My 1st Blue Apron Meal

Hi there everyone. Sorry I have been a little "missing in action" lately. Last Sunday I came down with some stomach virus again. Guess the ulcer was bothering me again. 

Then Monday JP had his 4 teeth removed and was layed up for 2 days convalescing and taking care of his jaw. Which has been black and blue for a couple of days. He is finally eating today, solid foods and yes, he did eat today's meal I made from Blue Apron.

By Wednesday, he was able to take me to the clinic to get my first eye surgery. I was a little nervous to say the least and almost did not follow through with it as I was still dealing with stomach cramps. I finally decided to go through with it and now I am glad I did. I can see out of one eye clearly, the other is blurry. So typing this post is quite the challenge for me, cause I have to lean in to see the screen every now and then.....so far so good. Will be doing eye drops 4 x a day for the next several weeks....I can handle that if it means seeing better.



Thursday was my 1st Blue Apron delivery, which did not show up at my door step till almost 7:00 pm. It was delivered by a neighbor on the next block. The box sat on her porch for an hour.....(she said.) Gosh, I hope that does not happen again. The right address was on the box....but the delivery guy missed delivering it by one block. I shall have to let Blue Apron know.

By the time the box came, I opened it....was not supposed to lift anything, or bend down past the heart.....geez!!! Took everything out of the box and put what needed to go in the refrigerator and what could sit on the counter....that's where it sat.

So this is the first meal I made today. It was actually a lot of fun. I did add another pepper to the recipe. This recipe made quite a bit of rice and beef stuffing. Gosh, it was so very good. The recipe card comes with step by step directions....and I actually did follow the recipe pretty much to the Tee. The only thing that was spoiled was the tomato paste they put in a container. I will tell them about that also. I did have a tube of tomato paste in the fridge.

I learned an interesting thing, when sauteing the onions and garlic to the right consistency and browning the meat....the tomato paste and cumin is added to the onions....I never though to do that before....a must try again. Then mix the meat, rice, currents and pumpkin seeds together. Yes, this is a "must do again" meal.

So then in this picture is what it is supposed to look like.

In these two pictures is what my stuffed Poblano pepper looks like. I should have added a few cilantro leaves to it....but I mixed it all in the lime-crema sauce which really added something special to these peppers. And the peppers....were not as spicy as I thought....maybe I might buy them and make this dish again. JP really liked it and actually had a second helping....guess he is ready to eat solid foods now.

My next meal will be "Summer Soba Salad with Corn and Soy-Mirin Dressing" and the 3rd meal is "Vietnamese Chicken wings with Lemongrass Brown Rice" that should be fun, I will learn how to use a lemongrass for cooking, which I have always wondered about. I am not sure if I mentioned, all the food you need to make these delicious meals comes all packed in a box and ice...so it stays cool most of the day if you have a late delivery, like I did.

I have been wanting to go to the next level in cooking and making different things....this just might help me get there. Here is the Blue Apron Website if you would like to find out more. I may do this just for the summer....just to get some new ideas. There are a few other companies out there. If you are on Facebook and "like" Blue Apron....suddenly you have other companies that do the same. Some charge more though, so you have to be careful.

Thought I would add a picture of my newest hibiscus plant I just bought at Shopko. Hopefully I can nurse this one through the winter also. Need to transplant her before the first frost. (oh uge...did I just say that???)

Well hope you have a nice rest of the Sunday. Once it gets a little bit darker, I shall walk Kylie....too bright for my eye right now. Take care and keep looking up. Cheers ~ Louise

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Hi there everyone....hope you are having a super day. Well, I guess the weather is going to be hot and steamy over the weekend. 90 degrees....uge, I shall either stay in the kitchen where the air conditioner is or go down stairs where the temp is cooler.....yeah, we still have a few places to run to, to keep cool. The back yard is pretty shady too, not going to exert myself too much this weekend, that is for sure.

I have been putting my pressure canner to use quite a bit lately....today I am going to make the corned beef that has been marinating in the frig for 7 days. I bought a small cabbage and some potatoes yesterday....so I am ready to make this dish. Oh and I got the rye bread ready for some sandwiches. Easy, peasy cooking weekend.

I am really loving this appliance and would recommend it to you or anyone else. I say, where have you been all my life????? I called the company yesterday, as there is a rack for canning that I did not get with the canner....geez, you would think that would be something that would be included with the canner, wouldn't you? So now I am looking forward to doing some canning, maybe tomatoes and pickles to start.....we shall see.

So in the top and bottom pictures are the piece of brisket, I have marinating....it's looking pretty good here. Will take a picture of this lovely piece of meat after it is cooked. I did buy a manager's special spoon roast for a meal next week....hopefully it will get tender enough for JP to chew on one side.

Here is the finished product....all cooked up. I put his plate of food on the table...and by the time I got his fruit on the table his plate  was almost gone except for some potatoes. "Was it good JP?" "It's almost gone!" he said.

 

I shall do this again, as I have another hunk of brisket in the freezer. My next experiment will be roast beef sandwiches with onions and peppers and Italian seasonings. I am having fun with this canner, that is for sure.

