Willy Nilly Friday 5

Willy Nilly Friday 5

1. Oops! I lost Friday! Have you seen it? I ran a week’s worth of errands that afternoon; when I finally sat down to read your blogs, I forgot to post my own! 

2. Hubby skipped town went to visit his dad. 

3. Thursday, I noticed my computer had an update, so I tried to run a backup to my external hard drive before downloading, but they refused to communicate. I found the drive manual, logged on to website support and followed the troubleshooting steps. They still refused to renew their friendship, so I did some research and went to Best Buy (one of the stops on Friday) and got a new WD My Passport for Mac backup drive. I was happy to see it finished a little after 6:00 this morning (Saturday). 

4. I worked outside until it thundered (a good time to stop). I intended to clean the bathrooms and my desk today, but did the yard and laundry/birdseed/storage/recycling room instead–even managed a load of laundry in the process. I put dinner in the crockpot, a recipe I found in the AARP newsletter:  Quinoa and Summer Squash Casserole. The ingredients included chopped onion, tomatillos, and tomatoes, which the new food processor handled speedily. I just found a recipe for Pear-Quinoa Salad on there–will have to try it! 

5. Since discovering Bailey’s Irish Cream Coffee Creamer, I’ve been looking for new ways to use it. I have resisted putting it on my breakfast cereal (so far). My latest favorite iced tea is made with Stash Raspberry and White Decaf Tea, a splash of DaVinci Raspberry Syrup (sugar free) and Bailey’s creamer. I filled the large Tervis tumbler to take with me on errands. 

No link-up to Tanya’s blog for this week–yet.

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Wednesday Randomness

It is Wednesday, right? I feel like I’ve ridden the Tilt-a-Whirl at the carnival, pulled in so many directions. I did the final proofing on my devotional this morning, ended up deleting 100+ words and tightening up the rest and finally hit “send.” Here are my random thoughts for today:

1. Hubby will be so surprised when he gets home and sees this: 

 

Pineapple Coconut Angel Food Cake

I found a 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple and an angel food cake mix languishing in the cabinet. I added 3/4 cup of shredded coconut and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Stirred it all together, poured into the cake pan and baked at 350F for 50 minutes. The kitchen smelled so good, the aroma made me hungry. I’m thinking DINNER. Or afternoon SNACK. 

2. Jae got his cast off Monday. He now wears a brace and will have a couple weeks of physical therapy. His lost Star Wars light saber was found inside the cast. Boys!

3. Last week I was at my daughter’s house. I left the room (and my iPhone) for ONE MINUTE. Teenagers! LOL Love you, Miss P.

When I got home, I found pictures of just about every family member on there. Oh, they were having fun with that! I like that the captures are impromptu, no posing–or hiding from the camera. 

4. I captured a wee bit of a sun dog (parhelion–new word for me!) at the park one afternoon.

5. I read this quote on someone’s blog, but forgot where I saw it.
“Look and you will find it. What is unsought will go undetected.” Sophocles
When I think of the wonders I do see, I can’ t help but wonder what I’m missing. Let’s keep our eyes open (and camera in hand) there’s always something to discover.

 

There Goes the Water/Tried a New Recipe

We had a most lovely day. The temperature got into the 60s, I went out to play and never came back. OK, I did have to bring the groceries home and put them away.

The European Starlings thoroughly enjoyed the birdbath. I was tempted to join them.

Last evening was writers group; today I had lunch with my friend, Ev, who leads our group.

The little Painted Bunting female is still a regular
visitor. This is her favorite feeder.

I made something new for dinner. The recipe came from Bob’s Red Mill blog. It was recommended as a savory breakfast in the post, but garlic, kale, fire-roasted tomatoes and Parmesan sounded more like dinner to me. It didn’t take long to make, and we both liked it. I shopped three places before finding the brown rice farina for the base, so you may want to keep that in mind.

Have a lovely Thursday!

