A Jeanne in the Kitchen

We have been seeing an awful lot of dragonflies all around lately. This is a good thing though, not only because they are beautiful and a bit exotic, but also because they eat all the mosquitoes. For me being a mosquito magnet, this is GREAT NEWS. One single dragonfly can eat anywhere between 30-100’s of mosquitoes per day. The more mosquitos the dragonflies eat, the less the mosquitoes will eat me. I say eat away dragonflies, eat away. Though mosquitoes are a personal favorite of the dragonflies, they also like to eat the flies and other insects too. They are a natural sort of pest control. Seeing a lot of dragonflies flying around is a sign of a good, healthy ecosystem. Many gardeners welcome them into their yards because they kill off a lot of the pests and other insects that love to feast in the gardens.

Dragonflies and their cousins, the damselflies, have long been thought to represent change, transformation, adaptability, and self-realization. The change that is often referred to has its source in mental and emotional maturity and understanding the deeper meaning of life. In some cultures, dragonflies represent good luck or prosperity. So make a wish when you see a dragonfly and it’ll come true. … Plenty of dragonflies meant there were plenty of fish around. If a dragonfly hovered near the fisherman, he took it as a good luck sign. The Bible even says that seeing dragonflies is the bringer of light in the darkness of people’s hearts (2nd Corinthians 4:6). Who knew?

There are roughly 5,000 different varieties of dragonflies flying around the world today. Each one has a lifespan of roughly 6 months. We don’t have all 5,000 varieties here in my backyard, but we do have quite a few. They have been very difficult to get pictures of, but yesterday, I got lucky.

Dragonflies

And Damselflies

Enjoy your day. Make the most of it. Today is the gift and tomorrow is never promised.

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. There is no doubt about that. But beauty can definitely be found in all things, and in the most unexpected places. With this Flower a Day Challenge, I have been focusing on all kinds of flowers. All of them are beautiful in their own way; all of them are very different.

Weeds are something that most of us complain about because they are a general nuisance and pain in the neck. But they can also be quite beautiful too. Take the sunflower for instance. It is technically considered a weed, though the flowers are gorgeous. I LOVE sunflowers. And did you know dandelions are actually part of the same family as sunflowers? They are, and they too can be quite beautiful as well, if you get beyond the fact that they grow, well, like weeds. 🙂 Today, I am going to show you some of our “beautiful dandelion weeds”.

They just look like beautiful, colorful flowers to me. This bee is quite happy with the dandelion. Even bears love dandelions. When bears come out of hibernation, they look for the dandelions. They are a great nutrient for them and are full of the fat they need after a long winter’s nap. Plus they give them a nice little buzz as well. So see, even weeds have a purpose.

Look for the beauty wherever you can. We all need a more beauty in our lives, even if they come from the most unexpected sources.

I love cherries and I love how they are so versatile too. You can eat them one after another by just popping them in your mouth, or you can bake them into to breads or desserts, or you can prepare savory dishes with them too. Any which way you prepare them, they are always going to turn our great. They add so much flavor to any dish.

Cherries are what are known as stone fruits, or fruits that have a flesh or pulp enclosing a stone, such as a peach, plum, or cherry. They are also known as drupes. The pit is often referred to as the stone or the pit too. Cherries are very healthy and are loaded with Vitamin C and fiber. Cherries are grown all over the world and are used for many different foods, but the top cherry producing areas are Turkey, the United States, Iran, Spain, and Italy. In the United States, some of the important sweet cherry cultivars are Rainier, Bing, Ulster, Tulare, Brooks, and King. I love all the cherries, but I think the Bings are my favorite.

I have been in a cherry mood lately. As you know, I just made a whole bunch of mini cherry scones for my church coffee cart. Mini Cherry Scones They were a huge success. I served them with a bunch of other nibblies, and by the end of our church gathering, all that was left on my try were just a few tiny morsels. Everything else was graciously devoured. I also made some cherry brownies not to long ago as well that I gave to our new neighbors, that were yet another huge success. Being Neighborly And most recently, I turned my cherries into a delicious savory meal as well, by using them as a sauce with pork chops.

I love the combination of cherries and lime. They have such a unique flavor. I love them both on their own, and I also love them when combined together. For my sauce, that is exactly what I did too. I combined cherries, lime juice, cilantro, green and red onions and my hot and spicy honey. Our taste buds were most definitely doing the happy dance with this one.

