Wordless Wednesday

...as if the cassettes were not a giveaway...this is an old pic of my oldest...

Treasury for My Monster

I listed my mini monster plush key chains in my Etsy shop last week and the orange flame topped guy was picked for a treasury today :) Thank you Plain Spirit!


I just have to show you one of her pretties...they are so unique! She melts & plays with the silver to make these amazing and one-of-a-kind pieces. She also works the rocks herself. How cool is that?!?

Friday Food: Turkey and Lean Beef Meatloaf

Okay - not super original, but I can never find the one I like, so I came up with this one. And now that I blogged it, I can always find it :)

Serves: 8...at 6oz each...a 9x12 pan cut into 8ths

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients

* 16 oz Extra Lean Ground Breast of Turkey (Jennie O makes a good one, Honeysuckle too)
* 16 oz 96% Lean Ground Round (I prefer Laura's)
* 1/2 serving Onions
* 1/2 medium raw Green-bell Pepper
* 2 Eggs
* 2 tbsp Wheat Germ
* 1 serving Quick Oats
* 1/4 cup Reduced Fat Ritz Cracker
* 3 tsp Sauce, Worcestershire
* 1/4 cup Ketchup

Directions

Heat oven to 400* (375* is okay, it will just add about 15 minutes)
Spray 13x9x2 baking pan with nonstick spray

Beat eggs in small bowl
Dice onions & bell pepper
Mix all ingredients in large bowl
Spread out down the center of the pan & "shape" into a loaf
I like to squirt on some extra ketchup to the to in a squiggle
***There will be some space on either side of the loaf...good for drainage of excess fat****
Cook for 45 minutes
Check internal temp - it is done at about 170-180*....I often add another squiggle of ketchup for these last 15 minutes
Cook another 15 minutes...let cool for 5-10 minutes before slicing

Nutrition Facts
per serving: Calories 220; Total Fat 5.28g; Saturated Fat 1.57g; Cholesterol 118.75mg; Sodium 270.7mg; Total Carbohydrate 12.95g; Dietary Fiber 1.04g; Sugars 3.29g; Protein 29.42g

Etsyblogger Carnival

This carnival is hosted by the lovely Lazy T.
Our choices were Cabin Fever - What do you do or what are you looking forward to doing to escape the doldrums? OR Planning a garden this year? Tell us how you plan or prepare. Do you start your own seeds and how?

Garden? Well, I will be rearranging my front. The Black Eyed Susans & grasses have grown quite a bit and need to be thinned. So I'll be moving the excess to the backyard. But that is the extent of my planning. Well, I do hope that i don't kill any in the process, but I can't really call that "planning".
So doldrums it is! My escape pretty much falls in line with some of my plans for this year, mainly losing weight. I am looking forward to taking my bike in for a fix'er up session. Which may turn out to be a 'put it down' session. It is nearly 15 years old & wasn't exactly top of the line. This Giant Escape City bike would be great to replace it...
...wishful thinking perhaps, but a girls gotta dream. Either way, new bike or old, I intend to ride the heck out of it. Daily trips with the munchkin behind me in the trailer. Biking down to the market for fresh fruits & veggies. Trips to the zoo...of course. And I am hoping for at least one long solo ride a month - as many miles as I can fit in a day. 30 to 50 sounds good. So, who's up for a ride?

Butterfly Attack

Okay, so attack is a strong word. More like butterfly nuzzle. Or butterfly gentle landing. On my leg.

It was pretty cool. We went to the zoo last week when our temps hit the 60s. My son wanted to see the "bupperflies" first. There were some butterflies that had just hatched. They look so cool hanging out on the tree trunk. A little pale and very delicate looking....more so than usual. But great for taking pics since they don't just fly away as we approach.


As we walked through the habitat, he kept squeeing at at the "pretties". He asked what they were doing on the bird feeders. I told him they were butterfly feeders and they were, well, feeding themselves.

When that butterfly flew off the feeder and landed on me, he got a tad freaked. I assured him that it could not hurt me, but that we had to be careful not to hurt it accidentally. I had to shuffle over to the docent to ask how to gently remove so we could move on to the birds.

