...following my heart, dreams and Jesus

Funny how you cruise along life and basically life goes along okay even with some of the minor bumps that life offers. I would manage to get over those bumps pretty good and if I fell, I'd just dust the dirt off my knees. Since I last made the previous post, I ran into many hard hurdles! Many of them really hurt me emotionally! Ouch! Without going into details of those hurdles, I have been falling flat on my face and bruising my knees with scrapes of tough changes in life. I have become a care-giver for someone who I love dearly. So frustrating! ...for her So over whelmed! ...for me So full of uncertainties! ...for her ...for me I went back to church last Sunday. It had been too long and it was time to come "home" again. I am reminded that my life matters too and I can "do" this. Slowly, I am regaining myself back. ...for me ...for her Slowly, I am getting back to joy. ...for me ...for her A nudge sent me into the kitchen. No excuses, all...

Hey There Readers! Yep! It was Saturday yesterday, which meant another trip to pick up my share of the harvest for the week! This week's list of yummy and healthy food included Tuscan Kale, Zucchini, Fennel, Swiss Chard, Broccoli and Kohlrabi. Fresh Broccoli     Heh? What the heck is that, you ask?  Well, Kohlrabi is a member of the brassica family, whose nutrient-dense cabbages (as well kales, brussel sprouts, broccoli and cauliflower) are highly regarded for their antioxidants properties. You can eat them raw, just peeled, sliced and added to a salad, but they are also delicious cooked and are often used in stir fry  (info provided by Taylor Creek Farm). I also googled Kohlrabi to find the  pronunciation of it . "cole-rah-bee" I also learned that it is a german turnip! This is a Kohlrabi  Sooooo ...what did I do with my German sputnik looking turnip a.k.a. Kohlrabi? I stripped off the leaves and cut it in half. I a...

Sure, I have eaten many salads in my life time and loved most of them. The difference in local farm freshness and produce shipped from who knows where is amazing. As I was preparing last night dinner, I tasted each item before using them in the salad. I was tasting new flavors like the kale, the fennel, the greens from the beets. Even the lettuce had a burst of flavor! Lets not forget the aroma! My nose was smelling the perfume of the fennel and radishes. I added the tomatoes which did come from my grocer and made sure it was "Product of USA". These were fine but when it is the season for local tomatoes, I'll be on cloud 9! If there was only one vegetable that I had to choose from to live on the rest of my life, it would be the tomatoes! Yes, I am aware that they are actually "fruit" but I don't care! A Picture worth many descriptions! farm fresh: lettuce, kale (two kind), fennel, zucchini, radishes, beet greens... store bought: scallions, t...

That is right! To the farm we went. Taylor Creek Farm that is! It was a beautiful morning to go the farm. The sky blue. The sun shining. What more could I want? Well, I want fresh grown produce to take home. I want to eat locally grown, healthy food! I want to do my part to improve the local economy by supporting the local businesses like Taylor Creek Farm.  Speaking of Taylor Creek Farm, Please meet Michelle and Chuck! They are some of the wonderful people in my community. I had the pleasure of meeting them last year. They grow everything on their farm naturally. I managed to buy and eat some of their produce. I was not disappointed in anything that was purchased ...but, (yep a but!) when I arrived last year, they were mostly sold out. That is very exciting for Michelle and Chuck. Michelle & Chuck Here on their table is a sampling of what they had ready for harvest this week. Cherry Radishes Beets Lettuce Free Range ...

In the previous post I mentioned that Grandpa and I shared this month celebrating our birthdays. It has been really rough on me, missing him.  In spite of the grief, I still celebrate Grandpa's life for he is an amazing man! You noticed that I use present verb tense regarding Grandpa? I refuse to put him in the past because I am part of him... living! A while back I saw a cake on Pinterest and said to myself "I am going to make THAT cake for Grandpa and I. LOOK! Isn't that divine? Chocolate Christmas Cake I checked out the recipe and decided to do it my way with the short cuts! After all, I wasn't really in the mood to all the extra work. I'd rather enjoy the cake than labor over it. I used these items below for my version! Much easier, don't you think? Also, since this was to be the special birthday cake... all the diets were off! I think that I did a pretty darn good job of this cake! No, I don't think... I KNOW I did! Happ...

A wee while back, I entered a giveaway for Naturally Nora Baking Mixes on  Sugar Pop Ribbons' blogs . and thought nothing more about this until I received an email announcing that I am the lucky winner! I once again thought nothing more ...until the PostMan ...or was it The UPS Guy? that had arrived up my driveway with a fairly large parcel addressed to me. I think that my mind has taken a vacation without my permission! I read the return label and was clueless of the sender... until I opened the said parcel! LOOK! This was my prize from the giveaway! All of THIS! Three cake mixes, three frosting mixes, one sugar cookie mix and one brownie mix. I was flabbergasted...all of this for Hubby and I to try! I was so excited that I had to bake something!  BROWNIES! The first choice! I opened the cardboard box and was very delighted to see that the mix was in a plastic bag! (Sorry for the sideway picture, just tilt your head to the left for a better angl...