Flower of the week- June 22, 2009

This weeks flower of the week - I present.....LILY!Not really, Lily is far from being in the posey family
....so how about a WATER LILY....

and how about a land LILY.....

So-DEE-licious Coconut Milk

I know- yet another post that isn't related to the Belmont Stake's theme dinner - but I promise, it's to rain for the next few days- I'll do it then - but till then this is my new addiction....I found this at our local grocery store, it's by TURTLE MOUNTAIN- the cost was $3.59 for a half gallon...and worth every penny. I love it on cereal, poured over fruit, or in smoothies. it has 50% of your daily requirement of B12 IN JUST ONE CUP - which equals 90 cals. Also 30 % of your required Vitamin D. Trust me - try it you'll like it!

And someone else in our family has a new addiction too....Fluffy (real name Saphire, but come on, she is really Fluffy) I was having some popcorn with nooch on it and for some reason I thought about mixing some nooch and water for Lily (humm, think it was the cocktails that were thinking for me). Well, Lily started to lick it up, then was chased away by Fluffy to finish up the treat...Look at the fluffy addict-

They didn't barf it up, and Fluffy had the treat a second time a couple of days later, so I'm assuming all is good giving kitties nooch. If you know differently, please let Fluffy know, there is no way I'm breaking that news to her!

Till next time!

Flower of the week- June 15th, 2009

And it's a mystery flower..... I don't remember where the ID tag is to tell you the name of it, but I love this plant. The leafage is pretty all season, and the flower reminds me of Queen Anne's Lace - here is a closer looksee....

...and a bonus to this plant, it has given be 2 volunteers that I have planted else where in our gardens.

For kicks and giggles, I'm throwing in a bonus photo of a yellow finch that was getting ready to take a bath in our stream.

Ain't it tweet????? Have a great Monday!

Grilled Cabbage

I really do have a Belmont Stakes post as promised....I just have to have some time to compose it...you know, laid off people DON'T HAVE TIME! Geez, how did I ever work and have a clean house????

Well until I get to that post, here is a very yummy grilled cabbage post. My mom is notorious for sending envelopes with clippings of recipes, coupons and household tidbits. Uhmmmm, confession, I usually throw them away - one, most of the recipes have 3 or 4 non vegan ingredients in them and I'm just not interested in veganizing them....but this one - caught my eye. Sorry, I have no source of the recipe, except for it was clipped from somewhere by my Mom. But here it is....

Grilled Cabbage

1 medium head cabbage (about 1.5 lbs)
1/3 c butter, softened
¼ c chopped onion
½ tsp garlic salt
¼ tsp pepper

1. Cut cabbage into eight wedges; place on a double thickness of heavy-duty foil (about 24” x 12”). Spread cut sides with butter. Sprinkle with onion, garlic salt and pepper.
2. Fold foil around cabbage and seal tightly. Grill, covered, over medium heat for 20 minutes or until tender. Open foil carefully to allow steam to escape.

I followed the above recipe loosely –
1. I used just standard foil, since I was out of heavy duty, and it worked just fine.
2. I sliced the onion, and put it between the wedges.
3. I didn’t measure the butter, I just slapped it on the cabbage from the tub (I use Earth Balance, a non-dairy butter)
4. I used garlic POWDER liberally- I don’t normally add salt to my food, and we love garlic, so for us, more the better.
5. I added some other spices, like dried parsley and paprika, but I’m wild like that.
6. Next time, and there will be a next time, I will put whole cloves of garlic, or slices in the mix.
Other then that, I followed the recipe to the “T”

BEFORE PHOTO......
AFTER PHOTO.....

This was soooo good, so buttery and sweet. (I love organic cabbage, I think it has such a nice milder flavor then the chemical injected stuff too)

Can't wait to make it for people that don't like cabbage - this will win them over! I actually had to send back a copy of the recipe to my Mom so she can make it.

5 out of 5 forkers for this one!!

And no horsing around, I will really get to the Belmont Stakes post- what a hoot it was!

Flower of the week - June 8th, 2009

Well technically, it's not a flower, but it's a beautiful bush- Rainbow Leucothoe- shade loving evergreen.A closer look of the striking new growth of pink, creamy yellow and coppery tones, stand out against the mottled green and whiter mature leaves. Produces white dropping flowers.

Enjoy your MONDAY!

Simple, Boring and Dee-lious

I haven't been blogging- maybe because I haven't been really cooking anything exciting - BUT THAT WILL CHANGE THIS WEEKEND. We are having a themed event Saturday and of course I will share all the deets next week - but until then- here is the most exciting thing I cooked last weekend...Sad, but yummy.
At the top, you have- okay, we had....stuffed red pepper. To the left WE had, grill potato(es), and then grilled yellow squash. Goods had marinated grilled mushrooms too, but I wouldn't let them touch MY plate.

So the dinner all started with some surprise bargains at Kroger. I bought Goods some baby portabella mushrooms that were marked half off - $ 1.39 / 8 oz. Then a couple of weeks ago I ran into this bargain!!

Half price baby! I bought 2 and stuck them into the freezer.

So I made some stuffed peppers using the above faux meat. I mixed in some chopped onion and green pepper, and stuffed the mixture into halves of red pepper. I also stuffed a non-so-baby portabella mushroom that I found in the package, for Goods of course.....

I still had some "meat" stuffing leftover so I baked that separately in it's on tiny baking dish. Look how cutesy it is.....

I actually just came across that little munchkin dish when I was sorting through items to put out in my yard sale - to say the least, that little munchkin dish was staying with me!

Then the potatoes were simple....I halved them, and gasp, I cooked them in the microwave. Note: THIS IS NOT THE NORM FOR ME! I can't stand the microwave, but we were having waterline clogging issues with the washer and, well, priorities, thus we were poisoned with the mircrowaves. After the waves were done blasting the potatoes, I doused the potatoes with olive oil, and tons of spices - garlic powder, rosemary, onion powder, parsley, paprika....who knows what else.

Then an action photo of Goods cooking....

Everything, except the peppers and the munchkin dish (oven baked), were thrown on the grill for cooking....here you can see the mushrooms (gag)

I don't remember what I did to the squash...but everyone knows how to do grilled squash.

See, boring.... nothing special, but it was yummy.

Next food post, I promise, will be much more exciting!

Have a great weekend!

Flower of the Week - June 1,2009

They are popping up all over - Monster Poppies!