It's Spring!! Special Menu to Celebrate!

One of our family traditions is to have a special meal when the season changes ..

Today is the first day of Spring ...

 

So we enjoyed

 

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin

 (with spiced apples and bacon)

Rosemary Potatoes

 

for dessert ... yogurt fruit bombe with apples, strawberries and bananas

 

 

... both are really easy to make ...

and I found the potatoes in the freezer section of a local grocery.

 

Even better ... DH was off

(normally he works evenings),

so no rush to make this for lunch!

 

Do you celebrate a  change of seasons?

I would love to hear of your traditions ~

Holly

 

 

 

 

 

Check out my German Easter Tree!

Germans decorate trees, bushes, branches ...

indoors and out with eggs for Easter.

Lots and lots of eggs!

Yesterday, I saw a huge, green pine garland wrapped with egg loops ..

 

DH and I have been visiting Easter Markets

the last few weekends ~

these markets focus on decorated eggs

 (beaded, drilled, painted, embossed and more)

 and other spring yard and home décor items.

 

I have two trees ~ here's one with the eggs bought over the last two years ~
 

 

Do you do anything special

to welcome Spring

into your home and life?

 

Would love to hear what you do ~

Please share.

 

Holly

 

Happy Pi Day!

Today is Pi Day ~

 

PI= 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510

 

March 14 is written (American style) as 3/14

 

On the news, it was brought out that today is also a once every century event ..

 

3.1415 (the first 5 characters of the Pi calculation).

 

Time to go eat some pie ...

How are you going to celebrate Pi Day?

 

 

 

Holly

 

 

Irish Ham and Potato Pie

"Irish" Ham and Potato Pie

 

6 large eggs
1/2 cup green onions chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups cooked diced potatoes 
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese
1 cup diced cooked ham
1/2 cup finely chopped red or green bell pepper
1/2 cup half-and-half or milk

 

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 9-inch pie pan.

Mix together eggs, onions, salt and pepper in large bowl.

Add potatoes, cheese, ham, bell pepper and half and half to egg mixture.
Stir to blend. Pour into pie pan.

Bake until tested done when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Could be 50-minutes or up to 1 hour 30 minutes. 

Cut into wedges to serve.

Makes 4 to 8 servings.

 

 

Holly's notes:  This last time, only had medium eggs in the house ~ so I used seven instead of six large eggs.  Also used about 3-1/2 cups of potato (couldn't see tossing the last bits of the potatoes) and only 1-cup of shredded cheese.  Forgot to add the milk entirely ... oops.   But since I had included the extra 1/2-cup of potato, that was probably for the best.   The pan was completely full and if I added anything more - it would have over-flowed.   Still turned out fine.   Pretty forgiving recipe.   Mine only had to cook for about 50-minutes.

 

Most likely will make the same changes the next time  I make this.  Uses things that I commonly have in the house (other than the ham ... rarely do I buy ham --- though we both love it).

Caricature talents

While wandering through the Frankfurt Easter Market last weekend,

came across this artist sketching a client.

Pretty good likeness ~~

Surprised the shot came out as good as it did .. was taken on the fly.

Wish I could draw more than stick figures ....

Holly

Owl placements I made

The local shops have been featuring oilcloth quite a bit recently.

Saw this owl patterned one and it struck my fancy (and sense of humor!).

 

Bought enough to make a table covering for our lava table

(it's an odd size due to the lava slab size it was created from).

 

Cut out some placemats from the leftover piece.

Kinda fun and kicky !

Hummm... need to have the neighbors over for dinner soon and use these.

Holly 



Suspicious Kitty

Watching DH and I closely as we pass by on our morning walk ...

DH said Kitty was hoping for a mouse in our pockets ...

Holly

Bunnies ... bunnies ... who has the bunnies ?

Dh and I visited an Easter Market up in Frankfurt over the weekend.

These was a new experience for us ...

 

DH found one for his tummy  ~ I found one for our Easter Tree ~

Good day for both of us ~

Holly



Happy International Women's Day !

Happy International's Women's Day ! 

 

DH and I got flowers for three of our neighbors!

Here is the set he bought for me.

I hope you can celebrate the day with a special female in your life !

Holly



Ultra- Easy, Yummy-in-the-Tummy Mac N Cheese Muffins ... really good!!

A friend shared this with me recently --

just got around to trying it this week.

 

Oh my.. they are wonderful! 

And easy to put together ~

Decided to make over-sized muffin sized ones and not normal size ones this time.

DH took some to work for his dinner.

 

 

Mac and Cheese Cups  

 

2 cups uncooked macaroni (I used shells, Bonnijean used elbows - doesn't matter)
1 Tbl. butter
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese 
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese 
1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
2 tsp. olive oil
Salt, to taste

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin tin (or a mini muffin tin, depending on the size you want) with nonstick cooking spray.

Stir together the bread crumbs, oil and salt. Set aside.

Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling water, for about 8 min. Remove from heat, drain, and return to pan. Add the butter and egg and stir until the pasta is evenly coated. Save out 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese and stir the remaining cheddar, mozzarella and milk into the pasta.

Spoon the noodles into the muffin tin. Sprinkle the top with the reserved cheese and the bread crumb mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from pan.

 

Comments:  I only used about a cup each of the cheeses.    The olive oil I used was from my garlic jar (When I get garlic, I separate the head of garlic into the separate teeth and then store the teeth in just enough olive oil to cover the teeth.  The garlic stays usable for a long time in the fridge and then I have flavored oil to use in cooking.)  Anyway, this gave the crumb topping a bit of a garlic taste ... which was a nice accent to the macaroni and cheese. 

 

Really good recipe ... will make this often.  Thanks bunches, Bonnijean!

 

Holly

 

 

 

 



Looking over Weilerbach

 

It was a nice day ~ so DH and I wandered up to the overlook to take photos.

Our home is off to the left outside the picture ...

These are the Catholic and Protestant churches.

Part of the Catholic Church building is documented back to the 1100's.

 

Is there a place in your town you enjoy spending time?

Holly



Special delivery from Buckingham Palace !

 

I feel so special!

In the post was a letter from Buckingham Palace!!

 

I have long admired Queen Elizabeth II for her dignity and pose.

While I may not agree with all of her decisions ...

but in many ways, I believe she has been a great role model for the world.

 

I sent her a short note a few months ago - just to say I admired her.

not expecting any type of response ~ but ... one came !!

Granted it's a form letter and signed by a lady-in-waiting ...

that's okay.

 

 

Over the last few months, I have been sending quite a few letters out to all sorts of people (public and private) thanking them for sharing their talents with the world, or aspects and behaviors that I admire about them ... or just being part of my life.

This is the first response I have gotten back.  Cool Beans!!

 

What has totally made your day?

Has anyone told you that you made a difference?

Have YOU shared with someone else the positive effect THEY have had on you?

 

Holly

Laundry room re-do

DH and I picked up some shelves today for

our laundry room ~

since we rent, can't paint the room

(would love light rose color walls)

~~ this looks so much better than it was before !

 

Before the shelves, we'd just toss the kitchen towels into a pile on the floor

(I go through a lot - at least two a day) ~

and the baby blankets I make for charity would be piled on the washer until I had a full load.

 

Now I have baskets to corral them both ~

that's a roll-up ironing pad on the top. 
Before I could iron on washer ~ need to find
a new place now.

 

Don't you love the "tin" laundry room box?

Found it in a Sicilian flea market

 a few years  ago... brand new!

 

What have you done to simplify

or organize your life?

Always on the look-out for more ideas!    Holly