Style

My Mom will be 88 years old tomorrow.  A few years ago I made a mixed media layout for her with an early picture and she said "It made me feel young again!".  So I wanted to do that again by displaying a picture from her younger years.

This picture was a Polaroid.  Fading away......  I burned and added contrast the best I could to bring out the detail of the photo from the mid 1950s when Mom would have been about 30 years old.  Look at the pose, the beautiful dress, the small waist, the heels........  and she always showed the utmost style!  

I was probably about 2 years old when this picture was taken.  I remember the house and my sister Terry and Mom and Dad. . . but I don't remember the dress.  I'll always remember my Mom's "Style".  

We'll visit tomorrow when I will give her this page.

 

Not So Wild Kingdom

Zack, the Giraffe is the star of the show at Hovatter's Zoo in neighboring Preston County but the Baby Giraffe is sure to give him competition.  Such a sweet menagerie!

I inked over two stencils (Zebra & Feather), then stamped (Tiger Print) 

and added some feathers and paint splatters.  

The story of the Baby Giraffe is heart warming.  See Bob's video on theDPost.  The baby was one of a pair of twins the mother could not care for.  Hovatters bought it and a baby camel (who calms the giraffe) and brought it to the zoo where it's being nursed.  Bob said the baby nuzzled him.  When I visited last weekend, the baby was sleepy, bent his long legs and laid down in the straw.  The camel is a sweetie too!  Gotta go to work!  Have a great day!

Sunday Lunch with Soft Shelled Crab

Many years ago during our courting era, we dined at The Barn Door in Point Marion, Pennsylvania.  I always chose the Soft Shelled Crabs.  Years have passed, the restaurant burned down a long time ago, and I hadn't had the dish since.  A few weeks ago, when Giant Eagle had a giant seafood event, I bought one and froze it.

Bob's not a fan of these, and since he works on Sunday, I decided to make mine for lunch.  Instead of the traditional flour and butter version, I selected a recipe from Eating Light.  I did not have the exact ingredients (do I ever?) so I improvised.

My Grilled Crab and Pears were made on a George Forman Grill.  The marinade goes as follows:
    1/3 cup Pear Juice (I opened a can)
    2 tsp. Maple syrup
    1/2 tsp. rum flavor
    1 1/2 Tbsp. Yogurt
    1 tsp Vinegar 
Grill for 4 minutes.

Here's the recipe for the Summer Tabbouleh Salad accompaniment:
    (Serves 4)
    Saute 1 garlic clove, minced in 1 tsp. Olive Oil
    Add 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup Bulgar wheat.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Add:
    1 ear of corn (cooked and cut off the cob)
    1/3 cup diced fresh tomato
    1 plum, diced
    1 Tbsp. fresh mint
Garnish each serving with 1 Tbsp. toasted almonds.

I served mine on a bed of spring mix with 1 sliced pickling cucumber and 2 grilled pear halves, sliced.

Serve with a glass of milk for a complete meal!

Now to fix dinner........

 

Eye to Eye

Here's a news flash:  Bob and I don't always see eye to eye.  We don't always agree.  We don't always want to do the same thing.  We work on different ends of the clock.  He's fast;  I'm slow.  We don't eat the same.  We drive differently.  (he's a better driver!) He's a reader and likes television.  I stay busy making things.  But one thing's for sure. . . we love each other very much.

These pictures were taken in Uniontown Pa.  Many of the Pennsylvania towns have murals painted on the sides of buildings.  Joe Hardy, who formed Eighty Four Lumber, put a lot of money into this city.  Bob shopped at his sporting goods store there, then we walked around.  After that we shared a Greek Salad and Cream Horn at Yum Yums' Cafe.  

I stamped and added lace to the page:

 And added some metal corners:

 I made this page while watching "Mud" on Netflix.  It's a beautiful Saturday here in Morgantown.  We went to the Farmer's Market and New Day Bakery.  Bob took pictures of the vegetables at the Market.  After breakfast he took me to the Mall for an Anniversary present.  We did some yard work and made a great dinner.  The love of my life. . . Bob does things to try and please me.  I'm thinking he enjoys that too!

Fine Wine

My daughter-in-law, Michelle, asked me to make a page about their trip to Northern California where she and Greg visited a few vineyards.  She tells me they received a lovely thank you note from one of the vineyards, so I place an envelope on the page to hold that.

Michelle has many talents. as does Greg who does the photography.  I was so tickled to read her note to me:  " I was wondering if you would be willing to scrapbook it along with a photo or two of the vineyard. My craft talents lie in fiber arts and I don't think I can knit this a scrapbook page." 

