Spring Pea Salad

Spring Pea Salad

I cut this recipe out of a magazine about a gazillion years ago. It was with an ad for Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix, which is an ingredient in this salad. Why am I posting a Spring recipe the week after the first day of Fall, you ask? Well, this recipe can be made with frozen peas which are about 99% as good as fresh peas and 2000% less work. So you can have a little taste of Spring anytime your little heart desires!

On with the recipe . . . . . .

10 oz. fresh or frozen peas

1 cup diced celery

1 cup chopped fresh cauliflower flowerettes

1/4 cup diced green onions

2 Tbsp. chopped pimento

1 cup chopped cashews, macadamias or salted sunflower seeds

1/4 cup crisp cooked crumbled bacon

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup prepared HVR Buttermilk Original Ranch Salad Dressing

1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 small clove garlic, minced

Rinse peas in hot water or steam if fresh; drain. Combine vegetables, nuts and bacon with sour cream. Mix dressing, mustard and garlic together; pour over salad mixture. Toss gently. Chill.

Serves 4.

**My notes: Now look at how versatile that recipe is! This can be whipped up in as long as it takes you to chop the cauliflower and celery while the bacon is cooking. And just think! If you happen to have a couple pieces of bacon leftover from breakfast and some peas hanging around in the freezer you are halfway there to a fabulous, crisp and fresh-tasting side dish.

I hope you enjoy this!

GOOP

Have you been to Gwyneth Paltrow's site? It is
called GOOP. What I understand is G and P are
for her initials, who knows what O and O are for.
But that is beside the point. The point of this is that her site is fab-u-licious!! I love, love, love it!

I know there are those in the media who are ragging on her but they should be ashamed. She has like 5 categories, Look, See, Go, Do and Be or something like that. If I really wanted to impress you I would have gone and scoped it out and typed them in correctly. She shares some wonderful information, travel tips, recipes, exercise, all sorts of things. You can't buy this stuff anywhere and she is sharing with us for free. I love that.

The only thing I would like to see on this site is a place to put comments or ask questions. Maybe there are just too many to have to deal with? If I were planning a trip, I would scope out GOOP first and see what hotels, restaurants and other things she recommends for that city. If I were looking into a new exercise regimen, I would check out the video she has posted of her trainer giving her a quick workout for hotel rooms when you are traveling. She has awesome recipes on here, a lot of which are vegan, gluten-free, and healthy alternatives. Good things to try, and most everything is kid-friendly.

I love this site and think it is worth the once a week check-in. There is a place to sign up and have the newest posting sent right to your inbox as well. How considerate and convenient is that?

I'm NOT no bitch!

I am thinking I should just make a once a week post about t.v. updates, that way it's not all over the place. What say you? Once a week is plenty, right?

So to recap what's been going on in tvland:

BB - ended with Jordan the complete dark horse, underdog, unexpected winner. But praise the Lord for that! If that skanky no-good horrible Natalie had won I would have thrown something through my t.v. And now I can sleep at night not having to stay up watching BB after dark on showtime. Whew!

Survivor - Did you see the new season premiere last week? OMG! Is that guy Russell (not to be confused with the other Russell!) a total douchebag or what? Any bets on how quickly people figure him out and get rid of him? The challenges look like they are going to be way harder and more physical than in previous seasons. Any favorites yet? Too soon to tell? Me too.

Tool Academy - They have really scraped the bottom of the barrel for this class of tools and their girlfriends. What a bunch of lo-los! And what kind of name is "Charm"?? Hmmm? Does he think he has Charm? Does he think he is Charming? And is it just me, or do you also get a mental picture of Kronk from "The Emeror's New Groove" when Big John talks? Ha! Cracks me up!!

Sons of Anarchy - This is some good tv here, folks.

Entourage - I am so loving that this season Turtle is the only one with a real girlfriend. Just waiting for the repercussions since Eric dumped the Psycho girl. She is N U T S O.

It's Always Sunny - All the hype and build-up and it was an exciting hour to record. Or so I thought. It turns out it was 30 minutes of Sunny and 30 minutes of some new show that won't even premiere till Jan. sometime. Not sure at all that I liked it.

