Cauliflower Poppers

Tonight instead of having fries with my homemade burger I am having baked cauliflower instead.  This is what you need.  Take as much cauliflower you plan to use, break it in pieces (I find keeping them in good size bite pieces is best), rinse, put in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, s & p.  Arrange on a baking sheet lined with tin foil or parchment.  Cook in 375 oven for an hour, stirring 3 times during cooking.  Make sure they are nice and brown.  Put on a plate and eat with ketcup.  Healthy and yummy.

It doesn't take much cauliflower to add up.

You can see if the pieces are too little they tend to burn, so keep them a good size.  I took them out 15 minutes early but they could have used a few minutes more.

You don't even miss french fries, these are just yummy.  And as I have been seeing on a lot of blogs, they are easy peasy!  Enjoy.

Homemade Burgers

Tonight is burger night in my house.  Well any night could be burger night because I am not fussy and love burgers.  You say why blog a burger?  Well doesn't anyone want someone elses ideas that they may not have thought of themselves.  So here is my burger secret.

First I start with a package of lean hamburger, grated onion, s & p, and of course the secret ingredient "worcestershire sauce", that's right, add this to any beef dish and you have a hit.  You can also grate a little garlic if you like.

Fry away, the worcestershire adds a little liquid in the pan, which makes it better.







When 180 degrees is reached, you have a burger just right for the eating.  Cook any longer they will start to go tough.

I finished it off with a nice big bun, fat free cheese, some condiments, I use ketchup, dijon mustard, a little relish, a big pickle.  Happy eating everyone!

Our Daughters Graduation

Well I have been informed as to why I hadn't blogged my daughter Kims graduation?  Well, well, well...I thought I had!  I blame it on the beautiful menopause brain, or lack of.  So I said I would get right on it.  So what I had done, was I had made a slideshow, but of course couldn't get music to it, because I am not that technical.  So today I was going to upload the show, no music, repeat pics that I couldn't figure out how to delete, and of course it wouldn't upload, haha.  So now I will resort to pictures and see what I can do.  So here goes.  Kim has always been her own person, marching to the beat to her own drum, very determined and this is how she approaches life, like there are no limits, and if you want to do something then don't let things like lack or yourself hold you back.  So she decided to go to school, of course in the City away from home.  We were there with her on the first day and there on her last.  She spent the first 2 yrs on campus and the one thing good to come out of that was her best friend she roomed with.  She decided after that, that she would move in with her boyfriend and travel back and forth.  The longer she stayed in school the better her marks got.  And graduated this last fall with her Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in Psycology.  She now works at a Rehab Centre where she is getting life lessons in the real world, and is learning a lot that she can take with her.  We are so proud of her and never had a doubt that she would make it.  Sorry I am a forget mom.  But you know it is because of my lack or slack, :)

Picking up her grad gown, and the last time to walk these hallways.

Free to fly

A great school

So proud of you and what you have achieved so far.

We get to dress up.

It's over, relax

I am getting shorter by the minute, haha.

Kims boyfriend Ryan

Her brother Tyler joined us, the only one missing is her sister Jen.

The day you have been working so hard for.  Proud of you!

Crock Pot Pulled Pork Supper

Well believe it or not I have never tried pulled pork.  So after my daughter tried it and gave me the recipe, I had to try it.  So here goes.

- 1 Pork shoulder (we have to get shoulder blade portion here)
- 1 large onion cut into wedges
- 1 bottle of bbq sauce, about 1 3/4 cups (I bought Bulls Eye original)
- 1 cup Dr. Pepper, not diet
- Big buger buns

Trim fat from meat, put on some salt & pepper.  Place onion wedges in cooker, top with meat.  Combine bbq sauce & pop, pour over meat.  Cover and cook on low 8 - 10 hrs.  I did mine closer to 10.  Transfer meat to cutting board.  Using forks, shred meat & put in bowl.  Remove onions from cooker, add to meat, skim fat from cooking liquid.  Add enough liquid to meat to moisten.  I toasted buns in the oven, then loaded with meat.  Eat with fork and knife.  It was yummy, the flavors were blended nicely.

Very simple ingredients

1 onion in wedges

Cut any visible fat from pork

I almost got the required amount out of the bottle.

The bbq & Dr. Pepper made a nice sauce.

Pour over top.  Set slow cooker on low for 8 to 10 hrs.

Done

It pulled apart so easy, and I removed any more fat that I could see.

Get the onions out of the slow cooker add to meat, with enough sauce from slow cooker to make meat moist.

Toast you buns in the oven, and pile high with meat.  A meal in a bun, yum.

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Salmon & Tuna Burgers

I am sure there are plenty of these recipes out there but this is just what I did in the quest to find something protein to eat that tastes good.   So here goes.

1 can of salmon
1 can of tuna
little grated garlic
1 egg
chopped green onion
seasoned salt
sprinkle of oat bran

Spray fry pan.   Cook until nice and brown, then flip and cook other side.  10 minutes, done.  After mine were brown enough, I kinda held them up to brown the outside, not necessary, but I wanted to do it.  I topped it with some low sodium Heinz ketcup and a guilt free lunch.  Add a side salad and enjoy.

The mixture of fish gave it a great flavor.

