Summer Recipe #3: Chickpea Salad with Feta and Basil

 I tried a new recipe today!

"Ten-Minute Chickpea Salad With Feta and Basil"

From: Herbivoracious by: Michael Natkin

My mom had a few friends over for lunch today so I thought I would look for a side dish that was appropriate. I got this book from the library yesterday and decided to try this recipe. I thought it was quite delicious and great for a summer afternoon. It was very simple!

Ingredients:

2 (15 ounce) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained

Half red onion, finely diced

Half cucumber, finely diced

1 jar roasted red and/or yellow peppers, coarsely chopped

8 ounces feta, crumbled

1 garlic clove, crushed and minced (or from a jar)

1 handful fresh basil leaves, torn

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Directions:

1. Combine the chickpeas, onion, cucumber, roasted peppers, feta, garlic, basil, lemon juice, and olive oil in salad bowl. Toss well.

2. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. 

3. Serve right away, or refrigerate up to a few hours. 

Summer Recipe #2: Extreme Chocolate Trifle

Happy 50th Birthday Mom!!

I made this original dessert called Extreme Chocolate Trifle. It's extreme because it contains brownies, chocolate chip cookies, fudge, heath pieces, and chocolate mousse! (Extreme sugar coma afterwards if you ask me!)




I always have fun baking and creating new desserts. So this was it!




Ingredients:
1 box of brownies (Ghirardelli is the best)
16 chocolate chip cookies (homemade or nestle mix is the best)
1 jar of fudge
Package of mini heath bars
Chocolate mousse: 1 package of chocolate pudding, 1 1/2 cups of milk 1 16oz. thawed Cool Whip.



Directions:
Make the chocolate mousse first. Add the pudding mix and milk in a bowl and stir. Then add the cool whip. Refrigerate until thick. Set aside 14 mini heath bars. Crush the rest of the bars. Make the brownies and cookies according to package and let cool completely.  When everything is cooled and ready, start layering!
1. Brownies
2. Cookies
3. Fudge
4. Crushed Heath pieces
5. Mousse
5. Brownies
6. Cookies
7. Fudge
8. Crushed Heath pieces
9. Mousse
10. Decorate with the remaining heath pieces and full mini bars.

Refrigerate and serve! :)

Best looking 50 year old around :)

Belmont Stakes

Yesterday I went to the Belmont Stakes in Long Island, NY. Belmont is the the third leg of the Triple Crown. This was my first triple crown race I've attended. I lived in Louisville for a long time and never did go to the Kentucky Derby. I will one of these days!

I went with my brother, Nick, and Nick and Nick. Yes, I went with three Nicks. They are friends of Nick (my brother that is). It was a fun day and this was the first time that I've ever bet on horse racing.

We left mid morning to take the train to Grand Central. Then we walked to Penn Station and took a train to Belmont. The train rides weren't bad at all! A lot easier then dealing with traffic on the road. We arrived just before two and began watching some horses! I made my first $2 bet on a horse to show. And it won the race! I won 60 cents. Woohoo! Better than nothing, right? I was pretty proud and excited. We watched another 4 or so races before the actual Belmont race. I won one other time, winning $1.90. We lost more money than winning, that's for sure. Before the Belmont, we went down to the first floor and watched the horses walk around. I made my bets on #9 Revolutionary and #3 Overanalyze. They didn't even show! Boo!  All the Nicks and I didn't win anything, so dumb! Oh well, it was exciting to watch and cheer on our horses. After the race we ran out of there to catch the first ride back. It was a lot of fun and I'm really glad I went! 

Race track (infield in the back)

Horses getting into the gate

My bet was on Revolutionary...too bad he didn't win!

Outside the stands

The signature drink: "Belmont Jewel" (Woodford Reserve, Pomegranate Juice, and Lemonade)

All of us

Nick and I

Warming up before the race

 Here are the results according to NBC

Finish	Post	Horse	Jockey	Trainer
1	12	Palace Malice	Mike Smith	Todd Pletcher
2	7	Oxbow	Gary Stevens	D. Wayne Lukas
3	5	Orb	Joel Rosario	Shug McGaughey
4	6	Incognito	Irad Ortiz Jr.	Kiaran McLaughlin
5	9	Revolutionary	Javier Castellano	Todd Pletcher
6	13	Unlimited Budget	Rosie Napravnik	Todd Pletcher
7	3	Overanalyze	Johh Velazquez	Todd Pletcher
8	11	Vyjack	Julien Leparoux	Rudy Rogriguez
9	14	Golden Soul	Robby Albarado	Dallas Stewart
10	10	Will Take Charge	Jon Court	D. Wayne Lukas
11	4	Giant Finish	Edgar Prado	Anthony Dutrow
12	8	Midnight Taboo	Garrett Gomez	Todd Pletcher
13	2	Freedom Child	Luis Saez	Tom Albertrani
14	1	Frac Daddy	Alan Garcia	Ken McPeek

A Week at the Beach

Number Two book of the summer completed. I read A Week at the Beach by Virginia Jewel. Ehhh, it wasn't really that great. Typical chick lit, predictable and lots of romance. I wouldn't really recommend it, but it wasn't terrible. But hey, it was a free book for my Kindle. 


Here's what it's about (from: Amazon)

Thanks to a scandalous affair, NYC girls Chrissy and Cami were banished from their usual beach vacation in the Hamptons. Needing to get away, Chrissy begged her stepfather for the keys to his family’s Outer Banks beach house. Darren needed to get out of LA, and his best friend Nick was delegated to keep an eye on him. Hoping to stay out of trouble, the boys flew off to the Outer Banks to spend a week at the family beach house. When the boys discover that the house is already occupied by two beautiful NYC girls, the fun begins. 
What happens when these four very different, and very headstrong, people are forced to share a beach house? Will wild child Chrissy set her sights on one of the eligible bachelors? Has Darren learned his lesson and learned to behave himself? Will Cami and Nick survive the week with their undisciplined friends? More importantly, what will they each take with them from their week at the beach?

Feeling Like Great Gatsby

On Sunday my Dad and I made a short trip to Greenwich, CT for the Concours d'Elegance Car show. It was a beautiful hot and sunny day. The ride was an hour long and we took the scenic route. Gorgeous mansions were everywhere, huge homes I'm telling you! Lots of ritzy people in the area. The car show was really busy with expensive and nice old cars. I'm not a car expert, but according to my Dad these were the best of the best in the country. 

It was a fun day, and by the title of this post I sure did feel like Gatsby. Riding around in an old convertible and in a very nice area of town reminded me of the movie! I felt pretty cool! Ha!

My personal favorite

Dad's Jaguar we rode to the show