Real World - finished and can I just say how much I loved that guy Bronne? All the girls in the house were nuts for not wanting to hang out with him all the time! He was such a fun guy. The new RW-RR Challenge starts in a week or so, I hope it's a good one and that they DON'T invite CT along. That boy needs to be detoxing, going to rehab and some anger management classes. Actually he could take Wes and Abram along with him.

This week Castle, DWTS, AR and probably 100's of other shows start up again. Oh, I looked up Lost online and it doesn't start till "early 2010" according to abc.com. Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice are starting really soon too. Don't miss them! Especially Private Practice! That was the best cliff-hanger season ending I have ever seen.

Does anyone know when the new Celebrity Rehab is coming on? Me, neither. But I will check and post it here next week. You're welcome!

And by the by, this post title is the 'BEST' line ever on tv from Hell's Kitchen!

Random Thoughts

Awwww, look how cute. That's my little punkins way way back in 1989. Sparky was 4 and Little Teeny Rachel Pie was almost 3.

And what's better than a Halloween costume that doubles as pjs after the fact? I would not be a bit surprised to find that I still have that wall decoration that is behind them. I save all that sort of stuff since it is ridiculously expensive and re-use it year after year.

Since I saw all the Halloween costumes and decorations all over the stores yesterday, it made me think of posting a Halloween pic. After my kids were done being punkins they went on to be the Scarecrow and the Tinman. After that it was all witches and vampires for years!!

You might be asking yourself, "Self, what was LisaPie of the non-shopping compact group doing in the stores yesterday?" And you would be right to ask this. I had saved a circular from the Dillard's home store Labor Day weekend sale and wanted to look at one of the sofas pictured. So I trotted down there, tied up my horse at the entrance (see, cause I "trotted". Heh, who thinks she is funny??) and went inside and asked to look at said sofa. I sort of liked it. The color was not exactly as I thought it might be. So after the saleslady who bathed in her perfume led me all over the store to look at similar sofas and I then got the idea that I was wasting her time because I wasn't pulling out a checkbook, I left. There is nothing quite like following someone downwind who is marinated in a shitty perfume, is there? Arrrrrgggghhh! Blech.

Then I went to the Texas Thrift Store that is in the neighborhood of the Dillard's home store. This store normally has a great selection of books. Most of which are priced at $1.98. I perused the books and then I noticed the area that now has all the costumes and items that can be re-purposed as costumes and scoped them out. I didn't buy a thing in this store either.

I had to run a few more errands, pay a bill, go to the bank, and then on to my Super Target to get bleach and jasmine rice. I am sorry, there is NO WAY I can make it through my Super Target without getting something extra. NO WAY. It seems to defy all laws of nature to get in and out with only the items on the list. And one of the things I got was my FIRST HALLOWEEN CANDY OF THE YEAR!!! Woo Hoo!! Typically, I buy Halloween candy at least 2 or 3 times before Halloween gets here. It somehow gets eaten and has to be replaced in the meantime. But the only candy I bought was the Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses. These things are delicious and tremendous! Like a little piece of heaven wrapped in chocolate. Mmmm, mmmmm. Try 'em, you'll like 'em! Whoever is in charge of marketing at Hershey's and came up with the making flavored Kisses changing throughout the year is a genius. I have a candy jar that is shaped like a glass pumpkin that I keep filled with these seasonal Kisses. And now I have 2 bags of the Pumpkin Spice Kisses to put in there. Awesome.

What else was I going to tell you about? I can't remember. Oh well, I will let that go.

Reminder: Tonight is the season premiere of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and the new season of Survivor. Have you seen any of the promos for Survivor? There is this one dude on there I think his name is Russell who says he will destroy his tribe's food and water to control what happens to them. Wtf?? We shall see, won't we?

Go get yourself some Pumpkin Spice Kisses and put your feet up and watch some Top Notch t.v. tonight!

Endings and New Beginnings

It's the end of BB tonight. Did any of you vote for the tie-breaker? Who did you vote for? Do you even care at this point? Tomorrow I promise to post a report on the finale events of BB.

And it's the beginning of fall must-watch tv!

Most importantly this week starts:

Survivor! Woo Hoo! I am really excited about Survivor.

Biggest Loser starts up tonight. Don't miss it. I think they are bringing back Daniel, the youngest and heaviest contestant yet.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia starts Thursday. OMG! Yes, I just omg'ed you in CAPS! Sunny always elicits that kind of response.

