Stay-Cation July 2014

I took off from work this past week and did just about nothing.  Some days I ran some errands and others I actually got some stuff done around the house.

One day I went to Petsmart to pick up cat litter.  I had $5 in coupons to use on the litter making the huge bag $9.  WOO-HOO!  I checked out the fish while I was there.  It was just something to do.

I drove past a farm that had hay bales and decided to pull in and take some pictures.

I love the hay bales rolled up. 

My dad always calls them tootsie rolls and we always laugh at him and tell him they are more like cinnamon rolls.  Sometimes they are covered in white plastic and that's like the icing on the rolls.  haha

One day while out I stopped off at Alum Springs Park.  My mom took my siblings and me here a lot when we were little.  It pretty much looks the same except the trees are much bigger.

A bench.

Big trees

Trail to bridge.

Here's the bridge.  For some reason I remember this being slightly different and scary.

If you look close you can see some fish.  There were several swimming in this section.

Rocks

The best part about this place is that you actually drive your car through the water.  :)

I walked through the water and walked around down the stream.

Here's me standing in the middle of the stream.

Some trickling water.

Me coming back across the water....stepping in it.  Felt good because it was hot and the water was cool.

I stopped at a farm and took pictures of a corn field.  No, there's no kids hiding in there.

Up close corn on the cob.

Corn....see no kids hiding in there.

I finally tackled a kitchen cabinet that has become a junk cabinet.  By tackled I mean it's not done.  

Here's the before picture.

I took everything out that didn't belong and put it in a big basket.  99% of this stuff is my husbands and I need him to go through it.  I'm going to let him have the bottom part of the cabinet to put things.  (since picture I have take out the hot pads and moved them to the top)

Our cat, Lizzy has been having a hard time dealing with Harley's loss.  She's been crying a lot and looking around for him.  Poor thing.  My husband suggested getting some catnip for her so I made another trip to Petsmart and picked some up.  It was all on sale.  I got this little 3 pack for $6.

Lizzy loves it.  She's calmed down quite a lot.  She still cries a little bit but we're all still mourning our little buddy, Harley.  It's cute when she picks up the little bag and carries it around.  

The big thing that I wanted to get done was organize the basement.  I went down there at 11:30am in the morning and didn't leave until I was done which was about 3pm.  :)

Here's the before picture.  What a mess.  (husbands mess)

I put everything nice and neat into containers.  (I still need to label them)  I put books back on shelves.  I filed all our keep papers.  And the desk in the right corner is where I currently have our Craigslist items so it's in one place and not in our dining room.

Nice and neat.  I still want to get rid of the black square and the red bag.  We'll see.

The other side of the basement.......Is the gym area and the computer graveyard.  This computer graveyard will be going.  I want it out this summer.  I left it in the middle of the room so we can be reminded to get rid of it.  It's all junk.

My older sister, asked if I could make some of my chocolate chip cookies for a bake sale she was having with a friend to raise money for a charity.  I said yes.  

I made the cookies yesterday and packaged them this morning.

Before I start I like to put everything I need on the counter.  I don't even need to look at the recipe while making these because I have it memorized.  :)

I mixed up a batch and a half.  I can get about 2 dozen cookies out of 1 batch.  I did a half batch so that I could be certain I got 2 dozen and then a few leftover for a treat for my husband.

Scooped cookie dough on cookie sheet.

Cookies cooling

MMMMMM

Here's the cookies all packaged for the bake sale.  

Proceeds raised went to a local group raising money for Chiari.

I had a great week off.  I can't wait to do it again.  Sometimes the best vacation is a staycation.  :)

New Things Monday

I used to do a feature on my blog called 'New Things Monday'.  It's been a while, in fact it's been a few years.  'New Things Monday' is where I would try something new like food, or maybe just trying out a new place to eat and then give my opinion.  I'm not getting paid to talk about anything.  If I try something I like I want to share it with you so you can go out and discover it too.  If it's something I dislike then I'll tell you.  Everyone's tastes are different so even if I tried something I didn't like that doesn't mean that you won't like it.

Today's 'New Things Monday' is Fresh Gourmet's Crispy Onions!  

(Image taken from Wegmans)

I like just eating a few of these for a quick snack.  My husband, put some on top of his tuna sammich for lunch the other day.  He loved it!  Gave the tuna sammich a little crunchiness.  These are really good and guilt free.  It's only 40 calories per serving.  Yes, please!  Fresh Gourmet also has some other crunchy toppings, nuts, dried fruits and croutons.  I can't wait to try some of the other items.  :)

Garden Update: Week 20

This is week 20!  It's crazy that my garden has been going strong for 20 weeks now.  Of course, the first part of the garden life was indoors.  Speaking of indoors last week I mentioned the only thing I had in the house was my aloe plant.  As promised here's a picture of it. I got it back on April 20th and it's not so little anymore.  :)  I'm thinking it might need to be repotted into a bigger pot.

Here's the container garden on my back deck.

I don't know if bees are drinking from the bee water station or not.  I have to fill it with water daily.  I still haven't seen a bee in there but each morning there are A LOT of bees in the flowers.  :)  Here's a close up of the marbles in water.

