I know I have been doing tons of it. How about you? Head on over to see Barbara’s awesome Spring Cleaning Checklist at Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers.
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Spring Cleaning Checklist
Category: MISC
Menu Plan Monday
| DATE | BREAKFAST | LUNCH | DINNER | |
| Monday |
3/16 |
CEREAL | SANDWICHES | Recipe Experiment Night |
| Tuesday | 3/17 | TOAST | LEFTOVERS | Broccoli Salad |
| Wednesday | 3/18 | YOGURT | SOUP | C.O.R.N. |
| Thursday | 3/19 | FRUIT | CHEESE & FRUIT | Mexican Baja Casserole |
| Friday | 3/20 | OATMEAL | C.O.R.N. | |
| Saturday | 3/21 | Buttermilk Cinnamon Pancakes | Creamy Tomato Soup* | Ortega Chile Bake |
| Sunday | 3/22 |
Oven Omeletes | Beef Stew* | Jambalaya |
*LEFTOVER FROM PREVIOUS DINNER AND NOW FROZEN FOR LUNCHES.
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Invest in Knowledge
Hosted by Barbara at Candy Hearts and Paper Flowers
An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
~Benjamin Franklin ♥
Broccoli Tomato Salad
BROCCOLI TOMATO SALAD
2 crisp broccoli crowns, washed and trimmed into bite sized pieces
1 cup grape tomatoes, washed and halved
1 very small red onion or 1/2 large, trimmed into thin rings
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons hot bacon grease
8 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled*
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add broccoli until crisp, about 8 minutes.
- Cook bacon until crisp reserving fat for the salad. Any additional bacon fat I store in pyrex in the refrigerator until the next time I make green beans and then add it to the beans for flavor.
- While bacon is cooking whisk together the lemon juice, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper.
- Halve tomatoes and slice the onion, tossing them both with the vinegar mixture.
- Crumbled bacon over the tomato mixture and toss well.
- Drain the broccoli well.
- Pour tomato mixture over broccoli and toss well. I like to use my Tupperware marinader so I can turn it frequently to coat everything well.
- Chill at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight.
*I make the whole pound and save the extra for BLTs.
If you like to play along, please add a link to this post on your post and sign Mr. Linky. Be sure to include your recipe in parenthesis following your name. Thanks and have fun. ♥
Food for thought about men and dogs
I have this saying written down on a scrap of paper. I have no idea if I wrote it down from a movie, TV show or a book I saw it in, but I thought it was really great.
When dating a new man, make sure he has a dog. You can tell a lot about the character of a man by how he treats his mother and his dog.
♥
Chocolate Blackberry Muffins and Grilled Onion Tomato Bacon Cheese Sandwhiches
So what is a sister to do when her little brother calls and says he wants a muffin recipe to impress his new girlfriend? And that he wants certain flavors in it? She makes him a recipe of course. Hubby and I had to try it out first and they were super yummy!!
CHOCOLATE BLACKBERRY MUFFINS
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup safflower oil
1 cup blackberry jam (seedless)
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips, chopped or chipped smaller
PURE or muffin liners
2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup safflower oil
1 cup blackberry jam (seedless)
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips, chopped or chipped smaller
PURE or muffin liners
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Line muffin tin with paper liners or spray with PURE.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.
- Whisk together the milk, egg and oil.
- Pour into the well.
- Mix together quickly with a wooden spoon. Do not beat! (The mixture will be slightly lumpy.
- Fold in the jam and chocolate pieces.
- Pour into muffin tins.
- Bake 25 minutes.
- Cool on wire rack.
Makes 18 muffins*
*Sometimes I will make Texas muffins instead and a couple of muffin tops only!
So while the muffins were baking, we needed lunch and I stirred up these yummy sandwiches.
GRILLED ONION TOMATO BACON CHEESE SANDWICHES
4 slices thick sourdough bread
6 slices bacon, cooked crisp
thin sliced red onions
sliced tomatoes
sharp cheddar cheese slices
2 tablespoons butter
- Melt butter on skillet
- Lay all four slices on skillet to brown.
- On 2 slices arrange in the following order the cheese slices, tomatoes, bacon slices and onion rings.
