Garlic ~ Garlic ~ Garlic

Hi there everyone.....guess I have been "missing in action" again. I have noticed that a lot of blog friends have also taken time off from their blogs....guess we are all busy with life.

I have been doing pretty much the same thing every day. Cooking, dishes, making cards, computer stuff, working on income tax, staying warm, walking Kylie, shopping, Doctor appointments, etc. Oh, then there is sleeping and day dreaming about spring....yeah, I will be glad when this snow is gone. I have been feeling much better compared to last year this time....not suffering from hernia problems, looking back, I can see that all my sickness was related to the hernia.

In the following pictures are some "cooking techniques" I learned. How I have always struggled with garlic....peeling, breaking a part and peeling again. Well, my world has changed. Take a whole garlic clove and place it in a container or jar and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE!!!!! I forget where I learned this, might have been on Facebook.

And wa-la......your cloves have broken up and broken apart from each other, so much so, that the paper thin skins actually come off. This a picture of the cloves at the bottom of the container.

In this picture below, you can see how the clove broke apart....so ingenious, don't know why I never thought of this. Blue Apron always sends a whole clove of garlic in their boxes, even if the recipe calls for 3-6 cloves, you get one whole clove. So needless to say, I have lots of garlic in the refrigerator. AND I use lots of garlic in my meals. Also, added to my cooking utensils, is a new garlic press that minces and slices....paid $20 for it, but it sure works beautifully and will probably last the rest of my life..

In this picture is one of my Blue Apron recipes this past week. This was so yummy. "White Pizza with Baked Eggs and Arugula-Brussels Sprout Salad." The white sauce is 1/2 cup ricotta cheese, lemon zest, and the juice of 2 lemon wedges, a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper mixed together and spread on the pizza. The pizza was then topped with onions, sliced garlic and mozzarella. Bake the pizza for 10 minutes then add the eggs, bake till the eggs are done the pull out the pizza and add your salad and Brussel sprouts that were drizzled with lemon wedges, oil and salt and pepper. Yep, this was a 5 star pizza.

In this picture was our Sunday Dinner. "Roast Pork with Sauteed Spinach and Olive Smashed Potatoes." The pork was salt and peppered and browned on all sides then put in the oven for 20 minutes. The temp inside must be 145 degrees to be done. Potatoes were cooked then mashed, olives, sour cream and half the garlic chives and juice of 2 lemon wedges were added. The spinach was cooked in the pan that the pork was cooked in till wilted and the lemon zest added. Yep, another 5 star meal.

The third meal was "Chicken Meatballs and Creamy Polenta with Tomato Sugo & Lacinato Kale." Love the polenta which is just "corn meal" added to boiling water, add some butter, salt and pepper to taste. I have at times added minced garlic and Parmesan cheese for an extra touch. The meat balls were made with breadcrumbs, spice, half the Parmesan cheese and garlic. Mix together then fried till brown. The kale and rest of the garlic was added and cooked down. Tomatoes added and salt and pepper added. (I do watch the salt and pepper and do not add as much as the recipe calls for), So the meatballs, kale and tomatoes are added on top of the polenta and topped with Parmesan cheese. Yep, another 5 star recipe.

I have been busy making cards....in my next post, I will put some cards up that I have been working on. My Hospice meeting is this Friday, so I have been busy making Valentine and St. Patrick cards along with Birthday, Thank You and Thinking of you cards.

I found a few cute stamps at Michael's...a flamingo and a pineapple.....so yeah, I will take pictures of those cards for sure, they turned out really cute.

Well, I guess I will close here for now, I need to get downstairs and make a few more cards to finish up the Hospice cards for Friday's meeting.

Have a great day and keep looking up...Cheers ~ Louise

Grilled Zucchini

Hi there everyone. Hope you had a wonderful day, it sure was a beautiful day. I got a few more plants for my back yard.....cucumber plant, zucchini plant, a tomato plant and geranium plant. And WALAH!!! I got them all planted tonight.

Yesterday, after church, I did some grilling. Hamburger, potatoes and grilled zucchinis. Oh gosh, they were so yummy, I made another helping and grilled them while we were eating.

