Ryan, Debi, and Toren Cragun's Blog

I occasionally try new recipes, when I can find the time.  I have a pretty good repository of favorite recipes that I make regularly (you can see most of them here).  I’d say 90% of the new recipes I try don’t make it past the Debi test, meaning Debi doesn’t eat the leftovers and I know that I shouldn’t make it again.  So, when I tried this new recipe, I was skeptical, as I usually am.  But the leftovers were gone in 2 days.  Ergo, it’s a keeper:

Spring Vegetable Risotto

• 1/2 pound sugar snap peas, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 4 leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 3/4 cup white wine (or cooking wine)
• 3 carrots, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 package firm tofu (optional for added protein)

1. Cook peas in boiling water about 4 minutes or until crisp-tender. Drain and rinse with cold water; set aside.
2. Pour broth into a medium-size saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat; reduce heat to low and keep broth warm.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks, salt and pepper (and tofu, if using tofu) and cook for 6 minutes, stirring frequently, or until softened. Stir in garlic and cook 1 minute.
4. Add remaining 1 teaspoon olive oil in saucepan. Stir in rice and carrots and cook 1 minute. Add wine to saucepan and stir until almost evaporated, about 3 minutes. Stir in warm broth and cook for another 22-25 minutes.
5. Add peas to saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes or until heated through.
6. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan cheese, butter, and lemon juice (you can also put the Parmesan cheese on separately after dishing up servings).
7. Note: You’re supposed to slowly add the broth, but it didn’t seem to make a difference when I didn’t.

Spring Vegetable Risotto @ Group Recipes

If you’re a fan of Google Reader, like I am, that means it is now part of your life – something you’re not sure you could live without.  I use Google Reader pretty much every day to read the news and keep up with the blogs that I can (mostly family, some friends).  I love Google Reader.  It’s easy to use, feature-rich, and keeps track of what I have read and haven’t.  It even let’s me read my news on my cellphone (try it; it’s pretty slick).

So, while I shouldn’t complain about this awesome software, there is one thing it doesn’t do that I’ve wanted it to do for years: open links that I want to read in a new tab without changing the focus using a one-key shortcut.  See, Google Reader has lots of great shortcuts – though the only one I use all the time is ‘n’, which moves me to the next item.  When I’m reading through Google News items, I usually read all the short blurbs first, opening the ones that really interest me in new tabs to read at length later (using a right-click with my mouse and “open in new tab” options in Firefox).  Now, that’s really not that terrible, considering I’ve been doing it that way for years now.  But wouldn’t it be nice to simply hit one key and have the items you want to read at length pop up for you to read later?

Well, there is a way to do it, but it requires a few steps.  First, Google Reader doesn’t have the ability to do that, but a plugin for Firefox does: Tab Mix Plus.  So, here’s what you do:

1) Install Tab Mix Plus in Firefox.  Restart Firefox and you should have Tab Mix Plus installed.

2) Go to Tools -> Add-ons.  Click on “Extensions.”

3) Scroll down to “Tab Mix Plus” and click on “Options”.

4) A new window will pop up.  You only need to change one setting (though there are some fun goodies in there you can play with).  Click on “Events” then click on “Tab Focus.”  The only one you really need to unselect is “Links.”  Unselect it.  Then click “Apply.”

5) Once you’re done, go back to Google Reader, start reading, and when you want to open a story in a new tab in the background, hit ‘v’ and it should pop up in the background.

6) Voila!  You now have a one-key solution to breeze through your Google Reader News faster than ever.

Rubbermaid Mixer Pitcher, Blessed be the Holy Pitcher

A couple years ago I brought you the holy grail of lids (a lid for tin cans).  Now I bring you the holy grail of pitchers.  Right around the time we got married, Debi and I bought a pitcher that seemed well-suited for mixing orange juice, the Rubbermaid Mixing Pitcher, Blessed be the Holy Pitcher.  Little did we realize then that what we had purchased was the world’s best pitcher.  Okay, that may seem a bit hyperbolic, but let me explain why I believe this is the world’s best pitcher.  First, you can obviously use it to mix juices without making a mess.  And, the mixer is built into the pitcher, so you don’t have to dirty a different kitchen tool.  Second, because the entire mixing/lid mechanism comes off the top, it makes cleaning the pitcher a cinch.  You can throw both pieces in the dishwasher and they both come out clean with virtually no effort on your part.  Third, they are sturdy (the one we bought when we got married is still running strong after nearly 9 years of very frequent use).  The sturdiness also means the lid doesn’t come off during pouring.  But, in addition to all of the amazing features of the Rubbermaid Mixing Pitcher, blessings be upon it, the competition sucks.

Tupperware Heathen Pitcher, curses be upon it

Since we purchased our first Rubbermaid Mixing Pitcher, Blessed be the Holy Pitcher, we have bought several additional pitchers.  We figured the Rubbermaid Mixing Pitcher, Blessed be the Holy Pitcher, was ideal for orange juice, which settles after awhile.  But we figured other pitchers would be better for big batches of lemonade or grape juice, also frequent juices one might find around our house.  Oh how wrong I was.  All of the other pitchers, curses be upon them, had so many flaws that I’m ashamed we put up with those other pitchers for years.  Take, for instance, the Tupperware Heathen Pitcher, curses be upon it.  While a classic and widely worshiped pitcher, the lid is prone to coming loose at inopportune times, releasing a flood of ice and juice when it goes.  This pitcher consistently lets its followers down.  We owned one of these for a while but decided the risk wasn’t worth it.  A pitcher that does not offer the existential rewards we expect in a pitcher is not worthy of our admiration.

