Tuesday Tricks: Cleaning Silpat

Several years ago I splurged on a Silpat sheet.  I was sick of having cookies and other things stick to the pan.  The Silpat does work like a charm.  Unfortunately, being a slothful cleaner-upper, or, at least, not knowing how to keep the sheet clean, over the time we have had it, it has become nastier and nastier.  (Don't get me wrong:  I DID clean it, just not very well apparently.)  It was time to  do something about it. 

On the internet you can read all kinds of conflicting information about just about any question  you ask.  I finally focused on baking soda, since that is useful in many ways, I have learned.

Before leaving the house I sprinkled baking soda all over the Silpat which I had placed inside a cookie sheet. I then filled the pan with water and left for the day.  Note the nasty edge of the Silpat...


When we came home, the first thing I did was put the pan in the sink, take out the little scrubby sponge that has some netting over it and laid into the mess with a strong hand.  You really cannot tell how well the soda and elbow grease worked, but I am pleased with the result.  At least mostly.

Munchie Monday: Great Steel Cut Oats in the Instant Pot

Having a quick and easy breakfast is important to me.  Eating oatmeal every day is supposed to be great at lowering cholesterol.   Somewhere I saw a comment on someone's blog that in three months her cholesterol went from awful to normal in three months with eating oatmeal every day.  Of course, she did not say what else she was doing, but hey,  oatmeal is easy so why not give it a try.  My next doctor appointment is in three months and it will include fasting blood work, so why not?!

Today I pulled the Instant Pot inner liner out of the Instant Pot and put it on the counter.  This helps keep ingredients for getting places I don't want them!

In the bottom of the pot I put 1 cup of steel cut oats, 3 cups of water, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds,  and 1 teaspoon cinnamon then stirred them well.  Next I sprinkled on top 1/4 cup raisins, almost 1/4 cup dried cranberries, and one large apple grated.  I did NOT stir them in at this point. I just installed the cover, selected HIGH pressure and 8 minutes then went about my business.

When I got back to the pot the oats had been on the warming cycle for 15 minutes.  I took off the cover,  stirred them up, put 1/2 cup into each of two bowls and sprinkled on some chopped pecans...maybe 2 Tablespoons on each bowl.

We ate them with pleasure.  This was at around 8:30.  After the very green smoothie and the oatmeal we did not eat ago until 4:30.  Around 2:30 my stomach began to growl but I was not unpleasantly hungry.  That was very nice.

There was nearly one quart of oats left in the pot which is now waiting for tomorrow. And the rest of the week.  Pretty good deal.

Food Friday: Green, VERY GREEN, Smoothie--Quick and Easy

Someone named Dr. Mona has a channel on YouTube.  By a fluke I saw a video advertised about green smoothies.  I have been pretty anti-green smoothies but must have been at a weak point today so I watched it.  Not only did I watch it, I got up and made it and shared it with Dear One.  He drank it!  You could have knocked me over with a feather.

This is the very green smoothie.

Using a high speed blender, in the blender jar I put:
3 cups baby spinach leaves
2 cups water
1 whole lemon juiced.

Started the blender and blended for 60 seconds.  Probably did not need that long but the one and only time I have used spinach in a smoothie before there were chunks of spinach leaves which gave a very nasty texture on my tongue. NOT what you want in a smoothie.  At least, I don't want that.

Next put in:
1 cored and chopped apple. I used a Pink Lady.
1 ripe banana

Blend again for 60 seconds.

This is very very green.  Pour it into glasses quickly. I gave a 4-ounce glass to Dear One and an 8-ounce glass for myself--since I really wanted this to be tasty enough to eat.  And maybe eat more than one time.

Well, it turns out there is enough for two days, so the rest is waiting for tomorrow morning.  Now I am thinking about what else I can add to the smoothie....maybe some flax meal or chia seeds.  What else?  Hum.  I will have to think about that.

Vegetation Near Us: Stargazer Lily?

The other day I was walking somewhere and saw what I thought was a Stargazer lily across from me. It must be somewhere here in the commercial complex where the office is, but at this moment I cannot remember.  I just remember crossing the street to see if it really was a lily.

Anyway,  I went over to it.  How glorious it is!  I am not sure it is actually a Stargazer but it surely is beautiful.

