Fresh Dill Tzattziki with Salmon and new potatoes

I went to the farmers market. I love buying the beautiful fresh produce in season. Then comes the task of deciding how I am actually going to prepare it. I am as guilty as anyone for not always getting to it in time and letting things go to waste. This time  I bought minimal and am trying to use it all this week.

Fresh Dill Tzatziki

Ingredients

1 bunch dill ( washed and stemmed)
6 cloves garlic
1 lemon (juice and zest)
Sea salt and pepper
1 Cup Bulgarian whole milk yogurt

Mix it all together in food processor. This comes out more liquid than thick. I store it in a blender ball container in the fridge.

I serve this as a side sauce for a baked salmon and roasted new potatoes .

Baked Salmon
2 salmon filets
Rub olive oil on them and what ever spice rub you have in your cabinet. I used a citrus rub from pampered chef

Bake at 400 for 15 mins

Garnish with capers if you like. I just served it with the tzatziki

Roasted New Potatoes

4 small new potatoes wash, leave peels on, quarter
Toss them with olive oil and a spice rub. I once again used the citrus rub from papered chef as it was handy I roasted in oven at 400 degrees for 35 mins. The tztaiki was great on the potatoes as well.

TZATZIKI AND BROCCOLI TUNA CASSEROLE

Ingredients
1 head of broccoli- florets only steamed, then chopped
1 small jar mushrooms, drained, chopped
1/2 package of egg noodles cooked
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can of tzatziki ( fill soup can with tzatziki)

Garnish : French fried onions

Mix together as you would a traditional tuna casserole heat thru and garnish with French fried onions

Kathy's Yellow Summer Squash Soup

Kathy's Yellow Summer Squash Soup

 

I love the farmers market and this time I took a client. He bought loads of stuff. I thought I was being frugal with what I was buying for my house. But after cooking his stuff for him the past 2 weeks. I am burned out and several things I bought have wilted and gone to the chickens, turtles and bunny.

 

I looked for recipes on line and ended up modifying several I found.

 

This will serve 4

 

2 yellow crook neck squash chopped

1 small yellow onion chopped

1 6 inch sprig rosemary (stemmed)

1 lemon zested/juiced

2 cloves garlic sliced

salt and pepper

1 can vegetable broth

1/2 C heavy cream

 

Optional garnish with shredded parmesan cheese and crumbled bacon.

 

I put the first 7 ingredients in the pot. Brought it to a boil and let it simmer for 30 mins or so til things were tender. I used my immersion blender and puréed everything til smooth then added about 1/2 a cup or less of heavy cream . I topped it with shredded parmesan cheese, crumbled bacon would have been a nice addition as a garnish as well

 

 

Its Nice to be appreciated

Glamourous

Boudoir photos taken at my home by Wesley Knapp

 

Not too bad for selfies

 

Taken at Bettina Mays 1940 Pin up girl class

Kathy's 4 Great Summer Salad Recipes

 

Kathy's Chickpea Salad

 

1 can chickpeas -drained

1/2 each red, orange, yellow bell pepper diced

1 small onion diced

1 small can sliced black olives

zest of one lemon and juice

1 bunch of cilantro chopped

1/2 jar Maries creamy Italian dressing

mix, chill, serve

Kathy's modified Russian Salad

 

1/2 each red, yellow, orange bell pepper diced

3 stalks celery diced

3 carrots peeled and diced

1/2 red onion sliced thin

1 bunch of radishes sliced thin

1 bunch parsley chopped

salt and pepper

vinegar

 

I prefer to use a rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar as it is less acidic on the taste.

chill and serve

 

Kathy's Beet ,walnut and feta salad

 

1 can chopped beets drained

1 bunch green onions chopped

1/4 c walnuts

1/4 c feta

1 bunch parsley chopped

splash of vinegar and oil

dash of salt and pepper

 

toss, chill and serve

                                                    

