Musings of a Mother

Daughter soaks fresh veggies in a cool salt bath in
preparation to rinse, dry, chop, and store.

Once upon a time I had no silver hair, I was half an inch taller, and my spunky energy lasted until nearly bedtime.  Although I've now come to accept the lack of young-adult pep and the loss of some height, and I consider each gray hair something I've rightfully earned, it is still startling to realize how quickly time has passed by. 

I am especially reminded of these things as I watch my daughter do many of the same activities she observed in me some thirty years ago.  More than once my husband has said to me that she is "her mother's daughter."  

This has my agreement except I think she has already surpassed me in several areas.  She is a more confident cook than I was at her age, and her quilting just blows me away.  I wish she didn't live in Never Snows, which is nearly two thousand miles from Blogville. But at the same time I imagine she has more freedom to blossom into who she is meant to be because of the distance.  Her marriage and  motherhood, along with a shared love for the Lord, have helped to close the gap that developed between us during her late teen/young adult years. Now we keep in touch with frequent emails (adorned with an appropriate number of grandchild pictures, of course) and I just love it.

This week she wrote to say she needed to make room in the fridge, so she used up left-over veggies to make a pizza for lunch.  Caramelized onions; sauteed garlic, zucchini, mushrooms and yellow squash; topped with mozzarella and basil.  Doesn't this look yummy?!

Homemade Pizza from Daughter's Kitchen

Please Pass the Parsnips

Monday Night's Supper:
Beef Steak with Carrots and Parsnips
Broccoli Slaw
Homemade Biscuits

Those things that look like white carrots are parsnips.  Have you ever had them?  I don't know if my mother prepared them when my sister and I still sat at her table -- apparently not often if she did or I would remember.  

The Food Network Magazine is featuring root vegetables in its current October issue.  The instructions lean heavily on oven-roasting, which in my opinion, improves just about anything. Although I did not recognize the names and the pictures of some of the edible roots featured on pages 54 and 55, I thought it would be good to give them a try, to expand our gastronomical horizons, so to speak.  

What I did not realize is that some of them would be hard to find in my local grocery store.  I guess I'll need to check out a farmer's market.  Salsify and celery root  will require a deeper search.  

Parsnips, on the other hand, are an easy find.  They are the white carrots on the top shelf of the produce area, and truth be told, I seldom see them in anybody's grocery cart.  Yesterday while Beloved was in outpatient physical therapy, I visited the grocery store next door and purchased 2 of these albino carrots.  

After washing them well and chopping off the two ends, I sliced them thick and tossed them with baby carrots, olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh Rosemary leaves.  They roasted for 25 minutes at 425 degrees on a shallow metal pan.  I stirred them around about half-way through.  The outcome was a sweet-spicey flavor with a texture much like the carrots roasted with them.  Beloved ate all of his, being a good sport about eating just about whatever I serve to him.  They made a pleasant side offering on a plate with steak and broccoli slaw.  

With that said, they won't be added to the list of veggies I like to serve at least once a week, but a couple of times a year -- probably.

Autumn colors on Snow Bunny Blvd.
Photo taken of my back yard by Girlfriend-Next-Door

Lunch at IKEA

IKEA's cafeteria

With each day Beloved gets a little stronger, so we come up with small outings to get us both out of the house.  He can't drive yet, since it's his gas-pedal knee that got replaced and he is under the influence of pain meds (although that has decreased A LOT). His pain changes from surgery-related to exercise-related.  But his physical therapist assures him he is on track; all of this is normal.

Yesterday we drove over to IKEA for lunch.  We have been through the store, new to our metro area just this past summer, but we didn't know at the time that we were supposed to indulge ourselves in their cafeteria for their famous Swedish Meatballs.  With Beloved's Handicap Parking Permit we were able to park very near the elevator in the parking garage and make our way to the cafeteria without excessive walking all through the store.  

Cafeteria food cart

Although the streamlined designs of IKEA don't fit in well with my country-style of home decor, I've got to give them credit for clever and practical ingenuity in many areas.  This food cart blew me away.  I've never seen one before.  One cart will hold 3 large food trays, which makes the entire process so much easier when some in my party can't handle a tray and walking with a cane.  The people in front of us had a wheel chair, so this cart was good for them, too.  Way to go, IKEA!

