Healthy Eating

The cowboy is basically a meat and potato man—he likes many fruits (thank goodness) and will eat asparagus and green beans but can do without most other veggies such as squash or cabbage.  He will also eat a salad which includes vegetables such as cucumber, radishes, tomatoes, etc.  Sometimes he surprises me—I purchased a HUGE bag of organic greens while at Costco—kale, chard and spinach.  Today I sautéed some of those greens in olive oil with a little garlic salt and served the greens with the following recipe which I saw on Facebook.  Michael really, really liked the greens and we both thought the scallops were amazing—I of course used Costco frozen scallops—not many scallops growing among the cactus here in the desert!

AMAZING SCALLOPS!!!

Ingredients:
1 pound fresh bay or sea scallops
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
All-purpose flour for dredging
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, divided
1/2 cup chopped shallots (2 large)
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/3 cup dry white wine ( I didn’t have any white wine and my white wine drinking friend, Ellie, was not at home so I left this out—it might have made a difference in taste but they were delicious without this ingredient!)
1 lemon, cut in half

Directions:
If you're using bay scallops, keep them whole. If you're using sea scallops, cut each one in half horizontally. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, toss with flour, and shake off the excess.

In a very large sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons of butter over high heat until sizzling and add a single layer of scallops. (Do not crowd the scallops in the pan.) Lower the heat to medium and allow scallops to brown lightly on one side without moving them, then turn and brown lightly on the other side. This should take 3 to 4 minutes total.

Melt remaining butter in the pan with scallops; add shallots, garlic, and parsley and sauté for 2 more minutes, tossing the seasonings with the scallops. Add the wine and cook for 1 minutes longer. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Yesterday Michael and I went to Prescott—we spent a large portion of the day lost even with the lady in the phone telling us where to go—there is something very confusing to us about Prescott roads.  We made the usual stops—Home Depot, Lowes, Wal Mart and Costco.  We strayed from our usual stop at Five Guys for hamburgers and fries and tried the In and Out—we will go back to Five Guys!

Today we traveled over to Wickenburg where I got a much needed haircut.  I jokingly told the hairdresser, “when you cut my hair last time I don’t think I got my monies worth—it was grown out too quickly.”  Well, she took me at my word and I got my monies worth to say the least—it is short!

The cowboy installed a horn on my ATV this afternoon and Tom—it is louder than yours!  To be street legal you are required to be licensed (we are in the state of Montana), plus you must have both a rear view mirror and a horn.  We don’t often ride on any street but we do ride on some county roads at times. 

I spent the afternoon cleaning—our motorhome needed it and so did the dog—much to Emmi’s dismay she also got a cleaning/bath!

We were sitting outside having an adult beverage when Fred and Nancy drove by in their ATV, I waved them in but they drove on by—only to soon return with beers in hand.  We spent an enjoyable hour visiting—Jim and Ellie also strolled over bringing me the keys to their motorhome—I’m on dog duty tomorrow as they have an appointment in Phoenix. 

This little toot is now six months old—amazing! 

A trip to Flagstaff is in our near future—stay tuned for why!