6/1/19

Fried on Friday 2.0

It has been a busy week, and I was feeling it in my bones (literally) yesterday. There was something to do away from home every day this week. Since I'm something of a homebody, it wears on me after a few days of that. Sue and I walked yesterday morning, but my rear-end was dragging by the time I got home, and there was still plenty to do. But first, here is every blooming thing we saw along the way.


These daisies were interesting. Can you see they are a pale shade of blue? I've never seen wild daisies this color in the wild. These look as if they've been dyed for inclusion in a floral arrangement. Kind of makes me wonder what they're growing in...whether there exists some kind of chemical soup in this area because this is not a color usually found in nature.


Moving on...


These were wild roses.


Ordinarily, Sue and I alternate walking the Fanno Creek Trail with walking the country roads out by my house. We specifically walked the Fanno Creek Trail two weeks in a row because we thought we might find the lupine blooming this time around. We were sorely disappointed. It was hard to say what was going on with these. They appear half bloomed and half not, and they were like that everywhere we saw them.


This was a rose growing in someone's yard, but this section was spilling over the top of a fence into the public space.


The ladies were more jumpy than usual. I thought there might be a couple of newbies in the pen with them.


They acted as if they wished we'd just move along.


This one clearly doesn't want her picture posted online. She was very pretty, and I wished she'd stand up and move around a little.


We saw at least three families of ducks and one family of geese.


Also, this beaver dam, barely visible through the trees.


I zoomed in so you could see how industrious the beavers have been building their fortress. For as often as we see the beaver dams, you'd think we'd see a beaver occasionally. We never do...only evidence of beavers.


Back home, another poppy bloomed. Unless I miss my guess, another will bloom today.


So there was no sewing, but plenty of cooking after I got home. The guys are heading off for a road rally this weekend, and I have the house to myself for two blissful days. Even though I told myself I wasn't going to get carried away making food for them, I did anyway. My mouth seemed to move all on its own as I said, "I'll make some lasagna, and some sandwich filling, and some breakfast burritos." If I hadn't felt my lips moving, I'd have looked behind me to see who was talking. Anyway...that was how I spent the rest of the day. I didn't take any pictures, but here are the recipes I used. 

First, I made an Overnight Lasagna. This is a recipe I've adapted from a Betty Crocker recipe. It's so easy to put together, it's the only lasagna I made any more. Here's a picture I "borrowed" from the Betty Crocker website:


And here's my adaptation of Betty's recipe. As written here, it should be baked in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Generally, I make half the recipe and bake it in an 8 x 8 baking dish. 

Overnight Lasagna
adapted from Betty Crocker
serves 12

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion (about 1/2 cup), chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 jars Commercial spaghetti sauce
12 oven-ready lasagna noodles 
1 container creamed cottage cheese (12 oz.)
2 cups Mozzarella cheese (8 oz.), shredded
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

Cook and stir ground beef, onion and garlic in Dutch oven until beef is brown; drain.  Stir in spaghetti sauce.  Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally; reduce heat. 

Spread 2 cups of the sauce mixture in ungreased rectangular baking dish, 13x9x2 inches.  Top with 4 noodles.  Spread half of the cottage cheese over noodles; spread with 2 cups of the sauce mixture.  Sprinkle with 1 cup of the Mozzarella cheese.  Repeat with 4 noodles, the remaining cottage cheese, 2 cups of the sauce mixture and the remaining Mozzarella cheese.  Top with the remaining noodles and sauce mixture; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Cover and refrigerate up to 12 hours.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake covered 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake until hot and bubbly, 30 to 40 minutes longer.  Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

* * * * *

Okay, and then I made the filling for one of Giada de Laurentiis' recipes. Her Curried Chicken and Apple Wraps are delicious. Here's another image borrowed from the Food Network:


I made up the filling, and the guys can make wraps when they're ready. I like to use the spinach tortillas for these. Also available are sun-dried tomato tortillas, and those are good too. Also, I make so many different flavors of chutney that I just use whatever I have open in the refrigerator. You needn't feel you need to use mango chutney if you have something else on hand.

Finally, I made Frozen Breakfast Burritos. I found these on a blog called Mom's Crazy Cooking some time ago. It looks as if she's abandoned her blog, but these burritos are a winner. As RVers, these make an easy breakfast for days when we're on the move. Although her recipe calls for "pineapple salsa," I just use regular tomato salsa.

So that was a lot of cooking, and it took up the whole day. It's a rare day when there's no sewing...not even slow-stitching. By the time I had all that done, I was ready for a nap, and so I collapsed on the couch and didn't move again until Mike came home with a pizza for dinner.

