...cast your vote!

Southwest Airlines is currently hosting a contest for people to be their next blog-o-spondent, which is a video correspondent for the SWA blog. The winner gets to go to four Southwest cities over the next year and do video blogs for their blog. The contest ends Sunday. The people with the ten highest votes are interviewed by SWA, and then they pick three people to fly out to Vegas for the final audition round.

Why am I telling you this? My friend Jessica with the ridiculously cute baby (his name's Elias.. see post from about 6 weeks ago) is super excited about the possibility of being a blog-o-spondent, and I know she'd do a great job.

All you need to do is CLICK HERE to watch her video and vote that you "Luv It" by clicking on the green arrow next to the video. It's that simple. Last time I checked, she was in the number ONE spot. Let's keep her there!

...take off your cap!

More than 60% of plastic bottles headed for a local recycling facility are actually thrown into landfills because the caps and labels are left on. They aren't made from the same grade plastic as the actual bottle and can't be recycled in the same way. The caps AND the bottles are then discarded in the normal way any trash would be. This isn't just for water bottles, but also milk, soda, shampoo, lotions, and anything else that has a cap on it! So.. if you're trying to do your part with recycling and don't remove caps to discard, they end up in the place you're trying to avoid.

What do you do with all the bottle caps then??? 

Today, I came across an article about a program through Aveda stores. You can take your bottle caps to any Aveda store and they take care of the recycling.  The caps are then kept out of landfills and the environment! They are using the recycled plastic caps for their own packaging in the near future.

...I never knew eggplant could taste so good.

Here's a yummy recipe I got from a new favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen. It's the first recipe I've tried off of her site and it didn't disappoint. The pictures on her entire blog are enough to make me want to spend 12-16 hours in the kitchen everyday and share the treasures with all my friends. 

She also credits Dorie Greenspan in Bon Appetit, August 2008 issue for the recipe listed below. So I'm a twice over recipe snatcher. It made enough caponata salsa for Lee and I to eat on chips today for lunch. Ohhhh what a treat! Next time I think I might forget the eggplant, chop everything super small and eat the whole thing that way. Not that I'm an eggplant hater.. just not a lover.

I bought a cast iron grill pan from Williams-Sonoma last week and it was the first time using that too. It was a success. One of my favorite impulse purchases in a long time :)

Drum roll please...

Grilled Eggplant with Caponata Salsa

1 12-ounce container grape or cherry tomatoes, quartered lengthwise

2 celery stalks, finely diced

1/2 cup chopped Vidalia or Maui onion

5 large green olives, pitted, thinly sliced (about 2 Tablespoons)

2 Tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh oregano plus sprigs for garnish 

1 Tablespoon drained capers, rinsed

1 garlic clove, minced

Pinch of dried crushed red pepper flakes

3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for brushing

1 large eggplant (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds, trimmed

Mix tomatoes, celery, onion, olives, capers, oregano, garlic, and crushed red pepper in medium bowl. Whisk red wine vinegar and 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil in small bowl; pour over tomato mixture and toss to coat. Season caponata to taste with salt and pepper. (Caponata can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Peel eggplant lengthwise to create alternating two inch wide intervals of peeled and un-peeled skin. Cut eggplant crosswise into 6 slices, each about 1-inch thick. Brush eggplant with olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill eggplant slices until slightly charred and very tender when pierced with knife, about 8 minutes per side.

Place 1 grilled eggplant slice on each of 6 plates. Spoon Caponata over, garnish with oregano sprigs, and serve warm or at room temperature. 

My variations.. white wine vinegar instead of red wine vinegar, no oregano (didn't have any fresh). We ate 3 pieces each as a main dish, so it made 2 servings instead of 6 appetizers.

(photograph from www.smittenkitchen.com)

...a sweet tooth fix that's better for you than Oreos.

I've been trying to cut down on sugar lately.. ok.. really go cold-turkey. BUT my sweet tooth got the best of me once again. I researched a couple of healthy alternative recipes online and found a couple that sounded fantastic. I made this one from wholefoods.com yesterday and it did the job.

Maple Carob Granola Bars

4 cups old-fashioned oats (or quick-cooking)

1/3 cup organic canola oil

3/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup vegan carob chips

1/2 cup organic walnuts, chopped (or pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Spread oats into an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, stirring a couple of times. Combine remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add warm oats. Spread mixture into a 9x13 baking dish that has been sprayed or oiled, pressing down hard to compact it.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely and cut into bars.

Half batch in an 8x8 pan takes about 20 minutes to bake.

...we're happy to be home.

"The unspoken rule of summer travel is that the moment you leave the house, you've agreed to be hungry, tired, lost, dirty and disappointed," says psychologist LeslieBeth Wish. "Negativity stems from not being prepared and not being willing to face that travel just ain't the way it used to be," she says.

I had to laugh when I read this quote in an article from cnn.com called "Seven Essential Coping Skills for Summer Travel". I'm not sure that I've ever had a really disappointing travel experience.. after all.. your attitude determines how much fun you'll have anyway. But this year, the cards seemed stacked against us. Despite many adverse situations last week, Lee and I made it a GREAT one :) We decided a few weeks ago to take the plunge on a last minute deal to Mexico. For a great price, we booked a flight and seven days at an all-inclusive resort on the beach. We now KNOW it was good deal because it was $800 cheaper than another couple on the shuttle to the resort from the airport. They booked through a travel agent who probably booked the trip from the same website we did. So, with that in mind, I don't feel the least bit jipped :) 

We weathered last minute airport changes, tropical storm Dolly, obnoxious drunk people, hot hot sun, bad food, long lines, roaches and ants, rude bus drivers and digestive...um...issues.

BUT...we did get to see some pretty sunrises and sunsets. :) And we now have a travel story to look back on and laugh. Needless to say, we are VERY happy to be back home.