Apple-licious Birthday!

My grandson turned 6 years old this past weekend.  I can't believe 6 years have already passed since I held that sweet little bundle in my arms and vowed to love him forever.  My heart melted that day and has been mushy ever since.  He is the sweetest, kindest boy on Earth.  I was kidding around with him this weekend and said, "Jake, I didn't bring you a present."  He perked right up and said with the most sincere expression on his face and said, "That's O.K!"  I LOVE THAT BOY SO MUCH!!!!!  Then when he opened our present, he was SO excited!  He has become interested in Ninja Turtles.  When he saw that he got a Ninja Turtle shell he could wear, a Raphael mask, and Raphael's weapons that actually fit in his shell, he was over the moon excited.  It made me feel good all over to see him so happy!  Being his grandmother is such a joy and such a blessing!

His other grandmother made baked apples and brought them for part of dinner.  I had not had baked apples in years.  OH. MY. GOODNESS.  They were SO good!  I made them as part of my dinner tonight.  They are so easy and delicious, I have to share her recipe.

Baked Apples

Apples
Cinnamon
Brown Sugar
Butter or margarine

Wash, core, and slice apples - I sliced each apple into 6 - 8 pieces.  I sprayed the baking dish with butter and put the apples into the dish.  I sprinkled cinnamon over the apple slices.  Use the amount that makes you happy.  I like cinnamon a lot, so I sprinkled it freely on the apples.  Sprinkle brown sugar over the apples.  I probably used a couple of tablespoons.  Next, slice up 1-2 tablespoons of butter and place on the apples.  Mix the apple mixture up and cover the dish with foil.  Bake at 400  degrees for 20 minutes.

The leftovers.  This will be part of my lunch tomorrow!

I Want Something Good

I'm having one of those days where I want something.  Something good.  You know what I'm talking about.  It's one of those days where you stand in the pantry and look for something to appeal to you.  You hope that somehow something put itself in the pantry that you didn't know was there.  Why do I do that?  I'm the one who buys the groceries.  I would know if something really good was in there.  Then you go the refrigerator and do the same thing all over again.  *SIGH*  I guess I'll have to make something without over doing the calories.  I won't put the chocolate chips in my cookies because I don't have any.  Chocolate chips would make them even better if I did though!

Healthy Banana Cookies

3 over ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup apple sauce
2 cups oats
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup raisins, craisins, and/or nuts
1 cup chocolate chips, optional
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon  or 2 drops doTERRA cinnamon essential oil

Mash bananas and applesauce together.  Mix remaining ingredients and drop by the spoonful onto a cookie sheet.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Makes about 2 dozen

Going Bananas!

We have had conferences at work this week.  Wednesday, I did 17 back to back conferences.  This week I have completed 25 conferences and only have one left to go.  I would have had that done, but the county cannot get a Vietnamese translator until October.  Hers will be an easy conference though.  I look forward to sharing good things with her parents.  I was exhausted by the time I got home Wednesday night.  Thursday I was able to leave work at a decent hour.  That doesn't happen very often.  When I got home, I saw the bananas I had been letting sit out and decided it was time to make banana nut bread.  I had found a new recipe and made a few changes to it as I usually do.  It made 2 loaves so I took one to work.  It was so good, even if I do say so myself.  My grade level enjoyed it and that made my heart feel good.

Cream Cheese Banana Nut Bread

3/4 c. butter, softened
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
2 c. sugar
2 large eggs
3 c. self-rising flour
4 mashed bananas

1 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. cinnamon 

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until fluffy.  Add eggs, beating until well blended.  Gradually add flour to butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Stir in bananas, pecans, cinnamon, and vanilla. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 8x4 inch loafpans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a long wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides pull away from pan.  Cover with aluminum foil last 15 minutes if the bread begins to brown too quickly. 

Makes 2 loaves

I'm Stuffed!

The kids return to school in two days.  :(  The first two weeks of school are CRAZY and I come home exhausted for the first month.  This weekend I have been cooking like a mad woman.  Yesterday I cooked sweet potatoes, asparagus, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, okra, and broccoli.  Today I made the Quinoa Zucchini I posted the other day and Tomato Bisque.  I doubled the recipe for the soup and put it in the freezer to use later.  I also made some Stuffed Zucchini.  We had half of it for dinner and the other half will be eaten later in the week.  I bet in a couple of days, instead of saying, "I'm stuffed."  I'll be saying, "I'm pooped!"  And that is the reason I cook so much on the weekend.  Otherwise, we'd starve during the week.