We almost always buy a big pork loin and then slice our own pork chops form it, leaving a large portion as a pork loin too. This way, we can make our pork chops nice and thick, just how we like them. Once again, Costco, only my favorite place to shop. 🙂

Pork Chops with Cherry Lime Sauce

2 lbs thick-cut pork chops

1 TBSP garlic

1/4 red onion, sliced very thin

1/4 cup green onions, sliced thin

1-2 cup cups cherries, cut in half and pitted

1/3 cup lime juice

1- 2 tsp lime peel, optional

1 TBSP hot and spicy honey

3 TBSP lime olive oil, or just plain olive oil

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped fine

Combine everything together and use as a marinade for the pork. Let it marinade for at least 3-4 hours before cooking, making sure to turn the pork over after about 2 hours.

Once you are ready to cook the pork, put it on a hot grill and grill it to perfection.

While the pork is cooking, cook down the sauce on the stove. Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook down, stirring occasionally, for about 10-15 minutes.

When both the pork and the sauce are ready, it is time to serve it up. I served it over lime rice with asparagus on the side. I completed the meal with a cool, crisp chardonnay. (This is some of the wines I bought when I was in Idaho, back in April. Hitting the Caldwell Wine Trail) It was so colorful and tasty and a perfect summer meal.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

We see hummingbirds flitting around quite frequently, but they are so hard to get pictures of because they rarely slow down. But this time, I got very lucky. We were dining out on our beloved deck and I spied a wee little bird high up in the trees. Fortunately I had my camera with me, and I zoomed in as much as I could. And to my surprise, I got him. I got a few shots of him before he was off flitting about once more.

This is a little Calliope Hummingbird. At most he is only between 3-4 inches long. These are definitely some very lucky shots.

Sometimes you just have to take a chance and go for it. Sometimes, you just might get lucky.

Flowers come in all shapes and forms, from many different plants. They grow from the ground, they grow on trees and they are the beginnings of delicious vegetables. Some even come from various different types of succulents too. The flowering cacti are just as beautiful as all the other flowers, though they may be a bit more prickly.

http://viewfromtheback.com/2021/08/03/cees-flower-of-the-day-130/

Challenge rules, why not join in?

1.Feel free to post every day or whenever you you feel like it.  You can either post new flower photos or dig back into your archives.

2. Depending on the time of year, you can post any of these types of things for your FOTD.

• Single flowers
• Buds
• Multiple flowers
• Bouquet
• Flower fields
• Wildflowers
• Tree or bush blossoms
• Autumn leaves
• Spring leaves
• Decorative Cabbage
• Berries
• Still life
• Fake or Silk Flowers

Enjoy all the flowers from all their sources. They are all beautiful in their own way.

We love Mexican food and eat it quite often, in many different ways, at our house. Fajitas are always a quick and easy favorite of ours. Fajitas are a Tex-Mex creation, that came about from when the Mexican ranch workers were living in West Texas along the Rio Grande in the late 1930s and early 1940s.  Money was tight for everyone, so often times, the workers were paid in meat. Fajitas are any combination of thinly stripped meats and/or vegetables that are usually grilled and combined with peppers and onions and Mexican spices and are eaten with either corn or flour tortillas. Once meat became more readily available, the fajita craze traveled and became popular all over the South Western parts of the United States as well as California. Today, they are a staple in just about any Mexican restaurant anywhere you go.

And now, fajitas cane be made into salads as well. When I make my fajitas, I make them with a lot of vegetables and Mexican spices and seasonings. The other day, I used up the leftover rotisserie chicken as my meat, but made the fajitas as I normally do, then turned it all into a delicious salad. I made a creamy cilantro dressing to top it all.

For the fajitas, as usual, there is no ONE way to make them, so I will not even try to say there is. But here is the way I made them this time. I thinly sliced some red, green and yellow bell peppers, red onions, and mushrooms, that I sauteed together with garlic, thyme, cumin and oregano in olive oil and my new Lime Olive oil as well. My chicken was already cooked, so I just shredded it and tossed it with cilantro. Then I fried up the thinly sliced tortilla strips until they were golden brown. When the vegetables were tender, I added the chicken and cilantro just to heat them up.

Creamy Lime Cilantro Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise

3 TBSP lime juice

3 TBSP fresh cilantro, chopped fine

1 TBSP lime olive oil (optional)

2-3 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP garlic

Mix everything together well and chill until ready to use.

For the fajitas, I wanted them warm so as soon as they were cooked, I layered them onto a bed of mixed baby greens, and then topped everything with the dressing and tortilla strips. In addition, Larry’s salad had two kinds of cheese, both cheddar and Cotija cheese, which is a Mexican cheese similar to goat cheese, and my salad had some avocado slices. !Esta muy deliciozo! !Que Bueno!

Make the most of your day and stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

There are still lots more flowers coming your way. I look for them everywhere I go. Sometimes you have to look down, and sometimes, you have to look up, and sometimes you have to look all around, but they are there, just waiting to be noticed. These purple beauties are more tree flowers from my neighbor’s yard.

http://viewfromtheback.com/2021/08/03/cees-flower-of-the-day-130/

Challenge rules, why not join in?

