Cinnamon Ornaments

1 C. school lunch style applesauce
1 1/2 C. cinnamon
1/2 C. white school glue

I've seen recipes without the glue, but I imagine the glue makes it more elastic and hold together better after it dries.  Mix ingredients together until it forms a brown smooth dough. Roll out to 1/4" thickness. Use cookie cutters to make designs.  Dry ornaments on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, flipping every few hours so the edges don't curl up too bad.  Use a straw or pencil to punch holes in tops of ornaments so you can hang them.  The dough will shrink as it dries.  The holes will get smaller.   Paint ornaments only after they are fully dried. 

Pork Tenderloin

2 Tb butter 1 small onion, finely chopped (1/3 cup)
2 clovea garlic, finely chopped
1 cup (4 oz) crumbled blue cheese
3 Tb coarsely chopped dried cherries 
3 Tb chopped pecans
2 teaspoons chopped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 lb  pork tenderloin


 Adjust oven rack to middle position. Heat oven to 400°F.   In 8-inch skillet, heat butter over medium heat until melted. Add onion and cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft. Add garlic and cook 30 seconds. Remove from heat and cool about 5 minutes. In medium bowl, stir cheese vigorously with spoon. Stir in cooled onion mixture, cherries, pecans and thyme; set aside.   Place tenderloin on work surface with short side facing you. Use knife to slit in half lengthwise without going all the way through. Open pork like a book. Spread the cheese mixture in center pork. Close up pork and tie with kitchen twine to secure. I decorated my tenderloin with two strips of bacon and a sprig of rosemary. Season outside with salt and pepper.  Bake in heatproof dish for 40 minutes or until thermometer reads 155*F.

Green Curry

I recently bought this curry set at the grocery store.  You add your own meat and vegetables.  I added chicken, eggplant, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes. Super spicy, but wonderful.

Rigatoni

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Medium Onion, Finely Diced
4 cloves Garlic, Minced
2 cans (15 Ounce Each) Tomato Sauce Or Marinara Sauce
Salt And Pepper, to taste
Dash Of Sugar (more To Taste)
1 cup Heavy Cream
Grated Parmesan Or Romano Cheese, To Taste
green olives
1 can drained artichoke hearts
1 bunch minced parsley

Heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute for a minute or so. Pour in tomato sauce and add salt, pepper, and sugar to taste. Stir and cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and stir in cream. Add cheese to taste, then check seasonings. Stir in can of drained artichokes, sliced green olives, and parsley.  Serve over pasta.  Top with cooked butternut squash.

Pizza

Nini's Springerle Cookies

1/2 tsp. bakers ammonia (hartshorn)
2 Tb. milk
6 large eggs, room temperature
6 C. powdered sugar (1 1/2 lb)
1/2 C. unsalted butter (1 stick) room temperature
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. flavor
2 Lb. box sifted cake flour (Softsilk)
more flour as needed (I used about 1 C. more)

Dissolve hartshorn in milk and set aside for 30 minutes or more.  Beat eggs until thick and lemon colored (10 minutes).  Slowly beat in the powdered sugar and butter.  Add hartshorn and milk, salt, and preferred flavoring.  Beat in as much flour as you can with the mixer to make a stiff dough. turn onto floured surface and kneed in enough flour to make a good print without sticking. Bake on parchment paper at 225*-300* until barely golden on the bottom 15-25 minutes depending on size of cookie.

I made 85 cookies.

Caramel Apple

"Carmel" was a town in California of which Clint Eastwood was once mayor, caramel is a brown chewy sugar toffee.

1 bag Kraft caramels, unwrapped
5 medium apples
crushed pecans
melted, chocolate candy melts

Heat caramels with 2 Tb. milk over medium heat.  Stir so it doesn't burn.  Wash apples and insert Popsicle sticks.  The wax will prevent the caramel from adhering to the apples, so wash, buff, buff, buff.

Paint Chip Poster

I read on Pintrest that you can use a photo frame and paint chips to make a calendar.  I got the wrong kind of frame (didn't realize it was blue silk screened, but at .99 I was only thinking oooooo!) and turned it into a room decoration.  It can still be used with a dry erase marker to leave notes.

Blue Heron

Butterfly

Butterfly season!!! YAAAAAY. Oh and also, it is ragweed season.

More Exciting Orchid Updates

Lamb and Carrots

Ravioli

Mushroom stuffed ravioli with artichokes, green olives, basil, and blue cheese.

Petit Ecolier

DIY Swiffer Wet Jet Pad

Here's what you need to make your own reusable/washable Swiffer mop pad.

1 package of Gerber padded cloth diapers
2 foot strip of sew-on Velcro per pad. Just the soft side.
Sewing machine, pins, and thread
Scissors and measuring tape

Lay out your padded cloth diaper landscape style	Fold cloth into thirds. Bring down top, bring up bottom and pin.  Take the time to measure your thirds so that it fits the Swiffer mop.
Fold in half and cut on the fold line. You get two reusable Swiffer pads per cloth diaper.  Use a serger or a zigzag stitch to sew around the outside corners of your cloth.  It needs to be squared and secured.  Sew, trim, sew.  Be sure it will not fall apart in the wash!	You will only need the soft side of the Velcro (about 10 inches per side, 20" per cloth.  One package of Babyville diaper Velcro will be enough for two Swiffer cloths.)Measure 1" from the edge of the cloth diaper and pin on your strips of velcro. Make sure that with the other piece of velcro you pin it on top of the edge of cloth diaper that was folded over. You don't want the pad to have any flappy parts. This will secure the edge down as well as cover it up making it look a little better.

The pad is a little shorter in width than the actual mop. It really makes NO difference at all having it a bit shorter. It just has to be a little shorter if you want to be able to make two pads from one cloth diaper.  You can also make these pads from old towels using a similar sewing procedure.

Orchids

Another exciting orchid update for you.

Orange Shelf Mushrooms

Sulphur shelf (Laetiporus sulphureus) is also known as the chicken of the woods. It is an edible mushroom with a taste quite similar to lemony chicken. Individual "shelves" range from 2-10 inches across. It is most commonly found on oak trees in the lake summer and early fall. I did not sample any because I was not certain of what it was. Also, about half of the population has an allergic reaction to this type of mushroom, with cases being more pronounced in older mushrooms. Due to all of these factors, the mushroom should generally only be eaten when young, and one should always only try a small amount the first time.

Broccoli Salad

Salad	Dressing
3 heads broccoli	1 C. mayonnaise
3 Tb. red onion	2 Tbs. sherry vinegar
6 strips bacon, cooked, crumbled	3 Tbs. sugar
1/4 C. shredded cheese

raisins, craisins, sun flower seeds, whatever if you want it to have more crunch

Make dressing ahead of time. It is good if can sit overnight in the refrigerator. Cook and cool broccoli. Add toppings to taste.