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Giveaway

Weekend Recap & Giveaway winner!

by agirlandhermutt on May 14, 2012

Good Monday friends! Did you all have a nice weekend? I was a busy bee, but I got a TON of house things accomplished and I felt pretty productive by the end of the weekend.

Some highlights…

Friday was Sushi night! The Scientist and I usually get take-out from my favorite place, Super Fusion, but we have been switching it up recently and hopping over to Belmont to eat at Gen Sushi. I could eat sushi for every meal. True Story.

Avocado Mixed Greens Salad. We always split this between the two of us.

Yellowtail & Scallion roll. Oshinko (Japanese pickled radish) roll.

Final 4 (Grilled salmon,black pepper,lettuce,spicy mayo).

Gen Sushi has some interesting rolls and I’m a fan after just a few visits!

Saturday was absolutely gorgeous in Boston. What better thing to do on a glorious sunny day?! Go to the movies! heh. We hit up the matinee showing of Dark Shadows.

I absolutely adore Johnny Depp. I love Helena Bonham Carter. I can’t get enough of Tim Burton. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. The Scientist wasn’t the biggest fan, but I got a kick out of it. I can’t help but love anything and everything Burton related.

We enjoyed a lovely night by grilling out. No pictures were taken on Saturday, but fun was had.

Sunday started off with a brunch with my fellow Boston Brunchers at Common Ground in Allston. More details to come later this week!

I followed up stuffing my belly with brunch foods by picking up a few gardening goodies to get my container garden all situated. Herbs, tomatoes, and peppers are officially planted. I’ll share some photos of my small, but cute little garden soon.

Getting my hands dirty and getting all sweaty was a nice way to spend the day. The rest of my day was spent grocery shopping and menu planning. How does that sound for fun?! Are you falling asleep yet at all my thrilling adventures?!

My menu for this week is super boring, but I’m just trying to use up some of the goodies I have in my pantry before doing any more shopping.

Oh, and I can’t forget the best part about Sunday…it was Mother’s Day! My parents and I talk to each other every day, but I made sure to let my Mom know how much I loved her. Bonus…my card got there on time!

Ready for the week!

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Thanks for entering my OXO giveaway! The winner is…

Andrea @ Vegvacious

Send me your contact info and I’ll send you your very own salad spinner!

See ya tomorrow!

{ 4 comments }

Chicken Salad and a Giveaway!

by agirlandhermutt on May 10, 2012

Phew. This week has been *rough*. I absolutely love my job and what I do, but right now it is so busy and stressful. I’m having a hard time keeping days straight in my head! Yesterday I spent the ENTIRE day thinking it was Thursday. It was not. But today is and I’m embracing the rest of the week.

I’ve also embraced rotisserie chicken this week. It was on sale at the grocery store so I picked one up and figured that I could pick at it for a few days to make lunches and the random dinner. Problem? Solved.

For the most part my rotisserie chicken just was plain (just pulled that skin off and measured out 3 oz) and eaten in front of my kitchen sink, but for a few lunches I jazzed it up into a chicken salad.

3 oz. chicken

2 tbsp. non-fat plain greek yogurt

About 5 sliced grapes (I used my fun new Grillos Pickled Grapes!) and a bunch of fresh ground pepper.

All together now and in a different bowl. Oops…small bowl mishap!

Rather than eat my chicken salad plain, I took a page from the ol’ Tone It Up Nutrition guide and made a wrap. Instead of a whole wheat wrap, I used lettuce. Nothing inventive, but certainly crisp and a nice change.

I used to love those lettuce wraps from PF Chang’s. There was something addictive about those! I tend to make quite a bit of sandwich type stuff for lunch lately and go through a head of lettuce a week just for the wrap part. That is a lot of lettuce washing, which I’m really lazy about. Gross huh?

Luckily the folks at OXO sent me a Salad Spinner to try out. I used to have one when I was in college, but it was a piece of junk I picked up at the dollar store and I’m pretty sure it put more liquid on my salad than it took off of it.

