The Whole Fruit and Nothing but the Fruit

I hate to see anything go to waste. Time included. If something can be done quickly, it will be. If there is a faster way to do something, I will find it.

Because of frost, our fruit trees didn't produce as much fruit this year. I could have horded it, drying it for a later date, but I enjoy sharing what God has blessed me with so my youngest and I got bags for each friend in the neighborhood and put 6 beautiful nectarines in each.

As we were walking to the neighbors, she said, "I like sharing what we have." I told her "I do as well." I am so grateful that she has learned the "Pay it forward" idea and enjoys sharing. As we went from house to house, I collected several of our Tupperware containers from taking over veggie salsa and zucchini muffins. How blessed are we that I have so much to share when so many have nothing? And, how blessed that so many others share their blessings with us!

I kept the more imperfect looking nectarines and put them on the dehydrator tonight. I just rinse the fruit and use a knife and cut them into rings or wedges depending on the size and any bee stings on the fruit.

I also used a hammer and put each pit on edge and broke it open to expose a soft almond shaped nut. I posted about plum pits and their health benefits and have been enjoying the nectarine and peach pits as well.

So, my challenge to you.... Use the Whole Fruit!

Fresh Corn on the Cob in Three Minutes

My neighbor gave me some fresh corn. I was going to use it for dinner tomorrow night but got hungry after working this evening so I looked in the fridge for a healthy snack and the corn looked good.

I didn't want to shuck and boil it as I usually do so I wondered how it would be microwaved right in the husks? I put it in the microwave for 3 minutes, shucked it and put butter right on it and added salt and pepper and was eating wonderful, hot, flavorful corn within 4 minutes of deciding what to eat.

I don't know how it would taste if it weren't going to be eaten right away. It was so good, I put another two cobs in and finished them off as well. Tasted just as wonderful as if they were boiled.

I have heard of people putting them on the grill in the husk before. I'll have to try that another day.

When you only have a minute but want a healthy snack, try corn!

Sweet Sixteen Fun

My third daughter turned 16 this week. We usually take cake and ice cream to the school lunch room and give it to all their friends and a few others as they always have more friends when treats are involved.

This year is her Jr. year in high school. She said that all her friends go out to lunch. I asked what she wanted to do? She asked if we could just go to Wendy's for lunch? I contacted a few friends and had them notify everyone to meet at Wendy's for lunch to enjoy cake and ice cream. I didn't tell my daughter. I stuck balloons, cake and ice cream in the trunk. I picked up both my high school kids and we drove to Wendy's.

The birthday girl wanted to drive through and eat at the park. Earlier she texted saying she wanted to have me pick up the food and meet them. However, she got out of the car and saw the balloons and cake in the trunk and she got excited.

Surprise!

It is tradition, how could I skip it? I asked if she liked that I did it or would have rather eaten alone and she was happy that I planned a party. Every time, including yesterday, at least one of the girls friends says, "I wish my mom would do this for me." or, "No one gives me a surprise." etc. I love giving the girls happy memories with friends. I took plenty of pictures and video which will be added to past memories and will come in handy for the Jr. Prom video slideshow.

We did our family party before her older sister went off to college. What does a teenage girl want most? clothes...... new phone, and she did get some sweet ipod accessories. Everything has been enjoyed already!

Happy Sweet Sixteen my beautiful daughter!

Count Your Blessings....

I bought this little wall hanging craft a few years ago. I really liked the saying, "Count your blessings as they come and go." I have it hanging on a door at the end of a hall so every time we go into one of the five rooms off the hall, we see it. It is a constant reminder for me to be grateful and count my many blessings. It is actually on my laundry room door so when I head in to fold laundry, I am reminded to give gratitude while I fold listing the things I am grateful for in my life.

My youngest child wanted to play the clarinet in band this year. I looked at some used stores and found one in good condition for about $65 which is less than renting one for a year.

When I looked at the name on the clarinet case, I laughed. It is a "BLESSING" clarinet! I couldn't help but think that the angels in the sign above had worked their little miracles to get us a clarinet for that price with the name "Blessing."

School started and the band teacher had a "rent an instrument" and "buy a book" night at the school with two different companies. My daughter didn't know about cork grease and the cork on the mouthpiece broke. We took it in to have it looked at and neither company had a cork with them. The instructor had several mouthpieces there and told us to borrow one until we could get hers fixed.

I went to buy the beginning clarinet book. It was the only book they sold out of that night. I asked the teacher to write down the name of the book so we could find one elsewhere. He went into the other room and came out with this book and told us to just borrow it for the year.

