Garden 2014- Week 1

This past Friday just 5 days after I planted my seedlings, I am excited to say I have sprouts!

Can you spot all the sprouts?

Marigold sprouts

Peas and Sunflowers

Some more marigolds

And poppies

My little Chinese Forget-Me-Nots are still growing too.  :)

Cornish Game Hen

I made my first cornish game hen for dinner tonight and it was delicious.  I only bought one to cook to see if we'd like it.  And we did.  :)

I cooked the hen in my pampered chef baker in the microwave for 15 minutes.  Once it was done, I then let it rest for about 5 minutes in the microwave.

I put some olive oil, parsley flakes, red pepper flakes, and pepper on the hen and put the lid on the baker and cooked it.  

I served the hen with some roasted red potatoes and some cranberry sauce.  YUM!

Roasted red potatoes:

red potatoes (cut into small pieces)  

olive oil

parsley flakes

sea salt

black pepper

minced garlic

red pepper flakes

preheat oven to 400 degrees

Boil potatoes in water on stove for about 7 minutes.  In a bowl whisk together the other ingredients.  (eye ball it)  Once potatoes are done you can drain them and then put them in bowl with olive oil mixture.  Mix until all potatoes are evenly coated.  Then add to a foil lined baking sheet.  Put in oven and roast them for about 20 to 30 minutes.  They will be toasted when they are done.  Serve hot!

The flavors were all great together.  There really isn't much meat on these hens so next time I make it I know to make one per person.  haha  Delicious homemade dinner!

Seed Planting 2014

While at the store yesterday, I saw Miracle Grow potting mix for seed starting.  I grabbed a bag at $4.99 so I could start my seeds inside today.  Remember the deals I got at the dollar tree store?

Here's the seed starting mix.

Beautiful soil.....

And so the seed planting begins....

Here's some peas.  How cute are they?  This will be my first year at growing peas.

seedling packets.....

Some Poppy flower seeds....

I have a bunch of seeds left over.  There's so many seeds in those little packets.  I'm giving seeds away to family and friends who want to grow them.  If you'd like some seeds just leave a comment with what seeds you would like and I can mail you some.  But........Just as long as your grow them.  I wouldn't want them going to waste.  There's lots to choose from.  Just let me know.  :)

Here's the seeds all tucked in, in their pots in the sunny window.

I made the labels with plain white paper, tape, sharpie and a toothpick.  I had it all here so it was all free.

More pictures of the little pots...

I can't wait to see sprouts in about a week!  :)

Chinese Forget-Me-Nots

The other day, I mentioned I had sprouts on my Chinese Forget-Me-Nots! 

Here's the sprouts continuing to grow.   :)

Happy plants= Happy Bonnie  :)

Quiche with farm fresh eggs

I had some jumbo farm fresh eggs I wanted to use this morning.  I decided to make a simple quiche.

Here's the eggs.

I used:

6 jumbo eggs

pie crust (1 shell)

1 cooking onion (chopped)

1 red bell pepper (chopped)

bacon bits

turkey sausage links (cut into pieces)

shredded cheese

black pepper

salt

nutmeg

red pepper flakes

parsley flakes

*preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a bowl crack and mix 6 jumbo eggs.  Add in some cut onion, and peppers.  Add sausage and bacon bits.  Also mix in some cheese and your spices.  Once combined add to a pie shell.  Bake on 350 for about 45 minutes to an hour.  When it's not jiggly anymore then your quiche is done.  Check it with a cake tester.

I had a very small piece to use as some of my protein for today.

I saved my eggshells.  I rinsed them out and I'm letting them dry.  I will crush them up and put them in my soil for my plants so they can use the shells for calcium.

Port Wine Sauce

4 years ago, we took a Carnival cruise with our best friends to celebrate our upcoming 10 year Wedding Anniversary!  Just about every night for dinner I had a steak that had a delicious port wine sauce.  I got to thinking the other day that I wanted to recreate it for dinner.  And I did just that tonight as an early Valentine's Dinner for Nate and me.  :)

I have never cooked anything with wine before.  I don't even drink wine or drink any alcohol for the matter.  I asked on facebook for some suggestions last week.  I got a few answers on how to make the sauce which wasn't my question.  LOL  A friend said to get something cheap so I kept that in mind.  While at Wegmans last weekend I looked at the port wine section.  The $6 bottle looked good to me so that's what I put in the cart.  It's by Sheffield Cellars: Tawny Port of California.

Nate opened the bottle for me and it smelled good.  He tasted it and said it was really good.  I made this port sauce with my port.  I tasted it when it was almost done and it tasted pretty good.

I made flat iron steak, bacon asparagus and roasted red potatoes.  It was all delicioous!  :)

The steak and port wine sauce tasted very similar to the one I had on the Carnival cruise ship.  Next time, I want to thicken the port sauce up some more so it's not as runny.  Nate enjoyed it a lot.  Perfect dinner for a snow day.  :)

Snow Day 2014

Well whenever a snow storm approaches from the south we know it's most likely going to be a big one.  We got about 10 inches total.  Today, was my first snow day in almost over 11 years.  I work in Radio and there is no snow days.  I didn't feel I could get to work safely today so I got to have a snow day.  Nate got his first snow day in 4 years.  It was nice to stay home and not have to go out in the snow.  At least for me anyway.  haha

Luckily, we have a snow blower.

Nate brought it in last night so he wouldn't have to go to the shed to dig it out.

Here's Harley this morning sitting next to it.  :)

This is the back deck.  Everything is covered in snow.

Nate was out for hours this morning cleaning off ours cars, clearing sidewalks, and driveways.  Not only ours but our neighbors as well.  :)

While Nate was outside, I would look out the window and check on the progress.  Here's Harley sitting on some towels.  I like to leave old towels in the foyer for wet snowy clothes/boots etc.

