A Day Outdoors and Happy Easter!

It was such a nice Saturday, the sun was out and it hit 20C! I mentioned in yesterday's post that I brought my easel outside and painted Charlie. Now I have Marlene and the three cats to do next. I love having paintings of the pets! :) It's helping me with my detail work too because just last year I wouldn't go near any type of portrait, just out of feelings of insecurity and all that silliness!

I took advantage of the ground being less frozen and decided to try to dig a ditch to help the driveway a little bit. We don't have to go out for another few days so I hope my little diy drainage system works. I'll have to fill part of this again when it's time to drive out. There is a lot of rock under this driveway and I need to help the water along a little bit in some places because I couldn't get the ditch deep enough. I had my broom out, "sweeping" the water to get it going again. I must have given the neighbours a good chuckle.

The dogs had a great time out in the yard, sniffing and digging and playing fetch. Jack decided at one point, he wanted a nap on the comfy couch...so the non-verbal communications began again. "Jack, what do you want?"

When I asked him again, I got the "are you serious?" look!

I knew the weather was going to change, so I spent a good portion of my day outside, 11 hours!

Still lots of snow on the ground though.

And this morning, it's rain, mild temperatures and fog. I hope most of this snow is gone by tomorrow!

Last night we had leftovers, but on Friday I made my Papas Fritas. We have potatoes that need to be eaten so there will be lots of potatoes with dinner for the next few days!

For dessert, I made my version of English Trifle. I'm a romantic at heart! Friday Alex and I celebrated 4 years and 1 month. :) I know...it sounds a little silly, but I like to make the 14th of each month special. I guess it's because my first forty years or so were so painful and difficult, I'm not taking a moment for granted now!

Speaking of making special memories, I was finally able to dig out the Easter chocolates that I bought at the beginning of March on my last shopping day! I made these little baskets from construction paper. I found a video on How to Make a Woven Easter Basket on You Tube. Oscar the cat already disassembled one of them while I was happily doting over my window garden. I got it looking good again though! Alex and I are on different sleep schedules, he's more of a night owl, so when he wakes up, he'll have a nice surprise! I have a chicken brining and we're going to have a nice chicken dinner with roasted veggies and stuffing. Happy Easter to those who celebrate! :))

Watercolour: Charlie

I feel the painting bug hitting me again. It happens every April when the weather gets nice enough for me to be outside all day! So today I painted our little girl Charlie. I was going to go for a black and white painting, but the heck with that, I LOVE blues and colour!

I set my easel up on the little porch this morning while all of the dogs kept me company. I love being outside. Tomorrow it's supposed to rain all day so I'll post some foodie stuff then. Oh, I just can't wait to see how muddy the driveway will be after a day of mild weather and rain, eek! I wonder if the driveway will eat my car?

Baked Enchiladas and a Muddy Situation!

I'm feeling quite blessed lately. The winter that just passed made me grateful for mornings like this one. I don't know what's going on...maybe my age and lady phases of my life (how's that for being "PC"??)...either my nights are filled with nightmares (one recurring since I was 8 years old) or painful muscle tensing or night sweats - all of which are symptoms of this "great" change I'm going through at 49 years old, sigh. This is another big annoyance in my life that I have no control over so I'm just allowing it to happen without getting too stressed about it! Going through these hard times makes me very grateful for a day where I wake up after eight or nine hours of sleep! Anyway, I was blessed with the latter all last night - the cold night sweats. As I shivered my way to another extra blanket at 6am, I just gave up and started my day! I'm glad I got up though, I saw the sun rise. And since it's Good Friday, the village is as quiet as a mouse, all I heard were the birds chirping and the river flowing.

