Monthly Archives: September 2020

55 Things # 35 – For Lindell

55 Things, Reflections

Click here to learn more about my “55 Things” and here to view previous posts in this series.

Where does the time go? It was 24 years ago today that I gave birth to my youngest daughter, Lindell.

In keeping with my Disney dedications to my daughters I have selected two songs for Lindell. The first one reminds me so much of Lindell, who has worked as a hostess, waitress and bar tender.

I’m sure it is her beautiful smile and friendly personality that has made her successful in each of these positions. I have had several of her customers tell me that Lindell was their favorite server and how much they loved Lindell.

The second selection is also a Disney song. I chose this song as it reminds me of Lindell when she was young. “Stubborn” was the word that was often used to describe her. When ever I would think stubborn or hear someone else use the word I would correct it and use the word “determined” instead. As frustrating as it could be, I always wanted to put a positive spin on it.

Seeing how far she has come I am certain the her stubbornness determination has served her well. 🙂

Happy Birthday Lindell. I Love You. 💖

Garden Meals – Eating Well

Gardening, homemade, Recipe, Reflections,

Despite not following some of the gardening strategies that I had mentioned earlier this year, like planting by the moon and companion planting, our gardens have produced abundant crops. For the last several weeks we have been blessed to be enjoying meals prepared with fresh home grown vegetables. We are thankful to be eating well.

Some of the meals we’ve enjoyed include:

Yesterday’s Dinner – Beef Stew (with home grown potatoes, swiss chard, celery, tomatoes and garlic)

Thursday’s Dinner – Pepper Steak over White Rice (with home grown bell peppers, tomato and garlic)

Wednesday’s Dinner – T-bone Steak, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Acorn Squash and Sautéed Swiss Chard. (with home grown potatoes, garlic, squash, and Swiss chard)

Eggplant Parmesan

Stuffed Cabbage

Spaghetti – with home made/ home grown sauce

Corn on the Cob

Green Beans with Garlic Butter

Swiss Chard

Cucumber Salad

Tomato Sandwich

Banana Pepper Poppers

All this, my friends, is why we do what we do.

The Banana Pepper Poppers are one of our favorite side dishes. They are easy to make so I decided to share the recipe. (Please note that I am one of those cooks who does “a little of this and a little of that” so the amounts do not need to be exact. Feel free to put the word “about” in front of each ingredient listed.)

Banana Pepper Popper Recipe

6 – 3 to 4 inch banana peppers

4 ounces cream cheese softened

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

three strips of bacon cooked and cut into bits

a few shakes of crushed red pepper (optional)

bread crumbs (optional)

Slice peppers in half lengthwise and remove stem and seeds. Place in baking dish. Mix together the cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, bacon bits and crushed red pepper. Fill each pepper half with cheese mixture. Sprinkle each pepper with bread crumbs (optional). Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 30 minutes (until peppers have softened). Enjoy! 🙂

Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator they are even good eaten cold.

Are you eating any in season vegetables?

Do you have a favorite seasonal recipe you would like to share?

55 Things # 34 – For Dad

55 Things, Reflections, Sunflowers

Click here to learn more about my “55 Things” and here to view previous posts in this series.

This spring my dad ordered some seeds to grow Teddy Bear Sunflowers. Since he had more seeds than he had space to grow them, he gave me some seeds to plants at the farm. They are now in full bloom and since Dad hasn’t been out to the farm this year I wanted to share the photos of the sunflowers.

These Teddy Bear Sunflowers have a fluffy looking blossom.

Each plant has multiple flowers.

They are a dwarf flower growing between 24 and 36 inches high. While I didn’t get a close up of it, the bees are foraging these just as they do other sunflowers. Thanks Dad! We will have to save some seeds for next year. 🙂