I stamped on a sheet of cork.  One of the "stamps" is a wine cork.  

Finished by inking a Zebra print stencil and adding a few paint drops:

 Happy Friday!

Strawberry Cake with Dinner

The highlight of tonight's meal, Strawberry Cake, was inspired by a recipe by Mata Cukierenka on Pinterest.  My translation follows.  I know how to convert grams to dry measures, since I do that for a living.  Don't tell Dr. Head, I had to ask the internet for conversion from Centigrade to Fahrenheit. The strawberries are from Yoder's Farm in Grantsville, purchased today at the Mountaineer Mall Farmer's Market.

Spray 3 small bundt pans with Pam.  Beat 1 egg with 3 Tbsp. sugar.  Add 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 3 Tbsp. margarine, and 1/4 cup milk.  Stir in 1/2 cup flour, 1 Tbsp. cornmeal and 1/3 tsp. baking powder.  Grind 1/4 cup almonds and sprinkle in bottom of each pan.  Dice 1/2 cup strawberries and layer onto the almond crumbs.  Divide the batter evenly among the pans.  Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

Yes we did sample a piece of cake before dinner!  Here's the rest of the meal:

Also inspired by recipes on Pinterest, I cooked gold potatoes and carrots, purchased locally, and smashed with a little hot milk.  The sirloin steak was cooked in the crock pot after I got home from work with a balsamic reduction sauce.  Served with fresh garden tomato (from my parents) and mescalin mix from my container garden.

I had a lot of dishes to wash. . . .

Cod Provencal

I have 2 bowls of fresh produce on my bar, and more in the refrigerator, that beckoned me to do some slicing and chopping for tonight's dinner.  The wild cod & "pluots" are on sale at Giant Eagle.  My salsa is garden tomatoes and pepper, corn cut off the cob, garlic and black beans.  The cabbage slaw was made with Deberrys' (an Oakland Md. Farm) cabbage.  The whole wheat bread is from New Day Bakery (made with West Virginia Wheat).

What's a "pluot"?  A cross between a plum and an apricot.  Delicious and juicy!   (I ate 1 1/2 of these!)

School started back today when I get tons of exercise walking between the 2 cafeterias I manage.......so I still had room for ice cream!

Flow

The picture is one Bob took when we followed some PA back roads last Friday. There was no place to pull over, so he parked the car in the road and walked to a the right spot to photograph the beautiful horses in the field.  I got out too.  He tells me he does that all the time.  On this day, there was only 1 car that had to go around us.

When I was trying to come up with a title, I looked up horse in the dictionary and somehow was led to flow, as in flowing manes and tails.  It led me to think of "going with the flow". . . perhaps taking Bob's lead, getting out of the car and taking pictures. . . or even life in general. . . making the best of what happens and moving on.  We can't always change what's in front of us.

Bob's beautiful picture and the beautiful Bo Bunny and Pink Paislee papers made this layout easy.  I added some "moss":

 

and made a primitive flower to match the paper:

 

Have a good day.  I'm off to Maryland to attend the funeral of a friend's brother.

Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers

Bob's working late tonight, so I dined solo.  The recipe for the stuffed peppers was inspired by one published in the Marshall Dietetic Student Cookbook.  

Saute 1/4 cup diced onion, 1 glove of garlic and 2/3 tsp. cumin in 2 tsp. of olive oil.  Add 1/4 cup quinoa, 1/2 cup diced tomatoes & 1 grated carrot.  (Because I substituted fresh tomatoes for canned I added a little water)  Add 1/4 cup black beans and chopped broccoli or spinach.  

My colleague Angel found cooked beans in the freezer section of Walmart. Our Morgantown Walmart has these Hanover brand beans in 3 varieties  I love that these have no added salt and I can simply get what I need, while freezing the rest for another day!

Stuff pepper or tomato halves with mixture.  Bake until mixture is hot and pepper is the consistency you like.  I baked mine at 325 in the toaster oven for about 25 minutes.  Serves 3.

The recipe calls for reduced fat cheese.  Because I was eating mine with a side of fresh mozzarella, tomato & basil, I skipped the cheese in the pepper. 

The cookbook sale is a fundraiser to help send the dietetic students to the National Conference in Houston.  The book is $10 and $3 for postage.  These can be ordered from Lindsay (williams610@live.marshall.edu)

Farmer's Market, New Day Bakery & Caprese Chicken

We are fortunate to have many local farmer's markets around town, one on Saturday, one on Tuesday and one at the hospital where I work on Wednesday.  I like that I can usually buy small bunches of products.