Once the volunteer took out his credit card to gently detach said butterfly...it flew over to a young girl who was ogling the lady with the butterfly on her leg & parked itself on hers. She was in awe. And them Wyatt wanted to butterfly to come back and visit us. Kids :P

Friday Food: Easy Rice and Bell Peppers

Serves: 6
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 serving Instant Whole Grain Brown Rice
• 1 whole Red Bell Pepper
• 1 whole Yellow Bell Pepper
• 1/4 serving Parsley, fresh
  
• 2 1/2 serving Organic Vegetable Broth
• 1 serving Onions

Directions:

Dice bell peppers and onion

Cook rice according to package using vegetable broth in place of water

While broth is boiling, saute veggies in a separate pan

Add veggies and parsley when rice is added to broth

note: veggies can be added during the 1st 5 minute simmer as well, but you may need some additional broth
note 2: regular rice can be used as well, again, just replace the water with the broth & add veggies during the simmer

Nutrition: per serving:

Calories 176, Fat 1.64g, Sat fat 0.02g, Carbohydrate 40.01g, Fiber 3.12g, Sugar 1.97g, Protein 3.81g

Blogfire Carnival: Green and Gold

The blog carnival themes to choose from were any combo of necklaces, green & gold or your favorite accessory. I though I would try & look for sets with necklaces since my fave accessory is a bracelet...but most sets were necklaces and earrings. So I will skip over my beloved bracelets & stick with necklaces.
My initial search gave me over 3000 goodies!!! That's a lot of drool to wipe off the keyboard :P Now that I have done all the hard work of looking through such great handmade items, you can just sit back & enjoy...

Earth Walker - Bead Woven Necklace - Element 4 by Roseworks Jewelry

Light Green Adventurine Necklace with Antique Colored Chain by ybuzby

Green Web Necklace by Creations by Crystal Rose

Moss Green Textile Statement Bib Necklace by kirevi8

Abalone Green Beadwoven Necklace by Tulips Treasure Box Jewelry

Wordless Wednesday

...okay, almost wordless :P

Slugs Come Home

A little while back I won a gift certificate to the Etsy shop MissusD. As usual, I got a few "extras" before I checked out. I couldn't resist her slugs - I got one for me & one for my son. And now that my hair is long, the yo-yo flower pony holders had to come home to me also. There was even a surprise inside...cool button earrings!!!


This is the end journey for these slugs....

I hope I didn't scare them off. Guess I should have opened the box further away from the big scary sewing machine :P

You can see some of their friends' adventures on her blog....like the Siamese twins planning a holiday or heading out on that holiday.

Saturday Snack - Granola Bars

Prep: 10 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Yield: 24 "bars"

Ingredients

2 cup Classic Granola
1 cup Quick Oats
1/2 cup Chopped Walnuts
1/2 cup Wheat Germ
2 tbsp Milled Flax Seed
1 cup Dried Fruit
1 Egg
1/3 cup Honey
1/3 cup Natural Peanut Butter
1/3 cup Applesauce-unsweetened
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Ground Cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 325*F
need: 9x12 baking sheet - use cooking spray so it will not stick

Beat egg before mixing

Mix everything together in a large mixing bowl

tip: heat honey & peanut butter in microwave briefly (about 30 seconds) so it will mix easier

Spread mixture out onto baking sheet evenly

Bake for 30-35 minutes
Let cool & break off pieces

Serves 24 (this is how many pieces I break it into anyway - each piece is palm sized and roughly 2 oz)

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 bar: Calories 168, Fat 6.28g, Sat fat 0.71g, Cholesterol 8.83mg, Carbohydrate 24.5g, Fiber 3.72g, Sugar 11.33g, protein 4.15g

Etsyblogger Carnival: Spring

March 12th's carnival for the Etsybloggers is hosted by Made By Melissa.
Our choices were either Spring time or March being National Nutrition Month, National Irish American Heritage Month & National Women's History Month and pick one.

I used to study Exercise Science, so doing something about nutrition felt like work :P I do have a bit of Irish in me & hubby has even more, but that post would probably get too long...and I'd want a Guinness after, which I am currently out of. And Women's month...shouldn't they all be?

Anyway, i decided to stick with Spring because I am so eager for it. I am not usually like this. I get the usual drearies that most Michiganders do and this season was a pretty mild one for us. But for some reason, I am itching for Spring. I even noticed that my tulips started popping!! At least I am pretty sure they are tulips :P See...