                                                Cucumber Salad
1 English cucumber peeled,halved and sliced into half moons
1/2 onion sliced in half moons
1/2 tsp dill and dill and celery seed mixed
1/2 bunch parsley or dill chopped
salt and pepper
1/2 c vinegar ( I like to use a mint lemongrass vinegar or a honey ginger)

The Garden 20114

 

Greg planting the garden

Lots of pretty posies

 

The garden all planted

 

The chickens having a tea party

Mary Kay Spring Fling

White Tea and Lavender bath soak spa sundaes $5

I have all the new Mary Kay for Spring in Stock

 

Satin hands mini gift baskets for Spring $15

 

 

Vanilla Satin Hands full size basket $40

 

Lemon Parfait  Pedicure set $34

My New sewing Machine

My parents got me a new singer sewing machine for my birthday. I have made  a few items pictured here. I didn't have any patterns , so I think I did pretty good for being a newbie and starting from scratch.
I have some great fabric I want to make a maxi dress with but I don't have the confidence level to do that one just yet.

Estate Sale

I happened to see a lady I generally see in passing around town having an estate sale. I stopped in and found this great bag. It is in perfect condition and still has the original lock and key. What a great retro find. I also picked up a cheese dome made from the top of a gallon wine jug. I love it and it goes great with the boats motif. I also found several pieces of pressed depression era glass and cute art deco cordial glasses.

The lady Elaine who was having the sale is 93 years old. She has lived in that house since she was 21. Her granddaughter lives several hours away and is the only living family she has, so she is moving there to live with her.

Up til last summer I would see Elaine on her riding mower , mowing the acre her house sets on.

MARY KAY CAREER CONFERENCE--GALVESTON 2014

There were lots of women at the conference. I chose to go to the one locally to save on hotel, parking and gas. I am glad I didn't spend the extra money to go to Dallas. Truthfully I did not not enjoy the career conference at all. The most enjoyable part was the 3 vendors they had onsite. I bought all the MK pins you see on my jacket, a great leopard purse, and MK gift certificates for my customers.

My reasons for not liking the conference are: 1. The chairs were attached and each seat was directly in front of the other, so I couldn't see. 2. When a guest speaker was up they were not projected on the giant video screen so I never even saw them. 3. The basic feel of the conference was cold. 4. I didn't learn anything that I haven't already learned in a weekly meeting. 5. If anything the career conference demotivated me and I felt like I got suckered out of 90$ ( I did receive cosmetics in my welcome packet which I will sell in my stock.)

Many people say seminar is much better, but I don't foresee myself spending over 800$ to attend it.

I like my Mary Kay just how it is with local weekly meetings and instruction.

 

 

 

MAMMOGRAM HORROR STORY

In January like most people I decided to start it doing all the right things. So I made an appointment to have a mammogram. I had the original mammogram and within 2 weeks received a letter saying I had dense breasts and needed to come back for an additional mammogram and ultra sound.

This was the worst mistake of my life. This second mammogram was the most painful thing I have experienced. I have a high tolerance for pain , so when I have tears in my eyes and tell the technician its too much, then by God its too much. Instead of stopping the compression or backing off she cranked it down 3 more times.

The pain was excruciating . The ultra sound followed and I was told I would need to come back for a biopsy.

Not once had I ever seen the doctor. All this is coming from technicians.

That night my breasts hurt so bad and felt feverish. I was in so much pain, I didn't sleep a wink. I looked at my breasts in the mirror and saw that a vein had been ruptured and my breasts were bruised.

I called the office and said I need the doctor to call me and explain why I need this biopsy and tell her how much pain I am in. The woman on the phone said someone would call me. No one did.

A few days before the biopsy as scheduled a woman calls to move up my appointment. I said absolutely not. I have had to wear a compression sports bra for 2 weeks because of the pain I am still having from the mammogram and I cant even get a call from this fucking doctor to tell me why I need a biopsy. There is no frigging way I am letting someone shove an ice pick in my tits for shits and giggles.

