First Spring Harvest

I went harvest crazy on Saturday.  I picked my first vase full of Lilacs

I also picked the first of my Salad Greens.  Here is a  recipe for a Super Salad.

1 bunch of spinach or kale, torn into bite size pieces
2 large handfuls of any kind of mixed spring lettuce
1-2 cups chopped chinese cabbage or shredded head cabbage
2-3 carrots, julienned or shredded
1/2 thinly sliced red onion (or white)
Handful of chopped parsley
1 handful of raw sunflower seeds
1 container of cherry tomatoes
1 handful or raw cashews
1-2 large handful of fresh blueberries
goji berries, raisins or cranberries to taste
Toss all ingredients in bowl with dressing

Acai Dressing

2/3 cup Acai juice
1/4 cup olive oil
apple cider vinegar to taste approx 1/8 cup
your favorite spices.  Try onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne (dash),
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Add sweetener (agave or honey) as desired
Blend in a blender till mixed

Spinach from my garden

Baby lettuce and cabbage from my patio garden container

Mixed Salad Greens

Finished Salad

Happy to See Bees

A few days ago when the sun was shinning brightly and I was playing in my garden, I heard the busy bees in my apple blossoms.  It made me happy to see the little guys stacking the yellow pollen around their thighs.  Do bees have thighs?  Actually they have a little yellow sack attached to their legs that they fill with pollen to take back to the hive.

Did you know that in the 1920's they made up slang phrase, just for the fun of it.  Bee's Knees was one of the slang's.    How about these other slang's:

Cats meow
Cats Pajamas
The Cat's whiskers
The Snakes' Hips'
The Kippers' Knickers'
The Monkey's eyebrows
Elephant’s adenoids,  ant’s pants, tiger’s spots, bullfrog’s beard, elephant’s instep, caterpillar’s kimono, turtle’s neck, duck’s quack, monkey’s eyebrows, gnat’s elbows, oyster’s earrings, snake’s hips, kipper’s knickers, elephant’s manicure, clam’s garter, eel’s ankle, leopard’s stripes, tadpole’s teddies, sardine’s whiskers, canary’s tusks, pig’s wings, cuckoo’s chin, and butterfly’s book.

Kluck - dumb person.
Dumb kluck - worse than a kluck.
Pollywoppus - meaningless stuff.
Fly-paper - a guy who sticks around

In the 1920s it was fashionable to use nonsense terms to denote excellence.  However, Bee's Knees was written in a letter as early as 1797.    

And so you ask  "So What?"

I love the Bee's

Plantain Upside-Down Cake

I joined Bountiful Baskets and have been receiving wonderful baskets of fresh fruit and veggies each week.  Sometimes we get unusual produce like plantains.  I have never used a plantain, so I did a little research on the internet and combined several recipe ideas to come up with my own  version.  Here is my recipe for

Plantain Upside-Down Cake.

2 large black plantains
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons of melted butter

Cake Batter

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or healthy Earth Balance
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup agave or honey
3 large eggs
2/3 cup almond or soy milk with 1 tsp lemon added to sour
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1 vanilla bean scraped

Start with 2 large black Plantains (Plantains come green, yellow, and spotted black).  The more they ripen, the sweeter they are.

Peel, and cut in half lengthwise and then lengthwise into quarters, then chop into 1/4 inch slices.  Place into a pyrex dish.  Mine was 7x9 but you could use an 8x8.  Sprinkle the brown sugar over the slices and drizzle with the melted butter.  Mix together and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until carmelized.

While this is cooling a bit, make the cake batter.

Cream the sugar and butter together in a mixer.  Add the agave, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk. Mix.  Combine the dry ingredients into a bowl and add to the wet mixture a little at a time.  Do not overbeat this cake. Scrape the sides of the bowl when necessary.

 Spread over the the top of the warm carmelized plantain and bake at 350 degrees for about 25-35 minutes depending on the size of your pan.  This cake is enjoyed best while warm.  Top with whipped Cream, or Ice Cream if desired.   Yummy



Pillows, Pillows and more Pillows

At my quilt group, Janet showed us how to make beautiful pillows.  First tip was to use a round object to cut the corners of your pillow into a curve. This keeps you from having flat dogear corners.

Another tip was to use extra stuffing in the corners of the pillow, even though you are using a pillowform.  The form does not get into the corners completely.  Use extra stuffing to shape your pillow in the corners and also anywhere else it might need some extra loft.

I added beaded fringe to this pillow in a V shape.  No extra seams needed

My couch full of bright and colorful pillows brightens up the whole room.

Now to put something on the empty wall.

Puzzle Quilt

Each year the Giant Steps Organization has an auction to help raise money for their program.  Some of my grandchildren have benefited from this group so I like to donate a quilt each year.  The puzzle is a symbol for the autism condition, so I like to choose a different puzzle quilt each year.

This year I chose to cut the puzzle pieces out using a Big shot and a puzzle die.  I ironed on fusible first, then cut the puzzle pieces then ironed them onto the blocks.  After the quilt top was finished I quilted the top using a meander stitch making sure I would catch each of the pieces.  The quilt is quite a bit brighter than the picture shows.  I hope this will be a great addition to the auction.