Munchie Monday: Blueberry Crumble

We were going to share Christmas dinner with the full time senior missionaries with everyone bringing something.  We brought spinach balls, cashew queso, and this Blueberry Crumble.

Blueberry Crumble
4 cups fresh blueberries or 16 ounces frozen blueberries
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons corn starch

Topping
3/4 cup quick cooking flaked oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup butter

In a good-sized bowl place the blueberries and lemon juice and toss them well.  In a small bowl mix together 1/2 cup brown sugar and cornstarch.  Sprinkle over the berries and mix well.  Place in a greased 8 by 8 glass pan.

In a large bowl mix the oatmeal, 1/2 cup flour and brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.  Cut in the butter.

Sprinkle over the berries.

Bake in the preheated 350 degrees F. until the topping is slightly brown and the blueberries are bubbling.  This should take about 40 minutes...maybe more.

When I made it, I doubled the recipe in a 9 by 13 pan.  And did a really dumb thing. The recipe calls for fresh or frozen blueberries.  When it says frozen blueberries, it does not mean to COOK the frozen blueberries.  YOU SHOULD LET THE BLUEBERRIES THAW BEFORE STARTING!!  Duh!!!  Because I used frozen berries, it took more than an hour to cook well.  It did cook finally though.

This picture shows the blueberry crumble before placing in the oven.  The cooked crumble did not last very long...and I forgot to take a picture of the leftovers....It really was tasty.

Food Friday: Homemade Hashed Browns

Recently Elder and Sister C brought us a set of Titan Stainless Steel Peeler/Julienne tools.  Elder C uses the peeler to peel carrots and brings them to the office to eat.  These tools work great!

My first project was to use the julienne peeler to julienne half a red potato which I made into hashed brown since Dear One is a really big fan of eating hashed browns.

While I was using the julienner to cut half the potato, I set a small frying pan heating on the stove with a little olive oil and butter to melt.  By the time the grease was ready, so were the juliennes.  I spread them in the pan and let them cook on medium high for about five minutes.

After five minutes I flipped them over and smushed them down with a spatula.  After five more minutes I pulled them out and put them on Dear One's plate.  He loved them with a little salt and catsup.

They looked good enough that I was sorry I had only made one serving.  Maybe next time.

Watercolor Card with Deerfoot Brush

The other day I wanted to send a card.  I brought the 3/8th inch deerfoot brush to work.  Over lunch I worked on a little watercolor painting.  This is what I painted.

 Not fabulous, but fun.  It is time to get back to painting, I think.

The Move is Coming Along!!

It is so good to have everything in one apartment now.  It is even better that on Christmas Eve, before we went out to dinner with a wonderful returned-missionary-senior-couple, we finished emptying the hallway and behind-the-couch of moved in stuff.  Now it is all in just one room.  Or given away.  Or put in the tiny, and I mean TINY, storage closet on the "patio" outside the French doors.  Or thrown away.  I have some hope that I can finish up the move in before the new year.  At least that is the plan. Transfers being next week may make a difference...at least mentally!  (And you will notice I used the pronoun "I" about finishing the move.  Dear One has done his part.  And then some.  And frankly, most of the stuff in the study belongs to  the author, sad to say, so I really should be the cleaner-outer/cleaner-upper...

Here is the evidence!  I love love love having the hallway not an obstacle course.  Last week I participated in a Safety in the Workplace class online and was rather distressed by the non-safety in our own house.  Now I can walk from the bedroom to the living room/kitchen/dining room without fear of tripping over something.  Even in the middle of the night with no lights on.  Bonus!

Now to get working on the study...Maybe tonight.

Quick and easy Christmas 3-ingredient fudge

Recently some recipe bloggers sent me emails.  This is not always a good thing.  In this case it was okay because I was wondering how to use up some ingredients we had in the kitchen. (I think that is going to be the whole food emphasis for the next six months--how do I use up everything in the cupboards...).

In this case the recipe devil was about 3-Ingredient Fudge.  I thought I could kill two birds with one stone by making the fudge and giving it as gifts.  Score!

Peanut Butter 3-Ingredient Fudge

3 cups vanilla baking chips
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup peanut butter

Prepare a glass 8 by 8 baking pan by covering it with aluminum foil then lightly spray with vegetable spray.  Set aside.

According to the recipe, all ingredients go into a large microwave-safe bowl.  Stir a little then microwave on high for 1 minute.  Bring out and stir.  Return to microwave for 1 more minute.  Remove and stir.  Repeat this until all the ingredients are smooth.  In this case, I had to return the mixture to the microwave  until it had cooked 5 minutes.

Pour the melted and smooth sweetness into the prepared pan.  Smooth with an off-set spatula and let cool completely on the counter.  When completely cool. cut into pieces and enjoy.

Because this seemed successful, I tried the chocolate fudge.

Chocolate 3-Ingredient Fudge (I think I found this on Lauren's Latest blog)

3 cups semi-sweet baking chips
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
30 or so York's peppermint patties

In a glass baking dish--8 by 8 is what I used--place unwrapped peppermint patties to completely cover the bottom of the pan which you have covered with aluminum foil which you spray lightly with vegetable spray.  Cut some of the patties in half so you can get coverage all the way to the edges.

Put the milk and chocolate chips in a large microwave-safe bowl in the microwave and heat on high for one minute.  Remove from oven and stir well.  Return to microwave for 1 more minute then remove and stir until smooth.  This only took the 2 minutes to be completely melted and smooth.

Pour the melted chocolate over the peppermint patties and smooth the top.  Let cool completely on the counter.  Cut into pieces and enjoy.

Because I was using up things, and had some 4-ounce Ball quilted jelly glasses, I used a cleaned tomato paste can with both ends cut out for a cutter.  The large round piece of fudge fit perfectly into the jelly jar!

If I should ever make the peanut butter fudge again, I will only put in the milk and chips in the bowl to microwave, then when they are melted, I will stir in the peanut butter and see how it goes.  It is my impression that 5 minutes in the microwave was too much, though even then, I could not get every smidgen of white chocolate melted and stirred smooth.  But...I am unlikely to make this candy again. All that sugar is a bad idea.  For just about everyone.  And besides--"real" peanut butter fudge is so much better in taste and texture, though this does work in a pinch.

