Summer Beetroot

Red, gold and pink beets

Steam Roasted

peeled beets

Salad with beets

My friend S brought me some fresh summer beets from her sister's farm the other day. She recommended that I steam roast them, so I found a good recipe on the internet.  Here it is with a few of my alterations:

4 lbs red beets, scrubbed, halved if large
2 tbs olive oil
salt pepper
1 tsp dried thyme, 1 tsb dried basil, 2 bay leaves
1/2 c water
2 tbs red wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°.

Toss beets with oil in a 13x9” baking dish; season with salt and pepper. Add whatever herb you're using and water, red wine vinegar. Cover pan tightly with foil (you want steam to build up in there) and roast beets until a paring knife slips easily through flesh, 60–75 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool in covered pan, which will help loosen the skins. The skins will peel off easily.

Be careful peeling the foil back, as the steam burned my fingers!  I noticed these beets were red, gold and pink ones.  They were so moist and fresh tasting.  I used some in a fresh green salad with peppers carrots and cucumbers.  

Corned beef and cabbage boil

I bought a package of pickled corned beef on sale and after googling some videos I realized it was really easy to boil the 1.5 pounds of meat for a couple of hours in water and adding potatoes, carrots and cabbage wedges for an extra half an hour.  Be sure to slice the now tender meat against the grain.

It was delicious and quite good for diabetics such as my husband to eat.  The saltiness of the corned beef goes so well with cabbage and is a simple and classic combination.

Wildflowers

local wildflowers

It is the time of year when we start noticing road kill My friend S noticed a dead Canada goose on the sidewalk the other day, she could barely look at it, just brought it to my attention. It is sad.

In other news husband M trapped his first chipmunk, I will spare you the photos. He drove it about 5 miles away, hopefully that is far enough.  He put sunflower seeds, peanuts in shell and peanut butter in the trap.  The creature ate everything, it shelled the nuts and sunflower seeds.  They love peanut butter, in fact, M thinks just peanut butter is enough of a lure.  

Paint Party Friday - Eyes Only

Welcome to Paint Party Friday!

This piece (4 1/2" x 6 1/2") on brown cardstock in acrylic, permanent markers and PITT white pen is called 'Eyes Only'. Here is a nice quote I found to go with this:

"The eye is the jewel of the body." - Henry David Thoreau.

Meaningful and Interesting

tree and sky

My brother is a man of few words. The other day one of my sisters texted us a story that she thought was meaningful and interesting. My brother's reply was "tl;dr". Being unable to guess what this meant, I found the answer on Google. It means 'too long, didn't read'. Well, I learned something that day, haha.

What do you think

I met my friend S for a walk on the weekend and she was telling me that her brother's dog seemed to have been run over by a car, maybe twice. His paw was injured and he was in a lot of pain. A neighbour knocked on his door to ask if it was his dog. They took the pet to emergency and were told it would cost $1,000 per day to keep the animal for treatment. So now the bills have mounted to $30,000! S wanted my honest opinion and we both agreed the dog should have been put down, regardless of how attached the family is to the dog. I can see under $5,000 dollars being spent, and of course the option is to get a new dog. Her brother is not wealthy, he has a family to support, this is not the best use of one's savings I would think.  Most people don't have pet insurance as it is expensive and never seems to cover the particular ailment as I understand.

A good checkup

neighbourhood greenery

I had my annual physical with my family doctor last week. He always says it is time for my next colonoscopy so this time I agreed to get it done. I was happy that he referred me to the specialist who gave me this mild laxative needed to clear the bowels the last time, some 7 years ago.

We have a lot of walk in centres these days where you can go for medical attention, instead of going to your regular doctor. My doctor says they waste the government's money and that he would prefer me to just come see him or go to emergency if necessary.  Husband M doesn't agree, he says it takes ages to get an appointment with his doctor.  The walk in centres are so convenient with often minimal waiting times.  Of course if it is something serious it is better to go to your own doctor.

The good news is that my new blood pressure medicine seems to be working, in fact the doctor says it is a better medicine than my old one, so I was happy to hear that.  The old one was recalled recently.