If you’ve been reading my posts, you’ll know that I really really really like lamb. And, also, that I really really really like squash. So — when you put those two together, you have perfection! (Well, at least in my eyes …)
The Peppery Herb Lamb Sausage had a little kick to it, i.e. spicy tasting. It does have 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper that adds a burst of flavor to it. But, don’t let that deter you if you don’t like spicy foods because I don’t like to use any spice in my food yet somehow this was a big hit for me.
Peppery Herb Lamb Sausage with Squash
The squash has cumin and coriander in the list of ingredients and made for a perfect combination.
There were no leftovers of these two recipes. Sigh! Next time we need to make a double portion.
The snow is thawing, albeit ever so slowly, so the only place we could hang it is outside the sliding glass doors and over the deck. It’s not the best place to hang it since we’ll get bird poop on our deck once they come to feed. So, it’s a temporary place until we can figure out where to permanently place it so that only the birds can eat from it — no deer or squirrels.
It sure is a pretty bird feeder and I’m glad it has a timer to allow food to come out when we’re around to view the birds.
It is rare when we have the same meal twice on this paleo diet that we’re trialling. The variety of recipes that we’ve tried is unbelievable.
It reminds me of a friend I have in Seattle who got married and his wife told him that she would never cook the same meal twice in a year. So, for 365 days he had a different meal every time he went home.
Isn’t that extraordinary? It takes a lot of thought and planning not to cook the same meal twice.
Today we had Salmon Patties with Onion Rings and a Winter Citrus Salad. Â Yes, I know winter is technically over but the salad can be had any time of the year or whenever you can find pomegranates.
Salmon Patties, Onion Rings and Winter Citrus Salad
“You must not get out much,” I can hear people say, because the combination of ingredients in this salad again overwhelmed me with delight.
Oranges, pomegranate seeds, almonds, fennel … wow! And this was the first time I ever tasted pomegranates. Can you believe that???!! It’s true! Hmmm … maybe I don’t get out much. (laughing)
And I really liked the salmon patties. They were a little on the soft side — not very firm — but that didn’t affect the taste.
I didn’t expect my son to make paleo onion rings also. That was the biggest surprise to me. Granted they are baked and not fried so don’t have the same crispiness to them but they were good nonetheless. The recipe calls for almond meal instead of regular flour so the taste is a tad different but not much.
Paleo, paleo — so many new things to eat on this paleo diet.
There are many steps one needs to take before starting to remodel a bathroom and when the bathroom is the master bath, it makes it even more important, especially if you eventually want to sell your house.
My husband suggested (which I hadn’t even considered) to go to open houses and look at what new materials are being used. So, last weekend, we headed to the 2013 Parade of homes. The houses we looked at were all new and ranged in price from $375K to $735K.
When we entered the first house, we recognized the builder as he was one we considered buying a house from a couple of years ago when we were in the market for a new house. He didn’t recognize us though. The style of house was pretty much the same as what he has built in the past so I didn’t expect to see too many new options.
We walked through the house and eventually came upon the master bathroom. Sure enough, the bathroom fixtures and tile were pretty similar to the ones we had seen in the past.
New Master Bathroom
I have never liked the middle cabinet that builders install between the sinks, have you? The shape of the sink and the granite countertop looked nice although the granite might be a tad too dark for me.
Master Bathroom Sink
The shower stall was tiled which is nice but the tile the builder used was too common. Nothing unique here. Oh — but wait. What’s that to the left of the shower stall?
Master Bathroom Shower
This looks interesting. I had never seen robe hooks that were installed on a piece of wood. Normally people install the hooks on the wall or behind a door but this gives the hooks and the wall a nice clean look.
Master Bathroom Hooks
The placement of the corner tub looks pretty similar to ours. I wish that the fixtures were someplace else though. It makes it hard to get in and out of the tub unless you’re really tall. Any thoughts on why builders don’t give this more consideration?
