Nectarine and Blueberry Bread

I had some nectarines in the refrigerator that had been there too long for just eating in their present state but they were fine for cooking. Just needed to find a recipe and this is the one I found and we love it.

Nectarine and Blueberry Tea Bread recipe adapted from Shove It In Your Face which was adapted from Lynne's Country Kitchen

1 1/2 Cups Flour, divided

3/4 Cup Sugar

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Allspice

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/3 Cup (75 grams) Butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon Orange Zest (I used grapefruit) (I skipped this)

1/4 Cup Orange Juice (I used grapefruit) (I used pineapple)

2 Eggs

2 Nectarines (I used 4 small)

1/2 Cup Blueberries, fresh or frozen

Topping:

2/3 cup Almonds, chopped well and divided

1 Tablespoon Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

Combine 1/4 cup almonds, sugar and cinnamon.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F/175C

Combine 1 Cup of flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice and salt in a bowl or stand mixer.   Add in butter, orange juice and orange zest.  Mix on low for about 30 seconds, then on high for 2 minutes.  Add in eggs and remaining 1/2 Cup of flour.  Mix to combine.   Fold in fruit and remaining almonds.

Pour batter into a loaf pan and add the topping.  Bake 50 - 60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool in pan for ten minutes then finish cooling on a rack.  Enjoy!

Great Quote

At the end of Yoga this morning Lynn shared a quote with us that she particularly liked but couldn't remember the source.  I liked it too and remembered enough of it to Google it and find out all the details.

"We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. 

We are spiritual beings on a human journey."
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

The above is the paraphrased version.

The original is  

We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.

from The Phenomenon of Man (1955)

Le Phénomène Humain (1955)

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ (May 1, 1881 – April 10, 1955) was a French philosopher and Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist.

OK - now back to doing something other than googling around the internet.

Lemon Blueberry Bread

I saw this recipe in the D&C 7/27/12 and finally tried it.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120727/LIVING/307270014/Recipe-Week-Lemon-blueberry-bread-provides-sweetness-zing?nclick_check=1
 
According to the article the blueberries will not sink to the bottom because they are coated in flour first and that this will work for other fruit as well.
" Coating berries or other fruit with flour absorbs moisture that is released during the baking. That moisture is what causes the fruit to fall precipitously to the bottom."

Out of Town

On Wednesday I drove to Greta's for a couple of days.  I didn't have my usual sitting in the car for 6 hours look.  For some reason I decided to dress nicely and even put on makeup.  I must have had time to kill but it was all worth it when I got a compliment from Charles when he came home.

The Week in Review - 7/21 -7/29

Laura was here for the week, except for the few days she went to see her Dad in East Aurora.  I watched Sydney while she was gone and she didn't even bite me!

She was home for her 25th High School reunion on the first Saturday she was here.  We went to the gym a lot and her last day here we went shopping.
We also went for a hike in Whiting  Road Nature Preserve

The only picture I took  was this one at the Eastside Y (of course).

On Sunday Larry and I played golf and I was able to take a picture of the fancy new design on the bird house on the 9th hole.

Water Explodes in Microwave

I was boiling some water in the microwave to add to some instant oatmeal. 
I put about 3/4 of a cup of water into a 1 cup glass measuring cup for 3 minutes and left the room.

When I came back I thought I would give it a quick reheat and wait until I saw the boiling bubbles to make sure it was at boiling.
I put it on for one minute and watched for the bubbles.
All of a sudden "POW"  the water exploded right out of the cup all over the microwave.  When I opened the door the cup was intact but there was only 1/4 cup of water in it.

Immediately I googled "water explodes in microwave."

Here are some of the sites with the explanation.  I guess I'm lucky that it didn't blow up in my face.  Guess I better get some wooden stir sticks since I always boil water in the microwave. 
In case you don't read the articles, putting some non-metallic object in the water to help diffuse the built up energy that causes the explosion.

There were two things I did differently this time than usual.
1.  It was the first time I used a one cup measuring cup
2. and the first time I boiled so little water and then tried to reboil it

http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/exploding-water-in-the-microwave

http://www.snopes.com/science/microwave.asp

Myles plays Clocks

BRAVO!

Mango Salsa

I bought a couple of mangos the other day and didn't know what I was going to do with them but had a Mango Salsa in the back of my mind.  Yesterday Patsy and Ann came over for dinner with Laura, Larry and I and I looked up a bunch of recipes and based on what I had on hand the following is my recipe.

