WELCOME to W

Wildly Wonderful

….flowers wlowers

I big poofy heart my bunny & lettuce flower pot!!

My hanging basket of petunias & sweet potato greens ~

When it’s time to empty this basket, there will be sweet potatoes growing in it!

My hibiscus that’s on steriods ~ isn’t she pretty?!

We moved her out to a better spot a couple of nights ago

so that she will no longer be inhibited by the screen!

I’m not really sure if begonias are shade loving flowers…but they definitely get it here!

My next door neighbor gave me this hibiscus.

Isn’t she a beauty?!?!

Gotta love good neighbors!

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W is for Wildly Wonderful….Flowers WOWERS!

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Have a WONDERFUL WEEKEND,

and be sure to check out all of the other

W’s over at Jenny’s Alphabe-Thursday!

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I’m not sure what how I got this wild hair, but this past weekend, I decided to make some homemade Strawberry Jam. Back in May, a friend of mine’s husband was doing a strawberry sale as part of a fundraiser, so I purchased two big containers of fresh strawberries from him. I kept a few of them fresh, but I froze most of them. I have periodically used some of them to make homemade strawberry milkshakes, but other than, they have just been freezing away by their lonesome.  Until this wild hair came upon me – a perfect use for all the frozen strawberries….

I followed Stone Gable’s Strawberry Jam recipe except that I was using frozen strawberries and I used high-volume Splenda instead of sugar. I tried to pull as much of the juice out of the strawberries as I could…with a slotted spoon. No time to let them drain on cheese cloth. I was a woman on a mission.

Here are some pictures of my process ~

Washing the jars ~

Smashing the strawberries, one cup at a time ~

Sterlizing the jars ~

Cooking the strawberries and other ingredients ~

Finished product waiting to “click” ~

I got seven jars out this batch. I was worried that my jam may be a little thin, but it is prooving to be just perfect! I’ve had jam w/ Laughing Cow Swiss spread on flatbead; jam on graham crackers; and jam in my plain Greek yogurt.

My dad found this huge blackberry patch in the back of our back yard so the next weekend that I am at home, I am going to try and pick enough to make Blackberry Jam!

Well, I know I am a total slacker when I don’t even write a post for Alphabe-Thursday! This week, the letter is “V”, and I got nothing. So, I am going to write down my t0-d0 list for the weekend…feel free to read on if you’d like to know what I’ll be up to

~ Make Strawberry Jam – yes, my first attempt at canning! I bought the jars the other night at the grocery store (which I’d like to also point out that I saved over $40 in coupons & store specials…go me!). The kicker is that the recipe calls for seven cups of sugar, and I am going to use my high volume Splenda, and see how it works!

~ Paint the little table I started on a month ago. This will be a Met Monday post…IF I ever finish the table!

~ Fix dinner for my parents to celebrate Father’s Day

~ Put a few things on Craigs List to sale

When I think of the letter U,

which is our letter this week in Ms. Matlock’s Aphabe-Thursday class,

I don’t REALLY think of the letter U.

I think of this:

What can I say?!

I love the Colts, baby.

To save me from an “F” this week,

I shall include this:

Sunday evening, a friend and I went to see Wicked. OK – I had a general gist of the storyline, but nothing concrete. I have to tell you, I was BLOWN AWAY! It was phenominal!! Beyond phenominal!! And that’s with the traveling group. Imagine seeing this on Broadway when Kristen Chenoweth and the late Rue McClanahan were playing roles in it?!

Do you watch Glee?? The original role of Elphaba (Idina Menzel) was played by the character who plays the coach of the rival glee club, Vocal Adraneline. Also, Menzel’s husband is Taye Diggs. Ladies, please tell me you know who Taye Diggs is?!?! The Glee peeps wanted Menzel to play the lead role of Rachel (but I think she was alittle too old), but the girl who plays Rachel sang Defying Gravity – Menzel’s Wicked HIT – on the show…which is where I, personally, first became drawn to the Wicked soundtrack. I downloaded the Glee version to my iTunes. (PS – if you don’t watch Glee, Rachel is the bottom right hand corner of the picture below.)