Some of the cafeteria seating

We bypassed the high stools and tables in favor of regular chairs and normal-height table.  It's like they had something for everyone's needs.  That's hospitality and we all can learn from that!

The Swedish Meatballs Combo

The Swedish Meatballs Combo entree includes the meatballs with gravy, mashed potatoes, Ligonberry Sauce, a green salad, and a fountain drink.  The meatballs were good, although I think my mother's recipe is just as good.  It must be a Swedish thing to have a berry sauce to go with gravy and meatballs -- I find that a little odd.  

Pink Marzipan Dessert

Dessert is an extra charge, but they cleverly have you go past them first and of course we fell prey to their marketing strategy!  I chose the pink thing: cake on the bottom, a raspberry (with seeds) filling,  a creamy filling, more cake, and encased in pink Marzipan embellished with chocolate.  It was small, just the right size for somebody who's supposed to be minimizing her calories.

Chocolate Dessert

Beloved, who is also watching his food intake, rarely turns down chocolate- anything (making allowance by cutting back on something else, you understand).  This probably wasn't as heavy in the calories as it looks.  Cake on the bottom and middle, with 2 chocolate cream layers, and frosting on top.  Both desserts were delicious.

This was a pleasant outing, and the crowd was minimal compared to the number who show up on weekends.  

Bye Bye Broccoli

The saga of my husband's total knee replacement continues ...

Surgery was just last Wednesday and already Beloved is doing much, much better than either of us had anticipated.  Clearly this is a blessing from the Lord.  Medical professionals are saying it has helped that:

* Beloved faithfully did his pre-surgery knee exercises for 2 months 

* his knee was not in horrible pain beforehand, although he had problems with stability of the joint (buckling)

* the surgeon is known for highly successful knee replacement surgeries

* extremely little swelling and bruising due to large, tight bandaging for the first 48 hours and a drain tube that took blood from the site which went through a filter and then was recycled into the IV in his wrist (!)

His range of motion is exemplary.  He can straighten his knee to four degrees (zero is the goal)  and bend it to 125 degrees (130 - 140 degrees is the maximum, when one kicks their own butt).  He continues to walk with the aid of a walker so as to not tire the knee too much since surgery is major and was only a few days ago. He uses a cane to travel on our stairs.

Yesterday was his first visit from the visiting home nurses association.  Our nurse was a delightful gal with a cheerful personality who knew her stuff.  She came with the necessary needles required for a blood draw to check the effectiveness of the Coumadin in his system.  

One of the necessary evils of this surgery is to prevent the formation of blood clots.  Great effort has been taken to keep the red stuff flowing smoothly:  an electric foot-squeezie machine on his feet for the first night after surgery, white toe-to-thigh stockings called "teds" to be worn every day for 3 weeks (they are removed at bedtime), and the drug Coumadin (aka Warfarin).  

Coumadin thins the blood.  Not only does the patient swallow this once daily, but also effort has to be made to avoid sharp objects that may cause bleeding.  An electric shaver is recommended instead of a straight razor.  Also, certain foods should be restricted because they contain Vitamin K, which makes the blood to clot:  spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, lentils, chickpeas, seaweed, soybean oil, green tea and liver.  The foods don't have to be eliminated entirely, but this is not the time to gorge oneself on any of them.  We tend to eat a lot of these foods, so I am consciously switching to substitutions until Beloved is allowed to enjoy them once again.  

I thought I would share with you Beloved's favorite Broccoli Salad.  Maybe you will want to enjoy it while we satisfy our appetites with squash and corn.

Beloved's Broccoli Salad

8 ounces frozen broccoli, thawed and drained
3 ounces Hormel Real Bacon Pieces
1/2 cup diced red onion
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
1/4 cup Sunmaid Golden Raisins

Dressing
1 cup Best Foods or Hellmann's Real Mayonnaise (the name depends on which side of the Mississippi you are)
2 Tablespoons Marukan Rice Vinegar
1/4 cup Splenda

Combine all vegetables, seeds and raisins in a medium-size serving bowl.  Pour dressing over vegetables and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Makes 6  - 8 servings.

