Monday, September 24, 2012

Pictures of Our Dinners....


I promised a couple weeks ago to post some pictures of our dinners...well here you go.
Roasted Turkey, Pesto, Roasted Red Pepper and Gouda Panini and Green Bean Salad

Hot Pepper Pesto Penne with Green and Yellow Zucchini

Kale and Roasted Beet Salad

Speck & Zucchini Bruschetta

Kale and Sausage French Pizza and Corn on the Cob

What's in the Fridge Crustless Quiche with homemade corn bread

Chassie’s What to Watch

With most of the premieres starting this week, we should have a full WTW.

Dancing With the Stars-Monday on ABC at 8:00 pm
Hawaii 5-O-Monday on CBS at 10:00 pm
NCIS-Tuesday on CBS at 8:00 pm
NCIS: LA-Tuesday on CBS at 9:00 pm
Vegas-Tuesday on CBS at 10:00 pm
Last Resort-Thursday on ABC at 8:00 pm
Elementary-Thursday on CBS at 10:00 pm
Scandal-Thursday on ABC at 10:00 pm
Blue Bloods-Friday on CBS at 10:00 pm
Amazing Race-Sunday on CBS at 8:00 pm
Once Upon A Time-Sunday on ABC at 8:00 pm
Revenge-Sunday on ABC at 9:00 pm
666 Park Avenue-Sunday on ABC at 10:00 pm

Happy watching…

TV’s Big Premiere Week

The week of September 24-30, 2012 is Fall TV’s big week. Most shows will premiere this week. And it will be busy. Normally the first couple of weeks after all the shows premiere is a stressful for me. I push my DVR to its limits and when shows sit on the hard drive it stresses me out.

Here is the schedule (new shows are listed in RED):

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 24, 2012
Dancing With the Stars             ABC                             8:00pm
HIMYM                                   CBS                             8:00 pm
Partners                                    CBS                             8:30 pm
2 Broke Girls                            CBS                             9:00 pm
Mike & Molly                           CBS                             9:30 pm
Castle                                       ABC                             10:00 pm
Hawaii 5-O                               CBS                             10:00 pm


TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2012
NCIS                                        CBS                             8:00pm
New Girl (Special)                    FOX                             8:00pm
Ben And Kate                           FOX                             8:30 pm
NCIS: LA                                 CBS                             9:00 pm
New Girl (Time Period Prem)    FOX                             9:00 pm
The Mindy Project                    FOX                             9:30 pm
Private Practice                         ABC                             10:00 pm
Vegas                                       CBS                             10:00 pm

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2012
Animal Practice                         NBC                             8:00 pm
The Middle                               ABC                             8:00 pm
Guys with Kids                         NBC                             8:30 pm
Criminal Minds                        CBS                             9:00 pm
Law & Order: SVU                   NBC                             9:00 pm
Modern Family                         ABC                             9:00 pm
The Neighbors (Special Time)   ABC                             9:30 pm
CSI                                          CBS                             10:00 pm

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2012
Big Bang Theory                      CBS                             8:00 pm
Last Resort                               ABC                             8:00 pm
Two and a Half Men                 CBS                             8:30 pm
Grey’s Anatomy                       ABC                             9:00 pm
Person of Interest                      CBS                             9:00 pm
Elementary                               ABC                             10:00 pm
Scandal                                    ABC                             10:00 pm

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2012
CSI: NY                                   CBS                             8:00 pm
Kitchen Nightmares                  FOX                             8:00 pm
Fringe                                      FOX                             9:00 pm
Made in Jersey                          CBS                             9:00 pm
Blue Bloods                              CBS                             10:00 pm

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 30, 2012
The Amazing Race                   CBS                             8:00 pm
Once Upon A Time                   ABC                             8:00 pm
The Simpsons                           FOX                             8:00 pm
Bob’s Burger                            FOX                             8:30 pm
Family Guy                              FOX                             9:00 pm
The Good Wife                         CBS                             9:00 pm
Revenge                                   ABC                             9:00 pm
American Dad                          FOX                             9:30 pm
666 Park Avenue                      ABC                             10:00 pm
The Mentalist                           CBS                             10:00 pm

