30 pm so that I can rest up to do the same thing again that night. Whew. So yes, this is why I don't read books often. I tend to become engrossed in them and am unable to just put... the book... down. It can apply to books I both like and dislike, but it is even worse when I like it. Hence the 2:36 am read-a-thon I had during The Bronze Horseman. I gave you a little bit of the back story on this book when I first posted I was going to read it, but here is a brief overview. (WARNING: May not be suitable for male eyes): The story follows a seventeen year-old girl named Tatiana and her family as their country, the Soviet Union, is invaded by Germany during WWII. Tatiana's immaturity allows her to be naive and very carefree. Even after Russia is invaded and their are rumors of evacuating from the city, Tatiana takes the money she was given by her father to buy food to go and get herself an ice cream. On the same day she has a chance meeting with a soldier named Alexander who changes her life forever. They are immediately drawn to each other, only to find that the other girl Alexander recently started seeing is Tatiana's sister, Dasha. (Cue "Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!) Tatiana and Alexander are forced to put their feelings aside for one another to respect Dasha's. As the war pushes on, it becomes harder and harder for them to keep their secret as the world they once knew crumbles around them, and they don't know how long any of them will survive. (Duh Nuh Nuh Nuh....) Review: So yes, this is a mushy love story full of love, heartbreak and romance. And when I mean romance, I mean romance.... There actually isn't too much in the first half of the book, but once you get to the second half... whew. Let's just say at some point you are going to realize your knuckles are turning white from gripping the book so hard. The author, Paullina Simons, definitely has Tatiana and Alexander make up for lost time during the latter part of the book, but almost to a fault. It becomes overdone and tired by the final time and almost makes it unromantic. One thing I love about reading historical fiction is that you actually get to learn a little bit about history. Usually, the books are pretty well researched about what was happening during the time period, and adding a storyline to history just makes it more interesting and engaging to read. I definitely felt that The Bronze Horseman did that for me. Paullinasimon.com Overall the book was really engaging and interesting. Like I said before, I wish there hadn't been as much romance as there was, but it by no means ruined the book for me. I would recommend this book definitely as a great beach read, especially if you are going to be gone for an extended period since the book is about 800 pages long. I am under no illusion that any guy will read this book so guys, next one I promise is for you. After the way the book ended (which I will not give away) I was pretty happy to find that Paullina Simons wrote a sequel to the book called The Bridge to Holy Cross. I would honestly love to read it, if anything, to see what happens to Tatiana and Alexander next. Henry Cavill I was also pleasantly surprised, and Annie I think you are going to love this, The Bronze Horseman is set to become a movie in 2012!! Mostly I am excited because this hunk of a man is rumored to be cast as Alexander. Yea, I wont mind all the romance in this movie if he is involved. I fell in love with him when he was on the show Tudors. He is just...ugh... beautiful.
*So this weekend was kind of crazy. Full of food, booze and fun which is how it should be, but it kept me from my blog :( So here is one of my vegetarian meals from last week for you. Simple homemade pizza! I can't wait to show you all what I have in store for this week.....!* So in an effort to keep up my vegetarian eating, I treated myself to this little treat last night! Come on, everyone loves pizza! Very easy, and made with simple ingredients that you can change to fit your tastes! May I introduce the players.... Raw pizza dough, sauce, shrooms, green pepper, basil and mozzarella. OMG!! Almost forgot my most favorite ingredient ever!!!!!! I put sun dried tomatoes in everthing... pizza, pasta, salads, sandwiches.... amazing. This is also important... no pre-shredded mozzarella!!!! Get the good stuff! It is soooo worth it! because this.... is just beautiful...*tear* and yes I may have eaten a hunk off of it... judge me... Assembly time.... I haven't always been a green pepper fan. But I do have to say, it has grown on me. Plus, it makes the pizza look preeeeetty. Uggggggggggggh. Bake you delicious vegetarian treat... BAKE!!!! Love. That's what it is. And I didn't even miss not having some form of meat on there. Wait till you see what I have up my sleeve for next week... going to blow your mind!
I found this great website while perusing some other blogs! Freerice.com is a website made by the United Nationas World Food Programme. Its goals are to provide free education and help to end world hunger. They do this by providing educational games on the website that the user plays to earn rice. For every answer you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to help stop hunger! A free way to help stop hunger? I'm in! And the best part is, one of the games is about geography! You have to click on the correct name of the highlighted country to earn the rice! This is really making me step up my game because the game covers the whole world at once! So yea, I will be playing this for the next few hours... |