Merry Christmas to all!  May your day be filled with love and light and may the new year bring you joy.

New Taste for Creamy Cheese-y Pasta!

In the back of the cupboard I found an opened package of Number 8 Spaghetti last night.  I knew we had some sharp cheddar, some mozzarella, and some Parmesan cheese as well as milk, butter, and flour so I decided to make some pasta for supper.

To make the white sauce I used 4 Tablespoons of butter, which I melted in a medium stainless steel saucepan.  When it was mostly melted I added 1/3 cup of flour and stirred until combined.  Now I added 2 cups of dairy milk and stirred with a whisk until it was smooth then added another cup or more of milk and let it thicken while whisking.

With the white sauce  nearly cooked and the spaghetti cooking in a large pot of well-salted water,  I started dumping in seasonings.  These are the ones I used:

Dried parsley--1 1/2 teaspoons
Granulated chicken bouillon--a rounded half-teaspoon
Benson's Salt Free Seasoning--as I write this away from the kitchen, I think it was their Mediterranean seasoning--about 1 teaspoon
SMOKED Paprika--1 teaspoon

With the seasoning in I started adding clumps of shredded cheese.  There was probably 1/3 cup of the sharp cheddar.  When I opened the bag of mozzarella I was sorry to see that it was pretty colorful so I put it in the trash.  Sad.  Well, I don't usually put mozzarella in white sauce anyway, so it was just as well.  The Parmesan had a tiny spot of color which I disposed of then pulled out a large handful and plopped it into the sauce.  At the bottom of the package was more color but it was too late by that time to re-think.  Well, I am pretty sure there was no mold that got into the sauce, but I would not stake my life on it...

When this was all added and well stirred, and the pasta was cooked and drained, I put them together back in the large pasta pot and stirred well.

IT WAS DELICIOUS!!  I think the smoked paprika made the difference.

Moving is No Darn Fun...

How I admire people who move house with equanimity!  I am not one of those people, sad to say.  When I went to get boxes for the move, there were none.  I had never been to that store before and asked for boxes without being given way more than we needed.  This time, no dice.  And no time or energy to find other places with boxes to give away.

So...Dear One has been using garbage bags.

The entire hallway from the second bedroom/study (you will note I am NOT calling it the work room this time...) all the way to the kitchen door and into the living room.  At the very end you can see the air conditioner that we need to put in the storage room.

This is the same hall, which had been mostly emptied of bags, having put many things away and trashed others.  And there are AT LEAST that many more bags still in the old apartment.  I am now beginning a major purge of stuff that I thought I could not live without.  Fortunately I have found some people who will take some things, but there is still much to be disposed of.

As far as the storage room off the "patio", when I looked out there today, it looks like it is about three feet square!  What is with that!!  The one at our other apartment was at least double that size.  Argh!  More stuff has to go.

The nice thing about the old apartment is that Dear One has emptied and cleaned the bedroom, two bathrooms, living room/dining area/kitchen area, including cleaning the refrigerator...most of this while I was at the office.  I am very grateful to him for taking that load off my mind.

People are Kind

It is my opinion that people are kind for the most part.  When I see acts of kindness, it makes me want to be kinder myself.

When we started moving into our new apartment, the first thing I saw was this on the refrigerator:

That made my day.  And still does.  Moving makes me need lots of smiles....

Sauerkraut and Pizza?

Tonight was a night for quick and easy food.  I went over to the old apartment and loaded up, and I DO mean loaded up, my carrying bag with refrigerator things and some things from the cupboard.  Also I filled the ice chest with freezer things.  I managed to go down the stairs backwards moving the loads from step to step.  At the bottom I realized I needed to call for help.  Dear One answered the call and rescued me in a flash.

When I got back to the new apartment he had a frozen pizza almost ready to eat.  I put a big slug of sauerkraut from Verboort into the microwave.  When the pizza was done and cut, I covered one piece with sauerkraut and ate it. 

Very very good tasting!  About as good as pizza with dill pickles on it...and that is a winner every time!

Now my question is:  does the warmed up sauerkraut nutritionally take away the curse of the cheese and white flour badness on the pizza? I hope so.

Munchie Monday: Souping Up Meals with Boxes

With the end of the mission coming (June 2019), and with moving to a different apartment, I have thought of doing things a little easier.  Thus this meal!

Dear One likes boxed macaroni and cheese for some reason.  Since we had two boxes I decided to make a meal that would cover us for two dinners with maybe lunch leftovers.

This is what I did:

2 boxes (7 ounces) Macaroni and Cheese Dinner mix
1 bag of Gardein Veggie Crumbles
Salted water for boiling
6 Tablespoons butter
1/2 half cup milk

1.  Start water boiling.  Add 1 1/2 teaspoons salt to the water.
2.  Add the macaroni from the two boxes and cook until done to our preference.
3. Drain macaroni, but don't rinse it,  and put in a large bowl.
4.  In the meantime, while the pasta cooks,  put the Gardein Crumbles in a glass bowl with 1/3 cup water and cook on high in the microwave for 3 minutes.  Since it was not completely hot, I cooked another minute.
5.  Put 6 Tablespoons butter in the bowl of pasta along with 1/2 cup milk and the cheese packet. Stir well until butter is melted.
6.  Add the Crumbles, stir well, and serve.

We had this with French-cut green string beans, which are the only kind of green beans Dear One likes.

This was not a bad meal and it did make two dinners meals for each of us and one lunch for me since Dear One had had enough of it.

  If I can hold the line, I will not purchase much else for food while we are here. I want to use up (maybe in creative ways...!) all the food we have in our kitchen, though right now most of it is still in our old apartment.  Tonight I hope to pack up the rest of the cookware and move it either to our new apartment or to Goodwill bags.  Tomorrow I will be ready to move the canned goods, the remaining refrigerator and freezer food.  Once everything is in the new apartment I will decided what we keep and what we let go, and let it go sooner rather than later. I would love not to have a cluttered house any more. 

