Wednesday Memes

 

Daikon Radish

 My neighbour gave me this bunch of daikon radishes as I was walking by a few weeks ago.  She had just plucked them out of her garden, there was so much dirt on them.  They had borrowed a yard waste bag a few days earlier and I guess she was returning the favour.  It was most welcome.

Amarillis Repotted

So I repotted my amaryllis bulb, the one that has been laying dormant in a bag in the basement for a few months.  It seemed viable so I repotted it.  Now I will see if it blooms.

 

Microwaved Scrambled Eggs

Joeks mentioned her mom microwaved scrambled eggs  so of course I went looking for a recipe.

 I microwaved these scramble eggs using this recipe.  It seemed like a lot of trouble but on trying it, the eggs are fluffy and delicious.  Add salt, pepper, 2 eggs, 2 tbs milk in a bowl.  Lightly grease a good sized bowl and whisk. Microwave 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between.  It took me 1 1/2 minutes.

Holiday Drink

 This looks easy to make and good.  Now I wish I could find that ice cube mold I have that makes small cubes!  

Friday Art - The Joker

 Welcome to Friday Art.  This is a piece I did last year based on The Joker from the Dark Knight movie. 

Do you recognize Heath Ledger?

Linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off and to Gillena's Art for Fun Fridays.

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Jungle and Tacos

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date. The art theme is 'Jungle'. 

First I wanted to tell you how happy I am with this white pastel pen I am using.  It is great for use on black poster paper for example.   It is called Edding pastel pen in soft white.

Here is my 'jungle' piece, depicting a red eyed tree frog in the jungle. It is an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2").  I used my edding soft white pastel pen to fill in the shapes and then coloured over top with Sharpie oil paint markers.  In this way the Sharpie markers display well on the black poster paper.

 For the dinner date, I am showing some tacos I made using old el paso taco shells and old el paso seasoning mix. 

 You brown a pound of ground beef in some olive oil, add the seasoning mix and 2/3c of water and simmer for 10 minutes. 

 Then you toast the shells in the oven at 325F for 7 minutes.

 

 For the toppings, dice some tomatoes, shred some lettuce. You will need some salsa, sourcream and shredded cheese. 

 To assemble, place 2-3 spoons of the cooked ground beef into a taco shell. Top with salsa, sourcream, tomatoes, lettuce and cheese. I microwaved the taco for 35 seconds in the microwave just to melt the cheese. Yum!

taco shells and seasoning mix

 

toppings

cooked ground beef

assembled tacos

Wednesday Memes

 

A fun test

 How quickly can you find the number that is not 529?

Roasted Butternut Squash Seeds

 I used this recipe to roast some butternut squash seeds recently.  They were delicious!

Kathy had mentioned doing this on her blog for pumpkin seeds.

I scooped the seeds out of the butternut squash after cutting it and boiled them for 10 minutes in salted water.  Next I dried and laid out the seeds on a tray lined with parchment paper.Then I roasted them with some oil and seasonings for about 20-25 minutes at 300F until they were toasted.  They make a delicious snack!

I made a  mashed butternut squash with the squash itself.

Easy Banana Pancakes

Mary Kirkland shared her banana pancake recipe and I tried it!  It is flatter, more like a fritter, sweet tasting and delicious!  It is a simple easy recipe.

2 eggs

1 large banana

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla

oil or butter for frying

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and cook in oil or butter 1/2 c at a time.
 

There are more traditional banana pancake recipes if you prefer the fluffier kind.  I like quick and easy sometimes.

No Poop Zone and preposting

No Poop Zone

I thought this was a cute sign, a good idea.

The other day I preposted a post a year in advance!  I am not sure that is a good idea, who knows what we will be doing a year from now.  It is just a poppy I painted and thought it would be good for next Remembrance Day!  I know I am getting ahead of myself!  Do you prepost a lot?

 

Friday Art - Clint Eastwood

 This is a portrait I did last year based on the 1966 movie 'The good, the bad and the ugly' of Clint Eastwood.

Linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off and to Gillena's Art For Fun Fridays.

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Cups and Greek Lemon Potatoes

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date.

Here is my art piece for the 'Cups' theme, an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") using oil paint markers, outlined with a PITT marker on black poster paper cut to size.

 For the dinner date, I made some Greek Lemon Potatoes.  They were delicious. I found it easier to follow the youtube video in the link.

 I used 1 tsp of salt instead of the 2 tsps in the recipe.  Next time I would use less lemon juice too, maybe 1/4c instead of 1/3c.

Here is my recipe:

Oven 390F

6 medium potatoes

1 1/2c low sodium chicken stock

1/2c olive oil

1/4c lemon juice

5 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp salt

Peel and cut the potatoes into wedges.

In a 9 x 13 baking pan place the potatoes and all the ingredients and mix well.  Bake 20 minutes.

Stir all the ingredients, bake another 20 minutes.  Move the potatoes to a flat baking tray and spoon some liquid over them.  Bake 20 minutes.  Turn once, bake another 5 minutes.  

Wednesday Memes

 

Family Get Together

Niagara Falls

Husband M's extended family planned a one night get together in Niagara Falls recently.  Everyone agreed to stay at the same hotel The Hilton DoubleTree in Niagara falls for one night.  It is a lovely hotel.  We all met for dinner at a restaurant, a group of 30.  Some of us walked over to see Niagara Falls, impressive what can I say.  The hotel had a nice pool and hot tub so the younger kids hung out there that night.

It was a lovely short stay.  We had record breaking summery weather that weekend, T-shirts in November, it was unreal!

Fried Green Tomatoes and Onion Rings

green tomatoes

 

Fried Green Tomatoes

Onion Rings

Well I had some green tomatoes so decided to make some fried green tomatoes after being inspired by a Master Chef tv episode on Food Network.  I used this recipe, except I seasoned the tomatoes before breading.  I didn't make a special sauce, but you can dip in a spicy mayo sauce or ketchup I suppose.

There was leftover oil so I decided to make some onion rings as well.  It is made in the same way.

Hot Broccoli Salad

 This is my easy way to prepare broccoli these days.  It seems like a quest to prepare broccoli for me.  It is like my search over the years to prepare the perfect spare ribs haha.

So I bring some salted water to a boil and drop in the cut up broccoli pieces.  I use the trimmed stems too.  Boil for 7-9 minutes until fork tender, however you prefer.  Then I drain the broccoli into a bowl and dress with olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and oregano or whatever fresh herbs you prefer.

The Green Tomatoes

 My friend S gave me these green tomatoes she was forced to pick from her garden due to danger of frost a few weeks ago.  She said they would ripen if I kept them in a sunny spot.  I considered planting tomatoes for myself next year but in our weather it is an annual plant, I prefer planting perennials.  Oregano herbs and tarragon herbs are perennials, not basil.  

Friday Art - Remembrance Day and Friday Art

On Remembrance Day "we don't know them all but we owe them all". Lest we forget.  This is an old Poppy piece I did many years ago.

 

Welcome to Friday Art!  I am showing a piece I did more than a year ago, it is from the 1990 Home Alone movie starring Mccaulay Culkin.

Linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off and Gillena's Art For Fun Fridays.

 

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - In the Woods and Chili

This is my piece for the "In the Woods" theme for Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date. It is an ACEO ( 2 1/2" x 3 1/2") in acrylic pens.

 

 For the Dinner Date, I had a one pound package of ground pork and decided to make chili with it using a pack of seasoning mix.  It went well with some creamed butternut squash I had made and some scented rice.

Wednesday Memes

Moms have eyes in the back of their heads