Avocado

One of my dear friends cannot take cholesterol lowering drugs 

'cause they make her sick.

She told me about eating an avocado a day 

to combat cholesterol.

I read some about this SUPER FOOD 

and I think they are the next best thing

to COFFEE.

I mashed up an avocado the other day and fixed guacamole dip.

My HUBBY makes a wonderful dip.

So I tried.  Turned out very good.

Ingredients

1. 3 avocados, ripe.
2. 1/2 small onion, finely diced.
3. 2 Roma tomatoes, diced.
4. 3 tbsp, fresh cilantro, chopped.
5. 1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed and finely diced.
6. 2 garlic cloves, minced.
7. 1 lime, juiced.
8. 1/2 tsp sea salt.

INSTRUCTIONS

• Slice the avocados in half, remove the pit and skin and place in a mixing bowl. 
• Mash the avocado with a fork and make it as chunky or smooth as you'd like.
• Add the remaining ingredients and stir together.

TODAY, I whipped up a simpler version.

It tasted pretty good as well.

I had to learn to acquire a taste for avocados.

It didn't take me long.

MY SIMPLER VERSION OF AVOCADO DIP:

Ripe avocado

lime juice

salsa

cilantro

garlic powder

WHAAALAH

GUAC DIP WITH CHIPS

AVOCADO...it's whats for DINNER!

Now let the pictures do the talkin'

xoxox

d

I CAN DO THIS!!!

PLANS FOR BOOPIE

HEADING HEAD ON organizing the KITCHEN CABINETS.  Having downsized the daily dishes was exercising my muscles.  I've had to move so much about to make room for the overflow that will rest elsewhere, but where is that in my Kitchen?  LOVELY WHITE DISHES to keep for when company comes to visit when needing additional dishes.  

Deciding where to go with it all.  Seems like a simple task, but to the person that tends to overthink every detail... it takes a village.

I am that village with an attention deficit disorder.    

We purchased our white dishes after our 2016 house fire and the both of us will admit now that we were under duress going overboard on dishes.  I have enough to feed a small army.  Feed that village.  

Understanding what I went through after my Kitchen was totally destroyed has taken a couple of years to settle down and be sensible.    

The extras are setting on the stove for the time being until I migrate the canned food that is on a bookshelf in the stairwell area.  I'm moving the major cabinet contents over to a different cabinet so the canned goods can go where the baking/cooking supplies are.  The baking/cooking supplies with mixing bowls and measuring cups will migrate over to where the coffee cups and drinking glasses were.  These will go over where the regular dishes rest.  blah blah blah.  


After I get all the rearranging completed then I will have room for the overflow dishes and small appliances.  Tadaaah it will help the KITCHEN flow better.  Be better.  Easier.

My Kitchen cabinets are made for tall people so the upper shelves in the cabinets are not usable with ease.  I have to use a step stool to access the upper shelves.  Great exercise this week.  Stretching and reaching, going up and down steps, carry glasses to table, 
switch e r o o .....this is a great way to exercise within my HOME.  Last week of JULY and I'm doing it.  Staying the course.

I gathered all my Finest Anchorglass BOOPIE GLASS that was in a cabinet placing them on the dining room table until the table was crowded.  Placed the sherbet glasses on a kitchen countertop.  Took inventory. Next I'll wash and dry at least 12 of them positioning them in the cabinet with daily dishes.  

While downsizing my dishes and glasses in the kitchen I remember thinking the TEA size glasses are difficult to come by.  Boy was I wrong.  I had forgotten how many I have.  Am debating if I should turn loose of some? 

7" Ice Tea 48
5 1/2" Water 34
4 1/2" Juice 14
4" Cordial 24
3 1/2" Sherbet 40
Candlestick holders 2

Nah.  Will hang onto these for a little while longer after washing, drying, bubble wrap and box up until I no longer need these.

THIS WEEK I'll be content if I get the KITCHEN CABINETS rearranged.  It will be a great accomplishment as this has been bugging me until opening a window of time to get this done.  

After completing this lil task...I must rearrange the OFFICE.  She's still a mess.

