Random Pictures

These will be totally random!  For some reason, my tablet won't let me post text and photos. Until I can get back on the laptop, it's just Pictures!  FYI- daughter took the pictures while I was driving - not me!  Enjoy!

Edited 2/2/2017 - I've been having technology issues!  I need a new computer, but I'm in the middle of a spending moratorium so.....  things are going to be hit or miss for a while.

Misty, foggy drive home!

I kind of expect to see the headless horseman coming around the corner!

Daughter and I went to a presentation by local mystery authors presented by the Baltimore County Public Library.  All of these authors are fantastic!  If you see one of their books, grab a copy and enjoy their books!

I seem to have a thing for taking pictures on windy country roads, don't I?

Providing dinner at the Men's Shelter.

So here's my latest pet peeve, #Starbucks.  This is supposed to be a Very Berry Refresher.  It's supposed to be red.  What the hell is this?  I complained to the Barista, but she told me this was a Very Berry Refresher.  So, I was out over $4 for a glass of water.  So disappointed.

No Spenduary - Week 3

What we did to save money this week:

1) We have electric baseboard heat throughout the house.  The thermostats on the heaters are original to the house (1970).  Husband replaced the thermostats in the rooms where they were not working effectively.  i.e.- our room, the thermostat is either on, and the temperature is over 80, or it's off.  He replaced 2 thermostats.  We'll see if there's any savings reflected in the next electric bill.

2) This one isn't mine so much as middle child's.  He is getting ready to go back to school, where he does much of his own cooking.  We put together a ton of mason jar meals for him to take back with him.  While we were at it, we made up several other jars to take up to his brother for his birthday.  I'll post pictures from that escapade later this week!

3) I'm in the middle of cleaning out the big, sopping mess from the chest freezer.  I've been looking at the rubber gasket, too.  I think we might need to replace that - there's several places where the seal isn't what it should be - and I think that's why there's as much ice as there is inside of the freezer.

4) This is my third week without a Starbucks run!  I'm not sure whether I should be proud of that - or appalled to realize that I've been stopping by there for tea quite so often....


What we had for dinner:
1) Salmon Filet - with butternut squash cubes and slices brussel sprouts (sauteed in olive oil)

2) Salmon with Rice Pilaf - from the leftover salmon filet. Husband made the pilaf with lemon juice instead of vegetable broth.  The lemons were leftover from the clearance rack find.  We had a side salad to go with this to round out our veggies.

3) Homemade Pizza, with homemade sauce pulled from the freezer.  I'm still experimenting with recipes for gluten free pizza dough.  This recipe wasn't "THE ONE", but it was good!  We topped the pizza with onions, bell pepper, and spinach.

4) Spaghetti- made with - you guessed it - more homemade sauce from the freezer!

5) Black Bean Soup
I made this recipe that I found on Smitten Kitchen.  You know I didn't make the creme - dairy allergies and all...  It's an excellent, stand alone bean soup recipe!  I made corn bread to go with this!

6)Lettuce Wraps
Using ground turkey, they were supposed to take like P.F. Chang's lettuce wraps.  They weren't that good, but they were okay.  I made a vegetarian version for daughter.

7) Ramen Stir Fry
This one's a little harder to explain.  I found gluten free ramen noodles.  Years ago, I used to make a stir fry recipe with ramen noodles.  There were no seasonings in this recipe, though.  I took the leftover ground turkey from the Lettuce Wraps.  (Yes, two pots were going here - one vegetarian, one meatatarian.)  I heated up the meat, and then added a bag of frozen veggies.  I split the bag of ramen noodles between the two pots, added about a cup and a half of water to each and brought it to a boil.  I added bullion to each pot, and I added some of the seasonings I usually use in stir fry.  (Crushed red pepper, ginger, etc.)  10 minutes later, dinner was ready.  THIS STUFF WAS AWESOME!  Better than the original lettuce wraps!

What did you do to save money this week?

YALSA Youth Media Awards

Disclosure Notice: This post contains Affiliate Links.

It's better than the Emmy's.  It's better than the Super Bowl.  It's the major awards for Children's Books that were published last year!  I'm so giddy!  So many award winning books!  I can't wait to share them with you!

John Newberry Medal for the most outstanding contribution to Children's Literature:

The Girl Who Drank the Moon
author: Kelly Barnhill











Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children:


Radiant Child: The Story of Young Artist John-Michel Basquiat
illustrator: Javaka Steptoe
author: Javaka Steptoe


Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award


March, Book Three
Author: John Lewis and Andrew Aydin


Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award


illustrator: Javaka Steptoe


Coretta Scott King / John Steptoe New Talent Award


The Sun is Also a Star
author: Nicola Yoon


Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Literature written for Young Adults


March, Book Three
Author: John Lewis and Andrew Aydin

Just a note here, March, Book 3 received multiple awards today.  Other awards include: YALSA Award for Excellence in Non-Fiction for Young Adults and the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award.

