Wordless Wednesday - Mmmm, pears!

What was my mom doing this fall (and the rest of the fam that she recruited to help)? Canning, canning, and more canning!!! Those are pears, btw.


This brings back memories of my teen years when we would spend the greater part of the summer and fall canning (beans, pears, peaches, tomatoes, pickles...) I don't know that I'll ever carry on this family tradition, but the pears were always one of my favorites. My job with canning pears was washing and inserting pears in the narrow mouth jars.

Mom - Send me a pic of your new venture (cheese) and I'll post that one too!

Join in the fun on this Wordless Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday

I've seriously been out of bloggy-touch lately due to a very busy schedule that hasn't made it possible for me to "play" on the computer. I'm finally coming out of it a little, so will hopefully get back on track. In the meantime, I thought I'd post a Wordless Wednesday that's just plain adorable!

This is one of "B's" best man's golden retriever puppies...notice the tongue! He's about 4 months old in this picture that was taken during our vacation the last week of August.

Join in the fun on this Wordless Wednesday!

Family recipe - Dinner-in-a-Dish

This weekend I made one of my all time favorite family recipes and thought "I should share the yummy goodness". This one comes from my grandma and is healthy (lots of fresh vegies) and delicious! Hint: I don't really use exact measurements...I just eyeball it.

Dinner-in-a-Dish

4 Tbls. butter/shortening
2 medium onions, chopped
1/4 tsp pepper
2 green peppers, chopped
2 cups fresh corn, cut off the cob
1 lb. ground beef (or you could use ground turkey)
4 medium tomatoes, sliced thick
1-1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, whisked
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Saute green peppers & onion in butter/shortening, add meat. Add seasonings & remove from heat. Stir in eggs & mix well. In 9" x 13" baking dish, layer corn, meat mixure, tomatoes (repeat). Sprinkle with bread crumbs.

Bake @ 375 degrees F for 35 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes.

Enjoy! And, if you decide to try it out, let me know what you think.

Vacation - Part 1

By popular demand, I'm going to do a little recap of our trip down south. Since we fit so much in, I'm going to split this into 3 part...one part for each leg of the trip.

We started out with a beautiful drive (all 11 hours of it) to Pigeon Forge, TN to visit the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The few days we were there the weather was not tremendously cooperative so there were many things we would have like to do but couldn't because of the rain. We made the best of it, though. During the times that it didn't rain:

1. We took a ride on a sky lift (scary!)

2. We hiked up to Grotto Falls (a less traveled hiking path). We didn't see any bears while hiking but we saw plenty of evidence (very fresh) that they were near! And, of course...Grotto Falls...And a few other things along the way. 3. Then we decided to head up to Clingman's Dome, the highest point in the Smoky Mountains, where there's supposed to be a terrific view. But the weather showed up before we got there and this is what we saw:Notice the bottom half of the picture shows what we should have seen! Here are a couple more from Clingman's Dome. 4. The next day we went to Cades Cove which was a beautiful drive! The highlight were the mama bear and her cubs. See my bear post from last week for the pics. And we ate lunch at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. -- yummy food!!!

5. We went to the Ripley's museum and saw the longest gum wrapper chain which stretches over a mile.

Here's one for the road:

Okay...I just couldn't resist...it was there just begging to have it's picture taken!

Wordless Wednesday - OOPS! Almost forgot!

Venturing out this weekend, "B" and I found a butterfly house. Look at the beautiful monarchs!

I didn't know butterflies were part of the circus...

Close up...

Picture taken by Em on 7/27/08!

Join the fun on this Wordless Wednesday!

"Green" with envy

I can't wait to have a house of my own so I can have a garden. I've been hearing from Dirkey and my mom about how beautiful their gardens are this year and then I see pictures and I'm "green" with envy (not really, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to throw in a terrible pun).

Starting in my high school years and thereafter, we always had a garden. Then I had to go and move 3000 miles away so now I cannot enjoy the spoils. Leave it to my mom to make me homesick:) Although I didn't fully appreciate at the time all the benefits of having a garden (maybe it was the incessant weeding, canning, etc...hmmm). But now that I'm older, I am looking forward to having one of my very own. Not sure about the canning, though...jury's still out on that one.

Check out Dirkey's blog to see pic of her beautiful garden and first harvest. And here are some pics of my mom's garden:

My brother put the stone wall up...talented, huh?

And check out the green beans...