Y’all still following me, here? Cause I’m not done with my Glee/Wicked connections.

Kristen Chenoweth – who plays GgggAAaaaalinda….in Wicked…don’t forget the GgggAAaaaa part of GgggAAaaalinda, has also had guest appearances on Glee. She played the roller skating rink owner, Shoo’s old girlfriend who wanted to spent the night, and sang Home at the end. I remember the episode, and didn’t know who she was yet…and when she sang Home…at the end of that episode…I think the hairs on my arm stood up!

Now I’m sure there are probably more Glee/Wicked connections, but I’ll spare you. Actually, I just don’t know any more at the moment.

And Blanche….Blanche aka Rue McClanahan played the school headmaster on Broadway. I just found that out in the program I bought. I mean, she’s awesome to begin with. I can’t imagine 1) getting to see Wicked on Broadway, and 2) getting to see the late Rue McClanahan act on Broadway!

Per Wikipedia:

Wicked is a musical with songs and lyrics by Stephen Swartz and book by Winnie Holzman. The story is loosely based on the best-selling novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the Westby Gregory Maguire, a parallel novel of the 1939 film of L. Frank Baum’s classic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the perspective of the witches of the Land of Oz.

It is currently the 18th longest-running Broadway show.

Wicked tells the story of Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and her relationship with Galinda, later Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. Their friendship struggles through their opposing personalities and viewpoints, rivalry over the same love-interest, their reactions to the Wizard’s corrupt government, and, ultimately, Elphaba’s public fall from grace. The plot is set before and during Dorothy’s arrival from Kansas, and includes several references to well-known scenes and dialogue in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz as a backstory.

As soon as I finish the book I am currently reading, which just happens to be One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell, I am going to read the book Wicked. I’m almost done with One Fifth. I can’t wait!!

The other day, I told you about my London Broil issues here.

 Today, I would like to share how I prepared the second LB.

I put my LB in a large ziplock bag.

To the bag, I added: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a Mediterranean salt & spice blend.

I let it marinate all day, although you can marinate it over night.

The longer, the better.

Marinating & salting a tough piece of meat is KEY!

After I got home from work, I took the LB out of the frig

 and let it get up to room temperature.

Preheat the broiler to 500. Well, my oven just says Broil: high or low. I did high.

I lined foil (sprayed with nonstick) around a pan just big enough to hold the meat.

I added the meat and salted it again. Flip, and salt other side.

Add the marinade over the meat, and seal it all up in the foil.

The above picture was made pre-seal.

 Broil 10 minutes on one side. Flip. Broil 10 minutes on the other side.

Allow the meat to rest before cutting, at least 10-15 minutes.

I like my meats on the rare side, and although this picture looks rare,

 it was a bit more done than it looks.

It doesn’t change the fact that is was DELISH!

We enjoyed this meat with gorganzola butter and a veggie sautee.

Be sure to check out the other recipes this week at Foodie Friday!

This week, for Alphabe-Thursday, since the letter is T, it was pretty much a given that I would post about Tassels;creating tassels is a definite passion of mine! This is an always changing, always growing type of craft that gives me great satisfaction.

Some may say that making a tassel is easy. But I say, if you have never “tasseled” before, a batch of great tassels cannot just be whipped out on a rainy afternoon. Tassel creating evolves over time, with much practice. When I decided to attempt this craft of tasseling, I spent alittle bit of money, and it showed in the quality of my product. I labored many hours perfecting my pieces, thinking of more creeative solutions to problems I had in making them, and getting my accountant minded head to think outside of the box! Over time, as I invested in more quality items and variety of product, the results showed in my work. 

A lady asked me once why I enjoyed making tassels so much. I’ll be honest, it took me a while to pinpoint why I enjoy it so much. As much as I love creativity, to give my home a crazy makeover simply isn’t going to happen. I am not the type of personality to paint crazy colors on my walls, buy trendy furniture, and make exciting and drastic changes. But, I love to decorate and create – elegant, whimsical, funny, primitive, childish, seasonal, etc . When I create a tassel, I can spend a fraction of the time and create every different sort of look that I want! And then, I accessorize ~ tassels are jewels for your home!

