Tag: flower boxes

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A Little This, A Little That

Hello! It is a beautiful day here. It isn’t too hot or too chilly…………….just right! Goldilocks would approve!

I have some stuff, as usual, to share with you. I hope you find something useful and interesting in this post.

In the kitchen…………

Baked Pork Chops

I had some boneless, center cut chops I wanted to prepare. They turned out great! They were moist and very flavorful. The bonus is that they were super easy to make.

  • 4 boneless pork chops
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup Parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup seasoned Italian bread crumbs

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking pan with foil for easy clean up. On a plate combine the garlic powder, black pepper, bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Rub the pork chops with the olive oil. Then coat both sides of the chops with the mixture you made on the plate. Place on the foil and bake in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes. Pork is done when it has an internal temperature of 145 degrees according to the USDA.

As a side note, I absolutely love my digital meat thermometer! They are reasonably priced and so useful! I am not sure what I did before I had one.

Fruit Cocktail Cake

When I was a child I loved fruit cocktail. However, as an adult, I’m not that thrilled by it. Somehow I ended up with a couple of random cans and I am never one to throw out anything or just let it expire. I hunted around and found this recipe. I don’t know who to give credit to for the recipe.

It actually turned out great! The cake was very moist, had a little crunchy layer on top and was easy to make. It wasn’t too sweet either. I think you would like it.

  •  1  1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cans of fruit cocktail (drained)
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat the sugar and the eggs together. Mix the dry ingredients together (except the nuts and brown sugar) and add them to the sugar and egg mixture. Add the fruit cocktail and mix well. Pour mixture into a greased 9″ X 13″ pan. Mix the nuts and brown sugar together and sprinkle on the cake. Bake for 45 minutes.

    

Peanut Butter Cheerio Marshmallow Treats 

*from the blog Just A Taste

I thought I would try something other than Rice Krispies. I found a recipe with peanut butter and chocolate. As my brother, Doug, would say, there’s nothing wrong with peanut butter and chocolate together! He says it with some deep love and some exuberance!

  • 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter 
  • 1 (10-oz.) package marshmallows
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 6 cups Cheerios cereal
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Using either the microwave and a large enough bowl for your ingredients or the stove top with a large enough pan for all ingredients,  melt the butter and then add the marshmallows to melt. If using the microwave stop every 30 seconds to stir and check progress. Once both are melted and combined add the vanilla and then the peanut butter. Once that is incorporated add your Cheerios and stir to coat all the cereal. Spread into a 9″ X 13″ greased pan. Melt the chocolate chips and then spatter, (or drizzle, pipe, or whatever technique you want to use) the melted chocolate on top of the treats. Allow to set.

* I used salted butter. No harm, no foul! I never have unsalted butter on hand and I am not purchasing a whole pound of it to use a few tablespoons. These were YUMMY!

Projects 

I wanted to give you an update on my vintage metal picnic baskets turned flower boxes. I added some petunias and I am much happier with them now!

I have been gradually decorating the house for Summer. One of the areas I have tackled is my table. I bought some cute “nautical” type place-mats at The Christmas Tree Shoppe. You know they weren’t expensive coming from there. I believe I paid $1.99. I liked them but they needed some dressing up. I decided I wanted some cloth napkins and rings to put on them. I bought 4 fat quarters at Walmart for $1.97 each in a color and design I thought would go with the place-mats. I cut squares out of each quarter (not wasting hardly any material) and washed them. The edges frayed a little and I frayed them a little more. Over time I would like each napkin to have a frayed edge of about a quarter-inch. I love the vintage tablecloths and napkins that are done in this style. As a matter of fact, I collect them! For the “napkin rings” I used some jute that I had to tie up the napkins.  Then I folded the napkins accordion style and then in half. The look is nice and I am pleased.

Tips and Tricks

I have to say that I used it to make mashed potatoes and they were absolutely heavenly! I am anxious to use it again and I would highly recommend the investment.

  • I am quite often annoyed when I boil eggs, particularly when I do so for deviled eggs. Sometimes they come out so easy to peel and sometimes they are not! My latest quest was to find a method that is successful most of the time. My first attempt was using the following method.

Place the eggs in a saucepan.

Cover the eggs with lukewarm water.

Add in vinegar and pinch salt.

Bring to a full boil over medium heat; boil for 2 minutes (start timing after the water reaches a full boil).

Remove from heat cover with a tight lid.

Allow the eggs to stand for 11 minutes.

The results were not good and I followed the directions exactly! I will forge on to the next method. If anyone has a surefire way please leave a comment and let me know!

  • I don’t know if many people use bobby pins any more. I have some kicking around here and I did some research on creative ways to use them. You can use them to zip or unzip a zipper that has lost its tab by inserting the pin into the eye of the slider. You can also put a bobby pin at the bottom of a tube of toothpaste and slide it up as you use the toothpaste. Waste not, want not! You are assured of getting as much as you possibly can out of the tube. Lastly and this is my personal favorite, you can put a bobby pin at the loose end of a roll of tape and never struggle to find the end again!
  • Recently, my daughter, Sara, and I have been on a “clean out the clutter” campaign. We have donated, thrown out and sold a lot of stuff! It is very freeing!

