Category Archives: Easy
Cucumber & Avocado Sandwich with a Cream Cheese & Dill Spread
Many non-vegetarian people people that we veggie people don’t like food. Or sometimes they think that we don’t eat yummy & fantastic things, so wrong…..
Spread the cream cheese/dill spread.
Add thinly sliced fresh, crisp cucumber slices. A sprinkle of black pepper and salt, to taste.
Layer on top the slightly firm avo’s. It can be a bit messy, so I don’t cut the sandwich.
EAT!
Cream Cheese Spread:
1 tub of whipped cream cheese
1/2 tsp dill
Put both in a bowl and mix well. Then it’s ready to spread!
You could also add sprouts or lettuce 🙂
Poppy Seed Cake
Moist, dense, and delicious! This is worth every calorie 🙂
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup vegetable oil
13 fluid ounces evaporated milk
1/4 cup poppy seeds
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10 inch tube pan.
In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and add eggs, vanilla, oil and milk. Mix well and fold in the poppy seeds. Pour into a 10 inch tube pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Place cool cake on a pretty plate or cake stand. Using 1/2 container of store bought frosting (vanilla), place frosting in microwavable measuring cup and heat for approximately 20 seconds. Drizzle over cake. I added a few extra poppy seeds on top for decoration.
Eat and enjoy!!
Spaghetti in Browned Butter and Myzithra Cheese
What you will need:
Spaghetti-16 oz box/package
Basil-fresh, chopped, 1/2 cup
Garlic-crushed, 1/2 teaspoon
Butter-1 stick (1/2 cup)
Myzithra cheese-grated, 4 oz
Cook one 16 oz. package of spaghetti, follow directions on box. Drain, put back in pot, set aside.
To brown the butter and add cheese takes only about 5 minutes. In a white frying pan place 1 stick (or half a cup) of butter. Don’t use margarine or butter substitutes. Keep heat on medium heat, stirring constantly. It takes only a couple of minutes, you will start to see the butter turn brown. Once a medium brown, take off heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic, and 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil, pour over pasta. Stir, mix thoroughly. Last step, pour all 4 oz of cheese into pot, toss pasta. Serve and enjoy!
A nice soft roll or French bread would be nice with this. I would also serve a fresh vegetable on the side. 🙂
Soft Ginger Cookies
What you will need:
4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves (Yumm!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 cup butter or margarine (I use margarine. If you use butter, the cookies tend to spread)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions below, after pictures 🙂
Here are some pictures
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place foil on cookie sheet. No spray or oil is needed.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in molasses and eggs. Gradually stir in vanilla, flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Form balls by spooning dough out of bowl. Dab ball of dough into sugar on a plate. Place on baking sheet. Note: the sugar on the plate is not included in the main recipe. Just scoop out about a 1/4 cup on the the plate or bowl for dunking 🙂
3. Bake 14 minutes. Remember-everyone’s oven is different! I always check my cookies around 8-10 minutes in. If you want softer cookies bake around 10-12 min, for more of a cake texture, bake closer to 14-15 min.
This is an easy, fool proof recipe. Great for new bakers and children. 🙂
Irish Cream Cake
Fresh out of the oven. Needs to cool down before you put the glaze on top.
Glazed, wrapped, and ready to be delivered!
Here’s the recipe:
CAKE INGREDIENTS:
1 cup chopped pecans
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur. I used Bailey’s
THE GLAZE
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 C). Grease and flour a 10″ Bundt pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over bottom of pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Mix in eggs, 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup oil and 3/4 cup Irish cream liqueur. Beat for 5 minutes on high speed. Pour batter over nuts in pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then invert onto the serving dish. Prick top and sides of cake. Spoon glaze over top and brush onto sides of cake. Allow to absorb glaze. Repeat until glaze is used up.
4. To make the glaze: In a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Bring to a boil and continue boiling for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/4 cup Irish cream liqueur.
Side note; I used 7 mini-dishes. The cake rises a good amount, I filled the mini-dishes 3/4 full, and baked for 40 minutes. If you are nervous about using a Bundt pan, I would just use a 9″x13″ dish. After cooling-poke holes as directed, drizzle glaze on top of cake. Do what’s comfortable for you 🙂 Have fun and enjoy the delicious cake!
Would you care for a glass of………..lights?
A very talented friend of mine made this wonderful piece of art as a gift for me.
Using an ordinary wine bottle, you drill a small whole in the backside. Then feed the lights into the bottle, leaving the plug on the outside of the bottle.
Plug in, and viola!
Debbie used a multi colored string of lights in this bottle. In others she used white, yellow or blue. Every bottle is a unique creation. I have such great and talented friends 🙂
Furniture with soul
I am addicted to restoring old pieces of furniture that I find. Each piece of furniture that I refurbish has a story to tell. This chair was full of horse hair and springs, dating back to somewhere around the 1930’s.
I found this beat up rocking chair sitting in the street, for free. For less than $40.00, I gave this old girl a lift, a tuck and a snip! I chose not to fix every nook and cranny because I want some of the wear and tear to show, some of it’s history. I had some left over fabric, so I made a quick pillow.
FROM THIS….
TO THIS…..
Open Face (no meat) Sandwich
What you will need to make a single sandwich:
Whole grain slice of bread-mine was quite long, about 7″
Balsamic vinegar
4 Tablespoons (more or less depending on the size of your bread) bean paste-Take a can of any white bean, drain, smash with fork. Can use at room temp, cold or warmed. Save the rest for more sandwiches.
Fresh, crisp, cucumber-peeled, sliced thinly. I cut my cucumber the length of my bread.
1 slice of provolone cheese
Small clump of alfalfa sprouts
1/2 half of a firm avocado
salt and pepper to taste
Sprinkle a little balsamic vinegar on your bread. Next, spread the bean paste to your liking (light or heavy). Lay down the cheese, thinly sliced cucumber, and sprouts. Now scoop out small bits of avocado and place on top of sprouts. Dust with salt and pepper to taste.
This is a nice serving of protein, veggie and grain! If my calculations are near accurate, I counted just about 425 calories for this meal. My bread and cheese were each 100 calories, half an avo is 140. Beans-about 60 calories, cucumber and sprouts about 25 calories together.
There you have it! Enjoy!
Signs Of Happy Times
These ugly cookie sheets mean more to me than a mess to clean up! It reminds me of all the years my mom spent with me, teaching me how to bake. My 3 children (ages 20, 17, 11) still love to help me in the kitchen, or at least be the first to take a hot cookie off the cooling rack!
I took a 1/2 dozen to my nail girl today. Want to know a way to an angry, hurt or lonely person? HOME MADE COOKIES!
Ps. I will be blogging a new, fantastic cookie recipe very soon! (peanut butter with Nutella, swirl!)
