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Carrot, Egg or Coffee Bean?
My aunt sent me this small story and said it reminded her of something my grandma would say. She, my gram, was a woman of wise words and wisdom so I couldn’t agree more with my aunt after reading it. We have a lot of struggles in military-life. PCSs and Deployments are the two big ones but we all know there is so much more. So when you hit that brick wall ask yourself, “Am I a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?” If you aren’t sure how to answer that then read on… A young woman went to her grandmother and told her about her life and how things…
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Crazy Carrots
I have always loved art. I see beauty in some of the oddest of places. Don’t we all? However, there are times when the normal is the ‘piece de resistance’: garden carrots.Art… it appears wherever it can, whenever the whim arrives.I prefer the pencil straight carrots that my grandchildren draw. I have several of their colorful creations taped on my cabinets displayed as art in my kitchen. Now to the carrots themselves. We did all the right steps, fertilized in fall, rotor tilled prior to winter, staked the fence posts late winter, rotor tilled to get that soil up to fluffiness. I still don’t know the proper farmer’s terms for…
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Tasty Tuesday From Pickled Hot Peppers
Packing pickled peppers, and these babies are hot ones! Isn’t it funny how in the heat of the summer, it is time to put the heat in the kitchen and fire up the canner. Our pressure cooker is steaming, rattling, cranking out pints and quarts of the best our land has to offer.We planted jalapenos, yellow banana peppers and Hungarian wax peppers. Our peppers with heat are the latter: the Hungarian ones. Glad that we have that, as I want to taste that zip when I crunch on a nacho!Putting up these three varieties melds the taste together. We enjoy the fruits of the summer all year long. But the…
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Tasty Tuesday: Carrot Cups – A Biscuit w/ Carrots! Simple as ABC
I have a calendar that Pillsbury sent to me. It features a recipe a month. A few months ago, there was an idea of taking Grands or any large baking soda biscuit, flattening it and baking a mini-fruit pie in a muffin cup. (Oh my, they were good!)We are not always ‘allowed’, ‘encouraged’ or looking to have sugary desserts. Diabetes frowns upon that part of meal! Careful preparation of the menu does allow for it from time to time. However, this simple dish just invited me to play. Enter springtime. We love vegetables and their colorful display. When I added Boursin and a sharp New York cheddar to carrots, we…
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Quick and Easy Low Carb Lunch
Fresh from the oven, a dish of broccoli, carrots and Angle Hair Pasta… Nice! There are times when pasta just sounds right. My mind really likes the idea of that comfort food… and when it comes, presented in the form of Angel Hair pasta… oh my! I like this! This summer we canned carrots like nobody’s business. We love them. Some I put in quart jars… a bit too big for us to use in one meal. I also froze broccoli. We had the best plants ever. So there are freezer bags and bags of them yet in produce freezer downstairs. Life is so good!We zoomed in late for lunch…
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Carrot Dip With a Kick
Dinner was not progressing as it should have last night. My mind was going 7 places at once and the hunger bar was rising higher than the oven was baking. Times like this call for desperate action: Search and destroy leftovers in the fridge… and get them out into a decorative bowl to make them looks PLANNED and more importantly appetizing. Let’s hear it for a cream cheese Crunchy Carrot Dip… with a kick.4 oz cream cheese1/4 cup walnuts1/2 cup canned carrots, chopped1/2 apple (dipped in lemon juice to keep from oxidizing)3 shakes of Frank’s Hot Saucepinch of salt to taste. Place all ingredients into a food processor. Pulse on…
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Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwich
I love carrot cake. It is rich, moist, has great ingredients: it is a party just waiting to happen! Cookies are a great dessert, snack and pick-me-up. Limiting the amount that I happen to pick up is another story.These frosted delights have the icing on the inside! Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwich takes a great idea and makes it simple. Makes 1 dozen cookies. Preheat oven to 375 degrees 1 1/4 c flour1 t cinnamon1/2 t salt1/2 t baking soda1/2 c butter, softened1/2 c brown sugar1/2 c sugar1 egg1/2 t vanilla1 cup grated carrots1 cup chopped walnuts1/2 can WELL DRAINED crushed pineappleFrosting1 (8 oz) package cream cheese1 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar1/2…
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Carrots Dressed for Spring with Herbs
I do love thinking about Springtime. I love seeing plants work their way out of ground that was just snow covered and hard as rock. Now, the plot looks earthy, moist and flower ready. With a selection of flowers to cut to bring into the house brings to mind the garden that will soon be alive with seedlings: our vegetable garden. It grows each year. Grows plants, grows in size and grows in richness as we take care of the soil and plot. I am just hoping the deer won’t think it is there growing for them… they are encroaching upon the environs of our house. We did see them…
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Cucumbers Hold the Cool of Summer
It is summer here at the home front… The plants in the garden are loving it and rewarding our mulching, weeding, rotor tilling, and watering with healthy fruit laden branches and vines.Tomatoes? I can’t get enough of them. Lettuce? Daily basis of sumptuous salads. But Cucumbers? A few of them are great, a few more are okay, and then…. even the neighbors lock the doors when they see you coming with a bag full!However, before you get to the overload stage. Sit down with a large glass of iced water and snack on this Dill Dip for vegetables. 1 cup sour cream1/2 cup mayonnaise1 Tablespoon finely chopped green onion2 teaspoons…