So, it turned out to be a blessing that they were out of the books. It saved me about $13 or so and the borrowed (and sterilized) mouthpiece is working well. She is already sounding out songs. Plus, for the price of a rental, we own the instrument and if needed, could sell it for the same price we purchased it.

I can't tell you how many times things like this happen in my life. Daily little blessings happen. Some are involving others so I can't share them as they would be personal to them but when I can, I love to share with others how God blesses our family. It is a constant reminder that I have a watchful father who cares about me.

I often list my blessings while in bed before falling asleep at night. It is much more enjoyable to count your blessings than sheep! What are some of your blessings? Count them as they come and go.

Customer Appreciation - Turn Around

Our orthodontist has a customer appreciation day every year. He rents out a pool and lets family and friends of patients come. They have tickets when you come in and they put patients in one bucket and family and friends in another. They have a meal, this year it was YUMMY pizza. They have gifts for each person. They have games with prizes and then they have a drawing. They have so many prizes that most people go home with something.

I have to say, our family has been blessed during the prize drawings. Each child goes home with a nice prize most years. They had snow cones, cotton candy, and tickets for free skating at another local place. They also gave away left over pizzas, bread sticks and watermelon.

We went home with a full pizza, bread stick, $10 Wal-Mart card, 2 free movie passes, $10 pizza certificate and a fun noodle for the pool!

What a great blessing and fun day!

I thought about how I could pay back for all the kindness the Dr. and his staff show in giving a gratitude/appreciation party each year. I decided to be the photographer this year. I could see they were busy so I took my camera and went around taking pictures of patients, staff and families. When the kids saw I was doing action shots off the diving board, we had lines waiting; they would nod when ready so I could catch them mid air!

I went in the next Monday with the pictures and a big "Thank You" for the staff. They really appreciated it and thought it would be nice to get the pictures printed and give them to the patients and put some up on a poster.

I tried to think when I have thrown a party or a family dinner, what help did I need? I usually have to ask someone to take pictures for me so that is what I thought I could do.

Come to find out, it was a good idea. What a blessing to be able to give back to those who are so thoughtful to us and we were able to have fun at the same time. I was blessed to win a wonderful camera a few years ago from Panasonic so the pictures were better quality than the one camera the staff had.

Four of my five girls have had this Orthodontist. It is almost like they are part of the family! Thanks to them for providing such a fun day and beautiful smiles on my girls! Haven't they done a great job?! (I'm not biased!)

Zucchini as Spaghetti

I read an article recently that talks about a link between eating wheat and diabetes. The study found that wheat may be the cause of so many getting diabetes in our nation. It was quite recent and was sent to me by my brother.

The reason he sent it is that if I eat whole wheat anything, about 15 minutes later, I am exhausted! I can't function. If I have a piece of bread hear or there, I am fine. However, if I eat large amounts of bread or other wheat laden items, I can hardly move. So, with that information, I was looking for an alternative to spaghetti. I found it in zucchini.

When I put zucchini in my little Oster food processor or shred it by hand, it almost looks like spaghetti. Heated up for a few seconds in a sauce pan with melted butter and it has the texture and taste of spaghetti.

I make spaghetti sauce from scratch and bottle it every year. It has a wonderful taste but isn't as thick as the traditional spaghetti sauces.

The nice thing about zucchini, is that you can freeze it and use it at any time. I shred lots of it at the same time. I freeze it in yogurt containers to keep it from getting squished or damaged in freezing and thawing. It can be used for breads, other baked goods or as spaghetti.

For stir fry, I slice it in circles or quarters. It is one of my favorite items to add in a stir fry with summer squash and fresh tomatoes from the garden. I will add zucchini and summer squash to my spaghetti sauce also cut into small chunks. It really is one of my favorite summer foods.

Here is to the green wonder veggie!

Zucchini Brownies by Julie

My girlfriend Julie gave these brownies a few weeks ago. It was so good. It was more like a cake or bread than brownies. We enjoyed it so much I asked her if I could share it.

The second one she gave us was more like a cake with frosting but it was her standard brownie recipe but she added two cups zucchini and increased the flower and sugar a bit until it was a brownie consistency. My kids liked it so here it is:

Brownies with Zucchini

2 cubes butter

2 Tbsp cocoa

Melt the above in a microwave bowl until melted.

Mix by hand:

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

pinch of salt

Pour butter over sugar mix then add:

1 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

Mix together until moist.

Add 2 cups zucchini and add flour until brownie texture again. You can add more sugar if desired.

Pour into a baking pan and bake at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes.

Cover with your favorite frosting recipe. She uses a butter frosting which my girls and I enjoyed just fine!