And I saw the moon set as well!!! :)  These were taken with my Canon camera. The android phone camera likely wouldn't have cut the mustard for these shots. I adore everything about the earth and today I have so much gratitude for what I have in my life, where I'm living and everyone and every critter in my life. Despite the struggles I live with on a daily basis, life is pretty darn good. :)

It was such a nice sunny day yesterday that I spent most of it outside on the porch reading my cookbooks. I have 23 of 29 meals planned already! Today I'm going to plan the rest of the meals, plus sides and desserts. The next step will be to make the shopping list according to the flyers and what's on sale. I usually plan an additional 5 'bonus' meals...that's just in case what I need isn't on sale, so I can easily switch dinners in my plan. The dogs were out with me all day too. Jack is going to get crow's feet from squinting in the sun! My little fella is 11 years old this year, we got him when he was 9...I hope he sticks around another 9 years! :) He's brought so much to my life, he's taught me a lot about shelter dogs. :)

The girls are so happy to be outside too. Charlie and Marlene will stay out on the snow all day long until it's time to eat now!

I've mentioned that we are currently renting...our landlord is, how can I put this...cheap and lazy, there I said it! Our driveway is dirt and this is our third spring here and every year there is a window of time where you just can't use the driveway or this happens. Guess whose car this is? The CHEESE NIP lady's!!! Okay, she's not the Cheese Nip lady but she's the one from the government who came to pick up those burned crackers and drop off some forms for me! OMG...I felt so bad, but I told her to park on the street!!!

This was the scene after the tow truck got her out...we're kind of stuck in the driveway for a few more days. We're going to try to dig a trench so that the mud will drain...but the ground is still really cold. Usually I back up on to the remaining snow and gun it out of the driveway so I don't get stuck! when I have to park back in, I take a running reverse from my neighbours lovely concrete driveway across the road. Of course though, there were the usual promises of a new drainage system this summer from the landlord...I'm not holding my breath, anyway, at least we don't have to go out before Wednesday! Any tips for a bandaid during the thaw? 

The alfalfa and spring salad mix are coming along! I can taste these in a few more days! :)

More spinach sprouts are popping up.

And more beet sprouts too. I've never grown these two crops before. I hope they're successful! The parsley hasn't shown any signs of life yet.

Last night's dinner was Baked Enchiladas. We're still on our Mexican-themed food kick. This couldn't be easier to make. Just layers of tortillas, salsa, cooked chicken, cooked beans, olives, chives, tomatoes and topped with cheese and cilantro.

With a blob of sour cream, that's another delicious comfort meal. I didn't have fresh cilantro so I used the ones I dried last fall from the garden. There are leftovers for tomorrow's dinner! By the way...

Do you know how to de-pimiento-fy an olive the easy way? I DIDN'T. Alex has a food intolerance to peppers, and those little pimientos in the olives are just as bad for him so I always take them out. I used to slice them in half then jiggle them out the slippery frustrating way. I don't know what made me think of this, but if anyone can use this tip, go for it! Life is now much easier lol!

Little Sprouts

This is such a welcome sight first thing in the morning! Sunshine feeding my spirit and my plants! We still have a few feet of snow in some parts of the yard, but I'm seeing big results in the melting process and I know winter is over. The Weather Network is calling for some snow next week, but I'm not even worried about it! :) Can you see how yellow my lemon is by the window? I feel great today! It's a little chilly though, the high will only be 5C, so I may not be able to sit out on the porch too long. I need to keep going through my cookbooks and make my meal plan for the next month. Just having the sun in my window is such a mood booster!

Yesterday I started my sprouts. Nothing fancy, just wide-mouthed Mason jars with some cheesecloth on top. I bought only two packs to start, alfalfa and a "spring salad" mix of broccoli, radish, alfalfa and red clover. I soaked them for 6 hours as directed. 

Then drained them and let them sit overnight. For the next few days I have to rinse and drain twice a day, and let them sit and do their thing. In five days I should be eating some sprouts! If this works out, then I'll likely have an assembly line type of dealie going so I always have some sprouts to munch on. 

Could it be????? Did my seed-whispering work?

Eggplant and Goat Cheese Strombolis and Spinach Sprouts!!

