Girl Talk Friday

Well it is cold outside. The weatherman says we are having these extreme cold temps with no snow to speak of because it is dry. And it is dry because we have had no snow. Boy being a weatherman is tough! I am a bit more concerned about what no snow means to the water tables come spring and summer. Could be a problem for gardeners and local farmers.

Had a wonderful breakfast this morning of veggie hash and fried eggs. Here is a pic of the hash, it looked so good I could not resist a picture. 

It has broccoli, cauliflower, onion, yellow bell pepper, mushrooms and a dash of a salt free seasoning. Its yummy, and the perfect way to get your veggies for breakfast.

Well along with it being February and cold and gray outside. I have to say that the winter is catching up with me. Can we all say depressing! It is for me! I would like to be like that crazy groundhog from Pennsylvania and crawl in a hole! It seems this winter my body is not adjusting to the cold. I have always been out in it and not had a problem. But not this year. I try to go out in it and I just freeze. I mean the other day I was so cold and hubs said, "you must have a fever". I do not have a fever, I am cold, not hot! But to please him I took it anyway! 2x's with .....2 different thermometers, are you ready for this..... 92.2*. And of course I said I told you so!! Had to take a hot bath to get warmed up. 

Not only am I freezing but I need some sunshine. We get a ray every now and then and I am so grateful when we do. But I can't wait till April when we can count on it more often. So in the mean time I am doing all I can to "put some sunshine in my life" And lately I have been doing that with my sketchpad. 

So tell me what kinds of things are you doing to beat the "winter blues"  All I can say is I am not going to take this cold and gray winter sitting down! I am determined to go down fighting or hopefully not go down at all! 

Tasty Tuesday

Well they tell me today is "Carrot Cake Day" so I thought it only fitting to share a few Carrot Cake recipes.

The first one is a wonderful addition to any breakfast. It is great with homemade biscuits or we like it on toast from my beer bread. It is for Carrot Cake Jam.

Carrot Cake Jam

1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots

1 1/2 cups chopped apples

1 3/4 cups crushed pineapple w/juice

3T. lemon juice

1 tsp.ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp.ground cloves

1pkg. low sugar fruit pectin

3 c. sugar

Combine top 7 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover and boil gently for 20 minutes.

Place into jars as you would any jam or jelly.

***** I will tell you it is great fixed just as is. But a bit sweet for us, so I used a sweet apple and reduced my sugar by about a 1/2 cup. So feel free to experiment with this recipe and let me know what you did and how it was.****

Here is another Carrot Cake recipe I use and like very much.

Carrot Cake Bread

4 eggs

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 1/12 c. oil

2 c. self rising flour

11/2 tsp. vanilla

11/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 c.shredded carrots 
1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream eggs, oil and sugar together till well incorporated. Add vanilla and cinnamon. Slowly add flour. After flour is mixed in, add carrots and nuts by hand.

Bake in a loaf pan that has been greased and sugared with regular white sugar. Bake at 350* for 50 minutes then test to see if toothpick comes out clean. If not bake till it does.

******The sugared pan makes all the difference in the world with this bread. It is good enough for dessert or a great breakfast bread.**** 

Don't forget I am working on a recycling post so if you are not following me you just might miss it when its done!

Monday and Menus

Cold........Windy..........Wet!!

And it looks like that will be it for the day! So I am staying inside and staying warm.

Well SuperBowl food was great and the game ended the way I had called. But I will have to say I was a bit disappointed in the half time show and the ads throughout the game. Was it just me? I really thought they could have had more UMPH to them, for what it cost to produce them and have them aired. Well that just my humble opinion.

With all this cold weather that is hanging over us, food for the week will be of the comfort variety. So here goes.

Monday.......Split Pea with Ham Soup and Grilled Cheese made with homemade Beer Bread

Tuesday.......Salsa Chicken rolled in Joseph's Bread and a Chopped Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Wednesday........Macaroni and Tomatoes and a Chopped Salad with Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette

Thursday......Roasted Chicken w/onions/carrots/yellow squash/cauliflower

Friday.........Chicken Quesadillas and a Chopped Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Saturday........Chicken Salad on top of my Chopped Salad.

As you can see we like salads! And salads are good for us and since I started making chopped salads the hubs is always ready to eat one.  Friday and Saturday's will be made using the leftover roast chicken.

I see that a few of you shied away from yesterdays post. But I was hoping you would make it to the bottom of the post since I let you in on something to look for in the next few days. Hope you don't miss any good info!

  

Changing Of The Mug.....and other stuff too!

It is time for the "Changing of the Mug", and I must say that January just flew by!

This month I decided to borrow a mug from the hubs. 

A mug to remind me of something. You see, I have always wanted to go Elk hunting and since we live in West Virginia it would be a far piece to make that happen! 

Well in the local paper last week was an article about the Elk population in Kentucky. In particular a certain county about 50 miles from me. In order to do some population control for the herds( which have no natural predators there) They are going to take applications for license and only something like 50 will be given. They are also for only like 3 days. I guess this is like a lottery you could say. They will charge a small fee to enter your application and then if you get the license you pay for that as well. SO it is a win win for them. 

So I chose this mug for February (I know you were expecting pink and red hearts), because I am trying to decide if I want to apply. I talked to hubs about it and he said he did not think he wanted to but has encouraged me to if I want. I just get so excited thinking about it.

*********Disclaimer..... This post was not meant to be offensive to anyone. ************

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Now as you know I am trying to eat healthier and incorporate as many vegetables as possible. So I just had to share with you one way that I enjoy some veggies that I probably would not have thought of a couple of years ago. 

I love to have a veggie hash for breakfast with a couple eggs over medium. This particular hash has onion, bell pepper, broccoli, cauliflower and spinach with about an ounce of a real lean ham chopped finely for flavor and a shake of a no salt seasoning.

One more way to help me get my veggies.

I have a post in the works about recycling so if that is something you are interested in make sure you join and start to follow me so you won't miss out on anything.

Thanks for hanging in with me all the way to the bottom of the page!