Zilli and Buttercup

September 5, 2008 – 4:12 pm

It’s been two years since we adopted Buttercup, Zilli, and Zak. They are fun additions to the family. I came across these pictures today while looking for something else. Zilli and Buttercup still play together almost every morning, early, chasing each other around the house at break-neck speed.

get the tail...get the tail...get the tail

get Zilli!

get away!

And here they are on the ladder and the library shelves. They are about six feet off the ground here.

"Wild Animals"

Zak was a cutie, too.

soaking up the sunshine

Here is Buttercup now. She’s keeping an interested eye on the caterpillars in the fish tank. So far she hasn’t bothered them.

keeping an eye on the cats

And Zilli, being cute.

are you lookin' at me??

And Zak, relaxing.

Zak in the hosta garden

Funny how they have such distinct and separate personalities. A source of endless fun.

~~Rhonda 🙂

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in cats | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

ooey-gooey, moist and chewy brownies

September 4, 2008 – 10:24 am

These brownies are delicious served with fresh strawberries, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate syrup. I need a picture of that…

Brownies

  • 1 c. butter or margarine (2 sticks), softened
  • 2 c. sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 c. flour
  • 1/2 c. cocoa
  • 12 oz bag mini chocolate chips, divided

Cream the butter and sugar until light.

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Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing until well blended.

Add the flour and the cocoa. Mix slowly to prevent the dry ingredients from flying everywhere.

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Set aside 1/2 c. of the chocolate chips and add the rest to the dough, stirring well. You can stir them in by hand, if you like, but I use the mixer.

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Everyone will want to lick the beater when you’re done. 🙂

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Spread in a greased 9×13 pan and bake at 350*F for 25 minutes.

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When the brownies come out of the oven, sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top. When melted (just takes a few minutes), use a fork to spread the chocolate across the top of the brownies.

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Enjoy! ~~Rhonda 🙂

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in cookies, Recipes | Comments (3)

microwave corn on the cob

September 3, 2008 – 9:26 am

We eat a lot of corn on the cob. So good! We only need three ears for supper, so I wrap them in wet paper towels and cook them in the microwave rather than in a pot of boiling water. It’s easy, fast, and leaves no pot to clean. Before cooking, husk and clean the ears of corn.

DD demonstrates how easy it is to prepare the corn for cooking. We use a square of DRY paper toweling. We’ll wet it after wrapping.

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Place the ear diagonally across the corner.

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Roll it to the opposite corner.

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Don’t tuck under the side corners of the paper towel until the ear is completely rolled, corner to corner. If tucked in before the ear is completely rolled, it will be harder to unroll when it is hot and steaming.

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Wrapped and ready for the next step.

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Wet each wrapped ear of corn at the sink. Soak all the paper toweling.

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Place the ears on a microwave plate or platter. When cooking three ears, we place them in a triangle to aid in even cooking. I cook three ears on high for five minutes, turn them over and cook for one more minute. You will need to try your own microwave a few times to determine the best cooking time.

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Carefully unwrap each ear of corn. Be careful! It will be very hot and steaming.

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Butter, freshly cracked salt and black pepper…so good!

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~~Rhonda 🙂

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weekend company

September 2, 2008 – 11:30 am

Scott and Chris will be going back to work overseas next week, and we won’t see them for a while, so it was really wonderful to be able to spend some time with them this past weekend. I meant to get a nice family portrait of our friends while they were here, but we were too busy doing other things. 🙂

We grilled pork steaks and hot dogs in the back yard. The meal that Chris described as “summer food” included corn on the cob, tomatoes and sweet and sour cucumbers, fruit salad (strawberries, peaches, and blueberries), and my favorite spinach salad. After supper, we made S’mores. Their three young boys enjoyed that, though the youngest skipped the graham crackers and the marshmallows and went straight for the chocolate. Smart boy! 😉

makin' s'mores

When all was cleared and put away, we played Apples to Apples, which is one of our favorite family games. Even though two of their children weren’t reading yet, they still had a fun time playing. DH helped a bit when it came time to decide which card should be played.

watcha think?

It was fun to play something we could enjoy together.

apples to apples

I should have taken pictures of the train track they built and the marble game they constructed, as well! They had a full evening!

I try to keep the guest room cat free for the sake of our guests, but after company was gone, Happy found her way in and decided to check out the youth bed we had set up for the youngest little boy.

snoozin'

We always enjoy having company. Wonder who will drop in next time…?

~~Rhonda

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menu plan monday ~ september 1, 2008

September 1, 2008 – 11:33 am

We had a good weekend. Found out friends were coming through to visit the church family, so we invited them to spend Saturday overnight at our house. We grilled pork steaks and hot dogs on the grill and made S’Mores after supper. It was a lot of fun.

Today is Labor Day. DH is out on a long bike ride, I’m catching up on some computer time, and DD is practicing guitar. No big plans for the day.

Monday
chuck wagon casserole
salad
corn / peas

Tuesday
pork chops in the crockpot w/ stuffing
spinach salad
asparagus
corn

Wednesday
BBQ chicken in the crockpot / buns
veggies / chips / dip
grapes

Thursday
salmon
rice
corn / peas
pear/walnut salad

Friday
sloppy joes / buns
jello with strawberries
chips
cuke / tomatoes

Saturday
leftovers

Sunday ~ dinner at church
crockpot lasagna
Triple Chocolate Mess
ice cream

There are always more menu ideas on Laura’s blog.

