Salt & Humor

Recently, I found out that my Gram has been enjoying spinach in her smoothies. She tells me she learned this from me!

Find this scape to be BEAUTIFUL!
Realized, how much I love sourdough bread and fresh tomatoes!
That sparkling wine is nice, for a change.

As much as I adore eggplant, it is somehow better when it is home grown.
Was reminded just how much I LOVE Cosmos!  Why I don’t have any in my yard boggles my mind!!

Remembered that this is a dear friend’s FAVORITE flower.
Always enjoy watching birds.

It seems like Autumn is right around the corner.
I found that I should wish upon a garden gazing-ball more often.

Had some of the BEST banana pancakes, ever!
Realized that I have not yet seen a grasshopper in the four years I have lived in Portland!

Still love Thistle!
It was a full moon last Tuesday.
Jason makes the best hot-wings I have had yet!
What have you realized recently??

As part of the Foodbuzz, Tastemaker Program, I was lucky enough to receive a coupon for a Buitoni-Complete Meal for Two.  I was pretty overwhelmed with the options when I was trying to pick just ”one” out.  Jason mentioned a while ago that he wished he could have lobster, so I decided on the shrimp and lobster  ravioli.  Last night was the perfect night to pull this meal out of the freezer.  I made zucchini torte from zucchini in my garden and prepared a simple salad to go with it.

The Prep:

Butter a pan and chop about 5-6 cups of zucchini (I used the food processor)
Blend 1/2 onion, 4 eggs, 1-2 cloves garlic, 1T fresh or 1/2 dry parsley, 1/2 cup oil, 1/2 t salt and pepper to your preference.  Then add 1 1/2 cups of Bisquick and blend again.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup parmesan cheese over zucchini.
Pour batter over zucchini and cheese and poke with a spoon a bit so that batter works it’s way throughout.  You could mix in a bowl before adding to the pan if you prefer.  I just skipped that step.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes.

The raviolis were much less work!

The dinner was great and we ate out back.  The weather was perfect.  Unfortunaley, it is cooling down at night which means summer is drawing to a close.  I love the Fall, don’t get me wrong, it just didn’t quite warm up here this summer.  So, a fresh bouqet was amust, in order to complete our meal!
Dare I say, I think I have finally figured out what my favorite flower is; Portulaca.  It is truly hard to pick just one! If I had to, I am pretty sure it would be these little guys.  There is a rose hidden in there too.
I was pretty excited about yesterday’s sun tea! It was three bags of black and one of peppermint.  Very refreshing, you should try it out.  Well, that is certainly enough detail for one night!

I had no intentions of riding my bike in the heat of the day, it just happened.  I actually, didn’t plan on going today but then I wondered why not.  The summer is going by much too fast and I have not been out enough.  So, I packed up my bike at 4:00 and went anyways.  Lucky for me a nice bike path is not to far from our house.  Maybe two or three miles.  The path that I took today was along the Columbia river.  It was hot but a breeze made it nice.

The photos were taken with the iphone.  It is just so convenient having a phone with a descent camera. There was so much I would have liked to take photos of but I wanted to keep riding.  Some are from when I stopped and some are while I was riding.

Mt. Hood and a wonderful, blue sky!

I-5 bridge into Washington

“tell me I am almost there!”

” I made it!”

Call me crazy, but I like thistle weeds.  These are not the same kind I am used

to seeing from Nevada but they are pretty cool too.

After I took this photo I realized that I hadn’t even noticed that I parked by mounds of blackberry bushes.  Sweet! So I used my helmet as a bowl and started picking.

I could have picked even more than I did if it wasn’t for the mosquitos!!  I loath mosquitos! I seriously got 17 bites! I was even going to pick some wild flowers or at least snap a few more photos but was practically running to the car to get away from those blood suckers, ick!

I still made out pretty good.  Overall, it was a great ride.  Next time, I will just make sure to go earlier in the day when it is cooler or on a day it isn’t so hot.

Sheesh! My day flew by! I wasn’t exactly planning on doing yard work for four and half hours! Once I start, I just can’t stop.  Needs to get done, ya know.  It started off sunny but then clouded up and rained off and on.

