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Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Love Changes Everything


Another water color painting I've done recently.



Sunday, August 27, 2017

Coconut Chicken Spaghetti Squash


Here is one of the recipes I tried while we were on the Whole30 program.  I changed it up a bit and it is a keeper.


Coconut Chicken Spaghetti Squash

INGREDIENTS
4 - 5 cups cooked spaghetti squash
8 pieces cooked bacon chopped in pieces (more is good)
1 1/2 cups steamed broccoli
2 cups sautéed chicken breast, cut in bite size pieces

Sauce
1 can full fat coconut milk
1 medium egg
1 teaspoon sea salt or to taste
1 teaspoon garlic powder
fresh ground pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

In a saucepan whisk together all the ingredients for the cream sauce.
Heat the sauce on the stove over medium heat. Continue whisking the sauce while it cooks for about 5-8 minutes until it thickens.

In a casserole dish, add the steamed broccoli, chicken, and bacon to the cooked spaghetti squash. Then pour the cream sauce over the casserole.

Heat in the oven on 400F until hot thru OR make it hot in the microwave (everything is already cooked!) then pop it under the broiler to brown the top.



Friday, August 25, 2017

Pretty Produce

More lovely produce at the auction!  It's worth going just to see what they have.


Plum tomatoes


Cherokee Purple tomatoes


Ivory bell peppers


Shelling beans


Don't know what kind of peppers but they smelled HOT!


"Horticulture" beans


Fresno peppers



Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Instant Cardio Workout... (Guest Post by Himself)

 Hey...

Ever get ‘spooked’ about something?   It just happened to me...

First, I’m the type who – if I take off my glasses – needs Teri’s to help me locate where I put them because I can’t see well enough to FIND them.   Next, with my glasses off, if I see something (or reach for it because I thought it was something else) and then it turns out to be something potentially dangerous, I ‘get spooked’ and am all hyper for a few minutes.  (Imagine seeing a foot-long piece of dark yarn on the floor and reaching for it, but as your hand gets close to it.....it moves.)

Well, something like that happened...

I was about to take a shower and had already set my glasses down.  I turned on the water spigot down below and, once it got warm, I reached above to turn on the overhead part.  I then started stepping into the tub.  But as I was stepping in, I saw movement near the drain.  

This.....

A wolf spider...

He didn’t move until he was getting wet AS I was stepping in.  He had been straddling across the drain so, without my glasses, I didn’t see him.


Closer.


And he’s big – here he is in the large pitcher we keep birds in who knock themselves silly after hitting the window.  That is a dime down below to show you the size.   After Teri flicked him into this pitcher, she had to shake it to keep him from running up the side before she got the lid on.  You could hear his feet skittling along the sides trying to get out.   

Lots of footsteps...


Kinda colorful up close though with his reddish/brownish colors. 

By the way, I have been told that they have a very painful bite.  Which brings up an incident of just months ago:  While downstairs sorting thru stuff, I got up from my chair and ‘felt something’ brush my outer leg that had been ‘just inside’ my blue-jean shorts. 


It was right there where I am pointing – a wolf spider clinging to the inside of my pants leg.   Because my pants are so loose, I didn’t feel him.......until I stood up.   As I stood up, I felt him ‘slip out’ against my thigh and fall – (seeing this out of the corner of my eye as I just happened to be looking down) and I then heard a small ‘thunk’ as he hit the carpet.   Attempting to skittled away I grabbed a glass jar and scooped him up to be tossed outside later after I finished playing with him.   Only half the size of the wolf spider in the tub, still, his bite would have been painful.

But back to the bathtub spider...

We have no idea where he came from or how he got in the bathroom.   Man.....after we got him out of the shower, I searched every INCH of the shower curtains and other places in the bathroom – including under the toilet seat!   😓   I was now hyper! 

  
~Himself~


(PS – By the way, That Woman – as a child – would catch and keep wolf spiders as pets.  It was the one spider that didn’t seem to bother her.  She’d keep them in a terrarium and would catch bugs for them to eat.   She wasn’t allowed to get a tarantula so a wolf spider was the next best thing.    Only Teri...)



Monday, August 21, 2017

I Am...

I recently did a fun creative project.  An activity in one of my groups was to make something with personal affirmations... it could be a journal page, a letter to our self, a collage... whatever.

I made a mixed media piece.



The bubbles (circles) are watercolor backgrounds that I cut circles from.  From there, I considered for several days on who and what I really am.

What I know... not what other people think or judge.

It was a good exercise...



Saturday, August 19, 2017

A Flannel Plant

We have an opportunist growing in our upper driveway...


It has a beautiful flower and the leaves are soft and fuzzy.


There as SO many buds waiting to open.


The bees are really enjoying it too.


It's leaves are huge... up to 16 inches long!


Isn't it interesting how they are ruffled where they connect to the stem?


Did I mention it is BIG?  Himself is 6 feet tall.

It is a Common Mullein, also known at the Flannel Plant.

Here's what Wiki has to say about it:

"Verbascum thapsus (great mullein or common mullein) is a species of mullein native to Europe, northern Africa, and Asia, and introduced in the Americas and Australia.

