Cheese Baked Eggs

When I want a quick, but elegant egg presentation, I use Cheese Baked Eggs.   You can make it slightly different every time by changing the kind of cheese you use.  Today I used some Pepper Jack.  It was a bit too spicy for me, but those that like a bit of kick with their breakfast may want to consider it.

It is Father's Day , today.  I no longer have a father for whom I can make breakfast, so I made breakfast for Lee.  We also had some papaya and bacon. 

Cheese Baked Eggs

1 teaspoon butter
1 Tablespoon cream, I used half and half.
1 egg
shredded cheese.  I usually use Havarti or Swiss.  Jack is OK but rather bland.  I don't really like Cheddar with this dish, but it is fun to play around with different cheeses.  I wonder how goat cheese would taste????
s&p

This dish is easy to make more or less and there are never any leftovers to deal with.

Pre-heat the oven to 425.  Get one ramekin for each egg.  If you are making a lot, put a big hunk of butter in one.  Then melt it in the microwave and swirl the liquid butter around the ramekin and pour it into the next.  Do this until all the ramekins are buttered.

                       

Put the cream in the buttered dish and gently add in one egg.  Drop a small mound of shredded cheese on top of the egg.  Salt and pepper to taste.

                     

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.  I like my egg a wee bit runny.  If you don't and if you want the yolk completely solid, you may have to cook it a bit longer. 

I put my ramekins on a cookie sheet or a pizza tin (it's smaller).  It makes it easier to get them into the oven without spilling.  Remember, these will be HOT!!  I take them off the cookie sheet with tongs.  I keep them in the kitchen a few minutes to cool a bit.  Then I warn my guests to be careful. 

I prefer Hawaiian Papaya.  I don't like the Mexican variety.  If you have never tried them, they are a special treat.  We used to have a papaya tree in our backyard in Hawaii.  I love being able to pick breakfast off a tree.  There are ladies that sit along the roadside in Hawaii and sell papayas.  I miss being able to have them whenever I want.

                             

Cut the papaya in half length-wise.  They are filled with shiny, black seeds.  Gently scrape them out with a spoon.

                             

Papayas are usually served with a lime wedge.  I like lots of lime, so I serve them with more than one wedge.  You squeeze the lime on the papaya and spoon it up.  They are kind of pricey in Virginia, but, Hey!  It's Father's Day.  (And I'm worth it!)

Apple Mango Pecan Crisp

I like to make fruit crisps in the summer.  There is all that fresh fruit and you can't have PLAIN fruit or fruit salads ALL the time.  A crisp is less heavy than a pie.  It takes fruit and adds a crunchy topping and they are fast and easy to make.  What's not to like?

When we lived in Tonga, we ate a LOT of mangos.  We ate a lot of fruit , period.  It was cheap and healthy.  We ate a few vegetable that you don't see here, like Ufi ( sort of, kinda, like a potato) and Kumala (a wee bit like a sweet potato).  I don't remember anything like a salad or tomato.  Just fruit and fish and bread, from the Likamani (Rickleman) bakery.  Sometimes there was a scrawny chicken.  We had pigs on a feast day.  There was little to no refrigeration and this is one of the many reasons I avoided any meat or fish whenever possible.  But there was always a juicy, delicious mango.  In Tonga it is pronounced mawng-oh.  People look at me funny when I call them that, so I quit.  But now YOU know.

Apple Mango Pecan Crisp

Pam
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup oats
2 Tablespoons Splenda brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 Tablespoon butter, cut up
1/3 cup chopped pecans
2 apples,  I used Gala, but Granny Smith would be good, also
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 mangos

Pre-heat oven to 375.

                              

In a medium bowl, place the flour, oats and sugar.  Mix.  Add the cut up butter and using a pastry blender, or even your clean little fingers, cut in the butter.  Set aside.

                                 

Place the chopped pecans in a small bowl and set aside.