This is a whole new world for me!!!  Can I do it?!  I mean, can I really cut down to only the essentials?  Well, we shall see.

News/Address Change

This week three of our missionary couples departed the mission.  We are so sad to see them go but so happy they now home with their families.  One of the missionaries, Elder C (not Dear One who is also Elder C) fell a couple of weeks ago and badly broke his foot, the same foot that had previously been fixed with pins, etc, so he and Sister C went home for surgery and won't be returning.  Because our apartment lease is up this month, and their apartment lease is valid until next November, we are going to move into their apartment.  The best thing about that is that it is a GROUND FLOOR apartment!  No more scary icy stairs in the winter!  Not that we had more than three or four icy days last year, but...this year we had a few hundred geese in the park across from the office a month ago but they moved on. I am wondering if they know something we don't.  I hope not.  Last winter was so glorious.  And we had thousands of geese in the park last winter.

Anyway, we have a new address for the rest of our mission:

1400 NE Compton Drive, Suite 250-A
Hillsboro  OR 97006

This is the mission office address but it makes most sense to use that address.  At our current mailbox we receive mail for at least ten previous residents.  I hope not to have someone else have to forward mail to us when they move into our current apartment.

Today reminds me a bit of the week I went to the temple alone several years ago because Dear One stayed home to oversee the take-down and disposal of the log cabin we had lived in for 38 years.  I came home to a hole in the ground.  Today when I get home, many of the things in the apartment will have been moved to the new apartment. Then this evening and tomorrow the real work starts for me.  I had hoped to have the whole month to organize and dispose of the disposables and move a box a day over.  Well, maybe I still will but our internet is moving as of Monday so I am assuming we will be "in" on Monday night.  Yikes. 

This is a reminder that we are in the wind-down stage of our mission, too.

Paper Craft Ornaments

Recently I saw a person making triangular Christmas ornaments.  I had to try it.

Cut a piece of card stock that is twice as long as it is wide.  Example: 3 inches by 6 inches

Score across the center from long side to long side halfway down.  Example: at the 3 inch mark

Make a mark on the two short ends half way across. Example: at 1.5 inches

Line up the end mark with the mark at the middle and score diagonally from the end to the middle twice then turn and do the other end.

Fold along score lines.

With a paper punch, punch holes in ends.

Fold the two flaps together then hold so you can make them treat-filled.

Add one or two or more treats (example: Hershey's kisses) then tie up through the punched holes.

Quite fun and when people take the tree down, they will get a surprise treat!  If they think to look inside and discover why the ornaments are heavy....

Christmas Zone Conference

Christmas celebrating in the mission is different from last year.  All the Christmas packages are supposed to go to the missionaries in their own apartments, though I have my doubts as to how that will go judging by the number of boxes that have already arrived in the mission office....

Last year we had an all-mission Christmas gathering.  This year we had two zone conferences with half of the missionaries in each conference.  I got to pack up the gifts for the missionaries from the President and his family...a small job.  I also got to prepare and preside over a hot chocolate bar.

Here is a picture of the Christmas packages that were put in the back of the mission pickup truck.

Don't you just love apple boxes?!!  They are sturdy and tall enough for gift bags without mashing the handles.

The hot chocolate bar was mostly a success.  The first day I had plugged the two hot water urns into a power strip.  I did not learn until the activity was almost complete that the water was only lukewarm.  It had been hot at the beginning, but apparently the power strip was tripped by the two urns and shut off. I did not notice this and no one mentioned the water was not hot to me.  However, the second day I move the table close enough to the wall that we could plug directly into the outlet.  This time the issue was the opposite:  I was concerned the water would be boiling hot, so I unplugged for fifteen minutes.

For toppings we had canned whipped cream-very popular, also mini marshmallows, mini chocolate chips, evaporated milk, hazelnut creamer, mini candy canes, and peanut butter.  Almost everyone was flabbergasted to have peanut butter but everyone who tried it seemed to like it.

The sacred program of music and speakers was touching and inspiring.

The Fort Vancouver Knitting Guild Charity Hat Knitting Adventure

The Fort Vancouver Knitting Guild are wonderful people who do a lot of good works.  Because I went to one of their meetings they kindly send me their newsletter and invitations to participate in charity knitting.

Several weeks ago they sent me two skeins of 100% Merino wool that was spun in Turkey. It is a lovely walnut color.  I was thrilled to receive the yarn since I committed myself to refraining from purchasing new yarn until all that I currently have on hand has been knitted up...which so far I have stuck to...thus, since the hat project had to be in wool yarn and all the wool I have is committed to other projects I was not going to be able to help out without their yarn contribution.

Well,  Dear One was very happy to help me wind the yarn.  He held the yarn and I wound it with the Stanwood winder (which I LOVE and recommend highly).  This started out as a quick and easy project for the first few winds then the issues began to arise.  The yarn was not evenly skeined up!  What a bust!  Even changing the positioning of the yarn on Dear One's hands did not improve things.  After a LONG time we got the first skein wound. I had decided to let the other one alone but Dear One said he was happy to continue helping so I thought, "Why not?"  Well, that was the wrong idea.

The second skein was even worse! Way more tangles.

We worked on it for another fifteen minutes then it was so tangled that I finally got out my good Gingher scissors and cut it off and excused Dear One.

A few days later I went back into the work room and started untangling the yarn so I could eventually wind it up into a cake.  After pulling from one end until there was not possible way to go on, I searched for the other end of the skein and finally found it, started pulling from that end and eventually had probably ten yards of yarn on the floor, another ten yards over the ironing board, and me in the middle with an almost impossible tangle in the my hands.  After a while, even I gave up for a while and went about my regular business (which included working on the hat) and left the work room for a couple of days. 