I thought yesterday was dinner at church, but it turns out it is this coming Sunday. Hence the return of lasagna and triple chocolate mess.  🙂  We were leaving Sunday afternoon to travel a few hours north to celebrate my mother’s 75th birthday, so we had leftovers from Saturday’s supper for a quick Sunday lunch before leaving.

~~Rhonda

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baby caterpillars

August 30, 2008 – 11:38 pm

We found butterfly eggs on the parsley in the garden and brought in a few sprigs of parsley to hatch the eggs.

butterfly egg on parsley

Today we have six little caterpillars on the parsley.

tiny swallowtail caterpillar

swallowtail caterpillar

In a few days I’ll post the set up of the fish tank we use for raising caterpillars.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in our garden | Tagged | Comments (0)

snoozles

August 30, 2008 – 10:22 am

DD#2’s cat, Zilli, is a very relaxed kitty.

snoozles

She slept like that for about 20 minutes, but we disturbed her slumber with all the funny pics we were taking of her. 🙂

~~Rhonda

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potting proliferations

August 29, 2008 – 3:06 pm

Little plants, called proliferations, sometimes grow from the daylily flower stem. When the stem starts to turn brown, we cut them off and pot them.

cutting proliferations

Here’s a closeup of one.

daylily proliferation

A week ago last Wednesday, DH potted 27 daylily proliferations. ‘Little Fat Dazzler’ had 17. It was loaded with them last year, too. The other plants had 1-4 each.

27 baby plants

While working around the yard, I took a few pictures. Naturally… 🙂

We haven’t had many rabbits in the garden this year. The outdoor cats take care of population control. This one lives under the hedge on the west side of the front yard. I see another one in the east yard every time I mow.

garden visitor

The cats haven’t managed to catch the fish, but they do like getting a drink from the pump barrel.

a cool drink...fish flavored, yum

Malva sylvestris ‘Zebrina’
This is a great little plant if you don’t mind pulling out some of the seedlings every spring. It reseeds like crazy. Which can be an asset or a liability, depending on your perspective.

Malva sylvestris ‘Zebrina’

It’s nice to see some fresh flowers here and there, though the yard is definitely thinking “autumn.”

~~Rhonda

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chocolate-chip banana muffins

August 28, 2008 – 10:09 pm

DD has half an hour of piano practice and half an hour of guitar practice five days a week. She doesn’t practice on the day of lessons and she gets to pick one other day of the week as a “no music practice” day. She chose today this week, so I asked if she would like to make banana chocolate chip muffins. Who would say no to that??

She thinks it’s exciting to gather all the ingredients and mix the recipe.

baking lesson

I figured if she made the treat, she’d own the treat…more likely to want to eat them. 🙂

chocolate chips makes it extra good

The recipe made 18.

great snacks

I changed the recipe just a smidgen and had DD use 1 c. all purpose flour and 1/2 c. whole wheat flour, and we used margarine instead of butter. Next time we’ll try it with 1/4 c. margarine and 1/4 c. applesauce.

mmm-mmmmm good

Chocolate-Chip Banana Muffins from cooks.com

1/2 c. (1 stick) margarine, softened (or butter)
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. sour cream
2 bananas, mashed well
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
1 (6 oz.) pkg. Nestle’s semi-sweet chocolate morsels (or 1 c.)
Paper muffin cups

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper liners.

2. Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer. Add eggs and mix well.

3. Dissolve baking soda in the sour cream. Let it “rise” for a minute, then add it to the butter and egg mixture. Mix well with beater on medium speed. Add bananas and blend in.

4. Add flour and baking powder together. Mix in thoroughly, but no longer than necessary. Add vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Fill muffin cups. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Recipe makes 18 muffins.

I should have taken a picture of the sour cream and baking soda mixture. DD was VERY impressed with all the bubbling and rising!

DD takes a snack to school each day and wants to take a muffin tomorrow. Success, I’m thinking.

~~Rhonda

By ~~Rhonda | Posted in Recipes | Tagged | Comments (1)

crockpot chicken cordon bleu

August 27, 2008 – 5:47 pm

I made Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu several weeks ago and DH and DD both loved it. Easy to make and delicious. We had it again yesterday.

The cast of characters:
crockpot (sprayed with cooking spray)
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (flattened)
ham slices
Swiss cheese slices
toothpicks (optional)
1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup
1/4 c. milk

ingredients

My butcher shop has the largest chicken breasts I’ve ever seen. Must be giant chickens. For this recipe, the chicken breast should be flattened. Put it between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound it with a mallet or with a rolling pin until it’s about 1/4 thick. Or, you can do as I did, and ask the butcher to put the chicken through the cuber. I didn’t pound the chicken any thinner and it worked great.

flat chicken

Place a slice or two of Swiss cheese on the chicken. How much you use will depend on how large the piece of meat is.

swiss

On top the cheese, layer a slice of ham. I used Virginia baked ham from the deli.

ham

Roll the chicken and the cheese and ham layers together. You can use a toothpick or two to hold the roll together, if needed. My rolls stayed together fine without the toothpicks. I set them into the crockpot with the seam side down.

roll it up

Nestle the four rolls into the crockpot.

four chicken rolls

Mix together the cream soup and the 1/4 c. of milk.

sauce

Spread the sauce over the chicken.

ready to cook

Cover and cook on high for four hours.

Supper was chicken, steamed green beans from the garden, tomatoes from the garden, corn, and spinach salad with strawberries and pecans.

Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu

The pieces were large enough that half a piece made a nice size portion. That left us with plenty of leftovers. I’m sure we will be making this again in the near future.

~~Rhonda

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