JP has his appointment on Monday to have 4 teeth pulled....please keep him in your prayers. He will have Monday and Tuesday off from work, so hopefully he will be a fast healer.

I have my first eye surgery on Wednesday, pray for me also. A nurse called today to ask some medical and medicine questions. Would you believe she was actually singing to me on the phone. I said I was a little nervous about the procedure and she said, Oh no need to worry, it's quick and fast and she went through the whole thing, explaining step by step what will happen. Why, she even sang to me about the "Black Bird" "pack up all your cares and woes, here I go singing low...by-by black bird" Not to worry, maybe I could get something from my Doctor to kind of calm me down. Guess that is why I need some prayer....I was nervous about the deep cleaning at the Dentist and that went well....now this, hope it goes as fast as the teeth cleaning went.

Well, time to close, need to take a little nap before the Schwan's man comes. Ribs, fries and guacamole sauce....yummie!! Then next Thursday comes my first box from "Blue Apron." Will be fun to see what they send. Since I signed up with Blue Apron, I have seen other Companies that do this same thing....some do not tell how much it costs....or it's hard to find. Then another company is $10 more....so we shall see....I may do this just for the summer, I need to see if this is cost effective for us. The thought of having your meals come to the house is intriguing....a savings on gas and time shopping.

Well, I was going to close here...guess I will do just that. Have a great day and keep looking up. Cheers ~ Louise

My New Cooking Toy

Hi there everyone, how are you doing this fine night??? Hope you all escaped the bad weather they were talking about tonight. The people north of us had wind damage and a few tornado's were sighted and touched down. I guess tonight the temperature will get down in the 40's and in the 60's tomorrow. Pretty cool...huh!!

Well, last week I bought this new appliance at Shopko. It's the Power Pressure Canner XL. Here is the sight. I am really liking it a lot. Tonight I did a roast with onions, garlic, cabbage, potatoes and carrots with onion soup. I picked up a pressure canner cookbook at the library today. Saw so many recipes I would like to try. 

You can saute your vegies and meat in oil in the pot...then add extra water for the pressure cooking. After the meal I made tonight went through the pressure cooker.....I turned it down to do slow cooking till JP gets home from work. Looking forward to tasting the end product. It's nice to know....dinner is all cooked for JP, just have to dish up the meat and vegies and his fruit and dinner is served!!!

Friday night we took JP to the ER. His right cheek was all swelled up and he looked like a chipmunk. He has a couple of bad teeth....the swelling was not going down. Turns out he has an abscess. They gave him penicillin and Tylenol with codeine. By Sunday night the swelling was gone. I called the dentist this morning and we got him in.

So tomorrow, JP has an appointment at 11am and they will do x-rays and probe around and see what else needs to be done. My appointment is at 12pm and I will be getting the 2nd deep cleaning on the left side of my mouth....yeah, "Happy Gas" here we come!!! So, we will be busy for a few hours tomorrow.

Also on the agenda for me this month is cataract surgery on my right eye with 1 pre-op and 2 post-op visits. Then August 5th the right eye will be done with the pre-op and post-op visits. For me....work on my teeth will have to be put on the back burner for a few months till JP's teeth get taken care of.

Well time to close here for awhile, keep looking up!!
Cheers ~ Louise

What I See ~ Looking Out My Kitchen Window

Hi there everyone, how is your day going??? I was reading Diana's blog this morning. She mentioned what she sees looking out her kitchen door. Here's her blog. I commented on her blog that this is what I see out my kitchen window......lovely isn't it??? I wish I saw what she did. 

I try to keep my back yard nice, but when you have neighbors that don't seem to care what their yard looks like.....it sure does make for bad feelings. They have condensed and reorganized a few things.....BUT it still is a mess.

They did put up this new fence a couple of weeks ago, but have not finished the process as yet. The flowers hanging from the shepherds hook is on our side of the fence. I have had a few comments from people visiting me in my backyard...."Can't you call the city to complain?" I guess I could, but I don't want to start problems....I just live with it. Guess that is why I suffer from an ulcer.

In this picture, you can see part of my back yard from the kitchen window. This is what I look at when doing dishes..........I dream daily of a 10 foot fence that hides all their stuff!!!!

Another few from inside.......would you like to do dishes here? It used to be nice scenery when the other people lived there....least they kept things looking nice with flowers and mowed grass.

This is a view of my backyard from the other kitchen window. If there was a way of moving the kitchen sink to this window......I would do it. BUT that probably would cost 5k if not more, who has that kind of money....no, not me. See the fan blades and post sitting on the table.....that is the start of my dragon fly that I want to make.

Here is a closer view of my back yard......yeah, daily I look out the window, just brings peace and quiet to my busy and noisy life. Can you see the 3 tires back in the far right??? That is where "Frieda the Frog" will sit and the Bird Feeders have a tire around them....I want to spray paint that too. Just a few projects going on here.

