Sunflowers for Tina, Interview, Dinner.

 
Last weekend we bloggers lost a beloved friend, Tina Downey. Tina loved sunflowers and today everyone is covering the web in sunflower yellow to celebrate her life. People were requested to plant sunflowers if they could. Having only a balcony I couldn’t do that, the next best thing was a vase of sunflowers. However, another blogger, Maurice Mitchell, said he was going to draw attention to the Pulmonary Hypertension Association on Tina’s behalf, which I think is a wonderful idea. This is a link to their website. www.phassociation.org/ I just wish we could all have sent Tina these sunflowers when she was still with us. I didn’t even know how much she liked sunflowers until after she died.

What can I say about Tina that hasn’t already been said by other people – I keep thinking of her as a Blithe Spirit. She was a wonderful person, always so upbeat, despite her ill health, lots of fun and very helpful. Her blog was called Life Is Good and she really subscribed to that idea. A wonderful woman. My heart goes out to her family. The world is poorer for her passing.

The family has set up the Downey Education Fund,which will go toward college tuition for Tina’s two boys. You can donate via PayPal by clicking on the button at the side.



Along with the celebration of Tina’s life, I am also being interviewed today by Alex J. Cavenaugh at the A to Z challenge blog site.

Saturday we went to a friend’s for supper. Had a delightful afternoon/evening. Sat outside for a little while although it was a tad chilly so we went indoors to eat. One thing we were served I particularly enjoyed was a different way of cooking beets.

Alice’s beets.

Peel raw beets. Grate them.
Peel and grate the onions.

Cook in water (bit of butter added) Until soft.(about an hour)
Add a little vinegar, sugar, salt to taste. Serve warm
These are really delicious and will certainly be on our table in the near future.

Have a great day

DVDs, Bowling, Tina’s Blogfest.

My birthday present from Matt which I bought for him to give me, arrived on Tuesday and I started watching it on Tuesday evening. It was three DVDs of the programme The First Churchill’s which was shown on BBC TV in 1969. I might add that I was a bit miffed to have to pay duty of $17 on the parcel, the DVDs were expensive enough as it was. I had forgotten just how good this series is, John Churchill is played by John Neville, a top English actor at the time and Sarah Churchill played by Susan Hampshire also very well known at the time. Both excellent actors. The whole cast is very good and I am particularly enjoying the actor playing Charles II. It is a very historical series as well as a love story of the Churchills. I need to do a bit of googling I think. One minute we (the English) are fighting Holland alongside France and the next we are fighting France alongside Holland. One of the English princesses was married to a Dutchman so I guess that made a difference. It really is an excellent show. Can’t recommend it highly enough. I know Amazon.com have it.

For the first time in I don’t know how many weeks, I had a really good day of bowling on Wednesday afternoon. Best scores I have had in I don’t know how long. Needless to say I was delighted although, of course, we are not playing in a league at the moment. Our winter league starts on September 8. I would like to think I will bowl well in the league. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Don’t forget the blogfest for Tina. If you haven’t signed up yet, click on the sunflower badge and it will take you to the linky list.

When we lived in North Carolina, around this time of the year people would tell you not to leave your car windows open or you would return to find it full of zucchini. Well, if you have an over abundance here is a good Kraft recipe for using them. I had never heard of arbol chiles so I looked them up and have provided a link.

Three-Cheese Stuffed Zucchini

Really, just one cheese would have sufficed to make our stuffed zucchini good. But we opted for zucchini greatness—with feta, mozzarella and Parmesan.

6 servings

What You Need

6 zucchini (3-1/2 lb.)
1 cup  KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese with a TOUCH OF PHILADELPHIA
1 pkg.   (4 oz.) ATHENOS Traditional Crumbled Feta Cheese
2 tsp.  oil
1 onion, chopped
3 arbol chiles, stemmed
1 clove  garlic, minced
1 can   (8 oz.) tomato sauce
1 Tbsp.  KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
3 cups  hot cooked long-grain brown rice

Make It

HEAT oven to 350ºF.
COOK zucchini in boiling water in large saucepan 5 to 7 min. or until tender; drain, reserving 1 cup cooking water. Cool zucchini.
CUT thin slice off stem end of each zucchini. Carefully scoop out centers, leaving 1/4-inch-thick shells. Chop removed zucchini; combine with mozzarella and feta cheeses.
HEAT oil in medium skillet on medium heat. Add onions, chiles and garlic; cook and stir 3 min. or until onions are crisp-tender. Remove from heat. Add half the onion mixture to zucchini mixture; spoon into zucchini shells. Place in 13x9-inch baking dish.
BLEND reserved water, tomato sauce and remaining onion mixture in blender until smooth; pour over stuffed zucchini shells. Cover.
BAKE 25 to 30 min. or until heated through. Sprinkle with Parmesan. Serve with rice.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

How to Make the Zucchini Shells
Use an apple corer to scoop out the centers of the cooked zucchini to make the shells.
Cooking Know-How For even cooking, pick zucchini that are similar in shape and size.
Substitute Prepare using Mexican zucchini.

Have a great day

Merger, Sunflowers for Tina.