Yesterday was an odd day where my mood issues really got to me! We had a beautiful sunny day on Sunday, and that one really nice day of warm weather on Monday. Now it's been two days of rain. But I will say I'm GRATEFUL that it's not snow!!! It's always baffled me that I really have no control over this. I do practice positive thinking, keep busy, make the best of everything, look forward to my garden...but my emotions are still in tune with the weather! Therein lies the comfort food!!! I've figured out that there is no point trying to fight the depression when it wants to come back, so I just roll with it...and eat my way through it lol...:) Yesterday I made some more strombolis. We had some eggplant to use up, so I cooked that with bacon, onions, garlic and tomatoes. We also had extra goat cheese from pizza night, so I mixed that up with an egg white, some Parm and some herbs.

I made my thin crust pizza dough and then layered it the usual way with some shredded Mozzarella, the eggplant mixture and then the goat cheese mixture.

After 25 minutes on the pizza stone, mmm mmm good! :) Here's the recipe: Eggplant and Goat Cheese Strombolis. We used to make a similar filling with prosciutto and ricotta cheese for calzones, but it got a little soggy and the prosciutto got lost in the mix. Strombolis are rolled up into long cylinders, calzones are folded over into half-moons...and there is another similar type of dish called a Panzerotti, which looks like a calzone, but apparently it is traditionally fried. Those are just the Italian versions, then we have all the Mexican types like empanadas and flautas and fajitas....roll it up or wrap it up in baked/fried dough and I'm game! :)

We finished up the Boston lettuce with dinner so the lettuce is gone, so are the tomatoes. We only ate one of the strombolis, so we'll be having the other for dinner tonight! I just have to figure out what to serve with it...I was hoping to have some lettuce left, but now I must get creative! I have five days to go before my next shopping day and the fridge and freezer are looking quite empty! I'm happy about that though. No waste!

I wanted to use up the last of the frozen Phyllo dough, so I made more of those Nutella cigars. They are so good!

I sprinkle them with salt after they're done baking. I got this bottle as a free gift many years ago. Do you use fancy salts? Do you taste the difference? I know I have more of a sweet tooth, but I really don't taste the difference. I know there are many claims of different health benefits with seas salts though.

Window Garden Update!!!

My lemon is getting more and more yellow every day!! :)

My spinach seedlings are up after only planting them five days ago!! Well, two of the six little cups have sprouted, I'm so thrilled! I hope the snow really starts to make some progress melting soon so I'll be able to make some raised beds and place them in the right spot. How cool would it be to have fresh spinach by mid-May? :)

I wanted to post some pictures of my porch from last year. We were so broke after adding four rescue pets to our family of now six fur kids! All of the medical checkups, adjusting, food, accessories, toys and flea meds...turned us from just doing okay to downright paycheck to paycheck again. No complaints, we love the pets! But this brought my creative side out. I found an old dining shelter in the old shed and I turned it into a screened-in porch for myself. It got really damaged last summer with the wind and pets trying to barrel through it! So this year I budgeted for wood and screen, and Alex is going to make it permanently screened. We're even thinking of a screen door. You can't sit outside for more than a minute from May through to October without getting swarmed by black flies and mosquitoes in this area. You can see the real size of the porch. The side with the garden tools is barely wide enough to walk in, my "porch life" area is maybe 8 feet long by 3 1/2 feet wide. Trust me, I can fit a lot in that small space!

I had an old porch swing that I'd bought in 2007 that Alex put up for me last summer. You can imagine how we had to squeeze around it just to get inside! But it was so cozy. I spent 4 months on that porch swing with Jack sitting next to me and Alex occasionally coming down from his hammock paradise upstairs to join me! Alas, the seating ripped after so many years of use...one day I'd like to get another one though. I can't wait to get all of this set up again! Now though, I must whisper sweet nothings to my beet seedlings and let them know the spinach is winning! :)

Living The Porch Life!