The returning shows I am most excited about are:
Once Upon A Time
Revenge
NCIS
NICS: LA
Grey’s Anatomy
Scandal
The Good Wife

The new shows I am going to watch are:
Elementary
666 Park Avenue
Last Resort
Vegas

I will let you know my thoughts about the new shows…

Friday, September 21, 2012

Pumpkin Beer Tasting

The Mission: Review this season's hottest flavored beer...Pumpkin Beer.

The Group: Joanna, Nick, Sawyer, Ashley, Dave and me.

Location: Joanna and Nick's Home

The Lineup:
1. Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat Ale
2. Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale
3. Terrapin Pumpkinfest
4. Dogfish Head Punkin’ Ale
5. Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale
6. Schlafly Pumpkin Ale
7. Southern Tier Pumking

Evaluators:
Me-Novice Beer drinker and new to beer evaluating
Nick Anderson-Beermonger. Beer Expert Evaluator. Author of Beermonger and blogs for ArlNow.

Winners:
1. Schlafly Pumpkin Ale-Had a velvety taste of cinnamon and brown sugar. There was just the right amount of spice which lingered slightly. It was just enough to entice your tastebuds to want some more. And is my number one pick! Too bad they're sold out.

2. Blue Moon Harvest Moon Pumpkin Ale-This ale was lighter in color than the others. I couldn't smell any aroma. But it had a nice spicy flavor which only lingered for a second. The reason I choose just this one for my top three was because I like that is wasn't too spicy. This one was the closest to my Bud Light Heart.

3. Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale- This has a nice clear caramel color in the glass and a hidden spicy flavor. The spicy flavor was more than the Schlafly and Blue Moon but was not overpowering. I really enjoyed this beer. 


Losers:
Terrapin Pumpkinfest-This was a dark amber, low foam lager. It was lightly spiced with a heavy taste. It was the heavy taste which put it on my "loser" list. 

Dogfish Head Punkin’ Ale-It was lightly clouded in my glass. It had a spicy taste which I couldn't decide was all spice or cinnamon. This ale was heavier than the Terrapin. 

Southern Tier Pumking-Tasted like a Pumpkin Spice Yankee Candle. Enough said.

Final Thoughts:
All of the beers were good. But as a new beer evaluator I divided them in Winners and Losers. Only one didn't make the Winners or Losers List. Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat. I just couldn't decide if I liked it or not. I guess I need to drink some more of it. :)

Beer tasting is fun. I don’t know why we didn’t do this earlier. But I hope there will be some more pumpkin beer out there so we can do another tasting with pumpkin. Or just regular beer.

Who's with me?

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Chassie's What to Watch (Sept. 16-22, 2012)

This week we have a few more season premieres than last week. But the bulk of the shows will start next week.

I am a little disappointed that Grimm is a rerun this week. But next week it will be new at its new time and day-Fridays at 10:00 pm.

Switched at Birth on Monday at 8:00 pm on ABC Family

The Mob Doctor on Monday at 9:00 pm on FOX

Revolution on Monday at 10:00 pm on NBC

Survivor: The Philippines on Wednesday at 8:00 pm on CBS

Happy watching...


Fall Share Week 2 (Week 18)

To my great surprise Brett was waiting for me when I arrived at Harris Teeter on Saturday. I was even ten minutes early.

We exchanged my empty crate for a filled one and I was on my way home.

Here is the bounty:

1 bouquet of sunflowers
12 eggs
1 loaf wheat bread
1 butternut squash
1 zucchini
2 onions
2 green bell peppers
1 tomato
3 sweet potatoes
1 large globe eggplant
1 medium bunch kale
1 mystery red long pepper
1 mystery orange long pepper
6 ears of corn

I was really excited to receive another butternut squash and some sweet potatoes.