The woman said a little discomfort is normal. I said this is not normal. My breasts were crushed. I have crush injuries and a vein was ruptured. She tried to convince me that I had to have this biopsy because they had seen microcalcifications and they were non lateral. After a few phone calls the woman calls back says oh no your mammogram is fine just come back in 6 months.

The pain subsided after about 3 weeks but returned right about the time of my menstrual cycle when my breasts generally swell.

I have decided to never subject myself to this again.

I talked to several women who had similar experiences and one from church who actually had to be taken by ambulance from the mammogram clinic and has had to have 2 plastic surgeries from an injury caused in the clinic.

Shortly afterwards I heard a discussion on NPR about a Canadian research report that says mammograms do not save any more lives than normal detection. That women are forced to have additional mammgrams and biopsies that are unneeded.

The scare tactics and mental anguish , pain, injury and suffering I went thru I would not wish on anyone. I cried for weeks. I truly felt violated.

THE MOST HELPFUL POST YOU ARE GOING TO FIND FOR DEALING WITH THE NEATO VAC MESSAGE "DUST ME OFF SO I CAN SEE"

THE MOST HELPFUL POST YOU ARE GOING TO FIND FOR DEALING WITH THE NEATO VAC MESSAGE 

"DUST ME OFF SO I CAN SEE"

I searched all over trying to find a solution for this. Tech support and forums had a few ideas but no one on the forum had any of them work. My Neato Pet Allergen Robotic vacuum is back running ship shape. This is what I did.

I had cleaned the drop sensor window multiple times but error message still came up. I then got a thin knife and easily pried the sensor cover up, it came out very easily. I cleaned both sides. I blew in the hole to free up any dust that may have been there. I did this for each sensor.

Then I went ahead and pulled out the dust bin and wiped out the compartment with a damp paper towel.
There are 2 black guide wheels right behind the brush guard. Mine were not spinning freely so I got needle nosed pliers and cleaned the debris that had wound its way around.

I then removed the brush bar and cleaned all the areas there, pulling out dog hair that was trapped and wound around the spindles.

I read online that any label that was coming lose on the unit could also somehow catch the lasers eye and register, I had a few labels that were curling up so  removed them all.

 

I had not realized that there is a sensor on top of the unit that rotates when the unit is moving. It is under a purple cover. This cover I did not remove but did, push a q tip thru to dust off that lens.

 

I put the vacuum back on the charger ,waited a little while, then set it to clean house. It ran perfectly, with no more error messages.

 

I never did any of the turning it off, rebooting it, or software upgrades, because 9 times out of 10 that crap never works.

 

Anyway I sincerely hope this works for you.

 

I absolutely love my Neato Vac. I don't know how I ever made it with out it.

 

Owner of two dogs, two cats, a rabbit and a bird.

A RUSSIAN FAIRY TALE BY CELESTIAL ELF--- THANK YOU

MARY KAY MAYHEM

I decided to really try and make a go of my Mary Kay Hobby . I love the product but was selling very little. So I stepped it up a notch. I did 2 parties, 2 craft fairs, and a parade. I am hoping to get more customers and make a little extra income. Also the craft fairs are not to expensive and you meet lots of new people.

 my lipstick bar

 

 

 my first ever craft fair.

 

 

The parade was a waste of time, no one came near me. I had my 4runner all done up cute with lights and had the dogs dressed up.  It was a great display. I figure those Santa fe heifers would be more likely to eat the lipstick than wear it.

CHRISTMAS ON THE BOAT

Normally I am a major Christmas person . We decorate the house with lights, we have a Christmas tree in every room and we have a huge Christmas party. This year no matter what I did, I just couldn't get in the spirit of the holidays. So we decided to have a quiet Christmas on the boat just the dogs and my husband and I.

My husband put lights on the boat and I decorated the deck and interior. It was very cozy and fun.

We ended up having company for dinner every night. We also had some people join us for a Christmas cruise.