The Simplicity of Childhood...ahhh

Last night I visited my aunt, uncle, and 2 no-so-little-anymore cousins for dinner. I also had on my "to do" list to personally ask each of the girls to be in my wedding (the 9-yr-old as my Jr. Bridesmaid and the 6-yr-old as my flower girl). I had been perceiving that the 9-yr-old (we'll call her "Kat") has been fully aware that the 6-yr-old (we'll call her "Ky") would be the flower girl, especially since Kat has already been one before. Although Kat was completely accepting of this, I could tell she was sad because she wanted to be a part of the wedding.

So I took Kat aside and explained how a Bride needs to pick certain very special people to stand by her when she gets married. Then we talked about how Ky was going to be the flower girl (and Kat got sad) and then, I asked Kat if she would be my Jr. Bridesmaid. She gave me a funny look, not really knowing what that means. Then I explained that she would walk down the aisle by herself, that she would wear a dress similar to that of the big girls (little grin), and that she would carry the same bouquet as the big girls (eyes open wide). Here's the dialogue that ensued (approximately):

Kat: Real flowers?
Me: Yes.
Kat: Do I get to keep the bouquet?
Me: Yes.

Then Kat was smiling ear to ear and she became very excited. There was a little more discussion about how she had just turned the right age to be a Jr. Bridesmaid and she was SO thrilled about that too.

I knew that I had to make asking her a little more special and to explain the importance of her role. What I didn't know is that the thought of carrying a REAL bouquet and getting to keep it would be the final selling point. It was a sweet moment that I will treasure always!

Beautiful Bougainvillea

I've read many books that are set in the southern United States. Many of these books mention the plant/flower bougainvillea. Growing up in the Northwest, I didn't have a clue what these books were referring to until I saw a plant in a conservatory, at which time I was taken aback by the unique characteristics of the "petal" and the sheer beauty of the plant.

Notice that the "petals" look like leaves. I'm not sure whether to call them petals or leaves!?!

When I was in Florida I saw an enormous bougainvillea plant and it made me happy to just look at it. If I didn't have such a brown thumb I might take a stab at my own plant in New Jersey, but I guess I'll just have to visit the south a bit more often.

Frugal Friday - small savers

This week I just have a couple quick small savers. Neither of these will save oodles of $$$; however, if a bunch of small money savers are implemented, it can make a big difference over time.

When to use cash and when to use credit at the gas pump?
Well, it depends. If you use credit to purchase gas, make sure you are using ones with rewards programs (like cash back or frequent flyer miles, etc.). Otherwise, it actually saves you more to pay with cash, if the station offers a discount for paying cash. For example, using Discover can actually save you at least 2x what paying cash would because of their cash back program.

So, when is it better to pay with cash? If you spend a lot of time on the road and use either a debit card or credit card without a rewards program then you could probably save more by paying cash at the pump. Even though using your debit card is the same as cash, it tends to be treated as credit, so you would end up paying more $$$. I typically pay for just about everything using "cash" (physical cash or debit) and save credit purchases for larger or online purchases. I'm going to switch to cash for now so I can save the few cents each time I fill up. Since I have over a 30 mile commute each date (one way) and I visit my boyfriend every other weekend, who is over 80 miles away, and I visit friends once in awhile who also live a bit of a distance, that all adds up. I figured that with my basic weekly driving alone (not counting visits to friends or special trips), I could save around $100/year by doing this. I'm also going to look into switching to a credit card with a better rewards program.

It's funny that Dirkey's post was along similar lines of paying cash. I started this last night, then debated whether or not to post but I decided to go ahead. My brain is too tired to try to think of another Frugal Friday tip:)

Home playdough & cookie cutters:
I don't have many memories of my maternal grandmother, but one of my favorite memories is her making us kids her homemade playdough. Just writing about it I can smell it. Why pay for playdough from the store and all the nifty cutters, when kids will be just as thrilled to have homemade playdough with cookie cutters. I found some great playdough recipes on line. My grandmother always made uncolored playdough, which was great. But I love that the recipe on the link actually has ways to color the playdough. BONUS - Not only will you save a little $$$, but homemade playdough is easier to clean up than store bought and you will know what's in it!

Again, I realize neither of these tips is going to save you oodles of $$$, but every little bit counts, right?!?

Keeping it Simple - new recipe

I stumbled on a recipe this week and, in the process of making it created my own. The recipe was for Salmon with potatoes, peas, and tarragon. Well, I didn't have any tarragon in the house (can't remember ever cooking with it) and I reduced the amounts, but didn't keep track so the potatoes and peas turned out a little funky. Still working on that recipe and will post once I have it perfected.

However, I decided to use the seasoning for the potato/pea combination and put it on the salmon, substituting dill for the tarragon. All I can say is...YUMM-EE!!! Best salmon I've ever made! So here's what I did...measurements will depend on # of fillets you cook.