Spray a 2 quart oven proof dish with Pam.  Peel and dice the apples.  Place them in the sprayed dish. Sprinkle them with the lemon juice.   Stir to coat.   Then peel the mangos.  If you haven't done this before, there is a trick to it.  The seed is huge and oblong. Start at the top on one of the wide sides and slice straight down.  The knife needs to kind of curve around the seed.  Do this on the other side and then gently cut the skinny strips on the side.  Slice off the peel and dice GENTLY with a very sharp knife.  If the mango is ripe it will be soft and will want to turn to mush.

Add the mangos to the apples and mix gently.  Spread the flour/oat mixture on top.  Bake for 30 minutes.

                                      

Remove the Crisp and sprinkle the pecans on top.  Bake for 10 more minutes.  Cool slightly.

Serve warm by itself. 

                                   

Cool Whip or ice cream on top would be delicious!

You can easily double this for a large family.

Last Obstacle Removed

The vet came out and treated the horses and gave them a Coggins test.  This was the last obstacle before I send them to the trainer to sell.  I have had them on line in Equinenow.com and Dreamhorse.com.  I have had some interest, but no sales, so they will be going to the trainer on the first of July.  She will add some training to them and sell them for me.  It will add to the cost and the time it will take to get them sold, but it needs to be done.  They need a forever home and it can't be me.  It is a shame to waste these great horses as lawn ornaments

Tracy Bell (AKA Bell Vet) is our veterinarian.  She is great and reasonably priced.  I wasn't in a hurry so we were able to schedule a visit when she was in Buchanan and this reduced the travel time and mileage from her Lexington address, so that was good for me.

They got the usual shots.  Did you know horses can get rabies?  Well, they can, so they needed a booster.  Unlike dogs and cats, they need one every year.  The Coggins test is required to move horses from barn to barn or to a show ring.  It tests for Equine Infectious Anemia.  This is a VERY contagious disease for which there is no vaccine and no cure.  I didn't realize this, but if the test was to prove positive, I would have to put that horse down and the other would be quarantined for a long time and then retested.  The vet told me six months, but I could not find an article to verify this.  Actually I read 5 and then gave up.

But it is rare and they have been only here except for one trail ride, so I am not worried.

The vet gave me a paper that explains how to get my results.  I have never done this before, so I am glad she did.After waiting a few days for the lab to do the test and get the results, I log in to a website, get the results and then print them for whoever gets these horses.  Ain't technology wonderful?  I guess this is why the post office is losing money.  One day the government will charge us an email surcharge to pay for the fact we are NOT using the postal service!

Dr. Bell also took picture of the horse to verify which horses were actually tested.  I guess if someone wanted to kill my horse I'd try to tell them it was a mistake and for another horse, too!  Libby looked so good in the sunshine, I took another picture, myself.  If I was naming her, I might have called her Copper or Penny because her coat just glows in the sunshine!

The farrier came and the vet came and they have been lunged regularly.  Somebody come buy these beautiful animals.  I would rather sell them from here so I can see who is getting them.  I want to picture them happy in their new homes.

Card Making Marathon

 

We went to town this week and I spent some time in Jo-Ann Fabrics.  I was looking for a new pattern to knit an afghan.  Nothing caught my eye.  Except for the craft sale items that had nothing to do with my excursion!  I always check and they usually have a few things I can't resist.  I am almost at the hoarder level.  I think that as long as I have room on the shelves and I still USE them I should get a pass!

I pulled out some paper and accessories and put them into piles that pleased me

                                

Then I cut some blank card stock to invitation size.  I used different color card stock based on the papers and findings I was going to use. 

                               

Then I turned on mindless TV and went to work.  I'm sure glad Lee moved the TV in there.  It gets lonely all by myself.  It makes it rough when we have more than one guest room in use.  SOMEONE doesn't get TV.  Oh, well, it's all about me, so I live with it.

                                 

I had some pastel papers that went well with some ribbons, lace and flowers.

                               

There was a pretty delicate heart paper I thought went with the baby ribbon roses.

                               

I needed a masculine, boy-type card, too.  I do have a son and a husband, after all.