Twice I went back in and eased out another yard or two of yarn from each end.  There was still a good-sized tangle, maybe another twenty or thirty yards, when Saturday came.  I went out to do a few errands, leaving Dear One home to rest and do whatever he does when I am away.  When I returned it was obvious that he had vacuumed the floors.  I thanked him for doing that.  He then told me that he had had a terrible time vacuuming the work room because "someone left a heap of yarn on the floor and it got sucked into the rollers of the vacuum cleaner."  OH NO!!  I was going to finish untangling that yarn.  Well, that job is now over!

Here is the finished hat.

Here is the pattern.

Cast on 84 stitches of wool knitting worsted weight (size 4) with US Size 6 16-inch circular needles.  K2, P2 ribbing for 4 inches.  Switch to stockinette stitch for another 5.5 inches then start the crown decreases.
Crown decreases:  K10, K2tog around, Knit 1 round.  K9, K2tog around, Knit 1 round. Repeat the decreases going down one stitch and following with a plain knit round until you have done your K1, K2 tog around.  By this time you should probably only have a dozen stitches.  Knit 2tog around then cut yarn and pull through all stitches and tie off inside.  Weave in ends and you have a hat.

This is a very easy hat to knit and comes out a nice smallish adult or teen hat.  Because it is so easy to knit, and easy to remember the pattern, I will probably knit another one sometime.

Munchie Monday: Watery Goo--Good Stuff for Weight Loss Maybe

We have a new missionary couple in the mission office.  They are taking the place of our dear Elder and Sister J who depart for home this week after eighteen months of fabulous service.  We will miss the J's terribly but are so happy they will be home with their family soon.

New Sister C told me of her breakfast and it piqued my interest. I decided to try it myself, but thought I would use it for my supper/evening eating instead of in the morning since evening is the time I go crazy with snacking sometimes.

This is what she uses, with my own variation:

1 packet of Amazing Grass's Green Superfood powder
1 packet of Emergen-C
1 Tablespoon of flaxseed meal
1 capful of raw apple cider vinegar
A few unsalted almonds
16 ounces of water

Blend these up in a high-speed, or other, blender until completely smooth.  Drink up. 

She also puts in some walnuts and some aloe vera juice, but as I don't currently have them in the kitchen, did not add them.  Put the water in the blender jar first.

This makes a nice watery goo that is great for sipping.  There are several "beauties" to this.  The first is that it is easy to prepare and you just have to wash the blender jar and lid and your glass.  The second is that you can prepare it in advance and refrigerate for later consumption.  The third is that it does not taste half bad for something that has only good ingredients in it.  Even Dear One thought it was okay.  The disadvantage is that the handy little packets of the Green Superfood are going to be discontinued by Costco (as evidenced by the"7" as the last digit of the price....)sometime soon, and then we would have to purchase online for a much greater cost.

The picture shows the green watery goo that is almost gone.  My practice has been  to get home from the office, as quickly as possible make something for Dear One to eat, then blend up my drink, collapse in my knitting chair and sip this during the entire evening.  (Mostly evenings are spent like a slug in the chair...knitting or reading a Spanish language manual or watching a little television or listening to an audio book.) The one glitch is that this being mostly water, after some time it separates into a light sludge at the bottom of the glass, a layer of straight sort of dirty-ish water, and a final layer of floaty things. This is aesthetically unpleasing but with a quick shake goes back into a nice homogenized beverage.

It works for me, as far as food consumption in the evening.  Now we shall see if it really does assist in weight loss instead of weight gain over the winter...I have only just started.

Food Friday: Millet Loaf from Forks over Knives

For ages I have been longing to make a millet loaf.  When I was at Parkview Medical Center's Lifestyle Choices program they gave us a recipe which I made once at home. It was fabulous.  Sadly, at the time I wanted to make this a month or two ago I could not find the recipe.  So...Google being a person's best friend sometimes, I searched and found this recipe.

Because I was awake at 1:00 o'clock, and 2:00 o'clock, and 3:00 o'clock, I decided to start this recipe for a meal tomorrow.  I did some things differently, as usual...

In a medium saucepan I placed 3/4 cup uncooked millet and 2 1/2 cups of vegetable broth I had made earlier in the week.  On top of that I chopped 1 medium red onion.  Covered the pot and brought to a boil.  When the millet and onions was boiling, I stirred it, turned the heat to low and covered it.  The recipe said to let cook for 20-25 minutes until tender.  I let it cook for 25 minutes then shut off the heat.  As it turns out, (by this time it was 4:00 o'clock) it really was not "tender/cooked" but I thought possibly there was residual heat and liquid enough that they would finish the job while I went back to bed. 

At 8:30 AM when I arrived back in the kitchen I discovered that my hope on the prior situation had been vain...still not quite cooked.  (I found another recipe that has you cook the millet for 40 minutes so clearly 20-25 won't do the trick...).

In a 2-cup Pyrex measuring cup I placed 1/2 cup hot water and almost 3 Tablespoons of red miso.  After stirring well I dumped in the last of the nutritional yeast in the labeled jar--about 1/3 cup, 1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage, 1 1/2 Tablespoons granulated garlic,  2 large pinches thyme, 1 teaspoon ground black pepper,  1/2 cup ketchup, and about 1/4 more hot water that I used to rinse out the ketchup bottle.  These ingredients were stirred until they were smooth (the miso took a little doing to get smooth) then poured into the saucepan of cooled cooked millet and onions.  I stirred with a spoon for a while then washed my hands again and used the old one-two to get the mixture well combined.  (The cooled millet tended to clump, which would not have been agreeable for the palate.)

When this was all mixed, I smushed it into a glass loaf pan, covered with more ketchup, and cooked it for 30 minutes, or so--because I forgot to set the timer and just guessed--then removed from the oven.  It looked good enough.  After an hour I cut out a little bit to taste.  It is okay but I am betting Dear One will prefer whatever else I put on the table for dinner.  Since I am writing this days before posting, I will be able to give a Dear One update.

The ironic thing is that I found the Parkview Millet Loaf recipe while I was going through papers in an effort to hoe out the desktop after having put the above millet loaf in the oven.  I remember the Parkview loaf as being so good I could have eaten the whole loaf in one sitting.  Well, at least mentally I could have done that.  I am now trying to get away from eating "the whole thing" in the interest of making a real change in health over the next few months.