Biscuits for Beloved

Please note: a correction/explanation has been added to the biscuit recipe in this post.  

It is in the recipe in red font like this.

Today we stayed home, resting from our eventful week.  Beloved is doing very well.  He spends most of the time in his special chair with his leg propped up. But even in that position he is diligent to do his exercises, ten sets of each three times a day.  I watch him and it makes me tired.  

When he is up on his feet, he uses his walker except when on the stairs, and then he uses his cane.  The problem with the walker is that it keeps both of his hands occupied, so he isn't able to carry anything with him.  This morning he asked me to sew a bag of some kind to carry his iPad.  So I spent about an hour whipping up something, marveling that I already had masculine fabric already on hand.  The outside of the bag is blue and the inside is lined with a yellow nuts and bolts print.  I don't even remember when I bought that material but it just goes to show that you never know when something odd like that can be put to good use.

A physical therapist came to the house mid-day to do the necessary paper work and to prepare us for  the PT sessions that will begin full-throttle next week.  After that I spent time in my sewing room while Beloved took a good, long nap.  We had a chuck roast in the slow-cooker all afternoon, which made the house smell so homey.  

I decided this would be a good time to have homemade biscuits.  After milling the whole wheat berries into flour, I combined that with white flour to make the following recipe (which turned out well):

Whole Wheat Biscuits

1  1/2 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup freshly-milled whole wheat flour
2  1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons sugar
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
4 Tablespoons Saco Buttermilk Powder combined with 1 cup water*

Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Butter the baking sheet and set it aside.  In the bowl of a food processor combine the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar.  Cut in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse meal.  Add the buttermilk, mixing just until blended, careful to not overmix. *Note: Add only as much of the buttermilk as is needed.  Using the entire 1 cup has proven to be too much liquid when I make this.

Turn the dough onto a flour-dusted surface and knead 8 - 10 times, adding more flour if needed.  Pat out the dough to about 3/4 inch thick then, using a 2  1/2 diameter cutter, cut out the biscuits.  Place them on the buttered baking sheet.  

Bake the biscuits for 15 minutes, until light golden brown.  Cool for 5 minutes before serving.  Makes 12 biscuits.   

Simple Woman's Daybook for September 13

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... it is early evening and the crickets are singing to me.  The outdoor temperature is a comfortable 75 degrees, so I have brought my laptop out to the back deck to write to you.  

I am thinking... how last week when I was writing the post for Simple Woman's Daybook I was sitting on my sister's wraparound porch in Small Town America.  The City Mouse was visiting the Country Mouse.  By writing on my deck this evening I am duplicating the experience at Sister's home as much as I can. The houses here on Snow Bunny Blvd are much closer together, and there is definitely more traffic noise in my neighborhood.

I am thankful... to have had the opportunity to visit a lot of family this summer, in spite of the fact that we have to drive a minimum of 15 hours to see any of them (with the exception of two who live about an hour away).  

In the kitchen... the dishwasher servant girl is busy with our supper dishes.  We had hamburgers, oven fries, and a carrot-apple slaw salad.  

Do you make oven fries?  I didn't know about them when my children were growing up, but these days Beloved and I have them about once every week or two.  

For just the two of us, I wash one large baking potato and then cut it in half crosswise.  Then I cut each of the halves into thick slices.  In a large mixing bowl I combine the potato with some Lawry's Seasoned Salt and about 1 Tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Mix this up with a spoon (or your clean hands) so that the oil covers the potatoes.  Place the potatoes on a metal baking sheet, skin sides down.  Bake at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes. I like this recipe because it tastes good and after it's in the oven, I can forget about it while tending to the hamburger patties.  One potato shared by two people is a size when we want to keep the carbs and calories at a minimum.

I am wearing... jeans(!), a pink-and-white plaid camp shirt, white enamel hoopy earrings, and sandals.  I love it when the high temperature is cool enough that I can wear long jeans with sandals.

I am creating... greeting cards with a pumpkin stamp and water colors purchased at Walmart.  I suppose my talent for painting within the lines came from Kindergarten.  It's relaxing.

