Lots of Goodies

I found this in "Cooking Light" Magazine.  I am especially interested in "Kristen's Gluten-Free Cherry and Coffee Cake Muffin Mix."  Although it seems a bit pricey.  The Pecan! Pecan Butter looks good too; but pricey also.  Okay it's a fun look anyway!

Hummingbird Bread

                            
The name intriqued me; as you know we are lovers of hummingbirds.  I found this recipe in the newspaper, and it is a healthier version of the original; whatever that was :)  Looks really good!  Still has the good old sugar and wheat. But it would be something good to make for company or to take somewhere. 

                       

Sugar is Good!

I actually baked something the other day and it turned out great!  I still have it.  Of course since it was for our small group, I made it with sugar and I must say, sugar is good!  If I were making it for us, I would skip the sugar or use sugar substitute.  But there is no way around it, sugar makes the recipe!
So what was this yummy thing?  It was apple/pear crisp.  I used 4 ripe Bosc pears, one Rome apple, and one Spy apple.  I doubled the crisp recipe in the Betty Crocker Cookbook and made it in a 9x9 glass square pan.  It looked and smelled so good.  I wish I had taken a picture.
Now on to a healthier recipe-this looks really good. This might be on the menu for dinner this week.

Slow and Easy

Chef Donaldo went to Costco and while he was there he bought himself a new sloooooow cooker.  We already have one, but this one is better and bigger.  He makes soup once a month for the soup kitchen at church and wanted a bigger crock pot.  And it came with a small cookbook.  I thought this recipe looked easy and really good. 
I hit the 20 lb. mark today.  Not sure if that is good or bad, since I am still not feeling good....and I have no clothes.  But the later is easier to fix.  Especially with sales at Parisian and Land's end "Friends and family" 25% off and free shipping.  I must say I am a fan of Lands End now.  They are really great to deal with and you can take anything back at the Lands End department at Sears. 
I think we will give this recipe a try before next month's soup kitchen.

Yummy Pears

This is just getting to be a plain ole recipe blog. The roasted pears with Honey Yogurt sound Yummy!

                

Spiders

These are the perfect cookies for all you spider lovers.  I think I will plan ahead and give them a try.
          

                                     

Yummy And Warm

I got this recipe out of a magazine and thought it sounded perfect for this time of year.  I think it is worth a try.  If you want less sugar, use sugar-free hot chocolate. 

Crafty Food Ideas

I don't know what got into me this week, but I felt like creating.  I wanted to make some wine vinegars.  They are so easy.  I found some pretty wine vinegar bottles at the grocery store and soaked the labels off.  I added all the fresh herbs into the bottle and vinegar (you have to dump a little out) and let it sit in a window.  The more herbs you have the prettier it looks.  If you want to give it for a gift, you can tie a bow to the top and a list of ingredients.  These had lots of herbs including Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Oregano, 2 or 3 hot peppers for color, Basil and Red Basil which makes the vinegar turn a light shade of pink. I added some edible nasturtium flowers and leaves.  The garlic chives are blooming and the pretty white flowers add some color also. You can use it for an marinade, or you can make your own salad dressing with it. It looks so pretty sitting in the window.   
Yesterday I had to make a salad for a lunch meeting and I made my own dressing from Penzeys Italian Seasoning. I added a few nasturtium flowers to the dressing and also to the salad; decorating the top.  People are always surprised that you can eat nasturtiums.  The leaves have a pepper taste and the flowers have a slight pepper taste. I use the flowers mostly for decoration. Make sure you rinse the center of the flowers out so no little bugs are hiding-you don't want to add that kind of protein to the salad!  

This is one of the wine vinegars that I use-and I soak the label off.  Then I add the herbs....

                         

Exercise

I decided to give the pool ONE more day to heat up and jumped in our 99 degree hot tub this morning. Ah....it was lovely to sit and see the steam rising from the water.  But, I was lacking in exercise today so I decided to take a walk.  Now when I walk, I have to go somewhere, I can't just walk.  So I walked up to TJ Maxx to see if they had any goodies.  Yes indeedy, if you don't go too often, you are ripe for finding something good. There it was, a half priced "Life IS Good" T-shirt with a coffee mug on it in a pretty shade of blue. The mug is pink.  It just jumped off the rack and into my arms. 
I have to be careful now, my tummy has been feeling mostly better for a week now-don't want to gain anymore weight back and I still want to eat healthy, because I believe it is a good thing.  You just have to be careful, that you don't eat too much healthy food you know? 
Going to give the pool a try tomorrow. 

Cool Pool

The Rec. Center was closed all last week for maintenance and they drained the pool and it was re-filled last Thursday.  I went swimming Saturday when they opened and that pool was COLD; lower 70's. I'm sure it was as cold as Lake Superior if you have ever been in that lake you would know how cold it was.  I like warm water; 86 is ideal, I think they keep the pool at the Rec. Center at 84 which I tolerate. I warm up once I get exercising. 
I skipped yesterday; giving it one more day to warm up.  Went this morning; FREEZING.  The power had been off yesterday and the center was closed.  I swam/walked for 20 minutes; it made my ears ache underwater.  Then I warmed up in the hot tub and high-tailed it home to my own hot tub :)

Potent Quotable

                                           

"If hunger is not the problem, then eating is not the answer." -----Anon.

HOT

Well true to Michigan weather, it is back in the 90's. But get this, Monday is going to be in the 60's.  Now that is a 20 degree fall.  I really do like this time of year; it is just bittersweet because of what comes after it.
I found a refresing drink and it does have natural sugar in it, but it is so refreshing and is supposed to restore your electrolytes better than Gatorade@ and is better for you.  It takes some time to get used to the taste, but now I like it.  What is this wonder juice??  Take a look, give it a try!
                

Pure, right from the coconut!

                         

What's For Dinner?

Well, Donaldo is mixing up a yummy marinade for the grilled chicken.  We bought some baby squash at the farmer's market which he is going to grill with a little Penzyes' Tuscan Sunset spice and olive oil.  Baby potatoes on the grill are good too.  The chef microwaves them a bit before grilling them.  The peaches we bought aren't ripe enough to grill-but wait-grilling makes them soften up....so maybe. I love this time of year when all the fruits and veggies are so plentiful.  I even bought some "wine" grapes.  I forget what they are called, but I love them.  Yep, I will eat dinner slowly and enjoy all the fine flavors. 

There was a twin squash in that box

Little grapes-sweet with slightly tart skin

We know what this fawn is having for dinner!