Happy Leap Day!

Aren't these just the cutest cupcakes you've seen in a long time?  A lady I work with made a big batch of these and brought them in to share.  The eyes are marshmallows.  They are much cuter in person than this pictures shows!

A Vegetarian Sandwich

My motto could easily be, "she who dies with the most recipes wins!"  Many of you have heard of my "legendary" cookbook collection as well as the many binders of recipes I've found here and there.


I have a lot of recipes that I make often.  But I am always in search of something new.  Although I will never give up meat. . . are you kdding?. . . give me a nice cut of meat and my smoker and I can create a masterpiece. . . I do eat a lot of vegetarian meals.  I can remember, back in the day, when vegetarian meals were boring - sticks and pebbles, actually.  Those days are long gone.


Recently I did a search online for vegetarian sandwiches.  Wow!  I found some real winners!  Here is one.  It is a chickpea salad sandwich.  This is similar to making tuna salad.  There are many ways you can make it.  Here is how I did it:


2 cups dried garbanzo beans
chopped red bell pepper
pumpkin seeds
about a rounded tablespoon of mayo
about a rounded teaspoon of Dijon mustard
juice of one lime
1 to 2 teaspoons of dill seed
salt and pepper to taste


Soak and cook the garbanzo beans.  Rinse in a colander.


Mash the beans, leaving a handful whole.  Combine all the other ingredients and stir well.


Chill until ready to serve.  Use a nice whole wheat or artisan type bread for the sandwiches.


I found that I prefer my sandwich warm, so I put it in the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds.


Enjoy!

You may as well laugh at it. . .

Chaos. . . that is the word that comes to mind when I think of the commute in to work this morning.  I had a commitment at work today so I couldn't just stay home.


Although I only live a mile from work (in a straight line), it was very treacherous driving on roads that were not plowed and then pulling into a parking lot that had not been plowed.  One of our secretaries e-mailed me about 45 minutes ago that she was leaving work and going home.  Just now she called me.  She parks in the same parking lot as I do.  That lot is plowed, but there is the part from the plows that piles up in front of the cars.  And between cars, the snow is building up.  In other words, it's going to be a mess just trying to get inside my car when I do go home!


So far, this winter has been very mild in Rochester.  Now we are catching up for lost time!


Even in the worst storms, if the roads are plowed and salted, you can get where you need to go.  That definitely was not the case this morning.

If you don't like Rochester's weather. . .

hang around a bit, it will change!  That is an old Rochester proverb that is so true.

We have had a very mild winter this year, for which I was very grateful.  Just this weekend, I was out running around in a shirt jacket and regular shoes and was very comfortable. . . My snowblower has not been used on my driveway this winter. . . I was actually feeling sorry for Bailey because, in her first winter, she has not experienced the fun of running in deep snow. . . There have been winters, where I had to dig a path in my backyard for my dogs to go potty.

Yes, I pay attention to the weather forecasts, well most of the time.  This morning, I decided to wear a skirt and top.  THAT was a mistake!  By the time I walked from the parking lot into my building, I wasn't sure my legs were still there. . . they were frozen!

This weekend the temps are forecast to be in the single numbers.  I can almost bet there will be school closings tomorrow due to the frigid temperatures.

But this is mid-February and Spring is not far off!  I'm very much looking forward to my annual trek South to my cousins reunion (this is number 8!) and this year there is a wedding to go to in addition to the reunion!

A new avocado dip recipe

Our group at work had a Super Bowl party this week.  I love these events.  People bring in their very best recipes.  I brought in deviled eggs. . . is there anyone that doesn't like deviled eggs?

One lady brought in the most wonderful avocado dip.  Not only is it probably one of the best dips you've ever had, it is also nutritious!

4 ripe avocados
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon each:  garlic powder, onion powder, salt
2 limes juiced

Mash the avocados.  Add the sour cream and stir well.  Add remaining ingredients and combine well.  Adjust the ingredients to your taste.

Cover the surface with plastic wrap and chill till ready to serve.

And on another note, you may have noticed I haven't posted on my blog as much as usual these last months.  There is a reason for that and her name is Bailey!  Yes, having two Labs in the house, especially when one is a rambunctious puppy, is a handful.  Just today I noticed she is bigger than Morgan.  Morgan is 3, well, 3 1/2!  Bailey is 8 months and still growing.

It's a constant battle with dog hair, dust, breaking up (playful) fights, and now that there is no snow, keeping the tracked in mud at bay.  Oh, and there is Bailey's love of grabbing the end of the toilet paper roll and taking off through the house in the blink of an eye. But I wouldn't trade these two dogs for a spotless house and less work, or anything else for that matter.  If you spend the time with proper training, to my way of thinking, the Labrador Retriever is the most wonderful dog in the world.

Morgan and Bailey in the backyard

It's a warm day here in New York.  A fun time in the backyard for two Labs!  Bailey, at 8 months, is as big as Morgan!  Look out, Morgan, she hasn't stopped growing yet.

Childhood memories!

Today is my long time friend, Jackie's birthday! I won't say how old. . . but she's four months older than me!  We go back a long way, to third grade at Myrtle Grove Elementary School.  This morning, I wished her Happy Birthday on facebook.  Here is her reply (some of these I had forgotten!)




"I think that was Mrs. Burchfield's class, right?  Remember the field trip to Wakulla Springs?  You loved the outdoors way back then.  I remember you bought a bird book.  LOL!  And our Girl Scout outing where we dug a trench and fixed our lunch in aluminum foil packs and put it over the fire?  And going home from school for lunch and having hamburgers that your mother made with a press.  That always amazed me!  And Mr. Howles' class, 4th grade.  You were the teachers pet.  He let you write on the blackboard every day.  You always had the best handwriting.  And spending the  night.  We sat in bed and played with those crazy magnetic pads where you put hair and a mustache on the bald man and then flipped it up to erase it.  And Whitmire Cemetery and the ghouls.  We were scared.  We always had such fun!  It's great to have old friends that remember your childhood!  Thanks for the birthday wishes!  Wish you were here.  We could go and get in trouble.  Ha Ha!"