Paper Crafting Boxes

Some time ago I knitted up some kitchen scrubbies for some dearly loved young people as a wedding gift.  For some reason I could not get it together to make the boxes to put them into for presentation.  Finally I did.  This is what they are:

The box on the left with the owl with pink dress is a purse-like box open at the sides.  The yellow box is a hinged box with flaps.  The butterfly box in the pillow shaped box.  They were all pretty easy to make as long as you have a sharp cutting blade and a bone folder for scoring.

And yesterday I finally put them in the mail nearly four months after the marriage....

Munchie Monday: Cherry Pie Filling Smoothie

We had some things in the refrigerator that needed using up...such as some cherry pie filling.  Since Dear One is rather a fan of breakfast and not at all averse to smoothies, I decided to give it a try.

This was the smoothie:

1 cup pineapple juice (well, the juice that was leftover from draining canned pineapple for ambrosia salad)
1 cup cherry pie filling
3 frozen sliced bananas

Put the pineapple juice in the blender first, then the pie filling, and finally the frozen bananas.  Blend on high speed for a minute or until lovely and smooth.

This made two tall glasses.  I had one sip and put it aside.  Dear One sucked his right down!  He loved it, I guess...so I handed him my glass which he took with a smile.  This smoothie was some sweet.  WAY too sweet for me.  Almost made me gag.

For myself, I needed something a little better for my taste buds.  I got out sauerkraut, sautéed kale and onions, and two pieces of Whole Foods Market Sesame Tofu from the salad bar which I broke into pieces.  Two minutes in the microwave and I was in heaven.

Natural Wonders All Around Us

It is always wonderful to wake up each morning and find something new and beautiful outside.  Those large nests in the tree outside our door are apparently squirrel nests.  That is quite interesting to me, especially since I saw a bird yank something away for the top nest and was reminded of the books by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown that feature cats and dogs!  You might not see the connection but I can imagine a bird stealing a feather from the squirrel nest to add to her own nest.  They might be having a heated conversation just like Mrs. Murphy, Pewter, and Tucker do in the series about Harry and her adventures solving murders in Virginia.

On a recent morning we went outside and found our railing in a newly dressed state.  I found it beautiful.  Because it was so pretty I snapped a photo then used the uprights to hold onto on the way down the stairs so as not to displace the frost crystals.

It seems certain that late fall is in the air.  We have twice heard Canada geese honking overhead.  I expect they will come back to the ponds and meadow across from the office soon.  That will be a treat, though not as much as seeing the babies in the spring...

Munchie Monday: Brownie Bomb Bars

Here is a recipe I found months ago and was going to make for a departing dinner but a different dessert was decided on.  Finally I made it and have shared it around.

This is the process:

1.  In a 9 by 13 pan cook a box of brownie mix according to directions.  Let cool completely.  The "completely" is pretty important.

2.  Spread a container of Marshmallow Fluff over the cool brownies...a 198 gram jar or larger.

3.  In large microwave safe bowl place 2 cups of chocolate chips and 1 cup of peanut butter.  Heat for one minute, remove from microwave and stir.  Return to microwave for another minute, then remove and stir again. By this time the chips should have melted and combined nicely with the peanut butter.  If not,  return to microwave for another 30 seconds. 

4.  When the chocolate chip/peanut butter mixture is completely melted and combined, pour in 3 cups Rice Krispies and stir until well blended then spread on top of the marshmallow fluff.  Put in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

5.  Cut into 24-36 pieces.

Since I had a 10 by 14 (or maybe 16) pan handy, I doubled everything.  It still worked out.

You can see that I cut out along one edge (and threw the cut outs up on top of the bars) so it would be easier to get the rest of the bars out of the pan.  The marshmallow fluff is really sticky...in my opinion, and the Rice Krispie treat topping was too thick because of the doubling but they did taste good. I was able to restrain myself from eating more than one with no problem.  Really sweet.  I did think of scraping off the brownie bottoms and just eating those, but then instead I made some very tasty sesame ginger garlic sauce to eat on tofu and ate that instead.  Did NOT feel deprived at all.

Food Friday: Refrigerator Soup, More or Less

When we were growing up Mother used to take all the leftovers in the refrigerator that were on the verge and threw them into a big soup pot.  Those soups were absolutely delicious.  Of course, there was no way ever to duplicate them since there was no recipe...just a dib of this and a dab of that until the pot was full and ready to heat and eat.  Well, I just did the same thing, sort of.

We had carrots, celery, onions, broccoli, and other things in the refrigerator that needed to be used.  The next day was going to be very taxing to me physically so I wanted food ready the instant we got home. So I chopped vegetables and put them in the refrigerator overnight.  In the morning I added the dibs and dabs and started the Crockpot on Low and set it for 8 hours.  When I got home there was some truly delicious soup.  Even Dear One liked it.  He had arrived home an hour before I did and was sitting on the couch fat and happy after a big bowl of soup.  Well, definitely not fat, but doesn't that have a nice ring to it?!

What I did:

1/2 pound carrots, peeled and sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced
2 small russet potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1/2 large sweet onion, diced
1/2 large red onion, diced
1 head broccoli, chopped VERY fine.  No need to throw broccoli in anyone's unsuspecting face...!

These were stored in the refrigerator overnight.

Since I had almost 3 cups of Soy Curls that I had purchased at the New Seasons Market, I put them in a large pot,  put in 4 or 5 cups of water then stirred in 2 Tablespoons of the savory seasoning I blogged about some time ago plus 2 heaping Tablespoons of Better Than Bouillon Roasted Vegetable Base. I stirred this well then covered and let sit on the counter overnight.

