Mosaic Monday ~Garden Show and a Spring Salad

For my mosaic this week I'm sharing a few images from the garden show I went to last weekend up in Seattle. It was really fun this year since the theme was "Once Upon a Time". I'll be showing some more pics soon, so this is just a preview.


Go take a look at all of the other mosaics at Little Red House.

All that forced spring has been making me crave spring time food like salads. This weekend I threw together a tasty one with some things I had one hand. Baby spinach, mushrooms, red onions, bacon and sliced strawberries.

I wanted something light for the dressing and had just the thing to use as the base.


These blood oranges are so red they are almost black. The juice was beautiful red though.


I also recently bought this garlic flavored vinegar and thought it would go well with the other ingredients.


For the Dressing:

Juice from 1/2 lemon
Juice from 1 blood orange
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablepoon Roasted Garlic rice vinegar
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Whisk all together! Pour over your yummy salad. Eat!

I joining in at the Weekend Cooking Party at Beth Fish Reads. Check it out HERE.

I hope everyone will join in over at Cuisine Kathleen for her St. Patty's Day Blog Crawl on March 15th. I bet she will even pen a poem for the occasion or maybe a Limerick!


I also want to invite you to take the Great Cooking Magazine Challenge again this month here at Kitchen Bouquet. Magazine clippings and other saved recipes are fair game as well as recipes from your stacks of Cooking Magazines. The point of the challenge is to try something new and make use of those saved scraps and mags. The challenge will be up Sunday March 2oth. Can't wait to see what you make! Check out some of the older challenges HERE.

Flashback Friday ~The New Girl No Longer and Some Scones

I'm flashing back to one year ago when I made a big change in my life. On March 1st I started a new job and haven't regretted it for a second. I miss my friends at the old job but as it turns out I've kept in touch and enjoyed lunches with them throughout the past year. I've made new friends at the new job, have a great boss and the work has been a big improvement over what I was doing before. To commemorate the occasion I made Chocolate Chip Scones for the gang at my office. That's another great thing about my current situation. They love baked goodies!

This recipe was a winner with them and with me. I have been eating them for my breakfast this week and will be sad today after it eat the last one and they are all gone!!! I want to try them with apricots and white chocolate - a favorite combination that I used to buy at the deli at my old job. The texture of these scones matches those...just need to get the add ins to match too.

Chocolate Chip Cream Scones

Found on the Food Librian's blog. She's got some great recipes! She adapted from:
Adapted from: Cream Scones from the Art and Soul of Baking (page 152).



2 cups (10 oz) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz) granulated sugar
2 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 stick butter (4 oz) (cold, cut into pieces)
1 cup (8 oz) heavy whipping cream (cold)
1/2 - 3/4 c miniature chocolate chips (depending on preference)

Topping
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 T sanding sugar or granulated sugar

1. Preheat over to 425 degrees
2. Mix together dry ingredients.
3. Using a pastry cutter, two knives or your fingers (I use my fingers), cut in the butter. (The book uses a food processor, but I like to make scones by hand...less to clean up!)
4. Add whipping cream and chocolate chips. Blend together quickly (I use my hands and/or a spatula). Do not overmix.
5. Shape into a round or square.
6. Brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar.
7. Cut into shapes. Place on parchment or Silpat covered baking sheet.
8. Bake for 14-16 minutes until golden brown and delicious. I cut my smaller and got 16 scones.

My Notes: I didn't really change a thing except I DID use my food processor and it made the whole thing a snap.

Do you have a Flashback you'd like to add? Put your link here:


I'm joining in over at Foodie Friday and Sweet Tooth Fridays.

Flashback Friday ~First Memories and a Cookie

Just a quickie Flashback Friday today. My niece Emily was going through old photo albums and posting some vintage shots to Facebook last night. I downloaded a few and thought I would share one here. I'm not sure why we were all lined up. Maybe to show who was taller? That's my Mom looking all cute in the back, my oldest brother Larry holding a none too happy PeeWee our dachshund beagle mix, brother Mark, my sissy Cindy and Little 3 year old me. My Dad must have been taking the picture. We were living in the Panama Canal Zone where my Dad was stationed for the Air Force. This is really where my first memories start and the farthest I can personally "Flashback". Before 3 its all a fuzz :-)



Also flashing back to a great recipe I posted about a year ago HERE. These are worth the repeat and I wish I had a cookie jar filled with them and the calories to spare to eat them all!


Nell's Wonderful Peanut Butter Cookies
From 'Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters"

1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter (I used margarine with success)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 cup broken salted peanuts (add 1/4 tsp salt if you use unsalted)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (I used more)

Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder together. Cream butter, brown sugar, sugar and peanut butter. Add egg and mix thoroughly. Add sifted ingredients. Fold in peanuts and chocolate chips. Chill dough for 1/2-1 hour or until firm enough to handle. Roll dough into balls lightly flouring hands if necessary ( I didn't have a problem without flour). Place balls 2 inches apart on greased foil or silicone mat lined baking sheet. Flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in flour. Bake 12 minutes or until golden brown (Mine went 14 mins). Cool on rack. Makes 40 cookies.

