stuffed avocados-YUM

i made these for an appetizer one night... they turned out DELISH! i got the recipe from one of my favorite specialty grocery stores here in portland (zupan's). gotta love a good, easy app, and of course this one has some health benefits to it, with the good fats in avocado.

stuffed avocados - makes 4 halves
* 2 large ripe avocados
* 1 T butter
* 1/2 medium white onion, finely chopped
* 4 oz. almonds, chopped (i forgot to add these!)
* 4 oz. smoked or plain gruyere cheese, grated
* 4 T parmigiano-reggiano cheese, grated
* 2 T fresh parsley, chopped
* 2 T sherry (also omitted this)
* 1 t. salt
* 1 t. fresh ground black pepper

1. preheat oven to 400 degrees (i used our toaster oven and it worked great!)
2. saute onion in butter for 10 minutes or until soft.
3. cut avocados in half, remove pit, and scoop out flesh, being careful not to damage the skin. dice avocado flesh.
4. in medium bowl, combine onion, avocado, gruyere and parm, parsley, sherry, salt, and pepper. mix gently. (ok i just typed this right from the recipe! no wonder i forgot the almonds... they did too! i'm assuming this is where you add them)
5. pile mixture into the empty avocado skins and place in a shallow baking dish. bake for 12 minutes and serve immediately. (side note: i think i baked for 15. i ended up sprinkling some panko breadcrumbs and a little more parm on the top before baking, so i waited 'til they were browned on top.)
6. ENJOY!!!

happy easter!

on this easter holiday, i am missing family and friends a lot. memories of kath and i in our easter dresses and hats, and alex in his little man suit with vest and tie, stick out strongly in my mind right now... those hats were a little ridiculous Mom :-) i remember the yellow bush/tree that was in our backyard on south second, always in bloom for easter.

this year, the skies are gray but trees and flowers are in bloom here in portland. we have a TON of tulips in our front yard, everyday another few open up. spring is definitely here, of course in PDX that means rain too. the easter bunny didn't come to our house this year, but i think he might make an appearance next year :-) i am going to cook a nice dinner tonight but i'm still trying to work out the menu.

as i write this, baby A is kicking me a lot! i think it's because he wants (me to eat) some starburst jelly beans. he is 24 weeks along now, only (give or take) 16 more to go! i can't wait to meet the little guy! if old wives tales are true, based on the heartburn, he will have a full head of hair!! we shall see...

numero uno

so i've never "blogged" before but i am pretty sure all you do is write whatever the heck you want, and if someone wants to read it, they do. if not, it's basically an online journal? at any rate, here is our blog. i figured maybe someday in the near future, when the button decides to join our family this summer, it might be nice for our dear family and friends far away to read about what's going on somewhere else other than facebook. ha!

tonight what i will write about is:
a.) i am so glad it's friday. i got home from work at 8 pm due to a busy friday schedule and lots of charting to do. it's nice to come home to the little guy (chase, our cat), thursday night shows online, and a bowl of granola for dinner (a little heartburn today... cereal sounded really good and really mild). chad's working tonight.
b.) i am super, super pumped about MSU making it to the final 4 again this year... game time tomorrow 3:07 pm (PST)!!! since only 1 of my MSU shirts fit right now (thank you button!) i will be sporting my (tight) green and white and proudly cheering on the spartans in hopefully a victory over butler.
c.) our new grill. it makes me so excited for summer! what could be better than grilling out, a nice chilled glass of kim crawford (for you Miss!) which of course i won't be partaking in until after baby A arrives, and being with friends and family, which very soon will be +1. :-)