Distractible me

Volunteer…you are needed!

July 31, 2016 by Mary1991 Leave a Comment

Everyone has their passions. Some like working with the young, the elderly, the disadvantaged and others with special needs. Then there are those who prefer to garden and have their hands in the dirt. I fall into yet another category, my calling is to work with animals. I once volunteered with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, but realized that my gift is with the winged or four legged.

For a few years, I volunteered at the local Wildlife center. Animals that had been displaced, injured or orphaned were brought in every day. My job was to clean and feed. They had bats, baby bunnies, chipmunks, fox, ground hogs, skunks, squirrels, opossums, snakes, turtles and baby deer, as well as, baby birds, eagles, hawks, owls and vultures.

The Owl is a resident and is used for teaching. I picked up the Cardinal on the road. He had been flying in circles, probably neurological. The Wren was one that had been caught in a sticky mouse trap.

The majority of my time was spent with the birds. The babies were fun, but I was enamored with the owls. Like all of the animals at the WLC, they had their own special diet. The big owls lived in outdoor aviaries, but the smaller screech owls lived inside. They were fed pinkies which needed to be cut into pieces with scissors. This job was not for the squeamish.

After a few seasons of cleaning the butts of baby birds, I was ready to do something different. Last year, after we adopted a four-month old puppy from Georgia, I knew where I wanted to volunteer, with Soco. It’s a tough job playing with puppies, but someone has got to do it. Of course it involves changing paper and picking up poo, but it’s okay, they are just babies.

Every time I volunteer, I fall in love. For a fleeting moment, my heart makes me want to adopt, but then my brain takes over. Our home has filled its quota of rescued dog and cats.

How fortunate I feel to have the opportunity to work with dedicated dog lovers. These are mostly rescue dogs, as well as, some who have been surrendered. Georgia is a state that does not have a spay/neuter policy. If a rescue operation doesn’t step in, their odds of survival are not good.

Chester, a very sweet boy! He’s about 8 months old.

Here are just a few photos from today. Maybe you will see a face that says “pick me”, don’t hesitate to go and meet them. If you have an opportunity to adopt a rescue, you won’t be disappointed. They know they are lucky dogs to find a home.

The puppies:

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Spaghetti…leftover or new beginnings

June 6, 2016 by Mary1991 Leave a Comment

This didn’t photograph well, but don’t let that fool you. This was so good, this was all that was left to share.

After having spaghetti and meatballs, there’s often leftovers. What to do, what to do. Sure, it can be reheated, or you can reinvent it and make a spaghetti pie. Basically, you can add anything that works together and pleases your palate.

The world is your oyster when making Spaghetti pie. If you double the recipe, use a spring form pan. This will make it taller and makes for a fun presentation for a party.

I didn’t have a large amount of pasta left over, so used a 9×11” casserole dish. In my fridge, besides the meatballs, I had leftover pulled pork and fresh spinach. Yum!

Use this basic recipe as your guide:

preheat oven to 375 degrees

1 lb. cooked pasta (I used Angel Hair that was gluten free)
2 eggs
4 oz. Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. oregano
8 oz. marinara sauce
1/4 cup water (or milk, half&half, vodka…)

4 oz. cream cheese
4 oz. sour cream
4 oz. mozzarella cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic
S&P to taste

Stir in the eggs, Parmesan and spices to the cooked pasta (you can use whatever pasta shape you have on hand). The eggs help the pasta retain its shape and prevents it from puddling on your plate.
Put a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a prepared (greased) 9×11” pan.
Next use half of the spaghetti mixture
Dot this with the sour cream and cream cheese. I eyeball this and roughly drop a teaspoon of each like I do when baking cookies. Either shred or cut thin pieces of mozzarella.
I used a jarred marinara sauce (choose one that doesn’t have fructose corn syrup or sugar). If I cut the sauce with water, half&half, cream or even vodka, it tastes more homemade and loses the prepared-jar-taste. Often I will add the liquid to the jar to get every last bit of sauce out of the jar, using just enough that it cleans it out, but not so much that it becomes runny.
Repeat this layer.

Bake at 375 for 35 minutes, or till bubbly

You really can’t go wrong. Use as much or as little cheese as you want. If you don’t have mozzarella, there’s no rule saying you can’t use cheddar or Swiss. Ham or bacon, or just leftover veggies. If you have leftover chicken, just chop that up, add artichoke hearts and mushrooms and you have a completely different dish. As I said, the world is your oyster 🙂

Greek Ziti & Ice cream sandwiches

April 10, 2016 by Mary1991 Leave a Comment

We’ve been held up in the house too long for one reason or another.

When I’m bored, it’s my motivation to try new recipes.

Dinner: If I had the ingredients, I would have made Pastitsio but ended up making a version of this Greek Ziti instead. When I say version, it means I didn’t have all the ingredients, so I improvise, substituting with half a box of Cavatappi noodles, 24 ounce jar of marinara sauce and a third cup of milk and gluten free panko crumbs. The nice thing about making this type of dish, is that you don’t have to be as precise as when baking.