I had frozen chopped up cilantro and that worked great.  I usually buy a bunch of cilantro for a recipe and there is so much left over but it is so usable after freezing.  I also had some chopped up frozen jalapeno too and that worked well also.  Having those things on hand in the freezer also made it less time consuming for making the salsa and I'm all about the easier way of doing things.  The main inspiration for this recipe came from http://whatscookingamerica.net/CynthiaPineda/MangoSalsa.htm

Mango Salsa

Ingredients:

1 large fresh mango (click here for a link on how to cut a mango)

1 tbls chopped jalepeno or as much as you like for hotness you want

1 small clove of garlic, crushed fine with 1 teaspoon of sea salt.

1/2 large red bell pepper, seeded and diced

2 green onions, diced or 1/4 cup diced red onion
diced fresh or canned pineapple
cilantro to taste, since I used frozen I added about 1 tblsp which expanded after being added
juice of half lime

Peel and dice the mango.
Add all the other ingredients and mix well.
Squeeze the lime over all and stir.

Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Oriental Mushrooms

I didn't think I remembered where I got this recipe from but I did.
It's from page 428 of my Betty Crocker's Cookbook
27th Printing, 1976

It's always been a favorite of mine and since I have a pound of mushrooms sitting in my refrigerator I think they will make a great side for dinner tonight.



Oriental Mushrooms

Serves: 4-6                            
Preparation Time: 15 Min.

1 lb. fresh mushrooms.*
1/4 C. butter or margarine             
1/2 C. water  
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 C. chopped onion
Toasted slivered almonds (optional)
2 tsp. flour
1 beef bouillon cube or
1 tsp. instant beef bouillon

If using fresh mushrooms slice parallel with stem.  Can leave whole if small. 

In large skillet, cook and stir onion in butter until tender. 

Stir in mushrooms.  Sprinkle flour over mixture; stir until mushrooms are coated.

Add water, bouillon cube and soy sauce, stirring until bouillon cube is dissolved.

 Cook over medium heat about 3 minutes.

Sprinkle with slivered almonds. (optional)

* or 2 jars (4 1/2 oz. each) sliced mushrooms, drained 

Hot and Cold

It's been really hot here lately, like most of the country and during this time I got a really bad cold.
After we took that wonderful hike in Whiting Park, we came home and Karen invited us to join her and John for dinner at the Pultneyville Grille.  Great, I thought, another night I don't have to cook.  And ten minutes later I started to feel like I was coming down with a cold.  Most of the time it goes away after some Advil so I thought it would this day too.  No such luck but it wasn't too bad although my throat felt a little scratchy.  We drove out to Pultneyville and met Karen and John who came by boat from Sodus and had a nice dinner.  I even splurged and had real meat, a filet.  I asked for it rare and it wasn't even very pink when I got it, but I thought maybe that's as rare as they're allowed to do.  It was tender though.
After dinner we said our goodbyes as we watched the boat pull away,

and on our way home we hit a deer on Lake Rd.

The next morning I woke up with a horrible cold and Larry had been up since 1:30.  It was a lost day.  I slept most of the next two days and then had some energy again on Tuesday.

Monday a tow truck came and got Larry's car.  Over $6000 worth of damage.  New radiator, fan and all the visible stuff needed to be replaced.  In my sluggish state I managed to drag myself outside to get some pictures of the only 4 month old car.

It was really hot on July 17th, a record high for that day here of 97°.  My car showed 98°

and the thermometer on the deck looked like 100° (in the shade).

A Walk in the Park

I can't believe we've never done this before.  There are so many hiking trails in Webster and we always do the same walk around the neighborhood.  Saturday, when it was another hot day I suggested doing a walk in Whiting Road Nature Preserve.  It turned out to be a good choice because a good part of it was shaded.  There were a lot of different trails to take and we completed 2.8 miles of them.  When Laura comes we'll have to go again.

There's a bunch of real nice Boardwalks over creeks (currently dry) that various Eagle Scouts did.

The trails are well marked

A  set of benches and tables were recently added

Flowers, Butterflies and lots of potential blackberies

A view of Queen Ann's Lace from underneath.  Queen Ann's Lace always reminds me of my childhood.

Bike Ride

Today we took a 12.25 mile bike ride.  We went along the new Hojack Trail.  New because they took out a whole new section of track and it is the nicest part of the ride.  Nice and wide and pretty to ride on, if they would pave it then it would be perfect.  We rode down to Rt. 250 and then took the bike path along 104 to Five Mile Line Rd and then back to Klem and home.

This is the section right before the turn for North Ponds Park

New Jewelry

I decided that I needed to organize my beads so that I could have my table available for my sewing machine since I have a purse I want to make.