It is a hairy biennial plant that can grow to 2 m tall or more. Its small, yellow flowers are densely grouped on a tall stem, which grows from a large rosette of leaves.

It grows in a wide variety of habitats, but prefers well-lit, disturbed soils, where it can appear soon after the ground receives light, from long-lived seeds that persist in the soil seed bank. It is a common weedy plant that spreads by prolifically producing seeds, but it rarely becomes aggressively invasive, since its seeds require open ground to germinate. It is a very minor problem for most agricultural crops, since it is not a very competitive species, being intolerant of shade from other plants and unable to survive tilling. It also hosts many insects, some of which can be harmful to other plants. Although individuals are easy to remove by hand, populations are difficult to eliminate permanently.

It is widely used for herbal remedies, with well-established emollient and astringent properties. Mullein remedies are especially recommended for coughs and related problems, but also used in topical applications against a variety of skin problems. The plant has also been used to make dyes and torches."

It's been fun watching it grow.  We noticed the other day that a neighbor has one in his yard and is letting it grow too.


Thursday, August 17, 2017

Cheesy Egg Bake

Here is a great recipe I tried from All Recipes dot com.



Cheesy Egg Bake
    
Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter, melted
12 eggs, beaten
1 pound shredded pepperjack cheese
1 (16 ounce) container cottage cheese
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare a 9x13 inch baking dish with the melted butter.

Whisk together the eggs, pepperjack cheese, cottage cheese, flour, and salt in a large bowl. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish.

Bake in the preheated oven until eggs are completely set, about 1 hour.

(NOTE:  I cut this recipe in half and baked in an 8x8 pan.  Delicious but in both of our opinions, it needs some texture.  I'm thinking some artichoke hearts next time... )





Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Summer Wild Flowers

The wild flowers have been just lovely in Tennessee this summer.


Rose Mallow (in the hibiscus family)


Cone Flowers




Milkweed



OK... not a flower.  But isn't it pretty?



Sunday, August 13, 2017

Happy Birthday to Me!

One month ago I turned 55.


Himself made me chocolate cupcakes and surprised me with this that morning.


My present to me was being healthier for my 55th birthday than I was for my 50th.  Those are a pair of pants I wore back then...

GO me!!



Friday, August 11, 2017

Movie Date

Towns all over the US are revitalizing their vintage movie theaters and using them once again to show movies.

Some show vintage movies (like Casa Blanca or Gone With The Wind).  Some play foreign films (like The Music of Strangers or Our Little Sister).  Other have 'modern classics' (such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Saving Private Ryan).  And there are ones with family movies (such as National Velvet or Toy Story).

Many do a mix of genres.


The Roxy is doing a mix modern classics and family, alternating every other Sunday.


It's a great old theater and is also used for stage productions.


Team Red, White, & Blue took a block of tickets for one of the family showings.


Waiting for the show to start.  We were right at the end of our Whole30 program... so no refreshments for us.  Smelling that hot buttered popcorn was killer.  Box candy, popcorn, and sodas are all $1 each.


While I couldn't have any sweets... I had my Sweetie.  That was more than good enough!



Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Babies!

Just a quick update on how "The Worm Guys" are doing...


 That would be VERY well.  See what I'm pointing at?  That is a teeny baby worm.  There is a ton of them!  Supposedly if the worms are not happy, there won't be babies.

They must be ecstatic!

(Oh... there is plenty of 'worm dirt' too...)



Monday, August 7, 2017

Making "Junk" Journals

One of my new projects is learning how to make journals and bound books.  It is a lot of fun and something that you can keep increasing your skill level as you make different kinds.


This is my first.  It is the most simple binding, called 'twine binding".  You just loop twine around as many times as needed to hold your page signatures.

Obviously this one is a travel journal.


The 'junk' part comes in with what you use to make the page signatures.

Leftover scrapbook papers...


... paper bags and magazine pages...



...leftover embellishments and old letters.


Whatever you have at hand!

When I fill it, I'll show you how it turned out.



Saturday, August 5, 2017

Taste of Scotland

  Getting back to doing my recipes from a different country each month.  Since July was 'my' month... the recipes are all Scottish!

For my meal I start with a appetizer of Scotch Eggs.



I'll have to work on getting a consistent and thin layer of sausage around the egg so it cooks evenly and quickly.



These were everywhere in Scotland.  You can even buy them pre-made.


This is the Scotch Egg I got at Smoo Cave Hotel in Durness, Scotland.  The egg is SOFT boiled.  Absolutely brilliant and I'm still trying to figure out how she did it.


Next course is Tomato and Basil Soup.


We've had an abundance of tomatoes AND basil.  This recipe is a perfect way to use them.


It is a thin soup, just right for sipping out of a cup.



It is delicious!



It is very much like the tomato soup we had at The Harbour, a restaurant on the southern part of Skye island.

Our entree is Finkadella...a beef meatball.  

Served as a main course soup.



Served as a meat selection with a gravy made from the broth.




The vegetable course has an even more fun name... Rumbledethumps!




Potatoes and cabbage with melted cheddar... Scottish comfort food, for sure!




And dessert was the light and delicious Cranachan.






Again from The Harbour restaurant on Skye, a raspberry cranachan.

Ahhhh.... wonderful memories....