How About Some New Recipes?

This is not a new recipe, but I have never shared it before. We have a little tea room type restaurant here called The Picnic. They have the BEST chicken salad of all---and there are a lot of good chicken salads around town. I like many of them, but this is by far my favorite! 

I made it last week. I hadn't made it in a long time. It was just as delicious as always. Plus it's so easy. I'm all about easy. I did not have celery seed, so I left it out. My note on the recipe is typical of my recipes. Every time I make something, I'll make a note on it. If I didn't like it, I just get rid of it. I do it mostly because it's a way of knowing if I've ever made it before. I forget easily these days---or pretty much forever.

When we scrapbooked at the farm a few weeks ago, I got the next two new recipes from Pam.

The first one is a recipe for margaritas. I do not like margaritas---I know I'm about the only one. I always thought it was because of the salt. Then I thought it was that I just didn't like tequila. Then, Pam made these. They are sweet. I like sweet drinks. Now don't get me wrong, my favorite "go to" cocktail is an extra dirty martini. And, I like gin & tonics. Neither of those are sweet. But since I've never liked margaritas, turns out I like them sweet!

Pam's Margaritas

1 cup Epsolon Tequila 

1 cup Santa Cruz lime juice 

1 cup simple syrup (boil 2 cups sugar with 2 cups water until dissolved, cool)

Mix it all together and serve. I decided to take it a step further and freeze them to use as pool drinks. I made them the day before and they didn't freeze up very well--I guess because of the alcohol. I filled individual glasses and froze them that way. They froze up that way. 

I had a hard time finding that lime juice. It's from Sprouts. Publix carries it in a smaller bottle, but both places were "out" when I looked. Pam surprised me with a couple bottles. I plan to try a different one to see if that makes a difference. 

When I tried my second batch, I used some tequila we already had. There was this:

I screamed! I forgot that tequila has a worm in it. It kind of grosses me out. The Epsolon did not have a worm. 

Another recipe that I got from Pam was this. It makes a lot!! I'm going to include the original recipe that Pam gave me and then what I changed. I'm all about quick and easy.

Peanut Butter Banana Pudding

Step 1:

1 1/3 cup milk (I used 2%---she used whole--I couldn't tell the difference)

1 (3.4 oz) vanilla instant pudding (I used the big box because I thought it needed a little more pudding)

1 (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk

Mix together and chill about 5 minutes to thicken.

Step 2: 

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

Beat until stiff peaks form. Fold in to pudding mixture.

I skipped Step 2 and just used Cool Whip---8 oz. light. I couldn't tell the difference in the taste. Plus it was much quicker.

Step 3:

1 box family size Nutter Butters

16 oz. jar peanut butter 

3-4 sliced banans (I used 5)

Build trifle by layering nutter butters, pudding, bananas, melted peanut butter (just put the jar in the microwave). Repeat. Can add more Cool Whip on top and drizzle with peanut butter. I had a couple extra nutter butters, so put those on top too.

Delicious!! Huge hit with the family. Pretty rich too.

I do not have pictures for the next two recipes.

Skillet Corn

3 cups corn cut from cob (I used frozen)

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1 T. sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup water

Combine all ingredients above, cover and simmer 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

1 T. flour

1/4 cup milk

Whisk together until smooth. Stir in to corn. Cook 5 minutes stirring until it thickens.

This was a huge hit too. Basically, it's creamed corn except not all schmushed up. 

This last recipe was quick and easy. I wouldn't say it's fabulous, but it's pretty good. Butch felt like it needed more meat and could have been a little juicier. Still, it's nice to be able to cook everything in one pan. Easy cleanup.

Taco Pasta

1 lb. ground beef chuck

Brown and drain.

1/2 cup chopped onions

Add and cook until translucent.

1 pkg. taco seasoning

2 cups water

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce 

3 cups small shell pasta, uncooked

Add all ingredients and stir. Cover and cook on medium for 10 minutes until pasta is cooked and water is absorbed.

Remove from heat and add. 

1 cup cheddar cheese (I used Mexican)

Crushed tortilla chips.

That's it for new recipes this week. Let me know if you have anything awesome to share!!

What I Buy Wednesdays

I really didn't have anything to report for What I Buy Wednesday since I didn't buy much of anything this week. I did get 3 sets of Creative Memory scrapbook pages for $20 on Ebay, but that's it. Oh, and I picked up our needlepoint kits from Nashville Needleworks for myself, Sandy, Stephanie and Mindy. Well, that was actually a BIG purchase!!