You can see the complete list here: http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2017/01/american-library-association-announces-2017-youth-media-award-winners

Book Review: Neverwhere

This book was first publisher.   It's a fantasy novel.  I usually read fantasy, but this is the first time I've read any novel by Neil Gaiman.  It won't be the last.  He weaves a wonderful, believable tale.  Neverwhere was also a television show produced by the BBC in 1996.

Richard Mayhew is a stock broker living in London.  He lives an enviable life, rising quickly through the ranks of his stock firm.  He has a beautiful girlfriend named Jessica, and they are engaged.  Jessica works for a high powered firm and is on the fast track for promotion and power.


That all changes one strange night.  A strange girl literally drops out of a door from the middle of nowhere.  She is covered in blood and unconscious.  Against the will of his girlfriend, Richard stops to help this strange girl and finds himself in the middle of a strange and unusual world.

Two strange men appear at his door the next morning, searching for the girl, whose name is Door.  When they entered the room where she had been hiding, the found nothing.  As he tries to help her find her way home, he finds himself in a strange part of London where he had never been before, speaking to strange people that he had never before noticed.

When Monday morning arrives, Richard finds that he is no longer visible. He could not be seen by anyone, and he could not be heard by anyone.   Tracking down the strange young woman he had helped the night before, Richard discovers the strange world known as London Below - a place where lost people who fall through the cracks end up.

As Richard begins his quest he joins forces with Anesthesia, Hunter, Door and the Marquis as they journey through London Below to find The Key that will unlock their destiny.

But will the key be the solution that they expect?

Lemon Cake

I made this for daughter's birthday last week!  It was much better than I was expecting!  Surprisingly, the biggest expense in this dish wasn't the lemons.  When I took my cruise past the discount produce shelves at the grocery store, I found a bag of six lemons for $1.50.  Well hello!  With those lemons, I was able to make a delightful cake!

Lemon Cake Recipe

2 cups Bob's Red Mill One to One Gluten Free Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup Earth Balance butter
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup coconut milk
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice

Glaze
1 lemon, cut into thin slices & seeded
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Oven 350*

Mix dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar.  Beat in the eggs and the vanilla.  Add the lemon juice and zest.  Alternate adding the flour and the milk into the batter, stirring until just blended together.

Pour the batter into a prepared cake pan.

Bake in a 350* oven for 30-35 minutes.

While the cake is baking in the oven, bring the water, sugar, and lemon slices to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove the lemon slices from the water with a slotted spoon, and place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.

Remove the cake from the oven, poke the cake all over with a toothpick,  and pour the syrup mixture evenly over the cake.

We topped the cake with powdered sugar and the lemon slices.

You can top it with icing, or leave it plain.

NoSpenduary - Week Two

Things We Did to Save Money This Week-

I am working on cleaning through the freezers and pantry.  My goal is to eat through a good chunk of what's in there so that we can get rid of one of the two freezers.  After all, my in-laws left one of the freezers here when we bought the house.  It's over 40 years old.  You can't convince me that it's not eating more energy than it's worth! Sooooo.... this leads to item number one:

1) The big, old freezer has been filled with everything from the chest freezer.  The chest freezer is unplugged, and being defrosted.  Once all of the ice on the sides is melted off, I'll clean it completely out and shift everything back over to the chest freezer.

2) I turned the ceiling fan switches to "winter" mode.  They run backwards, pulling the warm air down from the ceiling and back down to the floor - where we need it!

3) I finally went grocery shopping this week.  I haven't been since before Christmas.  But, we had finally run through the last of the fresh produce in the house, so I made a quick stop at a couple of places to pick up a few things.  I went to two year round farm stands in addition to the grocery store.  At the first farm, I picked up a 50 pound bag of potatoes and a 20 pound bag of onions, and some lettuce.   I also got several bags of their "save these veggies".  These are bags of veggies that are not perfect, and could turn soon, but are awesome if they hit a soup pot in the next couple of days.  At the second farm, I picked up a box of produce and some eggs.   At the grocery store, I  picked up the staples I didn't already have on hand:  carrots, oatmeal, sugar, coconut milk, etc.

