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Entrées:
Scallop kabobs
Grilled salmon steaks with papaya-mint salsa
Grilled cheese sandwich for kids
Vegetable pasta salad
Creamy tomato dip
Peaches with raspberry yogurt sauce
Easy green grape granita
Tasty and flexible—what more could you want in a recipe? You could easily vary the flavors by making the dish with black cherry jam and red-wine vinegar, apricot jam and apple cider vinegar or orange marmalade and sherry vinegar.
Makes 4 servings
3/4 cup seedless all-fruit raspberry jam
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
4 4- to 5-ounce boneless, skinless chicken breasts, tenders removed (see Tip)
2 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped shallots (2-3 large)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
1. Combine jam and vinegar in a small pan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring often, until the jam is dissolved, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in salt and pepper and let cool slightly. Reserve 1/2 cup of the sauce. Place chicken breasts and the rest of the sauce in a large sealable plastic bag. Seal and shake gently to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and thyme and cook, stirring often, until the shallots begin to soften, about 1 minute. Remove the chicken from the marinade (discard marinade). Add the chicken to the pan and cook until just beginning to brown, 2 minutes on each side. Add the reserved raspberry sauce; stir to melt the jam and coat the chicken. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the center, 6 to 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 296 calories; 4 g fat (1 g sat, 3 g mono); 66 mg cholesterol; 36 g carbohydrate; 27 g protein; 0 g fiber; 371 mg sodium; 370 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Selenium (28% daily value).
2 1/2 Carbohydrate Servings
TIP: Chicken tenders, virtually fat-free, are a strip of rib meat typically found attached to the underside of the chicken breast, but they can also be purchased separately. Four 1-ounce tenders will yield a 3-ounce cooked portion. Tenders are perfect for quick stir-fries, chicken satay or kid-friendly breaded "chicken fingers." Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, arguably the most versatile cut of chicken, are very low in fat, only 1 to 2 grams of fat per serving. Conveniently, one 4- to 5-ounce breast, tender removed, yields a perfect 3-ounce cooked portion. When preparing, trim any excess fat from the outer edge of the breast.
MAKE AHEAD TIP: Cover and refrigerate the sauce for up to 1 week.
You can be pleased with nothing when you are not pleased with yourself. --Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
The most challenging part of my sprint triathlon last weekend had nothing to do with physical endurance, although I did feel like I was going to fall off my heavy mountain bike loaded with Gatorade several times as I headed into the wind.
For a person with OCD issues, the real test of strength was all in the head.
I am what you call a pool snob. The community aquatic center is not clean enough for me. In fact, sterilized conditions are so important to this swimmer that I sought employment at the U.S. Naval Academy so I could use their pristine, Olympic-size pool. Needless to say, paddling around in this "freshwater" pond the race organizers described had me a tad nervous.
When the two friends and I pulled up to the Lower Shore Family YMCA in Pocomoke City, Maryland, I nearly bailed upon spotting a brown puddle of water that looked no deeper than my bath.
"That pond out there in the front, is that what we’re swimming in?" I asked the guy who gave me my race packet, feeling exactly like Clark W. Griswold (Chevy Chase) when he arrives at a closed Walley World theme park after driving across the country in National Lampoon’s "Vacation."
"Ha! No, it’s in the back."
Phew. That one would allow me to at least get horizontal without hurting my knees. But it still wasn’t close to passing my contamination inspection.
"Focus," I told myself. "Focus on the swim, not on how disgusting this water is."
But when my head was fully submerged in the muddy pond a minute after the go signal, I spotted a school of small fish swimming under me.
"They are only fish," I said to myself. "You are bigger than they are. Do not fear the fish. Keep swimming. Look up occasionally to see where the hell you are going, and keep swimming."
Then more fish. And these made-for-triathlon spandex shorts I was wearing weren’t tight. There was plenty of room for a fish to sneak in.
Just like Memorial Day twenty years ago. (People with OCD have great memories, unfortunately.)
Our neighborhood pool held its annual Memorial Day goldfish swim, where they dumped dozens of those colorful fellows into the chlorinated water (I’m not sure why they didn’t die), and then kids scooped them up in their plastic bags, and took them home as pets.
I forget how many my twin sister and I scored that year (it was organized according to age groups). All I remember is that when my mom went to give us baths, my sister found a fish in her suit.
"They’re getting stuck in there, I know it!" I panicked.
"Concentrate. Focus. Swim. Do not fear the fish, for crying out loud. Ten more minutes and you’re done. You’ll be on your bike."
"Oh my God, a big white fish! He’s attacking me!"
"That’s not a fish, you moron, that’s a foot of one of the slower old guys who took off in the wave before you."
"Oh God, I just got a mouthful of this filthy water! Yuck! What if I swallowed a fish?"
"The fish won’t kill you. Not in your mouth, your stomach, or in your pants. Keep on going. You’re almost there."
You’d think the paranoia would end as soon as I could exit the sooty pond, but not for an OCDer.