In the morning I put the vegetables plus the Soy Curls and their broth into the Crockpot.  Way not enough ingredients so I took a half can of refried beans and stirred them in.  There was a 15-ounce can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes I tossed in, then a big jar of Salsa Verde.  I added a teaspoon of chili powder and a Tablespoon of granulated garlic.  When this was all nicely stirred, I added the last of the homemade vegetable broth and more water to bring it up to 3/4 full in the 7-quart Crockpot, turned it on low for 8 hours and walked the long way to the office.  I walked an even longer way home from the office and collapsed in my chair, too tired to eat but happy that Dear One pronounced the soup good.  After half an hour or so I had life enough to eat some. It was really good.

This soup had the most flavorful broth.  Soup is all about broth to me....

If you don't know what Soy Curls are, they are soy beans that have been cooked, cooled, then extruded into some sort of shape then dried.  They taste like nothing until you soak them in some sort of broth.  Then you can use them in many ways.  They have texture, unlike tofu, and are really worth trying.  You can make "chicken" salad with them.  You can make "tuna" salad with them.  You can make "beef stroganoff" with them.  So many things.  And don't mind a bit.

These are the soy curls that have been soaking overnight and have plumped up beautifully. They were the last thing I threw into the pot before adding broth water to make lots more broth.

Nature All Around Us

Yesterday morning when I opened the door to head to the office I had to step back quickly!  There, right in the doorway, was a cobweb from upper right to the railing on the left and RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE WAS AN ARACHNID!  I screeched, but quietly of course, and then took a deep breath.

Since spiders are supposed to be outside, I don't do anything rash to them. In this case I reached up to where the web attached to the doorway and disconnected it.  Fortunately, rather than swing into the house and onto me, the creature hit the road to the railing. I was able to quickly go down the stairs and out of there.

Today it was very foggy when we opened the door. I had forgotten all about the creepy crawly from yesterday and just opened the door.  No problem.  I noted that all the leaves have fallen from the tree outside and three big nests are perfectly visible.

Also there was a dewy web with nobody home...at least I could not see any residents so it was fine.

How I love this beautiful world our Heavenly Father created for our enjoyment and learning.

Unfinished Knitting Project Restarted: Peacock's Tail Tablecloth

Years ago I got the bug to knit a giant lace doily to use as a table cloth as a gift for M.  As it got close
to the particular end date I had in mind, I could see I was not going to get through all 126 rounds so I just stopped and made an ending.  It was okay, but not great, but I sent it to her anyway.

A few years later I was visiting and asked to have it back so I could finish it properly.  She did give it back to me. The bag it was in has been hanging from my mother's slipper chair ever since, until last year when we packed up for our mission. I thought there would be lots of knitting time, for some unknown reason...so I brought it with us.  Finally, when I finished the previous project, I pulled out the tablecloth.  It took some doing to figure out where I left off but I finally did and now am knitting on Round 110.  It is slow going because of the thread size I am using and the pattern stitches. I can't wait to finish this round because there are then three rounds of plain knitting!!  I look forward to those even though there are many stitches.  At the end of Round 110 there will be 672 stitches.  There are several more pattern rounds with plain knitting interspersed.  I long for plain knitting rounds!!!

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Yes, I realize you cannot see what it will look like, but if you Google Peacock's Tail Doily (I think it is a Danish pattern) you will see lots of different designs.  This one has 16 feathers in the tail.

Mission Afghan: Completed!!!

Finally, a year after starting it, the mission afghan is done.

It turns out that I had gotten rather sick of this knitting project and just wanted it done so I did not continue on with stripes at the ends to make it longer as I had planned.  I just picked up stitches along the long side, knitted in garter stitch three plus garter ridges then bound off.  The ends were 140 live stitches on threads on each end so I picked up along the gray garter borders then knitted the live stitches, ending up with picking up the other long side garter ridges then knit three more garter ridges and bound off.  Did this on both ends then started weaving in the ends.

At this point I will make a confession. every other square had four long ends to weave in.  After a couple of rows of weaving in I was done with the weaving in.  Well, it was late at night and I wanted that sucker DONE.  So...what any lazy knitter might do, I just tied off the yarn with very sturdy knots and cut the extra yarn.  Since it is not a garment and the only one who will be annoyed by the knots is me, I decided it was okay.  We will find out if it is really okay the first time, or maybe second time, I have to wash it.  If the ends work loose, then it was a problem.  By then I will have probably made another blanket and will let this one go.

Happily unconscious unsuspecting napper.  I guess the blanket was successful.

Things I learned with this project:  how to make small parts into a large whole with no seams.  Bingo!  Sewing together is not my cup of tea.

Something I WANT to learn:  how to weave in the ends as you go.  Now that I think of it,  if I look at the Philosopher's Wool website and watch their videos again, I will be reminded how to do that.  When I was doing stranding years ago I remember it worked great.  I just didn't think of it at the beginning of this project.  Too bad...

The Gnome Project, So Far...

The gnome project is coming along.  Tonight I finished the last of the gray vests.  Well, finished is a little optimistic, but I DID finish the vest knitting.  The ends need to be woven in and the rest of the gnomes need to be knitted, dressed, and then prepared for shipping.

In the meantime, I will attach the gray yarn to the afghan sides and start the last of the knitting on the afghan. I want that baby to be done.  As soon as possible.  There are other projects I have in mind.  OR I could just rest...

Wildlife Near Us: Red Tail Hawk

We have had a red tail hawk perch in the tree outside the office window.  We first saw the hawk last fall when the leaves dropped.  We enjoyed him all winter.  On Monday I saw him again outside the window.  Then when I was walking home I saw him on this light pole.

So nice to se the hawk so close by.  Of course, when he, or she, saw me over his shoulder, he moved so I could not show the red tail.  Oh well.  This is a nice remembrance of him.

Team Leah Bean Rett 5K Walk

It is October again, when people walk, run, or crawl, even, to support research on Rett Syndrome with the Team Leah Bean Virtual 5K.  I think this is the fifth year since it was initiated by Maren.  It has been my joy to participate at least three times...twice on our mission.

This year's performance on my part was a bit more difficult as the old pounds have added up since last year.  Having made that awful confession, I will also note that I am now down ten pounds from the mission high of a few months ago.