Not so much with this salad spinner. This sucker is powerful! Just stick your freshly washed greens in the removable basket.

Slide the lock button to the left and it releases a non-slip handle that is used to pump the salad spinner around. WHHEEEEEE!

Once you have done a few WHHEEEEs at the top of your lungs as the salad spins, press the built in brake on the right to stop the spinner from doing its thing.

This is the result of my spinning. I had actually washed and done my typical drying method, but there was still plenty of liquid on those lettuce leaves. I think this says a lot about not only my lazy nature and that I can’t even dry lettuce properly, but also how great this spinner works.

Usually when I make my wraps at night they are a bit soggy by the time I eat them the next day at lunch. After using the spinner I am happy to report that my lovingly packed chicken salad wraps were dry and perfectly edible. AND they didn’t get the cute reusable bags I bought the other day all wet again. FYI…wet chicken salad is gross. Wet chicken salad juice all over your reusable bags is even grosser.

This is going to be super handy when my CSA starts in just a few weeks!

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Ready for the giveaway?! One lucky winner will receive their very own OXO Salad Spinner!

Straight from the OXO website:

Easy, one-handed operation
Patented pump mechanism and brake button
Soft, non-slip knob locks down for convenient storage
Non-slip ring keeps bowl steady on countertop
Basket and non-slip bowl can be used separately
Bowl capacity is 6.22 qts; basket capacity is 4.95 qts
Clear lid disassembles for easy cleaning
Top-rack dishwasher safe
BPA free

5 Easy Ways to Enter to Win! Remember to leave a comment for each entry!

1. Comment on this post telling me what OXO product you are lusting after from their website. oxo.com

2. Follow @agirlandhermutt on Twitter

3. Like A Girl & Her Mutt on Facebook

4. Tweet about this giveaway (Enter to win an @oxo Salad Spinner from @agirlandhermutt! )

5. Follow me on Pinterest!

Contest will close Sunday night, 5/13.

*Just a note…the spinner was given to me by OXO for a giveaway. All opinions and ridiculous statements are all my own. *

{ 25 comments }

Fancy Jello Shots

by agirlandhermutt on April 9, 2012

Sometimes you just have to state the obvious. Here is how my weekend went down…

Silly pictures of the moon.

Fancy schmancy jello shots.

Deviled eggs. The Scientist’s favorite and something I didn’t know about him.

The world’s cutest dog. Seriously. Korky melts my heart every.time.

Another adorable face for me to look at.

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See those fancy jello shots? I was doing a little browsing around Pinterest for some fun things to make over the weekend (32W32 is gettin’ done!) and caught of a glimpse of fantastic looking jello shots in fruit. What a genius idea. I knew we would be going to a birthday party over the weekend so this was the perfect time to make them. What would I have done with no party? Would it be weird to just make them for yourself? Heh.

“What are we having for dinner tonight Erin?”
“Oh, just a few jello shots. Do you want some roasted brussels too?”

Anywho…

I tried making them with oranges and lemons. They both tasted great, but the lemons held up so much better.

There are TONS of directions out there on how to make these, but I do have a few tips.

*Cut stem to stem. This is especially true for the orange. When you start to remove the flesh of the fruit there is a tendency for it to rip where the stem was.

*To keep the shells upright while the jello set I used a muffin tin. You could use a clean one. I decided to use this gross one and then photograph it for you all to see.

*When pouring into the fruit shells use a container with a pour spout.

*Fill it all the way to the top of the shell. As the jello sets, it will shrink a little.

*Use mini (nips) of alcohol for your flavored shooters. Most of the recipes call for 1 cup which is just a little more than 4 minis. I used the 4 and it worked perfectly. I also didn’t have to buy a big ol’ bottle of flavored vodka that I would NEVER work all the way through.

*When slicing the jello after it has set, use a sharp knife that has been run under warm water and then dried off. The knife doesn’t tear the jello as much that way.