Yesterday involved two hard drive crashes and one huge blog crash.
Happy Friday?
For the past several months, I’ve been having issues with my blog going down or being slow to load during peak hours, so I finally decided to move OSG to a Dedicated Server and as anticipated there were some major hiccups!
The good news is that the blog is now on its own private server! It’s roomy, sleek, speedy, and it should have much less (if any) downtime as compared to the previous set up. Yes, I’m knocking on wood…
The other good news is that Eric was able to recover the content from the two crashed hard drives. We’ll never know why two of our hard drives decided to crash 24 hours apart, but I’m thankful that I have a tech savvy husband or I’d probably still be using a typewriter and rotary phone.
Although, some days its tempting…
(Dad, can I borrow yours?)
Housekeeping complete, let’s get down to the stuff you didn’t see on the blog over the past couple weeks!
As you may know, I only post my favourite recipes on the blog, but there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes. Check out the pictures below for a little behind the scenes action over the past couple weeks.
This fruit pizza was my pride and joy.
All that gorgeous chopped fruit, the sweet sauce…the photographs…
![IMG_8523 IMG_8523](/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_8523.jpg)
and one bad crust made from Teff flour.
[I should have made this cinnamon sugar fruit pizza crust!]
I scraped the fruit and sauce off and we enjoyed it sans crust.
![IMG_8677 IMG_8677](/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_8677.jpg)
I made grilled peaches on the BBQ and I concluded that I like peaches way better fresh. They were just plain ‘ol mushy and sad looking. What did I do wrong?
I made a wildly addictive Parsley Walnut pesto for dinner one night, adapting this recipe.
![IMG_9056 IMG_9056](/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_9056.jpg)
It basically involved me spoon feeding myself over the processor bowl until Eric had to pry it from my lifeless hands.
If you’re classy and whatnot, you can have it over pasta with a classy sprig of parsley.
![IMG_9078 IMG_9078](/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_9078.jpg)
I prefer spoon feeding, personally.
I whipped up a creamy Avocado Lime Dressing. It was great over pasta. I used my 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta sauce as inspiration, and added some lime & lime zest, apple cider vinegar, decreased the garlic & oil, etc.
![IMG_9125 IMG_9125](/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_9125.jpg)
One lucky day I was actually able to snap a picture before I inhaled my lunch.
![IMG_9088 IMG_9088](/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_9088.jpg)
I’ve been enjoying a huge stir-fry with some type of protein (chickpeas, beans, quinoa, etc) and my favourite instant creamy dressing for lunch lately.
Instant Creamy Dressing: Mix 2 tbsp hummus with apple cider vinegar (just enough to thin out). Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Instant. Addictive. Try it!
![IMG_9092 IMG_9092](/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_9092.jpg)
Confession: I’m so addicted to this dressing, I sipped it from a mason jar once.
Maybe more than once.
That’s a bit embarrassing.
A couple weeks ago, I made cheezy stuffed peppers with brown rice.
Great in theory.
![IMG_8347 IMG_8347](/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_8347.jpg)
Bad in outcome.
The filling was super tasty on its own, but once cooked in the peppers it got all watery! What’s the secret to non-watery stuffed peppers?
I must find out.
![IMG_8810-2 IMG_8810-2](/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/IMG_8810-2_thumb.jpg)
Happy Caturday!
Hehe love that you ended the post with a photo of Sketchie and saying happy caturday.
Hey Angela, I’ve found if you coat your peppers in evoo and roast them for 15 minutes at 400F before stuffing them it keeps the pepper flavorful and not watery
Good luck on the new server! That is exciting! And the fruit topping lookings amazing!
I would love for the exact Parsley Walnut pesto recipe to be posted!
Peppers – if you precook them in the oven or microwave until just tender and drain off the water then put the filling in and bake, you won’t have that problem.
Good luck!
I love all your recipes, thanks so much for sharing with us.
Well if those were *bad* recipes then looks sure were deceiving because they looked awesome as usual!
Such a fun post! When I make stuffed peppers, I always roast them in the oven first..and then fill + bake them. Not sure if that helps or not? The fruit pizza photo is awesome!
I keep trying to like grilled peaches because they’re are so darn abundant right now on the blogosphere, in cookbooks, and at barbeques.
But can we pleeeeease have an honest to blog, heart-to-heart moment really quick?
Okay….*deep breath*
Every time I’ve tried grilled peaches, I find myself thinking that they taste like baby food cooked “well-done.” Kinda like sour charred mush.
Sorry for the visual :)
Do you salt and pre-bake your peppers before adding the stuffing?
You can also dehydrate them with great results… my fav fillings are nut based fillings with cilantro and southwestern spices
“For the past several months, I’ve been having issues with my blog going down or being slow to load during peak hours….”
Just this week I have had a few people tell me my load times were slower and my blog was down. It sucks b/c I am paying for a dedicated IP on my servers (I use Bluehost) but would love to hear who you went with, what you got, if you used Dreamhost, BH, someone else…would love the deets.
ANY TIME you make blog/site changes…it’s always an issue. Nothing is ever just smooth. That sucks…but the end result is worth it…congrats!!
Watery stuffed peppers..I am such an unbaker, I just stuff the peppers and eat them raw :)
The creamy avo dressing..nice! And adding a little ACV to hummus, such a good trick! I add ACV to mayo (vegenaise) + sugar and it’s so good :)
Im with dreamhost, but I havent had the best luck with them ( at least when on a VPS) hopefully it improves :)
That avocado lime dressing looks so amazing. What a unique idea, I will definitely try it out!
The new blog looks great. I love the previous posts at the bottom of the page. I have so many beautiful pictures of recipes that were meant to be blogged about…but then they are just disapointing. Don’t you hate that!? That’s cooking though…always a risk, but that makes it all the more fun!
Congrats on the new server!
If you don’t pre-cook the peppers for a bit on their own… per haps you can punch a couple holes in the botoom bumps of the pepprs, then bake on a rack so the liquid drains.
This post was right up my alley. Everyday is caturday here… and the hummus dressing is so genius and so freakin simple!
I always pre bake my peppers before stuffing them and then put them back in the oven.
Oh yuck, sorry about the hard drive crashes. Computer issues are so stressful!
I’m addicted to using hummus as a dressing! I thin mine out with lemon juice, but I bet it tastes pretty similar to your version.
Fruit pizza…that sounds amazing!
Haha it makes me feel better to know that even in your kitchen things go wrong sometimes! ;)
On the watery filled peppers problem, maybe it would help if you put the filling in the fridge for a day!
Oh no on the hard drive problems! But OH YES on the private server, and all the yummy food! About the peppers, did you blanch them first? I usually do (only because the first stuffed pepper recipe I ever made said I should) and I’ve never really noticed that they’ve been watery. Might be worth a try I guess? And I totally agree on that thinned-out hummus dressing. I adore it too! Can’t say I’ve sipped it out of a jar yet, but I’m thisclose. ;) Have a great night Ange!
Love the new blog setup!
That fruit pizza looks amazing. With or without the crust. :)
I love sketchie!