Wednesday Memes

 

Some free samples

 Some free samples arrived in my mailbox the other day.  (Sorry, I photographed the French language  side of the coupon). It was some candy, and a coupon for a free ($5.49) package of gnocchi sticks. Here is what it looked like cooked.  You just have to saute it for 5-6 minutes in a bit of olive oil. It doesn't look like a lot of gnocchi does it?   It tasted fine.

My elevated pasta sauce

 I thought I would share how I elevated my favourite supermarket pasta sauce the other day.  I always brown the ground beef in olive oil, add the pasta sauce and simmer covered for about 20 minutes.  This time, I stirred in a cup of pasta water, fresh sprigs of oregano, a handful of grated parmesan cheese, a squeeze of lemon juice in the last 5 minutes of cooking.  I believe it made a difference!

I have been making a lot of pasta sauces from scratch this year, and I must have picked up some tips in the process.  It is always great to learn new things.

Sunday Smiles - Green Tomato Salad

 My friend S had given me some green tomatoes from her garden, they didn't seem to be ripening so I decided to make a green tomato salad thinking it would be healthier than fried green tomatoes.  It is great, and if you don't want to eat too many tomatoes, you can add a few pieces to your regular salad.

I used chopped fresh mint, dried parsley, lemon juice, salt, pepper, sugar, onion powder, garlic powder and  olive oil in my dressing.  It is always to taste.

Linking to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

A new eyebrow pencil

 My sister who lives in Miami left her eyebrow pencil behind when she stayed here last month.  My daughter told me the brush end is for combing your eyebrows as you blend the pencil in, ok!  I can either return or keep it, my sister has others.  I don't wear makeup often.

Friday Art - Great Blue Heron

 Welcome to Friday Art!  I believe this is a great blue heron, I saw a photo in a Canadian Wildlife magazine, but it didn't identify the bird.

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

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Landscape Theme and Italian Style Swiss Chard

 Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date!  This is my Landscape ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") for our theme this week.

For the Dinner Date, I am sharing my Italian style swiss chard recipe with you.  I have made it twice now and love it!

4 cloves garlic minced

1/2c lemon juice

bunch of rainbow chard ( stems cut into 1/2" pieces, leaves cut into 1 1/2" pieces)

1/4 c wine (I use port wine as I usually have that on hand)

2 tbs olive oil

1 tbs unsalted butter

sprigs of basil chopped

1 tsp dried parsley

1/2 onion chopped

1 tomato chopped

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp salt

1/2c grated parmesan (I use grano padano)

1/4 c water

Saute onion, garlic, salt, basil, parsley, red pepper in olive oil and butter.

Add tomatoes.

Add wine, simmer 3 minutes

add chard stems, saute for 10 minutes until tender

add leaves, lemon juice, parmesan and water.  Saute for 10 more minutes until leaves are wilted.

Enjoy!