Ingredients:
6 oz salmon fillets
minced garlic cloves (~ 1/fillet)
lemon zest
dill weed (fresh or dried)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Mince lemon zest and combine in a bowl with garlic and dill. Salt and pepper the salmon to taste. Pat the lemon/dill seasoning on the salmon.

3. Put olive oil in a stove top AND oven-safe skillet or dish. Heat oil on high until nearly smoking hot. Put seasoned salmon in the skillet and sear on both sides.

4. Put the salmon in the preheated oven and bake until cooked through (6-10 minutes, depending on # of fillets).

This is an incredibly quick and easy recipe that is scrumptious and healthy! Doesn't get much better than this.

Use what ya got

My Frugal Friday tip this week is somthing I'm trying to do more of. It's simply this...when planning your menus, use what you have and/or only buy ingredients that will get all used up. This will also avoid waste. Before I started focusing on this, I would find a recipe that sounded yummy, I would buy the stuff to make it, and there would be leftover ingredients which would ultimately spoil because they were not ingredients I commonly cooked with.


Try to avoid planning menus that use ingredients that you'll only use for one recipe. Leave those recipes for special occasions, entertaining, or making a special dinner for your special someone. Instead, cook using "core" foods in your pantry, in your fridge, and buy only those ingredients for which you can plan additional menus to use up any remaining portion. I like what kitten.mom says about using as much as possible that is in the fridge.


If you want to kick it up a notch try to "coordinate" your menu so that you end up using similar incredients in some of your dishes. It's kind of like coordinating your wardrobe so you can mix and match.

Frugal Friday - brown bag it

My Frugal Friday tip is a quickie that most of us know, but many times either get too busy or plain forget to actually implement...bringing a "brown bag" lunch to work.

Brown bagging it can save loads of $$$, especially if you work in an expensive area. I work in Center City Philadelphia where the average salad can costs ~$10!!! I'm typically very good about packing my snacks but I've gotten a little lazy about packing my lunch. So now I'm on a mission to pack a lunch at least 4 days of the work week...I'll allow myself a "treat" on the other day.

In addition to the $$$ savings, when you pack your lunch you'll find that you will eat healthier. You have greater control over portion size and content which for me are the 2 biggest factors to maintaining my weight and eating healthy. So, if you work outside the home don't forget to pack your lunch.

And thanks to Dirkey for her Frugal Friday tip...my favorite so far. I, too, have been on missions trips and have seen the unthinkable, but I find myself constantly slipping back into the daily humdrum of life and forgetting the emotional impact of seeing people who literally have nothing. Thanks for the reminder Dirkey!

Keeping it Simple

Since I began a new job about 16 months ago, I haven't been cooking dinner as much at home. And when that happens I usually end up eating much less healthy food for dinner...if anything at all. I'm away from home for at least 12 to 14 hours a day (and that's on days when I go straight to and from work and home). By the time I get home I'm tired and quite frankly I'm not in the mood to spend a great deal of time cooking for just me, since I live alone.

That being said, I'm on the hunt for simple, healthy, tasty recipes that I can quickly throw together and that don't leave tons of leftovers. I thought that others out there may be interested on the hunt for the same so I decided to share my progress on my blog...the good, the bad, and the ugly. But mostly...the TASTY!!!

This week I tried a recipe that was absolutely delicious and so simple it's ridiculous! As I nearly always do, I modified the recipe so below is how I made Lemon Parsley Pork Chops:

Ingredients:
1 lemon, zested
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (I used dried, but added water to soften)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (it might also be good to try lemon pepper)
~2 Tbsp olive oil
4 boneless loin pork chops

Directions:

1. Mince lemon zest and combine in a bowl with parsley, garlic, salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Put olive oil and about half of the lemon-parsley mixture in a large skillet over high heat. Season the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper and put in skillet. Cook in skillet until browned (2-3 minutes per side).
3. Add 1/2 cup water to skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and simmer gently until pork is cooked through (8-10 minutes).
4. Transfer pork chops to platter or plate; drizzle with pan juices as desired and sprinkle additional lemon-parsley mixture to garnish.

Want to amp it up and simplify even more? At step 3, I set some zucchini spears in the water and simmered along with the meat. They were perfectly done at the same time as the pork and they tasted delicious! You could probably do this with green beans, instant rice, carrots, etc. Prep time took me about 5 minutes and a little over 10 minutes cooking time.

If you try this recipe, let me know what you think. Stay tuned next week for another Keeping it Simple recipe.

Oh, I almost forgot the nutritional information, per serving (minus the zucchini): 271 calories; 3g carbs; 1g fiber; <16g>