Master Bathroom Corner Tub
As I was exiting the bathroom, I noticed a sign that said “NO PHOTOGRAPHY.” Oops! Oh well, I won’t mention the builder (his loss) since he doesn’t want people to see what he’s done. Or, perhaps he doesn’t want anyone to steal his design ideas?
Onward to the next house!
Looks like granite is still being used in a lot of master bathrooms. This one has a one handle fixture and different tiles as a backsplash instead of matching granite. I’m not sure it “flows” right but I do like the sink and the granite countertop isn’t too bad.
Master Bathroom Sink
In this house, they used an old fashioned looking tub. The inside of the tub seems small though and doesn’t lend itself to “lounging” in the tub. Hmm … lounging in the tub … I don’t think I’ve heard anyone call it that before. (laughing) The one thing I DO like about this arrangement is that they have the fixtures in the back so you don’t have to maneuver around them when you get in the tub. Notice the tile around the tub itself? It’s rectangular and I think looks very pretty.
Master Bathroom Old Tub
Here’s a closer view of the large tile around the tub. Yes, I do like these tiles.
Tile
The floor tile matches the rectangular wall tall but it’s shaped differently. The large tile on the floor looked really nice and gave the room an airy feeling.
Large Tile in Master Bathroom
The guest bathroom tub looked too small for soaking in and the tile, again, was “common.” Nothing special.
Guest Bathroom Tub
Onward to the next house! The countertop in this house looked like it was marble but I don’t believe it was.
Master Bathroom Countertop
Here’s a closer look … Can you tell if it’s granite or marble? It had a very soft feel to it.
Master Bathroom Countertop
The rest of this bathroom wasn’t very exciting so that was it for this house.
Onward to the next house! Â The house we looked at next was a LOT less expensive so they used cheaper materials. I am not sure what this next countertop was made out of — formica? Â It was plain white and they matched the mirror frames to it to help it “flow” but it just wasn’t very appealing to me.
New Bathroom Countertop
They also added tile for the backsplash, perhaps to give it some pizazz? It didn’t work for me though. I did like the backsplash though.
Tile Backsplash
This next house had an interesting feature that I really liked – a round corner tub which I found very appealing. The layout of this area is exactly like my bathroom with two windows on each side of the wall. I think the tile could use a little “umph” — (you know, pizazz)Â (laughing) — but overall I liked the arrangement. Â And did you notice that the fixtures aren’t in the way of your getting into the tub? Â Nice Mr. Builder!
Corner Round Tub
Onward to the next house which also had some nice features that I would consider. First, the floor tile was nice and I liked that it was laid at an angle instead of straight. And look at the beautiful blue color on the wall! Ooh la la!
Angled Floor Tile
Next, I liked the granite countertop. It looks kind’ve old fashioned but I think I could work with it.
Granite Countertop
Lastly, the shower stall was quite different from anything I’d seen so far. Â (The tub wasn’t quite as exciting though). I like the way the shower has a glass divider and you walk “around the divider” to take your shower.
New Shower Stall
Here’s a closer view. Granted, the tile is a little bland but that’s something that can be taken care of pretty quickly. I like simplicity but not blandness.
New Shower Stall
And that was it for our new house tour. Is there one particular countertop, tub or shower stall you liked?
Our next step is to look at Bathroom Magazines. After that we should have a fairly good idea of what we want.
Although most days I have leftovers for lunch, this time my son made a Summer Chicken Salad that was quite tasty.
Summer Chicken Salad
Unlike the other chicken salads I’ve had, this one was different in that it had grapes along with chicken and slivered almonds, a combination of ingredients that I never would have thought would go together.
But this combination did work well together and made for a filling lunch. I didn’t have anything else to go along with it. Just chicken salad.
The older I get, the simpler I like things to be when it comes to food. Any older folks out there know what I mean? Or am I the only older one out here? Â (smiles)
I didn’t take a “pretty” picture of this Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie because I don’t want you, especially if you’re trying to eat paleo, to like it too much. (smiling)
But, quite honestly, this cookie was delicious.
Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie
One ingredient, the sunflower seed spread, does have agave syrup in it so that probably made the cookie sweeter than most paleo people like to eat.
But this is a once-in-a-while dessert and not something that you will be eating everyday — at least, I hope not.
You have to like chicken, prunes, capers and green olives in order to like this dish. Do I have your attention?
Yes — prunes. Before you pass on this post, let me tell you that the Chicken Marbella actually tasted very good with prunes. My problem with the recipe was with the green olives — they just didn’t seem like they belonged with this recipe. And, I LIKE green olives.
Chicken Marbella
If I were to make this recipe, I would exclude the green olives but keep the prunes. They added a nice sweet flavor to the chicken. Very tasty!
The side dish we had was a Roasted Eggplant and Garlic Salad. Well, what can I say about it? First, I’m not a big eggplant fan although I have had eggplant parmesan and other vegetarian recipes that include eggplant that tasted okay. This one though — well, it was not my favorite. The eggplant seemed slimy. Seems like I use that term when things slip and slide in my mouth. (laughing)
To me, it was kind’ve like eating mushrooms and I’m not a fan of mushrooms either.
Roasted Eggplant and Garlic Salad
But you can try it and see if you like it, no? For people who like eggplant this will probably be a great dish!
Chicken Marbella with Roasted Eggplant and Garlic Salad
When I was younger, my mother used to make bacalao fritters, a Puerto Rican cod fritter.  So when my son made these fritters they reminded me a little bit of what I used to have growing up. They’re not the same but still brought back the memory.
These Cod Fritters were quite tasty and included sweet potatoes in the filling (my favorite). With fish, one normally has tartar sauce, right? Â We had homemade tartar sauce that complemented the fritters very well.
Cod Fritters
The cod fritters were served with a tomato and cucumber salad and baked sweet potato fries. Yum!
Tomato Cucumber SaladBaked Sweet Potato Fries
Another paleo dinner hit!
(Note: Â The Puerto Rican bacalao fritters can be bought at most stores or online (click on the picture below to buy them online). However, if you purchase them in a box, remember that you don’t get a whole lot of fish … just so you’re not surprised if you decide to try them.
I recently read a blog post called Down and Outers and it really made me think about how I sometimes judge people by their looks and how God looks past our “outsides” to the inmost part of our beings and wants to have fellowship with us.
As I sit here, the sun is streaming in through the window and brightens my day. So too, the Son (Jesus) streams into my life and refreshes me every day in spite of how much of a mess I’ve made of it. I am so thankful for this.
So, goulash is basically a stew — a nice hearty and fill-your-stomach kind’ve stew.
Hungarian Goulash usually has paprika as one of the ingredients and this one was no exception. The ingredients call for lard, tallow, olive oil or butter — we used olive oil in ours.
Side note: I remember that when we moved to Minnesota from Seattle, we brought our Hungarian Paprika with us. I don’t recall how old it was though (laughing) but it was a large container and I didn’t use it too often (although when I made scalloped potatoes I would use it).
Hungarian Goulash
The beef was really tender in this stew (a good thing) probably because it simmered for approximately 1.5 hours. It kind’ve reminded me of when my mother makes Carne Guisada (a Puerto Rican beef stew).
This goulash was filling but we still had a side dish –Â Cabbage Stuffed Peppers which I found quite delightful. I know, I know, you wouldn’t think of cabbage as being delightful, would you? But I did. There was a sweetness to the cabbage and the peppers also tasted sweet.
Cabbage Stuffed Peppers
The strange thing about the Cabbage Stuffed Peppers? I didn’t know I was eating cabbage. It’s true! I had to ask my son what the peppers were filled with in order for me to know. I believe that’s a good thing since I know a lot of people don’t like cabbage although I’m not sure why.
This would be a good recipe to try on someone who doesn’t like cabbage — but they do need to like peppers. Â (smile)
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