Choice Morsels

The Mama Kat prompt today is to share "the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." I can't remember where we were or where we were going, but I do remember we were in our station wagon on the interstate crossing a bridge over a river. It was a very long bridge, being this was the Mississippi River. I recall peering out the window, and we had a clear view of the turbulent river water below the bridge. It had just finished raining. The road was wet, the sky partially clearing and a bit of sunshine had come out. We could see thick mist clouds hanging above the water slightly below the bridge and coming out of one of those clouds was a rainbow that curved downward toward the water below, it's lower portion vanishing among the mists. It was awesome. All rainbows are amazing, but this one sticks in my memory as particularly pretty.  (Didn't have a camera on me as a kid 45 years ago, so this attached photo just represents the idea.) I don't know why ...

Our Mr. Coffee Maker died yesterday morning. So I made morning coffee by boiling water in a pan on the stove, then slowly pouring it into the drip cup. In the evening, Hubby and I went to Walmart to get a new one. I like the 5-cup models that have an auto-turn-off, so I don't have to worry about whether I turned the coffee off or not. We found one such model, another Mr. Coffee, which was much nicer then the previous model---but when we got it home I discovered it had a factory break in the tank, right behind the coffee pot, invisible in the shadows just under the part the holds the filter. I  didn't notice it till I tried pouring water in the tank only to have it splash out all over the counter. So back to Walmart for an exchange. The we checked the new one right there and it was perfect.  So, I had a normal coffee experience this morning. Today's Garden Pics are a interesting mushroom and my pretty peppermint colored 4 O'clocks: First, this Mushroom: ...

A fresh, easy summer salad of tomatoes & fresh mozzarella in a creamy pesto Greek yogurt dressing! The tomatoes and cheese absorb the dressing flavor! I found this recipe in the weekly Publix grocery ad, as they always include and knowing I had tomatoes coming on in the garden, I held onto it. Having tried it once, I found it needed improvements---like onions and extra basil and more mozzarella! Photo is of the batch I made up for dinner today! Creamy Caprese Salad 16 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced & cubed 2 medium ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped 1/3 cup red onion, chopped 1  5.3oz size plain Greek yogurt 1/4 cup Basil Pesto 1 tsp sugar 1 to 2 teaspoons dried basil Directions: Chop your tomatoes into bite-size chunks of a size you like. Of the 16oz of Mozzarella, I use about 3/4 of it in the salad and save the rest to have with salmon. To cube your Mozzarella, slice, then cut each slice into the cube size you prefer. ( I do 1/2 in...

I have several photos today: First, my ceramic cat in a container garden out front, surrounded by a heaps of yellow Million Bells  So pretty in the last rays of the days sun. That Million Bells is just one plant that wintered over, a mere straggly stem when I planted it in it's own smaller pot, then set that in the larger container. It really took off! Million Bells is technically called "Calibrachoa" in a garden shop. I love them!  A Project Accomplished this Week: Re-Paint my Various Garden Objects d'Art These are various metal pieces, stones, pieces of broken block and concrete chunks, some Dollar Tree concrete stepping stones---things I use as accents here and there in my garden. The metal rusts and usually needs repainting every other year or so. I decided to use white paint because white objects are more eye-catching and more light reflective. Finally, a Toad: He tucked himself between into this little spot outside our sli...

I found this recipe for "Easy Yeast Bread" on Pinterest. I was looking for a sandwich-suited bread. This recipe was easy. It's for hand-made bread. I like that it has olive oil in it, which makes it moist. It also only makes one loaf, which works perfect. I made it this morning and we had BLT's with it for lunch. Easy Yeast Bread Ingredients: 1 cup warm water (105 degrees) 1 packet yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons) 2 1/2 cups unbleached flour 1 Tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup olive oil Directions: In a small bowl: combine warm water & yeast. Let sit 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in medium bowl: add flour, sugar & salt.  Add yeast and oil and mix together. Knead for 5 minutes, adding extra flour as needed. As the dough was still initially a little sticky, I stirred in another 1/4 cup flour, that was enough to get it where I could handle it and knead it.  Once kneaded, shape into a ball, place on bottom of bowl, lightly ...

The Mama Kat prompt today is revisit a blog post from June last year and talk about that: This time last year, I won a "Night Blooming Jasmine" shrub for a door-prize at a Gardening talk I attended at the city Community Center.  Here's where I planted it. It was a lovely little topiary shrub that blooms white flowers at night that feeds moths and other night feeders. But come winter and hard freezes killed it. I didn't give up though. In my experience, shrubs and trees generally sprout new growth from the same root.  So, come spring, I hoped my Night Blooming Jasmine would sprout a new stem. It did. Here it is today: It's about 3 feet tall now and preparing to bloom.  I wasn't sure what to do with it exactly. The previous plant had been trained into topiary form, but I didn't know what it's natural growth pattern was like. Topiary training can be challenging if it's a really branchy sort of shrub. Turns out, it just p...

I actually tried a couple new recipes this past week, but forgot to take any pictures! Both were good, so I'm going to make them again next week and try to remember pictures! Lots of steady rain the past 3 days! It's been good for the grass! It was so dry this spring, the grass didn't really get started well. Mowed just the north side today. We'll be having a new sliding glass door put in within a month. Hurricane impact glass. UV resistant. Same company that did our windows is doing the door. The sales guy, Leon, who came to our house reported their business has been steadily booming, because all these people suddenly stuck at home because of the virus decided to remodel this or that. In fact, they've hired more people! Also their glass manufacturer, Simonton, has remained in full production.   So that was interestingly news. Today's Garden picture is a nice shot of a Hardy Hibiscus! It just recently started blooming. It's puts on a pretty stup...

Today, I had some things I'd been rooting to plant today. It was over-cast outside, so not overly hot.  Things planted include 7 baby Hardy Hibiscus grown from saved seed, 1 Purslane root from a stem I pinched off a neighbors plant I passed while walking (the stuff roots super easily) and about 6 or 7 yellow Coreopsis roots I plucked up from along the roadway with my weed tool and had in a bucket of water. They'd clearly been spreading themselves far and wide. Also planted more beet seeds and some new Spinach seeds I purchased, since the ones I had were too old. T oday's highlight garden pictures include a nice close shot of Thyme Blooms and also a photo of a baby Praying Mantis I spotted on one of my Sunflowers yesterday. From afar they look white, but up close you see they're actually see the buds start pink. Baby Praying Mantis These are a rarity, so I'm always thrilled to see one! He was so tiny--only about an inch in size. This is where...

I tried a new recipe this week! Publix grocery includes a recipe in their weekly ad and I clipped and saved this one for Pineapple "Right-Side-Up" Bread Pudding a few weeks ago. I had a loaf of Nature Made Wheat Bread I wanted to use up, so decided the recipe a whirl. I love bread pudding anyway. It turned out delicious! Easy to make with just a few ingredients. It makes one 8 x 8 baking pan. We had some leftover and I had a cold piece and think it'd be better warmed up in the mircowave. So it's best served warm. Pineapple Right-Side-Up Bread Pudding  Ingredients 4 Tablespoons salted butter, softened 8 to 10 slices of bread, cubed 1/2 cup brown sugar  4 eggs (or 1 cup egg substitute) 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon OR apple pie spice 1 (20oz) crushed pineapple in 100% juice, undrained. 1 cup maraschino cherries, drained Directions: Preheat over to 350F degrees.  Cut butter in pieces in a large bowl to soften.  Meanwhile cut bread slices ...