I am wondering... why the cricket that is hiding somewhere on this deck is noisy for a few minutes and then grows silent.  It's like he's contemplating something.  What in the world would a cricket have to think about?! 

I am reading... The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace.  Not a novel, this book has been in my personal library for months, but I have yet to finish it.  It's got thought-provoking chapters that cause me to put the book down and just think about what I've read.  I'm getting ready to read Chapter Seventeen: "Conflict, Quietness of the Wife's Spirit."  The book is a helpful resource for Christian wives, but has good information for anybody who wants to live in submission to God's purposes for their life.

I am hoping... I have the enthusiasm and dexterity of physical body to do some baseboard painting tomorrow.  Crawling on the hard floor with a paint brush in hand is something I have to talk myself into doing.  If I don't do it now, the mood may leave and it won't get done until ???

I am looking forward to... getting the aforementioned job done and then going on to much easier pursuits (laundry, dusting, cleaning bathrooms -- just about anything besides painting).  Beloved's knee replacement surgery is scheduled for later this month, so this is a good time for me to do a thorough cleaning of the house.  

I am hearing... (besides the crickets and some traffic) the football game on TV.  Beloved has a ball cap he wears that has lights that flash on and off when our team makes a touchdown.  He's wearing the appropriate team shirt, too.  We never go to games in person, preferring the convenience of the kitchen and rest room over crowds and traffic.

Around the house... actually, outside of the house: The extensive street work ("infrastructure", I guess I should call it) in our immediate neighborhood appears to be finally finally finally over!  That has been going on for well over a month.  Yes, I am thankful for good roads and that people are getting paychecks for the work.  But avoiding the orange-and-white cones and barrels, not to mention the gigantic tractor equipment -- all that gets wearisome.... quickly.

One of my favorite things... is a simple daily schedule carried out with self-discipline, resulting in a clean house, laundered clothes, and uncomplicated food on the table.  

A few plans for the rest of the week: Today I had lunch with my cropping buddy (we made handmade greeting cards); there's that painting to do; lunch with Milk Maid; I'd love to get to sew on Thursday; grocery shopping on Friday and dinner with friends that evening; Saturday we intend to visit those family members who live an hour away; and church on Sunday.

Here is picture  I am sharing... (actually, 2 pictures)

This is what the deck looked like when I began this post
(about 45 minutes ago).
That's Silver Lace growing on the lattice on the right;
and Virginia Creeper is growing on the left.
The Virginia Creeper is doing a better job
of covering the lattice.

This is what the deck looks like now, after the sun has set.
I love the "magic" look of tiny white Christmas lights.
I think the people who jog and drive on the street
behind our house probably like the lights, too.

The Simple Woman’s Daybook is a weekly habit enjoyed by many bloggers.  It is a pleasant and effective way to bring more traffic to your blog.  For more information about the woman who came up with this idea, go to

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/ 

If this link doesn’t work for you, copy-and-paste it into your browser.

Fresh Bread, Hot Out of the Bread Machine

When I get my act together, I like to mill (grind) my own flour for making bread.  I start out with a package of Organic Hard Red Winter Wheatberries, easily found and purchased at any health foods store.

There are various machines on the market that will grind your wheat berries for you, but DON'T USE YOUR BLENDER or your FOOD PROCESSOR.  (you would burn out the motor)  I have a Champion Juicer with a mill attachment. Although I've milled my flour in the kitchen, recently I have been much happier being able to set up on a table in our basement store room.  My equipment is very heavy, so it's advantageous to find a place where it can be left out all the time.

The Champion motor is the big white thing in back, the hopper is the beige bowl on the top, and the white bowl with the red rim catches the flour when it comes out of the metal parts.

About 1 cup of grain will yield 1.5 cups of flour.  I wanted about 3 cups of flour, so I poured 2 cups of grain into the hopper.

The reason I mill my own flour is for the freshest possible product.  If you read the health and nutrition books, flour gets stale very quickly, especially when it's sitting on the grocery store shelves.  White flour, especially has been robbed of it's most important nutrients, which is why it's so -- white.  With a home mill system, the homemaker can grind only as much as she plans to use.  I could do more than what my bread recipe calls for, and refrigerate the rest, but this process is so easy, there's no need to do that.