- Top with the other 2 bread slices and continue toasting, turning as necessary until brownness.
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Spilled Milk ~ Sady & Camera Critters
You can’t leave an empty glass around. Sady will claim it as her own to get every last drop of any milk. She’s not spoiled though.
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Say It Forward
There really aren’t many things more special and appreciated by any blogger than a thoughtful comment left by a bloggy friend. Bloggers truly do live for them.
When I sign on and see a new comment sitting there, well it makes my day! A pretty wrapped gift handed just to me amongst all those other options out there in blog land. Comments truly are the jewels of the blog land. Leaving a comment is like walking up to a new friend IRL and introducing yourself. It is how we make friends in the blogland.
How can we thank our loyal friends and readers for giving us these bloggy treasures? First and foremost, we can return the favor! We can visit their blogs and leave them comments. “The golden rule of blogging – do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. It makes the blogosphere go round.”
I love the idea of a pay it forward anything. I think anything positive is a good thing. So it really made my day when I signed on and sat down to google reader and found Diana’s wonderful comment. Stop by Forgetfulone and say hello, she’s become a good friend and I know if we lived closer we would be great IRL friends. So in the spirit of this SAY IT FORWARD I start with Diana. I too can’t remember how we met, it probably was Pay it Forward book exchange over at Overwhelmed with Joy, but we’ve been great friends since.
There are so many wonderful bloggers that come to mind when I think of passing this on. I think I’ll do one every week or so versus all at once. So I won’t start with the obvious (at least to some) and mix it up a bit by starting with Jen from Tatertots and Jello and adding her to this list today. I’m not sure how we met, whether it was a meme or something else, but she pops by regularly and offers great positive thoughts to my day.
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Friday Fill-Ins
1. When I look to the left, I see a ton of work to do!
2. My bedroom is the room that has the best view in my home.
3. Let it work once and for all.
4. Dirty Deeds done dirt cheap! Okay now AC/DC is stuck in my head!
5. Supporting our troops (whether we agree with the politics) is a responsibility that all qualified citizens must share.
6. If you have any warm spring breezes feel free to send them my way.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to catching up on some magazine browsing, tomorrow my plans include cleaning the studio and Sunday, I want to do some quilting while hubby watches the race!
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Butter VS. Margarine
In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day they take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would participate and take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.
If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your link at An Island Life. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!
TODAY’S QUESTION: Do you use Butter or Margarine for your family?
I received an email that read: Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavorings.
DO YOU KNOW The difference between margarine and butter?
Consider these facts about butter:
DO YOU KNOW The difference between margarine and butter?
Consider these facts about butter:
- Both have the same amount of calories.
- Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.
- Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
- Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.
- Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few only because they are added!
- Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavors of other foods.
- Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years .
Consider these facts about margarine:
- Very high in Trans fatty acids .
- Triples the risk of coronary heart disease .
- Increases total cholesterol and LDL (bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (good cholesterol)
- Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold.
- Lowers quality of breast milk.
- Decreases immune response.
- Decreases insulin response.
And here’s the most disturbing fact… Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC. This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).
You can try this yourself: Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or a shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:
* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)
* It does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not find a home to grow. Why? Because it is nearly plastic. Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?
While Snopes verifies only some of these facts they do conclude butter is probably healthiest in the long run. My Rheumatologist asks the question, “Why would you put something into your body that has been chemically altered for any reason when it is just as easy and healthier to use natural foods?”
Chinese Proverb:
‘When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others’.
♥
My Wish List ~ Wednesday Wishes
So as I have been spring cleaning this week, I ran across numerous half finished projects from stained glass designs and bits of glass, stacks of mated fabric all the way to want to make recipes and so my wish list grows and grows.
Inland Glass Grinder is something I really need to get rid of all the bits and pieces of broken glass around here.
I love these quilts, Terry’s Flower Garden and Tuesday Garden Club by Hedgehog Quilts.
I love this jigsaw quilt pattern by Lehmann Quilting.
I really need a new Cuisinart food processor. This 7 cup is the perfect size. I have one that I received as a wedding present from a good friend and it gets used several times a week and has served me well.
I would realllllllllllly love this revolving bookcase from Levenger for reference materials near my work table.