And now, I am going to show off some of my tassels

Be sure to check out my Esty shop,

AND

don’t forget to see what everyone else is thinking of this week 

while we contemplate the letter T over at Jenny Matlock’s!

Oh, I saved a turtle this weekend.

He was attempting a pass across the swimming pool parking lot,

so I picked him up and moved him over into the grass!

T is for Tassels & Turtles!

I know that I have mentioned before that I buy London Broil alot…alot more than I ever ate growing up! This is because my regular grocery store always has LB’s on sale! Usually, buy one, get one free. One LB is perfect for Mick and I for dinner, and so cheap…how can I pass it up?! That being said, I am always on the hunt for recipes where I can substitute LB in the recipe.

Last week, when LB’s were BOGO free, they were packaged together. Usually, they are separate. I didn’t think to ask the butcher if he would split them, and I was much too lazy after I got home to do it myself. Lesson learned. So I have two LB’s and really don’t want to be eating beef two nights in a row. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do. (Tomorrow, we will be eating chicken and a salad!)

Last night, I made an LB crockpot recipe I found on Easy to be Gluten Free. I made the Saucy Slow Cooker Beef Tips and served them over long grain brown rice with added turmeric.  Every time I fix rice now, I add about 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric. It changes the color to yellow (so pretty), and I read that turmeric is a very good spice for the body, and this is one way to ingest it without having to go out to SouthEast Asian restaurants all the time. I’ve grown to love this taste in my rice! (And my hubby hasn’t said a word about it…yet…shhhh)

I was nervous about this new recipe because I wasn’t sure if we would like it, but we both did!! It is definitely a keeper! I love the earthy taste of the tomatoes in it. I use only the no-salt added tomatoes, so it wasn’t too salty. Next time, I am also going to had green peppers, onions, and maybe even fresh mushrooms (at the end) to it, too.

That still leaves one more LB to fix! It’s been marinating in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and a blend of Mediterranean sea salts & spices. I read that the key to softening a tough meat is ACID! I wonder if that is why the above recipe had a can of tomatoes in it? The balsamic vinegar will do the trick here. There is one glitch tonight. We went to grill out the other night, and the grill is out of gas. It’s been busy, so we haven’t replaced it yet. I think I’ll attempt a slow cook on the stove top or in the oven. No guarantees how this will turn out! I’ll be serving this with sauteed zucchini, squash, and onion.

Oh, and I am going to make some Gorganzola butter with my leftover cheese from the Wedge Salad I made the other day. This will top the meat, and maybe melt into the veggies…Mmmm

Since it’s June 1, and past Memorial Day, in my book, it is officially, SUMMERTIME!!

This summer, I hope to get a couple of little projects done around the house, lay countless hours by the pool reading, and maybe doing some laundry. Maybe. There are some things to look forward to: we have a couple of long weekend trips planned along with a vacation down to Naples in August.

But oh…if only I could spend the summer on that sailboat….

Happy Memorial Day!

Let us remember what the purpose of this day is for!

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…and since it’s Monday, it’s Met Monday time!

Be sure to check out of all the other Met Monday posts over at BNOTP,

and check out Susan’s awesome organization of her tablescapes.

Today, my Met Monday is a little different…

BEFORE:

What began as a simple head of lettuce…

AFTER:

…has become a Classic Wedge Salad.

I never forget the first time I saw a Wedge Salad. I was with some friends at a ‘high end’ restaurant, and one of them ordered the Wedge. I think I laughed out loud when I saw it. I thought, “Wow, for a high end restaurant, they sure are lazy…not even cutting up the lettuce.”

Fast forward a dozen years, and now I am making Wedge Salads. Mmm..Mmm…good. I am not a blue cheese fan, so I alittle bit of adjusting, but for the most part, it’s Classic, with a capital C!

Iceburg lettuce, crumbled bacon, tomato, purple onion, and blue cheese (although I used Gorganzola). Finish with some cracked black pepper and blue cheese dressing (although I used peppercorn).

Yummy!