Anyway, one of the items of her’s that we tried to sell was a stack of DVDs. We tried our favorite Facebook selling page at a super cheap price and no bites. I remembered something about online sites that would buy used electronics, games, tablets, and movies and with very little effort found Decluttr (that is not a spelling error) and Second Spin.

Out of the two sites I prefer Decluttr because they allow you to print a shipping label at their expense. Second Spin has you pay for the postage and then be reimbursed at a media mail rate. Decluttr, I found, took less DVDs but paid better. I first submitted the upc code on Decluttr and if they weren’t taking that movie then I tried Second Spin.

Both sites give you money through your Paypal when they receive and process the box. I sent the Decluttr shipment through UPS which is the label they provided and with Second Spin I used USPS and told them it was a media shipment. There were about 50 movies in the box and it cost $8.27 to mail them as media mail.

There was a little effort involved but it wasn’t horrible. Both sites were easy to use but due to Decluttr supplying the shipping label that is my favorite. I have placed the links below for you to check them out.

decluttr.com

secondspin.com

Happy Father’s Day to all the Daddy’s out there! Be sure to leave a comment or share a trick or tip with all of us. See you soon!

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Flowers and Such

The weather is finally acting as it should for the end of May, nearly June. I am sure we all have been busy first cleaning up our yards and then working to beautify them for the Summer. I am very lucky in that my daughters own a riding lawn mower and Sara mows the lawn for me when needed. That leaves me to do the fun, pretty stuff. Somehow, putting that down in print makes me feel bad for Sara. Geesh!

Projects

One of my first projects was to create a flower container out of “a little red wagon” that Sara had won in a drawing. It was filled with all kinds of nice new things but Sara knew that I would really love the wagon and so it came to be mine.

First I drilled holes in the bottom of it for drainage. The wooden sides were all attached except for one. I left it that way so that the flowers could easily be seen. I filled the wagon with soil and went shopping for flowers. Then it was time to decide plant placement for the most pleasing look (that would be the most pleasing to me, lol). I decided to place the wagon to the side of my front steps. See below for the end result. I am pretty happy with it.

I added the flags for Memorial Day.

My next project was to create some flower boxes out of two vintage metal picnic baskets. I do collect them and have several. These two were in colors that were my least favorite and even though I don’t mind wear on my vintage items they had an unusual amount. Those two reasons made it a good decision to paint them and re-purpose as flower boxes. I toyed with the idea of painting them some bright, eye-catching color such as orange, hot pink or sunshine yellow but in the end decided on dark brown which goes with my house colors.

I drilled holes in the bottom of each one, again, for drainage and then filled them with soil. I used wooden dowels to prop the lids open, at an angle, rather than removing the lids. That way I felt they didn’t completely lose their original identity. They now have flowers in them that will hopefully grow and fill out. I may add some low covering plant to fill in but I am not sure yet.

  

Recipes

On Mother’s Day I had all my little chicks over for dinner (except Josh who lives in Ithaca). We had oven roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, corn and for dessert we had banana pudding.

I used to make it the way my Mom did which didn’t used sweetened condensed milk. However, my son, Jess, is a banana pudding efficiendo and had it with the sweetened milk and told me about it. Now, whenever I make it that is the recipe I use.

Banana Pudding (Magnolia Bakery recipe)

1 1/2 cups water

2/3 cup instant vanilla pudding mix

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

3 cups heavy cream

1 (12-ounce) box vanilla wafers

4 bananas, sliced

  1. Mix together the water, pudding mix, and sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight, until it sets up.
  2. Whip heavy cream until soft peaks form. Working in thirds, fold the whipped cream into the pudding mixture until well incorporated.
  3. In a trifle bowl, layer vanilla wafers, sliced bananas, and pudding mixture; continue until you’ve used up all the pudding mixture. Refrigerate for at least another 30 minutes before serving.

If you have never tried it this way you really must! It is so delicious and guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser. I always put mine in a clear glass bowl or trifle bowl. You could even make individual ones similar to little parfaits.

I have started making dinner and taking it up to my oldest son’s house after he gets out of work a couple of times a month. It gives us time to catch up and enjoy a meal together. I also miss cooking for people and this gives me another chance to do that. For our last dinner I made baked chicken, macaroni and cheese and baked beans. Below you will find the recipe for the homemade mac and cheese that I did in my Instant Pot.

If you don’t know what an Instant Pot is let me tell you what it can do. Mine has 7 different functions, all of which I have not tried yet. It is a slow cooker, a pressure cooker, rice cooker, yogurt maker, a steamer and you can saute/sear meat and use as a warmer. There are other versions with  less or  more functions. They usually run about $99. I bought mine on sale at Amazon a couple of years ago for $59. I couldn’t resist! So far I have used it as a pressure cooker and a slow cooker. I have also used it to sear meat and as a warmer.