4) I made cakes for the kids' birthday celebrations - sorta.  Daughter had a lemon cake.  I'll share the recipe here later this week.  It took surprisingly few ingredients.  Even better, you couldn't tell that it was gluten and dairy free!  For middle child's birthday, I was working.  His sister made him a cookie cake.  She made a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, and then spread it out on a pizza stone, leaving about a half inch around the edge.  Her masterpiece was gluten and dairy full, so I did not get a taste of it.  However, since it disappeared within a day, I'm assuming that it was acceptable! 



Dinner-

Teriyaki Chicken
So, this is a freezer meal that's been sitting in the big freezer downstairs for way too long.  I pulled this out, thawed it out and tossed it into the crock pot before I left for work.  We had A LOT of chicken left over.  (This really isn't one of my favorite recipes.  I think that this is why I've had a couple of the pre-made bags laying around the freezer for so long.)

Chicken Wild- Rice Casserole
I found this recipe HERE on The Kitchn's website.  This IS one of my favorite recipes!  It is traditionally a freezer meal, but we can never keep it in the freezer for long if we know it's there.  We really, really like this recipe!  I swapped in the leftover Teriyaki Chicken in place of the raw chicken the recipe calls for.  I also used one of the way too many boxes of Long Grain and Wild Rice that I have sitting in the kitchen cabinet!

Taco Night
 aka Taco Tuesday!  I made 2 huge messes of taco meat, one with real meat and one with fake meat.  I served it along with Corn, Refried Beans, and Spanish Rice.  We ate a lot of it, but not all of it. It was messy and wonderful!  I saved the leftovers to use another night.  (This was dinner on middle child's birthday!)

Taco Salad
Combined with lettuce and a bag of Fritos, all of the taco leftovers make one of the best salads known to our family.  Seriously, it's an easy meal, and picky eaters love it.  (Heck, even I eat it willingly, and I'm not known to love salads!)

Baked Acorn Squash stuffed with Quinoa
I had picked up two big bushels of winter squash for $30 back in the fall.  These hardy winter stalwarts last for a long time, but they do need to be eaten!  Tender acorn squash are sliced crosswise into rounds, and filled with a vegetable quinoa stuffing.  It's filling, healthy, and a great way to warm up the house on a cold winter's evening!  You can find the recipe here:  Baked Acorn Squash.
(I made this for daughter's birthday.  It's one of her favorites!)

Bean Soup
Made with a pound of dried beans.

Baked Beans
I took the leftover bean soup, poured it into a casserole pan, and then drizzled molasses over the top.  Baked at 350* for an hour, I thought it was pretty good!

Monday Musings

It's been a fun week!  Daughter and Middle Child had their birthdays this week!  When on earth did I get old enough to have children who are 20 and 22 years old?  How did that happen?

It's Unfortunate
Do you subscribe to Netflix?  They uploaded A Series of Unfortunate Events over the weekend.  The books were a huge hit when my kids were in elementary school.  We even went to a talk given by Lemony Snicket's personal representative.  It was awesome!  The books seem to have died down in popularity over the past few years, but then Netflix uploaded the series.  Neil Patrick Harris is absolutely phenomenal as Count Olaf, and the series follows to close to the books, it makes me very happy!

Non-Event
Friday night, many of the forecasters in the Mid-Atlantic region were calling for massive snow and ice on Saturday - with snow amounting to one inch.  Yes, you read that right - one inch.  Ice up to 1/10th of an inch.   Hmmm... I know there was more snow and ice south of us, but the weather was not looking bad for us.  On my way home from work Friday night, I heard that our school system had already cancelled all activities for Saturday.  The library closed for Saturday.  (Not MY library, I work in another county.)  I stopped at the grocery store on my way home for a bunch of green onions and was blown away by the number of people in the store, stocking up on groceries as if we were expecting to be snowed in for a month.  (I decided I didn't really need the green onions after all and went straight home.)  So, how much snow and ice did we get?  Well, I went to work on time on Saturday morning.  We had no ice or snow.  I looked outside a couple of times and saw snow flurries, but nothing ever stuck to the ground.

ALA Youth Media Awards
So, what are these awards?  I'm sure you've heard of the Caldecott, Newberry, Coretta Scott King, and Pura Bel Pre awards for books?  These books are named as the best in their field for that publishing year.  The awards will be announced next Monday, Jan. 23.  I'll be watching the live feed online at 7:30 in my pajamas!  I can't wait to see who the big winners are!  Are you curious to find out more?  The list of awards being given out can be seen here: http://www.ilovelibraries.org/booklovers/youth-media-awards.  I hope you are just as excited as I am to see who gets honored!