Rubbermaid Satanic Pitcher, curses be upon it

The pitcher that has been the bane of our existence for the last several years is the Rubbermaid Satanic Pitcher, curses be upon it.  The person who designed this worthless pitcher apparently never had to wash one of these out.  The opening is too small for an adult man’s hand to fit inside (though a small woman’s hand will fit).  It also doesn’t allow for easy dishwasher cleaning because of the opening.  Thus, what ends up happening is crap gets washed inside the pitcher during the wash cycle then lodges in the bottom corners.  And because you cannot reach inside to clean it out, you end up with a disgusting pitcher.  This pitcher made us unhappy, which is what always happens when you allow the influence of unholy pitchers, curses be upon them, in your home.

crystal pitcher, an acceptable yet neglected alternative to the Holy Pitcher, blessings be upon it

We have owned several additional pitchers, curses be upon them, all of which suffered from a combination of poor lids, poor cleaning ability, or poor pouring function.  They were all very flawed pitchers, curses be upon them.  Luckily our interaction with those evil pitchers was very short-lived.

We also have a really nice pitcher – crystal nonetheless – that we received for our wedding, nearly 9 years ago.  We now consider this a sacred version of the Rubbermaid Mixing Pitcher, blessings be upon it, only for use when we are hosting worthy guests.  (Guess how many times we’ve used it?  Zero!  It’s not that our guests are necessarily unworthy, we just never remember it exists; we have not been good followers of the holy pitcher.)  Thus, we treat our sacred version of the one true pitcher in the store-it-in-a-cupboard-and-forget-about-it-forever fashion.  Only those worthy to see the sacred version of the one true pitcher will have that honor (if we remember it exists).

Thus, after years of interacting with pitchers, we finally decided that we are a mono-pitcherist home: We have thrown out all of the other pitchers (except, of course, the sacred version, which remains forgotten in the cupboard), removing their cursed presence from our home.  We now worship just the one pitcher, the Rubbermaid Mixing Pitcher, blessings be upon it.  The One Pitcher, blessings be upon it, is actually okay with multiple manifestations of itself in the same home.  Thus, we have recently purchased two more manifestations of the Rubbermaid Mixing Pitcher, blessings be upon it, from this online website (since I can’t find it in any local stores).

Since we are now a mono-pitcherist home, I have also become more fundamentalist and evangelical in my pitcher worship.  I think about pitchers in a black and white fashion – either you worship the one pitcher or worship the evil oppositional pitchers, which means I must (according to mono-pitcherism) make fun of you for dealing with the evil pitchers, curses be upon them.  I am encouraged by the One Pitcher, blessings be upon it, to hang around with evil pitcher worshippers, as doing so may allow me to convert them to the one, true pitcher-religion: the cult of the Rubbermaid Mixing Pitcher, blessings be upon it.  As my first act of pitcher-evangelism, I am posting about my poured-again conversion to mono-pitcherism on this blog. But be warned, if I visit your home and you do not worship the Rubbermaid Mixing Pitcher, blessings be upon it, I may have to tell you about the advantages of mono-pitcherism and the One, True Pitcher, blessings be upon it, and mock your worship of inferior pitchers (and oh can I mock).  In the name of the One True Pitcher, blessings be upon it, amen.

Most people probably don’t know this about me, but I’m a fan of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).  I wouldn’t say I’m an over-the-top fan; I have yet to go to a live event (and probably won’t).  But I do watch the events I can and even read news about the UFC online.  So, after a couple years of following the UFC, the repeated exposure to fighters who are often very cut kind of got to me.  It’s not that I was super fat or even obese, but I had been wanting to loose 10 pounds just to get down to the weight I’ve wanted to be at for years.  Inspired by guys like Roger Huerta (the fighter in the photo to the right), I finally decided to just do it:  This summer I dropped the 10 pounds I’ve been wanting to drop for a couple of years.

So, because I was inspired by UFC fighters, I’m calling this the UFC Diet.  How did I do it?  I followed the tried and true “diet” formula: caloric intake = food eaten – activity.  Rather than increase my activity (it’s actually probably gone down over the summer), I just started eating less.  Less food = fewer calories = lower weight.

This isn’t revolutionary of course.  No quick fix.  In fact, it’s hard to feel hungry sometimes.  But it’s the price you pay for getting to a good weight.

Now, don’t get the wrong impression.  I don’t have the 8-pack of George St. Pierre (in the picture to the left).  I also can’t say the UFC did anything specifically to encourage me to do this.  But seeing fighters who are physically fit not for the sake of looking good but because they need to be at a physical peak to fight at their best is inspiring.

(Postscript: Hopefully lawyers from the UFC won’t show up here and make me take this down over copyright infringement, etc..  I’m not claiming to represent the UFC or anything of that sort.  But, if lawyers from the UFC do show up, I’m not above discussing a book deal turning my idea/experience into a book.  Hint, hint.)