Here is the menu for the week:

Gnocchi with butternut squash and kale with garlic toast
Shrimp Stir-Fry with rice
Haddock tacos with stuffed peppers
Deviled eggs with roasted butternut squash salad with warn cider vinaigrette
BBQ ribs with mashed sweet potatoes and corn on the cob

I feel like I should tell you, the ribs are not completely homemade. I bought pre-sauced ribs I can just throw in the oven. I've never used pre-sauced ribs, in fact I have not made ribs ever. But I thought BBQ ribs would be delicious with mashed sweet potatoes.

Happy eating everyone...


Pumpkin Beer

The Fall Season is finally at our doorstep. It is my favorite time of year. The crisp breeze blowing the colorful leaves around. The cool temperatures mean I can take my dogs on walks without sweating. And the most important…pumpkin.

I love pumpkin.

Pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin spiced coffee (for those who have a Keurig, you have to try Green Mountain’s Pumpkin Spiced Coffee…so good).

Pumpkin pancakes.

Pumpkin Bread.

Pumpkin Ravioli.

Carving pumpkins.

Pumpkin patches.

And Pumpkin Beer.

Now I am not a big beer drinker. In fact when I do drink I don’t venture out from the light beer selections. Bud Light is my favorite and I am not ashamed to say it. But when the pumpkin varieties start to show up at the grocery stores and on dinner menus, I put my drinking hat on and put my Bud Light on the shelf to make room for the pumpkin beers.

And there are a lot of pumpkin beers out there. It seems I am not the only one who loves their pumpkin brews and breweries have taken note. So which ones are worth trying and which ones are not?

To help those who ask the above question, I am going to provide a beer novice’s review of this season’s hottest pumpkin brews: Chassie’s: A Non-Beer Drinker’s Review of Pumpkin Beer.

But I did just say that I'm not a big beer drinker...so I have asked my good friend's Husband, Nick, to provide a review on the same beers. Nick is a beermonger at Arrowine. He has his own blog on everything beer and he reviews beers for Arlnow

Stay tuned for the reviews…

Monday, September 10, 2012

The Fall Share (Week 17)


This was the first week of the Fall Share. The farmers, Sue and Claudia, sent out a list of the items we will see this season. Here are a few of the items:

jumbo peaches, several apple varieties, pears, including asian pears, wine grapes, table grapes, bell peppers, sweet peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, zucchini, and squash, heirloom potatoes, sweet onions, beans, beets, okra, kale, tomatoes, butternut and acorn winter squash, and hopefully, lots of different soup pumpkins

As soon as I saw the word "pumpkin" I was sold. Not that I was already before. But the idea of having pumpkins in my share makes me soooooooo excited.

Here is what we got this week:

1 bouquet of flowers
1 loaf of "french toast" bread
12 eggs
1 bottle of "Black Cabernet" wine vinegar
1 lb of honey
1 b of French Roast coffee
1 bag of herbal tea
1 lb of maple sausage
1/2 lb smoke Gouda cheese
6 ears of corn
1 butternut squash
3 red bell peppers
3 green/purple bell peppers
4 jalapeños
1 onion
6 potatoes
1 med/large zucchini
1 lb of green beans
4 pears
4 beets

Whewww that is a lot of stuff.

Here is the menu:

French Toast with home fries (bread, eggs, onion, green/purple bell peppers, banana peppers, potatoes and jalapeños)
Roast Turkey Panini with Pesto, Roasted Red Peppers with Green Beans Salad (red bell pepper, bread, green beans)
Butternut Squash Risotto with Pear Arugula Salad (butternut squash, pears)
Corn & Poblano Lasagna with Beet Salad (corn, bell peppers, beets)

We had the French Toast and home fries tonight. It was really good. I didn't think the bread looked any different than regular bread, but boy did it make good french toast! And cooking the potatoes in the oven before sautéing them on the stove is the way to go for soft inside and crispy outside potatoes for the home fries!


