I went to get a massage on Sunday morning and as usual it was 60 minutes of chatting with my massage therapist Laura while she worked. The subject of food came up and her hands starting working overtime as she enthusiastically explained how to make the best guacamole ever. The recipe came from her ex-boyfriend Chris and her dad would request it every time he came over. I intend to give it a try this week. It comes highly recommended!

1/4 of red onion, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Serrano pepper, minced
juice from 1 lime
2 avocados
2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

Combine red onion, salt, garlic and serrano pepper in a bowl. Squeeze lime juice over mixture, cover and refrigerate for two hours. Remove from fridge and add contents of avocados, tomatoes and clinatro. Add any additional salt to taste. Mix and enjoy!

These patticakes are a family recipe on my mother’s side. She was just telling me today that she has fond memories of helping her father make them in a large enamel tub, mixing all the ingredients. My aunt (Sissy) is usually the one who prepares them these days, but we have the recipe from her so we can make our own if need be. They’re super easy to make and use common ingredients so you can even have some for Thanksgiving tomorrow. They even cook in a toaster oven, Megan.

1 loaf of stale bread, torn into small pieces
4-6 stalks of celery, chopped very fine
1 medium onion, chopped very fine
1/2 cup (one stick) of butter or margarine, melted
sage, salt, pepper and celery seed to taste
1 small can of condensed milk (not the sweet kind but the evaporated kind)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Pour condensed milk over it as you mix with your hands and form patticakes.
Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Continue baking for another 5 minutes at 450 degrees.

Note that if you are taking these to another house for dinner, you can wait to bake them those last 5 minutes once you get there so they’re fresh and hot.

Again, you all continue to amaze me and I’m humbled that you would take the time to write such great things for this project. This month’s challenge was to describe something physically about ourselves that pleases us. It could be a body part or an overall physical feature. The project also had a second part of providing a recent photo of yourself that pleases you. Below is a list of the participants:

Kitty’s Living Like you Love It
Her topic is her body’s power to adapt. She has done great things to create a positive image of herself and my favorite line of her entry is, “Hello – I made people!!!”. And while it wasn’t her topic, I feel it necessary to note that God graced her with a great rack. So there.

Gina’s What Makes ME Hot Stuff
I was afraid Gina was going to chicken out on me for this project but she came through with flying colors! As a fellow brown-eyed girl, I can totally respect her choice of highlighting her eyes. And the grin in her photo is awesome!

Martelle’s Hot Stuff
I stumbled upon Martelle through LiveJournal and the SCA, but I’m not sure I could have picked her out of a police line up or crowded feast hall. Her entry gave me all kinds of insight into her childhood, the things she takes joy in, and most importantly a photo so I can introduce myself the next time we’re in the same place! Looking forward to meeting you soon!

Kim’s Living Out Loud II: Body Check
As folks have talked to me about this challenge I’ve mentally noted to myself my favorite thing about them physically. I’ve always loved Kim’s skin and her choice to adorn it in such beautiful detail makes me a bit jealous. I’m just not sure I have the guts for it myself. I also admit to growing my hair out lately with the hope that I’ll get more hair brushings.

Megan’s My Body. Not Wonderland.
I read Megan’s entry about her strong legs and nodded to myself in agreement. I got to her photos and started crying. She is beautiful in so many ways.

Karal’s Forever on the Hips
I’ve been commiserating with her as she struggles with medical mysteries that make her belly her enemy these days. But sometimes the smallest of things can mean so much and remind us how strong we are.

Rich’s Momentos written across my skin
I won’t embarrass us all by listing all my favorite parts of his, but I do admit that his hands are up there in the top five. Chicks do indeed dig scars – this one does at least.

My own contribution is All of me, why not take all of me. So many things about my body I can’t control, but I’m pretty sure I’ll always be a million feet tall. The air really is nice up here.

This project continues to bring me much joy and I personally want to thank all of you for participating. It means the world to me! I’m already looking forward for the project due April 1 (great, April Fools Day).

For this project, I have chosen Megan as our prize winner. She has been waging a battle over her body for quite a while now and bared her soul online for us all. I’ve been wracking my brain for an appropriate prize and have decided that a good massage would pamper all those muscles that serve her so well. Megan will be receiving a gift certificate for a 30 minute massage at her local salon.

I encourage you all to read the entries above and comment. And if you have a suggestion or this month’s project, I’m all ears!

I just had a huge plate of leftovers (including some extra side dishes we didn’t even have on Thursday), the chocolate pies are ready and I can see a few Christmas lights on the porch peeking through the blinds. All in all, things are pretty good today.

I remember my father arguing that chocolate chess pie wasn’t a pretty pie and so we shouldn’t take it to parties or holiday dinners. I’m not sure if he still feels that way, but as a kid it was always one of my favorite desserts my mother would make. It’s also ridiculously easy to make, so long as you take care to add the egg slowly and not overcook it.

1 pie crust (regular – not deep dish)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
1 oz. package of liquid chocolate (Nestle sells it in a yellow box. The liquid is way better than block for this.)
2 eggs, unbeaten

Melt the stick of butter on low heat. Add the sugar and chocolate to make a fudge mixture. Slowly add the egg and continue stirring to keep the egg from cooking once it touches the hot chocolate. I generally add about half of the chocolate mix to the egg and then all of that back into the rest of the chocolate mix.

Be careful not to stir the mixture too much (which I always do) or it will try to fluff up. Pour the mix into the pie shell and cook at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

My mother makes these great biscuits from little to no ingredients and they are some of my favorite breakfast foods even though I’m not a huge fan of sweet potatoes.

2 med/large sweet potatoes
smidge of butter or Crisco
2 cups Bisquick
1/2 cup Splenda or sugar
1/2 cup Bisquick additional

Grease 2 medium/large sweet potatoes in butter/Crisco and cook for 75-80 minutes at 425 degrees. The potatoes will “leak” sticky juices, so you might want to put them on aluminum foil. You an tell they’re getting done when the skin puffs up away from the potato. Wait for them to cool and peel the skin off (you can do this by hand).

Mix potatoes with 2 cups of Bisquick and 1/2 cup Splenda/sugar. They will be really sticky so use the remaining the 1/2 cup Bisquick to get them off your hands. Pull off pieces into golf ball sized bits and put on a cookie sheet. You can roll them out if you really want, but they taste just as good if they’re uneven.

Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes, checking the bottoms to make sure they’re not too brown.

I highly recommend these served with slices of crisp bacon in between like tasty little sandwiches.