                               

I even made a wedding one.  I have a daughter getting married and I may give this to her.  (Trista...don't look, just in case)  I bought some wedding paper and added some groom stickers to the bride stickers I had.  I kind of like it.

                                    

Sometimes you have to NOT use everything that you like.  You can overwhelm the card.  But sometimes excess is fun!

                                 

So, two hours and six cards.  I guess I won't go into the business, after all.  I would like to be more skilled and more creative.  Maybe I 'll take some classes at Jo-Ann Fabrics!

I left all the cards blank so that I could use them for any occasion.  Then I stamped and embossed some of the new stamps I bought (at a discount!) with sentiments like U ROCK, G THANKS and Make A Wish.  I cut them up and will be able to pull one out and put it on a finished card whenever I need.

                                 

Blueberry Peach Cobbler

When Lee and I go to town we like to stop by the Fresh Market for the best produce.  We had just been to the regular market and didn't really need anything, but like I said, when we are in town we go to see what is there.  We always find something that we "need".

We found peaches and so I bought them.  I had previously bought a small magazine-style recipe book that they place at the checkout counter knowing that I will come through and be hungry.  It was Crisps and Cobblers.  My favorite, fruit AND dessert.  And also potential B&B recipes.  They had some blueberry and peach cobblers and I tweaked and combined two of them to make our dessert.

We still have a bag of frozen blueberries from last year that we picked ourselves.  My goal is to use up the blueberries just before it is time to go pick some more!  So blueberries and peaches and a cobbler.  I am trying to watch my sugar and carbs, so I took that into consideration.

Blueberry Peach Cobbler ( low fat/low sugar version)

Pam
2 cups frozen blueberries
3 to 5 peaches
Splenda divided use, 1/3 cup and 2 Tablespoons
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup Heart Smart Bisquick
1/4 cup milk, I used 1 %
2 Tablespoons REAL sugar, divided use
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon corn starch

Pre-heat the oven to 400.  Spray a small oven proof dish with Pam.  Set aside

Place the frozen blueberries in a saucepan and sprinkle in 1/3 cup Splenda.  Heat on medium, stirring occasionally. 

While the blueberries are heating, peel and slice the peaches.  Place them in a bowl and sprinkle them with 2 Tablespoons Splenda and add in the vanilla.  Stir to coat and set aside.

                          

In a medium bowl,  mix 1 cup Bisquick, 1/4 cup milk and 1 Tablespoon REAL sugar.  Mix until moistened.

By now the blueberries should be cooked enough, but kind of watery.  Use the same 1/4 cup measure (rinse it out first) and use it to put 1/4 cup water in a small glass.  Add the corn starch and stir to dissolve.  Add it to the simmering blueberries and stir.  It should thicken quickly.  Remove from the heat and assemble.

                             

Dump the peaches in the baking dish.  Spread the blueberry sauce over the top.  Then using a large spoon drop the Bisquick in small mounds over everything.  Sprinkle the last of the sugar over the top of the Bisquick mounds.  Bake for 18 minutes or until nicely browne
                             

Serve with Cool Whip.  We had some strawberries and I sliced them and added them on the top.


                             

 I wish I could come up with some patriotic name.  It IS red, white and blue, after all.  It was delicious and you won't miss the sugar or the fat.

                                

(Note:  I writes notes on 3X5 cards when I cook to keep track of what I used and how I did it.  As you can see my handwriting is atrocious, so I am very appreciative of my computer and backspace!  I wonder what happened to the REAL 3X5 cards.  The new ones are so thin and flimsy they could almost be computer paper cut in smaller sizes.)

becbooks

I have an Excel file that I use all the time.  It is titled becbooks. (I am Rebecca and these are my books.)  It has my most important information and I would be devastated if I lost it.

That being said I only back it up when I think about losing it,  maybe once a year.  It is the list of books that I have read.