Wednesday Wonders: Red Dragonfly

Today I was out walking.  Well, I took some letters to the outside mailbox while listening to Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery on my phone.  Since I needed more steps I went around the defunct science building and kept on until I came to the ponds in the park.  There on the first pond I saw a red dragonfly, something I did not know even existed.  My picture is no good. It is another "Where's Waldo?" sort of picture.  (Look about halfway down near the right edge...)

However,  when looking on the internet this is one of the things I found:

"The dragonfly, in almost every part of the world symbolizes change and change in the perspective of self realization; and the kind of change that has its source in mental and emotional maturity and the understanding of the deeper meaning of life."

Well, isn't that an interesting thought?!!!  I have just started making some changes.  Maybe that dragonfly is evidence that the changes are a good thing and that this will be real lasting change, for a change!

Tuesday Toys: For the Kitchen

Yesterday I went to the town fair.  In the center of town several streets had been blocked off.  There were many booths of all kinds. I went mainly for the "health street" to see what new tidbits I could pick up that might get me on the straight and narrow permanently.  Hope springs eternal, you know...!

Another reason I went was because I could take the train into town and avoid trying to park somewhere, lose the car, get lost myself, etc etc.  It was an adventure to ride the train.  The stop I needed was about a block from the first street. Very handy.

After walking around in the blazing sun, with no hat, and no water bottle I finally found the health street.  My blood pressure was checked.  OK. My blood sugar was checked.  Not OK.  My blood cholesterol was checked.  Really not OK.  Fortunately there were no more things to be tested...!

After walking around some more I found a tent that had a water wall in it and misting water all around the top of the tent.  There were triangular paper cups which I filled with water and drank deeply.  I had my wooden walking sticks with me and people looked at me peculiarly for some reason, but the sticks gave me the confidence to do all the walking I wanted to do.  More than 11,000 steps, my best day in months.

There was a Chinese acupuncture booth that I saw as I was walking by.  The man there invited me in and said he could do a free diagnosis, so I went in and sat down.  He looked at my tongue and told me I have poor sleep.  Yep.  He looked at both ears, one at a time and told me I had tinnitus. Yep.  Then he told me I have inflammation. Yep.  After that he told me one other thing I did not want to hear, so I am putting that idea on hold for now.  Perhaps I will go see him at some point before we leave, but after I have given the other health initiatives a good try.  If I do two new things at once I won't know that acupuncture actually works, rather than the other healthy living things.

As I was leaving the fair I smelled fresh garlic and walked over to a tent where a woman was grating garlic in a plate!  So surprising.  It looked very interesting.  Always up for a new kitchen tool, I purchased one of the grate plates.  Today I used it for both garlic and jalapeño.  It did work.  It will work better when I am using fresher garlic, though, I feel sure.  These garlic cloves broke in half from age, I think.

This is obviously the jalapeño.  It is not a very good advertisement for the Grate Plate because of inexperience. If you go to the website you will see lovely silken grating.  I think I like this toy.

Munchie Monday: New (Old) First Thing In The Morning Beverage Quick and Easy

Years ago my sister and I were drinking a crazy beverage to assist us in cleaning out our inwards and potentially leading to weight loss.  I don't remember how it went.  Obviously it was not a gigantic success in my case.  My sister looks pretty darn good, so maybe it did work for her though we have not discussed it since them.

This morning I was up early.  For some reason I was looking at a couple of the notifications on my phone from YouTube about health.  One was about a morning "detox".  Usually I delete anything that says detox but this time I watched it.  It was a pretty quick and easy "cure".

This is what I did:

Started the hot water running from the tap while I got out a mug from the cupboard.  I poured in about 1 1/2 Tablespoons lemon juice, a scant Tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, shook in three small shakes of cayenne then filled the cup with hot tap water.  I stirred well then glugged it down.

Amazingly, it was not bad.  I will make it again tomorrow.

The best news is that the "detox" did not entail an hour in the little girl's room!!

Food Friday: Another Surprising Success

We were going to have that great Romaine/dried cranberry/feta/candied almonds (and in this case a little hidden shredded broccoli slaw) salad for supper.  Turns out we had used up all except the Thousand Islands dressing which I did NOT think would be tasty.

Looking in the refrigerator I noticed we had about a tablespoon of homemade strawberry jam (I am not the maker of the jam...) and so mayonnaise.  Okay then.

So, in a small bowl I mixed 1 tablespoon strawberry jam with about 3 tablespoons mayonnaise until very well combined then pour it over two bowls of salad.  I tossed well.  We both ate it with pleasure.