Here's Nate across the street at the neighbors house with the snow blower.

It's still snowing as I blog.  And of course things are getting covered again.  We're only expected to get a few more inches.  Hopefully, nothing to serious.  Now if I could only have another snow day tomorrow.  :)

Sprouts

I was in the kitchen earlier today getting ready to water my little pot.  I talked about it here.

I noticed something green in the middle and then realized I had sprouts!!!!

Soon these sprouts will grow into little forget-me-not flowers.

A close-up!

Here's the little pot in the kitchen window.  It's sitting next to a white onion that has gone crazy.  My sister gave it to me last week.  The onion is completely dried out.  I peeled some of the dry skin off the outside.  I'm thinking about planting it to see what it does.  Of course, the green shoots can be cut too and used.  They are chives or what some people call green onions.  :)

Garden Planning 2014

I went to the Dollar Tree a few days ago to just kill some time.  I wasn't planning on buying anything until I stumbled upon SEED PACKETS!!!!!

I couldn't believe seeds were already out.  I immediately got a shopping basket and then started grabbing seed packets that I knew I wanted.  There was also other cute gardening things that I checked out.

Here's one of the seed displays.  The seeds are 4 for $1.00.  (25 cents each)  

Last year, I heard about people getting seeds from the dollar store but I was too late last year.  I'm so glad I came across these this year.

Besides 12 seed packets, I also got some pots, tiny terracotta pots, gardening gloves and trays.

Here's my gardening gloves.  You can never have too many cute gloves especially since they get really dirty. 

My idea for the little terracotta pots is to use them to start my seedlings.  I will place them in the trays.  The trays will collect any water from the drainage of the pots.

Here's my veggie seeds.  I got cucumbers, peppers, peas, squash, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes.

Here's the flower seed packets.  I got Marigolds, zinnias, poppies and sunflowers.

I'm so excited about my garden.  I can't wait to start the seedlings in a few weeks.  I'm gonna start them inside in my bright sunny window.  :)  I'm hoping to get a greenhouse this year to put the plants in after they mature and start to fruit.  We'll see.

Hollywood Costume Exhibit

My sister, her baby and I went to the VMFA for the Hollywood Costume Exhibit.

It was awesome.  We saw so many outfits from several movies.  Titanic, Marie Antoinette, Brokeback Mountain, Kill Bill, Adams Family, Twilight, Harry Potter, Fight Club, Dream Girls, Indiana Jones, Seven Year Itch, 101 Dalmations, Wizard of Oz, Blues Brothers, Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Die hard, Rocky, James Bond.....the list really can go on and on.

It was awesome.  You couldn't take pictures which stinks.

But I did manage to sneak in a quick shot of one piece.  :)

Afterwards, we went to dinner at Outback.  We had a delicious steak with a few bloomin onions, bread and house salads.  Yum!  It was a fun evening!

Fun times with Elliebelly

The other day I went down and spent time time watching my niece Ellie.

She was so well behaved.  We pretty much sat on the floor and played with toys.  And I fed her some food and of course changed some dirty diapers.  :)

Here's E playing on her little piano.  She's such a cutie!

Here we are together.  She was hugging me.  :)

She was watching my every move.  She is such a happy little girl.

I just love everything about her!  :)

Peppered Steak

I made peppered steak for dinner the other night and it was so delicious.  So tasty and flavorful!

You will need:

Steak strips (the ones I got were for stir fry)  (you could use chicken instead of beef)

2 red bell peppers (sliced long ways)

1 yellow bell pepper (sliced long ways)

1 orange bell pepper (sliced long ways)

1 large white onion (sliced long ways)

reduced sodium soy sauce

worcestershire sauce (w sauce is what I call it)

water

ground ginger

black pepper

salt

red pepper flakes

minced garlic

olive oil

First cut up your raw steak strips into bit size pieces.  Then put some olive oil and minced garlic in your wok or big cooking pan.  Once pan is hot, add your raw steak.  Add a little bit of pepper, soy sauce and w sauce.  Cook up until browned.  While meat is browning slice up your peppers and onion.  Once meat is cooked add your onions and cook for about 2 minutes together.  Then add your peppers and cook up together.  Add in some more soy sauce and w sauce and some water.  Also add pepper, ginger, red pepper flakes and a tiny bit of salt.  Let cook up for about 10 minutes and be sure to stir it up.  If anything starts sticking just add some more water.  I used to put corn starch while making this to thicken the sauce but it really doesn't need it.  Eat by itself or enjoy on top of some rice. 

Farmers Market

Last weekend, I stopped off at my local Farmers Market and picked up some Jumbo Farm Fresh eggs for $4.50 a dozen.  These eggs are so jumbo.  :)

Love farm fresh eggs.  :)

I can't wait until Spring when all the markets have fresh veggies and fruits again.  :)

Losing Weight

At the end of last year I got an endorsement through my work to lose weight with Medifast Weight Control Centers.  I said sure and so far I'm doing great.  It's been 6 weeks now.

I check in once a week for my weigh-ins and to talk to my counselor.  I also pick up my food for the week.

I'm lucky to have a job where I can be endorsed to use the product and get paid to talk about my results.

With Medifast you eat 5 meals per day and then 1 lean protein and veggie meal.

Some of my favorite Medifast meals are ready made shakes, brownie bake, bars and berry crunch cereal.

I'm down 18 pounds in 6 weeks!!!!  I am actually looking forward to my next weigh-in because I want to down 20 pounds.  :)

Handmade Table Runner

My Mother surprised me with a hand sewn table runner that she made especially for me.

How sweet?

It will look nice on my dining room table in the spring.  :)