Experience has taught me to enclose the hopper, metal milling parts, and the receiving bowl with a white plastic bag to keep down the dust. After that is put on and tucked  in, the switch at the back of the machine is turned on.

This takes just a few minutes and a lot of noise; then  I've got fresh whole wheat flour! That round wheel/knob on the metal part is for adjusting how fine I want the flour.  I make it as fine as it will go (like pastry flour), making the end result (the bread) softer and easier to chew.

Please forgive me, but I completely forgot to take snapshots when I was putting the bread ingredients into the bucket of the machine!  

This is where I keep my bread machine (white, on the right), in the family room, beside the electric mixer. (Yes, I have a cute matching dust cover for it, too.)   I do carry the mixer into the kitchen when it's being used; but the bread machine is fine to sit on this table as it runs.  And oh my, does it make the house smell gooooood!

Here is the finished product, about 2.5 hours later.  After removing it from the pan (I called it a 'bucket' earlier), I let it rest on a cooling rack for 45 minutes before slicing into it.

Beloved and I celebrated the end of his work day with a slice of the bread.  Yum-O!

Here is the recipe I used:

100% Whole Wheat Bread
(This makes a 1.5 pound loaf)

1 cup + 3 Tablespoons water at about 80 degrees F
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 Tablespoons unsulphured molasses
1.5 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons dry milk
3  1/4 cups whole wheat flour
2  1/4 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast (I used Fleischmann's BreadMachine Yeast from a jar)

My machine is a Breadman Ultimate, and I've had it for over seven years.  I love it.   If you are using a bread machine, be sure to follow the amounts and directions that are appropriate for your make and model.

I've had the Champion Juicer for maybe twenty years but didn't buy the milling attachment until about 8 years ago.

If you are interested in any of these machines, the best thing to do is to research on the Internet to find the brand and prices you are willing to pay.  There are mills available that are not as cumbersome as mine, Bosch being one.

Note: not all bread machines can handle whole wheat flour.  If you want to use whole grain flours, be sure your machine has a setting for whole wheat.  This is important for a successful loaf of bread.  Take it from one who knows.  My first bread machine (that died after many years of service) did not get along well with whole wheat flour.

Freshly-baked bread makes a house smell like H-O-M-E!

This 'n That, Yakitty Yak

It has been such a week!  and it's only Wednesday!

I am sitting in my favorite chocolate brown wingback chair, listening to harp music on iTunes, with a cup of Sleepytime tea cooling on the lamp table.  It feels sooo good to sit down.  I've been on my feet all day, going through boxes in the store room, looking for two cookbooks.  

This past March we had all the carpeting in our house replaced on the main floor and upstairs, which meant, of course, that we had to pack away all the knick-knacks, books, and whatevers into boxes and cart them to the basement.  Yes, I hear you -- it would almost have been easier to move.  

The wonderful thing about all that (besides the obvious of beautiful new carpets and floors) was that I used the Microsoft Excel program on my computer to record everything that was put into the boxes, numbering the boxes as we went along.  More times than I can count since then, I've needed something in the boxes, and found it quickly enough by just consulting my computer.  

However, I have also learned that I could have been more specific with the listings.  Instead of "cookbooks", I would have done myself a favor by naming each title in each box.  But who has time for that much detail??!  Ah, that's where I am now: trying to find my copy of  Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions and also the operator/owner's manual for my bread machine.  

Beloved, bright man that he is, found the bread machine manual on the Internet in pdf, so I'm okay with that now.  But I can't find Sally's book and I find it hard to believe I put it in one of the many trips to the Good Will Donation Center.  

Anyhooo (I think I got that word from my sister), if it wasn't enough that a close girlfriend of mine died last week and we went to her memorial service yesterday, we had another death (of sorts) in our family first thing this past Monday morning.  Mondays are hard enough as it is, but I came down to switch on Mr. Coffee and he had died!!!  Gone.  No coffee!!  The water and Hazelnut coffee grounds just sat there in a cold coffee maker.  I offered to make us some instant coffee (blech!!!) to hold us over until time to get dressed and make a run to Walmart.  Understand please, that had I been prepared like my mother with those lovely flavored Swiss Mocha-type instant coffees, that would have been fine.  But we just had the cheap stuff that I use on rare occasions, not to drink, but for staining fabrics to look antique.