I combined  a farmer's fingerling potatoes with fresh picked wax beans for the vegetable.  That's local cantaloupe in the fruit bowl.  

The Caprese Chicken was inspired by a recipe on Pinterest from The Novice Chef.  Saute garlic, onion & pepper strips with fresh basil.  Brown chicken (I used thighs).  Cut chicken in strips.   Splash with balsamic vinegar.  Add sliced fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.  Simmer until cheese melts and chicken is 165 degrees.

The highlight of the meal was the spinach and feta bread from Morgantown's New Day Bakery. We stop most Saturdays and buy the Seven Grain Bread.  We missed them last week when they closed for vacation.  Today their shelves were almost empty, but that small loaf called my name.  Yes, I had more than one piece!

Our frequent buyer card from the bakery will soon earn us a free loaf!

Blossom

Life has its' share of disappointments and for me, it helps to get outside, breathe in the fresh air and appreciate the beauty of my surroundings.  On my Sunday journey to Mom & Dads', I listened to Carole King and James Taylor both going and coming.  When I pulled into my driveway, I took out my camera and photographed the butterflies and hummingbird moths on the butterfly bush. The words to James Taylor's "Blossom" were fitting:

"Blossom smile some sunshine down on me,
Seems my dreams have frozen
Melt my cares away."

While I love my flowers, I'm not one to put them on my pages.  This  Melissa Frances satin flower is one I've held onto for a few years:

 I stamped onto the gorgeous prima paper,

 and added elegant digital frames and lace:

Greene Scenes

We went in search of a field of sunflowers, but when that didn't pan out we found a lot of neat things to remember. Bob hit the brakes when he spotted these old barns near the Pa. state game land at Kirby. The date on the barn read 1877. We were here in August 2013.

Greene County, Pennsylvania 

My leaves with rain drops mimics the closeup photo ("detail") Bob photographed.

Curried Lentils

Another recipe inspired by Food Network Magazine.  Curried Lentils, served with Salmon and fresh Green Beans from today's farmer's market.

Recipe for 3:  Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in a saucepan.  Add 1 1/2 tsp. ginger, 1 clove garlic, 1/2 shallot, 1/3 tsp. curry powder, 3/4 tsp. paprika and 1/4 cup sweet pepper.  Cook a few minutes.  Add 1/4 cup lentils and 1 1/4 cups water.  Simmer covered for 20-25 minutes.

This would have been good with cornbread.  We shared a piece of whole grain toast instead!

Now what to do with those gigantic Romney peaches. . . 

Have a good evening!

Hot Peaches & Cream

I am a registered dietitian and healthy food expert.  In my life on the job, I manage the "Healthy Cafe" at University Hospital where I plan healthy recipes in quantity.  At home I also prepare healthy meals.  Once or twice a week I post some plates on the West Virginia Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Facebook page, and will post those here too.

Here's last night's dessert, "Hot Peaches and Cream" an easy way to get the family to eat a serving of fruit.

In an oven proof skillet, place pitted peach halves skin side down in a mixture of 3/4 cup wine and 1 Tbsp. margarine.  Bring to boil for 4 minutes.  Sprinkle the peach with brown sugar.  Transfer the pan to a broiler (I used my toaster oven) and broil for 3 minutes.  Serve with ice cream.

I was inspired by a recipe in Food Network magazine.

Cindy. . . the ScrappyRD 

Fair Pairs

Bob covered the Mon County Fair every night and I'm pretty sure he was tired of it, but when he said he had a pair of tickets, I was ready!  August 2013

I was originally going to call this "Love at the Fair".  These 2 cows were absolutely in love with each other:

 

Bob has some great photos and videos on the paper's website, TheDPost.com.

Here's one of my favorites of the Kids showing their Goats at the Fair:

  http://ytchannelembed.info/video.php?id=gpvk-TLgsdY&t=#.UgLqqKwRddc

 

Penn Square

On a summer Friday, there was a lot of activity in the heart of Lancaster.  Central Market, the historical Fulton Theater and music added to my short visit.

To the nearly perfect Bo Bunny paper, I inked over a paper doily.

 I added a few Echo Park digi elements.

 

 And finished off with hearts using a stencil from Want 2 Scrap.

I found this stencil at the expo at  Creating Keepsakes Lancaster.

Sunshine on my Shoulders

I couldn't drive through Gettysburg without stopping.  The sun on my shoulders and the beauty of the fields makes me happy!  It's been 150 years since the battles here gave us the beliefs and freedom we have today.

"If I had a day I could give you, I'd give you the day just like today."

The beautiful Basic Grey rub-ons were a gift from Mollie Deam.