If you have a Flashback you'd like to share add your link here.


I'm also sharing over at Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday. Its here second anniversary for the weekly event. Check it out!

and at Sweet Tooth Fridays. Check out all of the tasty posts HERE.

Mosaic Monday ~ Can't Wait for Spring

Late winter is looking good here. Although we have had freezing temps at night the plants seem to be marching on to spring.

If you are looking for winter color hellebores are a great choice. They are also called Lenten Rose or Christmas Rose. I'd say Lenten is more appropriate for my location.



They come in a variety of colors


Their only drawback is that they tend to point their little heads down. But that's not all bad. It makes you stop and take notice of them and gets you squatting close to the ground to turn them upright. Exercise!


It seems that most late winter, early spring flowers are very low to the ground. Like these pretty snow drops.


And Crackpots little primroses


The crocus are really going to town now.


Even the white ones which are always the last to bloom in my yard are opening up.


I am always happy to see the primroses blooming yet again. They are perennial here and bloom several times a year.


Randy has been helping with weeding when we have a spot of sunshine. The front bed is looking nice. You can see the new leaves sprouting up a lot easier than when there are pesky weeds around!


Here's another addition to your garden you need if you want early color. These Tete a Tete daffodils are tiny, but they sure do bloom early!!!!


I was excited to see that the Camellias are getting close to blooming. Those on the side of the bush closest to the house are looking like this.


So even though spring seems to be close, the temperatures are still saying winter and I'm still craving comfort food. I made stuffed bell peppers this weekend to satisfy that!



I think stuffed bellpeppers are kind of like meatloaf. The recipe changes based on your mood and what you have on hand. For these I used

Ground Beef (about 1 lb)
chopped onion
chopped mushrooms
cooked white rice (about 2 cups)
Worcestershire sauce (1 T)
Seasoning to taste (garlic salt, onion powder, Tony Chachere's Seasoning)
Tomato paste (about 1 T)
2 eggs
Spaghetti Sauce 1/2 cup for stuffing and about 2 cups for cooking
6 bell peppers with tops sliced off and insides cleaned out and rinsed.(Cook peppers in boiling water for about 3 minutes to soften)

Mix all ingredients including the 1/2 cup of sauce. Stuff into softened peppers . Put peppers in a casserole dish. Pour rest of sauce over and around the peppers. Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes. You can sprinkle cheese on them but they are good without. I served with some fresh corn. No idea where the cobs came from, but there were fresh ears at the grocery store the other day, so had to buy a couple. It was good!

I'm joining in over at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday...a little late but its still Monday here!

Flashback Friday ~Butterflies and a Tropical Taco

I'm flashing back to early December when we took a trip up to Seattle to see the Harry Potter Exhibit at the Pacific Science Center. They didn't allow photos to be taken at the exhibit, but while we were at the Science Center I made a point of us visiting the great butterfly exhibit they have there. Besides the butterflies its also a great place to pretend for a few minutes that your visiting some warm tropical locale...not a bad thing to be able to pretend on a Seattle winter day!


The place smells great too. Could have been the gardenias!


There are so many of these cuties flying around.


Or resting on lily pads


The hibiscus really adds to that tropical illusion


If Harry Potter hadn't been calling I would have stayed at least a little longer watching these beauties flutter by.


So carrying on the tropical theme I recently made some really fresh & *hot* but tasty shrimp tacos. Now..I know..if you are like me when you say fish or shrimp and taco in the same sentence it just makes you kind of shudder. Somehow it just doesn't sound right.

But I have really been on a healthy eating kick lately and I've been craving lighter foods. So I decided to go outside my comfort zone a little bit and give these a try. I kicked it up with some Chipotle peppers and the whole combination really won me over to the dark taco side :-) They were super quick and I really just kind of winged it after looking at a few similar recipes.

Shrimp Tacos
Serves 1

12 medium shrimp
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning or salt/pepper to season
2 tsp olive oil or spray to coat skillet
shredded lettuce or coleslaw mix
1 small tomato, chopped
2 radishes, sliced thin
green onions, chopped
3 corn tortillas

Sauce:
2 Tablespoons light sour cream
1 Tablespoon mayonnaise
1-2 tsp lime juice
1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped

Prepare sauce by mixing all ingredients. Can be made ahead and refrigerated. Heat skilled with 1 tsp of oil. Heat tortillas until begin to brown just a bit on each side. Put on serving dish and layer with lettuce or cole slaw mix, tomato, radishes & green onions. Season shrimp then saute in oil with chopped chipotle until shrimp is done. Divide shrimp between the tacos. Drizzle with sauce. Enjoy!


If you have a Flashback you'd like to add put your link below and link back to me on your blog! Thanks!


I'm joining in for
Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
Flaunt Your Flowers at Tootsie Time
Inspiration Friday At the Picket Fence
It's a Hodge Podge Friday