Slow Cooker Spicy Beef & Bell Pepper

Today I was looking for an easy recipe to share and found this one at Let the Baking Begin. Looks easy, delicious and healthy. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Spicy Beef & Bell Pepper

• 2 lbs beef chuck, thinly sliced
• 2 cups chopped to 1 inch squares bell pepper
• 1/2 medium onion, peeled, cut in half, sliced
• 1 cup broth or 1 cup water + 3 bullion cube
• 2 Tbsp corn starch
• 2 tsp freeze dried garlic
• 1/3 cup chopped parsley
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp – 1 Tbsp Sriracha sauce

Place meat on bottom of slow cooker. Top with sliced onion. 

Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic. Mix the broth with Sriracha; or water, bullion cubes and Sriracha. Pour over the peppers and beef.(if using bullion cubes, add only 1 tsp salt). Set on high heat for 3.5-4 hours.

Mix 1/2 cup water and 2 tablespoons corn starch. Add 1 cup of liquid from the meat & pepper mixture and cook on medium heat until boiling, then cook 2 minutes past boil to remove the cornstarch flavor. Add this mixture back to the meat and bell peppers. Sprinkle with chopped parsley, stir and serve.

Sound good to you? Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

Who's Your Favorite, Kelly or Astaire?

I love the old Hollywood musicals and I enjoy the dance numbers the best. I'm a big fan of both Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire! Although Astaire appears more graceful and Kelly more athletic, I don't think I could ever say I liked one more than the other because they were both great. For a real opinion on their dancing, check this out from dancer Cyd Charisse's autobiography The Two of Us:

Cyd Charisse

"As one of the handful of girls who worked with both of those dance geniuses, I think I can give an honest comparison. In my opinion, Kelly is the more inventive choreographer of the two. Astaire, with Hermes Pan's help, creates fabulous numbers – for himself and his partner. But Kelly can create an entire number for somebody else ... 

Gene Kelly

I think, however, that Astaire's coordination is better than Kelly's ... his sense of rhythm is uncanny. Kelly, on the other hand, is the stronger of the two. When he lifts you, he lifts you! ... To sum it up, I'd say they were the two greatest dancing personalities who were ever on screen. But it's like comparing apples and oranges. They're both delicious."

Fred Astaire

Delicious is a great way to put it! Who do you like best, Kelly or Astaire?

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

Princess Leia as Played by...

Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia

Carrie Fisher, daughter of the late Debbie Reynolds, was another celebrity we lost in 2016. She is best known as Princess Leia in the Star Wars films. Ever wondered who else auditioned for that role? Check this out from Starwars.com:

In her interview for Empire of Dreams, Carrie Fisher couldn’t believe that she landed the part of Princess Leia Organa, rising above a room of what she saw as experienced competition; two minor television roles notwithstanding, Star Warswas her major debut. 

Shirley Feeney as Princess Leia? No.

[Yet also]vying for the hair buns was... American Graffiti veteran Cindy Williams — some years prior to her nationwide popularity as Shirley Feeney on Happy Days and the co-eponymous spin-off series Laverne & Shirley...

I don't know about you, but I can only see Carrie Fisher in that role! What are your thoughts?

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

Singin' in the Rain

In 2016, we said goodbye to lots of celebrities, including Debbie Reynolds, one of the stars of perhaps the greatest movie musical ever made. 

According to Wikipedia:

Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American musical comedy film directed and choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, starring Kelly, Donald O'Connor, and Debbie Reynolds. It offers a lighthearted depiction of Hollywood in the late 1920s, with the three stars portraying performers caught up in the transition from silent films to "talkies."

The film was only a modest hit when first released. It was recognized by Donald O'Connor's win at the Golden Globe Awards, Betty Comden and Adolph Green's win for their screenplay at the Writers Guild of America Awards, and Jean Hagen's nomination at the Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress. But, it has since been accorded legendary status by contemporary critics, and is frequently regarded as the best movie musical ever made, and the best film ever made in the "Arthur Freed Unit" at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It topped the AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals list and is ranked as the fifth-greatest American motion picture of all time in its updated list of the greatest American films in 2007.

You can check out the plot here.

Now enjoy this funny anecdote from Genekellyfans.com regarding Reynold's first kiss with co-star Gene Kelly: 

Only 17 — and completely innocent, which was why, when they were shooting the last scene of Singin' in the Rain, Reynolds ran off to her dressing room in tears after the 40-year-old Kelly gave her a big French kiss. “He gave me a very mature kiss,” she said demurely. “I was a young girl, and I was shocked and stopped the scene and pulled away and wouldn’t go on, you know, and finally he had to kiss me square on the lips or I wouldn’t do it,” she added, laughing — no, guffawing at the memory. “He was a little upset with that, but I was a very inexperienced young girl.” (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)

Singin' in the Rain is one of my favorite movies! Have you ever seen it?

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

What's Your New Year's Resolution?

Happy New Year! Have you decided on a New Year's Resolution? My son says that you shouldn't use the New Year as a way to motivate yourself, you should use YOU to motivate yourself! If you haven't guessed, he's a self-starter, but the rest of us need to start somewhere, so why not with the New Year?

If you're trying to determine a good resolution, there are some great ones listed at Health.com in Alyssa Sparacino's article Top Ten Healthiest New Year's Resolutions. I need to work on staying in touch. Here's what Ms.Sparacino says regarding that: 

Feel like old friends (or family) have fallen by the wayside? It’s good for your health to reconnect with them. Research suggests people with strong social ties live longer than those who don’t.

In fact, a lack of social bonds can damage your health as much as alcohol abuse and smoking, and even more than obesity and lack of exercise, a 2010 study in the journal PLoS Medicine suggests.

In a technology-fixated era, it’s never been easier to stay in touch—or rejuvenate your relationship—with friends and family, so fire up Facebook and follow up with in-person visits.

Sounds like great advice! Have you decided on a New Year's Resolution yet?

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!