This 'n That

Where do I start?

Okay, first things first.  I do not have a new recipe to post.  I've been making lots of oldies but goodies, like pasta, broccoli and chicken which was the recipe that started this whole blog.

Nothing I've made recently has been good enough to blog about.

This was the pot roast that I made in my crock pot earlier this week.  Ick.  First and last time making pot roast in the slow cooker.

I've been spending way too much time trying to figure out my blog header.  Or should I say lack thereof.  Several months ago I changed the layout and the graphics, and you have no idea how frustrated I've been trying to put the header back together.  I can't figure out how to layer a photo onto the header!  Caitie is coming home for her fall break in a couple of weeks, I think I will cajole her into helping me figure it out.

I painted my dining room today.  Or maybe I should say that I continued my kitchen/dining room painting project.  

This is how I left it last week, when I didn't have time to finish.  The new green is pretty close in color to the old green, and unless you were looking at this particular spot under one of the windows it was hard to tell that my walls were painted different shades of light sage.

As I was finishing up my painting I was thinking of what my next painting project would be.  I don't like anything about my kitchen and since there is not a remodeling possibility in my near future I was thinking that I'll paint the trim as well (hard to tell in the above photo but the wood is an icky knotty pine).  And I'm going to paint the icky oak cabinets.  

And then I wondered, is it possible to paint the icky tile back splash?  And what about the icky counters?

I think I've overused the word icky.

I'll switch gears, from icky to magnificent.

I'm so happy that my garden is still producing an abundance of magnificent flowers so that I can surround myself with their magnificence in my icky kitchen.

I'm not kidding about the abundance part.  The more I clip, the more they grow and bloom and multiply.

Some of the zinnias are even having twins!  I've never seen double blooms like this before.  Magnificent.

Next post, I think I'll write about Gus.  My magnificent little southern boy.

Broiled Zucchini With Melted Cheese

Okay, I've spent way too much time trying to come up with a name for this recipe.  

 I've just spent almost an  

hour staring at this blank page.  Daydreaming, talking to Gus, anything to avoid the torture that is coming up with a name for a recipe.  Time to move on and go with a straight-to-the-point name.  The zucchini gets broiled, the cheese does melt...and so there you have it.

The important thing is this:  you will now have another recipe to go to when you are looking to use up the abundance of zucchini growing in your garden.

Grilled Potato Wedges

I've never told you how I came up with the name of this blog.  I didn't even have to think about it.  Between my three kids, "Hey, Mom, what's for dinner?" has been the most-often asked question for the last fifteen years or so.  And by my three kids, I mean my son. 

I could usually expect that it would be one of the first questions of the day.  The memories are so clear:  Sean, at three years old, eating his cereal, talking with his mouth full, "Hey, Mom, what's for dinner?"  Picking him up from elementary school, and as he ran toward me he'd be yelling, "What are we having for dinner?"

Picking him up anywhere, and the first thing he would say when he opened the car door, "What's for dinner?"  And then when he got his license, he'd drive himself home but as soon as he'd walk in the door, "What's for dinner?" And then the 2.0 version of the question: "When are you starting dinner?"

Five days ago, we dropped him off at his college.  Now I'm the one asking the questions, texting him, "What did you have for dinner?"

With Caitie and Sean back at school, it sure is quiet around here.

Erin made a back to school cake today.  Chocolate cake with peanut butter-butter cream frosting.  I think she must have used three pounds of assorted Reese's cups/Reese's pieces decorating this.  I cut the teeniest, weeniest, skinniest slices I could, but I bet they still had about a gazillion calories in each.


Meanwhile, I'm trying to come up with a French toast casserole that doesn't have a million calories in it.
A while ago, a friend of mine made a French toast casserole and it was incredible.  It was Paula Deen's recipe for French toast casserole with maple syrup.  I googled the recipe and saw the ingredients--besides all the eggs and cream and maple syrup it had two sticks of butter in it--well, to make a long story short, I just couldn't bring myself to make it.

I mean, it's one thing to eat something when you are out somewhere and you think, "oh, this is spectacular!"  But when I'm preparing it myself I just can't bring myself to add two sticks of butter--not without envisioning a syringe plunging all those calories directly into my thighs.

This is what I made this weekend:

An overnight French toast casserole.  With only one tablespoon of butter in it.  It wasn't that good, so I'm going to have to keep tweaking it!

Sooooooo.........today I'm going to give you a recipe that has been my go-to side dish this summer.  Last week, I was talking with my friend, Alyse, and she said that she was having trouble coming up with ideas for side dishes.  On nights when you're going to be grilling your dinner, it's easy to throw these potato wedges onto your grill as well!