Give New Life To An Old Bear

My grandson has always had his favorite bear forever, (he is 6) ha.  But in the years the stuffing has disappeared.  I have patched the holes a couple of times for him that his dog so gently made.  Mind you the dog didn't want the bear, she only wanted the stuffing.  So he forgot his bear up here the last time we had a sleepover and I was thinking, what can I do to make this bear special.  So what I did was go to my basement, and in an old trunk there were some toys and such that belonged to him mom when she was little.  One toy I came across was a stuffed toy that her gramma made her, years ago.  So I didn't think my daughter or my mom would mind if I made a little incision in the toy and pulled out enough stuffing to fill Morgans bear back up.  Of course over the years it gathered a little basement smell, so I instead of putting it through the wash to put a couple of drops of lavender essence oil in the hole before I closed the incision.  He liked it.  He told his mom his bear looked healthy because he had a big belly, haha, out of the mouth of babes.  So now he has a treasure from his great grandmother.

Now isn't he just too cute!

Face Cleasner

I know, why can't I space things out?  I get excited and want to try everything in one day!  So my next goodie is a homemade facial cleasner I seen on pinterest and wanted to know if there was any good to it.  It is very simple, all you do it take a tsp of soda, mix with a cleanser.  Add enough cleanser to make it a paste.  You are thinking, a tsp is probably not enough, but believe me it is plenty..Just apply to face,  scrub it around, gently and rince off, and apply your moisture after that.  I found it burnt a little at first, but nothing that lasted and my face is so smooth!  I will definitely use this again.

Two simple ingredients. 

Doesn't look like much, but I had to coat like 3 or more times.

Homemade Toothpaste

My next venture this weekend was to make and try some homemade toothpaste that I had seen on our local morning show called CTV Morning Live.  Use to be called BT.  Love that show, they have even put a couple of my photos on, that's a plus right.  Anyway they had someone on from the Discovery Centre and had a recipe for toothpaste, so where I flip flop so much I decided I would like to try this.  There are so many chemicals in everything today I thought it was a good idea, so here goes.  And whether I do it on a regular basis or not, I don't know, it was just fun to try.  So the recipe is:

6 Tbsp baking soda
2 tbsp salt
glycern
mint flavor or mint and peppermint
Stir together

What I did was half it, where I was just trying it out.  I did 3 tbsp soda, with 1 tbsp sea salt, then I added some flavoring, then poured a little bit of blycern at a time until it got to the consistency I thought it should be.  Then tried it.  I was pleased and amazed at the results.  Hours later, my teeth still feel smooth and clean, I will definitely try this again.

Four simple ingredients.

Mix until it looks pastie.  Happy chemical teeth cleaning everyone!

Crockpot Spagetti Squash

My next experiment this week was to try spagetti squash which i have never tried before, and squash being my favorite vegetable even with it being the hardest to peel I decide to try it.  So I decided to try it.  So I had different options, to microwave, bake or crockpot.  So I decided to cook it in my crockpot.  So I cut it in half put it in, added 2 cups of water and let it cook on low for 7 hours.  Simple, so I did it, being the first time.  I think I should have baked it, but to late.  I was expecting the summer squash flavor but it was quite different.  I sauted up some green peppers and onions, when it was finished, added these, then some cheese.  But the flavor wasn't there for me.  I add some sugar, I know, but I add sugar to my summer squash and I love it.  Anyway I ate half of it, and it's all I could do.  I won't give it a low rating, I will try it another way, sometime.

First I cut it in half and cleaned out the centre.

After 7 hours in slow cooker.

It came out so easy with a fork.

I sauteed some peppers and onions.

Added some cheese.  Maybe I was thinking it should taste like spagetti, I don't know, the brain plays tricks on you.

Scented Toilet Paper Roll

Well this has been my weekend of trying new things.  There are so many interesting things on pinterest and I figure I need to try some.  What I have concluded is that we have our own personal taste and what suits one, doesn't necessarily suit someone else, so experiment and see if it is for you.  So far I have liked 3 out of 4 of my experiments, and I will share with you.  So I will blog each one separately.  First it is the Scented Toilet paper roll.  It called for essence oil, but I decided to use a fragance oil I had in the house.I put a few drops in the roll and forgot about it until i rolled the roll and smelt something, and realized it was coming from the roll!  Happy so far, then my husband calls out a couple days later...What is that smell!?  The toilet paper smells strong...I had to laugh, and told him the kleenex were for the nose, but when I went in it was time to change the roll and the oil had absorbed through the roll into the toilet paper, hahaha, sorry.  So I will do it again but my daughter suggested to take a q-tip and put alittle on that and rub it inside the roll, so I will do that.

It was either this or lavender so I chose this.

Couple drops will do.

Winter Beauty

It was funny today.  When my hubby took me out for lunch for V-Day I heard a man say, "We have had 2 days of Winter and that was Sunday and Monday" I had to laugh.  So We got out for another walk today and the ice is still trying to hang onto the trees up here and when the sun is shining, well natures beauty is breathtaking. 

The ice in the son is so pretty.

Our temp went from -10 to +3 in 24 hrs.

A beautiful day to just enjoy it.

People who don't have a snow season are missing out.

I can't get enough of the moments that I enjoy so much.

Our dog loves going with us.

Happy V-Day hubby, it has been a great day.  Thanks for the beautiful flowers, the lovely lunch, which I didn't have to prepare and an afternoon walk.  What more can a girl ask for?