Beloved would have no instant coffee.  We ate our toast and eggs sans the Hazelnut caffeine habit and by then it was nearly 7 a.m.  Beloved said with a voice of authority that our Walmart opens at 7 a.m., so he left to make an appliance purchase before The Today Show was over.  

Then, since I am writing about the endings of things and people, I'll close with the announcement that tomorrow is my last day with the weekly nursing home ministry's Hymn Sing.  Times and circumstances change for everybody (me, especially, it would seem), so several weeks ago I gave my notice to pianist-leader that August 25th would be  my last day.  We have some traveling to do, then Beloved will be needing me on hand for a month or so to drive him to physical therapy after his knee replacement, and then, and then, and then .... (you get the idea).  

One of my dear friends has been in Alaska for the last two-plus weeks, while another watched her mother slip into eternity in the wee hours of the morning, and another learned she has melanoma of the fast-spreading variety.  A strained friendship was renewed yesterday, and my sciatic nerve has decided to act up just about every night for the last week or so.  

Well, this is enough of my yakitty-yak for one evening.  This blog is my 'journal retreat' after all.  Sometimes I just need to sit down with my cup of tea and put it all on paper, ah, I mean, computer screen.  I am reminded of our Lord Jesus' words in John 14:1, "Let not your heart be troubled..."  There is truly a lot for us to be troubled about, but for followers of Jesus Christ, these are truly just blips on the screen.  Yes of course we get sad and grieve and hurt and are inconvenienced, but this is just a teeny part of our eternal walk with our Lord Jesus, and it does get better.

As Parakeet shared with me one time: For the Christian, this is the closest to hell we will ever get; for the lost person, this is the closest to heaven they will ever get.  

Lord God, I thank You sincerely for what You are allowing in my life.  It is sifted through Your wonderful hands for my good and Your glory.  As I  like to say to my children, these things are meant to build character in us -- and aren't we characters?!!!

Simple Woman's Daybook for August 23rd

FOR TODAY

Outside my window... Monday evening is settling in with some ominous-looking clouds to the West.  However, I don't think my neighborhood will get any rain out of them.

I am thinking... it feels really good to be sitting down after an afternoon of shopping at several stores.  Much of current fashion continues to irritate me.

I am thankful for... the mobility of my laptop computer.  Gone are the days when I had to sit at a desk to type on the computer.  I use my laptop in the kitchen and family room daily; and frequently take it upstairs to my study and sewing rooms, too.

From the kitchen...the dishwasher is busy with breakfast, lunch, and supper dishes.

I am wearing...a black-and-white gingham seersucker Camp shirt, black capris, sandals, and pearl earrings.

I am creating...this blog post for Tuesday.  The past 8 days have made for an   unusual week that I will be glad to see end. 

I am going... to my friend's memorial service tomorrow (Tuesday).  See last week's Simple Woman's Daybook about that. 

I am reading...The Mediterranean Diet, Raw Rood Made Easy, and Recipes for Diabetics as I prepare future menu plans.

I am hoping... we are able to stop the influx of bees into our master bathroom.  They show up dead or nearly dead every few days or so.  We have yet to figure out how they are getting into the house.  Even the Orkin man was clueless.

I am hearing... the Bears and Jets playing on Monday night football.

Around the house... sheets in the dryer await folding, I should hand-water the flowers outside tomorrow morning, Oh!  We just had a strong roll of thunder outside!  Maybe we will get some rain after all!

One of my favorite things... sitting here in my chair with Beloved sitting in his chair in the same room while a football game is on.  I don't understand much about the sport except for touchdowns and field goals, but it's just a nice time to spend with my husband. 

A few plans for the rest of the week:  Christmas shopping and wrapping (some in my family are getting a jump on the season this year), sewing a vest or doing some embroidery while listening to some MP3 downloads from Above Rubies...

Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...