HUBBY and I have been talking about turning this room into a media room where the recliners will sit to watch the tele.  This project may be down the road for us.  Eventually a new wood floor will be laid over new sub-flooring.  The present floor has old sub-flooring that someone along the way stained and varnished.  A better floor will cover this.  Several other projects need to come first before the flooring project goes into action.

This week and into AUGUST will be the completion of new flowerbeds then nourishing the soil, designing the color patterns that Irises will make according to their kind when bloomed, finally planting the Iris rhizomes.  PROJECT PHASE I completed.

The yard where our planted collection is now will be cleaned up with new grass planted.  PHASE II completed for Irises where new bulbs and the ones we already have go together in the new flowerbed along the wood fence.  Mission accomplished.

Dining room painted before the HOLIDAYS.  
Allow the SUMMER HEAT to diminish for AUTUMN then the exterior of the screened-in porch will need repaired.  This will take some doin'.  By this time it will be the HOLIDAYS in which we focus.  I figure the office floor will be laid in January/February.

Since these plans are not written in concrete I figure the plans can all change in a blink.  Know what I mean?

Hello.
Good-bye,
d

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

Hello there in BLOGLAND.

Time to bake.

I borrowed this picture and recipe from the internet.

It's been years since I made one of these.  All I can remember is that the batter was so creamy white and the end results was a very good dessert.

I believe that I need to resurrect this dessert 

and give it a whirl.

Delicious.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

this week.

Blessings to you and yours,

d

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 can (20 ounces) sliced pineapple
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 9 maraschino cherries

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375°. In an ungreased 9-in. square baking pan, combine butter and brown sugar. Drain pineapple, reserving 1/3 cup juice. Arrange 9 pineapple slices in a single layer over sugar (refrigerate any remaining slices for another use). Sprinkle pecans over pineapple; set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Blend in vanilla and reserved pineapple juice. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; add to batter, beating well.
• In a small bowl with clean beaters, beat egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form; fold into batter. Spoon into pan.
• Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before inverting onto serving plate. Place a cherry in the center of each pineapple slice.

Peach Upside-Down Cake: Omit the pineapple, pecans and cherries. Drain 1 can (15 ounces) sliced peaches, reserving 1/3 cup juice. Arrange peaches over brown sugar. Substitute reserved peach juice for the pineapple juice. Cranberry Orange Upside-Down Cake: Omit the pineapple, pecans and cherries. Sprinkle 1 cup halved fresh or frozen cranberries and 1 chopped peeled orange over brown sugar. Substitute 1/3 cup orange juice for the pineapple juice.

Nutrition Facts

1 piece: 361 calories, 13g fat (5g saturated fat), 88mg cholesterol, 193mg sodium, 58g carbohydrate (46g sugars, 2g fiber), 4g protein.

Originally published as Skillet Pineapple Upside-Down Cake in The Taste of Home Cookbook 3rd Edition

Blonde Headed Honey

SUNDAY BLESSINGS TO YOU.  I rested most of the day and played POOL on my computer.  Not a great s h o t.  I did not go to church today but surfed.  When I popped onto a LIVE STREAM I was just in time for the blonde headed honey telling her congregation to make a sacrificial offering.  She talks up a storm about giving to the church's storehouse.  Strange thing was when I went to the archive and watched this same blonde headed honey begin the same service she was taking an offering where the people come up to the front of the church and lay their pink envelope down on the stage.   Service continues as she is no longer the head Pastor, but this particular day she is preaching and is so excited about it.  Seldom does she veer away from talking about herself.  Jesus isn't the hero here at her church.  She is easily persuaded to talk about herself.  Easy does it.  She is seasoned at lifting herself up.  

On any given service she takes a multitude of offerings while calling each one by a different name.  She isn't as slick as she used to be at gathering money for her own desires.  More brazen about it these days.  I had read that she told people to place jewelry in the offering plate before and that some of her staff caught her going through the plate after the services looking for jewelry to take.  After I watched her telling the congregation to give their boyfriend's ring I became a believer that she has no shame.  She told the congregation to give their boyfriend's ring?  Yes.  She did. 

