I'm still holding out

I received another Facebook invitation yesterday. I haven't signed up yet. Still holding out. But not for long I suspect. And considering how short some of my blog posts are, perhaps I should consider Twitter too. No matter what, I still like snail mail and phone calls...you know the personal touch...one-to-one contact, not mass blasts.

Photos 113-114/365 Hopscotch

It's fall

How do I know? No, it isn't the weather since we're having a little heat wave (is it summer again?), alternating with morning fog (June gloom). It isn't the grocery store since there has been a lot of produce on sale; isn't that supposed to happen in the summer. My garden is giving me hints since there hasn't much to harvest. And I never check the calendar for the official start of a season. So how do I know? All the new TV shows have started and we're watching waaaay too much tv, lol. Oh, and the leaves are falling in Webkinz World.

$3.07

Good thing I waited a few days since the price went down two cents.

Photo 112/365 Bargain of the day

I don't normally buy candles...I have dozens of Partylite tealights and votive candles in the closet...most of the scents are discontinued, they're so old. But I couldn't resist these since I'm interested in trying soy candles (why??? I hardly ever burn them). Resistance was futile since I got them for free with coupons, woo hoo!!

Photo 111/365 Harvest

Pathetic, isn't it? It takes a week to get enough for a meal. Most of the vines are dead, but there are a couple that are holding on.

Jillibean Soup Sketch Contest

Jillibean Soup is having a sketch contest, so of course, I had to enter since I love Jillibean Soup. It is one of the few products that I bought when it was first released and I'm glad I did since most of that release is sold out everywhere. You still have time to enter...barely since the contest ends tomorrow (or today for most of you reading this).

supplies: Jillibean Soup patterned paper and felt flowers, Lasting Impressions brads, Scrapworks ribbon, American Crafts rubon, Quick Quotes ink

Photos Naptime

This is what I wanted to do after we finished playing outside.

$3.09

The price went up to $3.09 for Labor Day and I was hoping it would go back down after the holiday. But when I went to my usual gas station, the price had zoomed to $3.15! So I drove several blocks out of my way to where it was still $3.09...my little protest against rising gas prices.

Photo 110/365 More home cooking

Mom sent me some "gow gai" via J. Don't ask me what the translation is. All I know is Mom's been making this vegetable into a soup for as long as I can remember. Of course, my version is much simpler. Canned stock instead of homemade, tofu, and the gow gai. Three ingredients and a lot of memories. (Sorry I didn't make the soup when you were here J.)

She also sent some cuttings so I could have my own. I did have a couple of plants but ended up tearing them out because they kept getting mildew. Hopefully, I'll have better luck with this batch.

My taste buds are dead

After a couple weeks of home cooking for J and dining out for Asian food (since there's a lack thereof where she lives), I resorted to TV dinners (yes, I'm old enough to call them TV dinners) tonight since J is gone (boo hoo!). The heat has tired out both me and Mr. Fix-it, yet another reason to not cook. My verdict on the first bite was, it tastes like soap. On the second bite, yucky and too salty. On the third bite, hmmm, not bad! I wonder what kind of drugs they put in this fake food so that it eventually tastes good to someone??? Maybe "tastes good" is an overstatement, lol. At least I didn't spend a lot of money on them.

Photo 109/365 Dinner

J brought me a huge batch of banana peppers and I had no idea what to do with them. I went searching and found this recipe on allrecipes.com, but of course, changed about a million things, like used half beef/half Italian sausage, stuffed some bell peppers along with the banana peppers, Romano instead of Parmesan cheesed, used a mix of homemade sauce and jarred sauce, etc. The good news is Mr. Fix-it liked it and there's enough leftovers for another couple dinners, lunches, and a dinner for his dad. And there's several stuffed peppers in the freezer since I couldn't fit them all in the pan (and I used an 11x16 pan!). The bad news is, with all the modifications, I'll never be able to duplicate the recipe exactly. But I could probably come close. Not that I want to make it again any time soon since I was prepping for an hour. I'd never make it on Hell's Kitchen.

Photo 108/365 I think we're well stocked now

TP was on sale, had coupons, and got a $5 gift card for purchasing two mega packs. (Unfortunately, I didn't get it for free like you expert couponers/CVSers do.) Ran out of room to store all of this, lol.

$2.99

Holding steady.

Photo 107/365 Home cooking

You can't get a meal much cheaper than this. With J gone for a few days visiting Mom, it was back to long work days for me. Didn't feel like cooking so came up with this: leftover brown rice, leftover veggies (bean sprouts w/string beans and green onion from the garden), and then racking my brains for another dish, I remembered Mom and Uncle T's filler dish--scrambled eggs and peas, seasoned with oyster sauce. You won't find this on any restaurant menu and I'd never serve it to company, but just thought I would pass this on if you're looking for a quick, cheap dish to fix.

I'm finally getting around to creating my recipe pages for my annual "Cookie Day" with my girlfriends. These are half letter pages, 5.5x8.5. I'm finding it harder than I thought it would be to work with this smaller size.

Photo 106/365 Winter melon soup

What? It isn't winter you say? Ahhh, that's the beauty of a freezer. The melon is from Mom and since I got multiple melons from her, I ended up freezing some of it. Winter melon soup isn't Mr. Fix-it's favorite so J's visit was the perfect time to cook it. I think the texture is slightly different after freezing, but J didn't notice. Or maybe she didn't care since she doesn't get this soup very often.

My version is different from Mom's: I cut the melon into bite-size pieces, she leaves the melon in big chunks and then you use your spoon to scrap the melon away from the skin. Less waste that way. I also have more ingredients and (gasp) use canned broth (usually) instead of homemade stock. And, chicken broth instead of pork stock. Gotta go with what's on hand, right? I don't have pork bones in the freezer like Mom does. (Her freezer is scary, lol.) I guess my version is the next generation soup.

$2.99

It is what it is...

Blueberry Muffins

My friend Holly blogged about "To die for blueberry muffins" and since we had blueberries in the fridge, I was inspired to try the recipe. The recipe was originally posted on allrecipes.com.

I kept the Blueberry Muffins part of the name because I'm a simple kinda gal and don't need all the superlatives. Plus I don't think they were to die for, they were good, but not to die for. On the other hand, I'm not a muffin fan so what do I know.

The recipe below includes my modifications (I used a different topping, yogurt instead of milk, and modified instructions). See the links above if you want the original recipe.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
scant 3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon sale
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup plain yogurt (can use buttermilk or milk instead)
1 tablespoon milk or cream
1 1/4 cup fresh blueberries

Topping
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter

Directions
Preheat over to 400 degrees.

1. Sift dry ingredients together.
2. Beat egg, then add oil, yogurt, and milk.
3. Fold dry and wet ingredients together, then gently fold in blueberries.
4. Fill muffin liners (in the pan of course) almost to the top, then sprinkle with topping. You may have some topping leftover.
5. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until inserted toothpick is clean.

Store uncovered to keep the topping crunchy.

Makes 10 regular size muffins. I used the Pampered Chef muffin pans, if that gives you any idea of size.

Photos 104-105/365 Garage Sale

M had a garage sale, which is code for "clean out Dad's garage and whatever crap doesn't get sold gets dumped." He filled up his trailer and hauled it all back to his house. Traffic was sporadic until one shopper told him his signs had blown down. After they went back up, it was non-stop. The kids had fun playing on the trailer. Here's C exploring some of Grandpa's treasures from his dumpster diving days. (C is in the dotted shirt and E is in the striped shirt. Per Mom, C choose that shirt to wear. Guess clothing preferences start early.)