I had signed us up for a weekend workshop in May. Due to Covid, it was postponed to August and then finally cancelled altogether. I'm sorry that the girls won't experience the fun of doing  the workshop with a "real" teacher. You learn so many tips and tricks. I've done a couple by myself and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Soooo, we're doing the next best thing. We've planned a weekend on August 28th. Sandy is going to drive in after dropping Elizabeth off at school. 

Last Saturday, while Sandy was here, we took 20 minutes to get our project organized.

We're ready to go! I'll be the teacher. I have a plan. I'll teach them a stitch and then we'll watch a movie while they work on that one thing. Then I'll do another stitch. My plan is to teach them 3 new stitches this first weekend. Then I'll give them an assignment. We're going to try to get together one weekend every other month---alternating between here and Atlanta. That's about the best we can do. It should still be fun. At least I hope so.

For our first weekend, we'll have happy hour on Friday evening. Then we'll start our project with a movie. On Saturday morning, I'll do a brunch around 10 a.m. We'll stitch for a few hours and then go to the Hermitage Hotel for high tea. They are doing something special in honor of the history of the suffragettes. There will be some sort of lecture to go along with that. Then it'll be back to stitching. We'll order Chinese for dinner. More stitching! 

That's it, our whole weekend---just us girls. Butch will be around. Maybe he can be our bartender!

I'm really looking forward to it. I'm even thinking of finding us a bed and breakfast somewhere midway for all of us to have a long weekend since our New York trip in September has been cancelled. 

We've got the project organized and we're ready to go. They just need to bring their scissors, beading needles if they have them and a clip on light. I wanted to post that here since they read my blog. When we were together, I hadn't mentioned the light. It's a good idea and I was afraid that I would forget to tell them.

They are excited and so am I!!! Can't wait to spend that time with my "girlies!"

Travel Tuesday

We still haven't been traveling, so this is going to be a stretch! But, hey, it's somethin'!

Last Wednesday, Sandy surprised us by saying that they were coming in town for the weekend. I put it in gear and started planning--food and activities! So, on Thursday, Butch and I headed out to run the errands. Believe it or not, running errands together is the highlight of my week these days. Really, it's about every other week---we try to save up the errands so it's more exciting. I'm not kidding!

We were going to the liquor store, Starbucks, Sprouts, farmers vegetable stand, grocery store and then Sonic for lunch.

It started off to be a good day when, at the liquor store, Butch discovered that this particular place had Maker's Mark for $8.00 less than his regular place. This place, "Red's" is now going to be his "go-to" place. Plus, he had some sort of incentive from American Express for visiting small businesses. We didn't go for that, it was just on the route for our errands. Still, a nice little plus! 

When we're going to be out and about, Butch always drives me through Starbucks so I can get my "ventiicedblackteashakenwithtwoequalsnocane"---just part of our travel routine. 

From there, we got on the highway. I've mentioned this before, but have to say it again. There's just something about getting on the highway these days that makes me feel like we're on a road trip! I guess it's because here in Nashville, we mostly drive around town without getting on highways. 

As we're cruising along, we're listening to the radio. Butch has been enthralled with this Sirius station---Underground Garage. He's been telling me about how they play unusual songs that you don't hear very often. In my opinion, I'd change that to "songs I've never heard of before, ever!"

                        

Case in point. Have you ever heard of the Cocktail Slippers? What does that even mean? Perhaps the group was drunk, drinking cocktails out of slippers and said, "Hey, we should call ourselves---the Cocktail Slippers!" Yeah, good idea. Never heard of the song either. That's okay, I like a wide variety of music. It's only fair that Butch gets to choose sometime. Okay, on with the errands.

We stopped in Sprouts for only the second time of my life. The first time a couple weeks ago, I discovered they have pork steaks. Actually, they call them "pork blade steaks". Pork steaks are a St. Louis "thing" and were not sold here. Since I happened upon them at Sprouts, I'll definitely be back--even if it's out of my way. 

This time, I was there for the pork steaks, but came across this. First of all, I had no idea that aloe plants could get this big. My second thought was, "holy smokes"---this must be for BIG burns!" Really, what do you do with this and how long does it last? Does in need refrigeration? You can't tell from the picture, but they are about 18" long and 3" wide at the base. Anyone?? Any ideas?

Next we went to the farmer's stand. The same one we went to a few weeks ago on our way home from the farm. I stocked up on veggies for the weekend. 

From there it was Kroger's for the rest of the groceries and then Sonic for lunch. Of course, we needed to "hand sanitize." One thing I learned is that these "flavored" hand sanitizers don't especially go well with burgers! I carry one called "cherry merlot" in my purse. The smell stays for quite awhile. This is the first time it was annoying. At happy hour on Friday night, Greg was saying that the one he used was clashing with his drink! I thought it was interesting that I'm not the only one who had a problem with that. Minutiea, I know. But that's my life these days, full of minutiae (another word I don't think I've ever used. Had to look up the spelling).

