D is for Dates

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Dates.  Odd fruits, these.  They seem like they should be like prunes are to plums, but they're not. 

This were one of several adventures in grocery shopping I had for this challenge. I've eaten these before, but they came in a bag of trail mix!   These were displayed in a large box with tongs in the produce department at Kroger.  I used the tongs to grabs some and put in a bag for the cashier.

Instead of some fancy recipe, I remembered reading in one of my smutty historical romance novels that they had dates stuffed with almonds at dinner. So I thought I'd try it!

I learned that there are pits in dates.  

So I sliced them down the side and popped the pit out with the tip of my knife. 

Then I folded 2 almonds into the opening.  

Overall, they were pretty tasty.  Dates are dense and only a little sweet, so they went very well with the salted almonds I used to stuff them with.  It was a nice light but filling snack. 

C is for Cactus Pear Fruit

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Cactus Pear Fruit.  

Have you ever seen one of these?  I never had until I was at Kroger one day.  I grabbed it, not knowing what the heck even to do with it.  You can eat the sweetish/sourish meat raw, but there are a lot of hard seeds.  I saw a lot of articles where the juice is mixed with lemonade or other beverages.  I was a rebel and mixed mine with yogurt. 

 I was lucky - mine came de-thorned. 

 But there are still really fine spines that get into your skin and itch like crazy.   

 Pretty!

Oh yeah - it stains, too. 

 I cut it into chunks & tossed it in the blender. 

 Then I strained the pulp thru several coffee filters. 

 Good ol' plain Greek yogurt and I put some Splenda in, too. 

It's a very vibrant shade of pink, and the flavor reminds me of possibly unripe watermelon with a bit of a bite to it.  It was a lot of work to get the little bit of liquid that I got, but it was pretty tasty. 

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Random weird food that fits with the letter of the day....

Chayote Squash
The sign at the store said has a sweet, mild, smooth skin and is a good source of fiber.
Add to soups or stir-fry.

B is for Banana Bread

My Theme

I like to make Banana Bread and Randy (and his fellow volunteers) like for me to send one or two along with him when he goes away for the weekend at events that he volunteers radio communications at. 

(Imagine a lovely pic of a steaming loaf of bread here - I couldn't find ripe bananas and mine didn't ripen in time before this post went up. )

Start out with your basic banana bread recipe....

3-4 smashed ripe bananas

1/3 c melted butter

1 c sugar

1 beaten egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1/3 c secret ingredient (amount varies due to mood!)

Preheat the oven to 350°F. With a wooden spoon, mix butter and the secret ingredient into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar, egg, and vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients and stir into the banana-y goodness. Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a knife stabbed into the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

my secret ingredient is......drumroll please!

Yup,  Malibu rum. 

The alcohol bakes off in the oven, so you can't get a buzz or anything.  It just leaves a lovely coconut flavor in the bread.   

This is a hit in my house!

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Random weird foods that fit the letter of the day....

 Banana Flowers

The sign at the store says they are slightly bitter & starchy, are good sources of Vitamins A & C and to steam them and add to soups & stews.

Bittermelon

The sign at the store said they are crunchy & juicy, full of beta carotene and they add zest to Asian dishes.

A is for Asparagus

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Asparagus, oh yummy stalks of green goodness.....

however could I make you better??

  

I know, ADD BACON !!!!

I never know what to do with asparagus, other than roasting it in the oven.  Yawn.  

So I simply wrapped a slice of bacon around 3 stalks of asparagus, popped it into a cold oven and turn it to 400 for about 25 minutes. 

I confess they're not the easiest to bite, due to the stringy asparagus.  If you're dainty, you could cut them up into manageable pieces, but I ended up just nomming them like a cow. 

Yum!

Friend Makin Monday's - hobbies

Happy Monday!  I'm glad that I'm finally feeling somewhat better - I got a lovely sore throat Wednesday & it's been crap since then. I even skipped going up north with my mom & sisters since I didn't think they'd want to be stuck in a car for 2+ hours each way with me coughing / sneezing / sniffling / etc.  And I didn't want to risk getting Mom sick, since she finally made an appointment to get her hip replaced! She's been needing it for a long time. 

On the plus side, I got to take Miss Angela to meet her stylist for the hair / fashion show she's modeling for.  And we got to attend the surprise baby shower for a teacher at her dance studio.  Don't worry - I was heavily medicated for each!



Happy Monday everyone.

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Hobbies and Games

1. Do you have a favorite board game?  I don't think I have a favorite, but I do like to play Scattergories and Cranium and silly games like those.

2. Do you have a favorite card game?  Again - not really.  We play Uno at family gatherings, but my mom is cut-throat!  No one wants to sit by her!

3. Do you play games on your phone?  I occasionally play solitaire, but I never got into the addicting games.

4. Do you prefer the x-box, playstation or wii?  I only have the Wii.  I'm pretty sure my Mii is dead by now, tho.  It's been a while.

5. Do you have a favorite outdoor hobby?  Gardening or taking the dog for a walk.  He watches close when I put certain shoes on, since he knows what they mean.

6. Have you ever been geocaching?  Yes - we haven't gone in a year or so, but we have done quite a few.  My favorite was a multi-cache in a cemetery where we had to find a bunch of stones with names of famous people and use the years to find the next step.  It was actually pretty obvious to see where the cache was going to be, but we played along for fun.

7. What’s your favorite hobby? I cross-stitch and just started a haunted house piece that I hope to finish by Halloween. I have a hard time working on that when it's warm out, so we'll see if it gets done.  I also like hidden object games on the computer.

8. Is there a hobby you would love to try but are too scared too?   Hmmm.  I can't think of anything I'm too scared to try.  I've tried bull-riding once - just to say I did.  I ended up face down in the arena with the wind knocked out of me and a hoof-print on the back of my calf.  

9. Do you enjoy doing puzzles?  I could take them or leave them.

10. Have you taken any classes in anything?  I used to go to weekly ceramics classes with my sisters (I was in high school) and I've taken an occasional belly-dance class, but nothing recent.

Woohooo!!  The A-Z Challenge starts tomorrow!  I'll still be posting my WW updates & FMM in addition to my a-z posts.  It's gonna be fun!!!!