Squirrel!!!

I have decided to have an alternate title for my blog. It will be confessions of an adult with ADHD. Not only are my blog posts all over the place, my life is this way too. This is a true story. I was talking on the phone to a fellow church member. This was a semi-serious conversation about holy things. I was talking to her and leaning on my glass back door (only way to get good reception in our techno packed house...go figure) when I yelled out "oh wow there is our white squirrel!" . She said "what?". She is a very gracious person , so she listened to my off track story of a white squirrel...a SQUIRREL , mind you. Then I veered back on topic. Just saying. So if my blog drifts I apologize.

      On the topic of random things, I saw this today.

 

A toothbrush? Who loses a toothbrush?

On the food topic...roasted cauliflower is not French fries even though it is on the same pan as fries.

Here is my turkey burger and cauliflower "fries"

 

 

It sort of looks like a hamburger.

 

 

Did I post last night's Swiss steak? Green bean bundles ...that piece of bacon added 35 calories but it really helped

What a crock

Stove is gone but we have to eat. All I have left is a grill, a microwave, a toaster/convection oven, electric skillet and...a crockpot. I am basically a pioneer woman. So the crockpot was elected. I forgot how great that was to ...fix it and forget it.

 

Taco soup. And tonight's fare...

 

Swiss steak

 

Indestructible toy? Gibbs proved that to be a false claim.

 

The shark got bitten

 

 

to bits. Had lunch with Mary Grace, Vick and Hallie Monday.

 

Sat outside at Kristos with a fire. Spent Tuesday with Bev antiquing down Hwy 49. Didn't find much there, but Persnickety had a great sale and we found perfect chairs for her new study. She did pick up this mason jar. I love it when they have bubbles like that.

 

On an antique note I wanted to show one more item I inherited from my former neighbor, Pat Williams. She is now Mom's neighbor at St. Catherine's.

 

I use it every day as my onion / potato bin. I wish I knew its story.



 

 



 



 

 

 

 

didn't hit it out of the ballpark

That is a saying Candy told me Bill once said about a meal she had made. I'm sure the reason she remembers it is that it rarely happened. She is an excellent cook and obviously Bill was a diplomat if that is the worst he every commented on something she had cooked. But we all have our little failures. I guess it is time to share a couple of mine. Lesson learned...eggplants aren't their best in February...eggplants must be their best when grilled.

There is no other ingredient to hide bad flavor. These look ok but they were terrible. When I cut into it I should have known. Flesh was not white and firm. I can't wait for local farmer's markets to open.

 

This next one sounded good. I love the ingredients but it was best poured down the sink.

 

It was an artichoke and white bean soup. I love both those ingredients but just the two of them needed help. I read lots of comments and suggestions to help it but after tasting it, I couldn't face the pale green porridge.

 

The last failure was bad. I didn't even photograph it. Candy calls it tuna surprise. The surprise is it wasn't tuna. I cajoled Candy, Lucy and Mary Grace into tasting it by saying it was tuna salad. It was sardine salad. Now you must know, apparently sardines are a super food (omega 3 and all that). I had the little can for a while in the cupboard because I was afraid of it. All the food bloggers are in love with these oily little fish. I followed Kath Eats Real Food's recipe. Ugh. Just not feeling it. I didn't even photo it. Lucy suggested I even throw away the bowl. Remember the scene in the movie Big when Tom Hanks ate caviar? That was about it. Ok  here is some delicious food.

 

If you want to get people to come to a church committee meeting, serve Pizza Shack pizza right after church. Ryan and Mary Grace graciously donated the pizza. People not even on the committee stopped by (Sophie and Paul) and Paul was not even at church...He was working on magazine deadline and came up to get his pizza. It is that good.

 

 

Here are leftovers.

 

Here are leftovers as my breakfast. Never let Ryan know if you microwave it. Heat it up in the oven!! 

 





 

all stove up

Or I will be. The day before Book Club, my oven quit working. Fortunately I had made all do ahead salads. We decided to replace it not fix it...again. It is after all 25 years old. And I must say whomever designed that stove spent extra time coming up with ways to trap dirt, grunge and crumbs.

Ugh, good riddance. Can you see those crumbs behind the glass? it's like the old roach hotel commercials, crumbs check in but they don't check out. And that phrase right there...Continuous clean? It should have said Continuously filthy.  But I must give credit where credit is due. That old stove helped me cook tons of good (and some really bad) meals. In fact if you figure 25 years at 3 meals a day, that is 23,375 meals. Factor in 5 people and that is 136.875 meals. Ok I know there are some flaws in that math but , dang that's a lot of chow. Ryan and Ed pulled out the old stove and installed a new outlet to get ready for the new stove which will be free standing. New microwave vent hood will come to.

 

Check out the archaeology lesson here. 1987 had some vivid colors.

 

I was so happy with this red wallpaper with grapevines all over it. The floor was black and white VCT tile and the counters were black. Loved it. Now I must come up with a clever cheap backsplash to cover it up.