RHUBARB

I am not so much a fan of this stuff to be honest.  Jason LOVES it though! Can you beleive he just eats it raw!

COLUMBINE

I’m not quit sure how stacking rocks ever started.  Kinda weird really.  I just like how it looks.  These rocks are souvenirs from a trip to the Oregon Coast before we lived here.

DAFFODIL

This will be bright yellow soon.  It was a present that was already in the ground when we moved here.

xoxoxo

I wasn’t feeling to hungry at dinner, so I figured it was a good time to spare a few calories.  Good thing because I wasn’t able to get a workout in.  I made egg salad with 1 stalk of celery, 1 tsp. mayo (hard to cut that one out), mustard, 1/4 avocado, and salt/pepper with two multigrain Wasa crackers and plain spinach.

It was pretty good but a tad plain.  Next time, I will add some pickle or relish.

So, I have been wanting a heart rate monitor. I am currently trying to research which one is a good option for me.  I think I am leaning on a Polar one.  I want it to be accurate and easy to use. Anyone have a favorite?

I picked up some flowers at the store the other day.  I guess to be correct, they were greenery.  What-ev! I LOVE fresh eucalyptus and “greenery” goes great in a colorful vase. Anyway, flowers are good for the soul.

SO, some very exciting news for me, was the sweetest NuNaturals package that arrived! Wow! Thank You NuNaturals-that was so generous and I truly appreciate it.

I have been eyeing the vanilla drops for a while now. I was thinking it would be great in tea. Well, that was the first thing I did! What a better tea choice, than cookie sleigh ride. I cannot even explain how good this was! The smell alone was comforting.  Lucky, for me I know one store that still had some of this seasonal tea over the weekend.  I am hoping they might still have some, so I can stock up.  A few more boxes can’t hurt…

I have been curious if stevia will react with yeast to make dough rise. I will be looking for some good recipes.Perhaps some baking this weekend might not hurt. Ooh, cinnamon rolls sound good.

Giveaway: Kim is having a fun giveaway.  It is all her favorite things! How fun is that! Check it out.  Charming Data is showcasing the goods

Hyacinth, daffodils, and crocus, OH MY! What a sweet reward to today’s yard work!

Breakfast started with some of the best coffee I have ever had.  Jason and I were so lucky to receive this marvelous coffee from some dear friends back home.

Repeat bowl from yesterday, only today I added walnuts.

I spent much time blogging today. So, while catching up posts from all the lovely ladies that I adore, I stumbled upon this from Carbzilla‘s Tuesday post. (I’m not behind or anything) She has presented me with the beautiful blogger award….I blush.

So, along with this little award, it is said I should list 7 facts about myself:

- When I first met my husband, I hated him!  He hated me back and we did that dance for about two years before going out.

-I love my family very much and they mean the world to me!

- I have only traveled to 7 states

- I traveled to Torino, Italy to visit my brother when he studied abroad

-Would love to be that couple that one day travels the country in a motor-home. So much to see right here!

- I have 3 cats and love them insanely

-I don’t really like to talk on the phone. Thank goodness for email and text messaging

I need to pass this award to 7 others.  I need to snoop around and see who has not yet, received it. Thanks Carbzilla for sharing.  Check her out.  Her post make me laugh!

I spiralized some zucchini noodles for dinner and experimented with some raw marinara.  It was good.  The only problem was the garlic.  I am thinking it is a bad time for garlic, I have just purchased bad ones the last three times in a row, or I am not liking it as much any more.  I am really hoping for one of the first two.  Anyways, it made the sauce really spicy and hot. ehh.  It also did that to the white bean hummus. I also had some frozen eggplant cutlets from Trader Joe’s.

Is it really already Sunday night?  Oh, weekend, where did you go?

Remember when I made the Christmas cake balls? Well, I had some leftover chocolate.  What was I to do?  I’ll tell you.  Dip frozen cherries in it.  Yeah, baby, yeah! No worries, I only had one.

Have a good night.!