My knives are a collection of hand me downs and a mish mosh of this and that brands. I received a paring knife and potato peeler as a gift a while back and fell in love with this brand and their craftsmanship. I would really love a complete set of CUTCO knives with their “FOREVER” guarantee.
Nordicware Heart shaped pan speaks for itself.
♥Old Fashioned All Day Meatballs & Chicken with Baked Vegetable Stuffing in Tarragon sauce
In an effort to clean out my magazines and cookbooklets, I’ve decided to join Magazine Mondays hosted by Cream Puffs in Venice. What I really like is that she isn’t strict about when you post so I can publish these yummy results as I find them.
If you are anything like me, you have a drawer or a box full of recipes from newspapers, magazines, old maiden aunts, grandmothers, friends and every potluck you ever went to and said I have to have that recipe! Now while I usually keep the combination of spices and seasonings somewhat intact, I do make changes that make it more palatable to my family. So I always keep a list of likes, dislikes and allergies and am constantly altering recipes to fly by the seat of my pants.
These recipes have been floating around so long in the box that I have no idea where they actually originated, but one looks like a page from an old, and I mean OLD magazine and the other is handwritten. I have them stapled together with a note to combine them together. I’m like that – whatever works for my family. I had a girlfriend in college who loved fashion but was on such a strict budget there wasn’t room for the things she eyed. I remember Julie borrowing a fancy designer dress from a Joann, a girlfriend of ours for an event and then later that night she took it apart, made a pattern and made her own dress before putting Joanns dress back together. To my knowledge Joann never knew. Now I can’t do that with recipes literally, but I do do it in my mind as I’m eating a particularly tasty tidbit. Some days I feel like an archaeologist unearthing pieces to make a whole from.
OLD FASHIONED ALL DAY MEATBALLS
2 pounds ground beef
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup garlic salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 small Vidalia onion, chopped fine
2 eggs
3 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup raspberry jam
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cup ketchup
- In a large bowl combine the quick cooking oats, milk, eggs, onion and garlic salt.
- Crumble the beef over top and then mix in well.
- Shape into 1-2 inch balls.
- Place in slow cooker.
- Mix together the ketchup, vinegar, Worcestershire, raspberry jam and brown sugar.
- Pour over meatballs.
- Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until the meat is no longer pink.
With this recipe I found two old scraps of recipes (Chicken with Tarragon Sauce and Baked Tomatoes with Broccoli stuffing) that had been torn from old cookbooklets, one was even handwritten it was so old. The Brussel Sprouts and carrots were my addition for texture and color. They begged me to put them together and make this dish:
serves 4.
CHICKEN WITH BAKED VEGETABLE STUFFING IN TARRAGON SAUCE**
4 large chicken breasts cut into tenders
4 + 2 tablespoons butter
2 large tomatoes
1 cup baby carrots, cut into halves
3 cups broccoli florets, cut into small pieces
1 large bunch green onions, sliced
1 sleeve Keebler townhouse crackers, crushed
1 teaspoon tarragon
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup whipping cream
2 tablespoons flour
- Melt 4 tablespoons butter in skillet.
- Brown each side of chicken piece.
- While the chicken is browning, wash the tomatoes and cut the tops off. Scoop the insides out*, salt the insides and turn the tomatoes upside down to drain.
- Transfer chicken pieces to baking dish, but leave enough room for the tomatoes in the center.
- Add the carrots and Brussel sprouts and saute’ until tender.
- Transfer them to the baking dishes scattered over the chicken pieces.
- Add the broccoli, tomato pulp and green onions to the skillet and saute’ until tender.
- Transfer to a mixing bowl and add crackers. Fill tomato cups. Add any remaining broccoli mixture to the chicken .
- Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in skillet.
- Add flour until golden.
- Add chicken broth, tarragon, salt, pepper and whipping cream.
- Bring to a boil while whisking constantly to prevent scorching.
- Add lemon juice after it boils.
- Immediately pour over the whole thing.
- Cover with foil.
- Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees.
By using the larger tomatoes you can cut them in half after baking and have a nice presentation on the plate.
*I use a grapefruit knife and it works SUPER!
**I used Brussel Sprouts tonight, but in the future will use all broccoli.
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