Yesterday I was up just after sunrise because I guess my mind was looking forward to the sunny warm day ahead and I couldn't sleep! When I took the dogs out in the morning it was still near zero though, but it warmed up pretty quickly as the sun rose.

Since my monthly shopping day is coming up next week, I thought I'd bring all of my cookbooks outside and start getting some ideas for meals. 

The huskies were out on the snow/lawn all day but every time I looked down, I had a pair of big brown eyes staring at me....

Aha! That's what he wanted!! He wanted to take advantage of the girls being outside so he could hoard the bones lol...Jack's a funny little dog, he has his own version of good living! :)

For dinner I made Chicken Piccata with a nice fresh salad made with Boston lettuce - I love that mild taste of the Boston lettuce so much! Dinner was fabulous!

Remember the burned Cheese Nips??? The company NEVER got back to me after 3 emails, 2 forms filled on their website and a post on their Facebook page. Talk about irresponsible! So I wrote an email, sending pictures to the Canada Food Inspection Agency. The government got back to me within 30 minutes, forwarded the file to the Quebec office and they got back to me yesterday. I just sent the woman the photos and information on the box. She said she will be sending me a form to fill out and once she receives it, she'll make a trip here to pick up the box and the leftover crackers. After that she's heading to the store where I bought them to see if there are other boxes from the same "lot number" for analysis. She said the whole process could take months, but that they take the complaints very seriously, especially when a company ignores the complaints. I guess by the end of the summer I might find out what happened!

I got my sprout seeds in the mail! I'm going to look up how to sprout them using jars and hopefully get that going today. I remember really enjoying alfalfa sprouts when I was younger, I'd eat them right out of the container, they were so fresh and crunchy. I haven't found a grocer that carries fresh sprouts these days so I'm going to try sprouting them myself. I'm hoping this will be something we really enjoy so that we have some salad greens more available all winter.

Alex and I talked about the garden, the crappy food from the grocery stores and how we just want to be less reliant on companies. He mentioned that he loves cucumbers...go figure, we've been together four years and I didn't even know that!!! He said it's one of his favourite veggies in the summer. A cuke and tomato sandwich - fresh from the garden. I didn't buy the seeds because I didn't think I'd find the room, but I want him to enjoy the garden harvest just as much as I will, and I found a bush variety that I can put in a large container. Since I wanted to save on shipping, I decided to go for it again. I got seeds for ground cherries and radish as well. I've never been a radish fan, I find them too spicy. Alex likes them, though they give him heartburn. I found an "Amethyst" variety that apparently has a milder flavour, so we're both up to trying them. We're hoping that our fresh veggies will be easier on our digestion than the ones we have to buy now. Oh, and the ground cherries? Just because. :) This will be an experiment like the pumpkins. 

And you know, after reading about the winter gardening, I wanted to have some seeds on hand for a late summer sowing. I bought leek, mache lettuce, mustard greens and turnips - all cold-hardy veggies that I hope will produce in my pending cold frames this winter! I think that I've invested just about $100.00 on my seed orders so far this year, which may sound like a lot...but if most (hopefully ALL!) of the seeds grow and produce well with my succession gardening plans and lots of motherly doting, we'll save ourselves upset stomachs from chemically sprayed and pretty crappy produce from the grocery store. (Plus money on groceries and gas money.) I think that within 4 months or so of successful harvesting, the seeds will have paid for themselves, I know I spend at least $30 a month on produce. We will still be buying produce until mid-summer I'm sure; and our onions, garlic and potatoes. I can't possibly plant everything I want at this rental, but I think I'm biting off enough this season! This is a very exciting venture for us! :)

We had a thunderstorm yesterday evening. Our poor husky Marlene didn't fare too well...we're still working on that issue. After it was all done though, there was so much fog that we decided to walk by the river. We could actually hear the river and waterfall from our backyard. Monday nights, the village is a ghost town and we really enjoyed the blue foggy quiet evening!