Sauteed Mushrooms

Okay, this is my third attempt to write this post.  And since each subsequent attempt means I have to start from the beginning and edit what I've written, I am determined to finish this one.

The first edit was easy, because all that I had accomplished with my first attempt was "Sauteed Muuuuuuuuu" in the title field.  Give or take a few u's, I didn't count how many there actually were.  That's right, I fell asleep before I barely even started.

And the second attempt, I fell asleep while writing the above paragraph.  

Before you wonder if my laptop is pumping out some sort of a sleeping mist, let me just say that I've been dealing with a nasty summer upper respiratory infection which has left me wiped out by the end of the day.

And now that I'm feeling better, I'm not so wiped out, maybe just feeling grumpy.  Take last night for example.  My grumpiness prompted me to take this picture:

I was at Fenway Park, which is usually my happy place, but in the seventh inning the Red Sox blew a 9-3 lead and that made me grumpy and then I started wondering why the head of the person sitting in front of me (see picture) seemed to be growing larger as the game went on.

That was my view.  It could have been worse...despite obstructing my view, the young man with the expanding head was extremely well-behaved and hardly moved at all during the game, so there was no bobbing and weaving on my part to see around him....I simply had to lean to the left (to see the pitcher) or lean to the right (to see the batter).

Thanks for listening.

If you're not feeling well, you may consider chicken pot pie or beef stew your comfort food of choice.  Not me.  Nuh-uh.  I need mushrooms.  The steak under the mushrooms is merely incidental.

Time Sure Does Fly...........

I can't believe how quickly this summer has been flying by!

In two weeks, Caitie and Sean will be gone, off to college.  I really enjoy having everyone under one roof, so my focus this summer has been on enjoying every moment and trying not to think about how lonely it's going to be when they're gone.

I've  secretly been making lists of things I want to pack into their care packages.  Shhhh, don't tell.  It will be Sean's first year at school, he has no idea what a care package is.  His care packages will involve lots of home-baked treats.  He especially likes cookies.

Too bad he doesn't like banana bread--but Caitie does.  I've been baking lots of banana bread this summer. The summer heat has been ripening the bananas so quickly, I've had lots of overripe bananas to bake with.

    I put chocolate chips and raspberries in this loaf.

 In less than 24 hours, it was gone.

I added chocolate chips and raspberries to this loaf as well, and then made it chocolaty by switching out 1/2 cup of flour for cocoa powder instead.

You can find my recipe for banana bread by clicking here .  To make the chocolate chip-raspberry banana bread, just add a cup of chocolate chips and a cup of halved fresh raspberries (tossed with a tablespoon of flour to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of your loaf) to the basic recipe.   Because of the extra moisture that the raspberries add, you will need to increase the cooking time, at least ten minutes more than the original recipe calls for.   I baked mine for an hour and 10 minutes.

It's been extra-hot around here this summer.  I can't keep up with the water demands of my container plants,   and most of them are very sad-looking.  I won't even show you a picture, that's how bad they look!

But the flowers in my garden are holding on, especially the zinnias and dahlias.

I've been filling vases with them (and an occasional late-blooming gladiolus), hoping that these bright blooms will make the dead flowers in the deck boxes less noticeable!

Alcohol-Free Pina Coladas

Summertime makes me so happy.

 What's not to love?

 Sitting on my deck, surrounded by flowers.

 Love. It.

 Even the window boxes that I put up this year are filling in nicely.

We spent the past weekend in Vermont, Erin had a softball tournament there.  It was wonderful to spend some time with our favorite softball families.

 We spent a lot of time hanging out on the hotel balconies, enjoying the view and the cool breeze coming from the river.

 We spent more time at the ball field, though..........three games on Saturday and Erin's team was seeded #1. That led to more games on Sunday.

Have you ever seen a more spectacular view at a ball field?

On Friday night, we were all sort of exhausted from traveling.  We went out for dinner and then called it a night, as we had to be at the ball field by 7 a.m.

 Look at the size of this bug on the window!  (For those of you who are wondering, the bug was on the outside.)  It was HUGE.  Probably about 3 or 4 inches long.  I couldn't help but snap a picture.

The table by the bug was not occupied while we were eating dinner, but as our group of twelve was leaving there were people being seated by the bug.  The woman that was sitting at that window was oblivious to the creepy-crawley bug on the window, but I think at some point she would have noticed and I like to imagine that she let out a nice shriek.