Here's a freshly watered cherry tomato.  Not red yet.

I harvested a bunch of yellow toms, a weirdly shaped zucchini (biggest one yet this year) and a cucumber.

Yummy toms!

I have several watermelons growing.  :)

Off deck I have growing in ground some spaghetti squash.  :)  This is the biggest guy.  It's bigger and bigger everyday.

For scale, here's a picture with my hand.

I also found another little guy.  In picture you can see it on the left of the wooden stake.  And I noticed in the picture if you look to the right of the wooden stake you will see another small one.  YAY!!  :)

So........back on the deck.......I have EGGPLANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's what they looked like earlier in the week.

And then on Friday, I saw purple.

Here's a picture I took yesterday.

The bolted lettuce is still in the garden.  I like the flowers in the morning because it brings the bees to the garden and it does look pretty.  I noticed today that some looked like dandelion weeds.  You know...the kind you blow to make a wish.  :)

My big beef stake tomato was yellow.

And then finally started turning red.

RED!

Time to pick!

Nice big red tomato.

My white potatoes are almost ready.  I'll probably be dumping the pot over sometime this week while I'm on a vacation staycation.  :)

I have 2 new sunflowers coming in.

They aren't perfect but they are still lovely.

Carnival Squash.....This is the biggest one.

This one is half green and half yellow.  Not sure why.

Marigolds

Squash growing

More cucumbers growing.  This guy will probably be ready this upcoming week.

Rose bud still not popped yet.  Soon.....soon.

Thanks for reading!  :)  Happy gardening and happy harvesting!

Perhaps a Blue Ribbon Cookie....

This past week, I decided to enter my homemade chocolate chip cookies into the State Fair.  I mailed my application and my entry fee.  My cookies aren't due until September.

It's not about winning.  I know my cookies are delicious.  I would like to just have my cookies judged by a cookie/baking judge.  Getting the ribbon is just an extra treat.

Wish me luck!  :)

Peachy Treat

Last weekend, I got 2 peaches.  They've been in my fridge all week and I figured I would make something with them tonight.

The picture isn't the best but you get the idea.  :)

For 2 people you will need:

2 peaches

fat free coolwhip

sliced almonds

cinnamon

Walden Farms- Caramel Syrum  (OMG......so good and no sugar and no calories)

homemade vanilla extract (optional)

melted unsalted butter (optional)

brown sugar (optional)

First, I washed my peaches, peeled and sliced up into bit size chunks.  I put the peach slices into 2 small bowls.  I then mixed in some homemade vanilla extract, and sliced almonds to each bowl.  I sprinkled some cinnamon on top of each.  After that, I drizzled the caramel and put a small dollop of coolwhip on top.  :)

You could warm it up if you'd like or eat as is.  We ate as it and it's very tasty!  The almonds give it the crunchiness and the caramel is amazing!  It's hard to believe there's no calories, no fat, no carbs, no gluten and no sugars of any kind.  AMAZING!  :)  

I have the Walden Farms chocolate syrup and I like it too.  I def like the caramel better though.

BBQ Chicken, Mexican Corn on the Cob and Avocado Potato Salad

Dinner tonight was pretty yummy and easy to make.  I like to cook my protein on the weekend so when my husband and I come home from work we can just heat it up.  This past week we had chicken breasts every night.  We had 2 chicken breasts left for tonight that we needed to use.  I don't like to waste food.  I heated up the chicken and ate it with BBQ sauce.  I also made Mexican Corn on the cob (used blog as a guide) and I made an Avocado Potato Salad.  

Mexican Corn on the cob:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Once ready put your ears of corn, in it's husk directly on the oven rack.  Roast the ears for about 40 to 45 minutes.

Once done and cooled a little bit, husk the corn.  Brush on some melted unsalted butter and some lime juice.  Sprinkle on some chili seasoning and feta cheese.  (I used feta because that's what I had on hand)  Serve hot!  It's really yummy.  I didn't use too much chili seasoning because I didn't want it to be too spicy.  The flavors were amazing together.

Avocado Potato Salad:

I didn't use a blog or recipe for this.  I just came up with my own take on it.  How hard can it be?  :)  

Wash, cut up and boil some potatoes.  I used baby whites from my farmers market haul I picked up this morning.  Once the potatoes are tender and done, drain and then add to a bowl.  In a separate bowl, mash up a ripe avocado and some lime juice.  The lime juice will keep the avocado from browning.  Add avocado mash to your potatoes.  Sprinkle in some bacon bits, red pepper flakes, sea salt, parsley flakes and black pepper.  Mix until combined.  

I left some of the potatoes chunky but you can mix until smooth if you want.  This was very tasty and a little different than just plain mashed potatoes.

Farmers Market 7/5

My husband and I ran errands together this morning.  First stop was the farmers market.  

Here's a picture of us.

I spent $21.70 on this trip.  I got everything on my list.

Here's my haul!

3 huge green bell peppers

2 purple bell peppers

3 white onions

3 yellow squash

3 zucchini

green beans

white baby potatoes

cherry tomatoes

spaghetti squash

4 heads of broccoli

This week my co-worker who brings garden fresh veggies brought me 4 ears of corn!  YUM!