Just Maggie

Apple Oat Crisp

This one is another great Apple Crisp recipe from EatingWell Magazine that I found.

                                                               

Yield:  Makes 8 servings                                                                RECIPE INGREDIENTS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     For the Filling: 6 apples, peeled, cored, and sliced 1 cup raisins 1/2 cup apple or orange juice 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon cinnamon For the Topping: 1-1/2 cups rolled oats 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup melted unsalted butter 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt
DIRECTIONS                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 8-inch baking dish.  In a medium mixing bowl, combine all the filling ingredients. Pour into the baking dish. In a second medium mixing bowl, combine all the topping ingredients.  Cover the filling with the oat mixture. Bake for 40 minutes or until the topping is lightly browned and the apples are tender.
Recipe reprinted by permission of Doubleday. All rights reserved.             Date Added: 01/01/2008

                                                                     

Nutrition Facts per Serving                 Yield: Makes 8 servings

Calories: 356 Fat. Total: 13g Carbohydrates, Total: 60g Cholesterol: 31mg Sodium: 154mg Protein: 4g Fiber: 6g % Cal. from Fat: 33% Fat, Saturated: 0g

BOO-NILLA Cupcakes

                       

BOO-NILLA Cupcakes Source:Henrys Farmers Market Yield:  24 cupcakes                                        Boo!  If the ghost on top doesn’t get you, the blood red filling certainly will!  Great for kids of all ages!                         RECIPE INGREDIENTS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        For the Meringue Ghosts: 4 Henry’s Large Egg Whites 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar 1/2 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Black cake decorator gel For the Cupcakes: 2 cup organic, unbleached all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup Henry’s Organic Unsalted Butter, softened 1 1/2 cup sugar 2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 cup Henry’s Organic 2% Milk 5 Henry’s Large Egg Whites 1 1/2 cup Henry’s Organic Raspberry Fruit Spread 24 unbleached muffin cups For the White Frosting: 1 cup Henry’s 2% Organic Milk 2 tablespoon cornstarch or 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder 1/2 cup Henry’s Organic Unsalted Butter, Softened 1 cup sugar 2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               FOR THE MERINGUE GHOSTS: Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a very clean, dry, deep bowl, whip egg whites and cream of tartar with a mixer at high speed until thick and foamy. Continue whipping while adding sugar, a quarter cup at a time. Whip until meringue holds very stiff peaks. Beat in vanilla. Take a dab of meringue and place under each corner of parchment paper, to hold it in place. Spoon meringue into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch plain tip, or spoon into a gallon-size plastic food bag and cut off one corner making a half-inch wide opening. To shape each ghost, hold bag upright and squeeze onto baking sheet. Keeping the tip buried in meringue, fill out the base and then build up the body (2 - 3 inches high). Bake for 1 hour or until the meringue is firm. Turn off heat and leave meringues in closed oven for at least 6 hours, or overnight. Add eyes and a creepy mouth with decorator gel. FOR THE CUPCAKES: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a medium, very clean, dry bowl, whip egg whites, until they form stiff peaks. Set aside. In a separate bowl, beat butter with sugar on medium speed with electric mixer until fluffy. Add vanilla. Add dry ingredients and milk alternatively to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition. Gently fold egg whites into batter. Line muffin pan with baking cups. Fill each cup a little over half full. Add a teaspoon of raspberry fruit spread to the middle of each cupcake. Use a spoon to cover the fruit spread with batter. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Frost, and top with meringue ghosts. FOR THE WHITE FROSTING: Whisk milk and cornstarch in a saucepan over medium heat until thickened. Set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, cream butter, sugar, vanilla and salt. Pour in cooled milk mixture and beat until fluffy, about 2 - 3 minutes.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a recipe I found from the Eatingwell Magazine, I hope you enjoy it!                                                 Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies                                                                                                                                                                                                           3 X 5 4 X 6                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Active Time:  45 minutes                         Total Time:  60 minutes                         Yield:  about 45 cookies                                        Here's a new take on an American classic. Tahini (sesame paste) makes the cookies sophisticated for adults and lower in saturated fat, while brown sugar and chocolate keeps them ever so delicious for the whole family. Make Ahead Tip: Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days or freeze for longer storage.                         RECIPE INGREDIENTS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               2 cups  rolled oats (not quick-cooking) 1/2 cup  all-purpose flour 1/2 cup  whole-wheat pastry flour 1 teaspoon  ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon  baking soda 1/2 teaspoon  salt 1/2 cup  tahini (see Ingredient note) 4 tablespoons  cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces 2/3 cup  granulated sugar or 1/3 cup 2/3 cup  packed light brown sugar 1   large egg 1   large egg white 1 tablespoon  vanilla extract 1 cup  semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips 1/2 cup  chopped walnuts Ingredient Note:  Tahini is a paste made from ground sesame seeds. Look for it in natural-foods stores and some supermarkets.                                                                                                                                                                                                               DIRECTIONS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk oats, all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat tahini and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until blended into a paste. Add granulated sugar (or Splenda) and brown sugar; continue beating until well combined-the mixture will still be a little grainy. Beat in egg, then egg white, then vanilla. Stir in the oat mixture with a wooden spoon until just moistened. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. With damp hands, roll 1 tablespoon of the batter into a ball, place it on a prepared baking sheet and flatten it until squat, but don't let the sides crack. Continue with the remaining batter, spacing the flattened balls 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies until golden brown, about 16 minutes, switching the pans back to front and top to bottom halfway through. Cool on the pans for 2 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Let the pans cool for a few minutes before baking another batch.                                                                                                                    Nutrition Facts per Serving                 Yield: about 45 cookies                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Calories: 101 Fat. Total: 5g Carbohydrates, Total: 12g Cholesterol: 7mg Sodium: 45mg Protein: 2g Fiber: 1g % Cal. from Fat: 45% Fat, Saturated: 2g

