Sunday Smiles - Charcuterie Board

 Have a Happy New Year's Eve!  I thought this was a fun charcuterie board.

Linking to Gillena's Sunday Smiles.

Xmas Dinner 2023 recap

 

pretty place settings

appetizers

appetizers

pork and chicken

Mashed potatoes, broccoli, green beans

carrots, stuffing, squash, caesar salad, cranberry sauce

my dinner plate

desserts

We celebrated Christmas Day this year at Daughter L's house.  It was special because her husband's family was there too.  The food was perfect, everyone contributed various food items. I am sharing some of the photos with you here for the memories.

Friday Art - Gannet

 Welcome to Friday Art!  I did a Gannet bird portrait for you today.  It is an ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2").

Linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off and to Gillena's Art For Fun Friday. 

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Word(s) for 2024 and Peanut Butter udon noodles

 

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date!  Her theme is 'Word(s) for 2024'.  I chose 'Gratitude' and here is my ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2") to illustrate it.

For the Dinner date, I am showing peanut butter udon noodles.

Denise had posted this recipe awhile back and I decided to try it as I had most of the ingredients.  It is a rich peanut sauce that husband M and son K enjoyed.  I prefer lighter tasting food but it smells so good as it is cooking.  Maybe I can try it with bean thread vermicelli or sweet potato noodles next time.

Here is the youtube link as well.
 

Happy New Year when it comes!

Wednesday Memes

 

Joys of aging, not

 

I like to send Amazon gift cards to my great nieces in California for Christmas and their birthdays.  My nephew is very good about sending thank you videos from the kids.  His 2 year old is so cute, she has trouble pronouncing certain letters of the alphabet.  So I have been replaying her little thank you video many times.  'Thank you Auntie Chrispine'.  It gives me such a chuckle everytime.    It is the cutest age.

In other news my blood cholesterol has been inching up over the last year.  The doctor thought I should start taking medication to start treating it earlier rather than later.  In fact, he says he is on cholesterol meds himself.  So I started last week on Rosuvastatin it is called.  It can have side effects that I have to be aware of over the next 6-8 weeks (Jaundice and muscle pain).   In addition to that my blood sugar level went to 6.1 which means I am prediabetic. Anything above 6.0 is considered prediabetic. To this point I had no problem with these things so I am calling it the joys of aging, not.

Happy Boxing Day anyway.

Merry Christmas 2023!

 Wishing you a wonderful Christmas Day!  This photo is from a pretty gift bag I received this year.

Sunday Smiles - Aww

 Sharing this delightful photo of my nephew's pets for Gillena's Sunday Smiles today.

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve!

Christmas Lights

 Daughter L met up with some friends recently in Toronto's Distillery District downtown and shared these lovely photos from there.  We forgot how pretty it looks down there, especially at this time of year.

Friday Art - Woodpecker

 Welcome to Friday Art!  I did a Woodpecker ACEO (2 1/2" x 3 1/2"), I thought the red and green colours seemed seasonal.

Linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off and to Gillena's Art For Fun Friday.

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Christmas Cookies and Easy No Knead bread

 Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date's 'Christmas Cookies' theme!  Here are the Christmas Cookies I did for you today!

For the dinner date, I made some easy no knead bread.  Daughter L found the recipe based on a Pinterest post.  I used unbleached flour below.

3 c flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp yeast (active or instant is fine)

1 1/2 c warm water (110F)

Mix flour, salt, yeast in a large bowl.  Mix in warm water.  Cover with plastic wrap 6 - 15 hours.  I did this in the evening and baked it the next morning.

Preheat oven 450 F

add 3 cups of very hot water to a 9 x 13" baking pan.  Place it in the bottom rack of the oven.  The water will create steam to keep the bread crusty on the outside as it bakes.

Transfer the sticky dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, loosely shape into a loaf with floured hands. Consider patting some flour on the top and cutting several slits on top.  Bake 25-30 mins until browned.

The next day I made the same recipe with whole wheat flour.

Then the next day I made the same recipe with white flour.  It is easy!

Wednesday Memes

 

Air Fryer Eggplant

I made this air fryer eggplant side dish recently.  It was successful and I thought I would share my recipe with you: 

1 globe eggplant sliced into 1/4" slices

1 egg, half cup milk whisked together

1 1/2 c panko breadcrumbs

1 c flour

1/2 c grated parmesan

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

Preheat air fryer 390 F 5 mins

set up your breading station:

bowl with flour

bowl with eggs and milk whisked together

bowl with breadcrumbs mixed with parmesan cheese

Season the eggplant slices with salt, pepper, onion, garlic, oregano, olive oil

Bread the eggplant slices by dipping first in flour, then egg mixture then in breadcrumb mixture.

Air fry in batches, 5 minutes per side.

On Psychological First Aid

 We got this Psychological First Aid booklet from The Canadian Red Cross, a charity we sometimes donate to.  Usually we get Stroke Symptoms, or Heart Health booklets, this is a new one.  It is first aid for the mind and our social networks.  Rightfully this is just as important as first aid for the body.

Here is a link with more information.

Gillena's Sunday Smiles - Mini Smarties

 Showing you these new mini smarties for Gillena's Sunday Smiles.  They are like M&M's.  Smarties usually are a bit larger in size.

Kale bean soup from leftovers

 I had leftover baked chicken with roasted potatoes. some Italian style frozen kale, pasta salad and decided to clear the fridge by make this soup.  I added a can of pinto beans, a bouillon cube, a tsp of sugar and 1 1/2 tsp of chili powder to give it a kick.  Then I boiled everything with 4 cups of water for 40 minutes.  It is good to not waste food and it was delicious! 

Friday Art - Snowman

 Welcome to Friday Art!  Here is my Christmas Snowman.

Linking to Nicole's Friday Face Off and to Gillena's Art For Fun Friday.

Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date - Christmas Lights and Kale bean soup

Welcome to Rain's Thursday Art and Dinner Date. Here is my LED Santa for our 'Christmas Lights' theme!

 

Kale and Bean Soup

 For the Dinner Date, I made this kale bean soup.  Soup is a great way to use up leftovers too.

I sauteed onions, minced garlic, celery, carrots, tomato in olive oil, added some fresh basil, salt pepper to taste, a can of chicken soup with 2 cans of water, a bunch of kale leaves, a can of white beans and some leftover kale and beet salad which had been flavoured with dressing.  Simmered for half an hour, it is healthy and delicious!

An option is to blend it with an immersion blender.  Picky eaters might like that version.  

Blended Soup

Wednesday Memes