On Saturday, we were having a pool party. We're barbecuing pork steaks, making fresh green beans, roasted potatoes, sliced tomatoes, Sister Shubert rolls, and a new recipe---skillet corn. For dessert, we're having another new recipe--peanut butter banana pudding. I'll be sharing recipes soon. In the meantime....

...I decided to enjoy my fresh vegetables, artfully arranged (okay, just piled) in a basket. Hey, little things make me happy. Always have. 

Our day of errands---well, couple hours---was really fun. That's about the extent of our outings with a little geo-caching thrown in. I used to hate running errands. Who knew they would become such a source of enjoyment!! 

Monday Mystery

As I've mentioned before, we have continued with our happy hour puzzles after quarantine. We've had plenty of hard ones and many fun ones. A couple were not so fun. This is one of those. 

This is what happens when you order a puzzle from China. First of all, it comes in a plastic bag---not even a ziplock! Along with that, they send a picture of the puzzle.

1000 pieces. It doesn't look like it should be that hard. There are plenty of textures and colors. 

This is where we are. Since it hasn't been fun, we haven't been that motivated and have skipped several days. Mindy worked from here on Friday. So, when she finished with work, she joined us while we waited for Stephanie and Nicky to get here for happy hour. See those two missing pieces on the lower right? Mindy was determined to find those. They should have been easy. She never could find them. Also, I should note, that we are pretty organized about our puzzles. We lay out ALL the pieces using cookie sheets. That way we can look easily for specific pieces. That lead me to telling Butch that I had two pieces that just had to go in a certain area. I passed them to him.

I just couldn't figure out how to make those two pieces fit---but that building is the only place they could go. That's when he discovered this. Now look closely.

See those two that are sort of purplish? They don't really match the surrounding pieces.

Well, guess what? We had two pieces that were exact duplicates!!! We've never had that happen before! 

So then, I picked up this lone pink piece that I'd tried to find a spot for---many times. There are only two small pink areas on this puzzle. It didn't fit there. We turned it over....

...it doesn't even go with this puzzle!! OMGosh!! What a waste of time! No wonder this puzzle is so hard. There's no telling how many pieces are duplicates. We are going to keep plugging away and see how it comes together. Now it's a challenge AND a mystery!! 1000 pieces. We'll see how many there really are! I'm guessing 1006! 

One thing that is not a mystery: I'll not be buying another puzzle from China!! 

Stay tuned.....

Sweet Tooth Sunday

No, I'm not starting another theme for my blog. I'm just sharing some sweet things today so decided to go with that title.

I definitely have a sweet tooth. I NEVER make desserts unless family or friends are coming over. And even then, I send most of it home with them. I like sweets! Yes, I have a few around, mostly cookies--I still want something sweet after a meal. Plus, I usually have candy in the candy jar. I'm pretty good about limiting myself. I'm not the type to eat an entire box of cookies. Just a couple at a time for me. In fact, I usually tire of them before I finish the box. Of course, I would love homemade cookies, but again, never unless company is coming! I don't think I could be that disciplined. Heck, I couldn't even control myself when I was a kid! You can read about "Christmas Without Cookies!" here. I'm not sure if that will link work for you. I'm still trying to figure out this new Blogger platform. It's frustrating the heck out of me. If it's not clickable, then copy and paste this in to your browser: https://barbaraeads.blogspot.com/2016/12/can-you-have-christmas-without-cookies.html

On Wednesday, we invited Mindy and Justin to come to dinner---by text, of course. She responded with "Are we in trouble?" OMGosh! That cracked us up! I responded, "No! We just thought we'd share one of the Imo's pizzas you sent me for Mother's Day. Plus we have toasted ravioli from St. Louis too!" 

When they arrived, I said that what I should have responded to the question about them being in trouble was "Why? Should you be?" Mindy said that Justin was the one who asked!! Gosh---are we that scary?? So funny! Actually, they thought we might be trying to trick them to get them here to clean out Mindy's closet and haul all her childhood crap and their wedding presents away!! Nah! But that sounds like a good idea! I'll have to remember that. Heck, it's only been about 5 years. I guess they don't really need that stuff! Plus, Stephanie and Morgan have had fun shopping out of her closet! 

Anyway, for dessert, I made a Marie Calendar's frozen blueberry pie. It was the first time I ever had one of those. It was delicious! Honestly, it tasted better than homemade! Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with the canned blueberry pie filling. But you can tell that Marie made hers from scratch with fresh blueberries. They were big, plump and juicy! So good---served hot with ice cream! I sent half home with Mindy and Justin but saved a piece for each of us too. 