I hope it works for him

It has been 14 days since my son had his surgery. In the past week he has started eating chicken fingers, french fries and manicotti. I am not sure how the band works, I know with bypass I didnt eat for 3 months.
Granted, there isnt any saline in the band right now so maybe since the swelling is going down he is just not feeling any restrictions. However, he is still making poor eating choices. They tell you with the band you can eat what you want (except milkshakes) because it restricts the amount you can take in.

I keep telling him to take his protein shakes but he doesnt because he cant stand the taste. You know, he is 18 and I cant be his babysitter. However, I do wonder if he is still too immature to have this done and understand all that is expected of him to be successful with it. He seemed to know and understand before hand but he isnt implementing them.

I am impressed with him that he started walking 2 miles a day 3 days after his surgery. after 14 days he has lost a total of 25lbs so far. Hopefully, since he is young, he will be able to burn it off rather quickly.

Male vs Female

     Ladies, have you ever felt like you are stronger than the world? there is a friend of mine that is skilled in karate and is always messing around with me pretending to kick my butt. However, I will try to fight him with all that I have and it doesn't even faze him. To know that when you put all of your might into something and it means nothing really makes you feel weak.
     Last week I woke up in such a great mood. I was driving to work and I felt like kicking someones ass. I wanted to learn how to shoot a gun and I wanted to karate kick this friend...lets call him Al. So I'm sitting in my car imagining myself flipping Al over and him looking up from the ground in amazement. Just in shock that I was able to flip him so easily. As he looked up at me I could see him trying to say "someone has trained you". But I told him to keep quiet and not let anyone else know. Yes, I know, its insane. But for just a moment I felt like I was a powerful being that nobody could mess with. Until today, when Al and I were once again horsing around and he says to me...there is no way you can ever beat me. You are a female and females can not beat males. Hmmm, that really took me for a second. Is it true? Is it impossible for a female to kick a males ass in a fight? He claims that females are not fast enough or strong enough. I beg to differ.
I would really like to think that if I trained hard and was in as good of physical shape as Al, I would be able to take him down....is it possible? Or is he right and are women always going to be the weaker of the sexes?

Quitting

On May 18th I quit smoking. Then around the 20th of August I was totally stressed and smoked for 3 days. Since then I have smoked 3 times. It is now September 27th and I am wondering if Im going to be able to stay off those nasty little buggers.
I feel like if I start back maybe I will stop eating so much and will stop gaining weight. Is that just a mental thing or do people really gain weight because they are just so use to that hand to mouth motion that instead of putting a cigarette up to their mouth they grab a snack.
If they didnt smell so bad and kill you I dont think I would ever quit. However, now that I do not live with a smoker it seems much nicer not having my clothes or hair smell so bad. That alone should be enough to keep me from wanting to smoke right?
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated here!

Divorce is NOT a bitch!

I finally did it. If you notice, I havent been writing much over the past few months. Why is that you may ask? Well, I decided after 18 years of marriage that it was time to leave. I was torn for years about leaving because of my son. Now that he is 18 I really just wanted to make myself happy.
Im not bashing his dad, well, I will try not to...but I am really doing great now! I quit smoking and living in a new place that I love and life is great...and my son is happy for me! Go figure, all of this time I was not doing it because he told me he couldnt handle it if we split up. Now that I did it, he is really doing fine with it.
I think its amazing how reziliant kids can be and how much we as parents will stay in a marriage so they are happy. The thing is, they really arent happy. Its when you leave and they see how happy you are and they dont see or hear any arguing that make them happy as well.