Dessert:. An ice cream sandwich recipe caught my eye. I’ve never attempted them before. I didn’t realize that they take no time at all to make. This took less time than baking a batch of cookies.

For these, I almost kept to the recipe. I replaced the all-purpose flour with GF flour. I cooked this directly on the Silpat but it would have been just as easy to use parchment paper.

I chose not to soften the ice cream, but cut slices with a knife. For the sandwich, I used a pizza cutter and a ruler. It would have been fun to cut them in bite sized pieces.

If I spent more time, I could have made them look prettier, but it didn’t matter, they were eaten too quickly.

The nice thing about posting recipes is at least I know where I can find them!

Ingredients for sandwich, preheat oven to 350, cook for 10 minutes, cool before assembly

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup (100 grams) white granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (65 grams) all purpose flour
1/4 cup (25 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups (2 pints) (950 ml) Ice Cream (Homemade or Store Bought), slightly softened – see what happens in step 6 if you let it get too melty!!
10 x 15 inch (25 x 38 cm) rimmed baking sheet

Is life a game, or a box of chocolate?

March 15, 2016 by Mary1991 Leave a Comment

Life isn’t fair, so get over it. I find myself thinking this more often than not. I’m so tired of hearing people lament about their lot in life. I’m sure some will think how can I possibly say this because we have been blessed in many ways. We live in a home with running water, a toilet (three in fact), heat, clothes in our closet and our pantry is full. Even our family is intact. By all accounts, we are in the top 1% when compared to the world. I’m even more fortunate because I have a dog at my feet and a cat in my lap. [Read more…] about Is life a game, or a box of chocolate?

Apple roses

November 24, 2015 by Mary1991 Leave a Comment

Don’t let puff pastry fool you into thinking these are difficult to make. After seeing this recipe, I decided to try my hand. I used Golden Delicious apples because it is what was in my pantry. I substituted a cinnamon glaze for the apricot preserves which gives it more of an apple pie flavor and isn’t as sweet.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

2 apples, cored and sliced thin
2 tsp. lemon juice

Place the apples in a microwave bowl, add enough water to cover, cook for 3-5 minutes

1 sheet puffed pastry.

Even the pastry by rolling out. I dusted with tapioca flour, but regular flour can be used. The original recipe called for 6 strips, but I only was able to get 5.

Blend the following and brush on the pastry:

1 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. butter, melted

Place the apples on the pasty and gently roll. Because I used a min-muffin tin, I cut the strips in half and put then popped the roses into a greased tin.

Cook for 40 minutes. Remove the roses from the pan as soon as they come out of the oven so they don’t stick.

Dust with powdered sugar. Eat them as soon as they are cool enough not to burn your mouth, but room temperature is good too. These apple roses are decadent, but not indulgent due to their size. Yum!

If you want something even more indulgent, have you tried crack bacon? It lives up to it’s name.

Whole30 update

October 9, 2015 by Mary1991 Leave a Comment

Eating out on the Whole30 was easy. Sesame crusted Ahi on a bed of seaweed, Yum!

We completed our Whole30 and there is much to report.

Giving up sugar, dairy, grains, legumes, junk food and anything that had sugar as an ingredient wasn’t difficult. Finding food that didn’t have sugar listed in the ingredients was the challenge. I’ve always made my own salad dressings, but for this, I needed to make our own catsup and mustard because they both have sugar, as well as mayonnaise (because it uses soy oil). Butter was not allowed, but clarified butter (without the milk solids) was acceptable. Hollandaise sauce is allowed, yum, but soy sauce was a no-no. Substituting riced cauliflower for rice didn’t have a warm reception. Nothing worse than have something look like one thing but taste like another.

Before we began the Whole30, our menu was boring and was in a serious cooking rut. I took this challenge as if I were a contestant on Survivor. Only fruit, meat and veggies for us!

As for the results, Jess was the biggest loser and lost ten pounds. Husband also lost ten and I was the slacker losing only seven. We all lost inches and now I wish that we had taken our measurements. Other benefits were not being hungry or needing to snack. Our complexions improved, energy level was boosted and we did not feel any afternoon slump.

We are now at day 54. For the most part, we are still avoiding bread, pasta and sugar, but we each have had some food that had been 86’d. After 30 days, we were to reintroduce the eliminated foods to see how we feel, but haven’t wanted to do this yet. Even though we are on a plateau with weight loss, we are still losing inches.

We each had foods that we missed. For Jess, it was ice cream, husband wanted a beer and the hardest part for me was not being able to have a sandwich. However, the benefits totally out weighed the negatives.

Finally, I do miss mindless eating. It makes football games go by faster and it gave me something to do with my hands, but in all seriousness, seeing my family look leaner and healthier is the best reward.