1.Feel free to post every day or whenever you you feel like it.  You can either post new flower photos or dig back into your archives.

2. Depending on the time of year, you can post any of these types of things for your FOTD.

• Single flowers
• Buds
• Multiple flowers
• Bouquet
• Flower fields
• Wildflowers
• Tree or bush blossoms
• Autumn leaves
• Spring leaves
• Decorative Cabbage
• Berries
• Still life
• Fake or Silk Flowers

Just keep your eyes opened. You never know what you will see or where you will see it.

Last week I officially started the Church Coffee Cart. The Official Start of the Church Coffee Cart. I buy most of the goodies I serve, since sometimes that is just easier, especially in today’s crazy, complicated world. But today, I decided to make something for the coffee cart as well. I had a whole bunch of cherries that were in their prime, so I used them to make some mini cherry scones. I will add these to the other goodies that I have already purchased to offer a variety of goodies for everyone to enjoy.

These scones came out so light and fluffy. My dad would be proud. Being an Aussie, he loved his scones. My mother, the Texan, preferred biscuits. I like them all.

I cut my scones into small bite size pieces, other wise the recipe would have made between 8-12 scones.

Cherry Scones

2 cups sifted flour

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 TBSP baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

5 TBSP cold butter, cubed

1-1/2 cup cherries, pitted and roughly cut, lightly coated in flour

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1 egg

turbinado sugar for the topping

Preheat the oven to 375* F or 190* C.

Mix all the dry ingredients together well, then add the butter and mash together until it resembles coarse crumbly sand. Add the cherries and fold in.

Combine the egg and whipping cream and whisk together well. Then add to the flour and cherry mixture. Mix together with a spatula just until it starts to stick together and form a dough. Then gently knead with your hands for a bit. DO NOT over mix or the scones will turn out tough and chewy.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape it.

Because I was making smaller scones, I cut my dough into pieces, and then cut them into small triangles.

Once the scones are cut to the size you like, place them on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until they are lightly browned.

You can either enjoy them right out of the oven or at room temperature. Either way, I know you will definitely enjoy them though. You can eat them as is, or top them with a little creme fraiche or some Devonshire cream.

Have a great day. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

The more I look, the more flowers I see. All colors and all sizes. The only thing they all have in common is that they are all beautiful, no matter what they look like.

For whatever reason, we tend to have more yellow and purple flowers than red, so these big red flowers, that I believe are hibiscus, just really stood out to me and caught my attention.

http://viewfromtheback.com/2021/08/03/cees-flower-of-the-day-130/

Challenge rules, why not join in?

1.Feel free to post every day or whenever you you feel like it.  You can either post new flower photos or dig back into your archives.

2. Depending on the time of year, you can post any of these types of things for your FOTD.

• Single flowers
• Buds
• Multiple flowers
• Bouquet
• Flower fields
• Wildflowers
• Tree or bush blossoms
• Autumn leaves
• Spring leaves
• Decorative Cabbage
• Berries
• Still life
• Fake or Silk Flowers

Have a great day and may all your flowers bloom and blossom.

As you know, I love to recreate my foods all the time. Sometimes this take a little effort and creative imagination and other times, it doesn’t take much time or effort at all. This latest recreation was one of those that was almost a no-brainer, and a bit to easy. But that’s OK. I always say “keep it simple”. I used my leftover Asian green bean salad as the “star” of the production and the rest was easy. Sweet & Spicy Asian Style Green Bean Salad This time, the only additions were mixed baby salad greens, chicken, bacon and a wee bit more olive oil.

This delicious main meal salad was recreated from

this tasty salad side dish. Both ways were delicious and healthy.

As I mentioned above, I only made a few slight additions that transformed a side salad into a meal. Simple and easy-peasy, just the way I like it. 🙂

I cooked up some bacon and crumbled it, then I started building my salad with the mixed baby greens, and added my Asian green bean salad, followed by the chicken breast. I added some goat cheese crumbles onto Larry’s salad, and topped it all with the left over dressing, to which I added some more olive oil, and topped it all with the bacon crumbles. I added more olive oil to my leftover dressing to both extend it and to make it it a little less pungent, since it was a very spicy marinade to begin with.

To complete the meal, all that was needed was a little warmed ciabiatta and a glass or two of a cool, crisp, buttery chardonnay, and voila! Dinner was served, out on the deck, overlooking our lakes. It was a perfect way to enjoy the summer evening.

Healthy and delicious doesn’t mean it has to be difficult. Sometimes the best things in life are the simple things.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.