I admit it, I smiled (okay, I smirked) as we walked past the Inferno with its promises of "music, temptation and booze."  

This pina colada recipe that I'm about to give you is family-friendly so there is no alcohol in it........but if you're tempted to booze it up, add a splash of rum!

Raspberry Lemonade

 Ahhhhhhh......summer.    Maybe it's not officially summer yet, but my kids are through with school and the weather is warm-- the lazy days of summer are in full swing around here.  This recipe for raspberry lemonade is the perfect refreshment on a hot day!

But first.......I need to give a shout-out to my baseball team, the Cardinals.  We won our semi-final game tonight and are headed to the league championship game on Friday.  What a great group of kids they are, so much fun to be around.  Go Cardinals!

Favorite Kitchen Tools, Part IV....and Roasted Sliced Potatoes

It's been awhile since I've blogged about a favorite kitchen tool!

You may remember the basil keeper, mini tart-shaper, and the citrus press and julienne peeler.

Today's favorite gadget is my mandoline slicer.  It slices, juliennes or waffle-cuts huge amounts of vegetables in the blink of an eye.

I used it twice last week.  First, to julienne vegetables.

Four carrots,

two zucchini and a yellow squash, sliced in no time.

I needed to julienne the vegetables to make a special dinner that I was craving.

 Sauteed chicken topped with the julienned vegetables and shrimp, drizzled with a yummy cheese & wine sauce.

This used to be my favorite menu item (actually, the real recipe uses lobster instead of shrimp, but I didn't have any lobster on hand) at my favorite restaurant.  Until the restaurant closed, that is.  Now if I want to eat    

"Chicken Genevieve" (which is what the restaurant called it), I have to attempt to make it myself.

I will not give you the recipe because it's kinda labor-intense and I don't want you to hate me when you have to clean up all the pots and pans that you use to prepare the chicken, veggies, shrimp and sauce.  Not to mention all the juggling while you're trying to stir all those pots at the same time.

But when I was julienning (sheesh, is that even a word?) the veggies I was thinking that it's about time I blogged about another favorite kitchen tool!  So here's a potato recipe that uses the mandoline slicer, and it's easy-peasy to make.

Busy Time

So much going on over the last few weeks.  I've been waaaaaaaaay busy!!

Remember the bed I made last month for my niece's dog, Milo?

I think he likes it.

Doesn't he look comfortable?

Too bad he roots for the wrong team.  I'm a die-hard Red Sox fan, and I wish he had better taste!

 I bought this framed print at an auction.  I love the simple rose print, matted with sage-colored silk.  The gold frame, not so much...........

So I painted the frame.

Then I got busy in my kitchen and dining room.  I did the semi-annual decor switch.  I like red in the fall and winter, and plum in the spring and summer.

So into the attic went the red valances.......

.........and the red rugs.

And up went the plum-colored valances (in the dining room),

cornices (in the kitchen),

and rugs.  This is the dining room rug,

and these throw rugs are in the kitchen.  And then I switched the dishes.  And the pictures on the wall.    

And the towels, potholders, napkins, placemats and dog dishes.  Yes, dog dishes.  Out with the red, in with the plum.  For six months.  Then I'll switch back.  

I started thinking that it's been several years since I sewed those valances, so maybe it's time for a change, time to freshen up the look and sew something new..........and then I stopped and gave myself a reality check.  Maybe next year.

I've also been spending lots of time at the ball field!  Evenings spent coaching a team of 13 to 15-year old boys (we are currently in second place in our 10-team league), 

and afternoons watching Erin pitch for her high school softball team.

And then it was time for the Senior prom (that's Sean in the middle, behind his date in the pink and white dress).  

Yes, Senior prom and then.........

his graduation!

And this past weekend, a graduation party for Sean.  Which means that for the last month, I've been frantically trying to get my garden in shape for the party.

 Filling the planters on the front steps......

 and on the deck..........

 and by the back door........

and by the driveway..........

 and then hoping that I can keep them healthy and thriving!

 The hanging baskets..........

at the front door.......

 the boxes on the deck..........

 the window boxes,

 newly installed for this year.........

wondering if I planted the right flowers for the amount of sun and shade that they will receive?

And in the midst of my preparations, goofing around with my camera, taking pictures of the perennials that are currently in bloom!

 The clematis......

 dianthus.......

and my favorite peonies.

And a new favorite, in my deck boxes.  I don't even know what this flower is called, but I love the way it's starting to trail down the sides of the containers.