Fresh Strawberry Mousse! Something Pink, for the Chicago 3-Day, 60 Mile Walk for Breast Cancer!

This weekend in Chicago was the Susan G. Komen, 60 mile walk for Breast Cancer. My daughter, daughter in law, niece, and a few of their friends joined as a team, and together they walked 60 miles in 3 days along with thousands of others to fight breast cancer.

I did a post here about some of the highlights of it, and the training and fundraising part of it.

Day 1, at 6AM, Team Boob Patrol assembled together all fresh, motivated and ready for their 60 mile walk! some of the team names were hilarious, Babes for Boobs, Titty Commitee, and The Rack Pack, to name a few.
From left to right, Tenley (friend), Vanessa (daughter), Christa (daughter in law), Julie (niece), Elena (friend), Michele (friend).
Before they started their journey there were so many motivational stories they told of those who were walking and why. The loved ones that they had lost to this disease. Moms, daughters, wives, aunts, cousins, best friends, co workers. And then the survivors came in and thanked them all for doing this. Some of the survivors are pictured in the circle here with the flags, holding hands.
To watch over all these walkers there was a wonderful crew looking out for them every step of the way, here was an “angel”all in pink who rode along the walking route.
Day 2, This is one of the cheering stations set up for friends and family to cheer their walkers on. This one family set up a “red carpet” right on the side walk, complete with music as the walkers walked by. Everyone cheering, clapping, and thanking them as they passed. Cars that drove by were beeping there horns in support of the walkers. Police that were directing traffic had pink shirts on. Ambulance and fire department trucks were decorated with pink ribbons and encouraging words.
This is my Granddaughter all decked out to cheer her Mom on. She along with other kids, handed out freeze pops to the walkers as they walked by. Other people had bottled water, licorice, Tootsie Roll pops along the way.

Many of the walkers decorated their own shirts, some had names of those they were walking for on the back. This was done by my daughter in laws crafty sister.

We just loved this sign a man had made for his wife!

I have to say my son and son in law, did a terrific job to encourage and support their wives. They were both there acting as their private crew members for whatever they needed, bandaids a change of socks, shoes, whatever.
Here is one of 6 huge signs that my son placed daily on the walking route so his wife could see it and be motivated to keep going. He blew up pictures of her workmates (pictured here), her grandmother, her parents, and her sisters family, glued them on poster board and with the help of my DIL’s crafty sister wrote encouraging words to her.
These signs were so big he had to hammer them in the ground!
Day 3, The walk completed, hand and hand team Boob Patrol walked proudly into the closing ceremony together, relieved it was over,bistered feet, a little sore, but very proud of what they accomplished, as well as all of us, their family!

The closing ceremony took place in the parking lot of Soldier Field, what a sight to see when all the walkers took off one shoe, and raised it high above their heads in honor of those who have survived breast cancer. Not a dry eye was left!!

Victory to team Boob Patrol!!! You guys did it! Each and everyone of your family members are so proud of you!! Cheers to you!

In finishing, I had to show you a picture of this. Upon arriving home after her 3Day walk, my son had 60 pink flamingo’s placed in the front of their home. One for each mile she walked!

Wasn’t that sweet?
If anyone is interested after reading this post, the mousse I made was simply chopped fresh strawberries,that were sweetened to taste, folded into some freshly whipped cream that was flavored with some Amaretto, and placed into a white chocolate rimmed glass.
The ribbon was made out of warmed white chocolate, piped onto parchment, and immediately decorated with sprinkles.

 

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What to do with an over abundance of veggies!!

I just can’t resist buying veggies this time of year, I’m happy when my frig is stocked full of them, but I think I went a little overboard this past week! Knowing I had a busy week and weekend ahead I knew I had to cook these up, so I decided to fire up my grill.

I call this a Grilled Vegetable Torte, it’s so easy to prepare, it has a WOW presentation, and it goes fantastic with grilled meats. After grilling your veggies, which have all been brushed with olive oil, salt and pepper, layer them into an oiled spring form pan, any size will do it just depends how many veggies you have.

Each layer a different color, a different veg that is topped off with shredded parm or in this case pecorino romano, you might want to put a few basil leaves in between too. Repeat untill you get to the top. Press veggies down.

Cover and wrap the bottom of your pan with foil and place on a baking sheet in a 400F oven.
Bake for about a half hour, giving it enough time to melt the cheese which acts like “glue” and holds the veggies together when you slice it. Let it cool, unmold and eat it at room temperature. Garnish with shredded romano or your favorite cheese on top.

Don’t cut your veggies into small pieces, you’ll want to cut them into nice big slices it’s easier to layer that way.

Believe me it cuts into perfect wedges, just use a sharp serrated knife and take your time, pulling it out with a pie spatula. I would have showed you a wedge but I took this whole thing to a friends house for lunch, minus my camera.

Adding some grilled veggies and ripe tomatoes to orzo pasta along with fresh herbs and grilled shrimp tossed in a fresh lemon and olive oil dressing, makes this a light summer pasta salad.

Tomato Bread, this has great flavor and goes with just about anything! Take a good quality baguette, and scoop out a well down the middle, stick in some grape tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper, place on a baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven till tomatoes are soft around 30 min. When the tomatoes pop the juice runs into the bread and flavors it. Garnish with fresh basil.
Hope these ideas help you out a little in using up any of your veggies you have laying around!
Buon Appetito!!

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Italian Style Portobello Burgers!

We all get pressed for time and need something we can cook fast every now and then. This is my idea of fast food!! Something I can take out of the frig, it doesn’t have to be defrosted, I don’t have to mix it with anything, it can all be cooked on the grill, with no pots or pans to clean, and it just takes minutes to cook!

Not only is this super fast, the flavors going on here are so good together, believe me you won’t even miss the meat!

I take everything out to my grill on a baking sheet all sliced and ready to go, cut fairly thick slices of the tomato and onion so it stands up to the grill when you flip it. With the portobello’s I usually clean the gills out, that’s just my personal preference, you don’t have to.


Everything is brushed with an herb flavored olive oil which takes a couple seconds to make by mixing some fresh or dry basil, with a clove of crushed fresh garlic into some olive oil with some salt and pepper. You can tell the portobello’s are done when they shrink and flatten. Be sure to add your cheese so it has time to melt, here I used provolone.

When everything is done toast up your buns, we like ciabatta rolls so that’s what I used, but use whatever you like, just get them a nice and golden color.

To assemble the “burger” :

Spread some leftover warmed marinara or pizza sauce on the grilled bread.

Layer with some arugula

Place portobello, grilled onions, provolone cheese, and the grilled tomatoes on top and serve immediately!


Buon Appetito!

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