Friday Art - Rose and Doggie

 Welcome to my Friday Art.  I did a rose for you today, an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2"). Linking to Gillena's Art For Fun Fridays.

 And here is a seasonal face for Nicole's Friday Face Off.  It is an older piece.

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - A Christmas Scene and a Kale Salad

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date.

 The art theme is 'A Christmas Scene'. Here is my ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2").

 For the Dinner date, I am sharing my kale salad.

 Back in the summer my friend S had dropped off some fresh kale from her sister's farm along with some of S's garden tomatoes.  I chopped the kale leaves into small bits along with celery, carrots, red pepper and the cherry tomatoes.  I made a dressing of olive oil, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano leaves, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and lemon juice.  It was so refreshing and good.

Wednesday Memes

 

Canned pumpkin soup

 I had half a 15 oz can of pumpkin leftover from a recipe I was making.  I decided to make a soup with the rest of the can.  

I sauteed a chopped onion, 2 cloves of minced garlic, added a chopped overripe tomato, a teaspoon of salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, 1 tsp of sugar, a teaspoon of dried thyme.  Then I added a can of condensed chicken stock, 3 cups of water, the pumpkin.  I boiled for 40 minutes until the flavours melded together and created a delicious soup!

Chick Pea Pasta

 I found this chickpea pasta at Costco, they were doing a sample tasting and it tasted good.  So I tried it at home with some meat pasta to accompany it.  I prepared it as you would regular pasta.  The instructions said to boil for 8-9 minutes, but 20 minutes made it more tender to my taste.  It is good for diabetics.  Chick peas can be eaten in moderation, not freely like a lettuce salad.

White Amarillis

 My friend brought me this white amarillis as a gift last week.  I will look forward to the blooms!  

I gave her an art calendar with my art that I had printed up for her.  She noticed it had US holidays on it as I use Shutterfly, a US company.  I had never noticed after years of printing up my own.  It is easily edited, so I should be more observant next time!

The perfect baked salmon

 I discovered the perfect way to bake salmon and indeed other fish is not to overcook it.  Sort of like making the perfect steak.  This large fillet was done at 375F for 15 minutes until it is just cooked through.

I first marinate the fillet with olive oil, salt, pepper, dried tarragon, onion powder, garlic powder and vinegar.