Back to the service I was watching for the day, she talks up a storm for the service then calls for the sacrificial offering.  This offering will help her take a vacation, get cosmetic surgery, buy property, jewelry, have her nails done, get a massage, get sand between her toes.  People go to the front where she is talking and the meeting ends.  The stage and alter area have the atmosphere of a NIGHT CLUB.  Dark.  Loud mood music comes over the airwaves from the former ROCK STAR husband who just can't stop believin' that he is the head worship singer that plays the keyboard and tries his best to carry a tune as a 69 year old man that resembles an elf with a turned up nose.  He's on a journey to nowhere and doesn't know it.  

He was mesmerized by this blonde headed seductress that supposedly met for the first time on a airplane in which she spoke a strange language to him and his money.  I suspect that she knew this rock star was scheduled to fly when he did and her assistant made special arrangements to get this blonde headed honey on the same flight as his with a similar seat number so she could cast her spell on him.

Poor baby would be spellbound by this Jezebel wearing expensive high heels that was dropping her books in the aisle.  Maiden in distress.  Maiden in duress.  Maiden in the expensive high heels that speaks another language than plain english.  Her long lashes flit away stirring up his emotions that have long been suppressed about his childhood religion that has laid dormant for so long.  He easily can fall head over heels in lust with her as she dresses like a street walker from a third world country dying for a dollar.  

I have kept an eye on the blonde headed honey.  The drama unfolds as she has announced she will see 3000 churches started and she will oversee it all.  For being a protestant she is protesting God's Holy Word.  She twist the scriptures to fit her desires.  I have wondered how long her newest Husband will stay faithful to her as she has a habit of breaking up marriages so she has a friend in her corner of the world.  

Between her millions and his the two of them could build a University.  She would say that others need to partner with her ministry.  She has said that God will not do anything unless you partner.  She is a con-artist and very good at what she does until you catch on she is a false preacher with false teachings.  No chickens needed to get prayers answered.    

I just couldn't watch it anymore.  I needed a breather.  I needed to research what fillers are in THYROID MEDS.  Time flies when you're having fun.  Right.  I learned about fillers used in the different thyroid meds.  Where did the day go?  SUNDAY SALAD from McDonald's and HOME-MADE COFFEE.  Put laundry away, watered the FERN PLANT, swept the kitchen floor and fixed a VEGETABLE SUPPER.   

Left overs of carrots and potatoes with celery heated in the crockpot.  Knowing I needed to use the asparagus in the fridge, I washed it then laid it out on a cookie sheet.  Poured olive oil on top of it, cut into a whole lemon and squeezed the fresh juice over the asparagus.  Salt and peppered it.  Hubby suggested sprinkling parmesan cheese and garlic powder on top of it.  Bake it for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Turned out delicious and I'd do it again. 

Found an avocado and decided to fix Guacamole.  First time for me.  Turned out good.  So with chips in hand we had Guacamole, potatoes, carrots, celery and grilled asparagus.  Water.  A quiet evening at the dining room table.      

Later researched some more about Irises.  We did make the Saturday Kansas State University Garden Sale.  We're giving it some thought as to how to arrange the Irises for the new flowerbed,  This will be like painting a fresh canvas.  Watching this morph into a new arrangement will be a delight.  

I started downsizing my KITCHEN CABINET dishes.  Have given great thought on 'HOW TO' arrange the Kitchen in a better functioning room for lil ole me the QUEEN OF THIS HOME.  It's going to take some time and muscle but believe I can make this happen this sweet week.  

This past week, my HUBBY had medical test and I bought a stainless steel bread box.  Went to the Hospital with my Mom for a stress test.  Caught up on the laundry.  Went to the Iris Sale and came HOME with a bunch of new Irises for our COLLECTION.  Hubby finished the left flowerbed and started figuring out where to go with the new Irises.  Son and Hubby dug up a huge stump out of the flowerbed.  Steak supper for a reward.  Rest.  Researched and planned what needs done this week.  

The week is before us and I pray it goes well.  
Dear Lord, please hear my prayer.
d 

SUCCESS and VICTORY ALL IN ONE

STAYING UP LATE (or should I say early) and making my way to bed about 1 was the way I ended my FRIDAY EVENING.  Hubby and Son had dug up a huge stump out of the new flowerbed sweating to a SUMMER DAY along the fence.  Mercy, it was HOT.
They did well and got a huge stump out of the Kansas dirt.

