Summer Vacation and Other Troubles

It's been summer vacation the last three weeks. When I say that, I mean I've been on vacation from work for the last three weeks off and on...but I haven't been anywhere in particular. So I've been home.

I had big plans when I was looking forward to it - I'll get the house the way I want it (the family will be gone for several weeks to camp), then I'll work on all those recipes I've been wanting to try and develop! I said it so many times I hated to hear it as much as my friends! Of course, I got half the house the way I wanted it, and I tried a couple of new recipes (see below), and then I got distracted...I went out with friends, I had a movie to watch, I had a nap to take, the UEFA matches are on, etc.... Don't laugh! You know you do the same thing!!

What I did discover, though, was that I could eat at my leisure! I didn't have to make huge pans of food and put them by, I could make three or four meals and the leftovers would mix and match for a week! I also discovered I could make two dozen cupcakes and they'd last for 2 weeks! That's the beauty of summer! You don't feel like eating huge meals at set times; I even took a page from a friend's book and had cereal a couple of times when it was late and I was finally hungry!

So now I have one family member back, but I think we'll continue the new habits of eating when we want and having leftover mix and match. After all, it's in the upper 90s now and will continue to be for the next few weeks. When you feel the heat and humidity, you don't feel like heavy meals! I did do one thing this morning, though, and that's make a big batch of raisin scones. I made them with flax meal and raisins. I've just shared one with my daughter and they are yummy! That's what I've learned...bake once in awhile and then enjoy it for the week! I think it might be one of my evening meals with some cream cheese when it gets late and I'm finally hungry!

So the title of this post is Summer Vacation and Other Troubles....I've covered Summer Vacation, now to speak to the Other Troubles: I've hit a snag with my website - I can't update it right now! It all started a few weeks ago when the laptop began to really show it's age and use. Then the PC developed a virus or something and wouldn't work. The final straw was the laptop went completely down! Of course, they went down just as we got our government windfall, so we invested and now have a new PC and a new laptop! Yea!!! But there was a problem: in all the confusion and cleaning and rearranging, we lost some of our start up discs, including the one I use to work on the website! So I can blog, but I'm stuck with the website the way it is for now. Boo!!! It comes at a time I had planned (along with my other plans) to redesign my recipes page, so you can understand why I'm disappointed. Eventually, I'll get the right program and get back to the website, but for now, I'll have to continue blogging my recipes and hope for the best! So below you will find a couple of pretty good recipes I've been working on. I hope you enjoy them!

Raisin Scones

In a bowl, stir together 3 cups self rising flour, 4 T sugar, and 1/3 cup ground flax meal; with pastry cutter (or two butter knives), cut in about 3 T butter and 4 T shortening until the whole thing is like coarse meal. Add 3/4 cup raisins and stir in, so the flour sticks to the fruit. Add enough cold milk to make a stiff dough. Form into a circle about 1/2 to 3/4" thick and place on a baking pan with parchment paper. Cut into 12 equal wedges, brush with milk and sprinkle with demerara (raw) sugar. Bake in 400 degree oven for about 20 - 25 minutes, or until golden and slightly raised. Let cool before cutting apart and store in zip bag for about a week. To reheat, put one wedge in microwave and heat on high for about 1 minute. Cut and butter; serve with jam or clotted cream, or fresh fruit.

Spinach and Feta Omelette

I had this at my local diner and I have to say, it's so good and easy to put together! Thanks to the Allen Cafe for serving this up! I hope I do it justice!

In a bowl, place about 1/4 cup frozen spinach. Crack 1-2 jumbo or 2-3 large eggs into the bowl with the spinach and let set for a couple minutes. Add a tiny pinch of salt and some white pepper. I also add a little bit of onion powder sometimes, but it's fine without it! Whip the eggs with the defrosting spinach until fluffy. Heat an omelette pan and add 1-2 t olive oil. When the oil and pan are really hot, add the spinach/egg mixture. Cook as you normally would an omelette and when nearly set, add as much crumbled feta cheese as you like (I add about 3 T), but be careful as it's very salty! Fold over and cook for a little bit until cheese is melty. Serve this with toast and fruit! Yummy!

Freezing Strawberries

I happened in to my favorite farmers' market store one day and found that strawberries were on sale $0.99 for a 16 oz box! Of course, I had to buy two that day...when I ate half a box before the evening was over, I decided I better buy two more, so I went back. Then morning after that, I discovered I had 3 1/2 pounds of strawberries I might not eat up before they went bad! What was I going to do?? Well, of course, half of them could be cut and put into a container to eat during the week, but the rest needed to be frozen. Here's a quick way to put them up:

Wash the strawberries you are going to freeze and then cut the leaves and stems off (coring if necessary). Place the strawberries on a tray in a single layer, making sure they don't touch each other. Place the tray in the freezer for 12 hours or overnight. Place completely frozen strawberries in a freezer bag or container and store in the freezer. You can take out a few at a time and use them as you want...they're yummy stirred into plain yogurt with some flax and a little raw sugar, or blended with some milk and protein powder for a smoothie. You can also heat them with a little sugar or honey to make a sauce for cakes or ice cream.