 As mentioned earlier, the football season has begun (well, the 'preseason' games), so it's time to think about snack food.  This evening for dinner we had Banquet Chicken Patties on Orowheat Sandwich Thins, a large veggie green salad, and chips with dips.  For Beloved it was a purchased nacho cheese dip, and for me it was my favorite Guacamole Dip.  The recipe follows.

Guacamole Dip
Yields 1/2 cup, 1-2 servings

1 ripe avocado, soft enough to easily scoop out of the peel with a spoon
1  1/2 teaspoons minced dried onion
1 teaspoon bottled lime juice
1 teaspoon minced garlic from a jar
Dash Tabasco sauce
Dash salt
Dash pepper

Place all ingredients into a food processor.  Process until smooth. Serve immediately. YUM!

The Simple Woman's Daybook is a weekly habit enjoyed by many bloggers. It is a pleasant and effective way to bring more traffic to your blog. For more information about the woman who came up with this idea, go to

http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/ 

If the link doesn't work for you, copy-and-paste it into your browser.

Zerving Zucchini

That delightful time of year has arrived when we have to lock our car doors to ensure nobody will leave their excess zucchini on the car seat.  Last week we harvested enough zucchini that I made the decision to pull out the remainder of the vines for the trash truck.  I'm not sure if there is a law against that, so please don't tell anybody what I did.    

We left a Walmart bag with some of our produce on the front porch of Girlfriend-Next-Door, and she reciprocated with a bag of cherry tomatoes from her mini-farm.  

This evening we had a homemade soup made with some of our veggies.  I am sharing the recipe with you because even on the Internet, zucchini is the gift that keeps on giving.

Zucchini Pepper Beef Soup

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 chopped onion

1 bell pepper (any color)

1/4 pound ground chuck

4 cups fresh zucchini, chopped into cubes (leave the skin on)

15 oz stewed tomatoes

1 cup chopped carrots

4 cups beef stock

2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Lawrey's Seasoned Salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

In a 6-quart stock pot heat the oil on medium high heat and then brown the onions and bell pepper.  Cook till they are soft.  Add the ground chuck and continue cooking until the meat is no longer pink.  Add zucchini and carrots, cooking and occasionally stirring for 5 minutes.

I like to combine all of the dry seasonings on top
of the tomatoes while still in the can.

Add tomatoes, water, stock, and seasonings.  Turn the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil; then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 25 minutes.

Onions, peppers,  and beef are browning before the liquids were added.

Dinner is served.

Our menu was the soup, homemade whole wheat bread with margarine, fresh grapes, and iced tea.  This was a warming soup, both in temperature and in spiciness.

A Necessity for Your Recipe Collection

 

This first snapshot is blurry.  I apologize for that.  I think my cameraman was shaky with excitement about the dessert being prepared!

Due to concerns about copyright, I am not including the recipe for these Chocolate-Peanut Butter Dream Bars by Betty Crocker.  However, you can follow the pictures taken while this wonderful dessert was being created and then if it appeals to you, the link to the recipe will be at the end of this post.  I think every cook should have this in her recipe box! 

This (above) is a cookie crust (can't see it) covered with a cream cheese/refrigerated topping mixture and melted peanut butter on top.

Melted chocolate is drizzled on top.

Isn't this lovely?!

Sprinkle some peanuts on top (if you like nuts, that is).

Refrigerate (if you can wait that long!).

Serve!

To quote Milk Maid, "Good heavenly days!  That DOES look sinful!"  

If you want the recipe, click on this link: 

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/chocolate-peanut-butter-dream-bars/8a78eb7d-f882-47d0-a724-cf8617bcbe1b

Or copy-and-paste it into your browser.

Benefits of Good Seed

 Be not deceived;

God is not mocked:

for whatsoever a man soweth,

that shall he also reap.

Galatians 6:7

We planted zucchini seeds and now the huge leaves are abundant in our garden.  We've also got a wonderful crop of cherry tomatoes. The green peas are done; and we've had several meals with green beans.  Corn won't be showing up in this year's garden because we didn't plant any.  

I think about what I am "sowing" every day.  If I don't remember what I've planted in my life, all I have to do is look around.  Is my marriage peaceful?  Then kind words and loving actions must have been planted. Are dirty dishes stacked in the kitchen?  Either I've been sowing too much busyness or perhaps some laziness.  