Now on to a couple of my other favorite sweets. 

These mini treats are perfect if you just want a little something. At around 100-120 calories, they are a bargain!

And then there are these! OMGosh y'all! They are fabulous. 

And you get 9 of them for only 150 calories. They are like candy. Really!

I really like these too---as long as someone doesn't open them and not use a clip to ensure their freshness---ahem...Steph! Stale---not so good.

You get 5 of them for 140 calories. 

Hands down, the winner is the mini Oreos. Both are great, but the Oreos seem like more of a sinful treat for only 10 more calories. 

These are really good too. You can find these at Sam's. So good and crunchy!

You don't get many, but it's enough.

And then there are rice cakes. Now, I ordinarily do not like rice cakes. However, these are pretty darn good for a little treat.

You get 13 for a nice right treat for 120 calories.

Now all this talk about calories might make you think I actually count them. I do not. It's just that when I'm choosing snacks or treats, I prefer to pay attention to the calorie count. Then I don't feel so bad about it. After all, not a single one of these treats are very healthy---maybe the nut clusters and rice cakes are a little healthy. That's another thing. I really don't want to eat total crap either! Okay, it's total crap. But it does satisfy my sweet tooth---on Sunday---and every day!

What kinds of things do you have for a little sweet treat? I'm always up for something new! Just don't say fruit. Yes, I like fruit, but that's not a sinful treat. That's like really healthy!

Scrapbook Saturday

Here are the rest of the layouts I did at the farm a few weeks ago.

This layout is about Mitchell's move to Nashville and his first job. The journaling is on the right tied up in a neat little bow.

It opens up to reveal a fold out with the journaling.

The flowers on this page were made by tearing vellum into three sizes of circles---should be jagged. I layered them and adhered them by sewing three little pearls on them.

"Family Auction" is about the fun idea Sandy came up with last year for the holidays. I always say that you need to have your handwriting reflected in your scrapbooks now and then. My rule of thumb is if the story's long, I type it. I write it if the journaling is short. We no longer have a printer at the farm, so it's all handwritten!

"Christmas in New York" is about our fun trip during the holidays. I tried to get as many of the things we did on this layout. We crammed a lot in to just two days!

Since I took this picture, I decided that the title didn't show up well enough. I ended up outlining "Moments" on the left. I forgot to take a follow-up photo. This page is about Camp Aunt Barb. I made a pocket to hold the scavenger hunt list and the thank you card the kids made for me. I journaled the three day schedule on top.

"2020 We Stayed HOME" is about our quarantine. We've fared pretty well. Mostly because we still really like each other!!

"There's nothing more American that a "bomb pop!" I did the title and journaling on my computer before going to the farm. I pre-planned all of my pages this time. That's why I got so many finished. I "made" that bomb pop by just cutting the shape. Then I dug out my chalks that I haven't used in at least 10 years!! Now that I think about it, I should have run it through my paper crimper that I also haven't used in about 10 years!! I'm getting that out and putting it on my table to remind me to use it. Hmmm, there's an idea. I think I'll look around my room and pull out some other things I haven't used in ages.

The "Joy of Christmas Cooking" is a layout about a family favorite that I only make during the holidays. I don't know why, but I have a lot of recipes I only make during the holidays. I originally wrote out the recipe, but forgot to leave room for the photos. When I got home, I typed it up instead so there was plenty of room for the pictures. Also, I did that folded and layered paper technique on the left. The strips are 1.5x3 and then folded in half. Usually, I use scraps for that. This is the first time I did it with the papers I was already using. 

"Spring Break" in Newport. I did this journaling in advance too. I included thank you notes and our cooking class "cookbook" in the pocket. That was really fun, but most of those recipes were a little more involved than I like. I'm all about quick and easy these days.

"Tiny Cards" is my layout about those cards we used at Camp Aunt Barb. Josie ended up winning them. They remembered to used them on their family vacation and sent me pictures. I used some of thost tiny cards on the layout. Yes, I bought them specifically for scrapbooking. The idea to actually use them at Camp Aunt Barb came later. I love this color combination. I've kept these scraps together for a long time. Cutting squares worked out perfectly since I no longer had big pieces. 

Well, that's it. 20 layouts completed at the farm from Thursday evening until Saturday evening. Pre-planning is the key! I always used to pre-plan, but had gotten away from that in recent years. Actually, it was really fun to do. I got to relive all the memories twice!! I'm going to be sure to do that from now on.

Friday Funnies

I post a lot of "funnies" poking fun at the guys. Turnabout is fair play!!