Baby Robin's in my kitchen garden

I was cutting down some of the over-grown honeysuckle in my kitchen garden and I came across this nest. I had to stop cutting and get my camera. I did not take a pic of mom on the nest, I need to do that.

One egg did not hatch, it had a small crack in it.

Momma Robin always watches me water the garden. I have to snap her pic too next time.

I named them...Robin and Robin...lol..like George Forman did with his kids hehe

more to come

Cucumber and Red Onion Salad

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My sister is having a party and I have an over abundance of cucumbers right now from my garden, so I am bringing some cucumber salad. Here's my recipe..

double or triple this for crowds

Cucumber and Red Onion Salad

About 5 cucumbers (skin on, but skimmed with garnisher to look cute, sliced a1/4 in thick or a thickness to your liking.)

2 red onions cut up into nice size slivers or diced (however ya like it)

1/2 c Kraft Real Mayonnaise (its the only mayo that touches my food and no one has to pay me to say that!)

1/2 c sour cream

splash of milk

2 T vinegar

2 T garlic (pressed fresh or minced dry)

2 T dill (dry, m0re if using fresh)

1/4 c sugar

Mix Mayo, sour cream, milk, vinegar, garlic, dill and sugar and then toss in red onions and cucumbers.

Optional...you can add diced apples or grapes to this also.

Then I place it in a ziploc bag for storing in the refrigerator until its time to go, and easy travel. I dump it in a bowl at the picnic.

Chicken wings...or, legs...or whatever

I am pretty sure, the last time I checked, each chicken had two legs and two wings, yet in the grocery store, the wings are more than twice as much as the legs! I got a 12 pack of legs at the grocery store for 2.80. They are .70 cents a pound. Ten pounds of wings at sams club is 15.63..that comes out to alittle more than 1.56 a pound!!!!

I am not sure what sense this makes, since there is more meat on the legs than there is on the wings? My family doesn't mind me making "buffalo legs" instead of wings, in fact, they downright love it. Yes, when we go out, we eat chicken wings here and there, mostly when they are a dime a piece. But when I make wings at home...we are just as happy, if not happier, eating them made with legs.

Getting rid of clutter

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I used to give stuff away all the time, to oust the clutter from my home. I wanted it gone that day and that was that. I went to my sisters for a yard sale to sell my stuff and no one came so I went to sell my stuff I had from my Southern Living kit from when I sold Southern Living.

I had so many nice brand new things, along with my pot rack that hung from my ceiling that I no longer wanted. Well, my sister lived at the edge of her community, so only a few people came down to her sale, I was practically giving stuff away.

Around noon, I still had a table full of stuff,, so I loaded it into my truck, and called my friend to see if she wanted any of it...free....I did not want to bring it back into my house, she came over and we unloaded it from my truck into her trunk. I was rid of it all...cast iron pot rack and all..brand new southern living stuff..etc.

I was glad to be rid of the clutter.

Recently I was weeding out my homeschool books and thought, I am going to check ebay. Stuff is selling like hot cakes...so I posted some homeschool books...I sold one book for 200.67..and another for 132.00...others for 10 dollars here and there...and a Mitch Gaylord workout DVD for 27.00 (it was only 30 new and came with a workout ball....mine was just the dvd).

In two weeks I made 399.00 on my used stuff..stuff I normally would have just given away or thrown out. I can kick myself for all the stuff I have given away through the years...yes it was clutter..but it was money! Pots, pans, silverware, cookbooks, homeschool books, books, dvds, and other misc. stuff.

Lesson learned. From now on, if I don't want something, I am checking ebay before I hand it off or throw it away. I won't get up for a yard sale again, that took too much energy...but I will sell stuff on ebay...I am looking around my house right now thinking ...mmm what can I sell next!!!!

Reward yourself...you CAN have it all!

Reward yourself...you CAN have it all!

If you are working out and watching your portion sizes, its okay to have that dessert you want..just agree to share it with a loved one. If you are alone, cut it up and put half away for later. Better yet, cut it in thirds.

The same goes for your meal when eating out (or even at home). Think about it, those servings they give you could feed a family! I got a vegetarian pasta dish with portabella mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes and divided it up. I got three and a half meals out of it! If you eat smaller portions, wait 20 min, it WILL hit your stomach and you will be satisfied. Eat slower, savor it, enjoy it.

I read a book once called the Martini Diet. It's not about drinking martini's. It explains that a martini glass is a serving size (a standard one, not those giant one's restaurants are now using). The size of your stomach should not be large enough to fit a full plate of food in it.

Get smaller plates at home. Those large plates make your serving look like 1/7th of a 7 course meal.

Be honest with yourself...promise yourself you are only having a serving. Wait 20 min before dessert and only eat a few bites. I like to suck on a piece of dark chocolate to satisfy my sweet craving after a meal. Once I have done that, I don't need anything else.

If you watch a thin person eat, they really DO eat anything they want, but really pay attention to how much of it they eat. I CAN'T eat more than a serving, my stomach is full fast. That's what eating 4-6 small meals is all about, shrinking your stomach back to normal size so you are full faster.

Take responsibility and gain control of how much you are really eating.

Generic Meds vs. Name Brand *BUYER BEWARE!

I have a cough so I bought generic delsym last night because delsym worked great for my cough in the past
Well..
CVS brand was 7.35 compared to 10.00 for the name brand Delsym and CVS is 4 ounces rather than 3 in the bottle of Delsym. I get home and read the bottle further
You have to take 2 tsp every 6 hours instead of the 2tsp every 12 hours with the delsym. (so there goes half the bottle)
And...
it did not stop my cough, in reading the bottle even further, I notice, the 2tsp is 15 mg in the generic..and 30 mg in the delsym..so now it went from being a 4 ounces bottle to 1 ounce! what a ripoff! and I am coughing still!
I will surely read the fine print on the whole bottle before I get generic again.

Breakfast Casserole for a Crowd

Breakfast Casserole.

I love to make this if I have a bunch of teenagers sleeping over, or if I am just busy doing things, I can whip it up in 5 minutes, and throw it in the oven.

I pulled this out of the oven a few min ago, I halved the recipe and made it in a smaller dish, because its just me and the boys home right now.

Note: REAL BACON IS HAS SO MUCH LESS SODIUM THAN TURKEY BACON..DO NOT SUB TURKEY BACON..IT IS NOT BETTER FOR YOU! It is actually worse for you. As I said before, diet food, low fat, etc, all add sodium to make it taste good.

1 bag of shredded hash brown potatoes
bacon and sausage (I buy it already cooked and I freeze so I have it on hand)

12 eggs

1 c milk 

diced onions and peppers

Put shredded potatoes in casserole dish, or lasagna sized pan, add cut up bacon and sausage mix the eggs and milk, add some pepper (salt not needed with the bacon and sausage) pour over the casserole and bake at 350 for an hour. you can add cheese to this, onions, green or hot peppers, whatever you have on hand, whatever you like. the original recipe calls for cheese on top, but it does not need it

also you can omit the sausage or bacon or both and also you can sub canadian bacon if you wish

You can also add ricotta cheese, broccoli, spinach and tomato. If you like, hot peppers are great too.