Here is a recipe we enjoyed a few days ago with the zucchini and cherry tomatoes:

Zuccchini Saute'

Slice up the zucchini about 1/4 inch thick and then slice in half.
Slice the cherry tomatoes in half.
Slice and dice some onion (red, white, or yellow)
Crush a large clove of garlic

Melt a half-and-half mixture of extra virgin olive oil and a pat of butter (about 1 Tablespoon) in a non-stick skillet over medium to high heat. Add the vegetables, allowing to cook until a bit of a crispy coating starts to form, then turn veggies over and stir around a little, cooking until desired amount of doneness is achieved.  

This is a wonderful side dish that takes just a few minutes to prepare.

Monday Breakfast Egg Muffin

None of my readers have asked what Beloved and I typically have for breakfast on Mondays, but I am certain you want to know.  So today I will give you a tutorial for making Monday Breakfast Egg Muffins.  I got the idea sort of from McDonalds (fast food), and sort of from Weight Watchers, and somewhere in there I made up my own recipe.  As a result, I have no idea how original this is, but it is a good way to start not only the morning but also a new week.

For each serving you will need an Orowheat Sandwich Thin (that's 2 halves per person).

Beloved likes the Kraft American Cheese Singles and I like the Swiss Singles (slightly lower in calories).  We also use I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light margarine....

... and 1/4 cup per person of Eggbeaters.

Just a light sprinkling of salt (I like to use Kosher salt), and freshly-ground black pepper will be needed as you cook the Eggbeaters.

In a non-stick skillet lightly coated with cooking spray, cook the egg for each person one at a time, adding the salt and pepper while the egg is still wet.

Fold the egg over so it will fit nicely on top of half of the Sandwich Thin.

Spread the margarine very thin on just one of the Sandwich Thin bun halves, and pile the egg and cheese on the other.  If you want to add sliced tomato and/or fresh baby spinach leaves, this is the time to do that. (I often add them to my sandwich, but did not have either on hand the morning of this photo shoot, so I did without.)

Put the "lid" on each of the sandwiches and then stack them like this in a single paper towel.  Wrap them up and place the bundle in the microwave.

We heat our sandwiches like this on HIGH for 20 seconds to help melt the cheese .  Don't cook for too long or the egg will turn tough.

A good breakfast has 3 essential elements: protein, a bread, and fresh fruit.  To round out our breakfast on this particular morning, we had the most delicious giant oranges.  They were nearly the size of small grapefruit and so juicy!  When slicing them up, I do my BEST to include the white pith that is between the juicy part and the orange skin.  The white pith is nutritious and has very little taste.

Most Monday mornings, this is what my plate looks like.  

On Tuesdays we have cereal (with milk for Beloved; and with fat-free plain yogurt for me), turkey sausage links, and  fruit (whatever we have on hand).  

The next morning is "Waffle Wednesday" with margarine and syrup for Beloved, and fat-free plain yogurt with ground flax seed for me, and fruit on hand.  The waffles are either pre-made and frozen by me, or (more often) the Eggo frozen kind.  

We repeat Tuesday's cereal menu on Thursdays.  

On Fridays it's sometimes a berry-and-yogurt smoothie with a Tablespoon of flax Oil and ground flax seed added, honey, a banana if we have any left, and a few ice cubes.  Toast rounds this menu out nicely.  

On Saturday mornings we have coffee on the front porch (weather permitting, of course), before the rest of the neighborhood wakes up and then we adjourn to the kitchen for scrambled Eggbeaters, toast, and fruit.  

Sunday is my day off, so to speak.  We have Weight Watchers Smart Ones "Ham and Cheese Scramble" and some fruit before heading off to church.

With few exceptions, I follow this menu plan week after week.  When I consider that a lot of people don't even make time for breakfast at all, or they fall into the coffee-with-donut routine (which is not a REAL breakfast in my opinion), making a plan like this is very sensible.  I purposefully made it something I can do in my semi-awake morning state of mind, and I have the satisfaction of sending Beloved off to work with decent nutrition in his tummy.  If it's not a simple plan, breakfast probably won't happen at all.