What is wrong with people?

Have you ever noticed that in movies, as soon as they hear chains clanking in the attic or unexplained blood running down the stairs, people go to the source instead of getting the heck out of there! Vampires can't come in unless you invite them and they always do in the movies. They always go on a trip on a horribly rainy evening and think nothing of asking for refuge in a dark house that belongs to some person that looks strangely like a witch. It just happens in the movies, right? People aren't that stupid in real life, right?

Wrong!

I first discovered this when my husband and I were first married. We lived next door to a lovely family with two little girls. We got to be great friends so when the girls had a Halloween sleepover, we couldn't resist. First, we called their mother and told her we wanted to 'spook' the girls. She laughed and said to go ahead and try. Well, we planted a recorder with scary music in the bushes outside the front window, donned masks and pressed our scary faces into the window glass and tapped. One of the girls peeked out, screamed . . . and then the whole bunch of them ran outside to investigate! Their mother was shocked. She was sure they would run and hide at the first scary indication yet they headed directly into an unknown danger.

Japan, as everyone knows by now, had a massive earthquake today which caused tsunami conditions all the way to California. What is the first thing some reporters see here at California beaches? People standing at the shore to see what might happen! One couple had come with babies in their arms. Granted, the tsunami warning was not fulfilled in Southern California beaches but . . . no one knew for certain. Why on earth would people risk live and limb to wait and watch at the foot of a lot more water than they could ever contend with if it took off.

Sadly, one man in Northern California did lose his life due to a tsunami that started in Japan. The Northern coast of California DID sustain some tsunami-related damage and this man was there to take pictures. Hope there is a photo developing store in eternity.

In a nutshell!

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.

Isaac Asimov

Super smoothies!

We are blessed to have a powerful blender. The thing actually grinds wheat into flour! Anyway, one of our favorite things to do with this blender is made whole fruit/vegetable smoothies. Now, this might sound odd but fresh smoothies really taste great and are guiltless, too!

We have two favorites. One of the uses broccoli, spinach, kiwi, apple, pear, grapes, and fresh orange juice. We turn all that into thick juice, add enough ice to further grind it into a cold, slushy drink. No sugar, no yogurt, no ice cream. It is amazing how one of these at lunch time really zips up your energy the rest of the day.

Our second favorite incorporates peeled, raw carrots, cranberries, strawberries, apples, pears, grapes, kiwi, and fresh orange juice. Oh, yeah, we freeze strawberries during the summer when they are on sale!

Either of these smoothies will be extra good if you throw in a banana, too.

I used to enjoy the fruit smoothies that can be found a various juice places until I saw the calorie count from some of the additions. I like knowing for sure what is going in my drink and we save a lot of money making them at home, now.

Excess produce . . .

God was good to us in our gardening efforts this year and we had an overabundence of peaches, tomatoes, lemons, and oranges. Well, there is only so much you can eat before you refuse to look at another peach yet you do not want to waste a single one. I found that if you skinned, sliced, and put lemon juice over the the peaches and froze them, they maintain their pretty color and work just fine for pies or peach crisp, later. I thought tomatoes would present more of a problem but found two solutions to our huge crop. One was to just slice and freeze them. I stored them in sealable freezer bags and made sure to let them freeze flat so I could stack them. I also cut a bunch of tomatoes into slices, drizzled them with lots of chopped garlic/olive oil and baked them for an hour or more in a 250 degree oven. I froze them in a plastic container and just use them to enhance tomato dishes, spaghetti sauce, etc. It was hard to pack them away as they tasted so good when they exited the oven.

Lemons were abundant this year, too. Besides a lemon tree branch than hangs over into our yard, we have a feisty lemon tree of our own. I read that you can wash whole lemons and freeze them! When you need some lemon juice, you just zap it in the microwave for a minute and the juice is more free flowing because the freezing breaks down the cells but doesn't change the taste.

Cranberries can't be raise in our garden, of course, but I do buy several extra bag during the holiday season in December and freeze them. I grew up enjoying cranberries with curried beef and rice and don't have to endure the canned stuff during the time before they show up in the market, again.

A great cookie receipe link . . .

http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Large-Batch-Roll-Out-Cookies

I've used this recipe over and over for quick, cut out cookies. The dough doesn't need preliminary refrigeration and is easy to handle. The cookies are crisp around the edges and tender. You can ice them or not as they are tasty either way. I usually shy away from making cut out cookies because when I need cookies, I don't want to wait on the dough cooling in the refrigerator. Amazing recipe and a keeper!

Uh, why is it that once you decide to give up sweets for Lent, you keep coming across recipes you want to try . . . as in NOW? I should get organized and make up a folder of such recipes and use them to celebrate the Easter Season.

God does give one a plus side to giving up some foods as it gears you to more creativity in the non-sweet and meatless avenues of cooking. Today, I'm thinking of devising a homemade ravioli with a spinach, cheese, sun-dried tomato filling for dinner. Funny . . . Someone once asked me why I go to so much trouble fixing a homemade dinner every night for my family. Hey, I have to eat, too! If I'm going to splurge on a few extra calories, I'd prefer them to come from good food and not fast food junk!

Pure and simple . . .

About all you can do in life is be who you are. Some people will love you for you. Most will love you for what you can do for them, and some won't like you at all.

Rita Mae Brown