 

Mallards and Soy Milk

Apparently this didn’t post when it was scheduled last night. 🙂

Your inquisitive mind is probably asking, “What in the world do these things have in common, Mallards and soy milk?” Well, the answer is…me. It makes perfect sense now, doesn’t it? 

Hubby is working late tonight, so I decided to have a Green Monster Smoothie. Any trip to the kitchen requires a peek out the window to see who might have stopped by for dinner.

The Mallards were back!  I snapped a few photos, then set about making the smoothie.

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Blender is clean, check. Frozen bananas, check. Peanut butter, check. Oh, look! SHINY! The setting sun was reflecting in the window of a neighbor’s garage. Snap a picture, ok. Back to the smoothie. Soy milk…and this is where things went terribly wrong. I broke rule #4! “Twist collar onto jar. Be sure to engage threads properly and securely.” I poured a cup of Silk Very Vanilla soy milk into the blender, only to watch it run out the bottom as quickly as it was poured in the top. Of course it was sitting on the blender base at the time, which immediately turned from black to white–just like that! <snaps fingers> 

No, I didn’t get a picture, was too busy cleaning it up before it ran off onto the floor; and no, I didn’t do a reenactment for you, either! 

A merry heart is a good medicine: but a broken spirit drieth up the bones. Proverbs 17:22

Peanut Butter, Banana, Spinach–Oh My!

I’m always on the lookout for healthy recipes, and I really like it when they are easy. Oh! And they must taste good, too. 😉

 A friend posted this on Facebook recently, and tonight the hubby and I tried it.

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Having read through the ingredients and the follow-up comments of others who tried it, I wasn’t surprised that I liked it. However, the fact that my hubby liked it, and suggested we should have them on a regular basis–THAT was surprising!

To get the recipe, follow this link. 

The only changes I made were to add a tablespoon of ground flax seed, and sweetened it a bit with Stevia extract in the raw, something new I found at my local Harris Teeter this week. I was pleased to find that it didn’t have the “unpleasant aftertaste” I had heard in regard to Stevia. 

Let me know what you think! 

 

Blackberry Cobbler

My friend, Patti, (yes, there’s another one–spelled the same!) and I were discussing blackberries recently, and she requested this recipe. Since hubby and I skipped town today, and I still need to write a blog post, I thought this would get me off the hook suffice. 

Buttery-flavor non-stick cooking spray
4 cups blackberries
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup Bob’s Red Mill whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup Splenda baking mix
1/4 c. Egg Beaters or other egg substitute
6 Tablespoons Smart Balance buttery spread, melted

Preheat oven–375 F/191C

Spray 8″ square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Put blackberries in prepared dish and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Stir together flour, Splenda baking mix and egg substitute in another bowl until crumbly. Sprinkle over blackberries, and drizzle melted Smart Balance over the topping.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until topping begins to brown and fruit is bubbly.

I prefer pouring milk over it in a serving bowl and eating it while warm, but you could serve it with ice cream or other topping of your choice.  

 

Wandered Into the Kitchen Again

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I started cleaning my sewing room Monday, and intended to work in there again today. However, I found these raspberries languishing in the refrigerator and decided to add purpose to their short lifespan. Do I know how to procrastinate, or what? 

Raspberry and Chocolate Muffins

1 egg or 1/4 c. egg substitute
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. canola oil
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 c. unbleached white flour
1/2 c. sugar or 1/4 c. Splenda baking mix
2 tsps. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. fresh raspberries
Semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Topping:
melted butter
1/3 c. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Heat oven to 400(F). Coat bottom of 12 standard muffin cups with nonstick spray. 
Beat egg; stir in milk and oil. Mix in dry ingredients just until flour is moistened. (Batter should be lumpy). Fold in raspberries and a small handful of chocolate chips. 
Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from pan and cool on rack.  
To prepare topping, melt butter or substitute of your choice in one small bowl; combine sugar and cinnamon in another. Dip cooled muffins into melted butter, then into sugar/cinnamon mixture. Enjoy!