I read about a book a day.  This depends on the size of the book and how much I get done in my REAL life.  I read about 300 pages.  I don't speed read, but I am a fast reader.  If I was reading technical journals I would not read this fast.  I would also not retain very much information.

I don't join book clubs, because by the time they have the next meeting I will have read another 20 or 30 books and I will have forgotten which character was in what book and maybe mix up the important points.

I prefer paperbacks because I carry a book almost everywhere I go.  I can vacuum with a book.  I do dishes and dust with a book.  I read while my husband drives.  He doesn't talk a lot so this works for us.  If he has something to say, I stop reading and when he runs out of things to say I pull the book back up.  Hardbacks are hard on my wrists when reading in bed and it is hard to keep them out of the bath tub, where I do a LOT of reading.  Plus, if I damage a hardback, it will be much more expensive to replace as I mostly read library books.

When we lived in California, I lived close to about 5 libraries.  At that time, they didn't buy a lot of paperbacks for the library.  They relied on donated copies.  Once I had read all the ones that interested me, I went on to the next library.  When I had exhausted all the libraries close to me I started buying books at a used book store. 

If I brought home a book that I had read before from the library, I just put it back in the pile to be returned.  If I BOUGHT one that I had already read, I was furious.  Lee kept after me to set up an Excel file to keep track of my reading.  I was reluctant because I had been reading since I was 4 and how do you know where to start.  Plus, I was not very good on the computer, except for email and Google. 

He talked me into it.  I just kept a notebook by the bed and wrote down the author and title after I finished a book.  After a while I added the genre and then I started rating the books.  If I HATED a book I wanted to know not to purchase that author again.  If I LOVED a book, I wanted to search for that author.  Sometimes I would give an author another chance for an iffy book, but there are a lot of books and I usually quit them after two not-so-good ones.

If I happened upon a book I had read that wasn't on my list, I added it in, but at this point, the books not on my list are so old or they are classics and I don't need to add them.  So there are maybe 50 books or so on my list that I didn't read in the mid-nineties when I started keeping track.

                                

As of yesterday there were 6447.  I finished one last night and I'm half-way through one today, but they are not added into the file, so they don't count , yet.

I often told young, voracious readers in the library to start keeping a list.  I wish I had done so.  There were always a few older readers that would come in with their tattered notebooks held together with a rubber band and loose pages falling out.  I would try to encourage them to use an Excel file.  It is so handy.  It alphabetizes by author and by title within the author.  I print out a new copy every 100 books or at least when I go to buy books at the used book store.  I LOVE it.

My current scheme is to get on the library website.  I go to Advanced Search and look for paperbacks with 2012 as the publication date.  Then I request all the ones that interest me.  When I don't have enough to keep me busy, I go to the used book store to catch the ones that are older that I missed.  GOTTA have the list for that!

I went to the book store yesterday and brought back all the books I had finished to trade in. I made a pile of the books I wanted and then alphabetized them by author. Then I went through my list and ended up putting back about five books. Good thing I had my list! If someone asks me about an author, I can look them up and tell you which are the best authors and which are their best books.

My idea of rich is to be able to go to a NEW bookstore or Amazon.com or Barnes and Nobel (especially for my NOOK) and just order every book I want.  Then pre-order the ones I want that aren't even printed yet.  I bet Oprah does that.  Or she has people to do that for her.  By the way, I CAN'T read her books.  They are so depressing.  I don't want to read a book and get involved with the characters that have the most horrible things happen to them and then nothing good ever does to make up for that.  I want a good mystery where the bad guy gets caught.  I want a romance where you get the hot guy. I want a biography where someone overcomes great odds and GOOD things happen for them.  For some reason, this is not Oprah's world and so I kind of feel sorry for her.  Maybe I should send her a list of the authors that I LOVE.  She would be so much happier!  Oprah!  Call me.  I've got a LIST!