2012-2013 TV Schedule

Every year I put together the new TV schedule and the premiere dates for myself. And since this year I have a TV blog I am going to share it with you.

So without further ado…

Monday: 


Tuesday


Wednesday


Thursday


Friday

Sunday

I skipped Saturday because it will just be encores and investigative reporting shows.

I will post the premiere dates later. 

Chassie's What to Watch

I know this is late again. I am sorry. Life got in the way...

Here we go.

Switched at Birth Monday at 8:00 on ABC Family

Flipping Out on Tuesday at 9:00 on Bravo

Parenthood Season Premiere on Tuesday at 10:00 on NBC

Sons of Guns on Wednesday at 9:00 on Discovery

Tanked on Saturday at 9:00 on Animal Planet



Enjoy!

Monday, September 3, 2012

Chassie's What to Watch (September 2-8, 2012)


As the official 2012-2013 season starts, this list might get longer and longer. But until the season really picks up we will again have a short "What to Watch List".


Chassie's What to Watch

Switched at Birth-Season Premiere Monday on ABC Family at 8 pm

Grimm-Monday on NBC at 10:00 pm

Rookie Blue-Thursday on ABC at 9:00 pm

Tanked-Saturday on Animal Planet at 9:00 pm

Enjoy!

What I'm Watching this Week (September 2-8, 2012)

This week is the start of the 2012-2013 TV Season. Although the majority of the shows will start in a few weeks, one of my favorite show starts this week.

Sunday
Big Brother
Copper on BBC America at 10:00 pm

Monday
Switched at Birth Season Premiere-ABC Family at 8:00 PM
Hotel Hell on FOX at 8:00 pm
Major Crimes on TNT at 9:00 pm
Grimm on NBC at 10:00 pm
Gallery Girls on Bravo at 10:00 pm

Tuesday
Hell's Kitchen on FOX at 8:00 pm
Hart of Dixie on CW at 8:00 pm

Wednesday
Big Brother on CBS at 8:00 pm
SYTYCD on FOX at 8:00 pm

Thursday 
Big Brother on CBS at 9:00 pm
Rookie Blue on ABC at 9:00 pm
Project Runway on Lifetime at 9:00 pm

Friday
Not sure yet

Saturday
My Cat From Hell on Animal Planet at 8:00 pm
Tanked on Animal Planet at 9:00 pm

That is a total of 18 and half hours. Not too bad!

Last Week of the Spring/Summer Share

This week was the last week of the Spring/Summer share. We received our share in boxes instead of a crate. The box did the job but i much prefer to receive my share in a crate.

But don't worry, I signed up for the Fall share which will continue until the first week in November.

Here is what was in this week's box:



2 bouquet of flowers (which were not technically "in" the box)
1 loaf of bread
12 eggs
4 red bell peppers
2 yellow tomatoes
8 black plums
4 jalapeños
1 small bunch kale
1 graffiti eggplant
1 globe eggplant
7 peaches
2 onions
3 shallots
2 beets
1 yellow zucchini
4-5 lb chicken

Last week I picked up September's EveryDay with Rachael Ray magazine. It is the Italian Issue and it is awesome. This week's menu has four recipes from the magazine.

Here's the menu:

Speck & Zucchini Bruschetta (EveryDay recipe) with Kale with Roasted Beets and Bacon
Kale with Sausage French Bread Pizza (EveryDay recipe)
Zucchini & Penne with Hot Pepper Pesto (EveryDay recipe)
Eggplant Risotto...Shhhh don't tell Dave (EveryDay Recipe)
Quiche with whatever is in the fridge

This week I am going to try and take a picture of all of the menu items before we eat them. Most of the time I get so excited or am so tired i just eat the food. But I am going to have Dave remind me to snap a pic right before we gobble it up.