Its my boys turn!

On October 1, 2008 my son will be getting the lapband surgery. He is very excited about it and I hope
that he will do well with it.
I will keep you up to date regarding his progress.
Overall, I think I have done well with my bypass surgery. I have gained about 20lbs back after 3.5 years but
I am contributing that to quitting smoking. I really need to stop eating when I would normally want to smoke.
I'm sure exercising a little more would help also.
So, keep watching and I will bring you the latest on how he does with his surgery.

Borgata Spa in Atlantic City

Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa - Atlantic City New Jersey - 1-866-Myborgata

On September 21, 2008 we headed up north to a spa in Atlantic City NJ. Laura had never been to AC or Vegas so the new adventure was exciting for her. We arrived at the hotel at 2:15pm with a spa appointment set for 3pm.
The line to check in was very long so I went to the concierge and they checked me in so we could do the spa and we would just have to come back to get our keys.
We arrived at the spa to walk into a general waiting area that everyone was just sitting around. Nothing private or relaxing. We were given our lockers and told to change. However, there are no changing stalls. At this spa you have to go into the bathroom which is a normal size stall and no place to put your things….we didn’t like that at all.
This time around we had two male masseuses. The massage room was nice but a bit small. The massage was good. Not as good as the girls at Landsdowne did but it was still good. The one thing we did not like is that they put oil in their hands and rubbed it right into your hair to do the scalp massage. The guy I had, was actually using his nails to massage my scalp and it was not pleasant. Needless to say, Laura said I looked like I had just gotten done having a wild night of whoopi when I walked out of there because of all the oil in my hair and how messy it was.
We went into the hot tub area and that was nice. There are lounge chairs laying around like it is poolside. We decided to skip the saunas this time. We were just ready to go. It did not have that same feeling we had at Landsdowne.
So, we decided to take a shower and clean up. However, when finished, they have a blow dryer and hair products but NO COMBS! This really put us off. How do you blowdry your hair without a brush or comb?
And there are no dressing rooms to get dressed…now we were upset. We had to walk back to our room with our hair soaking wet and uncombed.. We were not happy campers to say the least.
The rooms here are really nice however the wait staff at the restaurants we found were very rude. We were wondering if it is the people in NJ or we were just getting some ticked off people helping us.
Overall, we rate this spa experience a 5. It was average. Nothing exceptional but not so bad that we weren’t relaxed from the massage.
They have a “Rejuvenation” package that we did. Only available Sunday thru Thursdays (based on availability) the room with two 50 minute massages and taxes came out to approximately $466.00 for one night.

Landsdowne Resort

Landsdowne Resort - 44050 Woodridge Parkway - Landsdowne Virginia - 703-729-8400

On August 20, 2008, we went to Landsdowne Resort. We really enjoyed this spa. After being able
to check in early, we enjoyed one of the 3 pools they offer for a few hours before our spa appointment.

When we went to our appointment we were directed into a nicely dimmed resting room to wait. We enjoyed a mixute of nuts and fruits, water and teas. The music was low and the lights dimmed with 3 lounge chairs  about the size of a single bed. They were draped with blankets. There was other comfortable seating available as well.
When we were called back, we walked to a room that was a nice size to accommodate 2 people. We had two female masseuses for this experience.  (keep in mind, we always get our massages together in the same room) This was the first massage I had in a long time. It was a little painful for me because I had so much built up tension. But when they were done with us, we could hardly walk out of the room. It was amazing how good we felt.
They then guided us back to the resting room, gave us warm water and had us lay down with the blankets and just relax. They said we were welcome to stay as long as we like. After relaxing for about 30 minutes we decided to venture into the saunas. They offer a wet and dry sauna and hot tub. If you do not have a bathing suit then just wrap a towel around you and enjoy!
We then enjoyed a great shower with all the girly things that you would need to walk out of there looking like a million bucks. No, they do not supply you with makeup but all bath products, combs, hair spray etc are at your disposal.
We spent almost 3 hours at this spa for what started out as a 50 minute massage. It was a great experience and we would definitely go back for the spa.
The hotel room however was not what we expected. We thought it would be nicer than it was. The hotel breakfast buffet was also something to be desired. For one night the cost of the room including taxes was $415.30 and included 2, 50 minute massages.
Overall, our rating of this spa experience was a 9.