Choice Morsels

Each season brings it's own interesting sights to the garden! Highlights of my late summer garden include: A flock of brand new Silver Pampas Grass plumes! This beauty is in a border bed in the front yard and those tallest spires are at least 12 feet tall! Huge Shamrock leaves poking up between hen and chicks! Shamrocks (Oxalis) puts up fresh growth around now, then stays green all winter.  Zinnias! I got these planted late, so they're just now really getting going. I can see this particular bunch from my back door. I love the fullness of the yellow & pink heads! Hummingbirds, butterflies and bees love them! Leaving you with pretty garden pictures while I'm on blogging-break for a couple weeks! My n ext post will be around 1 September!

Two Great Garden Pics today! Native Lily in the Basil! Not long ago I caught on camera this lovely orange native Day Lily bloom among the Basil leaves & blooms under the bird feeder!  My native day lilies bloom in a profusion in the spring and then bloom sporadically the rest of the season. This was one of those sporadic blooms. This Basil is a volunteer, a Thai type, and is a 30-inch tall clump under the feeder now. So pretty.  Rain Lilies! Turns out all that rain is good for something--it made some of my Rain Lilies bloom! Two this week! There must be around 20 planted in that rain garden; multiple colors: pink, yellow & white. I keep hoping they'll bloom in profusion, but they keep their own schedule. The pink have the largest flowers.

Recently, I've been making box mix brownies for Hubby to take up to the Army post for the Single Soldiers Bible Study he helps facilitate. In the past I've used replaced the oil called for on box with Unsweetened Applesauce--and that works well, but it does give  more of a cakey quality to the Brownies rather then fudgy-chewy. I have a big jar of Coconut Oil for it's multiple uses and it's health benefits in cooking and decided to try that---and it made the most delicious fudgy Brownies I've ever made! So, if you're making box mix Brownies and have Coconut Oil on hand, I highly recommend it! The Dark Chocolate for a 10 x 13 pan is my favorite! I also use Special Dark Chocolate Chips. Brownies 1 box brownie mix for 10 x 13 pan 1/2 cup Coconut Oil  (if it's solid, microwave a few seconds to melt back to liquid) 2 eggs 1/4 cup water Make according to directions. Optional : sprinkle a handful of chocolate chips over top, then and bake...

Today's Garden Pics are Critters that frequent my yard: This is our Box Turtle friend who comes out when it's rainy and wet! This is the one with such a beautiful colored shell! He (or she---I can't tell) really loves the watermelon rind we put out! And this next shot is the Toad that likes sitting in this ceramic pot of Echeveria! I put a yellow arrow pointing at it, since it's covered itself in the container soil so it looks the same color. The eyes give it away.

It's another Potato Salad try for my "Summer of Potato Salad" as I search for the best Potato Salad recipes to add to my repartee. This one is called "Texas Style" Potato Salad. It's a tad spicy with lots of onion, bacon and fresh cilantro; made with olive oil & red vinegar. No Mayo.  I thought it was good, but not one I'd put on my list to make again. Our friend, Hope, loved it and devoured two helpings. The recipe calls for two minced Serrano Chile Peppers, but I used just one, because Hubby doesn't like too much spiciness. I felt adding that  whole bunch of Cilantro leaves really over-did the Cilantro flavor! This recipe might benefit from less Cilantro leaves and more bacon ! The photo is original the Pinterest.  I didn't photograph my own salad this time because it was so colorless without the red onion!  Wouldn't you know it, the day I actually want a red onion, the Commissary was clean out! Texas Style Potato Sal...

The topic for Mama Kat today is to share the last time I took a boat trip. Hubby and I have always been disinclined toward boats, but 16 years ago, when our Chaplain sponsor for our military singles Bible study group wanted to take them on a local "Pirate Cruise," we decided to go with them.  It was a three-hour trip being run out of the Destin harbor by a husband and wife who owned a three-masted sailboat something like the one picture. It was 2001, long before Pirates of the Caribbean was out, so the boat was nothing fancy. Just just a brown boat flying a jolly roger with a husband and wife in pirate garb. There was seating along the sides and on the cargo-hold hatch lid in the middle of the boat. Hubby and I were sitting on this lid. We sailed from the Destin harbor, through the channel, out into the open Gulf, mild waves heaving us up and down. Hubby and I were promptly sea-sick. I mean completely green at the gills. I can count the times in my life I...

We've had a Box Turtle visitor in the back yard today. This is the 2nd time we've seen him. He only seems to pop out when it's raining and there's puddles everywhere. He has a pretty light bronze colored shell. Very distinctive.  The first time we saw him, we put out some watermelon rinds for him and he devoured them! Today, he popped out during a thundershower to wander about. We'd saved some rinds in the frig, so I quickly pulled out a couple and dashed out into the pouring rain to put them down for him. He ate both. Clever fellow, he puts a foot on the rind so it won't move around while he's eating it! Today's Garden pic is the plant array along the front walk in front of the climbing roses: Hosta Lillies, Vince, 4 O'clocks and Marigolds. The Vinca planted itself and I love how nice it looks mingled among the Hosta leaves! It looks so natural! The 4 O'clocks and Marigolds I added, though both are from saved seed. I planted one H...