And in my shop - tons of Spring! There is pink and general bright cheeriness everywhere! These are some of my faves:

Pink:
Candy Kaleidoscope Backpack, Blooms Handbag, Shadow Gold Clutch, Pink Pebbles Tote
Blue:
Illusions Capri Blue Backpack, Green Handbag, Butterfly Garden Clutch, Pink and Orange Purse

Wordless Wednesday

...digital scrapbook quick page by Valkyrja Designs as part of The Monsters in my Closet Collab...

The Little Guy and His Xs & Os

An online friend was talking about her son and his drawing of circles. It is a pretty typical autistic trait, the almost obsessive compulsive repeating of certain actions. While Wyatt is not autistic, he does toy with the outlying edge of the spectrum. The other day he brought home a perfect example. Whenever he draws, he always has to have a circle with an X in the center. Not that it is the only thing he will draw, but generally if he does, it is the only thing on the page. So I was so happy to see that he let himself write his name on this one too :)

Friday Food - Quick Guacamole

It has been quite some time since I posted food. I have been cooking, just nothing new or at least not with a camera at the ready. I will try to get back to weekly posts though. But with the little guy still making dinner time a not-so-fun time, I have been making the same old same old every week.

This guacamole has sentimental value for me. Before my best friend abandoned me for the greater goodness of Colorado, we spent Thursday nights together just hanging, watching TV and eating. This was a fave. Quick, easy, yummy & good for you. When pinched for time, we just tossed everything into "the whizzer"...otherwise known as a Cuisinart. And measuring, well, we tend to just throw stuff in until it tastes good, but I did measure once.

Serves: 4 ...although we wiped out the whole thing easy :P

Ingredients:
3 avocados - scooped out & squooshed
3-4 green scallions - chopped
3 roma tomatoes (aka plum tomato) - diced small
lime juice - splash
cilantro, fresh is best, but dried works just fine ...to taste - about 1T dry
cumin, powdered not seed - 2 tsp (more or less to taste)
chili powder - a shake or two
sometimes I will add in some store bought salsa for a little extra kick...here we always use Garden Fresh Gourmet - YUM!
Tortilla Chips for dipping

Prep: chop it all up, mix together in bowl, eat & enjoy :)

If you have never dealt with an avocado, this is the easiest way to do the slice & dice: Cutdown to the pit circling around from tip to tip (length wise) - take in both hands & twist until separates, leaving the pit on one side. I use the knife to poke the pit & pull it out. Then scoop out the green goodness and toss the shell.

tip: I find that using a fork works well to mix everything while squooshing the avocado

Nutrition: (excluding chips)
213 calories, 17g fat (o.21g saturated), 16g carbohydrates, 4.87g fiber, 4.5g protein

Okay, so it's a little high in the calories, at least the fat is all the "good" kind....and oh so yummy!!!

BlogFire - Bath and Body

Bath and body, now here is a category I could go on and on and on showing off wonderful goodies. Some people have clothes. Some do shoes. Others prefer jewelry. Me - I splurge on soaps. It is my indulgence. And financially speaking, much less harsh on the wallet than those others. So all my soap is handmade. And my shampoo. And conditioner. Oh, and don't forget the lotion. Bottom line - I am clean and smell good :)I am sure you don't want to be here all day as I show off soap after soap, so I will stick to some faves - and only one per category. I won't even try to narrow it down by scent - but I am definitely more of a woodsy type than floral. Sandalwood over lilac any day!

Scrubs:

Pegasus Soaps: Whipped Coffee Caramel Cream Sugar Scrub

Soaps:

Dirty Ass Soaps: Sugar Skulls, Vegan Soap

Shampoo/Conditioners:

Doctor Sweet Tooth: Pink Sugar Candy Shampoo & Conditioner

Bath:

KB Shimmer: Bath Bomb Bonanza

Lotions:

Essensu: Green Clover & Aloe Botanical Body Lotion

I could not let this post go by without showing some of that lotion...I have some by my sewing machine (vanilla sandalwood right now), on the end table (honeysuckle), in my purse (pumpkin lavendar) and even at my moms (the green clover).

Wordless Wednesday