Very much in the Canadian news at the moment is the proposed merger of Burger King and Canada’s top coffee/donut shop Tim Horton’s. The merger is apparently going through with Tim Horton’s accepting a bid of $94 a share – wish I had some of those shares. Why I am writing about this is I was amused by a picture I saw today of Timbits inside a burger bun. For those of you unfamiliar with Tim Horton’s, Timbits are a bit like the centres of donuts and people often buy them instead. I have also heard cracks about burger bits. I do hope it won’t make too much difference to Tim Horton’s. I don’t patronise Burger King so I don’t know what they are like but Tim Horton’s donuts are often provided for get togethers or our Travel Leagues and it is a treat I usually make room for. Although over the years they have discontinued two of my favourite donuts.

I have just received this from Alex J Cavenaugh -

In memory of Tina Downey, the A to Z Team is hosting a sunflower tribute on September 8, 2014 – Remembering Tina Downey.
Prior to that date, purchase or plant a sunflower in her honor. (If you have to resort to plastic, that’s cool.) Take a photo of your sunflower and post in in her memory on Monday, September 8. Tina loved her sunflowers, and we want to splash the blogging world with sunflowers that day and honor a truly amazing woman who was friend and family to so many.
You can sign up now or add your link when you post your sunflower.
Please help us spread the word! Let’s brighten the Internet with sunflowers the way Tina brightened the lives of so many.

This will appear on the A to Z blog site and on Alex’s site too with the linky list. Tina’s blog was at http://kmdlifeisgood.blogspot.com/


This recipe came from Incredible Eggs and appealed to me. It seemed like a very easy supper to prepare.

Pad Thai (Thai-Style Noodles, Sprouts and Eggs)

A classic Thai dish. Add tofu or extra vegetables for a filling meatless meal.

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 cup fresh bean sprouts (3 oz.)

1 jar OR can (7 to 8-3/4 oz.) whole baby corn, drained
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1/2 cup fresh straw mushrooms (2 oz.)
4 EGGS
3/4 tsp. garlic powder
4 oz. uncooked rice noodles OR vermicelli pasta, cooked, drained
1/2 cup bottled Pad Thai sauce

Directions

Step 1
COMBINE bean sprouts, baby corn, green onions and peanuts in medium bowl; toss.
Step 2
COAT large nonstick saucepan with cooking spray; heat over medium heat until hot. ADD mushrooms; sauté until tender, 3 to 4 minutes.
Step 3
BEAT eggs and garlic powder in small bowl until blended; pour over mushrooms. COOK, stirring to break up eggs, until eggs are still moist but no visible liquid egg remains.
Step 4
ADD noodles, sauce and bean sprout mixture. COOK, tossing gently with 2 spoons, until heated through.

Have a great day

Weather Disasters, Sunflowers for Tina.

The meteorologists keep telling us we are going to have severe rain storms which do not materialise. We have had a little rain lately but really not very much. I am not complaining mind you, when you see all the weather problems in the States and even down the road from here. Friends who live in Burlington posted a picture of their back yard awash and various areas around them flooded. They, themselves, were lucky apparently and didn’t get a flooded basement. When you see some of the horror stories from the States lately with people being flooded, their cars being washed away, others with their house burned to the ground and more destroyed by tornadoes. We do get tornadoes in Ontario, but not often I’m glad to say.

Our much beloved blogging friend, Tina Downey of Life is Good, is suffering from health problems and although a few days ago she appeared to be on the road to recovery, she is back in ICU again. A group of us are planning to have a kind of vigil for her at the same time every day where we will either pray for her or send our strongest thoughts of healing to her all at the same time. We believe that enough positive thoughts being aimed in her direction at one time will help considerably. The times we will be doing this are as follows:

3.00pm Eastern Time
2.00pm Central Time
1.00pm Mountain Time
Noon Pacific Time
9am Hawaii Time

However, should you wish to join in, and not be in the above time zones, here is a link which will assist you to figure out the right time in your part of the world. http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html
We do hope you will be able to join in with us.

Here’s a delicious sounding recipe. I used to make Indian curries a lot once upon a time but haven’t in a long while. You can make them as hot and spicy as you like of course.

Quick Thai Chicken and Vegetable Curry

WebMD Recipe from EatingWell.com

Curry quick enough for a weeknight supper - especially if you use precut cauliflower and baby spinach.

Ingredients

2 teaspoons canola oil
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1- to 2-inch-long julienne strips
1 medium onion, halved and sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1-2 teaspoons red curry paste, to taste (see Ingredient note)
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup “lite” coconut milk
1 tablespoon fish sauce, or reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups cauliflower florets
2 cups baby spinach
1 tablespoon lime juice
Lime wedges

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper and onion; cook, stirring often, until beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and curry paste; stir to mix. Add chicken and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in broth, coconut milk, fish sauce (or soy sauce) and brown sugar; bring to a simmer. Add cauliflower, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and the cauliflower is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in spinach and lime juice; cook just until spinach has wilted. Serve immediately, with lime wedges. Vegetarian variation: Substitute 1 pound extra-firm tofu (drained) for the chicken and vegetable broth for chicken broth. Tip

Ingredient Note: A blend of chile peppers, garlic, lemongrass and galanga (a rhizome with a flavor similar to ginger), commercial Asian curry paste is a convenient way to add heat and complexity to a recipe. Look for it in small jars or cans in the Asian section of the store. Brands differ in spiciness so use sparingly. Once opened, it will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 year.

Have a great day