Two food successes on the same day (we ate this with the broccoli/French onion dip quiche)!  So fabulous.  I hope this does not give me confidence for explore other scary combinations...!

Thursday Travels: Devil's Punch Bowl

Another picture from our trip to the Coast!  This time we were on our way back home and, at about 3 PM were all just limp from lack of food...having just done the cheese-tasting and ice cream around 10 AM. Elder J knew of a place called Mo's Seafood.  We stopped at one and were going to have a 45-minute wait.  Wrong! He thought he knew of another one so we went to it.

This Mo's was right beside the Devil's Punch Bowl.

This must be really really impressive when the tide is in.  Apparently the water comes up and over.

The Mo's, as far as situation, was a disappointment.  There were five tables that seat 8 small people, plus a shelf in front of the window that seats 4.  That shelf is what we got.  The food was good, though!

Craft Failure: Flower Drying in the Microwave

Lots of buzz out there about drying flowers in the microwave by putting them in a book then closing with elastic bands.  I thought I would try it.  After all, greeting cards with dried flowers on them are very very cool.

Well, this was a real failure.  The white petunia melded with the paper.  The colored petunias  were barely better but impossible to remove from the paper.  The black-eyed Susan was just a mess.

So, I will not be doing that again.  Seriously, once was enough on this project.  There are too many other projects out there....

Fortunately no one objected to me taking a few flowers from the backs of plants where they were unnoticeable.

Tuesday Trials: French Braid?

One of the problems with "like"-ing blogs and Facebook pages and other things online is that, after you have decided to UNsubscribe, for some reason 'they' don't forget you.  Recently I started receiving emails again from a cute girl who does lots of braids, and braid tutorials on YouTube.  She said that July is Braid Challenge Month or some such thing.  Like a (less-than-smart-person)...I went to the page that first day and tried to do it.

This was my result:

As you can see, it was not very successful. It did, however, keep the hair out of my face and did not annoy my neck.  I was in the bathroom trying to take a selfie when a kind young woman came in and asked if she could help me!  People are really so kind!

Munchie Monday: Surprise Food Success--Quick and Easy

We had one smallish head of broccoli in the refrigerator.  Plus some heavy cream, eggs, pie crust, and some homemade French onion dip.  Being on a lazy streak

, I decided just to put them all together and bake them.



SO...this is what I did.

In a large bowl, mix 4 eggs, 1.5 cups heavy whipping cream, less than one cup homemade French onion dip (1 pint sour cream mixed with one packet Lipton's French Onion Soup Mix), and 1-plus cup of minced broccoli (Dear One likes broccoli quiche as long as he cannot really distinguish the broccoli from the rest of the ingredients...).

Place in a pie-crust-lined deep pie dish.  Pour mixture carefully into the dish.  Sprinkle over the top a little more than one cup shredded cheese.  In this case it was Tillamook extra sharp cheddar (3/4 cup) and Tillamook smoked medium cheese (about 1/4 cup).

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F. for 45 minutes.  In our oven this was not quite cooked so I turned off the heat and let the quiche sit there for another half hour  without removing from the oven then removed from the oven.  Very well cooked.

Dear One really liked it.  I had a tiny piece and liked it, too.  I call it a roaring success!

Food Friday: "Baked" Beans

We are having a Departing Dinner again soon.  As part of the menu we are having baked beans. I had found a recipe I really liked using the Instant Pot.  Dear One really liked them, too.  Today, however, when he had a second serving of them as leftovers, he asked about them.  Which made me wonder.  When I quizzed him about his question, he said they were "a little stronger" than he expected them to be.  That made me think I might want to re-think the Instant Pot baked beans.

Our mission nurse had told me she had a recipe her mother made that she would be happy to share with me.  This is the recipe:

In case you cannot read it:

1 pound hamburger, browned and drained
1 large can pork and beans (or 5 small cans?)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons mustard
3/4 cups brown sugar

Combine in a crockpot.  Can double recipe to increase but still use 1 pound of hamburger.

I have not made this yet, but think that I will.

Thursday Toy: Personal Fan!

Last August when we arrived here the temperatures were going up.  It was over 100 degrees F. several days.  In many places that would be fine, but in our apartment we only had screen windows and a box fan.  Sleep was pretty hard to come by.

Fortunately, a departing sister missionary gave us her air conditioner come November, which we have in the living room.  It does okay but is not wildly successful, from a person who really likes refrigeration!  Dear One is more of a "let the hot times roll" sort of person.  "Nice and comfy," is what he says when we walk into the apartment at the end of the day and are hit by a blast of hot air.