The Whitmire Cemetery story, unfortunately, is real and creepy.  I had never heard the term "ghoul" before at that stage in my life.  It means someone that digs up graves.  (I told you it was creepy.)  The man dug up multiple graves before his wife turned him in to police.  Yes, he was a mental health case.  She noticed that every time a new grave was disturbed, her husband came home late at night and he was dirty. 


I had forgotten the trip to Wakulla Springs.  I wonder if that is still open?  It is in Florida, near Tallahassee.  We rode glass bottom boats that let you see what was under the water. . . all kinds of fish and marine life.


Yes, I loved the outdoors back then.  There are few things I love better than getting out in the woods, a long way from civilization and noise of the everyday world, either on foot, in a canoe or kayak, or on a bike!

Cornbread, ya'll

Being raised in the South, I grew up eating cornbread for most evening meals.  In fact, my dad didn't think a meal was complete without cornbread.

I have a recipe that I've used for years, for meals and for cooking a turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  To my way of thinking, it was the perfect cornbread recipe.

Until now.  I found a new recipe online and as much as I don't like to admit it. . . this one is far better than my tried and true recipe!

It has been updated to include whole kernels of corn and uses other ingredients to make it healthier.

Try it and let me know what you think.

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups low fat buttermilk
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons oil
1 cup corn kernels

Place the oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

Lightly grease a 9 x 5" loaf pan.  (I have to be honest, my old school ways require the use of a cast iron skillet!  Long time Southern cooks will tell you, corn bread just isn't corn bread unless it is baked in cast iron!)

Combine in a large bowl, the flours, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.  In another bowl, beat together the eggs, buttermilk, honey and oil.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Stir in the corn.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake until the top is golden brown, about 45 minutes. You need to adjust the baking time if using a cast iron skillet.   Let the bread cool in the pan for 15 minutes.  Now remove the bread from the pan and let cool on a rack until it is completely cool.

Mmmm, this is so good!

And the winner is. . .

My daughter in law, Jen, correctly named the mystery person in yesterday's blog post. . . my friend, Nancy.

Nancy and I go back a long way!  Like 40+ years!  The picture above was taken of the two of us (that's her on the left) back in the early 90's on a trail in the Adirondacks of New York State on a weekend backpacking trip.

We watched each other's children grow up and have children of their own.  We have backpacked, paddled, day hiked all over New York State together over the years.  I could write a book on all the fun times we've had together.

We were on a week long backpacking trip many years ago.  Nancy brought along a 2 pound link of German sausage for part of our food supply.  I really didn't care for it and it was a heavy load to carry. . . when you are backpacking, ounces count!!!  For a couple of days, we took turns carrying it in our pack.  One day on the trail, we met an older couple who were on a three week backpacking trip of the Northville-Lake Placid trail.  As soon as this couple spoke, it was obvious they were German!

Nancy and I looked at each other in amazement!  Nancy said to them, "We have this heavy link of German sausage which we aren't going to eat.  Would you like it?"

The look on their face spoke volumes!  They were thrilled.  As long distance hikers, their diet consisted of rice cakes and freeze dried food. . . all lightweight rations!  They were glad to take the sausage and we were really glad to be free of the weight!!!

One year, we spent several days in the Lake Placid area of of the Adirondacks in the middle of January, when it is freezing cold and plenty of snow on the ground.  We decided to climb Cascade (one of the High Peaks) on snowshoes.  The conditions were more appropriate for ice "claws" on your feet than snowshoes.  But we headed up anyway.  

Near the top we came to a wide area with about a 45 degree incline that was a sheet of ice.  We were so close to the top that I was not about to turn back.  "Come on, Nancy, we can do this!"

I won't repeat her litany of words at that point, but let's just say she wasn't too happy with me!  "Oh, hell, Nancy.  If we slip, we are only going to fall into that heavy mass of evergreens at the bottom. . . that may even be fun."

Repeating a string of, let's say, not too polite words aimed at me, she slowly crawled to the top, while I was behind another evergreen at the top rolling in the snow trying not to let her hear me laughing at her.

The view from the summit was beautiful that day, well worth the effort to get there.

"Okay, (expletive deleted) so how are we going to get down that one section?" She still was angry with me!

"I don't know, we'll make it up as we go along, " I answered, avoiding her dagger eyes aimed at me!

As luck would have it, a young man came along with ice climbing gear.  "Oh!  that is the fun part," he replied when we told him we didn't know how to get down that sheet of ice.  Obviously, this young man had much more experience with these things than we did.

He pulled out an ice climbing tool from his pack, sat down, held the point of the tool into the ice and slowly slid down, quickly climbed back up (I told you he was more experienced and prepared than we were!) and did it again.  Nancy and I couldn't wait to try this.

"Here, now you try it."

Needless to say, we truly enjoyed that day. . . and I promise, I never said to Nancy, "I told you so!"

Can you guess this mystery person?

Last week I posted the first mystery person, a new feature of my blog.  I made it too easy and Rita guessed it correctly right away!

This time I'll try to make it a little more challenging!  This person is a close friend or a relative who has been a significant part of my life.  The first person to correctly guess the name wins their choice of a bottle of wine or a chocolate bar!

Here are the clues:

• I've known this person more than 10 years
• This person has a big heart and would drop everything to help a friend in need
• We've had a ton of laughs, and a few tears, together over the years
• This person is creative
• This person loves all animal