"Girls Day Out" in the city

Hey Everyone....my sister's daughter, Penny, is here for a quick summer visit from out west to help us celebrate my Mom's 87th birthday on Friday.  Us girls took a quick trip to the city to pick up some supplies.  Here are some pics....

My niece, Tonya had a fabulous dinner prepared when we arrived on Sunday evening...complete with appetizers and dessert... 

Here's Tonya, making sure everyone had lots of wine with their dinner...

On Monday, we started out with a fabulous brunch at Bagel Cafe in downtown St. John's

From left to right---Tonya (Niece), Rana (Daughter), Penny (Niece visiting from Alberta), and Sister Brenda

 After our bellies were full from brunch, we set out on a leisurely stroll around downtown.....We grabbed dessert after brunch at the Newfoundland Chocolate Company.....YUMMY!!!!!!!!

All that walking made us thirsty, so we popped into Bivver for a cold beverage......

We walked some more and worked up an appetite for a little treat from the Ziggy Peelgood truck on Water Street.  We had fries with loads of malt vinegar....can't you just smell them!!??!

After a great day with these beautiful ladies....my daughter, sister and nieces, we were all happy to go back to Rana & Mark's house and relax.  Mark barbecued some great chicken and we finished our day together with a light supper of chicken and salads.  I am sooo lucky!!

Rana's centerpiece of fresh cut hydrangea blooms, from her flower garden

I had a nice little get-away for a night with those who are dearest....family.

Cheers ;o)

Off the radar

Hey everyone

I've been totally "off the radar" for awhile. 

My Mom, who will be 87 on August 24th, has been having some issues with her health and after many blood tests, a colonoscopy, two CT scans, and finally an MRI, we've made some disturbing discoveries.  She has to have part of her bowel removed and there are some issues with her liver.

So, as you can imagine, I haven't been putting much thought into blogging, however I do check my regular blogs every night.

Cheers

"Best-Ever" Chocolate Chip Muffins

"Best-Ever" Chocolate Chip Muffins

Sift together and set aside:

2 1/2 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment in place, whisk together on
high speed until foamy and slightly stiffened.

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix together in a measuring cup with a spout:

1/4 cup melted butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Slowly add the oil and butter mixture to the egg mixture in a slow stream as the
mixer continues to whisk.

Mix together

1/2 cup whipping cream

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Add slowly to the mixing bowl continuing to mix but at a reduced speed.

Fold in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula being careful not to over mix.
Don't worry about lumps in the batter, they are fine. When the dry ingredients are
almost incorporated, gently fold in  1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips.

(I use 3/4 cup white chocolate and 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips)

Spoon batter into well greased muffin tins, filling them to the top.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven for about 20 minutes or until a wooden skewer
inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Here's how mine looked ....

Stuffed Zucchini

I am always stumped about what to do with those huge zucchini that I am so fortunate to be gifted every year about this time.  I've tried relishes, cakes, muffins, even marmalade, and I love them all, but this year I really wanted to try something different.  I found some recipes online for stuffed Zucchini.  Most of the recipes didn't cook the zucchini before stuffing.  I was afraid that the zucchini would be tough, so I came up with a recipe of my own, using a variation of my meatball/meatloaf recipe for the stuffing.  It was delicious!!!!

Here's my recipe......

Stuffed Zucchini

1 large zucchini (sliced in half, lengthwise)

1 1/2 pounds extra lean ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup dried bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

1 cup diced fresh tomatoes

1 can condensed tomato soup

1/4 cup each of green pepper, red or yellow pepper, zucchini, green onion and celery (finely chopped)

1/2 tsp minced garlic

Dash of salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (175 degrees C).

Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise. With a spoon, scoop out the seeds.

Place prepared zucchini half on a cookie sheet face down, then cover bottom of sheet with water.  

Bake at 350* for 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, fry ground beef, peppers, chopped veggies, garlic and seasonings until well cooked.

Add tomato soup, bread crumbs and egg, stirring well.

Remove zucchini from oven, turn upright and season with a dash of salt & pepper.

Place zucchini on a baking sheet, mound up meat mixture in the cavity, then top with cheese

Bake at 350* for 30 minutes, or until cheese bubbles and turns golden brown.

NOTE*****

I didn't actually slice the zucchini in half.  You need to be sure you'll have lots of

 room for stuffing, so on this one,it was more like 2/3 to a 1/3.  I then used a pieces

 from the smaller portion for the stuffing mixture.

Here's how it looked.....

It was Yummy!!!!!!

Gazebo is finally finished!!!!!