Tool Academy has been on a couple weeks so far, but you don't want to miss the remaining tools!

Sons of Anarchy - new season starts up soon. This is an awesome show. I really look forward to what's going to happen.

Californication - Let's hope for some maturity and growth out of the main characters. I think the "oh we are so immature and can't resist temptation" has been played to death. Grow up already and be responsible parents!! We shall see!

Curb your enthusiasm - Looking forward to the reunion of the Seinfeld cast on here. Should be fun.

Dancing With the Stars - I don't know the date for this, but poor Cheryl Burke. They stuck her with that oh-so-flexible-and-light-on-his-feet Tom De Lay. So much for her getting a chance at winning this season!

Other shows that just had their season finales:

True Blood - Can Sookie and Bill not have one moment of happiness and bliss?

Weeds - Did you see this? Lawzy, lawzy, what on earth is going to happen next?

When does Lost come back on? Is it true that this season will be the last one? Will they really and truly wrap it up so that it makes any sense? I had a dream recently that they were all dead and this island is some kind of purgatory. Let's hope that is NOT the case.

Just feeling like a good rant

Okay, you know you've been waiting for it. Another rant from LisaPie. Yes, you have! Well sir, this is indeed your lucky day!

And you know the thing is, I don't have anything major to complain about. I have pretty good health. I live in a really good house. It has a roof, walls, flooring to walk around on and damn fine air-conditioned air to breathe, I mean what more could you ask for in a home? I have a great husband, 2 of the best kids there are and millions and millions of furry pets I get the privilege of caretaking.

But every once in a while . . . . . . It's those little things that get you, isn't it? That's what they say most divorces are about, all those little annoying habits that just build up and build up until you can't take it any more and swear if he breathes in and out loudly in that same manner one more time you are going to plug up his nostrils with carrots and choke the hell out of him. You know what I mean? I bet this is the same way most murders happen. You are rocking along like usual and there he goes insisting that whatever it is you want done can ONLY happen on the weekend, you will have to keep on waiting. Then the weekend rolls around and what happens? He is tired from the long busy week at work and says it will have to wait. So six months later you are sick and tired of being a shrew and demanding that someone else hold up their end of the responsibilities and the next thing you know there his triflin' ass is laying there on the floor and there you are with a cast iron skillet in your hand. Not that this has ever happened here at Chez LisaPie. But a girl does have daydreams . . . . . .

Sara, did you see what I did there? Did you see how I used "triflin'" in a sentence?

What was I about to go on about? Oh yes, ranting about small irritating annoyances.

So, here is a list of the small things, nothing huge like global warming or that moron that heckled President Obama in the senate the other night; just small things. Consider these like the small dog pecker gnats of annoyances, if you will.

1. People who call you and ask you who you are. If you called me, you obviously know who I am. If you don't then you must have a wrong number and it is none of your beeswax who I might be.

2. My insurance company calling me with a recording asking when was the last time I had a colonoscopy. Seriously, their computer has an interest in my colon?

3. People who can't put things back where they found them or where they belong regardless of where they found them. Put things away, people!!!

4. Husky Princess dogs who think they should eat garbage and cat litter. Gross, gross and I am sorry, g r o s s!!!!!

5. People who see A, B, C, D, and E all need to be done and when you ask for help will do step A and then walk off. That's just wrong.

6. And I hate to get back on the old topics but I am still bothered by a few phrases people keep using. I feel like they don't even know what they are saying but rather just repeating things others are saying. Little sheep/lemming behavior. These tired little chestnuts need to be dropped from usage immediately:

Conversate.
At the end of the day.
It is what it is.

These things make you look like an ass clown. Quit using them now!

Okay, I feel better. All off my chest and I am dusting myself off and going to go read a book and listen to the hoot owl outside my bedroom window. Whoo, hooo, hoooooooo, hoo.

Oh, and one more thing: remember The Colonel and the chainlink fence saga? Well, I have been trying all summer to come up with something awesome to plant along the fence so that I don't have to see it. And what I came up with was some beautiful fuschia bouganvillia. Sounds good, right? Well, this past week T.C.'s yard guy came and with T.C.'s supervision of course, he planted a bunch of fuschia bouganvillia on his side of the fence! So maybe I need something else? I am trying to decide if I want to put something like honeysuckle, jasmine, grapes, morning glories or loofahs all along the fence to vine up all over it or if I want to put my very own bouganvillias. Any opinions? Any ideas? Let me know!