I have not been feeling all that well the last couple of days....but today, I finally am...guess getting older you have your good days and not so good days. I have another appointment on the 7th with the Dentist for a 2nd Deep Cleaning on the left side of my mouth. Hopefully this one will go smoothly as did the first deep cleaning the end of May. Then they will start on my 6 cavities. I am thinking I will wait till September for that...too much going on these next few months.

Also going on this month....I will be having cataract eye surgery on the 22nd on the right eye, then on August 5th, the left eye. Then there is the Pre-op appointments and Post-op appointments...yes I will be busy this month with all that. Not to mention, JP will be needing to go to the Dentist also....he has a bad tooth and the left side of his face is swelled up. I said, "you need to go to the Dentist." Do you think he will go???? Nope, he says the swelling is going down. Okay....have it your way.

Well....I guess that is enough of my complaints for one day. You all have a wonderful rest of the day and have fun on the 4th of July!!!!
Keep looking up!!! Cheers ~ Louise

A Garden Walk On Saturday

Hi there everyone. Hope you had a wonderful weekend. I did....yes I did. Except for the mosquitoes, the days were perfect, as I sit here typing and scratching those little bites. Was just sitting on the front porch for 10 minutes and they found me!!!!! UGE!!!! I found that spraying some "Salonpas" which relieves pain also works to relieve the itch of the skeeter bites, I will try anything at least once if it helps a bit.

Well, yesterday we went on a "garden walk" of 5 gardens sponsored by the Master Gardeners of Appleton. We went to 3 of the gardens. One garden I did not take pictures. But the last two gardens were absolutely beautiful as you will see....so many great ideas.

In this  picture, I liked the way the plants were planted in old crocks and the cute little water fountain in the front is always such an eye catcher to me. Love the sound of water running.

This is the back of the house and another water fountain....I like that door as a decoration and the ladder to the left has a climbing Clementius....good idea.

Here is another crock with some Hydrangeas growing in it......very pretty. I do have a large crock....but I am not sure I want to use it as a planter as yet.

A garden is not complete without a few homemade signs. "When Heaven falls to Earth - It becomes' a garden" (Not exactly sure what that word is after the saying)

In this picture, is the second garden walk. Look at that beautiful garden, lots of vegies and flowers mixed together. I love all the little walk ways, stones, boards and what all this gardener found to make her garden attractive.

This picture shows her creativeness in using different things to catch the eye, plus the usefulness...this old pot belly stove became a hoe, rake and shovel holder in the middle of her garden.....good idea.

Now this was the center of attraction for me.....her workshop, with all her garden utensils.....gosh, I sure would love a little shop like this for all my stamping stuff. And look at all that work space. There was an upstairs also....it looked like her "get away place to hide."

This is the sign hanging in her shop. "I live in the garden I just sleep in the house"

This sweet little girl's sign says, "God laughs in the Flowers"

And the last sign says,"May all  your weeds be wildflowers"

After going on this walk....now I have lots of projects I would like to do, to add a little sparkle to my garden. I still have my "Freida the Frog" made out of tires to make, a dragon fly, made out of fan blades. I want to paint the old bike downstairs pink or white, paint my daisies on the garden shed and put shutters up.....yeah, so much to do yet. By the time I get everything done....Fall might be here. Well, I hope you liked this little tour of 2 gardens....I still have a few more pictures, so I shall show you them in Part 2 coming in a few days.

Tomorrow I have and eye appointment at 11am. The Doctor is going to talk to me about my options with cataract surgery and probably check my eyes again....I need to ask him just exactly what am I seeing when I have cataracts, I know I am seeing lots of floaters which really irritates me. Sometimes I feel like a bug is flying by and I want to swat it.

Well, you have a great day and keep looking up. Cheers ~ Louise

A New Year on the Horizon

Hi there everyone....2015.....does that not sound ominous??? Well, it is almost upon us.....one more day to go. I hope the New Year brings you many blessings and you see God at work in your life almost daily. I hope 2015 will be prosperous for you, spiritually, financially and health wise.

So far, 2015 for JP and I; there will be two operations pending for us. I went to the Eye Doctor today. It seems I have the beginnings of cataracts and the eye surgeon wants to take care of it before it gets worse. So in June, we are looking at eye surgery. One good thing is that he sees no sign of diabetes in my eyes....so that is a good thing.

The eye surgeon described the operation, it will only take 8 minutes for each eye. Usually after this kind of surgery people do not have to wear glasses any more. BUT because I have a stigmatizem in both eyes there will be an added cost to the operation that Medicare does not cover. Each eye would then cost 1K for each eye and that comes out of our pocket, it is considered a luxury. I told him right away we did not have the money for that part of the operation. So, that settles that. I will just have the cataracts taken care of and possibly still wear glasses.

JP on the other hand still has to decide if he wants the prostrate surgery. The Doctor gave us some time to think about it. So that is still up in the air. On the down side....he will be off work for a month....so our financial situation will take another hit.

So is that not good news??? You bet!!! I am thinking this New Year is going to be a challenge for all of us in more ways then one....so keep looking up and look to Jesus!!!! See you tomorrow, if I can think of something to blog about. Cheers ~ Louise