Hey Girlfriends,
You know how you may go out to eat and you want an excellent something-something to pair with your Chilean Sea Bass? Or even when you are out with the girls, don’t you want to have a nice glass of wine besides your standard Merlot, White Zinfandel, or Riesling? Do you want to go out and learn about wine, but don't know where to go??
Well, this informative website, LocalWineEvents.com, offers a cute newsletter, The Juice, which tells you about wine events in your area. Every week you get a calendar of upcoming wine, beer, spirits and food events for the area (I chose more than one area since I travel – they have a worldwide selection!) you choose. Plus -- a wine-oriented article, a wine quiz and more. The site was founded by Philadelphia area based Eric V. Orange who has had a diverse and distinguished 20+ year career within the wine industry.
The site also has spots that offer wine education, pairing, blogs, classes, and even suggestions on traveling/vacation. I’ve always heard Napa Valley in the Spring is wonderful. One featured class is offered by The Wine Diva, Christine Ansbacher, whose palate is known to make a $10 bottle of wine taste like a $30 bottle – you know it’s NOT about the cost of the bottle, but the quality of the grape…
You may sign up for The Juice here. :-)
Until next time…
Be Seen at the Top!
If you are like me from November all the way through December, you ate drank, and stayed merry. Now it’s back to getting in shape and being healthy for the New Year. Girl, the question is where do you begin?
Since the New Year is a great time to get rid of the old, the first thing that you may want to do is take a good look in your kitchen cabinets. What are you eating? If you look in your cabinets and see mainly chips, desserts, and other fattening junk, it’s time to throw those things out. Restock your frig with fruit, veggies, and low fat foods.
Start paying attention to what you eat. Writing it down would be the best way to keep track and be truthful about what you are eating.
Here is a low fat chicken recipe that is easy to make. It cuts out the fat, but is loaded with flavor.
Olive Oil and Yogurt Chicken
• 1/3 pounds of skinned chicken breasts, cut into large pieces
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1/2 cup of plain, strained fat-free yogurt
• 3/4 cup of dry white wine
• 2 teaspoons of grated lemon peel
• 1/5 pound of fresh mushrooms, sliced
• sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
Salt the chicken and place in a shallow baking dish with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1/4 cup of water. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. While the chicken is baking, heat the remaining olive oil in a saucepan.
Remove the chicken from the oven. Place mushrooms on top of the pieces of chicken and spoon yogurt sauce evenly over the chicken. Return to oven and bake, uncovered, for another 20 minutes, or until chicken is tender. Eat up!
Serves 4
Til next time,
Shoshi
"Luscious Lifestyle Diva"
The holidays are in full swing! Are you looking for a fun way to celebrate during this time of year?
Have a good ‘ole impromptu throw down cookie swap. Cookie swaps are fun, yummy, and a sure winner for a holiday gathering. Most people make up their own rules for cookie swaps, but here is a guideline you might like to follow:
If you are organizing the cookie swap, you will probably end up as the host for this event. Make sure that you have a table big enough to hold the plates of cookies that your guests will be bringing. Most of the guests may be planning on taking the cookies home, so you'll want to serve some refreshments. You can serve something light to nibble on such as cheese and crackers or hummus and pita.
Send out an evite (www.evite.com) or make calls to let people know when and where the cookie swap will take place. Tell everyone that they must make homemade cookies, let them know how many cookies to make. You might also want to tell your guests to bring copies of the recipes for the cookies that they make. Along with the cookies, your guests can swap their recipes. Get some tins or plastic containers for the guests to put cookies to take home. Now, you are on your way to having a delicious event that will be talked about for years.
Until next time,
Shoshi
“Luscious Lifestyle Diva”
Thanksgiving is just around the corner (next week to be exact), girl is your fork ready for you to get your grub on?
The thought of cooking can be overwhelming this time of year. It is easy to opt for making the same ‘ole thing you make during the holidays…year after year.
Well, I have two scrumptious recipes that are a sure hit for any Thanksgiving feast. One recipe is for a low-fat pumpkin pie. No one will know it is low-fat, cause it is packed with flavor. The other recipe is for a cranberry sauce that is out of this world. The sauce has port and shallots in it, so it is rich and bold.
Work your magic in the kitchen girlfriend!
Low-fat Pumpkin Pie
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, ground
1 pinch cloves, ground
1 ½ cups canned pumpkin
1 ½ cups evaporated skim milk
3 egg whites, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup orange juice
9 inches graham cracker crust
Preheat oven to 450F. In a large bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and pumpkin and stir well. Add vanilla, evaporated milk, and egg whites. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Fold in orange juice. Pour into unbaked pie shell bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325F and bake for 45 minutes. Take out of the oven and cool. Serve alone or with fresh low fat/non fat whipped cream.
Cranberry Sauce w/ Port and Roasted Shallots
18 large shallots, peeled, quartered lengthwise through root end
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
5 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 2/3 cups ruby Port
1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 12-ounce bag cranberries
1/4 cup dried currants
Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss shallots with oil and 3 teaspoons thyme on small rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Mix 1 tablespoon vinegar and 1 tablespoon sugar in small bowl. Drizzle over shallots; toss to coat. Continue roasting until shallots caramelize, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven.
Bring Port, brown sugar, and 4 tablespoons vinegar to boil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add cranberries and currants; cook until berries pop, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes. Mix in 2 teaspoons thyme. Mix in shallots. Transfer to bowl. Cover and chill overnight. Serve cold or at room temperature.
~Shoshi
This past Thursday was the launch of our newest endeavour, The Collective. Like Girlfriends Get-Together gatherings, The Collective is designed to break-up cliques and get people talking to one another; not your average ‘networking’ event. Plus they are for the guys and dolls. Gbenga Akinnagbe (Chris Partlow, The Wire) hosted and all had a good time, despite the threat of torrential downpours.
In attendance was Girlfriend/Get 'Em Girl author, Shakara Bridges. The painfully shy Shakara re-introduced herself (we originally went up to her outside the Smirnoff event while a tad bit tipsy *read June 22nd entry). Naturally we helped her work the room and soon enough turned her loose as she dazzled everyone with her delicious cuisine. Now, the food at Ginger is delish indeed, but they don’t have Red Velvet Cake. The Official Get 'Em Girl's Guide to Unlocking the Power of Cuisine is not new subject matter and by now we expect you to know about it. But we always like to support and shout-out a hard working and money earning Girlfriend. Shakara and her co-authors are truly that. She gave us a copy of the lovely cookbook 
but showed it around the room first. Once the event wrapped and I got a few minutes, we eagerly thumbed through it… I swear drool was leaking out my mouth. Chile, as high resolution as those pictures were, I could have eaten the pages. If you don’t know about the handbook/cookbook, we advise you to check them out. Even if we weren’t given a copy, I’d buy it for the office! Shoot, that might be just what my Chicas are getting for the holidays.
By the end of the night, everyone was vying for the Tinalee Media copy of the book. Guys, girls, kitchen staff. Ha! This goes to show you that no matter how shy you are or what little fear you may have, step out there and work the room, Honey. You never know what you may find, or who may find you. Shakara came there with a purpose. She stepped outside her comfort level and worked that dag-on room.
Until next time, Get 'Em Girl AND…
Be Seen at the Top!
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