I've Had It!

Thoughts and Quotes: Life is a song and YOU get to make up the melody.

                                                                                          Unknown

Well, all right then, I'm ready to sing my own song. I'm getting out, I'm going places (don't know where I'll go since everything is closed), and I'm going to eat carbs.

I hope you'll join me; take off your pajamas, turn off the TV, put down the book, open the blinds, stop looking in the refrigerator, and let's get back to life. I've been working on some ways to get us motivated.

Starting with Sunday, May 3, let's join in the National Days.

Sunday, May 3:

Two different colored shoes Day. I've done that, one black - one navy.

Montana Day - Congratulations to all Montanans.

Chocolate Custard Day - If anyone has a good recipe, please share it. I'm not happy with mine.

Lemonade Day - but let's kick it up a bit. I read that Chick-fil-A has a Frosted Lemonade. There are CopyCat recipes, but why make scratch lemonade? I bought some Simply Lemonade from the refrigerated case at Walmart and Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream. I don't know what it's supposed to taste like, but Oh! My! Goodness! Why has no one told me about this before? 

Doesn't look very exciting, but try it! 1 cup cold lemonade; 2 big scoops vanilla ice cream; pulse on low in the blender until mixed. It makes enough for two, but fortunately I live alone, so I get to drink all of it.

Now I don't measure. I just put some lemonade and ice cream in a glass and use this handy-dandy tool that Joey gave me.

Monday, May 4: 

Bird Day - Niece Sarah will love this.

Orange Juice Day - have you ever tried the fresh one from Sam's Club? Yum!

Candied Orange Peel Day

Tuesday, May 5:

Hoagie Day - Did you know that you can pick up a sandwich at your Walmart's Subway? You just can't dine in.

Cinco de Mayo -  Here's mine:

The Menu

Library Soup

Chicken Enchiladas

Hearty Spanish Rice

Chile Relleno Casserole

Bean Salad

Pico de Gallo

Galopita

All the recipes are on my blog from Week 72, click HERE. Or you can find each menu item on the drop downs above.

Wednesday, May 6:

Nurses Day - God bless them! Our heros and heroines.

Beverage Day - this would be a good time to try the Surf Water from my Coastal Cuisine theme dinner. It would be great at your July 4th celebration.  Here's the recipe:

SURF WATER

4 Tbs water

4 Tbs sugar

24 oz lemon-lime soda (7-Up or Sprite)

1-1/4 tsps coconut extract

3/4 tsp pineapple extract

Blue food coloring

Mix sugar and water in a small microwave proof bowl. Heat 45-60 seconds to dissolve sugar.

Mix with soda in a pitcher.

Add flavorings and color.

Chill thoroughly and serve over ice.

Thursday, May 7: 

Day of Prayer

Paste Up Day

Packaging Design Day - Founded by Design Packaging, Inc., a company you hire to design the packaging for your product. They have an interesting website, click HERE and on the headings "Manufacturing" and "Creative" for some great examples. I want a Lilly Pulitzer bag.

Friday, May 8:

Have a Coke Day - thank you, I will. I don't drink them as a rule, so it will be a treat.

Coconut Cream Pie Day - I'm putting the recipe on the drop downs also.

COCONUT CREAM PIE

1 prebaked pie shell

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2-1/2 Tbs cornstarch

1 Tbs flour

3 egg yolks, slightly beaten (save whites for meringue)

1 Tbs butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup shredded coconut

6 Tbs sugar for meringue

Mix the sugar, salt, cornstarch, and flour in a medium saucepan.

Gradually add the milk.

Cook and over medium heat (stirring constantly) until it begins to boil. Continue cooking and stirring for one minute.

Gradually stir about half this mixture into the egg yolks, than add everything back to the saucepan and boil for one more minute.

Remove from heat and stir in the butter, then the vanilla, and then fold in the coconut.

Pour into the pie shell and set aside.

Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks.

Gradually beat in the 6 TBS sugar, 2 Tbs at a time, until you have stiff peaks.

Frost the pie with meringue and put into a 400° oven for about 6-8 minutes to brown.

Chill overnight before cutting.

Saturday, May 9:

Moscato Day - it's wine. I didn't know either. Alcohol gives me a headache, so grape juice. They do look delightful, however. Click HERE.

Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive - this is the day mail carriers all over the USA pick up our donations for food banks. Let's make this a banner year. Maybe a good time to get rid of your extra toilet paper and tuna.

MAY BUCKET LIST

See how many you can check off:

___ Plant some flowers

___ Plant some herbs

___ Have a picnic

___ Take a walk and share a special find with a photo

___ Take a drive to a nearby town

___ Go to a farmer's market

___ Organize your summer wardrobe

___ Have a tea party

___ Shop a yard sale

___ Send Mother's Day flowers

___ Decorate a grave

___ Take a virtual tour (Here's my favorite - click HERE) Or for something closer to home, try this - click HERE, and HERE, and HERE, and HERE. You can even come back for a weekly bloom report HERE (scroll down and then use the left and right arrows for amazing photos). Sorry about the ads; they're not mine.

ARE YOU A PROCRASTINATOR?