So last Friday I decided was the day. I have been walking to the office a couple of times a week for a while.  This week is the fourth week of walking.  Week One was twice walking to the office which is about a half mile or more away.  Week Two was three times (two zone conferences made it impossible).  Week Three was three times, with the 5K in there.

To get the 5K in, this year it was not all at once. I walked over a mile and a half to the office, buzzed around in the office all day (on a very small amount of broccoli to support my health!), then walked home more than 2 1/4 miles.  I used my stroller on all these walks to give me confidence.  When I returned to the apartment on Friday I barely managed to lift the stoller over the board and locked it to the crossbar then dragged myself and backpack up those stairs.  The top of both feet were rather screaming at me but I managed the trip up the stairs and sat down in the chair in a state of semi-collapse but with the most wonderful feeling of accomplishment, and love for Leah and her family and all the other children  and families with this impossible diagnosis.

I am not much of a selfie-taker but here I am about 30 minutes after arriving home.  Thankfully to a crock pot full of fabulous vegetable soup.  As it happens I was down for the count and did not eat any until much later.  It was great soup.  Even Dear One liked it.  Not enough to have a second bowl, but then, more for me!  No problemo!

Here I am the next day.  Don't I look like I had a fantastic walk?!  It makes me so happy to be able to support good causes, even if it is in just a minuscule way.  Dear One took this picture for which I am very grateful.

On Monday I walked again.  I thought I would find a shortcut to the top of the hill so I walked down 185th until I got to Whole Foods then turned left up the hill to find a way through the residential neighborhoods.  Nope.  No shortcut.  Fences everywhere.  So I got in another very long walk to the office.  It took me over an hour each way.  The good news is that my pace has improved by 4 minutes per mile. I won't tell you the actual pace because you will fall down laughing so hard had hit your head on the rocker and be out cold.  I cannot have that.  Just smile knowing that I am feeling pleased with progress.

Now, if I can get those tendons to stop shouting and keep up this walking...

Munchie Monday: Food Fail

How great it would be if  we could use the Crock pot for overnight cooking of a great breakfast.  So I did a whole lot of looking for simple, easy, cheap breakfasts in the Crock pot.  And found one that was touted as fabulous...so I tried it.

It turns out NOT to be overnight so I made it for lunch.  It took 3 hours to cook on low. I was thinking the missionaries could put it going before leaving their apartments and come home and have breakfast for lunch.  Not going to happen.

This is what it looked like in the Crock Pot when cooked.


This was a French Toast in a Slow Cooker recipe.  Sounds reasonable and doable.  

Slice French bread 1 inch thick.  Spread both sides with softened cream cheese and place in the crockery bowl touching each other.

Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar over the bread then sprinkle in 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice over the top.  Slice up 3-4 bananas and cover the bread with the banana chunks.  (That was the big mistake right there...)

In a bowl, mix together 4 large eggs, 1/4 cup milk, and 1/3 cup honey.  Pour over the top.  It should come 3/4 of the way up the bread.  Sprinkle on 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans then cut 2-4 Tablespoons of cold butter into thin slices and put on top.

Put it to cook on low for 3 -4 hours.  It looks like the above picture when it is cooked.

Even with a big glug of real maple syrup on it, this was kind of nasty.  We will not be making it again.

Food Friday: The Best Pumpkin Muffins

We were having a potluck at the office this week. (We do it as a reward for ourselves the week after zone conferences and two weeks after Transfers.  We need a little something about then...) I was making some vegetarian shepherd's pie and was not too confident it would be well-received.  What to make to go along with that delight?  I had some pumpkin so I looked for pumpkin muffin recipes.  This is what I found: 

The Best Pumpkin Muffins (Ever)

Tonight I am copping out a bit by not putting the recipe here, but on the other hand, I followed the recipe precisely.  Well, except that I used a heaping tablespoon of the homemade pumpkin pie spice I made last week instead of whatever she said in the recipe.

The other reason I am giving you the recipe as a link is that I think lots of people would love her blog.

As you can see, I put the muffins in a silicon muffin pan with jack o'lantern faces on them.  That part was not too successful though the heart pan turned out okay muffins. I will stick to using that particular silicon pan for molding chocolates.

You cannot see the faces here but they worked pretty well, and the messy smaller pan was pumpkins that were pretty much okay when they came out of the molds.  The ones in the orange mold were a little too thick, but then, it was not real chocolate.  It was that nasty candy melt stuff so it was possible to bite into it.  Real chocolate is too hard, in my experience.  At least, the way I do it, it is too thick so it is too hard and you worry about breaking off a tooth when you start to consume it.  Oh well.

Maybe I will go on an all-vegetable-and-fruit with a few beans and grains fast for a while so I won't feel the need to make junky food items like the above.  The muffins tasted pretty good, though, and were nice and moist. I HATE muffins and other things that are supposed to be moist but instead are dry.

And the shepherd's pie was quiet edible, in fact.  Dear One finished up the last of it tonight!  Big surprise.  Happy surprise.

Vegetation Near Us!

As I have been walking up to the office I have been able to see things up close and personal.  The newest thing I have noticed is that the moss is back.

All summer these little crevices have been dark as night.  Now with the "rainy season" more or less upon us, the little mossies must think it is safe to come out into the fresh air again.

 When I was crossing the bridge this morning there was some very thick lush moss. I did not take a picture because I was walking as fast as I could plus listening to "Saints" and was too much of a slug to stop and dismantle things so I could take a picture.  Another day.  Maybe it will be more impressive later...

Munchie Monday: "Poodles" and Zoodles!

Tried something new on Friday after a long week. SPOILER ALERT:  it was not totally successful!

We got home from the office late on Friday but I still wanted to make the zoodles and spaghetti sauce.  I pulled the three zucchini out of the refrigerator to spiralize.  Since I had just purchased a $99 Cuisinart Elemental 13-Cup Bowl Food Processor with Spiralizer Kit, I thought things would be great.  NOT SO.  I don't know how Cuisinart make such a piece of junk.  After multiple tries to put it together following the directions exactly, at the 8th time trying and failing to get the thing to start, I cursed silently to myself (though for some reason Dear One asked me if I was swearing....!  I wasn't but I was thinking mean thought...)  and put that piece of junk equipment back on the table by its box and hauled out my manual spiralizer.

