Choice Morsels

I happened to have a can of coconut milk in the pantry, which is what inspired me to try this recipe for Miso Coconut Chicken Soup!  Not to mention I like Ramen in about anything. It's good. Rich and garlicky filled with rotisserie chicken meat, veggies and Ramen noodles. The recipe calls for green onions, onions, mushrooms and greens, such as spinach or really anything of your choice. You make the broth, add the veggies, then cook up some Ramen, drain the noodles, put about half in a bowl, then top it with the soup. Yum. Soups are always flexible. If you don't like onions or mushrooms, just make the basic coconut/miso/garlic/chicken broth and add what veggies you prefer: frozen peas, pea pods, spinach, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash and so on.  This is a great recipe for leftover grilled meat, whether chicken, pork or steak--that's what makes it recipe "easy." The picture, here, is my bowl. I used leftover rotisserie chicken, baby Portabellas,

Next in my series of memories about Grandma Robbins house is "Grandma's Staircase." Grandma's house in Mantorville, Minnesota was built sometime around the turn of the 20th century. It was a spacious two-story house with stairs: eighteen narrow, good quality hardwood steps that ran straight up to the second floor, with "straight" being a key word. Their upward angle was very steep, steeper then an average staircase. No carpet or covering. Just plain maple or oak wood steps worn  smooth from like 50 years of use. (It was the 60's and early 70's when we were visiting.) It wasn't like the average staircase with rails so you can see the floor below. Nope, this staircase was installed between walls. No hand-rails. I'm not even sure it was a whole 30 inches wide--maybe just 28 and the individual steps were below average width as well, so it was very easy to take them two at at time. If you needed support, you just used the wall.  N

Today's task was applying Weed & Feed to the backyard grass. It's the last area that needed it. It really helps the grass get ahead and stay ahead of the profusion of weed pests. Also moved a few Dwarf Marigolds that came up from saved seed I planted and were big enough to be moved to places I want them. There are a few more not quite big enough yet. Today's Garden Pics: These cute teeny little mushrooms popped up in my patio containers a couple weeks ago.  It was hard narrowing down an identification, but I'm pretty sure these are called "Fairy's Parasols."  Such a cute name! They'd only be out in the morning while the shade lasted and would wither as soon as the sun hit them.  They're a harmless fungi that grow in the potting soil humus if there's an abundance of moisture and we'd had quite a bit of rain right around then.  That pretty plant next to it is a Lemon Thyme. Thyme make a very nice "spiller" for a conta

Today's recipe is Pinterest slow cooker recipe for soup I tried around the end of March when weather was still cool. The recipe is "Slow Cooker Sausage Spinach & White Bean Soup." It's pretty good actually. Simple to make, but like all soups you can add or subject ingredients as you like! I don't use celery in recipes simply because I use two stalks for the recipe and the rest goes to waste in my frig. I had spinach in the garden, so that's what inspired me to try the recipe. Romaine or even finely sliced cabbage can be substituted for Spinach, use use your favorite color bean and add other vegetables you like. Using a spicy sausage or kielbasa does boost the over-all flavor of this soup! At the bottom I have some seasoning suggestions if you choose a non-spicy meat. (photos are mine) Slow Cooker Sausage Spinach & White Bean Soup Ingredients: 1 Tablespoon olive oil 1 package (12.8 oz) smoked Andouille Sausage, thinly sliced

For Mama Kat Thursday, I'm going to do a series on "Memories from Grandma's House," highlighting some of my more amusing memories of visiting my Mom's Mother, whom we called, "Grandma Robbins." (Since we had two grandma's, we identified them by last name.) This was Grandma's Robbin's  house in Mantorville, Minnesota. It's the house Mother grew up in, her and her 6 other siblings.  This how it looks now. (photo from Google Earth.)  But back in the 60's, it still had white wood siding, old fashioned ceiling to floor glass windows, lots more green shrubs close to the house and more trees in the yard plus an old barn on the other side that served as a garage with a big garden next to it.  It was a huge house, old in the 60's when we were visiting. Downstairs had a kitchen with a bedroom behind it that Grandma and Grandpa used, a bathroom, a informal dining-family room with a wood stove, a large formal living room with a a