Well,  I may have mentioned that we got a fan for my desk at the office...a 6-inch one which I have rolling all the time!  So nice.  There is an air conditioner at the office, also, but, until President came in one day for Staff Meeting and asked if we didn't have air conditioning, and upon hearing that we did, he found the thermostat and dropped it ten degrees!  So. Much. Better!!  With that little fan on my desk, I am pretty happy at the office.

The other day Dear One and Elder W were going out to do a few jobs away from the office.  I mentioned, again, the possibility of getting a fan for the bedside table (on my side of the bed!) and he nodded his head.

It turns out it did not fly at that particular time BUT later that afternoon he told me they were to be had at Target and I should just order one.  I tried but, not knowing geography very well, had it to be picked up at a Target way farther away than Dear One was willing to drive, especially since he had already checked it out and found a Target pretty close to us for a pick up.

This is what we got:

It works ever so well!  I love having it blowing on my face.  Come to find out, Dear One is not so fond of it.  Already, after just a few hours,  he retrained the flow of air.  When he got up at around 3:00 AM!  Since I had already had six good hours of sleep, I was not ripped off by the change of situation.  Actually, I got up and went out to the living room where the box fan was blowing lovely cool air into the room.

This fan (which you see in the living room) beside our bed, is so great.  As you can see,  it does not take much to make me happy! 

Wednesday Wonders: Bald Eagles

More of our trip on The Fourth!  This was so appropriate.  We were at the Yaquina Lighthouse, almost to the lighthouse when a man came up behind us and said there were two bald eagles in a branchless tree.

You better believe I picked up speed so I could see them, and perhaps even photograph them.  When I got around the corner, all I saw was a wonderful small grove of some sort of green leafy trees.  Then, to my delight, a little further on, with the side of the lighthouse to my back, there they were!

So fabulous to see them.  I have seen a few in Vermont and New Hampshire but this was my first sight of them in a tree,  friends sitting beside each other.  So nice!

Tuesday Trips: Oregon Coast

On the Fourth we "went to the coast" via Tillamook Cheese Factory Visitors' Center.  That was really enjoyable.  They do have a fabulous new visitors' center where you can look down at the workers making the cheese.  On that walls around you is the story from cow to cheese.  Very interesting.

When you finish the self-guided tour you end up at the cheese-tasting table.  There are five different cheeses to sample, which change.  This time there was medium cheddar, smoked cheddar, pepperjack, black pepper cheddar, and a sharp cheddar.  Hoping not to be rude, but I am more of a fan of Cabot cheese...even though these were fine.  And the Garfield Smokehouse in Meriden, NH makes far superior smoked cheese.

Once you have had your samples you go downstairs where magically you end up in the gift store.  You could spend your entire allowance there in no time flat.  We got smoked cheese and extra sharp cheese then moved on to the ice cream line.   Sadly, they did not have very many flavors but we did buy a Rocky Road single cone which Dear One and I shared.  It was good.  We did not go to the cafe across the hall. Tillamook ice cream for breakfast was enough.

From there we headed south to see if we could find some whales.  And we did!

Our first stop was Boiler Bay. I took lots of photos of "whales" though you cannot tell from the picture. 

Can you spot the whale?  I didn't think so! Very hard to see.

We moved along to Depoe Bay and finally to the Yaquina Light House.  More whales each time.

Can you see it now?  Didn't think so with this one, either.

 It was low tide and the whales barely moved out of the water. We did see lots of "spouts" but they were not what I was expecting.

This you should be able to see!!!  The whale was blowing here.  Not like the whale spouts in the cartoon but still, a pretty nice sight.  These were not humpback whales which are the kind Dear One always saw on the whale watches he took TA students to see off the coast of New England.  I do not know what kind they were.  Apparently they are seen every year from June to September in this particular area.

Munchie Monday: Reviving Kale

Earlier in the week we  did a little grocery shopping.  By the time we arrived home, I was a basket case and just sat down in my chair...after merely putting the milk in the refrigerator.  Then came the Fourth and another day at the office.  The kale was looking pretty limp where it was still lying on the table.  For some reason it occurred to me to treat it like a bouquet of flowers!  So I did.

After cutting off about an inch of the stems, I filled a glass with cool water and inserted the kale.  Look how happy those leaves are now!!  I am hoping to make a nice kale salad tomorrow.

