Paint Party Friday - Monarch Caterpillar Pattern

Welcome to Paint Party Friday! I am showing a monarch caterpillar on a green leaf. It was done on white cardstock (4 1/4" x 5 /12") for an Instagram pattern theme in January for @alexandrasillos #patternedthingsbyalex. This caterpillar has a natural yellow, white and black striped pattern.

I got the idea from a post Busy Bee Suz made the other day.

Rain's Thursday Art Date - Dinner

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art Date's 'Dinner' theme. I went straight to dessert with this piece on lilac cardstock. It is a lemon cake with white icing on a patterned cake stand. It is decorated with lemon shavings on top.

This piece was also shown last month on Instagram for @alexandrasillos #patternedthingsbyalex.

New donuts

Tim Hortons have these new Dream donuts and daughter L wanted us to try them. The flavours are Dulce De Leche, Chocolate Truffle. and Strawberry Confetti. So husband M and I stopped off for a coffee break and picked up a bunch of these new flavours (pictured above).  They were out of Strawberry Confetti at the time.  They are full of sweet filling and double the price of regular donuts. But we had small tastes and saved the rest to share with the others. Daughter L said they had a lot more filling than the ones she had tried at a different Tim Horton's. 

Are you a donut lover?

Cauliflower rice and ham soup

Having a lot of leftover ham, I found this cauliflower and ham soup recipe that was low carb and gave it a try. It is delicious, as pictured above.  Warning the recipe link has a lot of popup ads.  Here is my version:

1 pkg (500g) frozen cauliflower rice  (you could probably cut your own cauliflower florets)
1 pkg (950 ml) low sodium chicken stock
2 c water
cup of sugar snap peas (optional, can substitute with whatever vegetables you have on hand such as bell pepper)
cup celery/celery leaves chopped
handful of fresh basil leaves
1 tbs fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried
3 green onions diced or 1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tbs butter
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp pepper sauce (optional)
3 c diced ham

boil 30-40 mins

Eggplant Melt

Jan at The Low Carb Diabetic posted this low carb eggplant recipe that I couldn't wait to try. It is simple and delicious! Thanks Jan!  It is vegetarian too.  My photos are pictured above.

olive oil
2 eggplants halved lengthwise
2 tomatoes sliced
1 ball of mozzarella sliced into 12 slices
handful of fresh basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste
olive pate or pesto or whatever flavoured sauce you choose


heat oven 350F

Lightly salt and pepper the eggplant halves, drizzle olive oil over top, bake 30 mins.  I notice the eggplant absorbs a lot of oil, be careful.
Add tomato slices, cheese and basil and bake for 10-15 mins more.

I found a jar of olive pate in my fridge so I spread it over top at the end, yummy!  You could spread it at the time of adding the other toppings too.

Fish Pattern

 I did this angel fish for the Patterned Things challenge over at Instagram last month that @alexandrasillos was running #patternedthingsbyalex. The angel fish is predominantly blue and yellow stripes done on lilac cardstock (4 1/4" x 5 1/2") in sharpie oil paint markers.

My February 2020 Calendar Page

Welcome to February!

I am sharing my February 2020 Calendar page with you. It is a painting I did of a hot cuppa in a red mug with steam escaping from the vessel. This is the quote I chose to go with it:

'Winter forms our character and brings out our best' -Tom Allen