Today's Garden Pic is my new Green Twister Coneflowers! I ordered them last fall. This is first bloom. I ordered two. I thought I lost one last fall as the greenery disappeared, but lo and behold, today I saw that is coming back! I saw fresh growth!  Coneflowers are tough. My Naturalized Bed by the Mailbox Grass won't grow here, so I turned it into a naturalized non-mow area. This is where the Green Twisters are located (closer to the road.) I added 3 Pinks this spring because they're a bi-annuals and will last two bloom seasons.  I have Blanket flower seedlings I'm currently growing in peat-pots I intend to plant here as well. And the Day Lily by the mailbox post is getting ready for it's first bloom and it's a fancy color. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

I couldn't post this until today (Tuesday), because on Monday we were in the process of replacing our 18 year old router that finally gave up the ghost and quit. We ultimately had to have our friend, Hedrick come over and help us with it, since the first thing a guy at Walmart thought would do the job, didn't do the job and Hedrick, after he got off work, helped us get the right router for the job and get us back on the internet! though, by that time, it was 10 pm, so too late for posting anything. So, today's Good Eating recipe is Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bread. I actually made the recipe twice: once to find out the original recipe was too dry, then again to test my fix. Oatmeal is very absorbent, so a recipe has to have enough fluid in it to compensate so it comes out moist. The first try didn't and was so crumbly, it fairly fell apart when I tried to slice it. I added a little applesauce to the next try. That fixed the problem and made the bread moist and

Today's Mama Kat prompt choice is to write a post inspired by the word, "Specimen." In an episode of Stargate-SG1, when the team is at Jack O'Neill's house investigating why something changed him from 44 to age 15, Teal'c is looking in the refrigerator. He pulls out a plastic container, opens it, peers inside and asks, "Are you conducting a science experiment, O'Neill?" Underage O'Neill snaps," That salsa is still good!" as he snatches it out of Teal'c's hands and puts in back in the frig. Let's face it, we've all had random "science experiments" appear in our refrigerators at one time or another---some forgotten leftover shoved to the back that we suddenly "find" and discover is covered in green fuzz. I've had my share of science specimens:  Fuzzy forgotten leftovers are a classic.  Cheese gets blue mold spots. Though with cheese, if there's just a couple spots, you can

Garden beds surrounding my house also run under windows about to be replaced and, you know, workmen aren't delicate walkers when they're doing a job. So, I've been planning how best to protect my flowers. 1) In front of my front bay windows I have a shrub/climbing rose, Easter Lilies and hosta.    My plan  for that is to just trim back the Hosta bloom stems, cut the Easter Lilies to the ground, then just trim the roses down enough I can place various covers over them. I have buckets & containers suited to the job. 2) The one corner of the kitchen bay window has a Coneflower and 3 daylilies, plus there's some random Easter lilies. My plan for that is to cut the coneflower bloom stems to the ground, then I have a square large enough to cover it and the 3  Daylilies surrounding it. (They're my fancy hybrid daylilies) The Easter lilies can be cut to the ground and there's little else there to be concerned with. 3)   The south wall bed pictur

Today's recipe is for Chicken Lombardy, something I first sampled at my Mother's assisted living facility when it was served for lunch. It was so delicious I decided I had to make it for myself!  It's named after the "Lombard" region of Northern Italy. It's a very easy dish to make and not many ingredients. It's thin cut, lightly breaded chicken breast with lots of mushrooms and gooey Mozzarella cheese. Yum! It's important to cook the ingredients in the order specified: mushrooms first, breaded chicken next, then heat the broth in the pan, so the breading bits will help thicken it. I used  thin sliced chicken breasts  for the recipe. I just used one package, because there are only two of us, but the recipe works for 2 packages of thin sliced chicken breast. I'm still experimenting with whether it works best using the slices individually or doubling them, since they range in size from large to small. I've kind of concluded to do the

A bunch of photos today! I walked out by the Bluebird house, since it's been quiet, but I could see Mrs. Bluebird's little face just inside the hole. (They build the nest high, so she could look out.) So, I think she's still brooding the eggs. Once they hatch, though, there should be a bustle of activity with both parents. ****** Goldfinches! I was delighted this past week to see a Goldfinch family in the feeder this week!  Two pair, one a lighter color male and the other much brighter. Most birds in this area nest early around here and bring there offspring to the feeder "restaurant," but I read American Goldfinches nest later then other birds, usually in June or July. So, I yet may see them bring youngsters to the feeder. Florida and a wide swath of the Deep South is the American Goldfinch's is mapped in the bird book as their "winter range." And I certainly do see them at the feeder in Jan & Feb in their winter-drab olive green colo