Food Friday: Candied Almonds

We had a very nice salad at Zone Conference last week. Dear One said he could get used to that salad and did I think I could make it.  Well, maybe.  It was Romaine lettuce, dried cranberries, feta cheese, candied almonds, and a slice of perfectly ripe pear in a light barely visible dressing.

So I made the candied almonds.

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup slivered almonds

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Melt butter in large frying pan over medium heat. When mostly melted stir in the brown sugar and almonds. Stir continually until almonds are golden brown. Less than five minutes... Spread on Silpat covered cookie sheet. Let cool.

To make the salad:

2 cups chopped romaine 

1/4 Pink Lady apple chopped

3 Tablespoons sweetened dried cranberries

2 Tablespoons candied nuts

2 Tablespoons Caesar dressing

Because I have no confidence in my ability to choose ripe pears, I went with the Pink Lady apples.  These are so good.

The salad was yummy.

Next time I will either double the nuts or halve the butter.  There was butter leftover in the pan and on the Silpat.

Also, I will try to find a different dressing.  Maybe poppyseed.  The Caesar was okay, just not stunningly delicious.

Vegetation Near Us: Petunias!

The other night, after a long day in the office and on the road, and a trip to the President's house to drop off some important mail, we talked about stopping at a pizza place which remain unnamed to protect the guilty(we had gone there a few months ago and had a terrible experience--well, I walked in, ordered pizza, after quite a while I saw that it was in the queue being made, then cooked, then ready, then nothing!  After 40 minutes or so I asked about it and was told there had been a mix up and that they would have it ready in fifteen minutes.  No way. I got my money back and swore never to go there again.  Dear One likes their pizza...sad). 

Anyway, we pulled into the parking lot where he ordered the pizza online with his iPad.  Within fifteen minutes it was ready.  I got out of the car to go pick it up but make a quick stop to take some pictures of these gorgeous petunias.

Aren' they just fabulous?!  Don't you love the veining in them and the color!  I do.  Maybe I will try painting them some day.

Audio File Trial

At the Zone Conference we attended last week the young elders and sisters sang this song as the prelude music.  It brought tears to my eyes.  The music does not start for about ten seconds but it is worth waiting for.

Peace in Christ from Zone Conference

When you click the link you will see an image on the screen.  Go ahead and click the little arrow.  It takes a bit for the music to start, but I do think it will work.



If you cannot hear the words clearly while they sing, click here to see the lyrics.  I hope you enjoy them.  As you do, think of me listening with an open tender heart and tears wetting my cheeks. 

I made a video but could not share it for some reason.  Seeing the beautiful faces of these young people would make your tears flow like rain, too, I am certain.

I hope you enjoy it and when you feel there is no peace on earth, know that there really is peace in Christ.  He helps me every day have peace.

Watercolor Painting: Deerfoot Brush

Recently I signed up for a watercolor online class.    So far I have only watched the first couple of classes.  She talked about brushes.  I had never heard of a deerfoot brush.  There is a Blick Art Store near us.  I found a 3/8" deerfoot brush there.  I used it to make these pictures to turn into greeting cards.

The brush is rather cool.  I went back to Blick to get a 1/4" deerfoot brush!  I do not know what difference it will make, but I like this first effort.  Very fun.  Lindsay recommended at 24-color travel kit, which I also purchased. It is the Daler and Rowney Aquafine field kit.  It is not like I don't already have half a dozen other field kits, but....well...these are good colors.  AND as I follow the lessons, I will have the exact colors so my work should turn out looking like hers--at least the colors will!

Munchie Monday: Vietnamese Salad Rolls

For the office potluck this time I made Vietnamese Salad Rolls, basically the same thing as spring rolls.  So yummy. Especially with peanut sauce!

Use rice paper wraps that you dip in water for a few seconds to soften them up.  Place a variety of vegetables that have been julienned on the bottom third then roll them up.  So easy.  So good to eat.  Everyone likes them. Well, except for you-know-who.  I ate his portion...

At this point I was getting down to the bottom of the barrel, vegetables-wise.  I made 32 of them.  Many were eaten at the potluck.  You cannot go wrong dipping them in the spicy peanut sauce!

The few that were left over we took home. I put one in a bowl, chopped it up, and used the seaweed snacks to pick up a bite and chomped it right down. SO GOOD!  Try it.  You will like it.

PS. If it looks like that is a dill pickle stick, you are right: it is.  Amazingly good.