Choice Morsels

The Mama Kat prompt today is generally about what I like to do for Halloween. When I was growing up in rural Indiana, I used to love dressing up and going door-to-door trick or treating!  We lived way out in the country, so Mother would drive us around, usually to homes of people we knew were prepared for trick or treaters. Some of those people when all out on treats! I also loved carving pumpkins. Every year, each of us would be given a pumpkin to fish the seeds out of and carve a face in. Sometime home grown; sometimes store bought. So yearly, we carved pumpkins with faces lit by candles every night graced our front porch.  Then later, when Hubby and I lived in Air Force base housing here in Florida, trick or treating was a HUGE deal! Literally, h undreds of neighborhood kids would make the rounds through every block and you'd go through a mixing bowl load of candy in no time! Hubby and I would dress in costume for the occasion.  I suppose, being on Air Force base, peop...

I went out late this afternoon to miracle-gro water my veggies, daylilies, blackberries, blueberries and hyrdrangeas near the house. The tomato I planted back in spring sprouted new growth from all stems and is laden with blossom right now as well as some tomatoes I have sweet peas beginning to bloom. The beets. lettuce and spinach are still babies. The bell pepper is large and bushy and beginning a fresh round fruit-making. This is such a nice time of year veggies. No pests. Today's pics are two morning sun shots today captured back in early October: My Chocolate Elephant Ears: Actually, I read they are more related to Caladiums then Elephant Ears. They have roots rather then a bulb. But unlike common Caladiums, these are faithfully perennial. I moved a bunch of the roots to this container a couple years ago because they weren't thriving in the ground where they are. Now that they have a pot to themselves, they're doing better. They come up green with purplish veins, then ...

  I'm sort of picky about salad. I'm not always in the mood for something cold and I don't care for sour tasting dressings. I also like a bite-size chop on the greens and the grape tomatoes sliced; not whole. So, looking for a new salad option, I ran across this Autumn Salad on Pinterest. It's got apple, pear, dried cranberries, pecans & feta! And it includes a very easy and yummy home-made creamy Poppy seed dressing! It's a pretty salad as well. The feta makes a good contrast to the sweet of the fruit, cranberries and dressing. I think it'd be good with Blue Cheese also. I did alter the original Pinterest recipe by adding red onion & julienned carrots. I like a colorful salad. Note: though recipe calls for Romaine, you can use any type of lettuce you prefer, except for iceburg. Also mix in chopped baby spinach leaves. It's my go-to salad now and I've found the Poppy seed dressing delicious on Raisin & Apple Slaw, too! (Photo is my own) Autu ...

  Garden Pic today is my electric Jack O' Lanterns near the front door with a Coneflower behind. I have a single taller one out front, looking out toward the road next to the Holly tree. It actually was not as dark as the photo appears. I used Ribbet photo shop make the background darker.. Ribbet is having their annual Halloween photo contest, so the picture above became the picture below as an entry:

The Mama Kat prompt I've chosen today is,  "Write about a recipe no one makes quite like your mother." I grew up in rural Indiana with parents from Minnesota, so our Thanksgiving had a more Northern flavor: We'd have just Turkey. (No ham) Home-made mashed potatoes with home-made giblet gravy. Sage Dressing made with a combination of white and wheat bread.  A vegetable, like broccoli with Velveeta cheese sauce or Cauliflower with Velveeta cheese sauce.  Home-made Parkerhouse yeast rolls and fairly often, jellied cranberry sauce.  Finally, pumpkin pie in home-made lard pie crusts. Served plain. No whip cream. Mother made the best Sage Dressing!  She'd freeze all the bread heels during the year and any used bread or buns, then cube those up to make the Thanksgiving dressing. Then she'd leave them in a bowl over-night to dry. If she didn't have any bread saved in the freezer, she'd cube up fresh slices of both white and wheat bread and dry them in the ove...

Today's Garden Pics of the day are "Fall Flowers" currently in my garden beds: First up: Purple Button Mums. These are new, just planted about 3 weeks ago. Seems like I have to replant them every year.  I keep hoping they'll spread and make a home here.   Next: This weeks Hydrangea Vase Arrangement: Here, "pink and purple" are fall colors. My garden beds are full of  Vinca: dark, medium & light pinks! I've got purple Mexican Heathers, purple mums, burgundy Basil blooms & purple Clematis. You wouldn't believe this arrangement is comprised of only 2 Hydrangea stems.  It's an old shrub that has been recently putting up a single stem with multiple smaller heads on it. About 5 medium size heads.  So I just cut that apart for this vase plus one additional hydrangea head that was a single and about 5 Vinca stems. The Vinca bloom one bloom a day, but are loaded with several buds and make a nice greenery fill between blooms. Neat thing is, if I re...

Today's Garden Pic's are more late day Autumn sunlight shots: Golden glow on this Cardinal Basil just coming into bloom on my patio! A Mexican Heather also highlighted by late date sun! What I love about Mexican Heather is it blooms until frost, so it's great food for all types of bees & butterflies late into fall!