This led to the next issue with supper.  The first zucchini spiralized beautifully.  The second one was okay.  The third one, which was less firm, would not spiralize at all. It just sort of ground off the end.  Rats! So maddening and my blood sugar was dropping like a stone.

Since I really did not think that was enough noodles for our supper,  I took two small russet potatoes and spiralized them, which worked beautifully.

On to the last trial with supper:  I put the zoodles and "poodles" in the saucepan to cook before adding the spaghetti sauce.  After about 5 minutes of cooking which is way more than necessary for the zoodles, and since the poodles were the same size, I thought I would speed up the cooking by tossing in the spaghetti sauce, a little garlic, and some Italian seasoning, and brought it up to a boil.  I let the mess boil for about 5 minutes, then threw in some grated Parmesan cheese, stirred well and was ready to serve it.

In the meantime Dear One, who was also starving (though a bag a "scary corn chips" had sort of blunted his hunger a bit) had wandered through the kitchen.  He looked in the pot and said, "It looks iffy."  Just what I wanted to hear.  Being a little bit snippy-feeling, I told him it was good and he would like it.  And it was what was for supper.

After dropping his bowl off to him where he was sitting on the couch researching something on the tablet, I started eating my bowl. It tasted good.  The only problem was that the poodles were not thoroughly cooked, i.e. not cooked to bits.  I had forgotten that when you have an acidic sauce the other food needs to be completely cooked because the acid stops the cooking.  Or something like that.  I had not problem eating it, however.    Dear One, on the other hand, ate a reasonable amount then told me it was not as bad as he had thought!  Well, at least he ate some, and there was plenty of other food in the house if he was really hungry.

On Saturday I returned the Cuisinart machine to Costco where I had purchased it.

Food Friday: Slow Cooker Apple Pie Cake!

With the advent of slow cookers in the missionary apartments, and having just seen a recipe for slow cooker Apple Pie Cake, I had to try it to see if was worth giving to the missionaries for their recipe archive.

Since I had the same Crock Pot as the missionaries this was a no-brainer to try.  The original recipe is in the link above.  This is what I did:

Apple Pie Cake

5 apples-I used Jazz apples, peeled, cored, and sliced and placed them in the slow cooker ceramic bowl.

In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.  Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar over the apples and, WITH A WOODEN SPOON, stir well to coat all the apple pieces with cinnamon sugar.

In a medium or larger bowl, place one box of dried cake mix. I used Betty Crocker Yellow Cake Mix.  Melt 1/2 cup butter and stir into the cake mix, making it a nice crumble texture.  You will probably need to use your hands, but be prepared...it sticks to  your hands.

Pour half of the crumble mix over the apples and stir in gently with the wooden spoon.  Arrange the apple mixture in an even layer then spread the remaining cake mix and butter mixture over the top more or less evenly. 

Set the timer to 2 1/2 hours on low.  At the end of the time, pierce some apples to see if they are ready to eat.  Mine were not so I put it cooking another hour. It did not take a full extra hour.

REMEMBER:  don't lift the crock pot cover after you set it timing or you will be adding to the cooking time.

Things I will do differently next time:
1.  I will increase the cinnamon to 1 teaspoon in the apples.
2.  I will also add cinnamon to the cake mix itself.  You cannot get too much cinnamon.  Just cooking fills your head with that wonderful aroma and is good enough.  You don't even need to eat the pie cake to get the benefit of that cinnamon.
3.  I will use softened butter instead of melted butter to see if I can made a more crumbly cake mix mixture rather than a globby cake mix mixture.
4.  I will probably try a different apple.  These Jazz apples were pretty sweet. I much prefer tart apples, or at least on the more tart end of the spectrum.

Crockpot Missionaries!

Recently our missionaries have been making their own suppers Monday through Friday rather than eating with members of the congregation.  They will still eat with ward members on the weekends.  Our mission president thought the missionaries would eat better healthier meals if they had crock pots so all the senior missionaries went to Costco who was (and maybe still is) having a sale on 7-quart Crock pots that let you program them to a small extent.  We each picked up five so we would have enough for each apartment to have one.  (There are about 70 apartments in the mission...)

Today was the first of two zone conferences where the Crock pots were going to be dispensed.  Dear One and our local young missionaries plus some senior missionaries loaded 45 pots into the back of the truck.  We drove them to the zone conference in Tualatin.  During the conference a lady who is a crock pot queen gave a short presentation with tips on how to use the Crock pot.  She had previously sent us a number of quick and easy recipes to pass along to the missionaries, which I did.

For myself, I thought that was a good Crock pot so I availed myself of one and made some Apple Pie Cake. It has five ingredients.  I will be sharing that here tomorrow, I hope, and with the missionaries as it was okay eating.

This is the truck ready to hand out the crock pots to the missionaries.

If anyone has any quick and easy, with few ingredients, and inexpensive, recipes to share, please email them to me!  I will pass them along.  Especially good would be recipes that could be used for several meals in several different ways.  Thanks!

A Little Levity is Always Fun

A few minutes ago our eight-year-old grandson called.  He had some jokes for me...and I thought I would share them.

1.  What did the lion say after eating the clown?

2.  What did the computer do when it was tired?

3.  What did the cake say to the fork?





I tried to make the text turn upside down so you could have some time to think, but, while it worked in Word, I could not get it to paste here upside down.  Oh, well...




1.  That tasted funny!
2.  It crashed!
3.  Do you want a piece of me?

1.     

Afghan Update

Here is the afghan with two stripes of leftover yarn on each end.  They are not the same size stripes as you  see but they are fine in my book.  At this point I am stopping the afghan for a short (hopefully) gnome project for which I plan to use the other four leftover skeins of yarn.  If there is more yarn after the gnome project, I will probably add to the stripes. I really want to use up all the yarn. Soon.