Before I went to the Laundromat, I drove around the block to go to the THRIFT SHOPPE.  I found the neatest cookbook in a box, a old candy bowl with glass lid probably from 1950 midcentury, a pyrex bowl in a silver plate lidded metal container,  tiny teddy bear, a bulb digger, and I think that's just about it.  Oh I forgot...a tall glass candle holder.  

This looks a lot like the one that never made it back to our estate after the cleaners took what they were going to clean after our house fire.  This bothered me not being able to locate it.  It was an 25th wedding anniversary gift from one of my TULSA friends.  I loved it and still cannot find the gift.  So when I saw one like the one she gave me I bought it for $2.  Washed it when I got home, wiped it til it sparkled and placed it on Grandma's HUTCH.  If for some reason I come across my other one then I will have two beauties to place large candles on and use in the Dining room.  Doubly blessed.

I had gone to the Laundromat to finish washing shirts and blouses for the week.  Hurray and a big pat on my back!  I am officially done with the laundry to where the next loads will be bedding.  This feels pleasant.  

The feeling of having the laundry caught up will be short lived.  SHUCKS.  I will enjoy the feeling for now.  I want to bleach the white sheets to a crisp white next visit.  They'll smell wonderful and feel awesome when completed.  

After I pull the shirts and blouses out of the jumbo washing machine I shake before hanging them on plastic hangers placing them on a rod as I go.  Next I roll them out to the car and hang them on a rod hanging in the back seat area.  Once I get HOME, they go on a metal rack that rolls to dry out in the screened-in porch.  Once they are dried, inside the closets they go.  If the shirts/blouses are needing the wrinkles taken out of them I do use the dryers.  I save money hanging them on hangers to dry.

When we lived in the farmhouse back in 2005-2007 I did this technique because I did not want to use my clothes dryer.  So since I am using the Laundromat for the time being I am uses their machines.  This mat is almost like someones HOME.  There are leather chairs and a tele with cable.  I don't have cable at HOME so being able to watch some programs that I don't get at HOME is a treat.  The wall clock whistles like birds on the hour every hour.  TWEET.

I read some in my book as I sat waiting for the t-shirts to dry.  A quarter buys you 7 minutes.  Not hardly long enough.  Seems like I just get sat down and it's time to put more quarters in the machine.

After I got HOME and cooled off, I told HUBBY that he and Son deserved a steak for digging in the dirt and heave hoeing.  They agreed.  We went to LONGHORN in Manhattan for Supper.  I ordered a sweet potato instead of a white potato, hand cut cold dinner salad, dinner roll with butter, 6 oz. medium well done steak and drank water.  Snacked some on onions and fried pickles.  Left feeling very content.  Starbucks and a drive HOME to watch a movie. 

MAN ON FIRE was the movie of choice.  Very very very violent and not for children.  Denzel Washington made a ton of money on this thriller.  Denzel's character begins to grow very fond of the little girl he has been hired to protect.  She loves her Creasy Bear.  Sad what some parents will do to get out of debt.  Oops.  I spelt the beans.  This 2004 thriller kept me interested in the movie wondering what was going to happen.

In a Mexico City wracked by a recent wave of kidnappings, ex-CIA operative John Creasy (Denzel Washington) reluctantly accepts a job as a bodyguard for 9-year-old Lupita (Dakota Fanning), the daughter of wealthy businessman Samuel Ramos (Marc Anthony). Just as Creasy begins to develop a fondness for the young girl, a bloodthirsty gunman (Jesús Ochoa) kidnaps her. Now, Creasy must pick off a succession of corrupt cops and criminals to reach his ultimate object of vengeance.

WENT TO BED TO COVER UP MY HEAD knowing it would a short night because we would be getting up early to make it to the IRIS SALE.  I almost jumped out of bed at 7.  In the car ready to go by 7:30 and standing in line at the Kansas State University Gardens for the 8 o'clock sale.  There were about 30 people in line when we got there.  Promptly the sale began and we placed Irises in plastic bags.