 

Here is an idea that was good in theory. Of course the grand dogs were here during the tear out. Dupree always escapes under our fence and must be on a leash. Well I came up with the brilliant idea of putting an empty milk carton tied to his leash. He can't pull that under the fence.

 

Worked great until he ran and Truffles fell in hot pursuit of the new toy bouncing along the ground. Mary Grace said Truff and Daphne pulled Dupree several yards and then wrapped his leash around  a tree. Kids can be so mean in picking on the less fortunate. The milk jug...bitten and mud-stained it was discarded. 

 

 

Chopping mad

Book club went off well yesterday. All the chopping paid off with the healthy menu.

 

 

Maybe I need a Ninja chopper

 

 

just love this ancient colander

 

 

Here is the black bean salad. Used balsamic vinegar and oil from our Georgia mountain trip.

 

This is Barefoot Contessa's roasted shrimp and orzo salad. I have no idea why it photographed so yellow. It was very white and green with pink shrimp.

 

appetizers...more chopping. Didn't get one of the Waldorf salad.

 

daffodils and mahonia as promised

 

These were paper placemats that come in a tablet. They ended up turning them over to take notes during discussion. We read Stephen King's novel, Joyland. It is a very retro detective type novel. There was not much controversy to discuss, but we all enjoyed it. I still say he is such a good storyteller.

 

Dessert was zucchini, applesauce oatmeal cookies. Served with  (this is a retake, the original plate had chocolate sauce swirled on the plate) this crazy good pistachio gelato. The green in the cookies showed up more and the plate was not pink. I'm beginning to wonder about my camera.

 

This culprit is part of my weight gain so this was just a little visit from Mr. Talenti. I used these cool spoons with the desert.

 

If you can't read them , it says 1939 World's Fair. I love them.







 

 

 





 

 

I

 



birthday

Candy's birthday was yesterday. While a little sad without her usual lovely floral bouquet from Bill, it was ok. She and I went to see the movie Philomena. We smuggled in Subway sandwiches and in my friend Amy's lexicon...movie wine. That is the little single serve wine bottles. Hey don't judge us, just don't sit by us. At an 11:55 movie there is no one else to disturb, so there. Friend Sheila made this unbelievably beautiful cake.

It was made with apricot nectar. Can't even begin to describe how moist and delicious it was . Yes I had a small slice

 

Also, Mary Grace, Ryan and Lucy took her to dinner at Amerigo's.

 

So in getting ready for my book club meal for tomorrow, I have chopped until my hands are tired. Healthy and chopped go together. More on that tomorrow.

Hands down

I have begun to see a pattern here. I keep seeing gloves abandoned on the streets at an alarming rate. Why am I looking down during my walk instead of at the passing scenery? Because I'm old and I can't afford to trip and fall. I've noticed this in the past but just now have begun to document...

 

 

Maybe it is like they are kindred spirits to the socks that go missing from the dryer.

 

I will keep my eye to the ground and let you know future sightings

 



Brody and turnips

Thought I would post some pics of great nephew Brody on his 5 month birthday

Doesn't he look like David?

 

Ashley asked what my reasons were for my new health kick. My end of the year blood work suggested I lose weight and control blood sugar. I want to be around and healthy when I have one of these little ones to play with.

 

Here is my new sneaky way to avoid my beloved potatoes. I feel a bit like I'm cheating on them, but they were trying to kill me after all.

 

 

This is an old family favorite...swiss steak. I nestled in a peeled turnip for me. They are really good when cooked in the red sauce. Something is wrong with my oven , so I had to cook this on the stove top instead. It turned out well. Replacing the whole stove will be the next project.

No food...just yellow

I was going to post this pic after my walk today. It is warmer but still very grey and cloudy here. This plant seemed to match my faux spring mood.

Went in the backyard and noticed this

 

 

Our mahonia was blooming. And up on the hill, I saw this.

 

 

 

Looks like it will be a nice crop. There was even this one on the other side of the yard that I don't remember planting.

 

Took them inside and used this little vase from Sophie

 

 

These tulips are leftover from a church funeral meal.

 

I'm going to use this little yellow vase for Book club Friday.

 

Maybe I'll fill it with tulips

 

oops ...how did that picture of my healthy breakfast to go, get in this no food post? Must be the yellow cheese. Sorry Lu. Had to run an early errand for Mom and ate this in the car.





 





 

 



Our love took wings on Valentine's day

    Sorry Lucy, that was a bad one. This is what I made for our Valentine's dinner.

 

These are lemon pepper ones

 

These plain ones got doused with a mixture of ranch and this...

 

Depending on how hot you like them. I'm not going to point out who is the lightweight in this category. (Ed) I cut them myself and roast with no added oil.

 

 

Saffron rice ... new quest for healthy grits turned up this

 

Now corn is corn and is high on the glycemic index but this one is stone ground and unprocessed.

 

They were pretty good. I remember Dad saying that on the farm growing up, yellow corn was for the livestock and white was for people. This was pretty yellow. I pretended it was butter. And just for fun and not nutrition, I bought these eggs.

 

 

I just think they look pretty.