Photo Journalism

I was thinking I need to do a post, but I didn't know what I was going to write about. I took a look at the pictures on my phone to refresh my memory.  I found all sorts of random pictures from the last week.  I hope you enjoy a peak in my photo journal...a.k.a. my phone.

Cereal gone Halloween Wild!!! Tony the Tiger seems to be trying to appeal to the pumpkin spice crowd as well with his pumpkin pie flavored version. 

Toucan Sam almost had me, although I am not 100% sure what he is dressed as. My first thought was an owl, but the paws on his feet suggest otherwise. Either way just looking at this picture makes me want a big ol' bowl.

I don't always make good choices when I forget to bring lunch. However, one day I did. First of all I passed up fast food, then passed up a Froot Loops binge...and settled on this Spinach Artichoke Ravioli. It was pretty good and I felt good about my choice - win/win.

Friday we had a professional development event for all the teachers in our county. There were three locations. I was at the venue for high school teachers. Each venue arranged morning refreshments for the attendees. Ours had baskets of bananas...there were loads leftover. Somewhere in the county there is a massive batch of banana bread to be made.

There were also tons of pastries. I did indulge in a couple cookies. At one point, I went back to get something else and then checked myself. I grabbed another bottle of water and backed away from the pastry spread.  To no one's surprise, there was very few leftover pastries.

I later phone out that one of the locations had fresh fruit parfaits with yogurt and granola...yum!! 

Saturday morning the girls of our family enjoyed a farmers' market outing. My mom gets coupons from the senior citizens' center to use at the farmers' market. Then the market matches those amounts. I think it is a great idea. The market season ends this month and she had extra coupons to use up. She wanted to take us to pick out pumpkins (and other veggies). I got some spinach and zucchini, in addition to a couple of pumpkins.

Although I didn't buy any this time, I couldn't resist a picture of these pretty mixed pepper boxes.

We still have five big pieces of our tree to get rid of. They are too big to easily move and our chain saw can't handle the size. I contacted a local woodworking group to see if anyone wanted them. A guy came out Sunday to look at them and it turns out the tree was dead too long and some of the wood around the edges is too soft now.  I was really hoping someone could use it for something other than firewood. Looks like I am back to Facebook Marketplace to find someone willing to cut their own firewood.

This may be one of the most random things I've seen in Walmart. These slippers caught my eye as I was heading to the back of the store to get cream cheese. I didn't know until that very moment that I needed AC/DC and Def Leppard slippers. Just kidding, I didn't need them :) 

My niece was raving about these bagels, so I had to try them. They make a delicious egg sandwich. My husband does not agree...he couldn't get passed the smell of the Asiago cheese as it toasted.

I spent a little time sewing....

....while watching harvest themed Hallmark movies. Seriously they have movies for every occasion.

My goal was to get through this stack of squares. I made it through about a third, I think.

When pugs take selfies. This is my niece's pug, Penny. I am glad to see I am not the only one who had trouble finding the right angle.  The struggle is real.

Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving...also known in Canada as Thanksgiving. I grew up in Ontario and one thing I bought back to the States with me is a love of Butter Tarts. There are a gazillion recipes and this time I chose the Best Maple Butter Tarts from Canadian Living.

I did take the pre-made crust shortcut.  I've made the dough before, but I tend to have more trouble getting them out of the pan in one piece.

The filling is a super simple mixture of brown sugar, corn syrup (or in this case maple syrup) butter and egg. Some people liken in to the filling for pecan pie.

There is a Butter Tart controversy that I have to address. Canadians are divided on whether or not raisins have a place in butter tarts. Truth is I will NEVER turn down a raisin-free butter tart, but I as you can see below I am Team Raisin :)  I actually made a couple without raisins because I know some people just don't like raisins. I did have one raisin-free tart and it too was delicious!

I only made one batch and I shared them. Truth is I wanted to keep them ALL for my greedy self. 

My husband had his game group over Monday. I made them these Peanut Butter Brownies with Salted Preztels that I pinned immediately after seeing Valerie Bertinelli make them on Food Network. Her show is one of my go-to shows - she definitely has the "I want to hang out with her" factor. I did make one minor (or major) change. I used my favorite brownie mix for the base and used Valerie's instructions for the peanut butter swirl and pretzels. This picture was taken right before I added the pretzels and put it in the oven. Her recipe calls for half a cup of broken pretzels. Next time I would probably double the pretzels. Once out of the oven, taking pictures was apparently the last thing on my mind because there are none.  The parchment paper made it super easy to remove the slab of goodness (after it was completely cooled) and cut into nice even bars.

When your niece takes you for ice cream and then her jeep won't start. Her brother and his friend came to rescue us. It ended up needing to be towed :( 

Yesterday I forgot my lunch and was in the mood for a sandwich. When I got to Jimmy John's, I discovered they just introduced a new bread - 9 Grain Wheat.  The all-new bread is made with a blend wheat, rye, flaxseed, quinoa, oats, millet, barley, amaranth, and spelt, along with a hint of honey and molasses. I wanted to love it, but I did not. To me, it almost had a bitterness to it. Not to mention it was 120 calories more than my beloved white rolls.

I hope you enjoyed a peek in my photo journal.

Veggie Potstickers

Not much to report from the weekend. After last weekend it was nice to enjoy some "do nothing" time.

I did make Vegetable Potstickers and (spoiler alert) they were delicious. Potstickers are one of my all time favorites and I have made several times, but only meat-filled versions. I have been trying to be purposeful in introducing more vegetarian meals to my diet. I always have carrots in my fridge - except this day - had to make a quick trip to the store.

Prep started with chopping and grating. I kept looking at the carrots thinking "that's a lot of carrots" and at the mushrooms thinking "that's not enough mushrooms".

The recipe called for grated ginger, which means first there must be peeled ginger. I watch all kinds of cooking shows and I have seen this trick many times, but for some reason I refused to try it. I continued to peel my ginger with a knife. And if you know how knobby ginger is that is no easy feat. The trick...peel the ginger with a spoon...yes a spoon!  Simply scrape it with the edge of the spoon and the peel come right off with no danger of cutting yourself. I am embarrassed I didn't try it sooner...don't be me.

I saw water chestnuts in the recipe and decided to skip them. I've never been their biggest fan.- kind of a take it or leave it situation.  When I ran to the store for carrots, I decided to pick up a can. I opened it fully intending to use them, then I took a taste.Nope...straight into the trash.

All the chopped veggies were sauteed until a little tender and mixed with the rest of the ingredients (seasonings) and an egg. The egg is supposed to be a binder for the filling. Maybe my cabbage was a little too large because it didn't really seem to bind the filling. It was still going every which way.

They were a little tricky to fold, but a little patience and a dab of water around the edges to seal them did the trick.

I ended up with about 35 potstickers. The outsides are a little messy - those mushrooms were constantly sticking to my hands and ending up on the outside of the wrappers.

I put most of them on a parchment lined sheet pan and put them in the freezer for a couple of hours. Once frozen I transferred them to a freezer bag.

The rest of them I cooked up for my niece and I to sample. I made a simple dipping sauce with soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and garlic/ginger paste. I looked through a few recipes to determine a ratio for soy sauce to rice vinegar (2:1). I have winged it on the sauce many times, but often struggled to balance those two ingredients. The ratio turned out great.

And so began the struggle to not reach in the freezer and eat potstickers for every meal. There is a little bit of work involved in making these, but nothing difficult. If you are a potsticker fan I definitely recommend making a batch or two to keep in your freezer for a super quick meal.

I am still enjoying beautiful anniversary flowers. I love the colors!