Family Dinner ...

... To Celebrate Nancy's Birthday -

- I told Nancy that I would make dinner, and for her to take the day off

- Mango-Avocado Salad. I also made a mango dressing to with the salad. I couldn't find any ripe mango in the produce departments, so off to Costco. I was able to get fresh cut spears.

- The main course was Shepard's Pie. I really enjoyed how this turned out. I use beef gravy instead of tomato sauce.

- We had two cakes. Nancy whipped one together that is a chocolate vegan cake. Her recipe produces a moist and risen cake. It is hard to tell that there are no eggs in the cake. I made the frosting by using a milk-free margin, powdered sugar, and a little water. It was quite tasty.

- Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Cake. I made the cake pictured above. It is a banana cake. each cake was cut in half, and I put nutella in between the two halves. Whipped cream and strawberry puree between the two 9" rounds, and the same on the top. It was a big hit.

- I changed the recipes a little, and I got them from the Blog, Mennonite Girls Can Cook - check out all the recipes posted.

Coupon works ...

... at Jack in the Box -


- Laura blogged about a chicken fajita special at Jack in the Box. It is worth the $2.29 for the drink and chicken fajita.

Is this ...

. . What is Meant by Life Changing Moments? -


- A month ago, doctor said something like, "You have high blood pressure, and take the pill on the left.

- Three days ago, doctor said something like, "First pill isn't working. You need to take a horse pill (pill on the right).

- I don't want to think about next month's pill.

Update ...

... On My Meal Plan -


- the above picture is the meal I had for two lunches this week. It is salad and an open-faced chicken salad and cheese sandwich Today, Nancy fixed me me a small cheese quesadilla, salad, and some seedless watermelon. For dinner we had Tilapia fish and salad. For dessert, we had seedless watermelon. I am also trying to not eat over two cups total for each meal. These changes for me are interesting.

I Have the Best ...

... Doctor. He Doesn't Tell me I am Fat -

- At my yearly physical, he just tells me I now have high blood pressure and gives me a prescription for pills, have glucose intolerance (which means pre-diabetes), and my HDL is a little low. He also tells me to eat less sugar, take fish oil Omega 3, and exercise.


- This is my breakfast; I fixed steel cut oatmeal with dried apples and craisins. I just added an extra 1/3 cup of water for them to plump up. After the oatmeal was done, I added bananas. My chocolate milk is sugar free and fat free. I am also trying to stay with the two-cup rule at each meal.

- Laura has asked that I blog my progress, and this post is for Laura.

Swedish Apple Cake ...

... from our friend, Maria in Sweden. She posted the recipe (click here).

What to do, what to do. The recipe called for two or three apples. How do you measure apples with dried fruit? I used four one-hand fulls. Think of it as fist pinch of apples. :)

I then put the dried apples in water, and brought the mixture to a boil. I let the apples stay in the hot water for about 15 minutes. I followed this by draining off the excess water.

Next step was to mix the butter and sugar, then follow by adding baking powder, flour, and milk. I had the wrong fitting on the mixture (shown above). I changed to the wire whip to beat the mixture and get some air into it.

I doubled the cinnamon-sugar. the recipe called for me to put on top any cinnamon-sugar left over after coating the apples. I wanted to make sure I had some left over.

Apple cake is done, and I added a glaze. The recipe did not call for a glaze, but you know me. I was surprised that the cinnamon-sugar on top did not melt. I will have to think this over. When you make cinnamon rolls, the cinnamon-sugar does melt. Interesting...

Nancy and I had a piece, and it was very good. My apples were mostly on top. The recipe talked about apple wedges and being poked into the batter. Next time I will put 1/3 of the batter in the pan, add the apples, followed by the rest of the batter.

Maria, thanks for posting this wonderful recipe.