A Full Day's Work By Noon

I had a long list of things I needed to accomplish today.  Even though it is hot and humid first thing in the morning, and only gets worse as the day goes along, I dressed in jeans and a long sleeve work shirt.  I haven't bought a wedding dress, yet and I don't want a farmer's tan or some other zebra striped tan to look strange.  Can you get a spray tan to cover up tanning errors?  Well, I don't know, so I covered up.  I also used sunscreen on any exposed areas and wore a sun protective hat.  Oh, yeah, and gloves.  I must look like a lunatic in this heat.

                                 

Our apple trees and our pear have a disease.  I took a cutting to the county extension agent and she told me it was called "fire blight".  I Googled it (she reminded me to only look at sites with "edu" in the address) and discovered it is a bacterial disease that can kill the trees.  Oh, great.  The leaves wilt and look burned.  The cure involves spraying when there are blossoms...too late...and cutting off the diseased portion during the summer.  That I can do.

In order to prevent the spread of the bacteria it is recommended to dip the pruners in a 10% bleach solution between each cut.  I filled an old measuring cup from the laundry detergent with bleach and then dumped 10 more of the same amount of water.  Sure glad I took math and science!  It said to dip the shears for 5 seconds between each cut and I sure hope I did.  There were a lot of cuts.

                                   

 I had to take off some good wood as I wanted to make sure I cut about 6 inches below where there was an obvious infection.


                                         
It made the newer, smaller trees look rather sad.  I hope this will make them stronger next year.  Now I have to remember to spray them in spring and then I guess I just hope for the best.  I hope I can get rid of this and maybe get some fruit NEXT year. 
                                   
                                      

I made sure to pick up all the cuttings.  Then I dumped them in the burn pile.  Lee started them burning while I continued with my list.

                                    

We got new hay!  We had already put our share away in the barn and out of the weather.  There were three bales left over from last year, so we rolled them out to the large rolls so Mr. Crouch can get them when he gets his share for doing the cutting and baling.  We took the last roll which we were currently using up to the blueberries.  No point in feeding old hay when there is new hay available.
 
                                    

I keep adding hay to the blueberries.  I put a lot down and say, "That ought to do it."  Then the rain comes and it gets compacted and then the grass starts coming back up through it.  We are using the hay to keep the grass away from the blueberries and to hold moisture in.  They like a lot more water than they can get naturally here, so we have to water them by hand and preserve the water they do get.  When they get established we may leave the hay off and mow around them, but the are small and young and I want to give them the best start I can.  At some point I want to buy a drip line to water them.  Then all I need to do it hook up the hose and turn it on.  I am hand watering for now to see how they are doing and if they need something.  At the same time I water the young fruit trees.  When everybody gets established I hope to be able to cut back on all the hand watering!

                                    

By this time I was sweating underneath my glasses.  It was 10:00 and I was ready to quit working outside for the day, but I had one more job to do.  The horses.

                             

I haven't lunged them in two days and I want them to be well behaved if I get a potential buyer.  It has been rainy and wet and I don't want them to slip and fall.  I don't have an arena and I work them on grass.  Fortunately , they haven't forgotten everything with their "holiday".  It is probably a good idea to give them a break now and then, anyway.

It has been so hot, I hosed them off after the workout and covered them with fly spray.  It is almost time to re-dose them with Equi-Spot.  This is a topical liquid similar to putting Frontline on your dog or cat to keep away the fleas.  This helps to keep the flies away from the horses.  It works amazingly well and is worth the money I spend every summer.  Libby is allergic to flies and her eyes can swell shut from the little monsters.  When I first got her I used a fly mask.  They began to cause sores from the rubbing against her chin, so I tried the Equi-Spot and never went back.  I still use fly Wipe on them when I work them.  I spray it on them and wipe it on their faces and it adds an extra layer of protection.

On the way up the hill I could see that the burning was almost finished.  Now there is room for the brush the power company dumped on our property!  Great.  More outside, sweaty work.

After all that, it was noon and I quit for the day.  Well, I quit outside work.  I still want to make some new cards and I have an idea for a fruit cobbler I want to make for dessert.  I want to try low fat/ low sugar and see how it tastes.  That's Next!