this is a little too organic

This organic baby spring mix is something I buy at Kroger all of the time. I am not really buying just because it's organic. I like spring mix and they usually have this at a good price.

I recently made a nice salad with spring mix, cherry tomatoes and ranch dressing, and was sitting at the counter eating it while looking at my tablet (of course).

I felt something weird in my mouth, that at first, I thought was a tough stem on one of the lettuce leaves.

I pulled it out and OH GROSS!  It was a BIRD FEATHER!  

How sickening!   I started looking through the lettuce left in the package to see if there were more feathers or bird parts in there....and you won't even believe it...I found a dead grasshopper.

These aren't tiny little things.

Now how do you suppose not one, but two nasty things were in my spring mix package?

I called the Kroger toll free line. The customer service rep had a hard time with the fact that I was eating spring mix that was past the "sell by" date...like that must have something to do with why there is nasty stuff in there.

She eventually made a report and credited my Kroger card the amount I paid for the spring mix. 

That hardly makes up for that unpleasant experience...I keep remembering the feel of that feather in my mouth.

Bleh!

block of the month - July

There hasn't been much sewing going on here, but I did get my "block of the month" quilt blocks finished for July.

Here they are with their frames sewn on and grouped with all the blocks finished so far.

I am liking this quilt better all the time.  Now that I see more of a variety of color and pattern together - it's really growing on me.

The hard part is waiting a month in between to get  the next block pattern!  Now that I like it better I am anxious to get it finished and see what it's really going to look like.

Once it's finished, I'm not sure what I will do with it...but I have a few months to be figuring that out!

four bean salad

In my recipe book, I still have this labeled "three bean salad", even though it has 4 kinds of beans in it.

I think the traditional version of three bean salad didn't have the garbanzo beans (chick peas) in it.  In fact, I think garbanzo beans weren't used much (at least in this area) until maybe the last 20 years or so.

Garbanzos are extremely nutritious though, so they make a good  4th bean to add for this salad!


Four Bean Salad
1 can green beans
1 can wax beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can garbanzo beans
3/4 cup diced onion
3/4 cup diced green pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
pepper
1/2 tsp. celery seed

This salad is so much better after it's been in  the fridge for several hours, so put it together early in the day - or the night before you are going  to serve it.

Drain the liquid from all the cans of beans and combine in a large bowl with diced onions and diced green peppers.    I like the onions and peppers to be diced rather small, so that when you are eating the salad, a bit of each might end up on your fork along with some beans.

In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and celery seed. Mix until sugar is dissolved.

Pour over bean mixture and toss to coat.

Chill several hours, stirring once or twice. Serve cold.

This salad was part of  Sunday dinner, along with beef sirloin roast with gravy, mashed red skin-on potatoes, Pillsbury crescent rolls, and fried cabbage.  I also tried a new recipe for honey glazed baby carrots...cooked in the microwave. We didn't care for it...the glaze had brown sugar and corn starch too, which made the carrots look dead and unappealing...and it was too sweet.

Dessert was fresh peach cobbler with vanilla bean ice cream.

back to Whistle Stop

We were tired of routine household chores (me) and desk work (Lonnie)...so we decided to take a nice drive to Glendale and eat at Whistle Stop.

Lonnie has been wanting to go there again, ever since I told him that I had lunch there with my quilt group, on our outing last week.

It was a lovely sunny, blue sky day...nice for a drive.  Even though it's about a 35 mile drive, it's interstate highway most of the way...so it's really about as fast as if we had driven across town to eat, and had to deal with the traffic.


Lonnie ordered a fried chicken dinner. They informed him it could take about 45 minutes since they cook everything to the order.

Well....we were already hungry so we were forced to order the fried green tomatoes as an appetizer!

Those dudes are filling!  We didn't eat them all, but still, Lonnie wondered where he was going to put his chicken dinner when it arrived at the table.

Wait for the close up....

I had bean soup and cornbread....which I couldn't finish either.  We brought enough food home for another meal.

There are a lot of antique/junk shops in Glendale.  After our meal we wandered around in one for a few minutes...just to look - not to buy.  Their stuff is pretty pricey anyway. 

And it was sort of hot in there too...so we left!

It was a nice break in  the routine and an evening without dirty dishes to wash!  Yes!

give me a "brake"

Good news about my Jeep! The part they were waiting on came in sooner than expected and the brake line was replaced and I picked up my Jeep.

But, the brakes didn't feel like they did before the problem occured. The brake pedal was pushing in much further than it should.

I mentioned it to the Sasquatch and he suspected that the repairman didn't fully "bleed" the brake lines (which means they get all the air out of the line so it is completely full of brake fluid).

When the Sasquatch took a look at it, he found out why they didn't do this easy, but important part of the job.
The "bleeder valve" on the caliper was corroded and couldn't be opened to do the bleeding.

Fortunately a new caliper wasn't very expensive and not difficult to put on. The Sasquatch had it done before I even knew he was back with the new part!

I wonder why Ken Towerys repair man didn't think about doing this.  What's the use of paying a lot for brake repairs and coming away without fully functioning brakes? 

Very disappointing.

I am glad my sons are good at fixing things!

banana sour cream bread

In the summer time it seems like bananas turn soft and mushy no sooner than you get them home from the grocery store.

When I see we aren't going to beat the banana clock, and eat them before they go bad, I peel them and put them in containers in the freezer. 

There they stay, until I decide to use them in some fattening recipe.
Like this....


Banana Sour Cream Bread 
3/4 cups butter, softened
3 cups sugar
3 eggs
6 very ripe bananas, mashed
16 oz. container sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. (yes, only 300 degrees...this keeps the outside edges from getting too brown before  the center is done).

Grease four  7"x 3" loaf pans.  

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs. Mix in mashed bananas, sour cream and vanilla.

Measure flour into a separate bowl, then add baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir to mix well, then blend into banana mixture. 

Add walnuts and mix until blended, but don't over do it.  Pour into prepared pans and bake 45 minutes to 1 hour. Check for doneness around the 45 minute mark and watch closely so you don't get burned edges.

Cool in pan about 5 minutes, loosen with a knife around edges and remove from pan to cool.

I made a pan of 8 mini-loaves.

And 2 larger loaves.

Might as well go ahead and add another slice to that plate!

I thought I was making a little room in the freezer by using those frozen bananas... but now I am going to have to squeeze some of this banana bread in there somewhere!

It does freeze well, by the way.

one more Ikea thing

So this is the item I really wanted at Ikea.
I came close to buying one the last time I was there, and I have been wishing I had bought it ever since.

It's a "Raskog"...a small wheeled storage cart.

Nearly everything you buy at Ikea has to be assembled when you get it home.

This went together pretty quick and easy.  Isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen?

They come in beige and brown, too...but I liked the turquoise.

Here is where I will use it. In my sewing room, to keep my current projects organized and ready to work on. Now, when I have a few minutes to sew, I won't waste time gathering my materials. Everything will be ready to go.

The turquoise color almost perfectly matches this little step stool that I use to set my radio on in the sewing room.

The stool has quite a history. My great grandfather made it as a step for my great grandmother to use to step up into their car!  It's been around a lot of years and has been painted and repainted so many times that the edges are rounded.

It was turquoise when I got it. Maybe that's what influenced me to but the turquoise cart!