It'sssss Baaaaaaack!!!!!!

OMG!!! The 2nd season of Tool Academy has started
with a bang. Where do they find these tools? I am shocked and amazed that there are even more tools of the same caliber as the first season! Oh Lawzy, Lawzy!

There are tools who call themselves by dumbass nicknames, there are tools who are in their 30's and way too old to be rocking the "tool lifestyle", there are rude, insenstive, selfish idiots tools. In short all the tools you could ever hope to meet. :)

Here is the question this show brings up for me: WTF are these girls thinking? ARE these girls thinking? What could any of these tools actually bring to a relationship that would make any of the girls think they are worth rehabilitating? Any woman with the tiniest teensiest bit of self esteem would run screaming into the night the first time one of these jerks showed his true colors.

Which brings up the next question: Is vh1 now going to have some sort of show to help these girls learn how to demand some R E S P E C T? They could have Aretha Franklin on there telling them how it should be! They could have the girls from Season 1 on there telling them how those morons haven't shaped up one iota and all should have been kicked to the curb. I love this idea! I do have some pretty great ideas now and again, even if I do say so myself. (Patting self on the back)

I know the first season ended with a reunion show but it was so soon after the show ended we didn't get a real sense of whether any of these so-called reformed tools could maintain their new-found attitudes. Wouldn't it be great to do a follow-up a year later and see how it's going? Is that brain trust Matsuflex still in love with himself? Did the little Josh and Ashley couple who won and got married stay married? Lots of questions to ponder.

In the meantime we have season 2 tools to watch and be appalled at. And this is an appalling bunch of tools for sure! The very first one to get bounced from the academy made a damn scene on his exit and then was telling his girl friend how it was all her fault alternating that with "tell me you love me, baby". She is a damn fool for getting in the car with such a lunatic. I wish her all the luck in the world extracating herself from that relationship and in finding a therapist to put her back together. By the by, he was my top pick for leaving first. Bad news all the way round.

It's one of those shows that is like a slow motion train wreck. You know it's going to be bad, you know you shouldn't be sitting there watching, but you can't make yourself look away. And there is nothing funnier than hearing the host dude say "I'm sorry, you are a complete tool. Hang up your jacket and leave the academy". Ha!

Thursday nights on vh1, be there or be square!

Sssshhhhh..... Guess what?

It's 3 months and 3 weeks till Christmas!

There, I said it. And do you know Hobby Lobby has had their Christmas trees up for weeks now? I flat refuse to go into the Hallmark stores because they think they need to put their ornament displays up in JULY!! This means that next to the Clearance July 4th stuff there is a BIG Christmas ornament display and smaller Halloween, fall and Thanksgiving displays. It is just. too. much. Information overload, indeed!

Back to it being only 3 months and 3 weeks away from Christmas. I am continuing with my theme of home-grown, hand-made and original gifts. I do buy a few things for my youngest nieces and nephews from their wish lists, but for the most part everyone on my gift list is getting a hand-made gift. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about doing this. I really enjoy coming up with gifts that I hope everyone likes and uses, I am just starting to feel the time crush.

Normally by this time of the year I have made a ton of things and put them away in a closet to be dragged out in November and sorted. I shut down my massage room and turn it into Santa's Workshop in mid-November. There will be post-it notes all over the room designating whose gifts are going where. You can tell I am a very visual learner, can't you? Anyhoo, see up above where I said "normally by this time of the year . . . . . . " well I haven't really done that this year. And due to the Great 2 Year Long Drought of '08 and '09 our garden didn't make this season, so I don't have jars and jars of goodies to gift people either.

So I am going to have to print up my Christmas list and start getting really creative about what can I *really* pull off in this short amount of time.

Do you do this? Do you enjoy making things for others? I love the intention of making something with someone in mind and thinking about them whilst you are creating. If so, please post some fresh ideas that I may not have thought of yet. If you also make gifts all year long and save them up and are looking for some new ideas, let me know and I will post a list of some things I have done.