The recipe that follows used the instant pot first as a pressure cooker and then as a warmer.

Instant Pot Mac and Cheese

 a few dashes of hot sauce
1 tbsp brown mustard
1 lb Pasta
4 cups of water
2 tbsp Butter
2 cups of yellow shredded cheddar
1 can of evaporated milk
2 cups of a soft white shredded cheese such as mozzarella or Monterey jack.
4 cups Water
Place the hot sauce, mustard, pasta, butter and water in the pot and set it on high for 4 minutes. It is going to take longer than 4 minutes total because the pressure cooker will take a few minutes to reach temperature before the 4 minutes cook time.
When the cook time is finished release the pressure on the cooker. Then open the pot and if the pasta needs to be drained you may do so. Now, add the evaporated mild and both cheeses a little at a time while stirring to melt and blend. That’s it folks!!! Delicious and creamy.
This recipe is sort of  an amalgamation of several recipes I saw online. You can use really any two cheeses you want but all recipes seem to call for a cheddar and some other milder cheese. you can also use heavy cream or milk in place of the evaporated milk. Also, just a little note about the hot sauce. It doesn’t make it hot at all. I think it just gives it another little layer of flavor.
Tips
1. This handy tip comes from my daughter, Melanie. She had a problem with her vehicle headlights getting all cloudy and consequently not being as bright. She used toothpaste. The toothpaste was a whitening one with peroxide in it. It does take some elbow grease when you’re cleaning them but the results make it worth the effort. You just rub the toothpaste on in a circular motion across the lens. It does dry some as you’re doing it so more does need to be added from time to time while you work. Melanie reports that you can actually see the yellow coming off as you work. When you’re done applying the toothpaste you just use warm water to scrub and rinse it off. She recommends using an old washcloth to scrub. A paper towel seemed to make it harder to scrub.
  The left headlight has been cleaned but the right has not been done yet in this picture.
2.  When you look online at things you might possibly want to purchase websites leave cookies in your internet browser and of course, there is always the history on your browser of where you have been. This is the way they can keep track of your purchasing and browsing habits. Before you actually purchase something make sure that you go to your browser settings and clear your cookies and history. You want to make sure that you are getting the best price there is. If they know you have been contemplating the purchase of an item it may influence the price you are offered.
3. I have some habits that I want to share with you. First, I always leave positive  reviews on Amazon, eBay , etc. when they are deserved. Conversely, if I am not satisfied with a product I will privately contact the business or person that I purchased it from. Negative reviews really do you no good. You get further handling them privately. This idea of contacting people/companies also pertains, in a slightly different sense, to other situations. I want to give you two examples.
a. I needed a 3 foot by 4 foot piece of glass for my dining room table. I called two different glass companies. The first one said it would be $121 plus tax. The second one said it would be $84.50 plus tax. Obviously, I went with the second. When the glass came in a lady called me and told me it was ready and was $141 plus tax. I asked her why I was quoted something totally different. She said she would check into it and get back to me. When she called back she said that she had asked me if I wanted polished edges and neglected to tell me that it was extra. (I had told her when she asked that I just wanted the edges not to be sharp.) She told me that because she had neglected to tell me it was an extra charge that she would split the difference with me. Therefore, I paid $114 plus tax. I was happy with this since it was less than my first quote. Nothing would have happened if I hadn’t questioned it.
b. I received an ad in the mail for a magazine subscription for $10 for the year which was a special deal for first time subscribers. I sent my card back in to claim the deal. In the meantime I received an email for the same magazine with a deal for subscription as well but this one was for $7 for the year. Now, it is only a $3 difference but I took five minutes to email their customer service department about the difference. They did answer me and gave me the $7 price. They were very nice about it.
The moral? Always take a moment to speak up, inquire and/or express your opinion!
4.  My littlest dog, Duffy, was having a problem with his rear right leg buckling on him. I mentioned it to the vet. The doctor told me that he had luxation of the knee cap. This meant that his kneecap or patella was popping out-of-place and going to the inside of his leg. It really broke my heart to see this happen to him. On the suggestion of my friend, Cindy, I looked it up online and in particular if there was any massage or something that I could do to help him. What I found was a simple technique to talk to the dog softly and gently massage his leg. Once he was relaxed I gently pulled his leg out straight. The very first time I did this I heard the patella pop back into place. It was just so easy and amazing! He has been walking very well since and if/when it pops out-of-place again I know what to do.
The moral? Look it up! No matter whether you think it will be out there or not, just try! YouTube has videos about everything! I once was having a problem with a rechargeable battery for my weed whacker and found a YouTube video about the problem and a method to solve it.
Have a wonderful Memorial Day with family and friends!  Please leave a comment if you would like to share something! I would love to hear from you.
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