In the process of organizing, I made some new necklaces and earrings.

Deviled Eggs

I finally found a tray for deviled eggs and it comes with a cover too.  It was on super sale - 70% off at Joann's so I grabbed it.

When we had our golf dinner June 25th at the clubhouse I volunteered to bring an appetizer.  When I was trying to decide what to make I remembered my tray, so devilled eggs was the appetizer of choice.

Deviled Eggs
Hard boiled eggs
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Salt and Pepper

Here's a really good discussion on how to make hard boiled eggs.
http://www.wikihow.com/Hard-Boil-an-Egg

Cut the peeled eggs in half.
Mix the egg yolk with the rest of the ingredients.

I like to put them in a plastic decorating bag with a decorating tip to make swirly looking.
Sprinkle paprika on top.

Big Eyes

A few months ago I read about a movie called Big Eyes that is coming out next year.  It stars Reese Witherspoon as artist Margaret Keane and Ryan Reynolds as her husband Walter.  The movie is named for the pictures of children that were painted by supposedly Walter but they were really done by Margaret . . . and so the story goes.

I went looking through my things and found these postcards that I bought back in the 1960s of two of the waifs.  I loved these big eye pictures.  Maybe the pictures were just signed Keane for a reason.

Christina Georgina Rosetti

This poem was referenced on page 273 in the book A Secret Kept by Tatiana de Rosnay.

The main character Antoine, met a British woman on a train who was going to read this poem at her friend's funeral in France.  The train was stopped for a few hours because a woman had just committed suicide by kneeling on the track.  Doesn't that all sound delightful.

I had never heard of the poet or the poem so of course I had to research it.  I'm not even sure why I posted it here.

As far as the book, I had read Sarah's Key by the same author and loved it and couldn't wait to read this one but I was so disappointed.  It just dragged on and on.  It was about as interesting as my memoir is going to be.

YUMMY

How good does this look? 
Angel Food Cake topped with fresh fruit and Fat Free Reddi Whip

Beer Bread

I saw this on GMA this morning and thought it looked good and I had all the ingredients on hand.
Then Audrey suggested we have a 4th of July dinner together so I brought it over.  It was really good and I will definitely make it again.

Beer Bread

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe/sara-moultons-beer-bread-16698267

Ingredients

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
One 12-ounce bottle good-quality beer

Directions

Place an oven rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the
oven to 350℉. Place the butter in a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish
or pan and set it in the oven while the oven is preheating.

Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a
medium bowl. Stir in the beer until it is just incorporated' (The
dough will be sticky and heavy.) Pour 6 tablespoons melted
butter out of the pan into a cup; tilt the pan to coat the bottom
and sides with the remaining butter. Spoon the bread dough into
the pan and spread evenly; drizzle the
6 tablespoons melted butter over the top. Bake for 20 to 25
minutes, or until the bumpy top is golden brown.

Remove the bread from the oven to a cooling rack; cut the bread
into rectangles and serve warm.

Onion bread: Prepare the dough as above. Thinly slice a small
onion and separate it into rings. Toss it with the
6 tablespoons melted butter and arrange it over the top of the
dough.

Corn bread: Prepare the dough as above, substituting l cup
cornmeal for 1 cup of the flour

Whole wheat bread: Prepare the dough as aboYe, substituting 1 cup
whole wheat four for 1 cup of the all-purpose flour.

From the kitchen of Sara Moulton

Ramen Noodle Salads

I have two different versions of this salad. One uses romaine and the other cabbage.
Both are delicious. Here they are.

Romaine Ramen Noodle Salad

1 head romaine lettuce
1 bunch scallions
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup Light Vegetable Oil
1 envelope Ramen noodles, broken
1 cup whole almonds
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
Break lettuce, chop scallions & halve Tomatoes. Mix liquids and sugar together in jar, shake. Brown broken noodles, sesame seeds and almonds in olive oil until golden brown (save or throw out bouillion packet that comes with soup pack). Toss all ingredients; may add Shrimp. Broiled Chicken, Tuna or cold Flank Steak to serve as a main dish.

Cabbage Ramen Noodle Salad

1 large head Napa Cabbage (1 ¾ - 2 lbs)
2 packages Ramen Oriental noodles crushed in bag (don’t use seasoning pouch)
1 small package slivered almonds
¼ to ½ tsp sesame seeds (Jacqui didn’t use this)
5 to 6 diced green onions

Chop Napa cabbage fine – add diced green onions
Brown crushed noodles, almonds, and sesame seeds in ½ cup margarine – drain on paper towels
Dressing
½ cup veg oil
2 Tbs soy sauce
½ cup rice wine vinegar
½ cup sugar

Directions:
Combine 1, 2 and 3 before serving. Make all 3 parts ahead and store separately. Salad won’t store, noodles become mushy.
Serves up to 10 people.

