Friday, July 31, 2020

It's ZUCCHINI Season...

I love zucchini and this is one of my favorite ways to prepare it


It's simple to make:


I also love zucchini breads - here are a few of my favorite recipes:




And zucchini is so tasty when grilled:



I think I could live on zucchini alone...(well maybe a bit of chocolate, too)!

Do you have a special or unique recipe you can share with me?

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Pasta Bowties....




Did you expect anything else? 

My husband is till rolling his eyes!!


I bought this pasta in Ohio and couldn't wait to make a cold salad.  I boiled the pasta for 9 minutes....


....and mixed it with tomatoes, celery, red onion, broccoli and balsamic dressing:


And it was delish!!




You can purchase it HERE


Monday, July 27, 2020

One Pot Spaghetti....



This is my 'go-to' meal when I can't think of anything else to have.  It is easy to prepare and is very tasty, too!


I one electric fry pan, or stove top fry pan lay 12 oz of spaghetti, one sliced onion, 2-3 lg sliced garlic cloves, 3 Roma tomatoes cut up, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and a few bunches of fresh basil and parsley. 

 Pour 4 cups of water over the top and bring to a boil.  Stir occasionally and cook for about 13-15 minutes until water disappears.


Serve immediately and sprinkle with parmesan cheese and garnish with basil and/or parsley:


The recipe can be altered easily by adding some fresh spinach, zucchini or green beans.  


The leftovers are just as tasty, too!

Saturday, July 25, 2020

A Homemade Tuffet, inspired by MacKenzie-Childs 2011....


Anne of Apple Street Cottage is hosting a new group party called 
 'Do it Over' Designers.

For the first party I am sharing a post I wrote in 2011 and thought it was worthy of sharing again.  

  I made this tuffet 9 years ago and it is still used as a foot stool.  

Here is the original post:

I wanted one of these, but couldn't afford it:
So I made this:

I bought 4 legs at Home Depot:
and an 18" table top:
I marked off the quadrants for the leg placement:
and drilled holes:
Align CenterI bought 3" foam and cut an 18" circle. I also cut out a circle in the center:
And just in case you don't know how to cut foam, use an electric knife. I shaved the edges to give it shape:
This was the fun part, because I love to doodle:
I sewed a "tube" of fabric and batting and stapled it to the bottom of the base. There are also 2 small holes in the center of the wood - I ran fishing line up through these holes to hold in the center "wooden button":
top view:
I gathered the batting:
I also gathered the fabric. I covered a 5" wooden disk with coordinating fabric and batting for the center. This disk also has 2 holes and I tied the fishing line from the base to this to hold it in the carved out center of the foam:
I glued some fringe around the bottom, screwed in the legs and glued a small wooden button on the top to hid the fishing line knot.
This was my first attempt in making a tuffet and I am pretty pleased with it!

It was a one day project with lots of supplies all over the kitchen counter, numerous swear words and one leg that had a defective screw!! The project was fairly reasonable to make (about $60.00) and I was surprised to find that 3" foam was $40.00 yd!!
Foam: $20.00
Wood: $5.00 and $2.00
Legs: $11.00
Fabric: $10.00
Fringe: $10.00
Batting: $3.00

And here it is today, 9 years later!:


Hop on over to these blogs to see what these 
'Do it Over' Designers
have created:



               Thanks for stopping by! 

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Roasted Red Pepper Butter



We enjoy flavored butters so when I saw this jar of Roasted Pepper Bruschetta I knew just what I could make!


I chopped a few tablespoons of the peppers and mixed it with 1/2 stick of softened butter, 2 mashed garlic cloves, some spiced seasonings and salt and pepper.


I spread the butter into 'leaf' butter molds:


I froze the butter and then popped them out of the mold:


This was delicious on steamed corn on the cob!


YUM!


The corn has been so good this year - not sure where it is coming from, but it's delish!

Local corn should be ready soon.





Saturday, July 18, 2020

Pineapple Surprise....

Here's a delish idea that makes a few cocktails!