PAN-SEARED STEAK WITH BALSAMIC REDUCTION


ROASTED TURNIPS - healthy low-carb alternative to potatoes


The Man and I are currently trying to shed those pesky pounds that crept up on us in college (somewhere in between him eating burritos for all four daily meals and me eating fried chicken like it was good for me we both got puffy around the middle).

So, we said a sad goodbye to potatoes, the Man's favorite food group, aside from pizza and meat.  We also said a sad goodbye to my favorite condiment/spice/dipping sauce/deliciousness: butter.  We miss all of the good stuff like that, but we don't miss the pounds we've already lost, so we're sticking to the plan, which is pretty much a no-carb diet.

I know turnips aren't as low-glycemic and low starch as some of their relatives, but we were about to hit the breaking point where we order in a Casey's pizza and pass out in a carb-induced stupor while watching reruns of The Office, so turnips had to do.  They're almost like potatoes when you make them this way.  Almost.

time: 5 mins. prep - 30 minutes to roast
makes: approx. 2 cups
YOU WILL NEED:

2 medium sized turnips
2 tsp. oil for roasting (I use walnut)
cracked black pepper
salt (I can't stop my addiction to Lawry's- that's what I used)


EASY CHEMICAL-FREE WALLPAPER REMOVAL


http://oilandblue.blogspot.com/2014/01/chemical-free-wallpaper-removal-how-to.html
 
TriSodium Phosphate is some great stuff for removing wallpaper, but, now we know it also does things like leaching into the water supply and killing living things, too, so it's pretty hard to find these days and probably shouldn't be used anyhow.  Also, I just plain didn't want to use such a nasty chemical in my house.  So, I bought some non-toxic, no-drip, fancy-schmancy blue stuff and did a test run with it.  I sprayed it right on the wallpaper, I scored the paper and sprayed it on, and I stripped off the plastic layer of the paper and sprayed it on the fuzzy, glued-on leftover paper.  After waiting for the recommended 15-20 minutes, I ended up with this:

1.  wallpaper that was still stuck on.
2.  wallpaper that was still stuck on.
3.  partially-dried wet, gloppy, blue goo wallpaper that could be scraped off but was covered in some strange chemical that I had also probably inhaled while I was spraying it on.

Hmm, not the gloriously easy results I was hoping for.  So, I tried something out - just plain old water.  And it worked. But I wanted it to work better, so here's what I did:

ORANGE CINNAMON PINWHEEL COOKIES



These flaky, buttery cookies almost melt in your mouth, they're so good.  And they're really easy to make, although they look fancy!

A sour cream-based dough is rolled out, brushed with orange juice concentrate, then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and baked to flaky perfection.  These cookies are especially good if you're like me and don't have a sweet tooth, more of a savory-buttery-flaky tooth.