Downton Abbey

I just discovered Downton Abbey.  Audrey has been talking about it since the beginning but it was on at the same time as Desperate Housewives.  Late last night I tuned in to Season 1, Episode 1 using Amazon Prime where I got free streaming.  Today, by 6 PM I had seen all of Season 1.

 I'm hooked.

Now on to Season 2.

Blueberry Crunch (Dump) Cake

I was looking for some fruity recipe to make for Bridge Club and I came across a Blueberry Crumb Cake recipe I saved from Good Morning America where Justin Timberlake said it was his favorite recipe and his Grandmother made it.

I Googled Blueberry Crumb Cake to find other variations and then saw that this is really Dump Cake.  That sounded familiar to me and I looked in my old recipes and saw that I had a Cherry Dump Cake.  It's called a Dump Cake because you just dump all the ingredients into the pan that you're using to bake it in.  My kind of recipe.

Following is my version of the recipe.

Blueberry Crunch (Dump) Cake

1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple (undrained)
4 cups blueberries
3/4 cups sugar
1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts chopped (can use pecans or nuts of choice)

Spray or butter bottom of 13 x 9 baking dish
Spread can of pineapple in dish
Mix sugar and blueberries and spread over pineapple
Sprinkle cake mix over blueberries
Drizzle melted butter over the dry mix
Mix 1/4 cup sugar with nuts
Sprinkle over cake mix

Bake at 350 ℉ for 1 hour or until nicely browned.

Neck Again

I have what I think is a pinched nerve in my neck but this time, at least so far, it's only impacting my shoulders and across my back between my shoulders.  Is that still considered shoulders???

I don't know it it's from playing golf or doing situps, but for now I won't be doing anything.  Too bad we don't have shuffleboard here.  Took some Aleve, used ice, then heat.  Now I have to go to work.  Hope it clears up in a few days and stays away from my neck.  I keep moving it around to make sure it stays mobile and listen to all those crunchy noises it makes.

Pasta Salad with Goat Cheese and Arugula

I went to the Farmers Market this morning and bought fresh goat cheese just for this salad.
There were so many variations of recipes I decided to just use the ingredients I wanted so here goes my adaptation.  No quantities in a lot of instances because it doesn't matter but one of the recipes said to be sure to use a lot of goat cheese.

Arugala blend and orange tomatoes

All Arugala and red tomatoes

Pasta Salad with Goat Cheese and Arugula

5-8 oz Arugula
Minced garlic (2 tsp of freshly minced)
4 oz goat cheese crumbled
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbls vinegar or lemon juice
12 oz small sized pasta (penne, rotini, elbows, etc)
Cherry tomatoes
 salt and pepper

Mix olive oil, vinegar/lemon juice and garlic, set aside
Cook pasta.
Mix goat cheese in with warm pasta.  If you make the pasta ahead, just run it under hot water and drain well.
Add the tomatoes, arugula and toss with the olive oil and garlic dressing.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Note:  For a complete meal add one can of garbanzo beans or other bean of your choice.

Update:

After making this a few times I came up with a version that we like even better.
In place of the olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice I use some Thousand Island dressing (Fat Free)
Added 3 green onions chopped.

Tomato, Corn, and Avocado Salad

Couldn't decide whether to make this salad or the Quick Salad to bring to dinner tonight, so I'm bringing both.

Tomato, Corn, and Avocado Salad

Ingredients

    •    1 ear corn (husk and silk removed; tip cut off)
    •    2 pints cherry, grape, or pear tomatoes, halved (or quartered if large)
    •    1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced
    •    2 scallions, thinly sliced
    •    2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
    •    1 tablespoon vegetable oil, such as safflower
    •    Coarse salt and ground pepper

Directions

Stand ear in a large wide bowl; with a sharp knife, carefully slice downward to release the kernels. Discard cob.
Add tomatoes, avocado, scallions, lime juice, and oil to bowl.
Season with salt and pepper, and toss gently to combine.

Serves 4

For my Doctor

~ ~ A Note for the Doctor  ~ ~
Just like every other thing in my life, I was going to start this a lot sooner.  Now I had only 4 days until my appointment so let me try to list all the things I can complain about.

Having never been a sick or achy person I am finding that having to deal with all these issues is not something I am used to.  However, I am grateful that these are what they are when I see all the things around me that are so much worse.  I have no cause for complaint but I can still list them.