As I sat on my bike seat, I heard a squishing sound.
"I heard the fish. I just squashed it! I knew it!"
"It’s probably the padding in your shorts. Chill out. And even if you managed to catch one, he’ll be dead by the time the ride is over."
"But I can’t ride 14.2 miles with a dead Nemo in my pants!"
Every time I shifted gears, I thought about Nemo, wondering how he was doing. In fact, no matter how hard I tried to direct my thoughts to something else, preferably the race I was participating in, I continued to freak out about the fish.
Like when I passed a chicken farm, about a half of a mile into the run.
"I smell it! It’s a whole family of fish, reproducing as I run! Nothing short of a fish school drying out could smell that bad!"
I finally crossed the finish line singing the tune from "The Little Mermaid": "Les poisons, les poisons, how I love les poisons!"
Which was fitting, because considering all the seaweed (but no fish!) that fell off of me in the shower afterward, you’d think I was "The Big Mermaid."
From "A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of A Course in Miracles" by Marianne Williamson:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
In order to ensure our progress toward the goal of enlightenment, the Holy Spirit has a highly individualized curriculum for everyone. Every encounter, every circumstance can be used by Him for His purposes. He translates between our perfect cosmic self, and our worldly insanity. He enters into the illusion and leads us beyond it. He uses love to create more love, and He responds to fear as a call for love.
Everyone is on a spiritual path; most people just don't know it. To become a miracle worker means to take part in a spiritual underground that's revitalizing the world, participating in a revolution of the world's values at the deepest possible level.
We're all assigned a piece of the garden, a corner of the universe that is ours to transform. Our corner of the universe is our own life--our relationships, our homes, our work, our current circumstances--exactly as they are. Every situation we find ourselves in is an opportunity, perfectly planned by the Holy Spirit, to teach love instead of fear.
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. -Anais Nin
Tiffany Grant helps needy teens get the chance to attend their special night in style.
By Robyn Hoffman
Tiffany Grant, the founder of Prom Wishes, with donated gowns.
From "Hometown Heroes: Real Stories of Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things All Across America" chronicled by American Profile.
White lights twinkle in the atrium of the CityPlex Towers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, casting a faint glow on her pink satin formal as Tiffany Grant glides across the dance floor with her date. Water cascades from a nearby fountain and a slow country ballad pours through the speakers. The girl from nearby Sperry, Oklahoma, is momentarily swept away by all the pomp and pageantry.
But when a smiling Lauren Bradshaw dances by in a peach dress, the significance of the evening crystallizes for Grant, 18.
"When you see a moment like that, it makes everything worth the effort," says the young founder of Prom Wishes Inc., which provides prom dresses and tuxedos to teenagers who can't afford them. "It's an amazing feeling to see someone have so much fun and know that you helped make the moment special for them."
Last year's prom night was particularly meaningful for Grant, a graduating senior who started Prom Wishes in 2002 as a 4-H project. She began with a few hand-me-down gowns and gave them to 19 girls the first year. Since then, nearly 800 girls and a handful of boys from across Oklahoma have received dresses and tuxedos from the organization.
"This is my passion," Grant says. "I just got hooked from the very beginning. Nobody deserves to stay home from prom because they can't afford to go."
Bradshaw is thankful for the project that outfitted her with formal gowns for her junior and senior years. There would have been no proms for the 2006 Sperry graduate without Grant's help.
"There's no way I could have afforded to go," Bradshaw says. "I would've felt like I missed a big part of my high school years. I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to go."
Prom Wishes does more than provide the dress, however. Like all the other teens, Bradshaw also received jewelry, a matching purse, corsage, and even a boutonniere for her date, plus a $25 gasoline card and gift certificates for a manicure and hairstyle. Individuals donate the dresses and tuxedos while local and area businesses contribute everything else. The formal attire and accessories are stored in a Sunday school classroom at the First Baptist Church of Sperry where prom-bound teenagers can go to pick out their dream outfits.
The stories of people helped are typically poignant. Grant remembers outfitting a girl whose mother died a few weeks prior to prom and her father was laid off from work.
"The dad didn't know what it entailed to get a girl to prom," Grant says. "He had tears in his eyes after we helped his daughter. If it hadn't been for us, his daughter would have stayed home from
prom. He was so grateful for everything."
Fortunately, the legacy of kindness will continue while Grant attends college at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Missouri. After graduating from high school, she handed over the reins to Jamie Weatherman, a seventh-grader and fellow 4-H member who previously volunteered for the organization. Weatherman hopes to double the number of girls served.
"I've got big shoes to fill, but I think this is probably the best thing that ever happened to me," Weatherman says. "Tiffany has shown me that one person can make a difference if they just try."
Every man hath a good and a bad angel attending on him in particular, all his life long. -Robert Burton, "Anatomy of Melancholy"
If death can fly, just for the love of flying, what might not life do, for the love of dying? -Malcom Lowry
