Thought for the Day

Cup o' Brownie

I found this recipe years ago on this blog. This recipe for cup o' brownie is adapted from Donna Hay's book, "New Food Fast." I have had this recipe saved in a special spot in one of my recipe notebooks for years, with the plan of making this recipe soon, and just got around to it a couple weeks ago. 

We had company for dinner, our son, and I wanted to make a little something that I could mix up quick and pop in the oven before we sat down for dinner. I got off easy that evening because dear hubby made a beautiful steak dinner with all the trimmings and all I made was this dessert! And, it very easy and it took minutes to make.

I used 6 ounce ramekins and this recipe made five small cakes. I let them sit for a few minutes and then squirted a blob of whipped cream on top. As you can see from the picture, there wasn't much overflow room. If you had a little extra room in your "cup" a spoonful of vanilla ice cream would be really good too!




Enjoy!

Random Travels and a Happy Birthday Wish

Space Needle - Seattle, Washington

Random art throughout Seattle

Cool unexpected art in unexpected places

These are just a few of they many interesting art pieces around Seattle

The Zig Zag River

Exploring in the Mt Hood National Forest

The Sandy River near Zig Zag, Oregon

The Sandy River created a new pathway in the floods of January 2011

A house that barely made it through the floods

Mt. Hood

Summit Ski area in the summer

The night skiing capital of America

The Zig Zag river near Tollgate

A beautiful creek near the old Oregon Trail

We had to explore an old road that used to be the Oregon Trail

After many miles on the ever-narrowing road, it came to a sudden end

Old growth tree stumps

Happy, Happy Birthday to my sister Debra!

Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

I seem to have lots of pictures of food, but not enough time get them posted. I am going to try to catch up with myself before the holidays hit. 

I found this recipe last month at Sweet as Sugar Cookies. I made a couple small changes and yum, they were good! I knew I had to make them because they had peanut butter! They mix together in a flash and 25 minutes later, Oh, they were good! I would say they tasted more like peanut butter fudge when they were fresh from the oven. That isn't a bad thing! They were very good! Actually, most of them are still in the freezer. If you enjoy/like/love peanut butter, you will be crazy for these. Make sure you don't over bake them.

You should make these now!

Did I mention that they are really good?

Enjoy!

Another Day in the Neighborhood

The doggies are guarding the neighborhood...

...when they aren't napping!

Sweet dreams, Buddy Boy!

Meanwhile, as the doggies are sleeping, it's very busy in the back yard

The squirrels empty their dish twice a day

There are usually several waiting in line, as many as 5 or 6!

When the seeds and peanuts are gone, they eat out of the many trees filled with red berries

How do they always know I am watching them?

He still has his one eye on me...

...even though I am at least 30 feet away and in the house!

Spicy Chicken Chili for a Chilly Day

It is amazing to me how quickly the seasons change here in the Northwest. The evening temperatures have dipped into the 40's within a week. As I was driving home along my regular route a day ago, I saw the leaves were just starting to turn red, orange and yellow! This past week, the house has been cold in the morning and throughout the day. When dear hubby would come home in the evening, he would comment on how cold the house was and encouraged me to turn on the heat, don't be cold. Well, I decided that I would wear my clothes in "layers" to stay warmer. After all, the thermostat said 66 degrees and in the summer that would feel great, right? I decided that if my doggies could take it, so could I! The day the dogs huddle together, shivering will be the day I turn on the heat! Well, today it happened. I had to turn the heat on! No more cold hands and drippy nose for me!

Buddy and Lucy trying keeping each other warm

When the outside temperatures go down, it's nice to warm the tummy with a warm meal, especially soup, stew and chili. It just doesn't enter my mind to make stew in July or August. A warm meal from a bowl sounded good, so I looked in my pantry and saw that I had 3 types of white beans, a great starting place. Next, I Googled white bean chili and started reading recipes until I found one that sounded the best. I used this recipe from food.com as my starting point and adapted it to suit our taste.

I used more spices because we like our chili spicy and I just can't seem to get enough of the Mexican oregano! I also used the three white beans listed on the recipe because I had them in the pantry. I also added a jar of La Victoria Salsa Verde because I didn't have diced green chilies. It really added a lot of great flavor. I served our chili with grated Monterey Jack cheese sprinkled on top and some cornbread on the side. I planned on freezing half of it for another time, but we enjoyed it so much, we ate it a couple nights until it was gone. Besides, we love leftovers! Most soups, stews and chili's taste better the next day! It's also like having a night off; no dirty pots and pans to clean up and dinner is on the table in less than 10 minutes (with the help of the microwave)!



Enjoy!

Summer Fun at Gramma and Papa's House

I spent many fun hours watching the boys and their neighborhood friends ride their bikes

Taking a break from the heat to watch a little Caillou

The squirrels kept us busy keeping the bowl full

Lots of squirt gun fights

Ivan kept himself entertained

Silly boy!

I made raspberry, strawberry and blackberry freezer jam

Time for a juice box

Many water-balloon fights

Too much fun!

Wiley trying desperately to get his dad wet!

Lots of great memories from Summer 2011!