Hidden files on Mac

I was looking for where the safari bookmarks were this morning and came across this helpful information about the library on the Mac using Lion here:
http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/qt/Os-X-Lion-Is-Hiding-Your-Library-Folder.htm

A Reason to Go to Hamburg

Just saw this video, and I thought the miniature at the Ringling Museum was good.
Minuatur Wundeland
The Ringling Miniature Circus

Good going MVP Health Care!

Is this another one of those $0 bills?" I asked Larry as I started to open the envelope from MVP Health Care that was laying on the island since yesterday.
"I don't know," he replied, "I didn't open mine."

Kauai #2

Wednesday, May 30
We went to the hottub and pool this morning and were the first ones there.  Today was the first day we had almost continuous sunshine.

Later we went to the owner update and got a lot of good travel information and changed our mind about the free dinner and got 5000 points instead.  After lunch we were going to drop Mom off in some water and headed toward Hanalei but it never happened, couldn't find a good place to leave her.

We did get to stop at this overlook on the way over and get some good photos.  The beauty here is the best part.

And we added ourselves to the beauty too.

Kauai #1 - 5/26 - 5/28

Saturday, May 26
While we waited for the Hertz van at the Kauai airport we were greeted by a rooster. Little did we know how popular they are here. One of the theories of why there are so many is that when hurricane Iniki hit in 1992 chicken farms and backyard chicken coops were destroyed setting the chickens free and they've been free to roam ever since.

On our way to Kauai

I'm waiting at the airport for Larry to drop off our rental car

Maui #2 - 5/23 - 5/26

May 23, Wednesday
We took a drive south along the west shore of Maui until we ran out of road.  There was a lot of lava there and black sand.  I took a few pieces of lava for souvernirs and then had a funny feeling about it so I Googled a query, found that it was bad luck and promptly put it back.
This island is so interesting.  It can be dry and desert like in one area and if you keep driving it becomes green and lush.

Maui #1 - 5/19 - 5/22

May 19, Saturday

Arrived in Maui

After sitting on a plane for over 8 hours from Chicago we arrived in Mai 34 minutes early - lucky break. I love this airport , it's small and our bags came off so quickly.

I love my new luggage - can't miss it!

Larry's getting waited on now at the Hertz counter and then we have a 45 minute drive to our resort.

Princeville

My dear friend Marney, whom I haven't seen since high school owns a vacation rental home on Kauai in Hanalei.
I didn't realize until now that it is 4 miles from where we'll be staying.

The in between weeks

We came home from Florida on Sunday, April 29th.  On Monday I went to the dentist for a crown that I lost the previous Friday.  It came off my tooth Wednesday night.  I was eating something and all of a sudden something really hard was in my mouth.  I was able to put it back on my tooth and hoped I wouldn't have any pain until I could get home and see the dentist.  I then forgot about it and it must have been while I was eating a big plump grape that I swallowed it and never knew it.
I have another appointment for June 4th.

On Tuesday I went to see Conor at Hoselton and replaced my leased red Toyota Rav4 for a silver Rav.  I love the bluetooth enabled automatic playing of my books from my iPhone. 

There were tons of blossoms on the apple tree.  Last year we didn't have a single apple so I wonder if this is the year for them.

I spent a week unpacking, packed to go to Greta's and went to Katie's birthday dinner at P.F. Chang's

Getting ready for Hawaii

After going through my clothes that were all over the bed for the last time, well it probably won't be the last time, I was able to get them into one side of the medium size suitcase.  But as I was looking at some of my new tops I thought that I could use some new jewelry to go along with them.  I went into my craft corner and whipped up two necklaces and two pairs of earrings.  I was glad to be able to do that since I had all these beads and findings that I bought over a year ago and have barely used.

Here are my creations with the blouses they are matching.

Beef and Guiness Stew

I came upstairs to print out my packing list so I wouldn't forget anything for our trip to Hawaii.  Of course, somewhere along the line I got distracted and looked at the People magazine hightlights on my Google homepage.  I saw the article about Molly Sims and her baby shower and was curious because I wasn't really sure who Molly was, even though I recognized her name.  Sorry Molly!  So I read the article and went to her website and being as curious as I usually am looked around and came across this recipe that I want to try. Good pictures of the food on Molly Sims website and it's a recipe from Gavan Murphy (I didn't know who he was either).  Guess I'm really out of touch.

Macaroni and Cheese

This is a recipe I want to try when we come back from Hawaii.  Larry saved it from the paper while I was in CT so I guess he's glad that I agree it looks good.  But oh so fattening!!!