Stuffed Zucchini

2 large zucchini
1 cup cooked quinoa
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes 
10 mushrooms, diced 
 2 scallions, diced 
2 Tb. minced garlic
2 Tb. olive oil
Salt to taste
1 egg
Grated parmesan cheese, optional 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Put the sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl with enough hot water to cover them. Soak for 20 minutes. Once the tomatoes are done soaking, drain the water and dice them up.  Cut the zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the middle to create the boat.  Dice up the scooped out zucchini.  Over medium heat, add the olive oil, scallion, and garlic in a pan.  Cover and let cook a couple minutes over a low heat. Stir. Add the diced zucchini, mushrooms, quinoa, and salt to the pan and let everything cook for a couple more minutes.  Remove from heat and mix in one egg.  Place the zucchini boats on a foil covered baking sheet. Spray or brush them with olive oil and then fill them with the mixture from the pan.  You can sprinkle a little parmesan cheese on top if you’d like.  Place in the oven and cook for 25 - 30 minutes until the zucchini is tender.  Serve hot.

     *You can also add a little ground beef to it if you’d like.

 

I forgot to take the picture until after dinner so there are only two left on the pan.  I'm sorry it's a little blurry. 

Summer Soup

Early this summer, we had a couple of cold days.  It was strange.  We have had unusual weather this year.  My daughter made this and it was YUM-MEEEEE!  I plan to make it again once it gets cool again.

Vegetable Beef Soup

3 cans of tomato soup
3 cans of water
2 bags of frozen mixed vegetables
1 bag of chopped okra
1 pound of cooked ground beef, turkey, or Boca

Mix together and cook for an hour OR put it in the crock pot and cook on low all day.

Vacation Woes

We were on vacation last week and it rained every day.  Since we don't have cable at home, it gave me a chance to catch up on a lot of HGTV shows.  I also did a great deal of surfing the internet on my phone.  I've never used up the 4G time on my phone, but I did last week!  While cruising the internet, I found a new recipe and I'm making it for dinner tonight.  The more I looked at it, the more I felt it needed changes.  So I made the changes and here it is!  I also learned that you can freeze quinoa after it is cooked.  I never knew that before!

Quinoa with Zucchini and Spinach

2 cups cooked quinoa

2 medium zuchinni, diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 large tomato, diced

2 Tb. garlic

1 container of fresh mushrooms, diced

1/2 bag of spinach (my bag was 9 oz.)

2 Tb. olive oil

1 Tb. water

1/4 tsp salt

Dice the tomato and set it aside.

In a large pan, over medium heat, add the oil, onion and garlic. Cover and let cook for about 8 minutes.  Stir a couple of times. Next, add in the mushrooms, zucchini, quinoa, tomato, water, and salt. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer, and let cook for another 5-7 minutes. Stir every couple of minutes.  Add in the spinach and let cook another 3 minutes. 

You could add cubed chicken to the dish and make it a complete meal.

Good Times, Good Friends, Good Cake

This past weekend a bunch of my friends (aka co-workers) got together for fun, sun, and food.  One of our friends was gracious enough to open her home and pool to about 25 of us.  We had a great time full of talking, laughter, and eating.  Even our kids (grandkids in my case) had fun together.  It's sad that some of these friends won't be coming back to the same school next year, but they are moving on to better opportunities and I wish them much luck and happiness in their new positions.  These are good-hearted, dependable people.  They are the kind of friends who always look out for each other, lift you up during tough times, and can tell what you're thinking by simply looking at you.  Sweet, loving people who have your back all the time.  I'm really going to miss them.  Thank goodness EVERYONE isn't leaving!  I'd have a nervous breakdown if that happened!  Hooray for my friends who will be returning to my same school next year.  I love them so much!  You are all what make my workdays happy!

I took a cake to share with my friends.  This recipe came from my sister and it is SUPER EASY!!!  Yes, two of my favorite words when it comes to food.  It's a Lemon Strawberry cake and it's perfect for hot summer days because it's cool and light. I may have to make another one.  Soon.

Lemon Strawberry Cake

1 lemon cake mix, prepare as directed
1 16 oz. container of fresh strawberries
1 tub of Cool Whip
doTERRA Lemon Essential Oil

Prepare the cake as directed on the box, but add 3 drops of doTERRA Lemon Essential Oil.  Let it cool.  Wash the strawberries and slice them up. Lay the strawberries on top of the cake and cover with Cool Whip that has had 4 drops of doTERRA Lemon Essential oil mixed in.  Store in the refrigerator to keep cold.