I am, but I found a list of 14 Daily Practices to Overcome Procrastination or How to Get Rid of Your Laziness.

Now I don't like to rush into things (being a true procrastinator), so I'm going to share one each week, allowing time for practicing each one, adding another each week.

1. Resolve any potential emergency. Taking care of emergencies immediately will prevent scarier issues down the road.

Hopefully, there will be no emergencies this week, so I can procratinate another week before starting these practices. 

Tasting: Mim and I were talking about how difficult cooking for one can be. For those of you who cook for one or two, here are some ideas, but mind you, they're not designed for healthful eating.

When I went for groceries this week, I decided to treat myself at Taco Bell. No, lines were too long. I went to the Chinese drive through next door, but didn't want to take time to eat with a fork, so I just asked for two egg rolls. They're really good, but small and only $1 each, so I felt guilty just spending $2, so I told him "and a small fried rice", figuring I could find a way to use it, and small is really small. 

I had a pork steak thawing in the refrigerator and they're really big from Harter House. I pan broiled it, cut it in half, cooked some onion in the drippings, pushed it to the side and cooked a scrambled egg, took it out and cut it up, added the rice to brown a little, put the cut up pork steak, some canned peas, and the egg back to the skillet and dumped on some soy sauce, served it with chopped green onions. Voila! Pork Fried Rice. And it was enough for two meals plus I still had the other half of the pork steak.

If you want to try it, there's a recipe on Week 77, click HERE, when I made it for Aloha Luau theme dinner as a side dish. Just add pork, beef, chicken, or shrimp for an entree. This can be reheated with great success, and something you won't tire of easily.

Then I made a not very good cake. I've made Cherry Chocolate Cake from a cake mix and a can of pie filling for years, but heard about using other flavors, so I used a strawberry cake mix with a can of strawberry pie filling. Not good! Dense, weird taste, and bilious color. To make matters worse, I made pudding frosting from White Chocolate Pudding Mix, but wanted some color, so I added a package of Strawberry Lemonade Kool-aid mix. Yuck! And there's nothing wrong with a plain old strawberry cake mix by itself if you want a strawberry cake, right? Or use the recipe for Kathy's Jello Cake (in the drop downs) with a white cake mix and a strawberry jello. But the Cherry Chocolate is good, especially if you frost it with chocolate icing, using some maraschino cherry juice for part of the liquid in the frosting. The pudding frosting recipe is in the drop downs above.

However, you can make a cake, frost it with pudding frosting, and then you can freeze the cake. After it's frozen, you either cut slices as you need them, or cut slices and individually wrap them for easier storage.

There's always some good in every bad. I put some sweet potatoes in the oven to bake along with the cake, so I put one in the refrigerator and two in the freezer.

Then I ate the other half of the pork steak with the baked sweet potato and the rest of the peas from the fried rice. Trying to avoid trips to the market really keeps you busy trying to use everything.

All my brothers cook, and last week when I was chatting with Dan, he told me to try making creamed peas with the liquid from the peas instead of milk. It works. More "pea" taste, and people who are lactose intolerant could eat them.

I didn't eat bread or dessert or chips for an entire month and only lost two pounds; hence my rebellious decision to eat carbs. I've been wanting a ham sandwich on cheap bread, so I had one. With potato chips. And potato salad. I told you I was going to eat carbs.

And then what about the rest of the celery after using only a little in the potato salad? I used to put it in the crisper until it got limp and then threw it in the garbage. But - Chef Todd Mohr to the rescue. He cuts a slice from the bottom but doesn't cut his in half, but it's too tall for my refrigerator, so I cut off the bottom, cut it in half, put it in water. Then I tie a knot in the open end of the bag it came in, cut the bag in half, put the two halves over the top of the celery, put it in the refrigerator, and it stays crisp for days. Be sure you keep enough water in the bottom of the container. 

I saw on the internet that if you cut off the bottom of the celery and plant it, it will grow a new celery. Sounds too good to be true, but I'm willing to try it.

Then I cut a pound of bacon in half and cooked it most of the way. I store it in baggies in the refrigerator and pop it in the microwave to crisp up as I need it. 

Like for brunch. I told you I was going to eat carbs.

And that was so good, I did it again the next day.

Or to top potato corn chowder. Make a pot and it will last a long time. I even like it for breakfast. Great for a quick lunch when you're busy. Even nice to have a cup at bedtime if you ate dinner too early. The recipe is on the drop downs. Lots of carbs.

Or to make B-L-T's on some more of that cheap white bread. More carbs.

Tidbits: The Kentucky Derby which would normally be held tomorrow, May 2, has been rescheduled to September 5 due to the virus. Mark your calendar.

Well, this should keep you busy for awhile. I'll check back soon and see how we're doing with our bucket lists. Until then. . . . . 

HAPPY MAY DAY

MAKE A WISH ON THE FULL FLOWER MOON ON THURSDAY, MAY 7

EAT ALL THE CARBS YOU WANT FOR A FEW DAYS

THEN GO BACK TO LEAN AND GREEN

BUT DON'T FORGET AN APPLE A DAY

THANK YOU FOR SHARING MY LIFE