So here is what I did:
2 zucchinis sliced in half, then cut in 1/4 inches.
2 tablespoon olive oil poured over zucchini
Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste
Seasoning of your choice. I used a rosemary and garlic seasoning.

Set on grill and cook, turn and cook till browned on all sides.

I could not stop eating these as they cooked on the grill, I guess that is why I had to make a second batch.

I think I will get a larger grill basket at Shopko. This basket is small....a larger one would be good for adding maybe carrots, peppers and onions, broccoli, mushrooms, yum! Roasted vegies on the grill!

Time to close here....can you believe it is JUNE 1st???? My how time does fly!!! Have a great evening and keep looking up!
Cheers ~ Louise

A New Month and a Garden Harvest

Hi everyone, how are you all doing this first day of the month??? Wonder how fast this month will go by??? Hard to believe the summer is almost over except for a few more warm days ahead of us and then WINTER is just around the corner.....YIKES!!!!

Well, I thought I would post some vegies from my garden.  I made a tomato garden this year....so in the above picture you see some of my tomatoes. My but they were yummy this year.  BLT's  were absolutely divine!! My cucumbers are doing good this year as I planted the young plants in an old wheel barrel. I have tried planting in other areas but they just did not seem to grow.....the wheel barrel must have had perfect growing conditions this year.

I have onions growing all over the place....but none of the onions seem to get really big....more like small marbles...oh well, guess I will just buy them at the store. The rhubarb did not do good this year, no harvest. Had strawberries growing in the front of the house.....they did well, lots of sun and rain for those berries. Not a good year for beans....planted in two different places....they did not take off...oh well. My oregano and garlic are doing well. Peppers are growing along with the tomatoes. Oh and how did I forget....I planted potatoes in a container....they are still sprouting, so have not received a harvest as yet...that's if the squirrel does not get to them before I do......DARN that squirrel!!!!

We've been given lots of vegies though...tomatoes, peppers, jalapeno peppers, egg plant, cucumbers, cabbage have been bountiful, with more to come, I hope.

In this picture is my green apples..........I am so happy that these babies made it. As of this writing I have 11 containers of cooked up apples in the freezer. Each container will make one apple pie. Oh yum!!

Our Labor Day will consist of JP going out to the tree and getting some more apples off the tree. He is taller then I...so hopefully he'll get higher then I could. I think they are ready now, cause the apples that I cut open today....the seeds were black or almost turning. So I will cut some more apples up tomorrow, cook them and freeze some and make a pie for Labor day. We have company coming from Chicago....so guess what....they are getting some apple pie. Why buy dessert when I can make a pretty good pie here with some whipped cream...........oh my, I can hardly wait!!!!

Well, time to close, it is getting late and I need to get some sleep. Going to be a quiet day around here, we'll get some things done around the house before company comes next weekend. Have a great Labor Day and don't' labor too much......lol!!! Keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh!!!
Cheers ~ Louise

"Friday Funday" ~~~ Mushrooms Anyone????

Now this is a really good recipe, if you are a mushroom lover. I found this recipe on one of the other blogs I follow and read, she has some wonderful recipes, but this one is my #1 favorite. The above picture was taken after everything was mixed together and ready to put in the oven.

This picture shows the end result.......yummy is all I can say. I ate half the casserole, sure hope the calorie content was not too high!!!! Well, maybe the mushrooms were not the problem, but the seasoned bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Will have to check the next time I make this little side dish. Here is the recipe:

1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced (I used the Baby Bellas, but I am sure white mushrooms are fine)

2 tablespoons chopped parsley (I used fresh Italian parsley)

2 teaspoons minced garlic (I used the garlic in a jar)

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/2 cup grated parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup extra virgin oil

2 tablespoons white wine

In a baking dish toss mushrooms and parsley and garlic. Add 1/4 cup bread crumbs and 1/4 cheese and toss. Drizzle wine and oil and toss together then add remaining bread crumbs and cheese on top. Bake 350 for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!!!

There you have it, a wonderful side dish of mushrooms. This will be my favorite for many years to come. Here is where I got this wonderful recipe, http://smokymountaincafe.blogspot/2011/09/mushrooms-parmesan.html

Cheers ~ Louise