We were told that this was a small crop this year, but next year will be much larger.  LORD WILLING we will return for the 2020 sale next year.

https://www.flinthillsirissociety.com/blank-4

Hubby and I split up with a list in hand of which ones to look for.  I was BATIK (purple with white speckles) and SPIRIT OF MEMPHIS (vibrant yellow).  Hubby had OH JAMAICA (orange with burgundy) and IMMORTALITY (white).

As we looked at the burlap bags on tables marked with laminated pictures of the Irises, I wasn't having any luck finding BATIK (purple with white speckles) and SPIRIT so when I came across GLAZED ORANGE I bagged some.  GLAZED ORANGE are such a pretty vivid orange that they make the flowerbed magical.  Then I saw a few others that I could identify.  When I came across IMMORTALITY (white) I picked up the entire burlap bag and carried it to where my HUBBY was and asked him if he had picked up some IMMORTALITY?  He hadn't so I carried the burlap bag back to the table it was on and dug out some bulbs.  

THEN I SAW SPIRIT OF MEMPHIS hiding.  HOW'D THAT HAPPEN?  Excited as this was one of my favorites this year!  It's a rebloomer meaning it will bloom twice in a season.  Also IMMORTALITY is a rebloomer. 

We bought WINTERBERRY (2)
IMMORTALITY (22) rebloomer
GLAZED ORANGE (5)
SKY FIRE (6)
SPIRIT OF MEMPHIS (6) rebloomer
BATIK (7)
Grab bag of medium purple (14) and dark purple (24)
SOLID GOLD (3)
SONG OF NORWAY (2)
GOT MILK (3)
KING'S CASTLE (3)
WINTRY SKY (2)
PEACH (6)
ORANGE HARVEST (3)
MARIPOSA SKIES (6) rebloomer
ELAINEALOPE (6) rebloomer
BOLD LOOK (1)
CHECK IT OUT (1)
BRIDAL WREATH (2)

BRIDAL WREATH

GOT MILK

IMMORTALITY

SKY FIRE

ORANGE GLAZED

WINTERBERRY

SPIRIT OF MEMPHIS

BATIK

SONG OF NORWAY

KING'S CASTLE

SOLID GOLD

SOLID GOLD is one of the older Irises 

coming in at about 1950ish.

WINTRY SKY

ELAINEALOPE

MARAPOSA SKIES

CHECK IT OUT

BOLD LOOK

PEACH

SUCCESS FOR MAKING IT TO THE IRIS SALE AND VICTORY IN SCORING THE PURCHASES!!!  I FELT LIKE WE HAD A VERY SUCCESSFUL MORNING.

AFTER WE CHECKED OUT we went to ALDIs for organic milk and then over to MENARDs for twine.  They just so happened to have ORGANIC COCONUT OIL in a jar for a great price.  I've been wanting to get some and here it was waiting for me for under $3.00

Made me smile.

The things you can do with Coconut Olive will overwhelm ya.

On healthline I read this: 

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/coconut-oil-uses#section10

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/coconut-oil-in-coffee

  

TONIGHT WE WILL HAVE LEFTOVER PIZZA from our personal stash in our freezer.  A variety awaits.  Will make a huge salad and try like heck to eat a small amount of pizza leaving the crust alone.

TOMORROW I want to bake some asparagus and sliced radishes in the oven where the veggies are drizzled in olive oil with salt and pepper.

HOUSE BLESSING:  I NEED TO DUST the Master Bedroom floor, wipe down the furniture and clean the lamp shades.  Under the bed I will go to get rid of dust bunnies.  Strip the bedding.  Vacuum the mattress then flip the mattress.  This will be a blessing to get this task done.

HOME BODY BLESSING:  HAVE YOU EVER TREATED YOUR HAIR WITH OLIVE OIL?  It is a great and healthy hair treatment.  Massage oil into hair, wrap in a towel and let it do it's magic.  After a couple of hours, shampoo it out and have beautiful hair.

I don't know if Mrs. America does this, but I sure like her hair.

ISN'T HER HAIR GORGEOUS???  GORGEOUS MRS. AMERICA 2015

May you have a blessed week-end!

Pleasant HOME and peaceful place,

d