Friday, March 14, 2008

Mike's Bone Cake



Bone as in the comic books that he loves to read. Mike will be away for his birthday next week, so we are having a small party for him tonight. He originally asked me for a rainbow bit cake, so I bought all the supplies. Then Sean and Kels are talking about ice cream cakes and then Mike decided he would like that better. I told him it was too late because I had already had the rainbow bit cake ingredients. Little does he know, I have ordered him an ice cream cake (from Safeway because our DQ is closed). So he didn't get suspicious, we made the rainbow bit cake last night and he helped decorate it with his Bone characters. We are having pizza for dinner and cakes afterwards.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Eating healthy feels good

I was inspired by my friend to try a change in my diet.( Mostly because I felt like a giant beside her LOL(: )
So, I decided to try one of the recipe ideas she shared with me. I lightly covered my vegetables in extra virgin olive oil and roasted them in the oven. She suggested egg plant, zuchini, mushrooms, red onion and I threw in some red & green peppers and garlic. I served it with breaded in cornmeal sole that I baked in the oven. There were no left overs, so my family must have really enjoyed it. I know I did. Then the next night I made spaghetti with a vegetable sauce. No one seemed to miss having the hamburger in the sauce and once again there were no left overs. I've been snacking on vegetables in the evening and staying away from chips and chocolate bars. (here's a side note: the lady in the office beside me just started selling chocolate bars at work and she has a big tub of them, but I can be strong. Right?) I'm eating healthy and I feel really good. I also have cut back on coffee and teas with caffine. At first it was hard and I had a bad headache, but now it seems fine. I'm drinking more water and I have a cup of decaf tea in the morning. Now if the snow and then the mud would disappear, I would be able to get some fresh air and exercise. I miss going for hikes and bike rides): Soon; I keep telling my self, soon it will happen.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Some Helpful hints to share

My friend emailed me this and some of them I already knew about, but some I didn't and would like to try. So here they are to share with you.
 
  HELPFUL HINTS!


Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little
"stringy things" off of it. 

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave
them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh
much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the
grease away from the meat while cooking.

To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of spoonfuls
of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up.

For a cool brownie treat, make brownies as directed. Melt Andes mints in
double broiler and pour over warm brownies. Let set for a wonderful
minty frosting.

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic
and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simple
chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples.
Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the
apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice
cream.

1. Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set
heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No
soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really
works.

2. Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all
broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up
mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg.
Just throw bag away when done easy cle a n up.

3. Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with
your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to
frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar
and calories per serving.

4. Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place
them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will
keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

5. Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet
newspapers put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with
mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening
plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

6. Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you
can't see easily.

7. No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

8. Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants sprinkle your plants with
cayenne pepper. The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the
squirrels won't come near it.

9. Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an
empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be
bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

10. Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a
clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when
wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- ta da! -- static
is gone.

11. Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot
water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your
ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it co mes right
out.

12. Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove
box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser! Works better
than a cloth!

13. Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include
something inside , just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an
hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

14. Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than
shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way
to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it
in your hair...

15. Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with
Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. You
will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!

16. Get Rid of Ants
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it
"home," can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so,
especially if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about
pets or small children being harmed!

17. INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things
around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and
he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean.
(I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He
told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to
the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh
material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like.
well,...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through
it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh
that's what burns out the heating uni t. You can't SEE the film, but it's
there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and
static free -- that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy
when you take them out of the box, well t his stuff builds up on your
clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer
units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it! He said
the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (& to keep
your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot
soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six
months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!
How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know
dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!
Note: I went to my dryer & tested m y screen by running water on it. The
water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all t he water in the
mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had
it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right Thru
the screen! There wasn't any pudding at all! That repairman knew what he
was talking about!

Yay Spring!

As most of you know at this time of year I cannot wait for Spring to come. I like winter; I was married in the winter. The snow is very pretty, but this time of the year the snow looks dirty and gross. I was happy to see that snow had melted some while I was gone on the weekend. We didn't see much snow in the Okanagan. Now I am dealing with the mud, but I don't mind because that means that Spring is here and before you know it it will be sunny and warm. So I say Yay Spring!

Monday, March 10, 2008

Mission Hills Winery



I had such a wonderful time in Kelowna this weekend with my friends. We took a tour of Mission Hills Winery. It was such a beautiful day and the winery was such a peaceful place. The tour was very interesting and I learned a lot. I just loved the smell of the place. At the end of the tour was the taste testing. It was awesome. I had never taken time before to actually smell the wine before tasting it. It was amazing how you could pick out the fruit by the aroma of the wine. I would love to go again in the summer when the vines are alive and perhaps take in a play in the outdoor theater and enjoy lunch on the terrace.




I bought some reserve wines there to take home. I can hardly wait to try them.

Monday, March 3, 2008