And just now, he said good-bye and he was on his way to meet up with the boys, er, men. I don't think I'll ever stop thinking of my two sons as "boys." Anyway...I have the house to myself for two blissful days. Think of the trouble I can get into. I'll be back with a report tomorrow.

Edited to say I almost forgot...It's June 1st, which means two things. First, it's our house anniversary. The Three Cats Ranch was established on June 1, 2002, and so we've been living here for 17 years, as of today.

And second, it's time to choose a goal for


My personal goal each month is to quilt and bind one quilt, and to sew one set of completed blocks into a flimsy. It occurs to me that each month, I'll choose the oldest from the list of WIPs for my goal. In June, I'll be sewing the Chicken Buffet quilt into a finished flimsy. This quilt was started February 27, 2015, and so more than four years on, it will be good to get it to the next level. Here are the finished blocks:


Okay, home alone mischief awaits.

12 comments:

Kate said...

Beautiful, beautiful wildflowers! I Googled blue daisy wildflowers in Oregon and found several varieties that look close to those, but didn't find an exact match. They certainly are pretty. Enjoy your weekend on your one, hopefully that means lots of stitching time. Good luck with June OMG. That is such a fun projects.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Thanks for the recipe and links. Gorgeous nature photos!

Sandra W said...

I also googled blue daises--and they do exist. Phew I was getting worried. They are very unnatural looking aren't they. What great posts the last two days! I enjoyed the recipes (and I do very little cooking) so that was a surprise. I majored in Philosophy and will have to look up your half-way guy. He must have been a mathematician.
How nice to have your husband go away for 2 days. It's always nice to have a little break. I don't know why it's different when they're gone, but it is. Sometimes I try to imagine that mine is away and just carry on, but it really doesn't work. It's not the same. And, of course, when you are retired there is a LOT of together time. Although you do have M back at work for a while.
Enjoy the time alone.

Julierose said...

Your "Chicken buffet " is so adorable--just love it...very whimsical..
I want to try that lasagna recipe--the last time I made a lasagna (years ago now and I'll tell you why!!)-- it came out like lasagna SOUP!!!--my lovely small granddaughter saw my distress at our family gathering and said "But, it still tastes good, Grand-mere!" Love that girl!!;00 Anyway,,, thanks for your recipe...
hugs, Julierose enjoy your stitching days...

piecefulwendy said...

And here I am, reading ahead. (haha) With all that, I'm not surprised you collapsed on the couch. I hope you are having loads of fun all on your own. Looking forward to see what's buzzing through your machine. I managed to get the two queen quilts bound today, so that's done and dusted. Took a short walk, and now I'm just relaxing for a bit. More sewing later, possibly!

SJSM said...

Busy lady! I know how you feel when you are not in your routine at home. Though I do go out in the world more often, I treasure the days I can stay at home. If I go out more days than stay home in a week I feel pooped. This week hubby is gone starting Monday. I will leave on Thursday heading for Oregon. I will be in Lake Oswego for my niece''s bridal shower and showing her the mock up of her veil. Then to Mill End Store to pick up what she selects for the final veil. From there a stop at Willamette Valley vineyards to pick up our club release and on to Eagle Point to sew with a friend for a few days. Busy week but sewing with a friend at the end looks good to me.

quiltzyx said...

Lovely shots along your walk with Sue yesterday! I think that chickens are the prettiest dinosaurs ever. It's amazing how many different colors and patterns they have in their feathers.

What are "oven-ready" lasagna noodles? Are they already cooked? That does sound like an easy enough for me recipe!

CA Bobbie said...

The Chicken Buffet quilt is adorable-had to go search Google right away. Sadly didn't find the pattern but lots of cute pictures. I also searched for the Hobo Quilt book when I had seen a reference to it on your blog-success found it. Now in my library. I do so enjoy your blog,every bit,recipes,pictures and especially your commentary!!! Thanks.
Bobbie C in So Cal

Karen's Korner said...

Such a fun chicken quilt. You were busy in the kitchen.

kc said...

OH my, those poppies! I've missed a few days, so to find them open was a BIG surprise - they're beautiful! Those daisies are too, and yeah, I've never seen blue outside of the florist, so it was good to read other comments that they do exist. Very reassuring.

Your lasagna is very similar to mine, except I use ziti noodles, all mixed up rather than layered, omit the cottage cheese, Parmesian and onion, and spice up the canned sauce, and cook it at once. Otherwise, yep, just the same! Really, to me, Italian's a lot like Mexican food...just different by shape of delivery medium (pasta or tortilla)

The chickens are cute and I'm sure after all this time, they'll be much happier all stitched up into a flock!

Patty said...

Very fun blocks. Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal and good luck with your project.

Kaisievic said...

Thanks for the lasagna recipe - looks delicious.