JoAnne's Family Traditions

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Location: Western, New York, United States

I spend most of my free time gardening, reading garden magazines, photographing the garden or baking (mostly sweets, which list chocolate as the main ingredient). I play the guitar and sing in a contemporary choir of which I have been a member for 26 years.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

No Chocolate Chip or Cherry Scones :)

Work today till 4:30; wrestling meet 4:30 till 6:00; then to Walmart to pick up stuff for son; home for dinner at 6:45; dinner 7:30; exercise 8:15-8:50; then looked at Green Mountain Coffee catalogue that came in mail; LOST at 9:00; 10:00 finished citrus salad...yummy! 10:15 Making this post then bedtime.

Tomorrow will be work, dinner, choir....needless to say, no scones again. BUT perhaps Friday. Unless of course the weather keeps us from choir practice. :)

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Chocolate, Chocolate and more Chocolate

Good Grief!!! I've been trying to change these ads but they don't seem to want to leave. I thought the Scones would attract some interesting recipe site but no, it didn't.

I thought when I posted the delicious Citrus Fruit Salad there would be some interesting ad's but that didn't work either. Hopefully the words Chocolate and more Chocolate will spark a little ad interest. We shall see. Otherwise I'm going to have to come up with another chocolate recipe. Not difficult to do. I've sort of had my fill of chocolate since Christmas. That is all we have around here. So I have been working very hard at pacing myself with all this sugar. I think I'm doing good....but then I slip :). Coming soon: Cherry Almond Scones.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Citrus Salad

Okay, I know I said to stay tuned for Cherry Almond Scones but I found this Fruit Salad recipe in the most recent Better Homes and Gardens magazine and had to try it. Consequently when I went shopping to buy the fruit for the salad I forgot to pick up a fresh lemon for the scones. Yup, I was standing right next to them but I was so focused on the fruit salad ingredients that I forgot about the lemon. So here it is. The picture is not the greatest. When it comes to taking food pictures my talents fall short. However, no matter what the picture, you will not want to miss this recipe, in fact you will not be able to get enough of it.


Citrus Salad

1 lime
2 tablespoons Honey
2 oranges
2 tangerines
2 ruby red grapefruit
2-3 tablespoons coconut
2-3 tablespoons pecans, walnuts or peanuts
pineapple slices
mint leaves

Stir together the juice of 1 lime and 2 tablespoons honey, set aside.

Note: If it doesn't mix easily, heat in the microwave for 15 seconds to soften honey slightly.

Prepare oranges, tangerines and grapefruits into bite size pieces and place into bowl add 4-5 mint leaves and drizzle with lime/honey juice. Refrigerate.

Toast 2-3 tablespoons of coconut (bake in oven at 350 for about 10 minutes or until golden), cool before serving.

To assemble, place one pineapple slice on plate, spoon fruit over top sprinkle with coconut and your choice of nuts. Garnish with lime peel and serve.

I did not use pineapple because they didn't have pineapple slices at the store I was in at the time. I am however planning to make this again in the next day or two and will then try the pineapple but this time I'll be leaving out the grapefruit since Dave cannot have grapefruit, it will cause problems with some of his meds. Also, I used toasted pecans because I like the nutty flavor.

Trust me, you are going to love this!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Nothing to do???

I'd like to say "Good Morning Everyone" however I have managed to piddle the morning away. Can you believe it? I woke up this morning wondering what running, tasks and responsibilities would be on my agenda for today. I could think of NOTHING that I had to do. This is GREAT!!!!

My memory has not been that good but I can't remember when this has ever happened. Let's be clear, I'm not saying there is nothing around here that needs to be tended to. I'm saying I have no place to be, no responsibilities elsewhere, no parties, no shopping, no returns to make, no work, etc. I got to sleep in and then when I got up had nothing to do but make coffee and eat breakfast.

On a week day I get up and make coffee and eat breakfast but that is just for me and it doesn't take that long. Now I get up thinking I'm going to make myself an egg omelet however it is not that simple since there are others who will be watching me eat :). So of course I make everyone omelets. Oh, before the omelets I took the new coffee maker I got for Christmas out of the box, washed it and planned to use it for the first time. I loaded the filter with coffee, poured in the water, put the carafe in place and flipped the switch. Within about 20 seconds I hear a loud pop, I go to check the coffee and find the coffee dripping into a cracked carafe. And I thought I had all my returns taken care of. Good Grief!!! I moved the old coffee pot back into it's rightful place and proceeded to make coffee and omelets.

While eating I did some research on Dandelions :) and their health benefits. I also sent an email or two, did a map quest and am now making this posting before I finally get to my "nothing to do" list :).

The first thing on my list of nothing to do will be: spinning while reading what I just printed on Dandelion Benefits. Then I'm planning to put together my little green house in preparation for spring/summer plantings. I have a few cuttings that are taking up space where I don't really want them. The green house will be set up right in front of the sliding glass doors so they will all get plenty of sunlight, unlike where they are now.

The rest of the day will be spent doing house work :). I haven't really been doing much of that since Christmas. You know, you have putting up Christmas decorations, baking, shopping, food preparations (constantly), wrapping. Then you have unwrapping, still food preparations and baking (only less), now you are returning and taking down decorations, among the many, many other chores, responsibilities I have not mentioned. There really isn't any time for cleaning. Plus when the kids are home it wouldn't be considered quality time if I were cleaning while everyone else sat together getting caught up and socializing.

I do have a new recipe that I'll be posting soon. So stay tuned for some deliciously moist scones. No more dry scones. These are great with or without additional butter. the base recipe is great and easily modified to add your own preferred favorites.

Dried Cherry and Almond Scones, coming soon.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

The New Year

The hustle and bustle of Christmas has come and gone.
We are now in the New Year and along with this comes the news that my friend Margaret Mary is not well. We have all experienced sadness in our lives, so we pray. During our kidney transplant there were many health issues that were and still are a concern, so we pray.
We pray for the safety of our troops; for Peace in the world; that God will guide our president elect; that the Bible will remain the basis for the laws governing our land; that Christianity will grow in the U.S. and in the world. We pray for our children, family, friends, those in tragedy, etc.

This news of Margaret comes and I am without words except to ask for your prayers: for strength in weakness, for God's support and mercy, for comfort and peace.

Most high, glorious God
cast your light into the darkness of our hearts.
Give us, Lord, right faith,
firm hope,
perfect charity
and profound humility,
with wisdom and perception,
so that we may carry out
what is truly your holy will.
Amen.
A prayer of St. Francis

In this New Year
while we pray and ask for so many things let us not forget
to praise God
for all the glorious wonders of this world,
and all the blessings we have received thus far.
Cherish every breath we take,
every moment of our lives.
Be thankful for:
our families, friends, and neighbors;
our health, our homes, our jobs,
our cars, our clothing, our food and drink.

Please feel free to add to my list of all that
we are thankful for.


Have a happy, holy and healthy New Year everyone!