Ditz of the Day Award

 
Sometimes I surprise even myself.
 
I admit that I'm often running on empty. On automatic. Without thinking.
 
But there was no excuse for this.
 
My laptop and printer are in the kitchen. My "supplies" are in the basement. The basement is cool...and damp..not wet, but summertime in the northeast is always damp and we don't have a dehumidifier in the basement.
 
So my envelopes are "damp."
 
The last time I tried to print out damp envelopes they would not run through the printer...paper jam
 
So I dried them out in a warm oven....perfect.
 
I thought I could do this again
 
BUT I left the envelopes in the oven just seconds too long...
 
And the envelopes all melted shut...
 
No, I could not open the envelopes, which pretty much rendered them useless.
 
So now I am using them for making my "to do" lists
 
Which earns me the Ditz of the Day Award.
 
Because who bakes their envelopes anyway?

Those were the days

 
When I married at 21, I was transported from suburban life in California to farm life in Ontario, Canada. We drank milk straight from our cow, enjoyed our own eggs and, of course, planted a gigantic vegetable garden every summer. My MIL taught me how to bake pies with the flakiest crust and how to can the fruits of the season.
 
Now I live in New York State in a subdivision that backs onto green belt but no cow, no chickens and no vegetable garden (too many trees and very little sunshine!) I try to buy most of my fruits and veggies from a local fruit stand but I no longer can, preserve, pickle, jam and freeze what I did in the 70's and 80's.
 
My memory is filled with the images of countless canning jars sitting on the kitchen counter, filled with the jewel tones of ripe fruit, the small jars of crabapple jelly firming up in the sunshine on the window sill and the big freezer filling to the top with bags full of bright green and yellow veggies.
 
This is what I would put up each year for the coming winter:
 
CANNED
apricots
sweet cherries
sour cherries
peaches
pears
plums
tomatoes
tomato juice
stewed rhubarb
applesauce
 
PICKLED
dill pickles
bread & butter pickles
sour pickles
peppers
sweet relish
tomato relish
eggplant
 
JAMS & JELLIES
strawberry
raspberry
peach
apricot
black currant
red currant
crabapple jelly
 
FREEZER
peas
green beans
yellow beans
corn
broccoli
brussel sprouts
 
I remember the backaches after picking peas and beans, which always seemed to be ready at the same time. There were hours spent in a steamy, hot kitchen and feeling dead tired at the end of the day, but mmmmm, lovely summer goodness to enjoy during the cold winter.
 
But now we don't eat canned fruit. I make applesauce sometimes but that's about it. No more do we have Sunday Dinners with roast beef and yorkshire pudding always accompanied by bread & butter pickles and crabapple jelly. One jar of jam that I keep on hand for the grandkids lasts for months. And I tend to buy my veggies fresh rather than frozen.
 
But those were the days. I'm glad for the memories. Do you put up the bounty of summer to enjoy during the winter? Was there a time when you did?
 

Wordless Wednesday: Mrs. McTweety's

 

 
Look closely, you'll see that Mrs. McTweety has a boarder! You can't actually see the bird but you can see her nest below the "front" door!
 

She's ready for Christmas!

 
No, not me....I'm lucky to be ready by December 20th.
 
I'm talking about my 11 year old granddaughter, K.
 
You see, K and I are planning to have a yard sale later this month. I've been cleaning out closets and the basement, gathering treasures to sell and K has been doing the same at her parent's house. Almost weekly, I bring bags of books and toys over to keep in the garage until the big day.
 
Even our neighbors joined in. They recently moved away and generously contributed several boxes of previously loved goodies to K's yard sale. Up until the past week, K had not investigated her growing stash, but now she thought it was time to see what she would be putting out for sale.
 
And she was thrilled with what she found!
 
"Oh look, Grammie! My Mommy would love this! And Daddy would love this! And Nani would love that!" and so on and so on and so on....
 
By the time she was finished inspecting the boxes, K announced that she had all of her Christmas shopping done! And she was so proud of herself.
 
"This is the first time I've done my own shopping, Grammie! Everyone will be so surprised!"
 
I can see that this yard sale is going to have to be an annual event.

Let them eat hay....

 
I was browsing through my cookbooks a while back, looking for some inspiration. I was thinking healthy so grabbed "Everyday Cooking with Dr. Dean Ornish" the expert on eating to reverse heart disease. It's been 13 years since my Honey's heart attack and I am ashamed to admit that we have strayed from the diet we adopted immediately after his bypass surgery. So many reasons, none of them good........
 
But now I needed something that would appeal to my four visiting granddaughters too. I spied a recipe for haystacks!
 
That name would catch everyone's attention! So I made it. Everyone (except one fussy 5 year old who only ate the chips) loved it and it was so easy to put together. So here, courtesy of Dr. Dean Ornish and with a little tweaking from me, is how you make Haystacks!
 

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
corn from 2 ears cooked corn (a great way to use leftover corn on the cob)
1 head romaine lettuce, chopped or shredded
1 1/2 c shredded cheddar or your choice of cheese (I guess I should suggest low fat)
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 cups cooked rice (brown if you have it)
1 15oz can fat free refried beans
thinly sliced green onions, optional. (I left them out for the kids)
 
With a little oil in a large, nonstick fry pan, saute the red pepper, half of the green pepper and the corn for about 3 minutes until they start to soften. Add the cooked rice and continue to cook over medium heat until everything is nice and hot.
 
Heat beans in a microwave safe dish covered with plastic or heat in a pan on the stovetop.
 
To Assemble:
On a large plater spread the refried beans then top with the rice and half of the cheese. Next add the lettuce, the remaining cheese, tomatoes and green pepper. Serve with tortilla chips or soft tortillas if you want to make burritos.

I just put out the haystack with a basket of tortilla chips and let everybody go to it! The kids thought it was great to eat dinner with their hands and, I have to say, it tasted really good! And did I mention it was healthy?

One Mom and a Party Reviewed by My Greening

 
Thanks to CanCan at My Greening:Going Green for her spontaneous review of One Mom and a Party.
 
I had participated in the Great Summer Bloggy Giveaway, offering an eco-friendly party set of the winner's choice from One Mom and a Party. CanCan was not the winner, but she thoroughly checked out my eco-friendly party products and posted a review on her blog! I only learned of it in my blog comments! How sweet is she???
 
So bookmark or subscribe to this blog and CanCan's blog so you won't miss the next giveaway. It's going to be an eco-friendly Happy Birthday banner. Use it in place of paper decorations and streamers and make your next birthday party a little more eco-friendly!
 
You meet the nicest people when you blog!

We Have a Winner!

 
Congratulations to Lilith Silvermane who won an eco-friendly children's
birthday party set from One Mom and a Party!
 
Thank you to everyone who entered! I enjoyed all of your comments.